LPGA player Mina Harigae has won three of the last five Cactus Tour events while rediscovering her passion for competition.
At a time when so many pros haven’t signed a scorecard in months, Mina Harigae keeps lifting trophies. Harigae, in fact, has won three of the last five Cactus Tour events. The latest one by a whopping 16 strokes with a closing 11-under 61.
“The thought of 59 never really crossed my mind,” said Harigae. “I think it was more trying to beat my best score, which was 9 under.”
Mina Harigae poses with the trophy (courtesy Cactus Tour).
COVID-19 might have taken away playing opportunities on the LPGA, but Harigae has rediscovered something crucial in her time on the Cactus Tour: the joy of competing.
Hariage, a native of Monterey, California, has lived in Arizona for about 10 years. She practices out of Superstition Mountain Golf and Country Club, where she shares the same fitness instructor as World No. 15 Carlota Ciganda. They train together with Zach Gulley and practice together, too.
Something Ciganda said back in March really resonated with Harigae, who was a rookie on the LPGA back in 2010.
“She said she honestly just loves to compete,” said Harigae. “She loves the competition. She doesn’t care whether it’s for $1,000, $2,000, $5 or $1 million. All she wants to do is compete with people.
“That’s when I realized my mindset the last few years – I haven’t even been thinking about that. It was more of, I need to be out here to make money or I need to keep my card.”
In a way, Harigae said, she had lost her sense of self along the way.
The passionate Ciganda, a two-time winner on the LPGA, wants to win at everything, whether it’s golf, sprints or pickleball. Harigae has appreciated every ounce of Ciganda’s encouragement.
But the changes haven’t been limited to the neck up. Harigae began making swing changes last September with instructor Jeff Fisher and felt like it all started coming together right before the LPGA season was put on pause. With Matt Brooks, director of golf at Superstition Mountain, she developed a simple self-check system for her short game. Add in her new PXG GEN3 irons, and Harigae can’t wait for the LPGA season to restart.
“I honestly can’t remember the last time I felt this good about my game,” said Harigae, who won $2,300 for Thursday’s victory.
The Cactus Tour doesn’t give her the same rush as an LPGA event, but the consistently low scores she’s been putting up are evidence of a game that has reached a new level.
Harigae’s first victory at Longbow in April came after rounds of 63-64-65. she was nine shots better than the runner-up. The latest victory at Orange Tree in Scottsdale included rounds of 67-65-61.
With the LPGA scheduled to make its return in late July at the Marathon Classic (though it could be pushed back to August), Harigae believes she’ll make two more starts on the Cactus Tour this summer. No one wanted this extended break, but few have likely made the most of it quite like Harigae.
“It has helped me way more than I ever thought it could,” she said.
Woods talked about the shocking death of George Floyd, being biracial in a predominately white game and her road back to the LPGA.
Cheyenne Woods competed in her first tournament since March earlier last week on the Cactus Tour, where she tied for third. The 29-year-old turned professional in 2012 after a successful college career at Wake Forest and became the sixth African-American player to join the LPGA. Woods talked to Golfweek about a wide range of topics, including the shocking death of George Floyd, being biracial in a predominately white game and her increasingly difficult road back to the LPGA.
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I hadn’t played since that first Symetra event the first week of March, so for me it was very strange. I’d been playing money games and playing around with friends. The first few holes it kind of hit me when I realized I had to actually putt everything out. You don’t just get to pick it up.
I was signed up for the first Cactus Tour event. It was the week of the Founders Cup (in March) when everything was announced and canceled, and I ended up withdrawing from it because I wasn’t comfortable. I needed to be more well-educated on the situation, on what was going on, and to make sure I was doing what was best for me, my family and everyone around me. From then to now, I have grown so much and just been comfortable with where our world is that I definitely feel safe going out and competing with these new guidelines and adjustments.
It’s crazy because the time has gone by so fast. Looking back, it’s been almost three months of being at home. It’s the longest I’ve been home since high school. It has definitely tested my optimism of accepting the reality of our situation and making the most of what’s happened.
It also forces you to get out of the comfort zone of your routine, what you’re used to in life.
Cheyenne Woods celebrates winning the 2014 Australian Ladies Masters at Royal Pines Resort.
I’m going to be in Florida for the month of June. I’m going to play those Eggland’s Best events for three weeks to a month. I’ll probably come back home and see if anything has changed with the schedule and possibly pick up Cactus Tour from there.
When we got the news of no Q-School, limited cards through the Symetra Tour, no Monday-qualifiers, it was definitely a heartbreaker. But it’s understandable. I was kind of expecting it. But it definitely forced me to adjust what my year is going to look like. I will commit, I have to commit, to playing Symetra Tour, trying to win a few times, top five, whatever (LPGA) status I get I get and then focus on 2021. Seeing what events I can get into, Monday qualifying, just trying to get back on LPGA full time.
I love baking. It’s like my favorite thing to do. I got a bike and I’ve been biking on trails in the desert. I think the biggest thing that I’ve learned about myself is that I always thought I was a homebody, but now I know for sure I’m a homebody. I love quarantine life.
I thought (Tiger) looked good. None of us really knew what to expect. He looked like he was swinging it great, played pretty well. It was a little bit distracting to have everything else going on. But from the shots that I saw, he looked good and he looked relaxed.
The TaylorMade event was for a great cause, as was The Match, but the golf world is more than just men’s golf. It was disappointing that it was put on by a golf company. I think it should represent all of golf. It is disappointing, and I know a lot of the girls felt the same way. So many instances we do get left out. So many instances people say they are advocates for women’s golf and want to help create this equality and grow the game, but then when you have the opportunity to do so, a lot of times it just falls short.
Just thinking about (George Floyd) again gives me goosebumps and chills. This is a tough reality of what’s going on in our country. It’s a storyline and it’s a tragedy that has happened way too many times in all of the history of society, but now again it’s being filmed and being broadcast on social media, so it is spreading.
It’s confusing that it’s still happening. It’s frustrating to see people still defending or not quite understanding why people are so outraged. It’s sad to see and heartbreaking that that is a reality of black America, and to think about the conversations that you have to have with your children about police interactions or how to deal with being in society in general. Conversations about it are really difficult to have. You see it in the news, it’s hard to watch, hard to talk about. But it is the reality of what people deal with so it’s important to have these conversations.
I think the older I’ve gotten the more I realize that I do have a very powerful platform as a female golfer, as a minority golfer and using that. I think as an athlete or a public figure, a lot of times you almost get forced to feel like you have to live middle-of-the-road and not go one way or another or say anything too extreme. But there comes a point where you have to have a voice and you have to speak on what matters to you because it does make a difference in people’s lives and can influence and spread a lot of positivity and change. … You see athletes like Lebron James and Steph Curry speak out about these issues and it’s very powerful to see somebody in that light have such a strong stance on something that matters to them. I think they are great role models in that sense of just truly having a voice.
With my white friends or non-black friends, they are very empathetic to what’s going on. With my black friends though, it hits more personal. It hits closer to home because in every person that you see murdered, that could be my dad. That could be my cousin. In some instances, it could be me.
So my mom is white and my dad is black, and I’ve had more conversations about this with my dad. He’s aware of how he might be perceived by people or police officers. He’s an older guy and he does not have a filter, so I have to remind him like don’t forget, be nice, just do what they say. Don’t try to talk back, don’t say anything that could anger somebody or escalate the situation.
In the past I’ve had black male friends, I’m on the phone with them as they get pulled over and I remind them, put your hands up, don’t touch anything, call me as soon as you’re good to go. Things that you never thought you’d have to worry about or have conversations about, but because of what’s going on in our country it’s not even in the back of your head, it’s the first thought that comes to mind. I think that’s really scary, but it is the reality of what we’re going through.
In being biracial, a lot of times I found myself just kind of in the middle of not fully, not necessarily accepted, but just kind of finding similarities with the majority white crowd on the golf course. Or if I’m playing in a minority tournament and it’s majority black people, kind of just in the middle of the mix. And so when I was at golf tournaments, I was a lot of times just doing my own thing.
I grew up in a white and Mexican neighborhood, white schools and white golf tournaments. That was normal to me until I was exposed to minority tournaments. Then I went to college and I was around more black people, more diverse crowds, and that’s when I kind of found more of my own identity as a biracial woman and kind of connecting with that identity. Not really feeling like I needed to fit in, but then being able to connect with one or the other or a lot of switching back and forth. But in the golf world, you are always in a majority white environment, and so it is so important to have that foundation of our own identity so no matter where you are, you’re comfortable in that.
(Junior minority tournaments were) the first time that I had ever encountered black people on the golf course. Growing up in Phoenix, we had a minority golf group that was pretty mixed and diverse, black golfers, Mexican, Asians. But those minority tournaments, it was minority golf. I had never experienced that before. I didn’t know black people really played golf like that or that they were that high-level of golfers. That’s where I met Mariah Stackhouse and Joseph Bramlett and Harold Varner. That’s where we all met and grew those relationships. It definitely showcases the level of golf throughout the country that I was never exposed to just locally. So those are very important tournaments to have.
Sophia Popov has added a handful of Cactus Tour events to this odd offseason, and is reaping the benefits of intense work on the details.
There may not be another professional golfer on an April winning streak. Sophia Popov’s recent success on the Cactus Tour tells a story of intense attention to detail amid a Symetra Tour shutdown forced by the coronavirus.
In March, Popov — based in Fountain Hills, Arizona — had flown across the country to start her season. The tour was scheduled to come west at the end of the month, but that never happened. Instead, Popov found herself alternating between backyard practice and trips to her local course.
“I was like, this is going to be wild if I have to do this for four or five months,” Popov said.
In January, just like in past years, Popov had played a couple of Cactus Tour events as a tuneup for the upcoming season. After the Symetra Tour started canceling events, she picked up the phone and called Cactus Tour owner Mike Brown. He told her about all the safety measures in place: limited interaction with other players, inserts in the cups and directions to leave the pin in the hole.
Popov was sold from the health aspect. Then she started pulling up entry lists.
“The first one I played, I looked at the entry list and I’m like, Anna Nordqvist? Linnea Strom? I was like what the hell?” she said. “It feels like an LPGA field. It was funny, there were probably six or seven LPGA players in it.”
She entered a March event at Moon Valley Country Club, finishing T-10, seven shots behind Nordqvist. Popov played four of the next five events, winning for the first time April 15 at Union Hills Country Club in Sun City, Arizona.
As Las Colinas in Queen Creek, Arizona, this past week, Popov went 22 under with rounds of 61-69-64. She finished nine shots ahead of runner-up Britney Yada and set a course record and a tournament scoring record in the process. Her putter carried her, but Popov is seeing her wedge game and her irons come together too.
Something rarely seen ..
A missed putt by @SophiaCPopov — our champ opened with a course record 61, then shattered the #CactusTour tournament record by carding a 194 (-22) total.
Popov, who started her career as an LPGA rookie in 2015, is realizing that this unscheduled downtime has allowed her to hone in on the parts of her game that needed work. Now she feels comfortable over every shot and is excited to get to the course for each round.
“Quarantine has given me a little more time to intensely work on parts of my game that maybe the offseason didn’t give me,” she said. “I didn’t work on specific shots very well and now I feel like I did that. I feel like I really picked numbers and said alright, I’m really going to grind and work on 70-yard shots and 75 or 95 or 90 – some shots I usually feel uncomfortable with.”
At last fall’s LPGA Q-Series, Popov finished one shot out of the top 45 – the magic number needed to earn some level of status on the LPGA in 2020. In some ways, it was a blessing. She knows what it’s like to be too far down the priority list to get into early-season events.
This year, she decided to focus solely on the Symetra Tour, finish in the top 10 on the money list and earn full status for the 2021 LPGA season. These few wins won’t change that focus.
“It’s still the most important thing for me,” she said.
For now, Popov plans to play two more Cactus Tour events. She’ll regroup next month when the mini-tour takes a break. The Symetra Tour is scheduled to resume mid-June.
Some players have endured criticism for continuing to tee it up in mini-tour events among stay-at-home orders. In fact, Popov saw some of the messages sent their way and was horrified.
Cactus Tour fields often make up a very small percentage of the play at any given tournament venue, with most golf courses in Arizona open for public play. Popov is also an avid hiker – a hobby she has been grateful for during the pandemic – and compares the two outdoor sports.
“When I go on my hikes,” she said, “I feel like there are a lot more people on those hikes than on the golf course.”
The Cactus Tour continues amid the coronavirus pandemic and Haley Moore is the latest winner.
When Haley Moore collected her trophy, she asked Cactus Tour owner Mike Brown if he had any toilet tissue or sanitizer to go along with the $2,500 check. Brown threw in a roll at last week’s stop and, well, every little bit helps.
As of now, golf has been deemed an essential activity in Arizona, which means Brown divvied up a $6,650 purse among six pros. There were a total of 17 players competing at Sun City Country Club. Moore, an LPGA rookie, shot 65-69-69 to win by two strokes over Symetra Tour player Sophia Popov.
With the LPGA on a break due to the coronavirus outbreak, Moore has competed on the Phoenix-based mini-tour for the past three weeks.
“Really, this is all we can do right now,” said Moore, who drove in from California. “I’d rather do this than just sit at home.”
Brown said he has fielded a handful of emails and texts in recent weeks from critics who believe that hosting events during a pandemic is irresponsible and unsafe. There’s certainly been plenty of chatter on social media about the subject. Someone even sent an email to Sun City this week.
Still, Brown maintains that he doesn’t feel any pressure.
“There were 219 rounds of golf played out here the first day,” said Brown. “We had 17 girls. They’re not attacking the members. They’re not attacking the course.”
For those who are opposed to the idea of organized competition, Brown asks, “Does that mean that a $5 Nassau can’t be played in a men’s group?”
Players went off in twosomes in two carts. Moore said the carts were sanitized before and after the round. The rakes are gone and there’s foam cut from pool noodles down in the cups. Sometimes the ball bounces out due to the foam, which has resulted in a new golf term for the times: “My daughter got foamed,” one parent told Brown at the scoring table.
“These girls are much safer playing out here in these conditions than they are going to the grocery store or Costco,” said Brown, who noted that the teenage daughter of a firefighter and a nurse was in last week’s field.
When golf courses were shut down in Sacramento, instructor Noah Montgomery rented a condo and drove to Phoenix with three of his students, including 16-year-old daughter Hanna. The retired first responder said he’s lucky that he bought a 12-pack of toilet paper on the drive out of town.
Montgomery also works with Paige Lee and amateur Anika Varma, who moved to the U.S. from India for coaching. There are no handshakes or hugs these days. They stay in separate rooms in the condo and eat whatever Montgomery cooks on their own time. They play golf during the day and do homework at night.
“I don’t see anything that’s doing harm,” said Montgomery. “I just don’t.”
On the first tee Thursday morning, Brown said, “Excuse me, quiet please,” as Moore teed off. Everyone chuckled because there were no spectators at the event. Brown believes that point gets lost on people when they think of a professional golf tour.
“When I bought the tour my wife said, ‘Do you have live scoring?’” Brown recalled. “She should’ve known better.”
Moore wasn’t the only mini-tour winner in the desert this week. Over on the Outlaw Tour in Buckeye, Arizona, European Tour player Calum Hill took home the top prize of $4,500. And because these mini-tours can’t seem to escape controversy, 14 players were disqualified from that event for playing from the wrong set of tees on a par 3. Ryan French chased the story on the “Monday Q Info” twitter account.
Both tours plan to host tournaments in the Phoenix area next week.
Arizona Governor Doug Ducey’s statewide “stay-at-home” exempts golf courses, right along with grocery stores and pharmacies.
The Cactus Tour will carry on this week in Arizona, despite Governor Doug Ducey issuing a statewide “stay-at-home” order. That’s because Ducey’s “essential services and activities” list includes golf courses, right along with grocery stores and pharmacies.
Arizona has 1,157 reported cases of coronavirus across all 15 counties. There have been 20 deaths.
“We do not want people to feel trapped or isolated in their homes,” Ducey said during his Monday address. “The weather is beautiful right now. Find a way to get out and enjoy it, with physical distancing.”
With that, Mike Brown’s mini-tour schedule rolls on, with this week’s stop at Sun City Country Club. The three-round event will be held March 31-April 2. Last week’s winner, Sarah Burnham, took home a roll of toilet tissue in addition to her trophy and $2,800 paycheck.
[jwplayer Zm5sws9e-vgFm21H3]
This week’s field has 19 players, including six amateurs. Haley Moore is the only LPGA player in the field. Players went off in twosomes.
Earlier in the month, there were Vegas odds on players like Anna Nordqvist and Amy Olson as some heavy-hitters came out to knock off the rust while the LPGA and the rest of the golf world is on an extended break. Brown has always known that running a tour in the midst of a global pandemic would be controversial. If courses are open and players sign up, he says he’ll continue.
“I can take the heat, so the girls don’t get it,” he said.
Sarah Burnham won this week’s Cactus Tour event– a women’s professional tour that is playing golf in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
There aren’t many trophies being handed out these days. Even fewer paychecks. Sarah Burnham managed to snag both at this week’s Cactus Tour event, closing with an even-par 72 on Friday at Sundance Golf Club in Buckeye, Arizona, to win by four at 4-over 220.
A trio of players, including two amateurs, finished second at 224. Burnham, a former Michigan State standout in her second year on the LPGA, moved from Minnesota to Phoenix over the winter and happens to live in the neighborhood of the only women’s tour competing in the country due to a global pandemic.
“I’m lucky I’m able to play,” said Burnham.
There were 16 players in the field this week. Burnham, playing in her second Cactus Tour start, took home a $2,800 paycheck. She had boyfriend Jackson Renicker on the bag for the first time. Players went out in twos to keep in line with social distancing practices. Rakes were removed from the bunkers.
Burnham likes to pull the flagstick during competition, but under the new coronavirus precautions, had to adjust to leaving them in. Pool noodles were cut down and placed inside the cup. The sound of the ball hitting the noodle wasn’t nearly as satisfying, she said, but a necessary safeguard.
Sarah Burnham and her boyfriend/caddie Jackson Renicker on the Cactus Tour (Sarah Burnham)
“One of the girls I played with today, she swore her ball was in the hole but the noodle (kept) it out,” she said.
Given all that’s going on in the world right now though, who can complain?
And in even more unusual twist, players were given a 15th club this week to use out of the exceptionally rocky desert so that their own clubs weren’t damaged. Burnham didn’t end up using the extra club but appreciated the gesture.
“I don’t know if I’ll play next week,” she said. “I think I’ll just take the week off from competition, see what happens with the tour. I think Arizona might be considering a lock down.”
Mike Brown, a tell-it-like-it-is kind of guy who’s determined to give players an opportunity to compete, has owned the Cactus Tour for the past decade. He plans to keep hosting events as long as golf courses are open.
In an effort to keep things light, Brown also presented Burnham with a roll of toilet tissue as part of her winnings.
The Cactus Tour signed on USA Natural Patches as a sponsor at a most unusual time in the tour’s history.
Mike Brown lost money the first three years he ran the Cactus Tour. Wasn’t sure if he’d make it. In fact, Brown has never had an official sponsor until this week, when USA Natural Patches reached out and came on board. Dads have thrown money Brown’s way over the years to keep the tour afloat. One dad in particular continues to write a $15,000 check, even though his daughter no longer plays.
But USA Natural Patches, which features the B1 Performance Patch, a vitamin B1-based sport performance and wellness patch, signed on at a most interesting and controversial time in Brown’s Cactus Tour tenure.
While most of the sports world has stopped altogether in the midst of a global pandemic, Brown’s tour plays on, putting a spotlight on a women’s mini-tour that many are learning about for the first time. Vegas put odds on the LPGA players in the field last week and local television crews came out.
The added money from USA Natural Patches will go toward the purse, Brown said. This week’s event at Sundance Golf Club in Buckeye, Arizona, has 16 players in the field. Two-time major winner Anna Nordqvist won last week’s event. She’s not competing this week, but LPGA rookie Haley Moore and former Michigan State standout Sarah Burnham are back in action.
Social distancing rules are in place, Brown said, with players going out in twosomes. They took the rakes out of the bunkers and told players to keep the flagsticks in, placing part of a pool noodle inside the cup to keep players from having to touch the cup or flagstick. While golf courses around the country have shut down, tee sheets remain full in the Phoenix area.
Burnham competed only once on the LPGA, at the ISPS Handa Vic Open, where she missed the cut, before the tour grinded to a halt in mid-February over coronavirus concerns. She said it felt good to have her nerves cranking again last week.
“It’s nice to have your mind somewhere else,” said Burnham, who opened with a 76 at Sundance. “With everything going on, I’m worried more about my golf score than everything else. It’s a nice little break or breather.”
It’s a “chill” atmosphere too, she noted. Because the desert rocks at Sundance are particularly damaging to clubs, Brown gives every player in the field a 15th club to use when they miss the fairway.
“I just made a decision that I didn’t want to have these girls mess up their clubs,” he said. “Most of these girls are struggling to begin with.”
Britney Yada leads the field at Sundance after opening with a 2-under 70. Brown said as long as golf courses remain open, he’ll keep hosting events. Two courses have called in recent days to inquire about hosting events.
Brown has watched players break down in tears because they didn’t have money to compete the next week. For many, professional golf is a week-to-week dream. Brown said parents sometimes ask him, “When are you gonna tell my kid to quit?”
Brown, whose daughter Sara played professionally, tells them that’s not his job.
“You never know when it’s going to click,” he said. “I have a lot of girls out here, they just don’t have the refined skill yet. If they can afford it and stay at it, then they can make it.”
Sunny Kim posted 59 Tuesday at a Minor League Tour event at Fox Club in Palm City, Florida. It was the tour’s lowest round ever on the tour.
Live golf is scarce these days, but at least two players who have teed it up in mini-tour events this month have made the most of the opportunity. Remarkably, the two players recorded a round of 59 within six days of each other, playing on the Minor League Golf Tour and the Outlaw Tour, respectively.
Sunny Kim’s round of 59 went down on Tuesday at a Minor League Tour event at Fox Club in Palm City, Florida. It was the tour’s first round of 59 and was fired – fittingly – by the tour’s career money leader. The day started out ordinarily enough, with Kim only making two birdies in his first five holes. He made four straight from Nos. 7-10. Kim logged two more at Nos. 12 and 13, then played his final three holes in 4 under. He made eagle at the par-4 16th (which was playing 440 yards) and another eagle at the par-5 18th.
🚨🚨ANOTHER 59🚨🚨
Minor League Golf Tour Legend Sunny Kim was 9 back to start today. All he did was shoot 59, including a eagle on 440 yd par 4 16th and eagle on the par 5 last. If it holds up it will be his SIXTY-SEVENTH (67!!) Minor League win. pic.twitter.com/I2wD0TEx7J
Desperate times call for desperate measures. Kim was nine back entering the final round of the 36-hole event and ended up winning by three. Interestingly, on the same day Kim fired 59, he was also celebrating his 31st birthday.
Kim, who hails from Queens, New York, turned professional in 2007. He Monday qualified into the 2010 John Deere Classic, and has three career Korn Ferry Tour starts.
As for the other sub-60 round? Jared du Toit brought in a closing 59 on March 19 at the Outlaw Tour’s Western Skies Classic at Western Skies Golf Club in Gilbert, Arizona. Du Toit had nine birdies (seven of them on the back nine) and an eagle on the par-70 layout.
The 59 followed rounds of 64-68 and left du Toit at 19 under for 54 holes, good for a tie for first with Wil Bateman and Carson Roberts. Bateman won in a playoff.
Du Toit, a Canadian, turned professional in 2017 after finishing his college golf career at Arizona State (he played for two years at Idaho before that). The 24-year-old made earlier 2020 headlines for winning the PGA Tour Latinoamerica Qualifying Tournament in January. He missed the cut at the Estrella del Mar Open earlier this month, his only other start on that Tour in 2020.
With most of the golf world on hold, two LPGA pros won two different events in Arizona and Florida.
Two-time major champion Anna Nordqvist added a most unlikely trophy to her resume at an unprecedented time.
Nordqvist defeated Lisa Pettersson on the second playoff hole at the Cactus Tour’s Moon Valley, Arizona, stop. While all of golf’s major tours have gone dark through April, the two Swedes finished the 54-hole event knotted at 15-under 201.
LPGA players Mina Harigae (67), Sarah Burnham (67) and Amy Olson (70) rounded out the top five.
Two local camera crews were out shooting the event’s final round. Even Vegas got in on the action, putting Nordqvist at 14/1 odds. Pettersson, a Symetra Tour player, recorded an albatross on the 10th hole en route to a closing 65.
Cactus Tour owner Mike Brown knew that his decision to host the event in the midst of a global pandemic would be controversial. He recently added several tournaments to his schedule, including this one, after the LPGA and Symetra Tour were forced to cancel their West Coast events in March and April over coronavirus concerns. Brown had a field of 27 players and a purse of $9,500. Several players backed out due to pressure from sponsors who did not want them to compete.
“I couldn’t be more pleased with the feedback from the girls,” said Brown, “which is all I care about.”
He said that parents of junior players, even pre-teens, were calling to ask if their kids could play. He had five amateurs in the field.
To those who question his decision to bring players together, Brown acknowledged the potential the seriousness of the virus, but pointed out that 100 other guests were out playing Moon Valley Country Club on a sunny Friday and that his players practiced social distancing. As long as the golf courses are open and players sign up, Brown plans to continue holding events. Next week’s is scheduled for Sundance Golf Club in Buckeye, Arizona.
“Who knows, maybe this will get me a sponsor like Purell?” he joked.
On the 2nd playoff hole, here at Moon Valley CC — Anna Nordqvist edges Lisa Pettersson with a birdie to earn the #CactusTour 🏆
Haley Moore, a rookie on the LPGA, tripled her first hole of the opening round and ultimately finished seventh after back-to-back 68s. Moore’s mom took to Facebook on Thursday evening to say that she would no longer tolerate people reaching out to the family, specifically Haley, to request that she withdraw from the event. In Michele’s mind, it was another form of bullying.
“I mean, everyone has their own opinions,” said Haley. “I know some of them think this is all wrong.”
But the Moores met as a family and felt that it was safe to compete. Haley intends to play in several more Cactus Tour events before heading back to California in early April.
“It’s her rookie year and she’s absolutely devastated,” said Michele of the number of LPGA events that have been canceled. Earlier on Friday, the LPGA announced that three more events had been postponed. The tour hasn’t held an event since mid-February. So far, Moore has competed in one LPGA event, the ISPS Handa Vic Open, where she missed the cut.
Clyburn wins Florida event
Nordqvist wasn’t the only female professional to take home a trophy this week. England’s Holly Clyburn won on the Eggland’s Best Tour in Lake Mary, Florida, collecting a $2,000 check.
Clyburn, who was a rookie on the LPGA in 2016, was the only player who finished under par for the tournament at 2 under.
“I have to admit, it was weird,” said Clyburn of playing in a tournament during such an unusual time. She took her towel everywhere, using it to pull the flagstick for other players. Everyone went about their business a bit slower, she said, with caution.
Back home in England, Clyburn said her grandfather has isolated himself as well as her short-game coach. She took a big leap last fall in moving her life entirely over to the U.S., thinking she could invest in herself and earn the money that money back on the Symetra Tour this year.
Clyburn tries to look at the positives, knowing this uncertainty can’t last forever. The financial component, however, can’t be ignored.
“Now, I am really worried,” she said. “I am being very careful of how I do things. … You just never know when your next paycheck is going to be.”
