Joey's Golf Bag

Monke wins Sorenstam’s final tournament by three shots in Dubai.

Germany’s Anja Monke triumphed at Annika Sorenstam’s farewell tournament on Sunday, shooting a final round of four-under-par 68 for a three shot victory at the Dubai Ladies Masters, the season-ending event on the Ladies European Tour.

The 38-year-old Sorenstam signed off in joint seventh place after a final round of 71. In typical style, she rolled an eight foot birdie putt into the cup on the 18th hole before a packed gallery of her golfing colleagues.

There were whistles and cheers from the gallery as she finished, before raising her putter in the air and hugging her caddie of nine years, Terry McNamara. There were only a few small tears and Sorenstam kept her composure.

Annika: We’ll miss you (though maybe not for long…).

Michelle Wie finally proves she belongs on LPGA.

Michelle Wie has been playing LPGA Tour events since she was in the seventh grade, drawing the biggest galleries because of her youth and power, but earning little respect from players because of her preferential treatment.

In the 62 tournaments she has played over the last seven years, Wie received 53 exemptions or invitations.

The next time the 19-year-old from Hawaii tees it up, she finally can feel like she belongs.

Wie opened with three straight bogeys before settling down in blustery conditions Sunday for a 2-over 74, easily finishing among the top 20 players at the Q-school to become a card-carrying member of the LPGA Tour.

“It's a good feeling,'' Wie said. “I really earned it. I legitimately went through Q-school. I took my medicine. And I got it. It feels good. It's like high school graduation.''

Good job, Michelle. See you on the tour next year!

Yesterday, I played my first tournament in the Grapevine Golf Association in a individual stroke play event. We played on the Bluebonnet and Pecan courses. My scheduled tee time was 9:51AM, but there was a long frost delay, so it was about 11:30AM before I went off. In order to get everyone off, the groups went off the first tees of both the Bluebonnet and Pecan courses. We went off the Bluebonnet first, though it was second on the scorecard.

There was a pretty big group of golfers at the first tee, various members of the GGA board introducing themselves to newbies like me, as well as a couple of foursomes waiting to tee off. My first tee shot was quite bad, a low snap hook into the trees. Fortunately, I had a clear shot back into the fairway, though I hit the ball a bit long and into the first cut on the other side. I did manage to scratch out a bogey on the hole, though, barely missing my par putt. I was pretty happy with that, since my only goal for the day was to break 100. Surprisingly, my shoulder injury didn’t really affect me at all during play, though my lack of practice while healing the last three weeks certainly did.

I played pretty well, considering, on the Bluebonnet course, even though I hit only two fairways and two GIR, scoring a 47. I had one penalty on the par-5 fifth hole, where I saved double bogey by hitting a 35 foot putt. My best shot of the day was on the par-3 eighth hole, where I hit a 7-iron to 12 feet (just missed the birdie putt). I got up and down twice, though not for par.

On the Pecan course, I started out well by getting up and down for par on the 1st hole and bogeying the next two holes. My game fell apart after that, my best score on any remaining hole being double bogey. I carded a 58 on the Pecan course, my worst nine holes since I first started golfing. I can’t blame by shoulder injury, except to say that it kept me from practicing and my putting and short game really fell apart, along with my approach shots.

I wasn’t trying to sandbag, trust me on that…

All in all, though, it was good to get back on the course.

Michelle Wie poised to earn LPGA Tour card.

Michelle Wie is in the final group at a golf tournament for the first in more than two years, this time without the pressure of trying to win her first tournament as a pro.

Wie saved par on three of her last four holes Saturday for a 4-under 68 that left her one shot behind former NCAA champion Stacy Lewis at the LPGA Tour qualifying tournament, where the only goal is to leave LPGA headquarters with a full-time job.

Better than being in second place, Wie was nine shots clear of the cutoff for the top 20 players to earn their cards.

Very good job at Q-School, Michelle. One more round and the job is done!

Michelle Wie’s 72 leaves her in decent shape at Q-school.

Michelle Wie offset her mistakes with enough birdies Friday, shooting a par 72 that left her two shots behind and still in good shape at the LPGA Tour qualifying tournament.

Mollie Fankhauser shot a 66 on the tougher Legends course, host of all the top players in the third round, and finished at 12-under 204. She has a one-shot lead over Japan's Shiho Oyama, who had a 71.

Wie was another shot behind at 10-under 206 with Stacy Lewis, who made 12 straight pars until finishing with a birdie for a 71. Lewis won an NCAA title at Arkansas on the Legends course at LPGA International.

Michelle recovered nicely from a double bogey with birdies on the next three holes. Hang in there, Michelle!

My shoulder hurts…

I hit balls for the first time today since I injured my shoulder about 3 weeks ago. I spent most of the practice putting (which went very well), ran the sand drill with the lob wedge, chipped with the lob wedge and approach wedge, and then hit half of a bucket of balls (badly).

My first tournament is tomorrow, and I’m just going to bunt the ball around the course with 3/4 swings, which is the most I can do right now. I’m not even taking the driver with me, I’ll stick to the 5-wood off the tee, although I’ll have the Thriver in the bag as well.

My goal is to break 100, but given the state of my game, that may be a long shot.

Michelle Wie shoots 65 at LPGA Tour Q-school.

Weaving her way through a narrow hallway next to the grill room Thursday, Michelle Wie was stopped by a woman who asked if she would pose for a picture with her young daughter.

Focusing her camera, the woman asked how she played.

"OK," Wie said with a smile and shrug.

If that were an honest assessment, Wie should be in good shape at the LPGA Tour qualifying tournament.

Changing her tactics off the tee on the more forgiving Champions course at LPGA International, the 19-year-old from Hawaii hit driver on all but two holes and ran off four straight birdies late in her round for a 7-under 65 that put her in a tie for the lead with Shiho Oyama of Japan after the second of five rounds at Q-school.

Michelle, you’re kicking butt! Keep it up!

… due to a shoulder injury, caused by, you guessed it, hitting golf balls.

I am going to play in my first tournament on Saturday at Grapevine Golf Course sponsored by the Grapevine Golf Association. I’ve not been able to practice, aside from putting and chipping, for about 3 weeks, so breaking 100 is my goal for the tournament. It’s a stroke play event, 18 holes.

Michelle Wie opens with a 69 on tougher qualifying course.

With little fanfare and even less to say, Michelle Wie took an important first step Wednesday toward earning an LPGA Tour card by opening with a 3-under 69 in the 90-hole qualifying tournament.

It was her first competitive round since Sept. 19, when she advanced out of the first stage of Q-school in California.

Playing on the tougher Legends course at LPGA International, the 19-year-old from Hawaii kept it simple during a mild and breezy afternoon on a course where trouble lurks amid marshes and thick palmetto bushes. She hit only four drivers – none on the par 5s – and her only bogey came on a three-putt from 25 feet on the par-5 14th when she was fooled by the speed.

Good start, Michelle. See you on the tour in 2009!

Yesterday, I played 18 (just barely, it was dark when we finished) at Coyote Ridge. We went off around 1:30PM and finished up in the dark at 6PM. We had to wait on groups in front of us on nearly every hole. The weather was warm and sunny, with only a slight breeze until the back nine.

Unfortunately, I didn’t keep the card, so I don’t actually know what I scored. I probably broke 100, but not by much.

• Tee shots. I hit about half the fairways, using my 5-wood on nearly every hole. My distance was pretty good with that club, even out-driving one of my playing partners who was using a driver. I only hit one of the par-3 greens in regulation, the 7th.
• Approach shots. I continue to struggle on approach shots. I lost two balls on approach shots, all hooks with long irons. I hit only two greens in regulation, but one was a perfect 5-iron into the green after a short tee shot on the 16th hole.
• Wedges. Very mixed. Hit a few good shots and also bladed a shot or two. I got up and down on the par-3 3rd and 11th holes with fine lob wedge shots and managed to get up and down on about five holes in total (though not always for par).
• Sand shots. I hit into only two bunkers. One was in a fairway bunker, where I hit a nice layup on the 4th hole. On the 18th hole, in near-dark conditions, I had a badly buried lie, but got out cleanly, but had a 60 ft putt remaining.
• Chipping. I had only a few chips, as I generally had to go in high with a wedge in order to not run well past the hole. I didn’t do very well, chunking a couple.
• Putting. I putted poorly on the first couple of holes, and then putted well the rest of the round. I estimate I had about 33 putts for the day, despite three 3-putts. The greens were very fast, so that’s not bad.

I continue to struggle with changing my swing to be inside-square-inside, instead of the steep over-the-top swing that I’ve been fighting. I expect it will take a few more weeks to get it right. My warmup was very, very poor until I’d hit about 30 balls and then got better. Much work remains.