Kia Classic – Epilogue

 
Hee Kyung Seo didn't have the advance reviews that Jiyai Shin did but she might be on the verge of making the same splash.  Already a KLPGA Player of the Year and an 11-time winner, the 23-year-old just grabbed her first LPGA victory as a non-member (which Shin accomplished three times in 2008) and will have at least a couple of opportunities to win a major before she joins the Tour.  First up - this week's Kraft Nabisco Championship, where she'll be one of my top picks to take the prize.  Mind you, I'm not just jumping on the Seo bandwagon here - La Costa's long track with thick rough and tricky greens is mighty similar to the one at Mission Hills.

Merely seconds after Seo dropped her final putt, Golf Channel cut away to a small edit room in its production trailer.  Here, for the final 20 minutes of its allotted coverage time, they showed Michelle Wie pleading her case with Tour officials over the two-stroke penalty she was assessed at 11.  I understand why Michelle was upset with the decision but making statements like "that's unfair" and repeating one point of defense ad nauseum never won anything for the debate team.  Going on and on about it only created more fodder for the anti-Wie crowd to maintain that she is spoiled and feels entitled to special treatment.  My greatest wrath today, however, is reserved for Golf Channel.  Aiming a directional mike to overhear Michelle's initial conversation with Doug Brecht in public was one thing, broadcasting her appeal inside the trailer was another.  Countless penalty appeals have been conducted in private between player and officials and this one should have been in private as well.  The fact that it was conducted inside GC's production trailer has no bearing - Wie had a right to an official hearing and with a camera there, that official discussion was certainly affected.  Hell, the camera's presence probably instigated Michelle's reluctance to back down in a reasonable amount of time.  The LPGA should never allow cameras into these discussions again.  The fact that it detracted from Seo's victory celebration made it all the worse.

If you thought scoring was high this week, you were right.  The average of 74.17 was the highest since last year's British Open and the highest for a non-major since the Mastercard Classic last March.  Seo was the only player to break par every day, Shin was the only other to not register an above-par round and 16 players total finished the tournament under par.  Tough course.

It's time to get concerned about Lorena Ochoa.  After her two indifferent starts in Asia (T18 and T38), I thought the month-long break would give her time to work out her problems.  The T52 finish this week was her worst since missing the cut at the Longs Drugs in October 2005.  Poor iron play (58.3% GIR on 75% driving accuracy) and too many putts (31.5 per round) did her in at La Costa.  She is not the Big Disappointment, however - Angela Stanford and Sun Young Yoo missed the cut to share the "honor".  UPDATE:  As another Top 20 player who also missed the cut, Brittany Lang shares the Big Disappointment Award as well.

I didn't want to give Hee Kyung Seo the Big Surprise Award because she does have all those KLPGA victories.  This week's award goes to Shanshan Feng, who finished T6 for her first Top 10 since the 2008 Grand China Air.

All of the players who finished in the Top 10 already had Kraft Nabisco positions secured.  The player who came closest to earning her way in was Moira Dunn (sorry, TC!) who finished at T21, four shots out of the KNC.  Seo was already in the field at Rancho Mirage by virtue of her KLPGA qualifications.

One more thing.  Several times this weekend I saw different Michelob Ultra ads prominently featuring Lance Armstrong.  It was a little ironic to see these ads from a sponsor recently divorced from the LPGA fold heavily pushing its new sponsorship (of Lance's Tour de France team, I presume) during a Tour event...<sigh>