Women's British Open Broadcast (a rant)

[Eracer]

Some thoughts about women's golf:

1. The Korean influx is both interesting and puzzling. How do those girls get so good, so young? And why aren't we seeing a bunch of Korean men entering the game?

2. The game the women play is much closer to the game that most men should try to play.

3. I can't think of any swing I would rather emulate - man or woman - than Annika's.

Most of the LPGA tournaments I've watched have been great fun. I thought last year's Solheim Cup was one of the most compelling sports events I've ever seen.

Juli Inkster is awesome.

 

[ClairefromClare]

no offense intended Sox, :emot-ange

That's what my kid says when he's about to say something he knows will offend me.

I should have recorded the Evian and didn't. How cool about Helen Alfredsson. She'd been getting so close to winning the past few weeks and then choking on Sunday. Gotta love it when the middle-aged moms win a big one.

To veer off on a different topic. I did watch the Women's U.S. Open cover to cover (well, except when they pre-empted for tennis, grumble grumble) and found it really affected my game. I heard so much about the greens on Interlochen that it changed my putting--for the worse. My league plays on a public course that barely register on the Stimpmeter. All of a sudden, I'm putting like they've been--dare I say it?--bikini waxed. It was a pretty ugly couple of weeks in there until I went back to whacking with my putter...

 

[Eracer]

That's what my kid says when he's about to say something he knows will offend me.

I should have recorded the Evian and didn't. How cool about Helen Alfredsson. She'd been getting so close to winning the past few weeks and then choking on Sunday. Gotta love it when the middle-aged moms win a big one.

To veer off on a different topic. I did watch the Women's U.S. Open cover to cover (well, except when they pre-empted for tennis, grumble grumble) and found it really affected my game. I heard so much about the greens on Interlochen that it changed my putting--for the worse. My league plays on a public course that barely register on the Stimpmeter. All of a sudden, I'm putting like they've been--dare I say it?--bikini waxed. It was a pretty ugly couple of weeks in there until I went back to whacking with my putter...

That was a great win by Helen, and Angela Park certainly rose from the dead to get a shot in the playoff. Poor Choi choked pretty hard down the stretch, but I've got to hand it to Helen, her birdie to tie in regulation was not the choke of old, and she hung tough to win.

Every time I watch the Evian I'm reminded how much I'd love to visit that area.

 

[Harry Longshanks]

I should have recorded the Evian . . .

Yes! Yes you should have!

The playoff was awesome. I won't say any more, because there is a replay on the Golf Channel today at 10a.m. ET. Maybe you can watch/record that.

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[usa1950]

I watch the LPGA at least as much as I watch the PGA. My family, (kids Emily 10, and Brendan 12 AND my wife, which amazed me) really go into Big Break Kaanapali, and we've been watching more and more LPGA because of it.

My wife says Creamer looks like a chipmunk when she has those big sunglasses on. I agree, but secretly think otherwise! My daughter likes her pink ball, and has some of her own she likes to use.

The LPGA game is of course very much suited to the single digit handicap men players, at least with regards to driver distance and iron distance. That said, the LPGA ladies would eat our lunch in a match of course. I would go to an LPGA event were it relatively close to Indianapolis.

I can't say that I go out of my way to check programming schedules, or know how long broadcasts are, but I do watch a bit of the LPGA most weekends lately, and I can't say that for the PGA. The Women's US Open was very entertaining. Who was the teenager? Lewis? Stacy maybe? She was impressive.

Anyway.... welcome to ST ladies.

 

[usa1950]

All of a sudden, I'm putting like they've been--dare I say it?--bikini waxed?

You can say it.... but I cannot be responsible for some members' reactions!!! :emot-ange

 

[BigJim13]

Speak for yourself Jim, i happen to enjoy watching the ladies play. Now granted, if Paula, Natalie, Morgan or one of the other, uh....., cuties isn't being shown, my attention may wane, j/k. The ladies have game, I was initially drawn to the LPGA by the hotties, :emot-ange, but I enjoy watching them make spectacular shots now just as much as the men.


no offense intended Sox, :emot-ange

I wasn't speaking for myself, I actually like watching the ladies play. I was speaking for the overwhelming majority of golf watchers.

 

[ClairefromClare]

I think Stacey Lewis is 23. Older than Paula Creamer, certainly. That's my one grouse about Paula Creamer and Morgan Pressel--skipping college isn't great in the role model department.

BTW, Tiger has a niece--Cheyenne I believe her name is--starting at Wake Forest in the fall. She's been wowing them in New Mexico or Arizona or wherever she lives. We may have to start following NCAA golf. (Okay, half niece--Earl had kids from marriage #1.)

And if you want chipmunk, check out Lorena Ochoa's official photo on the LPGA web site. I just want to pinch those cheeks.

 

[Eracer]

I think Stacey Lewis is 23. Older than Paula Creamer, certainly. That's my one grouse about Paula Creamer and Morgan Pressel--skipping college isn't great in the role model department.

BTW, Tiger has a niece--Cheyenne I believe her name is--starting at Wake Forest in the fall. She's been wowing them in New Mexico or Arizona or wherever she lives. We may have to start following NCAA golf. (Okay, half niece--Earl had kids from marriage #1.)

And if you want chipmunk, check out Lorena Ochoa's official photo on the LPGA web site. I just want to pinch those cheeks.

I have to argue with you about the skipping college part. The purpose of going to college is to prepare for an eventual career. Wunderkind golfers like Paula Creamer know in their hearts that the only career they want is that of a professional golfer. Going to college can add to their education, but to what end? To prepare them for a career after golf? Paula Creamer knew that she was good enough to not need to prepare for that eventuality.

One can argue that attending college would have the benefit of additional tournament experience. Again, she knew she didn't really need it.

As for her being a role model, I think that the dilemma in sports is whether it is incumbent upon athletes to be the role models that "others think they should be." Certainly, athletes should be held up to a brighter light when it comes to socially acceptable behavior (and isn't it unfortunate that the bright light turns out too often to be the spotlight?) But to insist that they follow the same standard educational and vocational model that everyone esle does loses sight of the fact that they are different; they don't need the same kind of training that other high-end professionals, like doctors and engineers, do.

It is too bad that kids with minimal athletic talent use athletes lives as models. But I can't blame the athlete for striking while the iron is hot.

 

[ClairefromClare]

All well and good, Eracer, but my kid's going to college. She's good, but she's 8. The odds are stacked against her making it big on the LPGA, and I sure don't want her thinking in those terms. The ranks of the non-exempt players (and the futures tour) are littlered with the bodies of yesterday's Next Big Thing.

 

[usa1950]

Very true Claire. I have kids 12, 10 and nearly 4, and I agree completely. Once Eracer convinces someone to marry him and then bear him a child, he'll come over to the good side. At least I don't think he's married....

If he is, scratch all that and lets just chalk him up as a fool then? :emot-ange

 

[Eracer]

All well and good, Eracer, but my kid's going to college. She's good, but she's 8. The odds are stacked against her making it big on the LPGA, and I sure don't want her thinking in those terms. The ranks of the non-exempt players (and the futures tour) are littlered with the bodies of yesterday's Next Big Thing.

Then you are a parent with a rational view. You understand that a college education is your daughter's best chance at success.

The littered bodies you speak of are from parents who fail to recognize that true prodigy is a rare gift, and push their children to succeed where so many have failed - even if that success is only a pipe dream. And you can bet there are plenty of "teachers," "academies," and "gurus" who will gladly take your money and tell you your daughter is the NBT. Right?

I'm just saying that it's the parents' responsibility to teach their children one of the most important lessons in life. The sports hero worship and general celebrity fawning that afflicts our culture makes it easy to blame those same celebrities for our children's failures. Parents are the key. It sounds to me like you understand that.

Nice avatar!

 

[soxngolf]

Well, I am going to agree with both of you. Claire, I think you are absolutely right to want your daughter to go to college. And while at 8 years old you dream of being a professional golfer, I am willing to bet that somewhere along the way she will realize that may not happen and will start thinking about college.
However, when you are a golfer the likes of Paula or Morgan, I have to agree with Eracer. They were going to succeed on the LPGA. The talent was already established in the juniors that they would be able to make it on the tour. It wasn't going to be a if, but a when for those girls. So college would have been a waste of time. There just isn't a need for them. Now, that is probably only the case for 1% of people, but for those two I believe it was the right one.

 

[Skiddlydiddly]

College, schmollege.

Wether my sons decide to be astrophysicists or plumbers doesn't matter. Formal education, or lack thereof, has no direct bearing on thier worth as people.

As well, I'll do my best to teach them to judge others by standards other than professional success or level of education. Hopefully, whatever examples they choose to follow, it'll be for the right reasons.



Sorry, the whole role model thing just grinds my gears a little.

 

[ClairefromClare]

The talent was already established in the juniors that they would be able to make it on the tour. It wasn't going to be a if, but a when for those girls.

Soxngolf, you're right for those two. But there are a LOT of people who were just as promising as juniors and didn't make it in the LPGA. Can I name names? Beth Bauer was supposed to tear up the place in 2002 or so. She's not even on the nonexempt list any more. Clarissa Childs was a hot shot in South Carolina. Graduated from college in 1997--her highest earnings year, she made $17,700 in the LPGA. She's STILL playing the Futures tour. My point is simply that being a fabulous junior isn't the same as the LPGA and isn't an accurate predictor of success there.