A Wet Shoal Creek Welcomes U.S Women’s Open

Another major is upon us this week as the top female golfers and qualifiers roll into a soggy Shoal Creek in Alabama. The LPGA has dealt with rain delays the past three tournaments and this week looks to be no different. Shoal Creek had been soaked long before subtropical storm Alberto came into town.

But the USGA knows how to put on a good show and they will have the maintenance crew working round the clock to get the course in shape.

It’s a diverse field of players, as the USGA likes it with 91 of the 156 player field being exempt in the Open. Ten former Women’s Open Champions are here as are twenty-nine amateurs. Lucy Li at fifteen is the youngest competitor and LPGA stalwart, Catriona Matthew of Scotland is the oldest at forty-eight.

If the name Shoal Creek sounds familiar it should. The Jack Nicklaus design was the scene of major controversy back in 1990 when the PGA of America was trying to stage their championship at a private, all white golf course. It made big news back then and luckily things have changed, dramatically since then. Randell Mell shows us the new, improved and inclusive Shoal Creek.

The club averted calamity back in 1990, with advertisers pulling their support of the PGA Championship and with civil rights groups threatening to protest. The club saved the championship by inviting insurance executive Louis J. Willie to become Shoal Creek’s first African-American member.

The controversy forced American golf governing bodies to confront one of the game’s ugly traditions.

Things certainly have changed in Shoal Creek as it now boasts Condoleezza Rice and LPGA player Emma Talley. Talley a former NCAA and U.S. Women’s Amateur champion is serving as an semi-host for her colleagues. Beth Ann Nichols profiles Talley who loves Shoal Creek, “It’s like heaven on earth to me. I hope everyone loves it as much as I do.”

Sisters are a big story line here as Jessica and Nelly Korda and Ariya and Moriya Jutanugarn are making it a family affair while trying to win their first Open. Again, Nichols gives us the low down on these siblings on the USGA’s Women’s Open website.

And if your are looking for a possible favorite (and a swing to copy) maybe two time Women’s Open champion Inbee Park should be on your radar. Ron Sirak likes Park and her chances to be in the mix when they hand out the trophy, hopefully on Sunday night.

The South Korean, now 29, won the 2002 U.S. Girls Junior Championship, was runner-up on two other occasions and in 2008, at 19, became the youngest winner of the U.S. Women’s Open, breaking the mark set in 1998 by 20-year-old Se Ri Pak, the godmother of Korean golf. Park added another U.S. Women’s Open in 2013, her third consecutive major title of what was an historic year for her. 

But that’s not all. Park has five other top-10 finishes in the Women’s Open. It would be easy – and not inaccurate – to say she has a perfect U.S. Open game, but that would be selling Park short. She has a game that travels well to any venue, a fact proven by her total of seven major championships, including at least one in four of the five majors. But the precision and putting demanded by the U.S. Open does play into her strengths.

Click here for the USGA’s U.S. Women’s Open website.

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