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Big Break Ka'anapali


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Kim Welch has a chance at her first Duramed win tomorrow. Great round of 7-under par 64 today in Syracuse, including an eagle on the 300 yard par 4 #16, no doubt taking advantage of her length with a putt or short pitch. She is solo second, one shot behind Jin Young Pak of South Korea. Kim is two clear of 3rd place.

This is a major opportunity for Kim. Tour star Vicky Hurst skipped the event to play the LPGA tourney. The other top players on the money list are having mediocre weeks, other than Pak (#8) and Song Yi Choi (T6 this week and #6 money list). Kim could jump from #11 into the top 5 or 6 with a win. Top 5 at season's end earn LPGA cards for '09.

http://www.duramedfuturestour.com/20...seRealTime.asp

Many fine rounds by Big Breakers today:

* Ashley Prange 65-141 (-1)
* Lori Atsedes 68-141 (-1)
* Bri Vega 66-142 (Even)
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[/Quote] Plenty of Big Breaker pictures at that link, including Lori if anyone wants to verify she hasn't changed. One that caught my eye was two weeks ago at the Horseshoe Casino Classic, a practice round photo of Christina Lecuyer and a very leggy Liz Stuart. Same thing, 3rd photo from the left on that tourney's photos.[/QUOTE]

I wouldnt mind riding in that cart

What's In My Bag

Driver R9 Supertri 9.5
3 WoodR9
3 Hybrid: Baffler DWSIrons X-20 Tour 4-PWGap Wedge RAC TP SmokeSand Wedge Vokey 56.14Lob Wedge Vokey SM 60.7Putter:SeeMore FGP Black

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I read the summary of Kim's second round. She hit a 4 wood to the back fringe on that 300 yard par 4, then sank a 20 footer for eagle.

That's unreal. Wish the Futures Tour stopped near DC ... I think it would be pretty fun to watch a round and see their game person.

Nike Sumo 5000 V2 (9.5°) & SQ2 3W (15°) | TaylorMade Rescue Mid (19° & 22°) | Mizuno MX-23 4-PW | Callaway X-Tour (56-13°) & X-Tour MD (60-11°) | Bettinardi C-03

"I don't care how good your iron play is, if you can't drive it in the fairway you might as well break 'em up or use 'em...

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wow im impressed with kim i knew she would do well..... she had that look i guess of confidence..... would be cool to see her in person play

In My: Black Titleist sc75 Bag
Driver:  G20 10*

Irons: Soon To Be Titleist 712 CB/MB Combos 
Wedge: 60* Spin Milled Oilcan

Putter: Circa 62 Model 1Putter #2 Vintage Pal

Ball:  E6

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FYI: Kim won her first tournament today in a playoff. It moves her up to 7'th on the money list. Hopefully this will be sort of a break through tournament for her - it looks like she'll need several more top 10's to get her card this year.

Interestingly, the Futures tour web site has page to show you what an even par shooter would be doing on the the tour for the year:

http://www.duramedfuturestour.com/En...nt/EveNPar.asp

So if you could shoot even every tournament, you'd be 3rd on the money list!! Not quite like the Nationwide tour where you'd be somewhere near last shooting even par.

Big clubs: :titleist: 915D3 @ 9.5°, :callaway: X-Hot Pro 3W
Med clubs: :callaway: X-Hot Pro 5W, :titleist: 910H 4H,
Small clubs: :callaway: X-Hot Pro 5-AW, :titleist: Vokey 55.10, 60.10

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Congrats to Kim Welch. She wins her first event on the Duramed Futures Tour, in a playoff over Jin Young Pak:

http://www.duramedfuturestour.com/20...seRealTime.asp

Kim shot a closing 70, 1 under par. I checked her scorecard and it looks like she blew a 2 shot lead with 2 holes to play -- a bogey on the par 5 #17 followed by a clutch birdie by Pak on #18 to force the playoff. No recap yet on that site.

This puts Kim within striking distance of top 5 on the money lost and an LPGA card for 2009. She jumps from #11 to #7, but now trails 5th place by only $1300.

Today's round seems typical for Kim, plenty of birdies combined with many mistakes. She leads the tour in total birdies and sub par holes but drops to 7th in sub par rounds and 9th in scoring average. The guess would be that shaky putting turns rightful pars into bogeys.

Interesting that the win comes so soon after she was revealed as the Big Break winner.
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Kim Welch = Big Break Champion... Now Duramed Futures Tour Champion

Kim shot a final round 70 to draw even with Jin Young Pak. Kim proceeded to win in a playoff to nab her first career tour win. Congrats!

Courtney Erdman = T19
Lori Atsedes = T53

13 Wedges
1 Putter

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FYI: Kim won her first tournament today in a playoff. It moves her up to 7'th on the money list. Hopefully this will be sort of a break through tournament for her - it looks like she'll need several more top 10's to get her card this year.

Sorry for the similar post. Looks like we were posting at about the same time but yours arrived first. I checked to see if there was anything here before I started typing.

Yeah, I noticed that Eve N Par feature last week. Interesting. To be fair, there have been many Duramed tournaments with wild weather particularly on the final day. Even today they moved the tee times up but still had to deal with thunderstorms and long delays. Kim's tee time was 9:30 AM but it looks like the playoff ended past 7 PM.
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It rained all day here, t-storms and heavy rain, I'm surprised they had enough dry time to finish!

In the Titleist bag on the ClicGear 2.0:

PILOT: Titleist 910 D2 Axivore Tour Red

3 WOOD: Callaway 3-Deep 13*

Hybrid: TaylorMade RBZ 22*

IRONS 3-PW: Mizuno MP-32

WEDGES: Vokey TVD 54* SM5 58*K

PUTTER: Rife 2-Bar Blade

BALL: Penta 5

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Local video coverage of Kim's win in Syracuse at the link below. Pak lipped out a short par putt on the 4th playoff hole. If you keep watching and wade through brief commercials, the video continues to coverage of the previous rounds, including interviews with Kim and Lori.:

http://www.9wsyr.com/mediacenter/loc...&navCatId;=1075

Another version, this one with more detail of the final two holes and the playoff. Click the "Watch the Story" link, below the picture of the check presentation:

http://www.wtvh.com/sports/25672934.html
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A detailed summary at the link below. Kim was hot and cold on the greens, dropping several long birdie putts but missing several short ones, including a par putt of less than 2 feet, according to this article, and also a short eagle putt.

BTW, the Duramed site lists her equipment as the winner. The changes since Big Break are Adams irons replacing Pings, other than the surviving 56 and 60 degree Ping wedges, and a Rife Two Bar Hybrid putter replacing an Odyssey Two Ball :

http://www.cnylink.com/cnysports/vie..._id=1216602515
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  • 3 weeks later...
Great Read. Wish had highlights on the Golf Channel. If it did, wish I knew about it.

DR: Insight XTD Pro DF2400X 9.5 w/YSQ AD 65g S-flex
4W: Insight 16.5 Stiff
3,4 Hybrid: Idea Pro
5I - GW: Idea Pro -1 degree
SW: RST-DSG 56LW: RST-DSG 60Putter: Newport 2 DetourBall: TP Red

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  • 5 weeks later...

http://www.lpga.com/content_1.aspx?pid=17169∣=4

TEN DURAMED FUTURES PLAYERS EARN 2009 LPGA MEMBERSHIP ALBANY, N.Y., Sept. 7, 2008 – Ten Duramed FUTURES Tour players earned 2009 LPGA membership today by finishing in the top 10 on the season money list. This year's Duramed FUTURES Tour graduates are, in order of finish: 1. Vicky Hurst of Melbourne, Fla.; 2. Mindy Kim of Diamond Bar, Calif.; 3. Sarah-Jane Kenyon of Queensland, Australia; 4. M.J. Hur of Seoul, South Korea; 5. Jin Young Pak of Kang Leung, South Korea; 6. Song Yi Choi of Seoul, South Korea; 7. Jessica Shepley of Oakville, Ontario; 8. Leah Wigger of Louisville, Ky.; 9. Sophia Sheridan of Guadalajara, Mexico; and 10. Kim Welch of Sacramento, Calif. The 2008 season is the tenth year in the 28-year history of the Duramed FUTURES Tour that players have been able to earn automatic exemptions onto the LPGA Tour and the sixth year that at least five LPGA memberships have been awarded. From 1999 to 2002, three exemptions were offered to top money winners. The 2008 season marks the first time 10 LPGA memberships were awarded. Also today, the next five players on the Tour's money list, excluding current LPGA members, earned automatic entry into the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Fla., set for Dec. 3-7. Those players, in order of finish, are as follows: Haeji Kang of Seoul, South Korea; Mo Martin of Altadena, Calif.; Lisa Ferrero of Lodi, Calif.; Kristina Tucker of Stockholm, Sweden; Gerina Mendoza of Roswell, N.M.; and Stephanie Otteson of Wilson, N.C. “It's believable and it means so much to me to have my LPGA status for next year,” said Hurst, 18, who finished on top of the Tour's season money list with record single-season earnings of $93,107, and a rookie year that included four tournament wins. “Now I have my LPGA card. It's something I've dreamed about since I was a little kid.” Kim won three times this season and finished second on the Tour's money list with earnings of $79,270. She finished second in today's final round of the ILOVENY Championship. “I had no pressure going into this week because I was second on the money list with some cushion, but I tried my best and I got some good results,” she said. Kenyon started the week ranked 8th on the season money list, but her win at this week's ILOVENY Championship and her $14,000 winner's check vaulted her up the money list into the No. 3 spot with earnings of $48,637. That was good for one of the 2009 LPGA memberships. “I knew a top three could possibly get me there, but a win was what I wanted today,” said Kenyon, who has non-exempt LPGA membership this season. “I feel like I've been holding my breath out here for a long time.” Hur also was a rookie this season. She recorded eight top-10 finishes, including a win in April at the Louisiana Pelican Classic in Lafayette, La., and finished the season ranked fourth in earnings at $45,137. “It's not easy to be in the top five out here,” said Hur, 18, a member of the 2006 Korean National Team. “I knew that to be a rookie on this tour, I had to try extra hard. This is really exciting for me.” Rounding out the top five with earnings of $42,368, was 2007 LPGA Tour member Pak. Pak lost her LPGA status and was forced to return to the Duramed FUTURES Tour, where she won her first professional title in 2005. “I came back here and got a lot of good experience this year,” she said. “I'll continue to work hard and hopefully, I'll have a good year next year on the LPGA Tour.”

I wonder if Kim's Big Break: Ka'anapali exemptions will now go to Sophie.

. . . .
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She did not do well in the five tournaments after her win, including a missed cut in the finale. Hopefully she can get things back together before her LPGA tourney this year, or she won't be on the tour long.
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Guaranteed no. Sophie didn't win anything and there won't be a hand-me-down aspect. That's one of the sponsor benefits, a chance the Duramed waved fees are never used but they can hype it for months during Big Break.

Besides, Kim may play some Duramed events next year. She receives low priority level based on a 6-10 finish on the Duramed money list. It's not guaranteed she will make the field every time. The waved fees work out very well for Kim. On weeks the LPGA is off, Kim could use the exemption to play for "free" on the Duramed tour. It's not uncommon for players with lower tier LPGA status to play Duramed events. Many of the bios say, "Current member of the LPGA Tour." It's like Tommy Gainey, who played some Nationwide events this year even though he has a PGA card via Q-School last year.
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She did not do well in the five tournaments after her win, including a missed cut in the finale. Hopefully she can get things back together before her LPGA tourney this year, or she won't be on the tour long.

That was surprising. Normally a win provides a major confidence boost but Kim Welch had her weakest results after the victory in Syracuse in mid July. She was fortunate the decision to bump the LPGA cards from 5 to 10 came with only two events remaining. She dropped from 7th to 9th in the next to last tournament, then from 9th to 10th in the finale. It was her first missed cut since the second event, followed by 14 consecutive cuts made.

Kim's Duramed scoring average when I first checked during the beginning of Big Break was 72.00. Now it is 72.94, nearly a full shot worse. A 73 scoring average won't go far on the LPGA. Kim really needs to cut down on her mistakes. The scorecards are always a wild ride of birdies and bogeys. Kim really took advantage of her strong tournaments. That's what allowed the LPGA berth. Among 17 tournaments, 3 of them provided more than $25,000 combined -- a playoff loss, 5th place finish, and playoff victory. In the other 14 events she made roughly $8500 total. It demonstrates the superiority of occasional very high finishes as opposed to consistent second or third tier mush. Last season Kim finished 21st on the money list despite 5 Top 10s, compared to only three this year. She overachieved her scoring average by an amazing amount. Kim is 19th on the scoring average but 10th on the money list. That's by far the biggest positive gap. In fact, three players in the top 10 in scoring average did not receive LPGA cards -- Haeji Kang, Chella Choi and Gerina Mendoza. Kang and Choi were nearly a half shot better than Kim, on average, and Mendoza more than three tenths lower. But they did not take advantage of their prime opportunities. The remarkable comparison is to former Big Break winner Bri Vega. She never threatened a Top 10 finish on the final money list, despite a scoring average of 72.96, only two hundredths behind Kim. Bri was 20th and Kim 19th in scoring average. But unlike Kim, Bri's money list standing mirrored her scoring average, at 21st. It would appear 2009 is a good opportunity for Bri to earn the LPGA card. The Top 10 this year will be gone and Bri has shown steady improvement, from 75.79 in 2006 to 74.80 in 2007 and 72.96 this year. Bri made 16 of 17 cuts, compared to 4 of 17 in '06 and 8 of 18 in '07.
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Note: This thread is 5681 days old. We appreciate that you found this thread instead of starting a new one, but if you plan to post here please make sure it's still relevant. If not, please start a new topic. Thank you!

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