U.S. Women's Open - Epilogue
by hound dog on Jul 13, 2011 9:38 AM PDT
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So Yeon Ryu was playing in her eighth career LPGA event and her second of 2011 (KNC - T41) when she defeated Hee Kyung Seo Monday morning for the U.S. Women's Open title. A six-time winner in Korea, Ryu qualified for the Open by finishing in the top five on the 2010 KLPGA money list. She became the first non-member to win the U.S. Open since Laura Davies in 1987. The list of non-member winners in majors over the last fifty years is a short one:
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So Yeon Ryu Jiyai Shin Laura Davies Catherine LaCoste (a) |
2011 U.S. Open 2008 British Open 1987 U.S. Open 1967 U.S. Open |
Karrie Webb won the British as a non-member in 1995 but that event was not yet a major championship.
Like Shin three years ago, Ryu now has LPGA membership secured for 2012 if she chooses to accept it. Her post-victory comments indicate that she plans on accepting. And like Shin in 2009 and (to a somewhat lesser extent) Seo this year, Ryu will automatically assume the position of favorite to win the Rolex Rookie of the Year award next year. The victory also secured this week's Big Surpirse Award. The Big Disappointment goes to Na Yeon Choi, who missed only her second cut since joining the Tour in 2008.
As usual for a U.S. Open, the scoring average was the highest of the season so far - 74.98. It was however 1.4 strokes lower than last year's Oakmont slugfest and the lowest average for an Open since the 2007 edition at Pine Needles.
While the Big Surprise had to go to the victor, a few Shout-Outs must be delivered as well. Ryann O'Toole would have taken the honor had the playoff result been reversed as her ninth-place finish was the first Top 10 of her career. Ryann's previous best was T32 at the Avnet Classic. Seo - while not having a great rookie season was still the ROY front-runner - snagged her second Top 10 finish of the year to take a huge lead in the rookie race. And how about two of the players in the tie for fifteenth - Junthima Gulyanamitta and Lizette Salas? Gulayanamitta I sort of knew - she's a younger sister of Russy - but until I Googled her, I had no idea that Salas was a rising senior at Southern Cal. Maybe if I had watched more of the TV coverage....
On that subject - our family was on vacation all last week and I only got to see a portion of Saturday's action. Which, thanks to the weather delays, was the conclusion of the second round. We have a habit of taking these trips around the Fourth of July (weird, huh?) so because of travel and social matters, the U.S. Women's Open always seems to get short-changed at the HD blog.
The ironic thing about that is, I don't seem to care. I know it's a MAJOR but almost every year I miss most or all of the coverage and don't feel like I've missed much. I freely admit that I've never been a fan of those spectacles referred to as "grueling tests of golf". Every U.S. Open (men or women) I've watched, I felt like the course was overpowering and overshadowing the players. Yes everybody has to play the same holes and "par" is merely a suggestion, as they say. But after watching hour upon hour of three-putts and machete hacks from the rough and layup shots on Every Single Par Five, I get a little sick of it all. Despite the altitude, is it really necessary to reduce par to 71 on a 7000+ yard track (by far the longest in LPGA history)? Or to have fewer realistic birdie holes than fingers on one hand? When faced with so much potential for disaster, even the most confident of players can become gun-shy - leading to less risk-taking and consequently even fewer birdie opportunities. Because of the "better" scoring average it was less obvious at Broadmoor but the sentiment is still the same - U.S. Open layouts discourage me from watching. The British Open gives players a chance if the weather is decent. Mission Hills is a difficult enough layout but at least it always allows more than three players to finish under par. The times I've missed significant Kraft Nabisco, LPGA Championship or WBO coverage, I genuinely felt bad about it. As for the U.S. Open? Whatever....
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Interesting Perspective
To some extent, I agree that in the U.S. Opens there seems to be some attempt to make the best players in the world look bad. However, the setup does allow shorter hitters to win. On the other hand, I think the LPGA Championship and the Kraft Nabisco are set up to favor the longer hitters with the rough not penal enough.
Disagree
The US Open is comfortably the best LPGA event, the one that threatens to resemble a men’s major. There’s too much variance when the LPGA is in charge, and generally not enough of a test. The LPGA Championship is a major in designation only on the current track. Conversely, the USGA knows what it is doing and you get just the right combo of penal and playable conditions. Frankly, it often highlights the LPGA weaknesses compared to the guys, specifically in short game and putting. Lag putting last week was an atrocity. I wanted to set the over/under at 8 feet every time. The women don’t see fast sloping greens nearly often enough.
Ryu was fantastic on the final hole and in the playoff. The conditions and her success conquering them made it a memorable event. Johnny Miller’s perspective is always a plus and it provides great status to an LPGA event when he covers it.
My only concern was NBC’s role in the outcome. I’m not convinced Ryu would have emerged if NBC hadn’t pulled some strings Sunday night. Daylight was available through at least 8:15, oft mentioned by Dan Hicks. They had played until 8:25 Friday night. Yet the horn blew just before 8 PM local time, 10 PM Eastern on Sunday. Remarkably convenient, to salvage the 10-11 hour of Sunday night prime time for NBC. Brittany Lincicome was so perplexed and livid she tweeted these two summations:
“I’m so mad right now its not even funny!!! If I was a drinker I would be getting hammered!!! :-(”
“Yet another awesome call by the officials to stop play when its NOT even dark outside. We played until 8:25 something the other night.”
Ryu would have played 1 or 2 more holes in tough windy conditions on Sunday evening if the horn hadn’t blown prematurely. Even if she gets through 16 and 17 at even par it means she opens Monday morning on 18 needing a birdie to force a playoff.
I was rooting for Ryu on Monday but something didn’t feel kosher about the way it played out. No one can convince me NBC didn’t play a role in the early stoppage. There was no way the event could conclude that night, and NBC undoubtedly didn’t see the point of 15-25 more minutes. Let’s face it, although Seo and Ryu are two terrific players and very stylish and attractive, it didn’t work in TV’s favor that a Korean was leading followed most closely by a Korean. That’s simply reality. I’m sure NBC would have made a different decision had let’s say Creamer led and chased by Kerr.
BTW, I must concede my vacation is normally during the Women’s British Open so I tend to miss coverage and downplay that event. Kraft has great history but if you’ve been there it doesn’t feel like a major venue, not with busy Palm Springs roads smack beyond the wall left of the final holes. Kerr blew the event by pulling a tee shot over the wall a couple of years ago while leading.
Wrong about the LPGA Championship
The LPGA Championship has been played continuously since 1955, so it has a long history (only the U.S. Women’s Open is older). It has been played at a lot of places with different sponsorships. Also, most of the best players have won the tournament. The LPGA has only recently owned the tournament (2010). Does it need to be a tougher test – yes. That is being worked on if the rumors are true. Money in a bad economy and previous bad management (she who must not be named) are certainly factors that must be considered.
Length of the course affected by thin air
Yes, the Broadmoor was 7000+ yards, but it was also at 6200 feet above sea level and therefore had a lot less air resistance. At that altitude, players take about 10% off yardage to get a sea-level equivalent. It played like a 6400 yard course. The killer was the USGA rough, narrow fairways, slick greens, etc.
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