Ricoh Women's British Open

[acarty]

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls... Welcome to Royal Lytham and St Annes!!!

So this thread will be my report on all the action I see from the Ladies British Open 2009 from Royal Lytham.

As one of the greatest Open courses, the course offers a tough test for both amateur and professional, with trade crosswinds blowing all week, and rain coming in from the west. The greens were at 9.5 on the Stimpmeter before the week started, and the strong winds should have dried them out to create even faster, harder bouncing greens.

The key this week is to find fairways like never before, and be very inventive with approach shots. Bunkers truly are penal here, and so the low running shot into greens could be the most popular route into the heavily guarded greens.

I'm at the course on Friday and Sunday, and hope to catch TV highlights at other times. I can;t take photographs because of the camera ban, but I will bring you a report as often as possible!!

[IrishGolfer]

Look forward to the reports. How is the rough? As penal as Turnberry? I actually enjoy watching women's golf. AND NOT FOR THAT REASON! Most of them have great swings, smooth with nice tempo. I shot one of my best ever rounds a few years ago the day after watching a women's tournament. My only swing thought was "slow and smooth".

[acarty]

The rough is UP!!! But not quite as bad as Turnberry. The thing with Royal Lytham rough is that it's still quite wispy up top and yet thick deep down, so it doesn't need to be immensely long. Plus, it's nice and rain-soaked, so it's lush which makes it even thicker.

Just a couple of musings from Twitter:

- Karen Stupples has commented that the new bunkers look beautiful until you're in them.
- Both Stupples and Wie think even par will be a great score this week.
- Suzanne Petterson took David Leadbetter out on her practice this morning and spent ages hitting balls on holes 1 & 2.
- Ochoa believes her game is back and ready for this week, after lots of swing work.
- Petterson has been talking to rules officials about potential rulings on bunker rakes lying outside of the bunkers through the back of some greens.

[Stanters]

Originally Posted by IrishGolfer

Look forward to the reports. How is the rough? As penal as Turnberry? I actually enjoy watching women's golf. AND NOT FOR THAT REASON! Most of them have great swings, smooth with nice tempo. I shot one of my best ever rounds a few years ago the day after watching a women's tournament. My only swing thought was "slow and smooth".

Yeah yeah - I bet your "stroke" was silky shortly afterwards too......

[IrishGolfer]

Now now Stanters, your'e getting excited again. Where's my genital fork?

[IrishGolfer]

So I'm watching some of this yesterday.

Here's the thing, one lady (not sure who) was wearing full waterproofs, beanie cap and hand mittens and the next shot was Paula Creamer was wearing the skimpiest of skirts with a sun visor, playing at the same time!! Once looked like she was playing in Alaska the other in Hawaii! wtf!

Anyway, my other observations are that the course looks immaculate, the bunkers look horrendous, and the ladies have, for the most part, fantastically good rhythmical swings.

Consider this. A lot of the guys on here cannot hit PGA Tour Players yardages, but probably hit the ball a similar distance to these ladies. Yet watching them play, they look like they are taking practice swings in slow motion, expending a fraction of the energy we put into our shots. There's a lot of be said for good technique and timing!

[acarty]

Friday:

Well then chaps, the day was windy, but fair, with little rain forecast. Scoring was average when we arrived at the course, with some small charges up the board.

We arrived just in time to gather at the 13th tee, as we watched Michelle Wie, Natalie Gulbis and Ueda tee off. What did we gather from being no more than 3 feet from these guys?? Their size!! Michelle Wie is 6ft at least! And god does she give it a rip!! Great shots all round from this group. Then we hear a roar, and it was a huge roar!! Catriona Matthew makes an ace on 12...!

We waited to greet her on the tee, along with Paula Creamer. We followed that group for a little while, and then followed people like Nicole Castrale etc.

The bunkers were indeed awful. We saw Castrale come out backwards on 12. The greens were running fair but slightly damp from Thursday, and Friday morning's rain.

As IG says above, these girls ride it out there probably just short of where I would hit my average drive, if not equal to me. That's a good knock for them. Having said that, every single piece of their equipment is fitted for them, meaning they don't need to rip it.

I noticed quite a few clubs not matching bags and headcovers etc, and you really do feel like these caddies are worth their weight in gold. Given my small caddying experience on the ladies amateur circuit here in the UK, if you're good, you're going somewhere!

After a good day in the sunshine following these girls round, we got back to 18 to see a few more groups come in before we left. Some great scores across the day, and great to see these girls up close.

Anyway, Sunday report to follow.

[ManchesterGolfer]

Thats one of the things I noticed when I went to my first Open, how many players have a different Brand driver under there Staff colours headcover. Who was the Biggest name you saw playing a different brand?

What colour where Gulbis' panties? I bet you got near a lofted Tee to get a better view?... Perv!

[Stanters]

Originally Posted by ManchesterGolfer

Thats one of the things I noticed when I went to my first Open, how many players have a different Brand driver under there Staff colours headcover. Who was the Biggest name you saw playing a different brand?

What colour where Gulbis' panties? I bet you got near a lofted Tee to get a better view?... Perv!

He's probably got them in his pocket right now