2019 ISPS Handa Vic Open Feb 07 - 10

• Race to the CME Globe: 500 Points
  
• Format: 72 holes
  
• Purse: $1,100,000
  
• Location: 13th Beach Golf Links, Victoria, Australia
  
• Par: 73
  
• Yardage: 6,625
  
• History: This is the first year for the event. In 2018, Minjee Lee shot a six under final round to cruise to a 5 shot win in the LET sanctioned event.
  

Coverage:

• Feb 06: Golf Channel 11:00 pm - 2:00 am (ET)
  
• Feb 07: Golf Channel 11:00 pm - 2:00 am (ET)
  
• Feb 08: Golf Channel 9:00 pm - 3:00 am (ET)
  
• Feb 09: Golf Channel 8:00 pm - 2:00 am (ET)
  

OK, time to get the real season started (?). This tournament is the first of four in a four week stretch. Thursday looks bleak with a heavy t-storm forecast. The remaining three days look very nice, so hopefully they can still get in the full four rounds if play is interrupted.

As discussed elsewhere, the field is fairly weak, with only two of the World's Top 20 teeing it up. This will be a chance to see some of the lower ranked players, including a number of LPGA rookies, e.g. Muni He and Kristen Gillman.

I'm going with an easy pick, Minjee Lee for the repeat win. Georgia and Charley should be in the mix.

Hard to argue with Argonnes picks. I`m going with Charley Hull. Look for Su Oh and Hannah Green as well.

Marianne Skarpnord and Mel Reid might show up too.

Excited to see some fresh faces out there. I`m also going to predict Muni He`s first Missed Cut as an LPGA`er.

Good luck to GolfWRX`s very own Ausgolfgirl1 also!

Hard to argue with Argonnes picks. I`m going with Charley Hull. Look for Su Oh and Hannah Green as well.

 

Marianne Skarpnord and Mel Reid might show up as too.

 

Excited to see some fresh faces out there. I`m also going to predict Muni He`s first Missed Cut as an LPGA`er.

 

Good luck to GolfWRX`s very own Ausgolfgirl1 also!

Coach Ted Oh has done a great job; Lily Muni He will surprise a lot of people.

Lily is now more than 250 yards off the tee and her short games around the green has improved substantially.

Hard to argue with Argonnes picks. I`m going with Charley Hull. Look for Su Oh and Hannah Green as well.

 

Marianne Skarpnord and Mel Reid might show up as too.

 

Excited to see some fresh faces out there. I`m also going to predict Muni He`s first Missed Cut as an LPGA`er.

 

Good luck to GolfWRX`s very own Ausgolfgirl1 also!

 

Coach Ted Oh has done a great job; Lily Muni He will surprise a lot of people.

Lily is now more than 250 yards off the tee and her short games around the green has improved substantially.

I genuinely hope you are right. My only question is, is playing golf at a high level her main focus or will other passions get in her way. Time will tell.

Hard to argue with Argonnes picks. I`m going with Charley Hull. Look for Su Oh and Hannah Green as well.

 

Marianne Skarpnord and Mel Reid might show up as too.

 

Excited to see some fresh faces out there. I`m also going to predict Muni He`s first Missed Cut as an LPGA`er.

 

Good luck to GolfWRX`s very own Ausgolfgirl1 also!

 

Coach Ted Oh has done a great job; Lily Muni He will surprise a lot of people.

Lily is now more than 250 yards off the tee and her short games around the green has improved substantially.

 

I genuinely hope you are right. My only question is, is playing golf at a high level her main focus or will other passions get in her way. Time will tell.

The best way to advance her other passions is to do well in golf; they go hand in hand.

Lily is as committed to golf as any other LPGA players.

Hard to bet against Minjee....

'Nice to "see" 6 hours of coverage on Saturday and Sunday. Of course I'll be recording it, and catching up the next day.

Tiffany Joh had some nice finishes last year, and you have to love her Instagram. Plus Anne Van Dam will be teeing it up. Not that either of them will win, but fun to watch. Maybe with all that coverage we'll even get to see them.

Okay, someone who's been paying more attention than I: The LPGA leaderboard already has a few players ranked for the CME, though the tournament hasn't begun. Did they play in something we missed?

Okay, someone who's been paying more attention than I: The LPGA leaderboard already has a few players ranked for the CME, though the tournament hasn't begun. Did they play in something we missed?

Yes, points come from the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions.

'Nice to "see" 6 hours of coverage on Saturday and Sunday. Of course I'll be recording it, and catching up the next day.

Yes this is part of the extra coverage Whan is gloating about for 2019. When is he going to stand up and hit the GC for it's pathetic commericial infected coverage! This will also be live, free to air, uninterupted and commercial free on Australia's national TV station ABC.

"You can also catch the broadcast on your computer, tablet, smartphone and other devices through ABC's streaming platform iview"

All this for a tournament that is not even a national open. If every other country in the world can do this why can't the USA? Even the commentators, like them or not, can do a continious commentary unlike the GC crew!

'Nice to "see" 6 hours of coverage on Saturday and Sunday. Of course I'll be recording it, and catching up the next day.

 

Yes this is part of the extra coverage Whan is gloating about for 2019. When is he going to stand up and hit the GC for it's pathetic commericial infected coverage! This will also be live, free to air, uninterupted and commercial free on Australia's national TV station ABC.

"You can also catch the broadcast on your computer, tablet, smartphone and other devices through ABC's streaming platform iview"

All this for a tournament that is not even a national open. If every other country in the world can do this why can't the USA? Even the commentators, like them or not, can do a continious commentary unlike the GC crew!

The problem is that the GC has "pathetic commercial infected coverage" for every tournament they televise on EVERY tour not just the LPGA. So I'm not real sure that Whan can really do anything about that.

It's also available live on Fox Sports Australia. Play has been delayed 1 hour 10 mins due to fog.

Play has been delayed 1 hour 10 mins due to fog.

Thanks for the heads up, Good Luck!

Alison Lee playing as well, I hope she decides to have a better season.

Okay, someone who's been paying more attention than I: The LPGA leaderboard already has a few players ranked for the CME, though the tournament hasn't begun. Did they play in something we missed?

 

Yes, points come from the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions.

Thanks. I remembered that about three hours ago. Gotta love Middle Aged Brain.

I just noticed that the TV listing on the Golf Channel has the tournament as European Tour, so any scheduled recording for the LPGA won't automatically record. Double check your list of programs to be recorded to see if you will need to manually set it up.

Okay, someone who's been paying more attention than I: The LPGA leaderboard already has a few players ranked for the CME, though the tournament hasn't begun. Did they play in something we missed?

 

Yes, points come from the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions.

OK, that was easy! But what about this: the only players with a projected CME ranking are the ones who played the Tournament of Champions. Shouldn't LPGA players playing the Vic Open as their first tournament of the year also have a projected ranking?

The Great Haru is back in the scoring zone!

'Not quite the start I was expecting from Minjee. Rough day for Anne Van Dam at +4. Muni made a very good step towards making her first LPGA cut.

The TV coverage was horrible...basically following Christina Kim, Hannah Green and Cheyenne Woods around.

In 3 hours of coverage I think I saw:

1 shot 1 putt from Alison Lee

1 putt from Madelene Sagstrom

1 shot from Aza Munoz

1 putt from Alena Sharp

Couple shots from Stephanie Na and Leona Maguire

Wow! A Haru Nomura sighting on the first page of the leaderboard, hope she's healthy this season.

Hole in one Suuuuuuuuuu!

That is going to make me smile all day! She's the player I'm most hoping for a first win for.

Hole in one Suuuuuuuuuu!

 

That is going to make me smile all day! She's the player I'm most hoping for a first win for.

She`s up there for me also, I noticed a lot last year her Sundays tend to fall apart.

Is this the tournament that is being teed up with the guys?

Is this the tournament that is being teed up with the guys?

Yes. The men and women alternate tee times on each of the two courses.

Sigh. I guess I shouldn't have gotten too excited about the "extended" coverage. I'm finally watching the 1st round, and oh joy, I get to watch the numerous unknown male European Tour players. Pfffftttt.

Double sigh. Obviously a huge fan of the LPGA, but I'm supposed to get excited about watching players outside the World Top 100? Oy.

Sigh. I guess I shouldn't have gotten too excited about the "extended" coverage. I'm finally watching the 1st round, and oh joy, I get to watch the numerous unknown male European Tour players. Pfffftttt.

 

Double sigh. Obviously a huge fan of the LPGA, but I'm supposed to get excited about watching players outside the World Top 100? Oy.

What I said this morning..

The TV coverage was horrible...basically following Christina Kim, Hannah Green and Cheyenne Woods around.

In 3 hours of coverage I think I saw:

1 shot 1 putt from Alison Lee

1 putt from Madelene Sagstrom

1 shot from Aza Munoz

1 putt from Alena Sharp

Couple shots from Stephanie Na and Leona Maguire

Alison Lee playing as well, I hope she decides to have a better season.

She posted an OK 1-under today and is currently T7.

What happened to her? She had a great rookie 2015 (close to winning a couple of times). Then seemed like juggling the tour/school was a bit much (finished school which is probably a good thing), and game declined a bit in 2016. Then 2017 and 2018 has been a cliff (driving accuracy and distance got dramatically worse).

It seems that she definitely likes being a young 20 something year old. Obviously playing at the pro level is not easy, but has the decline been simply a lack of dedication / focus or is it something else?

Hopefully she has it turned around.

I believe Alison was nursing an injury, but she definitely seemed distracted by life outside of golf.