Sherri Steinhauer did herself one better Friday. She followed her opening 67 with a 66 and added another shot to her lead at the State Farm Classic. Steinhauer is at -11 with Christina Kim in second at -9. Annika Sorenstam is third at -8 with Mi Hyun Kim and Marcy Hart tied for fourth at -7.
The wind died down overnight and the Friday scores were typical State Farm ones. 32 players scored in the 60s (compared to 10 on Thursday). Sorenstam’s 65 led the way – she started with four straight birdies and only a bogey at her last hole kept her out of a tie for second. Steinhauer and Christina had two of the four 66s (Jane Park and Giulia Sergas were the others) that were posted.
All those birdies pulled the cut up to even par, eliminating Shi Hyun Ahn, Laura Davies, Sarah Lee and Grace Park from the weekend field. Three bogeys over her last five holes did Grace in (+2). The lucky girls included Meaghan Francella, Young Kim and Reilley Rankin. Rankin shot 67 to make the cut on the nose. Amateur Stacy Lewis made the cut with her second straight 71 and Moira Dunn made it two 70s in a row – she’s T16 at -4.
In her post-round interview, Christina Kim was asked about the Solheim snub and during her response mentioned that she looked over the statistics of herself and the other players and determined that she deserved to be on the team:
One night I went online and printed up everybody's statistics, everything from how they performed throughout the last year, driving distance, driving accuracy, birdies per round, putts per round, greens in regulation. I sat there as if I had OCD and just started doing numbers and started comparing myself to everyone else. Based on that, I thought that I would have a good chance of getting in because I was at the top of the list in terms of birdies per round, which I believe is very important; and I am in the Top 10 in driving distance.
Now that’s the kind of stat analysis we need to hear more about! Maybe I could get Christina to guest-post…
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2 comments:
Watching the Safeway I find myself feeling sorry for Nicole Castrale. I wonder what she did to PO Betsy King. I initially thought that Christina Kim was the one who got the shaft but Nichole will be roasted for every dropped point. She's left in the unenviable position of needing a perfect record. A lot of pressure for a rookie. I believe that Christina would have been a great asset but she, like the other 11 ladies could have had less than a perfect record without being drawn and quartered. If Betsy didn't consider this she has tunnel vision which is not a good thing in a leader. If she did consider it shame on her.
Good point Doug. Nicole won't be able to lose a single point without being criticized. Frankly, I don't expect her to be used more than two times (and the Sunday singles match is a mandatory one).
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