LPGA Tour Championship Partial Second-round notes and interviews

21 Nov 2009 - 00:29:08

LPGA Tour Championship Presented by Rolex The Houstonian Golf and Country Club Richmond, Texas Nov. 20, 2009 Second-round interviews: Doug Brecht | Cristie Kerr | Paula Creamer | Wendy Ward Second-round notes (partial) First-round ends, second begins in Houston.  Rain and threatening storms in the area caused a six hour delay that kept players off the course until 1 p.m. CST at the LPGA Tour Championship Presented by Rolex.  Ten players finished their first round this afternoon and 58 of 116 players had their second-round suspended by darkness.  Second-round play will resume on Saturday at 7 a.m. CST when the remaining 58 will tee it up.  The unique format of the LPGA Tour Championship Presented by Rolex features a cut to low 70 and ties after 36 holes and a cut to low 30 and ties after 54 holes.  Tournament officials expect to make the first cut on Saturday afternoon and the second cut on Sunday morning. Lorena Ochoa by the numbers.  Looking for her¦ Fourth straight Rolex Player of the Year award Fourth straight Vare Trophy 25th Tour win in last four seasons 28th career win (19th all-time)Vare Trophy race heats up.  First-round leader Lorena Ochoa boosted her chances of winning a fourth straight Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average.  The margin of victory for the 2009 award could be the smallest since 2003 when Grace Park (69.99) edged Lorena Ochoa (70.02) by .03 strokes.  In 1994, Beth Daniel (70.90) edged Laura Davies (70.91) by a record .01 strokes. Ochoa entered the week with a .05 stroke lead in the race for the Vare Trophy over Jiyai Shin (70, -2) and Cristie Kerr (72, E).  She and Shin are the only three-time winners on Tour this season.  Vare Trophy race Player                         Average entering this week             Round 1 Lorena Ochoa             70.2221                                               66 Jiyai Shin                     70.2724                                               70 Cristie Kerr                  70.2724                                               72 Ai Miyazato                 70.3421                                               73 Yani Tseng                  70.4626                                               69 WD.  Michelle Wie, Seon Hwa Lee, Silvia Cavalleri and Candie Kung withdrew after the first round of the LPGA Tour Championship Presented by Rolex.  Natalie Gulbis and Birdie Kim did not start the event. Second-round interviews: Doug Brecht | Cristie Kerr | Paula Creamer | Wendy Ward Doug Brecht, LPGA VP of Rules and Competitions Q. Talk about the weather and what the plan is for the rest of the week DOUG BRECHT:  Good afternoon.  We're playing what I call bonus golf right now, golf we didn't ever expect to be playing today. That's a very good thing, because it gives us the possibility of finishing all 72 holes of this tournament by the end of the day Sunday. We still need a little bit of luck to go with that, but here's what we have laid out.  Hopefully the groups playing this afternoon are going to clear the 1st and 10th hole, the last group will, so that we'll be able to start with the afternoon group of the second round tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. off 1 one and 10 tees.  They'll basically fall right in like they would normally. It'll take that wave about seven hours to finish their round from when the first group tees off to until the last group's in the hole.  That gives us until -- actually, it'll take six and a half hours, because there's only an hour and a half worth of time.  So that's 8:30; five hours from that is 1:30. We can do a cut and a turnaround in about 30 minutes, so we anticipate starting round three at 2:00.  It's gonna take about seven hours for that round to be completed.  So we're gonna have three and a half hours of golf that we're gonna play Saturday night, come back at 7:00 Sunday morning and play three and a half more hours of golf. That gets us to 10:30.  Make a cut to 30 and ties.  Tee off at 11:00, approximately an hour's worth of starting times in groups of three off both tees.  With five hours for the last group to play, puts us right at 4:30, 5:00 to finish, which is a few scant minutes of daylight left.  (Laughter.) We're pretty lucky right now in that a big storm was headed our way and we didn't think we'd even get to to play as long as we're playing right now.  Like most storms that have headed here today, it broke up before it got to us and it's not near as strong or severe as what we originally looked at. We got couple of other issues that we'll see how they pan out.  One of them being how much more rain we get tonight, because the storms are definitely not gone.  Maintenance is all set to do whatever they need to do let us start in the morning at 7:00. The storms could linger into the morning, which could possible set us back again.  And then the number of people that make the cut will be an issue for us, too, because we are playing 70 and ties and 30 and ties. If those tied numbers would creep up into the 80s, that puts more groups on the golf course and that makes the time schedule that I have laid out possibly go a little bit later than what we were planning for. Some good news.  We're playing a lot faster than yesterday because, basically because there's less rulings and no wind.  So actually playing a little bit faster than the time schedule that I've laid out for us going forward from here.  That's basically where we stand right now. Q.  Is part of that the ultimate fear that at the end of all this you would get to the leader or the final group on 15, and that's when darkness hits? DOUG BRECHT:  If that happens, we'll be back here Monday and we'll finish it up.  There's no doubt. Q.  There will be no determination in terms of start time for that final round on Sunday afternoon?  You're gonna kick that off and try to finish... DOUG BRECHT:  Yeah, I'm gonna go as quick as I can the whole way around.  If I can play four hours of golf Sunday afternoon, then I'm gonna play four hours of golf Sunday afternoon. Because this is our Tour Championship, it affects player of the year, it affects a lot of -- all the major awards.  If affects players going -- who has to go to Q-School and who doesn't have to go to Q-School.  It affects players on our priority list and where they fall on that priority list. There's a ton of things riding on this tournament.  Because of that and the importance of it, we are committed to playing 72 holes. Q.  So is (cutting the tournament to) 54 holes pretty much off the table, or are thinking there could be a possibility depending on all the variables you mentioned? DOUG BRECHT:  At this point in time, I would say -- I mean, I'm not gonna say 100%, but I'm gonna say we're gonna play 72 holes.  Okay? Q.  The timeline today, where you guys thought that storm was coming in, how did that work? DOUG BRECHT:  I mean, it actually started at 4:00 this morning, because I got together with my weather man at 4:00 this morning.  He let out the scenario to me.  I then met him here at 5:00; we started looking at it again, and at 6:00 we were committed to starting this round at 7:00 this morning. About ten till 7:00 it was pouring with rain.  It was absolutely ridiculous to start a golf tournament at that point in time for this round in those conditions. So we delayed.  We went and looked at the radar.  We delayed, at that time, for about an hour.  After an hour, the rain had subsided a little bit.  We went and looked at the fairways and were pleasantly surprised at the condition, because the golf course was playable. We another big cell that was heading right towards us.  Big yellow nasty thing that was gonna dump about another quarter, maybe a little bit more right on top of us. Expected to be out of here probably around 11:00.  So that's explains all the decisions we made.  We made a decision basically at 8:30 to tell the players that we wouldn't hit a ball until 1:00, and that we would update them at 11:00.  Give us a chance to look at the radar, see what else has happened, and update them at 11:00 as to whether 1:00 was a go or not. Well, that big yellow blob disappeared, and there was three hours we could have been playing golf that we didn't get to play golf.  As officials, we can only ask what's available to us and what we can see that's right there in front of us. At 11:00 it looked good.  There was gonna be some light rain, but the back end of it was pretty dry, looked pretty good. So that's when at 11:00 we said 1:00's a go.  We're gonna tee off then.  Gotta give them time to warm up on the range, hit some balls, get loose, and then go for their starting time. That's proceeded to here.  We looked at the chance of how bad that was gonna be with the rain storm.  Here it was light, so that's where are.  That's how we got to the decisions we got to and where we are now. Q.  Doug, you said it's important that both sides get through the 1st and 10th holes, right? DOUG BRECHT:  It helps us out with the time frame that we're looking at, for sure.  If they don't, I'll just start the second wave a little bit later. Q.  If they don't get through, are you automatically into Monday? DOUG BRECHT:  No, no.  I'm just -- I'm looking -- I'm an optimist.  I'm looking for all the best things I can possibly get.  Right now we're on pace for those groups to get where I need for them to get. Again, if they don't, the fact that my pace is better than it was the first round, that helps me buy time that I didn't think I was gonna get. Q.  So for your plan, you just need everyone today to have at least nine holes basically? DOUG BRECHT:  Yeah.  If I can get that -- like I said, I call it bonus golf.  If I can get that, I'm pretty happy. Q.  I assume you anticipate playing lift, clean, and place throughout the weekend. DOUG BRECHT:  It's always an option that we do it round by round.  If I had to bet, I would say we still play it through the rest the event. Q.  The course is that wet? DOUG BRECHT:  It's pretty saturated.  The water table here is pretty high.  When it does rain, it takes a while -- it does drain off, but it just takes a while for it to do it just because the high water table. Q.  What was the exact amount the rain on the course today? DOUG BRECHT:  Before we started at 1:00, we had had .64 inches, and I haven't heard an update since then.  Been virtually light since then. Maybe another -- maybe a tenth, but that may be too high, too, you guys.  I don't know for sure. Q.  So you have to start round three at 2:00 p.m. and then round four at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday? DOUG BRECHT:  Roughly, yes. Cristie Kerr Q.  Just talk about the conditions out there today. CRISTIE KERR:  Super wet.  I mean, um, we had a lot the rain.  I was surprised we even went out, frankly.  It looked like another band was kind of moving towards us, so I think we got kind of lucky there. Yeah, just kind of wet.  They definitely had to play ball in hand.  It's just -- there's so much casual water out there.  They must've had a couple inches the rain today. Q.  Did you feel like given all that you played okay? CRISTIE KERR:  Yeah, I played great.  Didn't hit a really good drive on 18.  It was kind of in the first cut, kind of on a sidehill/downhill lie.  I had a long club in my hand, and just tried to make a really good swing at it. Sometimes when you try and do that you try a little too hard.  You know, I hooked it left and that was kind a tough up-and-down.  I actually hit an okay chip, but it's just getting so dark. Maybe I could have waited, but I didn't want to.  I wanted to finish the hole.  I didn't see the appropriate amount the break for the putt.  I hit a good putt. So under par for this nine holes I think is a little victory considering the tough draw that we've had the last two days with the wind, and then having to wait all day. You know, so I played good.  I'm glad I'm gonna have a chance to hit some balls and kind of work on my swing before I go out and play tomorrow.  It can be good.  You get in a groove and you have a lot of golf to play and, you know, get it going. Q.  Strategy for tomorrow? CRISTIE KERR:  Go low. Q.  I mean with the conditions or anything. CRISTIE KERR:  You just have to see.  Could be really windy.  You never really know.  You have to kind the wake up and see how the conditions are and then kind of go from there. Paula Creamer Q. Paula, talk about your day and the bad weather. PAULA CREAMER:  No, I don't mind playing in bad weather.  I actually probably prefer it more than good weather.  Makes it, you know, harder for everybody.  You have to come out and focus on -- you know, par is a good score. Yesterday was, you know, just a very bad day.  So it was good to come out and play a good nine holes.  I didn't finish, you know, putt out on 18, but I hit the ball really well.  So I'll sleep a little better tonight than I did last night. Q.  What you did you leave yourself with on 18 to start out in the morning? PAULA CREAMER:  I'd say about a 30-footer or so.  I have to come out anyway, so why not just be a 100% and see the green a little better.  It got pretty dark fast. Q.  I you know you talk about playing better in this type the weather, but what about the disruption and other players who don't have to play at all today and played in the nice mild conditions yesterday morning? PAULA CREAMER:  We definitely got the short end the stick with the draw, that's for sure.  You look at it overall and kind add them up here and there, and this is definitely one those ones where the afternoon waves yesterday, we definitely didn't get the good times. But it is what it is, and we have a lot more golf left. Q.  You hit that final nine tomorrow.  For you anyway, is your game a little better feeling than it was yesterday?  Are you feeling strong? PAULA CREAMER:  Yeah, I mean, definitely.  Yesterday I had a couple bad holes.  You know, overall I played pretty well.  But, you know, just kind the got in my own way on some certain shots. It was tough.  It was very windy but still, not an excuse. Wendy Ward Q. How was it out there for you today? WENDY WARD:  You know, starting out it was really nice.  You know, you start to think, you know, did you get the good or the bad end the draw, silly things like that. The wind was hardly blowing, it wasn't raining, and then Doug Brecht, our official, he kind the gave us the one-hour window before the rain was coming, and he was pretty accurate with us. And then it just -- you just gotta kind the mutter through it, you know. Q.  Seemed like when you were on like about 4 you could look and see some darker clouds the you're thinking, that's probably gonna knock us off the course, but it really never picked up. WENDY WARD:  This course really drains well.  The officials told us that it only got a half inch from last night through this morning, so we expected to play till dark.  I did at least. Q.  Are you pleased with the amount the golf you got in today? WENDY WARD:  Yeah, very, very.  We've got six holes left, and you know, we just knew it was gonna be overcast and not quite get 5:30 out of it. I was happy that I had a tap-in for birdie on 12.  So I was happy just to finish that out, and fresh start tomorrow. Q.  How pleased are you that the LPGA is back in Texas? WENDY WARD:  Oh, I'm tickled pink.  I've been trying to get back here forever.  Been trying to get to San Antonio, Houston, Dallas.  I'm not that picky where we play. I sure noticed it on the 1st and 10th tee respectively the last two days.  Just some people excited that we're back and excited to see their Texas girls playing. Q.  So you're getting some additional support being from Texas?WENDY WARD:  I feel like I am.  I ran into a high school golf coach that I hadn't seen in probably 18, 19 years, you know.  Just kind the brings back memories.  It's always good to, you know, kind of have somewhat of a hometown event First-round notes and interviewsWhat's at stake for players at LPGA Tour ChampionshipPre-tournament InterviewsTournament Preview