2019 Tournament of Champions

[Argonne69]

Lol. Well, she had reason to be worried on Sunday in the winds.

 

Does her game look the same now? Yeah, I actually believe she does. In late 2017 her swing was a total looping mess. Now, she seems to be swinging with confidence, as did the Lydia of 2015 - 2016. Her wedge game is excellent. Her putter is probably a little cooler, which is probably the reason she isn't contending quite as much. 'Not much different than Jordan Spieth. She finished 2018 with 4 top 10's in 7 starts, and 2 additional top 15's.

 

There have always been long hitters on the tour, but they generally didn't have the short game to compete week to week. Lorena and Yani were the exceptions of course. As I've pointed out before, the majority of World #1's had average length off the tee. Lydia averaged 250 yds in 2015, but dropped to 246 in 2016, and 243 in 2017. On a positive note, Lydia averaged 254.5 yards this week, which is a key factor in her being in the mix.

 

There were only 4 winners last season that averaged less than 250 yds for the seaosn. Competing with Sung Hyun, Ariya, Lexi, and Brooke is going to take getting 250+ off the tee. Minjee and So Yeon both averaged 258 yds last year, which was plenty long.

[WestTex]

I was originally going to post this in the equal pay thread, but it was a bit of a hijack, so I'm posting it here:

 

I wonder what the top players who skipped the Diamond Resort have as their reason. I'm not judging, I really want to know. In my mind, if you're coming off vacation and need to tighten up your game before the official "start" and you've won prior, wouldn't a tournament where most spectators aren't there to see you be a good low key test run? Like Stacy Lewis, I expected nothing from her, but she showed a ton of talent by being that competetive after dumping a bowling ball. FFS, that's impressive! So why not go, get a no-cut small-ish paycheck to work out the kinks and experiment a little? It just seems odd to be that there was not more buy-in. Anyone have info on that?

[Argonne69]

Many of the Korean pros spend the off season back home. There's a four week stretch of tournaments starting February 7th in Australia (2), Thailand, and Singapore. If it was me, I'd likely not make the 17 hour flight to Orlando to play in a small purse event, and then have to travel 23 hours back to Victoria, Australia.

 

Also, keep in mind that the Vic Open is also a small purse event. 'No reason a player can't work out the kinks there before teeing it up the following week at the ISPS Handa.

[WestTex]

Many of the Korean pros spend the off season back home. There's a four week stretch of tournaments starting February 7th in Australia (2), Thailand, and Singapore. If it was me, I'd likely not make the 17 hour flight to Orlando to play in a small purse event, and then have to travel 23 hours back to Victoria, Australia.

 

Also, keep in mind that the Vic Open is also a small purse event. 'No reason a player can't work out the kinks there before teeing it up the following week at the ISPS Handa.

 

I suppose that's fair, but I heard SHP was in Florida and SYR in Dallas? But agreed, the Handa would be a good official start too if I were a pro. What am I saying?! If I were a pro, sure, let me go get started on that lol...

[Awsi Dooger]

Some stuff I forgot to mention. Sorry for the delay:

 

* On Thursday I was standing alongside the 7th green wearing Canes gear and talking to another Canes fan about all the recent changes to the football program since the season ended, with Mark Richt retiring as head coach, etc. Mostly I was waiting for the Cristie Kerr/Jack Wagner/Jeremy Roenick group to get there, since that looked like the highest caliber overall pairing, plus some fiery potential.

 

Next thing I know an older guy from my right hears the college football talk and jumps in. He was raving about the Clemson freshman quarterback Trevor Lawrence. Then I realized it was Cristie Kerr's father. I have spoken to him several times at the Naples event but this was different. He's always in a mechanized scooter at Naples. I was under the impression he needed a scooter to get around. Nope. He was walking fine, at nearly 78 years old. He told me this tournament wouldn't let him use the scooter due to the layout, and specifically the long cart ride required over the wooden platform between #2/#18 area and the bulk of the course from #3 to #17.

 

I ended up walking most of the round with Mr. Kerr, and also Cristie's husband who joined one hole later. The two celebrities were really playing well. They were 30 yards beyond Cristie's tee ball. Wagner and Roenick were almost exactly the same length off the tee, which led to quite a bit of competitiveness on every tee ball and approach shot. "These two guys are giving my daughter a golfing lesson," said Mr. Kerr after both Wagner and Roenick hit it tight on the par 3 9th.

 

Cristie split her right thump open on the 8th. Apparently it has been an ongoing problem. She summoned LPGA officials and asked them to retrieve bandages and ointment from her locker. They arrived on 10 but said they hadn't been able to access the locker. So they brought similar items. A big guy wrapped Cristie's thumb. On that 10th both Wagner and Roenick had eagle putts, and Wagner from 20 feet. He barely missed. Cristie turned to her caddie and said of Wagner, "He is really good."

 

I asked Kerr's father about her upbringing in the game. They are from southwest Miami, not far from where I live. He said he taught Cristie everything about the game, including how to read putts. He wasn't happy with the closest course, Calusa Country Club. I played there. So did O.J. Simpson after the wrongful acquittal. It was a wide open course that is now closed, amidst an ongoing covenant battle. But Mr. Kerr thought it wasn't challenging enough, so he took Cristie to learn the game at Kendale Lakes Country Club, which is now called Miccosukee. It hosted a Web.com tour event every October, until the wraparound scheduling began and those fall dates were lost.

 

Mr. Kerr told me that the LPGA wanted to play annually at Miccosukee, and had quite a bit of discussion/inspection, but there was no way to regulate spectators from entering the course wherever they wish. That is certainly true of that suburban layout. He said the LPGA did play the course many decades ago, before Cristie was born.

 

He said he caddied for Cristie for a couple of seasons early in her pro career. But it clearly wore on him, from the way he described it. "It was too difficult for me physically and otherwise," he said. "You always had to balance her emotions...what she was thinking. So many ups and downs in a round. Besides, kids at that age don't want to listen to advice from parents. They'll hit whatever club they want to. I remember one time I cautioned Cristie about being too aggressive on a tricky hole we had not played before. I told her to hit 3 iron. She hit driver...in the water. Then again. Then again. Then again. She ended up with 13 on a par 5."

 

He laughed at the end of that anecdote. Very obvious that he does not miss being a caddie. He also talked about the annoyances of raking traps, etc.

 

Then Mr. Kerr brought up what was already obvious, that the celebrities can look like pros off the tee but the closer to the green everything begins to weaken noticeably.

 

I had never spoken to Cristie's husband before. Nice guy. More open than I expected. When he approached for the first time, Mr. Kerr joked that, "It's difficult to call a 53 year old man sonny boy."

 

Cristie's husband wanted to know about the thumb injury. It seemed under control, at least briefly. But then we ended up talking about the new event and what a shame it was that so many players decided to skip it. "I understand that some of the players from Australia and Korea didn't want to travel this far for a one and done," he said. "But they need to think about what is best for our tour. We are still rebuilding the brand. There are many groups here who don't have an LPGA player at all. That should not happen. Then once the LPGA realized players were skipping the event, they should have filled those spots by whatever means necessary. Go back three years if you have to. Or make it an invitational for the remaining spots. Do something."

 

We had already seen examples of some pros leaving in the pin while putting. Smoltz did it on a midranged putt. Mr. Kerr was not a fan of that. I thought the topic had exhausted itself until I decided to make the loop on #12 and #13 while Mr. Kerr and Cristie's husband decided to wait for Mrs. Kerr behind the 13th green. Cristie took off the bandages and rewrapped the thumb herself on 12. I heard her say she managed to keep the knuckle free, unlike the first wrap job.

 

On that isolated #12 Cristie and Jack Wagner ended up 45 feet short of the pin on a long narrow green. Wagner was slightly away. Both faced a putt that was uphill initially for 20 feet, then steadily downhill to the cup. Wagner's pace looked very good but the ball wouldn't stop and finished 7 feet behind the cup. Cristie decided to leave the pin in. I thought it made sense but nonetheless I was very surprised, given her putting excellence and overall attitude as a putting purist.

 

The ball had slightly less pace than Wagner's but would have drifted out at least 4 feet beyond the cup. No need. it hit the flagstick dead square and dropped for birdie. Cristie immediately began pumping her right arm in smiling celebration. "Pin in. Pin in. Pin in. I said I would never do it."

 

When I reached the 13th green and saw Mr. Kerr and Cristie's husband, they had no idea what occurred on 12. I described the birdie putt, including leaving in the flag. Mr. Kerr still grumbled slightly. "I don't seen how it could ever been an advantage." I tried to describe Wagner's putt but he didn't seem fully accepting until another spectator and family friend arrived on scene to verify what I had said.

 

Not a heck of a lot happened the remainder of that round for Cristie. Roenick hit a fantastic second shot into 13 that caught the slope behind the pin and settled to 4 feet or slightly inside. But he missed the eagle putt. That was Roenick's trend that day. He was rightfully 4-5 points clear of the field with decent putting but ended up 1 point back at 37. For the remainder of the week I didn't see the same level of form from him.

 

Mr. Kerr told me that nowadays he plays Granada golf course in Coral Gables a couple of times per week, with a regular group of "hackers". I took lessons at Granada as a kid. It is a stylish but non-threatening 9 hole layout. I was surprised when Mr. Kerr said he plays in a musical group that performs three nights per week.

[Awsi Dooger]

I forgot one thing: When Cristie hit a moderate wedge into 13, her husband was adamant that Cristie needs to spend more time practicing her wedge game. "Forget the long clubs. Just stand there from 100 yards out all day. That's what the Koreans do."

[Rich Douglas]

JL1 said:

nosil wrote:

JL1 wrote:

 

Smoltz lined up a putt of maybe around 10 to 12 feet somewhere yesterday and just as I expect him to put his stroke on the ball he backs away but, BUT, the putter stays on the green in position as it was before he backed off. He looks down the line and apparently likes what he sees, comes back in, resets himself, and makes his stroke. Isn't this basically an artificial way of aiming? Kind of along the lines of the caddie lining you up and then backing off, which I know is allowed in LPGA events.

 

 

 

 

 

If you want to know more about the putter is it by a company called Bloodline and it is legal. There have also been similar putters in the past.

 

 

 

As discussed a player cannot receive assistance in aligning their body via the use of a caddy or by laying a club on the ground to help align themselves.

 

 

 

Thank you kindly for the information but, honestly, I probably would never use that putter. It just would not seem "right" to me. If you can't use an alignment stick, then to my way of thinking you should also not be allowed to use a club that essentially offers you the same thing. People here are saying it is legal,so I believe them, but it just seems against the spirit of the rules and I am an old school purist.There is no such thing as the "spirit of the rules." There are only the rules.

 

No player has ever won an argument in the opposite. You can't argue that your rules breach, while technically wrong, was consistent with the "spirit of the rules." 

 

Rules official don't enforce the spirit, they enforce the rules as written. (Except Tiger at the Master's, obviously.)