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.

With the first and second round complete of the Navistar LPGA Classic, we find Lorena Ochoa, Laura Davies, Yani Tseng, Giulia Sergas and 14-year-old Alexis Thompson in a five way tie for 1st place. All are 10-under-par 134. The young rookie Thompson started the competition off in the lead mostly throughout the competition and finished in second place behind Janice Moodie on day one with 7-under-par and made three birdies today to put her in fighting position as we move into the weekend and the final round on Sunday. Yani Tseng bounded up the leaderboard today by shooting an amazing 9-under-par today. But last year’s winner Lorena Ochoa is making a run to defend her title, we’ll see if she can keep it up tomorrow. 

Today was cut day and though two of our players didn’t make it, 3 did. And right in the thick of things is Team VTech member Alena Sharp who’s currently tied for 16th at 6-under-par 138. Our good friend Beth Bader is one stroke behind at 5-under-par 139. Diana D’Alessio and Becky Morgan both made it with 2-under-par 142 and the latter with at even par 144. Eighty-three players advance to weekend play and we’ll check back to see how girls and everyone fairs on the greens.

With her near victory at last week’s CVS/pharmacy LPGA Challenge, will Number 1 ranked, Lorena Ochoa be able to keep her focus and defend her 2008 Navistar LPGA  Classic title this week?

Let’s hope she can as the girls of the LPGA head down to Prattville, Alabama this week for the last tournament of the regular season goes under way. 

Only in its third year at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail’s The Senator Course has attracted some of the top players in the world. One of the most popular sites on Alabama’ s Capitol Hill in Prattville, it features three 18-hole championship courses. Last year’s top 10 finishers will all be back this year on Senator course, with its 150+ pot-hole bunkers and mounds that are 20 to 40 ft in height,  as they attempt to win $1.3 million.

We wish out Team VTech girls luck and will check back as the tournament goes under way.

This past weekend, the LPGA and Team VTech returned to the Blackhawk Country Club for the  CVS/pharmacy LPGA Challenge. In-Kyung Kim was there to defend her championship title, which she earned by holding off Angela Stanford by three strokes in 2008. If she won a back-to-back, she would have joined Juli Inkster as the only player to do so. Unfortunately, other players had winning in mind as well. 

The opening round saw 132 of the world’s best playing for a purse prize of $1.1 million.  Tour veteran Sophie Gustafson took the lead in the first round shooting a 7-under-par 65. Finishing the 1st day two strokes ahead of Na Ri Kim, Angela Stanford, and Sophia Sheridan. Lorena Ochoa came back from a few disappointing starts in the past tournaments to fire off a 68 to finish 4-under-par to put her in a five-person tie for fifth. Defending champion In-Kyung Kim finished 1-over-par 73, 8 strokes back from the lead. Team VTech had some strong plays today as well. Both Alena Sharp and Diana D’Alessio finished tied for 20th at 2-under-par 70, Karen Stupples T64 at 1-over-par 73, and Becky Morgan and Amy Hung were T80 at 2-over-par 74.

On day two,  Gustafson maintained control of the leaderboard with 10-under-par 134 with a one stroke lead heading into round three. Close behind are Maria Hjorth, Lorena Ochoa and Shanshan Feng (the only tour players from China), each with 9-under-par 135. 

Sharpy was even today, remaining at 2-under-par 142, but moving down to T32. Stups shot 2-under-par moving up to 1-under-par, 143 and T39, along side Team VTech teammate, Dee, who shot 1-over-par but remains 1-under-par. Becky Boots stayed even to remain at 2-over-par 146 and T67. 

All four girls made the cut and moved into the final round during the weekend. They competed against 79 players this weekend for $1.1 million in prize money. 

At the end of day two saw the withdrawals of Johanna Mundy, Jane Park and Jiyai Shin. Shin, who is currently holding the top spots in three categories: money, Rookie of the Year and Rolex Player of Year may have hurt her chances of winning all three. To win Rookie of the Year and Rolex Player of the Year is something that hasn’t been achieved since Nancy Lopez in 1978 and would surely make her a household name. But we’ll wait and see.

On day three we saw number one ranked Lorena Ochoa go neck and neck with Gustafson as they finished tied for 1st with 16-under-par 200. Angela Stanford and Sun Young Yoo are 6 strokes behind in second with 10-under-par 206. Morgan Pressel, Leta Lindley, Amanda Blumenherst, and Christina Kim have moved up into the top ten. 

Team VTech’s Alena Sharp keeps consistent and is the sole person holding the 24th spot on the leaderboard with 5-under-par 211. Great job Alena!! Dee is T49 at even-par 216. Stups is T59 at 1-over-par 217, and Becky is T65 at 2-over-par 218.

And after four days of great golf, Sweden’s Sophie Gustafson comes out on top as the winner of this year’s CVS/pharmacy LPGA Challenge. She holds of Lorena Ochoa by 4 strokes to win at 20-under-par 268. Rounding out the top ten were Amy Yang, Sun Young Yoo who took part in the P&G sudden death shoot out with Angela Stanford and Jiyai Shin, Amanda Blumenherst, Maria Hjorth, Angela Stanford, Katherine Hull, Reilley Rankin and this year’s British Open winner Catriona Matthew. 

Team VTech’s Sharpy finished strong tied for 24th at 5-under-par 283. Dee finished T53 at 1-over-par 289, Becky Boots  at T64 at 3-over-par 291, and Stups rounding it out T67 ay 4-over-par 292. 

A great tournament, a great weekend and a great outing for our girls! This week they head to Alabama for the Navistar LPGA Classic. Check back to see how the girls do this weekend. 

Today is cut day at the CN Canadian Women’s Open and 74 players of 156 carded 1-over-par or better to advance to weekend play. Among those 74 players are Lorena Ochoa, Yani Tseng, VTech’s Karen Stupples and Ai Miyazato.

On top of the leaderboard currently tied for 1st is Safeway runner up Norway’s Suzann Pettersen and South Korean Song-Hee Kim at 9-under-par 133. And right behind are recent British Open winner Catriona Matthew and Rolex Number One Lorena Ochoa at 8-under-par 134. Kim set a tournament  record with shooting a 9-under-par in her second round. 

Last year’s defending champion Katherine Hull failed to qualify for weekend play. 

With a $2.75 million purse, players will be giving it their all this week (especially when facing wind gusts passing 30 mph!!) at the CN Canadian Women’s Open this week at Priddis Greens Golf & Country Club in Alberta, Canada. After the first round, we find second-year Tour member, Australian Anna Rawson at 7-under-par 64, giving her a course record. But right behind her is Norway’s Suzann Pettersen at 6-under-par 65, went bogey free this round, and is hungry for a victory since her sudden-death playoff defeat last weekend at the Safeway Classic in Oregon.

Karen Stupples

After a disappointing time at Safeway, Lorena Ochoa is back in action! She’s currently tied for third, with Amanda Blumenherst, after a strong finish at 5 -under-par 66. Paige Mackenzie, Anna Nordqvist, Team VTech’s Karen Stupples, last week’s Safeway Classic winner M.J. Hur, and several others are tied for 9th at 3-under-par 68. Team VTech’s Alena Sharp and Amy Hung are tied for 67th at 1-over-par 72, Becky Morgan is tied for 83rd at 2-over-par 73, and Diana D’Alessio is tied for 112 at 4-over-par 75.

Defending champion, fellow Australian Katherine Hull, is currently 2-over-par 73 and tied for 83rd.

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.