Nancy Lopez was on-hand but not as a player.  I saw her giving a putting lesson to Pat Hurst right before she teed off on Friday.  On Saturday, Nancy was seen talking to Christina Kim just outside the scorer’s tent after Christina finished her round. This wasn’t just a casual conversation..it was as much a coaching lesson as anything else.  Nancy is doing what she can to shore up the US players in preparation for both the US Open and the upcoming Solheim Cup.  Nancy is by far the greatest ambassador to the game of golf on the planet.  We regretted not getting to see her walk up the 18th hole as a competitor but her presence was felt nonetheless.

The final field was very international with 29 Americans, 29 South Koreans, 9 from Sweden, Norway and Finland , 5 from Australia and the balance from Thailand, France, Italy, Scotland, Mexico, Japan, Taiwan, Japan and South Africa.  A total of 83 amazing female golfers.

They did not disappoint even though it looked like Eunjung Yi was going to walk away with the tournament after her blistering 10-under 61 posted on Saturday.  Morgan Pressel got close then fell off with 2 bogeys until…she eagled the 17th hole to tie Yi at 18 under.   The electricity in the stands and the roar that could be heard throughout the golf course told us that the gap had been closed and this was going down to the wire.

There was a playoff between Pressel and Yi and even though the majority of us were pulling for Pressel we couldn’t will her ball in the hole on 18 – it just barely slid by.  Yi held firm and sank a 10 foot birdie putt to win on the 1st playoff hole.  She definitely deserved the champion’s crown.

Next year, if there is a next year

for the long-running, crowd favorite Jamie Farr LPGA, the street that runs along side Highland Meadows Golf Course will change from Paula Creamer Blvd to Eunjung Yi Blvd.  What a great tradition!  But will it be back in 2010 and beyond?

Behind the scenes something even bigger was happening.  We have learned that some of the top players on the LPGA Tour held a ‘behind closed doors’ meeting calling for the resignation of Carolyn Bivens, the current LPGA Commissioner .  There is so much controversy surrounding Bivens tenure as Commissioner most of which is centered on the loss of sponsors and events that are leaving gaping holes in the LPGA Tour schedule going forward.

Certainly the economic downturn could not have been predicted when Bivens laid out her business plan for the LPGA.  However, when it was evident that companies were struggling and that was having a direct impact on their ability to maintain their sponsorships in the same manner as they had in the past, why wouldn’t there be a ‘temporary hold’ on increasing licensing fees and prize purses until the economy improved?  Is Bivens the proverbial ‘bull in the china shop’ just charging ahead and leaving turmoil and destruction in her wake?  Given the list of lost events and player unrest, it seems to this author it is time for new leadership at the top.

My personal vote for ‘interim commissioner’ would be Nancy Lopez.  Who better to mend fences and right the ship than this legend who has earned the utmost respect from players, fans and business leaders throughout the world.  I know am speaking out of turn as nothing has changed within the LPGA as of this writing but in a perfect world….

Thanks for visiting Ladies on the Tee Golf Blog at www.sherrytabb.com.  Please feel free to leave your comments, pro or con, below.

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As we try to get more and more women into the game of golf it seems prudent to discuss how women are treated at golf courses around the world and more importantly, in your own back yard.

It is well-known that golf has been dominated by men for decades. There are attitudes toward women that transcend just the players themselves. The facilities, i.e. golf courses, where women play are either part of the enlightened group of owners, managers and pros or they still exist in the dark ages. There are some very simple and easy ways to determine very quickly if the golf course where you go to play is ‘female friendly’.

Here’s a quick list which is not meant to be all-inclusive:

• When you first arrive at the course do you feel welcome or do you sense that you are invisible to the staff?

• Is the Pro Shop stocked with items of women’s golf clothing, golf equipment and golf accessories? Additionally, is the area where these items are displayed bigger than a small corner hidden towards the back?

• Is there a designated Ladies Rooms inside the Clubhouse or Pro Shop? It would be hard to imagine a violation of this as that is typically a code requirement but you just never know.

• Are there on-course restrooms? Women don’t have the ‘luxury’ of unzipping and relieving themselves in bushes, behind trees and who knows where else!!

• Does the starter ‘warn’ you about slow play and keeping pace when he obviously overlooked giving that same warning to the previous groups of male golfers?

• Does the course have Forward Tees available with a groomed tee box, not an afterthought set up on what used to be the rough?

• Is the forward tee box aligned so that it actually allows the golfer to set up in the direction of the fairway?

• Is there a ball washer at the forward tees?

• Do you get the ‘eye’ if you try to tee off on anything but the forward tees? Another way of checking this out is to find out if the forward tees are referred to as the Ladies Tees. The real truth is that there are a lot of men that should be playing from these tees but their egos won’t allow them so they instead slow up play on the course because their game isn’t strong enough to play further back. The chosen set of tees should be determined by the ability of the player NOT the sex!

• Finally, when you get back to the clubhouse, is there a “Men’s Only” Grill but no “Women’s Only” one?

Hopefully, this gives you a base or a barometer to see if the golf course you play is worthy of your business. If not, perhaps you can work with the management or owners of the golf course to provide some suggestions to help them get into the 21^st century.

You may have other criteria that you use to assess the courses where you play. Feel free to pass those along in our comments section below. I would like to compile a list of female friendly golf courses around the globe to post on this blog so feel free to give us the name and location of the golf course you feel qualifies and we’ll check it out.

Thanks for visiting Ladies on the Tee Golf Blog at www.sherrytabb.com. I look forward to your comments.

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My father decided when I was in my 20′s that it was time for me to learn the game (he was desperate for someone to play with when my brother left our hometown). He tried to teach me the game, but he was a much better player than teacher and I gave up pretty quickly – it was a lot harder than it looked on TV.

20 years later I was an executive in a software company where free golf lessons were a perk offered to staff. My team forced me kicking and screaming to the first lesson. And no one was more shocked than I was when I fell in love with the game. Funny what good coaching can do for you.

My first couple of years playing were hit and miss. I didn’t really know that many people who played and I felt “naked on the first tee” when playing with strangers. Luckily, I persevered and ended up making some wonderful golf buddies on the golf course who are now friends for life.

Golf has changed my life. It has made me more confident meeting new people (hard to believe, but I’m quite shy . It has opened up new networks to me for both business and friendship. It gives me something to talk about at those “oh so boring” cocktail parties we have to attend in business. It’s not only my favorite hobby in real life; it’s my favorite online hobby as well. I love to blog about golf and chat on golf forums, where I’ve made a lot of “virtual friends” that I hope to meet someday face to face.

Golf is something my husband and I share that makes us act like kids again; we are always looking for ways to run away together every weekend. We love to play together, travel and play together, watch golf on TV together, practice together, read the same golf magazines. Yup, we’re both hooked big time!

Golf is what I think about when I can’t sleep. I just lie there and imagine hitting every shot on one of my favorite courses and by about the 3rd hole, I’m fast asleep – sure beats counting sheep!

As I say on my blog, I took up golf for both pleasure and business. Now I wish that golf was my business!

By Gayle Moss (www.golfgal-blog.com)

Ladies on the Tee Golf Blog thanks Gayle for sharing her story with us.  If you have a personal story about your golf experience please comment below or submit your article via our Contact Us page.  Thanks for visiting www/sherrytabb.com.

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