9 Returning Players on U.S. Solheim Cup Team

U.S. SOLHEIM CUP CAPTAIN Rosie Jones called forming her team “an extremely exciting and difficult selection process.” Jones made two captain’s picks—veteran Vicky Hurst and LPGA Tour rookie Ryann O’Toole. That may have been the hard part, but the rest of the 12-player squad—all automatic qualifiers based on a points system—looks like it was as easy as an 18-inch putt.

This year’s U.S. Solheim Cup team will include nine of the players that won the Cup two years ago at Rich Harvest Farms west of Chicago, Illinois. They are world No. 2 Cristie Kerr, Morgan Pressel, Angela Stanford, Paula Creamer, Michelle Wie, Brittany Lincicome, Brittany Lang, Christina Kim and Juli Inkster. Stacy Lewis, a Solheim Cup rookie, was the other player to make the team on points.

In addition to playing, Inkster will serve as an assistant captain to Jones. Playing will come first said the 51-year-old Inkster, the oldest player to compete in The Solheim Cup.

“I feel like most of my career I’ve worn two hats as a mom and as a player,” Inkster said in reference to her dual Solheim Cup roles, “but it will be a challenge.”

The European Solheim Cup Team will be announced on August 29. Alison Nicholas will serve as captain. Melissa Reid, Laura Davies, Suzann Pettersen and Christel Boeljon have already made the team based on the Ladies European Tour point standings.

The Solheim Cup will be played at Killeen Castle in Ireland on September 23-25.

−The Armchair Golfer

‘TEE IT FORWARD’: Joint PGA-USGA Initiative Begins July 5th

By PGA of America

“TEE IT FORWARD,” A NEW national initiative to help golfers have more fun on the golf course by playing from a set of tees best suited to their abilities, kicks off on Tuesday, July 5, at golf facilities nationwide.

Launched in May at the Senior PGA Championship, the new initiative encourages all golfers to play the course at a length that matches their average driving distance. Golfers can enjoy the game more and potentially speed up play by using tees that offer greater playability.

“We are excited that TEE IT FORWARD has been enthusiastically received by both PGA Professionals and consumers,” said PGA President Allen Wronowski. “The PGA would like to thank the USGA and Barney Adams, founder of Adams Golf, for their efforts in helping generate the tremendous interest in TEE IT FORWARD.”

Through TEE IT FORWARD, amateur golfers can play a golf course at the same relative 18-hole yardage as a tour professional. Golfers tee off from distances that are aligned with their abilities, resulting in fewer shots, shorter distances traveled on each hole, and, potentially, fewer lost balls.

The PGA and USGA are providing TEE IT FORWARD information, including a suggested distance chart, to more than 11,000 U.S. facilities. Jack Nicklaus, Paula Creamer and Dustin Johnson are featured on the poster.

To see a chart that provides guidelines for aligning driving distance with total course length, visit PlayGolfAmerica.com/TEEITFORWARD.

TEE IT FORWARD Feedback and Sweepstakes

Golfers who TEE IT FORWARD are encouraged to provide feedback about their experience at PlayGolfAmerica.com/TEEITFORWARD.

A sweepstakes will be conducted of all eligible persons who submit their comments prior to July 17, 2011. One Grand Prize winner will receive a stay-and-play package for four at Kiawah Island (South Carolina) Golf Resort. One runner-up will receive two tickets to the 2012 U.S. Open Championship. A second runner-up will receive two tickets to the 2012 PGA Championship.

LPGA Tour: ‘Ladies Who Will Eat Your Lunch’

“Ladies who will eat your lunch,” as Paul Creamer refers to the women’s tour in the above clip, are drawing larger numbers. LPGA.com reports an increase in TV ratings, attendance and website traffic through the first five events of the 2011 season.

Total television viewership is 20 percent higher than like events on cable in 2010. Like events televised on Golf Channel have seen a 32 percent bump in viewership. The Kraft Nabisco Championship drew the most viewers for rounds 1 and 2 since 18 and 17 years ago, respectively. Overall website traffic during the year’s first major was up 52 percent. In addition, attendance has increased by eight percent through the first four events.

“We know it’s early,” said LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan, “but we feel that the Tour’s popularity is on the rise and we will do all we can to maintain this momentum throughout the season.”

The ladies are back in action next week at the Avnet LPGA Classic in Mobile, Alabama. Se Ri Pak is the defending champion.

−The Armchair Golfer

Two in a Row for Karrie Webb

KARRIE WEBB RALLIED TO WIN the inaugural RR Donnelley LPGA Founders Cup on Sunday at Wildfire Golf Club in Phoenix. “I love coming out to the desert,” Webb said after closing with a 66 for a one-stroke victory over Brittany Lincicome and Paula Creamer. The Aussie’s scorecard included seven birdies and a bogey.

Webb ended a two-year win drought three weeks ago at the HSBC Champions in Singapore. Now she has claimed back-to-back titles. Impressive stuff. With 38 wins, seven of them majors, the 36-year-old Webb is already in the Hall of Fame.

Webb needed a chip and a putt to save her par on the 72nd hole. She hit a good one and sank the three-footer. Then she waited on the driving range as Lincicome came to the final hole needing a birdie to win, or a par to tie and force a playoff. Like Webb, Lincicome came up just short with her approach shot. Unlike Webb, Lincicome chipped 10 feet by the hole and missed the come-backer to lose by one.

More surprising was the fact that Lincicome didn’t know how she stood as she came to the final green. She doesn’t watch leaderboards—ever. “For some strange reason,” she said, “I had it in my mind that Cristie Kerr was running away with it.”

I can understand not watching leaderboards for most of a tournament—if that’s your mental makeup. But if you’re in contention on Sunday, I think you have to look at some point as you’re playing the back nine. That is, if you’re playing to win. How else are you going to know what you need to do?

After the round, Hall of Famer Nancy Lopez told Lincicome to start looking at the leaderboards. Constant scoreboard watcher Webb needs no such advice.

Webb’s victory total of $200,000 will go to the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation and Japan relief efforts.

Third-round leader Angela Stanford stumbled to a 75 to finish alone in fifth.

−The Armchair Golfer

The Ladies Tee Off in Thailand

HERE COME THE LADIES. Finally. The 2011 LPGA season gets underway on Thursday at the Honda LPGA Thailand. A field of 60, including new World No. 1 Yani Tseng, will tee it up at the Pattaya Old Course at Siam Country Club in Chonburi, Thailand. The 22-year-old Tseng was last season’s Rolex Player of the Year. She has superstar potential.

World No. 6 Ai Miyazato is the defending champion. A year ago Miyazato chipped in for birdie on the final hole to beat Suzann Pettersen by a shot. She went on to win the following week on her way to five 2010 victories. Her favorite pizza topping is pepperoni. And she doesn’t like cilantro. (It’s true. I read it at LPGA.com.)

(Photo: “I’m pretty sure this is my driver.” It’s been a long layoff for Ai Miyazato and all the ladies.)

Miyazato told USA Today’s Steve DiMeglio that she hasn’t played a competitive round of golf in two and a half months. Nonetheless, Ai said she’s ready to go after spending much of her offseason in Phoenix. She worked on getting the clubhead more square at the top of her backswing.

A long offseason is probably nice. But the rust can set in quickly. World No. 4 Cristie Kerr spent her break working on fitness—and relaxing. Kerr took five weeks off from playing golf, starting up again in mid-January. Her goals for 2011 are to bag another major and have a multiple win season.

Other LPGA players who are expected to contend for top honors such as player of the year and the money title include Jiyai Shin, Suzann Pettersen, Na Yeon Choi, I.K. Kim, Sun Ju Ahn, Song-Hee Kim, Paula Creamer and Michelle Wie.

The season opener is the first of 25 LPGA events on the 2011 calendar. The ladies tour has lost nine events since the economy tanked in late 2008. The Solheim Cup will be played in late September in Ireland.

−The Armchair Golfer

(Photo credit: Keith Allison, Flickr, Creative Commons license)

Kerr and Creamer Voice Serious Concerns About New Event

LPGA STARS CRISTIE KERR and Paula Creamer have serious concerns about the inaugural RR Donnelley LPGA Founders Cup, according to Randall Mell of GolfChannel.com. Neither player has committed to play in the new event that honors the LPGA’s 13 founders.

The tournament will be played on March 18-20 in Phoenix, the first of 13 U.S. events on the 2011 LPGA schedule. A projected $500,000 of the “mock” $1.3 million purse will go to the LPGA Foundation. Except for receiving a stipend for tournament-related expenses, the ladies will play for free. The women’s “mock” winnings from the imaginary purse will count on the official money list.

Playing gratis doesn’t bother Creamer. She likes the concept and the cause. What Paula told Mell she is “having a difficult time with” is why the new title sponsor can’t donate the entire mock purse amount to the LPGA charity.

“If we were able to have $1.3 million in real money sitting there, and donate it back, I would be the first one to sign up for this event,” she said.

Creamer was also concerned about how the format looks to existing title sponsors that offer real purse money.

Kerr said the new tournament went from an idea to a 2011 event too quickly without adequate player input. “It’s turned what was an opportunity into an obligation.”

She gave LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan credit for a good concept, but was undecided about her involvement based on concerns about the format. Other uncommitted players include Michelle Wie, Suzann Pettersen and Morgan Pressel.

Those committed to teeing it up in Phoenix include Jiyai Shin, Ai Mazato, Juli Inkster, Brittany Lincicome, Angela Stanford and Christina Kim.

−The Armchair Golfer

(Photo credit: Pablo Lancaster-Jones, Flickr, Creative Commons license)

Paula Creamer Rocks The Price Is Right

WHAT IS PAULA CREAMER doing with Drew Carey? And did Drew call her Paula Kramer? It sure sounds like it to me.

The U.S. Women’s Open champion appeared on The Price Is Right. The show aired today. Paula sank a putt. Then a contestant sank a putt for a car. And the crowd went crazy! (The crowd always goes crazy on The Price Is Right.)

Paula later showcased TaylorMade and Addidas gear, custom club fitting, and a trip for two to Palm Springs. Wait, there’s more! Yes, a trip to Orlando to play golf and have lunch with Paula at Isleworth.

It was all good fun. Watch out, Drew Carey. I think Paula could steal your job if she wanted it.

−The Armchair Golfer

Creamer Rises to the Top

2010 U.S. Women’s Open Recap
Winner: Paula Creamer
Score: 3 under, 281 (72, 70, 70, 69)
Quote: “I believed I could do this.”
Fact: She didn’t watch leaderboards.
Thought: Mental toughness wins majors.

PAULA CREAMER IS A major champion. What so many have long expected since the talented California native turned professional five years ago finally came to pass today under blue skies at Oakmont Country Club in western Pennsylvania. She is only 23, but doesn’t it seem that Paula has been grinding for that first major victory for quite a while?

Count me among those who were thoroughly impressed by Creamer’s performance. I know Oakmont was playing soft after the heavy rain on Friday. It’s still Oakmont, though. Playing through pain in the aftermath of surgery to her left thumb, Paula was the only player in red numbers for 72 holes, shooting 3-under par to win by four strokes over Na Yeon Choi and Suzanne Pettersen. She saved her best round for last, a 2-under 69.

Few players have a four-shot cushion when they play the final hole of a U.S. Open (a dream scenario and then you wake up), but apparently Creamer didn’t know it. Paula said afterwards that she didn’t look at a leaderboard until the 18th green.

“That was a goal of mine,” she said, “to just go and play the golf course, and if somebody played awesome, then somebody did. I didn’t want to change my game plan.”

How do you explain a first major after so much adversity and such a long layoff? Paula was obviously not at anywhere near her best physically—she could only hit 40 balls in warm up, winced in pain on the course, and told the press she was about 60 percent. She had only played four events coming into the national championship, missing the cut last week at the Jamie Farr Classic.

“It just shows,” Paula said, “how much the mental side of golf can really take over.”

There’s also the experience and maturity Creamer gained from disappointments at the last two U.S. Women’s Opens at Interlachen and Saucon Valley. And there’s the putting, which this time was superb on Oakmont’s crazy fast and undulating greens.

Because of Paula’s extreme popularity—and because an American has won the U.S. Women’s Open—this is bound to be a huge lift for women’s golf and the LPGA Tour. With Annika Sorenstam and Lorena Ochoa gone, the game needs star power, and Paula has it in mega-wattage. Now she also has her first of what may be many majors.

−The Armchair Golfer

(Image: Keith Allison/Flickr)

Poulter Wins All-English Match Play Final

2010 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship Recap
Winner: Ian Poulter
Score: 4 and 2 over Paul Casey in 36-hole final
Quote: “It’s been a long time coming.”
Fact: Moved up to No. 5 in Official World Golf Rankings.
Thought: Is a major in Poulter’s future?

YOU KNEW HE HAD game. Ian Poulter sold me at the 2008 Ryder Cup when as a controversial captain’s pick he pretty much outplayed everyone on either team. On Sunday “Poults” broke out in an even bigger way with his first win on American soil (actually, on American sand, the Sonoran Desert), a 4 and 2 victory over fellow Englishman Paul Casey in the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship.

The color pink hasn’t had a better day on the golf course in quite some time. Which got me thinking: If Paula Creamer is the Pink Panther, can we call Ian the Pink Poulter? Probably not, I suppose. Too limiting. It’s just one fave in his rainbow-hued wardrobe.

I didn’t see much of the 36-hole match, but I did watch most of the final holes. Casey cut Poulter’s four-hole lead in half early on the final nine. Just when I thought it might get interesting, the Pink Poulter converted some exquisite par saves to stall Casey’s comeback. I guess that’s the way he played all week. About his short game, Poulter said, “The last 12 months, it’s been up there with the best of them.”

Poulter has won nine times on the European Tour, including the Barclays Singapore Open last November. But Sunday’s victory was by far the biggest moment of his career, and vaulted him to number five in the world rankings.

It was the second year in a row that Casey lost in the finals. Last year he ran into a match-play buzzsaw named Geoff Ogilvy. “He [Poulter] did a fantastic job of making putts and keeping the ball in play,” Casey said, “and he kept the pressure on.” Finishing second again must sting, but reaching the finals two years in a row is an impressive accomplishment. Don’t be surprised if Casey someday wins one of these. In the meantime, a runner-up check for $850,000 is a nice way to pad the bankroll, no?

Tour Notes

• LPGA Tour: Ai Miyazato won the season opener in Thailand.
• PGA Tour: Cameron Beckman took the Mayakoba Golf Classic.
• Champions Tour: Bernhard Langer won the Allianz Championship.
• ARMCHAIR GOLF plans to attend the Puerto Rico Open in March.

−The Armchair Golfer