Column: Back in time on LPGA for Sorenstam and Yani Tseng
The surprise decision was still fresh three weeks later when 19-year-old Yani Tseng won her first major. Sorenstam turned 50 in October and has not competed on the LPGA Tour since the final event of 2008. She also played the LPGA Tour season opener last month, although Sorenstam was part of the celebrity division. When she won the Kia Classic in March 2012 for her 15th LPGA Tour title, she was four points short of the LPGA Hall of Fame. Tseng played five times over the second half of 2020 on the Taiwan LPGA, missing one cut and failing to finish in the top 25.
PGA Tour's top 2 rules officials retiring after long careers
White’s father was a stickler for the rules, and White thought he knew them well when he decided to join the PGA Tour. His most memorable ruling was among the more famous on the PGA Tour. Also, Mike Peterson, Pete Lis and Jordan Harris are moving from the Korn Ferry Tour to the PGA Tour as rules officials. The tour said that became the top-performing tweet for the PGA Tour, also surpassing the Masters graphic. Im then finished out his year by flying to Dubai for the DP World Tour Championship on the European Tour.
Shibuno passes big test and hangs on to lead in Women's Open
Hinako Shibuno, of Japan, fist bumbs fellow players after her round of golf during the third round of the U.S. Women's Open golf tournament, Saturday, Dec. 12, 2020, in Houston. Nothing about this U.S. Women's Open felt normal until Saturday. That's when it became a grind that for so many years has defined this biggest event in women's golf. The others were In Gee Chun (2015 U.S. Women's Open and 2016 Evian Championship and Se Ri Pak, who won the LPGA Championship and U.S. Women's Open in 1998. Shibuno won the Women's British Open last year at Woburn, and declined to take up LPGA membership because she didn't think she was ready.
No longer a surprise, Shibuno leads by 3 at US Women's Open
Hinako Shibuno, of Japan, smiles after putting on the 17th green during the second round of the U.S. Women's Open golf tournament in Houston, Friday, Dec. 11, 2020. That was bright as ever Friday as the Japanese star posted a 4-under 67 and opened a three-shot lead going into the weekend of the U.S. Women's Open. She looked the part of a major champion at the U.S. Women's Open, where the forecast of rain and strong wind never quite materialized. The USGA used two courses for the first time because the pandemic forced the Women's Open to be postponed six months to December with limited daylight. Kerr played bogey-free at Jackrabbit and shot 69, and the 43-year-old former Open champion says the injury at least has tempered her expectation.
Olson comes up aces and takes 1-shot lead in Women's Open
Amy Olson watches her shot off the third tee during the first round of the U.S. Women's Open golf tournament in Houston, Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020. For the first time, two courses are being used for the opening rounds because of the limited daylight by postponing the premier event in women's golf to December. She figured it would be a long shot to be in the U.S. Women's Open this year when the USGA had to scrap qualifying because of the COVID-19 pandemic. And then when golf resumed, Popov earned a spot in the Women's British Open and won at Royal Troon. And now she's already in the mix at the U.S. Women's Open, along with so many others.
Sophia Popov shoots 64 to lead Pelican Women’s Championship
Haley Moore tees off on the first hole during the first round of the LPGA Pelican Women's Championship golf tournament Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020, in Belleair, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)BELLEAIR, Fla. – Women's British Open winner Sophia Popov left top-ranked playing partner Jin Young Ko and everyone else behind Thursday in the Pelican Women’s Championship. Popov shot a 6-under 64 in windy conditions to take a two-stroke lead over Ashleigh Buhai, with Ko eight shots behind after a 72 in her first LPGA Tour start of the year. Ally McDonald, playing alongside Popov and Ko in an afternoon threesome, was at 67 with Women’s PGA champion Sei Young Kim, the No. U.S. Women’s Open champion Jeongeun Lee6, also making her return to the LPGA Tour, had a double bogey and two bogeys in a 73. She last played the Women’s Australian Open in February before the tour began shutting down its Asia swing because of the pandemic.
Sei Young Kim wins 1st major at Women’s PGA Championship.
Kim chewed up Aronimink Golf Club in record style, shooting a 7-under 63 on Sunday to win the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. Park won the Women’s PGA Championship in 2015 and Kim was in the first group of people on the course to celebrate with her. Kim, a 2016 Olympian, was runner-up at the 2015 Women’s PGA Championship and tied for second at the Evian Championship in 2018. Park had three birdies on the front nine as she tried to match Mickey Wright with a record fourth win at the Women’s PGA Championship. Aronimink’s golf course was designed by Donald Ross in 1926 and is off the major schedule until the PGA Championship in 2026.
Sei Young Kim, eyeing 1st major, leads by 2 at Women's PGA
A 10-time LPGA Tour winner, the 27-year-old South Korean has the unwanted title of winningest active player without a major championship. Kim was runner-up at the 2015 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and tied for second at the Evian Championship in 2018. Henderson, who won the 2016 Women’s PGA Championship, tied her career-best 18-hole score at a major championship with a 65 to stay within striking distance. Park is a three-time winner of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and would tie Mickey Wright for the most in a career with a win. “If I knew the answer to how to make clutch putts, I would have won so many more times,” Kim said.
Sei Young Kim has late birdie run to take Women’s PGA lead
Kim birdied five of the final six holes as darkness fell Friday at Aronimink for a 5-under 65 and the second-round lead in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. She tied Karrie Webb (2001) and Sarah Kemp (2011) for the lowest nine-hole score in the Women’s PGA Championship. “The birdie on 14 was pretty good because it was a long birdie putt, and that’s when I started the four-birdie streak,” Kim said. A 10-time LPGA Tour winner, Kim is looking for her first major victory. She was runner-up at the 2015 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and tied for second at the Evian Championship in 2018.
Final birdie gives Nelly Korda a 1-shot lead in LPGA major
That set her up for a wedge to 3 feet below the hole for birdie and a 6-under 66, giving her a one-shot lead. Two-time major champion In Gee Chun had to scramble for par on the 18th for a 67. 1 in the world with a victory at Mission Hills, and Brooke Henderson of Canada were among those two shots behind. It was still exhausting for Korda, who described her start as "good, but tired, for sure.”Imagine how her father felt. That got the attention of the golfing sisters, with Nelly rushing home from Arkansas last week to watch on TV.