FLYING HIGH ON CONFIDENCE
Morgan Pressel’s swing changes have been in the public eye since her return from the Tour’s Asian swing earlier this season and has seen a dramatic change in results after working on keeping the club more out in front on her takeaway.
But the 27-year old says that it’s not so much the technicality of the changes that has helped her on the course but the new-found confidence it has given her.
“I think it’s just a confidence thing,” said Pressel. “I think it’s not standing up to the tee afraid of where the golf ball might go, but knowing on the next one I certainly can give myself a good opportunity to make birdie. So it’s really just a confidence thing and it’s nice to stand up to the tee with more confidence.”
Pressel has two top-3 finishes in her last five starts including a runner-up at the
Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic and a third-place finish at the ANA Inspiration. The Florida native is looking to break back into the winner’s circle for the first time since the 2008 Kapalua LPGA Classic and continues to work on transitioning her range work to the course.
“I mean it’s still a little bit in the middle,” said Pressel. “It regressed a little bit the last month or so, so I’ve kind of tried to go a little bit back to square one and really slow things down again and keep working on getting it where I’d like it to be, and it’s a hard thing to work on it a lot on the range and then take it to the golf course, so I’ve had to be patient with myself in that respect.”
“And so far it’s -- like I said, I hit some squirrely shots and those are kind of the ones where maybe I thought too much or I wasn’t comfortable with my club and wasn’t as free as I should be, and I can learn from that and move onto tomorrow,” she added.
CHANGE OF ATTITUDE
Min Lee came into her rookie season with high expectations of her first year on the
LPGA Tour. She had thoughts about winning and immediate success. But after missing four cuts out of her last five starts, the 19-year old found some solace in changing her attitude, of all places, at a 36-hole U.S. Women’s Open qualifier after the Kingsmill Championship. She finished one shot off earning a spot in the major championship and is first alternate from the Manakin-Sabot, Va. qualifier.
“I’ve been struggling for a while, like a couple weeks,” said Lee. “And then so last week is an off-week, and I was looking for like what’s different when I’m playing good at Epson and then here, and I kind of lost myself a little bit for the past few weeks. And then after Williamsburg, we played U.S. Open qualifier, and I just
changed my mind and I really enjoyed it, and I played really good, and I just bring the attitude here to today.”
Lee came to South Jersey right from her qualifier in Virginia on Monday and got in three practice rounds plus a pro-am round before day one of the event on Friday.
“This is my first time here, and after the qualifying school I just come straight to here and then stay a couple of days before this tournament,” said Lee. “I really like the golf course. The greens are very tiny and little, and it gets very windy. But it’s windy in Taiwan, too, so…I really like.”
Lee said she immediately knew the wind would be a factor this week after seeing thunderstorms her first day here then high winds on the second day. But it didn’t deter the Taiwan native one bit because she grew up playing in windy conditions in her native country.
“I know how to deal with it, but, well, just be patient,” said Lee.
Lee is trying to improve on her season-best finish, T24 at the Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic back in February.
HOLDING OUT ON ANY JINX
In what has become commonplace over the last four weeks, 17-year-old Canadian
Brooke Henderson, playing on a sponsor’s exemption, has again played her way
into contention with a 3-under-par 68 on Friday and sits just two shots back of her
idol, Morgan Pressel.
It was a Henderson and Pressel battle four weeks ago in San Francisco at the
Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic where Pressel lost in a playoff to Lydia Ko and
Henderson finished one shot back in solo third. Henderson again played her way
into contention over the weekend in Dallas three weeks ago at the Volunteers of
America North Texas Shootout before a disappointing final round pushed her into a tie for 13th.
The patience Henderson displayed Friday was particularly impressive in an up-and-down round. She bogeyed her second hole of the day but immediately followed with a birdie. On the day, she posted an eight birdie, five bogey round that she closed with a birdie at the ninth and feels like the lessons she’s learned the last month have her game in position to challenge on the weekend.
“I think my game is right there,” Henderson said. “I just need to get a little more consistent throughout my game and just keep it going. And I’m excited to be in the positions that I have been in the last couple of weeks and playing with great players and seeing my name up on the leaderboard, and hopefully that continues.”
On the season Henderson’s yet to miss a cut in four starts and has three consecutive top-25 finishes, a fact Henderson’s proud of but won’t be celebrating.
“I don’t want to jinx anything, so hopefully I’ll have a good round tomorrow and stay clear,” Henderson said.
AIRTIMES THIS WEEK
Golf Channel will broadcast all the action at the ShopRite LPGA Classic with airtimes listed below:
May 30 3:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
May 31 3:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
All times listed are Eastern
FREE BAG GIVEAWAY
Brooke Henderson’s caddie this week comes with many titles. Best friend. Sister. Epson Tour player. She’s also free. There will be no percentage cut or standard fee paid by Brooke this week. Call it the sisterly discount, as she’s got her sister, Brittany, on the bag this week. Brooke caddied for Brittany last week on the Epson Tour and she’s returning the favor this week.
“It was nice having her there,” Brooke said. “She’s definitely a calming effect, and there was a lot going on today, and it was nice just to stay down to earth and keep it going.”
Brittany says Brooke typically wants to take a bit more aggressive of a line than she’d be comfortable for but she’s not about to try to pull back the reigns as Brooke’s caddie.
“She usually is able to execute the shot,” Brittany said, “So it works out.”
However, they’re not quite sure how next week is going to work out caddie wise. That’s because both are in the field next week at the Manulife LPGA Classic as sponsor’s exemptions to play in front of their home crowd. Bunk, as he’s
known, is a family friend that has caddied for Brooke previously so he’ll be on one bag and their dad, Dave, will be on the other bag. They just haven’t decided who is going with who yet, but they’ll get to that at some point. In the meantime, they’re just stoked to return to the first of two stops in Canada on the LPGA Tour.
“I think it’s going to be awesome, and I can’t wait for people from my hometown probably to come and watch and bethere and to have support,” Brittany said. “It’s going to be awesome. I can’t imagine a better debut for me on the LPGA,
and the support for both of us is awesome.”
Both being in the same field, though, isn’t a rarity despite six years in age separating the two. Both were in the field at the Epson Tour’s Florida’s Natural Charity Classic in late March and both finished tied as runner-ups. The Hendersons also finished one and two at a Florida Sun Coast event in early March with Brooke topping the field and Brittany finishing just a spot behind.
OF NOTE
Amy Yang withdrew after 10 holes in the first round due to illness and Lisa McCloskey withdrew after the first round.
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