2020 ANA Inspiration

[Stooch]

1 minute ago, ChronicSlicer said:

Stooch, your pick is creeping up the board.
Although I do recall you saying you don't pay attention to previous years results...they are proving to show you a little something considering Lexi's less than stellar play recently.

 

2 minutes ago, ChronicSlicer said:

Stooch, your pick is creeping up the board.
Although I do recall you saying you don't pay attention to previous years results...they are proving to show you a little something considering Lexi's less than stellar play recently.

 

I also said in my pick of Lexi, her pattern is sorta predictable and she'll stumble and bumble around for a stretch and come out of nowhere and win.  She hasn't won in a while so I went with my gut and past history that Lexi is due.  But with Lexi it's always the razor's edge and things can always take a 180, lets see how the putting holds up once the pressure starts.   Plus Lexi's finishes are super strong top 10's and top 5's, this is an actual case of horses for courses.

[North Texas]

1 hour ago, stingerfade said:

No penalty any more for ball hitting you

 

Well okay, I learned something. Thanks. 

[Stooch]

Groups of 3 and split tees, good thing they are going off early in the Morning or they'd be cooking all day.  Leader might not like it, 5 - 5 1/2 hour rounds will have them out there till 3 - 3:30 and finishing in the hottest part of the day.

[Argonne69]

1 hour ago, stingerfade said:

No penalty any more for ball hitting you

 

Right, no penalty for the ball hitting the player. Of course if it hits the player it may have dropped closer to the wall. I thought the play was a left handed shot, but then again she may have not been able to get a good angle on the ball to advance it towards the fairway.

 

BTW, the two club lengths would have been measured from the ball, not the wall. Whether she takes an unplayable, or attempts the bank shot, she's taking a chance on getting a dicey lie in the rough.

 

Edited September 12, 2020 by Argonne69

[Argonne69]

 

I'm sitting here scratching my head. The birdies were certainly out there with so little wind, but many of the top players barely broke par, or shot over par, today. Lydia, In Gee, Kelly, Sei Young, and Brooke had ample opportunity to move into position for a weekend charge. Now they're going to be hard pressed to catch the leader(s). Definitely going to need rounds in the mid-60s on moving day to have a chance.

 

Nelly looks unstoppable at this point, but Lexi certainly has the firepower on this course to catch her. Mirim is a wildcard. Capable of low rounds, but also capable of fading fast.

 

Impressive play by Gabriela and Rose.

 

I'm keeping an eye out for Mi Hyang.

 

[Golf Dino]

2 hours ago, 18majors said:

This is very unique:

 

Seventy-six players made the cut

Twenty-five players missed the cut

Three players withdrew

 

 

I'm curious as  to what aspect of this that you find unique per se?  The small field, hence only 25 players MC? 

[RSinSG]

I lived most of my life in Palm Springs and was chuckling a little watching the players swatting the gnats. Anyone who lived there knows you need to load up on repellent in the AM and evening as they can be very annoying. Poor Stacy Lewis was being tormented. 

[Golf Dino]

1 minute ago, RSinSG said:

I lived most of my life in Palm Springs and was chuckling a little watching the players swatting the gnats. Anyone who lived there knows you need to load up on repellent in the AM and evening as they can be very annoying. Poor Stacy Lewis was being tormented. 

 

 

Is it much worse in  summer weather than say in the spring time (March-April) when this event is normally played?

[RSinSG]

10 minutes ago, Golf Dino said:

 

 

Is it much worse in  summer weather than say in the spring time (March-April) when this event is normally played?

Yes. They can be brutal and a good repellent is an essential item in your bag. Some times, not every year, there would be an infestation of biting gnats. We called them “No Seeums” as they would feast on your legs and you wouldn’t know it was happening until you got large crazy itchy bumps that you better not scratch. It is a desert after all.

[Golf Dino]

3 minutes ago, RSinSG said:

Yes. They can be brutal and a good repellent is an essential item in your bag. Some times, not every year, there would be an infestation of biting gnats. We called them “No Seeums” as they would feast on your legs and you wouldn’t know it was happening until you got large crazy itchy bumps that you better not scratch. It is a desert after all.

 

Talk about putting a "downer" on things when you're trying to concentrate and focus on your next shot, etc.    Thanks for the insight!  So when I eventually get down there, I will have to remember "deep woods off" or bring my own trained bats or swifts so that they can eat them all up!

[18majors]

2 hours ago, Golf Dino said:

 

I'm curious as  to what aspect of this that you find unique per se?  The small field, hence only 25 players MC? 

 

Yes, it might as well be a no cut event.

[18majors]

Nelly Korda has been hitting the ball like Nelly Korda and putting the ball like Inbee Park; that's a deadly combination.

Don't expect Nelly to keep the same pace over the weekend, the only question is whether anyone will step up and steal this one from her!

This moving day has many a stories cooking.  Not the least of them is the continuing battle between amateur superstars Gabriela Ruffels and Rose Zhang.

[Argonne69]

7 hours ago, 18majors said:

 

Yes, it might as well be a no cut event.

 

Nah. A cut puts pressure on the players. It it a major after all.

[18majors]

Can In Gee summon her power to win her third major?

She's among Lydia Ko, Sung Hyun Park, Jin Young Ko and other nine two-time major winners, can she surprise all of us to be the first 3 time winner among the group!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 12, 2020 by 18majors

[Stooch]

10 hours ago, Argonne69 said:

 

I'm sitting here scratching my head. The birdies were certainly out there with so little wind, but many of the top players barely broke par, or shot over par, today. Lydia, In Gee, Kelly, Sei Young, and Brooke had ample opportunity to move into position for a weekend charge. Now they're going to be hard pressed to catch the leader(s). Definitely going to need rounds in the mid-60s on moving day to have a chance.

 

Nelly looks unstoppable at this point, but Lexi certainly has the firepower on this course to catch her. Mirim is a wildcard. Capable of low rounds, but also capable of fading fast.

 

Impressive play by Gabriela and Rose.

 

I'm keeping an eye out for Mi Hyang.

 

 

Like I mentioned earlier in the thread, you can't have an average round or you're probably out of the running.  It will take these player who didn't do much yesterday (-5's) to go 10 under over the weekend and that would still only give them a slim shot, you'd need Nelly to have an average round to get back into it.  But I suspect, They are letting the greens bake and we could see a little bit of carnage with the hard greens and big first bounce and are a little more speedy.  This though IMO will give the edge to Nelly and Lexi though, with there distance wedges and 9 irons will be much better coming into the greens.

[Argonne69]

 

Looking at some stats for the first two rounds, the players were getting a lot more distance on their drives (measured on two holes) in the 2nd round. I'm curious if they used the 18th as one of the measured holes, as I saw a few players tee off with a fairway wood on Thursday, given that it was playing as a three shot hole for most players. Fairway conditions didn't seem to change much overnight.

 

Mi Hyang averaged 268 yds in the first round, but 301 yds for the 2nd round! In Gee was 234/269. Rose was 236/254. Gabriela was 247/270. 

[Argonne69]

14 minutes ago, Stooch said:

 

Like I mentioned earlier in the thread, you can't have an average round or you're probably out of the running.  It will take these player who didn't do much yesterday (-5's) to go 10 under over the weekend and that would still only give them a slim shot, you'd need Nelly to have an average round to get back into it.  But I suspect, They are letting the greens bake and we could see a little bit of carnage with the hard greens and big first bounce and are a little more speedy.  This though IMO will give the edge to Nelly and Lexi though, with there distance wedges and 9 irons will be much better coming into the greens.

 

You'd think the conditions would favor the long hitters, but they have to be hitting fairways. 'Plenty of average drivers of the ball have won in recent years. 

 

[18majors]

@Stooch

 

I've always thought Brooke, Nelly and Jin Young Ko are the best ball strikers; Nelly hits the ball high, Brooke lower and Jin Young in between.  The three of them battled it out last year at another desert tournament, 2019 Founders Cup, Jin Young Ko took the crown.

 

I've always though Nelly can hit the ball as far as Lexi or even longer; but she's never chased the distance.  That's why she maintains her fairway hit percentage.

 

Nelly will win if she avoids missing 3-4 footers and keeps her average putting at less than 30 over the weekend.

 

 

 

 

[Argonne69]

24 minutes ago, 18majors said:

Can In Gee summon her power to win her third major?

She's among Lydia Ko, Sung Hyun Park, Jin Young Ko and other nine two-time major winners, can she surprise all of us to be the first 3 time winner among the group!

 

 

We'll see today. She really needs to shoot a 65 or 66 to get back into this. Hopefully she worked on her irons after yesterday's round. She hit 14 greens on Thursday, but only 11 yesterday.

 

[Stooch]

4 minutes ago, Argonne69 said:

 

Looking at some stats for the first two rounds, the players were getting a lot more distance on their drives (measured on two holes) in the 2nd round. I'm curious if they used the 18th as one of the measured holes, as I saw a few players tee off with a fairway wood on Thursday, given that it was playing as a three shot hole for most players. Fairway conditions didn't seem to change much overnight.

 

Mi Hyang averaged 268 yds in the first round, but 301 yds for the 2nd round! In Gee was 234/269. Rose was 236/254. Gabriela was 247/270. 

 

Yeah, the ball is definitely flying further in the heat, cause Brooke while she only avg 274 in the 2nd round, she missed both fairways on the measuring holes lol, so that's basically all carry.

[18majors]

6 minutes ago, Argonne69 said:

 

Looking at some stats for the first two rounds, the players were getting a lot more distance on their drives (measured on two holes) in the 2nd round. I'm curious if they used the 18th as one of the measured holes, as I saw a few players tee off with a fairway wood on Thursday, given that it was playing as a three shot hole for most players. Fairway conditions didn't seem to change much overnight.

 

Mi Hyang averaged 268 yds in the first round, but 301 yds for the 2nd round! In Gee was 234/269. Rose was 236/254. Gabriela was 247/270. 

 

 

The measuring holes are #2 and #3.

Hole #2 is downhill and players could get a lot of roll outs if they hit the fairways; #3 is uphill and is a better measure of the distance.

[Stooch]

14 minutes ago, Argonne69 said:

 

You'd think the conditions would favor the long hitters, but they have to be hitting fairways. 'Plenty of average drivers of the ball have won in recent years. 

 

 

I think it matters on how the greens are playing, at the end of yesterdays round you could hear the thud  the ball was making when it hit the greens.  If they kept them hard and speed them up, coming in with longer clubs could be hit or miss.  Like you mentioned yesterday, the course needs some more teeth and they even mentioned it on the telecast.  I doubt they can depend on wind and the only way to up the difficulty is to trick out the greens IMO, we'll see if they do it.

Edited September 12, 2020 by Stooch

[18majors]

Is Lei Ye the forgotten amateur?

 

[18majors]

The course is playing differently this year, but this is the past.

The biggest comeback was 4 shots behind.

 

 

[Newinup]

9 hours ago, 18majors said:

 

Yes, it might as well be a no cut event.

I am actually surprised why bother with the cut if more than half of the field make it eventually... Either widen the field or  make the cut less eg upper 50% instead of dragging everyone T70 or better or whatnot...

Edited September 12, 2020 by Newinup

[Stooch]

I know it's way early in the round but I wonder if the fairways have really firmed up, the player on course right now are a combined 13/29 in fairways hit.

[Stooch]

4 minutes ago, Newinup said:

I am actually surprised why bother with the cut if more than half of the field make it eventually... Either widen the field or no cut in my view (seeing that there's only around 100 participants)...  they managed to go in twosomes anyway and weather aint THAT bad for golf... (at least for me, and certainly no weather delays)

 

It could possibly be a factor today, in pairs the player got around in just over 4 hours but now in 3's with split tees they'll probably be on course for 5 - 5 1/2 hours, the later waves might feel it being on course that long during the hottest part of the day.

[18majors]

It'll be windier tomorrow

 

[18majors]

It's a moving day all right; far more birdies than bogeys thus far.

[Newinup]

Korda the leader gives new meaning to "nervous nellie" today (and just as i type this, ball takes a bath)... well, she was playing with fire trying to save pars the whole day yesterday... i dunno if it's just me but those usually don't end well esp if there's still at least a round left... 

 

SYK is still at least  in the hunt for her first major... Go Mi. Lee LOL... whichever Mi. Lee ends up on the front page after today's round, that is...