Mobile Bay LPGA Classic. Chella Choi Trumps Anna Nordqvist.

Chella Choi has the third round lead at the Mobile Bay LPGA Classic, at the RTJ Golf Trail, Magnolia Grove Crossings Course in Alabama.

Chella Choi / AP

Chella shot a second consecutive round of -6 under par 66, to take the lead in the Mobile Bay LPGA Classic by just one shot at -17 under par for the tournament.

Anna Nordqvist had an amazing third round of -11 under par 61, which catapulted her up the leaderboard, sharing second place with Jessica Korda at -16 under par.

Jessica had a more modest third round of -3 under par, 69.

Karrie Webb is in fourth spot, she also had a -3 under par 69 in the third round, for her total of -15 under par.

Stacy Lewis, the defending Champion had a wonderful third round of -9 under par 63, which has put her well and truly into contention for this tournament, and retain her title as Mobile Bay Champion. Stacy is now in fifth place at -13 under par, four shots back of the leader.

Mobile Bay LPGA Classic. Lexi Thompson & Eun-Hee Ji Share 1st Round Lead.

Lexi Thompson and Eun-Hee Ji share the lead after the conclusion of the first round in the Mobile Bay LPGA Classic, played on the RJT Golf Trail Magnolia Grove, Crossings Course, in Alabama.

Lexi Thompson / LPGA

Lexi Thompson and Eun-Hee Ji both shot first rounds of -7 under par, 65, to share the lead at the Mobile Bay LPGA Classic. They lead by just one shot from Jessica Korda, who had a -6 under par, 66 and is in third place alone.

Lexi said she was working on her momentum;

” I love the par fives here, I get to hit pretty much driver on every hole out here so it’s definitely an advantage for me. I definitely had some momentum, I made a few birdies at the end of my first nine. I was hitting it pretty close and I drained a few putts. So I was just taking one shot at a time, not trying to get ahead of myself because it’s golf, anything can happen, and I was lucky enough to make a few more birdies on the second nine.”

Lexi finished her round on the ninth hole, with a birdie. She was happy to regain the shot she dropped on the 1st;

“ Yeah, that was a good shot to end on, I just had a three‑quarter pitching wedge and just committed to it. I actually came out of a shot on the first, and the last hole and just scratched that.”

Eun-Hee, the 2009 U.S. Womens Open Champion, said she had a good day putting;

” I felt really good with my putting today, if I had 5- or 10-foot putts, I felt like I could make it. So I was really focused on it and I was really positive with my putter. I just like a really fast green, this is really fast and in really good shape on the course. I just like it.”

Defending Champion Stacy Lewis was upset that nothing seemed to go her way today;

” I didn’t really have anything go right today. I had one ball hit the sprinkler and go in the trees and one hit the cart path and go in the trees.”

I know that feeling well, amazing how it all goes wrong, all day.

 

Lydia Ko in Japan. World Ladies Championship.

Lydia Ko / Getty Images

Lydia Ko, the Worlds number one amateur player has finished in a share of fourth place in the World Ladies Championship Salonpas Cup in Japan. Lydia continues to impress people from around the world with her good golf and easy happy manner. Lydia had a final round of -4 under par,68 and finished the tournament at -5 under par, just four shots off the lead. She said of her time in Japan;

” I have enjoyed my week up here.”

Lydia’s next assignment on her world professional event calendar is to tackle the LPGA Championship at Rochester, New York, USA.

The Salonpas Cup event in Japan was won by 36 year-old Mogi Hiromi, with a winning score of -9 under par for the tournament at the Ibaraki Golf Club.

Mogi Hiromi

LPGA. Kingsmill Championship. Ariya Ascends.

The Kingsmill Championship got off to a good start today with Ariya Jutanugarn from Thailand ascending the leaderboard, to lead the tournament by two shots.

Ariya Jutanugarn / Steve Helber

 

17 year-old Ayria, playing on a sponsor exemption,  cruised through her first sixteen holes on The River Course during Thursday’s opening round, with eight birdies, including six during her first seven holes. She came unstuck on hole seventeen, a par three, she made double bogey, but recovered a bit with a birdie on eighteen. Ayria can be very proud of her -7 under par, 64, opening round on the par 71 lay-out;

” I know like eighteen is not a long par four, I can make birdie on that hole.Today, I made a lot of shots. I don’t have any nerve any more.”

In second place at -5 under par, after her first round of 66 is two-time champion at Kingsmill, Cristie Kerr, who birdied both 17 and 18 to finish in style. Cristie spoke about the early wind;

“The wind was really strong when we first started and then, you know, kind of toward the tail end of the front nine it seemed to die down a little and then picked back up, so it was kind of coming and going all day. What was good was the wind direction was fairly consistent.  Sometimes on the 4th and 5th hole it can really swirl around and it can be hard to tell what it’s doing.  It stayed pretty consistent out there as far as one direction so that was at least a good thing. Momentum’s always the thing that you want to try and have, you try and carry over the play from today into tomorrow as best you can.”

Tied in third place at -4 under par, after rounds of 67, are So Yeon Ryu from South Korea and Dewie Claire Schreefel, who hails from the Netherlands.

So Yeon said it was tough and she had tried to focus on one hole at a time;

” Yeah, that one is really tough one because before I started, teed off, I didn’t expect a really low score, then I just focus on each hole. Then I think the 4‑under on the front nine that, oh, maybe I can hit the low score like 8‑under, 9‑under, then I expect birdie birdie birdie and my body’s getting tight and my mind wasn’t there, so it’s really hard to finish great front nine and then turn on the back nine.”

Dewie Claire has fond memories of her first visit here, and her host family, and strangely Sushie;

“ Yeah, I stayed with them, I flew into Washington on Monday, drove down to Richmond and saw them, had a good time, just went to dinner and I stayed over.  They’re one of the best host families I’ve had. He’ll be out here watching tomorrow.  Last year they came out the whole weekend. They have unbelievable sushi there, it’s really fresh and the host just kind of splurges, he gets really good tuna.  I love sushi and it’s the best sushi I’ve had.”

There are fourteen players sitting on -3 under par, so it is a packed leaderboard, maybe tomorrow there will be some separation.

Website Down !!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Web Site http://www.whitedragongolf.com has been shut down, due to those wonderful bunch of people known as hackers and spammers. God alone knows what pleasure they gain from these actions.

Hopefully we will be up and running again quickly, this time with extra protection. Please bear with us during this sad little episode and return to the site again when it is operational.

 

Thanks

Pete

PS   On the bright side I had a great putting performance today.

LPGA North Texas Shoot-Out. Park Prevails.

Inbee Park prevailed over the competition to win the LPGA North Texas Shoot-Out at the Las Colinas Country Club.

Inbee Park / LPGA

Inbee sank a four foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to fire in a 4-under par round of 67, for her total score of  -13 under par. In doing so she defeated Spaniard Carlota Ciganda by one stroke. Carlota finished at -12 under par.

Inbee spoke about coming from two shots back at the start of play, to win;

” Today coming into the final round, I was two shots back, and I didn’t really think about winning so much. The front nine I was given a lot of birdie chances out there, and nothing seemed to be going in, so I was a little bit frustrated. But on the other hand, Carlota was putting really good and she was playing really almost perfect.  She wasn’t making any mistakes until number fourteen, and she played very good today, except for a couple of holes.  And until Number thirteen I thought I wouldn’t have a chance because Carlota was really playing solid. So yeah, I was just trying to be really patient out there, and finally a couple dropped for me at the end. It’s always good to see my name on the top of the leaderboard almost every week, I mean not every week, but close to every week.  Yeah, it always feels good, my game is;  it’s really good to see my game is improving every week, every year, and just trying to take it step by step.”

Carlota had a few problems with the wind, her big down-fall was number fifteen, when she hit into the water. It cost her a double bogey.

” I saw the ball bouncing on the green, so I thought that maybe it was there long. But when I was approaching the green, I could see that the wind was hard and the ball was in the water. So I mean I just tried to make up on that, and I missed my putt, so then it was a 6, and that was it.  I think that was the key hole because until that time I think I was winning by two and then by one. I was trying to play my game, just trying to stay in the present all the time, and I was telling my caddy just focus on our game, just go shot by shot and just don’t think about the other, don’t think about Inbee or other players because you can’t really control what they are doing. I was just trying to focus on my game, and it showed and I think we did really good. I mean it’s always nice to win, but I think when you finish second or even worse, I think you learn more from it, so I think it’s a great experience, and I’m happy with my week.”

Third place went to last weeks winner Suzann Petterson, she rounded off her tournament with a last round of -5 under par, 66 for her total score of -10 under par.

Suzann liked this course;

” It’s a great track, I mean it just plays a lot different than what I expected it to.  It plays like a links course, the fairways, hard and bouncy. Early on this week I didn’t feel that great with my game to be honest, just coming off Hawaii, being in windy conditions, your kind of fundamentals and the swing changes a little bit, so it was a lot of work early on, and I got better.  I finally figured out the speed of the greens on the weekend.”

Stacy Lewis recovered from her poor start to this tournament, shooting a final round -5 under par 66, to finish tied in 7th place.

Stacy spoke about the support she got from the Texas crowd;

” We have so many good players from Texas and just look at the crowds this week, I signed autographs for people probably four or five deep for 100 yards. It’s hard, I have to get my game back on track and certainly today I hit it a lot better. I have to get my head right and not worry about the No. 1 ranking.”

LPGA. North Texas Shoot-out. Carlota is the Cream of the Crop.

Carlota Ciganda had one of the best rounds of the day during the third round of the LPGA North Texas Shoot-Out at the Las Colinas Country Club, shooting a -5 under par round, to give her a tournament total of -11 under par and top spot on the leaderboard.

Carlota Ciganda / LPGA

Tied in second place are Inbee Park and Caroline Masson, they are both at -9 under par, with a third round effort of -4 under par for Inbee and -2 for Caroline.

Fourth place is occupied by Na Yeon Choi, she had a third round of -5 under par to elevate her up the leaderboard with a total of -8 under par.

Stacy Lewis has had a quiet tournament, currently residing in tied 26th place, but still made the final cut which was made at +1 over par, the top fifty players went through to the final round. Still time for Stacy to improve her position, but not time enough to consider vying for the top of the leaderboard.

LPGA. North Texas Shoot-Out. Caroline Cruising.

Caroline Masson is cruising in the LPGA North Texas Shoot-Out, with a second round of even par 71, but it was good enough to keep her at the top of the leaderboard, courtesy of  her first round 64.

 

Caroline Masson / Tom Pennington / Getty Images

Caroline unfortunately let a very good lead slip by making bogey on three of her final four holes at the end of her second round. She finished with even par round, but luckily still leads the tournament by one shot, at -7 under par. Caroline said she not unhappy with the way things turned out, and looking forward to the week-end;

” I didn’t play as good as yesterday, but I expected that after that round yesterday. So I was off to a good start with a birdie on one, which was really nice.  And it calmed me down a little bit, and after that I just made a few good pars, but I also made some good putts for birdie. The last few; yeah, that was just some bad shots on the last few holes, but still I think, yeah a round of level par is never bad, you know.  And especially in that situation.  So I’m just looking forward to the weekend. I’m pretty happy it’s over now, I can just relax now and tomorrow I think I’ll be fine again.”

 Carlota Ciganda is just one shot off the lead, with a steady second round of -1 under par 71, and is now at -6 under par for the tournament. Carlota is a great traveler, next week she will return to Spain and will then play in LET events in Turkey, Holland and Germany. But she does like the States;

” I really like the U.S. it’s a great country.  I studied here, and I mean I love it here because everything is easy.  I mean the courses we play, they are great and the people are very, very nice. I just take my weeks off in Arizona, which it was really nice to go back there and see my friends. And Europe, it’s nice, too, because I am closer from home and I can go home in the weeks off.  But I love it here and I think the future is to be here.  So I’ll be playing in the U. S. and Europe this year, and then next year I’ll try to go more here.”

Tied in third place at -5 under par are Moriya Jutanugarn, Kathleen Ekey and Inbee Park, this tournament is shaping up to be really close, I look forward to the joust. Tomorrow there may be a clearer picture of who is likely to contest for the title.

 

 

North Texas LPGA Open. 1st Round.

Caroline Masson / Getty Images

Caroline Masson leads the North Texas LPGA Open with a career best score of -7 under par 64, to capture the lead at Las Colinas Country Club in Irving, Texas.

Caroline said she was bothered by the traditional Texas wind during her round;

“For some reason I feel like I’m playing pretty good in the wind. My win on the LET in South Africa was also in like really, really windy conditions.  And yeah, I’m hitting it well, so I think the wind doesn’t affect my ball too much, and that will definitely help me throughout the week. But it’s just also important to just make some putts on these greens because without putting well, I think you have no chance to shoot a really good round here.  So it’s just all coming together really.”

Coming up behind Caroline are three players at -4 under par, starting with current Rolex Rankings No. 1 Inbee Park, then Mo Martin and 2009 U.S. Solheim Cup Team member Kristy McPherson, all had rounds of  67 . Inbee said she was very happy with fast greens here;

” It was quite different with the speed because it’s such a difference from last week but I’m very glad that I’m playing the fast greens. I love fast greens, rolling greens. Last week was a very big challenge for me with slow and grainy greens which I struggle, but I was able to play better last week. So this is tough to adjust, but I love the greens here.”

There will be a cut here, so the top 70 and ties following Friday’s second round will go forward. As part of the “Shootout” format, there will also be a another cut on Saturday which will reduce the field to the top 50 players and ties.

European Tour.Open de España. Record 9 hole Sudden Death Play-Off.

There was a record 9 hole play-off required to decide the eventual winner of the Open de España, on the European Tour in Valencia at Parador de El Saler. Frenchman Raphaël Jacquelin needed all his experience to beat Maximilian Keiffer from Germany and Chile’s Felipe Aguilar.

RaphaëlJacquelin /Getty Images

Raphaël finally overcame the persistent challenge of Maximilian at the ninth play-off hole. Felipe dropped out early on leaving the others to battle it out.

Once Felipe had gone anyone expecting a quick conclusion to this event was sadly mistaken, they ended up playing the 18th hole nine times, taking two hours, before Raphaël won it with a birdie. He said he was tired, but very happy;

“That is very tiring but I am really, really happy. I could not make any putts in the play-off but the last one dropped, which means a lot for me and my family. There’s another baby coming at the end of November; every time I get a baby, there’s a win so I’ll have a football team after a few years!”

Raphaël was gracious with his comments about Maximilian, who playing in only his tenth European Tour event;

“He is starting this year very well. He is going to do very well and going to win a lot, I am sure.”

The Ladies European Tour and the PGA Tour in America also needed play-offs to decide the winner, is this going to become the norm, will be interesting to see what happens next week, I will be watching.