Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from July, 2014

Belen Mozo Helps Spain Claim First International Crown

#123024679 / gettyimages.com The first LPGA International Crown tournament is in the books, and Team Spain is the winner. I loved everything about the event, and can't wait for the next one in 2016. With a brand new event and brand new format, you're always looking for ways to make it better. But I don't think the LPGA needs to change anything about it, and hope we see the same format two years from now. The winning points for Spain came from Belen Mozo, who took a 3-and-2 victory in singles to clinch it for the Spaniards. It was a great week for Mozo, who was the lowest-ranked of the four members of Team Spain. But she came up big multiple times, not just in Sunday singles. On Saturday Mozo, partnering Beatriz Recari, hit plenty of big shots and holed a great putt late to win another two points for her team. (Photo: @belenmozo/Instagram) Something you probably remember about Belen is that she is one of the golfers who've posed for ESPN the Magazine's "

Annabel Dimmock

Photo courtesy of Lady Golfer Magazine Annabel Dimmock was recently featured in a fashion shoot by Lady Golfer Magazine (Twitter: @LadyGolferMag), the only monthly magazine in the UK devoted to women's golf. (Which puts the UK one-up on the USA, sad to say.) She was asked in that feature to name a bad golfing habit she hates, and replied, "I don't like it when people fidget over the ball and you never think they're going to hit the shot." Great to see young golfers who appreciate speedy play. And Annabel is young: She was, at age 17, the youngest member of the Great Britain & Ireland team in the 2014 Curtis Cup in early June. She became an England international in 2013, and played her way onto the Curtis Cup team with a string of terrific performances in big amateur tournaments through the first half of 2014. For example, during a stay in the United States, Annabel was runner-up at the prestigious South Atlantic Ladies Amateur (a k a, the Sally) and

Watch the Pilot Episode of 'Bikini Golf'

We told you about Bikini Golf a while back : It's a TV production company that plans a series of skins games featuring highly skilled female golfers. The twist, as you can probably guess from the name of the company and the name of the show, is that they play golf in bikinis. The pilot episode shot several months back, featuring McKenzie Jackson, Alana Lauren and Maggie Noel. And Bikini Golf has posted that pilot episode on its website . Or you can watch it right here, split into three videos: Would love to hear everyone's thoughts on how it turned out, or the concept in general. Tweet us @golfbabes .

Phoebe Yao at the International Crown

The LPGA's brand new tournament, The International Crown, is teeing off soon as this is written. It's a cool concept, and it's great to see the LPGA experimenting with different formats. The International Crown has a field of eight, 4-person teams, each team representing a country. In fact, each team consists of the four highest-ranked players for each country in the world rankings. Almost all the golfers in the field are well-known, but not all of them. One of the lesser-known - at least to Western audiences - is Phoebe Yao of Taiwan. Yao (whose given name is "Hsuan-Yu," but who goes by Phoebe - maybe she grew up watching Friends ?) comes into the International Crown ranked No. 105 in the most recent Rolex Rankings. And she's an accomplished player who's won on the Japan LPGA, probably the third-best women's tour in the world (behind the LPGA and Korean LPGA tours). In April, Yao won the JLPGA's Fujisankei Ladies Classic at the age of 21

Looking Back (and Forward) with Ani Gulugian

It's time for Ani Gulugian to leave the college life and go pro. And that's what she's doing: Above is one the graduation photos she took on the campus of UCLA, where she's spent the past four years as one of the main cogs on one of the nation's top college golf teams. We'll next see Ani playing in LPGA Q-School's first stage qualifier in August. That tournament takes place Aug. 26-29 at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif. Gulugian came to UCLA after a stellar junior golf career that culminated with a spot on Team USA in the 2009 Junior Solheim Cup. That same year she played her way into the U.S. Women's Open. And you can't start your college career much better than Ani did: As a freshman, she was part of UCLA's national championship team. Over her career at UCLA, Gulugian twice earned honorable mention All-America notices and posted multiple Top 10 finishes. Now, Ani is "looking forward to what's to come"

Holly Sonders Leaves Golf Channel for Fox Sports

(Photo: @holly_sonders /Twitter) Congratulations to Holly Sonders on her big career move. She's leaving the Golf Channel after several high-profile years to join the new golf team at Fox Sports. Fox, remember, is taking over what had been NBC's USGA tournament coverage. Sonders was a very popular face at the Golf Channel, and the channel put her on the air a lot: She was cohost of Morning Drive and School of Golf and was also seen frequently on Playing Lessons , among other places. Holly is the third member of the new Fox Sports golf team named so far; the other two are host Joe Buck and analyst Greg Norman. Sonders might be working with Buck in another capacity, too: She'll also appear as a sideline reporter in the network's NFL coverage.

Win McMurry Goes to the ESPYs

Golf broadcaster Win McMurry spent an evening at the 2014 ESPY Awards, and shared some photos on Instagram. Here she is getting glammed up beforehand: And here she is with Momma McMurry: And here she is on the red carpet, "borrowing Breanna Stewart's Best Female College Athlete trophy": (Photos @winmcmurry/Instagram)

Mo Better? Mo Martin

Fantastic showing by Mo Martin at the 2014 Women's British Open: A win - her first victory on the LPGA Tour. Martin entered the week leading the LPGA Tour in driving accuracy. Turns out, that's a great strength to have in your game if you're hearing to a links course whose heather rough has grown tall and thick! And that's what the players faced at Royal Birkdale. Very tough conditions throughout the week. But Martin, keeping her ball in those fairways, shot 69-69 in the first two rounds. A third-round 77 knocked her back a bit, but in the final round the thick, penal rough had company with strong winds and that combo caused scores to skyrocket. Martin's final-round 72 was one of the best of the day, and she won by one stroke. Martin was 53rd on the LPGA money list entering the WBO, and 99th in the world rankings. She turned pro in 2006 after a successful collegiate career at UCLA. Mo played the Futures Tour through the 2011 season, and won three times. She