Mobile Bay LPGA Classic. Korda Climbs to the Top

Jessica Korda climbed to the top of the leaderboard at the Mobile Bay LPGA Classic with second round of -7 under par 65, for a total of -13 under par.

Jessica Korda / LPGA

Jessica said she felt comfortable;

” I feel really comfortable out here, this is definitely one of the stops I wanted to come back to and I hope we can keep this event as long as possible out here because I really like it. I feel good. Today actually I didn’t have one shot where I was kind of;  kind of windswept or anything so it was good, it’s definitely moving in the right direction. I saw Sydnee, I saw she was like -8 under through 12. Like dang, that’s getting it done today. But no, not really, I kind of just went out here with really no mindset. Just come out here, try and hit good shots and convert when you can and kind of take your punishments when you have to.”

Karrie Webb is alone in second place after her magnificent round of -9 under par 63, gave her a tournament score of -12 under par.

Karrie,  played alongside of Jessica, and remarked she would need to keep up with her bogey free rounds, to keep up with her opponent, she is just one shot back at -12 under.

” I think I’ll need to do that for the weekend playing with Jess, she played really solidly for two days. I’m not sure the last time I had a bogey‑free round, so I’m really happy about that. That’s sort of been my problem is I have bogeys at the wrong time and it really kills momentum. That’s what happened yesterday, I turned at 2‑under and then doubled 1 and bogeyed 2 and all of a sudden I’m at 1‑over. I just was really happy with that fight back yesterday to finish at 3‑under and I think that really carried over into today and it was nice to play today without any bogeys.”

Chella Choi occupies third spot, a second round of -6 under par 66 lifted her clear of the bunch on -10 under par. She is dreaming of her first win;

” Maybe my first win, I’m just kidding. My shot is really good, my shot is really good and my distance is better than before than last year. My putting it’s not bad, but bad then last year, so I tried really hard on my putting, focus my putting like 80 percent putting, just 20 percent shot. So shot is same, my condition is same, shot, everything same, but putting is much better than before, last tournament.”

Stacy Lewis could only manage another -2 under par round, and is now at -4 under par, nine shots off the lead, she admitted she made too many mistakes;

”  I just made a bunch of birdies and just didn’t ; made too many mistakes and you can’t do it when people are shooting lights out.”

Notables missing the cut, which was at even par;

Moriya Jutanugarn, Brittany Lincicombe, Felicity Johnson and ex wonder kid Michelle Wie.

 

 

Lydia Ko, New Zealand’s Brightest Golfing Star

Lydia Ko and her Canadian Open Trophy/Getty Images

Lydia Ko is New Zealand’s brightest golfing star again this year, and while she intends to continue with her schooling, everyone his talking about her professional career to come in the future.

New Zealand Golf’s CEO  Dean Murphy said winning the Canadian Open was undoubtedly the greatest achievement ever by a New Zealand female golfer and it was a significant moment both in Lydia’s life and in the annals of New Zealand women’s sport.

“She’s playing the very, very best players in the world and at 15 she becomes the youngest ever winner of a tournament on that tour, so it’s enormously significant. Every time she plays she seems to rewrite history but this is right up there. This will be her most stunning achievement to date by a long, long way.”

This year 2012,  where Michael Campbell and Michael Hendry both improved their performances, and Danny Lee narrowly missed out on his PGA card, Lydia was still comfortably the star sports standout. She was the youngest ever winner on the LPGA Tour,  by more than a year, and the first amateur to win on the tour in 43 years.

Unfortunately Lydia  missed out on a share of the US$2m purse at the Canadian Open, but went on to earn individual honors at the Espirito Santo World Amateur Team’s Championship in Turkey, in October.

We wish Lydia well for 2013, in her continuing studies, and especially out on the golf course, keep knocking those drives straight down the middle.

 

Stacy Lewis, Roger Chapman and Rory McIlroy voted Players of the Year, by Golf Writers Association

Stacy Lewis / Scott Halleran

Stacy Lewis Roger Chapman and Rory McIlroy have been voted Players of the Year by the Golf Writers Association of America. Stacy won four times on the LPGA Tour this year and was the run-away winner in the women’s bracket, gaining 153 votes to Na Yeon Choi who carded 31 votes and 10 for Inbee Park. Stacy’s percentage was 78.8% of the total vote. Congratulations to Stacy Lewis.

Stacy’s record was three runner-up finishes and a third-place slot on the LPGA money list $1.87 million, and was the first American since Beth Daniel in 1994 to earn the tour’s Player of the Year honors. The 27-year-old from Texas, had to battle scoliosis, since aged eleven, to make it big on the pro tour, she also becomes the first American since Juli Inkster in 1999 to earn the Golf Writers of America Player of the Year award.

Roger Chapman won 116 votes beating Tom Lehman who received 44 votes and Bernhard Langer who got 33 votes.  Rogers winning percentage was a healthy 60% of the votes cast. Roger, aged 53, began the year with conditional status on the Champions Tour, but won the Senior PGA Championship in his first start of the 2012 season. The Englishman then came from four shots back of the leaders to win the U.S. Senior Open.

Rory McIlroy, who captured the money titles on both the PGA and European Tours, received 190 votes, a massive 97.9%  Brandt Snedeker was second with 3 votes and Tiger Woods third with just one vote. Rory had already won European Tour’s Golfer of the Year,cementing his season with five birdies at his last event of the year to win the World Tour Championship in Dubai. His other achievements included his second Major, the  US PGA Championship, PGA Tour’s Byron Nelson Award and PGA of America’s Vardon Trophy for adjusted low scoring average of 68.87%  and also finished the season with 10 top-tens in 16 starts. Rory is the World Number One ranked player.