Golf Lpga

I lost interest in the Wegmans LPGA event after Cheyenne Woods missed the cut and Michelle Wie posted a third-round 75 to take herself out of contention. Jiyai Shin went on to win by seven strokes, pushing her 2009 earnings over $1 million, and cementing her Rookie of the Year bid.

But Stacy Lewis and Morgan Pressel were three shots behind Shin, the tournament leader, heading into Sunday, only to card a 74 and 78, respectively.

After the round, Pressel fired up the Twitter machine: "Trying to dry out the water-logged golf bag. Will never understand why we didn't tee off earlier when they knew the weather."

As did Lewis: "Question of the day: Why didn't we tee off earlier?"

Hound Dog LPGA also has a few questions:

Cheyenne Woods, Tiger's niece and Wake Forest golfer, competed in her first LPGA event this week. She opened with a respectable 75 at the Wegmans LPGA, before carding a second-round 74 to miss the cut by four shots.

As Bacon wrote Thursday, Tiger didn't play the weekend in his first professional event as an amateur, either, shooting 72-75 at the then-Nissan Open in 1992. Things have since worked out for him.

Cheyenne hasn't dominated amateur golf like her uncle, but she's still been very successful. Via the New York Times, "she has won more than 30 amateur tournaments, and she was the second-lowest scorer for Wake Forest, which finished in a tie for 13th last month at the NCAA women's championships."

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) -- Tiger Woods' niece has missed the cut in her professional golf debut, shooting a 2-over 74 in the second round of the storm-disrupted Wegmans LPGA.

Cheyenne Woods finished at 5-over 149-four strokes above the cutline. The 18-year-old was in the event on a sponsor exemption.

Woods and 70 other players completed their second rounds at the Locust Hill course in suburban Rochester on Saturday morning after play was interrupted by thunderstorms for nearly five hours Friday.

Think back to 1992. The first George Bush was in office. "Aladdin" was the top-grossing movie in this whole new world, pulling in nearly $218 million dollars, and a scrawny, amateur golfer named Tiger Woods teed it up in his first ever PGA Tour event. Back then, the event was the Nissan Los Angeles Open, and Woods opened with at 1-over 72, eventually missing the cut at 5-over after following that up with a 75.

On Thursday, at the Wegmans LPGA, Cheyenne Woods, niece to Tiger, made her debut on the LPGA, shooting a 3-over 75 to tie for 119th.

I was all set to climb up on my soap box and wax practical about the state of the LPGA Tour. The news that Natalie Gulbis and Michelle Wie failed to qualify for next month's U.S. Women's Open got me sufficiently worked up; it was the latest example of a tour desperately seeking respectability finding new and inventive ways to guarantee that it didn't happen.

Except that, unlike last year's English-only debacle, this has nothing to do with inane LPGA rules and more to do with Gulbis and Wie -- despite their popularity -- not earning their way into the field. (In fact, as was pointed out in the comments, the USGA sets the rules for the U.S. Open.)

Next Sunday, when the U.S. Open is wrapping up and you are dying to see a little more of the course that gave the pros fits for four straight days? Well, you're in luck, because in 2014, Pinehurst No. 2, the course made famous by its turtleback greens and the Payne Stewart leap, will host both the men's and women's U.S. Open in back-to-back weeks.

The USGA will play the 2014 men's and women's U.S. Opens on consecutive weeks at Pinehurst No. 2, assuming that one final, expected approval is given to the plan on Monday morning. The U.S. Open will take place on June 12-15 and the U.S. Women's Open will follow on June 19-22.

The arrangement, a first for the two events, arose when negotiations for Pebble Beach Golf Links to host the 2014 women's Open fell through. Pebble Beach will host the 2012 U.S. Open, and the club felt as though it needed more separation between the two tournaments.

Sometimes you get downright lucky. During the third round of the J Golf Phoenix LPGA International, when I got the unique opportunity to caddie for Erica Blasberg, some exciting news came my way -- we were going to be paired with Christina Kim.

If you don't know about Christina, you're missing out on one of the more unique golfers in the world (just check her Twitter). The good news for all of us is that this week, at the McDonald LPGA Championship, Kim will be mic'd up for the first round. Unlike the exhibitions we normally get when Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia joke with each other up and down the fairway, this will be a top-notch talent with an even more impressive mouth on her saying exactly what she feels during the real thing.

Each Wednesday during the golf season, FanHouse will list the top five names in golf and why they're important. Did Barack play 18 with Tiger? Did a certain player do something controversial off the course? Or was just playing golf enough to get the pot stirring? Join us for a new weekly ranking feature we call Making the Cut.

5. Michelle Wie -- Thinking back a year ago, it's almost like Michelle Wie has become a different person. In 2008, at the very tournament she will tee up at on Thursday, Wie forgot to sign her scorecard after rounds of 67-65, landing a disqualification that could be listed as her lowest of lows (which is saying a lot). Now, with a tour card and a fresh outlook, Wie is back at the LPGA State Farm Classic with two top-3 finishes this season and seemingly getting close to her first career victory. Even if she doesn't win, Wie has to be hoping that someone will remind her to put her autograph on the only piece of paper that matters.

LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens made news last year for the tour's peculiar language requirement. The policy was short-lived, but it's one of those things you can easily point to as an example of why the LPGA struggles to remain both relevant and solvent.

Bivens understands as much (although misguided, her attempt to get international tour players to learn English was to help broaden the sport's appeal). Which is why she'd support LPGA players using their Twitter machines during their round.

I think we can all agree that the praising of Michelle Wie was premature, as most young obsessions tend to be. The golfing world was introduced to a girl, not a women, and hoped that Wie would do to the LPGA what Tiger Woods did to the PGA Tour.

Wie has done just about everything Tiger did, including joining Team Swoosh and deciding on Stanford. Oh, and she can't win a big tournament, which is why Steve Politi of the Newark Star-Ledger believes Wie shares a lot of similarities with Phil Mickelson, not Mr. Woods.