2021 LPGA Drive On Championship (Mar 04 - 07)

[ChronicSlicer]

42 minutes ago, Raving Shanker said:

I agree. First I noticed that Morgan sounds a lot like Paige (but calmer). Then I thought she was making a lot of fluffy, inconsequential remarks that reminded me exactly of how players talk who have been coached to do media. Not good. That's because she IS a player! Then she made some perceptive remarks - but yeah, she is one of those girls, so there is no way she will ever be critical of them.

I don't mind Morgan at all. Rather her than Weizy, Paula, or Gulbis.

I feel like being critical might be frowned upon in today's era where everybody is over sensitive and gets their feelings hurt so easily. LPGA needs a female version of Feherty in the booth, liven things up bit, enjoy a chuckle, have fun.

[Stooch]

I guess if I'm choosing, I'd like Jennifer to get her first win today. I kinda did figure this could be Jen's breakout season and will probably end the debate of who is better, she or Fassi.

 

But what I'm really cheering for today is Ingee to finish ahead of Georgia Hall and Lydia to finish ahead of Sei Young Kim 🙂

[ChronicSlicer]

35 minutes ago, Stooch said:

I guess if I'm choosing, I'd like Jennifer to get her first win today. I kinda did figure this could be Jen's breakout season and will probably end the debate of who is better, she or Fassi.

 

 

Not sure a win is really necessary to end any possible debate between them, Kupcho hands down. Honestly a better "debate" would be who's better Kupcho or Gillman? Statistically speaking they are pretty even.

[Seamus_McDuff]

An Ernst win and Kupcho outright 2nd would probably move both to top 15 Rolex and good shot at the 4th Olympic spot. A Kupcho win could put her ahead of Lexi for the 3rd spot. 

[Argonne69]

The course appears to be playing tough today. Only a handful of players under par. That doesn't bode well for the chasers, but it's possible the two at the top stumble. 

 

[ChronicSlicer]

If Austin blows this lead, she should consider retiring. Shoot for pars girl.

[Argonne69]

For the first 11 holes I thought I was watching a replay of last week's tournament. Leader jumps out with a few nice birdies on the front while the chasers spin their wheels. 

 

Definitely got more interesting on the 11th and 12th with Austin leaking oil. 

[Titleist_PT23]

On 3/6/2021 at 10:26 PM, Stooch said:

Lots of attention on SHP struggles last season and so far this season but "6ix" has been lost in the wilderness for the same amount of time.

77 and 80 this week.  I didn't pay much attention to her last year, especially how playing in ROK.  The USWO score was decent and I kind of ignored the rest of the season.  She was always very fit but in some photos it looks like she has slimmed down in recent times (swing timing off a fraction of a second?).

 

I'm not a huge fan but I do think her swing and ballflight is very nice to watch.  The swing is quite controlled but there is a bit more zip on the shots compared to many of the players I like to watch (albeit many of these players are very average by today's standards).

[ChronicSlicer]

Congrats to Austin. Something tells me she might pick up another one this year.

Looks like Ingee is coming back into form.

Albane hung in there pretty well too.

[18majors]

When Yealimi Noh finished -4 before the leaders teed off, I thought she had a good round.  Little did I know it's going to be the low round of the day.

 

It's been a tough two weeks for Yealimi.  She's never played well at Florida Bermudagrass courses; further, she had a new caddie.  She fought and made both cuts.  And finally, she had something to savor.

 

I expect things will be easier for Yealimi from now on, and looking forward to seeing it.

Edited March 7, 2021 by 18majors

[Argonne69]

Decisive win indeed. A very solid round, and week for Austin. She seems to be trending in the right direction. 

 

Nice runner up for Jennifer, but she's got to get over these Sunday doldrums. Another over par final round. 

 

In her previous 25 starts Jenny made three cuts, and her best finish was 26T. Big difference this week. 

 

Always nice to see In Gee on the leaderboard. Like Lydia, her game is improving each week. 

 

Another rough final round for Patty. Still a lot of positives to take away this week. 

 

A few too many mistakes by Lydia to erase the birdies, but hey, she scored her 5th top 10 in her last 6 starts. Pretty solid run. 

 

Enjoyable week. Tough course. Good coverage. I thought Morgan did an excellent job in the booth, but I also agree that she needs to be a bit more critical when it's warranted. 

 

[Stooch]

Nice win for Austin, she played very well this week.  Tough one for Kupcho, soon as that ball went into the water, she just fell off mentally.  Yeah, I agree Ingee has start the season off very well even made a couple bucks off her today lol  Tough to really tell anything about players from the this event, for the most part the course found a way to get everyone at least a round or two lol.  I will say Brooke has to figure out speed control on her putting, 6 three putts for the event (and her 1st bogey in three of the round was from a 3-putt, got be just deflating) that's giving away 6 shots to the field.  Heck, get rid of the 3-putts this week and it turns a bad event into a decent one.

[BadgerLin]

18 hours ago, Argonne69 said:

 

Last week she shot her worst round of the week on Sunday. 

 

She made the cut in 10 events last year. She shot under par on Sunday in only 3 of them. Her final round scoring average is roughly two strokes higher than the earlier rounds. 

 

Unless they're playing in trying conditions, the winner rarely shoots even par or worse. 

 

Ok, Jennifer proved your point today.  😟. Really good round by Austen Ernst.  

[Golf Dino]

20 hours ago, Shilgy said:

I don’t get your math. 
1) if she hit 12 greens how does she have 7 up and downs? Unless you are counting par 5’s where she was near the green in 2? Typically 12 greens and 28 putts would equal a score of -2 I would thInk. Even if that math included hitting all four par fives in two that would would only be -6 on the day.

What am I missing?

 

You're correct ... I just looked back at the figures I scratched down ... it would be 6 Up/Downs.  so here it is:

 

FIRs    - 14

GIRs    - 12 

UP/DN - 6

Other   - 6

Putts    - 28  

Total      60      Putts = 10 x 2 putts and 8 x 1 putts (ostensibly from a combination of chips close or birdies)

 

The point I am making is that @18majors seemed to be of the mind that 28 putts by Brooke Henderson was poor putting ( ... and yes, she did have 2 - 3 putts that round) BUT my point is that 28 putts is statistically a very good round and in the example I used, would be enough (28 putts) to shoot a low round ...assuming all factors are equally good (i.e.: 1-stroke up/down onto the greens and either a 1 - putt or 2-putt for par).   

 

So @Shilgy I went back to my spreadsheet and plotted it out ... you were correct that I missed a couple of strokes, it was the 6-extra strokes needed to get on the greens as part of the Up/Downs so here is what I just plotted on the spreadsheet.  So, my point is very valid about 28 putts being a very good round statistically.  The Final Score of 66 (-6) is still a very, good round ... just not as good as my rushed math was the other day.  😒    Real question ... can you find another combination that can lower the score?  

 

 

[Raving Shanker]

Hey y'all, great win by Austin. I love the control of the club head at the top of her swing. It's a current theme in my own game, so great to see it working for a pro. Note also, Austin is NOT a long bomber!

 

A long way to go yet, but Austin is now looking an excellent chance for Tokyo. I bet nobody on these boards predicted that 6 months back.

 

A did you all see In Gee's putt on 18?! From 2 feet, smooth as silk, dead centre!!

[preiter20]

My take on Morgan in the booth is that she was better than Paige but is not quite equal with Karen.  I really prefer Judy and Terry in the booth (no slight on Grant).   I would LOVE to see Christina Kim in the booth.  She doesn't have LPGA status at the moment (or is very low on the list) and does great work on the PGA Live coverage when she is on.      

[Shilgy]

1 hour ago, Golf Dino said:

 

You're correct ... I just looked back at the figures I scratched down ... it would be 6 Up/Downs.  so here it is:

 

FIRs    - 14

GIRs    - 12 

UP/DN - 6

Other   - 6

Putts    - 28  

Total      60      Putts = 10 x 2 putts and 8 x 1 putts (ostensibly from a combination of chips close or birdies)

 

The point I am making is that @18majors seemed to be of the mind that 28 putts by Brooke Henderson was poor putting ( ... and yes, she did have 2 - 3 putts that round) BUT my point is that 28 putts is statistically a very good round and in the example I used, would be enough (28 putts) to shoot a low round ...assuming all factors are equally good (i.e.: 1-stroke up/down onto the greens and either a 1 - putt or 2-putt for par).   

 

So @Shilgy I went back to my spreadsheet and plotted it out ... you were correct that I missed a couple of strokes, it was the 6-extra strokes needed to get on the greens as part of the Up/Downs so here is what I just plotted on the spreadsheet.  So, my point is very valid about 28 putts being a very good round statistically.  The Final Score of 66 (-6) is still a very, good round ... just not as good as my rushed math was the other day.  😒    Real question ... can you find another combination that can lower the score?  

 

 

28 putts is decent, but not “very good” in my opinion. There were a dozen men that averaged that last year(less than 28.10) and the top women were in the 29 range. 
Your math shows why I asked about par fives hit in two shots. 
How are two holes 2 putt up and downs? On in two over regulation?

[ThinkingPlus]

1 hour ago, Golf Dino said:

 

You're correct ... I just looked back at the figures I scratched down ... it would be 6 Up/Downs.  so here it is:

 

FIRs    - 14

GIRs    - 12 

UP/DN - 6

Other   - 6

Putts    - 28  

Total      60      Putts = 10 x 2 putts and 8 x 1 putts (ostensibly from a combination of chips close or birdies)

 

The point I am making is that @18majors seemed to be of the mind that 28 putts by Brooke Henderson was poor putting ( ... and yes, she did have 2 - 3 putts that round) BUT my point is that 28 putts is statistically a very good round and in the example I used, would be enough (28 putts) to shoot a low round ...assuming all factors are equally good (i.e.: 1-stroke up/down onto the greens and either a 1 - putt or 2-putt for par).   

 

So @Shilgy I went back to my spreadsheet and plotted it out ... you were correct that I missed a couple of strokes, it was the 6-extra strokes needed to get on the greens as part of the Up/Downs so here is what I just plotted on the spreadsheet.  So, my point is very valid about 28 putts being a very good round statistically.  The Final Score of 66 (-6) is still a very, good round ... just not as good as my rushed math was the other day.  😒    Real question ... can you find another combination that can lower the score?  

 

 

Your spreadsheet is strange.  12 GIRs with 28 putts will typically give a -2 round unless some of the par 5s are hit in two or a par 4 green is driven.  The best you can do if no par 4s are driven, but all 4 par 5s are eagled is -6.  So 12 GIRs/28 putts generates scores between -2 and -6 depending on number of one putt eagles on par 5s.  I agree with @Shilgy that 28 putts (given 12 GIRs) is good, but not great.  Slightly better than average.  Push the GIRs up to 15 or 16 with 28 putts is much better.

[Raving Shanker]

10 hours ago, agolf1 said:

77 and 80 this week.  I didn't pay much attention to her last year, especially how playing in ROK.  The USWO score was decent and I kind of ignored the rest of the season.  She was always very fit but in some photos it looks like she has slimmed down in recent times (swing timing off a fraction of a second?).

 

I'm not a huge fan but I do think her swing and ballflight is very nice to watch.  The swing is quite controlled but there is a bit more zip on the shots compared to many of the players I like to watch (albeit many of these players are very average by today's standards).

Her swing is a cut above the normal, even amongst this elite group of athletes.  So I am pretty certain her USWO winning form will return.

 

The trouble is, we don't get to see the players struggling for form because the TV coverage drops them. I would be very interested to watch an entire round, every last stroke, of Lee6 right now.

[18majors]

In Gee Chun, the pride of Korea once more

 

In Gee Chun, 4th place in the drive-on championship alone... 3 consecutive'Top 10' [LPGA]

 

[8602081]

Congrats to Austin..  

Both PGA and LPGA was entertaining this week..  

 

Now I have to wait until end of the month for next tournaments.. 😢

Edited March 8, 2021 by 8602081

[Kaysquare]

Congrats to Austin Ernst on a great win....she was solid!  I like Morgan Pressel in the booth, as I've never been a fan of Karen Stupples (talks just way too much).  I hope Morgan doesn't follow that pattern.  

[Seamus_McDuff]

On 3/7/2021 at 8:25 AM, Seamus_McDuff said:

An Ernst win and Kupcho outright 2nd would probably move both to top 15 Rolex and good shot at the 4th Olympic spot. A Kupcho win could put her ahead of Lexi for the 3rd spot. 

Kupcho moves up to 12 and Ernst to 14. 

[18majors]

53 minutes ago, Seamus_McDuff said:

Kupcho moves up to 12 and Ernst to 14. 

 

 

Five Americans in Top-15 vs. six Koreans; the takeover is progressing well!

Edited March 8, 2021 by 18majors

[Stooch]

6 hours ago, Raving Shanker said:

Her swing is a cut above the normal, even amongst this elite group of athletes.  So I am pretty certain her USWO winning form will return.

 

The trouble is, we don't get to see the players struggling for form because the TV coverage drops them. I would be very interested to watch an entire round, every last stroke, of Lee6 right now.

 

Like I mention in an earlier post, this event is tough to gauge anything from stats.  Everyone I was checking during the event was having a hard time hitting greens.  They said on the broadcast that they had recently replaced them and they are currently as hard as a rock.  I think most players this week had a very hard time with landing zones and hit the wrong spot and ended up off the greens.  I noticed this on Friday watching the coverage of the 18th.  The flag was at the back of the green and almost all players laid up leaving them a wedge.  I didn't see any players land the ball near the flag, they all hit it about 30 to 40 feet short expecting a kick or rollout none of them did and they were all left with 20 foot birdie putts.  It would seem "6ix" just had a really bad day with putter and playing out of the sand yesterday.  What I noticed about SYP through this bad stretch is she compounds too many mistakes into doubles and triples killing her rounds.  

 

I think both players will be fine, nothing in their stats reveals terminal flaws in their games.  Players go through ebbs and flows during a career and even during a season, it's just fighting through it.  If you take a look at Lydia she went into the wilderness for a few seasons (mostly due to her own fault messing with her swing) and now she's coming out of it but then there's players like Yani Tseng. she lost her ball striking and is a shadow of the player she was.  I don't see anything similar to Yani with either "6ix" or SHP.  I judge players more on trends that I see, than any one event or even a few months of events.  I think they'll be fine they both just have to clean up some things.

[18majors]

16 hours ago, Shilgy said:

28 putts is decent, but not “very good” in my opinion. There were a dozen men that averaged that last year(less than 28.10) and the top women were in the 29 range. 
Your math shows why I asked about par fives hit in two shots. 
How are two holes 2 putt up and downs? On in two over regulation?

 

 

It appears that @Golf Dino has a mental block on this issue.

 

Is 28 putts per round good?  It all depends:

1.   It's can be wonderful.  If a player hits 18 GIR's and got on all four par 5's in two;  she'll shoot -12.
2.   It can be terrible.  If a player hits 0 GIR's but has only eight one-putt holes; she'll shoot +10 or worse.

 

 

[Awsi Dooger]

On 3/7/2021 at 9:25 AM, Seamus_McDuff said:

An Ernst win and Kupcho outright 2nd would probably move both to top 15 Rolex and good shot at the 4th Olympic spot. A Kupcho win could put her ahead of Lexi for the 3rd spot. 

 

Good call. Kupcho to 12 and Ernst to 14. That result really hurt the Solheim hopefuls who had been just outside the points list and also further back on Rolex, like Marina Alex. Now they'll need two big events and not one. 

 

Overall I'd say the field underachieved. That course has some strenuous holes but plenty of easy holes, like 5. Even with the new greens it was ridiculous for one player to reach -17 at one point yet Top 10 reach all the way down to -4.

 

I didn't understand the hype toward the Kordas as near certainty. They are nice players but modest win percentages. As always, never get mesmerized by current form. As a gambler there is nothing more fragile or comparatively meaningless than current form. In Las Vegas whenever I hear somebody exclaim, "They're playing great!" or "They're playing terrible" I know that person should never be speculating on anything. The criteria is how good are you, not how good are you playing.

 

Morgan Pressel shouldn't be in that role if she is going to repeat conventional wisdom niceties all day and only reach for a speck of criticism perhaps once per telecast. Johnny Miller jumped off the screen immediately in the late '80s because he understood nobody wanted to hear fluff. 

 

Miller was the best LPGA announcer for many years also, even though he only covered one event per year. It was like Jin Young Ko winning the money title in four starts.

 

In Gee Chun looked like she lost a little bit of weight. Not a ton of weight like Charley Hull or Jodi Ewart Shadoff while sprucing up for their weddings. It's so competitive out there I thought In Gee was sacrificing a bit in recent seasons by not being in ideal fitness compared to her peers.

 

Morgan did make a good point regarding Brooke and the lack of fans, perhaps hurt more than any other player. Those Canadian galleries are so massive in Florida they turn every Brooke round into the feature attraction on the course and basically will her into contention. That was particularly evident in this course in 2015 and 2016. I think I mentioned it in those threads at the time. The attendance really picked up on the weekend but on Thursday it was barren as heck other than the throng following Brooke Henderson.

 

Her putting is still awful. In fact, I first noted that at this course. The energy from the Canadian gallery members was so overwhelming I kept assuming Brooke would win. But eventually it dawned on me that she was blowing one short to midrange opportunity after another not because she was having a bad day. Her typical day was blowing all the opportunities. 

 

 

 

 

[Awsi Dooger]

Re the sports betting and particularly golf related, I have received three recent phone calls from organizations pushing legalized sports wagering here in Florida. They apparently are trying to get something on the ballot, and in the meantime are evaluating interest level plus trying to educate the public.

 

All three surveys were by different firms, yet had some similarities. Golf obviously will be a feature, or already is a feature where it's already legal. They asked my opinion of each major sport in terms of wagering opportunities but the one they led of with was PGA. I told them I was interested in PGA but more interested in LPGA. The guy said he would make note of that for his supervisors.

 

The four companies they asked about were DraftKings, FanDuel, MGM, and Disney. The first three didn't surprise me. But does Disney have some intention of jumping in to the online or sports wagering realm? Maybe they are already there. I still use long time trusted connections to wager so I'm certainly not up to date on recent developments.

 

Another line of questioning was whether I thought sports stadiums and venues should be allowed to offer wagering on site, as opposed to phone/online only. My inclination is to say no, even though obviously it's done on premises for horses.

 

Most ridiculous of all was when 2 of the 3 phone surveyors were so robotic they would not adjust their questioning or script, even after I emphasized I lived in Las Vegas for 24 years in the sports betting field, so I already knew everything they were describing, and more. One guy was wide eyed and thanking me profusely, saying he was going to adjust his terminology and presentation based on the information I was providing, saying I was the most knowledgable caller he had spoken to in the month of doing this. But the other two insisted on reading out every question as if they had to again explain sports betting basics to me every time. 

 

[Golf Dino]

On 3/7/2021 at 7:17 PM, Shilgy said:

28 putts is decent, but not “very good” in my opinion. There were a dozen men that averaged that last year(less than 28.10) and the top women were in the 29 range. 
Your math shows why I asked about par fives hit in two shots. 
How are two holes 2 putt up and downs? On in two over regulation?

 

Yeah, to make the putt count work with the GIRs and Up/Downs, I have a couple of bogeys on the card.  

On 3/8/2021 at 11:55 AM, 18majors said:

 

 

It appears that @Golf Dino has a mental block on this issue.

 

Is 28 putts per round good?  It all depends:

1.   It's can be wonderful.  If a player hits 18 GIR's and got on all four par 5's in two;  she'll shoot -12.
2.   It can be terrible.  If a player hits 0 GIR's but has only eight one-putt holes; she'll shoot +10 or worse.

 

 

 

 

Precisely -- 28 putts is 4 putts better than regulation.  Simple as. We were not talking about score ... but putting.  You seemed to infer that 28 putts was not good.  My point was to demonstrate the error in your thinking regarding 28 putts and only 28 putts.  

 

If a player's putting average for an entire season was 28.00 putts per round, that person would be the top putter in 4 of the last 5 years.  The only exception would have been 2019 and Hyo Joo Kim's incredible 27.59 putting average.

Edited March 10, 2021 by Golf Dino

[Shilgy]

37 minutes ago, Golf Dino said:

 

Yeah, to make the putt count work with the GIRs and Up/Downs, I have a couple of bogeys on the card.  

 

 

Precisely -- 28 putts is 4 putts better than regulation.  Simple as. We were not talking about score ... but putting.  You seemed to infer that 28 putts was not good.  My point was to demonstrate the error in your thinking regarding 28 putts and only 28 putts.  

 

If a player's putting average for an entire season was 28.00 putts per round, that person would be the top putter in 4 of the last 5 years.  The only exception would have been 2019 and Hyo Joo Kim's incredible 27.59 putting average.

For a year yes. It is very good. For a single round? It is good but not great. Not in a round with just(for a pro) 12 greens hit.

 

To see how it all correlates see the link below. Most of the record lowest putts for one PGA tour event were not great finishes.

 

https://www.pga.com/archive/fewest-number-of-putts-in-72-hole-pga-tour-event