There was nothing in the Tarot cards that foretold an eagle explosion last week at the Kingsmill Championship. The River Course at Kingsmill Resort in Williamsburg, Va., had given up only four eagles during the 2014 competition, one of the lower totals during the first season of the Wounded Warrior Weekend.
But then last weekend, eagles flew like no other time in the last two years of LPGA play. There were only three during Saturday’s third round but 18 on Sunday. The 18 eagles on Sunday were a high weekend total and the 21 all together far surpassed previous weekends on the LPGA over the last two seasons.
The Sunday surge included a hole-out on the par-4 11th by Kim Kaufman and a decisive eagle on the par-5 15th hole by eventual winner Minjee Lee. Lee hit 4-iron from 195 yards to within 10 feet and sank the putt to complete a 6-under par stretch over five holes before a weather delay pushed the finish to Monday morning.
Kingsmill’s prosperous weekend brought the season total to 114 weekend eagles entering an off week (a $114,000 money figure). Even though next week’s ShopRite LPGA is a 54-hole event and just final-round eagles will be counted in the season-long total competition, there were 35 eagles made in all three rounds, perhaps foretelling – this time – another big weekend of fundraising.
The Wounded Warrior Weekend takes place during the final two rounds at LPGA tournaments (final round only in 54-hole events), with CME Group donating $1,000 to the Wounded Warrior Project for each eagle that is recorded. This amount will increase to $5,000 for each eagle during the weekend of the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship and a formal check will be presented to the Wounded Warrior Project during the trophy ceremony. To get involved and learn more, visit woundedwarriorproject.org.
For the 2014 season, 283 eagles were made on the weekend, raising $283,000. While no eagles were made on the weekend in Naples, the CME Group generously rounded up to $300,000. The 2014 season also had a lot of aces and double eagles. Of the 31 holes in one, 15 came in weekend play. Of a record four double eagles during the year, three were scored on the weekend.
)
)
)
)
