2020 ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open

[Stooch]

Inbee playing very well, her putt on 18 was so vintage Inbee. She is gonna be tough today, cause I think she's very motivated to make the Olympic team, a dangerous thing for those going against her on a Sunday. Inbee is beatable but it's gonna take a Gaby Lopez Sunday type performance to get it done IMO. The biggest thing IMO is for "6ix", with just a rough estimate, she'll go from comfortably being on the Korean Olympic team in January to having Inbee being right on her back should she win. I think 6ix spot is the one up for grabs, Sei Young seems to have found more consistent results last season and not have those events finishing at 30+ place. But if Hyo Joo Kim, So Yeon Ryu, MJ Hur or Amy Yang can find an early win, thing will get really interesting.

[Singapore Joe]

Ended up watching anyway, got to the tv just when the final group was teeing off.

it’s not very windy (yet) but the greens look too hard. After the Thirteenth Beach and Royal Adelaide, I’ve seen enough balls landing in front of the greens, scooting straight through them and running down into trouble of various types. Bring back the soft park land courses.

It is quite incredible how well Inbee Park is playing. Why am I thinking of Ivan Drago when I watch her?

[Stooch]

Inbee is a putting assassin, any other player that had to make Inbee's putts and this would be a competition. Inbee keeps the 5 shot lead and crushes the fields souls.

[iBanesto]

Inbee Park is a putting machine.

[Stooch]

Bit of a horror show for all involved on Sunday, but Congrats to Inbee for surviving the best, Well putting off the charts most of the day.

[iBanesto]

She was way too solid when everyone was falling away at the end.

Congratulations to Inbee Park for her 20th LPGA win.

[krisrod]

Great day. Conditions were tough. Nobody was able to put any pressure on Inbee and she did enough to get the win. Will post some more detailed thoughts and upload some videos later.

[pmcuk]

Oh....Ayean, Ayean, Ayean..... What could have been. 6 bogies, the worst in the top 10 finishers.

Two bad Sundays in a row. Work to be done here.

Ariya got over her bad Sundays and went on to great things. Let's hope the same for Ayean. She has the talent.

[Singapore Joe]

Felt a bit bad for Ayean. Not sure what happened but there just wasn’t much steam left.

Two bad Sundays for Sagström as well. Didn’t start from that high up this week but a 78 today didn’t help her cause.

[Argonne69]

It wasn't flawless, but when the field was folding around her Inbee did what she needed to do. Having a cushion to start the day really helped. Her putter was a little cooler today, but warm enough to clinch the title.

Yeah, Ayean needs a little more experience. Once again, it was good to see her smiling out there. She's taking it all in stride. Another point for me for a top 10 prediction. Lol.

Great round by Amy with only a single bogie. Given the conditions, that's the round of the week for me. Cristie also managed a one bogie round, and the only round in the 60's.

Don't know a lot about Perrine, but I was impressed. That triple was costly, though. Rule #1: Gotta get the ball on the green.

OK, I know it's a national championship, but the course was just too hard given the conditions. Players were finding their way off the back of the green when landing the ball in the front part of the green. That's too firm. The greens were shedding balls like a duck's back sheds water.

[ChronicSlicer]

Congrats to Inbee! Good to see she still has the game, although I will be honest and say I was pulling for her to choke a bit, ONLY so Yu Liu could sneak in and grab the W. Clearly that didn't work out so well, lol. As mentioned lots of Sunday blunders out there. A solid showing from rookie Jill Hollis, I don't expect much from her but who knows. I like the underdogs who fly below the media hype ( Esther H, Nuria I, Jill ).

It appears despite a 78 on Sunday So Yeon is playing well so far, glad to see.

Crazy to see how someone can go from a top 5 finish one week to basically invisible the next

Hee Young 1st/T41

Hye Jin 2nd/T48

So Yeon 3rd/T34

Leona 4th/MC

Linnea 5th/MC

Su Oh 6th/MC

It's true what they say, golf is hard.

[allsusu]

The name of group V157 has to change now.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ICuEAipazs

[18majors]

Inbee Park will move to No. 11 and be very close to Lucky 6, when the new Rolex Ranking is released tomorrow.

The beloved Hinako Shibuno will be bumped to No. 12.

[Raving Shanker]

Well done to Inbee, but I was a little disappointed in the challengers. It was tricky out there, as you all saw - but not unplayable. Only Kerr and Olsen played the conditions. The tournament needed a few more to work it out.

An example was Hole No. 1. Many players were trying to just clear a front left bunker and let it run out to the flag, but the balls were just bouncing off the bunker down slope and through the green. In fact, on that hole, the approach had to be deeper to the flatter part of the green near the flag, or wide to the right. The play would to drive it long and out to the right to make the back left pin accessible. But if not far enough or in the rough, bail out to the short right green portion and 2-putt. A lot of players just made a mess of it.

I'd be interested if there are any Royal Adelaide members are on these boards, and would comment on the tactical play on Sunday. As a 27-handicapper back in 1982, I played a winter season at the course, so got to play it about 20 times. Then 3 or 4 more occasions over the next 38 years. But the course hasn't changed much since then, and even as a long handicapper you learned strategies for the different holes. I know the pros don't have the advantage of playing the course multiple times, but then, they are pros - so I expect some clever plays! There wasn't much on show.

Ayean was wild. I mean really wild! Wow.

I had a fab four days there, and look forward to Kooyie next year! I've also heard talk that Adelaide might get another extension on its hosting deal for the event as well. Woo hoo.

And finally, how do you guys handle tournament watching? I estimate I've walked about 70 km (that's about 44 mi in the 3rd world). Unlike the players, who walk down the fairways, us spectators go up and down dunes, through button grass, etc. I feel wiped out! I guess with judicious placement of the ropes they could have got us wading though the swamp at the 15th/16th corner, so i should be grateful.

[pmcuk]

Did anyone see the interview with Inbee? It's on YT. Clever lady with perfect english. And a cute response.....

"What's it like to have your name on the trophy alongside legends like Karrie Webb, Laura Davies, Anneke Sorenstam...?"

"Hopefully 10, 20 years later everyone will look at those names and see my name, and then everybody will think it's their honour to be on there..."

Nice.

 

 

[8602081]

Ayean.. Great player, just need to mature.. So much talent, I can see her winning later in the year (maybe a major)..

 

Congrats in Inbee.. I think she played her final round to protect her lead. I would say she's the best putter in LPGA..

Good coverage of the tournament.. I enjoyed it..

 

[Argonne69]

Walking the tournaments can be tough indeed. I've walked 36 in one day several times, and it really beats you up. Hopefully you had a folding chair to sit now and again. Gotta stay hydrated, which can be tough if one doesn't want to miss a lot of action. On occasion I'll skip two half holes if they're adjacent to each other. Watch them tee off, walk with the group to watch them hit their approaches, and then cross to the other hole to watch the landing area.

There are times when the ropes make it difficult to get to the teebox, so I simply head to the landing area and pick them up there.

[krisrod]

I'm a member at Grange, but two close friends are members at Royal so I play there quite regularly. I have no idea what they were all doing on Sunday. Number three is a perfect example. With the pin at the back, a hybrid or fairway wood that landed on top of the hill and rolled down the right side of the fairway took all the trouble out. It left a 50 metre pitch with plenty of green in front of the pin to work with. Instead, almost everyone hit driver and most of them ended up in the catchment area on the left. This meant they had to flop the ball over the thick rough and stop it on a very firm green. If they went through the green for two then saving par was a tremendous achievement. It was a similar story on 17. It's a regulation birdie for them most days, but downwind they are all able to reach it in two. Knowing that the greens were very firm and having seen so many go through the green in the previous days, going through the green on Sunday was unforgivable. I saw a number of them in the rough near the 18th tee having pitched on the green and run 20 metres through. That's terrible strategy.

Royal Adelaide is not the easiest course to follow groups. It has good "hub" areas where you can move between multiple tees and greens (the rotunda area near the 7th, 8th and 12th tees and the 6th green is one, the area between the 15th and 18th tees and 14th and 17th greens is another), but it's very difficult to navigate through the soft dirt, pine straw and garden beds if you're walking the course. Grange is much easier to navigate and Kooyonga is somewhere between the two.

[Toolrushfan96]

Congratulations to Winbee!

[Mark_Crossan]

I have to say that photos or videos do not do Royal Adelaide justice! The fairways are the best I’ve ever seen by far

What a stunning golf course!

I caddied Grange last year too and must say that was one of my favourite courses ever Adelaide may be small but they sure have some great golf courses

 

[Golf Dino]

And for some reason, a few of the pros I have spoken to have stated a tremendous dislike for Royal Adelaide! No particular reason mentioned, just a general dislike. Perhaps television and the grating Aussie accent of Alison Whitaker do not do it justice!

[Argonne69]

Probably because it kicks their behinds.

[Mark_Crossan]

I think you get that week in week out, there will alway be complaints and they can’t keep everyone happy. Personally I and my boss loved the course and enjoyed pretty much every moment

Some of the greens played very firm and it was very hard to hold them at times so maybe some people didn’t enjoy that

 

[Golf Dino]

The few pros that I have heard from all prefer Royal Melbourne. Have you been Mark? I would also like to make my way to Australia one winter/summer for some golf. Regarding Royal Adelaide, I just thought it a bit peculiar as it is the Australian Women's Open ... a fairly big event at that time of the year. Thanks for posting your feedback on the course!

[18majors]

My only hope is the purse will be raised to at least $2.0 million in the future.

 

[Mark_Crossan]

I haven’t been but I’ve heard great things about Royal Melbourne. I’d certainly love to go sometime. you should certainly go, Australia is lovely and I always enjoy going back there every year.

 

I enjoy getting to go to Melbourne for Vic Open then to Adelaide for Aussie Open but I’m probably bias because I lived in Adelaide a couple years ago and enjoy going back

 

No problem at all. Wish I had been on the thread while I was there, could have posted some pictures