Martin Gets Positively Mental
It’s no surprise Mo Martin can spin a horrendous weather forecast into a positive this week and says that mentally preparing for the tough conditions at the Women’s British Open is all between the ears. Asked if she is a good poor weather player, Martin said she has good memories of playing well.
“Actually, I was thinking today in college, one of my best finishes was in horrendous weather,” said Martin. “And so I think it keeps you in the moment. You have to have the correct attitude going into it for sure.”
“I mean, I think some players are out of it from the get go because they don’t really want to be out there and they know they are kind of miserable on the first tee,” said Martin. “So I think if you just have to have the mindset, it’s going to be playing longer and it’s going to be playing differently when the showers turn off and when they turn off. And the wind can switch quite a bit out here. It completely turns the holes around. It’s going to be a good challenge but I’ve played some very good rounds in bad weather.”
The defending champion made it very clear on her outlook for the week and has a strong hold on her mental approach to managing what will be thrown her way.
“Prefer this? I’m going to prefer whatever we have because I don’t have a choice,” said Martin. “Yes, right now, I’d prefer rain.”
Rolex Rankings No. 1 Spot Up For Grabs
Inbee Park has held the No. 1 spot in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings for seven weeks since overtaking Lydia Ko for the top spot after her win at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship but her reign is at stake this week at Turnberry. Ko is the only player who can unseat Park for No. 1.
Lydia Ko can take over No. 1 if:
She wins AND Inbee Park finishes in solo 21st or worse and pending ties.
The Dumbo Slam
It’s been nicknamed the “Dumbo Slam.” Others are simply calling it the “Global Slam.” Or to make it even simpler, it’s totally acceptable to just call it the “In Gee Slam.”
Three months. Three tours. Three major championship titles.
What 20-year-old In Gee Chun has done over the last two and half months is simply unheard of. She first won the season’s biggest major on the JLPGA – World Ladies Championship Salonpas Cup – by four strokes in mid-May and then came over to the United States three weeks ago and won the U.S. Women’s Open in her first ever start in that event. Then, last week, on the KLPGA, she won one of that Tour’s majors – Hite Jinro Championship – by three shots.
And those three wins – each major championships on their respective Tour – weren’t her only wins. She also has won three other tournaments on the KLPGA in 2015.
So, for those keeping count at home, that’s six professional wins in the last three and half months, starting with her win April 19 at the KLPGA’s Samchully Together Open.
“Since I won major tournaments in Japan and the US and Korea last week, all this happened within a span of two months,” Chun said through an interpreter. “In the last month, everybody has cheered for me and everybody was happy about it and everybody was excited to see that event, my achievement. Korea is crazy about me right now, and so now I’m here in Scotland, so everyone is looking forward to me playing here. Everybody will probably stay up all night watching this event, so I’m really looking forward to it as well.”
Caddie Cut for Two
If Stacy Lewis wins this week, she might have to cut a check to her caddie and Ai Miyazato’s.
That’s because Lewis never got her golf bag from British Airways when she landed, and their response was call back in 24 hours. That wouldn’t work for Lewis and so she was texting with her caddie, Travis Wilson, and he happened to be with Laura Davies and Mick Seaborn, who caddies for Miyazato. It just so happened that Mick’s friend was the head of the terminal five baggage area at London Heathrow where Lewis’ baggage was lost, so he personally went out on and the runway and went through hundreds and hundreds of bags to find her clubs. He then took them to the last flight to Glasgow last night, and they made the flight.
But they weren’t going to be delivered until 9 AM this morning, which wouldn’t work for Lewis either, so Wilson drove his rental car to Glasgow with Lewis to retrieve the clubs.
“The two of us drove up there and five miles from the airport we got a flat tire; we hit a curb,” Lewis said. “And so then, we had both our phones; I’m holding flashlights, we are trying to figure out how to change this tire. So finally and get to the airport, added about 45 minutes to our trip and luckily the bags were there and we made it back at about 12:30 last night. The clubs are here and that was the best news. But the story, you just couldn’t make it up.”
It could have been so much worse – and that stroke of luck might spell good vibes for Lewis this week.
“I did get very lucky with the bags. He told me that he said it would have been at least two days before they even moved a lot of those bags,” Lewis said. “Definitely got very lucky. I’m excited where my game’s at. I’m excited the way I’ve played over the last three or four weeks, especially. I love this tournament. I love the challenge of it. I like that the weather is going to be nasty all week. I think it’s really going to separate the field, and if you go into it with a good attitude, I think you can still play some pretty good golf.”
Early Trip Across The Pond
Lydia Ko decided to make the trip across the Atlantic Ocean a week early before the RICOH Women’s British Open and braved tough conditions at the Aberdeen Asset Ladies Scottish Open in Troon, about a 45 minute drive from Turnberry. Ko said she wasn’t looking to get extra preparation from the course but rather the weather conditions. She shot rounds of 68-73-74 and finished in a tie for fourth at the Ladies European Tour event.
“Last week’s course, it wasn’t really a traditional links, because when it’s a traditional links, you kind of expect it to be pretty flat 20 yards short of the green and you can run it up there and know that you are going to get the roll,” said Ko. “Dundonald Links, they actually had quite a bit of undulation and on some greens you have to carry it on the green for you to be on the putting surface. Kind of different. But I guess the big thing was really the wind and the type of grass we play on.”
The 18-year old said the reps around the greens at Dundonald definitely helped.
“In the States, we use a lot of bounce when we are chipping around the greens,” said Ko. “Here, that’s the last thing you need. I think the short game and just trying to get a good feel with links style was really the big thing and it helped a lot last week.”
Ko has another shot this week to break Morgan Pressel’s record of youngest major champion and is making her fourth appearance at the Women’s British Open. She earned low amateur honors in 2012 (T17) and 2013 (T42) and finished tied for 29th last year at Royal Birkdale. She reiterated her retirement at the age of 30 plan to the media on Tuesday and was asked how many British Open wins she would like to have by then.
“I don’t know. (Laughing). I have no idea,’” said Ko. “Even one would be amazing. But it’s a lot of fun playing the British Open because it’s not like any other event. We play these different types of golf courses that we don’t play during our normal events. So I think it’s great. Unfortunately it’s only once a year but that’s what makes it really special.”
Feeling Like She's Due
Five runner-ups. Three third-place finishes.
All coming in the last year for Stacy Lewis since her last win in Arkansas a year ago at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship Presented by P&G.
It’s frustrating for Lewis, no doubt. But it’s also a promising sign for the 2014 Rolex Player of the Year that she’s close. She’s tops in putting average and second in scoring average – marks that prove a win’s seemingly got to be on the horizon.
“I definitely feel like I’m due. I feel like I’m playing better golf now than I was at the beginning of the year, even when I was having some pretty good results,” Lewis said. “I think the good part about where I’m at is I’m second in a lot of those categories, and then you win a major and you’re going to jump up there pretty close I think to Inbee and most of them. I’m in a position where a good week is going to help me a lot of everything really. I like what I’m doing. I like where things are at. It’s definitely frustrating that I haven’t won this year. But I think it’s coming.”
There’s no better place for the big major breakthrough than here. Her last major victory was here in Scotland at St. Andrews in 2013, and she loves the nasty elements that the wind and rain can offer. It’s a style of golf that she says has grown on her over the last four or five years.
“I play better in majors when it’s playing tougher,” Lewis said. “I just think it really is going to separate the field. It’s all in the mentality, the mindset you go into it. If you’re enjoying the challenge of the rain and the conditions and the wind, it’s a different deal than if you’re out there, you’re dreading teeing it up every day.”
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