The Portland Classic is the oldest (1972) continuous tournament on the LPGA schedule. I go out to see it every year.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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″.<\/p>\n
Azahara Mu\u00f1oz is very easy on the eyes. Photos you have seen of her don’t do her justice.<\/p>\n
Both Thompson and Mu\u00f1oz missed the cut by one shot. Here’s how it happened on Thursday morning.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Mu\u00f1oz 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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, … Continue reading A Day With the LPGA at the Portland Classic<\/span>