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Sirak: LPGA pays tribute to a fallen friend

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 14:50:00 GMT

NAPLES, FLA. - In a moving tribute to head LPGA rules official Doug Brecht, who died last month at the age of 62 after a several month battle with West Nile Virus, the tour placed a golf cart on No. 17 at Twin Eagles, site of the season-ending CME Group Titleholders, as a reminder of the man who policed the game for 22 years.

The tribute is to a lasting memory of Doug for the Brecht family. LPGA commissioner Mike Whan explained the tribute in this email to LPGA players.

AP Photo

"LPGA Titleholder Players,

As I explained in Korea, our plan for remembering Doug Brecht this week is very unique, and very consistent with 'how Doug would want it'.

On Friday and Saturday, just after you walk over the bridge on the par 3, 17th hole -- you will see a red golf cart (Oklahoma Red to be precise). The sign on the front of the cart will say "LPGA Rules Official -- Doug Brecht". You notice the OU sticker and Chicago Cubs sticker on the side of the cart, as well. :))

We would invite you to take a quick seat in "Doug's cart" and/or say a little prayer to our teammate, as you pass. Also there will be a silver and black Sharpie on the steering wheel. We hope you and your caddie can/will sign the cart (anywhere you want -- sides, on the seats, tires -- whatever).

After Sunday's round we will take the cart to LPGA Headquarters in Daytona, where other staff members will sign as well. Then, we'll give the cart to Steph Brecht (as our gift to her).

As Steph told me, there is nothing Doug enjoyed more than chatting with players, caddies, and fans in his cart. As you head to the 17th green, if you are feeling like a quick chat with Doug, or want to sign a little note to him -- please do so. If not, no worries -- we simply wanted to make it easy to do. Best of luck to all of you this week."

Mike

Steph Brecht is Doug's wife and Oklahoma University is where he played college golf. Oklahoma is also where the Brechts live. On a personal note, I can say my most memorable chats with Doug all took place sitting in his cart.

The tour was in Asia when Doug died, and the CME Group Titleholders was the first opportunity in the United States for the LPGA to memorialize Brecht. I'm happy to say one of the names on that cart that will go to Steph is mine. Goodbye Doug, I'll keep writing about improving pace-of-play, my friend.

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Gear On Tour: CME Group Titleholders

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 05:00:00 GMT

A glimpse of what players are using at the LPGA's CME Group Titleholders in Naples, Florida.

Tseng seeking encore to dominant year

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 00:40:00 GMT

ORLANDO - Dominance hasn't been rare on the LPGA Tour over the last decade or so. There was Annika Sorenstam and then there was Lorena Ochoa, and now, with those two golfers retired from competition, there is Yani Tseng.

Coming out of the gates of her career faster than even that pair of stars, with 12 victories by age 22, including a quickest-ever five major championships, Tseng has nothing to prove at this week's year-ending CME Group Titleholders.

Whatever happens over 72 holes at Grand Cypress Resort, where 59 players will tee off Thursday in a tournament that has dusted off the Titleholders name - a precious one in women's golf history - will be an encore to a fantastic season for Tseng, the native of Taiwan who now lives in Sorenstam's former home in Orlando.

In 2011 Tseng has seven LPGA victories and 11 overall, wins at the Wegmans LPGA Championship and Ricoh Women's British Open among them. It is reminiscent of seasons that Sorenstam and Ochoa and greats before them enjoyed, the kind of year that dwarfs the competition.

"It's been a very nice year," said Suzann Pettersen, No. 2 to Tseng on the Rolex Rankings, "but when Yani has won seven events, it makes you not feel so great with your two. You can't do anything but applaud what she's done. She's played phenomenal. She kept it [up] all year, which has probably been the most impressive thing."

Even more than her two major titles in 2011, Tseng, who will pick up her second straight Rolex Player of the Year award at a Thursday reception, was buoyed by her appearance - and victory - at the Sunrise LPGA Taiwan Championship last month in her native country. Spectators turned out in droves, one of them Tseng's 92-year-old grandmother who had never seen her granddaughter play golf in person.

"The happy point I would say was in Taiwan," Tseng said. "That was unbelievable. I was really happy that I won that tournament."

Tseng was relaxed and talkative in a Wednesday press conference, having worked hard to learn English, including taking classes prior to the 2011 season. "I have been working on my English, same as my golf," said Tseng, who thanked a questioner who noted her progress. "I try to speak more. I remember four years ago even sitting here probably saying nothing, but now I can talk more, tell my story, my goals, how I can improve this year. I just feel like I can share more stories, more things to the media, to the fans. It's not just good for me, it's good for everybody."

It certainly is better for Tseng when dealing with her English-speaking coach and caddie. "Now we can fight," Tseng said lightheartedly. "Before when we fought, I always lost, but now with my English, I can fight with them. I can tell what's my side. I can tell them what I'm thinking."

Tseng might go back this off-season for more English tutoring, and while she is trying to enjoy life off the course - "I'm 22, so I start tasting the good wine," Tseng said - she realized how all her preparation set the stage for a great 2011. "All the hard work is paying off, and all the great players on the tour, they give me lots of motivation to become a better player," Tseng said. "We all push each other to get better, get better skills and better mentally because you have to play so good to win a tournament."

In gauging how Tseng's talent stacks up against what Sorenstam and Ochoa were able to achieve, Pettersen believes Tseng is competing against a deeper talent pool than Sorenstam but that the Swede is "by far the best one there's been."

"They're different - their games are different," Pettersen said. "Yani is probably the biggest hitter of the three. Annika was quite long at the time, too, but I look at Yani as a more aggressive player. Annika was a strategic perfectionist. She did everything by the the book. She made a plan and stuck to the plan. Lorena had a lot more feel, and she was relaxed. It never felt like she was tense. It's hard to compare. At the end of the day, you count victories, you count points, look at the numbers themselves and draw conclusions."

One number Tseng would like to get to next season is 10 LPGA wins. Sorenstam twice had double-digit LPGA campaigns, winning 11 times in 2002 and 10 times in 2005. Tseng said she might ask Sorenstam for some advice about having a monster season better than her current one, but she isn't lacking for confidence.

"The last three tournaments, I've been expecting to win like every tournament," Tseng said. "It's great pressure for me, because golf is not easy, and there's so many great players on tour. The only thing you can do is focus on yourself. If you think too much, it's just going to mess with you all the tournament. Just try to enjoy the pressure. That pressure gives me motivation. I want to play better to show all the fans what I can do."

The pressure plus motivation equation worked perfectly in her return to her homeland, where she was a singular focus as much as Arnold Palmer or Tiger Woods ever was. "Before the tournament I was feeling so much pressure," Tseng said, "but on the first day I was teeing off on the first tee and I feel like all the pressure is gone because I just want to enjoy this big crowd all over the fairways."

-- Bill Fields

Lexi loving life: 'It has been a blast'

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 23:33:00 GMT

ORLANDO - Sixteen years, seven months, eight days.

Golf denotes its young and its old, rightly so, when they do something spectacular, and with some time to reflect on it, Lexi Thompson's victory in the Navistar LPGA Classic on Sept. 18 seems no less remarkable.

The Florida teenager shattered by more than two years the record as youngest to win a multiple-round LPGA tournament - a brief lifetime of hard work, gifted athleticism and no small measure of smart golf parenting by her father, Scott, and mother, Judy, combining to tilt a sport's youthful landscape ever more.

Thompson will be an LPGA member in 2012, having successfully petitioned for a waiver from the minimum age of 18. But before next year there is punctuation to be put on this year, the CME Group Titleholders this week at Grand Cypress Resort. For Thompson, since her historic win, there have been whirlwind publicity visits to New York City, plenty of fan mail and time to savor what she accomplished.

"It has always been my dream to win on the LPGA and play full-time," Thompson said Tuesday in a media room populated not only by reporters but LPGA tournament directors curious what the precocious teen's effect will be on the circuit. "Having my Dad on the bag that week, sharing the experience with me, was everything I could ask for. I worked so hard those few weeks before that tournament - everything just came together."

The aftermath of that magical weekend in Alabama has included some "pretty cool" moments, foremost meeting young actors Taylor Lautner and Jonah Hill when Thompson went to the "Today" show. "It has been a lot of my decisions doing a lot of the media stuff," she said. "I love traveling and doing TV shows and things like that. It has been a lot of fun for me since [the Navistar], throughout this whole journey. It has been a blast."

As Thompson sets off in earnest on her LPGA career, it is worth pausing to consider how joy has been an ingredient in her precocious golf development - an element the family (which also includes tour pro Nick and college player Curtis) touched on Tuesday.

"We made it fun," Judy Thompson said. "It was never a chore, like you have to go hit two pyramids [of range balls], or go chip for four hours. Go do what you want to do. If you want to play 36 holes with the guys, go do it. If you want to hit balls all day, do it. It was up to them, what their practice was for the day. We never said, 'You have to do this or this.' It was always up to them."

"It is never a chore or a duty," Lexi said. "I just love going out and practicing."