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**truebluefan** · 03-09-2008, 09:15 PM

Talk about the event in here.

**truebluefan** · 04-16-2008, 09:22 AM

The Ginn Open has plenty of story lines.

All but two of this year's top 50 LPGA Tour money winners are in the field. Morgan Pressel, the 18-year-old who is fresh off her first win at the season's first major, the Kraft Nabisco Championship, is playing just two hours north of her home. And 50-year-old Hall of Famer Nancy Lopez picked this event to start a comeback.

Then there's perhaps the biggest story of all: Annika vs. Lorena.

The ongoing battle for the No. 1 spot in the women's world rankings continues this week, with Annika Sorenstam trying to hang on to her place atop that list, and Lorena Ochoa — last year's player of the year — inching ever closer to supplanting her.

A victory for Ochoa this week might be enough to get her there.

Complete article

**truebluefan** · 04-16-2008, 09:24 AM

This year's Ginn OPEN will allow fans to see the rising stars of tomorrow and the current stars of today in a competitive atmosphere that will excite the senses. Young players such as Lorena Ochoa, Suzann Pettersen, and Paula Creamer are leading the field along with veterans Annika Sorenstam and Karrie Webb.

Ochoa has already won three times in four starts during the 2008 season and posted a T-8 finish at the fourth tournament. After winning six times in 2006 and eight times in 2007, this season's three wins brings her total wins in the past three seasons to 17. Creamer has won once and Pettersen, who won five times in 2007, tied for second with Sorenstam at the first major of the year behind Ochoa. Rookie Louise Friberg, a rising star to watch from Sweden, won her first LPGA title this year in only her third start on the LPGA Tour.

The Ginn OPEN field consists of numerous up-and-coming players but also is comprised of a large amount of LPGA tournament winners who have proved superstar status over the years. The final field is made up of 71 LPGA tournament winners who have a combined record of 415 LPGA titles, including 55 major championships

Fans will be treated to watch the very prestigious class of four LPGA Tour and World Golf Hall of Fame members: Sorenstam; Juli Inkster; Se Ri Pak and Webb, who have a combined total of 160 LPGA wins and 29 major championships. Sorenstam has the most with 70 LPGA victories and 10 majors. Webb has 35 wins and seven majors. Inkster is third with 31 wins and seven majors. Pak has 24 victories and five majors.

Ochoa is tied with Laura Davies, who finished third at the 2007 Ginn OPEN, with 20 LPGA career wins. Ochoa won her second major championship this year, while Davies has four majors. Meg Mallon is the seventh player in the field with the most wins: 18 titles, including four majors. Jan Stephenson is right behind Mallon with 16 wins and three majors.

Of the top 100 on the 2008 ADT Official Money list, 95 are in the field. Seventeen of the top 20 in the Rolex World Golf Rankings will compete, and nine of the top 10 including: Ochoa (1); Sorenstam (2); Pettersen (3); Creamer (4); Webb (5); Cristie Kerr (6); Jee Young Lee (8); Jeong Jang (9) and Mi Hyun Kim (10). Defending champion Brittany Lincicome is ranked 23rd on the Rolex World Golf Rankings.

The field includes 10 rookies: Shanshan Feng; Friberg; Sandra Gal; Liz Janangelo; Sarah Kemp; Carolina Llano; Hee Young Park; Violeta Retamoza; Yani Tseng and Momoko Ueda.

The two sponsor invitations are 16-year-old amateur Lindy Duncan and Golf Channel personality Stephanie Sparks.

**truebluefan** · 04-16-2008, 09:26 AM

MIKE SCANLAN: Annika, so far a great year for you with five straight top 10s, including one victory. If you could, just talk a little bit about the year you've been having so far.
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Sure, I'll be happy to. No, I'm quite pleased with the season so far. I started out earlier this year, as you know, in February. Got off to a good start in Hawaii and really have played pretty consistent since then. So far so good.

Of course, I'm happy to be here and playing this year, so I'm looking forward to a great week and continue the momentum. Hopefully get a few more victories and it will be a great year.

Complete interview

**truebluefan** · 04-16-2008, 09:27 AM

ASHLEY CUSHMAN: Suzann, thanks for joining us today. You're coming off a great finish at the Kraft Nabisco Championship and coming off a season where you saw five victories, including your first win and your first major victory. Talk about playing here at this week's Ginn OPEN and a start of a lengthy stretch for you.
SUZANN PETTERSEN: Yeah, this is pretty much when the big stretch of the season starts. Up until now it's been warm up for the Nabisco, and now it's kind of the season has started.

Being home and staying in your own bed, that feels great. Coming down here to play, like it looks today, you know, it will be windy. I so think you have to be really patient this week. The greens will be tough. They're really firm, and it'll only get firmer as the days go by.

I mean, the finish out at the Nabisco, of course, gives me a lot of confidence coming into here. I had a great week off. Got a lot of work done. I feel pretty good.

Entire Interview

**truebluefan** · 04-18-2008, 10:17 AM

Kelly Jo Dowd's memory will live on at the Ginn Open.

The LPGA tournament is renaming its winner's trophy in memory of Dowd, the Palm Harbor, Fla., woman whose fight against breast cancer made international headlines two years ago when her then-13-year-old daughter, Dakoda, played in the event.

Now, the Ginn winner will receive what is being called "The Kelly Jo Dowd Championship Trophy."

"The Dowd family means a great deal to the Ginn Open and we are honored to be associated with them," Ginn Resorts president and CEO Bobby Ginn, who issued the invitation to Dakoda two years ago to play in his event, said in a statement. "Kelly Jo was a remarkable woman and she deserves having this trophy named after her."

Kelly Jo Dowd died in May 2007 at the age of 42.

Seeing Dakoda play against LPGA players was one of Kelly Jo Dowd's last wishes during her yearslong battle to stay alive, and when Ginn officials heard of the family's story, they decided to issue the teen a sponsor's exemption into the field for the event at Reunion, Fla.

Dakoda Dowd flirted with making the cut that week, shooting a 2-over 74 in the opening round, followed by an 82 in the second round.

The Dowd family chose to go public with their story, even with the knowledge that Kelly Jo's death was expected, in order to bring attention to the importance of women self-examining themselves for cancer and to raise money for charities assisting in the fight against the disease. Shortly before the tournament, the family was told Kelly Jo would have only a few months to live.

One of the compelling images of that week at Reunion two years ago was Kelly Jo's reaction when she was presented with a replica of the winner's trophy, a large glass bowl designed by famed artist Dale Chihuly. She and Dakoda both marveled over the piece earlier in the week, not knowing they would be taking one exactly like it home with them as a souvenir.

"We are so extremely proud of, again, Mr. Ginn's gesture of naming that wonderful trophy after my beautiful late wife and Dakoda's mom," said Mike Dowd, Dakoda's father. "It's exciting, very, very exciting to keep Kelly Jo's legacy going like that."

This year's Ginn Open begins April 17.

**truebluefan** · 04-18-2008, 10:18 AM

Taiwan's Teresa Lu and Sweden's Carin Koch posted first-round five-under 67s on Thursday to share the lead in the 2.6 million-dollar Ginn Open.

**truebluefan** · 04-18-2008, 10:20 AM

After Tiger Woods won his first three events this year, Lorena Ochoa turned to some friends and jokingly said, "OK, we need to catch up."

Now Ochoa might be pulling away.

The 26-year-old Mexican star has won three consecutive LPGA tournaments, including the first major of the year, and acknowledged Wednesday that she is thinking about winning a Grand Slam.

"That's something that as a player would be something great to achieve," Ochoa said. "And of course my eyes are on that."

The way she has been playing, few would bet against her.

Ochoa has won four of five events - by a combined 34 strokes, no less - and enters this week's Ginn Open looking for a fourth consecutive victory for the first time in her career.

"I like my chances," she said.

Annika Sorenstam is the last to win four in a row on tour, accomplishing the feat in 2001. She clearly was the top player in the world then, a title she held until Ochoa took over a year ago.

Ochoa has dominated recently, winning 18 titles over the past 24 months and solidifying her spot atop the sport. She is coming off an 11-stroke victory at the Corona Championship in her native Mexico, a win that qualified her for the LPGA Hall of Fame.

"I don't mind that a lot of players are trying to catch me," she said. "It feels good to be in the No. 1 position. I'd like to stay there hopefully for a long time. I'm going to do everything it takes to stay in that position."

Complete article

**truebluefan** · 04-19-2008, 10:51 AM

Yani Tseng collected nine birdies and fired an eight-under 64 on Friday to take the second-round lead at the Ginn Open.

Tseng, an LPGA Tour rookie from Taiwan, broke the Ginn Reunion Resort course record of 65 set by Cristie Kerr in 2006. She stood at 12-under 132 overall for a two-shot lead over Suzann Pettersen.

She knew she had broken the record when she walked off the course.

"But I still hope I can break my record," said Tseng. "Sixty-two is my record."

Pettersen had a 66 to pull within two shots at 10-under 134, with Lorena Ochoa (67) and Minea Blomqvist (66) another shot further back at nine-under 135.

Ochoa, who qualified for the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame with a victory in her native Mexico last week, entered this week a winner of three straight tournaments and four of her five starts this season.

Her 67 on Friday was flawless, though a lukewarm start of eight consecutive pars left her treading water near the top of the leaderboard. Four birdies in a five-hole stretch got her going.

The first came on a seven-foot putt at the ninth, followed by a tap-in birdie at the 10th. She rolled in a 13-foot putt at the 12th, then made it back-to- back birdies again with a 20-footer at the 13th.

Ochoa made her last birdie at the par-five 17th, knocking it onto the front of the green with a five-wood and two-putting for her four.

She was happy with the score.

"On the front it was a little bit slower. I keep missing my birdie putts, but I thought, 'Just be patient,'" said Ochoa, who has claimed her four wins this season by an average of 8 1/2 shots. "From there I just got good momentum and kept it going. I'm happy to be at nine-under and ready for the weekend."

Tseng, 19, started her round with a birdie at the first hole and never let up. She collected four consecutive birdies from the third, then another at the ninth to make the turn in just 30 shots.

Two more birdies followed at the 10th and 11th, then another at the 15th. Tseng dropped her only shot of the round at the 18th, where she hit an errant drive into a fairway bunker and two-putted from 17 feet.

"I think I was just trying too hard on the last three holes," she said.

Tseng, who played in the U.S. Women's Open in 2005 and 2006, tied for sixth place in her only start last year at the CN Canadian Women's Open. She has made the cut in each of her six starts this season and posted a career-best finish at the MasterCard Classic last month when she was a runner-up to Louise Friberg.

"I'm excited for tomorrow," said Tseng, who hoped that she would end up in a group with Ochoa on Saturday -- though that didn't happen

"It's kind of like dream I play with No. 1 in the world," she said.

Teresa Lu and Carin Koch both shot rounds of three-under 69 and were tied for fifth place at eight-under 136. Angela Stanford (68), Young Kim (69) and Juli Inkster (69) were two shots further back at six-under 138.

The cut line fell at one-over 145 with 82 players moving on to the weekend.

Defending champion Brittany Lincicome was among those who missed the cut.

**truebluefan** · 04-19-2008, 08:42 PM

Everyone is chasing Lorena Ochoa — again. Ochoa shot a 7-under 65 in the third round of the Ginn Open on Saturday, moving to 16 under and taking a one-shot lead over rookie Yani Tseng.

The Mexican star is 18 holes away from her fourth victory in as many weeks.

She started the third round three shots behind Tseng and was four back after a bogey on No. 2. But the world's No. 1 player made three consecutive birdies beginning with the par-5 ninth and took the lead for good with a near-perfect approach shot on No. 11.

She gave Tseng and a few others a chance to keep it close by just missing birdie putts on the next three holes. The 26-year-old Ochoa then closed out her round with birdies on 15 and 18, pumping her right fist after each one hit the bottom of the cup.

Tseng closed with birdies on two of her final three holes and shot 69. Teresa Lu (69) was 11 under, one stroke ahead of Carin Koch (70) and Suzann Pettersen (72).

Those three and everyone else are in an all-too-familiar position heading into the final round — trying to make up ground on Ochoa, who has won four of the five events she's entered this year.

Ochoa's four victories have come by a combined 34 shots. She opened with an 11-stroke victory in Singapore, defended her Safeway International title with a seven-stroke romp, won the season's first major by five shots and then went wire-to-wire last week in Mexico and won by 11.

She said Friday she prefers to play from behind, then backed it up.

Now, she will get to do what she does best — close out tournaments. Ochoa has won 15 of 22 times when having at least a share of the lead going into the final round.

One of her last losses? The Ginn a year ago, when she started that Sunday with a share of the lead, then endured a stunning collapse in blustery conditions.

Ochoa was 6 over on the final six holes, missed a 10-foot bogey try on No. 18 that would have forced a playoff and ended up with a 77.

She doesn't plan on letting that happen again.