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. Kraft Nabisco Championship. Three Tied at the Top

There are three ladies tied at the top of the leaderboard at the LPGA, Kraft Nabisco Championship at Mission Hills Country Club in California. They are Suzann Petterson, Na Yeon Choi and Jodi Ewart Shadoff.

Na Yeon Choi / Getty images.

Neither Na Yeon Choi or SuzzanPettersen, who played in an early morning twosome, made a bogey on their way to an opening score of -4 under par at the Mission Hills Country Club. They were the only players in the field who managed to navigate the day without a blemish on the card. Jodi Ewart Shadoff was the exception among the top three,  she mixed six birdies and two bogeys, but still hit eight fairways and 13 greens.

Suzann said there was no chance of making a bogey today;

“No, and we weren’t really close to making one, I made one good up-and-down when I missed the fairway on fifteen, had an up and down from the bunker. That was pretty much the only kind of tough par I had out there. We played solid, both of us. It was a nice pace of play. It’s really nice to get around in just over four hours. It really helps. It keeps the flow going, and like I said, I felt like I maybe left a few out there, but no complaints.”

Na Yeon was also happy with her bogey free round;

“I’m really happy I played without a bogey today, but luckily I played in the morning today, and the greens and fairways are a little softer than the afternoon. I have to play afternoon tomorrow. I have to be precise for second shots, and I have to try to get the ball to finish below the hole and try to make uphill putts. I didn’t have birdie on the front nine until number nine, but I tried to stay calm and then kept trying too hard. Last one I got a good birdie there.”

Jodi said she had played consistently well;

” I played really consistently, got on a birdie train in the middle of my round which was nice. I was hitting a lot of greens and making a lot of putts.  I’ve been playing really consistently the last three or four tournaments and so I knew, my game is right there and I knew I was due to have a really good round.”

Stacy Lewis struggled today, a triple bogey on the par three 14th;

” I was in a couple divots and it was just kind of a strange day, I’m definitely disappointed, but I made some putts there on the back nine, which was nice.  But considering I made a triple and I shot 1 over, yes, it’s good. You know, the greens might be as firm as I’ve ever seen them for early in the week. Fairways, the problem is you land short, it hits and stops. You land on the green and it releases. The greens are firm and it’s playing hard, so I knew if I could somehow on the back nine get it back to even, I would be right there.”

 

LPGA, HSBC Women’s Champions. Stacy Lewis Wins

 

 

 

 

Stacy Lewis

On the LPGA Tour, Stacy Lewis returned to her winning ways at the HSBC Women’s Champions in Singapore at the Sentosa Golf Club, with a -15 under par score. The Rolex Player of the Year held on to win her first Victory of the 2013 season, a one shot win over Na Yeon Choi, at -14 under par. The final few holes were a tough stretch for Stacy as she watched her three shot lead evaporate to just one as she stood on the 18th tee at the  The Serapong Course. Stacy had unfortunately bogyed 15 and 17, but managed to hang on with a par at the last following a great drive and a second onto the green at the par five, both eagle and birdie putts missed, but pat was good enough for the Title.

Stacy said afterwards that she had played the last all week as a three shot hole;

“All week, I played it as a three-shot hole, laying back short of the bunker and then laying up from there. And I saw where Paula Creamer hit her drive past the bunker and I turned to my caddie, and we both at the same time said driver, and I let it rip and that thing got so far down there.  I think I was actually in between a 4-iron and a hybrid. So we erred on the long side and hit hybrid up on the green, and I thought I made my second putt, but just to have an inside ten feet for birdie, that’s all I was asking for. The last four or five holes, I was pretty nervous, I’m not going to lie, that golf course is hard and it can jump up and get you at any second, and to have to play with two great players on your tail all day, and they played unbelievable, and none of us really, we just couldn’t get any putts to fall on the back nine.  I don’t know what it was.  Edges just seemed a little bit tighter.  Paula had a couple on the edge. I don’t know, I just played hard and put my head down and tried to make as many putts as I could, and fortunately I came away with the win.”

Stacy is projected to move back into the No. 3 spot in the Rolex Rankings, but both she and Na Yeon Choi can now see Rolex Rankings No. 1 Yani Tseng is within reach.

Yani thinks it is more fun now they are closer;

 ”I think this is more fun than like only one player play well, like clear-cut, because there is not really a clear-cut No. 1 right now. I think everybody, you know, is a good competitor with each other and motivate each other, and if someone wins, and I feel like, oh, I need to win next week, that kind of motivates.  So, I feel like very excited.”

Paula Creamer finished in third place, at -13 under par, a fine effort  following a horrible car accident she was involved in on Sunday night in Thailand.

Paula was more than happy with her placing;

“Geez, this is much more than what I ever expected, and to have a chance and really have a good chance to win this event, it felt good. It was nice to be in contention and have just a good attitude out there.  I think that’s the biggest thing that I take away from this week.”

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.

 

 

LPGA Malaysia, Sime Darby, Inbee Park Wins

Inbee Park

Inbee Park, of South Korea, became the winner of the Sime Darby in Kuala Lumpur, at  the Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club on Sunday.  The former 2008  US Open Champion beat defending Sime Darby Champion Na Yeon Choi by two strokes after a blistering last round of -4 under par, 67, enabled her to lift the Trophy.

Inbee knew the defending Champion liked the KLGCC course;

“I knew that Na Yeon was really strong on this golf course and I knew she really liked this golf course. So I knew I had to go really low today to win. Coming in I knew No. 15 through 18 are tough coming in holes, I knew I had to make a lot of birdies before that. I love coming here, eating good food. I love the people here. The people are so kind here. Maybe not so much the weather because it’s too hot for me, but I think I’m going to try to like it because I won here. I’m currently No. 1 on the LPGA Money List. I want to finish right there. I’ve got to finish strong these last few events because a lot of girls are very good.”

It was good to see the 38-year-old Aussie Karrie Webb enjoying her best finish on the Tour lately, after coming in third at -12 under par. A member of the Hall of Fame, Karrie has won 38 times on Tour in her career, the most for an active player on the LPGA Tour. It is nice to see that she can still contest against the younger brigade, at her age it gives you an insight into her character and determination.

 

Ricoh British Women’s Open, Jiyai Shin of South Korea Wins

Jiyai Shin 

Hearty congratulations to Jiyai Shin of South Korea, she produced one of the finest performances of her illustrious career when she defied atrocious weather to close with a battling one over par 73 and claim a domineering nine shot victory in the 2012 Ricoh Women’s British Open at a wet and windswept Royal Liverpool Golf Club. Her easy cruise to victory  means that for the first time in golfing history Asians have won all four of the women’s Majors in a single calendar year with South Korea’s Sun Young Yoo winning the Kraft Nabisco Championship, China’s Shanshan Feng claiming the LPGA Championship and South Korea’s Na Yeon Choi beating the field at the US Women’s Open. There was no other competitor who finished in under par, Inbee Park was alone in second place with a tournament total of even par. Third place went to Paula Creamer of America. finishing with a score of +1 over par.

This Jiyai’s second win at this event, last time in 2008, today she was really happy to be a two-time winner of the trophy;

“I can’t put into words how happy I feel to win the title for a second time. My first win in 2008 changed my life. This week, this win, I think it will change it too.  I said at the start of the week I wanted to play every round in one under par so to get to nine under in this weather on a course as tough as this is incredible. Now I know I can get a good score on any course, I’m pretty sure of that. I can’t tell you why so many Asian players are winning majors at the moment, maybe it’s down to hard work. Maybe it’s luck, or a bit of both.”

Lydia Ko arrived at Hoylake having won this year’s US Women’s Amateur and then followed that up by becoming the youngest ever winner on the LPGA Tour, winning the CN Canadian Open at just of 15 years old. Here at Royal Liverpool she won The Smyth Salver, which is awarded to the leading amateur, putting together rounds of 72, 71, 76 and a last round of 78 for a +9 over par total of 297 and a two-stroke victory over England’s Holly Clyburn.

Lydia said of her first British Open experience;

“I have got the award for the leading amateur and that’s what I wanted after I made the cut. This is my first experience of the British Open, I didn’t play as well as I wanted but I have won the amateur prize so it wasn’t a bad day. It was playing really tough out there, this is one of the hardest courses I have ever played and there were times when the weather made it almost impossible to play.”

U.S. Women’s Open Championship, 3rd round, Na Yeon Choi Masterclass

Na Yeon Choi/ Benny Sieu, US Presswire

South Korean Na Yeon Choi had one of the best rounds in U.S. Women’s Open history, taking control of the tournament with a masterclass round of 7-under par,  65 in the third round of The U.S. Womens Open at Blackwolf Run in Kohler Wisconsin on Saturdays third round. With a six shot lead over her countrywoman Amy Yang Na Yeon really takes an unassailable lead into Sunday’s final round. All but six of this years field are currently over par for the tournament, the best placed American is Lexi Thompson at -1 under par and a full seven shots adrift of the leader.

With  Saturday’s winds gusting to 30 mph, it’s unpredictability sent scores soaring, and precarious pin placements lowered expectations for low scores .  Choi appeared unruffled by the gusting winds, opening with birdies on her first two holes and then went on to make five more in a six-hole span starting on the seventh hole and finishing with eight birdies, against a lone bogey. Na Yeon was obviously very happy with her round;

“I had a really good feeling about my swing, I think I hit a lot of good shots. I think all 14 of my clubs worked very well. I can’t believe I got eight birdies today, but I am very happy. I thought today would be very difficult because a lot of wind was blowing. But you know, I started with two birdies, so I had good vibes from there. I had confidence until the last hole, and I think, you know, I had good patience. So that’s why I had a good round today. I will not change anything, I will just play my game. I know what I have to do, and I know what I can control. I cannot control winning. I can’t control my score, so I just will do my best and just hit one shot at a time. I hope to get good warm-up in the morning and just go out there and, like today, have fun with my caddie.”

Na Yeon’s playing partner, Nicole Castrale was left in awe as Na Yeon cruised along;

“Hats off to her. It was one of the best rounds I’ve ever seen, I’ve seen some good ones out here. It was more kind of funny. I made back-to-back birdies on 11 to 12, and I still didn’t have the tee. It is what it is. I think I finally got the tee on 16. At least I got it once. She putted great. I think she had 11 putts in the first nine holes. So obviously you have to putt well out here with the greens being like that. I didn’t think it was out there, but I was proven wrong. It was clearly there. But she played pretty much perfect all day.”

Kiwi Lydia Ko, at 15 years of age is the world’s number amateur player, suffered a disappointing third round, along with just about everyone else. Lydia shot a third round 79 to be at +7 over par for the tournament, tied for 41st place.