Yokohama Tire LPGA Classic Top Storylines

Kris Tamulis didn’t want to look at a leaderboard, didn’t want to see the lead group chasing her play the 17^th or 18^th and didn’t want to hit any balls as she waited to see if the 17-under-par total she’d just posted 45 minutes prior to the leader’s arrival to the 18th would hold during the final round of last season’s Yokohama Tire LPGA Classic. When she received word that Austin Ernst’s birdie try at the last raced by and Yani Tseng’s 10 footer lipped out on the left hand side, she began crying over the realization that she’d just won her first career LPGA title after 11 seasons and 185 prior events on Tour. Her final-round 7-under-par 65 tied her lowest round in relation to par ever and it came as the final 18 holes in a day where she had to play 29 holes after a weather delay suspended the third round into Sunday.

“It’s amazing. I was definitely not expecting this today,” Tamulis said. “I was just out there playing my game and I had a lot of opportunities for birdie, which was really nice to have. Kept it below the hole for the most part. Honestly didn’t even know what I shot until I counted my birdies at the end of the round. It was a marathon out there. We were just trying to get it in, beat the weather, and that’s it. So it’s unbelievable.”

What she left with meant more to her for her caddie, Thomas “Motion” Frank, than it did to her. Tamulis had missed the cut at the LOTTE Championship Presented by Hershey in April last season and had flown to San Francisco to prepare for the next week’s event when she received a text from Motion with pictures of his house in Houston had been struck by lightning and burned to the ground.

“Mo believes in me more than I believe in me. He’s just such an inspiration, you know, what happened to his house earlier this year when it burned, his unbelievable, amazing attitude,” Tamulis said. “The text I got from him, the first thing he said was, you know, it’s okay, I’ve got the best friends, I’ve got the best family, and he’s like I’ve got my health. He just keeps me going, keeps me believing in myself and when I don’t want to be out there he’s like, come on, let’s do this. He’s the best!”

Haru Nomura took last week off following her win at the Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic and spent the week in Las Vegas.

“I love playing blackjack, so that’s what I plan to do,” Nomura said. “When I get there, I’m just going to drop off my luggage and go.”

Nomura certainly earned the trip to Vegas after picking up her second victory on the season by fighting through difficult weather conditions, with Lake Merced sustaining steady 30-40 mph wind gusts throughout Sunday’s final round, to post 9-under for the week and claim a four shot victory.

“You guys will find this strange, but I like windy situations,” Nomura said through an interpreter. “I like playing in the wind. I like tough situations, so when I spoke to the caddie, even before the championship last week in Hawai’i, I told him, I’m going to come here and win this tournament because I really like this course. I enjoy this course. I’m glad that I was able to deliver on what I told my caddie.”

Two players to watch out for at this week’s Yokohama Tire LPGA Classic are Gerina Piller and Brooke Henderson who have been arguably the two hottest players on Tour this season without a victory.

Piller is coming off a runner-up finish at the Volunteers of America Texas Shootout, her third fifth top-10 in her last six events.

Henderson finished T19 last week in Texas snapping a streak of nine consecutive top-10 finishes for the 18-year-old Canadian.

Below are Piller and Henderson’s finishes in their last five events.

Gerina Piller

• Volunteers of America Texas Shootout: T2
• Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic: T3
• ANA Inspiration: T6
• Kia Classic: T6
• JTBC Founders Cup: T13

Brooke Henderson

• Volunteers of America Texas Shootout: T19
• Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic: T6
• LOTTE Championship: T10
• ANA Inspiration: T10
• Kia Classic: T10

SEC universities will be well represented this week as 14 players in the field compete collegiately in the Southeastern Conference. Below is the breakdown of those players.

• Alabama - Hannah Collier, Stephanie Meadow
• Arkansas - Stacy Lewis, Gaby Lopez
• Auburn - Cydney Clanton, Karlin Beck
• Florida - Sandra Gal, Amelia Lewis
• LSU - Austin Ernst
• Ole Miss - Dori Carter
• South Carolina - Katie Burnett
• Vanderbilt - Marina Alex, Jacqui Concolino, Simin Feng