Chip Shots

Wednesday, June 02, 2010

In full swing

On Monday, we officially kicked off the golf season at The Record with our first installment of Front Nine, Back Nine.

Some of the highlights:

Greg Mattura put together a nice piece on how the pleasant weather has helped the season off to a good start for all.

Ozzie Carlson taught us a better approach for better contact.

And I wrote a story about Joseph DiChiara, and his passion for helping junior golfers.

But, there’s more.

Once again, this year I (Andy Vasquez) will be attempting to qualify for the Bergen Amateur. No, it didn’t go well last year—I shot a disappointing, nervous 86 at Overpeck. But this time, I’ve already filled out my application and I’m in training.

I’m going to try to qualify again at Overpeck, on August 7. So, I’ll try to chart my progress here on Chip Shots and take you along for the ride. As for the current state of my game ... I fired a solid 40 on the front nine at Overpeck on Memorial Day (despite two three putts) only to card a disappointing 45 on the back. So we start at 85. But there’s much work to do; I’ll need at least a 77, by my estimation, to qualify for the Bergen Am.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Wie out at Sybase

An errant drive on No. 15 and a pusshed tee shot on the par-3 16th cost Michelle Wie a spot in Sunday’s semifinals of the Sybase Match Play Championship as she succumbed to the world’s top-ranked player, Jiyai Shin, 2-and-1, in their quarterfinal, “heavyweight” match Saturday.

Wie, who took her second one-hole lead of the match when she made a 25-foot bomb that might still be rolling had it hadn’t hit the hole on the par-3 12th, promptly lost that lead when Shin answered with a 12-footer for birdie on the next hole.

Two holes later, her drive on the par-4 15th, a dogleg left, finished in the high grass left and after punching out short of the green and bumping her third shot to seven feet, she missed her putt for par.

Then on 16, after Shin’s tee shot finished 12 feet right of the hole for birdie, Wie blocked her shot into a right bunker, blasted out to just outside Shin and missed the putt for par before Shin made her birdie.

Needing to win the last two holes to send the match to extra holes, Wie yanked a 10-footer for birdie on the 17th left of the hole and fell two rounds short of her second LPGA victory.

That left 10th-seed Angela Stanford as the lone American (and non-Korean) left in the final four as she waxed Scotland’s 15th-seeded Catriona Matthew 5-and-3 in their quarterfinal.

Fourth-seed Yani Tseng, meanwhile, also fell short of the final four, upset 2-and-1 by Korea’s 28th-seeded Sun Young Yoo.

Finally, in an all-Korean match, No. 30 Amy Yang ousted No. 61 Haeji Kang 1-up with a birdie at the par-5 last to set up a semifinal meeting against Yoo.

Wie survives Saturday morning at Sybase

Michelle Wie reached Saturday afternoon’s final eight of the Sybase Match Play Championship and set up a quarterfinal meeting against Jiyai Shin, the No. 1 player in the world, with a 3-and-2 third-round victory Saturday morning over France’s Karen Icher.
“I just grinded out there,” said Wie, the No. 8 seed, who closed out the match with an up-and-down par on the par-3 16th hole after carrying a three-hole lead into the final four holes. “I hit couple of shots where I didn’t want to hit it and I made a couple of putts.”

Wie, who said she woke up before 5 a.m. for a match that teed off at 7:56, said of meeting Shin, whom Wie dwarfs by nearly a foot and who replaced the retired Lorena Ochoa last month at the top of the world rankings, “It’s just another round. I’m going to play my own game — put it on the fairways, put it on the greens and try and make some birdies.”

Shin, meanwhile, avoided the fate that befell six of the top-10 seeds in the first two rounds with a convincing 4-and-3 victory over the lowest remaining seed in the final 16, No. 62 Beatriz Recari of Spain.

Also Saturday morning, No. 4 Yani Tseng of Taiwan, survived rather easily, 5-and-3 over Inbee Park, one of eight Koreans in the final 16.

Saturday morning’s all-American match sent the only other U.S. player besides Wie into the final eight when veteran Angela Stanford, the 10th seed, needed 20 holes and a par on the par-5 second hole to eliminate rookie Amanda Blumenherst. The No. 55 seed, Blumenherst took the match to extra holes when she slam-dunked a 25-foot downhill bomb for birdie at the par-5 18th after conceding a two-foot tap-in to Stanford.

American Morgan Pressel, however, could not mount a late-round comeback as she did in the first two rounds and fell to Korea’s 30th-seeded Amy Yang, 4-and-3.

Besides Shin and Yang, two other Korean players advanced to the final eight in third-round matches against countrywomen:Haeji Kang (the lowest-seeded player left at No. 61) with a birdie on No. 18 for a 1-up victory over 27th-seeded Jee Young Lee. and No. 28 Sun Young Yoo, who also birdied 18 for a 1-up victory over 12th-seeded Song-Hee Kim.

Yang plays Kang and Tseng plays Yoo in two of the other quarterfinal matches.

Stanford plays Scotland’s 15th-seeded Catriona Matthew who advanced with a 19-hole victory over Korean M.J. Hur, the No. 31 seed who upset second-seed Ai Miyazato on Friday.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Tiger Woods expects full recovery after MRI

Tiger Woods’ comeback hasn’t gone too well, with a missed a withdraw and his swing coach leaving him ... and that’s just in the last two weeks. 

But the World’s No. 1 golfer—yes, still—released a rare bit of good news on Wednesday.

Woods took an MRI on Wednesday and it showed that Woods has an inflamed facet joint in his neck. Woods website said there’s no timetable for his return to golf, but that he’s expected to make a “full recovery” and that the layoff is not expected be “extensive.”

So what does this all mean? My guess is that we’re going to see him at the U.S. Open. Woods never releases a lot of information, and for his statement to say that the layoff is not expected to be extensive means he’s not going to be out for long. Plus, the only thing Woods cares about is winning majors. So it’s hard to imagine he’ll pass up a chance if his neck is even marginally cooperating.

How sharp Woods’ game will be once he gets there is a different story. You have to think that he’ll be forced to take the next few weeks off, and with the Open starting five weeks from Thursday that doesn’t give him much time to get ready.

“I want to thank everyone for their caring and concern,” Woods said in the statement. “I now need to take care of this condition and will return to playing golf when I’m physically able.”

The injury, which causes pain, headaches and difficulty rotating the head forced Woods to withdraw from The Players Championship on Sunday. It marked the first time in Woods career that he failed to finish in the money in two consecutive tournaments; Woods missed the cut at the Quail Hollow Championship two weeks ago.

According to Woods, physical therapy, massage, rest and anti-inflammatory medicine will all be courses of treatment.

AP PHOTO BY CHRIS O’MEARA

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

3-time Sybase champion Ochoa to “retire”

Lorena Ochoa, the No. 1 women’s player in the world the past three years and winner of the Sybase Classic three straight times (the last two, 2007-‘08, at Upper Montclair Country Club after winning the event in 2006 at Wykagyl Country Club in Westchester County, N.Y.), announced her “retirement” Tuesday via a statement from her management company.

The statement: “Lorena Ochoa confirms her retirement from the LPGA, as news reports in some media have said today. The reasons and more details on the matter will be given by Lorena personally in a press conference on Friday in Mexico City. Lorena will share this news of a new stage in her life with her sponsors, family members and friends.”

An Associated Press report, meanwhile, quoted a “source” in a Mexican newspaper who called it “not a goodbye but a see-you-later,”

Which suggests that at 28 and married just last year, Ochoa plans to do what she’s said in the past she wanted to at a reasonably young age: start a family.

What this means for the rest of her season is unclear, for remember, her predecessor at No. 1, Annika Sorenstam, announced her retirement at Upper Montclair before the 2008 Sybase and played the rest of the season as a “good-bye tour.” She and her husband, Mike McGee, had a baby girl last year _ and although she turns 40 later this year, rumors persist that she plans to return to the tour on some basis.

Calling herself “surprised, but not shocked” by Tuesday’s news, Sorenstam said in her blog, “I understand completely what she is going through because I have just gone through this myself.”
Andy Bush, tournament director for this year’s Sybase, a 64-player match-play tournament that will be played May 20-23 at Hamilton Farm Golf Club in Gladstone (where the women’s world match play event was previously played) said Tuesday that Ochoa, in fact, had already committed to this year’s event _ as have all but four of the top 48 players from last year’s LPGA money list (who form the bulk of the field), including Michelle Wie (but not Paula Creamer, who was 18 when she won the 2005 Sybase for her first LPGA victory, but just underwent left thumb surgery).

“There are two ways to look at it,” he said of Ochoa’s announcement. “She’s not only the number one player in the world, but she’s a better person than a player. It’s a loss to the tour.”

Agreed, she is a class act _ with a wacky swing, during which her head moves violently just before she hits the ball far longer than anyone of her size seemingly should.

Bush also cited Juli Inkster, who turns 50 in June and has daughters older than some of the players against whom she competes, is a prime example of a woman returning to competition after starting a family.

As is tennis’ Kim Clijsters, winner of last year’s U.S. Open, and so many other women, particularly on the LPGA Tour.

Ochoa is 10th on this year’s LPGA money list and struggled until finishing fourth at the Kraft Nabisco Championship last month, the tour’s first major, which she won in 2008, one of her two major titles (also 2007 Women’s British Open). She’s also won the Rolex Player of the Year Award the last four seasons.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Will Mickelson keep my streak alive?

After a Masters Satuday that felt like Sunday, what can Sunday bring? Well, if it’s a Phil Mickelson victory, then my personal streak remains alive.

This is the third Masters I have ever covered for The Record (or anyone else, for that matter). Two guesses on who won the other two I’ve seen.

I was here in 2004 and 2006, the two other times Mickelson won the green jacket.

If he wins again, you think I can a spot in his entourage?

Saturday, April 10, 2010

What a back nine

The back nine at the Masters Saturday has given us some of the best golf of all time. Phil Mickelson took the lead with back-to-back eagles, two incredible holes on 13 and 14 that he followed with a near-eagle on 15. The easy birdie putt gave him the lead all alone at 12 under. Meanwhile, Fred Couples eagled 15 to get to 8 under. Rickey Barnes birdied 13, 14 and 15 to get to seven under. Lee Westwood held strong at 11 under, birdieing 10 but bogeying 12 to stay 3-under on the day. And Tiger Woods, largely quiet as he made the turn, began his charge at 13th, a run of three straight birdies tha tput him at 8-under through 15.

The tension, excitement and roaring crowds made it sound and feel like Sunday.

Slocum on the move

American Heath Slocum is on the move, crashing into the leader borad with a torrid start Saturday. Slocum birdeid the seventh and eighth holes, putting him at 4-under through eight, or four shots off the lead.

Waiting for the leaders

It’s a beautiful day here in Augusta as we wait for the leaders to get on the course, among them Engishmen Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter, Americans Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Ricky Barnes and Anthony Kim and South Koreans K.J. Choi and Y.E. Yang. American Heath Slocum isn’t waiting to make a move up the leaderboard. Slocum is 3-under through four holes so far, putting him into the group of four golfers at 2-under for hte tournament. Italian teenager Matteo Manassero, the 16-year-old amateur who is the youngest player ever here at Augusta, is 2-under through 10, at plus-1 for the tournament.

Friday, April 09, 2010

Westwood cracks on 14

England’s Lee Westwood had his first bad hole of the day, and it cost him hte lead. A double-bogey at 14 put Westwood back at 8-under par, tied with fellow Englishman Ian Poulter for the lead. That also means Tiger Woods and the rest of the troup ot 6-under (K.J. Choi, Ricky Barnes, Anthony Kim) just got a little closer to the lead.

Tom Watson also made a mini-surge on the back nine, after dropping as far as 2-under with a bogey on 12, Watson answered with birdies on 13 and 15 to get to 4-under, tied with Phil Mickelson and Y,E, Yang for fifth place.