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.

Today was a good day for golf. With the flag pins replaced with mini American flags to remember those we lost eight years ago, the mood was quiet yet upbeat amongst the golfers and the crowd. The weather was good, the wind minimal, and the course in excellent form. And though it was a Friday and technically still a work day, heaps of onlookers and fans showed up to cheer on their favorite players.

We had the usual herd of eager Michelle Wie fans cheering her on as she was paired with Natalie Gulbis and Brittany Lincicome. (Michelle finished tied for 21st at 2-under-par 69.) While others had local fans from long before they ever decided to turn pro. Though Team VTech’s Karen Stupples graduated from Florida State University, before she transfered she spent a year in Arkansas. During that year, Karen made an indelible impression on the people she met and they came out to support her today. One of them just happened to be her old coach, Coach Abel. (Karen finished in a five way tie for 4th at 4-under-par 67.)

As the day continued, it definitely felt like summer with the humidity and temperatures in the low 80’s, but as the cooling winds blew through the trees on the Pinnacle Golf Course, you could feel a change coming. Though the course was a vibrant shade of green, you couldn’t ignore the yellowing leaves scattered upon the ground. Two more months and the season will be over. But let’s not think about that, let’s focus on the golf.

At the end of the day, we find Germany’s Sandra Gal #1!, for now anyway. With a score of 7-under-par 64, she takes the lead with Song-Hee Kim a stroke behind. It was a day for ups and downs in scoring. A very frustrated Brittany Lincicome finished 6-over-par, while many top players are 1-over-par or higher. Tomorrow, 145 of the world’s best players will try again, hoping to make it to Sunday’s final round and a chance to win the P&G Beauty NW Arkansas Championship and that $1.8 million purse. Last year’s defending champion Seon Hwa Lee faced a little difficulty and showed some frustration as she finished her day tied for 105th at 3-over-par 74. Team VTech’s Alena Sharp is T37 at 1-under-par, Amy Hung and Becky Morgan are 1-over-par and Diana D’Alessio is T138 at 6-over-par 77.

So let’s make a prayer to the putting gods to help our girls do their best and hopefully, those thundershowers that are suppose to show up around noon will decide to take the weekend off and give our girls some good golf weather.

Here’s to hoping for a dry tomorrow.