Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Stanford's Rodgers advances in US Amateur

Stanford's Rodgers advances in US Amateur

AP - Sports
BROOKLINE, Mass. (AP) -- Stanford's Patrick Rodgerssurvived a playoff Wednesday to advance to match play, then beat Sean Dale 3 and 2 of Jacksonville, Fla., in the first round of the U.S. Amateur at The Country Club.
Rodgers, the 21-year-old Avon, Ind., player who will represent the U.S. next month in the Walker Cup, will face England's Greg Eason in the second round
I would rather just have gotten through clean in stroke play, that would have been really nice,'' said Rodgers, who tied for 15th last month in the PGA Tour's John Deere Classic. ''But it's all part of this tournament. There's almost 250 players that get cut, so it's a tough cut to make and I had some adversity this week and that won't be the last time.''
Rodgers overcame a lot of problems to reach match play.
''My group got a stroke penalty for slow play on the first day, I got a ball stuck in a tree and I triple-bogeyed my third-to-last-hole yesterday and made a 30-footer to get in the playoff,'' Rodgers said.
One of five players already named to the 10-man Walker Cup team, Rodgers was the only one who made it to match play. Max Homa, Michael Kim, Justin Thomas and Cory Whitsett failed to make the cut.
''It's disappointing to see that they missed but I'm sure they'll be ready,'' Rodgers said.
Eason beat 2012 runner-up Michael Weaver of Fresno, Calif., 3 and 2.
Qualifying medalists Neil Raymond of England and Brady Watt of Australia advanced on the windy day. Raymond, trying to become the first English winner since Harold Hilton in 1911, edged Jason Anthony of Fairfeld, Calif., 1 up, and Brady topped Sean Walsh of Keller, Texas, 5 and 3.
Jordan Niebrugge, the Oklahoma State player from Mequon, Wis., who swept the U.S. Amateur Public Linksand Western Amateur, dropped out, falling 1 up to Seth Reeves of Duluth, Ga.
Brandon Hagy, the lone member of the talented five-man University of California team to survive the cut and a semifinalist last year, advanced with a 19-hole victory over Portugal's Ricardo Gouveia.
Gouveia, an Amateur quarterfinalist last year, made a 30-foot putt on 18 to force the extra hole, but Nagy won with a par on the first extra hole.
''I'm the last Bear in the field,'' he said. ''I'm confident in match play. I'm right there and just got to keep doing what I'm doing.''

Wie in the spotlight again as a Solheim pick

Wie in the spotlight again as a Solheim pick

AP - Sports
Wie in the spotlight again as a Solheim pick
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PARKER, Colo. (AP) -- Michelle Wie hasn't won a tournament in three years. She didn't come close to earning a spot on the Solheim Cup. Being a captain's pick for the second time on the last three American teams stood out even more this year because one of the players left out won on the LPGA Tour this year.
This would seem to be a good time to do whatever she can to blend in at Colorado Golf Club.
Except for the socks.
Wie added her own touch to the U.S. uniform of a khaki skirt, red shirt and a blue cap. She showed up on the practice range with knee-high socks of red-and-white stripes capped off by a thick blue stripe with white stars.
''It's a bit patriotic,'' Wie said Wednesday. ''I just kind of accumulate things over the year. I see things and I'm like, 'Oh, that would be great for Solheim Cup.' And I just brought them out.''
It's far more important that she bring out her very best game as the Americans try to stay perfect on home soil and win back the Solheim Cup from Europe.
U.S. captain Meg Mallon met with Wie at St. Andrews after the Women's British Open to tell her she was on the team. The next thing she told Wie - after the 23-year-old from Hawaii stopped crying - was to not think of herself as a wild-card selection, but one of 12.
''It's tough being a captain's pick,'' Mallon said. ''There's a lot of pressure that players put on themselves being a pick.''
Then again, that's a big reason why she took Wie.
Few other golfers have received so much attention for winning so little. Wie first was recognized in golfing circles when she was a 12 and blasted 270-yard tee shots during a Pro-Junior event at the Sony Open alongside PGA Tourplayers. Scrutiny followed a short time later, and it has been relentless.
Some of it was grounded in jealously. Without having won a tournament, Wie still attracted the largest galleries and the richest endorsement contracts. Some of it was grounded in reality. Wie spent her teen years trying to play against the men - PGA Tour events, even U.S. Open qualifying - without ever showing she could beat the women.
If there is additional pressure as a captain's pick, who better to handle it?
''She lives on this stage almost every day that she plays,'' Mallon said. ''So walking into this environment is not going to affect her. I needed another player like that on the team. I had three rookies already. And like I said earlier, do I want five to six birdies a day at home sitting on the couch? So for me, that was a pretty easy decision.''
The hard part falls to Wie.
She has a 4-3-1 record in two appearances, including a 3-0-1 mark in her debut in 2009 outside Chicago when she also was a captain's pick. Wie went 1-3 two years ago in Ireland, losing to Suzann Pettersen in singles on the 18th hole in a European victory.
There is reason for skepticism when Mallon says she didn't want to leave ''five or six birdies'' at home on the couch. Wie has never been a great putter, and it has been several years since she was considered among the longest hitters.
Now, her putting is noticed for the peculiar stance. She struggled so badly late last year that she tried stooping her 6-foot frame so that her back is perpendicular to the ground and her eyes are directly above the ball. It looks funny. It looks painful. But it works.
''I always felt a little bit uncomfortable being tall putting,'' Wie said. ''And I was just like, 'OK, I'll go down lower to the ground. And I made every single putt coming in. And then I went to Dubai and I did the same thing there. I putted a lot better.''
As for the stance?
''A lot of people have asked me how my back is, if my back hurts,'' she said. ''But it actually feels a lot better doing that for me. Because I'm flexible, it's easier.''
Mallon is more interested in numbers than appearance.
She said Wie has gone from 147th in putting a year ago to 37th this year. Mallon also said Colorado Golf Club is more of a second-shot course. Wie has been wild off the tee, but the fairways here are exceptionally wide.
''Her trouble has nothing to do with approach shots, and her short game is one of the best we have on our tour,'' Mallon said. ''This golf course, players will need lot of creativity. So I knew this was a very good fit for her.''
Mallon gave Wie one other piece of advice. Don't bother reading any stories about the captain's picks.
The pick smacked of yet another dose of entitlement for Wie, even suggestions that she was chosen solely for television ratings. Remember, this is the kid who was given an exemption to the U.S. Women's Open when she was 14, and who was the first amateur to play in the LPGA Championship as a teen.
Wie, who graduated last year from Stanford with a degree in communications, quit reading long ago. And despite facing criticism at such a young age, she has shown remarkable maturity in not fighting back. The high road comes naturally.
''It's just the way my parents raised me,'' she said. ''My mom always said - and I know it's a cliche - 'If you have nothing nice to say, then say nothing.' Everyone has their reasons for saying things and everyone is entitled to it. I always try to think the best of everyone. It does hurt when I hear things. But if I don't have something nice to say, I'm not going to say it. That's how I work.''

Mallon missed out on celebration as a player

Mallon missed out on celebration as a player

AP - Sports
Mallon missed out on celebration as a player
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PARKER, Colo. (AP) -- One minute, Meg Mallon was running down the fairway, celebrating one of the biggest victories of her career. The next, she was being loaded into an ambulance and rushed to the hospital.
The U.S. captain's last turn as a player in the Solheim Cup was in 2005, when she made a par putt to clinch the American victory at Crooked Stick outside of Indianapolis. A typically raucous celebration ensued, but shortly after,Mallon started feeling lightheaded.
At the time, officials thought it was a simple case of heat exhaustion from a long weekend of golf in the summertime heat of Indiana.
As it turned out, Mallon's heart rate was buzzing along at 300 beats per minute. She was taken to the hospital and diagnosed and treated for Supraventricular tachycardia, an ailment that causes the heart to beat very fast for reasons other than exercise or rest.
''It turned out to be a blessing because I had been misdiagnosed with (a different) heart ailment for almost 20 years,'' Mallon said.
Mallon was fine. She got to enjoy a celebration in 2009 when she was an assistant captain on the winning U.S. team.
This year, she's running the show and hoping she'll get another chance to make up for what she missed in 2005.
''At the end of the day, it was great for me,'' she said of the 2005 drama, ''but it sure was a buzz kill for the party.''
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YOUTH MOVEMENT: Paula Creamer made her Solheim Cup debut when she was 19. She earned a spot on the team and was bold enough to say in the weeks leading up to the matches that the Europeans should prepare to be beaten.
Creamer did her part, going 3-1-1 and trouncing Laura Davies in singles.
This year, being a teenager is no longer that big of a deal.Europe has the youngest player in Solheim Cup history, 17-year-old Charley Hull of England. The Americans have Lexi Thompson, who is 18 and already a two-time winner (once on the LPGA Tour, once on the Ladies European Tour).
Creamer said she only sounded fearless.
''I thought I knew what it was like to walk out on the first tee and I was like, 'I got it.' I can't tell you how nervous I really was,'' Creamer said.
It helped that she played before a home crowd at Crooked Stick in Indianapolis.
''Lexi is really lucky that this is her first one here in the States,'' Creamer said. ''There's nothing better than having the homefield advantage. You really understand that when you do go over to Europe.''
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REDEMPTION: Cristie Kerr has a little extra motivation to win back the Solheim Cup for the Americans.
Two years ago in Ireland, she played four matches with an injured right thumb and could not hit a ball more than 10 yards warming up Sunday morning. Kerr had no choice but to withdraw, conceding the match to Europe.
Europe went on to win, 15-13.
''Nobody knows but me how much I gave that week and how much I played through,'' Kerr said. ''Yet again, you've got to play singles. So it was very disappointing. Everybody has incredible motivation, but I have a little extra. So I am looking for some special stuff out there this week, and I am going to be there for my team. I'm looking forward to it.''
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WHAT'S IN A NAME: Because Inbee Park finished 42nd at the British Open earlier this month, she will not sweep all five of the women's majors.
Still, if she wins at the Evian Championship next month, she'll win her fourth major of the year. In the men's game, or in tennis, they would call that a Grand Slam. But in women's golf, which added Evian as its fifth major this year, there's some debate of where to rate - and what to call - the accomplishment.
U.S. Solheim Cup captain Meg Mallon would simply call it ''an exceptional year.''
''I don't know why we have to get caught up and have to label it,'' she said. ''Because it takes away from the performance this girl's had this year.''
Even with her finish at St. Andrews, Park is No. 1 in the world golf ranking and on the LPGA money list. She has six victories this year.
She isn't present this week at the Solheim Cup, which is an America vs. Europe event.
Only American Stacy Lewis, who won the British and is second on the money list, has an outside chance to say she's had as good a 2013 as Park, and even that would be a stretch. Park and Lewis will tee it up at Evian in four weeks.
''If she wins Evian, 'Best Player in the World,''' Mallon said of Park. ''That's a pretty good title in and of itself.''