Maude-Aimee Leblanc – Syndication Server

LPGA: Alison Lee rebounds with 66 after chat with hype man, mentor Fred Couples

“My boyfriend can go on and on and tell me how great I am … (but) I’m like, you’re supposed to say that.”

Alison Lee felt like she’d been put on ice after finishing the 2023 LPGA season with three consecutive runner-up showings. For Lee, it was a shame that the season had to end at all.

But then her offseason got even longer after a nasty dog bite left her hospitalized and on the sidelines for two extra weeks. She felt rushed heading to her first start to the season in Singapore and left shaken by the poor start.

“You know, my biggest fear, too, is losing it, right?” said Lee. “Like I had such a great end of the year last year. Golf is such an unpredictable game. Anything can happen. I can have a really good stretch of events and then the next week you can play terribly.

“That’s what your mind always goes to even though you shouldn’t.”

Lee’s mind went there after a T-51 at the HSBC Women’s World Championship that included rounds of 77 and 79. But the former UCLA star dug deep to keep herself from getting too down. She saw her putting coach and her swing coach. A call from hype man Fred Couples helped, too.

2024 HSBC Women's World Championship — Alison Lee plays her shot from the second tee during the first round of the 2024 HSBC Women’s World Championship at Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore. (Photo: Yong Teck Lim/Getty Images)

“My boyfriend can go on and on and tell me how great I am,” said Lee. “Doesn’t mean anything because I’m like, you’re supposed to say that.

“When you have someone like him [Couples] who’s a legend who says all these nice things – he doesn’t have to say any of that – for him to put some time aside and give me a little bit of confidence and tell me things that sometimes I don’t believe myself is a lot. It means a lot to me.”

At the newly renamed Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship, Lee got some confidence back after an opening 5-under 66 at Palos Verdes Golf Club in California put her two strokes back of Canada’s Maude-Aimee Leblanc.

There’s a lot on the line for the 20th-ranked Lee as she looks to qualify for the Summer Olympics in Paris and make another U.S. Solheim Cup team.

“Yeah, feels good,” said Lee. “I had a lot of nerves coming into this week for sure.”

13 players who made cut at Epson Tour event in Arizona are also in LPGA Drive On field just 21 miles away

It’s a busy two weeks in Arizona for the LPGA and its developmental tour.

MESA, Ariz. — It’s a busy two weeks in Arizona for the LPGA and its developmental tour.

The Epson Tour’s Carlisle Arizona Women’s Golf Classic, which runs through Sunday, is being held for a third time at Longbow Golf Club in Mesa.

Next week, the LPGA returns to the Grand Canyon State for the first time since 2019 when the Bank of Hope Founders Cup was played in Phoenix. Superstition Mountain Golf & Country Club is hosting the LPGA Drive On Championship from March 23-26. The club also hosted the LPGA from 2004-08 for the Safeway International.

It makes for a pretty great situation for up-and-coming golfers to take advantage of back-to-back playing opportunities.

Despite an up-and-down week at the Carlisle, LPGA member Bailey Tardy is trying to make the most of consecutive weeks at golf courses just 21 miles apart. She said her first-round 79 on Thursday was due in part to key piece of equipment she forgot to pack.

“I didn’t have golf shoes the first day so I think that was my issue,” she said before showing off her new shoes. “Fifty dollars. PGA Superstore. Not the same ones, but I like them better.”

Tardy followed her 79 with a 64 to make the cut Friday.

Like Tardy, Canada’s Maude-Aimee LeBlanc will make her first 2023 LPGA start at the Drive On. And like Tardy, LeBlanc lives back east, so the Epson event is a great chance to prep.

“We haven’t played in Arizona in a while and I practice in Florida so it’s very different, the grass, the air. The ball goes a lot farther here,” she said, noting that she’s also breaking in a new caddie this week in Mesa.

There were 16 players who entered the Epson event also in the upcoming LPGA field, with Tardy among the 13 advancing to the weekend. Two of those advancing – Grace Kim and Celine Borge – are LPGA members who were 2022 Epson Tour graduates. Two others – Jaravee Boonchant and Karen Chung – are dual members, having finished between No. 21 and 45 in last year’s Q Series.

The leaderboard at Longbow Golf Club for the 2023 Carlisle Arizona Women’s Golf Classic. (Photo: Todd Kelly/Golfweek)

The other nine golfers who made the cut at Longbow are LPGA members: Lauren Stephenson, Lauren Coughlin, Pernilla Lindberg, Grace Kim, Amanda Doherty, Caroline Inglis, Valery Plata, Samantha Wagner along with Tardy and Leblanc.

For new Epson Tour chief business and operations officer Jody Brothers, his focus is on the first of the two events in Arizona but knows having the LPGA here next week helps on preparation and logistics for many players.

“They’re pros at traveling, but anytime you can settle in and get comfortable, whether it’s time-zone adjustment or green speeds or types of grass, I think that serves them really, really well,” he said.

Tardy missed out on her LPGA card for the 2021 season by a mere $343. Now that she has status, she’s not taking anything for granted.

“It’s just as hard to stay on the LPGA as it is to get your card.”

She’s also learned that a first-round 79 doesn’t have to ruin your week.

“Honestly, after the first round and then [bouncing back in] the second round is just never give up on yourself,” she said. “Just don’t harp on the bad things and focus on what you’ve done and rely on that to prepare yourself for the next day.”

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Meet the longest players in the women’s game over the past 20 years, including three former World No. 1s

Maria Fassi topped the list last year at 279 yards.

Maria Fassi topped the LPGA’s driving distance category last year with an average of nearly 280 yards. The year prior, Anne van Dam clocked in at 291 yards, a full six yards ahead of her nearest competitor.

As the women’s game gets longer, stronger and deeper with each passing year, it’s interesting to note that some of the most powerful players in the game also often happen to be ranked No. 1.

Conversely, there are a handful of names on this list that might be new to casual fans.

The LPGA tracks driving distance on two holes each week, and there are times when the holes selected are designed in such a way that promotes the longest players on tour to hit a fairway metal or hybrid. In other words, the numbers below could’ve been even higher.

Here’s a look at the biggest hitters on the LPGA over the past 20 years: