Q-School Miscellany, Day 1
Sean Martin with the story of Ted Oh, who has reappeared on the golfing radar with an opening 67 at PGA TOur Q-school. John Strege fills us in on the progress of some other next-can't-miss players who are teeing it up this week.
Peter Yoon shares some some celebrity sightings:
Brooks, the veteran who already has status as a past champion on the PGA Tour, free-wheeled through a pressure-free round using his 22-year-old daughter as caddie.
Mark Brooks, the 1996 PGA Championship winner, is one of the most well-known players who teed it up Wednesday in the first round of Q-school at PGA West, and he lived up to the billing with a 6-under 66 at the Stadium Course that has him a stroke out of the lead.
Brooks, however, might not have been the biggest name on the course. That belonged to Anthony Kim, the Ryder Cup star who lent his caddie to childhood friend Seung-Su Han and walked with Han on the back nine as Han shot a roller-coaster 1-over 73 on the Stadium Course.
The two provided microcosms of the contrasts going on at Q-school.
Beth Ann Baldry at LPGA Q-school on Michelle Wie's first round:
Wie created a buzz at Q-School that hasn’t been seen since Ai Miyazato came through in 2005. Of course, those were all Japanese reporters.
Normally on a Wednesday at LPGA Q-School, two, maybe three print reporters are on hand. This year, several national outlets – including Associated Press, ESPN, and USA Today – walked 18 holes with Wie. Golf Channel even did hourly on-air updates of Wie’s progress.
Say what you will, Wie remains a story. As many as 100 fans followed Wie, though that number dwindled as the day progressed. There are no ropes here in Daytona, but there is a new set of bleachers behind the 18th green at the Champions Course, where play concludes on Sunday. Fans are up close and personal here at Q-School, so much so that security asked one man to get out of the middle of the ninth fairway.
And Eric Adelson at ESPN.com paints this picture:
Michelle Wie played 18 holes Wednesday without a Nike rep watching, without a William Morris rep watching, without a Ken Sunshine rep watching, without a deep-pocketed Hawaiian benefactor watching, without a physical therapist watching, without a live television camera watching, without a six-deep gallery watching and even without a standard-bearer watching. Those days, and witnesses, are gone, at least for today. But the 100 or so fans and reporters who were watching got the answer to the question that still intrigues many golf fans, including the Trashman:
Michelle is doing just fine.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008 at 07:08 PM 2 Comments
Reader Comments (2)
"She missed only four greens all day, made only one bogey -- a 3-putt on the par-5 14th that caused her mother to yelp as if she had torn an ACL. "
In this case the parent(s) should be seen and not heard.
FWIW - Many ACL injuries never, ever hurt. Really! I've had many a skiier come in with one where they never remember much more than taking a day off after a funny fall.
This is way out of hand now.