2021 Lotte Championship (Apr 14 - 17)

[aenemated]

Man, Lydia's game is on fire!

[Circaflex]

Rooting for Brianna Do; became good friends of her fathers a few years back. Great family.

Edited April 15, 2021 by Circaflex

[Gsea]

Jessica , "Kobe". Com on girl what was that. lol

[Argonne69]

Alison Lee sighting. Surprised. 

 

[Argonne69]

Interesting that So Yeon is still playing TaylorMade fairway woods with her recent signing with Titleist. Edit: looks like a TM 3 wood. Her 5w is a Titleist. 

 

Jerry appears to be correct, at least as far as LPGA putting stats are concerned. Putting average has not really changed in 20 years. 

 

Edited April 16, 2021 by Argonne69

[Argonne69]

Yuka looking to best Lydia for low round of the day. 

 

[HMHS]

14 minutes ago, Argonne69 said:

Yuka looking to best Lydia for low round of the day. 

 

At least there's a couple to root for in my top 3 here going into the weekend... (eg Yuka and Hinako... Bianca was just way too volatile - her driving has gone wayward lately and GIR continues to be subpar)

[ChronicSlicer]

Looks like Minjee, Ariya, Moriya, Nuria are hitting the beach early this week 😢

Just need Chella to shoot a 55 tomorrow and boom!! Right back in this for Saturday's finish. 😂

[mallrat]

I’ve said it before on here I think but,

 

I like Lexi or having nothing against her, she’s been a good ambassador for the game BUT does she have to be in the feature group EVERY time? So many  others out there to watch. We debate on here who has star power and what not but Golf Channel is not helping the LPGA’s marketing at all. At least we are getting to see some other shots but I feel like we’ve seen every shot of Lexi’s for the last 4 or 5 years. 
 

Sorry for my rant. 

[Stooch]

Yuka had another nice one.  Kinda shaping up to be a 2 player race at this point but there are low ones out there.

[Yellow Jacket]

Can someone explain why they played in Southern California at the ANA, then out to Hawaii this week, the back to Southern California next week, then Singapore the week after? Why not swap this week with next?

[ebk]

18 hours ago, iBanesto said:

When does Rose Zhang intend to turn pro?

Well, she’s still in high school.  She told the press a couple weeks ago she still intends to attend Stanford in the fall.  I hope she goes to college - at least for a while.   No doubt she can play with the pros, but seems it might help to not jump into it too soon.  There’s a lot more than practicing and playing involved in being on Tour.

[Raving Shanker]

Loved the slo-mo of Yuka's swing. It's great, and I was drawn into comparing it with Tavatanakit's. I think patty has a bigger shoulder rotation than Yuka. Patty's is a Rory type swing. Yuka has that powerful downward drive of a lot of the modern men.

 

Great to see Lydia playing like that. Is Lydia back?

 

Was amazed to see some awful putting from the Queen bee, but boy did she turn that around!

 

Anyone notice the snap in So Yeon's swing? I think she has done gym time, working on her core. Slimmer too!

Edited April 16, 2021 by Raving Shanker

[vtpachyderm]

Stats according to the LPGA for Lydia's second round (63) were 15/18 GIR and 24(!!!!) putts? Yuka (64) had 16/18 (!!!) and 27 putts! I can't even begin to comprehend just how good that is! My best scoring round last season (+5) was 50% GIR and 31 putts, and I was just over the moon, and then to read this stat line, I'm just speechless.

[Argonne69]

4 hours ago, Yellow Jacket said:

Can someone explain why they played in Southern California at the ANA, then out to Hawaii this week, the back to Southern California next week, then Singapore the week after? Why not swap this week with next?

 

I was thinking the same thing. Since the LA event is at a private club, it's possible that the schedule doesn't work for them. Also, it might be easier to fly to Singapore from LA than from Hawaii. It looks like there are no direct flight from Honolulu. A quick search shows most flights have two stops, with the first connection in LAX or SFO. 

[Argonne69]

Surprised that Minjee and Moriya missed the cut. 'Same with Gabriela. Ariya? Not so much. Her swing looked all over the place on Wednesday. 

 

What is going on with Andrea Lee? A pair of 75s and she's trunk slamming again. Third straight missed cut after a ho-hum 31T at Gainbridge.

 

Albane also missed her 3rd straight cut after posting a solid 5th at the Drive On. 

 

Watch out for Hyo Joo, Nelly, and A Lim. It's looking like a two player tournament at this point, but Lydia and/or Yuka could come back down to earth with a woeful 71 today. With 66's (and better) out there for the taking, it should be a fun moving day.

 

The other week they were taking about "being back", and how a player has to win to be considered back. I can't argue with the logic, but Lydia sure looks like she's back. Her game is firing on all cylinders. No crazy misses off the tee. Solid iron play. Sticking wedges close. Hot putter. Oh, and she's easily picked up 10+ yds. The wind and firm conditions over the past few weeks are amplifying the effects, but she's definitely going after the ball now that she has some confidence in her swing. 

 

Edited April 16, 2021 by Argonne69

[Stooch]

The wind doesn't look that bad today so it should be another great scoring day.  If you haven't dropped a 64-65 at least 1 (probably 2) over 4 rounds, don't even think about the trophy lol.  I'm not sure, you'll see anyone lose ground other than not being able to score, not really much danger here and most likely to gain ground you'll have to shoot a 64 or lower and hope the leaders shoot a 68 or so.  Brooke still can't hit the broadside of a barn with her putter but hoping for one of those things that means absolutely nothing and Brooke can go 72/72 in greens in reg, may be something cool to accomplish once in your career

[Stooch]

1 hour ago, Argonne69 said:

Surprised that Minjee and Moriya missed the cut. 'Same with Gabriela. Ariya? Not so much. Her swing looked all over the place on Wednesday. 

 

What is going on with Andrea Lee? A pair of 75s and she's trunk slamming again. Third straight missed cut after a ho-hum 31T at Gainbridge.

 

Albane also missed her 3rd straight cut after posting a solid 5th at the Drive On. 

 

Watch out for Hyo Joo, Nelly, and A Lim. It's looking like a two player tournament at this point, but Lydia and/or Yuka could come back down to earth with a woeful 71 today. With 66's (and better) out there for the taking, it should be a fun moving day.

 

The other week they were taking about "being back", and how a player has to win to be considered back. I can't argue with the logic, but Lydia sure looks like she's back. Her game is firing on all cylinders. No crazy misses off the tee. Solid iron play. Sticking wedges close. Hot putter. Oh, and she's easily picked up 10+ yds. The wind and firm conditions over the past few weeks are amplifying the effects, but she's definitely going after the ball now that she has some confidence in her swing. 

 

 

Well we didn't get too many shots from Minjee and Moriya on TV but when we did we see the same thing Ariya was doing wed. and that's missing greens, that's really the only danger here and the only thing that really slows you down.  Anything over par here was a bad 2 days but a couple players were 16 over and doing that here that's a "reflecting on your career" type score 🙂

[Raving Shanker]

I was joking when I asked if Lydia is back. Just being mischievous. She looked back to me from the first round after the Covid break.

[HMHS]

2 hours ago, Argonne69 said:

Surprised that Minjee and Moriya missed the cut. 'Same with Gabriela. Ariya? Not so much. Her swing looked all over the place on Wednesday. 

 

What is going on with Andrea Lee? A pair of 75s and she's trunk slamming again. Third straight missed cut after a ho-hum 31T at Gainbridge.

 

Albane also missed her 3rd straight cut after posting a solid 5th at the Drive On. 

 

Watch out for Hyo Joo, Nelly, and A Lim. It's looking like a two player tournament at this point, but Lydia and/or Yuka could come back down to earth with a woeful 71 today. With 66's (and better) out there for the taking, it should be a fun moving day.

 

The other week they were taking about "being back", and how a player has to win to be considered back. I can't argue with the logic, but Lydia sure looks like she's back. Her game is firing on all cylinders. No crazy misses off the tee. Solid iron play. Sticking wedges close. Hot putter. Oh, and she's easily picked up 10+ yds. The wind and firm conditions over the past few weeks are amplifying the effects, but she's definitely going after the ball now that she has some confidence in her swing. 

 

 

Yeah, am somewhat surprised with the Stanford girls too...   All I can say is that Bianca's been working hard at her game, but it is what it is for now, results wise (she's been MC the past few tourney too dating to latemlast season/year)... Can't go anywhere but up now for these Pac-12 alumns... but hey, look at Hideki's finishes the past few tournaments too and see what happened! ☺︎  As Golf Dino said, dead giveaway am rooting for Yuka this weekend... 

[Phreddy]

Quietly rooting for Paula Reto this week.  Our family got to know her when we hosted her at our home during a Symetra tour event a few summers back.  She has had LPGA status in the past, represented South Africa in the Rio Olympics and is one of the nicest people you could have the pleasure to meet.  She "Monday" qualified for this event, is currently T16 and if I am not mistaken a T10 gets her into the next event.  I love a comeback story.

 

Phred

[Stooch]

10 minutes ago, Supermilo said:

 

Yeah, am somewhat surprised with the Stanford girls too...   All I can say is that Bianca's been working hard at her game, but it is what it is for now, results wise (she's been MC the past few tourney too dating to latemlast season/year)... Can't go anywhere but up now for these Pac-12 alumns... but hey, look at Hideki's finishes the past few tournaments too and see what happened! ☺︎  As Golf Dino said, dead giveaway am rooting for Yuka this weekend... 

 

Another layer for Bianca is her status, tough to get on a roll when you're not in every event.  Bianca kinda built up her great play at the KPMG.

[hebsan]

4 hours ago, Argonne69 said:

 

I was thinking the same thing. Since the LA event is at a private club, it's possible that the schedule doesn't work for them. Also, it might be easier to fly to Singapore from LA than from Hawaii. It looks like there are no direct flight from Honolulu. A quick search shows most flights have two stops, with the first connection in LAX or SFO. 

Yep,  normally (pre-pandemic) there are multiple flights daily going to Asian gateways (Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai, Taipei) from Hawaii.  Right now there are very few.  Hawaiian running one flight daily to / from Tokyo, and twice a week to/from Seoul.  JAL and ANA looks like 2x a week.

[HMHS]

2 hours ago, Stooch said:

 

Another layer for Bianca is her status, tough to get on a roll when you're not in every event.  Bianca kinda built up her great play at the KPMG.

yes, but i did notice that some players seem to go on a roll fwiw  -- granted, ill use PGA players so it's less "controversial" -- 

 

1) Jason Day's run in 2015-2016 -- quite a run all the way to world #1 incl a PGA Championship major...

2) Hideki - 2016-2017 world #2, 3 PGA titles incl final round "loss" to Thomas, also in PGA (Quail Hollow)... 

 

Those 2 guys I follow the most amongst the PGA (Again, for obvious reasons LOL)...

 

 Bianca and Andrea are in the same boat in terms of "Status"  (low prioritiy from Qschool) and both, as you said have struggled out of the gates this year... ill just have to wait and see how them breaks of the game go...   so far it's been a tough slog...  but only 2 events so far as well for Bianca...

 

 

[Argonne69]

20 minutes ago, Supermilo said:

yes, but i did notice that some players seem to go on a roll fwiw  -- granted, ill use PGA players so it's less "controversial" -- 

 

1) Jason Day's run in 2015-2016 -- quite a run all the way to world #1 incl a PGA Championship major...

2) Hideki - 2016-2017 world #2, 3 PGA titles incl final round "loss" to Thomas, also in PGA (Quail Hollow)... 

 

Those 2 guys I follow the most amongst the PGA (Again, for obvious reasons LOL)...

 

 Bianca and Andrea are in the same boat in terms of "Status"  (low prioritiy from Qschool) and both, as you said have struggled out of the gates this year... ill just have to wait and see how them breaks of the game go...   so far it's been a tough slog...  but only 2 events so far as well for Bianca...

 

 

It's a real head scratcher. I don't expect "rookies" to come out of the gate firing top 10s week after week. However, missing several cuts in a row is strange. Both are solid players, so they're obviously tossing away strokes somewhere that can/should be easily avoided. 

 

[18majors]

@Supermilo

 

 

What about Su Oh, she woke up bigtime yesterday!

 

Maybe she'll go on a Jason Day run, but wins 2-3 majors instead of one!

 

Many people, including me, seem like Su even though she hasn't won on LPGA tour yet!

[18majors]

Somebody other than @Stooch and me has noticed this.  However, he failed to recognize that Brooke should've been -18 if her putter cooperated!

 

 

[Stooch]

Yeah. if you shoot an over or par round today, no matter where you started, you will sink like a rock.

[Yellow Jacket]

8 hours ago, Argonne69 said:

Surprised that Minjee and Moriya missed the cut. 'Same with Gabriela. Ariya? Not so much. Her swing looked all over the place on Wednesday. 

 

 

I wonder how much Gabi is getting from Nike. It's gonna be struggle living on sponsors exemptions if she's missing cuts.

[HMHS]

1 hour ago, 18majors said:

@Supermilo

 

 

What about Su Oh, she woke up bigtime yesterday!

 

Maybe she'll go on a Jason Day run, but wins 2-3 majors instead of one!

 

Many people, including me, seem like Su even though she hasn't won on LPGA tour yet!

Su Oh is my pick in our LPGA internal game here!  ☺︎