Inside the Ropes

Japan’s Ai Miyazato picks up another win with her victory at the ShopRite LPGA Championship. She finished 16-under-par (66,67,74 = 197) defeating her closest competitor M.J. Hur by two strokes. This victory pushes Miyazato to the top of the Rolex Rankings No. 1 come Monday morning. Suzann Pettersen (-12), Paula Creamer ( -10), Angela Stanford (-9), and Karine Icher (-9) are some of the players who finished in the top ten.

Team VTech had a strong weekend with Beth Bader (-4) finishing tied for 22nd and Karen Stupples (-3) and Diana D’Alessio (-3) both tied for 35th.

Next week the ladies head to Pittsford, NY to compete in the LPGA Championship Presented by Wegmans and a purse worth $2.25 million. Good luck ladies!!

Out on the Priddis Greens Golf & Country Club in Priddis, Alberta, Canada, Norway’s Suzann Pettersen has won the CN Canadian Women’s Open with a score of 15-under-par 269, winning a pretty purse prize worth $412,500. Holding on to the lead she gained in round 2 and extended in round 3, she was five full strokes ahead of her contenders and finally broke her winless streak. The closest group behind Pettersen at 10-under-par 274 consisted of Momoko Ueda, Morgan Pressel, Ai Miyazato, Angela Stanford, and Karrie Webb, all tied for 2nd. Anna Nordqvist finished T8 at 8-under-par 276. 

Team VTech’s one representative in the weekend portion of the CN Canadian Women’s Open was Karen Stupples. Stups finished T40th at 2-over-par 286. 

Check in next week when the girls are in Rogers, Arkansas for the P&G Tournament and some new excitement on the course.

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..?)