The Golfchick

That chick blabbing about anything golf related.

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Cristie Kerr, Morgan Pressel and LPGA support breast cancer awareness

breast cancer pink ribbonNew month, new ribbon.

Last month was Ovarian Cancer awareness month. I wrote this post and featured the teal ribbon in the sidebar for the month of September.

October is National Breast Cancer awareness month, so the teal ribbon in the sidebar has been replaced with the well known pink ribbon.

The LPGA and its players are serious supporters of the fight against breast cancer. In fact, the “official national charity” of the LPGA is the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

Cristie Kerr stays pink all year

One of my favorite professional golfers, Cristie Kerr, supports breast cancer research year round. She donates $50 for every birdie she makes (193 so far) as part of her ongoing fundraising campaign as well as hosting other charity events for the cause. Cristie’s official website is not a vehicle to promote herself, but a home base for her Birdies for Breast Cancer charity. You can be a part of it by pledging to donate for every birdie she makes or with flat donations.

Cristie Kerr and her dog Bailey

Yes, there were pinker pictures but as the dog lover I am I just had to use this one of Cristie sporting my favorite color and hugging her dog, Bailey.

Birdies for Breast Cancer Lacoste polo shirtAnother way to contribute to Birdies for Breast Cancer is by purchasing one of these items. 100% of the proceeds goes to the charity. One of the items is this cute pink Lacoste polo shirt with the Birdies for Breast Cancer logo on the left sleeve. That logo just happens to feature a cute little golf chick(!) and can also be found on the clip-on visor.

Also available are a “Hope” golf head cover and a pink ribbon key tag.

Not your style? These are some great ideas for holiday and birthday gifts for the the female golfer in your life!

Morgan Pressel’s pink shirt

Cristie’s mother survived breast cancer. Sadly, Morgan Pressel wasn’t as fortunate. Morgan also has a pink shirt available to support breast cancer research. She’ll be wearing it in tournaments all month so you can get a good look at it.

Morgan Pressel Polo Ralph Lauren pink shirt

From LPGA.com:

New York, NY. June 19, 2007 — Taking pink to the greens, Polo Ralph Lauren and professional golfer Morgan Pressel, introduce a new limited edition polo shirt from the Pink Pony Collection. Designed in support of cancer care and prevention, the “Morgan” shirt reflects Polo Ralph Lauren’s continued commitment to this cause, and carries a personal importance for Pressel.

“The fight against breast cancer is one that has touched me deeply,” says Pressel, who lost her mother to breast cancer in 2003. “I feel proud to be in a position now to help raise additional support and public awareness for the continued importance of this cause.”

Sold at select Ralph Lauren stores and on Polo.com, 100% of the proceeds from the sale of the “Morgan” shirt will go to the Pink Pony Fund of the Polo Ralph Lauren Foundation. The Pink Pony Fund supports programs for early diagnosis, education, treatment and research and is dedicated to bringing patient navigation and excellence in cancer care to medically underserved communities. At Pressel’s request, these funds will be directed to the Boca Raton Community Hospital in Boca Raton, Florida.

In support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Pressel will wear the golf shirt during her upcoming October tournaments, including the Longs Drugs Challenge (Oct 1 — 7 in Danville, CA) and the Samsung World Championship (October 8-14 in Palm Desert, CA).

It’s Breast Cancer Awareness month. I bet there’s a walk or a golf tournament or some other charity event taking place in your hometown to support this campaign. Let’s all get on board.

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Life, golf and sex after death

A couple made a deal that whomever died first would come back and inform the other of the afterlife. Their biggest fear was that there was no afterlife.

After a long life together, the husband was the first to die. True to his word, he made contact:

” Connie … Connie …”

“Is that you, Joe?”

“Yes, I’ve come back like we agreed.”

“That’s wonderful! What’s it like?”

“Well, I get up in the morning, I have sex. I have breakfast and then it’s off to the golf course and I have sex again, bathe in the warm sun and then have sex a couple of more times. Then I have lunch (you’d be proud – lots of greens) another romp around the golf course, then pretty much have sex the rest of the afternoon.

“After supper, it’s back to golf course again. Then it’s more sex until late at night. I catch some much needed sleep and then the next day it starts all over again.”

“Oh, Joe that surely sounds like you are in Heaven!”

“Not exactly… I’m a rabbit on a golf course in Arizona .”

bunny on golf course

“You’d be proud – lots of greens.”

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Golf Girl TV premieres

The golf girl has launched a new feature (and website) called Golf Girl TV.

You know golf girl, she’s sexy Patricia, the “fun, flirty, fashionable” golf blogger. As opposed to yours truly, with my decidedly more feminist, flop-shot, f#%k-em type style.

golf girl tv

She’s done a pretty good job for her first video effort and I know they’ll keep getting better. It’s nice to see her in action and I look forward to the weekly episodes. You can see the videos on her blog site or on the new Golf Girl TV site.

I corresponded with her quite awhile ago about a video I wanted to produce that included some footage of her. I dropped the ball and never did it and now she’s off and running. Soon I’ll probably have to pay her to participate! Congratulations to Patricia on her foray into the video world. I hope to be producing some more videos of my own, only not necessarily in a golfchick tv kind of way. Meanwhile, you can see one of my videos here. I know it’s a year old but like I said, I hope to do some more soon. Trust me, I have lots of ideas and footage. Stay tuned.

Update: I was informed that Patricia’s links weren’t working so I checked it out and lo and behold the title of the post had been changed. The links should work now. I have also been informed that I indeed possess the other “f” word qualities as well. I’ll cop to being fun, I guess. :)

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Charity, horses, celebrities, a puppy and some golf

Well, the rain went away in time for my Sunday morning golf outing but plans have a way of changing. Happenings on Saturday night led me to change them. No, I’m not talking about a hangover; I have played some of my best golf with a hangover.

If you read this site much, you may have noticed I blog a lot about various charities. I wish I was in a position that would allow me to do more but I try to do what I can. Saturday night, we went to a charity event. This time, the proceeds benefited UNICEF. The event was a fancy shindig at Ventura Farms, which is owned by David Murdock, the same billionaire who until recently also owned the nearby Sherwood Country Club (the home of Tiger Woods’ tournament, Target World Challenge).Liselott Linsenhoff

The event was put on by Linsenhoff-Unicef Stiftung, which is a foundation created under the UNICEF umbrella by Ann Kathrin Linsenhoff. There were maybe 15-20 tables of attendees, many of them horse enthusiasts, given the location and the hostess. Ann Kathrin is an accomplished and award winning dressage rider, and her three top dressage horses are the first “four-legged UNICEF ambassadors.” (She is pictured with them below.) All the prize money they win in competition goes directly into UNICEF projects. Ann Kathrin inherited her equestrian talent and passion from her famous mother, (Liselott Linsenhoff, pictured on the right) who was the first female to win a gold medal in an Olympic equestrian event.

Speaking of famous people

Here in LA LA land, of course there were some celebrities at the event. The only one I could put a name to was Jamie Foxx, but there were several others I knew but didn’t know. You know? UNICEF has a lot of famous supporters and this event was no exception. I’m convinced I would have known more names, but some were so strikingly handsome that my brain turned to Jell-o shutting down my recall mechanism.

Golf outings and puppies

I wish I had the money to bid on the golf trip in the auction. It was a stay and play package at Tehama in Carmel. I’m slobbering now just thinking about it. I can’t quite remember how much it went for but I think it was somewhere in the $5000 neighborhood. In any case, it didn’t get as much as the Labradoodle they auctioned off. What an adorable puppy! They let me hold her when they came by our table and she just couldn’t have been sweeter. Apparently puppies are all the rage at auctions these days which is kind of disturbing to me, but at least she’ll have a nice home and probably a nice nanny all her own. And she earned $10,000 for the foundation, 100% of which goes directly to the children.

Speaking of the children

Ann Kathrin gave a passionate presentation about her travels around the world to visit the children in need. Thankfully, she speaks English quite well as most of the guests did not speak German. IAnn Kathrin Linsenhoff was profoundly moved by her speech and the progress she was making with her foundation. I wanted to speak with her about how I might help – perhaps by spreading the word or organizing a golf tournament, for example. It turned out that she was flying back to Germany the next day and the only time she could possibly meet with me was while I was supposed to be somewhere on the back nine. My playing partners kept our tee time but I stayed behind in hopes that she would have the time before her flight to meet with me at her hotel. Unfortunately she didn’t but I look forward to being in touch with her to explore the possibilities.

Time to play golf

Naturally, I had my golf clubs and shoes in the car so I headed over to the municipal course closest to her hotel and walked on at 1:30, played the front nine with a father/daughter combo and the back nine with a nice married couple who had moved here from Germany about 5 years ago. I don’t know what the German connection is – maybe I’m supposed to adopt a German Shepherd. I was finished with my round by 5:00 PM, and that 3 hr 30 min round is probably the fastest I’ve ever played that golf course. Maybe the rain the day before scared everyone away, but it was such a beautiful day to play golf. I’m glad I made it out after all, though halfway through the round I almost wished I’d have rented a golf cart because my dogs were aching after a night of dancing in 4 inch heels – for the children.

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Weather alert!

Here in Southern California, we are currently experiencing some weather. Don’t panic, but there is wet stuff coming from the sky.

No golf today for me. I hope it goes away before my tee time tomorrow.

so cal radar map

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Golf history made: 3 Aces on same hole in same tournament!

This week, the players on the Nationwide Tour are competing at the Hillcrest Country Club in Boise, Idaho.

On Thursday, three players made a hole-in-one on the same hole in the first round of the event. It was at the 133 yard par 3 17th hole.

The field is seriously competitive as these guys are competing hard to move up the money list and earn a spot in the top 25 for a PGA Tour card. To me, it’s a more compelling tournament to watch than the PGA right now even though the stakes are high over there as well. The scoring conditions at Hillcrest are incredible and players are putting up some pretty low numbers. The cut line yesterday was at 4 under.

Perhaps you’ve heard of Ricky Barnes, the 2002 US Amateur winner. Currently, he is 89th on the money list. In his first two rounds he shot 67-70, putting him at 5 under. Had he birdied instead of aced that hole, he would have just made the cut. Had he made par there instead, he would have missed it. Ricky also blogs about his pursuit of a PGA card as one of the players who keeps a journal over at The Grind.

The same scenario is true for David Hearn, who is 49th on the money list and shot 64-73 to put him at 5 under. Barnes and Hearn are among the 18 players at T42 after Friday’s round.

Ricky Barnes and David Hearn

The third player to make an ace that day needed a few more strokes to make the cut. His hole-in-one contributed to a score of 70 that day, and he followed it up with a 71 yesterday, putting him at 1 under. He may have been disappointed to miss the cut but you’d never know it because he always seems to have a smile on his face. He was invited to the event on a sponsor’s exemption after just turning pro this year at the young age of 16. Need another clue? Youngest player to qualify for the U.S. Open. Still need another? He’s Hawaiian. That’s right. It’s Tadd Fujikawa.

Tadd Fujikawa

Congratulations to all three players on their aces.

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Guest blog: Tiger’s caddy, Steve Williams promotes beer in NYC

Steve Williams promotes Speight

Photo caption (from L to R): Tim Cleaver, Lindsay Gilbert, Steve Williams, Jamie Munro, Mark Wilson and James Livingston at Randall’s Island Golf.

Tiger’s caddy, Steve Williams, joined his kiwi mates in New York yesterday (just hours after Tiger won the season ending TOUR Championship). Why the quick stop in NY?

Speight’s, New Zealand’s famous beer, sent five Kiwi’s on a boat from NZ to London (three months at sea!) to bring a Speight’s pub to London. It’s a great, long story yet true — check out the details at www.speights.co.nz. And since the boat stopped in NY for 48 hours, Stevie wanted to join up and hang with his mates for the day. They spent the morning at the Empire State Building, then took in a golf lesson at Randall’s in the City and finally then off to the Yankees game last night.

Just a classic idea. As they say in NZ, kiwi-genius.

Golfchick note: I get a lot of requests via email to promote certain things and most of them never make it to this site. First I was contacted by David Schwab (Managing Director of First Call Octagon) about this promotion but it was this blog post that was sent from Tamara Alfred (First Call Intern) that caught my eye. Smart cookie, that one, sending a photo with good looking New Zealanders. That sealed the deal for me.

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FedEx Cup: Success? Tiger Woods: Sick.

23 under? REALLY? That’s the golf course we want them to play for the finals of the first ever Fedex Cup?

Sure, that was only Tiger, and it’s not like he’s human or something, but the actual men in the field laid waste to the course as well a mere 8 strokes behind that. Yes, mere. Tiger’s ability is just sick, so it’s not fair to compare other golfers to him.

Of course he won the FedEx Cup. And the Tour Championship. And Player of the Year. With authority. It wouldn’t seem right to have any of those titles go to anyone other than the world’s best golfer ever. So in that respect, the FedEx Cup was a success. I know a lot of folks were rooting for Stricker to win so the $10 million bonus would mean something, and at least he earned himself the $3M second place annuity. That’ll be some decent retirement money at any percentage rate. But let’s face it – if Tiger “sat on his laurels” and decided not to win, the Fedex Cup would have been criticized for not delivering the true champion. It would have been weird to have the Tour Championship trophy go to one guy, the Fedex Cup to another and the Player of the Year to yet another. Weird and wrong.

The Fedex Cup will continue to be criticized for its other problems – like the fact that the winner only had to play in 3 out of 4 playoff events (and could have done it in two), and the points system, and the schedule, and the final golf course, to name a few. But if nothing else, at least the right man being won.

Tiger Woods Fedex Cup

Is this a human drinking glass?

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Natalie Gulbis blogs from the Solheim Cup

Want a behind the scenes glimpse into what it’s like for the players of the Solheim Cup? Check out Natalie’s blog.

Natalie Gulbis and her mom at the Solheim Cup

Natalie and her mom. Photo taken by Morgan Pressel.

In addition to discussing the golf course and the play, she talks about fun details like:

  • getting dolled up for the festive events
  • the “cute outfits” they got and what they’re wearing on the course
  • fire alarms
  • jet lag
  • learning a new bunker shot (really?)
  • preparing for cold weather
  • practicing with teammate’s brand of golf balls to get a feel for them (as well as how the pairings might be based on how they play with certain golf balls)
  • the gifts they’re receiving from the captains and players
  • room decorations … and more

It’s a really fun read and so far she has posted every day this week. I hope she continues the pace and keeps us up to speed throughout the competition.

Each player was given a Canon Powershot camera and they’re all taking their own photos, which are being posted on the LPGA website as well as at the Golf Channel site. Here’s a shot of Morgan Pressel’s room:

Morgan Pressel's room at Solheim Cup

Now we can add blogger to the list of all things Natalie. Thanks, Nat!

Stina Sternberg is also on location at the Solheim Cup and is blogging on it over at Golf For Women.

The Solheim Cup coverage doesn’t come on here until 11 PM, but of course I’ll be Tivo-ing it and keeping up with the tournament as well as watching how the Tour Championship/FedEx Cup final plays out.

Thanks to Golfgal for the heads up on Natalie’s blog!

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September 11, 2007

Six years ago, the attacks on September 11, 2001 threw my emotions in a blender and hit frappé.

I was fortunate to have been one degree removed from losing a loved one that day but just as we all felt connected as Americans, I felt connected to all the victims. I felt obligated to ache for their families for months. No smiling, no laughing. No fun. Those privileges were violently stripped from so many people and suddenly I felt that every American was part of my own extended family and I would grieve accordingly. The nightmares of people jumping from the towers, of terrifying plane crashes from a passenger’s perspective, of planes heading for my window, of sickening ash and debris and body parts – those nightmares infected my sleep for too long, fading slowly until they finally ended a little less than two years ago. At least I hope they have ended completely. Yes, that sounds like terror to me but of course I felt other emotions as well.

Anger: Of course I was angry. I wanted to strike back but felt powerless. I thought about changing my career path and getting involved with the CIA or even the armed forces. Obviously I didn’t, but I committed to becoming a “better person,” one more deserving of the precious life I didn’t lose that day. Which brings me to…

Guilt: Those poor people and their families. Why was I so lucky to be spared? I was just a cynical shmoe on a bumbling, unintentional and purposeless path. I have so much to give but I wasn’t. I can do more. I can give my life meaning at the very least by being a more active participant in my existing relationships. Which brings me to…

Love: Everyone who was already important to me became absolutely precious. I was stranded on a business trip that day and all I wanted to do was be home with my loved ones. Ancillary figures in my life grew in meaning to me. Even complete strangers had my attention. We were all connected by the tragedies and where I used to feel indifference toward strangers and figured we probably wouldn’t like each other anyway, now we shared something in common. Which brings me to…

Respect: I remember walking up to a store about a month after the attacks and the door I was aiming at swung open and a woman exited through it. She let it fall closed and as I reached out to stop it, she lunged back, opened and held it for me and gave me a knowing nod. I stood still and looked right into her eyes and we shared a silent moment of respect for each other before I went through the door.

People were more courteous to one another on the roads as well. I remember noticing even on the freeways here in Southern California that people weren’t so self involved with their driving habits. I was cut off less frequently, and we all let each other in and out of lanes and yielded where we should.

Six years later, the anniversary of the attacks falls on a Tuesday for the first time. I expected an eerier feeling this morning than I felt.

What does Never Forget mean?

It seems like people are back to normal. Sure, some things have changed like airport security, civil liberties and political attitudes, but people? We seem to have lost our connection. I had hoped that “never forget” would mean more than hanging a flag and remembering victims and heroes on the date of the anniversary of the attacks. I wish that respectful togetherness would have been more lasting. We’re bickering and divided. Apathy, corruption, hate, intolerance and violence are back. Perhaps with a vengeance. Freeways or life, we’re driving like selfish pricks again.

I’m still committed to being a better person but obviously my cynicism is back. I still cherish my loved ones and I hope I show it enough. Maybe that’s what Never Forget means to me. In addition to remembering the victims, heroic action and the feelings of the time, never forget how precious this short life is and make the moments count. If not to the country, to the people important in my life. Never forget to respect the people around me, even the strangers. Remember that blind, ignorant acceptance is not respectful. Benefit of the doubt is only a starting point. Love, and think.

On a golf note

Golfers have an understanding similar to that connection I mentioned above. As golfers, we get paired up with strangers all the time and there is always a level of respect regardless of any differences that may exist. I have met some wonderful people on the golf course and have made some profound connections. I have met some misogynist pigs as well but we tolerate each other and get through the round. I am so glad I have golf in my life now.

I believe golf is great for one’s mental health. Six years ago, I was not a golfer. When the blender stopped, my psyche was more fragile than I care to admit (yet here I am blogging about it). Had I been a golfer back then, I’m not sure if I would have been able to play in the months following September 11, but I think it would have been great therapy. It is today, and I truly believe it is a stabilizing factor in my life now. Today, I remember. Tomorrow, I remember and play golf.

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