Final thoughts...

It's been 11 days since the end of the Lorena Ochoa Invitational, honestly I hadn't written anything about it because I had to clear my head. As you will notice, this entry differs from the previous ones, I tend to leave my opinion aside, something that will not happen this time. Having said that, Here are my final thoughts...

The golf course: as usual, it was spectacular. In great shape if you ask me, and I applaud the effort from all the people involved in the maintenance of the Guadalajara Country Club.

The organization: is obvious that the operations and logistics people have everything on sight. Seems like two years of experience with this same event, plus many more OSM has operated, have been the key to the proper functioning of the only LPGA tournament in Mexico.

The host: her game was not as consistent as people would have expected, and behind the scenes, Lorena seemed stressed, especially at the end of the first two rounds. I'm convinced of something: she thought this was a great opportunity to enjoy her event for the very first time, which is why Andres (her husband) caddied for her. The first round just made the rest of the tournament a nightmare, and with a star-studded field is difficult to get close to the lead after two very inconsistent days.

The media center: great attention, I was surprised by the wonderful job the volunteers did, as in previous years this area was solely attended by OSM's staff. A round of applause for the translator, this task is never easy, but he made it look pretty much like a kids' game.

 The winner: what a pleasant surprise! In Kyung Kim is one of the nicest and heart harming players I've ever met. As you probably know by now, she donated her $ 220,000 winner's check. Half of it will go to the Lorena Ochoa Foundation and the other half to a U.S. institution that hasn't been defined yet.

Fan and media favorite: Paula Creamer, by far. Before naming my reasons, I want to make clear that it's nothing personal against other players, but when you attend a press conference and one of the best golfers in the world speaks Spanish and interacts with the media, well, how can you compete with that? Now, take into consideration that during her autograph session she also spoke Spanish and smiled to everybody... Here, take a look and see for yourselves!

Property of Periódico Mural

Felicidades Michelle!

Great last day here in Guadalajara the people was amazing to all the players and the game was just amazing. Seems like every year the LOI improves and the team involved with the organization has done a fantastic job!

Morgan Pressel shot the best round of the day with a 67, 5 under, and finished T3.

Michelle started the day as co-leader along with fellow American Cristie Kerr at 10 under. Different from other tournaments, in which she had been in contention, Wie stayed focus from beginning to end and scored birdies on holes 1, 3, 7, 11 and 18, compared with two bogeys on 6 and 12.

On the other hand, Kerr was playing quite steady, she scored 36 in the front nine after a birdie on 3 and a bogey on 5. On the back nine she had wire-to-wire birdies in 10 and 11 but bogeyed 15 and 16 to finish even and tied for 3rd. along with Jiyai Shin and Morgan Pressel.

The runner up was Paula Creamer, who continued to falter on the green even when she had clear birdie opportunities. She opened her round with a birdie on 2 and continue to par the rest of the holes of the front nine. Then, she chipped on 10 and scored and eagle which put her tied for the lead with Kerr and Wie. Nevertheless she bogeyed 14 and pared 15. Finally on 16 she had an amazing approach which landed about 3 ft from the flagstick; eventually she birdied the hole.

By that time she was tied for the lead, again, with Michelle. Then on the par 3, 17, her tee shot went right and almost hit the bunker, she made a long birdie putt, but the ball kept its way and stopped about 4 ft from the hole, she missed her par putt too after the ball hit the lip of the cup.

Paula was forced to birdie 18 in order to put pressure on Wie and maybe extend regular play into sudden death. Her approach passed the flagstick and found the rough and she pared it.

On 18 Michelle went for the green in 2 but her ball was caught in the right side bunker; her third shot stopped about 2 ft from the hole and made birdie, she finished 13 under overall and won her first LPGA title.

Sweet youth!

She’s a 21 year old from South Korea and she managed to make it to the top of the Lorena Ochoa Invitational. Jiyai Shin, who’s already clinched the Rookie of the Year Award, is seeking to become the LPGA’S best player this year, which will end with Mexico’s Lorena Ochoa three year’s streak as Player of the Year.

The LOI is the last stop of the LPGA in Mexico this year.

Shin didn’t have a single mistake in the second round and she made 6 birdies un holes 3, 7, 9, 13, 14 and 15. She was pretty relaxed and keep it cool the whole day. Today was key for her cause she claimed the first position and has a three stroke advantage over Paula Creamer AND Michelle Wie.

The “Pink Panther” couldn’t do much today and her round was quite inconsistent, her game on the green was messy and couldn’t seal some clear birdie opportunities. Nevertheless she managed to stay in contention.

There was someone out there who had a great round and it was Michelle Wie, who signed a 66 scorecard, for an 8 under overall. Even when she two birdies on the front nine, the good stuff came at the back: she eagled 10, par 5, and then birdies 12 and 16. She had some trouble with her tee shot on 17 but she mended the mistake on 18 with another birdie.

Tomorrow the last group will display these three players, who have made it clear that the LPGA youth is on fire!

Lorena’s nightmare?

Is Guadalajara Country Club Lorena’s next big nightmare, just as Bosque Real Country Club, where the MasterCard Classic was held? Well, I hope not, anyways she’s not having so much luck out there!

 World number 1 had good birdie chances but her putting isn’t working.

While I was at the Media Center watching the live coverage I could see a very frustrated Lorena, she was battling hole in and hole out, but nothing was happening, at least not good things.
She’s 1 under and trailing Song-Hee Kim by 6 which isn’t that much if we consider it’s just the first day BUT it’s not like the leaders will slow down. So, Lorena needs to focus if she wants to have a chance to win her own tournament.
The amazing part of this is that people routes for her no matter the result, they’ve always been there for her and she knows it. She said during the press conference, “I feel sad and I want to say I’m sorry, cause I know they want to see me in the lead”.
By the end of the day she went straight into the putting green with her coach, Rafael Alarcón, apparently this helps her, “It’s a good way to leave the course with a smile on your face because you can have some good shots even when it’s practice”.
Hopefully she’ll have a spectacular comeback just as she did last week in Japan. She really needs a good round tomorrow to get some momentum. I’m sure there are lots of emotions but she needs to keep it calm.

Here come the Asians!

As it has been for the last couple of seasons the girls from the far far East have been dominating the leaderboard of almost every single LPGA tournament.

LOI’s field features 15 Asian players, compared with only
2 Mexicans and 6 Europeans.

Son Hee Kim had a great start, she opened her 65 round with a birdie on number 3 par 5. Kim, who has 10 top ten finishes this year, continue to card birdies on 5, 7, 8, 9 and 10. Then, she had to settle with pars from 11 to 17 and finally closed with another birdie. With this round she tied the course record which was set last year by Brittany Lang.

Jiyai Shin, who is close to become POY, birdied 1 after a great approach shot and continue with the pace in 3, 5 and 6. Nevertheless, she bogeyed 8 but managed to comeback on 10, then she would do the same on 12 and 13. She was one stroke behind clubhouse leader Kim, when she bogeyed 16 to finish 5 under for the day.

Another Asian player who is up there is Eun-Hee Ji who also had a good round, with few mistakes and very solid finish. She managed to birdie 1, 9, 10, 14 and 18 compared with only one bogey on 5.

Still, there are two players chasing Kim, one of the kids on the block, Paula Creamer, who’s putting is definitively getting stronger; and a Latino player who isn’t precisely Lorena Ochoa, she’s Maria José Uribe who had a solid 67 round with only 1 bogey on 14.

The youngsters…

Yesterday Michelle Wie, Paula Creamer and Jiyai Shin attended a press conference and talked about their expectations about the tournament. These young players are hoping to take the trophy home for very special reasons.

Paula Creamer and Michelle Wie were Solheim Cup team partners. Jiyai Shin will play her first LOI.

First of all, Michelle is seeking her first victory in the LPGA and is hoping to make it happen this week. “I feel like I've done well, but I want to do better… I expect myself to try my hardest here…to win, that would be my No. 1 goal”. BTW, Michelle is still dealing with her ankle, although she’s sure this won’t affect her game.

Then we have Paula Creamer who has had the toughest season since she became pro. As you might know she’s been dealing with some virus which won’t let her eat much and she has to be extra careful, “I brought about 40 pounds of food. It's not Mexico, but my body can't handle it right now”. So she needs to focus a bit more and try to do her very best to get a good result here.

Finally, Jiyai Shin who decided to come just to grab some POY points, which she probably will achive, has been playing great and maybe that momentum will put her in the final group on Sunday.

We’ll see what happens, stay tuned and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, we’ll have live coverage through that media.

The hostess…

A few hours ago Lorena Ochoa appeared at the interview room to attend all the media that have been gathering at the Guadalajara Country Club since yesterday.

Lorena seeks her fourth victory this year which might lead her to grab the Player of the Year Award.

World #1 came with Angela Stanford, who is the defending champion who talked about her mom’s breast cancer, “she had her last chemo treatment October 30. Surgery is set for December 1. So I think we have some momentum now and she's excited about getting through it. She's doing great”.

Then, Ochoa was questioned about her irregular season and the fact that her responsibilities as hostess might  blemish her game, “ I'm going to enjoy the moment and I'm going to try to play one day at a time and not worry too much about that and just to play my own golf”.

Both players had good rounds in the past, so now it’s time to wait and see if the can contend for the trophy.

All set

Next Thursday the Lorena Ochoa Invitational (LOI) will take place at the Guadalajara Country Club. The course seems to be in pretty good shape, all the stands are settled and some players have already played the course.

This is the second edition of the LOI, in 2008 Angela Stanford won the event..

Today is the last day that this place will be so calm and calm, because all the activities that involve media will start tomorrow. There are some press conferences scheduled with players such as Lorena Ochoa, Angela Stanford, Michelle Wie and Paula Creamer. It’s almost a fact that by Thursday things will a complete circus.