NEW COACH, GOOD RESULTS
After 15 years, Paula Creamer has a new coach. Creamer had worked with David Whelan since she was 14 but decided to make a switch to Gary Gilchrist after a disappointing 2015 season in which she only finished in the top-10 four times, tying a season-low in a season for the 10-time career LPGA winner.
“I’m working with Gary Gilchrist now. I started at the end of December. It’s great, I’m loving it,” Creamer said. “David and I were fine. It was definitely just something that we couldn’t work out. Still talk to him all the time, but after 15 years together it’s kind of, it’s crazy. But I’ve known Gary forever. When to the David Leadbetter Golf Academy, he was the director of golf there, so he’s worked with me even before I worked with David. I just think it’s a great fit. I love the way he teaches the game, love the way how he gets in and can show me, and he’s definitely made it very fun for me right now. Made a lot of changes, but they’re worth it and I believe in it.”
Usually when a player switches coaches, the changes are minimal. It’s just looking for a new voice to explain the same things, but Creamer said the changes with this one have been pretty substantial throughout her game.
“My set up for sure. My set up is massive,” Creamer said of the differences. “We really didn’t film my golf swing that much. A lot of it came from just the way I was at address. The way I walk into the ball is very different. Putting is very different as well, a little bit more this way instead of my tendency putting is to shut the clubface and now it’s definitely more on a little bit of an arc. But everything is really set up. My pivot is different, I’m able to keep my height a lot more. It obviously comes and goes just because this is the first week out here with it, but it’s definitely all set up and visualizing things.”
Essentially, it all comes down to just being more open with her body in every single phase of the game – full swing, chipping, and putting. She’s had a habit of getting closed and lining up to the right of her target and says she’s lining up much better these days by approaching the ball from a different angle with her body to keep herself more open to the target.
“It feels like I’m walking around the world,” Creamer joked of her new pre-shot routine setting up to the ball, “but it’s getting more comfortable.”
SLOW IT DOWN
Defending champion Sei Young Kim started off the week with extra nerves from the burden of defending her first career title and admitted that she needed to calm down a little bit to take on the task at hand.
“Yesterday it was a first round and then first defending champion, I feel like really nervous and a little pressure, but I tried to keep the calm and last night I talked to my mom and she told me,
Sei Young, calm down,” said Kim. “A little help.”
Kim opened with a 2-under par, 71 and followed it up with a round of 68 on Friday to move from T18 to T4 at 7-under par. The South Korea native said after her first round she headed to the practice area and tweaked her putting stroke with a slower follow through to help with the windy conditions. It seemed to make all the difference after improving her total putts from 34 on Thursday to 27 on Friday.
“Yeah, on the putting green,” said Kim. “I changed my stroke timing slower and that’s better, slower follow through. That worked today.”
BRING ON THE WIND
For a Texas girl who practices in Florida, the wind is always a welcomed sight for Stacy Lewis. She enjoys playing in the wind and thought it was a welcomed additional challenge for the field that would allow her to jump right back into contention. She did just that Friday with a 5-under par 68 that has her right back in the mix of things, just three-shots off the lead.
“You know, I woke up and saw the wind and actually saw it as a good thing,” Lewis said. “I knew it was going to be a hard day, but if I could shoot a good number, I could get myself back into contention, which I did. But it was definitely a hard round.”
Lewis actually felt she struck the ball better during her first-round even-par 73 but said the putts were dropping Friday.
“I actually probably hit the ball a little bit better yesterday than I did even today, but today just got up and down on the par 5s and made a few more putts,” Lewis said.
QUOTABLE
“It’s definitely still, I still think about it a lot, it does give me nerves. But it’s good nerves, it’s good pressure and I
definitely know how to handle it a lot better. But yeah, I just need to make sure I don’t get too far ahead of myself because anything can happen and it’s only halfway through.” -Alison Lee on any difference being in contention heading into the weekend as a rookie last year versus this year
CHEERS TO THE WEEKEND
The cutline fell at 2-over par at 148 with a total of 80 players making the cut. Notables to miss the cut: Michelle Wie (+3), Yani Tseng (+6) and Gerina Piller (+7).
WITHDRAWALS
Sarah Jane Smith withdrew prior to the second round due to illness and Christina Kim withdrew during the second round due to injury.
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