SB Nation User Blog: Bill Jempty

Annika's drug test

Bill Jempty — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 00:54:58 -0000

Today at the ADT is causing a stir. Ron Sirak wrote about it. Steve Elling had the following to say.

"I'm serious and I was tested two weeks ago, so I don't really know what's going on," she said testily.

Guess they hadn't heard that she was retiring.

"I have no idea, but they're not going to let me go," she said, forcing a laugh. "Yeah, I guess you get tested every other week now."

*****

Even for an organization known for making head-shaking decisions over the years, this ranks at the bottom of the latrine in terms of asinine, idiotic developments.

I'm not going to get into whether this is an insult or not. Annika has flouted rules or broke them in the past, and I've never been willing to give her a free pass just because she's a golf superstar.

When was she tested before by the LPGA? Two weeks ago the LPGA was in Japan, Annika wasn't in the field. Three weeks ago the LPGA was in South Korea, Annika was playing a LET event in China. Four weeks ago, Annika played a LPGA event in China. Here's Annika's LPGA results for 2008.

Annika played in Mexico last week. Did Annika mean Mexico or the LPGA China event? Or did she mixup the LET and the LPGA? I don't know if the LET has a drug testing policy. Or did Annika make it up? I don't believe that.

No member of the media at the ADT noted the discrepancy, just Annika's anger. Did they give Annika a free pass or did no one know how LPGA schedule? Probably the later, which shows we golf bloggers know this tour better than the old fashioned media that covers the sport.

Annika's drug test

Bill Jempty — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 00:39:40 -0000

Today at the ADT is causing a stir. Ron Sirak wrote about it. Steve Elling had the following to say.

"I'm serious and I was tested two weeks ago, so I don't really know what's going on," she said testily.

Guess they hadn't heard that she was retiring.

"I have no idea, but they're not going to let me go," she said, forcing a laugh. "Yeah, I guess you get tested every other week now."

*****

Even for an organization known for making head-shaking decisions over the years, this ranks at the bottom of the latrine in terms of asinine, idiotic developments.

Where in the world.....

Bill Jempty — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 21:12:46 -0000

Why isn't Doug Ferguson at the ADT? It isn't like there is a PGA Tournament this week. He wrote articles on tournament courtesy cars and Padrig Harrington. Maybe because Doug is generally clueless when it comes to the LPGA? Last year's ADT had Ferguson reporting Christina Kim as never playing in the tournament. Someone show the AP reporter Golf Observer's stats section stat! Tim Reynolds is covering the ADT this week.

What drugs are Golf Channel's announcers on?

Bill Jempty — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:11:14 -0000

Karen Stupples has played in the ADT Championship(2004)

This won't be Annika's last LPGA tournament. I'll bet anyone out there $100? Do I have a taker.

There was another annoying comment that is evading me at the moment.

Karrie Webb hit it stiff at 18. A birdie would get her to 1 over. She may be all right after all.

Ochoa hit it way right at 12. That's a par 5 and not a difficult hole.

Early carnage at the ADT

Bill Jempty — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:49:58 -0000

Who would have believed

Cristie Kerr

Annika Sorenstam

Lorena Ochoa all 4 over par for their rounds as of 1:50 this afternoon.

Karrie Webb is only a little better at 2 over

The ADT resets after 36 and 54 holes, but you did yourself this big a hole as Kerr, Annika, and Lorena have, it can be awfully hard to get out of.

With these big names doing badly, what will GC do with this afternoon's broadcast? Show these players anyway, focus on the other players particularly those doing well, or dig out the highlight reel of another LPGA event. I have trouble imagining GC focusing on Na Yeon Choi for her last 4 or 5 holes, even if Choi is one of the most visible players with a mentionable amount of holes left to play.

What is going on with Inbee Park? She's +11 for 12 holes, 4 of those 11 came via a 7 on the par 3 7th. In bee hasn't played well at all since the US Open she won.

This morning I made note of the Palm Beach Post picking Inbee as one of the final 8 on Sunday. I said they had the wrong Korean Major Champion from this year. Ji Yai Shin is in the clubhouse with a 69.

Trump International Battle of the Par 3's- 7 vs 17

Bill Jempty — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:32:41 -0000

Some people seem to think 17 is an unfair hole at the host course for the ADT Championship. Is it really the toughest par 3 on the course or the most pivotal? I did some research for last year's ADT and this what I learned.

Lets look at how 17 played on Saturday.

Ochoa 3
Creamer 3
Gulbis 2
MH Kim 3-2
Christina Kim 2-3
Kerr 3
S Lee 3
Webb 3

The ADT's final eight players played the 17th three under par yesterday. For the week they played the hole in three over par. If you remove Ochoa's quadruple bogey on Thursday, the top eight played the hole in one under.

As for the rest of the final sixteen

Miyazato 3-3-5
Matthew 2-3-4
Gustafson 3-3-5-4
Inkster     3-3-5
Castrale   3-3-3-3
SH Lee     5-3-3
Pressel     3-3-3
Pettersen 4-3-3

In all the top sixteen played the 17th in 13 over par for the week for a stroke average of 3.2. Seven looks like the terror hole to me.

How did the final 8 fare on Sunday at the 7th hole?

C Kim 5
C Kerr 5
MH Kim 6
S Lee 6
Webb 7

5/8ths of the field were effectively knocked out by the tricky par 3 with water on the right. 7 may not have any waterfall but I think this is at least a difficult a hole as 17 is. By the time the field gets to 17, only two players had a chance.

The LPGA Tour won't return to Oklahoma in 2009

Bill Jempty — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 01:58:54 -0000

Will the last US based non-major LPGA event turn off the light. From the Tulsa World-

The annual LPGA tour stop in Tulsa won't be back in 2009. The tour that includes the highest level of women's professional golfers was forced to cancel its event in Tulsa after SemGroup -- the title sponsor -- filed for bankruptcy this year. No title sponsor could be found as a replacement during an economic downturn, according to a press release from Octagon, the organization that operates the event. "The support of the Tulsa community has been tremendous throughout this process," said tournament director Doug Eibling, of Octagon, in a press release. "However, given our current economic climate, finding someone to commit the needed money has proven to be an extremely difficult task." The LPGA had been making tour stops in Tulsa since 2001 and was scheduled to return the final week of May in 2009. The event annually attracted the world's top players and had been expanding in recent years -- raising purses and increasing the number of championship rounds. But SemGroup's sudden collapse and eventual bankruptcy filing on July 17 left the golf tournament's future uncertain. Event organizers tried to find a title sponsor for months as the economy worsened. It's possible the LPGA could return after 2009, Eibling said in the press release.

This news doesn't come as a surprise. The tournament was in jeopardy as soon as Semgroup filed for bankruptcy. Juli Inkster won't get to lose a playoff in Tulsa 3 years in a row now. In all seriousness, how many mainland US LPGA events will there be in 2009?

Honesty wins

Bill Jempty — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:57:52 -0000

Ryan Palmer still wins the Gin sur Mer after calling a penalty stroke on himself.

Palmer, who was at No. 143 on the money list with two tournaments remaining, had to call a penalty on himself and made bogey on the 10th hole, then took double bogey on the next hole with a tee shot into the water.But he rebounded with a 10-foot birdie he desperately needed on the final hole at Ginn Ocean Hammock Resort for his second career victory. "What a feeling ... what a week," said the 32-year-old native of Amarillo, Texas and Texas A&M graduate. "I kept grinding and grinding. I proved to myself that I can win out here under any kind of conditions or circumstances." Michael Letzig, the 54-hole leader, needed a birdie on the par-5 18th to force a playoff. But his wedge spun 35 feet down the slope and he had to settle for par and a 73 to finish one shot behind. Also tying for second were George McNeill, Nicholas Thompson, Ken Duke and Vaughn Taylor, who was at No. 129 on the money list and earned enough to secure his card for next year. ***** Palmer appeared to have control with a two-shot lead until he reached the 10th green. He noticed his ball move slightly after he addressed his 30-foot birdie attempt, and after calling a rules official, assessed himself a one-shot penalty and made bogey. "Once you address the ball, you can't un-address it," Tour rules official Steve Rintoul. "The rules are pretty clear."

Palmer got rewarded with a victory. Tom Kite in 1978 lost a tournament by one shot after invoking the same rule on himself. In 2003, NBC golf announcers strongly believed a ball being addressed by Sophie Gustafson moved but the Swedish golfer didn't call a penalty on herself. LPGA officials were then in the uncomfortable position of having to determine what happened. Sophie was the love squeeze of then LPGA Commissioner Ty Votaw.(They are married today.)

Sophie, who went on to win the tournament, said the golf ball didn't move, her playing partner Juli Inkster hadn't seen anything one way or the other, and the NBC video footage was equivocal. Sophie hasn't won an LPGA event since. Is it a case of karma?

Clueless AP Golf reporting

Bill Jempty — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 18:01:45 -0000

Extends to their writers even in South Korea. For example-

Fellow South Korean Chae Young Yoon is one shot back in third, and eight others were in a pack at 2-under, including Christina Kim and Mi Hyun Kim.

Who is AP neglecting to mention at 2-under? How about Ji Yai Shin, the defending British Open champ. Also at 2-under are former major winners Jeong Jang and Karen Stupples. I think they all rate a mention over Christina.

The first annual Jason Coskrey bad golf writing awards?

Bill Jempty — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 17:01:43 -0000

Maybe I should take nominees in honor of the Japan TImes columnist who wrote the following last November-

Japanese athletes have made strides on the world stage in a number of sports, including the Mao Asada-led Japanese dominance of the figure skating circuit, but Japanese golfers have yet to find any real consistent success internationally on the links.

Hisako Higuchi, who is in the World Golf Hall of Fame, did win the 1977 LPGA Championship and two other tour titles some 30 years ago, but achieved her status primarily based upon her 69 titles in Japan. She only played part-time on the LPGA Tour.

Isao Aoki, best known abroad for his runnerup finish to Jack Nicklaus in the 1980 U.S. Open, won one PGA Tour tournament, and is also enshrined in golf's hall. He won 51 JPGA titles.

While South Korea, led by Hall of Famer Pak Se Ri and 2006 LPGA Rookie of the Year Lee Seon Hwa, has prospered in the women's game, Japan has yet to produce any true crossover stars of its own.

Jason deserved to be fired for forgetting Ayako Okamoto. He instead got my knucklehead award. 17 career LPGA wins, inducted into the golf Hall of Fame, and the FIRST EVER foreign born golfer to be LPGA player of the year. Forgetting Okamoto when talking Japanese golfers is like a Baseball writer talking great homerun hitters and forgetting Babe Ruth.

That particular bit of stupidity kept Brian Wacker formally of Golf World from having a bad golf writing award named after him. Wacker only made a half dozen mistakes in a 500 word article about Tiger Woods.

For 2008, it will be awfully hard to top those two. Doug Ferguson miscounting how many winners of the LPGA Grand Slam may be the top contender. Other possibilities are Beth Ann Baldry not knowing what consituted the LPGA Grand Slam in the 1980's and Ron Sirak totally forgetting Hee Won Han in a list of top 30 LPGA players. He sure had room for Karin Sjodin. How's she doing Ron?

Anyone else want to make nominations?