{"id":2376,"date":"2008-07-03T08:00:20","date_gmt":"2008-07-03T12:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/?p=2376"},"modified":"2008-07-03T09:15:03","modified_gmt":"2008-07-03T13:15:03","slug":"2008_us_womens_open_failure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/thrash_talk\/2008_us_womens_open_failure","title":{"rendered":"2008 U.S. Women’s Open Failure"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ThrashThe 2008 U.S. Women’s Open<\/a> is now in the books, and South Korea’s Inbee Park is a major champion. Park shot a final-round 71 and cruised to a four-shot victory over Helen Alfredsson. The competition was close heading into the back nine, but the rest of field collapsed and cleared the path for the 19-year-old youngster. With the victory, Park became the youngest ever to win the U.S. Women’s Open.<\/p>\n

Inbee Park deserves all the credit for her solid performance, but the week didn’t pan out like most fans wanted. It was more of a “what might have been” event than a memorable one. The LPGA Tour has a lot of good things going for it, but this past week was one to forget. Here are a few reasons why.
\n
\nTop Two Struggle<\/strong>
\nThe world’s best female golfer, Lorena Ochoa, was the definite favorite heading into this year’s U.S. Women’s Open. The golf course, Interlachen<\/a>, seemed to set up perfect for Ochoa’s golf game. She hits the ball pretty high which suits any U.S. Open course, and the five par-five holes should have been a dream come true. When the dust had settled, however, the Mexican phenom was an astounding 14 shots off the winning score.<\/p>\n

Ochoa never got things going in the right direction. Out of the gates on Thursday, she was three-over par over after 12 holes. She rallied to finish at even par, but the same couldn’t be said for the final three days. She finished with rounds of 74, 76, and 74 en route to a tie for 31st.<\/p>\n

This past week was supposed to be a swan song for Annika Sorenstam. The number two female golfer in the world has supposedly played in her final U.S. Women’s Open, and while she finished with a hole-out eagle at the 72nd hole, things didn’t work out too well for her at Interlachen. In the end, a tie for 24th was the best she could do.<\/p>\n

Sorenstam struggled out of the gates with an opening-round 75. She gave fans hope, however, after firing a second-round 70 and third-round 72. She entered the final round at two-under par and had an outside chance of winning. Annika couldn’t get any putts to fall on Sunday on her way to a final-round 78. She left everyone a great lasting impression with her eagle at the 72nd hole, but in all reality, she struggled to break 80. In the end, it wasn’t a great U.S. Women’s Open for Ochoa and Sorenstam.<\/p>\n

Final Group Choke Job<\/strong>
\nThings didn’t turn out too well for Ochoa and Sorenstam this past week, but Paula Creamer provided some hope heading into the final round. Creamer is only 21 years old, but she already has the “best female golfer without a major” label. The Pink Panther played very well the first three rounds at Interlachen and had herself in prime position to win the U.S. Women’s Open. In fact, she was only one shot off the lead going into Sunday, and that landed her a spot in the final group.<\/p>\n

Stacy Lewis, a 23-year-old, showed flashes of brilliance the first three rounds. Lewis has a very bright future ahead of her and could very well be the next big thing on the LPGA Tour. She was nine-under par and had a one-shot lead heading into the final round. The grouping of Creamer and Lewis provided the event with a much-needed spark of interest.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately for Creamer and Lewis, the tournament was four days instead of three. Things were looking great for one of the two to walk away the winner, but both choked big time on Sunday. Most of the damage was done on the front nine as Creamer and Lewis shot 41 and 40, respectively. Both played decent on the back nine, but it was too late to have any effect on the tournament.<\/p>\n

The media is always looking for young Americans to step up in the men’s game, and the same can be said for the women’s game as well. It would have been huge for the LPGA Tour if Creamer and Lewis had battled it out for the victory, but in the end, chalk it up as another disappointment for United States golf fans. As usual, there is always next time.<\/p>\n

Another Missed Cut for Wie<\/strong>
\nMichelle Wie came into the 2008 U.S. Women’s Open on a bit of a roll. She had a top-ten finish on the Ladies European Tour last month, and she played very well at U.S. Women’s Open Qualifying as well. After rounds of 81 and 75 at Interlachen this past weekend, the result was another mediocre missed cut for the teenager. Most of the damage was done at the ninth hole on Thursday where Wie carded a quintuple bogey. Needless to say, she never recovered.<\/p>\n

For some weird reason, I actually felt bad for Wie after she missed the cut. It’s obvious the LPGA Tour is better when she is playing good golf, and it would have been nice to see her at least make the cut. More salt was added to the wound when fellow teen Inbee Park found the winner’s circle. Wie is still young and has plenty of time to make an impact on the game, but she isn’t the only young phenom who can play nowadays.<\/p>\n

The Final Say<\/strong>
\nThere was a lot of excitement heading into this year’s U.S. Women’s Open, but in the end, it was a pretty lackluster event. The struggles of Ochoa and Sorenstam got things off to a bad start, and while a win from Creamer would have helped, that obviously didn’t happen either. Nothing against Inbee Park, but her win didn’t make the women’s game any better.<\/p>\n

It’s your turn to tell me what you think. Did you watch any of this year’s U.S. Women’s Open? Did the struggles of Ochoa or Sorenstam surprise you the most? Finally, will Creamer recover from the final-round choke job and win her first major in the near future? If you have anything to add, please comment below or discuss it in the forum<\/a>. Thanks for reading this week’s Thrash Talk, and I hope everyone has a happy and safe Fourth of July!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A promising week for the LPGA Tour didn’t pan out when all was said and done.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[98,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hot_topics","category-thrash_talk"],"yoast_head":"\n2008 U.S. Women's Open Failure (Hot Topics, Thrash Talk) - 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