The power of seemingly amateurish social networking sites is undeniable. Take this, for example: before checking the leader board at the Women's British Open this afternoon, I knew exactly who played well and who didn't.
All I did was read their twitter updates.
Read the following three tweets and guess who played well and who didn't:
1. "And now...A hot bath to try and counterbalance the freeze that has set into my bones!"
2. "And yes, I did hit a left handed shot out of a bunker today...figure out the rest."
3. "Having nice curry (different place to last time) and then bed and early morning!"
It's pretty obvious, no? If not, here are the answers:
1. Christina Kim, +1, T7
2. Morgan Pressel, +5, T52
3. Maria Hjorth, E, 6th place
Unlike my fellow blogger (Stina Sternberg, of course), I've succumbed to Facebook and Twitter, and I follow most of the players on tour. Although I wholeheartedly reject a recent suggestion that the players tweet during their rounds (yep, former-LPGA Tour Commissioner Carolyn Bivens brought that to the table), I do love reading their pre- and post-round thoughts.
--Ashley Mayo
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Results for July 2009
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A Flawed System
The No. 1 player in the European Solheim Cup rankings, French native Gwladys Nocera, just bogeyed the 17th hole at Royal Lytham to go to +18 in her first round of the 2009 Ricoh Women's British Open. So far today, she has managed one birdie, eight bogeys, one double and three triples. Meanwhile, the 16th-ranked Solheim Cup player on the U.S. list, Michelle Wie, is closing in on a round of even par. Sound peculiar?
Gwladys Nocera of France is struggling mightily in the wind during the first round of the 2009 Ricoh Women's British Open Thursday. Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images.
Before anybody gets their knickers in a twist, I know you can't judge a player's abilities by how they play one random week. But when you're talking about an 18-shot difference in just one round of a major, we can all agree there's a serious form discrepancy at work. And in this case, the player who's stinking it up is a Solheim rankings leader while the one shooting even par in tough conditions isn't even close to making the squad on points. The teams will be decided on Sunday, with the event coming up in three weeks.
Solheim Cup points are amassed over two years of competition. Nocera hasn't played well this season but won fives times on the Ladies European Tour in 2008, which is why she's still at the top of the European rankings. Wie has five top fives in 12 starts on the LPGA Tour this year, but as a 2009 rookie, she didn't earn a single Solheim point in 2008, so she's still way down on the list.
This point system makes no sense. Even though last year's results are worth a little less than this year's, the fact that a player like Nocera can still be No. 1 shows just how poorly it works. Current form should be rewarded much more than it is now, or the Cup will be boring at best. I'm sure captains Beth Daniel and Alison Nicholas would agree.
--Stina Sternberg
Royal Lytham: Dartboard Golf
Players prepping for this week's Ricoh Women's British Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes in Northwestern England have already come to grips with the fact that they're going to get drenched on the golf course. All week long. Now they have to get used to playing a very different kind of layout than they typically face, even at a British Open.
Links courses can't be considered the real deal if they don't have a decent sprinkling of deep pot bunkers (ahem, note to all American "links"). They're also typically situated right next to the ocean. Back in 1919, designer Harry Colt was asked to spruce up the then-benign Royal Lytham layout, and he had what can only be dubbed a pot-bunker hemorrhage. When Colt was finished, some 200 of these pits of hell covered the plush fairways, turning what had been a pretty simple affair into a target golf course unlike any the sport had ever seen. (Who knows, perhaps he was trying to make up for the fact that this "links" is nowhere near the sea.)
LPGA Tour player Momoko Ueda of Japan poses on the edge of one of the infamous pot bunkers at Royal Lytham & St Annes July 29. Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images.
Don't get me wrong, Royal Lytham is one of the most popular venues on both the men's and women's British Open rotas (Tiger Woods may beg to differ -- he didn't do so well there in 2001). It's set up like a typical links with all the history, charm and teeth that entails. But it's a mine field. So what -- bunkers are part of golf and these are the best female players in the world, right? Sure. But even the strongest golfers on the planet can't hit long irons or hybrids out of these craters. They're like deep dungeons, and the players' only option is to pitch out with a high-lofted wedge, which will cost them a stroke 95 percent of the time.
When Annika Sorenstam completed her career Grand Slam by winning here in 2003, she managed to stay out of the bunkers on 277 of her 278 shots. Think about that for a second: she only found one bunker all week, when there were 800 opportunities to do so. In the end, if you want to win an Open at this course, that's the way you have to play.
So if you're putting money on the Ricoh Women's British this week, don't go for the longest hitter. Choose a player who can place the ball in a five-foot circle on every shot. Your odds of taking home the dough will be much better.
--Stina Sternberg
All Atwitter
Call me old-fashioned, but I didn't own a cell phone until the 21st century. Now that I do, I text message in full sentences, not in prepubescent shorthand. I take great pride in the fact that I don't have a facebook page. I've never visited MySpace.com. Friends, editors and colleagues have tried to make me (when you write blogs such as these and the one I did for Golf For Women for years, the networking sites help drum up traffic), but I've refused to take part in any of it. So naturally, when everybody and their grandmother started twittering, I was a staunch opponent. I simply cannot tell you how despicable I found the thought of logging on to a website to read about random people's parking woes and tooth-brushing schedules.
Then along came Stewart Cink. And John Daly. And Christina Kim. And most inexplicably of all, Dan Jenkins. They changed my mind. Following Jenkins on twitter during a major is better than reading any Jenkins prose that's ever been published in a magazine or hardcover. It almost calls for popcorn. Kim is hilarious, frequent and uncensored. Cink is more candid on twitter than in interviews. Daly is hard to understand but replies to what must be close to every last twitter comment he gets. Natalie Gulbis posts pictures of everything she does.
Twitter gives insight into the players' personalities and lives unlike anything ever has before. I never knew that when possible, the LPGA Tour players send their luggage by truck while they fly to the next tour stop, just to prevent losing precious clubs and Manolo Blahnik shoes. I never knew that hours of bus riding was involved in getting players from the Evian Masters to the Ricoh Women's British Open. And I sure as heck never pictured major champion Cink using a Pampered Chef garlic press while making mashed potatoes. Thanks to twitter, I've been enlightened. (Though I still wonder what Michelle Wie means when she randomly ends tweets with "DO WORK!", as she frequently tends to.)
Stewart Cink's TwitPic of the Top Ten List manuscript he was given before his appearance on The Late Show With David Letterman July 21st. Photo by Stewart Cink/yfrog.
As much as I hate to admit it, I've become completely hooked. The posts don't even have to be that interesting. I go to Annika Sorenstam's twitter page every day, and the juiciest details she ever gives up are her dinner menu.
I have yet to start a twitter account of my own. But if I ever go that far, I guarantee I'll at least compose full sentences and refrain from all the "c u l8r" stuff. I have to draw the line somewhere.
--Stina Sternberg
At Long Last, Ai
I remember watching Miyazato float through five rounds at LPGA International in Daytona Beach during the 2005 LPGA Q-School with an innocent smile on her face as she trounced the competition on her way to a 12-shot victory. Let me reiterate: she won Q-School by 12 shots. For those who don't know, that's an unbelievable margin in a nerve-shattering event at which every contestant's career is on the line. Yet as I followed the miniscule big-hitter that week, the most impressive thing wasn't her ball striking but the sheer size of the Japanese press detail that shadowed her every move. She could easily give Jon & Kate and their overexposed Eight a run for their money in the paparazzi department.
Japan's Ai Miyazato is swarmed by photographers after sinking the winning putt at the 2009 Evian Masters in Evians-les-Bains, France. Photographs by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images.
As a westerner, it's hard to comprehend Miyazato's superstar status in Japan. A 13-time winner on the JLPGA Tour before she turned 21, she's long been hailed as that country's greatest athlete -- more famous than Madonna and J.Lo combined. Let's put it this way: if Tiger Woods is playing in a PGA Tour event that's televised on one Japanese TV channel and Ai Miyazato is playing in an LPGA tournament on another, Tiger gets a zero rating. So when she moved to the States to play the LPGA Tour full time in 2006, Miyazato's huge media entourage came with her. The poor girl had the hopes and expectations of an entire nation, if not continent, resting on her tiny shoulders. Her fans weren't just expecting her to win -- they were expecting her to win 10 times a year.
Of course, that's not what happened. Miyazato suffered the typical culture shock most young players do after relocating to the other side of the planet, and only managed seven top-10 finishes in her first year on the LPGA Tour. A respectable showing, some might say, but nothing like the victory rain her followers had expected. She wasn't even named 2006 Rolex Rookie of The Year; that honor went to South Korea's Seon Hwa Lee. A few top-three finishes in 2007 helped Miyazato climb to 17th place on the money list; injuries and a mediocre 2008 season dropped her down to 46th. By the beginning of this year, what started out as a baby chimp on her back had grown into a massive gorilla. Speculation had shifted from how many wins she'd get per season, to when she'd win her first event, to if she'd ever win at all.
So when Miyazato needed a few moments to compose herself after sinking the winning birdie putt on the first playoff hole at the Evian Sunday evening, everybody understood. Finally, she'd lived up to the hype. Well done, Ai. Now let's see you win a few more for good measure.
--Stina Sternberg
An Exercise Skirt Made for Golfers
I was thrilled when I found $14 Champion skirts at Target a few years ago. (That's the sale price. At full-price, they cost $20.) Sure, they're made for runners, but I decided to start wearing them on the golf course. Why not? They're unbelievably comfortable (anything with an elastic waistband is a huge plus), and they have one pocket big enough for tees and ball markers. Oh, and spandex shorts underneath rule out overexposure.
I'm not naive; I know they're short. And I have a hunch that other people (especially women) think they're too short, even though nobody's ever told me so. I'm oblivious to passive aggressive behavior, but I can just feel what women think when I step onto the first tee. "Doesn't she know she's on a golf course?" And, "Good lord, who does she think she is?" Blah, blah, blah.The bottom line? My exercise (um, golf) skirts aren't any shorter than the Nike shorts I also wear, which are specifically made for golfers. And don't we want to spruce up the game a bit? Give it some spice? As long as skirts don't display inappropriate amounts of skin, I say, hang up the high-waisted Bermuda shorts and start taking risks.
There's no doubt in my mind that these skirts are nearly tailor-made for golfers. (Okay, I'll admit that I don't wear them to private clubs.) But what do you think? Are they inappropriate?
(Caption: That's me, setting up on the fifth hole at Spyglass Hill Golf Course.)
--Ashley Mayo
Timberlake's New Golf Course
Justin Timberlake spent $16 million to renovate Big Greek Golf Course, which he's renamed Mirimichi. The 7,400-yard track officially reopened this morning, and Justin's foursome, which included his mom, step dad and a family friend, teed off at 7:30. As expected, they were the first play the course.
"Our mission is three-tiered," said Timberlake, as he rode up to the 11th green. "Create an amazing sanctuary for the community. Create an eco-friendly golf course. And to have a public course that can be among the same names as Torrey Pines and Bethpage Black."
The 27-year-old singer, designer, actor, comedian, etc, etc, is a bona fide chick magnet who has introduced his last two girlfriends, Cameron Diaz and Jessica Biel, to golf. And his golden touch to Mirimichi, located near Memphis, will certainly draw women to the course, whether they play or don't.
--Ashley Mayo
A Wie Chance of Making the Team
In exactly 10 days, at the conclusion of the Ricoh Women's British Open at Royal Lytham and St Annes in Lancashire, England, the 2009 U.S. and European Solheim Cup teams will be announced. The European team will include the top five players on the Ladies European Tour points list, the top four European players on the Rolex World Rankings and three captain's picks; the U.S. team will include the top 10 players on the American Solheim Cup points list, plus two captain's picks. As the clock ticks closer to decision time for captain Beth Daniel, the identities of the American captain's picks are the subjects of great speculation. The home team will be heavy favorites to win this year's event at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill., August 17-23, no matter who Daniel picks, but there's a lot riding on her choices.
First of all, there's what most people would call the mandatory Solheim send-off of veteran Juli Inkster. At age 49, Inkster has lead the U.S. team to victory in four of seven Solheim Cups she's played, and if she gets another invite this year, she'd tie Daniel and Meg Mallon for most Solheims played by an American at eight (Englishwoman Laura Davies has 10 starts and is likely to make the 2009 team on points alone; if not, she's a shoe-in for a European captain's pick to take her total to 11). Unless Inkster, currently 14th on the list, pulls off a win at the Evian Masters this week or a couple of back-to-back top fives in the next two events, she's not going to make the team on points. But even if she hasn't exactly had a great year so far (her best finish is a T11 at the Michelob Ultra in May), she always seems to step up her game at the Solheim Cup. Add to that her close friendship with Daniel and the indisputable fact that she's become a crucial den mother to all the younger players, and it'd be tough -- if not cold -- for Daniel not to pick her.
Next, there are Solheim Cup veterans Laura Diaz and Pat Hurst, currently in 11th and 13th place in the rankings. Both have proven records in the Solheim Cup and tend to take on leadership roles, just like Inkster -- qualities that are valuable on a team full of young players -- but neither has been playing well lately. Hurst's win at the Mastercard Classic in March has been followed mainly by missed cuts and finishes in the 50s and 60s, and Diaz's 2009 season has been nothing short of abysmal (her best three finishes of the year, all T-26, came in February and March). Unless they pull off miracles during the tour's current European swing, picking either of them would amount to questionable favoritism on Daniel's part.
Then there's Michelle Wie. Currently in 16th place in Solheim Cup points, she'd also need two top-fives in the next two weeks to break onto the team on points merits. The Evian Masters is one of her favorite events and she's come close to winning there in the past, and a -2 start Thursday bodes well for the rest of her week, but nobody's banking on back-to back romps by the rookie from Hawaii. However, Wie's current form is as good as it's been in years: she has two top-10s in her last two starts and five total this season, and her injuries and parental demons seem to be a thing of the past. Plus, her Solheim Cup points would be a lot higher if she'd had two years to accumulate them like the rest of the players above her on the list; since she didn't officially join the tour until this season, she's getting shafted on the math end. Especially considering the limited number of qualifying events on the 2009 calendar.
Some might say Daniel would be crazy to pick a rookie who's never played in a Solheim Cup before, but there could be a lot to gain from going with Wie -- not the least of which would be some much-needed suspense and media hype. If there's one thing the LPGA Tour needs right now, it's good publicity, and say what you will of Wie's >troubled past, but she's by far the biggest media draw in women's golf.
Would picking Wie be worth it even if she wasn't playing at her best? That's debatable. But hopefully she'll perform well enough in France and England to leave Daniel with an easy choice.
Personally, I think Wie and Inkster paired together in foursomes and best ball could make for some of the most riveting Solheim Cup viewing we've seen all decade.
--Stina Sternberg
(Photo by Getty Images)
(Photo by Getty Images)
Driver Phobia
Last weekend, I played nine holes with an old friend who's recently picked up golf. Like all new players, my friend has quickly become obsessed with the game, but she's thoroughly intimidated by the thought of hitting a driver. If she had her way, she'd use her 7-iron for every shot from tee to green, because it's the one club she's become comfortable with during her lessons and range sessions. Her bag is full of shiny new clubs and the 7-iron is the only one with any dirt on it.
I've found this to be a very common phenomenon among new women golfers. Guys who pick up golf seem to have no problem puling out driver the first time they ever take a swing, which might be a little foolhardy, but at least it shows there's no fear involved. Women seem afraid to use anything but the one club they know they can make contact with, and they end up sticking with that club for way too long. Because you'll never learn to play golf well if you don't get used to hitting all the clubs in your bag, especially the driver.
Ten years ago, new women golfers were right to be afraid of the big stick, and were often told to just tee off with a 3- or 5-wood instead. Back then, women's drivers were designed very similarly to men's drivers, which means they were too heavy, too stiff and didn't have nearly enough loft to launch the ball into the air for players with slower swing speeds. But it's a different world now. Today's women's drivers come with super-lightweight, flexible shafts; large, forgiving clubheads; and lots of loft (typically between 13 and 16 degrees, which is where 3-woods used to be in the past). In combination, these features allow even the slowest swingers to get some serious height and distance out of their shots--distance that could never be duplicated by an iron.
So if you're a new golfer, don't be afraid to hit the driver. It should be your favorite club. And if you're a veteran playing with a new golfer, do what I did last weekend and force your friend to remove that headcover. Tell her to hit two drives on each hole; one with her 7-iron (or whatever other club she insists on using) and one with the driver. When she sees how much farther she hits the driver, she'll never go back.
For tips on great new women's drivers, check out our recent Golf Digest Woman equipment preview.
--Stina Sternberg
I've found this to be a very common phenomenon among new women golfers. Guys who pick up golf seem to have no problem puling out driver the first time they ever take a swing, which might be a little foolhardy, but at least it shows there's no fear involved. Women seem afraid to use anything but the one club they know they can make contact with, and they end up sticking with that club for way too long. Because you'll never learn to play golf well if you don't get used to hitting all the clubs in your bag, especially the driver.
Ten years ago, new women golfers were right to be afraid of the big stick, and were often told to just tee off with a 3- or 5-wood instead. Back then, women's drivers were designed very similarly to men's drivers, which means they were too heavy, too stiff and didn't have nearly enough loft to launch the ball into the air for players with slower swing speeds. But it's a different world now. Today's women's drivers come with super-lightweight, flexible shafts; large, forgiving clubheads; and lots of loft (typically between 13 and 16 degrees, which is where 3-woods used to be in the past). In combination, these features allow even the slowest swingers to get some serious height and distance out of their shots--distance that could never be duplicated by an iron.
So if you're a new golfer, don't be afraid to hit the driver. It should be your favorite club. And if you're a veteran playing with a new golfer, do what I did last weekend and force your friend to remove that headcover. Tell her to hit two drives on each hole; one with her 7-iron (or whatever other club she insists on using) and one with the driver. When she sees how much farther she hits the driver, she'll never go back.
For tips on great new women's drivers, check out our recent Golf Digest Woman equipment preview.
--Stina Sternberg
One-on-One With Natalie Gulbis
After working at Golf Digest for more than two and a half years, I finally got to chat with Natalie Gulbis, one-on-one, last Friday. I hate to admit this, but I'd always thought Gulbis was all glitz and little substance. Not anymore. Our 15-minute conversation shattered my presumption
Gulbis hosted an Evian event in New York City, just hours before flying out to France for the Evian Masters, which starts Thursday. The event, held at the posh Hudson Terrace, served two main purposes: to showcase Evian's latest commercial, which, with nearly 15 million views on YouTube, has gone viral; and to celebrate this week's primo LPGA Tour stop, which carries a $3,250,000 purse, one of the highest on tour.
Gulbis and I found a comfy sofa on an outdoor terrace, and we touched on several topics. She began by explaining the state of her golf game. Last year, she played with a ton of pain in her lower back, so she and Butch Harmon changed her swing during the off-season to ensure it'd inflict minimal impact on her back. So she now has a more quiet lower body to restrict over-rotation during the backswing, and she lifts her head right after impact, a move that Annika Sorenstam made famous.
Then she shed a little light on the events that transpired a couple weeks ago, when several LPGA Tour players, including herself, signed a letter that called for Carolyn Bivens' resignation. She reiterated how much she likes Bivens, and that this certainly wasn't a personal attack. But she's proud to have been part of a movement that led to major changes among those who run the tour, and is pleased with what has happened. With a smile, she happily said that things are already turning around.
She was spot-on when she predicted that events will quickly start coming back: the LPGA announced yesterday that they signed a two-year contract with Sports Management Group to create the Acapulco LPGA Classic starting in 2010. The tournament, which will be played next spring at Tres Vidas Golf Club in Acapulco, will carry a $1.3 million purse.
Here's to hoping this becomes prevailing trend.
--Ashley Mayo
Gulbis hosted an Evian event in New York City, just hours before flying out to France for the Evian Masters, which starts Thursday. The event, held at the posh Hudson Terrace, served two main purposes: to showcase Evian's latest commercial, which, with nearly 15 million views on YouTube, has gone viral; and to celebrate this week's primo LPGA Tour stop, which carries a $3,250,000 purse, one of the highest on tour.
Gulbis and I found a comfy sofa on an outdoor terrace, and we touched on several topics. She began by explaining the state of her golf game. Last year, she played with a ton of pain in her lower back, so she and Butch Harmon changed her swing during the off-season to ensure it'd inflict minimal impact on her back. So she now has a more quiet lower body to restrict over-rotation during the backswing, and she lifts her head right after impact, a move that Annika Sorenstam made famous.
Then she shed a little light on the events that transpired a couple weeks ago, when several LPGA Tour players, including herself, signed a letter that called for Carolyn Bivens' resignation. She reiterated how much she likes Bivens, and that this certainly wasn't a personal attack. But she's proud to have been part of a movement that led to major changes among those who run the tour, and is pleased with what has happened. With a smile, she happily said that things are already turning around.
She was spot-on when she predicted that events will quickly start coming back: the LPGA announced yesterday that they signed a two-year contract with Sports Management Group to create the Acapulco LPGA Classic starting in 2010. The tournament, which will be played next spring at Tres Vidas Golf Club in Acapulco, will carry a $1.3 million purse.
Here's to hoping this becomes prevailing trend.
--Ashley Mayo
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