2019 LPGA Mediheal Championship May 02 - 05

**Race to the CME Globe:** 500 Points

**Format:** 72 holes

**Purse:** $1,800,000

**Location:** Lake Merced Golf Club, Daly City, CA

**Par:** 72

**Yardage:** 6,507

**History:** This is the 2nd year for the event. In 2018, Lydia Ko won the LPGA MEDIHEAL Championship for her third victory at Lake Merced Golf Club. Surrounded by positive memories of her back-to-back victories in Daly City in 2014 and 2015, Ko ended a winless drought that dated back to the 2016 Marathon Classic after defeating Minjee Lee on the first playoff hole.

**Coverage:**

May 02: Golf Channel 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm (ET)

May 03: Golf Channel 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm (ET)

May 04: Golf Channel 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm (ET)

May 05: Golf Channel 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm (ET)


The third of three events in a three week stretch before taking a two week break. The weather forecast looks excellent, with mostly sunny skies and highs in the low 60's.

Jin Young, Sung Hyun, Nasa, Nelly, and Georgia are sitting this one out, which is a bit odd given that they have a two week break coming up, and it's just up the coast from LA.

Coverage is decent with 12 prime time hours.

I think it's hard not to go with Minjee here, jinx be d*mned. She finished 2nd last year after losing in a playoff, and is coming off a win and a 3T. Fatigue perhaps? One can't rule out Lydia, who has three wins on the course.

A few years back, the talk was that Minjee Lee was thought to have a brighter future the L. Ko. It looked like they were wrong early on, but now I can see why they thought that.

> @Socrates said:

> A few years back, the talk was that Minjee Lee was thought to have a brighter future the L. Ko. It looked like they were wrong early on, but now I can see why they thought that.

Lydia managed to rack up 15 victories in the same time Minjee managed 3. With two additional wins since last April, Minjee has averaged one win a year for her professional career. It sure seems like the tide is turning, but she'll have to really go on a tear to surpass Lydia's accomplishments.

> @Argonne69 said:

> > @Socrates said:

> > A few years back, the talk was that Minjee Lee was thought to have a brighter future the L. Ko. It looked like they were wrong early on, but now I can see why they thought that.

>

> Lydia managed to rack up 15 victories in the same time Minjee managed 3. With two additional wins since last April, Minjee has averaged one win a year for her professional career. It sure seems like the tide is turning, but she'll have to really go on a tear to surpass Lydia's accomplishments.

Lydia had more raw talent than many of the ladies out there. Her golf was simple, her equipment worked and she played within herself. She used hybrids to make her long game easier and she was crazy effective at putting them within 10-15 feet consistently. Then Leadbetter and PXG happened...

> @tbowles411 said:

> > @Argonne69 said:

> > > @Socrates said:

> > > A few years back, the talk was that Minjee Lee was thought to have a brighter future the L. Ko. It looked like they were wrong early on, but now I can see why they thought that.

> >

> > Lydia managed to rack up 15 victories in the same time Minjee managed 3. With two additional wins since last April, Minjee has averaged one win a year for her professional career. It sure seems like the tide is turning, but she'll have to really go on a tear to surpass Lydia's accomplishments.

> Lydia had more raw talent than many of the ladies out there. Her golf was simple, her equipment worked and she played within herself. She used hybrids to make her long game easier and she was crazy effective at putting them within 10-15 feet consistently. Then Leadbetter and PXG happened...

>

Two things. First, I get that there is a lag for players to really get comfortable with swing changes, and that it might be somewhere in the 1-2 years timeline for enough practice/tournament pressure to really trust things. However, Lydia and Ryu (swing change topic in another tournament thread) won big (or huge in Lydia's case) once they started working with the new instructor. I don't think you win like that if you are uncomfortable with your swing. So it seems like either a) the actual changes were somewhat limited, b) the mental focus of working on something new got the player more focused than they were, and/or c) the new swing, despite all it's praise when the wins came, was neither better nor worse than the old swing. Like many things in life, it had trade-offs and as a) and b) wore off the downsides became more apparent over time.

I also find it interesting that sometimes the narrative on Lydia is "the writing was on the wall with the bombers coming," implying that she'd be roughly were she was now anyways or she needed to try something new to stay competitive at the top tier. But then it's also she was great whatever she was doing in 2014-2015 and something/someone else ruined her. I don't have the answer here so I hope no one takes this comment personally, but it can't be both.

Edit: I guess it can be viewed as both if one knew for a fact ex-ante that whatever Leadbetter was teaching was nearly certain to fail. I'm not willing to say that I know that was the case, but haven't studied the issue in detail (others may know more here). However, I would point to Spieth-McCormick - the teacher was viewed as a genius when the player was winning, but now everyone wants the teacher fired. Does anyone actually really know if the teacher is good or not, or is he just getting a disproportionate amount of praise or criticism depending on what the player does?

Keep in mind that swing changes are very likely going to be a continuous process. Lydia's swing before, early Leadbetter, and late Leadbetter, were completely different. I don't think he tried to make huge changes initially, but he certainly didn't stop. I think that's why she was able to win frequently in her early professional years. Over time she lost distance and accuracy, and she never was long to begin with. I certainly believe that the time she spent working on the full swing was time that wasn't spent honing her superb short game. As a result, she was hitting it shorter, missing more fairways, and not getting up and down as often.

Lydia is currently #138/144 in total driving. That's just awful. Hit it short and straight, or long and crooked, but not short and crooked. Her swing looks a lot better now than it did when she left Leadbetter, but the results still aren't there.

Personally, I think swing coaches are snake oil salesman when it comes to pros, especially the elite pros. They didn't get to that point having significant swing flaws. We're not talking about weekend hacks. I have no issues with mental coaches. I think Butch Harmon is more of a mental coach than a swing coach. Danielle has made a ton of progress since she began working with Butch.

> @agolf1 said:

> > @tbowles411 said:

> > > @Argonne69 said:

> > > > @Socrates said:

> > > > A few years back, the talk was that Minjee Lee was thought to have a brighter future the L. Ko. It looked like they were wrong early on, but now I can see why they thought that.

> > >

> > > Lydia managed to rack up 15 victories in the same time Minjee managed 3. With two additional wins since last April, Minjee has averaged one win a year for her professional career. It sure seems like the tide is turning, but she'll have to really go on a tear to surpass Lydia's accomplishments.

> > Lydia had more raw talent than many of the ladies out there. Her golf was simple, her equipment worked and she played within herself. She used hybrids to make her long game easier and she was crazy effective at putting them within 10-15 feet consistently. Then Leadbetter and PXG happened...

> >

> Two things. First, I get that there is a lag for players to really get comfortable with swing changes, and that it might be somewhere in the 1-2 years timeline for enough practice/tournament pressure to really trust things. However, Lydia and Ryu (swing change topic in another tournament thread) won big (or huge in Lydia's case) once they started working with the new instructor. I don't think you win like that if you are uncomfortable with your swing. So it seems like either a) the actual changes were somewhat limited, b) the mental focus of working on something new got the player more focused than they were, and/or c) the new swing, despite all it's praise when the wins came, was neither better nor worse than the old swing. Like many things in life, it had trade-offs and as a) and b) wore off the downsides became more apparent over time.

>

> I also find it interesting that sometimes the narrative on Lydia is "the writing was on the wall with the bombers coming," implying that she'd be roughly were she was now anyways or she needed to try something new to stay competitive at the top tier. But then it's also she was great whatever she was doing in 2014-2015 and something/someone else ruined her. I don't have the answer here so I hope no one takes this comment personally, but it can't be both.

>

> Edit: I guess it can be viewed as both if one knew for a fact ex-ante that whatever Leadbetter was teaching was nearly certain to fail. I'm not willing to say that I know that was the case, but haven't studied the issue in detail (others may know more here). However, I would point to Spieth-McCormick - the teacher was viewed as a genius when the player was winning, but now everyone wants the teacher fired. Does anyone actually really know if the teacher is good or not, or is he just getting a disproportionate amount of praise or criticism depending on what the player does?

I have no clue how a teacher Cameron McCormick is nor do I know if he is getting a disproportionate amount of praise or criticism.

Here's what I do know. Both Spieth's and Ryu's fairways hit stats are way worse in 2019 than they were compared to the previous 4 years. Both are hitting about 20% less fairways than they were in their best years. Ryu was okay in this stat the first year she worked with McCormick but then has seen a 10% drop in each of the next 2 years.

I find this pretty interesting considering that McCormick pretty much made the same swing change with both of them by flattening their swing.

I have read the bit about McCormick flattening Spieth's swing-but only on wrx. Just tried a google search on "Spieth flatter swing" and found nothing. Can anyone point me to where this was discussed away from wrx?

> @Shilgy said:

> I have read the bit about McCormick flattening Spieth's swing-but only on wrx. Just tried a google search on "Spieth flatter swing" and found nothing. Can anyone point me to where this was discussed away from wrx?

Looks much flatter to me: [https://youtube.com/watch?v=PKdCReKu-sU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKdCReKu-sU "https://youtube.com/watch?v=PKdCReKu-sU")

I've been playing around looking up scoring averages yesterday and this morning and I find what I'm see as very interesting and perhaps obvious. It can perhaps shed some light on Lydia drop off in performance. To me it seems less about what Lydia was doing and more about what others were doing. Lydia came on the scene just as an uptick in the level and quality of play was happening on the LPGA tour. From 2000-2012 there were never more than 14 players any year that finished with a scoring average below 71 and most years during that time the number of players was below 10. In 2013 the number of players jumped to 18, the number hasn't gone below 16 since. In 2016 the number jumped to 24 and 2017 to 38 and 2018 to 30 and so far in 2019 we are at 30. This shows what we all know that the quality level of the field on tour has gone up significantly. IMO 2016 was the year Lydia flinched for lack of a better term, she had a great year with 4 wins but Ariya had 5 and In Gee at the time was looking like a player of similar skill set that would make things tough for her. Plus, at the KPMG she went to the playoff with Brooke and did what served her well thus far in her career. Lydia hit the fairway played a safe shot to the green and left her a 25-30 footer for birdie, she played to be patient and hope to drop a long one or wait for the competition to make a mistake. Brooke smoked a driver straight down the fairway and didn't play for safety and attacked the pin and hit it to 5 feet for birdie. I think the 2016 season really got in her head, that she had to make changes for the way the LPGA was trending and that was the beginning of Lead-poisoning. Again I do believe the swing changes cost Lydia a few wins but in the sense of the new quality coming on tour "the writing was on the wall" that Lydia's level would drop off changes or not. As Brooke fan I read most of the stuff about her that I'm able to and the last couple season Brooke's stated one of her major goals as keeping her scoring average each year under 70 and what she works on is geared towards that. Looking at the stats I have with scoring average since 2000, this might be the best goal to make you a winner on tour, those who average a 69 scoring average for the year win and win prolifically on the LPGA. So maybe players should try to improve aspects of the game that improve scoring average and that may not mean improving on your length.

One amazing thing I noticed looking at the stats (keep in mind the overall fields were weaker at the time) in 2001 and 2002, 2 players had scoring average of 69, they were Annika and Se Ri Pak and in those 2 years these 2 players combined for 29 wins. We're not gonna see that level of dominance for these players currently on tour, even though many players can match their scoring averages, the depth just adds more people you have to beat each week.

> @Argonne69 said:

> The third of three events in a three week stretch before taking a two week break. The weather forecast looks excellent, with mostly sunny skies and highs in the low 60's.

>

> Jin Young, Sung Hyun, Nasa, Nelly, and Georgia are sitting this one out, which is a bit odd given that they have a two week break coming up, and it's just up the coast from LA.

>

> Coverage is decent with 12 prime time hours.

>

> I think it's hard not to go with Minjee here, jinx be d*mned. She finished 2nd last year after losing in a playoff, and is coming off a win and a 3T. Fatigue perhaps? One can't rule out Lydia, who has three wins on the course.

>

Jin Young, Nelly and Nasa played last year, they're T37, T23 and T7; Sung Hyun didn't.

Japan started their annual golden week holidays; taking advantage of the best weather of the year for traveling and general relaxations. Nelly posted many swimming photos; she's having a well earned vacation.

Poor In Gee Chun, she doesn''t deserve a vacation during this worst stretch of ten tournaments starting after 2018 KEB Hana Bank.

Hope In Gee make the cut this week; more importantly, hope her driving distance improvement continues.

> @Argonne69 said:

> Personally, I think swing coaches are snake oil salesman when it comes to pros, especially the elite pros. They didn't get to that point having significant swing flaws. We're not talking about weekend hacks. I have no issues with mental coaches. I think Butch Harmon is more of a mental coach than a swing coach. Danielle has made a ton of progress since she began working with Butch.

I feel as a pro player, if a coach tells you that they can increase your distance by changing the mechanics of your swing you should run the other way as fast as you can lol. But I'm believer in keeping a players swing intact (that's what got them there) but rather try increasing your swing speed to gain distance and if you can't you're probably not getting longer and should look to improve in other areas. Though I think even player who manage to increase their swing speed suffer a little lag in performance as even when brought to the tour there are still growing pains marrying the tempo and mechanics of the swing with the added speed, that will cause hiccups from time to time. I just think the players ability to recover from these challenges are easier as it's being done to their natural swing.

Great analysis. OK, so that begs the question: Why is the scoring average lower?

In 2018, 31 players averaged 260+ yds, and the median was 252 yds. In 2015 the number was 15, and the median was 248 yds. In 2002 it was 16, and the median was 247 yds.

In 2018, there were 45 players hitting 75+% of their fairways. In 2015, 49 players, and in 2002 there were 34.

In 2018, there were 44 players hitting 70+% of greens in regulation. In 2015 there were 45, and in 2002 there were just 9.

In 2018, there were 56 players with less than 1.8 putts per GIR. In 2015 it was 24. In 2004 (last year available) it was 26.

'Seems to me that driving distance is probably the biggest factor. The change since 2015 is huge, especially considering that the period from 2002 to 2015 didn't see much change. Currently, 9 out of 10 of the World's Top 10 are averaging over 260 yds. While the GIR percentages haven't changed in the past 4 years, I'm guessing that the proximity to the hole is better given that the players are hitting shorter irons. More shorter putts means more players with better putts per GIR stats.

I can see why Lydia felt she needed to chase distance. Inbee is the only top 10 player averaging below 260 yds (currently 255). When players like Ariya, Sung Hyun, Brooke, Nasa, Nelly, and Minjee are averaging 269+ yds, being an average of 20 behind them is fairly significant.

They mentioned over the weekend that going into last week 7 of the Rolex top 10 weren’t on tour when Lydia was a rookie. It’s now 6 of 10 after Nelly dropped to 11.

Just to piggyback on Argonne's post above about driving distance.

As he says, in 2018, 31 players averaged 260+ yards with a median of 252. In 2019, there are 82 players averaging 260+, 29 averaging 270+, 5 averaging 280+, and the median is right at 262!

I still have a feeling that the increase in driving distance so far this year has more to do with the dry playing conditions. We'll see how the rest of the year plays out. Lydia is currently averaging 7 yds longer than last year, but she really hasn't picked up any ground on the competition.

> @Seamus_McDuff said:

> They mentioned over the weekend that going into last week 7 of the Rolex top 10 weren’t on tour when Lydia was a rookie. It’s now 6 of 10 after Nelly dropped to 11.

Wow, I didn't realize that. Lydia was a rookie in 2014. Jin Young ('18), Minjee ('15), Sung Hyun ('17), Ariya ('15), Nasa ('17), Brooke ('15) have all started on tour since then. Lol. Lydia must feel old.

> @Stooch said:

> I've been playing around looking up scoring averages yesterday and this morning and I find what I'm see as very interesting and perhaps obvious. It can perhaps shed some light on Lydia drop off in performance. To me it seems less about what Lydia was doing and more about what others were doing. Lydia came on the scene just as an uptick in the level and quality of play was happening on the LPGA tour. From 2000-2012 there were never more than 14 players any year that finished with a scoring average below 71 and most years during that time the number of players was below 10. In 2013 the number of players jumped to 18, the number hasn't gone below 16 since. In 2016 the number jumped to 24 and 2017 to 38 and 2018 to 30 and so far in 2019 we are at 30. This shows what we all know that the quality level of the field on tour has gone up significantly. IMO 2016 was the year Lydia flinched for lack of a better term, she had a great year with 4 wins but Ariya had 5 and In Gee at the time was looking like a player of similar skill set that would make things tough for her. Plus, at the KPMG she went to the playoff with Brooke and did what served her well thus far in her career. Lydia hit the fairway played a safe shot to the green and left her a 25-30 footer for birdie, she played to be patient and hope to drop a long one or wait for the competition to make a mistake. Brooke smoked a driver straight down the fairway and didn't play for safety and attacked the pin and hit it to 5 feet for birdie. I think the 2016 season really got in her head, that she had to make changes for the way the LPGA was trending and that was the beginning of Lead-poisoning. Again I do believe the swing changes cost Lydia a few wins but in the sense of the new quality coming on tour "the writing was on the wall" that Lydia's level would drop off changes or not. As Brooke fan I read most of the stuff about her that I'm able to and the last couple season Brooke's stated one of her major goals as keeping her scoring average each year under 70 and what she works on is geared towards that. Looking at the stats I have with scoring average since 2000, this might be the best goal to make you a winner on tour, those who average a 69 scoring average for the year win and win prolifically on the LPGA. So maybe players should try to improve aspects of the game that improve scoring average and that may not mean improving on your length.

>

> One amazing thing I noticed looking at the stats (keep in mind the overall fields were weaker at the time) in 2001 and 2002, 2 players had scoring average of 69, they were Annika and Se Ri Pak and in those 2 years these 2 players combined for 29 wins. We're not gonna see that level of dominance for these players currently on tour, even though many players can match their scoring averages, the depth just adds more people you have to beat each week.

Good comments/thoughts. My point isn't to dispute that the writing was on the wall, it's more of if making a change was the right move at the time vs. blasting the player/coach after it didn't work out (unless of course the claim is that it was never going to work based on what was done). I can definitely see how that season got in her head, and I'm sure everyone is correct that she wouldn't be winning 4x per year now had she stayed the course. Unfortunately, her game has continued to slide, so we don't know for sure what the results would have been had she stayed the course and focused on keeping her scoring average sub-70.

I also think it's hard to make radical changes one a player has hit that level. More or less you are who you are at that point. However, I do think Phil added a lot of distance once Tiger came out on tour. Phil was never short but in the mid-2000s he was one of the longest on tour. Figuring out how to hit it farther certainly extended his career and probably added to it substantially (in terms of wins/majors).

It's definitely a fine line between "hitting it far enough" (what's said when they win) vs. not being able to compete effectively week after week.

> @Argonne69 said:

> Great analysis. OK, so that begs the question: Why is the scoring average lower?

>

> In 2018, 31 players averaged 260+ yds, and the median was 252 yds. In 2015 the number was 15, and the median was 248 yds. In 2002 it was 16, and the median was 247 yds.

>

> In 2018, there were 45 players hitting 75+% of their fairways. In 2015, 49 players, and in 2002 there were 34.

>

> In 2018, there were 44 players hitting 70+% of greens in regulation. In 2015 there were 45, and in 2002 there were just 9.

>

> In 2018, there were 56 players with less than 1.8 putts per GIR. In 2015 it was 24. In 2004 (last year available) it was 26.

>

> 'Seems to me that driving distance is probably the biggest factor. The change since 2015 is huge, especially considering that the period from 2002 to 2015 didn't see much change. Currently, 9 out of 10 of the World's Top 10 are averaging over 260 yds. While the GIR percentages haven't changed in the past 4 years, I'm guessing that the proximity to the hole is better given that the players are hitting shorter irons. More shorter putts means more players with better putts per GIR stats.

>

> I can see why Lydia felt she needed to chase distance. Inbee is the only top 10 player averaging below 260 yds (currently 255). When players like Ariya, Sung Hyun, Brooke, Nasa, Nelly, and Minjee are averaging 269+ yds, being an average of 20 behind them is fairly significant.

>

I was thinking the other day that they are going to need to lengthen the courses for these ladies pretty soon. It probably won't be done anytime soon as for the entertainment purposes. And it really doesn't matter other than I typically play tees that are 6400-6500 +/- a little bit, so it's comparable to what they play now.

Of course, length itself only does so much to these players' scores. I think its been shown that rough and small/protected/hard greens are what really stops these players (pros on both tours) from torching the course.

Well I know for sure Phil was working hard to improve his swing speed and he's done that this season. He's is currently 27th Avg. 304 yrds and in 2018 he was 57th Avg. 300.3 yrds and in 2017 was 89th and Avg. 293.5 yrds. I think there are ways to improve your driving distance but if you're changing your swing in hopes of doing it, that's when things get dicey IMO.

PS: was at the PGA site getting Phil's driving distance stats and it's just sad reminder how terrible the LPGA stat section is lol

In Gee is gonna get some TV Time Thursday, she'll be playing with Brooke and Minjee. Could be a nice pairing for In Gee, should be very comfortable and playing with these 2 in this situation will probably focus her to bring her A game.

> @"North Texas" said:

> > @agolf1 said:

> > > @tbowles411 said:

> > > > @Argonne69 said:

> > > > > @Socrates said:

> > > > > A few years back, the talk was that Minjee Lee was thought to have a brighter future the L. Ko. It looked like they were wrong early on, but now I can see why they thought that.

> > > >

> > > > Lydia managed to rack up 15 victories in the same time Minjee managed 3. With two additional wins since last April, Minjee has averaged one win a year for her professional career. It sure seems like the tide is turning, but she'll have to really go on a tear to surpass Lydia's accomplishments.

> > > Lydia had more raw talent than many of the ladies out there. Her golf was simple, her equipment worked and she played within herself. She used hybrids to make her long game easier and she was crazy effective at putting them within 10-15 feet consistently. Then Leadbetter and PXG happened...

> > >

> > Two things. First, I get that there is a lag for players to really get comfortable with swing changes, and that it might be somewhere in the 1-2 years timeline for enough practice/tournament pressure to really trust things. However, Lydia and Ryu (swing change topic in another tournament thread) won big (or huge in Lydia's case) once they started working with the new instructor. I don't think you win like that if you are uncomfortable with your swing. So it seems like either a) the actual changes were somewhat limited, b) the mental focus of working on something new got the player more focused than they were, and/or c) the new swing, despite all it's praise when the wins came, was neither better nor worse than the old swing. Like many things in life, it had trade-offs and as a) and b) wore off the downsides became more apparent over time.

> >

> > I also find it interesting that sometimes the narrative on Lydia is "the writing was on the wall with the bombers coming," implying that she'd be roughly were she was now anyways or she needed to try something new to stay competitive at the top tier. But then it's also she was great whatever she was doing in 2014-2015 and something/someone else ruined her. I don't have the answer here so I hope no one takes this comment personally, but it can't be both.

> >

> > Edit: I guess it can be viewed as both if one knew for a fact ex-ante that whatever Leadbetter was teaching was nearly certain to fail. I'm not willing to say that I know that was the case, but haven't studied the issue in detail (others may know more here). However, I would point to Spieth-McCormick - the teacher was viewed as a genius when the player was winning, but now everyone wants the teacher fired. Does anyone actually really know if the teacher is good or not, or is he just getting a disproportionate amount of praise or criticism depending on what the player does?

>

> I have no clue how a teacher Cameron McCormick is nor do I know if he is getting a disproportionate amount of praise or criticism.

>

> Here's what I do know. Both Spieth's and Ryu's fairways hit stats are way worse in 2019 than they were compared to the previous 4 years. Both are hitting about 20% less fairways than they were in their best years. Ryu was okay in this stat the first year she worked with McCormick but then has seen a 10% drop in each of the next 2 years.

>

> I find this pretty interesting considering that McCormick pretty much made the same swing change with both of them by flattening their swing.

>

Yes, as you mentioned elsewhere the slide and then the substantial drop in 2019 for both is quite interesting given the coach.

Don't know what they are doing different now, if anything, vs 2017 which were decent years.

My question is was the article in 2017 about Ryu and how great her new swing was complete BS? It was the same coach then that supposedly made the change to flatter.

The other interesting thing is that McCormick had worked with Spieth for a while. I don't know what prompted the change he pushed for Jordan. Theoretically, he could have done this at any point in the past. Makes you wonder whether something (flatter) worked for a bit with Ryu and he pushed it on Spieth.

> @Stooch said:

> In Gee is gonna get some TV Time Thursday, she'll be playing with Brooke and Minjee. Could be a nice pairing for In Gee, should be very comfortable and playing with these 2 in this situation will probably focus her to bring her A game.

Theoretically it's a good pairing for In Gee.

However, cameras would cut away from her quickly if she falls back early; TV is good at pretending it's a twosome pairing.

Having a tough time with who to choose here, clearly Lydia is favored, not so much by me. I`m going with Danielle Kang. I look for Gaby to have a solid week, along with Carlota. My sleeper is ShanShan.

> @ChronicSlicer said:

> Having a tough time with who to choose here, clearly Lydia is favored, not so much by me. I`m going with Danielle Kang. I look for Gaby to have a solid week, along with Carlota. My sleeper is ShanShan.

Jin Young Ko has been all over it. That's my pick - besides Minjee. ShanShan has such a good swing (one of my favorites), but at the rate she is gaining weight, I don't know how much longer she can be competitive.

> @Socrates said:

> > @ChronicSlicer said:

> > Having a tough time with who to choose here, clearly Lydia is favored, not so much by me. I`m going with Danielle Kang. I look for Gaby to have a solid week, along with Carlota. My sleeper is ShanShan.

>

> Jin Young Ko has been all over it. That's my pick - besides Minjee. ShanShan has such a good swing (one of my favorites), but at the rate she is gaining weight, I don't know how much longer she can be competitive.

I'd say Jin Young is a long shot, since she's skipping this tournament.

> @jumpcut said:

> > @Socrates said:

> > > @ChronicSlicer said:

> > > Having a tough time with who to choose here, clearly Lydia is favored, not so much by me. I`m going with Danielle Kang. I look for Gaby to have a solid week, along with Carlota. My sleeper is ShanShan.

> >

> > Jin Young Ko has been all over it. That's my pick - besides Minjee. ShanShan has such a good swing (one of my favorites), but at the rate she is gaining weight, I don't know how much longer she can be competitive.

>

> I'd say Jin Young is a long shot, since she's skipping this tournament.

I still think she'll sneak out a Top 10 ;)

> @Argonne69 said:

> > @Shilgy said:

> > I have read the bit about McCormick flattening Spieth's swing-but only on wrx. Just tried a google search on "Spieth flatter swing" and found nothing. Can anyone point me to where this was discussed away from wrx?

>

> Looks much flatter to me: [https://youtube.com/watch?v=PKdCReKu-sU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKdCReKu-sU "https://youtube.com/watch?v=PKdCReKu-sU")

Tiger's swing has REALLY flattened out:

After much thought I'm picking Brooke Henderson this week, don't like that she won 2 weeks ago but I think Brooke wants this one cause she probably feels this is the one that got away. This is the event when it was the swinging Skirts event in 2015 that Brooke announced herself to LPGA fans. Brooke was leading the final round but shot a +2 the final day to miss the playoff with Lydia and Morgan by 1 shot. I tend to remember it for Brooke rolling a birdie putt 1 foot by on the back nine and like 17 year old do, she walked up care-free and missed the 1 foot tap in, had a bogie that cost her the playoff. That bogie has haunted me for almost 5 years, so I can imagine what it does to her lol. Although ever since I have seen mark almost every 1 footer, sorta over-compensation but one I understand I guess lol