WEGMANS LPGA 

LOCUST HILL C. C.

ROCHESTER, NY

My player this week is Kathryn Marshal

Monday: Walked both Open qualifying courses and they're top notch. No "Lucky Lucy's" are going to make it here. They'll have to earn their spot in The Open.

Tuesday: What a day! We started out with a tap-in bird on our first hole and that's all she wrote. Not another one for the next 35 holes and our hopes for a spot in The Open were dashed. A good finish this week will ease the pain though.

And now the rest of the story. We played with Linda Ishi and Smriti Mehra. Let's take Smriti first. On the 4th hole at Webster, we played two different courses, she hit her tee ball left and was very close to the OB markers. We all came over for a look and it was clearly out. The ball was was within the confines of the OB stake but none of it was touching a part of the course. The stake itself is not part of the course so the boundary is the inside edge. Smriti called a USGA official for a ruling. I have nothing against octogenarians, he sure looked that age, but he was in no position to make this call. You cold tell he had a great deal of difficulty seeing the position of the ball. Trying to figure if this ball was in or out was a futile undertaking. He finally left it up to Smriti uttering "If it's touching the line it's in". Smriti quickly agreed that it was and played the shot making a bogey.

Linda was a different story. She had her boyfriend working for her and decided to take it easy on him and brought her Sunday bag instead of her tour bag. It didn't look as if she even had a full set of clubs and of course no room for extras like rain gear. Oh, did I say rain gear? Well, with four holes to go the skies opened up and started to pour! They were soaked to the bone in seconds.. All they could do was take it. The amazing thing is the forecast called for more rain, ended about an hour before we played, during the day. The pro-shop took a bite out of them afterward for some replacement clothing.

Getting back to the USGA. It was still raining upon our finish and the official scoring area was just a piece of patio furniture, table with umbrella and four chairs, outside. The USGA refused to move it indoors because this was the "official area" and was roped off for this purpose. You see, once you leave the area your score becomes official and boundaries need to be established. You would think they could improvise or at least plan ahead for this contingency. And another thing! The Webster course was clearly set-up on Monday to give us an idea of were it was to be played but the Ontario lay-out was not. All they said was that we were to play from the blue tee markers which was erroneous. We played much farther back.

Wednesday: Yesterday drained Kathryn so we just practiced for a couple of hours starting around 1:30 and called it a day. 

I had to go all the way back to Ontario C. C. to retrieve Kathryn's 3 wood head cover. It wouldn't have been a big deal to leave it but it was special. It's a replica of the Scottish flag and may be hard to replace. The trouble is, it's made for a driver and keeps falling off. A rubber band may solve this dilemma. 

Kudos to Laura Davies. She caddied in the Open qualifier for Mardi Lunn, carried the big tour bag and worked all 36 holes many in the rain!

Thursday: Shot 4 over which looks like it might be the cut.

We were paired with Shani Waugh and the birdie she made on the 16th hole would be hard to beat. The 16th is fairly short, about 360 yards, but was playing into a very strong wind. She dropped-kick her drive and it rolled down the fairway leaving her a 187 yard  uphill blind shot into the wind. She whistled a 3 iron to 20 feet above the hole and drained the putt. Outstanding!

Friday: The rain last night had us playing "lift clean and replace" but we couldn't take advantage. Our play was no better than the day before and didn't sniff the cut.

Unlike yesterday on the 16th, Shani ripped her drive down the middle and Kathryn queried "Were you a little nervous on that tee shot? Your divot is still there from yesterday!" Just a little jab between friends.

In the stranger than fiction category: Just as Riko Higashio, our other playing partner, was taking the club back in the middle of the 8th fairway my cell phone started ringing! I thought I had turned it off but must have forgot. Now for the strange part. It was Siew-Ai Lim calling to cancel the room I was holding for her at The Open. Siew-Ai is Riko's "big sister" in the LPGA's Big Sister program in which a veteran takes a rookie under her wing to help her throughout the year. How ironic.

I decided Kathryn and I had gone as far as we could and made the break after the round. When things aren't going smoothly it's time to change course. The writing was on the wall awhile back but I kept holding out hoping things would turn around. I wish her well and I'll be looking for another bag. 

Now for an example of totally inconsiderate behavior. Last week Giulia Sergas hired one of the tour caddies to work The Open qualifier held on Tuesday. He puts in all day walking two different courses and shows up bright and early only to be fired! She decided to take another guy and didn't bother to call him. Then on Wednesday she was searching for a caddy for the week and heard Bully was looking for a bag. She found him in the parking lot and hired him. Later that evening she calls him to say that her friend, another player, found her a caddy. Instead of honoring her commitment she axes Bully. Luckily, he made his way back to the course and picked up Marcy Hart. Otherwise, he would would have come up empty for the week. Don't equate all  professional golfers with professionalism. You ever find me working for her, just shoot me!