Golf Babes

Beginning Oct. 2, we'll be seeing more of Keri Murphy - and that is definitely a good thing. On Friday, Keri starts a new gig working with That Morning Show on E!, airing daily from 6-9 a.m. Keri will be appearing during the "Chase it" segments, helping consumers save money. "I am excited to get started (with E!)," Keri said, but added, "My heart will always be with the golf world though ... it is where it all started for me." A few years back, Keri began hosting an online trivia show for a tee-time reservation service. Her video clips - and especially her blooper reels - became very popular on golf blogs and on YouTube. And the Golf Channel took notice, too, later selecting Keri to host its Highway 18 series. While Keri is now branching out into entertainment television, she plans to stay involved in golf. One way is in her role as an "official wearer" of Fore! jewelry ("made for golf lovers"). In the smaller photo here,

The second LPGA Q-School sectional takes place this week in Florida, and one of the names on the entry list is that of Vera Shimanskaya. Shimanskaya, from Russia, won an Olympic gold medal in rhythmic gymnastics in the 2000 Sydney Games. Then she got the golf bug and turned professional in 2007, after only four years of playing golf. She has gotten into a handful of tournaments on the Ladies European tour, but her stroke average of 81.75 doesn't hold out much hope for success this week. Still, it's pretty impressive that someone who only started playing golf in 2003 can get into any professional tournaments at all.

Na Yeon Choi began the final round of the 2009 Samsung World Championship with a two-stroke lead. Over the early part of the round, she built that to a 7-stroke lead in what looked like a runaway. Then the wheels fells off for Choi, Ai Miyazato surged, and Choi dropped behind. But Miyazato put a ball in the water on the last hole, Choi birdied the final hole, and in the end, Choi had her first LPGA Tour victory.

Lauren Thompson is a model, spokesperson, interviewer and TV host whose connection to golf is her work on the Golf Channel. She has served as the host of the channel's "Top 10" specials, and has a pilot for a new series due to air this week. On Monday (Sept. 21), Thompson hosts the pilot of Destination Golf , a golf travel series. The Golf Channel says: Monday’s pilot will show host Lauren Thompson on a week-long adventure through seven counties on Ireland’s western shore. She will visit several historic golf venues, including Donegal Golf Club, Connemara Golf Links and Waterville Golf Links and take in the rich history of the communities and Ireland’s night life, discovering there are no strangers in Ireland, only friends she has never met before. The series is set to debut early next year. One of Thompson's other current gigs is as the backstage interviewer on TNA Wrestling . In that role, and as a model, she often uses the name Lauren Brooke.

Stephanie Wei's blog, Wei Under Par , is only five months old. But in that short span, Stephanie has managed to become one of the best, most original, and most influential golf bloggers on the internets. One reason is Stephanie's passion for the game, as a player and a fan. Another is that she has personal connections with multiple professional golfers, and that never hurts for gathering information or presenting scoops. Stephanie grew up playing junior golf in the Pacific Northwest, where her friends on the fairways included the LPGA's Paige Mackenzie (who has guest-blogged at Wei Under Par) and the PGA Tour's Ryan Moore. At Yale University, Stephanie was a member of the golf team. Her teammates included the LPGA's Jeehae Lee , and Jeehae pops up often at Stephanie's blog. Stephanie is also a contributor at Guest of a Guest and for The Huffington Post . Stephanie graduated from Yale with a degree in history. She currently lives in Manhattan with her pe

Above is a photo that Jeehae Lee posted on Twitter following her haircut. Compare to her official LPGA mugshot at left. Why did Jeehae cut her hair? For charity. Lee was one of several LPGA players who had eight inches or more cut from their tresses as part of the Pantene Beautiful Lengths program. That programs encourages women to donate hair to help create wigs for women who've lost their hair due to cancer. Great idea. Kudos to Jeehae and the other LPGA pros (who included Christina Kim, Stacy Lewis and Vicky Hurst) who took part in the lopping o' the locks, the trimming o' the tresses, the harvestin o' the hair. More from the LPGA on the cutting.

Big win for Suzann Pettersen at the CN Canadian Women's Open. She dominated the tournament and coasted to a five-stroke win on Sunday. Suzann said she was inspired, in part, by a text message from Tiger Woods. Man, does Tiger have a thing for Scandinavian women, or what? For Pettersen, it was her first win since 2007, when she won five LPGA Tour events. That's a surprise, because she's such a huge talent, and she's come close many times since. Good to see her back in the winner's circle.

Shinobu Moromizato won for the fifth time in 2009 on the JLPGA on Sunday at the Golf5 Ladies tournament. I know this because on Sundays I always check The Constructivist's posts over at Mostly Harmless to see what's happening in the world of women's golf in Asia. Check out TC's post on the Golf5 Ladies for details of Irons Chef Moromizato's victory. Looking at the photo above, it occurs to me that one of Moromizato's secret weapons might be her fashion sense. Perhaps it distracts her fellow-competitors.

Aussie golf siren and GoDaddy girl Anna Rawson says bienvenue to the top of the leaderboard at the 2009 CN Canadian Women's Open. The first round is only halfway through as I write this, but Rawson leads at 7-under 64, three strokes better than anyone else to this point who has finished the first round. The 64 is Rawson's best of the year to date. More Anna Rawson pics