Ladies Golf Journey » Paula Creamer

It’s Solheim Cup Time Again!!!

Worth — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 18:50:48 +0000

By Worth Blackwelder, Tour Caddy

Greetings to all LPGA, LET, and Futures Tour golf fans! Today I wish to re-introduce my column “View of a Tour Caddy” to the “new blog” format of LADIES GOLF JOURNEY. My name is Worth Blackwelder, a one time columnist of the older version of the Central Kentucky edition of this media. The column was entitled, “View from a Tour Caddy”. There were ten columns published in 2001, and 2002 with the last column being published shortly after the 2003 Solheim Cup event in Barseback, Sweden, where the Europeans took the cup. At the time of my first journal entry, I had just been hired as a caddy by Dottie Pepper, initiating my return to the tour caddy life, at the 2000 Solheim Cup in Scotland at Loch Lomond, where the European Team prevailed. I continued to caddy for Dottie throughout the 2001 season, accumulating 11 top-five finishes leading to a 6th place 2001 money list ranking. Dottie required shoulder surgery in the off season prior to 2002, and played only a hand full of events that season prior to an early retirement , and is now in my humble opinion is Golf’s finest color commentator, working now solely for NBC sports, after nine years with the Golf Channel. I looped a half season in 2002 for Korean Mi Hyun Kim, and the last half of 2002 for rookie Natalie Gulbis.

The Solheim Cup Round One

I wish to share more of my background with you, to fill in the time line since my last column. At the time of my last entry, in 2003, entitled “View of a Tour Caddy”, I was completing my first season of being a full time caddy for Cristie Kerr. We had not won together yet, but would win five times together in ‘04 and ‘05. I had an opportunity beginning the ‘06 season to return to work for Hall of Famer Juli Inkster, whom I had caddied for 4 seasons in 1987-1990, accumulating three wins including the 1989 Nabisco Dinah Shore. It was a difficult switch but Juli’s caddy of eleven seasons (my good friend Greg Johnston) had just split with Juli to pursue other opportunities. In the sometimes crazy career of a touring professional caddy, relationships can sometimes get stale, or stressed, and a change is advantageous for both parties involved. This is where Greg and I both were at the time with our respective bosses.

I had amassed 44 top tens in three seasons as Cristie’s caddy, including the five wins, but the opportunity to return to looping for Inkster seemed the right move at the time for me. In our third event back together in 2006, Juli won her 31st LPGA event in Phoenix. We worked together for four more seasons, through 2009, not being able throughout this time to bag another victory, despite her brilliant play. At the end of the 2009 season, my daughter, Mallory Blackwelder, had just turned professional, and was planning to play 2010 on the Ladies European Tour. Juli and I both knew it was time for me to move on and assist Mallory in Europe in 2010. I had hoped to continue to work for Juli, and assist Mallory on off weeks, but Juli felt it was potentially going to take my focus away from her career. As it turns out she was 100 percent correct. Now to focus on the current scene, the 2011 Solheim Cup.

The 2011 Solheim Cup US captain’s picks will be announced Sunday night, August 21, at the conclusion of the Safeway event in Portland, Oregon. The nine players locked in for the 2011 team by virtue of points accumulated for 24 months include, in order of merit; C. Kerr, M. Pressel, S. Lewis, A. Stanford, P.Creamer, M. Wie, B. Lincicome, B. Lang, and co-captain, 51 year old Juli Inkster! Christina Kim holds a a very slim edge on the automatic 10th spot, with fast charging Katie Futcher only 17 points behind. Also in the mix for two captains picks are Kristy McPherson, and Vicki Hurst. Outside possibilities for a pick hinging on a very strong surge in Portland are veterans, Wendy Ward and Pat Hurst.

On the European side, the 2011 team in order of merit will include M. Reid (ENG), L. Davies (ENG), S. Pettersen (NOR), C. Boeljon (NETH), M. Hjoth (SWE), A. Nordqvist (SWE), C. Matthew, (SCOT), and S. Gusfaston, (SWE). The Euros receive four captains picks, In order of probability are Virginia Lagoutte-Clement (FR), Becky Brewerton, (WALES), and Diana Luna (ITALY). The twelfth pick is a toss up with Caroline Masson (GER), Sandra Gal (GER),and veteran Karen Stupples (ENG), all certain possibilities.

The 2011 Solheim Cup will be contested Sept. 23-25 at Killeen Castle in Ireland. This venue has been the site of the last two Irish Ladies Open events in 2010, 2011, on the Ladies European Tour. I caddied for my daughter Mallory in the 2010 event where she made the cut and cashed a moderate check. The Killeen Castle venue is a very “Americanized” golf course design, featuring wide fairway landing areas, with penal rough, and huge very undulating greens, requiring the golfer to hit specific to sections of the greens to have a legitimate birdie opportunities. While caddying for Mallory there last summer, I constructed and produced a very detailed “greens book”, which may assist a caddy in ascertaining, from the fairway, the different high and low areas and slopes in the green that must be negotiated for success to get an approach shot close to the pin. The greens book will also be very valuable while on the green, enhancing the evaluation of where subtle ridges and breaks can and will affect the roll of an impending putt.

While caddying for Mallory last month in the 2011 Women’s US Open at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, I donated my greens book to Rosie Jones, our Solheim Captain for her 2011 team to use in this years Cup. I am certain Rosie has made copies for all of the players and caddies that will be members of this team to have in their pocket for review. I have been a part of five Solheim Cup’s as a caddy, one for Pepper, two for Kerr, and two for Inkster, and though I will not be physically a part of this team, I wanted to have a small part of my caddy expertise included in this year’s competition. This will keep me “in the mix” as I watch the telecast and see a caddy studying my compilation of work.

Mallory Blackwelder competed in 11 LET events in 2010, making the cut in 7, and having her best finish (tied for 15th) in Austria. She gained invaluable experience playing the LET in 2010. Mallory is competing solely on the LPGA Futures Tour this season, and currently is 27th on the money list, with a best finish a tie for 2nd a month ago in Crown Point Indiana. I was able to caddy for her in that event. Mallory has accumulated two other top ten finishes this season on the Futures Tour, a tie for 5th, and a tie for 9th, in only 10 events. She missed the first two events due to the passing of her grandfather, and another event to do the filming of BIG BREAK IRELAND for The Golf Channel. She has two more events to pull forward on the money list, with a win needed in one of those two to have an opportunity to gain an automatic 2012 LPGA Tour card, If Mallory can gain three or more spots on the Futures Tour money rankings, she can avoid a trip to the second stage of LPGA Tour school and go right into the final stage to be held in December at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, FL. Watch for Mallory in the upcoming telecasts of Golf Channel’s BIG BREAK IRELAND, filmed and competed at the K Club in Ireland last May. The premier episode will be aired Tuesday, Sept. 20.

The 2012 Solheim Cup will most certainly be an exciting competition as it almost always comes down to the final day singles matches to determine the outcome. Even though being contested on foreign soil, I would give a slight edge to the US team. My reasoning for this perceived edge are, that the golf course is like an American style course, not a typical Irish links venue. Also, the US team has a slight edge in experience, even though several members of our team are still “youngsters”. Pressel, Wie, Lewis, Creamer, Lang, and Lincicome are still in their lower to mid twenties in age, but all have vast competitive experience, with only Lewis in that mix being a Solheim “rookie”. Add the veteran experience of Kerr, Inkster, and Stanford and you can see the depth this team will bring to the table. Juli Inkster holds the record of all time wins in the Solheim Cup for the US Team.

On the flip side of the coin, I feel the European squad will be anchored by the experience of veterans, Davies, Pettersen, Hjorth, Matthew, and Gusfaston. Those five have played many Solheim Cups with Davies being a part of every team! Boeljon, Reid, and Nordqvist have limited to no experience in this type of competitive atmosphere, and although Brewerton has experienced these wars, Clement and Luna are somewhat inexperienced Solheim players as well. The last European captain’s pick will be an important cog to this puzzle. It would be difficult not to consider Stupples to bolster this teams experience level. Her play since this season’s Kraft Nabisco event in April, where I caddied for her, has been very solid and consistent. Sandra Gal won the LPGA Kia Classic in April, dramatically holding on the beat Ji Yai Shin on the last hole, and has played well all season as well. Sandra does not have the experience of Stupples in Solheim play though. It would be her debut in Solheim competition. Caroline Masson carried a large lead into the recent final round of the Weetabix Women’s British Open at Carnoustie, only to fade to a final round 78. Nevertheless, her play this season on the LET shows merit.

Worth Blackwelder and Juli Inkster

Until next time! May the best team prevail in a highly contested battle, that provides all of the fans and viewers a riveting competition on an international stage!

Worth Blackwelder
www.blackweldergolf.com
www.americasgolfteam.com

Worth Blackwelder, a Charlotte, North Carolina native, has more than 30 years of professional golf and caddy experience. He offers a unique perspective into course management from a tour players perspective gained through his hands on experiences in working as a tour caddy for notables J.B. Holmes, Dottie Pepper, Cristie Kerr, and Natalie Gulbis, as well as Hall of Famers Dave Stockton, Chi Chi Rodriguez, Juli Inkster, Beth Daniel, and Patty Sheehan. Worth has worked with junior golfers of all ages in his previous experience as a club professional in Kentucky and North Carolina.

Why Another Open? Understanding the Ricoh Women’s British Open

Rosemary — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 21:30:56 +0000

by Nancy Berkley, President
Berkley Golf Consulting

On Sunday, Yani Tseng, won the Ricoh Women’s British Open. It was a great tournament. On Friday evening after the second round, Nancy Berkley wrote the following article which clears up some of the questions about why women golfers had two prestigious and competitive“opens” within a few weeks of each other.

If you are thinking to yourself, didn’t we just have the Women’s Open and didn’t Paula Creamer just win it? And if you are wondering why there is another women’s open in the news – in England with Ricoh, a Japanese technology company as the sponsor– with U.S. golfers playing in it, well you are not alone. The tournament schedule for women’s golf is actually confusing especially as the game becomes more international in terms of both players and sponsors. Let me try to explain the basics and clear up some of the confusion.

First, however, as I write this on Friday, July 30, after the second round of the Women’s British Open, it’s nice to see four US women golfers among the top ten players heading into the final two rounds: Cristie Kerr, Brittany Lincicome, Julie Inkster and Christina Kim. The leader, with an impressive 8-under score after two rounds is Yani Tseng of Taiwan. Michelle Wie is off the lead by 9 strokes, but anything can happen on this links course, the Royal Birkdale Golf Club, in England about 15 miles away from Liverpool on the Irish Sea.

Back to clearing up confusion: The Ricoh Women’s British Open is sponsored by the Ladies Golf Union (LGU) which supports women’s amateur golf in Great Britain and Ireland. The LGU was founded in 1893 (more than fifty years before the LPGA was established). The LGU has over 220,000 members – amateurs and recreational golfers, which makes it a much different type of organization than the LPGA which does not have “members” other than its professional Tour players.

The LGU also offers an email newsletter to all of its members. As an aside and a message to LPGA Commissioner Michael Whan, I find the LGU membership concept very impressive and a good way to build the female fan base. The LPGA could learn something about reaching out and involving and educating the millions of female golfers in the U.S. through an email membership newsletter.

When I talk about the Ladies Golf Union, I always like to remind readers that Mary Queen of Scots is credited with popularizing the game of golf. In fact as a teenager, she was publicly scolded for visiting France where rumor was that she played more golf than she should have. Of course, the game was not exactly like the game we play today – but that’s another story.

The Women’s British Open is considered a “major” tournament for both the LGU and the LPGA – a unique distinction. A “major” is a prestigious tournament usually because it is played on a challenging course and because of the way the qualifications to play are structured. A “major” includes a very competitive field of players but because it is an “open,” players do not have to be official players on the LPGA Tour or the Ladies European Tour (LET). There has been quite a controversy about why Alexis Thompson did not play in this British Open because she is sort of in limbo – not a member of the LPGA (too young) and no longer an amateur (she just turned pro).

Adding to the confusion: For twenty years, the Women’s British Open tournament was sponsored by Weetabix, an English cereal company. It was known as the Weetabix tournament. In 2007, Ricoh became the sponsor and the tournament is getting more attention. I have been very impressed with the television coverage and the use of personal profiles of the players during the round. It helps to have a hi-tech sponsor!

The Women’s British Open is one of the four majors of the LPGA. The other LPGA majors are: The LPGA Championship, the Kraft Nabisco Tournament and the US Women’s Open sponsored by the USGA. And that’s what confusing: There are two women’s Opens!

Two weeks ago, Paula Creamer won the USGA-sponsored US Women’s Open at Oakmont, near Pittsburgh. And what a victory that was for Paula especially since she played that tournament with a bandaged thumb that was recovering from surgery several months earlier. If you get a chance to see the replay of the British Open round today, you will share Paula’s pain as she strained her thumb playing a shot out of the long grass.

If you want to follow the Ricoh Women’s British Open more closely, here are some suggestions: Read the article on cybergolf.com about the leader Yani Tseng http://www.cybergolf.com/golf_news/tseng_on_a_roll_at_womens_british_open. The article includes a wonderful interview with Yani and offers good insights into what junior girls golf is like in Taiwan as well as Yani’s unique relationship with Annika as her mentor and role model. (And Yani’s English is great – remember that controversy?)

The Ladies Golf Union website also contains good information about the tournament see www.lgu.org. And www.lpga.com has a fine summary of the tournament with a readable leader board. The final rounds are televised early in the morning eastern time on ESPN, so remember to set your TV to record the final round on Sunday. You won’t be disappointed.

Nancy Berkley
Nancy Berkley, President of Berkley Golf Consulting, is an expert on women’s golf and junior-girls golf. She is a frequent contributor to www.cybergolf.com/womensgolf. Her book, “Women Welcome Here! A Guide to Growing Women’s Golf,” published by the National Golf Foundation, is an industry reference on marketing golf to women and spotting trends within the industry. She offers information and advice about the golf industry on www.berkleygolfconsulting.com and is often quoted in national publications. She also writes for www.ladiesgolfjourney.com. She is also the author of the NGF publication: “An Insider’s Guide to Careers in the Golf Industry.” She was a contributing editor of “Golf for Women” magazine and a founding advisor of “Golfer Girl Magazine.” Her interviews with women in the golf industry now appear on www.golfergirlcareers.com. Nancy lives in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., and is a graduate of the University of Minnesota, Harvard University and Rutgers Law School. After a business and legal career, she decided to write about the game she learned and loved as a teenager. She describes herself as a good bogey golfer with permanent potential.

THE BEST US WOMEN’S OPEN EVER – AND IT’S NOT OVER YET

NancyBerkley — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 18:11:25 +0000

By Nancy Berkley, President
Berkley Golf Consulting

I’m writing this Sunday morning at 10 a.m. EST after watching the players finish the rain-delayed third round. So, I will not know the winner of the 2010 Women’s Open until dusk tonight and the final scores are in. But, I do have some observations to make about this year’s Open.

Beth Ann Baldry
BETH ANN BALDRY OF GOLFWEEK has the very best coverage of the tournament on the GOLFWEEK site. http://www.golfweek.com/news/2010/jul/04/complete-us-womens-open-coverage/

With Beth and her partner Sean Martin, there is no need for me to go over the details of the rounds. But do not miss Beth’s articles about Kelli Shean of South Africa now playing at Arkansas but discovered and supported by the Ernie Els Foundation. http://www.golfweek.com/news/2010/jul/08/amateur-shean-tackles-odds-oakmont/

Kelli, an amateur, posted the first 70 of the tournament and although she does not like to make a big deal about it, Kelli only has 25% of her hearing. Kelli is teeing off on the 10th tee at 12:09. Even though Kelli is out of the running for this tournament, I hope the cameras give her some face time.

GolfWeek for her
Golfweek and Beth are on to something about women’s golf and I hope they keep it up. A few months ago they circulated a magazine titled GOLFWEEK for Her. It was refreshing and although they were vague about whether they will ever do another issue, I hope they do. They seem to understand both the print and most importantly the online coverage that women golfers value.

Women’s golf has never looked better! Every player seems to have a unique personality beyond their golf swing. They have different demeanors on the course, the leaders vary in age from 15 to 37 and I haven’t even mentioned the different apparel styles.

Maybe it’s the nature of the “open” itself which allows players of all ages to enter the tournament. Unlike the LPGA, where a player must be 18 years old (with a couple of exceptions), it is going to be thrilling to watch 15-year old Alexis Thompson play in the top six. In 2009, Lexi made history as the youngest female to make the cut at the U.S. Women’s Open. (See my History of Women’s Golf Timeline http://www.nancyberkley.com/774892.html)

The sweet spot in the golf industry is junior girls. About one-third of the players who qualified and played in the first round were 21 or younger. If you would like to know more about Alexis, please see an interview of her in the 2007 issue of Golfer Girl Magazine (no longer published). But all of the issues of Golfer Girl Magazine are still available on line.

See Libby Hooton’s interview of Alexis at http://golfergirlmagazine.com/pastissues/summerfall07/summerfall07pages/page22summerfall07.htm.

This final round of the Women’s Open is a good opportunity to share with the junior golfers in your family. Playing golf as a junior may not always lead to being a top Tour player, but it opens doors to careers of all kinds. See www.golfergirlcareers.com where I have interviewed junior golfers who did not become professional golfers but still have a nexus with golf in their professional life.

Watching women golfers is a lesson in itself. Because most women golfers cannot match men in terms of muscle strength, they get their power in different ways. What’s important for all women golfers and potential women golfers and junior golfers is the realization that there is not one kind of swing that works for everyone.

This will be exciting final round. Don’t miss it.

Nancy Berkley
Nancy Berkley, President of Berkley Golf Consulting, is an expert on women’s golf and junior-girls golf. She is a frequent contributor to www.cybergolf.com/womensgolf. Her book, “Women Welcome Here! A Guide to Growing Women’s Golf,” published by the National Golf Foundation, is an industry reference on marketing golf to women and spotting trends within the industry. She offers information and advice about the golf industry on www.berkleygolfconsulting.com and is often quoted in national publications. She also writes for www.ladiesgolfjourney.com. She is also the author of the NGF publication: “An Insider’s Guide to Careers in the Golf Industry.” She was a contributing editor of “Golf for Women” magazine and a founding advisor of “Golfer Girl Magazine.” Her interviews with women in the golf industry now appear on www.golfergirlcareers.com. Nancy lives in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., and is a graduate of the University of Minnesota, Harvard University and Rutgers Law School. After a business and legal career, she decided to write about the game she learned and loved as a teenager. She describes herself as a good bogey golfer with permanent potential.