The Lydia/Leadbetter Split

Besides the new DJ Rule, the big news this past week was Lydia Ko's split with David Leadbetter, her teacher for the last three years.



Everybody has their own ideas about why this has happened, although you could say it was just par for the course. Lydia has now officially changed caddies and instructors in the last couple of months, and word is that she's going to change equipment soon (from Callaway to PXG). This kind of thing really isn't unusual in the pro ranks -- male or female -- and it's not like she hasn't done this sort of thing before.

But Lydia hasn't played all that well since the Olympics. You can read this reprint of a recent Golf World article by Jaime Diaz that speculates on a variety of possible reasons for the split, as well as a Golf Digest post from Ryan Herrington this past week that suggests declining play may be the reason.

Among those possible reasons given are:

• dissatisfaction with Leadbetter's 'A Swing,' which was supposed to help Lydia get longer and more accurate (she declined in both distance off the tee and GIR this past season)
• tensions with her caddie
• increased competition from players like Jutanugarn and Henderson
• burnout, and
• other possible but unnamed distractions.

Are any of them to blame? It's anybody's guess. Given that she's been experimenting with swing changes that look more like her old swing, the 'A Swing' seems a likely culprit, although she did win her first two majors while using it. It may have proved too difficult for her to stay in form over a long period of time.

My own experiments with the 'A Swing' when the book came out roughly 18 months ago convinced me that it isn't for everyone. I was unable to make the swing correctly even once, despite understanding the concepts and working some with the drills in the book. With such a busy year due to the Olympics, Lydia may have simply got tired and couldn't muster the necessary concentration to perform the swing consistently. After all, the 'A Swing' is noticeably different from her old swing.

It wouldn't take much to push me toward a possible case of temporary burnout as the primary reason, given the fact that Lydia stated after the Tour Championship that she intended to get away from golf for a while. (Diaz's article includes her famous quote: “Month off. Don’t touch my clubs. I think they are sick of me too.”) And it's probably coupled with the realization that her old swing seemed to work well even when she was tired.

Perhaps it's no more than a desire to simplify. Take a month off, clear the cobwebs out of her head. Don't touch the clubs for a month, then come back to practice with the old swing that she knows so well with new equipment. Start the 2017 season with a new caddie, a fresh voice in her ear.

But then again, maybe this isn't such a mystery at all. Lydia's birthday is April 24. She'll turn 20, no longer a teenager. Maybe, just maybe these are her first steps toward reinventing herself as an adult and she feels the off-season is the best time to do it.

Hmmm... It works for me.

But Where Are the Women's Clubs?

Golf Magazine has put up an article summarizing some of the new clubs for 2016, complete with pictures and videos. It looks to be a good overview of the new men's clubs that have been introduced so far and, for those of you looking for new sticks, it looks to be fairly thorough. But unless I overlooked them, something is missing.

Where are the women's models?



Perhaps I'm just overlooking them, I said to myself. Perhaps I just need to Google it.

So I did. I popped over to Google and searched for "2016 women's golf clubs." And I found NOTHING. Oh, there were listings of women's clubs for sale... but I couldn't find anything with both "2016" and "women" in the hits.

For an industry that claims it needs to "embrace" more of the potential golfing population -- especially women -- it seems strange to me that the marketing for new models excludes them. I'm sure that's really going to encourage women to take up the game.

Perhaps I'm alone in my disappointment. I understand that men's clubs make up the bulk of golf sales and that manufacturers will therefore focus their marketing efforts on those models. And perhaps those potential players who are being ignored won't care -- after all, once they take a quick look and find nothing, they'll put that silly idea about playing golf out of their minds and move on to sports where the equipment is more readily available.

Still, it disturbs me. I have heard endless talk about "growing the game" yet none of the movers and shakers -- that is, the folks with the money to make it happen -- seem interested on following through. Golf is expensive and time-consuming, and perhaps some of that can't be helped. But we could at least make the equipment easy to obtain.

And if we aren't going to do even that much, perhaps it's time we stop moaning about the declining popularity of golf. Let's just admit that we want golf to be an elitist sport and that we like it that way. As someone once said, it's time to put up or shut up.

End of rant.

The Next Young LPGA Superstar?

If you've been immersed in all the drama going on at Whistling Straits in the PGA Championship, you can be forgiven for not keeping up with this week's goings-on at the LPGA's Cambia Portland Classic. (Of course, if you're resourceful like me, you could have been watching the LPGA on your iPad while the PGA was playing on the TV. Just saying...) But this week is becoming important for an unexpected reason.

Let me bring you up-to-date on what's happening in Oregon since it has the potential to shift the balance of power among the Top10 players on the LPGA.

In case you don't recognize the young lady in the photo below, let me introduce you to Brooke Henderson, a 17-year-old from Canada.



I'm not going to bore you with her amateur career. It's pretty impressive but you can look it up on Wikipedia or some of the sports sites.

As a pro this year she's won on the Symetra Tour and has a Top3 finish at the Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic where she missed a playoff with Lydia Ko and Morgan Pressel by a single shot, plus T5s in both the ANA Inspiration and the US Women's Open. And she came into this week ranked #32 in the Rolex Rankings, making her the leading Olympic qualifier for Canada. Clearly she's got some game.

She and her sister Brittany both play the Symetra Tour and often caddie for each other. In fact, Brooke was supposed to caddie for Brittany this week until Brooke Monday-qualified in Portland. You can read more about it in this LPGA article. We talk a lot about the character of players like Jordan, Rickie and Rory; this article will give you some idea what kind of person Brooke is.

She petitioned the LPGA for membership earlier but was refused, so she's trying to bypass Q-School by making as much money as the 40th player on the LPGA money list by the end of the year. That number is expected to be somewhere around $400k, and Brooke has already made $466,264 with at least a couple more events to play after this one. (Her current winnings would put her 20th.)

But apparently she has decided she doesn't want to wait. As this Sunday morning dawns, Brooke Henderson has a 5-shot lead on the field in Portland after rounds of 66-67-65, putting her at -18 with only one bogey all week. After she Monday-qualified for this event -- and only one player in the history of the LPGA has ever won an event after Monday-qualifying -- it's hard to believe Mike Whan could refuse her petition if she wins today.

And that could dramatically alter an already competitive LPGA line-up. This year Brooke has shown an ability to put the hammer down when the pressure is on, and she seems as unfazed by the LPGA's talent as Jordan Spieth is by the PGA's.

While you're watching the final round of the PGA Championship today, you might want to keep one eye on the Cambia Portland Classic. History might be made there too.

Some Thoughts on the Majors Debate

Let me say this upfront: I'm not suggesting that this post will settle the debate. But I thought it might help to at least get all the facts out front.

Of course, the debate is whether Inbee Park's Open win on Sunday gives her a "career Grand Slam" or not. There have been a variety of voices speaking up and I just wanted to outline where the problems lie. You can find a lot of the info I'm using in these Wikipedia articles on men's majors and women's majors. Wikipedia isn't always the final word but the info in these articles does seem to match the facts I've gathered from a variety of other sources... and it's a heck of a lot easier to reference two articles rather than a dozen!

THE MEN'S APPROACH ISN'T AS CLEAR AS IS OFTEN PORTRAYED

First of all, there's a faulty belief that the men's major rota is set in stone. It hasn't always been so.

As a general rule, most trace the "Grand Slam" to a discussion between Arnold Palmer and (I believe) reporter Bob Drum in 1960. This discussion named the Masters, US Open, Open Championship and PGA Championship as the "Big 4." In time the major labels were made retroactive so, for example, Horton Smith's win at the original Augusta National Invitational is now considered a Masters win.

In fact, Horton is credited with two majors but both are ANI victories in 1934 and 1936. Do you want to argue that they're on a par with Jordan Spieth's two majors this year? Clearly all majors are not created equal, whether they're "slammed" or not.

Likewise, there were other events that were considered "majors" but are no longer counted as such. The Western Open (which was the third oldest tournament after the Open Championship and US Open, now known as the BMW Championship) and the North and South Open in America, and the British PGA Matchplay Championship in the UK are three that once claimed that title.

And just to muddy the waters, bear in mind that players such as Harry Vardon, who won the Open Championship six times and the US Open once, had pretty much run the course of his career before the PGA Championship or Masters were even created, yet he isn't credited with a career Grand Slam. And Willie Park Sr. won four Opens when that was the only game around, but he isn't considered a career slammer either.

KARRIE WEBB IS IN A UNIQUE SITUATION

The LPGA at least recognizes the events which were originally majors. Two which you may not be aware of are the Women's Western Open and the original Titleholders Championship, both of which were no longer being played by the early 1970s. But there were periods of LPGA history when there were only two or three majors, and players in these times -- as with the PGA -- are not recognized as having career slams.

Karrie Webb is the player whose career began the confusion. There were four majors during the early part of Karrie's career -- the Dinah Shore (now the ANA Inspiration), the US Women's Open, the LPGA Championship (now the KPMG PGA Women's Championship) and the du Maurier Classic. The du Maurier ceased to be a major in 2000 due to sponsor problems; that event continues as the Canadian Women's Open and is no longer a major. The Women's British Open replaced the du Maurier in 2001... but there were still only four women's majors.

As a result, Karrie's du Maurier win was given the same weight as the British Open that replaced it. Karrie had won the British Open before it became an LPGA major; that win wasn't counted retroactively. However, Karrie won the British again in 2002 after it had become a major. Since she had won both the original major and its replacement, it was dubbed the Super Career Slam. That seems fair to me, since the total number of majors available at any given time hadn't changed.

EVIAN, THE BACKUP MAJOR

When the Kraft Nabisco (aka the Dinah) was in danger of being lost, Michael Whan took preparatory action to make sure the LPGA still had four majors -- hence, the deal with Evian. Evian would have become the new fourth major, beginning the year after the Kraft sponsorship contract ran out. However, because of Whan's amazing turnaround of the LPGA and his determination to save a long-running major, ANA agreed to become the new sponsor. As a result we now have five LPGA majors... and a problem.

THE ISSUES WITH CAREER SLAMS

For one thing, there's a fairness issue. Is it fair to say Karrie Webb now needs to win Evian as a major to have a career slam? Tacking on a new major late in an established player's career after they've won all the majors that were available during the meat of their career simply isn't right.

Then we also have to consider that the women's game is definitely global now, with several tours. What, for example, do we do with the JLPGA which has -- depending on who you ask -- four majors of its own?

• World Ladies Championship Salonpas Cup
• Japan LPGA Championship Konica Minolta Cup
• Japan Women's Open Golf Championship
• Japan LPGA Tour Championship Ricoh Cup

We should also note that both the Women's British Open and the Evian were considered majors on the LET long before they were recognized by the LPGA.

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

One possibility is to label a slam by its region -- for example, Inbee Park has the American Career Slam but not the European or Japanese versions.

The Wikipedia article referenced above breaks the LPGA's major history into four eras, although these don't help much when a player's career overlaps two or more.

At this point in time we might be best served to focus on a "Traditional Career Slam" (TCS), basing the LPGA majors on the PGA majors. There is a reasonable correlation:

• The ANA Inspiration is a good counterpart to the Masters, being based on a single golfing personality (Dinah Shore was as important to women's golf as Bobby Jones was to the men's) and held on the same course each year.
• The US Women's Open is obviously the USGA counterpart to the men's US Open.
• The RICOH Women's British Open is likewise comparable to the Open Championship.
• The KPMG PGA Women's Championship is the PGA of America's counterpart to the PGA Championship.

By this measure Inbee Park would have a TCS. Laura Davies, whose last major win was in 1996 (when the du Maurier was in place, and which the LPGA has established as equal to the British because of Karrie) would achieve the TCS with a win at the ANA. (Laura already has a US Open, a du Maurier, and two Women's PGAs.) And major winners from previous eras when there were no more than four majors at any time would have a TCS if they won all four of the majors available during their career.

Yeah, I know it's not a perfect system but at least it's easy to understand. Besides, Inbee will likely win the Evian as a major in the next few years (or months!) and then this won't even be an issue anymore.

BTW, if Karrie wins Evian as a major, I vote for calling it the MegaSlam.

For All You Trick Shot Enthusiasts Out There

In case you somehow missed it, here's the San Diego State University women's golf team demonstrating how team trick shots are done. That little scoop move at the :23 second mark is particularly cool.



Anybody ready for "synchronized golf trick shots" in the 2020 Olympics? These girls definitely have a head start on the event.

The New "Golf For Her" Website

Golfweek.com ran an article yesterday about a new website for women called Golf For Her. I flipped over to take a look, and I think you should know about it.



This is really an ambitious project. The article says:

Mona [that's Steve Mona, CEO of the World Golf Foundation] said he wasn’t aware of any other sport where all the governing bodies had come together to support an ecumenical site.

“Over time,” he said, “we hope it can become the recognized entry point for women’s golf.”

There are more than just governing bodies involved. I saw logos for at least 11 different organizations on their front page, ranging from the PGA Tour and LPGA to the USGA, Golf Digest, First Tee, National Women's Golf Alliance and more.

Like I said, ambitious.

The World Golf Foundation launched the site on Wednesday and enlisted Stacy Lewis to serve as both launch ambassador and a regular site contributor. The idea is that women who are interested in the game can pop over and find all kinds of info:

• guidance on how to get started in the game
• news about new equipment
• help finding other women golfers in their area
• instructional articles
• just entertaining features to read

There's also a newsletter you can sign up to receive.

All-in-all, it's pretty impressive-looking for a new site and appears like it has the potential to do just what the WGF has in mind. You can check it out at golfforher.com.