In my last posting, I wrote that one of the players in my group on Sunday at the US Women's Open was Seon Hwa Lee. Seon Hwa (pronounced Sun Wa) was never able to get her round started and struggled to a 78. Well, I guess that proved to be a valuable learning experience.
I was extremely pleased to read in today's paper that she won this past weekend's LPGA Tour event in Arkansas - the P&G Beauty NW Arkansas Championship Presented by John Q. Hammons - closing with a final round 68 for a 15 under par total of 201!!
Congratulations Seon Hwa!!
Monday, July 7, 2008
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Reminiscing the US Women's Open
The biggest of all moments this year will be my participation as a Rules Official for the 63rd US Women's Open at Interlachen Country Club in Edina. The USGA staff and volunteers were terrific, the food they provided for us was delicious, and the golf course superb. It exceeded all of my expectations leading up to the event. It was well worth the additional effort and time out of my schedule to serve.
Required to delay my start until the Friday due to the MGA Players' Championship at Northland CC (Duluth), I worked the last three days. On Friday, I served as the Referee with the group of Louise Friberg, Allison Fouch, and Sun Young Yoo. The only "rulings" I had were to assist Allison after she hit her drive right on the 9th hole and then into the lateral water hazard on the 10th. In addition, we had the suspensions due to the thunderstorm (conveniently occurring while we were playing the 9th) and then the suspension due to darkness while we were on 17. The players elected to finish the hole and then were disappointed they could not continue. There certainly was enough daylight for us to finish - especially if the group ahead of us had let us play through!! :)
Unfortunately, only Louise made the cut, ultimately finishing T53 at +9. Sun Young was at +5 with only two holes to go, and the leader was at -6, so we knew she needed to birdie at least one of the final two holes. After driving into the left fairway bunker on 17, she played a brilliant shot to the green, but missed the putt. Then, after returning at 6:55 am Saturday morning, she again drove into the left fairway bunker. She reached the green in three, but her 30' birdie putt was short. Allison played better on Friday but was never able to recover from an opening 80.
On both Saturday and Sunday, I served as the "Observer" for groups. As an observer, my role is to work ahead of the group - typically in the landing area for their next shots - to assist in spotting the balls, locating where balls last crossed the margin of a hazard or moving spectators. These last two came into play for me on those days.
Saturday, Paola Moreno (of Columbia) "airmailed" her tee shot on the par 3, 12th into the lateral water hazard. I was able to identify the spot and placed a tee there so she had a reference point.
On Sunday, I served as the observer for the pairing of Seon Hwa Lee (+4; T27) and Stacy Prammanasudh (-1; 12th). (It took me the entire first hole of practicing to be able to pronounce her name properly.) I almost finished the entire round without incident until Lee's tee shot on 18 clipped the trees to the right. Her next stroke found the gallery left, so I had to protect her ball while starting the process of having the marshals remove the stakes and clear the spectators. Once my referee (Linda Lester) arrived, I moved forward.
The last exciting thing was that Annika and Christie Kerr were two groups behind mine. So, I was able to be inside the ropes behind the 18th green when Annika holed her 6-iron for the eagle 3. The entire scene was electric as it was going to be her last round in an Open, but it "went nuts" when she holed that shot. Now, only time will tell if she stays retired.
I hope I have this opportunity again in the future!
Required to delay my start until the Friday due to the MGA Players' Championship at Northland CC (Duluth), I worked the last three days. On Friday, I served as the Referee with the group of Louise Friberg, Allison Fouch, and Sun Young Yoo. The only "rulings" I had were to assist Allison after she hit her drive right on the 9th hole and then into the lateral water hazard on the 10th. In addition, we had the suspensions due to the thunderstorm (conveniently occurring while we were playing the 9th) and then the suspension due to darkness while we were on 17. The players elected to finish the hole and then were disappointed they could not continue. There certainly was enough daylight for us to finish - especially if the group ahead of us had let us play through!! :)
Unfortunately, only Louise made the cut, ultimately finishing T53 at +9. Sun Young was at +5 with only two holes to go, and the leader was at -6, so we knew she needed to birdie at least one of the final two holes. After driving into the left fairway bunker on 17, she played a brilliant shot to the green, but missed the putt. Then, after returning at 6:55 am Saturday morning, she again drove into the left fairway bunker. She reached the green in three, but her 30' birdie putt was short. Allison played better on Friday but was never able to recover from an opening 80.
On both Saturday and Sunday, I served as the "Observer" for groups. As an observer, my role is to work ahead of the group - typically in the landing area for their next shots - to assist in spotting the balls, locating where balls last crossed the margin of a hazard or moving spectators. These last two came into play for me on those days.
Saturday, Paola Moreno (of Columbia) "airmailed" her tee shot on the par 3, 12th into the lateral water hazard. I was able to identify the spot and placed a tee there so she had a reference point.
On Sunday, I served as the observer for the pairing of Seon Hwa Lee (+4; T27) and Stacy Prammanasudh (-1; 12th). (It took me the entire first hole of practicing to be able to pronounce her name properly.) I almost finished the entire round without incident until Lee's tee shot on 18 clipped the trees to the right. Her next stroke found the gallery left, so I had to protect her ball while starting the process of having the marshals remove the stakes and clear the spectators. Once my referee (Linda Lester) arrived, I moved forward.
The last exciting thing was that Annika and Christie Kerr were two groups behind mine. So, I was able to be inside the ropes behind the 18th green when Annika holed her 6-iron for the eagle 3. The entire scene was electric as it was going to be her last round in an Open, but it "went nuts" when she holed that shot. Now, only time will tell if she stays retired.
I hope I have this opportunity again in the future!
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