Tag: Rookie

  • LPGA Rookies To Watch in 2014

    REUTERS/Danny Moloshok
    REUTERS/Danny Moloshok

    There are 28 rookies preparing to tee it up this year on the LPGA tour. Traditionally rookies have a hard time making cuts and earning enough money to keep their playing status for the following season. It is a big step up to play at the highest level in women’s golf.

    Of the 28 rookies this year about 15 of them will get enough playing opportunities to have a realistic shot of making enough money to automatically return to the tour in 2015. If history is any guide, perhaps five or six of them will get that job done. Here is a look at three rookies in 2014 that appear to have what it takes to enjoy long successful careers on the LPGA.

    One “Sure Thing” and Two Other Rookies to Watch for on the LPGA in 2014

    Lydia Ko
    Arguably the most remarkable teenage golfer in the history of women’s golf, Lydia Ko (pictured above) is now about to begin her rookie season on the LPGA tour. The 16-year-old sensation from New Zealand will tee it up later this month in the LPGA’s Pure Silk Bahamas LPGA Championship. It is the first LPGA event of the 2014 season and it will be Ko’s first event as an official member of the LPGA tour. She required a special waiver from the LPGA to play on the tour at her young age.

    Mature beyond her years, both on and off the golf course, Ko has already won five professional women’s golf events. Four of those victories, over the past two years, came when she was an amateur. Two of those amateur victories came on the LPGA tour when she won the Canadian Women’s Open in 2012 and 2013. In November of last year she won her first event as a professional, a tournament in Taiwan in which several LPGA players competed.
    Ko had an equally amazing record as an amateur player. She won the Australian Women’s Amateur twice (2011 and 2012), the New Zealand Women’s Amateur (2011), and the U.S. Women’s Amateur (2012).

    She is now the 4th-ranked woman player in the world and she hasn’t reached her 17th birthday yet (she will turn 17 in April). Only LPGA veterans Inbee Park, Suzann Pettersen, and Stacy Lewis are ahead of her in the official Rolex World Rankings in women’s golf.
    The expectations for Ko’s rookie season couldn’t be any higher. Many expect her to easily capture “Rookie of the Year” honors. Many expect her to win multiple events. Big product endorsement deals are already coming her way. She has the potential to be one of the superstars of women’s golf for many years to come. Everyone will be looking forward to see how this 16 year old makes the adjustment in her first season of full-time professional golf.

    Tracy Wilcox/GOLFWEEK
    GOLFWEEK/Tracy Wilcox

    Jaye Marie Green
    19 years old from Boca Raton, Florida, Jaye Marie Green raised a lot of eyebrows in December with her record-setting performance in the final stage of LPGA Q School. In the five-day tournament she shot an amazing 29 under par, ten shots better than the nearest competitor, to easily earn her rookie card for 2014. Her total score and victory margin both set Q School records.

    A highly ranked amateur in her earlier teen years, Green decided against going to college and turned pro at 18. She played the 2013 season on the Symetra Tour. As a 16-year-old amateur she qualified for the U.S. Women’s Open in 2010. She also qualified for that event in 2012. She finished second in the U.S. Women’s Amateur that same year. She played on the Junior Solheim Cup team in 2011, and had a long list of victories in junior championships.
    Green is a good friend of young LPGA star Lexi Thompson. They grew up near each other in south Florida and played a lot together in junior golf. With the players in the women’s pro golf game getting younger and younger every year, Green will be one of several teenagers on the LPGA when she tees it up in her fist event as a rookie this season.

    Don’t be surprised to see Green near the top of a few leaderboards in 2014. She is a very solid ball striker and is known for her brilliant putting. As they say in pro golf, putting is the name of the game.

    USGA
    USGA

    Amy Anderson
    North Dakota is not exactly known as a hotbed for developing golf talent, and North Dakota State University has not produced many professional players. 21-year-old Amy Anderson may well become one of the best-known pros to ever emerge from that state and that school. Anderson graduated in May and finished in 4th place (14 under par) at LPGA Q School in December in her first attempt to qualify for the LPGA tour.
    The tall blonde (5’9”) is a powerful ball striker and could be among the longest hitters this season on the LPGA. She set an NCAA record in college with 20 career victories over her four years at NDSU. The previous record of 17 victories had been set in 1982 by LPGA veteran Juli Inkster when Inkster played at San Jose State University.

    Anderson was a member of the U.S. Curtis Cup team in 2012. In 2009 she won the U.S. Junior Girls Championship. She first came to widespread national attention in 2011 at the U.S. Women’s Open. She qualified for the national championship during her sophomore season at North Dakota State. Her opening round score of 69 was good enough to give her the early first round lead in the Open. She came back to reality over the final three days, finishing the event in 63rd place, still an admirable achievement for an 18-year-old amateur.
    Anderson’s older brother Nathan, himself a former college player at North Dakota State, will be caddying for her in her first season on the LPGA. He was on her bag in December at Q School when she earned her rookie card.

    Dave Andrews, Author of Pops and Sunshine

    About the Author: Dave Andrews is a Harvard-educated former television news reporter. Dave is an avid golfer who has become a fan of the LPGA and the Symetra Tour. He  is the author of Pops and Sunshine, a novel and screenplay about life on the women’s tour. The screenplay has been optioned by a production company in Hollywood. 

     

  • 19 year old Hannah Yun prepares for rookie year on LPGA Tour

    LPGA Rookie Hannah YunI’ll always remember the first time I met Hannah Yun. It was in the summer of 2008 at a Duramed Futures Tour event in Bloomfield, Ct. On the patio outside the clubhouse at the course I happened to strike up a casual conversation with a man who turned out to be Hannah’s father. She was out on the putting green practicing.

    He told me his daughter was 16 years old and she was playing on the tour that summer as an amateur. She had just finished her freshman year at the University of Florida where she had been the team’s MVP as a 15 year old. Needless to say I found that very impressive. Imagine a 15 year old as the star player on a big college golf team.

    Out on the putting green she was working with Glen Kirk, the YES putter representative, who was giving her some advice on her putting stroke. I had known Glen for a couple of years and Glen told me Hannah was one of the most impressive young golfers he had ever seen. I said hi to Hannah and wished her well in the event. The next day I followed Hannah for a few holes and it took only a few minutes to realize she had a tremendous golf swing and was one of the most powerful ball strikers on the tour, despite her young age and 5’3″ frame.

    I saw Hannah and her parents again a couple months later at the final Futures Tour event of the season in Albany, New York. I was caddying for another player on the tour and only got to talk with them around the putting green. I told her father I would follow Hannah’s progress at the University of Florida and we exchanged contact info.

    As it turned out, Hannah’s father wrote a couple months later to tell me that Hannah decided to withdraw from the University of Florida that fall, early in her sophomore year. She had her sights set on a career on the LPGA and felt she was not progressing well enough in the school’s golf program. The following spring she began playing fulltime on the Futures Tour and I saw her several times that year. She always had power and a great technique but she was not scoring as well as planned. She finished the season in the top 50 on the money list with a stroke average of 73.4. Her best finish was a tie for 4th place. She finished the season at 50th on the tour’s money list. So, despite her talent there was still a long way to go before she could consider herself ready for the LPGA.

    The following season (2010) was similar. She improved her stroke average to 72.9 but had trouble putting three good rounds together in events. She tried a couple of different caddies and her father also caddied for her, but the results were always similar. Her best finish was 15th place and she ended the season at 63rd on the money list. She shot several rounds in the mid and high 60’s, but she allso shot many in the mid 70’s. In professional golf you are not going to go far by shooting 75’s and 76’s. Hannah tried several different coaches and instructors but the results did not seem to change very much.

    This year (2011) she continued to struggle and even left the tour in the summer to go back to training and practice and to work more on her game. She played in only 10 events, instead of the usual 15 or 16. She actually improved her stroke average to 72.6, but was not happy with the way she was progressing. She finished the season at 50th on the money list. Whenever I talked with Hannah or her father it was clear they were a little frustrated with the way things were going.

    Hannah Yun and Caddie Dave Andrews at LPGA Q School in Daytona Beach, FLIn September of this year, after a lot of work with her coaches, Hannah went to the second stage of LPGA Q School in Venice, Florida and had an impressive performance. She shot 5 under par for the event (68-71-71-73-283), finished in a tie for 8th place, and earned her way to the final stage of LPGA Q School in Daytona Beach, Florida. The event concluded this past Sunday. (Dec. 4th).

    The week before Q School, Hannah played in a Suncoast Tour event at the Q School site at the LPGA International complex. She shot a very impressive 9 under par score (69-69-69-207) in the three-day tune up event for Q School. All appeared to be coming into place nicely. I watched her play several holes in that event and walked the course with her father as we followed her in action. She and the other players were playing out of golf carts in that event, so her father was not caddying for her as he had been during the year on the Futures Tour.

    The first round of the big 5-day Q School tournament was played last Wednesday (Nov. 30th). I was following Hannah and several other players I know who were competing in the event. At the end of the day I was sitting in the coffee shop at the course when Hannah and her father walked in after finishing their round. Both were very dejected. Hannah had shot a 4 over par 76 and was not in good position after the first round. Hannah walked out of the coffee shop and her father sat down with me and told me that it was not working out well with him on Hannah’s bag. The father/daughter relationship on the golf course can often be a precarious situation.

    He then surprised me when he asked me if I would consider caddying for Hannah for the four final rounds of the event. I told him that I would be happy to help if that was what he and she really wanted (I am not a professional caddie, but I have caddied for several players and generally know how to do the fundamental things that are required). He was hoping that if I could just keep her relaxed and comfortable out on the course that she would play much better golf. He went outside and Hannah came in a few minutes later and asked if I would cary her bag. I told her it would be my pleasure.

    So, I caddied for Hannah the last four rounds. I did my best to keep her smiling and keep her clubs clean and my advice to myself. Apparently it all worked out. Hannah went on to shoot 74-71-72-71 and finished in a tie for 15th place in the tournament, earning her full status card on the LPGA tour for next year.

    I was thrilled for her and happy to have helped in a small way. Trust me, however, Hannah didn’t need my help. She is as good a player as most of the players currently on the LPGA tour. She is going to do very well in her rookie season on the tour, and at the young age of 19 has a brilliant career to look forward to. She is also one of the nicest, most humble and modest young women I have ever had the chance to meet.

    If you follow the LPGA, keep your eye on Hannah Yun in 2012. I think you will be seeing her name high up on the leaderboards in events and I hope you will be seeing a lot of her in action on Sundays when the LPGA events are on TV.

    Dave Andrews, Author of Pops and SunshineAbout the Author: Dave Andrews is a Harvard-educated former television news reporter. Dave is an avid golfer who has become a fan of the Duramed Futures Tour and is the author of Pops and Sunshine, a novel and screenplay about life on tour. His home course in New Hampshire is annually the site of one of the tour’s events.