Around the wider world of golf: In-Kyung Kim (you may recognize I.K. Kim quicker) won the the Reignwood LPGA Classic on the LPGA; Madelene Sagstrom got her third win this season at the Murphy USA El Dorado Shootout on the Symetra Tour; Lu Wei-chih won the Mercuries Taiwan Masters on the Asian Tour; Daisuke Kataoka won the Top Cup Tokai Classic on the Japan Golf Tour; and 17-year-old Nasa Hataoka became the youngest-ever winner of the Japan Women’s Open on the JLPGA, as well as the youngest-ever JLPGA major winner and also the first amateur JLPGA major winner (bangkokbobby has details). WOW!
Oh yeah. This photo was WAY better than any old photo of Team USA holding the Ryder Cup... and probably more indicative of the way the team approached the week.
I'm not going to say a lot today because I'm going to take a closer look at the Ryder Cup tomorrow. But it's still pretty clear that this may have been the best Ryder Cup ever, merely because of the Reed/McIlroy and Mickelson/Garcia matches. Phil and Sergio made 19 birdies between them -- a Ryder Cup record -- that worked out to matching 63s and a bestball score of 58. And there's just nothing you can say about the slugfest between Patrick and Rory.
Perhaps Arnold Palmer's passing had as much of an effect on this team as Seve's passing did for the Euro team a couple of Cups back; I don't know. And you can argue about how much of this win is due to the "Task Force" changes; that remains to be seen, going forward.
But here's what I DO know: Rickie Fowler described this team as "relaxed all week." That's something the USA usually says about the Presidents Cup, not the Ryder Cup. And if that's all the TF accomplished, then I think it's a success.
As I said, I'll take a closer look at this Ryder Cup tomorrow. For now I'll just post the winners' well-deserved Limerick Summary, knowing that it'll probably be a few days before any of them will be awake long enough to read it.
When we asked, "Can the USA do it?The photo came from this page at golfchannel.com.
Will their plan of attack get them through it?"
Arnie smiled from above
And, once push came to shove,
"The New Team" stepped up big and got to it!
I don't know how you are in Japanese, but a fellow member of the SeoulSisters.com forum noted that Nasa Hataoka's was named after NASA the space agency: her parents believed that she should soar high in her endeavors. She's one of the challengers for a spot on the LPGA Tour, or at least the Symetra Tour: she recently finished 4th in Stage 1 of Q-school.
ReplyDeleteMy Japanese is almost non-existent, IC. I do enjoy the occasional English translation of manga and some anime. (I confess that I lean toward shonen manga, which are the action comics aimed toward young boys, for those of you unfamiliar with the forms.)
DeleteHowever, I DO know that there are many young Japanese players who will likely make it to the LPGA in the next few years. I won't be surprised if Nasa is one of them.
...and Inky's win in China probably won't erase from people's memory THAT PUTT - you know, the 18 inch putt that would have won her a major in Racho Mirage in 2012 had it not lipped out and backed her into a playoff. Still it was her first win on the LPGA since the 2010 Lorena Ochoa Invitational and she's been playing well of late: she won her 2nd Ladies European Masters on the LET the week before Evian, where she finished 6th.
ReplyDeleteIt's not other people's memories that I.K. worries about. I think this win will go a long way toward helping HER put it behind her.
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