McDonald's LPGA Championship off to a good start

I am truly honored to have my humble opinion mentioned in your distinguished blog. Truth is, I'm just getting my shots in while I still can. The reality is Michelle will eventually put it all together and win, she has too much game and talent not to. When she does finally figure out what to do with that flatstick and tighten up her mental game she will be tough to handle on the LPGA tour. Winning breeds winning and I think she just needs to get that first one. Don't tell Alex, I'm getting soft in my old age. I still don't believe she will ever have the game to compete successfully on the PGA level, but that's for another blog.

Last year Annika's rounds were
-4 -5 -3 +1

After 16 holes, she is at level par.

I just don't think Annika has it this time round.

Michelle was the only player to hit all 4 rounds under par last year, and I think she has a pretty good chance of repeating that.

Very optimistic for Michelle.

I was surprised to read that BJ will not allow Greg to help Michelle read greens and help her pick the line. BJ feels this would stunt Michelle's growth as a player.

BJ really is an idiot to ignore the experience Greg brings to the art of green reading. I'm sure he has mapped out each green on the LPGA tour and could help Michelle find the hole.

Michelle's technique is fine, but she needs help reading breaks or choosing her speed.

Come on BJ give Greg and Michelle a break so they can win. His green reading was good enough for Inkster so it should be good enough for you BJ.

Michelle played the course last year--and it is only the second year the event has been played there so no one has much of an advantage over her in that respect. I can't see anything wrong with having her rea the greens herself.

"Comment from: Jim COULTHARD [Visitor]
Michelle played the course last year--and it is only the second year the event has been played there so no one has much of an advantage over her in that respect. I can't see anything wrong with having her rea the greens herself."

If Greg was allowed to do his job, she may have qualified for the US Open and won a LPGA event this year. You don't leave twenty plus years of experience standing next to the green unused.

He should definetely be let read the greens. She is young and inexperienced.

They could do it together and she would gradually learn from him.

If it is true, it is a ridiculous situation.

Tough day for Wie, but settled down and finished strong. Better days to follow...

I believe that Juli said earlier this year that Greg couldn't read greens worth spit and he never read them for her. Don't know if that was sour grapes or not, but Juli never struck me as being petty.

Also, Dottie was commenting on MW reading the greens herself and said that once she gets used to doing her own reads,and gets more used to the bluegrass here, that she'd be a much better putter.

Now those are only opinions that have been commented on by Dottie Brian, but I'd say they have a pretty good take on the situation.

I always thought that 2 sets of eyes was better than one but what the heck, no one ever reads the greesn for my putts. Well, my score does reflect that mos of the time too, lol

that should be Dottie and Brian, lol, the talking heads.

Where the heck is the dang edit button when you need it?

It'll be a surprise winner, Jen.
Not from the usual group of contenders either. Won't be Michelle this time either, she has to fix that putter first.

Leadbetter was talking about changing her putter so that she stood over it differently. But she needs to do something with it.

Michelle still has a good chance.
She is level with Creamer and Sorenstam, and 3 ahead of Pressel.

A decent 2nd round should put Michelle right back in contention. She is only 5 shots back from 2nd, with 3 rounds to go.

She could easily be within 3 of the lead after round 2, and then the tournament really gets exciting.

Strange day.

Nicole Castrale four strokes up on Lorena Ochoa? Seven strokes up on Paula Creamer, Annika Sorenstam and Michelle Wie? Not an everyday occurance. Dorothy Delasin tied fourth?

It's great to see some new names up there getting some time in the sun. I doubt if it will last, but it does show that there are no "safe-bets" in golf.

Looking forward to tomorrow.

Nice to see her drain some putts late - early, it was again the putter causing her problems. Hopefully that gets her putter on for tomorrow's round.

My personal experience with putting, is that it's not the putter, and it's not the greens; it's the 'dude putting' as Tiger recently said. Changing putters or having the caddy read putts won't do the job. MW, or any other lousy putter like her, has to fix up his/her putting routine, and mechanics.

Nicole put together a round of a lifetime. She has a great story coming back from a serious injury. I think she will fade in the end though.

Michelle had the same score she carried thru two rounds in last years LPGA tournament. She is not out of it yet as the field seems to come back as the pressure mounts.

"Comment from: hc2 [Visitor]
My personal experience with putting, is that it's not the putter, and it's not the greens; it's the 'dude putting' as Tiger recently said. Changing putters or having the caddy read putts won't do the job. MW, or any other lousy putter like her, has to fix up his/her putting routine, and mechanics."

Speed kills when it comes to putting. Too fast and it stays high, too slow and it goes low on a breaking putt.

Hitting the ball with a squared club face along the path chosen at the right speed sounds very simple indeed.

Coming off her great defeat at Canoe Brook, I have high expectations of another CHOKE at Pinehurst.

Michelle is rounding into her usual top 5 form as she is -4 for the day and sitting in a tie for 4th. 3rd place here she comes. Norman, the only excitement will be how she lets this one get away. I predict she will have an easy up and down for birdie and a chance at a playoff, but blow the chip by and miss the comebacker...Oops she's already done that. Maybe she will blow up in the final round when she is in contention...already been done you say. Ok how about this exciting scenario, she misses two putts inside of 3 feet to dash any hopes of her first victory...again been there done that. You are right Norman, this is going to be exciting. As I said mark her down for 3rd.

Ford,
Wie is a pretty good bet for this thing.
She is a class player and she has handled the pressure really well this year.

She has 5 very good tournaments before the Sectional, and even there she played credible, and predictably didn't get one of 18 spots in a high class 153 player tournament.

She's an extremely good bet for top 5, but as for actually winning, sorry I'm just not sold yet.

Update: She just finished her round.

Michelle shot -4 in the 2nd round and is now only one shot back of the lead.

The oddsmakers had Annika at -174 in her head-to-head match against Michelle. But, Annika seems to be wilting whenever Michelle is in the same event she's in. I think she knows that a new alpha female is about to be coronated.

As for Morgan -- beware of wolves in sheep's clothing.

Beware of Pressel?? Yes, she is a huge threat, especially after shooting +7 today!! WOW how impressive. She is so overrated and full of herself. Did they show her on TV crying her little eyes out?? As for the other UNDERRATED rookies, they are truly showing what it takes. Like Ai Miyazato, again. And Seon Hwa Lee is absolutely not given the credit she deserves!! Leading the rookie race by over three hundred points!!!! Is it because these talented young ladies are not American???

Back 2 Back CHOKE Wie-WEE did it AGAIN ! ! !

If you call that a choke, then there were at least 4 others choked right along with her..
I am continually amazed at how narrow minded and mean spirited some people are, and John D is just one of many.
Enfoy your small victory, John D, It must be really thrilling to make fun of her while paying no attention to the rest of the field that choked all week.

In the mean time, I said Wie wouldn't win today and the winner would be a surprise.

I think that my prediction was true today.

Comment from: John D [Visitor]
Back 2 Back CHOKE Wie-WEE did it AGAIN ! ! !

John D you are such a complete moron.
She beat the number 1 did she not? And remember she is ONLY 16. Why do all you imbeciles forget that?

I completely agree with you, putt4par. It's quite sad to have finished Top 5 four times in the last 5 Majors (2nd-2005 LPGA Championship, 3rd- 2005 British Open, 3rd-2006 Kraft Nabisco, and 5th- 2006 LPGA Championship), and STILL be criticized by mean-spirited people. I guess you have to feel bad for Michelle. Her every move is recorded and, sadly, used against her by her most ardent critics time after time. Those critics appear to point out every IFs, ANDs, or BUTs in Michelle's game, while totally ignoring comparisons to the field.

Talk about choke? Pat Hurst's double-bogey on the 9th hole second round? Mi Hyun Kim's missed putts? Kerr and Ahn's balls in the water hazard that lead to bogey? Ai's double-bogey on the 7th?

You get the point. The list goes on and on. I, personally, find it sad that people (Chris Baldwin and Tim Mcdonald, some of the many) go out of their ways to dissect every play she's made. I know questions like this had been pointed out many times, but I still have to ask: Had it been someone else who's finished in the Top 5 four times in the last 5 Majors, would they have been as heavily criticized? Exactly, the answer is no.

I still don't get how people can overlook the fact that's she's 16!! She obviously still has a lot to learn, but that's only going to get her to improve on her already great game. Like having her read her own putts. Like she's said, the caddy does not know how hard she is going to hit. Although some can argue that by doing so is costing her (18th hole of Kraft Nabisco), she's learning to read and putt better.

I think she did well on Sunday. She has 3 of 8 LPGA tournaments completed. 5 more to go. Anyone think she can pull off a win? I think she will.

Just a quick question. With her finish here, is it likely that she'll be 2nd again in next week's Rolex Rankings? Or will she be 3rd/4th after Webb and Ochoa?

You have to give props to Se Ri in the end she proved she can still win. What a fantastic shot to the pin in the playoff.

Webb just might grab the second spot in the Rolex with her excellent play of late.

I read that Karrie Webb received a big hug from Se Ri Pak after her win at the Kraft Nabisco Championship, and told Pak it would be her turn next time. Webb got to return the favor today.

After seeing Se Ri Pak's picture with Ronald McDonald (McDonald's clown mascot), I could hardly fault Michelle Wie for taking a dive (albeit subconsciously) with two bogeys on her last three holes.

Michelle suffers from COULROPHOBIA, the irrational fear of clowns. Click here to read the interview. She will need to address this issue next year. LOL

Wayne,
Michelle's bogey on the last hole was incidental. She could have easily pared it if she wasn't going all out for birdie to try to make the playoff.

Ann,
For the rankings. I predict Michelle will still be number 2. Her performance has been outstanding, especially in majors so she will retain that.

The one change I think will be is that Karrie will pass Paula Creamer.

Rankings before lpga championship:
1 Annika Sorenstam
2 Lorena Ochoa
3 Paula Creamer
4 Karrie Webb

Probable rankings after:
1 Annika Sorenstam
2 Michelle Wie
3 Lorena Ochoa
4 Karrie Webb
5 Paula Creamer

Michelle Wie had to prepare to try to qualify for her first US Open and try to win her first LPGA tournament in the same week. She then had to play the LPGA after playing 36 holes for the qualifier on Monday before switching her focus to the LPGA with practice on Tuesday. It seems to me that she will be in a better position going into her next LPGA Majors where there will be no men's event either that Monday or the previous week.

Norman, she birdied the last hole three consecutives times before yesterday. She needed to put her tee drive into the fairway, and she didn't. She ended up putting from 50 feet, but to her credit, Michelle didn't try to lag her putt and went for it. Her caddie, might not have appreciated it, but a "girl's got to do what a girl's got to do."

And for a girl with coulrophobia, it's a good thing she didn't have to be in this sticky situation with Ronald McDonald.

Norman you're right. Michelle's, and others, are also catching up to Annika's points too.

Wayne,
Christie Kerr was -7 on the last hole, same as Michelle.

What did Kerr do?
She put it in the water and got a bogey.

Kerr is a proven winner by the way. She won , twice in 2005 and already has a win this year.

What did Se Ri Pak do on the last hole. All she needed was par, but Michelle had the extra pressure of needing a birdie.
Pak failed to get a par and that could have cost her the title, if the girls behind her had finished better.

There isn't a player that was in contention who didn't make mistakes down the stretch.
It is just your bias that led you to notice only one player.

You may be right, but I am biased for MW on shedding her self-destructive tendencies. There's no doubt she will outgrow them, and it's just a matter of time before she posts that first BIG W.

There is no one better from tee to green on the LPGA than Michelle, and when she finds her putter she'll run rings around the other girls. Right now, I have a feeling she's measuring her competition like a prizefighter when she says, "I played my 'B' game and I was still in the top five."

LATEST RANKING LIST:

1 Annika Sorenstam 16.40
2 Michelle Wie 11.60
3 Lorena Ochoa 9.22
4 Karrie Webb 8.83
5 Paula Creamer 7.93
6 Cristie Kerr 7.53
7 Yuri Fudoh 6.79
8 Juli Inkster 6.34
9 Ai Miyazato 6.05
10 Morgan Pressel 6.00

Basically, as I predicted they would be. Creamer debuted at number 2 and has been going downward since. She could do with some decent results.

Where are the Koreans who have been doing better than either Paula Creamer or Morgan Pressel on that list?

Comment from: Wayne [Visitor] · http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2006-4/1168157/Michelle.with.Sparkly.Omega.Watch.jpg
Where are the Koreans who have been doing better than either Paula Creamer or Morgan Pressel on that list?

That is a great question!! Why is Seon Hwa Lee ranked 16th when she is leading the Rookie of the Year by almost three hundred points. And she has almost four hundred points more that Pressel!! Seems rather ridiculous to me.

Maggy said:
That is a great question!! Why is Seon Hwa Lee ranked 16th when she is leading the Rookie of the Year by almost three hundred points. And she has almost four hundred points more that Pressel!! Seems rather ridiculous to me.
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Seon Hwa Lee is indeed an lpga rookie, but she is not a rookie to golf.
She played a full schedule for the 2 years of the golf rankings.

Her ranking is based on 52 events, which means it includes 39 events before she joined the lpga.

That is why her ranking is down further, than her recent performance might suggest it should be.

If Seon continues to play the way she has been, she will continue to rise up the rankings.

She entered the rankings in January at number 144. That shows that she musn't have played very well on her previous tour.

Her great play has rewarded her to moving all the way up to 15th and I expect that to keep improving.

I believe Seon Hwa Lee was on the future's tour and did very well, earning her way into the LPGA without having to go through q school. Futures tour events are rated low so anyone taking that route to the LPGA will tend to have their Rolex rating dragged down for the first couple of years.

Does anyone here know through experience with lots of putting, if one can prevent lip-outs? Has anyone done a simulation of lip-outs by actually trying to hit the edge of the cup a number of times. Does hitting the ball topside or bottom-heavy make any difference in the amount of lip-outs procured?

Having a machine simulate lip-outs by firing topsided or bottom-hit balls to a cup's edge would be a great way to find out. Manufactuers could then make putters that are optimally angled so as to produce a little topspin or backspin and market it as a new generation putter with scientific data to back it up.

May I suggest to SONY to give Michelle a PS2 game with the latest golf simulation. The game will have similar physics to golf, and will have grids on the putting green where she could see for herself how she's reading the breaks. Jeong Jang, the winner of the Weetabix Women's British Open last year, says that playing Tiger Woods Golf on her Game Boy helps her with her putting. Nothing to lose in trying.