In what probably is the most amazing accomplishment in professional golf this year 15-year old amateur Lydia Ko bested a strong field of LPGA professionals winning the Canadian Open to become the youngest winner in history of an LPGA event. A year ago Lexi Thompson amazed us all winning the Navistar Classic at age 16-Ko beat that by a year and three months. This is the first time in 43 years that an amateur has won an LPGA event. The last person to do that was JoAnne Carner in 1969 and we all know what a storied professional career that lead to.

Lydia’s golf has been nothing short of spectacular the last two years. She has been the leading amateur in the world over that span of time. She won the Australian Amateur in January, 2012. A week later she won the New South Wales Open at age 14 to become the youngest ever to win a professional women’s event. She followed that in July finishing as low amateur in the U.S. Women’s Open at Blackwolf Run. Two weeks ago she won the biggest amateur prize of all, the U.S. Amateur at The Country Club in Cleveland, Ohio.

With a $2,000,000 purse this is one of the richest events on the LPGA Tour and it attracted all the top names including World #1 Yani Tseng, U.S. Open Champ Na Yeon Choi, Evian Masters winner Inbee Park, and #2 on the Money List Stacy Lewis.

Lydia played flawlessly all week shooting 68-68-72 to earn a one shot lead going into the final round. Everyone figured she would buckle under the pressure. But, against all odds, she waxed the field on Sunday, running off four straight birdies to start the inward nine on her way to 67 and a 3-shot margin of victory.

Ko played like a steely veteran not a giddy teenager which was not lost on the professionals whose lunch she ate. As is the custom on the LPGA Tour with a first time winner the other players doused Lydia after she made the winning putt on the 18th green. Albeit with water and not champagne. I guess they were respectful of her being underaged.

Since she is an amateur Ko got bupkis of the $300,000 first place money, the beneficiary of that was Inbee Park who finished top professional at 10 under par. But for her win Lydia Ko got a shiny silver trophy and an invite to the prestigious year-ending CME Group Titleholders invitational in November in Naples, Florida. Word is she is going to play in the Ricoh Women’s British Open next month. She may need to get a hall pass from her high school principal to play but, after what we have seen so far this summer, I would not bet against her winning her first major before she is 16.

August, 2012

The USGA setup for the U.S. Open is intended to be a stern test of golf that will challenge the best players in the world to the limit of their ability.  But many times the setup gurus have crossed the line and turned testing golf into Tom Foolery.

Leader Payne Stewart anxiously watches his existential fate unfold (Stephen Szurlej)

This article by Ron Whitten from Golf Digest recounts the last time the Open was held at The Olympic Club and the fiasco of the pin placement on the 18^th green that Friday in 1998.  It has taken 14 years for this prestigious event to return to Olympic and much of that hesitation can be accounted for by what happened that Friday afternoon.

Ron Meeks, whose set up of the course that year earned him the moniker of “Marquis de Sod”, admitted “We all make mistakes with course setup….I have never set up a championship where I haven’t made multiple mistakes.  Mother Nature sometimes fools you, or you sometimes don’t anticipate certain things.”  Maybe they are just trying too hard.

There have been many other such incidents over the years, most vivid to my memory is the debacle at Shinnecock Hills in 2004.  Who can forget what the seventh green looked like, devoid of a blade of live grass because of the stress of water deprivation, as pro after pro simply watched in disbelief as their balls trundled off the back of that par three.  It will have taken 14 years to get over that experience as The Open is not scheduled to return to Shinneccock Hills again until 2018.

Take a moment to read this article and view the embedded video of an interview the next day at Olympic in 1998 with David Fay the USGA Executive Director.  It reveals how precarious it can become when the USGA tries to push the limits of fairness in trying to fulfill their desire to create a true test of golf.

(Click to read Ron Whitten’s “Testing The Limits of Fairness”)

Ron Whitten

Golf Digest

June, 2012

Never aim where a straight shot will hurt you.

Great Golf For Life: The Teaching Professionals’ Guide

Jim Linkin and Patrick Livingston (2005)

Carl Spackler, A.K.A. Bill Murray, will be defending his A T & T National Pro-Am Title this week at historic Pebble Beach with his professional partner D.A. Points.  If you recall, in a true Cinderella Story,  this unlikely duo opened with a 59 on Day One and went on to best the field by two over four days with a 35 under total of 251.

D.A. Points just so happened to notch his first professional win at the same time playing pretty flawlessly down the stretch with Murray as his alter ego.  He was one shot behind when he jarred a gap wedge for eagle on the difficult par five 14th and then followed it making a 30 footer on 15 for birdie.  Three pars coming in capped his 67 and a two shot win over Hunter Mahan.

The most riveting moment was Points facing a nervous six footer for par on 16.  When his caddy asked him how he felt he answered, “Not very good”.  At which point D.A. took a page from the Murray handbook.  He turned to partner who stood over a long putt from across the green and hollered at him, “The crowd would be really happy if you could make that”.    The crowd laughed approvingly and that seemed to break the tension.  After Murray narrowly missed his putt, Points made his six footer for par and sailed home from there for the win.

It was obvious at the end Murray seemed a bit uncomfortable in the role of the victor-he was uncharacteristically serious.  When asked if his partnership with Points was a new Pro-Am tandem he said, “I’m thinking of turn pro but I probably won’t.  It’s really nice to play with a gentlemen.  He’s a good person.  He’s from Illinois. He’s Lincoln-esque in stature and unfailingly polite”.

Having had a full year to recharge his comic competitive batteries I suspect Carl will be back to his old self trying to write the Cinderella Sequel.

February, 2012