Archive for November, 2009
November 14, 2009
Scores Friday from the Lorena Ochoa Invitational, a $1,1 million US LPGA Tour event at 6,638-yard, par-72 Guadalajara Country Club.
Second Round
Jiyai Shin 67-66-133
Michelle Wie 70-66-136
Paula Creamer 67-69-136
Song-Hee Kim 65-72-137
Suzann Pettersen 72-67-139
Brittany Lang 69-70-139
Cristie Kerr 69-70-139
Brittany Lincicome 69-70-139
Mariajo Uribe 67-72-139
Yani Tseng 72-68-140
Morgan Pressel 72-68-140
Kristy McPherson 71-69-140
Lorena Ochoa 71-69-140
M.J. Hur 70-70-140
Candie Kung 73-69-142
Anna Nordqvist 73-69-142
Eun-Hee Ji 68-74-142
Ai Miyazato 71-72-143
Katherine Hull 70-73-143
Catriona Matthew 68-75-143
Sophie Gustafson 75-69-144
Seon Hwa Lee 71-73-144
Laura Davies 76-69-145
Na Yeon Choi 74-71-145
Sun Young Yoo 73-72-145
Karrie Webb 73-72-145
Sophia Sheridan 72-73-145
In-Kyung Kim 71-74-145
Ji Young Oh 74-72-146
Juli Inkster 71-75-146
Hee-Won Han 71-76-147
Se Ri Pak 75-73-148
Angela Stanford 73-75-148
Hee Young Park 79-70-149
Lindsey Wright 75-74-149
Natalie Gulbis 74-WD
November 13, 2009
Scores Thursday from the Disney Classic, a $4,7 million US PGA Tour event at two par-72 Walt Disney Resort courses; 7,516-yard Magnolia Course; 7,010-yard Palm Course.
First Round
Justin Rose 32-33-65
Rickie Fowler 35-31-66
Greg Owen 32-34-66
Casey Wittenberg 35-31-66
Will MacKenzie 33-34-67
Matt Bettencourt 33-34-67
Cliff Kresge 34-33-67
Zach Johnson 33-34-67
Rick Price 33-34-67
Kris Blanks 32-35-67
Bill Haas 33-35-68
Nick OHern 33-35-68
George McNeill 33-35-68
Chez Reavie 32-36-68
Matt Weibring 33-35-68
Mathias Gronberg 35-33-68
Justin Leonard 35-33-68
Daniel Chopra 33-35-68
Chris DiMarco 34-34-68
Brian Gay 34-34-68
Jimmy Walker 34-35-69
Jeff Klauk 33-36-69
Stephen Ames 35-34-69
Heath Slocum 33-36-69
Rod Perry 35-34-69
Rich Beem 33-36-69
Peter Lonard 36-33-69
Ted Purdy 37-32-69
Tom Pernice, Jr. 37-32-69
Richard S. Johnson 32-37-69
Corey Pavin 37-32-69
Matthew Borchert 35-34-69
Charles Warren 37-33-70
Joe Durant 36-34-70
Kevin Streelman 35-35-70
Webb Simpson 34-36-70
Charlie Wi 34-36-70
Jeff Overton 34-36-70
Chris Riley 34-36-70
Bo Van Pelt 35-35-70
Charles Howell III 38-32-70
Joe Ogilvie 35-35-70
Cameron Beckman 34-36-70
Brandt Snedeker 34-36-70
David Mathis 35-35-70
Scott Gutschewski 34-36-70
Kent Jones 34-36-70
Patrick Sheehan 35-35-70
Jeff Quinney 33-37-70
Jay Williamson 36-34-70
Jonathan Byrd 38-32-70
Michael Bradley 34-36-70
John Rollins 34-36-70
Tim Herron 33-37-70
Johnson Wagner 35-35-70
D.J. Trahan 34-36-70
Patrick Moore 34-36-70
Brendon de Jonge 33-37-70
Jason Gore 36-35-71
Ben Crane 35-36-71
Brett Quigley 36-35-71
Harrison Frazar 34-37-71
Carl Pettersson 35-36-71
Briny Baird 37-34-71
D.A. Points 36-35-71
James Oh 36-35-71
Derek Fathauer 37-34-71
Glen Day 34-37-71
Spencer Levin 36-35-71
Jamie Lovemark 36-35-71
Bob Heintz 36-35-71
Rocco Mediate 36-35-71
Ken Duke 37-34-71
Ryan Palmer 35-36-71
Brian Bateman 34-37-71
Tom Lehman 36-35-71
Jeff Maggert 35-36-71
Aron Price 34-37-71
Darron Stiles 34-37-71
Aaron Watkins 36-35-71
Brian Davis 37-35-72
Bob Tway 35-37-72
Nicholas Thompson 37-35-72
Steve Elkington 37-35-72
Tommy Armour III 35-37-72
Marc Turnesa 39-33-72
Fredrik Jacobson 36-36-72
John Merrick 36-36-72
Tim Petrovic 36-36-72
Jason Bohn 36-36-72
Steve Flesch 35-37-72
Mark Calcavecchia 35-37-72
Steve Lowery 38-34-72
J.B. Holmes 37-35-72
Tyler Aldridge 37-35-72
Erik Compton 37-35-72
Leif Olson 37-35-72
Ricky Barnes 37-36-73
Michael Letzig 33-40-73
Wil Collins 37-36-73
Colt Knost 37-36-73
Michael Allen 36-37-73
Shane Bertsch 38-35-73
Eric Axley 37-36-73
David Toms 39-34-73
Brendon Todd 38-35-73
Troy Kelly 36-37-73
Arjun Atwal 39-35-74
Scott Piercy 36-38-74
Lee Janzen 34-40-74
Parker McLachlin 38-36-74
Brad Faxon 37-37-74
Todd Hamilton 39-35-74
Haymes Snedeker 35-39-74
Robert Garrigus 36-38-74
Roland Thatcher 39-35-74
Greg Kraft 36-38-74
Paul Goydos 37-37-74
Dean Wilson 37-38-75
Brad Adamonis 41-34-75
John Mallinger 38-37-75
Jarrod Lyle 39-36-75
Brian Vranesh 38-37-75
Billy Mayfair 39-37-76
David Duval 37-39-76
Peter Tomasulo 38-38-76
Matt Jones 42-36-78
November 13, 2009
Song-Hee Kim shot a 7-under 65 on Thursday in the Lorena Ochoa Invitational to take a two-stroke lead over Jiyai Shin, Paula Creamer and Mariajo Uribe - and six-shot advantage over the top-ranked Ochoa.
Kim had six birdies on the first 10 holes at Guadalajara Country Club and also birdied the last to top the 36-player field. Winless in three seasons on the LPGA Tour, shes trying to become the ninth South Korean to win this year.
Shin, a three-time winner this season and the money leader, has already won the rookie of the year award and leads Ochoa in the player of the year race.
Ochoa shot a 71, making three birdies and two bogeys on her home course.
I have no excuses, Ochoa said. I played good today. I wasnt nervous. I controlled my game, but I couldnt get used to the green speeds. Hopefully, I wont make the same mistakes tomorrow.
Catriona Matthew and Eun-Hee Ji opened with 68s, Cristie Kerr, Brittany Lincicome and Brittany Lang had 69s, and Michelle Wie, Katherine Hull and M.J. Hur shot 70s.
Ai Miyazato, second on the money list, had a 71, and defending champion Angela Stanford finished with a 73.
Kim has 10 top-10s this season, including a fifth-place finish two weeks ago in South Korea at the Hana Bank KOLON Championship. One of 47 South Koreans on the tour, Kim said she believes shes close to winning.
I have had a lot of chances this year, Kim said. I think I didnt have luck and that is why I lost the wins. If I play well this week, I think I can win.
She savored her 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole.
That one I was thinking if I make this I can get more confident, she said. That was really important to me.
With two tournaments remaining, Shin leads Ochoa by four points in the player of the year race. The season ends next week at the LPGA Tour Championship in Houston.
If Shin wins this week she will wrap up the player of the year award if Ochoa fails to finish at least seventh. Nancy Lopez is the only player to win both the rookie and player of the year awards in the same season, accomplishing the feat in 1978.
Shin birdied four of the first six holes, and also controlled her sometimes-troublesome driver.
The last couple of weeks, my driver … is a little scary because sometimes its a little too far left, she said. But today no mistakes with the driver. Im really happy to hit driver today, so my confidence is good. So I just want to just carry this feeling.
Ochoa also has won three times this season, but that pales compared to the 21 she won in the previous three seasons. She plans to marry next month and has acknowledged off-course obligations have hurt her tournament results.
Creamer, who won four times last season, is winless in 2009 and has battled stomach problems. This week she said shes traveling with 40 pounds of her own food.
A win here would be huge, Creamer said. It would be considering - I dont like to dwell on the year - what Ive had to go through. It would be nice.
November 13, 2009
Colin Montgomerie will captain Europes team at next years Royal Trophy match play tournament against Asia after Seve Ballesteros ruled himself out over lingering health concerns.
Seve has invited me to captain Europe at the Royal Trophy and I am delighted to accept, Montgomerie said in a statement Thursday.
Ballesteros, who missed the 2009 event after undergoing surgery to treat a malignant brain tumor, had said he hoped to captain the team when it plays at the Amata Spring Country Club in Thailand from Jan. 8-10.
It is best for the players to have complete certainty as to who will lead them in this great match against Asia, and while my recovery has been very good, I am not certain that I will be ready to give our team the 110 percent effort it deserves, Ballesteros said in a statement. The role of captain is complex, difficult and demanding and I sincerely thank Colin, my very good friend, for taking this major responsibility.
Montgomerie, an eight-time European Tour Order of Merit winner and current European Ryder Cup captain, welcomed Ballesteros invitation and said it would be a great opportunity to work closely with some of the same players he will lead against the United States in October.
I am really pleased to be representing Europe in Thailand and am determined to regain the Royal Trophy for Europe, Montgomerie said. I am looking forward to working with my counterpart, Asian Captain Joe Ozaki, and it would be wonderful to secure victory in what will be an important week for Seve.
Asia won this years competition after losing to Europe in 2006 and 2007.
November 12, 2009
Japanese teen star Ryo Ishikawa shot a 4-under 68 to finish a stroke behind the leaders after the first round of the Taiheiyo Masters.
The 18-year-old Ishikawa, a four-time winner this year on the Japanese tour, bogeyed the final hole to drop a stroke behind Kenichi Kuboya, Tomohiro Kondo and Shigeru Nonaka on the Taiheiyo Clubs Gotemba Course.
Norio Shinozaki, Taigen Tsumagari, Yuta Ikeda, Shinichi Yokota and Nobuhiro Masuda matched Ishikawa with 68s.
November 12, 2009
Jiyai Shin is on the verge of sweeping both the LPGAs rookie and player of the year awards.
The South Korean has already clinched the rookie award and leads Lorena Ochoa by four points in the player of the year race going into the final two tournaments of the seasonthis weeks Lorena Ochoa Invitational in Mexico, and the LPGA Tour Championship next week in Houston.
So does that make her the best of the 47 talented South Koreans who play on the LPGA Tour?
Well, thats a really hard question, replied the 21-year-old Shin, hedging with a large grin but hinting shes getting famous back home.
Im not huge yet, but Im getting a little bit bigger.
Shin also leads the money list, which would make it a clean sweep and might signal the arrival of the next dominating player in the womens game.
No South Koreannot even veteran Se Ri Pakhas finished No. 1 on the money list, and no Korean has ever been player of the year. Shin is the sixth Korean to win rookie of the year.
At the beginning of the season my goal was rookie of the year, Shin said. But Ive already made that and now I have a chance for player of the year, too. Theres no pressure because I have already made my goal. Player of the year is a bonus thing for me.
Shin has won three times this season, and she won three times last year on the LPGA Tour before she was even a member, including a victory in the 2008 Womens British Open. If she wins Ochoas tournament on Sundayand Ochoa finishes eighth or lowerShin will be the player of the year.
Ochoa, the games top-ranked player, has won that award three straight times.
The last player to pull off the double was Nancy Lopez in 1978.
Besides Shin and Ochoa, a few other players have mathematical chances at player of the year, but they are long shots. They include: Cristie Kerr, Ai Miyazato, Yani Tseng, Suzann Pettersen, Na Yeon Choi and Angela Stanford.
Shin grins continually and is mastering English. Barely a year ago she needed an interpreter after winning the Womens British Open. Now she handles interviews on her own. She also loves to sing and has put out a CD, which she said Ochoa is always begging her to play.
All the time she says she wants to hear my songthe English version, Shin said.
Her rapid success belies horrible tragedy.
She was hitting balls in 2003 on a practice range in Korea when her mother and two siblingsa younger brother and sisterwere injured in a car crash. Her mother died from the injuries and her two siblings were confined to a hospital for a year. Shin said she spent many nights on a chair or a cot at the hospital.
I had to care for my brother and sister because my mom was already gone, she said on the eve of Ochoas tournament. Now my feelings are fine because it was a long time ago. For a couple of years it was really hard because my heart was broken.
Last Sunday marked the sixth anniversary of her mothers death. Though her mother followed her career, she never saw her win. Shin won her first tournament four months after her mothers death in a Korean amateur event.
She turned pro after the 2005 season and hasnt stopping winningas a pro in Korea and now with the LPGA.
My mom always cares for me, Shin said. My aunt dreams moms really busy in heaven running back and forth.
November 11, 2009
Adam Scott will consider giving up his European Tour membership next year if players are forced to play designated events.
I believe its becoming harder and harder to play multiple tours, Scott said Wednesday at the Australian Masters. My playing poorly this year doesnt help. But those years of Ernie Els running second in the U.S. and winning the Order of Merit … I dont think youre going to see too much of that.
Scott already has played 22 times this year on the European Tour and the PGA Tour, and he now embarks on the Australasian Tour schedule at the Australian Masters, followed by the Australian Open and the Australian PGA Championship in December.
Next week is the Dubai World Championship to cap off the European Tour schedule. Scott is No. 44 in the Race to Dubai.
European Tour chief executive George OGrady said last week it would be announced in Dubai whether the tour will act on a proposal that players compete in four out of six designated events, which could require playing more tournaments in Europe and could force players to alter an already busy schedule.
Scott said he doesnt blame Europe for considering the stronger membership requirements, saying it needs to protect its sponsors and deliver a strong field. It just might not be for him.
I think Europe is doing the right thing, he said. But if thats the case, and with where I am with my game, Im going to have to focus on one or the other and give it 100 percent. Because you run the risk of potentially not playing well on either tour. If you want to compete in the FedEx Cup, youve got to spot Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk, Vijay Singh seven to 10 events. These are not exactly lightweights.
On the European Tour, he said it is getting tougher to compete against the likes of Lee Westwood, Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell. McIlroy has played 23 times on the European Tour, compared with 11 tournaments for Scott.
With the depth of talent on both tours, its going to be hard for me to play two tours next year, he said. If you finish 20th on one and 15th on another, you dont know how good that is.
He said he felt the games of Ian Poulter and Justin Rose also were suffering by trying to play two tours.
Poulter did not reach the FedEx Cup final event on the PGA Tour, and only climbed into the top 10 on Europe two weeks ago by winning in Singapore, his first victory anywhere in three years. Rose only qualified for two FedEx Cup playoff events, and is No. 47 in Europe.
Els has been this generations pied piper when it comes to global travel. He won the Order of Merit in 2004 and finished a distant second on the PGA Tour money list in 2004, when he won five times and had a chance to win all four majors.
November 11, 2009
Nick Faldo has been knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for a career in which he won six majors and captained Europes Ryder Cup team.
Faldo can call himself Sir Nick Faldo following the ceremony at Windsor Castle. He was awarded the honor for his services to the sport.
Faldo says he had dreams as a young boy of being a golfer and winning tournaments, but you dont dream of this.
The two-time European Order of Merit winner won three Masters and three British Open titles. He is just the second professional golfer to be knighted after Henry Cotton in 1988.
November 11, 2009
American Sean OHair and Camilo Villegas of Colombia share the lead through 15 holes of the Kiwi Challenge, which was halted when gusts reached 80 kph (50 mph) at Cape Kidnappers.
OHair and Villegas were at 2-under par on Wednesday, while Anthony Kim was 1-over and defending champion and fellow American Hunter Mahan was 3-over. T
The first round was to resume Thursday morning, followed immediately by the final round.
Villegas said the wind was so strong on the 10th that it blew OHairs cap into the ocean.
The Kiwi Challenge is a 36-hole exhibition at Cape Kidnappers for players under 30.
November 10, 2009
The European Tours top earners are gathering in Hong Kong this week to make a final push for the lucrative season-ending tournament in Dubai.
Race to Dubai leaders Lee Westwood and Rory McIlroy, No. 5 Paul Casey and No. 10 Ian Poulter are among the star attractions at $2.5 million UBS Hong Kong Open, starting Thursday at the par-70, 6,702-yard course at the Hong Kong Golf Club in Fanling.
The Hong Kong tournament, co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour, has attracted one of its strongest fields since it was first staged in 1959 - in part thanks to its timing as the final pre-Dubai tournament and proximity to the HSBC Champions in Shanghai last week.
The top 60 earners on the European Tour after Hong Kong will play in Dubai on Nov. 19 to Nov. 22 for a $7.5 million bonus pool.
The field in Hong Kong also includes former British Open champions Mark OMeara and Ben Curtis, Scotlands Colin Montgomerie, PGA Championship winner Yang Yong-eun of South Korea - the first Asian major winner - as well as two-time Hong Kong champion Miguel Angel Jimenez and defending champion Lin Wen-tang of Taiwan.
Swedens Robert Karlsson, who won the last Order of Merit title on the European Tour, is still on the comeback after being forced out of the U.S. Open at Bethpage Black because of an eye infection which left him with no depth perception in his left eye.
McIlroy and Westwood are coming off strong showings at the HSBC Champions.
McIlroy finished fourth - ahead of Tiger Woods - and Westwood tied for eighth. McIlroy is aiming to go one step further than he did here last year, when he narrowly lost a playoff against Lin.
Other stars in the Hong Kong field are five-time PGA winner Rory Sabbatini, Indias Jeev Milkha Singh and Asian Tour Order of Merit leader Thongchai Jaidee from Thailand.
