Inside the Ropes

The sun was slow to show this morning on Ghost Creek at Pumpkin Ridge Golf course for the Finals of the Safeway Classic Presented by Coca Cola as our girls swept the dew. But when it did, another layer of sunscreen had to be applied and fast!

It was a hot day for some hot golf. The race was close and the play intense as Michelle Wie, Anna Nordqvist, Ai Miyazato, Suzann Pettersen and more were vying for the title of champion and the prize money that comes with it. There were some good pairings out on the field today. Last year’s champion and number one on the money list Cristie Kerr was paired with rookie and crowd favorite, Michelle Wie. (Wie has yet to win a major tournament). Sweden’s Sophie Gustafson, Christina Kim and South Korean’s M.J. Hur were lumped up together. Suzann Pettersen, Michele Reman and Natalie Gulbis had the herds following from one hole to another all day. And second day leader Anna Nordqvist was with Japan’s pride and joy, Ai Miyazato and South Korean Seon Hwa Lee.

The leader board showed no outright winner as lunch began this afternoon, but after a strong putt by Suzann Pettersen on the 12th hole, it seemed to many that she was on a roll and would be crowned winner. But, as it turned out, they assumed too quickly as Pettersen dropped from 15-under-par to 12-under-par when she bogeyed the 14th hole and then quickly double bogeyed the 15th, leaving her to birdie the 17th and finish at 13-under-par for the tournament. 18 year veteran Michele Redman, who was grouped with Pettersen, remained consistent throughout as she birdied 5 holes and failed to bogey once, tying her for 13th place. Rounding out the battle for the top of the leaderboard was South Korean M.J. Hur who had 7 birdies today, one of them being an eagle on the 10th hole, hitting a low 65. Hur, a first year rookie, had only a 13T as her career best finish before recording her first major victory today. She walks away with $255,000 in prize money today. 

Hur defeated Redman and Pettersen in a two-hole sudden death playoff. 1st round leader Beth Bader finished tied at 20th at 2-over-par, finishing at 5-under-par 211 with the likes of Sandra Gal, last year’s champion Cristie Kerr, Team VTech’s Amy Hung and more. Not a bad way to spend your birthday, right Betty? (Happy Birthday). Team VTech’s Becky Morgan finished tied for 65th, Karen Stupples tied for 49th (with Lorena Ochoa), and Alena Sharp tied for 45th. Anna Nordqvist finished at 7th with 10-under par. Michelle Wie, Ai Miyazato, and Seon Hwa Lee finished tied for 4th at 11 under par and Christina Kim, Angela Stanford and Paige MacKenzie finished tied for 8th at 9 under par. 

Next week our girls are off to Canada for the CN Canadian Women’s Open where Canadian favorite and Team VTech member Alena Sharp will go up against Katherine Hull and the rest of the field for a chance at the $2.75 million purse.

Though the weather said “sunny”, the skies opened up once more today on Ghost Creek to give attendees and players a little added bonus and rain play made things more interesting today for some.

After the end of the second round, the field has been cut today for the Safeway Classic Presented by Coca-Cola at the Pumpkin Ridge Golf Course in North Plains, Oregon. 70 of the world’s best players will advance to tomorrow’s final round of play and compete for $1.7 million purse.

The leader board finds fresh blood as Anna Nordqvist takes over the lead from yesterday’s leader, Beth Bader by 3 strokes. Anna currently leads with a score of 10-under-par 134. Right behind her is recent British Open Ai Miyazato at 9-under-par 135. The Japanese were out in full force cheering on there country’s top female golfer. It’s true what they say, “Wherever Ai goes, businesses benefit from the media frenzy who follow her every move.” South Korean Seon Hwa Lee is tied with Ai for 2nd. And never too far behind from the lead is Suzann Pettersen at 8-under-par 136. 18 year veteran Michelle Redman is tied with Pettersen. Both are just two strokes from striking distance. 

Yesterday’s leader Beth Bader is still in the running at 7-under-par, picking up a bogey today. 

Cristie Kerr is five strokes back from the top of the leaderboard. After hitting a few trees on hole 15 and then overshooting past the on-looking crowd on 16, it didn’t look like the defending champion would be making much progress up in the ranks. 

Team VTech has four players in the finals tomorrow. Karen Stupples, Becky Morgan, Amy Hung and Alena Sharp. They ended on a positive note, all carding under par to perform tomorrow.

*World Golf Halls of Famer Se Ri Pak withdrew prior to the start of the second round today. (Maybe she knew about the rain..?)

Today was a good day at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Course for golf as the crowds were out in full force as early as 7am this morning for the first tee time. And though people were anticipating some exciting golf with Michelle Wie fresh off Solheim Cup and paired with Lorena Ochoa and defending 2008 champion, Cristie Kerr, the real action was with group 11: Anna Grzebien, Erica Blasberg, and Beth “Betty” Bader. Betty is in the lead after shooting an impressive 8-under-par 64 today with a birdie on the 18th hole. Right behind her is Anna Norqvist and Seon Hwa Lee at 7-under-par 65.

Team VTech did well on the course despite the sudden downpour late in the afternoon. Recent winner of the Wales Open, Karen Stupples is tied for 25th and 2-under-par 70 with Becky Morgan. And Diana D’Alessio and Alena Sharp are both tied for 39th at 1-under-par 71. 

We’ll check back tomorrow and see how the ladies fair as the skies clear and round two begins.

Fresh off her Solheim Cup victory, Cristie Kerr is back in Oregon at the 38th Safeway Classic Presented by Coca-Cola to defend her title during the three-day event on the 6,546 yard Ghost Creek Course at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in North Plains, Oregon. Pumpkin Ridge, host to the 2003 U.S. Open is a new course for this year’s Safeway Classic.

If she manages to pull off a win, she’ll be the first back-to-back winner since Annika Sorenstam. Also in the ranks are 143 of the best players in the world.  20 of the top Rolex ranked players, including number 1 and 2 ranked Lorena Ochoa and Yani Tseng. 

We’ll also be keeping a close eye on our Team VTech gals, so check back as the tournament begins and follow all the action on Inside the Ropes.

In honor of Team VTech rolling into our hometown this week for the LPGA Safeway Classic I thought it would be a good time to roll out the commercial again.  It’s been playing thru most of the events that our broadcast, even during The Solheim Cup this past weekend.  We had such a blast making this and to be honest, it just doesn’t get old. Of course you should know that when we filmed it Sharpy had just bought a new house and Sweet D…well,she loves her pool. Good luck to the Team this week and to all our friends on the LPGA who are here for the tourney - we can’t wait to see you!

Solheim Cup Teams 2009

Like the Jets vs the Sharks, the Yankees vs the Mets, or even mustard vs ketchup, Teams USA vs Europe is a rivalry that has lasted through the ages, or a few years at least. And this weekend, with another Solheim Cup come and gone, it was Team USA that came out winner for the third time in a row with a 16-12 decision over Europe. (They also won the singles 8-4). With 120,000  in attendance this week at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Illinois, both teams put their best putts forward for some exciting golf.

Solheim Cup Rookie, Michelle Wie, whose 3-0-1 record was the best of any American this week, took a 1 up victory over 2007 European Captain Helen Alfredsson after halving the 18th hole with birdies. She was undefeated this week as well as her teammates, Morgan Pressel and Brittany Lang and earned 3.5 points.

But it was Morgan Pressel’s 3 up victory over Anna Norqvist that  helped clinch the Cup for the U.S. Team, keeping the Americans’ undefeated record at home, intact.

It seemed talent might have been the deciding factor in the Americans victory this weekend. While their roster boasted some of the top players in the world, four of Europe’s players were ranked 125th or lower. And though European captain Alison Nicolas said she did what she could for her team to win, you can’t help wonder what would have happened if she didn’t overlook recent Wales Open and former British Open champion Karen Stupples for a spot on the team. C’est la vie Alison, there’s always next year.

As the Solheim Cup kicks off this week, we’re still a little sad that Team VTech’s Karen Stupples who recently won the Wales Open a week ago didn’t make the cut for the European Team. She recorded a one-stroke win over South Korean Amy Yang at the Royal St David’s Golf Club in Harlech, finishing at 12-under-par 276, coming from two strokes back in the final round.

Karen Stupples

Our former British Open winner (2004) was a bit disappointed being overlooked by Solheim Cup captain Alison Nicholas after trying so hard. ”I was very, very disappointed at not being in the Solheim Cup. It was always a big goal of mine to be on there and I think to be perfectly honest, I tried too hard to get in. I knew I had to impress Alison to get into the team and I think I was just trying too hard. I’ve come here free of the burden of trying to be selected or trying to prove how good I am or what form I’m in and I think the real Karen Stupples showed up this week.”

We’re glad the real Karen Stupples is here and we look forward to seeing her and the rest of Team VTech in Portland next week for the Safeway Classic at Pumpkin Ridge!

In the meantime, good luck to all the ladies who made the Solheim teams and best of luck with competition this week.

As you may know this is our 5th year sponsoring players on the LPGA and days like yesterday continue to remind us why have elevated our partnership with Tour Pros and the LPGA Tour each year.

Paige Mackenzie invited us to support her Charity Shootout and play in  the 2nd annual event held at The Meridian Country Club in Auburn, Washington. Sunday night the Kickoff party was held at the Muckleshoot Casino - Tournament Manager and possible next Jimmy Buffer hosted the eve amidst what was an oddly busy casino on a Sunday night.  One of our guys suggested that it was busier than a casino in Vegas on a Sunday but I digress…

Monday we tee’d it up at 8am in the shotgun tourney. We were paired up with Julieta Granada, long time friend and LPGA ADT Championship winner in 2006 ( nice first prize: $1 million…). Julieta is actually one of the first players I met on Tour, she was playing with Kim Saiki-Maloney ( our first LPGA Pro sponsorship - we miss you Kim! ) at the old Takefuji Classic in Vegas.  Julieta was awesome to play with and took on a personal mission to work with one of our guests on his game during the round. We were blown away by the transformation of his game through the day and I think he has a new teacher/guru - great work Julieta! Now it’s time to fix my game…

Paige invited 11 of her fellow Pros to play in the event and the other 18 4somes played with Club Pros from around the NW.  It never ceases to amaze me how gracious the LPGA players are, and by the end of the day new friendships were made, good times were had and we all left looking forward to see them all and Team VTech next week here in Portland for the Safeway Classic at Pumpkin Ridge.

We are pleased to share with you that Team VTech’s Karen Stupples aka “Stups” pulled off a brilliant win this past Sunday at Royal St. David’s Golf Club in Harlech, North Wales.  Karen held off Amy Yang by one stroke with a final -12 to secure her 3rd victory as a Professional ( Karen won the British Open in 2004 and The Welch’s/Fry’s Tuscon Open in 2004 ). Katherine Hull finished 3rd at -9.  

Becky “Boots” Morgan also had a strong tourney finishing tied for 18th. The field was full of greats from both sides of the pond and we couldn’t be happier for Stups. She has had a very challenging year as you may have read from earlier entries here and this victory was well deserved and should bode well for what’s in store for the rest of the season.

Congrats from all your family here at VTech! We can’t wait to see the entire team here in Portland in a few weeks for the Safeway Classic at Pumpkin Ridge GC.

For more info and pics click here: http://www.ladieseuropeantour.com/content/let_content_news.php?Id=22704

CHEERS!

Stups and LJ saying goodbye at Toledo

Team VTech has been traveling abroad these days, finding themselves in Evian, France to Lancashire, England. Here are a few pictures courtesy of Team VTech member, Diana D’Alessio of her and teammate Becky Morgan back in Becky’s homeland of Wales hitting a few balls. Thanks Sweet D!! We’ll look for our girls to return stateside at the Safeway in Oregon later this month.

Sweet D swinging away

Home Sweet Home

The perfect backdrop for golf

A quick break between shots

Fore!!