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Sybase Match Play - Article [spoilers]

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Sybase Match Play - Article [spoilers]

Nice article Claire.
 
Sybase Match Play - Article [spoilers]

Well done Claire!


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Thanks. I'm still trying to figure out who I walk with tomorrow. I've been told I'm with the pair teeing off at 8:54 am. Only problem is, that tee time doesn't exist. Morgan Pressel tees off at 8:50 and Michelle Redman at 8:58. Tomorrow is also Boo Girl's birthday, so no guarantees about how quickly a report will get uploaded.
 
Awesome read Claire :good: Keep 'em coming :)
 
I sure hope there aren’t any grammatical errors! :smile-big:
 
Nice article Claire, thanks.
 
Blumenhurst just waxed Karrie Webb 7 and 6.
 
Looks like a great course they are playing on, love the barn's near the fairways and greens!
 
i could easily watch michelle wie play golf all day. her swing's fantastic! and i don't mind the view......at all!
 
tcalloway1 said:
i could easily watch michelle wie play golf all day. her swing's fantastic! and i don't mind the view......at all!
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It's pretty entertaining to watch her bang out 5 woods and still end up with only a 9 iron into the green..
 
This could go in the Grammar and Usage or Rant threads, but why do they keep calling this the "Inaugural 2010 Sybase Match Play Championship"? One or the other but not both! Unless they are planning on having another one of these before 2011.
 
Some good golf played at this event. Well played.

I noticed whoever is in charge thought it would be a good idea to keep the Munoz girl involved in the broadcast even if she isn't playing. I sang my praises for her during last weekends event.

To those who are fans of Wie's look. Munoz blows her away. :act-up:
 
I thought this was a fun event but it looked like there was no one in the crowds. I hate to see that at any golf tournament.
 
GolferGal said:
I thought this was a fun event but it looked like there was no one in the crowds. I hate to see that at any golf tournament.
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Not only that, but Yoo refused to be interviewed after the match because she isn't comfortable speaking English. Kind of anticlimactic. I was looking forward to hear what she had to say.
 
Hi all--

Sorry to be MIA on you. Three days of walking, followed immediately by houseguests. I can't see a way to create a blog out of this, so I'll just clutter up the thread. Three day's worth of notes (I got better at note taking as the match went on), one at a time:

Sybase Diary—Round One​

The Golf Tournament Gods have finally smiled upon me. After some years of walking in the chilly rain with relative unknowns, yesterday was a dream come true. Warm, sunny, little wind—and best of all, Juli Inkster and Suzann Pettersen. Matchplay doesn’t get any better than this.

The Golf Channel’s coverage led off with the end of the match, so I can offer little by way of additional play-by-play. My notes were fairly spotty. Instead, I present some random observations (plus a little gossip and snarkiness)

The Random Observations

I went into this match wanting both players to win—and that nearly happened. However high Suzann Pettersen is ranked (number 3, going into this), she has had trouble closing in the past couple of years. You can never count Juli Inkster out in match play. After Laura Davies, she has the best record in the world, and she’s not ready to quit.

Television does not begin to give you a feel for Hamilton Farm. Even in HD, the cameras flatten everything out, particularly the greens. They feature ridges, undulations, and breaks you simply cannot see except in person.

There had been much rain on Tuesday, and the fairways were still soggy in places. Lift, clean, and place was the order of the day. Especially early on, there was much marking, measuring, and choosing of the lie.

Juli got into serious bunker trouble on the fourth. Many of the fairway bunkers are just as deep and nasty as the greenside ones. Her first shot went into the next bunker. Her second didn’t make it out. At that point, Juli conceded the hole. The standard bearer and I looked at each other and both said, “I can play like that.”

Suzann got into some trouble on the 11th. Her tee shot landed on the right fringe, with a serious tree between her and the green. Standing behind her, it looked like a low stinger was the order of the day, but she managed to hit over the tree and land in birdie range.

Throughout the match, Suzann had the upper hand. She won the first two holes, and Juli played catchup the entire time. Juli was never better than all square, until the 21st hole—when it really counted. Suzann is by far the longer hitter, but Juli can do anything around the green. I’d hoped for a chip in, but that didn’t happen. Instead, she had some incredible pitches—including on the 18th hole.
Juli is a fierce but generous competitor. Particularly on the last few holes, she conceded putts that another player might have forced Suzann to play out, just for the mind games. Juli never ever gives up. As the round went on, I found myself really pulling for her. It’s only a shame this all took place on Thursday, instead of the weekend.

The Gossip and Snarkiness

Juli is far better looking in person than those web site photos would have you believe. When she smiles (often!), she’s beautiful. Of course Suzann is beautiful.
As is often the case, Nike’s contract with Suzann includes her caddy’s wardrobe. Juli’s caddy is proudly a Seminole.

Juli should tuck in her shirt—she’s got a nice figure and she should show it off. Suzann’s shirt had a subtle diamond pattern, with the dry weave worked in. Her white pants were unlined, and for the life of me I could see no evidence of what was underneath them (hey, I followed this woman for 5+ hours; I couldn’t help but notice).

Stephanie Sparks’ hair color looks really fake up close. You can’t see this on television, but she carries her own equipment in a great big fanny pack.

A few of the distances between holes are long enough that they shuttled us. At one point, Juli and Suzann were commenting on the 20,000+ square foot around the course. Juli pointed to one and mentioned that Janice Moodie was staying in it. Suzann’s response: “That’s Bon Jovi’s house.”

With that, it’s off to day two.
 
Sybase Diary Day 2

Sybase Diary Day 2

Sybase Diary—Round Two ​
You probably can’t top Juli Inkster and Suzann Pettersen going 21 holes in match play. But you can try—Amanda Blumenherst and Karrie Webb, anyone? In the words of Oscar Hammerstein, “Somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good.” This can’t all be dumb luck. Friday was another glorious day at Hamilton Farm, and today’s match was just as dramatic, if very different, as yesterday’s.
Amanda Blumenherst is this year’s rookie to watch, but we’ve all seen players who couldn’t live up to that sort of billing. Based on Friday, this gal is the complete package. The bottom line: the match was over after 12 holes, 7 and 6. It doesn’t get much more decisive than that.
Watching Their Games
Being walking scorer forces you to concentrate on specific aspects of the players’ game: fairways hit, greens in regulation, putt per round, and some others. On the LPGA, the statistic most critical to success is greens in regulation.
In their match, both Amanda and Karrie hit every single fairway. They are both accurate bombers off the tee. However, Amanda dialed in all her approach shots, whereas Karrie seemed to be having trouble with distances—she was too short on the first hole, too long on the second, and so forth. As the round progressed, she was forced to take chances Amanda wasn’t, and they ended badly. Trying to reach the par five 11th green in two, Karrie ended up first in the left rough, then in the greenside bunker; she was eventually on in five.
Along with nailing her approach shots, Amanda had the fearlessness of youth when it came to putting. Time and again, she sunk long, impossible putts. On the par 3 eighth, Karrie hit her tee shot to three feet above the hole, whereas Amanda had a 40 foot double breaker. Amanda works closely with her caddy to set up her putts, discussing topography and breaks, and walking the putt for each other. They’re obviously a good team that way—Amanda birdied the 8th, turning Karrie’s easy putt into a nervous downhill slider just to halve the hole.
After playing only 12 holes, Amanda was five under. There is no exact rating for this tournament’s yardage, but the closest one on the club scorecard is 71.7. Amanda also seems to be an incredibly nice person—I told her what a great role model she is for my 10 year old daughter and was barraged with questions about her. Let’s hope she lives up to her promise—the LPGA needs more players like Amanda Blumenherst.
Clothes and More
We all know golf is a great wardrobe opportunity. I had a little time this morning to hang out around the driving range and putting area. Herewith:
Sandra Gal is gorgeous. Rumors to the contrary, she looks perfectly fit and healthy.
In person, Angela Stanford has nice wide shoulders that balance her out just fine. She just needs a good tailor.
For those of us whose mental image of Catriona Matthew is limited to last summer, she has lost all the baby weight and looks fabulous. I almost didn’t recognize her.
Near the putting green, I met up with some friends of Jee Young Lee and got chatting about various tournaments. I mentioned something about how so many of the Korean players wore long white shirts as a base layer and how hot they all looked. They immediately called Jee Young over to introduce me, quiz her about her shirt and who made it. (Made in Korea, naturally.) It’s supposed to be very cool and moisture wicking. It still looks awfully hot.
Amanda Blumenherst wore great green and purple Nike golf shoes that match her outfit perfectly. Karrie Webb’s hair color is worse than Stephanie Sparks; I hope she didn’t pay someone to do that to her.
Tee time tomorrow morning is 7:40.
 
Sybase Diary Day 3

Sybase Diary Day 3

Sybase Diary—Round Three​
It was a three-peat of marquee names in women’s golf. On Saturday morning, I’d originally been scheduled to be walking scorer for two golfers whose names even I didn’t recognize. When I checked in, my committee chair informed me they needed me for an earlier match, and I’d be walking with Yani Tseng (number 4 in the Rolex Rankings and winner of this year’s Kraft Nabisco) and Inbee Park (winner of the 2008 Women’s U.S. Open). I couldn’t believe my luck, though I fear that somewhere, I owe someone a huge and unpleasant favor.
Watching Their Games
This is the first pairing where the players walked and talked together between holes. They are obviously friends. It was fun to hear, because both speak good but not great English, their common language (Tseng is Taiwanese, not Korean).
Overall, Tseng spent the first handful of holes churning out pars, leaving Park to birdie or to make mistakes. As she began making more of the latter, Tseng turned on the birdie machine herself. Moving into the back nine, it was clear Tseng had the upper hand. It was over on the 15th—Tseng went 5 and 3.
Almost always, Tseng was the longer hitter. It wasn’t until the 10th hole that Park hit the longer drive. Hole three is a 190 yard par 3—downhill all the way. Tseng pulled out an iron (either a 5 or a 6; I couldn’t be certain) for that one. Park had plenty of distance, but she came at her tee shots very low, almost lunging at them.
On the par 5 fifth hole, Tseng went for the green in two. Her second shot ricocheted off a tree near the green and landed in deep sawgrass. Amazingly, she pitched it onto the green and made her par.
Park landed in a greenside bunker on seven, almost on top of a small stone. A handy rules official told her that although the stone was a moveable obstruction, if Park’s ball moved during the removal process, she would be penalized. Park carefully removed the stone, her ball didn’t move, and she made her par.
The ninth hole is where things turned around. Park’s tee shot landed in a grass bunker. Her shot out was just short of the elevated green; it rolled downhill quite a way. Tseng won that hole and never looked back. Park’s chip shot on the 12th hole had the same result.
The match went dormie at 14 (that’s a fun word to use). The 15th was sad inevitability. Park’s tee shot found a fairway bunker. Her second shot landed one bunker up. She had to stop her caddy from raking the first bunker between those shots. Her third shot made it to the green, but Tseng’s third found the cup.
After that, I raced back to the 18th green to watch other matches come in. Catriona Matthew’s went to 19, but her opponent lost her tee shot and conceded. Watching Amanda Blumenherst and Angela Stanford come in was more fun. They were all square and both went for the green in two. Both missed. Angela had an easy chip from just off the green, but Amanda landed in a nasty pothole bunker. Angela sunk her easy birdie; Amanda pulled off another fearless putt. This was another match where I wanted both to win. There was no time to follow them into their extra holes, and I was sorry for that.
And More
Tseng’s only novelty headcover is one imprinted with Peanuts characters. Park’s taste runs to sock puppets.
Tseng’s wardrobe has vastly improved this year—Lacoste is dressing her, and it looks great. They aren’t providing her bag, though.
Lacoste continues to provide Karine Icher’s bag, but it’s not as nice as last year’s was. (Aside to all my fellow volunteers: the woman is French, not German. Her last name isn’t IKE-er, it’s ee-SHAY.)
On the putting green before the matches went off, Michelle Wie seemed unable to sink anything. There was no evidence of Dave Pelz.
Sadly, that ended my share of the tournament. It seems the head of Sybase told people they have a three year contract. I sure hope so—can’t wait for next year!
 
Great read Claire! What a cool experience for you :act-up:

I might be asking you some questions in the next month or two. I volunteered to be a Marshall on the 18th hole at the John Deere Classic in July.
 
hawk308 said:
Great read Claire! What a cool experience for you :act-up:

I might be asking you some questions in the next month or two. I volunteered to be a Marshall on the 18th hole at the John Deere Classic in July.
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Ask away! It's a great experience.
 
Nice write up there Claire.... I am looking at voluntering for the U.S. Womens Open that will be held here in Colorado next year and if I do it I will be getting in touch.
 
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