2020 LPGA Drive On Championship Jul 31 - Aug 02

[18majors]

Muni He shot +7 to finish +8 and pretty sure will miss the cut.

Hope this's just one bad day and she'll get up and do better next week.

[Titleist_PT23]

Other than Tiger, how many people have been successful at changing their swing? There are people that are better at golf than me and people that are smarter than me. But I don't see the logic in a) make it to the professional level of the sport (which is like < 1% chance or well more than a 3 sigma event) and b) proceed to change what got you there.

Do you think Tom Brady will be a RPO QB this year?

[Newinup]

LOL. at least she'll hopefully "cash" and won't go further lower on the priority list :)... too bad she's only -2 on par 5's today indeed :P she's still dissatisfied with her 2nd shot (eg wedges i guess - her weakness, along with bunker)

[Titleist_PT23]

Hard to say what will happen. HYP finished 2nd at Q-Series and won earlier this year. I think even coming out of junior golf/college, it seemed like Muni's game was get in play off the tee but progressively worse the closer you get to the hole. How she improves is unknown but so far everything looks pretty average at best.

But she needs just one or two wins to cash a lot of checks...

[18majors]

The most surprising about Muni is that her boyfriend is Alex Albon, a Red Bull racing car driver.

With her Chinese heritage , 300,000 Instagram followers and LPGA prestige; you'd think she could've picked a much bigger fish.

It must be love!

[Newinup]

It's been a sad sports day for this couple -- Albon placed a disappointing 12th today in (qualifying) in the British GP despite having a top 6 car (at the very least, maybe even a top 4-5 car)... At least Albon can still place better in the race tomorrow -- though if he keeps this up, he'll be out of a ride come 2021, if not earlier (as what happened to Pierre Gasly last year mid-season, who was, ironically, replaced by Albon himself in the Red Bull garage).

But, back to golf, I find Muni's inconsistency bizarre/jarring... Can't explain it... Bianca is inconsistent too -- but at least I can explain it LOL...

 

[18majors]

Celine Boutier; the unsung heroine!

Celine Boutier Interview | LPGA #DriveOn Championship

[Stooch]

Just saw the leaderboard, poor Lydia after a promising 1st day but you gotta put 4 good rounds together (3 this week) to win on the LPGA.

[Golf Dino]

Pffft...it's Silverstone!! Hamilton for the win! Albon is one of the up and coming drivers ... we will see where he ends up after his contract is up, but yes, he needs to start finishing a little higher than he has been. But, who knows ... being Max's junior teammate was never going to be easy.

Now on to GOLF ... I really do think that Bianca will turn out to have a better career than Muni or Lily as she calls herself these days. While Muni could learn to increase her swing speed, I think Bianca's already prodigious distance off of the tee will be her big advantage -- so long as she develops her short game. If she put in lots of work on that over the next season or two, she will start finding herself in the hunt. I also get the impression that Bianca is playing with a bit of a chip on her shoulder -- kind of like Koepka has and that she is using it to motivate her and improve her game.

[18majors]

We need to be patient! She’s playing well but the weather didn’t cooperate.

People forgot it was Brooke who put a dagger onto Lydia’s heart when Lydia was on her way to winning her third major in five at 2016 KPMG Women’s PGA.

Lydia hasn’t been the same since.

[Newinup]

Haha, yes, I do hope Albon does finish better tomorrow... He has proven it in the past (that he can start at the back/midfield and finish decent), and Red Bull seems to be doing all it can to aid him (Eg using Danny Ric's/Webber's former engineer) etc. Max will be max, a tough act to follow, has the pedigree from his father... Tomorrow's race will just be a parade for Mercedes

Yes, Bianca has a chip on her shoulder with regards to golf - I guarantee that :) Story of her golfing career so far... Lets see if she continues to improve tomorrow, fingers crossed... She was happy with her game today actually :)

[Stooch]

I'd worry about Celine Boultier tomorrow, she's generally rock solid without many crooked scorecards and she can close. She gonna be dangerous on this tough setup.

[18majors]

Yes, good call.

It's funny that she's unheard of until she won 2019 Vic Open in very tough conditions; but she's never left since she arrived.

I was pulling for her to win 2019 US Women's Open; but unfortunately she had that ugly finish on the final hole in front of the whole world.

Speaking of mental toughness; how about 4-0 at 2019 Solheim Cup.

Actually, I wouldn't put money on her to win because of that USWO finish. She can change my mind with a win tomorrow.

 

[Golf Dino]

I completely agree about Celine Boutier. I think that she has really developed as a player over the past 2-3 seasons and I like her toughness. Though, if Danielle gets it going physically and mentally, she can be tough to beat -- don't forget that she learned plenty about mental toughness in winning back to back US Women's Amateurs. You do not accomplish that without developing some mental toughness.

[Stooch]

I agree, Danielle should be considered the favorite, I just think Celine isn't the type to go backwards and any stumbles by others will be tough to overcome. Bless Jodi's heart but I've seen the Jodi leading the event and then Sunday happens movie too many times, she's gonna have to prove it too me. I think Celine is always gonna be a threat on the tough setups and majors because of how levelled and even keeled her game is. I'd say she isn't a bigger known commodity because her game isn't really suited to crank out 20 under scores required to win or compete most weeks on the LPGA.

[Tailgater]

I like looking at the bottom of the leaderboard.

Lexi +1 - Shes not hitting good approach shots.

J. Korda +4 - Got off to a bad start.

N. Korda +6 - Got off to a worse start and had make a strong comeback to make the cut.

Cheyenne Woods +6 - Good for her that she made the cut.

————————

Alison Lee +8 - Struggles continue.

Maria Agassi +12 - Ouch.

Natalie Gulbis +15 - Sponsor exemption?

Ryan O’Toole +17 - Is she done? 83 on Friday is rough

 

[Newinup]

Duke seems to churn out female golfers with solid play but under the radar (Celine, Yu Liu, Brittany Lang)... The current defending ncaa champs with boonchant etc also seem low key but are definitely a solid group... I am thinking celine takes it tomorrow as well...

As an aside, didn't realize that each player is allowed 2 spectators (credentialled, of course). Is this for this tournament already or only starting in marathon classic?

[Tailgater]

I think Danielle Kang runs away with it.

[Argonne69]

Jason Hamilton back on Lydia's bag. Lydia's previous caddie appears to be with Carlota now.

 

[Argonne69]

Tough course and tough conditions equal brutal scores. Did I hear right? 6805 yds? I don't remember the last time the cut was at +6. 'Thing is playing like a major.

 

[MJ2712]

I am going with Celine as well for the final round. I would also like to see Jodi finally get her first win but with her Sunday performances when she was in contention it's tough to pick her.

[18majors]

Thanks, Aon.

Beth Ann Nichols @GolfweekNichols

I use this space to call on companies/people to step up for women’s golf. It’s worth pointing out again that the LPGA Drive On is happening in large part because a company like Aon was willing to shift from handing out a $1M prize to one person to helping back an entire event.

[Stooch]

Great job by Danielle she was solid all week, looks like she got a little something figured out she had really good form for a while now. Celine had a great week too but she'll remember that putt for a little while, that's gonna leave a scar.

[18majors]

With the win, Danielle will move to Rolex No. 2.

Jin Young Ko has been less than mediocre this year the three times she played KLPGA tournaments; Danielle has a clear shot to World No. 1.

My two favorites, Minjee and Lydia did well. What a finish for Minjee, birdied #15, 16 and 18 to clinch solo third!

Not only Bianca Pagdanganan had a good tournament, she'll take over the average driving distance lead with 295.333 yards average.

[Tailgater]

That putt by Celine was not smooth and kinda stabby. She played really well to get back into it.

[Argonne69]

Well done, Danielle. I think we can safely say that her shaky early years are behind her. She's playing at the level many expected after her US Amateur wins. She looks like she's going to be the highest ranked American soon.

Oh, Celine. After a solid round that final putt for birdie was, umm, bad. Hopefully she shakes it off. She's turning into quite the player.

Jodi being Jodi. Her putter was cold, but her ballstriking was surprisingly poor. I'd like to see her grab a win, but she can't get out of her way on Sundays.

Solid finish by Minjee. It wasn't going to be her week, but she hung in there for a solid finish.

Very impressed by Yui. Another future star.

[Newinup]

How'd you track all these stats? Lol. Driving is not the problem with Bianca, it's shot #2 and those bunkers! (She said herself). I'm a happy camper at T28 for a debut. More hopeful this coming week as she's played in the marathon classic 2 yrs ago and made the cut as an amateur...

I'm amazed at these Japanese players, dunno why I missed kawamoto on the radar as I was there in Japan for the shiseido last year (which shibuno won :)... Of course she was paired with Bianca this time for the first 2 rounds so I knew she was capable by then lol... Had hoped they would rub off each other but after 2 rounds they had the same number, just different symbols +/- lol...

I really thought there was a playoff but the lipout, well, such is golf... Great 2nd shot for Celine though, gave herself a chance!

Pumped that we have another event in 4 days...

 

 

[Argonne69]

Are there going to be changes in the world rankings? I thought that the broadcast team mentioned that the rankings were frozen.

[18majors]

 

Frozen for players who don’t play.

The ranking on Monday July 27, 2020 was brand new, it included results from 6 or 7 KLPGA tournaments.

The ranking tomorrow will include results from both Drive On and one New KLPGA event.

[fredogolfer]

Alex Albon is a pretty big fish, he’s in Formula One you make it seem like he’s in go-karting. Currently earning 2.5 million and if he gets better that will only go up. Lewis Hamilton currently makes 40 million a year but he’s probably the best driver in history.