SB Nation User Blog: hound dog

Done

hound dog — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 11:16:42 -0000

This is difficult, so I'll get right to the point. I'm discontinuing Hound Dog LPGA. My available free time has dwindled to a point where I can't continue to write in the way that I'm accustomed or that I prefer. I came to this decision early last week (which is why I haven't posted since the 16^th) but didn't have enough opportunity or motivation to inform you until now.

To be honest, I always felt like I never had enough time to do this properly. Most bloggers probably feel the same way, unless they are being paid enough to not have to hold a regular job. No, I never reached that level - not even close. I'm pleased with the output I've generated and I'm amazed at the number of people who have commented and e-mailed to voice their appreciation. But every time I was forced to rush out a tournament recap, I cursed my time limitations and the everyday events which caused them. And that's just wrong. Everyday events don't deserve that.

So like Mrs. McGee said about 16 months ago, I'm "stepping away" from it. If you ask whether I'm retiring from blogdom for good, I'll be just as non-committal as she was. I'll still be around, commenting from time to time at Waggle Room and Mostly Harmless and picking losers in the PakPicker contest at Seoulsisters.com.

If anybody out there wants to take over the site, let me know at hounddog.lpga@yahoo.com. Thanks to SB Nation for giving me the chance to be heard. Many more thanks to all of you for reading. Of course the most thanks go to the ladies of the LPGA Tour. Keep on keepin' on, girls - do as I say, not as I do.

Later y'all,

Ken Hartis

Samsung World Championship Preview

hound dog — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 18:06:39 -0000

Defending Champion - Paula Creamer

Torrey Pines, South Course

San Diego, California

72 holes, begins Thursday

Par 72, 6721 yards

Field Score - 93 (adjusted - 65 actual)

Tournament Odds - from Oddschecker.com

Last Player In - n/a

First Players Out - n/a

Scoring Averages - 71.69 (2008 Half Moon Bay), 70.90 (2007 Bighorn GC), 71.55 (2006, Bighorn GC)

2009 Scoring Average to date - 72.89

U.S. TV coverage (all times EDT):

Thu 8:30p-10:30p GC

Fri 8:30p-10:30p GC

Sat 1:30p-3:30p NBC

Sun 4p-6p NBC

This week the LPGA plays its longest running limited-field event on one of the world's most famous golfing sites - the South Course at Torrey Pines. The host of many annual PGA events, Torrey Pines was the setting for last year's memorable men's U.S. Open which ended with a Monday playoff between Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate. This is actually the second time the LPGA has played Torrey Pines, as the 1983 Inamori Classic was played here. I wonder if Juli Inkster remembers that she finished second to Patty Sheehan that week. Paula Creamer won last year's Samsung at Half Moon Bay in northern California by one shot over Song-Hee Kim.

20 elite players made the field by a variety of criteria, which can be found here. Inkster was awarded the sponsor's exemption and Karrie Webb was given the Hall of Famer (also known in these parts as the "Annika") exemption, even though she would have qualified anyway via her money list standing. For some reason the LET money list leader gets a spot here (Samsung being a Korean company, you would think the KLPGA money leader might get it) so that's why Sophie Gustafson is in the field. If you were looking for the world's twenty best players, you might leave Inkster and Gustafson out in favor of Michelle Wie and Brittany Lang (not that Wie hasn't already gotten more than her share of Samsung love). But it's a strong group, as always.

One thing is for sure - with a 20-player field and given 12 picks, I'm guaranteed to get at least two Top 10s this week! For grins, I'll pick the entire field and see how close I get.

1. Suzann Pettersen

2. Angela Stanford

3. Ai Miyazato

4. Lorena Ochoa

5. Jiyai Shin

6. Karrie Webb

7. Song-Hee Kim

8. Cristie Kerr

9. Na Yeon Choi

10. Paula Creamer

11. Sophie Gustafson

12. Yani Tseng

13. In-Kyung Kim

14. Eun Hee Ji

15. Anna Nordqvist

16. Catriona Matthew

17. Kristy McPherson

18. Lindsey Wright

19. Juli Inkster

20. Brittany Lincicome

Stats: Winners 3-20

Winner in Top 12 8-20

Top 10s 87 4.4

Top 70 - September 2009

hound dog — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 15:48:27 -0000

I wasn't planning on posting an updated ranking until our next break in the schedule but since it has undergone a major shake-up and the Player of the Year race is in full swing, I decided to do one today. The ranking is now entirely based on 2009 results. Rookies are in bold, the player's previous ranking is in parenthesis and comments are after the jump.

1. Jiyai Shin (3)

2. Cristie Kerr (2)

3. Ai Miyazato (7)

4. Suzann Pettersen (10)

5. Lorena Ochoa (1)

6. Angela Stanford (8)

7. In-Kyung Kim (6)

8. Yani Tseng (4)

9. Paula Creamer (5)

10. Karrie Webb (9)

11. Anna Nordqvist (17)

12. Song-Hee Kim (13)

13. Na Yeon Choi (12)

14. Eun Hee Ji (11)

15. Michelle Wie (14)

16. Catriona Matthew (15)

17. Kristy McPherson (18)

18. Lindsey Wright (16)

19. Sun Young Yoo (25)

20. Brittany Lang (19)

21. Seon Hwa Lee (22)

22. Morgan Pressel (27)

23. Brittany Lincicome (23)

24. Natalie Gulbis (30)

25. Hee Young Park (31)

26. Ji Young Oh (20)

27. Helen Alfredsson (24)

28. Vicky Hurst (43)

29. Hee-Won Han (21)

30. Momoko Ueda (37)

---------------------

31. Sophie Gustafson (33)

32. Wendy Ward (29)

33. Se Ri Pak (32)

34. Katherine Hull (26)

35. Jee Young Lee (28)

36. Juli Inkster (36)

37. Mika Miyazato (38)

38. Amy Yang (35)

39. Michele Redman (58)

40. Pat Hurst (41)

41. Maria Hjorth (44)

42. M.J. Hur (NR)

43. Stacy Lewis (45)

44. Christina Kim (51)

45. Sandra Gal (53)

46. Meena Lee (39)

47. Kyeong Bae (40)

48. Allison Hanna-Williams (46)

49. Meaghan Francella (48)

50. Nicole Castrale (34)

51. Mi Hyun Kim (47)

52. Teresa Lu (49)

53. Janice Moodie (66)

54. Candie Kung (42)

55. Jane Park (50)

56. Paige Mackenzie (NR)

57. Young Kim (63)

58. Anna Grzebien (57)

59. Eunjung Yi (61)

60. Sarah Kemp (52)

61. Haeji Kang (62)

62. Shi Hyun Ahn (NR)

63. Soo-Yun Kang (69)

64. Becky Morgan (NR)

65. Karine Icher (67)

66. Jeong Jang (NR)

67. Mikaela Parmlid (68)

68. Moira Dunn (NR)

69. Beth Bader (NR)

70. Karin Sjodin (65)

Out:

Angela Park (54)

Inbee Park (55)

Annika Sorenstam (56)

Jimin Jeong (59)

Kris Tamulis (60)

Jimin Kang (64)

Giulia Sergas (70)

All hail the new Number One - Jiyai Shin!

Lorena Ochoa had been ranked #1 since my final rankings in 2006. I knew she would eventually drop out of that spot but I never dreamed she would get passed by four players in one go. She is still in the thick of the HD Player of the Year race, as are all of the top eight. The next seven players would also jump into the race should they win in the next couple of weeks. This race is so crazy that unless one player wins three or more of the final seven events, Rolex and my system could likely pick different players as #1.

Ochoa dropped so far because of Ai Miyazato's continued outstanding play and Suzann Pettersen's win in Canada. Only 20 rating points separate first and sixth place so if Angela Stanford had won yesterday's playoff instead of Jiyai Shin, Angela would have been pushing Cristie Kerr and Shin for the #1 spot. And in that case, Ochoa would have fallen to sixth. If this kind of shuffle keeps occurring, I may have to post the rankings every week.

While we're playing the what-if game, Sun Young Yoo would have probably made the Top 15 had she won the Arkansas playoff. As it is, she's in the Top 20 for the first time after spending the entire season in the 23-28 range.

Annika Sorenstam finally drops out of the Top 70. It took eight months. Angela Park did it in half the time but of course she didn't have quite as far to fall. Despite being out on maternity leave for the rest of the year, Mi Hyun Kim will finish 2009 somewhere in the Top 70. She's earned enough points to be certain of that. This month's highest debut is at #42 by M.J. Hur, your Safeway Classic champion.

P&G NW Arkansas – Epilogue

hound dog — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 12:05:32 -0000

The Tour is still being stupid about Jiyai Shin's career victory total. From the Final-Round Notes and Interviews page at LPGA.com:

[It was] her third official victory, and matched her win total from 2008 when she won three times as a non-member.

Back in March, we got confirmation from Connie Wilson at the Tour office that all of Shin's 2008 victories were official and count towards her Hall of Fame point total. She's won six times over the last 13 months and some anal individual is still splitting hairs over this. It's junk like this "official victory" wording that makes it unnecessarily tougher for people to follow the LPGA.

As JogginFrog said in the comments, the Player of the Year race is about as wide open as it has ever been. With 30 points awarded to the winner of each event (and double points for the season-ending event), anybody within 60 of the lead still has a very good chance to win the award. With seven events remaining, 13 other players are within 60 points of Shin's leading total of 127. By the way, Jiyai is now also the leading money winner for 2009 with nearly $1.5 million earned and now has a stranglehold on the Rookie of the Year race.

Kudos to Taylor Leon for her sixth-place finish but she gets edged out for the Big Surprise Award because it was her second Top 10 of 2009 (but her first since the season-opening SBS Open). Becky Morgan hadn't finished better than T20 this year until her solo ninth-place showing yesterday. It was her first Top 10 since last year's Corning Classic. UPDATE: I just noticed that both Shi Hyun Ahn and H.J. Choi collected their first Top 10s of the year as well so I must give them each a share of the Award.

The Big Disappointment is impossible for me to determine. Everybody in my Top 12 picks made the cut. Brittany Lincicome was the only member of my Top 30 to miss the cut but she wasn't playing well coming in. If forced to choose I would say Vicky Hurst (T54) but "officially" speaking (I can do that too, guys!), this week's BD is vacant.

Have you noticed M.J. Hur? She's followed up her Safeway win with finishes of T16 and T14. If she keeps that up, that victory won't be going onto the Fluke chart.

P&G NW Arkansas - Final Round

hound dog — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 23:23:17 -0000

Jiyai Shin birdied the second playoff hole to defeat Angela Stanford and Sun Young Yoo and win the P&G NW Arkansas Championship. It is the third win of the year for Shin and the sixth of her young career. Shi Hyun Ahn and Song-Hee Kim tied for fourth place at -8 (one shot out of the playoff) while Taylor Leon finished in sixth place two shots back.

Shin began the day tied for 24^th place and seven shots behind leader Song-Hee Kim. She was in only the third group off at #1 this morning. Birdies at 1 and 3 got her to -4 but she seemed to stall out from there, parring the rest of the front nine. Jiyai got it rolling on the back - birdies at 10, 11, 14 and 16 (the last one from 45 feet away) brought her to -8, which at the time tied her with Kim for the lead. Shin birdied the final hole to finish with a 64 and with the solo lead. She also had a two-hour wait ahead.

Kim never got going today. She parred her first seven, bogeyed 8 and parred her last ten to come up one shot short. Yoo started the day three behind, went out in even par and caught fire with birdies at 11, 12 and 14. She was now -9 and tied with Shin. A bogey at 16 hurt but Sun Young got it back at 18 to force a playoff. Stanford was two back at the start, bogeyed 1, eagled 2 and bogeyed 8 to go out in even par. Angela went birdie-bogey at 14-15 and went to 18 down by two. Like I've often said, a par-5 18^th hole can make for some great excitement at the end and Stanford took advantage. She eagled it from 25 feet to reach -9 and join the playoff. Ahn started the day nearly as far back as Shin - she was -3 T15 and fired a bogey-less 66 which unfortunately for her, didn't include a birdie at the final hole to make the playoff a four-way affair.

All three players birdied the first playoff hole, which was of course the 18^th. Hole #2 was played at the par-3 15^th. After Yoo's chip shot and Stanford birdie attempt failed to drop, Shin made birdie to become the season's first three-time winner.

You could probably guess from my wording that I didn't see the coverage today. We were traveling back from a short beach vacation (which also pre-empted my second-round recap). Sounds like I missed a great one. Golf Channel is re-airing the final round at 9:30pm EDT tonight so I will get to see it on the DVR tomorrow night. If you saw the action, feel free to add your observations in the comments.

P&G NW Arkansas - 1st Round

hound dog — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 01:31:18 -0000

Sandra Gal shot a 64 to take the first-round lead at the P&G NW Arkansas Championship. Song-Hee Kim is one shot behind in second place while Angela Stanford, Brittany Lang and Pat Hurst are tied for third, two shots back.

Gal opened the round with three straight birdies, bogeyed #4 and made the turn in 33. She birdied twice on the back and finished with an eagle at the par-5 18^th to match her career-best round. Kim bogeyed the par-4 8^th but birdied seven times en route to her 65. Hurst played bogey-free for her 66 while Lang offset her one bogey with an eagle at the par-5 14^th. Stanford bogeyed twice but more than overcame them with seven birdies, five over her last nine. The other notable scores include:

67 Eun Hee Ji, Jeong Jang, Jane Park, Soo-Yun Kang, Karen Stupples, Kim Welch

68 Yani Tseng, Hee Young Park, Vicky Hurst, Stacy Prammanasudh

68 Sarah Lee, Teresa Lu, Marisa Baena, Irene Cho, H.J. Choi

69 Cristie Kerr, Michelle Wie, Helen Alfredsson, Sun Young Yoo, M.J. Hur

69 Jee Young Lee, Katherine Hull, Wendy Ward, Lindsey Wright, Meena Lee

70 Paula Creamer, Jiyai Shin, Young Kim, Se Ri Pak, Stephanie Louden

71 Na Yeon Choi, Natalie Gulbis, Morgan Pressel, Shi Hyun Ahn, Maggie Will

72 Ai Miyazato, Hee-Won Han, Christina Kim, Julieta Granada, Amy Yang

73 Kristy McPherson, Ji Young Oh, Stacy Lewis, Louise Friberg, Lisa Strom

74 Seon Hwa Lee, Janell Howland, Inbee Park, Lorie Kane, Jamie Hullett

75 Nicole Castrale, Dorothy Delasin, Meredith Duncan, Ashleigh Simon

77 Brittany Lincicome, Jill McGill, Diana D'Alessio

At some point this week they changed par to 71. Hole 13 was shortened to a par-4, making the back nine par equal 35. The overall course length remained about the same - 6244 yards. It didn't seem to matter much, as 35 players broke 70 and 72 were even par or better.

Four players who are very low on the Priority List did not start - A.J. Eathorne, Tracy Hanson, Sophie Giquel and Angela Oh - which leads me to believe they either didn't expect to make the field (so they didn't book passage to Rogers) or they are prepping for Sectional Q-School (which begins next Wednesday in Palm Springs, California).

P&G NW Arkansas Championship Preview

hound dog — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 20:13:27 -0000

Defending Champion - Seon Hwa Lee

Pinnacle Country Club

Rogers, Arkansas

54 holes, begins Friday

Par 72, 6238 yards

Field Score - 73

Tournament Odds - from Oddschecker.com

Last Player In - Janell Howland (#321)

First Players Out - Angela Oh (#323), Vicki Goetze-Ackerman, Tracy Hanson

Scoring Averages - 71.37 (2008)

2009 Scoring Average to date - 72.92

U.S. TV coverage (all times EDT):

Fri 12:30p-2:30p GC

Sat 1p-4p GC

Sun 1p-4p GC

Rogers, Arkansas - half an hour up the road from Fayetteville and less than that from the Missouri state line - hosts the LPGA Tour for the second straight season. Two years ago the event was washed out and local hero Stacy Lewis was declared the winner (albeit an unofficial one in Tour records) after only 18 holes were played. Rain delays plagued last year's event too, but they got in all 54 holes as Seon Hwa Lee claimed her second victory of 2008.

Pinnacle CC underwent a renovation earlier this year but still plays as one of the shorter courses on Tour. The signature hole is the par-3 15^th, featuring an island green. 18 is a par-5, which I always like to give players a reasonable birdie chance to finish the day.

The field isn't a bad one but given that it is not being played in Hawaii or Mexico, the quality is rather disappointing. For those who played at Solheim this would have been their fourth straight week of action (with three more to come) so I'll give Suzann Pettersen, Catriona Matthew and Anna Nordqvist a pass. But Lorena Ochoa, In-Kyung Kim and Karrie Webb have only played the last two weeks after a three-week layoff. Surely one or two of them could handle playing four in a row (all three are in next week's Samsung) in the name of supporting their Tour, especially given that two of those events are only 54 holes. Granted - very few will try to play all of these six straight events, and being in the middle Arkansas was going to get skipped by most of the 20 Samsung participants. But the LPGA needs its stars to suck it up now more than ever. And the Tour needs to be mindful of this situation when it draws up the 2010 schedule - they can't afford to have any events next year getting short-changed because the headliners need a week to rest. Keep the events grouped in twos or threes and this problem goes away.

A thinner field does narrow down the choices, though. For the second week in a row, I'm picking the hottest player around and hoping she gets her second win of 2009.

1. Ai Miyazato

2. Angela Stanford

3. Jiyai Shin

4. Kristy McPherson

5. Cristie Kerr

6. Michelle Wie

7. Na Yeon Choi

8. Seon Hwa Lee

9. Morgan Pressel

10. Paula Creamer

11. Song-Hee Kim

12. Vicky Hurst

Stats: Winners 3-19

Winners in Top 12 7-19

Top 10s 81 4.3

Hot 20 - P&G NW Arkansas Championship

hound dog — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 12:52:15 -0000

Your Hot 20 for Arkansas. Yes - six of them (listed in bold) are not in the field. I'll address that fact in my tournament preview.

1. Ai Miyazato

2. Suzann Pettersen

3. Karrie Webb

4. Cristie Kerr

5. Angela Stanford

6. Anna Nordqvist

7. M.J. Hur

8. In-Kyung Kim

9. Jiyai Shin

10. Michelle Wie

11. Michele Redman

12. Morgan Pressel

13. Momoko Ueda

14. Paula Creamer

15. Song-Hee Kim

16. Kristy McPherson

17. Sophie Gustafson

18. Catriona Matthew

19. Na Yeon Choi

20. Maria Hjorth

Canadian Open – Epilogue

hound dog — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 12:02:31 -0000

In the nearly two years since Suzann Pettersen had last won on an LPGA event, she had never fallen out of my Top 10 and I couldn't find a week where she wasn't in the Rolex Top 10. Since her win at the 2007 Honda LPGA Thailand, Pettersen had finished second six times, with ten total Top 5s and 21 Top 10s. Damn good player. On Sunday she started her triple-birdie barrage with a chip-in from 30 feet at 10, which did a 360 around the cup before falling in.

Pettersen becomes the 17^th different winner of 2009 through 19 events played. Lorena Ochoa and Jiyai Shin are the only two-time winners so far. The lowest number of victories to lead any LPGA season is three (five times, lastly in 1995 by Annika Sorenstam). With only eight more events to be played, that record could very well be broken this season.

Before last week's Safeway Classic, her win at the LPGA Championship was Anna Nordqvist's only Top 10. She finished T8 yesterday for her second straight. Vicky Hurst also finished T8 for her third Top 10 of the season. Momoko Ueda and Juli Inkster each collected their first Top 10s of 2009 in Calgary. Are you surprised to hear that? I sure was. So for that literal reason, Momoko and Juli share this week's Big Surprise Award.

Michelle Wie missed her first cut of the season this week. Since I picked her to finish second, she gets the Big Disappointment. Brittany Lang also missed her first cut of 2009, leaving only five players with more than one start who have yet to miss the cut this year - Cristie Kerr, Lorena Ochoa, Ai Miyazato, Na Yeon Choi and Anna Nordqvist. Choi has yet to miss the cut in 46 starts as an LPGA member. As a non-member, she missed two cuts in 2007 and one in 2005.

LPGA Cards Awarded To Futures Tour Top 10

hound dog — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 03:02:06 -0000

This is the picture for which Samantha Richdale had to miss the CN Canadian Women's Open this week. Figured I'd post it along with the list of Futures Tour players who earned 2010 LPGA cards Sunday afternoon.

1. Mina Harigae

2. Jean Reynolds

3. Misun Cho

4. Samantha Richdale

5. Song Yi Choi

6. Whitney Wade

7. Angela Buzminski

8. Christine Song

9. Alison Walshe

10. Dewi Claire Schreefel

The top five players all receive Category 9 status next year while players 6-10 will be in Category 17. Choi won the ILOVENY Championship today and jumped from 11th place on the FT money list to fifth. Congrats to her and all of the newest LPGA members!