U.S. Women’s Open tests best pros, amateurs at Saucon Valley Country Club
Park to defend first LPGA victory, major championship title

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The 64th U.S. Women’s Open this week boasts an impressive compilation of the world’s best professional and amateur golfers, who will converge on Saucon Valley Country Club. Inbee Park will be among those players as she defends her title – a four-stroke 2008 victory over LPGA and Ladies European Tour veteran Helen Alfredsson.

A collage of youth and top veteran players are going head-to-head this week. All three active members from the LPGA Tour and World Golf Halls of Fame are in the field (and all are past U.S. Women’s Open champions): Juli Inkster (1999, 2002); Se Ri Pak (1998); and Karrie Webb (2000, 2001). But, as 2008 proved, the youth are not to be dismissed as a threat.

One year ago, prior to Park taking control of the event, it was newly announced professional Stacy Lewis and one of the Tour’s top young players, Paula Creamer, locked at the top. The pair finished tied for third – all the more hungry for their first major championship title. Lewis went on to win the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament last December and earn membership on the LPGA Tour. This season, she owns two top-10 finishes, which have occurred in her last three events. As talented of a rookie as Lewis is, her rookie class also is steeped in talent. Jiyai Shin has already won twice this season (HSBC Women’s Champions, Wegmans LPGA) – and owns five LPGA Tour victories in the past year, rivaling Rolex Rankings number one Lorena Ochoa. In the Tour’s last major championship – the McDonald’s LPGA Championship Presented by Coca-Cola – it was rookie Anna Nordqvist, of Sweden, who took the 36-hole lead in the event and held on for the win.

Eunjung Yi, a last-minute addition to the field on Sunday, earned a spot in her first U.S. Women’s Open by defeating two-time LPGA Tour winner Morgan Pressel at last week’s Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic Presented by Kroger.

Among the top amateurs is Jennifer Song – a member of the University of Southern California women’s golf team – who recently won the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links tournament, shortly after being named Golfweek’s College Player of the Year. She will be among 28 amateurs scheduled in the field.

This week: U.S. Women’s Open, Saucon Valley Country Club, The Old Course, Bethlehem, Pa., $3,250,000, July 9-12, 2009; TV Times; GCSAA Course Information

Par: 36-35, 71
Yardage: 6,740
Format: 72-hole stroke play
            Winner:  $585,000
            Runner-up:  $350,000
Defending champion: Inbee Park
Victory margin: Defeated Helen Alfredsson by four strokes
Media center: 610-814-6104
LPGA media contact: Dana Gross-Rhode

● TV Times

ESPN2
July 8 3:30-4:30 p.m. (preview)
ESPN
July 9-10 2-6 p.m.
NBC
July 11-12 3-6 p.m.

All times Eastern

● GCSAA Information

 

Lee delivers meals. Four-year Tour member Jee Young Lee – one of the LPGA Tour’s top-ranked players in driving distance – will be doing a different kind of driving today as she will help pack and deliver meals in conjunction with Meals on Wheels of Northampton County (Pa.). As part of the Meals On Wheels Association of America’s (MOWAA) “The Next Meal” campaign, Lee will be wearing the MOWAA logo during the season in an effort to raise awareness of hunger among senior citizens in America.

McGann dons Iconic™ Sport through 2009. Seven-time Tour winner Michelle McGann will wear Iconic™ Sport apparel through the 2009 season. McGann first wore the line designed by Leslie Chow at the season-opening SBS Open at Turtle Bay. 

Players qualify for RICOH Women’s British Open. The 2009 Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic Presented by Kroger once again served as the U.S.-based qualifier for the LPGA Tour’s final major of the season, the RICOH Women’s British Open. Sixty-five players registered to try to qualify and at the end of 36 holes of competition it looked like Sarah Kemp, Eunjung Yi, Kris Tschetter, Jin Joo Hong and Allison Hanna-Williams were on their way to England. However, since Yi won the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic, she became eligible for the RICOH Women’s British Open under Category 7G (winners of any LPGA Tour event in 2009), which opened one more spot from the qualifier. Since Ashleigh Simon and Sung Ah Yim were tied for sixth in the qualifying spots at the conclusion of the first 36 holes of play, their third round scores would serve as the tie breaker. Simon (71) was one stroke better than Yim (72) for the third round and earned a spot in the 2009 RICOH Women’s British Open.

Yi earns stay at Canyon Ranch. With her victory at the 2009 Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic Presented by Kroger, Eunjung Yi earned an all-inclusive stay for two at a Canyon Ranch resort. In a combined effort to promote health and overall well-being among Tour players, Canyon Ranch will provide every winner of an LPGA event with one all-inclusive stay at one of Canyon Ranch’s two destination resorts.

Hirst wins LPGA T&CP Southeast Section. Charlaine Hirst, of Pinehurst, N.C., won the 2009 LPGA Teaching and Club Professionals (T&CP) Southeast Section Championship at Stone Mountain Golf Club, in Stone Mountain, Ga. Hirst, a Class A member and teaching professional at The Country Club of Whispering Pines (N.C.), carded a 4-over-par 148 (73-75) during the two-day event June 29-30. The victory earns Hirst a spot in the 2010 LPGA Championship.
Bobbi Salmon, of Tryon, N.C., won the Senior Division, carding a 16-over-par 160 (81-79).

Pipeline to the LPGA Tour

Rank	Player	Events played	Earnings
1.	Jean Reynolds	10	$63,650
2.	Mina Harigae	10	57,460
3.	Misun Cho	10	46,949
4.	Samantha Richdale	10	30,819
5.	Angela Buzminski	10	27,260
6.	Christine Song	10	25,227
7.	Whitney Wade	10	23,719
8.	Alison Walshe	10	22,994
9.	Danah Ford	10	21,477
10.	Elisa Serramia	8	20,907

Next tournament: $100,000, The New England Golf Classic, Wintonbury Hills Golf Course, Bloomfield, Conn., July 17-19, 2009
Charity: Chip In For A Cure
For more information, log on to www.duramedfuturestour.com

Rolex Rankings Move of the Week

Yi cracks top 50, Wie and Pressel in top 25. With her victory at the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic Presented by Kroger, Eunjung Yi moved up 98 spots to 41st on the

2009 Solheim Cup countdown:
→ 27 days until U.S. and European teams are announced following the RICOH Women’s British Open; and
→ 46 days until matches begin at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill.

Michelle Wie kept her name in the race to make the 2009 U.S. Team with a tie for third and a 28.50 U.S. Solheim Cup points boost. The LPGA Tour rookie moved into 16th place with 133.50 points, one ahead of three-time U.S. Team member Wendy Ward who recorded 15 points on Sunday with a tie for 12th.

The Solheim Cup is a biennial, trans-Atlantic team match-play competition featuring the best U.S.-born players from the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour and the best European members from the Ladies European Tour (LET). The U.S. Team leads the competition, 7-3, and has never lost The Solheim Cup on home soil.

Tickets are on-sale for the biennial event with options including the Weekly Grounds ticket, the PING Pavilion ticket and the Solheim After Sundown ticket. Individual single day tickets are now also available. For tickets and more information about the 2009 Solheim Cup, as well as lodging options in the Sugar Grove, Ill. area, log on to www.SolheimCup.com

Race for the Cup heats up with three qualifying events remaining

The Rolex Rankings are sanctioned by the five major women’s professional golf tours: the LPGA; Ladies European Tour (LET); Ladies Professional Golfers’ Association of Japan (LPGA of Japan); Korea Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA); Australian Ladies Professional Golf (ALPG); as well as the Ladies Golf Union (LGU), which administers the RICOH Women’s British Open. The Rolex Rankings are the only women’s world rankings that incorporate player performances from the five major tours and the Duramed FUTURES Tour, the official developmental tour of the LPGA.

The players finishing in the top 10 on the final 2009 Duramed FUTURES Tour money list will receive membership onto the 2010 LPGA Tour. Please see current standings below.

The U.S.-based qualifier at the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic Presented by Kroger was open to LPGA Tour members who had entered, but not otherwise qualified for the RICOH Women’s British Open and who expressed their wish to compete in the U.S.-based qualifier. The 2009 RICOH Women’s British Open will be contested July 30-Aug. 2 at Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club in Lytham St. Annes, Lancashire, England.

Yi posted four solid rounds at Highland Meadows Golf Club, and stayed focused on her game the entire time. On Sunday, she wasn’t concerned about being up six strokes, then allowing Pressel to catch her and tie it up as the final hole loomed. She was just concerned about her own game.

“I was just focusing on my golf,” said Yi. I didn’t see today the scoreboard, not at all. I was just hitting my driver shot and then second shot. I was just focusing every shot. That’s why I got the win this week. I’m very excited this week.”

On Thursday’s opening round, Yi was 3-under-par for the day, finishing round one tied for 26th and four strokes back from the day-one leaders. Friday was when the South Korea native and California resident started to make her move up the leaderboard. After a 5-under-par second-round score, Yi was tied for seventh, and only three strokes back. Already enjoying her best two-day start of her career, Yi wasn’t done.

On Saturday in round three, Yi recorded a career-low, and almost a new tournament record, 10-under-par 61. This came on a bogey-free, eight-birdie, one-eagle day. Once the final round started, Yi had a four-stroke lead and extended it to six shots during the round. Yet, Yi had no idea she had let the six-stroke lead disappear, and that Pressel has tied it up.

“No. I didn’t know that,” said Yi. “I was on 17 tee box, because people were yelling, so I thought then that she made eagle.”

After bogeying the 16th hole, only her fifth of the week, and Pressel recording an eagle on 17, the score was all tied up. Then, once the two finalists returned to the 18th tee to settle this thing once and for all, the youngster prevailed, and birdied the 18th hole, in a one-hole, sudden-death format over Pressel. The win is her first in her two years of having LPGA Tour membership.

GCSAA Class A Director of Golf Courses and Grounds: James T. Roney, Jr., 610-758-7145
Course architect, date: Herbert Strong, 1922
Most recent redesign/renovation: Tom Marzolf, 2008

Course grasses
Tees – Bentgrass; poa annua
Fairways – Bentgrass; poa annua
Greens – Bentgrass
Rough – Kentucky bluegrass; perennial ryegrass

For more information, access GCSAA Fact Sheets at http://www.gcsaa.org/news/TournamentFactSheets.aspx

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