Canadian Women’s Open Saturday: Wie-Shin Showdown in the Works
Even though Michelle Wie missed more greens yesterday than in the previous 2 days combined and gave back every 1 of her 3 birdies with a corresponding bogey in rainy conditions, she kept her hopes for a wire-to-wire win at the Canadian Women's Open ali...
Reassessing the Quality of Play on the LPGA Relative to the Futures Tour: Observations and Implications
I've heard it said that the top third of the players on the Futures Tour are at least as good as the bottom third on the LPGA, but I wonder if the conventional wisdom is undervaluing the quality of play on the LPGA's developmental tour. Consider 1st t...
A Tale of Two Twenty-Year-Olds: Mina Harigae and Mika Miyazato
Over the last few years, I've been keeping my eye on Mina Harigae and Mika Miyazato, both of whom were top junior and amateur golfers in their respective countries (the U.S. and Japan) and are now relatively new professionals at age 20 on the LPGA Tour...
On Yuko Mitsuka and Angela Park
When reading about Yuko Mitsuka (三塚 優子)'s 2-stroke slow-play penalty during the 1st round of the Salonpas Cup last week, her tearful protest by walking off the course, the huge fine (2 million yen or around $20K), and her multiple apologies a...
Blow Your Nose for Peace
I attended yesterday's (2 May 2010) anti-nuke demonstration in Manhattan, at which the Japanese contingent out-numbered all others by three or four to one. Some of the Japanese were handing out small packets of facial tissue, like this:I can't read Jap...
Sakaki Rides a Dolphin in the New Savanna
Hey kids! I've set up a new blog, just around the corner. It's called New Savanna. And it's got photos and writing AND, a longish piece about a dolphin ride that I couldn't post at That Other Place. It's got about 10 seconds or so in Azumanga Daioh, on...
Testing 1 2 3
Nina Paley is the creator of Mimi & Eunice and is releasing them using a copyleft license.
On Yu Na…and T-Joh!
I hope everyone reads Happy Fan's fantastic essay on Olympic gold medalist figure skater Yu Na Kim. It provides a great window into the difficulties and pressures of not only training to become a world-class athlete, but to have the hopes and dreams o...
Hey, It Is Tough Out There
At the risk of incurring the wrath of Ryan (Mr. Ballengee if you're nasty!), I wanted to share something I've noticed lately about the LPGA. Consider the roles that illness, injury, and family crisis have played in the lives and the games of the top f...
The 2 Extremes of LPGA Life
It makes a weird kind of sense that the California sectional qualifier for LPGA Q-School is taking place this week opposite the Samsung World Championship. The former's at Mission Hills, site of the Kraft Nabisco Championship, while the latter's at To...
