Is Inbee's Reign About to End?

There turned into a buzz getting into the Airbus LPGA Classic this week, the identical buzz it's been heard for the last couple of weeks or so. With world #1 Inbee Park now not gambling quite as well as she did remaining yr -- notwithstanding being second at the LPGA in Top10 finishes -- there had been players with a sensible hazard of taking the top spot faraway from her.

Suzann Pettersen was one in all them. She changed into 2d in the scores till again troubles forced her to overlook some weeks. Now at #4 she's fallen returned a bit.

By the quit of April Lydia Ko had closed the gap, reaching #2. However, no matter a recent win, she too fell back and presently sits at #three.

That left Stacy Lewis, the cutting-edge #2. She leads the LPGA in Top10 finishes and he or she picked up a win in Texas simply multiple weeks again. And this is wherein the tale gets exciting...

Stacy Lewis

You see, Inbee did the unthinkable this week -- she overlooked the cut on the Airbus. All Stacy wishes to do is finish solo 3rd or better, and she or he'll awaken Monday morning as #1 in the world.

That, as it turns out, is easier said than achieved. For a few crazy reason, the gals on the LPGA are taking pictures ridiculous ratings this week. (Maybe they located some new golfer's drink, like GoLow Cola or a unique red tea.) Here's what the scoreboard seems like as they enter the very last spherical nowadays:

  • -16 Anna Nordqvist
  • -15 Catriona Matthew
  • -14 Stacy Lewis
  • -13 Michelle Wie, Jessica Korda, Charley Hull
  • -12 So Yeon Ryu, Jodie Ewart Shadoff, Eun-Hee Ji, Jenny Shin
There are 33 players at -7 or better and, given how many 66s and 67s got posted Saturday, one stumble means those leads aren't safe. (Matthew posted a 64 Thursday, so there's probably a virtually low round out there today.)

As you can see, Stacy Lewis is presently solo 3rd -- just what she wishes to dethrone Inbee. But I do not assume it'll be that clean...

GC's coverage of the Airbus LPGA Classic begins at 3pm ET today.

And in a related note... Jerry Foltz & Company have been talking about how Stacy Lewis is using a new AimPoint technique for reading putts. It involves using her fingers. Jerry said she looked like Dr. Spock; I assume he meant Mr. Spock from Star Trek, rather than the famous children's doctor. (He probably meant the Vulcan "Live long and prosper" gesture.)

Anyway, I tried looking it up to see what it's all about and here's what I found. This Golf Digest article describes the basic AimPoint technique, which involves finding what they call the Zero Line (basically, a string of points from which you can make straight putts) to determine which direction your putt will break and then uses a chart to determine the amount of break based on green speed and slope.

Then this blog post describes how the AimPoint Express technique gives you a quick and dirty read with fingers and no chart. (Shall we call it a "Break well and vanish" gesture?) And there's an advanced course that teaches you how to "let your fingers do the walking" through a chart, which is probably what Stacy is doing.

Of course, these links don't tell you how to do it because the courses that teach you such arcane practices cost money. But at least now you'll know what they're talking about during the broadcast.

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