Webb earns 39th LPGA win

Webb earns 39th LPGA win










Rick Woelfel, The Sports Xchange June 2, 2013 8:20 PMThe SportsXchange


GALLOWAY, N.J. -- For all the young talent there is in the game of golf, experience still counts for a lot.

On a blustery Sunday afternoon, Karrie Webb came from five shots off the pace to win the ShopRite LPGA Classic.

Webb fired a 3-under-par 68 at the Bay Course at the Stockton Seaview Hotel and Golf Club near Atlantic City. She finished the 54 holes at 4-under 209.

China's Shanshan Feng, who started the final round with a three-shot lead, soared to a 75 and wound up alone in second place at 2-under 211. South Korea's Hee Young Park's closing 71 left her in third place at 212. Jenny Shin, another South Korean, was at 213.

It was the 39th LPGA victory for the 38-year old Webb, an LPGA Hall of Famer, and her first official win since March 2011.

"I'm really excited," she said. "It's a lot of hard work paying off sitting here, probably more hard work on the mental part of my game, but I've been working really hard on all aspects of my game. Just to do it in such tough conditions today, I'm really pleased."

Webb and the rest of the field were buffeted by winds that blew as high as 25 mph in the afternoon and sent scores climbing. The top three finishers were the only players in the field of 74 to finish the 54 holes under par.

The putter proved to be the most important club in Webb's bag Sunday. The Australian got off to a hot start by rolling in a 25-foot birdie putt at the par-4 second hole and followed up with a 10-foot eagle putt at the par-5 third.

At that point she moved her into a tie for the lead with Feng, who was playing two groups behind her and had double-bogeyed the second.


At the fourth, Webb saved par by making a 7-foot putt, one of six par chances she converted on putts of between four and eight feet.

"When I made that putt, I knew that I was feeling pretty good today," she said, "and just tried not to get ahead of myself."

Webb stumbled at the sixth when an errant chip shot led to a bogey, her only bogey of the day, but she remained in a tie for the lead at 3 under par with Feng, who double-bogeyed the fifth.

Feng admitted the wind caused her some difficulties.

"(Saturday) I played in the morning," she said, "so the wind wasn't blowing as hard, I would say maybe from 5 to 10 (mph), but today it was more like 20, with gusts to 25. So it was tough."

Webb pointed out that the Bay Course at Seaview plays tougher than its listed 6,155 yards might suggest.

"You look at the scorecard and it's not an exceptionally long golf course," she said, "but we never play the course with no wind. (Sunday's conditions) were probably extreme, but you know when you get here and you're playing the practice round that it's just a tricky golf course."

After her bogey at the sixth, Webb ran off 11 consecutive pars. She took the lead alone for the first time after Feng bogeyed the 11th and 13th.

Webb finished her week by hitting her approach to the par-5 18th inside five feet and making her birdie putt to increase her lead to two shots.

Feng got one of them back with a birdie at the 16th but missed the green at the par-5 17th and wound up with a bogey.

It was an emotional victory for Webb, whose grandmother has been ill and in the hospital. At one point this week, she considered withdrawing from the tournament and flying to Australia until her grandmother's condition improved.

"She's still in the hospital, but things are looking a little better than they did a couple days ago," Webb said. "So hopefully this will give her reason to feel better."

NOTES: Prior to this week, Webb's last official LPGA win came at the RR Donnelley LPGA Founders Cup. She also won a tournament in her native Australia earlier this year. ... Webb's winning total tied for the highest in the history of the tournament, relative to par. Juli Inkster finished 4 under par for 54 holes in the inaugural event in 1986, which was also played at Seaview. ... Webb is the sixth LPGA Hall of Famer to win the ShopRite tournament. The others: Inkster, Betsy King, Annika Sorenstam, Nancy Lopez, and Se Ri Pak. ... Michelle Wie, who played with Webb on Sunday, shot a 74 and wound up tied for ninth at 215. ... Former world No. 1 Yani Tseng of Taiwan shot an 80 on Sunday to finish her week tied for 69th place at 223.

A Lesson Learned: Work Your Plan

A Lesson Learned: Work Your Plan











Craig Renshaw, PGA June 2, 2013 9:41 PM



I pulled up Matt Kuchar's stats Sunday morning to get a look at what this man was doing well and how he has been able to put himself to number three in the Fed Ex Cup standings (prior to the end of the Memorial). As I poured over Kuchar's stats, one thing became abundantly clear. Matt is not exceptionally long or straight, not great in greens in regulation - but he finds a way to get the ball in the hole in fewer strokes than most others. And when you get down to the basics - that's what championship golf is all about.

Kuchar's greatest strengths all relate to scoring. He can scramble well when he needs to, he makes the birdie putts when he has the chance and he's not afraid to go low. In other words, Kuchar is the consumate scorer, he's tremendous at avoiding mistakes and dangerous areas and he's exceptional at taking advantage when the situation allows. It's a careful, measured, methodical way to get around the course - something all golfers could learn from. If someone was going to catch Kutchar on Sunday, when he started with a two shot lead, they were going to have to low on a hard, Jack Nicklaus course that normally does not allow for real low scoring. Today's lesson learned will be about making a plan for a round and following through with that plan.

Matt knew that he had two shots in his pocket when he stepped up on the number one tee. You could see from the beginning that Matt's plan was to keep the ball in the fairway as much as possible - even so much as hitting hybrid off the Par 5 7th, which was an usual play for these pros, but allowed him to hit the green in three with a comfortable yardage, which led to a tap in birdie. For those trying to catch him, they would have to be exceptional - he was not going to come back to them.

Matt followed this game plan, hitting good tee shots to the widest parts of the fairways, hitting 13 of 14 fairways. Shooting for the middle of the greens, Matt hit 14 Greens in Regulation in a row, while hitting 16 of 18 for the day. This game plan gave him the best chances to make putts and keep his lead. His only mistakes were 2 three putts.

Having a good game plan allowed Matt to withstand a nice run from Kevin Chappell late in the round, but hitting shots from the fairway and having putts made for a fairly stress free day. Remember the next time you play a round of golf. Hit to the largest parts of parts on the course, keep from making a huge mistake, take your medicine when confronted with some trouble and I think you will see a fairly simple round of golf and a lower score.


Craig Renshaw is a PGA Teaching Professional at the Legacy Golf Performance Center in Phoenix, Arizona at the Legacy Golf Resort. You can contact Craig atCrenshaw@raspberrygolfacademy.com

Lateral Hazard: Matt Kuchar commands limelight with virtuoso Memorial performance

Lateral Hazard: Matt Kuchar commands limelight with virtuoso Memorial performance











Brian Murphy June 2, 2013 9:47 PMYahoo Sports




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Matt Kuchar celebrates after winning the Memorial Tournament. (USA Today)
Matt Kuchar, at age 34, is apparently hell bent we all acknowledge that he is one of the best players on planet Earth.



Maybe that's why he's always smiling. "I'll just keep putting up great performances," he says behind those pearly whites, "and these Tiger Woods- and Rory McIlroy-obsessed lunatics will have to acknowledge the magnificence of 'Kooch'."

So, from us, to you, buddy, a hearty: "KOOOOOOOOOCH . . . "

He deserves the love. After a triumph at Jack Nicklaus' prestigious Memorial tournament, while Tiger and Rory were fumbling around in bunkers, firing golf balls into water hazards and running short putts past the hole at breakneck speed, Kuchar carved a final-round 68 for his second win of the year. His other was also against a big-time field, the World Match Play at Dove Mountain in chilly February, when he took down Hunter Mahan while wearing snow gear borrowed from that 80-year-old Japanese guy who climbed Mount Everest.

How hot is Kuchar? He's made the cut in all 13 of his stroke-play starts this year, and 21 of 22 last year. That's one missed cut in the last two years. Rory would murder for that kind of consistency. Heck, I think McIlroy sometimes misses two cuts in one week.

[Watch: Highlights from Sunday's Memorial action]

Of course, this being golf, everybody wants to know: Can Kuchar, who was ranked No. 9 in the world and will likely be top-5 now, be considered great without a major championship?

And of course, this being golf, everybody wants to know: Wouldn't Merion's U.S. Open next week be the ultimate place for Kuchar to win? After all, they tell us Merion is a ballstriker's heaven which will reward patience, putting and strategy – all the qualities that make Kuchar who he is.



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Matt Kuchar celebrates with his family after winning the Memorial. (Getty)



The answers, of course, await. And you'd be a fool to overlook Kuchar. But there's also that weird golf history that being SO hot coming into the U.S. Open – Kuchar was runner-up last week at Colonial after holding the 54-hole lead – means the game owes Kuchar a backhand across his smiling mug. You don't just go out and win U.S. Opens because you're sizzling on the links. Rather, that's the time the U.S. Open gods tap Webb Simpson at Olympic in 2012 (missed two cuts just prior) or Lucas Glover at Bethpage in 2009 (tie-45th, tie-41st in his two prior starts).

So let's not worry too much about Kuchar needing the validation of a major, and instead admire a player with six career wins now, including the last four – the 2010 FedEx playoff Barclays, the 2011 Players Championship, this year's Match Play and now Jack's party at Muirfield Village – in heavyweight events. In case that's not impressive enough, consider that Kuchar's 35 top-10s since 2010 are best on Tour. Kuchar shows up, makes cuts, and generally plays golf better than 90 percent of the field on any given week, making us all feel lesser about how we do our respective jobs.

Can Kuchar launch a multi-major run at this point in his career, with players like Adam (Have You Seen My Green Jacket? It's Rather Splendid) Scott ready and willing to crop up at any random major? On The Golf Channel, Brandel Chamblee noted that Ben Hogan – whose swing contained features Kuchar likes to replicate – didn't win his first major until age 32, and then, at 34, he won the Merion's U.S. Open. I'd say the poetic symmetry awaits, except the analogy fails when you consider their personalities. Kuchar's nickname could be 'The Grinning American', while Hogan only made smile-like movements with his facial muscles when he had gas.

No, let's just admire Kuchar's game and see what happens. He isn't long off the tee, but what he does do is avoid three putts (4th on Tour), birdie par 5s with sound game plans and good decisions (5th in par-5 birdies on Tour) and most of all, scores his golf ball (8th on Tour). He led the PGA Tour in scoring in 2010, also.

Put it all together and you have Matt Kuchar leading the kind of life where Jack Nicklaus, sitting greenside as 'Kooch' rolled in one final birdie to hold off Kevin Chappell by two strokes, high-fived Kuchar's two little boys, who clearly had no idea who the blonde haired dude was asking for some skin up top.

That's OK. They wanted to jump into Daddy's arms, and when they did, Kuchar asked them to "lay one on me" as David Feherty interviewed him on CBS. A smack on the cheek from his cute little buggers on national TV, another win in the bag? It's good to be Matt Kuchar these days.

SCORECARD OF THE WEEK

71-74-79-72 – 8-over 296, Tiger Woods, tie-65th, The Memorial Tournament, Muirfield Village GC, Dublin, Ohio.

Well, there's only one explanation for this shocking turn of events: Sergio Garcia is clearly inside Tiger's dome.

Rimshot, please.

OK, OK, let's all start overanalyzing Tiger's awful week, in which he finished 20 shots behind Kuchar (a record deficit for Tiger in a full-field event) and put up the worst nine-hole score (44 on Saturday's back nine) of his pro career.

Or, let's not start overanalyzing. Sometimes, golf happens. Or, as Tiger said about 15 different ways in his Sunday post-round chat with the media: "It happens." I think he'd love to have included two letters before the "—it" part of that quote, but Tiger usually saves his profanity for on the golf course.

He even got a pick-me-up from Luke Donald, who tweeted out after Tiger’s Saturday round: “I’m guessing Tiger’s 44 for nine holes today gave every single golfer on the planet hope for their own game. #ThatWasNiceOfHim #GolfIsHard.” Nothing like a electronically transmitted “It’s all good, bro” from a peer to make the Saturday night beer go down smoother.



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Tiger Woods hits a shot on the 11th hole. (AP)



You can't tell me a guy with four stroke play wins in seven starts this year should be overly concerned with a lousy week on a very tough golf course. Besides, the new, post-Escalade-into-a-tree, Sean Foley-coached Tiger is more prone to an inconsistent performance than his past self. Witness this year's missed cut at Abu Dhabi on the European Tour; or this year's first-round Match Play loss to Charles Howell; or a final-round 74 at the Honda Classic en route to a tie-37th. And that's in a year where he's posed with a big trophy four times and returned to No. 1 in the world.

The one aspect of his game that has dazzled the most this year – his putting – was the aspect that abandoned him at Muirfield Village. Tiger finished 71st of 73 players who made the cut in putting. This, in the same year where he set a record for fewest putting strokes over 72 holes in his career back in March.

Maybe it should be noted that Muirfield Village has bentgrass greens – same as Merion – and Tiger said he had consistent trouble finding the speed all week. That's something to watch at the U.S. Open, how Tiger handles the speed of the greens.

On The Golf Channel, Chamblee noted that Tiger's swing changes slightly from week to week in his new iteration, accounting for some of the inconsistency. Combine that with Muirfield Village's many trouble spots, and Tiger had what he called a week of "funky stances," en route to three double bogeys and two triple bogeys on his scorecard.

What did Tiger say is his solution to his woes? "Go home," he said, "and practice."

And likely turn up at Merion, ready to contend deep into Sunday.

BROADCAST MOMENT OF THE WEEK

"I really don't, but that's OK." -- Jack Nicklaus, in six words sticking a verbal pin into the balloon of Nick Faldo's ego, on CBS.

There's something so refreshing about the Golden Bear's inability to spend time slinging the bull. It's probably why – along with a vibrant family life, a golf design business, money to make elsewhere, a life to live – he's never made the transition to the broadcast booth.

This was a funny moment on Sunday. CBS opened with Faldo reminiscing about the 1977 Ryder Cup at Muirfield Village, a walk-in-the-park U.S. victory over Great Britain and Ireland, 12 ½ to 7 ½. But Faldo wanted to make sure the national audience knew that he and Peter Oosterhuis teamed to beat Nicklaus and Ray Floyd, 3 and 1, in the Friday fourball matches that year for a brief moment of glory.

"Remember that, Jack?" Faldo said, puffing his chest out even more than usual.

Nicklaus then delivered his zinger of a return.

The Ryder Cup was such a lopsided affair before Great Britain and Ireland expanded to include all of Europe (read: Seve Ballesteros) that Nicklaus was probably doing crossword puzzles in between shots of that match against a young and plucky, not-yet-Sir Nick Faldo.

MULLIGAN OF THE WEEK

Kyle Stanley seems like a nice young player. He earned fame last year when he blew a five-shot lead at Torrey Pines, capped by a 72nd hole meltdown. Then, showing the kind of mettle that wins over sports fans, he bounced back the very next week to win at Phoenix. Cue the soaring theme music.

Only 25 years old, Stanley is one to watch, especially given his third place at New Orleans and his tie-6th at Quail Hollow in the past month. Now, here he was at Jack's Memorial, making noise. Birdies on Nos. 5, 6, 8 and 9 got him to 9-under par, one back of Kuchar.



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Kyle Stanley reacts after missing a putt on the 14th green. (AP)



He came to the par-5 11th hole, thinking birdie and maybe a tie for the lead.

Except ... his tee shot got royally hosed. His lie was not only a fried egg, but a fried egg into the lip of the bunker. Good times! Or, as it's alternately known, the death of a dream.

Stanley did well to even get it out of the bunker, then had to try a risky, too-long approach to the green, which went left. He made bogey, and finished in third place, five shots back.

So, while Kuchar was a deserving winner, and while Chappell made Kuchar sweat a little down the stretch, let's add young Stanley to mix, as well. Let's go back out to the 11th tee box, tell the golf gods not to saddle the young kid with one of the world's worst lies and ... give that man a mulligan!

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

The week before a major always feels like that moment in a football pregame when the team finishes its warmups and starts bouncing around midfield before sprinting back into the locker room for a final speech.

That's how it looks for the likes of Tiger and Rory and Kooch, who will skip this week's St. Jude Classic in Memphis to disappear into the cave of preparation for Merion's test.

Of course, Phil Mickelson being quirky Phil Mickelson, he likes to play the week before a major, and will tee it up. He and defending champ Dustin Johnson are part of only five players in the world's top 30 who will head to Tennessee.