The Portland Classic is the oldest (1972) continuous tournament on the LPGA schedule. I go out to see it every year.

It rained for a while Thursday morning, but that didn’t bother anybody. I watched Madelene Sagstrom warm up and play a few holes. She hasn’t made a bogey in three rounds. She’s my fave, and five back going into the final round. I hope she finds a way to win.

I also followed the group of Lexi Thompson, Brooke Henderson, and In Gee Chun for a while. You do not have three more different swings. Lexi? She’s the Alpha female out there. I wish her game matched her presence. And I had never noticed this before. When she hits her driver, there is a moment when both feet are off the ground. No kidding! She missed the cut by one. I was also surprised at how tall In Gee Chun is. 5′ 9″.

Azahara Muñoz is very easy on the eyes. Photos you have seen of her don’t do her justice.

Both Thompson and Muñoz missed the cut by one shot. Here’s how it happened on Thursday morning.

Thompson duck-hooked her tee shot in #9, and had to play short of the green out of the rough. About forty yards from the pin now, with plenty of green to work with, she could have hit a bump-and-run, or flown it all the way. She did neither. A middling pitch landed short of the green and barely trickled onto the putting surface. Two putts, bogey, MC.

Muñoz hit her drive on #13 (par 5) onto an elevated surface bordering the fairway, and with a large tree blocking the way to the green. Instead of drawing the ball around the tree, she played a straight shot to the other side of the fairway, where there were more trees in her way. She tried to cut it too fine and her third hit a tree and dropped straight down about sixty yards away. Approach to the green, a chip and a putt, bogey, MC.

I’ll say what I said last year, from tee to green these gals hit the ball brilliantly, but around the green I saw some poor decision-making and just bad execution. On the PGA Tour, everyone out there has a ridiculous short game. You can’t say the about this Tour.

But the thing is from tee to green. Yes, there are a few sluggers out there, but most of the rest have a graceful, relaxed swing (much faster than it looks) that is very inspirational to golfers at our level. I don’t learn anything from Rory’s swing, but these gals teach me how to swing a golf club.