The Pink Panther is back — Must-click women’s golf links
By Addie Parker
The IX: Golf Thursday with Addie Parker, September 1, 2022
This week has been beyond nostalgic. I mean seriously — Serena’s last dance, Rory winning the Tour Championship, and the icing on the cake is Paula Creamer’s return to competitive golf, pre-teen me would definitely be freaking out.
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I know we’ve already had our Tennis Tuesday fix for the week, but I need to fan-girI over Serena for just a little bit more. There was a level of comfort that Serena would bring me when I was younger, it was like I would watch her and there wasn’t a doubt in my mind that she wouldn’t win. And I recall on a few occasions actually crying when she would lose. When I didn’t have a black woman to look to in golf, I had her. She will always be special to me, and so many other black girls.
It’s also pretty cool to watch TW cheer on SW.
Now, on to golf related business…the moms of the tour are ready to rock this week’s Dana Open. The 2010 US Open winner Creamer and Spain’s Azahara Munoz are back from maternity leave after giving birth earlier this year.
Creamer won the Dana Open in 2008, but a lot has changed since then. On Wednesday she told the media, “I actually feel like my mindset is more like when I was a rookie. I just feel very in control of my golf game, very motivated. It’s a different mindset than I think what I’ve had in the past, and I truly believe that is also because of Hilton. Just you feel stronger I think as a mom. I definitely want to play well for her, not only for myself.”
Since giving birth to her daughter, Hilton, Creamer has been extremely open about the changes she needed to make to her swing in order to win again. In 2019, she was ranked 130th in average driving distance at 250 yards, when the top distance average that year was around 284 yards (held by Anne Van Dam). Her swing speed was less that tour average, sitting at 93 mph.
With the help of Grant Waite, Creamer has corrected her club path and her angle of attack, resulting in a higher swing speed thus creating more distance (especially off the tee).
Her return this week feels special because she seems ready for it. We haven’t seen Paula at her best in a long time and it feels like she is able to play freely. Like Serena, I think Paula is playing like she has nothing to lose and everything to gain. This is new territory for her, and I can only imagine how special it is to have her daughter watching her even though she’s only eight months old!
Our idols, just like you and me, are growing older and they are stepping away for reasons bigger than sports. They are mothers and wives and those parts of them are more important than their contributions to sports. We cherish the incredible moments they gave us because there will never be another Serena, or Tiger, or Annika, or even Paula. But we have a whole generation who grew up watching them and I can only imagine the level of greatness we are on the brink of witnessing.
“I played while breastfeeding. I played through postpartum depression. But I didn’t get there. Shoulda, woulda, coulda. I didn’t show up the way I should have or could have. But I showed up 23 times, and that’s fine. Actually it’s extraordinary. But these days, if I have to choose between building my tennis résumé and building my family, I choose the latter.“
Serena Williams, Vogue 2022
This week in women’s golf
If you have links you wish to share for Golf Thursday, sources for golf news, or want to talk about anything at all, you can email me at addieparker25@gmail.com ! Discussion of any kind is always welcome…I mean it…MESSAGE ME!
LPGA News
More news out of Ohio: Here’s things to watch this week at the Dana Open and How to watch it/them!
Golf meets high fashion and I’m so here for it. Nelly Korda looks like the epitome of cool in Vogue, wearing J. LINDEBERG.
In more fashion news, the LPGA announced that Dunning Golf will be the Official Uniform Supplier of the 2023 and 2024 U.S. Solheim Cup Teams.
If I did a tweet of the week (which I may start doing), this would be it:
Paula Reto holds off Nelly Korda, Hye-Jin Choi for 2022 CP Women’s Open title in Canada (keep scrolling for more cool things that came from last week in Canada…like REALLY cool).
LET News
Epson Tour News
NCAA News
Colleges are back in session, so no major news this week but soon I promise!!!
Other News
Think waaaay back to April when LPGA veteran Christina Kim has harsh words for Augusta National, ‘It’s absolutely disgusting’ as LPGA major is forced to move first major of the year. On Wednesday, ANWA announced a very positive solution to the problem.
The biggest news from Canada was just how much everyone, players and fans, love the CP open. It is a special week indeed.
Five at The IX: Paula Creamer’s Press Conference at Dana Open
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