You wonder why there are endless Tiger Woods headlines? Twice as many people read them even when there is nothing new to report.

The  same is true for Michelle Wie. With the LPGA season underway, and the Solheim Cup coming soon, I have good reason to feature Wie as my top story. 

In the six events she has played in so far this year, she has finished in the Top 10 four times, T40 in one event and missed the cut in another.

Reminds me of last year when she would start out the first couple of days strong and then, lag on Saturday and Sunday. I figured it was simply a question of conditioning.

How do you go from student to professional athlete to student to professional athlete without losing your stamina, and your edge? It’s something all of the members of the LPGA have to get used to with the thin LPGA schedule this year and probably next. But for the full timers, without classes and studying and papers and midterms and finals to contend with, at least they can keep up their conditioning. Have you tried playing golf five days in a row lately?

So, in my humble opinion, Wie is doing okay. In her six LPGA events this year, she has earned $277,631.00. She’s doing okay but not fulfilling her promise, to herself nor the hopes the LPGA Tour has pinned on her.

We are looking forward to her graduation from Stanford and to her full time status as professional athlete. Probably not as much as the men and women responsible for organizing and operating the LPGA Tour are but close. For as one respected journalist put it recently, it would be good for the LPGA Tour for Michelle Wie to win every week.  He added it would be good if we had an American LPGA player win every week but the Wie factor is major. That’s me saying it.

SYBASE MATCH PLAY

Michelle Wie looked really good at Sybase. Strong. Confident. Decisive. Listening to her make decisions on club selection, you could tell she was in charge.

But she went up against Sophie Gustafson in the 3rd match and didn’t see daylight on the other side. Wie is known for her “booming drives” off the tee. Her average this year is 274.

Gustafson is a pretty close with her 263 yards off the tee. And she’s a little more accurate. She has a better Sand Saves percentage and her Putts Per Green is lower but in Greens in Regulation, Wie is ahead. Unfortunately for Wie, that second shot advantage didn’t help her. But Gustafson was relentless. Like maybe she had a little something to prove. And it was Gustafson who eliminated Wie in the 3rd round.

Even after being eliminated, Michelle was very gracious in defeat, signing autographs for her fans.

JENNY K. WILSON INVITATIONAL

17-year-old Eri Joma from Japan, the first international player to win the event in its 66-year history, won the Jenny K. Wilson Invitational, the premiere women’s amateur event in Hawaii. Joma shot rounds of 72, 76, and 76 to finish 224, on the long and fast Mid Pacific Country Club course.

Before her second round on Saturday, Joma was gracious to join me in the clubhouse to talk, through an interpreter, about what struck her most about playing in Hawaii versus playing in Japan.

She immediately said the greens are really fast at Mid Pacific Country Club and she liked how much open space there appeared to be at the Lanikai course.

Superintendent Jason Amoy likes to keep the greens at 12 on the stimp for competition. Hawaii's Allisen Corpus and Hee Sue Condry finished 2nd and 3rd, just 1 and 2 shots back, respectively.

The Championship flight was mostly Hawaii’s current and former top junior golfers who are either still playing junior golf or playing on college teams on the mainland. I’ve been following all of them since they started as children.

Cyd Okino, playing golf since 6 years old, is now headed to the University of Washington where she’ll be a student/athlete playing on the golf team. She says she can hardly wait. “The courses on the Mainland are a little more challenging. They’re not as forgiving. I’ll have to challenge myself to hit the ball straighter, hit certain shots that I normally don’t have to play here. And the greens are different. The grass is different. The rough, once you get in there, it is so hard to get out of.” And the competition is used to those conditions, adding to the challenge.

Okino is definitely getting ready. She is working out with Peak Performance doing core work, balance work and strengthening her arms and her legs.

As for getting competition ready the morning of a round, Okino likes to get to the course early to relax, be in the environment. Then she hits balls, putting, chipping and driving. As she put it, on the range “my driver is my main concern. If I don’t get it straight at the beginning, then I’m already going to have trouble”. Putting warm-up Okino saves for last, “to get the feel”. As she put it, “it’s another main thing. If you don’t get it into the hole…” Yes, we laughed, that would be another critical element. Hitting it straight off the tee and making the putts drop.

Attending Moanalua High School, Eimi Koga is a sophomore. She came into the Jenny K a week after winning the David S. Ishii HHSSA Championship at the Waikoloa Kings course under extremely windy conditions where she had to “keep the ball low and let it roll”.

Koga didn’t have an easy time at Waikoloa but says, she just kept reminding herself  “you never know what happens until you put the ball into the 18th hole”.  Advice any of us should take to heart when the going gets rough.

Her goals include playing college golf and playing on the professional tour. Koga says she s starting to figure out which college she wants to attend, and golf team she’d like to play on but she added she has narrowed it down to California, because “she doesn’t like cold places”.

Here’s the link to the scores in all of the flights:
http://www.mpcchi.org/club/scripts/library/view_document.asp?GRP=13443&NS=JKW&APP=80&DN=JKWRESULTS

I was happy to see my friend Susan Awaya finish 2nd in her flight.

Congratulations to all of the players competing and if you’d like to be in the Jenny K. Wilson, you must enter early. There was a wait list again this year.

Of course none of the events held anywhere in the world, whether on the PGA Tour, LPGA Tour or the events held in Hawaii would be possible without the volunteers. They spend their time organizing or working to make the event a success.

At the Jenny K, this was one of the ways of showing those volunteers how important they are.

Someone asked me in an interview recently, “If you could change anything about the game, or industry, what would it be?” My reply: lower the testosterone level. I mean that in lots of areas of the game but in particular, in the pro shops of most golf courses. How else are we going to make it a more family, or female, friendly environment?

Here’s a link to the whole interview, by Elizabeth Noblitt, creator and owner of ShiShi Putter:
http://www.shishiputter.com/swinging-on-the-airwaves.html
If you miss “Golf For Women”, this is a very good site to bookmark.

You can feel the difference at Mid Pacific Country Club when it’s the Jenny K Wilson Invitational. This premier women’s event in Hawaii is all about the competition but there is a whole lot of laughter and good cheer in the air. The closing party brings the women and girls together to dance, play music and share their stories.

The 2011 Jenny K. Invitational book is ready, if you want to order yours.
http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/2205446

USGA QUALIFIERS

Final U.S Open qualifier was held at Kauai Lagoons. Ben Fox of Studio City, California, made it worth his while to fly over.  He won with a 69. Hawaii’s Matthew Pakkala of Honolulu won 1st Alternate in a one-hole playoff with Mark Sheibach of Bermuda Dunes, CA.

Hawaii residents going on to Sectional qualifying on the mainland are:
from Maui, Kirk Nelson and Kyle Hayashi, both shot 74 at King Kamehameha and from the Big Island of Hawaii Erik Dugas shot a 70 at Waikoloa Kings' Course.


On Oahu, Skye Inakoshi shot a 72 at Hoakalei Golf Course designed by Ernie Els. To win the local but the 15-year-old Inakoshi did not advance from the Sectional he played at in Japan.

This month, we’ll know how all Hawaii qualifiers do in their US Open Sectional events, including for University of Hawaii golf team member Pierre-Henri Soero and Hawaii Pearl Open winner John Ellis.

Poipu Bay Golf Course hosted the 2011 U.S. Women’s Open Sectional Qualifier. In breezy weather conditions, participants played qualifier at 6,391 yards. 12 year old, yes, 12-year-old Mariel Galdiano of Pearl City qualified and is on her way to play in the U.S. Women’s Open at The Broadmoor in Colorado on July 7-10. Alice Kim of Honolulu is first alternate and Kelli Oride of Lihue is second alternate. Most of the Hawaii entrants started as junior golfers: Kelli Oride, Ciera Min, Alina Ching, Nani Yanagi, Allisen Corpuz, Margaret Min, Brittany Fan, Alice Kim, Kacie Komoto, Cyd Okino, Mariel Galdiano.

Nani Yanagi of Hilo won the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Qualifier and TJ Kua of Lihue captured top honors at the U.S. Amateur Public Links Qualifier (APL). Both events held at the Poipu Bay Golf Course on Kauai. Allisen Corpuz from Honolulu won a sudden death play-off against Ciera Min of Hilo to earn her spot. Next up for the winners, the Championships at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Bandon, Oregon, June 27-July 2.

IMPORTANT REMINDER

If you want to play in the U.S Junior Amateur Qualifying or the U.S Girls’ Junior Qualifying, you must get your entry into the USGA by 11 AM HAWAII time on June 1st. Those two events will be contested at the Makai Course at St. Regis on June 20th

If you want to play in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Qualifying, you must have your entry in by June 29th at 11 AM HAWAII time. That qualifier will be contested on the Big Island at Waikoloa King’s course.

UCLA – STEPHANIE KONO’S TEAM - WON THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

 

The UCLA women’s golf team was ranked No. 2 in the nation going into the championship and with the weather conditions, it wasn’t an easy victory but the Bruins brought home UCLA’s third NCAA title in women’s golf.
The title is Head Coach Carrie Forsyth’s second National Championship as UCLA head coach.

From UCLA Magazine: "This was huge for us," Forsyth says. "I'm just really proud. We had some struggles on the front nine and we just kept telling ourselves that our rounds were kind of the same. We just made more birdies in the other rounds and we weren't making any birdies. Then things started to go when Stephanie got it back to one-over. Then Lee got one and we just started making some birdies and it just sort of turned the tide a little bit. But it was still really close."

In the link below, you can see the video clips Kono has made about her team’s victory:
http://www.uclabruins.com/sports/w-golf/mtt/kono_stephanie00.html

WHAT’S OLD BECOMES NEW AGAIN

The concept behind the Polara golf ball sounds great. The way the dimples are designed, the ball is going to go straight, eliminating your hook or your slice. That, of course, assumes the golfer hit it toward the target. Otherwise it’ll go straight to the trees, the water, the bunker. You get it.

And you lose distance using the Polara. The creator of this golf ball, who I invited to talk about it on my golf show, was quick to point out the ball was for “recreational” use only. He actually got irritated with me for not having gone out and rigorously tried out his product and sung its praises. That’s not what I do. I introduce myself, and my audience, to the “stuff” people are producing in the golf business, whether it’s clothes or golf balls.

Some of the “stuff” is interesting and I leave it up to the listener to make his/her own decision.

Well here’s a bit of a history lesson for those of us to young to remember the 80’s. 

This Polara ball was introduced those many years ago and the United States Golf Association ruled the ball “Non-conforming.” The ball doesn't conform to USGA rules – and that means anyone who wants to keep a USGA handicap, can’t use the ball. Whether you consider yourself a recreational golfer or not, it states on every scorecard "THE USGA RULES OF GOLF APPLY" so if you use a Polara ball, your score will not count toward your handicap unless your are cheating.

Sore subject for USGA and former Executive Director of the USGA, Frank Hannigan, who wrote in “Golf World” May 23rd issue about his experience with the Polara ball. His ire raised after of The New York Times featured the Polara on its front page in early May of this year.

In the 80’s, after the Polara was deemed “non-conforming” the manufacturer sued the USGA and the Golf Ball Manufacturers Association claiming they conspired against Polara violating federal anti trust statutes. Jury agreed awarding a large sum of money. 4 million. The judge reversed the jury verdict, a very unusual move in general, and something the judge hearing the case had never done before. He wrote the USGA has every right to create and amend its own rules. Polara appealed and instead of facing another jury trail, USGA settled for 1.4 million. But the ball is still non-conforming.

Since The New York Times article, the Polara is flying off the shelves. Remember, to make it work, you have to move the ball to make the arrow point in the direction you want the ball to go. A violation of the rules of golf. So you’re using a non-conforming ball and violating the rules of the game, and your score doesn’t count toward your handicap. But if you’re good with all of that, go for it.

EVERYONE’S GOT AN OPINION – AND THAT’S OKAY!!!

Took flak recently for tweeting that I was cheering for a player in an LPGA match play event. I'm one of those weirdos in the stands that says "Nice Play" when the "opposing team" makes a nice play! Immediately apologize to my stand mates. Self-preservation. But in the land of Twitter, one must accept that people are not going to appreciate your position or they’ll use your tweet to make points for themselves. As a journalist, I'm not rooting for any one person. 
As a human being, if a player happens to be close to my age - wherever she's from - I'm rooting for her. So shoot me. I couldn’t help but laugh when one person, joking, said I was being “ageist”.

Lee Westwood recently had a bit of an outburst and threatened to shut down his social media “Twitter” account. Seems a shame since it’s about the only way you and I would hear what the now former #1 in the world is thinking about without his thoughts being filtered through a PR machine or a reporter’s interpretation.

Westwood said, “we get the odd idiot here and there – it’s just pathetic. I suppose it’s there to interact with people and give them an idea of stuff they might not ordinarily be able to engage with but people always take it too far and spoil it.”

I think US Open defending champion Graeme McDowell has the right attitude about it all, considering they are at the top of their profession. McDowell said, “I think abuse goes with the territory. 98% support and 2% nastiness. Every now and again I re-tweet to show how nasty people can be.” Graeme’s advice? Just don’t reply or better yet, block them.

Twitter isn’t a fad. It’s a new way to communicate. Coach Hank Haney uses it every day to answer golfer’s questions for help with their game. At the HP Byron Nelson, folks were encouraged to tweet from the event to share their experience of it. Some of the responses I saw included: “I’ve been living in Dallas all these years and the HP Byron Nelson Classic has never felt this real to me.” He was getting a front row view from wherever he was.

NEW NUMBER UNO

It was a pretty amazing BMW PGA on the European Tour where the playoff came down to former World #1 golfer Lee Westwood and the now #1 golfer in the world Luke Donald. In the playoff, Westwood landed on the green but the ball spun back and gravity took over rolling the ball right into the creek running through Wentworth. Shame to see the event end that way and there’s been a lot of controversy about the way Ernie Els redid Wentworth, putting the creek into play. But here it is – they all had to play the same golf course.

FATHER’S DAY

Every weekly magazine cover after David Toms victory after 144 grueling holes of golf is the photo of daddy David Toms getting bear hug from his son in the Crown Plaza at Colonial at Hogan’s alley. It’s got Toms hugging his son David, who had gone through the ups and downs of his Dad losing at TPC Sawgrass in The Players just the week ago. And at his hip, trying to give daddy the hug too is his daughter.  And I’m a daughter.

I had the pleasure of being interviewed twice this month. Once with Elizabeth Hoblitt, and I posted that in this article earlier.

The second interview was with Margarit Brigham. She is a mental golf coach and a yoga instructor who decided to do an interview show on blogttalkradio.

We had fun. There’s a lot about being a daughter and the importance of Dad in a girls life in the interview. The love and nurturing a father provides a girl child will help her make important decisions for the rest of her life, good decisions about men in particular and life in general.

Here’s the interview:

“Who is Danielle Tucker and what makes her Tick? My interview with her & how she developed her show” is the title: http://tobtr.com/s/1893301

If you’d like to follow me on Twitter - @TheGolfClub

PRESENT? 

If you’re looking for a custom made gift for your Dad or a friend – whether man or woman – you may like this idea. It comes as a ball marker or a ball mark repair tool or a necklace. They come as sets of three but you’ll get your first one free if you use the link below.

http://thegolfclub.photoballmarker.com/

Thanks to Ken and Char Barley for setting up this terrific present for my friends and fans.

See you “on top” the radio. (That’s how we say it in Hawaii.)

Thank you for your Mana and may you hit the sweet spot every time,

Danielle

PS You can hear “The Golf Club” radio show online at http://www.radiogolfclub.com/ or on one of these fine radio stations:
It’s “The Golf Club” show every Saturday morning at 7 AM on KGU FM 99.5 FM and KGU AM 760 AM on Oahu, KONI FM 104.7 on Maui, KTOH 99.9 FM on Kauai and on KPUA AM 670 in Hilo.