On the heels of a windswept week in the Arizona desert, the ladies of the LPGA tour head off to the Dinah Shore Tournament Course at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, CA. It's their season's first major, The Kraft Nabisco Championship, a tournament steeped in history, and one of the longest continuously running major tournaments. ~ 2009 defending champion Lorena Ochoa is undoubtedly hoping for a repeat plunge into Champions Lake, but she'll face serious competition from over 100 of the world's best, all of them hoping to get wet on Sunday.
In a world where golf media is undergoing rapid and radical transformation the LPGA is now active on Facebook and Twitter and has their own channel on Youtube. They've even made the forward thinking decision to credential select bloggers to cover LPGA events. At the same time their reorganized media department has done an amazing job with their own site, providing much more engaging, accessible, interactive content that allows fans to get to know more about the players. Opening up tournament coverage to popular, well written golf blogs - of which there are quite a few - will raise the profile of their organization and drive traffic to their now excellent site.
And speaking of digital media, 2007 U.S. Women's Open champion Cristie Kerr will be launching her new website, CristieKerrGolf.com later this week. The site that will be the new home of her award-winning foundation, Birdies for Breast Cancer and will also serve as a social space for connecting with fans and sharing some of her on and off course interests. Cristie recently spoke to Mike Spellman of suburban Chicago's Daily Herald about her life on tour and her many activities and interests.But the LPGA ladies their sites set on the Kraft Nabisco Tournament and Rancho Mirage, where the historic Dinah Shore course is ready and the waters of Champion's lake await the 2009 winner.
Nice story, Patricia. I will be anxious to see some American players do well in the major.
ReplyDeleteThese are exciting times indeed. Looking forward to watching these amazing athletes. Let's here it for the girls!
ReplyDeleteI'll be out at the KNC starting tomorrow for the rest of the week doing a story for the BGCC. I pulling for Stacey Lewis..but they are all stars in my eyes.
ReplyDeleteI had to do a double take at Lorena Ochoa ... looks very different on this post.
ReplyDeleteThe Kraft Nabisco tournament has always been a favorite womens golf televised event for me. I would love to see a Gulbis win, but am betting on an Ochoa repeat.
I'M SURE YOU HAVE YOUR CREDENTIALS ALREADY- RIGHT?
ReplyDeleteBESIDES, GOOD AS THE REST OF THE GOLF BLOGGERS ARE, THEY DON'T COME CLOSE-- YOU THE BEST!!!!!!!
Kerr is way hotter than Gulbis or Creamer. What happened to those two at the last tournament anyway?
ReplyDeleteShould be a great tournament this year. Plenty of ladies playing well early.
ReplyDelete(and well done for NOT putting a picture of Michelle Wie !! wait until she earns her spot in GGD history !) :-)
A little nit picking, Patricia:
ReplyDeleteThe Open Championship is far older than the Masters. And the PGA Championship has a longer record of continuous operation than either of those two.
Both The Masters and The Open were canceled for a time during the duration of World War II. Augusta National had cows grazing its fairways from 1943-1945 and the Open was not held from 1940-1945.
For the record, the US Open was not held 1942-1945, but the PGA Championship only missed 1943, making it the longest continuously held major by one year over the other three men's majors.
Nevertheless, The Open is widely held as the grandaddy of them all. It will be 150 years next since Willie Park Sr. bested Old Tom Morris at Prestwick. Or, if you prefer, it predates the Kraft Nabisco's status as a major by a mere 123 years.
@Charles Boyer - Yes Court pointed that out to me too. I got the info from the official site of the K N Tournament, (the first slide in the "Course Tour" section) so I didn't check it.
ReplyDeleteI figured that the other tournaments had been discontinued or interrupted for a bit ...or something like that. However this does not appear to be the case so I've amended my text slightly. Thanks Charles & Court for the heads up. :o)
No problem, Patricia! :-)
ReplyDeleteI enjoy watching the ladies majors. Some intense and exciting golf. Love to see more young Americans on the tour?
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