ISPS HANDA VIC OPEN VICTORIA, AUSTRALIAFEB 06-09

[tonyj5]

Yea, my DVD didn't record it either, I did catch it after the first hour though.

Haley played the easier of the two courses. Lets see if she can keep it up today.

Madelene has alway had the game. She is also one of the longest drivers on tour. Her problem has alway been about missing fairways. If she can consistently keep it straight, watch out.

[Sean2]

Minjee Lee's brother has some serious game. Every time I see him on TV he is sniffing around the leaderboard.

[Singapore Joe]

A bit of a strange weather today. Quite warm and humid and hardly any wind. I'm on the other side of the bay but what I see from the weather reports it's the same at Thirteenth Beach side. The forecast says that the wind will pick up around midday so definitely an advantage to the early groups.

Edit: Something came up so can't go today. Hopefully tomorrow. Plans changed again ;)

[Singapore Joe]

Here's a few words from Geoff Ogilvy.http://www.vicopengolf.com/news-display/ogilvy-time-we-all-opened-our-eyes/105011

[Fry]

I was a member at 13th Beach for 6 years and Ive been there yesterday and going back today. Observations are that the women ive watched and almost without expection absolute flushers. To me there seems to be a step up this year in the quality through the field, particularly in apparent athletic fitness. There does still seem to be a few competitors who's strike somehow isnt quite good enough to create the spin required to be truely competitive. Lee6 stands out for me for the quality of her strike. I had a focus on the Aussie's in the field and got to see in person the frustration of Minjee's putter, Su Oh's dad ruefully remarking on her rustiness and Hannah making the best of a somewhat wayward clubface. Another was Karis Davidson who was close to winning this in the past, she plays in Japan atm and her score did not reflect her ball striking. I reckon Su will make a move today, she always finds a way to the top of the leaderboard at 13th.

The greens here were in poor shape 5 weeks ago but there was a tonne of effort made and they are rolling ok now. Putting remains difficult tho and I feel like, as we saw with Celine last year, it might come down to the flatstick on Sunday. It's been overcast and calm today, expect some low scoring from the ladies on the Creek course

[Titleist_PT23]

I watched Lee6 hit some balls on the range last year at a tournament. I regret not watching her play some holes on the course. She's not a bomber but the ball seemed to jump off the clubface (at least better than average) and the trajectory/flight was just perfect. Unfortunately, at the time I didn't know much about her other than some smart people here were calling her Lucky6 and thought she'd have a good year.

[Argonne69]

On the 18th during the first round the on-screen graphic showed 6ix's drive at 297 meters. Hannah was back at 250 meters. The wind was a cross wind. That's a heck of a drive. She easily reached pin high in two.

Anyone catch that Jason Hamilton is now on her bag? He brings a ton of experience.

 

[Titleist_PT23]

Has he caddie for anyone since Lydia? That was 3 years ago (time flies) but I don't recall seeing anything since.

Lee6 has never been short (I didn't mean to imply that - more that she's not in the Lexi etc tier) but that is a pretty good whack.

Unfortunately for me, I think all of the players in the last 5 years or so are hitting it farther / much more athletic. My ball flight / distances used to be very similar to the LPGA players, which was one of the attractions of watching. But now I am falling behind and may need to start following junior golf...

[pmcuk]

Not many big names here, but a chance to look at some up-and-coming golfers. When the cats are away the mice will play.

Linnea Strom looks to be improving her status this season. And Ayean Cho has come onto my radar. Not much info online, but there's an interview on YT in which she looks very bright and alert. Plus a video of her swing, which is pretty nice. I was impressed. A name worth watching maybe?

 

[Singapore Joe]

I managed to follow the full round of Pei-Ying Tsai, Esther Lee and Matilda Castren. A bit unlucky for them to be teeing off so late (at 13:30, the second last group) as towards the late afternoon the weather got pretty miserable, quite cold and a fair bit of wind with sea mist and who knows what in the air.

Looks like it will also be pretty windy tomorrow and Sunday.

A bit of a tough day in the office as Esther Lee, despite her pretty good ball striking, she just didn't get the score happening and missed the cut. Matilda Castren was a bit off and looked tired and scored +2 for the round. With -5 on day one that's a total of -3 which is enough to make the cut. That's in her first ever LPGA tournament. I am impressed. Hope she will get her form back tomorrow. Had a few words with her but after the round I don't think anybody felt particularly chatty or photogenic so no photos to share.

Her ball striking is pretty good and there were a number of putts that were ridiculously close to dropping but which didn't. With a bit of luck her score could have been a lot better. Oh well, it is what it is, the score doesn't know whether you were close to a better score or not. The important thing is she made the cut.

Tsai played super steady golf. She only missed one fairway on the entire round and that was by less than a yard. She's now T6 at -9 after rounds of 68+68. She's not exactly a large woman but did hit the ball quite long.

I was planning also to follow the group ot Minjee Lee, Celine Boutier and Inbee Park but they teed off at 07:50 and I just didn't make it anywhere near on time.

[18majors]

Lucky 6 interviewed in English; she's good

 

[18majors]

Is Madeleine Sagstrom the best player in the world?

 

[18majors]

They're cheering for Ayean in Korea

LPGA 무대에서도 빛난 KLPGA 신인왕..조아연, 선두에 3타차 3위

[18majors]

This is a big tournament for Koreans

ISPS 한다 빅오픈 2R 성적은?…조아연·이정은6·최혜진·박인비 등 [LPGA]

[Argonne69]

I'm not surprised to see Hye Jin in the top 10, but Ayean is a bit of a surprise.

Ally is another young player due for a win.

Always nice to see The Rocket on the first page of the leaderboard. Hope she keeps it up.

I didn't realize that they have a 2nd cut after the 3rd round.

[pmcuk]

Ayean was a completely new name to me, but she's actually 34 on the Rolex rankings ATM. That's above Moriya Jutanugarn, Georgia Hall, Gaby Lopez, Lydia Ko, In Gee Chun and a bunch of other LPGA winners. Not far behind Hye Jin either.

[18majors]

Winds of more than 20 mph are forecasted for Saturday; any under par rounds will advance the players.

[Singapore Joe]

The same as yesterday, the morning groups will have it easier. Here's the temperature and wind forecast for today (in C and km/h).

[Singapore Joe]

Pretty bad scores for the early groups on day #3. Bad start for Matilda Castren with a double bogey on the first hole but birdies the second and third to make it back to even par for the day after three holes. Now that's what I call sisu!

Curious to see what that second cut line will do today.

Edit: Back to even par for the day and -3 for the tournament after seven holes. Only one shot short of the second cut line as it stands currently. Fight, Finn, fight!

[Raving Shanker]

I disagree with Geoff Ogilvy. I enjoyed this tournament last year for its novelty value. But this year, the jumping back and forth between two separate tournaments just means we get half the coverage (or slightly less than half for the women). I am over it.

I also don't like the way he casually relocated the Australian Open to Melbourne, after Adelaide saved the standing of the tournament with the crowds and overall good management. Way to go, eastern states, just grab everything for yourselves! Strange, as he was actually born in Adelaide.

I also think the future of women's golf is to develop its own traditions and stand alone from the men's game. Some special events, like a mixed International Crown, might be good, but if the women stick close to the men, they will always be overshadowed. Geoff's sudden awareness of the great women's game is due to the management of it separate to the men's game.

 

 

[ChronicSlicer]

Will you be writing an article about her soon?

[Singapore Joe]

I don't have an opinion on Adelaide vs. Melbourne but I agree with you on that the event is a bit complicated to follow and in that LPGA needs to develop the product (for the lack of better word) independently of the PGA Tour.

I am all for supporting women's golf (or any other sport, I just don't follow anything but golf and alpine skiing, even not much of those) but there will be things like pay disparity as in almost every other sport. I don't say it is right as the question or right and wrong is not relevant, it is what the respective tours can gain for their purses. Watching women's golf does not produce the same shock and awe as watching men's golf does but that does not automatically mean it's an inferior product.

What Argonne69 says above is interesting as indeed the women are also becoming a lot more athletic and while maybe a few years ago I was able to relate to the game, even the middle tier pros are now a lot longer off the tee (not mentioning accuracy and short game). Of course the athletes will keep getting better and better, and the more $$ and visibility there is the more athletes will be drawn to LPGA. It is the responsibility of LPGA to grow the product and I will be supportive of it but I don't have a model of what they should be doing. However, trying to mimic the PGA Tour will probably not be the best of ideas.

Edit: Must have been a record number of typos and grammar errors in just a couple of paragraphs of text

[Argonne69]

The coverage s-cks. As I said last year, I don't want to see 66% of the coverage dedicated to no name male pros. It's a novelty at best, and is really an insult to the women. You've got at least three LPGA Hall of Fame players, and a handful of men ranked outside the top 200 in the world. Pffffft.

 

[Stooch]

Looks like the real winner today will be the wind! Madelene is keeping up her good form, nice to see.

[Stooch]

Yeah this is the 1st round I've watched and they basically show 4-5 girls, although I will admit I am enjoying watching Minjee's brother, he still hasn't earned the right to be called by name yet lol.

[Raving Shanker]

But doesn't Madelene SANGstrom have a great swing?! We have seen every shot of hers for 3 days (yet can't pronounce her name!). Pei-Ying Tsai wasn't even mentioned until she became co-leader. Not even Minjee, tournament favourite, is getting coverage.

[Nykt1000]

Would be pretty cool if Minjee and Minwoo both win the tourney

[fanofseri]

These gals with a chance to win are super hot. The Australians always throw a party. Hopefully, the best looking girl wins tomorrow.

[Singapore Joe]

Which channel are you watching? Dig up from the Internet a stream of the Sky Sports coverage. It's pretty good.

[Singapore Joe]

Getting also a crazy long round for the last groups. Borderline whether the course really is playable any more. Going to be very windy on Sunday as well. Maybe not quite as windy as today but enough to make it very tough for the late groups. The morning will be sort of OK but by midday it will be blowing quite hard. Gusty as well.

I saw a top tracer of a tee shot by Tsai which went up all 21 yards and just kept running and running. Wonder whether that was a mishit or some sort of a stinger thingie.

Ended up being a rough day for Matilda Castren but hopefully this was a good experience in overall. Time regroup and tee up again in Adelaide next week.

edit: That diagram looks a bit optimistic. It fails to take into account that the gusts may be up to 40 mph (that's 60 km/h).