THE MCDONALD'S LPGA CHAMPIONSHIP

DUPONT COUNTRY CLUB

WILMINGTON, DE 

My player this week is Yu Ping Lin

Tuesday: Walked the course yesterday and played 18 today. These are the absolute fastest greens we've played this year. The rough is so deep you can't see the rakes around the bunkers!

It's been raining here for the last month with more on the way tonight and tomorrow. The fairways are soft resulting in a very long playing course. They plan on rolling the greens to firm them up. Combine the two and the short hitters will have difficulty holding the greens hitting long irons and woods. A good short game is a must this week.

If they don't top off the rough, which I doubt they will, you will see many wedges back to the fairways. Everyone wishing to see a long and difficult course, for a change, will be delighted.

Wednesday: Pro-Am was cancelled due to heavy overnight rain . I drove around the perimeter of the course and there was a tremendous amount of standing water. The 8th hole, a par 3, had a  large temporary lake in front of it. I can't see how they can play the ball down tomorrow or cut the rough. The practice area might open later but scattered showers are expected which might prevent that from happening.

Hit the Wal-Mart this afternoon for some rubbers. No, the ones that protect your shoes! Don't want to ruin my New Balance 608's.

Thursday: Teed off an hour late. I assume extra time was needed to ready the course. Talk about wet! Not much standing water but the course is mush. Windy and sunny this afternoon so it might dry out a bit before the next round of rain tomorrow.

We made the turn 5 over but brought it back to +3.We started betting on birdies and bogies and luckily I lost $4. This is the deepest rough I've seen. This is where the 9 wood comes in handy.

Played with Joanne Carner, all class, and Kate (Beetle) Golden. Joanne shot +5 and Kate a respectable +1.

Annika was just teeing off when I arrived and had a decent sized gallery which I'm sure grew as the day went along. She finished -1 and is in the hunt.

Friday: Made the cut on the nose. Shot another 3 over with poor tee balls, weak and right, leading the way. A long stint on the range afterward may have worked that out. We'll see tomorrow.

Big Mamma finished +9 and won't see the weekend. Kate finished level for the tournament and is in great shape. She may the best kept secret on tour, plenty of game and a great attitude.

The course was dried out quite a bit and played easier tee to green but the greens were much faster. Our group saw many 4-5 footers to save par.

Ran into Kim Saiki at the laundromat. Yes, the players do their own. Had a great conversation covering the tour, caddies and stuff in general.

Splitting tees tomorrow to beat the rain. Hope we get it in.

Saturday: A steady drizzle followed us from the range onto the course. We managed to play 4 holes before play was suspended. It really wasn't raining very hard but the course is saturated and the greens puddled up quickly.

Our time on the range seemed to carry over. This was the best Yu Ping hit it since I've worked for her. We were even for the day after making a 10 foot slider on 13.

We will resume play at 7:30 but the forecast doesn't look good. If it rains all night there is no way the course will be ready tomorrow morning. The plan is we will play on Monday if we don't finish.

Sunday: Wow, what a long day. Played 32 holes and finished 11 over with a 4 whack. 

It was amazing we played today. The rain stopped early and the grounds crew did a miraculous job getting the course ready. I was prepared to stay over till Monday but I'm glad it's over. 

I thought this tournament might be Annika's "White Whale" but she came through, beating Grace Park in a playoff. 

Kudos to the fans for coming out on such a soggy day. 

Staying over tonight but will leave early to walk the U.S. Open qualifying course near Akron OH. Sometimes days off are far and few between.