February 2010: Golf Digest Woman: Golf Digest

Gulbis Tees it Up

Friday, February 26, 2010

Natalie Gulbis is showing off her humorous side, despite being 11 shots off the lead at the HSBC Women's Champions in Singapore. She posted this photo on her Twitter page about four hours ago, with the caption, "Teeing up a shot off my Caddy Greg."

I hope Greg gets more than 10 percent of the winnings for this.

--Ashley Mayo

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Rawson ups ante in race for final spot in Mojo6

Thursday, February 25, 2010

The Mojo 6 tournament is living up to its name. Fifteen golfers have already secured their spot in the 16-player field, and a dozen other women are vying for that last opening. It's up to us to decide who that final competitor will be.

The inaugural Raceway Golf at The Mojo 6 tournament, a unique, fast-paced event that will draw a lot of eyeballs, will be held at the Cinnamon Hill Golf Course in Montego Bay, Jamaica on April 15th and 16th. Over those two days, 16 golfers will compete against each other in a series of six-hole matches for the final prize of $1 million.

The 12 players vying for the last spot are Amy Alcott, Nicole Castrale, Laura Davies, Sandra Gal, Vicky Hurst, Jeong Jang, Eun-Hee Ji, Catriona Matthew, Anna Rawson, Beatriz Recari, Marianne Skarpnord and Lindsey Wright.

Gal, Hurst, Rawson and Skarpnord have made the race leading up the The Race more intriguing, using Twitter and Facebook to gather more votes. But Rawson has just announced another hook: If voted into the tournament, the model and golfer will give 100 percent of her winnings to three charities: International Medical Corps, UNICEF and Inspire, a foundation that helps young victims of suicide. Indeed, suicide is a topic that touches Rawson personally. Her mother committed suicide when she was 5 years old, and Rawson hopes to help those children who have dealt with similar tragedies.

Fans can vote for their favorite player once a day at themojo6.com through March 15. The players who have secured their spots are Kristy McPherson, Suzann Pettersen, Paula Creamer, Morgan Pressel, Jiyai Shin, Brittany Lang, Cristie Kerr, Christina Kim, Anna Nordqvist, Angela Stanford, Mariah Stackhouse, Amanda Blumenherst, Yani Tseng, Na Yeon Choi, Brittany Lincicome.

The Mojo 6 will air on May 1st 2nd.

You can become a fan of the Mojo 6 Tournament on Twitter and on Facebook. And you can watch Christina Kim and Paula Creamer talk about the Mojo 6 here.

-- Ashley Mayo

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Jones tabbed as U.S. Solheim Cup captain

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Rosie Jones, one of the most intense competitors in the history of the LPGA and a player who probably maximized her ability as completely as anyone who has ever played the game, will be the captain of the U.S. Solheim Cup team when it takes on Europe next year in Ireland. Jones, whose selection was announced Wednesday, will try to extend the American winning streak to four in the competition the United States has dominated 8-3.

One of the shortest hitters of her era, and among the few players whom the distance revolution passed by when hotter balls and hotter bats came into play at the turn of the century, Jones nonetheless won 13 times on the LPGA and made seven Solheim Cup teams. The 2011 competition will be played at Killeen Castle in County Meath, Ireland from Sept. 23-25.

"I am honored and absolutely ecstatic to be chosen as the 2011 Solheim Cup captain," said Jones, member of the first U.S. Solheim Cup team in 1990 who also sank the putt to clinch the 2002 Solheim Cup. "The Solheim Cup has been a huge part of my career as a player, and now it will be even more exciting as I prepare for what promises to be another great Solheim Cup in Ireland. I couldn't be more proud to represent the United States and have the opportunity to lead our players across the pond to Killeen Castle to retain the Cup."

Jones faces a challenge in Ireland, however, as each of the European Team's three Solheim Cup victories has come on European soil, the last coming in Sweden in 2003. The 2009 European Solheim Cup Captain Alison Nicholas will once again lead her team. In her days as a member of the U.S. squad, Jones recorded 12 points, including an overall singles record of 3-3-1. Her most recent appearance came at the 2005 competition played at the Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, Indiana, where her U.S. team beat the Europeans by three points, tying the closest match in the history of the event. The Solheim Cup last August at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Illinois was played in front of a record crowd of more than 120,000 for the week.

"Rosie Jones is a terrific choice to lead the American team at the 2011 Solheim Cup in Ireland," said John Solheim, PING Chairman & CEO. "As a seven-time participant in the event, including the very first one in 1990, her Solheim Cup experience provides her tremendous insight into team dynamics and what it takes to get the most out of every player. I expect the tenacity Rosie is known for on the golf course will translate to the team and create a competitive and enjoyable environment for the players and fans."

Jones was chosen by a selection committee comprised of the past three U.S. team captains, the LPGA Board Chairman, President of the LPGA Executive Committee, and the LPGA Commissioner. Her first job as captain will be to select two assistant's to help her lead the squad. Among those who may be captains down the road are Juli Inkster, Meg Mallon and Dottie Pepper, the poster woman for U.S. Solheim Cup intensity whose captain chances suffered a setback when her "choking freaking dogs" comment, inadvertently made it on the air during the 2007 Solheim Cup.

-- Ron Sirak

(Photo by Getty Images)

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Obama, Lindley and Obesity

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Michelle Obama wants to make tackling childhood obesity her main focus as First Lady. She kicked off her campaign this morning at the Oval Office, joining President Barack Obama as he signed a memorandum establishing an "obesity plan of action."

The First Lady also celebrated her campaign at the Town Hall Education, Arts & Recreation Campus (THEARC), a 110,000 square-foot education arts & recreation center in Washington, DC. Leta Lindley, who grabbed her first LPGA Tour win at the 2008 Corning Classic, joined the First Lady at the THEARC this morning. Lindley, a mother of two, is an advocate for research to find a cure for Prader-Willi Syndrome, a complex birth defect that can lead to excessive eating and life-threatening obesity.

Childhood obesity has skyrocketed since 1980, and one in three children in the United States are now overweight. Michelle Obama's Childhood Obesity Initiative will focus on improving the food provided in schools across the country, and on giving children more opportunities for rigorous physical activity. The First Lady will be the crux in encouraging parents and public, nonprofit, and private sectors to support the work of the federal government in improving the health of American children.

"Obesity has been recognized as a problem for decades," said President Obama, after signing the memorandum. "But efforts to address this crisis to date have been insufficient."

--Ashley Mayo

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Gustafson and Votaw divorce

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

It's the end of a union that had all the ingredients of a fairy-tale romance.

When then-LPGA commissioner Ty Votaw began dating LPGA Tour player Sophie Gustafson in 2003 while still married to (though separated from) his first wife, Paula Keiffer, it caused an uproar in the world of golf--and sports in general. Could a commissioner hook up with one of his players? Wasn't that a conflict of interest?

In the end, after Votaw offered to resign, the LPGA board of executives decided in a unanimous emergency vote that it wasn't. The commissioner got to stay, he married his new love in 2006, and they lived happily ever after.

At least that's how the fairy-tale version would have wrapped up. In real life, a judge in St. John's County, Fla., just granted the couple a divorce after less than four years of marriage. No official reason for the split has been given, but it's safe to assume that the demands of Votaw's new job as executive VP of the PGA Tour and Gustafson's increasingly international tournament schedule (she won the Ladies European Tour's Henderson money title for 2009) made it difficult to stay close.