No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - NLU Podcast, Episode 765: LPGA Check-In

Episode Date: November 16, 2023

Randy and Cody are joined by Jordan Perez ahead of this week's LPGA Tour Championship. On the pod this week: Jordan gives us a sneak peek at her profile of Angel Yin which will hit the NLU website later this week We recap the year for world no. 1 Lilia Vu as she reclaimed the top spot in the world rankings after her fourth win of the season last week at the Annika as well as some other notable performances during the tour's Asian swing (8:30) What to make of some of the notable players who did not make the Tour Championship (30:10) Who would win player of the year if the award was voted upon as it is on the PGA Tour? (44:00) Some of the other season-long awards up for grabs this week, assorted news and notes from across the women's game, and our picks to win this weekend in Naples (54:00) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I'm going to be the right club today. Yes. That is better than most. I'm not in. That is better than most. Better than most. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome into the No Laying Up golf podcast. Thank you for listening. My name is Randy. We are talking LPGA golf today and joining me are two people deep from the heart of Texas.

Let's start with Cody McBride. Cody, good morning to you, sir. How are you? Biggie happy to be here. Happy to talk LPGA golf. And awesome weekend. The Onika, who would have thought namesake event here, excited to boil down what's really been going on the last couple weeks here and get ready for a little tour championship action, man. Hey, man, we've reached the end of the 2023 season. It's been a long season. We'll get into all that, but also joining us.

She is in Texas. Just for the moment went to see Victor Wembenyana last night. That is Jordan Perez. Jordan, welcome to the show. How are you today? What's up? I'm fired off. Fresh off of seeing some Wembee.

Very inspired fresh off of seeing some Wembee. Very inspired. Fresh off of some very inspiring play over the weekend at the Onigah. And yeah, this is one of the best times of year for a woman's golf. So super excited to chat everything and anything. LPG. Before we dive into today's episode, let's first thank our sponsor. And that is our good friends at Titleist. Today's episode is brought to you by title list, the number one ball and golf and the overwhelming choice of players on the LPGA tour. That includes newly minted world number one, Liliavu. We're going to talk a lot about Liliah who led a one through six finish for Provi won and Provi won X players last weekend in Florida. It is among the 77% of players who have teed up a titleist golf ball this season on the

LPGA tour. That's a lot of players, 77%. And fun fact here, both Lillia and myself, we started the year by making the move to the 2023 Pro V1 X model. And let's look at the results. How about four wins? Two majors between the two of us. I'd say that's a hell of a year, no matter how you slice it.

In all honesty, though, the ProV1X for me, I play the X because I need spin. The X is great for players that need spin. It's been wonderful. You know, I made my first eagle in a long time, a few weeks back, a 177 yard approach into a par four, no big deal. Hit the front of the green, released right into the cup.

That felt good. But the best thing I can say about the ProVee 1X, when I'm hitting the ball well, when I feel like I'm playing well, the ball, it just, it moves and reacts and does things as I would expect it to. And that's all anybody's ever looking for when they're playing golf.

So I really, really love moving to the ProVi1X. And on the game's biggest stages, more of the best choose titleists. Head over to tidalist.com to start the golf ball fitting process and find out which titleist is best for your game. That's tidalist.com. Get fitted, makes a huge difference. We thank them for being a great sponsor.

And guys, let's get into today's episode. Guys, you said it. I think it was a great event last week down in outside of Tampa, the Onica at Game Bridge. It was the last full regular season event of the year. Lots of lots of big things happening. We're going to dive into that here in just a second. Before we do, though, Jordan, I also want to shout out. We're going to go a little deeper, but you have been working on a profile of sorts on Angel Yinn. Can you tell the folks when and where they will be able to read that? So that'll be coming out this week, just ahead of CME. I think I can speak for all of us and saying that Angel is one of the most captivating characters on the LPGA right now. And I mean, she's had an enormous year. I mean, this

has been a really big comeback for her. She's gone through so much and what's been, I think it's about almost seven years on tour or so. I mean Turned professional right as she soon as she became an adult basically, and I mean she's kind of Gone through a lot and she was one of the biggest rising stars at one point and then She wasn't and she's just been through everything whether that's injury money I mean you name it and she still managed to keep an enormous smile on her face and has just been such a bright light in the people around her's lives. And I don't know, I kind of went in depth a little bit and tried to see the kind of soul searching that she did and how she figured out her own way. And I think Chevron really platformed her this year, but I certainly think all of that hard work

on the inside was done way before Chevron, and that's why she was able to leverage it so well. So yeah, stay posted for that. I'm really excited for that to come out. I think Angel is super cool, and there will be no shortage of Angelian jokes in that piece, that's for sure. That's awesome. I can't wait. Yeah, I know after I did the

podcast with her a couple months ago, it was I chatted with her the week of Cincinnati, her just talking about how I and I won't not to spoil too much. But if anybody did listen to that podcast, you know, how how affected she was when she missed out on the Soulheim Cup a couple of years ago, and just the physical toll that took on her and it really caused her to to reexamine some things. Jordan and I were trying to like, man, I feel like I didn't get to go like deep enough into Angel Siky and what was going on. So perfect subject to write upon.

So Jordan, I can't wait to read that. Check it out. We'll we'll promote it across our platforms. Uh, code man, the game bridge baby. What, what are, what are our big takeaways? What, what's, what's going on last week? Lily, I don't know what else. There's not a lot she can do that to cap off this phenomenal season that she's had. Obviously, she goes on. If she goes on to win the tour championship, it would be the icing on cake and a lot more cash and a pocket of a man. Oh, man, that she had a season capped off at the onica driven by game bridge at Pelican.

What a title. I just want to point that out first. You know, we got uses is calling this the game bridge. Obviously, it's that Pelican. They're known to be wearing those fancy blue jackets down there. They, they, they fashion themselves to be a little bit of, you know, a gust of national, but further south down on the water. A lot of crossover between membership there, but obviously really cool that onika, like this is her event now. And to have this LPGA event that matches the same naming convention

that she has, you know, she has junior events all over the world. She has one back in Europe. She has one in the United States. She has a college event that's called the, you know, the Onika again, the college showcase. And now this being like the final piece on top of solidifying the fact that it's the Onnicka driven by Gameridjap Pelican. I think it's really, really cool. And we had an awesome, awesome finish. Ultimately, you know, Lillia ended up clipping now suddenly and Azahara Munoz by three shots. But it's such a phenomenal year. I feel like very lucky that we've had multiple opportunities to sit down and talk to Lilia and kind of figure out where she was at

compared to where she's at now. It's incredible. And the amount of travel that these ladies have gone on really the last month and then still have enough juice to land in Tampa after being on the road for five weeks in a row. It's just phenomenal stuff. Really, really, really good golf played though. Hey, men, all of that. Yeah, it feels like with the four-week Asian swing and then coming back

without a week off to last weekend's tournament, the Onyka, and now the CME to her championship. It is a grind. It feels like a battle of attrition, just as much as anything else. Lillia winning, she goes over $3 million this year. It's her fourth victory. Her and Selene Boudier both have four wins. Two of Lillia's wins are majors.

This was her sixth overall top 10. It just is a hell of a season. Honestly, something that I don't know if we knew it was, I mean, I certainly don't think we knew it was going to be Lilia doing this, but we were craving for this breakout season by a young American this year. And Liliah has provided that in spades. The player of the year race is down to Lili and Salina. It's actually gonna be determined at CME this weekend. We'll get into the scenarios there. But Jordan, anything to add there, I mean, Liliah is,

she's it right now. We should say she takes over the number one spot in the world with her win, Rooning Yinn drops to number two, but anything to add with Lilya's fourth win last weekend. Yeah, I mean, not enough good things to say about the year Lilya's had and just kind of watching her on Sunday. She kind of had a battle back a little bit, even though she, Tandoli seemed like she had the lead and she mentioned this in her interviews Sunday. She kind of had a battle back a little bit even though she tindally seemed like she had the lead and she mentioned this in her interviews

after. But no, she just emerged as one of the best putters on the LPGA and you saw a lot of that between Chevron and AIG. And thinking about, you know, like you said, we've needed a breakout year. You're like this. But I certainly think a year where so many of the wins are kind of concentrated at the top is huge for the LPGA. That's a tour that needs it. That's a tour that needs a lot of FaceTime with its stars. And I think Lillia is the perfect player for that.

One thing I think, Yasalolines had an exceptional year as well and it's really hard to make that argument against it. Aside from the fact that Liliah has claimed two majors, but I don't know. There's just been a lot of really great golf right concentrated at the top and it's I know we've talked we've had the parity conversation between first-time winners, but it's nice to see just a little bit of parody at the top as well. And Lillia, we should say 66 in the final round, her only blemish was a bogey on the par 312. Cody, you mentioned, you know, when it was time to go get it, she birdies 15 birdies 16 seals the deal. time to go get it. She birdies 15 birdies 16 seals the deal. But really it was the third round 62. Bogey free. I mean eight birdies to really go and put herself in position.

Because I have to think that she has an eye on the player of the year award race. And for folks that are listening and don't know that the LPGA player of the year award is purely points based. There is no voting. It's all the players know what they have to do. First place gets you 30 points, second place gets you 12 points and it goes down to a 10th place finish gets you a single point. So Lillia has to know where she sits coming into this week and for her, you know, how much

of that was motivating her. I got to think a little bit, whether she says so or not, but for her to go out and have a statement win like this and to put herself in a great position to close the deal this coming weekend at the tour championship, it's just so impressive. And I feel like that's, you know,

you kind of run out of adjectives all year, we've just been saying, darn it, Lillia is just so impressive when it counts. And I think this is just another feather in her cap. The one thing I will say that 62 by Liliah on on Saturday, phenomenal round Bogey free, matched by Allison Lee tied that 62. And then 62 and then Amy Yang beat that by one fired 61. I don't know what maybe you have set ups or maybe course conditions or something, but they were out there absolutely, you know, just making buckets of birdies on Saturday. It was such a fun watch. And again, I think it just goes to show like even with being in contention.

It just is like Lily has another gear that she can kick it into and it doesn't matter what day of the week it is, whether it's, you know, a Thursday or Friday or final nine on Sunday, she can go out and get in. She has the confidence now in that who knows what that means for years to come. But right now she has found something and it's working so, so well, I hope that she continues this form into next year and years after that. Absolutely. And of course, the other big thing besides Lillia and winning, there was the game within the game going on at Gamebridge. This was the last quote unquote regular season event. And so with an eye

towards being in that top 60 as the cutoff for CME, some interesting things down the stretch. But before we get there, Kodi, you mentioned Allison Lee finishes tied for second. Really good little stretch here to close the season for her. She last time we saw her on the LPJ tour back in Asia at the BMW Korea ladies championship. She finished tied for second. She went in one, the Aramco team series event, which was her next start after that. And now she's back here finishing runner up again. She's certainly somebody to watch next week.

And then also Azahara Munoz finishes tied for second with Allison Lee. And I think that's only noteworthy because Azahara, this was her best finish since 2019. She had taken a lot of time off, has become a mother. And so really nice to kind of see her getting back into the swing of things and really also playing some good golf over the last several weeks. So Jordan, anybody else before we kind of dive into the game within the game, anybody else, let you run down the leaderboard heck, even if you'd like. Do you want to cook a little bit? Don't feel pressure, but if there's anybody else you want to shout out this week.

I just want to go back to Allison, leave very briefly. I mean, she went from being one of the brightest stars, right, when she turned professional, makes a soul home cop in her rookie year to really struggling for a long time. And to see her kind of place in the best called, she's ever played in her entire career. So consistently is really cool.

So it's very cool to see her in, to see me this week and just the kind of progress she's made all year. I remember watching her at Mizuho earlier this year at Liberty National because she was in Rose Zang's group. She's struggling a little bit in that first round, but I mean, just to kind of see the progress she's made is especially in this stretch at the end of the year has been really cool. Okay, in terms of shout outs, I think you had this one

on the agenda Randy and I think this one is really of note, especially because she too also had a very profound amateur career. Bianca, Penn, Danganron, have, am I saying that right? I really hope so. I hope I just did not butcher the hell out of her name. Well, I wouldn't say butchered the hell out of it,

but I will jump and say it's pogged and on and. Okay, thank you. Went from 60th to 55th with a T19 this week at the Onika. And yeah, for maybe a little bit of a refresher, she was a national champion at Arizona, went all the way down to 324th in the world rankings at one point, just really like lowest of lows. Still hasn't really found that made in win,

but you've seen her in burst and she's phenomenal. Has had a lot of close calls this fall in the past three weeks. I think it was like a T3 T2 in this T19 this past week. I think there's a lot of momentum on her side and she kind of played like a smaller schedule this year. So that kind of progress should really open a lot of things up for her.

But yeah, I saw in her interview after that T19 this week. She said she wasn't worried about making it into CME. You gotta think maybe there was a little bit of worry, but she wanted to let in too much. But said that she'd put in a lot of work to kind of filling her cup outside of golf, got into reading, baking, and crocheting, and said her most inspiring read

was Yannis Ottoman Kumpos book. So I thought that was a cool note, taking some inspiration outside of golf. But yeah, nice to see Nicely Bianca playing some really good golf again. The one thing to add about Bianca that we highlighted a couple episodes ago as well is that being that her status was outside of what was it top 70 big for this year and that's what they based all of the schedules and entries for this year's Asian swing. She had a phenomenal summer all leading up to the Asian swing. She kept that off.

I mean, she coming off of, she of course didn't play at Solheim, but she went to Walmart, had a T3 finish there, came to Texas, had T2 there, and then basically didn't have anywhere to play coming off of some incredible finishes where she was in contention all the way till the end in Dallas and didn't have anywhere to play. And there was a big concern there about like, wait, you have somebody who's kind on the bubble here of like, how are they going to be able to capitalize on the momentum? She took a couple of weeks off, then she went over to Thailand, played the Thai ladies or LPGA tour, ended up taking second there at the the Wistron ladies open, never even heard of it before, but congrats to her before coming to Tampa and playing this week. The other, I think one thing that I'll remember

this year is that they might not have gotten the wins and buckets, but I think the entire Aussie contingent of players on the LPGA tour. Steph Karyaku, having an awesome year, ends up T5 here this week. You add that to Minji's wins and Hannah's wins and everything else like that. Their team absolutely balled out earlier this year when we're in San Francisco. Awesome, awesome showing. And I know that that entire group with a young, you know, Grace Kim coming up and getting her win on a rookie year, they're just, there's so much potential here. And that's before we even like add Gabby to the mix and start talking about like what the future

of Australian professional golf is gonna be on the women's side. I wanna shout out Lexi here because again, she finishes T7 at the Onica. There's a ton of responsibilities on Lexi shoulders at this event. She's somewhat of a, not the namesake, that's obviously Onica, but she definitely is an shoulders at this event. She's somewhat of a not the namesake. That's obviously onica, but she definitely is an ambassador for this event and she's

all over the place. Also, congratulations to her. She was named the award, it excuse me, the founders award this year for everything that she does for the game, specifically, it's an honor given to LPGA members who, and based off of the opinion of their peers, represent the spirit, ideals and values of their organization through their behavior, indeed, both on and off the course. And, you know, we give Lexi a hard time. We also give Ricky a hard time, but literally if you go to an LPGA event, there is not a single person like Lexi does not turn down any requests for autographs or for pictures or for anybody like that is why they are the fan favorites because they put the time in and they stay there until every single one of these kiddos out there

gets a chance to talk to sign to get a picture you name it. It's very, very deserving of Lexi for this award and happy to see her continuing this like amazing play. I just don't know where this came from. I know there's a swing coach change that has been done, but she's just like, there's something new. There's something exciting going on with Lexi. And if she continues at the rate that she's going now, we're going to be talking about like Lexi and contention again, not like Lexi, like barely surviving to make a cut. Yeah, that's exactly right. Great shout out on on winning the founders award, totally deserved. I think I know we've beaten this subject into the ground, but I think what's frustrating

is she is so wonderful to the kids and to term an organizers and she is an ambassador for the women's game and the game of golf overall. It's just like, I want to know more about her. I want her to be a little bit more open with the media and allow people inside of her thinking and to tell her story and That's that's where the disappointment for me and and I think for us sets in a little bit But well deserved honor there Joring great shout out for Bianca. She she somebody that I'm like, I'm so curious to see and we won't know for a while

If this is like a true step up in her game or if this is like a nice little one two month hot streak that she's on because she hits the absolute living shit out of the ball. She is I mean, I would say probably her Maria Fossi and Van Dam are like the longest players on tour. I'm probably forgetting somebody. But man, if she's kind of found it and is obviously getting more comfortable on tour, I feel like she has a ton of potential. So we'll see. During the one name I wanted to ask you about and just give a quick shout out is Wake Forest alum Rachel Keane. I don't know if I'm saying that name correctly. If it's Q-in, I always, I always, I'm terrible at names.

But what's her story? And finishing time for 15th, what a great result for her this past weekend. Yeah, so Rachel Keane got in with an exemption into the event this week at the Onigah. And so I believe it's been her third LPJ start this year. And yeah, she's in her final year of eligibility at Wake Forest, just became a national champion, team national champion at Wake Forest.

And so she's always had a pretty, pretty elite amateur career. She was a part of the two winning Curse Cup teams, the past two in Team USA knocked the winning put in for both. So that's a pretty remarkable achievement. But she comes from a pretty big golfing lineage. Her mom Brenda Corrie Keane was kind of a really big amateur star in the Curtis Cup. And a lot of people made that link when Rachel made such a splash at both Amner or I'm sorry both Curtis Cups and I think Rachel's really starting to you know not I wouldn't say dissociate but certainly you make a name of her own and really carve her own path. I look at Rachel and she's just one of the

most consistent players out there. There's nothing super super flashy about watching Rachel Kean-Kit play, but she's certainly super, super accurate, super consistent. And I think this showing this week at Theonika, where maybe in terms of setup, it's not the toughest week on tour, but in terms of pressure, in terms of how many people are trying to play for their livelihoods, is one of the hardest weeks all year. She really showed out. I mean she had a 60, opening round 66, 69, 67, 67 and so for, you know, to in a time of year where, you know,

keeping your game alive on the college side because things are a lot quieter at this time of year is super important I mean Rachel really showed out and hoping to see a lot more of her on the LPJ in coming years. I mean this will be her final year playing amateur and collegiate golf. I don't believe she's playing Q-school just yet so I don't think she's quite assessed the litmus test for her game in that regard. But it's obvious her focus is really set on the amateur side and establishing what has been already a pretty legendary career. I mean, she's won multiple times in the collegiate side.

I mean, she's been consistent all throughout. And so, yeah, really great week for her. Also, wanna give a shout to Luis Wright-Wist. She got an exemption through winning the onikos namesake collegiate event into this event. She had a pretty good week as well. So yeah, a really, really big week for the amateurs. It's always nice to see them make cuts at these events, especially with such a pressure factor event.

Absolutely. I think the only other person we got to talk about, oh, God, it's a heartbreaker. Emily Pederson, she was your 54-hole leader, had played so well throughout, and to close her final round with not making any birdies, shooting a 4 over 74 to finish tied for fifth. On top of that, kind of the punch in the gut on top of missing out, winning her first time, her first LPGA tour event. I believe I was texting with Madeline Saxeram's

caddy Shane Codd friend friend of ours, of the program Madeline ended up being in that 60th spot to make it into the CME championship this weekend and What he told me they were they were kind of in and then they were out and then they were in and then they were out and He thought Emily needed a par on the 18th hole to secure enough points to be in that top 60. Or at least I think to keep Madeline out, I'm not sure the exact scenario there, but Emily ended up, I think three-pudding, making double just a very sloppy hole. And so Emily finished, I believe 70th, 71st in the CME standings will not make the tour championship, but a good result for her.

And I think somebody that just like her soul-hime cup appearances have told us, you know, can get very hot, but also can make some big numbers. And she's just somebody I'm rooting for. This was her first year really playing a full-time LPGA schedule and in a good last event of the season for her and somebody that, you know, I think certainly has the talent and quite honestly, so may I'm rooting for it to capture that first victory, hopefully next year.

With that said, I think the game within the game, guys, obviously Emily Pederson missing out on the tour championship. Jordan, you mentioned Bianca. She was right in that 60th spot heading into this week. Her T19 vaulted her up to 55th. So she secured her spot. There were two players. I was a little surprised by this.

Only two players that played their way into the tour championship who were on the outside to start the weekend and then have punched their card to Naples. And that was Steph Karyaku who finished tied for fifth, great week for her. She vaulted up from 71st into the top 60. And then also patty tavik Tannikit Cody. I know that will make you happy. She was 61st to start the event, finished what tied for 15th, I believe, and finishes at 57th to get to play this weekend.

So we can go there or the other thing, you know, some, some big names that aren't going to be playing in the tour championship. We can, we can go either direction here. Cody, what do you think? Yeah, I just one thing on patty. She, I think everything is finally coming back around. She just makes a lot of bogies, like very sloppy bogies. I think if we figure, we figured that out, she'd be back off to the races. But man, she started out hot. 63 in the opening round, obviously very, very difficult to follow a great score like that up, but 72 back to 62 and back to 72. It's like we're riding these fire and ice. You know, rounds here, but from where we were at and what we're discussing about patty spring into early summer. Now to where she's at back at the tour championship could not be more happy for her. Yeah well said I think this was no matter what this will be a good bounce back year for right.

I think she's she's kind of righted the train. She's hopefully in a in a good situation on and off the course and man we just continue to hope her her talent and her ability. She can really get an attention In contention, but like you said gonna have to cut out the bogies and doubles and yada yada So if we look at the CME standings like we said top 60 make the tour championship and Unlike the PJ tour. There's there's no handicap start. So all 60 women in the field are starting on a level playing field. They were all competing for the $2 million first prize, the richest event outside of the majors for the winner. It's a $7 million total purse again, only amongst 60 players. It's a very big financial reward. And obviously a culmination of good seasons for these women

who will be playing in the tour championship this year. The people just missing the cut. I mean, let's start here with 61st is Sarah Schmelzel from the United States. 62nd, Selene Boria, the rookie from Norway. She had some good weeks. I think all in all, good season for her. We have Albane Valens, a whalef finishing 63rd.

Azaharamunos mentioned her 64th. Yoonhee Lee 65th. And then we come to our young hitter Cody Lauren Coglin 66 for her But I think this is a good season. I think this is a step in the right direction. Do you agree? Yeah, absolutely. I think you know, we're it she didn't get the final number that you wanted But when we're talking about like building year over year putting herself in contention She had such an amazing Asian swing that capped off really an awesome awesome year, putting herself in contention. She had such an amazing Asian swing that capped off really an awesome, awesome year of putting herself out there. I mean, in contention

at major championships, I know she wants to get to the tour championship, but this, we're in a really, really good spot here with plenty of room to build on for next year big. I think outside of the immediate disappointment of knowing that like you needed and she really, really wanted to get to the tour championship, she has to be thrilled with it. Yeah, I agree. Jordan, let me ask you this. Two players, big names that did not make the tour championship. We have Lexi Thompson who finished 79th on the CME points list.

And we have Lydia Coe who finished 100th on the CME points list. Had I told you back in January that both of these women were not going to be playing in the tour championship, which would have surprised you the most? I think Lydia, obviously, given the year she had last year, three wins, wins it all at the tour championship. And yeah, that's been the biggest elephant in the room. She's not defending her title, it's CME. And you know, by the time we kind of got to the midpoint of the year, background, US

women's open, I was like, this is over, this is not going to be the same Lydia year we had last year. And in some respects, it sounds a lot like she's slowing down. That she's kind of coming into maybe the latter part of her career. And to her credit, she's had a fairly long career. I mean, she's been playing ever since she was a teenager. And so, and she's sustained a lot of success. I mean, she's going to go down as one

of the greatest women's golfers to have her play the game. And so, you know, between, you know, the decision, maybe it may be marriage. I mean, I don't want to say like I was a bad thing, but certainly maybe she's just slowing down and that's fine. I mean, it was that She's had a hell of a career. In terms of Lexi, I think the Lexi one's particularly interesting, given her success at the Soulheim Cup and the kind of player she has, I thought this point was interesting. I want to bring two points up to both of you. One, there were a couple Soulheim Cup players that were sort of on that bubble, which were Andrew Lee and Daniel K, which is curious to me because we had a team USA that came so close to winning the Soulheim Cup. And they just couldn't go through, which makes you wonder, I mean, just how dispersed

all that talent is. But two, we're in a different part of Lexi and Lydia's careers. I really think we're almost in that ambassadorship part. And that's fascinating to me. And so I'm wondering, like, you know, are we phasing these stars out? And we're ushering in the Lilia's, the Angels, the Rosangs. You know, that's curious to me as well. rosettes, you know, that's curious to me as well. Yeah, don't figure out me in running still, Minji, you name it, we can go on and on and on. On the American side, I would agree with you that we're probably there with Lexi.

And I think that that's a position that she probably would be comfortable taking on. It blows my mind that we're talking about that with with really though, it just doesn't feel and I know points and time and everything else like that. This is a long hard life. I would say that this year is just a, it's just been a lot of change. And I think it not only personal life, but instructor and relocating. You know, they're finally settled out in the Bay Area and trying to figure out how you do travel and who's coming with you and when. I think it was just a lot and I think it was a lot more than she expected.

Because you see that when she had a couple of good rounds this year and he was like, that fire was immediately back and she was like, yeah, I can do this and then all of a sudden it's just like there's at times a game just hasn't been there and I don't know where you chalked that up to, but I as much as she obviously deserves if she wants to take that position, I think she has so much more game left. And who knows, everybody has personal plans and aspirations and she said that for a long time and she is bold enough to go out there

and put timelines on it all. It just blows my mind that we could potentially be there already. Yeah, I think that's well said. I would add with Lydia to she won the Saudi ladies international earlier this year, which did not help her in terms of LPGA points, but it's still a big victory for. And then the other thing I was going to mention, you know, she had a top 10 in Korea, she finished third, she finished tied for 11th at the Mayback Championship in Malaysia. But she did not earn CME points for those results because she was playing on a sponsors

invite. So another little wrinkle, Cody, you had mentioned about how they set the field for those Asian events and Bianca, or Hot Street came after the fields had already been set. So she was not able to play with them within them. Lydia is almost on the other side where she was not playing well, but got sponsor invites, went over and had some good weeks, but did not matter for the CME race. So yeah, I think Lexi, the one thing we had kind of intimated only

because we had heard it from a few different areas was like, yeah, Lexi, this might be her last year. You know, some people think she was, she's on the way to retirement. Who knows, we'll see over the next few months. If there's any validity to that, I guess as we get closer to the end of this season and certainly the start of next year, I'd be, I'd be fairly surprised if Lexi walked away. I don't feel like, and especially with her playing a lot better these last several weeks, we'll see there. So I think I was more surprised with Lydia and her 100th place finish, just Jordan, as you said, after winning last year and the end of the year that she had in 2022

was so, so impressive. But I think let's, let's talk about a few other just names that are missing out. Cody, the one I hate to pick on you, but Lucy Lee, she finished a hundred and ninth, not quite the rookie season that she was hoping for. You were hoping for, but, you know, hey, you went out on a limb earlier this year and I respect that. Thank you. I appreciate that. You know, when you're playing, you went out on a limb earlier this year and I respect that. Thank you. I appreciate that. You know, when you, when you're playing, I wanted to make a bold take and put something out there.

I just didn't come through and that's okay. You know, I learned my lesson. Absolutely. The other one, Matilda Kastren, former Soulheim cup, her, she finished 73rd, Inji Chun, a major winner, finished 75th. Maria Fossi, this was an interesting one. She finished 76, but I don't think it's disappointing for her. I almost think this was like her most complete LPGA season.

I feel like she's taken some good steps. And now she has decent priority going into 2024. She's somebody that came out with so much hype and excitement and just has a gorgeous golf swing and hits the shit out of the ball She's kind of like Bianca a little bit where she's got to learn to Tighten up the game avoid the big numbers have that consistency round around week to week I almost feel like 76 on the CME list is is good result for it. Jordan, would you agree with that? I would.

And interestingly, I think back to the tail end of Maria's amateur career and being in that class with Jennifer Cupcho, specifically, I think a lot about Anne Launt 2019 as Mason Eheron. The way that their careers have kind of diverted, I mean, Jennifer's played at a fairly consistent level. And Maria is kind of struggled to find her way, but I think this year has a lot of positive momentum. And I kind of think it's only the beginning for Maria. I certainly hope so.

Yeah, I certainly hope so. All right, well, let's turn our attention. This weekend folks, the tour championship, the CME tour championship, the last event of the regular of the 2023 season. And I only kind of hedge on that because the Grand Thornton is the second weekend of December. That's a big deal for the LPGA players,

but that is an exhibition event. So this is it for the true season. We have 60 women all competing, like I said, for the $2 million first prize, the $7 million total purse for TV coverage. We have, it's on a lot of different places. But Thursday, Friday, Eastern time, United States Eastern 2 to 5 p.m. on Lake Cock is going to have the first hour two to three and then two hours on golf channel three to five p.m. Saturday. I guess because of college football, it's only going to be on peacock live. That's going to be two to five p.m. Saturday. There is a tape delay option on golf channel later that evening. But then Sunday, the final round, 1 to 4 Eastern on NBC. So they're going to end on broadcast television, which is good. Guys, there, there's some good storylines this week. I think besides who will win and we can get into some picks, but I want to start here, Cody, the Rolex player of her latest win. She now has 196 points going into this week.

Selene Boudier has 169 points. So Liliavu, Selene, let's just say we're gonna make this easy. Selene has to win to have a chance. So, Selene second. I thought the award is presented this week. No, well, what do you mean by that? I thought that it's awarded like on Wednesday night. Oh, you think it doesn't incorporate the CME championship? I don't. I think

it's, for some reason, I thought that it, it's usually awarded, uh, I know they have the Rolex players in her. Yeah. I believe though believe though it goes through the tour championship. Let me check. I'll check for you, buddy. Okay. I'll finish explaining the scenario. You check on that. Like I said, Selene, for her to have any chance assuming Cody will correct me if I'm wrong

here, but Selene has to win this week. And Lillia cannot finish better than ninth place for Celine to win outright. So if Lillia finishes eighth or better, no matter what Celine does, Lillia is going to be your 2023 player of the year. If Celine wins, it would give her five victories to Lillia's four. And if Lilia does not finish eighth or better, Celine Boutier will be your 2023 player of the year. Jordan, I'm sure I explained that crystal clear. Do you understand what has to happen? Yes. 100%. Okay. I think the unique thing this is the player of the year points is is a purely points based award. There is no voting by anybody. is a purely points based award. There is no voting by anybody.

Let's say they both end with four victories. I don't think I'm going out on a Lynn Jordan. I think Lillia by virtue of winning two majors to Selene's one. I think she should win player the year. Do you agree with that? Yeah, and I mean, there's somewhat of a gulf between Melia and Celine and I, like I said earlier, I don't wanna take away from Celine's ears.

She had a phenomenal year on her own, but like, Lillia has just been dominating all for the entire calendar practically. And so it would be hard to award it to somebody else and I'm curious to see how she caps it all off at CME. I mean, she's played so much golf. There's so much good golf this year. And yeah, it's hard to think.

Cene's right there, but Lily has just been a cut above the rest. Cody, have we found an official word? You're correct. Through CME, tour championship. and I agree with you guys. It's it's heck of a year for Celine, heck of a year for Ronin, who's outside of it, but you know, these three have clearly lifted and separated themselves from the rest, but it's very, very difficult outside of of Celine winning the tour championship to not say Liliah this was her year. She she very deserving and player year if we get there. Yeah, I totally agree. I mean, part of me, I guess I'm

curious what you guys think about this. Let's say Celine were to win, which would be I mean to to go and get it would would be a hell of an accomplishment. Well, let's say, you know, she wins in Liliah finishes 10th. Selene will win player of the year. I guess my question to you guys would be in your mind. And if it was a voting award, would that be enough? Selene five wins, one major Liliah four wins, two majors. Who would you vote for in that situation? That's a trick question.

This is a point based thing. Yeah, I'm going to put more of my way behind major championships, including, I would say big, big win there at the AIG women's and, you know, the Chevron is just an elevated event, but it's still, I mean, coming down, play off with Angel, like overall, huge, huge gutsy performance there. Definitely is weighted more. And again, that's not taking any way, anything away from Celine at all. I agree. Jordan, can you, can you make a case for Celine deserving player of the year? If, if she were to get to five wins over Lillia. Certainly. I mean, and I think she has a good chance. She was T10 last year at CME. So

she played some good golf on the score course. She knows how to get it done. She knows how to crop off a good year. But I will say, let's consider the fact that Lillia was almost in that five win category against Angel again in Shanghai. So it's tough. I mean, just from purely semi subjective voting perspective, I mean, I think I would still have to give it to Lollia. And I will, the only other thing. So if we're taking points completely out of it, I mean, I wouldn't say, so Celine was on a winning Solheim Cup team, but I wouldn't say that she was the, the star. I wouldn't even. So Celine was on a winning Solheim Cup team, but I wouldn't say that she was the, the star. I wouldn't even say that she was a middle. She was potentially the anchor

of that team. Yeah. She was like our least valuable player on the European team. Right. Yeah. So like if you're taking points out of it and you're trying to rack and stack that way, you might take a couple points away, you know, it left a bad taste in my mouth. I might take a couple points away, you know, it left a bad taste in my mouth. Yeah, I'm with you. I think if I had a vote, no matter what would happen this week, I think I would be voting for Lilyavoo. And maybe that's American bias. I don't know. I think it's more major championship bias on my part. I just think two majors is enough to do it for me. So who do you guys think? I mean, I think Lillia going out and winning this week, five wins, just putting a freaking statement on the

player of the year, Ray saying 2023, this is my season. I think that would be the biggest statement win out of anybody this weekend. I don't know if you agree or if there would be somebody else where you would look at a win and be like, damn, that's a statement. I mean, again, looking back at what Lydia did last year, it was a bit of a fairy tale. I was like, it was like too perfect. Her winning CV and capping off just that incredible year.

And so thinking maybe we should, we could expand the sample size just a little bit in terms of people who played well. Ataya hasn't had a win this year and last year was sort of her breakout year, but like she's also played some great golf and see me too. So I certainly think while it wouldn't put her in the player, the race conversation, or play of the year conversation you You could say that's a statement win that's certainly a way to end your year playing some very

Consistent golf. I think that's just someone to think about also Minji in terms of players who have maybe Been in that bulk of concentrated wins Jin Young-Co. There's a few names. Ailes and Corpus also had a great week last week our last year at CME. And so, yeah, I mean, there are some storylines that can certainly be uplifted, and I don't know if we're necessarily searching

for more breakouts per se. I mean, Charlie Holtz, one of those names has also been playing extra consistent golf this year. I'd rather have him see me. Charles, she's almost done. Charles just can't, she got to get to Dubai. She got one more thing that she's on her way. But I don't know if CME is going to be an event where we're like,

oh, oh, that's who that is. We're not, I don't think we're using CME as any introduction. I think it's just going to embellish someone's already phenomenal year. Cody, agree, disagree with any of that? No, I agree. I think the only, outside of the obvious of like Lili winning and stamping that this is my year, we're slain winning and forcing Lili to take, you know, what did we set seventh or better to make it, you know, to figure out where these points are going to rack and stack.

I think like, Ronnie, the way that she's gone about this year and just kind of been the very quiet assassin that kind of came out of nowhere and now is just like, yo, like I'm dead serious. Like I'm gonna, I'm out for blood here. Like I think that could be a huge note to finish off a phenomenally year. Again, that's not gonna play into anything when it comes to awards outside of like a pretty large paycheck and winning the tour championship would go as a long, long way. They also, you know, there's been people who,

you know, Tiboron, such a finicky course and you mentioned Grant Thornton, it's played on the same course in a couple months. They both played on the Great Wedge Shocks Tiboron course. But the people who are based out of Orlando have success here. I don't know if it's just because they get they get down play, even though it's quite a, you know, a drive away from Lake Nona or wherever else they're at. But it's proven and they go pretty deep. I mean, last year was 17 under total. The one thing that I will say is that as long as Patty plays better this year than she did last year, I'll be a lot happier because last year she finished the event in DFL at 8 over park. And I think the way that she's been running and I mean the 63 62 and then matching 72

last weekend. She found something and I think it's I think it's this week is going to be one of these middle of this list to maybe the bottom of the list that go out and just free will it because they're just, I mean, literally, they're just scooping up buckets full of cash with everybody. I think Ataya is a great call. She continues to be head and shoulders in terms of top 10s. She has 12 on the year, the next closest, I believe, is So for her to as a as a 20 year old for her to to win the tour championship. It would be your third LPGA victory. I think it'd be more of a statement as we look forward to 2024. Right. I don't think it necessarily has much impact on 2023, but would certainly be make me sit up and say,

okay, all right, I think 2024 could be a monster year for her. And in that same vein, I would just add a Ling Grant, you know, getting a second LPGA win. I think she could be somebody that's not that she's just motivated by money, but this is a big event, and there's a big first place prize and I just could see Ling Grant, you know, coming with a major mindset this weekend. And then also

Rose Zeng, you know, I think we've kind of forgotten about her. She played well in Malaysia, finishing tied for third. She finished tied for 15th last week. It seems like she's kind of getting that second wind and she could finish this season. It seems like she's kind of getting that second wind. And she could finish the season. Man, if she could win twice, including the tour championship. Again, I think that would be like more setting the stage for next year. So I'm super pumped. Cody, you said, you know, the people who are based in Orlando seem to play well here. The one I was again, Texan Shane, God, I was like, Shane, you guys, this has to feel like found money. You know, Madeline Sackstrom, she finishes 60th on the nose.

She's based in Orlando. I was like, hell, go out and go out and win the whole damn thing. So she's somebody I root for each week, but certainly. Emplies good there. Has a great, great history of Tiboron. I think it could be an awesome, awesome week for Madeline. Do we know which I've poked around a little bit? Nobody's actually came back around to meet big rose made a caddy switch. Obviously she's got all the on the bag now. Yeah. Well, we expect all the to be on the bag this week. I don't know for sure, but she had Ollie on the bag for the last two weeks of the Asian swing. She of course didn't play last week at the Onukun Tampa, but I'm expecting Ollie to show up this week. Anything else that

you know of this? I don't. And I was actually, I'm a little asleep at the wheel. I was, I had not even heard about the catty switch when it was made. And I didn't know all the, all these a bunny of ours. He's got to be a lot of me of these things. I did not know he was being super cheeky. He's listen, he's going to listen to this too and knows that you have sent a message to everything he's doing the good employee thing now and not provide an information. But you know, I think of all partnerships of partnerships, like that seems like something that could definitely be very beneficial on both sides. I love the contrast of personality. All of you is just so outgoing and can say the right thing, and, you know, can offer humor or a kick in the ass when needed. And, you know, I think Rose can

be just super even keel out on the course. I think she prides herself on that. But somebody like Ollie might help her, you know, get in the moment and get a little motivated. Yeah, that's a good question. I don't know the future prospects of that. We'll have to get an answer. The other thing I was just going to mention that's really at stake this week. And I think it's noteworthy for two reasons is the Var trophy, which is awarded.

It's the low, the best scoring average over the course of the season on the LPJ tour. It's an accomplishment in and of itself. But with it comes a Hall of Fame point, which is a very big deal. And right now we have a super tight race coming in into the the tour championship with a tie at Tidacum currently in first place at 69. I mean, we got to go like three decimal points to figure out who's winning right now. A tie at Tidacum is at 69.676. And then you have huge you Kim in second place at 69.689. And then Jin Young co at 69.955 and Jiulin at 69.958. And so again, you know, a tie at it to come, not

no major wins as kind of taking a back seat to some of the other younger stars out on the LPGA this year, but just quietly putting together a very good season. And if she were to have a good weekend this week, she could capture the VAR trophy, get a hall of fame point. And again, just at 20 years old, continues to impress. And I think we all wait for those big major breakouts, but certainly something to keep an eye on as well this weekend. Guys, from here, Jordan, sorry, before I kind of move on, anything else with the Tour Championship this week that you want to note or throw out there? I hope conditions are like they were last year.

They were pretty tough on that weekend. Cold, very windy. I'm just really hoping for you know tough setup and tough conditions because that's that's kind of what this event deserves. Also if we really want to make the case about Orlando-based players having success on those course, well she doesn't really have much of a history there, Angel Yinn is also Orlando based and has said that she thinks she could like this course. It doesn't have a ton of experience there.

Last time she played, I think was, was it 2020-21 and she withdrew in the first round. So she's coming off a few weeks of rest, she can make a big splash here too. Nothing. Listen, angel can't be confined to locations, things like that. She's worldwide. All right. So she might try to claim Orlando right now, but the world is worser.

I think she does make sense. I think this golf course, it suits the way that she likes to play. And that's aggressive. If conditions are the way that they were lasher, that definitely suits her because she likes tough conditions. She likes tough setups. And she's one of those people that stands up there.

When wind is up and it's a little bit breezy and cold, that automatically knows like, oh, yeah, half of these people aren't going to be able to beat me just because they can't deal with the conditions. And she's coming in a million dollars richer. She million bucks. She won the Aeon risk reward challenges here on the LPGA tour. So good on her. That has concluded that does not incorporate the tour championship. So that is done in dusted congrats to angel. Just shout out shout out to Ann real quick. I think it's really, really cool matching Ann risk reward on the LPJ tour and risk reward

on the LP or PGA tour. Both $100 equal across the board. Shout out to Ann for doing that. Amen. A couple little news and notes and then we'll get out of here. Code man, you saw this one. Nelly Korta working with a new putting coach. What do we make of that? Well, I think it's something that if we from all the golf we've seen of Nelly so far this year, I think it's something that it's not going to like hurt her, right?

It's one of those weird things to where I feel like we've had a lot of turnover in her stable, but then like you think back to it and I think she's just had the same crew for for such a long time. I'm still I guess behind the times where the not JJ but Matt Killan, you know, Matt Killan. He was like her and her sisters long time swing coach. I thought he was moved off of full swing. It was just doing short game stuff on him now, but it was announced last week. Nelly moving over short game instructors. They've been working for a couple of weeks now, but the guy's name is Eric Dietrich. First began working together right around the Soulheim Cup. Sen she switched up her putter grip,

changed out her putter. She's been using a mallet. We saw her majority of the summer, she was using a typical blade, but she's back to kind of a wide-body mallet putter now, D-Drick based out of Jupiter, and everything looks so far so good. We'll see how it goes this week, but it cannot hurt. But I'm also torn because I never know we watch a lot in Ellie's Puts.

She's on TV a lot more, and because of kind of the lack of stats that we have, I know you haven't heard that before in this podcast, but we don't really know what's good, what's bad, where's it at? We just see you're missing a lot of Puts. Yeah, yeah. And the Miss Puts in the biggest weeks and the biggest events, they certainly have an outsized impact in our memories

and our collective thinking. You're right about that. A couple scheduled 2024 schedule rumors, news and notes. This one's not a rumor. The new Boston event is going to be held at TPC Boston, which was the host venue for the PGA event for several years up there, which I think is good, right? I, you know, minus like going to some classic fun Donald Ross golf course, right? I feel like TPC boss. And I always thought it showed well on TV.

And I'm glad the ladies are going to get the chance to teet up there. I have just heard this one hurts my heart. I've heard Kenwood has opted out and will no longer be the host of the Cincinnati Croger Queen City event and they are working on a new location to keep that event in Cincinnati. McAteewa, Good Bar, my brother-in-law, the McAteewa members, if anybody's listening, gosh, what a great event. You all have done fabulous work on your course would look so good on television, would love to see the event maybe to land there, but we shall see. Let's go around. I'm going to put you each on the spot to pick a winner

for the tour championship and then we'll get out of here. Jordan, why don't you kick us off? Who's your winner this weekend? I'm feeling a little saline here. I think I'm feeling a little saline and I mean, she's been for the ringer in every possible way, right? And this, a lot of this event falls on endurance and let's think of some of her biggest moments this year, winning back to back between Evielle and the Scottish and winning a nine-hole playoff in Malaysia.

So, without in mind, and having a good history at this golf horse, I think Selene is in a great position. Would certainly make for some good drama. Cody, who do you have? I agree with that, a very safe pick. I'm going to go again, like I said, I'm in the middle to the bottom section here,

somebody who's had some excellent form coming in. I think is going to capitalize on that. I shot it out the Aussie contingent earlier. I think it's going to be Stephanie Kerriaku, winning CME tour championship, just getting hovering up all that cash and then immediately taking it back to Australia. That's a bold pic, Cody. And you're nothing if not willing to give bold picks on these podcasts. So I appreciate that. I'm going to go with Lynn Grant. I don't know why I just there's something about her mentality and this, you know, kind of just being a big cash game for the women. I like

Lynn Grant. She can make a ton of birdies in a hurry. So give me Lynn Grant with, and let me say, if not her, I hope Lily wins just to put a definitive statement on this season. So Jordan Cody, thank you very much for joining us. Everybody listening, be sure to tune into the CME tour championship this weekend. Again, you can find that across Peacock Golf Channel and then Sunday on NBC. We will be back with a big, big, big LPGA 2023 recap extravaganza. I believe Cody that's going to be after Thanksgiving. We got to we got to chat internally, but I don't think it makes sense to do that Thanksgiving week. So look for that the week after Thanksgiving will be a good time for that. So anything else guys before we say before we say farewell. Very much looking forward to the end of this season though big. I think it's been awesome. Excited to get this tour championship

kicked off, cited to finally crown some of these season ending winners here. Um, what a show. Cody, I'm sorry. We have an official rookie of the year winner. Thank you. That's it. Yeah. Grand Roo. Congratulations to you. Uh, we talked about her at the preview episode. The start of the show. She was metalistic Q series last year. Absolutely dynamite player from Korea. Locked up that honor. Uh, and it was pretty much a, you know, I would say a runaway. Grace Kim, second place there with that victory there. But I like to see the amount of rookies that we got. Of course, Hanyuan Ru makes tour championship. Grace Kim makes tour championship. The other person we talked about a couple times this year, people might recognize her name,

Alexa Pano. I think we're just starting here on this career. Long ways to go still, but I love seeing finishing or coming into the tour championship 40 second on the list. I think it's absolutely incredible. But again, congratulations. And ran Rue for winning the Lewis Sugs Rolex Rolex, rookie of the year award. The other thing, real quick, want to shout out here. This is coming from Epson Tour News, the leading development, only developmental tour of the LPGA tour, and this company, Carlycee, right?

They just signed up to make a three year or extend their commitment, extending it out three years, right? They sponsor the Carlyce C Arizona women's golf classic. It is moving to the championship course at TPC Scottsdale. There's a big, big deal. All right. Yeah.

Now, it's an actual Epson Tour event hosted at TPC Scottsdale and not only that the purse last year, $335,000, excuse me, $335,000 this year, $400,000. So not only new venue, extended deal with them, but increased purse. I think it's going to be awesome. Congratulations to all the Epson Tour folks and excited to see that tour continue to grow getting new venues, new locations, but really putting some more money into the pocket for the players. Awesome. Very good shout outs and I deeply apologize that we should not have taken 65 minutes to get to the rookie of the year award winner this year. So I apologize to miss Rue, wonderful, wonderful season.

Jordan, thank you for joining us. I will remind the people again, you are publishing the Angel Yen piece this week on nolayingup.com. We will promote it across our channels. I cannot wait to read that. Cody, enjoy the tour championship as well as Jordan. It's gonna be some good viewing this week and we will be back in a few weeks to put a bow on the entire season. Do some, you know, season long awards and yada yada yada. So you too, thank you very much. Everybody thank you for listening and we will see you next time.

Cheers. Cheers. Cheers! Cheers! Give it a right club. Be the right club today! Yes! That is better than most. How about him? That is better than most. Better than most!

Expect anything different? I Expect anything different