Inside the Ropes

Lorena Ochoa held onto her lead at the Navistar LPGA Classic after the third round and with an impressive three stroke lead between her and current second place Sandra Gal. Ochoa was 6-under-par 66 for a total 16-under-par . Sandra Gal is 13-under-par. She hit an eagle on her sixth hole. Janice Moodie and Brittany Lang is tied for 3rd with 12-under-par 204. 

Cristie Kerr clocked in 8-under-par today to move up from T68 to tie for 13th at 8-under-par 208. While amateur wunderkid Alexis Thompson carded a 2-over-par to drop from the top ten to tie for 13th alongside Kerr and Michelle Wie. 

Team VTech’s Alena Sharp finished 1-over-par to finish 5-under-par 211 while Diana D’Alessio and Becky Morgan tied for 60 with 2-under-par 214. 

On Sunday, the final round, with the threat of rain, defending champion Lorena Ochoa continued as she had all week/weekend and stayed in the lead and…. won!! She successfully repeated her win and cashed in on the $1.3 million purse by walking away with $195,000. She increased her lead today by 2 strokes and finished 18-under-par 270. Finishing four strokes behind Ochoa were Brittany Lang and Michelle Wie at 14-under-par 274. Wie hit an impressive 6-under-par to clench her second place finish. 

A big surprise in the top ten was our good friend Beth Bader, who finished tied for 6th at 12-under-par 276, and recording a second best.  Another surprise this tournament was junior Alexis Thompson finished T27 with 6-under-par 282. Team VTech’s Alena Sharp also finished T27. Diana D’Alessio finished T61 at even-par 288 and Becky Morgan had a little trouble and dropped to finish at 80 with 5-over-par 293. 

Team VTech continues to do a great job! Congratulations Girls.

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.