Lee wins shortened LPGA event

Lee wins shortened LPGA event










The Sports Xchange May 26, 2013 9:30 PMThe SportsXchange



Ilhee Lee captured the wet and shortened Bahamas LPGA Classic by firing a 5-under-par 42 over 12 holes on Sunday, giving her a two-shot victory over Irene Cho.

She finished the event in Paradise Island, Bahamas, with a 36-hole total of 11-under 126 for her first tournament victory of the year.

"I can't believe it right now," said Lee. "It feels amazing. This is the best day in my life. I'm so happy right now."

Heavy rain had caused the event to be shorted to 36 holes, the fewest number of holes required for the event to be considered official.

Thursday's play was canceled, and players played 12 holes Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The final round at the Ocean Club featured strong winds at the end of the day, and it ended in a downpour.

Work by the golf course staff from Wednesday through Saturday morning resulted in 45 million gallons of rain water being pumped off the tournament course.

Every player started on No. 10 Sunday, then moved around the course. The par-5 18th hole was used for the first time in the tournament, and the fourth hole was eliminated after being used the previous two days.

Lee, whose best finish this year had been a tie for third at Kingsmill, birdied her first three holes Sunday to catch Paola Moreno at 9-under and tie for the lead.

"In the morning, my goal was just pars," Lee said. "I made long putts first hole, the second hole, third hole, birdies, and then I was thinking maybe it's close. So I felt comfortable with the wind today. I think the wind helped me today."

Lee took the lead by herself with a birdie on the 14th hole and added another birdie before finishing her bogey-free round.

She earned $195,000 for the victory.

Cho birdied three of the last five holes for a 7-under 40, which was the best round of the tournament. Cho had an eagle at the 11th hole, and, two holes later, she saved par after hitting shot onto the sandy beach.

"I'm very proud of Ilhee," Cho said. "She played hard. I'm just thankful we got in all 36 holes, and here's to next week.

"I wish we got to see the rest of the golf course because it's really, really pretty, and it's a great look out on the ocean. But kudos to the maintenance crew for having us finish on hole 18, which is only the second time I've played it."

Cho finished ahead of third-place Anna Nordqvist by a stroke.

Nordqvist had a final-round 2-under 45 to finish at 8-under, one shot ahead of a five players: Paul Creamer, Mika Miyazato, Karine Icher, Mindy Kim and Cristie Kerr.

Senior PGA Championship: Sunday notebook

Senior PGA Championship: Sunday notebook












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Kohki Odoki received the Alfred S. Bourne Trophy from PGA President Ted Bishop.(Montana Pritchard/The PGA of America)

PGA.COM May 26, 2013 9:52 PM


By The PGA of America

ST. LOUIS -- With his victory today in the 74th Senior PGA Championship presented by KitchenAid, Kohki Idoki:

--Gets his name inscribed on the Alfred S. Bourne Trophy, awarded to the winner of the most historic and prestigious event in senior golf Earns a Lifetime Exemption into the Senior PGA Championship --Receives an Exemption into the 2013 PGA Championship, Aug. 8-11 at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, N.Y. --Gains an Exemption into the 2013 Senior British Open --Gains an Exemption into the 2013 U.S. Senior Open --Claims his first major championship on the Champions Tour --Has a one-year calendar exemption on the Champions Tour

KOHKI'S FIRSTS: In his first-ever visit to the United States, Kohki Idoki becomes the first Asian-born male to win the Senior PGA Championship presented by KitchenAid. Y.E. Yang became the first Asian-born male to win a major championship when he captured the 2009 PGA Championship.

Idoki is the second consecutive international player to win the Senior PGA Championship (Roger Chapman of England last year)

Statistically, Idoki led this week in Putts Per Greens in Regulation, and tied for first in Birdies (19) and Total Putts (108). He also tied Mark O'Meara for the second low round of the Championship, with a closing 65.

Idoki gained entry into the Championship as one of the top four players from the 2012 Japanese Seniors Tour Order of Merit.

MORE ON IDOKI: Idoki's 65 is the second-best final-round score by a Champion - Allen Doyle closed with 64 to win the 1999 Senior PGA Championship. He improved his score each day here at Bellerive, from 71 to 69 to 68 to 65.

RUTLEDGE FIRES 64, SETS CHAMPIONSHIP MARK: Canadian Jim Rutledge shot the low score of the Championship today, with a bogey-free, 7-under-par 64. Rutledge played the front nine in 5 under par, then added birdies on Nos. 14 and 17.

The competitive course record at Bellerive Country Club belongs to Jim Furyk, who shot 62 in the second round of the 2008 BMW Championship, when the course played to a par of 70.

"I got off to a good start and I think that that was a key to a good day," said Rutledge, whose wife, Jill, caddies for him. "We knew that we had a good score out there, because we put together some good stretches of holes. We just hadn't put it all together at once. But today was the day."

Rutledge had 11 one-putts for the round and vaulted 30 spots on the scoreboard. He finished the Championship tied for sixth place, at 6-under-par 278.

TOP 15 AND TIES QUALIFY FOR 2014: One of the criteria to be eligible to compete in the Senior PGA Championship presented by KitchenAid is being among the low 15 finishers, and ties, in the preceding Senior PGA Championship. So, based on their finishing scores today, the following players have gained a spot in the 2014 Senior PGA Championship presented by KitchenAid, to be held May 22-25 at Harbor Shores in Benton Harbor, Mich.:


Kohki Idoki Jay Haas Kenny Perry Mark O'Meara Kiyoshi Murato Jim Rutledge Kirk Triplett Duffy Waldorf Rod Spittle Russ Cochran Dan Forsman Peter Senior Bart Bryant Bernhard Langer Joel Edwards Tommy Armour III Steve Pate Fred Funk

COSTON, MIELKE SHARE LOW PGA CLUB PROFESSIONAL HONORS: Mark Mielke of East Norwich, N.Y., birdied No. 18 today to tie Jeff Coston of Blaine, Wash., for low PGA Club Professional honors. Both finished at even-par 284, as Coston closed with 72 and Mielke with 73. They tied for 28th place. This is the second time that Coston has finished as the Low PGA Club Professional in this Championship (2007).

Sonny Skinner of Sylvester, Ga., who almost holed out of a greenside bunker for birdie on the 18th that would have matched Coston and Mielke, tied with Don Berry of Rogers, Minn., at 285. St. Louis native Bob Gaus shot 73 today and tied for 59th.

BY THE NUMBERS ... ONE LAST TIME: 4: par-5 hole at Bellerive that played the easiest for the Championship, with a 4.686 stroke average 6: par-3 hole at Bellerive that played the most difficult for the Championship, with a 3.486 stroke average 6: number of birdies made today by Kohki Idoki, the 74th Senior PGA Champion 7: number of strokes Idoki made up today on third-round leader Kenny Perry 10: number of one-putt greens today for Idoki 26: number of putts taken today by Idoki 38: score for Kenny Perry on the back nine today, as he lost the lead in the Senior PGA Championship 55: number of consecutive holes Bernhard Langer played without a bogey (from his final hole in Round 1 through the completion of his round today) 64: low 18-hole round of the Championship, shot today by Jim Rutledge 65: second-best 18-hole round of the Championship, shot today by Idoki, and Mark O'Meara, who was fourth 67: score posted by Bernhard Langer each of the last three rounds, to climb back from 8-over par after the first round to 4-under par for the Championship 273: winning score for Kohki Idoki

FOUR EAGLES TODAY: The four eagles recorded today at Bellerive brought to 15 the total number made during the Championship, with the most eagles made on the par-5 17th hole (7).

HAAS TOPS AMONG SIX SENIOR PGA CHAMPIONS: He may not have won his third Senior PGA Championship, but Jay Haas does have the distinction of finishing with the best score among the six Senior PGA Champions who played through the weekend.

The 72-hole scores of Senior PGA Champions, and where they placed in the Championship: Jay Haas (9-under-par 275, tied for second) Michael Allen (2-under-par 282, tied for 20th) Tom Watson (even-par 284, tied for 28th) Hale Irwin (5-over-par 28, tied for 56th) Defending Champion Roger Chapman (7-over-par 291, tied for 64th) John Jacobs (10-over par 294, 75th place)

A FINISHING FOURSOME OF PGA CHAMPIONS: Jeff Sluman (1988 PGA Champion), Hal Sutton (1983), Bob Tway (1986) and Lanny Wadkins (1977) all completed 72 holes at Bellerive. Sutton and Tway had the best scores of the round (70) but Sluman finished with the lowest 72-hole total of the four. Their results:

Jeff Sluman (71 today for 287 total, tied for 47th) Hal Sutton (70 today for 291 total, tied for 64th) Bob Tway (70 today for 291 total, tied for 64th) Lanny Wadkins (80 today for 299 total, tied for 79th)

The 2013 PGA Championship, the Season's Final Major, will be played Aug. 8-11 at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, N.Y.

ALMOST THE SAME EACH DAY: Jeff Sluman and Boonchu Ruangkit finished 72 holes with the same total (287). They also had the same score in Rounds 1 and 4 and virtually had identical scores each day. Their scores per round:

Sluman 75-71-70-71 Ruangkit 75-70-71-71

ALMOST THE SAME AS IN '92: Russ Cochran tied for sixth this week in the Senior PGA Championship at Bellerive. He tied for seventh in the 1992 PGA Championship at Bellerive. Duffy Waldorf tied for ninth in the '92 PGA Championship and tied for sixth today.

SEE YOU IN 2018: The 100th PGA Championship will be played in the summer of 2018 here at Bellerive Country Club. Nick Price won the first PGA Championship contested at Bellerive, in 1992.

A Lesson Learned: Long and short of it

A Lesson Learned: Long and short of it











Jeff Coston, PGA May 27, 2013 12:04 AM



Another Senior PGA Championship in the books and what a great week it's been. I'm so grateful to the PGA of America for the first-rate championship it conducts and for the opportunity they provide club professionals like myself to play and test our game against the best players in the world.

For this week's "A Lesson Learned" I'd take away two important points that meant so much to me this week and will certainly help every golfer.

1.) When you come to a major championship, every player will tell you that the key to winning is controlling the speed of your putts. To that I say..."Yes!" The greens you putt on at home may not roll at the same championship speeds that Bellerive had this week, but whatever the speed they roll, you have to be confident that any putt you take will either go in or leave you with a comfortable (and hopefully tap-in) distance.
I see far too many amateur players tie themselves up in knots trying to read the line and not respect the speed of the putt enough. My guess is, the average energy and thought to each putt by amateur golfers is 80 percent read, 20 percent speed. I say it should be the reveresed. If you concentrate more on the right speed, you'll be a better putter. Speed dictates line anyways and if you have the right speed, you can trust more. The reason people three putt is rarely because they have a bad line, it's because they did not have the right speed.

2.) Another golf maxim that I think is overstated is that "golfers spend too much time on the range working on driving" (and thus, by default, not enough on their short game.) Of course your short game is critical but so is your driving. It's no secret in golf: If you cant drive, you wont' have any fun playing golf. So my tip on driving is - curve your golf ball. Either left to right or right to left, know your shot pattern and play to that. None other than Jack Nicklaus told me that a straight was an accident.

These two areas of my game are two that I often focus on when I know I need to play my best. If I'm confident with my driver and I'm confident on the greens, I know I'm going to have a good round. I hope that's that case for you too.

Jeff Coston is the PGA Teaching Professional at Semiahmoo Resort in Blaine, Wash. Coston has played on the PGA Tour, played in 3 PGA Championships, 3 Senior PGA Championships and one U.S. Open. You can learn more about Jeff Coston at hiswebsite.

For Woods, history is all about major results

For Woods, history is all about major results











PGA.COM June 12, 2013 8:37 PM

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Instead of marveling at the swing Ben Hogan put on his famous 1-iron shot at Merion, Tiger Woods thought …


By Doug Ferguson, Associated Press

ARDMORE, Pa. - The photo of Ben Hogan hitting his 1-iron into the 18th green at Merion in the 1950 U.S. Open is among the most famous in golf history, capturing the pure swing of one of the greatest players when the pressure of a major championship was at its peak.

Instead of marveling at the swing, Tiger Woods thought more about the results.

''That was to get into a playoff,'' Woods said Tuesday, sounding more like a golf historian than the No. 1 player in the game. ''Got about 40 feet and still had some work to do. It's a great photo. But it would have been an all right photo if he didn't win. He still had to go out and win it the next day.''

Hogan managed to lag the long putt to about 4 feet and quickly knocked that in for his par to join a three-way playoff, which he won the next day over Lloyd Mangrum and Tom Fazio. Of his four U.S. Open titles, that meant the most to Hogan because he proved he could win just 16 months after a horrific car accident that nearly killed him. On battered legs, Hogan had to play the 36-hole final, followed by the 18-hole playoff.

''Knowing the fact that he went through the accident and then came out here and played 36 and 18, that's awfully impressive,'' Woods said.

In some small way, Woods can relate.

Five years ago, Woods tried to play the U.S. Open with the ligaments shredded in his left knee and a double stress fracture in his lower left leg. The USGA published a book called 'Great Moments of the U.S. Open,'' and the photo it selected for the cover showed Woods arching his back and pumping his fists after making a 12-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole at Torrey Pines to get into a playoff.

It wouldn't have been much of a photo if he missed.

Woods had to go 91 holes that week. He had to make another birdie on the 18th hole of the playoff to go extra holes before finally beating Rocco Mediate.

''I think there was a lot of people pulling for Tiger,'' said Rory McIlroy, who was 19 at the time, a rookie on the European Tour who failed to qualify for the U.S. Open. ''He was playing on a broken leg pretty much, so I was definitely pulling for Tiger. It was probably one of the best performances golf has ever seen, if not sport in general.''

Hard as it might have been to believe that day, it also was the last major Woods won.

He had one more chance at a major after his season-ending knee surgery, losing a two-shot lead to Y.E. Yang in the 2009 PGA Championship. After two darks years brought on by the collapse of his marriage and more injuries to his left leg, he had at least a share of the 36-hole lead in two majors last year, and he had an outside shot at the Masters in April going into the final round.

Majors don't come as easily as they once seemed to for Woods, though he never looked at them that way.

''It wasn't ever easy,'' he said. ''I felt it was still difficult because the major of the majors, three of the four always rotated. It was always on a new site each and every year. Augusta was the only one you could rely on from past experiences. A lot of majors that I won were on either the first or second time I'd ever seen it.''

Woods won four majors on courses he had never played - Medinah for the 1999 PGA Championship, Valhalla for the PGA Championship the following year, Bethpage Black in the 2002 U.S. Open and Royal Liverpool for the 2006 British Open.


Merion is new not only to him, but just about everyone.

It last hosted a U.S. Open in 1981, when David Graham putted for birdie on every hole and closed with a 67. Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk and Steve Stricker played Merion, but they were all college kids at the 1989 U.S. Amateur. A few others competed in the 2005 U.S. Amateur or the 2009 Walker Cup.

But never at a U.S. Open.

''I don't remember much about it from that long ago,'' Stricker said. ''But I remember at least that it was a great, old course with a lot of history to it, one that I enjoyed playing back in '89 and no different than today. It's a great test.''

It figures to be a different test this week.

For all the history of Merion, this week seems like a recurrence of the troublesome weather that has followed the PGA Tour around this season. The course has received some 5 inches of rain since Friday, so much that it was closed for practice one day on the weekend, and play was stopped three times on Monday.

It was packed under mostly sunny skies Tuesday in what amounted to a crash course for so many players with the start of the U.S. Open only two days away.

''Played the golf course last Wednesday, which has proved kind of invaluable now,'' Graeme McDowell said. ''I flew in yesterday with the intention of playing 18 holes late last night, but that didn't happen. So I'm kind of adjusting my plan here at the minute. I'm going to play nine holes this afternoon and nine holes tomorrow.''

Phil Mickelson spent two days at Merion last week, which also proved invaluable. He left town Monday for San Diego to practice in California's dry weather, though he was planning on being home Wednesday, anyway, to watch his oldest daughter speak at her eighth-grade graduate ceremony.

Woods stopped at Merion on the way to the Memorial, and wondered how much he got out of that practice round. It rained practically the entire time, so the ball wasn't flying very far in the air or when it hit the ground. Woods was trying to figure out how much the ball would run along the canted fairways in dry conditions.

Now, he might not find out.

''I thought it might be totally different,'' Woods said. ''As I explained at Memorial, I thought the ball would be running out and we would hit different clubs and different shapes. But it's going to be the same as what we played'' in his practice round two weeks ago.

Woods already has forgotten about his last start, an abysmal finish at the Memorial where he couldn't make a putt and wound up 20 shots out the lead. He said he had a good week of practice at home in Florida until some tropical weather came through.

''I guess it was getting us ready for this one,'' he said.

The preparation is all part of the plan. Woods talked about going to other major courses ahead of time to map out his strategy and get a feel for how to play the course.

''But then I have to go out and execute,'' he said. ''And go out and win an event."

McIlroy does Rocky imitation on US Open eve

McIlroy does Rocky imitation on US Open eve












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"Can't come to Philadelphia and not see the `Rocky' steps!!," tweeted Rory McIlroy on Wednesday.(Rory McIlroy via Twitter)

PGA.COM June 12, 2013 9:12 PM



ARDMORE, Pa. (AP) -- Turns out Rory McIlroy decided to do the Rocky thing before teeing off in the U.S. Open.

The world's No. 2 ranked player said earlier this week that he was "half-thinking" of heading into the City of Brotherly Love to the spot where the fictional Rocky Balboa jumped up and down triumphantly after running up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

On Wednesday the 24-year-old from Northern Ireland tweeted: "Can't come to Philadelphia and not see the `Rocky' steps!!" along with a photo, shot from behind, that shows a jubilant figure with arms raised Rocky-style and wearing a Phillies baseball cap backward.

The museum is about 10 miles from the Merion Golf Club, where McIlroy and the rest of the U.S. Open field begin play Thursday.

Miller Barber dies at 82

Miller Barber dies at 82










The Sports Xchange June 13, 2013 12:50 AMThe SportsXchange



Miller Barber, whose 1,297 combined starts on the PGA Tour and Senior Tour are an all-time record, died Tuesday at age 82.

His son, Richard Barber, told the New York Times thatBarber died in Scottsdale, Ariz., of lymphoma.

Barber earned 11 wins on the PGA Tour, then won 24 times on the senior circuit. He was noted for his unorthodox swing, in which his right elbow moved away from his body.

"We are saddened by the passing of Miller Barber," PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem wrote in a statement. "He was a wonderful player who made his mark on the PGA Tour with 11 victories and then really excelled onChampions Tour, becoming one of its best players in the tour's formative years. Miller and the Champions Tour's other early stars helped establish the tour and make it the tremendous success it has become. Golf has lost a great man and competitor."

Known by the nickname "Mr. X," Barber won five majors on the Senior Tour. He captured the 1981 PGA Seniors' Championship, the 1983 Senior Players' Championship, and the U.S. Senior Open in 1982, 1984 and 1985.

His best result in a major on the PGA Tour was tie for fourth in the 1971 PGA Championship. He had six other top-10 finishes, two of them in the PGA Championship, and one each in the U.S. Open, British Open and the Masters. Barber finished in the top team in each of those events in 1969.

Pro golfer Ricky Barnes wrote on Twitter, "Just got bad news in the golf world. Lost a great player, but a better man. U will be missed Miller Barber"

Local Knowledge: 2013 PGA Professional National Championship

Local Knowledge: 2013 PGA Professional National Championship












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Few places in the world are more naturally beautiful than the Sunriver Resort, located at the edge of the high desert, just east of the Cascade Range, with spectacular views of Mt. Bachelor.(Montana Pritchard/The PGA of America)

PGA.COM June 23, 2013 2:49 PM


By T.J. Auclair, PGA.com Interactive Producer

SUNRIVER, Ore. - The 46th PGA Professional National Championship tees off at the breathtaking Sunriver Resort in Sunriver, Ore., on Sunday morning.

Few places in the world are more naturally beautiful than the Sunriver Resort, located at the edge of the high desert, just east of the Cascade Range, with spectacular views of Mt. Bachelor.

The field of 312 - the top 20 of whom will receive a spot in the PGA Championship at Oak Hill in August - will play one of their first two rounds at the Sunriver Resort's Meadows Course and one at the Crosswater Course. After the 36-hole cut is made following second-round play on Monday, the entire field will move over to Crosswater for the final two rounds.

On the eve of the tournament, we caught up with Crosswater Club Manager and PGA Professional Josh Willis to talk about what's in store for the PNC.

PGA.com: Josh, this is the third time that Sunriver Resort plays host to a PGA Professional National Championship. Can you talk to me a little about the anticipation of getting another championship under way and what it means to be the host yet again?

Willis: This is a really great opportunity not only for Sunriver as a resort to be the host site for a third time, but also a great opportunity for our own personal PGA Golf Professionals to work with a PGA of AmericaTournament Director, as well as the Golf Channel prior to the event and post event. It's just an incredible opportunity for everyone.

PGA.com: As we sit hear your walkie-talkie has been going off non-stop with staff members asking you questions. You're pretty much the one-stop shop for everything going on this week to an extent. Can you tell us what a week like this entails for you?

Willis: There are so many individuals involved on the golf course and it's a total partnership between a collective group of us on making sure everything is up and running. There are so many important pieces to the puzzle -- from the scoring live scoring and how it gets there through a volunteer, but then there's a scoring trailer. That runs off a generator and there's internet going into the scoring trailer. You have all these elements out there that if one little, single thing goes wrong it ultimately effects the quality of the event that we're able to help the PGA of America produce.


PGA.com: Sunriver is gorgeous. It's also a place where you can almost experience all four seasons in one day. Tell us a little about how quickly things can change here.

Willis: Well, for instance, let's take this morning. At 4:30, it was 34 degrees and it dropped down to 30 degrees by about 5:30. Then it slowly started warming up until now, where I'd say it's about high 70s. It's not uncommon for us to have as much as a 60-degree change in temperatures really. That's just how it is out here. It's not anything unusual for us.

I think anybody who played a practice round -- probably on Thursday -- realized just how quickly things could change. A lot of players were tweeting about it. In fact, one player in particular tweeted a photo he took on the tee and it was raining. He took a photo in the fairway and it was hailing. Then he took a photo on the green, the sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud anywhere. That was a perfect example of three of our four seasons. We're hopeful that we'll have the better of all our four seasons this week, which is beautiful weather every day.

PGA.com: For the first two days, players will play one round each at the Meadows Course and theCrosswater Course, before coming back here to Crosswater for the final two rounds. Can you talk a little about the difference between the two courses?

Willis: The Meadows Course is a tree-lined golf course that's definitely located in the meadow. It was actually built around the Sunriver Resort Lodge, which was the foundation for the whole Sunriver community when the division of the property was built back in the 1960s.

Crosswater on the other hand, was built in 1995. It was the longest golf course in America when it opened. What's really unique is that it's 600 acres. Two hundred of those acres are for the community, 200 are for the bentgrass golf course and then 200 acres are native wetlands and fescue. We can't take an inch of land without giving an inch back to be in guidelines with our Audubon certification here.

The other amazing thing is that we've got the Little Deschutes River that curves through the golf course and basically flows into the Big Deschutes River, which also borders the golf course. I would say, without a doubt, the environment is what makes Crosswater so special.

As for the differences in the two golf courses, all in all, Crosswater is going to play a little bit longer, but there's not as many opportunities from an out-of-bounds standpoint like what the Meadows has. It'll take your best game to win this week.

PGA.com: What do you most look forward to during a week like this?

Willis: I enjoy working with the Tournament Committee. It's always a fun experience and if you don't enjoy it, you should probably take another job and do something different. I really enjoy hosting an event this size. Our goal is to have a championship of this magnitude every year and it takes a ton of work by our golf professional staff in partnership with the Tournament Committee, but also it takes a lot of work from our community with the volunteer support. We're lucky in Sunriver to have great amenities, which are attractive to the PGA of America, from our golf courses to our banquet spaces, all the way down to our food and beverage outlets. But, at the end of the day, it's the community that volunteers for us that allows us to host a championship of this magnitude.