August 2009: Golf Digest Woman: Golf Digest

Female-Model Caddie Service Banned

Monday, August 31, 2009 Comments

When the International Olympic Committee tapped golf as one of two sports recommended for inclusion in the 2016 Olympic Games, reaction from around the world was almost unanimously positive. But today, a British female-model caddie service called Eye Candy Caddies may be looking to file a protest.

Leaderboard Golf, owner of a group of golf courses in southeast England, has banned the controversial caddie service from its facilities, because the service is "not appropriate for a game that has been selected as an Olympic sport." According to BBC News, a Leaderboard spokesperson also said "Anyone who seriously cares about the development of the game should work to ensure that it is as professional, inclusive, and culturally inoffensive as any other major sport. Exploiting outmoded notions of golf as a male bastion is not 'just a bit of fun' - it damages the reputation of the sport as a whole, as well as its appeal to members of the younger generation of either sex."

Few would argue this statement, and looking at Eye Candy's website, it's clear the service doesn't have much merit as supplier of actual caddies, but is more focused on the "eye candy" part.

In the "Meet Our Caddies" section of eyecandycaddies.com, you can learn such vitals as your caddie prospect's "Best part of my body" and "Best facial feature." One caddie lists "Nick Faldo" as her "Favorite holiday destination." Let's hope that's a typo.

The Eye Candy Caddies brouhaha comes three months after Time Magazine published an online article that characterized the American "golf entertainment company" Play Golf Designs as an "escort service for duffers." Las Vegas-based PGD offers "world-class golf experiences" that are "limited only by your imagination," where you can select one or more of 24 female professional golfers from an international roster to join your group or hold clinics at your corporate golf outing, convention banquet or private party. But while PGD's website, like Eye Candy's, is chock-full of innuendo and pictures of leggy blondes in heels on the golf course, it seems to be a fairly legit operation. Its professionals are all bona fide players with plenty of experience from the LET, Cactus Tour, Futures Tour and even LPGA Tour. While they've been dressed up to look like they're ready for their mall glamour shots (even Aree Song!), I don't see how hiring one of these players for a pro-am event is much different than hiring John Daly or Peter Jacobsen.

Anna Rawson of the LPGA Tour is a featured professional on the Play Golf Designs roster. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey, Getty Images.)

No, to find a truly reprehensible U.S. equivalent of Eye Candy Caddies, you have to look to companies such as Caddychicks.com. Here, female "caddies" (once again, a term that should be used loosely) are recruited, trained and listed on line, allowing male golfers from around the country to log on and browse through prospects by state whenever they're looking for paid companionship on the golf course. The caddies' golf experience is apparently not important -- instead, a list of "Tips For Being A Great Caddie" is provided on the site. (For comic relief, it really shouldn't be missed. My favorite bullets are "Support your golfer's game play. DO NOT laugh too much if he/she makes a bad shot" and "Optional - bring a pair of dry socks in case his get wet.")

Where should golf courses draw the line when it comes to hired help? Many don't seem to have a problem enlisting cute cart girls to drive around in short shorts and sell beer to their players. Is that entirely different than hocking unqualified model caddies? I'm not so sure. Either way, in these times of diminishing profits, it seems anything goes.

--Stina Sternberg

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No Victory Hangover For Wie

Friday, August 28, 2009 Comments

According to Christina Kim's twitter page, nine of the players who participated in last week's Solheim Cup are battling illness this week as they launch into the Safeway Classic Presented by Coca Cola at Pumpkin Ridge GC in North Plains, Ore. (Paula Creamer, for one, is so sick that she had to withdraw from the tournament early this morning; Juli Inkster withdrew earlier in the week.) But judging by the first-round leaderboard, others are feeling just fine. Including Michelle Wie.

All eyes are on Wie at this, the first regular LPGA Tour event on American soil since the Corning Classic eight weeks ago, as she goes back to being her former teammates' fellow-competitor, with her parents and handlers back at her side. Will her breakout performance and newfound bond with fellow tour players at last week's Solheim Cup prove to be the turning point we all hope? Or will it end up a footnote in the history books, a detour on her path to "Where Are They Now" obscurity? Perhaps that's putting too much importance on one event. Nevertheless, it's what everybody is wondering.

So far, there's no reason to be concerned. Despite a sprained ankle, Wie put up a solid first-round score of 4-under 68 today at Pumpkin Ridge's Ghost Creek Golf Course, and she continued her Solheim Cup trend of producing miraculous iron shots and performing well with her putter. She also seemed relaxed and comfortable while interacting with the other two players in her marquee pairing, defending champ Cristie Kerr and world no. 1 Lorena Ochoa.

As for mom and dad, it's too soon to tell whether last week's turn of events has had any effect on their way of "handling" their daughter. We can only hope that they, too, saw the benefits of loosening her leash.

A few of Wie's fellow Solheim Cup alumni also had a good day today: European rookie and McDonald's LPGA champion Anna Nordquist shot a bogey-free 7-under 65 and sits one shot behind leader Beth Bader; Janice Moodie and Angela Stanford are at -6.

--Stina Sternberg (Photo by Steve Dykes, Getty Images)

Fashion Meets Function

Thursday, August 27, 2009 Comments

Adams Golf traveled across the country to visit us in Connecticut last week, and what they showed us was quite impressive. Lisa Weistart, the communications liaison at Adams Golf, joined Keri Murschell, an entrepreneur who founded the bag company Keri Golf six years ago, to unveil their unique collaboration in the 2010 equipment lineup. After a successful launch of their small-scale special edition set/bag combo last year, the duo has expanded it to include cart and stand bags at a more reasonable price.

The Keri Sport Collection may look cute and froufrou, but the women-specific Idea a7OS and Speedline clubs are all business. The 14-piece sets match the bag they're paired with, which come in three designs, in both cart and carry versions. (So the clubs that come with the Rosebloom bag have little pink flowers on the sole and cavity.) The bag/set combos cost $1,000, and the bags alone retail for $200. (Brittany Lang and Brittany Lincicome are using these bags on Tour.)

For the first time ever, Adams Golf is also tapping into the world of all-hybrid golf sets. (Even the sand wedges are hybrids.) The eight-piece Idea a7OS Max, which is tailored for players who have slower swing speeds, comes with four wood-like hybrids (4-7H) and four iron-like hybrids (8-SW). You'll start seeing them in golf shops on September 15, selling for $850.

The Idea a7OS clubs can also be purchased without the Keri bag as an eight-piece hybrid/iron set ($800), to which you can add a seven-piece "kit" ($600) that fleshes out the set with a driver, woods, a wedge and putter. In true Adams fashion, the sets come in two colors.

It's refreshing to know that, even in this economy, the women's golf equipment industry is alive and well, and that there will be cool new products for us to check out this fall.

--Ashley Mayo

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Kim Lashes Out

Wednesday, August 26, 2009 Comments

Christina Kim isn't oblivious to the naysayers who feel that her jubilation at the Solheim Cup matches may have gone overboard. And she's not shy about lashing out against negative commentaries.

In the past 24 hours, she's tweeted things like, "Ok I've had enough rudeness being thrown at me for one day. I'm so over this whole hateful BS. I'm out. Thanks a lot to the negative folks," and, "But the rudeness has forced me to commence the usage of my blocking powers. Thanks, jerks, for making this a less than euphoric getaway for us athletes, and a place where we fear to tread and try to communicate with our fans. You should be ashamed of yourselves."

Kim's most heated exchange on Twitter happened with Tim "Monty" Montemayor, a sports broadcaster who hosts a live radio show, "The Monty Show," in Los Angeles.

It all started when "Monty" provided a link to a negative story about Kim, and said she "got smacked hard!" The following exchange ensued:

Kim: homey, why post that? Are you trying to get blocked? You'll be the first but if that's what you wish, let me know

Monty: What? I just spent five minutes defending you on national radio! Don't be so defensive!

Kim: but why post that? Period? For me to read? Really. I don't mean to be defensive, but that post hurt dude

Monty: Honestly and truly...that hurt you feeling? NO (expletive)...That hurt you feelings? and if you knew me or this show, I am about the last one you shot be taking block shots at!

Kim: Why post something like that, ever, if you didn't want to create an f-wording stir? It makes no sense to be mean, dude..

Monty: email me...Monty@sportingnews.com...I was not being mean! At all!

Kim: I understand you didn't intend on being mean, but it still hurt. I'm still a human, sensitive and all, you know? :-)

Kim was also hurt when another Tweeter asked her to "listen" to an article in which Dottie Pepper says "she should be a little more respectful of the game," and "in the NFL she'd have been given 18 excessive celebration penalties."

Someone finally advised Kim to ignore the negativeness. "Nobody can see tweets that go directly to you-so don't reply," she wrote. Kim quickly acknowledged, and since then has only said, "Thank you to all of my followers and supporters for the constant love and positive energy! Eye. Heart. You. All!!"

Kim now accepts that she'll continue to get criticized, but her Twitter battles have left her weary. Do you agree with her detractors who say her excessive audience interaction is over the top and doesn't belong in this sport, or do you agree with her fans who think Kim is the best thing that's happened to women's golf in a long time?

Also, what's your take on Twitter-bashing? It's easy to tear someone down from behind the safe haven of a computer screen. Does it need to stop?

--Ashley Mayo

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Birdies And Bogeys

Sunday, August 23, 2009 Comments

SUGAR GROVE, Ill.-- The 2009 Solheim Cup had its fair share of splendid moments and its fair share of whiffs. Here's a look at who made a mark, good or bad.

BIRDIE: Beth Daniel. We scratched our heads over some of her decisions throughout the week, but she proved us all wrong. Her team kept the Cup on American soil. Mission accomplished. Enough said.

BOGEY: The rules officials. Where were the slow-play warnings when we really needed them? These girls were taking six hours to complete matches. I don't care if it's four-ball, that just can't be allowed.

BIRDIE: Michelle Wie. The controversial captain's pick emerged as the most brilliant U.S. player of the week. Her 3.5 points were unmatched by everybody but European Gwladys Nocera, and she is now the only Solheim alum with "undefeated" next to her name. Buckle your seat belts, everybody -- this could be the springboard to a remarkable career.

BIRDIE: Bo and B.J. Wie. For leaving their daughter alone all week and letting her get submerged in the spirit and camaraderie of this event.

BOGEY: Nicole Castrale. She may be celebrating with her team tonight, but she was the only player of the 11th Solheim Cup to go 0-3.

BIRDIE: Alison Nicholas. Yes, her team lost, but her captain's picks did well. And she had the guts to stand up to a grumpy, off-form Laura Davies.

BOGEY: Laura Davies. Don't whine to the TV cameras about not getting to play and then lose the last three holes of your singles match to hand the Americans an undeserved halve. We love you in the Solheim Cup, Laura, but Nicholas was right -- you're struggling with your game.

BIRDIE: Helen Alfredsson. Even if 44-year-old Alfie had lost every hole she played this week, her mere presence on the team earned her an automatic birdie. She will go down in history as the first-ever former captain to play her way back on a Cup roster. This woman has some serious grit. Sure, she ended up with a 1-3 record, but she fought every match to the end and kept clawing her way back when most others would have given up. And man, she hits a mean fairway wood.

BOGEY: Rich Harvest Farms. We can spend all night debating whether this is a great golf course or a horrible one, but we can all agree that it's not ideal as a tournament venue. Children and older people flock to the Solheim Cup, and it's cruel to make them walk an hour in very undulated terrain just to get to the 6th green.

BIRDIE: Christina Kim's golf ball. For surviving all the verbal abuse.

--Stina Sternberg

The Uniform Score: Sunday

Sunday, August 23, 2009 Comments

SUGAR GROVE, Ill.-- Yawn. As riveting as the final-day golf was, the team uniforms were dull and uninspired. Harsh criticism, maybe, but that's because I expected more.

Once again, both teams looked sleek and tailored -- bravo to Ashworth (the Americans' apparel provider) and Abacus (the Euros') for that -- but this was Sunday at the Solheim. Weren't you supposed to save the best for last?

Let's take a closer look:

Abacus had succeeded in creating a high level of buzz about the Europeans' "secret" Sunday outfit; all week, no one knew what it was going to look like, just that it was going to be a spectacular surprise. Well, it wasn't. It was a blue shirt (blue for obvious reasons, which I'm fine with) paired with white bottoms (as on Diana Luna, above). If I'm not mistaken, they were the same exact white bottoms the team wore Saturday. The back of the shirt was covered in white, blue and yellow stars, but that certainly didn't make it revolutionary. Again, a fine golf outfit but I expected more. From the front, this get-up is nothing more exciting than what my mom wears to play golf.

The Americans' red-shirt-white-bottom look (on Paula Creamer, above) didn't exactly cause anybody's pulse to quicken either. The faint check pattern on the skirt has been a recurring detail all week, and Sunday it crept into the hat as well, but that made it too matchy-matchy, in my opinion. And oh, those face tattoos and hair ribbons... Are they really necessary?

Once again, there is nothing glaringly wrong with this outfit, it just doesn't have anything special. And for Sunday singles, we wanted special.

I'll call the singles uniforms a halve.

Score: US 1.5 - Europe 1.5

--Stina Sternberg (Photos by Scott Halleran, Getty Images)

The U.S. Wins 16-12

Sunday, August 23, 2009 Comments

SUGAR GROVE, Ill.-- In what can only be called an anticlimactic ending, the U.S. team retained the 2009 Solheim Cup when Swede Anna Nordquist failed to get up and down for par on the 16th hole in match no. 27. Her opponent Morgan Pressel, who had already been conceded her par, thus earned the honor of taking the winning point for her team.

Christina Kim, in the group ahead on 18 and 1-up on Tania Elosegui, didn't seem to know that her team had already won -- nor did the massive crowds surrounding the final hole. They all wanted to see Kim secure the match, so the real celebration didn't begin until after Elosegui conceded their match on the 18th green.

(Photo by David Cannon, Getty Images.)

In the end, the total score would come to 16-12. Numbers that don't convey just how tight this match was.

--Stina Sternberg

Here Come The Yanks

Sunday, August 23, 2009 Comments

SUGAR GROVE, Ill.-- It's the typical Sunday afternoon scenario at the Solheim Cup: The visiting team looked good early on, taking command in more than half of the matches at one point. But as the players come down the stretch, the unbelievable crowd support -- boosted by a couple of early points posted by the U.S. -- is lifting the home squad and causing the wheels to come off the visitors.

Laura Davies, who at one point was 3-up in her match against Brittany Lang, just played some frankly stupid golf and gave away a half point. Gwladys Nocera, Europe's most valuable player so far, is about to hand Juli Inkster the gift of another halve (in what's likely Inkster's last-ever Solheim Cup match as a player) after she dominated the American veteran and was 2-up with five to play. And European big-hitters Hjorth and Nordquist have given up half-time leads and ties to go 1-down in their matches.

The only Europeans who have been able to hold up under the pressure are Catriona Matthew (who won her match against Kristy McPherson 3&2), Diana Luna (who's 2-up on Nicole Castrale) and Janice Moodie (who's 2-up on Natalie Gulbis in the anchor match).

The noise on this golf course is beyond description right now. The European fans are trying their best to add some "EU-ROPE, EU-ROPE" to the mix, but they're getting drowned out.

The American clubhouse lead is 13-10. The home team needs 14 points to retain the cup, and the Europeans need 14.5 points -- plus a miracle -- to win it back.

--Stina Sternberg

First Two Matches Won By The U.S.

Sunday, August 23, 2009 Comments

SUGAR GROVE, ILL.-- Angela Stanford beat Paula Creamer to the punch, but both put full points on the board for the U.S. within a span of 10 minutes. The U.S. now holds the clubhouse lead at 10 points to Europe's 8.

Stanford's 5&4 rout of Becky Brewerton has to be considered an upset, considering the Welshwoman's 2-0 fourball record this week (Stanford came into Sunday with two losses and a halve under her belt), but she had help from her opponent, who never seemed to find her groove today.

Pettersen's struggles against Creamer are detailed below. This has been a tough week for Pettersen, who's played very solid golf despite a bad back, but has struggled with her short putting and, to be fair, has run into some buzzsaws here at Rich Harvest Farms. Her 1-4 record this week doesn't reflect the quality of her play.

Pettersen's coach Pia Nilsson said last night that she's been working with the Norwegian to step up and take over the Solheim Cup team leadership role left vacant by Annika Sorentsam. Perhaps the pressure of that task, coupled with her injury, was just too much for Pettersen to handle.

--Stina Sternberg

Creamer Nears Dormy

Sunday, August 23, 2009 Comments

SUGAR GROVE, Ill.-- As much as Suzann Pettersen has held on for dear life in her match against Paula Creamer, the Norwegian is now 3-down with four to play, and it looks as if the first match of the day will go to the home team.

Both Pettersen and Creamer (above) have played some remarkable golf today, exchanging powerful drives and miraculous recovery shots, as well as sinking long putts -- in Pettersen's case, often for par to halve.

Considering Pettersen's struggles with a sore back this week (she had to lie down in the fairway and get stretched out by a trainer at least three times in the final holes Saturday), she has given new definition to the term "grinding." Three of her first four matches went to the 18th hole, which probably didn't help her back, and she was sent out first Sunday, a decision by captain Nicholas that puzzled many.

--Stina Sternberg (Photo by Scott Halleran, Getty Images)