Royal Birkdale Notebook

Last updated: 2nd August 2010

Golf365's Matt Cooper spent an eventful week at the Ricoh Women's British Open. Check back on his tournament updates:

Sunday - Review of the week

All of these in descending order ...

Best dressed

3. Sandra Gal - tall and elegant German goes for stylish outfits and I like the scarves.

2. Paula Creamer's 'football referee' - the lady in black.

1. Anna Nordqvist - just loved the colours and I've got a soft spot for the neckerchiefs too. She grabs top spot for looking good all week.

Shots of the week

3. Suzann Pettersen from the rough on ten on Sunday. A short tee shot so she gave herself plenty to do with the approach. Knocked it to tap-in range.

2. Yani Tseng's final putt - not long but it meant so much to her.

1. Michelle Wie's approach to the ninth on Thursday. The ball was 12 inches above her feet, in a clump of fescue, she had 7-iron to a raised and partially blind green. The ball soared high and came to rest six feet from the flag.

Crowd favourites

3. Kelly Tidy - the local 18-year-old was cheered around the course on Thursday and Friday. When she turns professional European fans will like her as much as Lancashire ones already do.

2. Paula Creamer - the apple pie looks, pink clothes and long socks win men, women and children over. Excellent with her sponsors, she is great with the kids in the autograph area.

1. Christina Kim - young, old, whatever - they love her. "Such a character," "Great sense of humour," "Lovely girl," "A bit mad and loud but wonderful." I heard each and every one of those words. You might think that her boisterous personality might rub some up the wrong way, but the evidence is that she doesn't. The galleries get her.

Performances of the week

Notwithstanding those players at the top of the leaderboard and again in descending order ...

3. Pernilla Lindberg shot 86 on day one, double-bogied the second hole on day two and then the deluge came. But she responded by hitting six birdies in the next ten holes. A brave and remarkable effort in monsoon-like conditions.

2. Anne-Lise Caudal fighting through the rain on day two to remain in red figures. It was dark, wet and lonely out there on Friday evening but she stayed in the zone and the event. Unfortunately the mental effort required probably didn't help her on Saturday.

1. In-Kyung Kim was another who had to play through the very worst of the weather on Friday but she managed to last the weekend too. Bear in mind that to play in horrible conditions is one test, but to wake up next morning mentally exhausted and produce the goods again as another.

Best lookalikes

3. Paula Creamer and Princess Beatrice

2. Becky Brewerton and Dennis the Menace (Laura Davies came up with that one after Becky wore a hooped shirt on Saturday)

1. Juli Inkster and Yootha Joyce.

Best line of the week

I mentioned yesterday that Mike Newell the one time Luton Town manager and proud sexist was attending the golf this week (see below). I told a friend of mine this and he then bumped into Newell out on the course. "All right, Mike," he said with a wink. "These girls can play a bit, can't they?"

Saturday

Yesterday's deluge

First thing this morning I have been looking at just how strongly the conditions impacted the results yesterday - and it makes for striking reading.

At the end of the second round 41 players were on +2 or better and just six of them teed off in the final third of the tee times - it was those late starters who were hit by the monsoon-like rain at about for o'clock.

Only two of those six are currently ranked inside the top fifteen: Anne-Lise Caudal and In-Kyung Kim, both on two-under-par and in a tie for eighth.

The other four notable are Brittany Lang and Maria Hernandez (one under par, tied 16th), Stacy Lewis (one-over-par, tied 24th) and Karine Icher (tied 31st).

Footballer spotting

Yesterday Liverpool's captain Steven Gerrard was on the course. Today it was the one time Everton striker Mike Newell.

The fact that a relatively nondescript striker was walking the fairways wouldn't be that interesting if it were not for the fact that Newell, when he was Luton Town manager, became somewhat infamous for doubting the ability of women in a sporting context.

When female referee Amy Raynor failed to award his team a penalty in 2006, Newell argued: "She shouldn't be here. I know that sounds sexist but I am sexist. This is not park football, so what are women doing here?

"It is tokenism - for the politically-correct idiots. It is absolutely beyond belief. It is bad enough with incapable referees and linesmen we have but if you start bringing in women , you have big problems."

Another footballer, Alan Hansen, lives in a house just outside the course boundaries.

Perhaps Newell lives in a cave amongst the dunes.

Yani Tseng Q&A

Here is a little insight into the tournament leader Yani Tseng:

Q: Tell us something most people don't know about you?

A: I am a very good pool player.

Q: If you could have a superhuman power what would it be?

A: Make birdies whenever I like.

Q: Do you prefer to cook, go out or takeaway?

A: I prefer to go out since it's easier. Also, I am not a good cook.

Q: What would you do for a living if not a golfer?

A: Either professional pool player or kindergarten teacher.

Friday

LD & LFC

After yesterday's first round Laura Davies had 24 hours to kill before her second 18 holes. She decided to head to Anfield Road where she blew a few quid on souvenirs from the Liverpool Football Club shop.

Today she continued that theme by meeting up with Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard. She was recently asked by the LET website what her favourite names were. She picked 'Steven' and 'Gerrard'.

Bad draw

Anne-Lise Caudal played in the penultimate group today and undoubtedly got the worst of the weather. Starting the day on three-under par she was in a great position and although a 73 wasn't what she hoped for, it was a superb effort.

"Awesome," said her caddie Peter afterwards. "In those conditions it was worth five-under."

Four people followed the Caudal-Caroline Masson-Jee Young Lee group around all 18 holes: Caroline's mum, Jee's dad and two hockey players from Liverpool - Emma and Rachel - who were converted to golf. An amazing effort in the horrible conditions.

Two stories that demonstrate what Anne-Lise had to go through to shoot her 73: in the middle of the round ("when it was hosing it down," said Pete) the marker's microphone stopped working because it was too wet and on the 12th green there was a huge delay because the green needed to be squeegeed.

Young Swedes

Swedish ladies golf is pretty strong anyway with the likes of Sophie Gustafsson, Anna Nordqvist and Maria Hjorth.

But they have two great young talents in Caroline Hedwall (still an amateur, playing this week and making the cut at +5) and Pernilla Lindberg.

Lindberg did not make the cut but she played out of her (very wet) skin on Friday.

She shot 86 on day one so would have been feeling pretty down on her luck and even worse when she double bogied the second hole.

However she then birdied six of the next ten holes - all of that taking place during the very worst of the day's appalling rainy weather.

A superb effort that is a testament to her mental strength and self-respect on the golf course (even if her final score was only level par).

Another fine effort was Mel Reid's triple birdie finish on 16-17-18. It dragged her up to +4 and was another example of her strength of mind.

Ebb and flow of Birkdale

This fine course is proving a tough test this week and there is a real ebb and flow to the challenge.

The first hole is ranked the second toughest on the course, the second the fourth hardest, so it is a stern task from the very start.

The next four holes are playing a little easier however, giving players the chance to regain their composure.

And they need to because around the turn the course has real bite.

Five of the six holes from the eighth tee are ranked in the top seven toughest on the course.

Once the players have negotiated that stretch they need to change tack and assume an aggressive policy because each of the last five holes fail to tank in the top nine most difficult, indeed 15, 17 and 18 are three of the four easiest holes.

Thursday

A Wie problem

In 2005 Michelle Wie played in this event, at this location, as an amateur, playing on an invitation. She finished in a tie for third which kind of vindicated the decision in one sense, but many competitors objected to the invite and, as a consequence, the LGU determined that, in future, no such similar provisions would be made for exceptional circumstances.

Fast forward to this year and the new wunderkind in ladies golf is Alexis Thompson, another 15-year-old six footer with a whole lot of game. She turned professional this summer - thus invalidating the place she had earned for this event through her amateur results - and was second last week in Evian.

As a professional not otherwise exempt, Thompson needed to progress through pre-qualifying to play here at Royal Birkdale - but that happened four weeks ago in the week of the US Open so, despite her being a fine prospect, she had no chance of making this week's field.

Except her management team asked that she be given a spot in the Final Qualifying at Hillside this Monday - it was a bold request, hoping for the best, and it failed because the LGU stuck to the rules.

However suddenly, instead of it being a problem for Thompson - an error on the part of her management to foresee the problem or to accept it as part of the consequences of turning pro - it became a Michelle Wie problem.

Putting the name Michelle Wie in the story made it more newsworthy. Nobody seemed to seriously suggest that Thompson's non-invite was actually Wie's fault but she was asked questions of a situation that frankly has little to do with her and in having to deal with it she got dragged into another controversy.

Since she became a household name as a schoolgirl there have been plenty of reasons why the decisions of her family and advisors might be questioned, but on this occasion the legacy of those mistakes was manipulated to create a better story.

All of which makes her round today of 70 all the more creditable. Tall and willowy she isn't built to withstand a buffeting wind but she got round the front nine in one-over-par and completed the back nine with birdie-eagle to finished two-under.

The superstar the LPGA craves?

Just to stick with the question of Alexis Thompson, I spoke with a caddie today whose golfer played with the young American last week in Evian. Clearly, and with no attempt at hyperbole, he told me: "She's the best female golfer I have seen and she's only fifteen ..."

He was seriously impressed, as were many people who attended Final Qualifying on Monday where they witnessed the tiny Thai sensation Moriya Jutanugarn. Also fifteen and just four feet eleven inches high she recorded a triple bogey seven on seventeenth to ruin her chances of playing in the main event. But she regularly beats her male peers and might be hot on Thompson's heels.

Key to success?

In a Golf365 interview last summer Brittany Lincicome said that being long and strong is an advantage to her in the majors. Applied to today she said, "It helps to be hitting shorter irons into some of these greens ... and strength helps you out the rough."

The course is not dry so there isn't a lot of run, plus the headwinds are strong, so Lincicome concluded with the words: "Long may it continue."

Good preparation

After her round of 69 France's Anne-Lise Caudal reflected on her last outing at the Tenerife Ladies Open. The back nine of that course had a lot in common with links golf - perched on top of the island's north-eastern cliffs it was blustery and relatively fast-running.

Did Caudal use shots in Tenerife that worked well again today? "Definitely, I was hitting the ball low and getting run. It was very similar. Very helpful."

Watching par?

The notion of par is a strange one. A very tough par four or an easy par five can play havoc with a player's mind for all sorts of reasons.

Yani Tseng, who hit all 18 greens in regulation in round one, admitted today that she has re-allocated Royal Birkdale a par of 70 this week because she is playing the final two holes as par fours - she thinks she should birdie them.

After the press conference I asked her if she didn't think of turning the first and second holes into par fives given that they have played like them today.

She thought about it for one second and then laughed, "No, I only go down, haha! What do you think?"

"I think it is a good strategy," I answered, rather taken aback to be asked.

"Thank you," Tseng replied. "But it is my secret."

"Yeah and you've just told everyone!" I laughed.

"Oh yeah! Bit stupid, eh?!"

Tseng is worth following on Facebook - she's so enthusiastic and really good fun.