THANKS, BUTCH!

Suzann Pettersen was looking for a fresh start at the beginning of the 2015 season and looked to swing coach Butch Harmon as the kick-in-the-butt she needed. Pettersen credited Harmon for getting her back to a less technical approach.

“I want to say compared to what I’ve had dealt with in the past, I think Butch is the most natural, probably less technical as I’ve ever been even though I’m trying to squeeze in some technical thoughts,” said Pettersen. “But he’s a great mentor more than anything and he makes you work hard. And hard work pays off and that’s kind of what I live for.”

Pettersen said her and Harmon’s personalities have meshed well during the partnership and said he’s given her an emotional boost too.

“I have only good things to say about Butch,” said Pettersen. “He’s been a great inspiration to me to take my game to a new level. He definitely has the belief, he’s no sugar coater. He gives me what I need every single time, and what we’ve done so far is good and this is hopefully just a start.”

Pettersen’s win drought dated over a year and a half ago at the 2013 Sunrise LPGA Taiwan Championship toward the end of a four-win season. She has battled injuries including a back injury last season and a shoulder injury that sidelined her at the Tour’s Hawaii stop this past April.

“There’s probably been some tears of pain and feel like I’m kind of bouncing my head against a wall with injuries and so forth,” said Pettersen. “So glad I made a move to go to Butch. I feel like it’s better than it’s ever been and thank Butch for believing in me and the rest of the team. This is a team effort, new caddie, new coach, this is a good feel, this is a start.”

BRITTANY LANG COMES UP JUST SHY

Brittany Lang did her best to chase down Suzann Pettersen shooting the low round of the day by two-shots, a 7-under 65, but eventually ran out of holes and fell a mere stroke out of a playoff.

“I didn’t look at the leaderboard all day,” Lang admitted. “I just stayed really, you know, calm inside what I was doing. I thought towards the last few holes when I made those two birdies, I kind of had a feeling that I was getting close. I didn’t look at the board so I didn’t know.”

Lang was sitting on the putting green when she heard a roar from the crowd and knew that Pettersen had locked up the victory and while she was disappointed to not be heading back out to the course she was happy with how she had played during the week.

“I’m going to take nothing but positives away from this week,” Lang said. “It was fantastic golf with three majors coming up. But the competition out here, it’s unbelievable. It’s really hard to win nowadays and it’s great, it’s great for women’s golf. The girls are just, there’s so much talent, so much depth.”

The week marked another solid event in Canada for Lang, whose lone victory came at the Manulife LPGA Classic in 2012.

“Everybody jokes that I should become a Canadian citizen,” Lang joked. “I love Canada and they love me. You know what, I may play good in Canada but I think I get good bounces as well, so it just all works out.”

BROTHERLY LOVE

Brittany Lang entered the week a bit down on herself coming off a pair of missed cuts and feeling down on herself but a talk with her brother and caddie Luke helped her turn things around.

“I missed two cuts and my brother just kept telling me you’re real close to playing good, just stay there,” Lang said. “When you have people that believe in you when you don’t, that’s what you need.”

“He’s everything,” Lang continued. “He’s there, I rely on him heavily for everything. And I told him on the back nine, I said I’m getting nervous, I’m kind of getting out of my comfort zone, and all day he just kept saying just keep seeing your target, just see it because you’re going to get nervous. He does a lot for me and I’m very glad to have him.

With Luke on the bag, Lang finished in solo second, her best finish on Tour since her win at Manulife in 2012, shooting a final round 65 to finish at 21-under for the week.

“It’s great,” Lang said of her play this week. “I’m trying to be more confident, and to finish like that when you’re near the lead to finish at 7 under, if that doesn’t give you confidence, I don’t know what does. It was great golf.”

EUROPEAN JUMPSTART

Suzann Pettersen’s win this week made it two in a row for the European contingent on Tour and turned around a winless streak that has recently plagued the Europeans. Pettersen followed up Anna Nordqvist’s win last week at the ShopRite LPGA Classic and is very pleased to continue the trend. Before Nordqvist’s win last week, the last European to win on Tour was Nordqvist, 38 events prior at the 2014 Kia Classic in March.

“We Europeans, we obviously don’t care about the year in between the Solheims, we care more about the current year.

We want to build form. Obviously I read that we are super on the underdogs compared to like performance and wins so the last year and a half. Hopefully we can do a little bit about it, but it’s great for the Europeans.”

Pettersen said she’s aware the on paper and individually the Europeans look to be the underdogs heading into the Solheim Cup in Germany in September. But the seven-time European Solheim Cup team member said that her team’s focus has been turned on.

“I was glad to see Anna win last week and I’m happy to back it up this week,” said Pettersen. “Like I said, all the Europeans are starting to really play some good golf, which is important for us to build the confidence we need for our team. There’s a lot of golf to be played before we go to Germany.”

WOUNDED WARRIOR WEEKENDS

Twelve eagles were recorded on the weekend at the Manulife LPGA Classic with five coming during the final round on Sunday. The new season-long weekend eagle total is now 127 and the total money raised for the Wounded Warrior Project is $127,000.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“But I think we travel a lot around the world and every time we come to Canada we feel a generous response and support from the crowd and the public. I think it’s fun for us players but it also sets a great frame for a fantastic tournament. So I think I want to thank all the Canadian fans out here.” - Suzann Pettersen on the Canadian crowd support

News and Notes: Final Round Manulife LPGA Classic

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