Attending the LPGA Championships Konica Minolta Cup

Yesterday was the final round of the Konica Minolta Cup or better known as the LPGA Championships, one of Japan’s Majors at beautiful Kings Fields here in Chiba. I was lucky enough to meet Keita-san from Keigekiku Yururi who was attending the Major to provide Pro Support for 3 of his top pros, who had made the cut for weekend play.  Pro Service responsibilities include attending tournaments not only during competition days, but more importantly during practice rounds and events like the Pro-Am to make sure pros have their clubs setup and tuned properly as well using those days to let other pros try out and test clubs. I followed Keita-san on the course to cheer on Yururi users and of course for me, lots of other pros who I also like.

Meeting pros and seeing them face to face like Sakura Yokomine, Momoko Ueda, Yoko Mitsuka (who won), and up and coming players like Rikako Morita and Ritsuko Ryu was very exciting.  I went to the  driving range and watched Sakura hitting balls and warming up before the round and just being able to watch the girls strike the ball up close inspired me to get out and practice.

The day started early as I headed over to Kings Field at around 6:30am. The drive was only 30 minutes away and I got there in time to get onto the range and watch Yururi Pro So-Hee Kim and Momoko Ueda warming up before their tee offs. So-Hee struggled a bit during the first day of the tournament but still made the cut and finished strongly with a one over 73 today to finish at +8 and a tie for 34th overall. The course was difficult and of the 132 competitors ONLY 4 finished the four days under par. Kings Fields is a very challenging and sloping course with many hazards and with the weather unpredictable during the last few days, scores were just as unpredictable. I began the morning following So-Hee in a group with Na-Ri Kim and Yumiko Yoshida. By the 2nd hole it began pouring and then thunder and lightening which halted the round.

The weather cleared and it turned out to be a beautiful but hot day and a great final run watching Yuko Mitsuka come back from 3 shots down to win. I’m a dedicated follower of the JLPGA and many of its players though most of it has been in High Definition only. Seeing everyone live and up close in action, I can’t wait till the next tournament where hopefully I can go for full tournament as well. Until then its off to the driving range to practice my swing!