Inside the Ropes

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. 

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!

I had the pleasure of being invited out the to Jamie Farr Corning Classic for a quick trip this week.  The people of Toledo, like I have found at all stops on the Tour, love the Tour, the Players and were amazing. Well, everyone but the people at *&^%^$% airlines who lost my bags and made the trip a bit insane.

Tuesday night I met most of Team VTech and a number of the Players and Caddies and 21 West for a Pool tourney.  Brittany Lincicome was nice enough to Buy the bar for a few hours and the games began. Sharpy, Sweet D and Shorty where there, along with Audra Burks, Kristi McPherson, Katherine Hull, Meredith Duncan, Sarah “Kempy” Kemp, Paige MacKenzie, Brandi Jackson and many more.  Good times, many tiny beers and many laughs. Big thanks to the whole crew at 21 west and all the ladies for a fun filled eve.

See you next year Toledo!

From Singapore to Mexico and back, the VTech Team is back on U.S. soil and getting ready for some action!  This week the whole team gears up to compete at the J Golf Phoenix LGPA International at the historic  Papago Golf Course, designed by well known and esteemed golf course architect William Francis (Billy) Bell, the same architect of Torrey Pines in San Diego.

Since the Papago Golf Course just celebrated their Grand Reopening last month-  recently closed for 8 months for a course overhaul, we’ll be keeping an eye on what happens to our girls this week on this new course. With Amy Hung, Alena Sharp (Sharpy), Becky Morgan (Shorty), Diana D’Alessio (Sweet D) and Karen Stupples (Stups) in the final field, they’ll definitely be giving defending champion Lorena Ochoa, a run for her money. And with $1.5 million in purse money up for grabs, we’ll definitely be keeping our fingers crossed!