LPGA news and Duramed Futures Tour players news

I'm here working on the shopping cart overhaul tonight (another WILD Cinco De Mayo celebration here) and watching the TiVo'd coverage of today's LPGA tournament.

Several of my favorite LPGA players are seriously in the hunt today, as Stephanie Louden is tied with three other golfers in the lead, and my Pepperdine buddy Katherine Hull is only two strokes back in seventh place....ONE stroke ahead of Lorena Ochoa!

Looks like it's going to be a VERY interesting championship round tomorrow...but it's great to see two of the NICEST players on the LPGA (Stephanie and Katherine) in contention this week...I'll be hoping for good things for BOTH of you tomorrow!!!

While we're talking about hoping for good things...if any of my Texas readers are free next FRIDAY, May 11, 2007, Duramed Futures Tour player D'Rae Ward is having a fundraising golf tournament at the Glen Garden Country Club. You can read more about this event at D'Rae's website here... D'Rae is ALSO in the hunt at this week's Duramed Futures Tour event, which had today's play canceled due to high winds in the El Paso area...D'Rae's 24th birthday is coming up three days after the tournament, by the way...

Like I said, Sunday's golf is going to be VERY interesting...

Moving on to LOCAL charity fundraising events... TartanGolfGrips.com has created a VERY special customized putter grip for the La Reina High School Athletic Boosters Charity Fundraiser at the Lost Canyons Golf Club on the SAME day, Friday, May 11, 2007! The grip incorporates the La Reina uniform tartan, the school crest and matching text, and looks SLICK!!! It got sent off to Georgia to be produced on Friday.....this sounds like a REALLY fun event, and I wanted to put the word out for local golfers who are looking for a NICE round of golf at Lost Canyons...one of my favorite high-end local courses...

Seeing Lorena in a whole new light

I was reading LPGA.com over the weekend, and saw the article announcing Tiger, Jay Haas and Lorena receiving their 2006 "Player of the Year" awards at the Golf Writer's Association of American (GWAA) awards dinner on April 4. (Jay and Lorena both use the same putter grips as those used in Tartan Golf Grips, by the way - we've tried to get Tiger to get with the program, but he seems to be pretty set in his ways...but I digress).

Now, I don't want this to be a rehash of what you get at Golfbabes, but I'm seeing Lorena in a whole new light now....muy caliente!!!

Add this to the "You KNOW that you're a GOLFER when:" file...when Farmer/Golf tans on attractive women only ADD to their sexiness, and glow-in-the-dark untanned feet are an ATTRACTANT, not a repellent...

I knew she was CUTE on the golf course, but....whoa....HELLO, Lorena!!! =P
(With comments like that, maybe I AM a man-pig candidate for a box of Top-Flite D2's....oink...)

Charity scramble golf tournament in Texas-May 11, 2007

Hey, all you Texas golfers, and blog readers who can travel to Fort Worth Texas!!! (South Fort Worth, to be exact...)

Mark your calendars for Friday, May 11, 2007, because there's going to be a scramble-style golf tournament to help raise funds for Duramed Futures Tour player D'Rae Ward, in her quest to continue playing on the Duramed Futures Tour. The tournament will be at Glen Garden Golf and Country Club, a place that describes itself as "Home of Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson and Sandra Palmer". Pretty impressive company, for sure!

D'Rae's a good player, and has made both cuts in both tournaments thus far on the 2007 Futures Tour. Her 2007 season scoring average has been 73.5, and she needs some financial assistance to help keep her playing on Tour.

D'Rae first came across MY radar scopes when I learned of her eBay sponsorship efforts. Impressed by her creativity, energy and creativity, I decided to help her out by designating ALL County Donegal Artans to play a significant role in helping her defray her Tour costs.

It would be a shame if her talents weren't encouraged due to a lack of funds...if you can help out, please check out D'Rae's website, and help out in any way that you can...

We golfers are a giving group, and if you're impressed with this young woman's creativity, determination and initiative, and we all chip in (figuratively), who knows how much good we can do??? It's worth a shot...(pardon the pun...)

Farewell, OWL....

I am TOTALLY bummed....

Laura Neal, the writer of "Online with Laura", also affectionately known as "OWL", has left her employment with the LPGA, and her article at LPGA.com will now be called "The LPGA Insider".

Laura's wit, talent and spirit was a HUGE attraction to LPGA.com, and whoever takes over for her has a HUGE set of shoes to fill...

As usual, the article gave no indication about where Laura's new home will be, or why she was leaving, but her articles for the last three years have been a guaranteed laugh (or tear, sometimes), and she's an amazingly talented writer.

Since they didn't allow a forwarding address, GOOD LUCK to you Laura in whatever you choose to pursue, and THANK YOU for brightening up our days with your pithy prose....

West Coast LPGA Tour news - Feb. 3, 2007

Saw this post in Golfweek where "Reps from Octagon's golf division have made visits to La Costa (Carlsbad, CA) and Trump National Los Angeles (Rancho Palos Verdes, CA) with sights on helping create an early 2008 LPGA West Coast Swing that would fill in gaps between the two season openers in Hawaii, and a late March event in Phoenix. "We're making progress" reports Tim Erensen, SVP for Octagon."

That's AWESOME news for SoCal LPGA fans, who currently have to shlep two hours+ one-way to see the LPGA events in Rancho Mirage in the Spring (Kraft Nabisco), and the Samsung event with a limited field in the Fall...

So, where do we sign up to volunteer for the event at Trump National Los Angeles???

Watch out for Julieta...

In case anyone was paying attention this past weekend, what with all the fireworks going on down in Palm Springs, the UAE and Maui, Julieta Granada powered the Paraguayan team to victory in the LPGA's season opener at the Women's World Cup of Golf down in South Africa...

Evidently, her season-ending, million-dollar win to end the 2006 LPGA Tour season was not a fluke...

I've seen this talented player up close and personal, and she's the real deal!

Watch for her on the 2007 LPGA Tour....

Truly a shooting star - Lorena Ochoa's news...

I hope she changes her mind, and allows us to enjoy her grace, athleticism and class on the course for MUCH longer, but 2006 LPGA Player of the Year Lorena Ochoa announced Jan. 10, 2007 that she's limiting her playing career to only ten years. Say it ain't so, Lo...say it ain't so!!!

She's an amazingly talented player, and I got to be her standard bearer up at the 2004 Longs Drugs Challenge. Truly a classy, super nice lady, and an AWESOME golf talent...I really hope that she changes her mind, and continues to play, albeit on a more limited basis...she's such a great competitor, I'll bet that she changes her mind down the road, but I could be wrong...

If you want a Mexico flag putter grip just like the one Lorena uses, you can get one here at the secure shopping site for TartanGolfGrips.com, and learn more about that grip at MexicoPutterGrip.com.

LPGA '07

Congratulations to Pepperdine alum and LPGA '07 player Katherine Hull, and also to 2007 LPGA Tour player, Erica Blasberg.

Both players finished in the top fifteen at the recent LPGA Qualifying School in Florida, where Katherine tied for seventh, and Erica tied for fifteenth.

I had the good fortune to be a walking scorer for both players at the recent Longs Drugs Challenge in Danville, CA, and it will great to have both of them back on the 2007 LPGA Tour with exempt status.

Congratulations to both of you, and best wishes for the 2007 LPGA Tour campaign - I hope to see you again at Blackhawk Country Club, and in the winner's circle before that!

My dilemma...well, one of them....

Congratulations to Julieta Granada on her first LPGA championship....oh yeah, she won a cool million dollar payout for it, too...

I was fortunate to draw Julieta along with Kris Tschetter for my Sunday pairing as a volunteer walking scorer at the Longs Drugs Challenge last September.

I knew then that this young lady, with the megawatt smile, and length off the tee that belies her petite stature would one day light up the course with her solid technique and consistent play.

Little did I know that a scant two months later, she'd be lighting up the course at Trump National to take home the first ever million dollar purse on the LPGA Tour.

One of the perks of being an on-course volunteer is that the players frequently autograph a golf ball for you after the round, and Julieta autographed a Titleist ProV1 for me....


It's an insight into the happy go lucky, warm, funny personality of this young LPGA star - this one ball features:

• A solid blue line above, and a solid red line below the ProV1 - 392 marking, representing the colors of the flag of Paraguay.
• A solid black line emanating from the Titleist logo at a 45 degree angle, that turns into a series of dots that extend halfway around the ball, probably as a putting alignment aid. The unusual angle in perspective to the ball's graphics tend to indicate that the line was determined with the aid of a Check-Go or similar machine.
• The word "Julie" written on the obverse of the brand/alignment aid.
• Two eyes and a smiley face made out of the number "4", using the 4 as the nose.
• An autograph in pastel purple ink.

Here's my dilemma...do I keep this ball as a souvenir, or do I test the waters on eBay to see what the market thinks the ball is worth???

LPGA quarterfinals comments

WOW - a LOT of surprises at today's LPGA ADT Championship!

Congratulations to Lorena Ochoa's comeback performance today, shooting 70 to claw her way back into the final 16 for the Saturday semi-finals.

Only eight shots separate the first and 16th players, and on this course, the positions could change drastically....

The eighth place players finished at 142, and the 16th place players are only three back at 145, so tomorrow's round will likely feature some shake-ups in placement to the final eight on Sunday.

Several players have experienced 3-5 stroke swings in their scores from day to day, so it'll be interesting to see how the weekend plays out....

Saturday's round calls for morning showers and 76, and Sunday's weather is supposed to be sunny and clear and 76, so it looks like a good weekend for golf.

Here's how they finished:

1
Ai Miyazato
-3
F
-7
68
69
137

2
Julieta Granada
-3
F
-5
70
69
139

T3
Natalie Gulbis
-2
F
-4
70
70
140

T3
Karrie Webb
-1
F
-4
69
71
140

5
Wendy Ward
-2
F
-3
71
70
141

T6
Il Mi Chung
+1
F
-2
69
73
142

T6
Paula Creamer
-1
F
-2
71
71
142

T6
Se Ri Pak
-1
F
-2
71
71
142

T9
Diana D'Alessio
-1
F
-1
72
71
143

T9
Jeong Jang
-3
F
-1
74
69
143

T9
Mi Hyun Kim
+1
F
-1
70
73
143

T12
Hee-Won Han
-1
F
E
73
71
144

T12
Cristie Kerr
-1
F
E
73
71
144

T14
Juli Inkster
E
F
+1
73
72
145

T14
Lorena Ochoa
-2
F
+1
75
70
145

T14
Morgan Pressel
+2
F
+1
71
74
145

One, two, Annika's three???

Congratulacion to Lorena Ochoa for being numero uno on the LPGA Money List for 2006 through Nov. 5, 2006, with $2.3+ million in earnings, and five victories to her credit. Buy the same C-Thru Putter Grip with a Mexico flag design that she used in winning all those tournaments at MexicoPutterGrip.com for only $9.95 plus shipping, handling and CA sales tax, as applicable.

Congratulations also go to Karrie Webb for her end-of-season win in Japan.

Two more events to go, including the big season finale at the ADT LPGA Playoffs, with the big Million-dollar plus payoff in mid-November.

TIGER TIME!!!

Well, it's starting to look like Fall here in Southern California, and the leaves have been changing colors for awhile, and are starting to fall.


We had an abnormally hot and humid July, and it stressed the trees, and they're now rewarding us for our $300 monthly electrical bills from runing the A/C 24/7 for most of the month of July with one of the most spectacular displays of fall foliage that we've had in several years.

With the changing of the seasons, and the playing of The Tour Championship, our thoughts here in Thousand Oaks turn to TIGER TIME!

Tiger Time means that the Target World Challenge will soon be here...I just surfed on over to their site and this year's field is going to be especially fun - it's too bad they limit it to sixteen golfers, because I'm gonna miss Stewart Cink, Fred Funk and Michael Campbell. I've worked for those gentlemen over the past couple of years, and they're all incredibly cool guys to go out on the course with.

Yep, I get to go out on the course with the players, because I've volunteered enough times that I've worked my way onto the standard bearer team. A couple more years and I'll be ready to graduate to the walking scorers!

I've worked as a walking scorer at several LPGA events, but I'm still waiting for my "Big Break" at the Target World Challenge...hey, it's all good - it's just an honor and privilege to work the event, and it's literally about five miles from home! I can see the BLIMPS hovering from my backyard - how cool is that?

This year's Target World Challenge field looks like an instant reply of this year's Ryder Cup - here's who's coming to Sherwood Country Club this December:

2006 FINAL FIELD

Paul Casey

Darren Clarke

Fred Couples

John Daly

Chris DiMarco

Luke Donald

Padraig Harrington

David Howell

Davis Love III

Colin Montgomerie

Geoff Ogilvy

Jose Maria Olazabal

Adam Scott

Henrik Stenson

David Toms

Tiger Woods

I am signed up to work all four days, and I hope I get the pairings with Padraig, Adam, John, and Freddy...Davis would be nice, too - he's a totally cool guy, and I've worked for him before...

Padraig's one of my favorite players of all time, I've never seen Adam Scott play live before, John Daly's just a party and Freddy's Freddy...need I say more???

I saw John Daly do a knockout set of "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" with Hootie and The Blowfish when we were down visiting relatives in Memphis two summers ago...ol' John can SING!!!

I got the urge to write this because the operations office from the Tiger Woods Foundation called me today - apparently they couldn't make out some information on my volunteer form, so they called to clarify it with me...it got me thinking that we're rounding the corner from Halloween, and now we enter that time-warp time when it's WHAM-WHAM-WHAM from Halloween to Thanksgiving to Christmas/Hanukkah and New Year's...