2019 ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open

[Argonne69]

Does Nelly hold off the pack today? I say yes.

 

Yes, she's young and early in her career, but I do believe this is an important moment for Nelly. If she puts the hammer down, and wins this going away, her confidence will get a major boost, and who knows how many wins she'll chaulk up. If she stumbles, and gives the trophy away, she'll be kicking herself for a while. She's certainly capable. The U.S. has been looking for a torch bearer for a number of years. She has the torch within reach.

 

[Argonne69]

Did Bronte Law actually fall into a bunker while lining up a putt during the 3rd round? Lol. Oops.

 

[hebsan]

Did Bronte Law actually fall into a bunker while lining up a putt during the 3rd round? Lol. Oops.

Yes, she even tweeted about it. But apparently there is no video proof.

[Argonne69]

Nelly looking in control, although Jin Young is lurking. Fun stuff.

 

[joeshmo]

Well done Miss Korda.....2 bad swings on 1 hole..otherwise

a perfect tournament

[Raving Shanker]

Well, how about that?! What a performance by Nelly. Well done! Her 6-iron swing on the par-3 12th is how I've tried to hit the ball since forever.

 

When she hit those consecutive bad shots on 15 I had a dread feeling about it all. But it all came good.

 

JY Ko's final round was a brave attempt to snatch the tournament, and I don't think she has gone down in anybody's estimation. No bogeys while chasing down a big lead, and she burned the hole on every putt she didn't make - incredible stuff.

 

My pre/early tournament tip of Haru Nomura turned wasn't bad (I think), but clearly she needs more work on her long game to contend against guns. It's a different swing to the one she had pre-injury. Thinking back to 2016 she developed amazing torsion along her entire spine, and released it all in perfect synchronicity. But the current swing is the more conventional rock onto the left foot and let the club fall into the strike zone. I don't know much about the back injury she had, but the modifications are obviously a response to that. I feel she is shorter, although she did bang it out there occasionally.

[Raving Shanker]

R4

 

Strangely (you might think!) I watched an entire round of Arya J/Annie Park today, took a few photos of players on the first tee, then went home and watched the finish on the teev.

 

Today was warm, calm and overcast. From early on I felt the pins were more friendly and more accessible than the previous days of the tournament. But the greens were speeding up, and some of the flag placements were still fraught with danger. Overall, it was great tournament management, because it was obvious that Nelly would have to go out and win it. There would be no sitting on a 3 shot lead and playing steady today. There was too much scoring opportunity for someone attacking enough, and skillful enough. The wind had died to almost nothing, so the stage was set. As it turned out, Angel and JYK could have taken it if Nelly hadn't played that well.

 

Ariya? Grrrr. If I could speak to her I would beg her to get out a driver! On the 10th she had 3-wood/iron (2 or 3) to the front edge a 450 metre par 5. Poor Annie hit driver/3-wood to come up 80 m short of that. They were playing a different game. But just imagine with driver. It'd be drive/mid-iron. Anyway, she went on to 3 putt for a par. It wasn't just the 10th. She should have been murdering the par 5's, but came up empty too often. On the 5th, a par 5, Annie hit driver off the deck for her second! Now that's attacking. She completely mishit it, but down the middle of the fairway about 190 m. The she holed a 60 m wedge for eagle! Great times!!

 

I think Ariya will be back in contention soon. She is fascinating, enigmatic, but frustrating to me.

[ChronicSlicer]

 

 

Ariya? Grrrr. If I could speak to her I would beg her to get out a driver!

 

I`m baffled as to why she has such a hard time hitting it. Surely spending time during the off season she could have figured out how to keep it in play more often. It`s pretty awesome what she can do without the big stick, adding it to the bag would be an extra gear.

[postfold]

Nice win for Nelly, rock solid today. That said, watching Jin Young Ko is a pleasure, what a terrific swing. Might be up there in Amy Yang territory in purity.

[Argonne69]

Well done, Nelly. Yeah, she definitely had to go out there and win it. With the gettable pins, she wasn't going to be able to cruise. She's quickly becoming the player many expected her to be.

 

Great title defense by Jin Young. Like other great ball strikers, it ultimately hinges on getting putts to fall.

 

My pick was Haru, but she couldn't find the putting surface when she needed to. 'Difficult two make birdie out of the bunker.

 

'Nice top 10 for Lucky 6 in her first start, but she can't be happy with an even par final round.

 

Much better week for Kristin Gillman.

 

[18majors]

Well done, Nelly. Yeah, she definitely had to go out there and win it. With the gettable pins, she wasn't going to be able to cruise. She's quickly becoming the player many expected her to be.

 

Great title defense by Jin Young. Like other great ball strikers, it ultimately hinges on getting putts to fall.

 

My pick was Haru, but she couldn't find the putting surface when she needed to. 'Difficult two make birdie out of the bunker.

 

'Nice top 10 for Lucky 6 in her first start, but she can't be happy with an even par final round.

 

Much better week for Kristin Gillman.

 

It's Kristen, Argonne69. Don't forget, you're Mr. Perfect.

[Argonne69]

Lol. I blame spellckeck.

[Stooch]

Congrats to Nelly on a great win, she started out slow but had 2 great rounds over the weekend. Credit to Jin Young Ko, she gave a great effort in her defense. Angel had a great final round also, but she's gonna have to learn how to not have that 1 bad round every week. Also impressed with some of the rookie class, during the Australian stops. "Six" (as she wants to be called) looked very good as did Kristen Gillman, Lauren Stephenson and Jaclyn Lee all had top 30 finishes

[18majors]

Too bad Kristen Gillman and Lauren Stephenson, No. 4 and No. 2 in Louise Suggs Rookie of the Year Race, are shut out from the next two tournaments.

Lucky 6, No.3 on the list, has the advantage; she's qualified to play Singapore.

[Mellow]

Wow what beautiful displays and charges.

 

Congrats to Nelly

 

Ahh I was cheering for Jin Young though ... far more important than fame or fortune, she would have doubled, doubled!, my lifetime correct picks to win! Does seem like this one must suit her game. There's again the significant distance up at the very top from the rest of the field.

 

I've wanted to see more of Taiwan since the IC, so it was great to see Wei-Ling.

 

Thank you to our Australian brethren for the on-the-scene reports, those are the best. Think the Australian swing was a big success!

[USAF Retired E7]

Congrats to Nellie for a nice win.

[rushfan96]

Congratulations Nelly!

[Seamus_McDuff]

How about Sarah Kemp with $100k in two weeks? She basically had no status and now might be set through 2020.

[Raving Shanker]

Celine Boutier on the range at Grange

[Raving Shanker]

Lucky 6 on the range

[Raving Shanker]

My wife took a bunch of photo/movies on her mobile phone. They are about 5 MB each, but GWRX says they are too big to upload. Any clues?

[Raving Shanker]

Forget this, get to the putting green!

 

Amy Y on the range

[Argonne69]

Do you have a Dropbox account, or other cloud based storage service? You can create a a public link and post it here.

 

[tbowles411]

Nelly played great. I think Jessica is her biggest fan!

[Raving Shanker]

Do you have a Dropbox account, or other cloud based storage service? You can create a a public link and post it here.

 

I have a Dropbox account. i went in there and created a folder. Then I created a link for it. But I am not sure what an external non-user is supposed to put into the address folder to see it. I can't seem to find it myself once I have logged out of Dropbox. I'll get there!

[Argonne69]

Do you have a Dropbox account, or other cloud based storage service? You can create a a public link and post it here.

 

I have a Dropbox account. i went in there and created a folder. Then I created a link for it. But I am not sure what an external non-user is supposed to put into the address folder to see it. I can't seem to find it myself once I have logged out of Dropbox. I'll get there!

 

In the 'members' column, if you mouse over the area to the right of the folder you should see a 'Share' button. Click on it, and a dialog window will open. In the lower right of the window you'll see a 'create a link' label. Click on that, and then click on the 'copy link' label. You can then paste that link into a post here. Use the link icon in the reply editor.

[Raving Shanker]

OK. Thanks. Let's try this...

 

R3, 5th, Par 5

Minjee get's into trouble. Minjee gets out of trouble!

 

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/b89iupk2wzmu1w4/AACT14pITvf1vmvoqzP6TUcba?dl=0

[Argonne69]

Looking at the stats for the week, Nelly really shined. She hit 78% of her fairways, compared to her 2018 average of 72%. She averaged 269 yds off the tee, a half club ahead of her 2018 average of 264. She hit 80% of her greens, compared to a 2018 average of 71.7%. She averaged 28 putts per round vs. 29.42 last season. She had only 2 bogies in each of her last three rounds, and didn't have worse than bogie all week.

 

Hit more fairways and greens. Make more putts. Avoid blowup holes. That's generally a recipe for a great finish. Her putting is what really stood out, gaining 5.6 strokes over her 2018 average. The only player on tour who averaged better than 28 putts per round last season was Haru (27.75).

[ChronicSlicer]

I see Nelly having a really strong season, she has a real great shot at stealing one here, I'm kinda closet cheering for Haru to get a great comeback win after her poor season last year.

 

I see Nelly blowing by big sis pretty soon in the OWGR Jessica #12 vs Nelly #16. Love to see Nelly and D.K creep into the top ten, but that`s not gonna be easy.

 

Oops, It was easier than I figured. Nelly cracked the top 10 at 9th. Lexi better get motivated..

[Mellow]

OK. Thanks. Let's try this...

 

R3, 5th, Par 5

Minjee get's into trouble. Minjee gets out of trouble!

 

https://www.dropbox....oqzP6TUcba?dl=0

 

This was awesome! One peek around the tree and she barely hesitated!

 

It's so cool to see an extra moment like this. Especially for the extra work of getting it posted.