Tag: Mina Harigae

Aussie Robyn Choi leads by three as LPGA Q-Series field cut to 70

Two rounds remain in the 108-hole marathon at RTJ’s Magnolia Grove.

The field at LPGA Q-Series was cut to the top 65 and ties after the fourth round in Mobile, Alabama. A total of 70 players advanced. Two rounds remain in the 108-hole marathon at RTJ’s Magnolia Grove.

Australia’s Robyn Choi, No. 339 in the Rolex Rankings, leads the field by three strokes after carding back-to-back 64s. Choi, who hasn’t made a bogey in her last 57 holes, paces the field at 21-under 265. Japan’s Yuri Yoshida and Korea’s So Mi Lee both shot 65 in the fourth round and are tied for second at 18 under.

“I think I hit most greens,” said Choi, who last played on the LPGA in 2020. “I’m hitting them close as well, making the putts. Definitely making more than I have the last few months, so that’s good … just everything in general is clicking together, I think.”

Former U.S. Solheim Cup player Mina Harigae, who finished 101st on the CME points list, missing her full card by a single position, holds a share of fifth at 14 under.

Mina Harigae/LPGA photo
Mina Harigae/LPGA photo

Former Clemson fifth-year senior Savannah Grewal shot 67 to remain in the top 10 at 13 under. Grewal, who recently turned professional to compete in Q-Series, medaled at the first stage of qualifying school and then opted to leave college after sailing through the second stage.

Over the past year, Grewal dropped four strokes off her scoring average in college golf.

“I think honestly, just knowing that I’m good enough to compete out here is a big thing,” said Grewal. “I think that helps with the confidence for sure.”

The top 45 and ties after 108 holes will earn 2024 LPGA eligibility, with players finishing 1-20 receiving a higher category of status.

The cut fell at 3 under. Notable players who missed the cut include Natthakritta Vongtaveelap, Emma Talley, Christina Kim, Emma Spitz and Su Oh.

The final round, originally scheduled for Tuesday, was pushed to Wednesday after three inches of rain fell on Saturday in Mobile, forcing Saturday’s third round to be postponed to Sunday.

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Love is in the air: Dana Fall, Mina Harigae each recently got married at Superstition Mountain, where they’ll compete for 2023 LPGA Drive On Championship title

The two golfers had their weddings in the days leading up to the LPGA’s return to Arizona.

SUPERSTITION MOUNTAIN, Ariz. — Mina Harigae got married last Saturday, just five days before the start of the 2023 LPGA Drive On Championship.

She did so at the Superstition Mountain Golf & Country Club, host of the first full-field LPGA event of the season.

Dana Fall (nee Finkelstein) tied the knot on Feb. 25, 2023, also at Superstition Mountain. Well, technically, on top of Superstition Mountain, as she and new husband Henry made a predawn trek, along with his younger sister Belle Fall, who officiated the wedding and took some amazing photos at Lone Tree at Weaver’s Needle.

“There’s this one tree and we got married under that tree,” Fall said, adding that the two had hiked the trail before. “It was a cool spot and we were just going to go to the courthouse but we figured we should do something, I don’t know, something special, something we can remember.”

Who gets the credit, though, for actually coming up with it?

“It was Henry’s idea,” said Fall, who went to Corona del Sol High School in nearby Tempe, Arizona, before playing college golf at UNLV. “I just wanted to do something simple and small. I like going on hikes. It was fun. We started in the dark because we wanted to be up there at sunrise. I had never done a night hike.”

That meant headlamps. And golf clubs.

Dana Fall
Dana Fall and her husband Henry on top of Superstition Mountain for their wedding on Feb. 25, 2023. (Photo: Belle Fall)

“We took some golf clubs up with us to take pictures with, but also to have as weapons, just in case there was. … you never know,” she said smiling. “And then at the bottom, our parents were there. They wanted to be a part of it, so we re-did the ceremony down there for them.”

That 90-minute hike on Feb. 25, 2023, was captured in photos by Belle, an ordained minister who is also a photographer. The wedding took place three years to the day after the couple first met.

Coming back down the mountain, the golf clubs were a talking point for hikers heading up the other way.

“People were heckling us, like, ‘Why do you have golf clubs?’ Every single person coming down,” she joked.

Harigae’s wedding was more recent – Sat., March 18, 2023 – and a little less adventuresome but no less memorable.

Harigae, who grew up in Monterey Peninsula, moved to Arizona about 14 years ago. The 2021 U.S. Solheim Cup team member and runner-up in the 2022 U.S. Open, was the first LPGA honorary member at Superstition Mountain Golf Club and during one her first days practicing there “our general manager Mark Gurnow told Travis Kreiter to go introduce himself and at the time he was playing professionally,” Harigae said.

Mina Harigae
Mina Harigae and her husband Travis Kreiter at Superstition Mountain Golf & Country Club in Arizona, where they were married on March 18, 2023. (Photo: Mina Harigae)

It didn’t take long at all for the two former college golfers – Kreiter played at Bradley; Harigae had one season at Duke before turning pro – to hit it off.

“We played nine holes the first time we played, he took $20 off me,” she said. “That was the day before I had to leave for a seven-week stretch, but we talked every day.”

Kreiter was her caddie last summer when she finished solo second, which was good for a $1 million payday, at Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club in Southern Pines, North Carolina, at the U.S. Women’s Open.

The two sneakerheads wore matching red Air Jordans on their wedding day. Just don’t look for them on any hiking trails.

“I don’t like hiking,” she joked. “Travis and I are not hikers, so that is their [Dana’s and Henry’s] thing. That is not our thing.”

This week, Harigae and Fall will each seek to win for the first time on the LPGA. There could be no better backdrop than Superstition Mountain.

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U.S. Women’s Open: American Mina Harigae takes home $1,080,000, the largest second-place prize in women’s golf history

In 2020, Mina Harigae played on the Cactus Tour and took home paychecks in the neighborhood of $2,000.

SOUTHERN PINES, N.C. – Mina Harigae’s biggest takeaways from finishing runner-up at the 77th U.S. Women’s Open?

That she can handle this kind of moment. That she belongs.

Those are the intangibles, at least. Practically speaking, Harigae cashed in on the biggest prize in LPGA history for a woman who didn’t win. Her historic $1,080,000 payday at Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club is quite literally life-changing. Going into this week, she’d made $84,721 on the season and $2.9 million over the course of her 12-year career. (Minus taxes and expenses, of course.)

Forget private jets. On the eve of the championship, Harigae said a payday like that would give her enough money in the bank to book commercial flights months into the future.

While the steady Minjee Lee built an insurmountable lead, Harigae found herself tied with Lydia Ko and Hyejin Choi down the stretch Sunday. A birdie on the par-5 15th, however, gave Harigae the breathing room needed to hold on to solo second. The rookie Choi earned $685,043 for third.

For more perspective, consider that when Ko won the Gainbridge LPGA, she earned $300,000. This week she earned $399,982 for solo fifth.

“I’m not going to lie,” said Harigae, “my stomach hurt the last couple holes coming down. I was really stressed out, but I was really just focusing on one shot at a time, making solid contact, and just hitting good putts.”

It wasn’t that long ago, 2019 in fact, that Harigae was in neighboring Pinehurst, North Carolina, competing in LPGA Q-Series, fighting to keep her card.

In 2020, Harigae played on the Cactus Tour when the LPGA was shut down during the pandemic, winning four times with crazy low scores and taking home paychecks in the neighborhood of $2,000. She hadn’t had a sponsor in years at that point, and the generosity of friends and family helped keep her going.

2022 U.S. Women's Open
Mina Harigae plays her tee shot on the 18th hole during the final round of the 77th U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club on June 5, 2022 in Southern Pines, North Carolina. (Photo: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

“I felt very helpless,” she told Golfweek last year. “It felt like I was racing against time … the walls were closing in on me.”

Fast forward to 2021, and a more mature, joy-filled Harigae found herself one of U.S. captain Pat Hurst’s three Solheim Cup picks. A remarkable rise for a player who showed such great promise as a youngster, winning four California State Women’s Amateurs and the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links.

This week she took her progress to a new level.

“This is definitely top one or two highlights of my career,” said Harigae, who is still in search of her first LPGA title. “Obviously, just the prize money, but solo second in a major, and that’s my best by far. Really happy with it.”

Next year the U.S. Women’s Open heads to Pebble Beach for the first time. Harigae gew up in Monterey, California, and her parents own Takara Sushi in Pacific Grove. Harigae estimates that she’s played Pebble Beach more than 30 times and her lowest round there in compeition is a 7-under 65.

“Just have so many great memories at Pebble Beach,” she said, “and it’s my favorite place on earth. I’m really looking forward to it next year.”

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U.S. Women’s Open: Minjee Lee cruises to second major title, earns $1.8 million prize

No one could mount a charge to challenge the elegant and unflappable Minjee Lee.

SOUTHERN PINES, N.C. — After three days of some of the lowest scoring in U.S. Women’s Open history, a fight broke out at Pine Needles.

Challenging hole locations, an uptick in wind and the biggest purse in women’s golf history finally brought things to a boil.

Only the battle wasn’t at the top, as no one could mount a charge to challenge the elegant and unflappable Minjee Lee, who entered the final round with a three-stroke lead and finished at 13 under, four ahead of American Mina Harigae to claim her second major title. The 26-year-old Lee became the first Australian to win the U.S. Women’s Open since Karrie Webb triumphed at Pine Needles 21 years ago.

When the Women’s Open was held here in 2001, World Golf Hall of Famer Peggy Kirk Bell, who won an LPGA major as an amateur and, along with her husband Warren “Bullet” Bell, built Pine Needles into what’s become a cathedral for women’s golf, invited Patty Berg, Louise Suggs and Kathy Whitworth to give a clinic.

The entire purse that week was $1.2 million, and Webb earned $212,500 for her efforts. Whitworth wrote in her memoir – The Gift of Golf – that it was money the legendary foursome couldn’t comprehend.

“We were amazed at the lifestyle these girls have on tour today,” Bell wrote. “They have babysitters, free meals and courtesy cars!”

What would Mrs. Bell have said then, of Lee’s $1.8 million payday, the largest in women’s golf history to date? (The winner of CME Group Tour Championship in November will earn $2 million.) Coming into this week, no one on the LPGA had crossed the $1 million mark so far this season.

The only real drama of the day centered on second place, as this marked the first time in women’s golf history that two women would earn seven-figure checks. As the back nine unfolded Sunday over the revamped Donald Ross design, three players—Lydia Ko, Hyejin Choi and Harigae—battled over a $1,080,000 paycheck.

Harigae, who only two years ago felt the walls closing in as she fought to keep her tour card and pay the bills, finished solo second. Her previous biggest payday on tour was $268,657.

Consider that while the LPGA took a hiatus during the COVID-19 pandemic, Harigae won $2,300 for winning a mini-tour event on the Cactus Tour by 16 shots with a closing 61.

Choi was solo third at 7 under. World No. 1 Jin Young Ko shot a 71 on Sunday to claim solo fourth. Lydia Ko bogeyed her last two holes to shoot 72 and finish solo fifth. World No. 2 Nelly Korda, competing in her first event since early February after being sidelined with a blood clod that required surgery, finished with a 73 to tie for eighth.

Born in Perth, Australia, Lee was introduced to the game by her parents. Her mother, Clara, was a teaching professional near their home and her father was a fine player in his own right. Her younger brother Min Woo, 23, will compete in his first U.S. Open later this month at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts. A two-time winner on the DP World Tour, Min Woo tied for 14th in his Masters debut in April, where Minjee caddied for him in the Par 3 Contest.

Minjee and Min Woo are the only brother-sister pair to win USGA titles, with Minjee winning the 2012 U.S. Girls’ Junior and Min Woo claiming the 2016 U.S. Junior Amateur.

Lee now has eight LPGA titles worldwide, including the 2021 Amundi Evian Championship, where she came from an LPGA record-tying seven strokes back to win in a playoff.

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U.S. Women’s Open: Find out what putting change led Mina Harigae to nine birdies and an opening 64

SOUTHERN PINES, N.C. – Mina Harigae hasn’t felt confident on the greens all year. Until today. The 32-year-old carded nine birdies in a sizzling 7-under 64 to take the first-round lead at the 77 th U.S. Women’s Open. Her effort ties the …

SOUTHERN PINES, N.C. – Mina Harigae hasn’t felt confident on the greens all year.

Until today.

The 32-year-old carded nine birdies in a sizzling 7-under 64 to take the first-round lead at the 77th U.S. Women’s Open. Her effort ties the second-lowest round in championship history. It also marks her first round in the 60s in 36 previous career rounds at the Women’s Open.

Harigae leads amateur Ingrid Lindblad of Sweden by one stroke.

“It was Jordan Spieth-esque out there today,” she said as she walked off the flash podium late Thursday evening.

Harigae’s 24 putts leads the field. She credited boyfriend Travis Kreiter for finding the key to such a wildly successful day on the greens. All of a sudden, her stroke felt like 2021 again.

“She has a tendency to get her left shoulder up and out,” Kreiter said, “and kind of hit putts weak and right. I just had her hit putts and I put my finger on the top of the grip while she hit putts and she started to hit it more solid.”

2022 U.S. Women's Open
Mina Harigae hits the ball off the 16th tee during the first round of the U.S. Women’s Open golf tournament at the Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club in Southern Pines, N.C. on Thursday, June 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Harigae, who enjoyed a breakout season last year making the U.S. Solheim Cup team, made a 10-footer for birdie on the first hole that Kreiter said got her going. Her white-hot round included two bogeys, including one on the par-5 10th.

While she played at Pine Needles as an amateur in the 2007 Women’s Open, she only remembered the putting green and first and last holes. The California native spent one semester at Duke, but feels more of a tie to North Carolina due to her affinity for Michael Jordan.

“Must be the shoes, right?” she said, smiling.

 

CME Group Tour Championship: France’s Celine Boutier builds four-stroke lead after second round

“I think something about tough courses makes me focus even more.”

NAPLES, Fla. – Celine Boutier felt like she was in the zone Friday. Despite all of the craziness blowing around her.

With winds gusting 15 mph or more, the Frenchwoman put together her second straight 7-under-par 65 to build a four-stroke lead in the $5 million CME Group Tour Championship at Tiburón Golf Club at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort.

Thursday, the elite, 60-player field dealt with rain and wet conditions. The second round, swirling winds, especially for the leaders in the afternoon, were the next element thrown at them.

It didn’t matter for Boutier, who fired a 6-under 30 on the back nine.

“I think something about tough courses makes me focus even more, and then I was just really confident with my iron game,” said the 28-year-old, who won the ShopRite LPGA Classic last month for her second LPGA Tour victory. “I think I was kind of in the zone, to be honest. I just didn’t overthink it. Just picked a number and then just was able to do it.

“It was playing very different than (Thursday)for sure. Definitely, the wind was a huge factor in that. I actually enjoy the wind. Obviously depends on the intensity, but I feel like today was very manageable. I feel like I was striking it well too, so definitely makes a difference when it’s windy. I was able to take advantage of that.”

Celine Boutier of France reacts on the 18th green during the second round of the CME Group Tour Championship at Tiburon Golf Club on November 19, 2021 in Naples, Florida. (Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images)

Mexico’s Gaby Lopez, Australia’s Minjee Lee, and American Mina Harigae, who played with Boutier, are all tied for second at 10-under 134 with two rounds to play to determine the winner of $1.5 million in the LPGA Tour’s season-ending event.

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Golfers from six different countries are in the top eight on the leaderboard.

“Celine, she’s a great player,” said Harigae, who lost to Boutier in the Solheim Cup. “Honestly she’s kind of like an all-around, complete player. Great ball striker, great short game, and really, really good putter.

“You know, that equals 14-under for two days.”

England’s Georgia Hall, South Korea’s Eun-Hee Ji, world No. 1 Nelly Korda, and first-round leader Jeongeun Lee6 of South Korea are tied for fifth, with Jin Young Ko, Ally Ewing, Megan Khang, and Lexi Thompson another stroke back at 8-under.

Harigae crept back up the leaderboard by draining a long birdie putt on No. 16, and following up with another birdie on No. 17. She was able to time the wind well all day, although she said she just couldn’t get anything going for most of it.

“I was fortunate enough where it didn’t really gust right when I was about to hit,” she said. “I could kind of just I guess tell that it was like ending a gust or it never really — I was fortunate enough to never get affected by those gusts.”

Celine Boutier of France plays her shot from the 18th tee during the second round of the CME Group Tour Championship at Tiburon Golf Club on November 19, 2021 in Naples, Florida. (Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images)

Boutier birdied seven of her last 10 holes, starting with back-to-back ones on Nos. 9 and 10, then picked more on Nos. 12-13, 15, and 17 and 18.

“Hopefully I get a little bit of confidence from today so I’m able to — I think one thing that’s been a little bit of a struggle for me is sometimes when I get nervous I get tense and I start to overthink and controlling my shots,” she said. “So I feel like hopefully I get a bit more confidence from today and I’m able to play a little bit more relaxed tomorrow and over the weekend.”

While Harigae got going late in her round, both Lopez and Lee pointed to par putts early on that helped out.

Lopez hit a shot in the water on No. 4, but was able to make par. She followed that up with birdies on Nos. 5 and 6, and went on to shoot a 4-under 68.

Lee had an uphill par putt on No. 3, made it, and then responded with birdies on Nos. 4 and 6. She bogeyed No. 18 for a 68.

Lopez has two victories in her career and this year has five top-10s, including one on Sunday at the Pelican Women’s Championship near Tampa, to give her some confidence, Lee has this year’s Evian Championship victory to draw from.

“Just being more mentally competitive and not letting that get myself down instead of focusing on what I need to do to get the ball in the hole,” Lopez said of Boutier’s four-stroke lead.

Lee said: “It’s just like a little silent confidence for me just so I can go out there and play confidently and know that I can play under pressure and play well under pressure.”

Celine Boutier of France lines up a putt on the 17th green during the second round of the CME Group Tour Championship at Tiburon Golf Club on November 19, 2021 in Naples, Florida. (Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images)

Boutier said dealing with pressure is something she’s learning, especially when she’s paired with top players. Lopez does have two victories, but isn’t at the level of a Nelly Korda or Jin Young Ko, for example, who are battling for Player of the Year.

But the ShopRite win and one in September at the Lacoste Ladies Open de France have her feeling more comfortable.

“Honestly, probably getting that win at home and at the ShopRite has been major,” she said. “Obviously winning and playing at home is never easy, and then being able to get that second win for me at ShopRite that was two and a half years after my first win was definitely helpful for my confidence.

“You never know. Maybe the first time was luck. You kind of want to confirm. So it’s been very huge for my confidence, and I just feel like a little bit more comfortable in this situation now.”

Greg Hardwig is a sports reporter for the Naples Daily News and The News-Press. Follow him on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter: @NDN_Ghardwig, email him at ghardwig@naplesnews.com. Support local journalism with this special subscription offer at https://cm.naplesnews.com/specialoffer/

Jeongeun Lee6 leads by one after first round of the CME Group Tour Championship with $1.5 million on the line

With $1.5 million on the line, Jeongeun Lee6 leads by a single shot

It wasn’t all that long ago that Mina Harigae was playing on the Arizona-based Cactus Tour, trying to earn enough money to pay the bills during a global pandemic. Fast forward 18 months and she’s in contention to win $1.5 million at the CME Group Tour Championship.

“I would buy a house for sure,” she said, “and a bunch of Jordan shoes.”

A sparkling, bogey-free 65 at Tiburon Golf Club, highlighted by a chip-in for eagle at the par-5 17th, put Harigae one shot back of 2019 U.S. Women’s Open winner Jeongeun Lee6. Round 1 of the CME was set up for scoring in response to a wet forecast. Players lit up the board on a calm day with preferred lies.

While Harigae enjoyed a legendary junior career in the state of California and beyond, she mostly toiled in the shadows as a professional, that is until she shared the lead going into the weekend at the AIG Women’s British Open at Carnoustie last August and was selected by Pat Hurst as a captain’s pick for Team USA in the 2021 Solheim Cup that same weekend. The 32-year-old Solheim rookie called the week at Inverness the best experience of her life.

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“Being able to pull off the shots that I did during my matches and making some clutch putts, I think that gave me a ton of confidence,” said Harigae.

“Almost as if I can do that there in that kind of atmosphere, I can really do it anywhere on any course in any tournament.”

As for the Jordans, Harigae said she personally only has six pairs but her fiancé and caddie, Travis Kreiter, owns 30. Their collection is stored in the couple’s upstairs loft along with their golf equipment.

“When I see a really good pair, it’s hard for me to pull the trigger sometimes,” she said, “but when I can’t stop thinking about a pair, that’s when I’ll definitely get one.

Harigae reports that she has only spent a maximum of $250 on a single pair so far, but that she might splurge more if the rest of the week goes as planned.

Last Sunday, Jennifer Kupcho struggled to a 7-over 77 alongside fellow American Solheim Cup teammates Nelly Korda and Lexi Thompson in the final group at the Pelican Women’s Championship, but she too has strong rookie Solheim vibes to draw from.

Jennifer Kupcho prepares to putt during the first round of the CME Group Tour Championship at Tiburon Golf Club on November 18, 2021, in Naples, Florida. (Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images)

“It probably was my best ball-striking week I’ve ever had in my life,” said Kupcho, who went 2-1-1 at Inverness. “So that definitely gave me confidence.”

2021 Solheim Cup participants are peppering the board early in Naples, with Frenchwoman Celine Boutier joining Kupcho and Harigae at 7 under, and Leona Maguire, Georgia Hall, and Megan Khang at 5 under.

Boutier, who rolled out of Europe’s victorious Solheim moment and into a victory on home soil at the Lacoste Ladies Open, followed by her second LPGA title at the ShopRite in October. The biennial event, she said, gives her an added boost of confidence that she can handle pressure situations.

“I just feel like my personality, in general, is not super confident,” she said, “so I feel like I always have some doubt in my mind that I have to prove myself again and again.”

Hall’s round received a jolt when she drained a 50-foot eagle putt on the sixth hole after reaching the par 5 in two with a 3-wood.

“The greens are probably (some) of the best that I’ve played in the last four or five years,” she said.

While Kupcho played her way out of the mix on Sunday at the Pelican, her playing partners, Korda and Thompson, met in a sudden-death playoff alongside Lydia Ko and Sei Young Kim. Korda eventually won the title, and all four carried that strong form into Round 1 of the CME.

Kim joined the foursome at 7 under while World No. 1 Korda shot 66. Thompson responded from a heart-breaking string of short misses down the stretch at Pelican with a 67 at CME. Ko, who is on the verge of clinching the Vare Trophy for the tour’s low-scoring average, posted a 69.

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Solheim Cup: Mina Harigae’s rapid rise from Cactus Tour to captain’s pick shows thin line between financial success and panic

A year ago, Harigae was fighting for birdies on the Cactus Tour just to pay rent. Now she’s the fourth-oldest U.S. Solheim Cup rookie in history.

TOLEDO, OHIO – As Mina Harigae signed autographs at the Meijer LPGA Classic in Grand Rapids, Michigan, one fan pointed to the Rolex ad in her program and said, “You can just sign it there. I’m sure you have five Rolexes at home.”

“I was like what?” said Harigae. “What makes you think that?”

It was just last year that Harigae, a 31-year-old rookie on the U.S. Solheim Cup team, was fighting for birdies on the Cactus Tour just to pay rent.

Rock bottom, she said, came when she missed seven cuts in a row to end her season in 2019 and went back to LPGA Q-School. Then the pandemic hit after she’d played in one event and missed the cut. The generosity of friends and family helped in the dark days, but Harigae hadn’t had a sponsor in years, and the bills kept coming.

“I felt very helpless,” she told Golfweek by phone the weekend before the Solheim Cup. “It felt like I was racing against time … the walls were closing in on me.”

As glamorous as the Solheim Cup stage appears – and it is the crown jewel of the LPGA – getting there doesn’t necessarily translate to five Rolex watches and private jets. There’s often a thin line between financial security on the LPGA and sheer panic.

This isn’t the kind of story that will play out at the Ryder Cup next month.

There isn’t one moment that Harigae, one of three captain’s picks made by Pat Hurst, can point to that turned things around. Her fiancé and caddie, Travis Kreiter, suggested late in 2019 that she use the claw grip while putting, a change that immediately felt more natural. She’s currently ninth in putts per greens in regulation on tour.

Last winter, Harigae spent hours grinding on swing changes at Superstition Mountain Golf and Country Club in Gold Canyon, Arizona, texting videos to Kreiter, who was working in the shop.

She won four times on the Cactus Tour during the tour’s 166-day pandemic break, earning checks of around $2,500 with exceptionally low scores. Harigae won one event by 16 strokes with a closing 61.

It was actually after the LPGA Drive On event here at Inverness, where Harigae tied for sixth, that she received word that PXG planned to sign her to a contract. The financial security of a sponsor immediately freed her up.

“I was able to just go play golf,” said Harigae, who posted three additional top 10s last season.

It was at the Drive On event in October of last year at Reynolds Lake Oconee that Harigae first noticed U.S. captain Pat Hurst following her group.

For many LPGA fans, Harigae first came on the radar last month at the AIG Women’s British Open, where she shared the 36-hole lead with Georgia Hall at Carnoustie.

After a disappointing 76 on Saturday, Kreiter talked her into going to the range after the round. They were alone there, and Harigae took the time to vent.

On the way back to the hotel, Kreiter talked about how cool it was to walk out of the tunnel on Saturday at a place like Carnoustie with the grandstands full. Said he had goosebumps.

Harigae began to wonder why she hadn’t felt any goosebumps.

“That made me realize that I was so wrapped up in myself that it really didn’t affect me,” she said, “and it should have.”

After Saturday’s round, Kreiter suggested to Harigae that she should share what she’s feeling on social media. Maybe it will make her feel lighter.

“I was like, why would that do that? How would that make me feel better?” she said.

“And you know, the weirdest thing is, it totally made me feel better. I immediately felt better, as soon as I hit post.”

She was also incredibly surprised by how well her honest thread was received, learning from someone back in the U.S. that it had been read on Golf Channel.

Harigae, who is the fourth-oldest American rookie in Solheim Cup history, aims to relish the moment she arrives at the first tee Saturday at Inverness. She’s eager to soak in a milestone that she’s been working toward her entire life. A more appreciative approach, she figures, will keep her from being so tight.

Assistant captain Michelle Wie West, who heads up Harigae’s pod, told her she needed to be 100 percent honest about everything right away. Don’t just go with the flow about, say, hitting the first tee shot, because it’s not going to help you or the team.

Lexi Thompson chimed in to say there have been times when she didn’t want to hit first. If Thompson can say that, Harigae thought, then she can, too.

Harigae was a prodigious California teen, winning the California Women’s Amateur for four consecutive years starting at age 12. She’s a USGA champion, the kind of player whose amateur record pointed toward a sparkling professional career.

Even now, Harigae has yet to win on the LPGA. Her best major finish – T-13 – came two weeks ago at Carnoustie. At this time last year, Harigae was ranked 241st in the world. She’s now 62nd.

“I really do hope it does inspire some players,” said Harigae of her recent surge.

“I also hope this story shows the non-golfers that LPGA golfers are way different than the PGA Tour. We don’t have the big endorsements.”

And while there are a select few who do have lucrative watch contracts, the vast majority are like Harigae: grinding and hustling in the hope that soon, it will be their time to shine.

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Americans are making big Solheim Cup moves at Carnoustie. Can Mina Harigae nab first win and clinch spot?

The AIG Women’s British Open is the final qualifying event before picks are made for next month’s Solheim Cup.

Last week, American Ryann O’Toole won for the first time in her 228th start on tour. Now, a winless Mina Harigae co-leads with Georgia Hall at the AIG Women’s British Open in her 243rd LPGA start.

Could either of them make the U.S. Solheim Cup team?

Harigae currently ranks 13th on the U.S. Solheim Cup points list and a victory this week could bump her into the top seven, which automatically qualifies. O’Toole would need something special over the weekend to get into the conversation. She opened with a 1-under 71.

The AIG is the final qualifying event before picks are made for the Sept. 4-6 event at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio.

“I’m a much better golfer the last 12 months,” said Harigae. “I’ve been playing well. So I just feel like I’m in a good place.”

Harigae won several events on the Cactus Tour in 2020 during the LPGA’s 166-day break during the pandemic and rediscovered something crucial in her time on the Arizona-based mini tour: the joy of competing.

The change in mindset came in part thanks to Spain’s Carlota Ciganda, who practices at the same club as Harigae – Superstition Mountain – and shares the same fitness instructor.

“She said she honestly just loves to compete,” Harigae told Golfweek last year. “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.”

Harigae carried the momentum over to the LPGA when the tour resumed last July.

Rookie Yealimi Noh currently sits in a share of fifth, two shots back, at 5 under. After recently contending at the Amundi Evian Championship and posting a top 10 at the Trust Golf Women’s Scottish Open, Noh, No. 29 in the world, should be on the short list when it comes to who U.S. captain Pat Hurst is watching.

Noh said she’s been successful at keeping the Solheim Cup out of her mind on the course in recent weeks.

“Of course it’s a goal of mine to be on the Solheim Cup,” said Noh, “and it has since I turned pro, and especially the beginning of this year and just always keeping it there but not focusing too much on it, because it’s better to just focus on the golf.

“Actually, I don’t think about it like when I’m playing. You would think like every – especially towards the end of the week, you’d be like, ‘Oh, one more birdie or whatever and I’m closer,’ but you really don’t.”

GOLF-LPGA-BRITAIN-OPEN-WOMEN
Yealimi Noh lines up her second putt shot on the 18th green during round two on the second day of the 45th AIG Women’s Open at Carnoustie, Scotland on August 20, 2021. (Photo by ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Lizette Salas, who finished runner-up to Nelly Korda at the KPMG Women’s PGA, currently holds one of two spots off the Rolex Rankings list for Solheim. She’s currently 25th in the world.

Salas said she put a new putter into play this week and is using a greens book.

“It’s a Ping putter and honestly I went into the truck this week and I just needed to look at something different,” said Salas. “I’ve been out here for six weeks and I needed a change. It’s a different hosel. It’s more toe-hang putter and sets up really well and I’m obviously making a few putts out there. So yeah, that’s the new toy.”

Salas opened up at the KPMG last June about her recent mental health struggles when she contemplated retiring from the tour. Since the KPMG, Salas’ best finish has been a T-25 at the Evian.

“You know, a lot happened that week, a lot of good things,” said Salas. “I think it also changed my expectations of myself … honestly I have not been performing or putting as well as I did that week which has really been frustrating. So it’s been a lot of mixed emotions. My swing, my ball-striking’s been on point. It’s just the putts haven’t been dropping.

“So for me that’s kind of been like it hurts a little bit to know that I could still hit the shots but I can’t finish the job. Honestly, I probably should have taken a break after KPMG. I kind of pushed myself a little too much physically and mentally to continue competing, but you know, this is all a learning experience. Now I know like what my body and my mind can take or my mental game can take. You know, we are just trying to have some fun and finish on a good note this week.”

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Nasa Hataoka maintains lead at Marathon LPGA Classic with second-round 69

After 13 holes, Nasa Hataoka was 2 over in her Friday round but then she caught fire, making four birdies in a row.

Nasa Hataoka opened her week at the Marathon LPGA Classic with a blistering 61, and after posting a 2-under 69 on Friday, she takes a two-shot lead into the weekend at Highland Meadows Golf Club in Sylvania, Ohio.

It was slow going in her second round. She bogeyed her opening hole, and when she later bogeyed the 13th, she found herself 2 over for the day. But she got things going with four straight birdies on Nos. 14, 15, 16 and 17 before closing with a par.

Hataoka is the winner of three events on the LPGA, most recently the 2019 Kia Classic. In June, Hataoka lost in a playoff to Yuka Saso at the Olympic Club in the U.S. Women’s Open.

Mina Harigae shot her second-straight 5-under 66 and moved to solo second at 10 under. Alison Lee and Elizabeth Szokol also shot 66s and were tied for third at 9 under. Esther Henseleit had the best score Friday with a 7-under 64 and was tied for fifth with Jennifer Kupcho, Gerina Piller, Chella Choi and Lauren Stephenson.

Among those who missed the cut were Sophia Popov. A year ago she used a pull cart and finished in a tie for ninth in this event as a member of the Symetra Tour. That got her into the AIG Women’s Open, which she won as the 304th-ranked player in the world.

Amateurs Rachel Heck and Kennedy Swann, who battled for the NCAA title in Arizona in May, also missed the cut.

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