Golf Preview for 2015

[sagegrouse]

This is a three-part story.

PGA Tour: Rory won PGA Tour player of the year on a vote by the players. He won three times (two majors), was consistently in the top ten, led the Tour in money won and scoring average, so the award is no surprise. That said, the 2015 PGA Tour begins its "wraparound" schedule next week with the Fry.com tournament in Napa, CA. The tour plays six weeks and then takes a seven-week break over the holidays, before resuming January 5 with two tournaments in Hawaii.

The Masters is April 6-12, the weekend after the Final Four in Indianapolis. The U.S. Open is at Chamber Bay, WA, June 15-21. The Open returns to St. Andrews July 13-19, and the PGA Championship returns to Whistling Straits, WI, August 10-16. To conclude the 2015 season, the U.S. President's Cup team will re-enact MacArthur's famous Inchon landing by the Marines in 1950, playing at the Nicklaus Club in Incheon, near Seoul, S. Korea.

Duke Women's Golf: The defending NCAA champs return Sandy Choi (S. Korea) and Celine Boutier (France) from the team that won last May, as well as reserves, Yi Xiu from China and Irene Jung from Nova Scotia. 2014 players Laetitia Beck, Alexandra Cangrejo, and Yu Liu have moved on, and all three are playing in Q School as we write. The 2015 team has completed two matches in its fall schedule, placing third out of 23 at the Cougar Classic in Charleston and fifth out of 12 at the Annika Intercollegiate in Orlando. Individual results were very good: Sandy Choi won the Cougar Classic and freshman Leona Maguire was second and Celine third at the Annika event. All of the seven Duke players are international, including the Maguire twins from Ireland and Gurbani Singh from New Delhi.

Duke Men's Golf: The men finished 7th in a tournament at the Ocean Course on Kiawah and 11th at the Dick's Sporting Goods event in Tennessee. Adam Wood was 8th at Kiawah. Following (or maybe as part of the Dick's even), Duke halved a match with Mizzou. Others can fill in the huge gaps in my reportage on the men's team.

BTW, snowing like crazy today in Steamboat, so no golf for the Grouse this PM.

[BD80]

... Duke Women's Golf: The defending NCAA champs return Sandy Choi (S. Korea) and Celine Boutier (France) from the team that won last May, as well as reserves, Yi Xiu from China and Irene Jung from Nova Scotia. ... All of the seven Duke players are international, including the Maguire twins from Ireland ...

Impressive. From GoDuke.com:

" Leona and Lisa Maguire ... have been stars on the European scene for several years, ... Leona is a winner of 20 amateur titles and has already played in the 2010 and 2012 Curtis Cup as a member of the Great Britain & Ireland squad. Lisa is a two-time member of the European Junior Solheim Cup team in 2009 and 2011, played on the Great Britain & Ireland U.S. Curtis Cup squad in 2010 and was the 2011 European Ladies Amateur and Spanish Ladies Amateur champion."

[sagegrouse]

Laetitia, Alexandra and Yu Liu are participating in Stage II qualifying, where the top 80 advance to the final selection tournament in early December. Alexandra and Yu Liu are in the top 80, but Laetitia has a lot of ground to make up. There are two more rounds to go.

[sagegrouse]

Yu Liu and Alexandra Cangrejo are tied for 48th at +2. After three rounds and with one to go, +4 is the cut line for the top 80, who go to Q School finals in December. Laetitia Beck has some work to do, sitting at +7, but she was under par in today's round and may make a charge.

[throatybeard]

the PGA Championship returns to Whistling Straits, WI, August 10-16.

I love that course so much. It's so beautiful, and so linksy, but the water is fresh instead of salty. It's like the Reese Witherspoon of golf courses.

(No, I don't know what that means).

The Great Lakes are the greatest physical treasure of this nation, and so little valued by its people.