Went to the Futures Tour 8/21-23/09

[Carl Spackler]

Went to the Harrisburg PA Futures Tour event this past weekend (Turkey Hill Classic, 8/21-23/09). Friday was rained out as of about 11:30 (before I arrived), so the 1st round was completed on Saturday, the 2nd completed on Sunday, and the final on Monday morning (Saturday and Sunday called due to darkness, not weather).

Since there are generally no scoreboards (other than near the clubhouse), going to a Futures Tour event is kind of like watching random episodes of “Battlestar Galactica” (this is a great show, but what the hell is going on?), so what follows are just anecdotes.

-Thai/Boilermaker non-sighting:

Onnarin “Moo” Sattayabanphot has been MIA from the last few events, and I was told that she’s quit US golf, won’t go to LPGA Q-school, and instead is trying to make the JLPGA (and has already passed the first JLPGA Q-school tournament). (For those who care about this sort of thing, take this info for what it is, total hearsay. LPGA Q-school deadline is in a couple of weeks, and the JLPGA Q-school “info” has already either happened/not happened.)

-Dr. Jekyll and Mina Harigae:

Oh, to be 19 and to have made in six months the kind of money it would take your burger-flipping friends 6 years to make! I followed Mina for a few holes during Saturday’s second round, and noticed she was very happy and relaxed, chatting with her caddie about the kinds of things any expecting-to-be-rich teenager would chat about with her middle-aged employee. Of course, at this point she was at/near the top of the leaderboard and making 5-10 foot putts.

(Up to that point I had variously watched 12 players putt on 19 greens, and the one thing that stood out was that 6-footers were very likely to miss, usually an inch wide or 2 inches short. And this included such “name” players as former exempt LPGAers Virada “Oui” Nirapathpongporn and Seo-Jae Lee, future exempt LPGAer Jean Reynolds, Ladies Asian Golf Tour multiple winner and non-exempt LPGAer Pornanong “Waen” Phatlum, and former Curtis Cupper Jenny Suh. In fact, in the few holes I watched Jean Reynolds, she gave up 2 strokes by missing very makeable 5-7 footers, and those 2 strokes ultimately cost her the tournament:

Turkey Hill Classic

In defense of the players, the greens were soggy, as evidenced by the way approach shots stuck.)

Oh, to be 19 and to cough up a tournament that was all-but won! The final round was completed Monday morning, with Mina, leading by 3, in the final group and starting on 11. After an unplanned tour of downtown Harrisburg, I arrived at the 15th green just before Mina gave up her lead on it by missing a 5-foot par save. Apparently, she had left her putting at some earlier hole (according to the local paper, she had “three-putted from just off the green on No. 14” to bogey it:

No Turkey at Felicita - PennLive.com
).

She had also left her joy, as she dropped a very noticeable something-bomb as she stalked off the green. (I say “noticeable something-bomb” because even though I couldn’t make out what she actually said, it caught my attention and for no good reason I immediately thought it was a Japanese curse word.) I mention this because (to me) it’s more interesting than “on the par 5 15th, lying 2 from a distance she should’ve been lying 1, from the soggy rough she hit a laser approach that almost made it to the green” (which is true), and more importantly because it prompted a nearby stranger to chuckle to his friend that she had dropped several f-bombs earlier in the round.

There are now dozens of unreliable witnesses to possibly immature behavior by Mina Harigae. Hey Mina, next year you’ll have TV cameras on you and there will be millions of reliable witnesses (well, since it’ll be the LPGA, a camera and thousands of witnesses) and a permanent record of whatever you say and do!

Mina got her mojo back on 18. Needing an uphill 15-foot birdie to get into the playoff, she missed by an inch, leaving a 5-foot comeback, which she drilled. Nice 15-footer, and nicer comeback, since she could’ve mailed it in.

-Playoff hole, Samantha Richdale vs. Amanda Mathis:

The par 4 18th's fairway is above the tee box, and the left side is alot more above it. Samantha hit a low rocket left that caught the rough and it just stopped, about 160 yards from the pin. Amanda hit onto the fairway, ending 120 yards from the pin. A right/front bunker protected the right/front pin, and Samantha put her approach short into the rough on the backside of the sand trap. (If she had hit it 2 feet right, it would’ve been in the trap.) Amanda hit her approach to about the same position. Samantha chipped to within 2-inches, Amanda (who based on her body language had a bad lie) chipped to 4-feet, and missed the putt to extend the playoff.

-Ashley Grier, Sergio Garcia’s evil spawn:

After addressing her ball, this young lady went through club and body motions that lasted anywhere from 25-50 seconds. No big deal, except the course was swarming with small bugs and consistently by 30 seconds several were crawling on my eyeglass lenses and alot more were on the underside of my cap’s bill, with several disappearing from sight as they headed for my forehead.

-Friday anecdotes:

1) While minding my own business, hoping play would resume and just chatting with a volunteer, I was stung by a bee that neither of us knew was flying around.

Which disproves one thing my mother taught me as a child that even then I figured was BS (that if you ignore a bee it won’t sting you). I now check under my bed before I go to sleep.

2) I watched many of the players drive out of the parking lot. At least 1/2 the cars weren’t rentals, with some of the plates from as far away as Arizona and California, and a couple of the cars were packed so efficiently they looked like closets-on-wheels.

[RainDelay]

To follow up on Mina Harigae. Let me say this. She is a great player. However, her attitude and foul language is so bad, it is embarrassing. She makes it uncomforable for her playing partners to even play with her. I'm not trying to be mean, but she is easily the worst "attitude" player I have ever seen. You can't keep dropping F-bombs that are loud enough to make a sailor blush, and not eventually have some consequences. It is unacceptable.

[LoJo]

Originally Posted by RainDelay

To follow up on Mina Harigae. Let me say this. She is a great player. However, her attitude and foul language is so bad, it is embarrassing. She makes it uncomforable for her playing partners to even play with her. I'm not trying to be mean, but she is easily the worst "attitude" player I have ever seen. You can't keep dropping F-bombs that are loud enough to make a sailor blush, and not eventually have some consequences. It is unacceptable.

I have heard similar comments about Mina's attitude, etc.

Doesn't the Futures Tour (LPGA) give out fines for such things..."conduct unbecoming a professional"....? They need to slap her in the wallet.

Carl ....thanks for the good report, which was very entertaining.

[Saint-Just X]

It looks like Mina is going to be fun to watch next year.

And that was a tremendous report by the original poster.

Bees only sting if they feel threatened...

Pax Vobiscum
Saint-Just X

[Blue]

Originally Posted by LoJo

I have heard similar comments about Mina's attitude, etc.

Doesn't the Futures Tour (LPGA) give out fines for such things..."conduct unbecoming a professional"....? They need to slap her in the wallet.

Carl ....thanks for the good report, which was very entertaining.

I have heard the same thing about Mina. I've also heard she comes from a super wealthy family, so the money she made in six months might not be that important to her.

Thanks for the report Carl.

[NTB]

I would like to hear more about the futures tour.
Thanks

[greentee]

Originally Posted by notaxbill

I would like to hear more about the futures tour.
Thanks

I well second that, they are the stars just coming into that world view, and will make the LPGA greater then it now is.

Yes, maybe obvious info that everyone knows.... but often we get little from the Futures story side, and usually its often after the fact and the player is already on the LPGA. Thanks Carl. :-)

[MarinePaul]

Nice report, Carl. Thank you for the insight.

[LoJo]

Originally Posted by notaxbill

I would like to hear more about the futures tour.
Thanks

NTB....you can subscribe to a weekly newsletter sent by email about the Futures Tour. Go to Duramed FUTURES Tour - The LPGA's Developmental Tour and at the bottom left hand corner of the page there's a link to "Subscribe."

I have attended quite a few Futures Tour events and it is truly a venue to see future LPGA stars.

[NTB]

Originally Posted by LoJo

NTB....you can subscribe to a weekly newsletter sent by email about the Futures Tour. Go to Duramed FUTURES Tour - The LPGA's Developmental Tour and at the bottom left hand corner of the page there's a link to "Subscribe."

I have attended quite a few Futures Tour events and it is truly a venue to see future LPGA stars.

Thanks LOJO I will do that