Tag: Aberdeen Asset Management Ladies Scottish Open

Stacy Lewis’ continued strong play leads to share of Ladies Scottish Open lead

Stacy Lewis fired a 5-under 66 to take a share of the second-round lead at the Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open.

For Stacy Lewis, last week’s Marathon LPGA Classic ended on a high note. She closed the week at Highland Meadows in Sylvania, Ohio, with a 6-under 65 (that left her inside the top 10) and felt like it could have been much lower.

Lewis said she was feeling reenergized after making a posture change in her golf swing. A week later and an ocean away, it sure is looking that way. Lewis fired a 5-under 66 on Friday at the Renaissance Club in North Berwick, Scotland, to take a share of the second-round lead at the Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open.

Azahara Munoz is also at 5 under after rounds of 68-69 at the Renaissance Club.

“I finished really good in Toledo. Hit it awesome the last day,” Lewis said. “The golf swing has felt better every single day. I truly love playing in Scotland. I love links golf. All the different shots you get to hit, the different weather. You have to battle the elements which we did yesterday. I was just more than anything excited to come play some golf.”

Lewis won the Women’s British Open at the Old Course at St. Andrews in 2013. She’s always had a love for links golf and credited her caddie at the 2008 Curtis Cup at St. Andrews as being the one who truly taught her some of the nuances to playing that style of course.

“He picked out all these shots for me and helped me visualize things,” she said. “I really think it was the experience with him and playing the Old Course as many times as we did last week is what made me fall in love with it.”

This two-week stint in Scotland is only the second two-week span Lewis has ever spent away from daughter Chesnee, who is not quite 2 years old. Lewis also took an extended leave last year to play the Evian Championship and the Women’s British Open.

With her daughter another year older, FaceTime goes a little smoother.

“Now it’s actually fun on FaceTime because as soon as my face pops up, she says ‘Mama’ and she’s all excited,” Lewis said. “She’s showing me all her toys and all the stuff she’s getting into.

“It’s not full-blown conversations yet, but she at least knows I’m there and understands that I’m on the phone and talking to her. It makes it a lot easier being here.”

Behind the leaders, Jennifer Song is solo third at 4 under. Olivia Cowan and Amy Olson share fourth at 3 under and then it’s a crew of youngsters tied for sixth: rookie Andrea Lee, Cheyenne Knight and Nanna Koerstz Madsen along with Nicole Broch Larsen.

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Early risers take advantage of calm conditions to lead fog-delayed Scottish Open

Tee times were ultimately delayed two hours at The Renaissance Club for the Ladies Scottish Open, but the early risers still did well.

Gemma Dryburgh’s alarm went off at 3:30 a.m., local time on Thursday as she was set to hit the first tee shot at the Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open at 6:30 a.m. But eight minutes out from walking to the tee, officials delayed the event due to heavy fog. Tee times were ultimately delayed two hours at The Renaissance Club.

Dryburgh, who admittedly isn’t a morning person, got off to a hot start with five birdies in a six-hole stretch. The Scot, who is playing some of the best golf of career this summer, finished at 2-under 69, two strokes behind leader Nicole Broch Larsen.

“I just started using AimPoint at the start of this year,” said Dryburgh. “I think that’s really helped a lot just kind of focusing on a specific line, I think beforehand, like in the past, I’ve kind of always second-guessed myself.”

Play was suspended at 8:35 p.m., due to darkness, with 27 players (nine groups) yet to finish. The first round will resume at 8 a.m., on Friday, with the second round beginning on time at 6:30 a.m.

Nicole Broch Larsen of Denmark during the first round. Credit: Tristan Jones.

Broch Larsen, who also teed off in the morning’s calm conditions, had only 26 putts in her opening round. It’s her second start of the 2020 season. She tied for 21st at the ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open.

“I’m a home person and I love being home. So to me, it’s definitely been a good period, even though I of course wanted to play tournament golf,” said Broch Larsen, who got engaged to boyfriend Kasper Estrup over the break. “For me personally, it’s been really good, and it’s not a different Nicole, but I feel like I’m in a better place and I felt that on the course today. I was more relaxed and whenever I hit a bad shot, I kind of moved on faster than normally.”

Five players are one shot back in a share of second: Amy Olson, Jennifer Song, Olivia Cowan, Emily Pedersen and Azahara Munoz.

Pedersen won on the ECCO Tour against the men in Denmark over the break, carding rounds of 66-67 to clip Oliver Suhr by one at Romo Golf Club and earn about $5,150. She also won an amateur event on the Danish Golf Union’s Elite Tour. In Denmark, pros are allowed to compete in amateur tournaments.

Danielle Kang, winner of the past two events in Toledo, opened with an even-par 71 and is tied for 22nd.

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The Forecaddie: LPGA players can’t tiptoe in once tour resumes from COVID stoppage

After nearly five months off, LPGA players can finally begin to explore what their comeback on tour might look like.

After nearly five months off, LPGA players can finally begin to explore what their comeback on tour might look like, and there’s not much time to ease into things either. The decision to travel overseas for two weeks in Scotland looms large ­– not to mention the possibility of fans in Toledo. To the Forecaddie, in many ways it feels like a straight plunge into the deep end.

One day after two events in Scotland were confirmed for next month, the LPGA hosted two tour-wide conference calls on Wednesday and sent out a couple of surveys.

The Forecaddie certainly didn’t expect the LPGA to offer its players anything remotely close to the $100,000 that PGA Tour players receive after testing positive for COVID-19. It looks like LPGA players will receive a $5,000 stipend if they test positive during a tournament and $2,500 if it happens while at home. Same for caddies.

If a player tests positive after making the cut, she will receive the equivalent of last place money.

The Man Out Front also learned that players who break one of the new rules in place to keep everyone in the bubble safe will be fined $2,500. A second offense will result in a suspension.

Players were asked if they’d be interested in a charter flight from the Marathon Classic to Scotland and then from Glasgow to Rogers, Arkansas. Each one-way flight would be $1,200 for coach and $2,500 for business. They’d only fill 150 seats.

If the Forecaddie had a vote, that would be a no-brainer. Yes, yes, yes.

The second question involved restructuring the LPGA purses to allow those who miss the cut to still earn a small paycheck to cover some expenses. Both the Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open and AIG Women’s British Open will be paying out money for missed cuts.

While one veteran player told The Man Out Front that she voted ‘No,’ another said this year should be the one year it happens. Having a guaranteed paycheck would help relieve the burden so many players feel from months and months of no work.

“Hopefully more caddies will be hired because they’re doing that,” one player told TMOF. Earlier during the COVID-19 break, the LPGA informed players that caddies would be optional when the tour restarted.

No coaches or family will be allowed at the LPGA Drive On Championship. No dining either. Players will be given debit cards to get food around town. There will be no loitering in a locker room or clubhouse. It’s basically get out of your car, play golf and leave.

Officials are still planning to put on the Marathon Classic, though the issue of fans and pro-ams are still being decided. Right now it sounds like 2,000 fans or less a day is one option on the table.

The two events in Scotland will be closed to spectators, including family. The bubble will be even tighter overseas, with everyone staying in the same hotels. No sharing of rooms or cars, except between a player and her caddie.

At a time when there’s risk in simply going to the grocery store, crossing an ocean for work presents a boatload of challenges. Players get that. It’s rather remarkable that international events are happening at all.

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Hope remains for Women’s British Open and Ladies Scottish Open to be staged without fans

A day after the 2020 Evian Championship was canceled, the LET announced that the Creekhouse Ladies Open in Sweden wasn’t happening either.

One day after the Evian Championship was canceled for 2020, the Ladies European Tour announced that the Creekhouse Ladies Open in Sweden wasn’t happening this year either.

The dominoes have fallen at a steady pace since March, when COVID-19 brought sports to a screeching halt.

The LET was poised for a banner year after the LPGA-LET Joint Venture helped bring seven new events to the schedule for 2020, including 15 in Europe. Prize money was set to be up $4.96 million this year.

The optimism that filled the air last February in Australia popped like a balloon.

“It’s the kind of script you couldn’t really write,” said England’s Felicity Johnson.

The LET announced 24 events in January. Three events were completed before COVID-19 hit. According to the tour, 14 remain on the schedule for 2020.

The loss of Evian, a major championship, earlier this week dropped a $4.1 million purse off the schedule. The next two LET events – the Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open and AIG Women’s British Open – are co-sanctioned with the LPGA and combine for $6 million in prize money.

On a tour where most purses hover around 200,000 to 300,000 euros, this three-tournament European swing is crucial.

LPGA commissioner Mike Whan said he felt “pretty good” about the events in Scotland going on as scheduled despite losing Evian. In April, the R&A canceled the men’s British Open that was scheduled for July 16-19 at Royal St. George’s in England.

As of now, however, there’s still hope for the WBO.

“We are working with our title sponsor AIG to explore options for staging the AIG Women’s British Open at Royal Troon from 20-23 August 2020 as a closed event without spectators, if that is possible,” said a spokeswoman for the R&A. “This approach would enable The R&A, AIG and our partners to continue our support of professional women golfers whose playing opportunities have been severely impacted by this pandemic.”

It should help, of course, that VisitScotland, the tourism arm of the Scottish government, is a partner of both events. There’s currently a two-week quarantine in place for visitors coming into the United Kingdom, but it’s possible that athletes could receive an exemption.

The European Tour’s “UK Swing” is set to begin July 22 with the Betfred British Masters hosted by Lee Westwood in England. In addition, Formula One’s British Grand Prix is slated for early August.

Coming on the heels of last fall’s enormously successful Solheim Cup at Gleneagles, there should be a growing appetite for top-rate women’s golf in Scotland.

“Preparations for the Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club, Aug. 13-16, are still progressing,” said an IMG spokesperson. “We remain hopeful that the tournament will go ahead as a made-for-TV-event.

“We are working closely with Aberdeen Standard Investments and our partners at VisitScotland and Scottish Government, together with the LET and LPGA to ensure that all appropriate measures are in place to run the tournament. The health and safety and safeguarding of our players and event staff is our highest priority. We have engaged specialist medical and health and safety advisors and are liaising with all relevant authorities as well as following WHO and Government guidelines. We will continue to monitor the situation in the coming weeks.”

The LPGA is scheduled to restart with the Marathon Classic in July – with fans. The July 23-26 dates, however, might still be pushed back.

England’s Liz Young decided to skip the early-year events in Australia and Africa, thinking she’d get started in Abu Dhabi.

“That was a big mistake,” said Young. “I haven’t had a paycheck since Kenya (December 2019).

“I’ve got a family. We’ve got a mortgage. Those bills keep coming but you make cutbacks, and we’ve just got to hope that sooner rather than later we can be back out on the fairways and earning the money that we deserve.”

In the meantime, there’s the new Rose Ladies Series, which consists of seven one-day events in England backed by British star Justin Rose and his wife Kate.

Young helped create the idea, and Johnson plans to compete in at least five of the seven. Two of the sites are too far for a one-day drive from Birmingham, she said, and hotels have yet to open in England.

“I haven’t had a card in my hand since the end of February,” said Johnson.

Thankfully the Rose Ladies Series gives her a chance to compete under a bit of pressure before the tour’s restart.

A decision on the two events in Scotland is expected to be made later this month.

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