What a weekend in golf! At the risk of stealing from our good golf buddy, Clint, there was good golf (no...actually there was great golf)...there was bad golf...and there was just butt-ugly golf!
First let's start with the great. That has to be Annika taking the LPGA's "fifth major", the Michelob Ultra Open by not 1, not by 3, not even by 5...nope - 7 whole strokes - blowing Karrie Webb's tournament record out of the water by five shots!
And what makes it even more impressive is that the world's number one, Lorena was in the field, closing at tied for 12th (yup, outside the top 10) and Paula Creamer, last week's winner at the SemGroup Championship with a T16 with defending champion, Suzann Petterson.
I said it at the beginning of the year that Lorena needs to watch out because Annika is back! Now before you get all out of sorts about my feelings about the great LO...no doubt... Lorena is definitely the world's number one and will be number one for the unforeseeable future. But sometimes "hunger" is tougher than youth + talent and there is no one more hungry and more determined to prove she's still got it than Annika Sorenstam. So let's cheer with the greatest female golfer that we've seen to date and then let Lorena take the grandstand going forward. Today...Annika Sorenstam is Queen of the Links!
Yes, it was a great weekend for the LPGA, even if I didn't get to watch it on cable - grrrrr :-(
I heard that Australian Katherine Hull shot a 2 on the Par 5 7th hole - yup...double eagle! It's only the 29th double eagle in the history of the LPGA Tour. Who in the heck is Katherine Hull? Well, she tied for 6th at this event - her best this year. In her 9 starts this year, she's missed 4 cuts. But hey...we all have bad days. This week, she's going down in history. So I say, "Enjoy it Katherine. I hope we see you up there on the leaderboard at the MacDonald's in June.
And one more thing...before I move on to the men...I have to give a great big kudos and Internet hug to Christina Kim - one of my faves who came in tied for 2nd with Allison Fouch, Karen Stupples and Jeong Jang this weekend. Well done CK! I not only love you for your spunk and tenacity, you have the same initials as my golfguy :).
So the women were great this weekend even if half of North America couldn't watch them. But the men were pretty spectacular too.
If I had to pick anyone more hungry than Annika this week for a win, it would be Sergio Garcia who won The Players in a playoff against the very lovable and, witty and self-deprecating Paul Goydos. I didn't get to watch today's round as I was enjoying myself on one my favorite courses in Vancouver BC - Northview Canal - the home of the Air Canada Canadian Open. It was only 48 degrees when we teed off at noon, but it was a wonderful afternoon on a wonderful course that any tourist to Vancouver just has to play! I'll do a review of it soon and hope some day you'll get to enjoy it as much as I do.
Now back to Sergio...I have been a fan of Sergio since the first time I watched him hit a drive. I'm not amused by his antics like spitting in the cup or whining about bad breaks at the Open, but I still think he is a phenomenal player and a passionate human being who just needs to channel his passions in the right direction. It also doesn't hurt that he's too cute for words - Spanish accent and all!
Sergio is good - just plain and simple - he's really really good. His putting has kept him back from reaching his real potential (last win was in 2005), but he's still really really good. The media took him to the cleaners after last year's British Open when he lost in a playoff to Padraig Harrington, but after this weekend, perhaps they may start to eat their words. His game was "on" - Yes...even his putting. It appears that his short game has been rejuvinated with his new putting coach, Stan Utley, an ex-PGA winner himself, who said he was just there as Sergio's cheerleader now. Sergio is back - Tiger - watch out. I don't know about you, but I can't wait for the US Open at Torrey Pines.
So, we had some very pleasant surprises with Annika and Sergio winning, but...oh...let's not forget Hennie Otto winning the Italian Open today - a golfer who lost his card last year coming back to win a pretty big tournament against some of the best European golfers.. It was great to see that Cinderella story.
But we also had some pretty ugly surprises today too - like Phil Mickelson shooting a 78 on the final day. Gulp! The defending champion, second only to Tiger in the rankings, shot a 78! I wish I had seen that - no...then again..maybe not.
And then our hunk of the month, Adam Scott shot an 80! Ouch!!! Okay...that really hurt. Let's pretend that didn't happen and move on....
So we had some great golf and some bad golf and some really ugly golf, but what we really had was some unforgettable "Come Back Tomorrow" golf, because like the Energizer Bunny, the PGA and LPGA and European Tour just keep on ticking and ticking and ticking.
Golfgal
Sergio Photo by: © Isogood | Dreamstime.com
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