Japan’s Yamashita led all golfers most of the tournament with consistent bogey-free golf. She wasn’t big on distance. She didn’t lay out any high-powered drives to speak of at all. Round by round, she played consistently and steadily.
We can’t say the same for the competition.
England’s Georgia Hall finished 1 under par on Sunday. Her comeback is still in the works. Hall remains one of the top LPGA players when it comes to tournament top finishers.
Japan’s Takeda finished the tournament with a 71 for the final round. Her 7 under was not enough to compete with Yamashita’s dominating position on the leaderboard at 12 under at that time.
It appeared that both A.L. Kim and Charlie Hull were Yamashita’s top competitors.
A.L. Kim was all over the course off the tee. She could have used some of Yamashita’s top scrambling abilities to recover from a few of those tee shots landing in the rough. Nevertheless, she could not finish the final round any better than 1 over par, ending up tied for 4th with Takeda.
Hull tried her best to rev up the engine down the final round’s stretch but it just did not work out for her. She had 2 bogeys leading up to the final hole, narrowing her chances of chasing down Yamashita. At that rate, Hull was depending more on a mistake on Yamashita’s part than a great play on her own end.
It never went down that way.
Yamashita proved why big time players grab a lead and hold onto it relentlessly on the leaderboard. She offered no place for any of her competitors to break into the lead. She was composed. She was consistent. She was the epitome of a top player in the lead on display.
Not many amateurs make an impression when competing with the professionals. Lottie Woad left a lasting impression last year as an amateur. However, playing as pro makes a major difference, especially when it comes to expectations and pressure.
When it came to the 2025 Women’s Scottish Open, Lottie Woad did not disappoint on any level during any round in her professional debut on LPGA Tour.
Lottie Woad, a former No. 1 amateur in the world, stepped up at the Women’s Scottish Open to take home the victory and prize money. The English phenom took on Dundonald Links and did not let off the gas until she was raising the trophy to symbolize her first victory on the LPGA Tour.
In her pro debut, @LottieWoad becomes an LPGA Tour champion 🏆
This victory should more than proved she’s ready for the pressure of the professional game. Her final round of 68 led to her finishing the tourney at 21 under par. That was enough to clear secure her first professional victory while competing with Nelly Korda and other top LPGA pros. This victory marks Wood’s start and makes an impressive statement about what she plans to do on the LPGA Tour this year.
What else can we expect from this English golfer who has snagged the attention of women’s golf for the moment?
She should focus on staying on top of her game throughout this initial pro season. Even if she doesn’t kill another tournament like she did this one, she can remain relevant. It’s best that she not go dark or end up in some dark place due to depression and disappointment from the onslaught of public pressure .
No matter how you may have heard about this story, this is how it really went that day:
It was Christmas Eve. I was off of work for the winter holidays. I was off-duty from managing anything and everything related to my mom because my cousin was visiting and she wanted time with Mom that afternoon. Cool! I set up a tee time and loaded the clubs to hit Mission Trails.
I was worry-free. Mom’s care at the facility was going well and I figured we’d celebrate Christmas and the new year before making any decisions beyond that.
I was so carefree that day that my swing was on target. I hit the 2nd and 3rd holes in regulation. I had a par on the 2nd hole after opening the round with a par on a long par 5 1st hole. The 3rd hole give me grief with a my par shot lipping put of the hole.
I tackled the 4th hole like I owned it.
Anyone who has played Mission Trails before knows that the 4th hole starts with an elevated tee shot aimed at an equally-elevated green nestled in the side of a hill that makes anything that isn’t perfect roll down that hill into running water. I teed up from the whites on that elevated block of grass and ripped a shot that felt like it just absorbed all my power into it. I lost sight of the ball in the trees and i figured I was chipping from the ravine down below.
I went in search of my ball along with the rest of my foursome. I didn’t see it near the ravine and I continued to ride along the ravine, hoping that it hadn’t rolled down with so much momentum that it went on the other side of the ravine.
Leave it to me to leave the positive thinking back in the car while on the golf course.
“Hey, Man!” one of my foursome called out from just above the green overhead. “Your ball is up here.”
I made my way up there with haste. In my thinking, “up here” had to mean on the fringe or even on the side of the hill just above the green. As my cart eased into position behind the others, I could not believe my eyes. My ball was about 10 feet from the hole.
I walked up to the ball on the green to mark it, but the reality of it all was that I was checking to ensure that this was really my Pinnacle Rush with my mark on it. It was mine. I left my marker there and commenced to cleaning my ball as I pondered how my TaylorMade Burner 3 wood had proven worthy of its weight in my bag.
After the other guys worked their way onto the green with some nice chipping and pitching, even a recovery shot from behind some pine trees, we started working our way to getting the ball into the hole. I was up third with a straight but bumpy 10-foot ride to the hole. I stroked it a little too heavy and it rolled and bounced its way right beyond the cup.
I settled for a birdie.
And how does that sound?
Me. . . settling for a birdie. . . as if, you know.
That’s when I got the call.
Mom had just passed.
I had leave. I excused myself from the foursome and wished them the best as I rolled the cart at a high speed back to the clubhouse. I dropped off the cart in an obscure spot and facing the wrong way near the bar that is perched above the green of the 18th hole. I drug my clubs to my car.
I wanted to change my clothes or at least my shoes, but I couldn’t do it.
I just cried for a moment.
Breast cancer had defeated my mom after a long and hard fought battle.
She was gone now. And I felt like someone had punched me in my gut and gave me the whooping of a lifetime.
The plan is to host 2 golf tournaments. One golf tournament in December to honor the passing of my mother and the other in August to celebrate my mom’s birthday. The tourney in December would focus on a drive for donations to the American Cancer Society (San Diego), while the tourney in August would focus on supporting minority education in the greater San Diego area (a cause that my mother thrived to support throughout her lifetime in San Diego).
Subscribe to this blog and stay updated as we prepare to launch these special events in honor of Mom.
When we think about beating the odds, we usually think about stuff that we could easily hurdle and conquer. For most of us weekend golfers, that might include a golf ball neatly dropped into a gopher hole just off the fairway or a pack of geese trampling your golf ball on an otherwise-smooth green. We usually don’t think of the stuff that requires a little extra boost of energy and internal strength.
Hideki Matsuyama wasn’t facing those types of odds on his way to winning the FedEx St. Jude Championship this past week.
Matsuyama was headed to Memphis on his own. Neither his regular caddie or long-term coach would be there with him.
And what does he do?
He wins that golf tournament with his caddie or coach. He won the tournament by making a birdie on each of the 2 final holes of the tournament. After having recently won the bronze medal in Olympic golf in Paris, Matsuyama looks like he is in full swing again. At this rate, I can’t wait to see what else a player like Matsuyama can do in the future.
Golf can be one of those ventures that has big rewards and payoffs for taking certain risks. Yet, it also has some real simple consequences for taking other types of risks. That’s just some conventional wisdom for the course for you to nibble on to start out right now.
What I really wanted to dig into was the multiple hole playoff between Kiradech Aphibarnrat of Thailand and rookie sensation Jesper Svensson at the Porsche Singapore Classic. Those powerful drives amid strong gusts of wind along with those clutch putts made for stellar drama on the 18th hole. however, even that storyline had to take a back seat to what I witnessed among the LPGA players at Fir Hills for the Seri Pak Championship.
Ruoning Yin added a whole load of drama to the uneventful closure of the third round at Fir Hills. Everyone seemed to make more of a thing about former USC golfer Malia Nam returning to LPGA play and standing out among the top players at Fir Hills, but it appears that Yin was intent upon taking big risks to finish the day off. And that’s one thing that stole the spotlight from Malia Nam’s steady play for remaining in contention for a share of the lead and a potential shot at victory.
Yin was ahead of her fellow players at -11 coming into the 18th hole. Her tee shot landed her in the rough amid some trees with low-hanging branches. That left her with a decision to make. And this is where many of us recreational golfers could both readily and easily empathize with the Chinese golfer’s agonizing decision. She decided on a low punch shot between the trees rather than a high percentage shot like a pitch back into the fairway from the rough.
As I watched on, I recognized the predicament. No one was within any closer to her than 2 strokes. She had the outright lead and her game seemed to be working for her.
Yin Pays the Price
Yin drew back and made an attempt at punching it, and then all you heard was the thud of a golf ball striking bark. Anyone who has played on a course with any kind of woods on it knows that sound. It’s so distinct that it’s almost haunting.
In fact this sound was merely the awakening of a steady dwindle on a downward spiral with little to no chance of return or even redemption.
And that’s putting it lightly.
Ruoning Yin TRIPLED her last hole so she went from solo 1st to T3 two strokes back after round 3.
Consequences continued to come against her as she and her caddie sought some relief from her ball ending what looked like a drain and within a club length of a work shed. But even with that drop and hitting 4 from the rough, Yin ended up short of the green on the 18th. That left her pitching upward to try to finish up the hole.
Things didn’t work out well for her at all on 18. She finished the hole with a triple bogey. She finished the round even at 71 for the day. She ended up tied for third at -7 after holding onto the lead most of the day.
Look at the Lesson
Yin isn’t by herself.
I’ve been there before.
How about you?
Have you ever had that one hole that just tore up everything that you have put together throughout a decent round? I bet it burned you intensely. I would imagine how badly it would feel to have everything going right and then BOOM! It all just falls apart.
Yin is the defending champion for the tournament. She even had a better understanding of the course layout and structure from the prior year’s victory. Hopefully, she recovered and can make the most of this final round at Fir Hills today. But, like many of us, she took a high risk and it cost her enough strokes to shock her. Either way, it surely caught my attention away from Svensson and Aphibarnrat battling for a new Porsche and $450,000.
Who knows? If given the opportunity again, I might try to punch it through the trees, too.
Watching the final round of the tournament had me looking for who might catch up to Matsuyama and provide another playoff weekend. But that never happened here. Masuyama maintained his lead at a safe distance from his competitors and won this tournament free and clear.
After watching a post-game interview with Hideki Matsuyama sharing about overcoming back issues and his closing in on the course record during this final round, I was motivated. I was motivated to pick up my irons and chip and putt for some more practice around the green. According to Matsuyama, everything was not working for him during the entire final round, but he was able to remain consistent with his short game and his putting. That told me that we all can tee it up high and let it fly, but if we’re going to keep winging we better do it strategically to stay the course.
There was some good golf being played out there. I like what I saw from a lot of pros who don’t always get the shine from the press and media. Names like Theegala, Scheffler, and Spieth appeared on the leaderboard, but they also gave fans plenty to cheer about.
Some folks show up at Phoenix for the wild weekend fanfare and fun in the sun. You have to wonder where golf fits into the entire scope of their itinerary, especially when pros have to call out bad behavior among fans. This isn’t Coachella. It’s a golf tournament. It’s becoming a bit troubling to have to share pro sports magical moments like the Taylor-Hoffman playoff along with unruly fans acting badly throughout the weekend. Let’s just agree to let this weekend die down before trying to make sense of it all. After all, this has been one of the most storied tournaments of the PGA Tour.
The tee time was pushing it close, but we knew that when we started. Daylight would rush our play towards the end of the day. Nevertheless, we made our way to Rancho Bernardo Inn in North County San Diego just under 30 miles from central San Diego proper.
From the first tee, I felt good swinging in the tee box. I drove it across a waterway and followed that up with an approach shot onto the green. I putted for par on the green, and then played it too safe on a par 3 that cost me some strokes. Then, I made my second par on a par 5 hole and saw my potential for breaking 90 light up.
Unfortunately, not many highlights pop up after that.
One memorable hole had me trying to work some magic by overplaying a dogleg that got me caught up with some dogwoods and eucalyptus trees. That move had me right along with my foursome who all sat in the fairway, while I wrestled with the tall grass amid the trees. I overworked for that double bogey on that hole.
I never went beyond making a bogey on the back 9. In fact, I stacked up enough double bogeys to keep me focused on fixes for my next outing.
I was too conservative on my putts, leaving myself too much ground to cover on the second putt. Also, I was overplaying a few holes when I was left with under 100 yards to the flag. Playing a 9 iron instead of a pitching wedge under such conditions makes the difference between being on the green or just beyond the green.
I learned one lesson clearly and it has been on my mind since this round. I need to manage my shot selection and choice of clubs in order to set up the next shot. If I don’t do that well, then I’m bound to still struggle breaking 90.
I saw it for myself. I didn’t have to see it on the local news report. I didn’t have to hear about from others on social media. I saw the fairways of Chula Vista Golf Course flooded like the Red Sea sweeping away the army of Pharaoh in its pursuit of Moses and the children of Israel.
Stormy conditions in the San Diego area have made playing golf a futile aspiration over the past week. Right after the flooded fairways were cleared of the water and debris left from the prior storms to resume regular tee times on the local golf courses, San Diego is bracing itself for another catastrophic level of rainfall and wind over a period of two days.
I’ve got a tee time scheduled for Saturday at Rancho Bernardo Inn in the North County area of San Diego. With this storm scheduled to pass away by Friday, I’m hoping for a sunny Saturday morning that could provide a decent round of golf and an enjoyable time with close friends.
I’m going to prepare for another shot at breaking 90 and keep swinging where and when I can.
During the Christmas break, I usually work in a few rounds of golf here and there. I was able to squeeze in a round at Carlton Oaks in Santee, California, the day after Christmas. This is a course formerly used to qualify golfers for their tour cards. I love the challenges of the front nine versus the wide open fairways of the back nine. You can plan out your approach and attack plan, but the angled fairways and elevated decks make adjustment a big part of the game.
I love how Carlton Oaks gives off a mystique of a course much older than its 1958 start date. Its first tee has you veering to right, only to quickly force you to dogleg left for a par 4. Launching my approach shot over the green, I lost my nerves and flubbed a chip shot onto the green. That forced me to put my pitching wedge to work around the back end of the green to come out with a double bogey.
From there on, the rest of the course gave me grief. Somewhere around the 7th hole on the front where I realized that my finish on my pitches and chips had too loose and light. After that realization, I added some changes to my chips and pitches. But those approach shots were killing me.
Finishing off the front nine, I messed up by using a fairway wood instead of a hybrid to carry my third shot over a waterway. The shot went wide to the left and barely still within the stakes. I scrambled my way to pitching a nice roller onto the green, but that wasn’t enough to save par or even get me bogey on a par 5. I walked away with a 7 on that hole and a bad attitude on the 10th tee.
The remainder of the scorecard tells a different story. I didn’t do anything drastic except cut down my double bogeys. I marked down a double bogey on 11, and then I pretty much settled down. In fact, on hole 16, I hit a par from the fringe muh like I have done in the past on the same hole. Simply cutting down those double bogeys, cut down an additional 4 strokes compared to the front nine.
A New Set of Golf Goals for a New Year
I looked back at this game and considered my golf goals for 2024.
Let me correct that with complete transparency.
I walked by the mirror coming from the restroom prior to my tee time. . .
. . . and I was disgusted at what I saw.
My belly was protruding out like Santa on an off day from his sleigh. Not that my multi-striped golf shirt helped any, but I looked a lot more like a lost Christmas ornament than a golfer.
I’m an athletic coach and a former athlete, so I surely did not like seeing my reflection at the moment.
Part of 2024 is going to include me running 5Ks again, maybe even that Hot Chocolate 15K, and daily pushing myself to take on new adventures in health. From food to fitness, I’m taking my health seriously to combat the effects of a poor diet of the past. If that means walking around a nearby downtown venue to speak to the homeless and get a feel for what type of outreach ministry that can take place there, then let it be so. If that means pulling on some hiking books or trail runners in order to hike a local peak with a group of folks who have been body-shamed and seek to create a new image of themselves, so be it.
In 2024, I’ve got more than just golf goals. I’ve got life goals.
MyBreaking90 