The IX: Golf Thursday with Carly Grenfell, January 2, 2020
By The IX Team
The LPGA offseason — Five golf predictions in 2020 — Must-click links in women's golf
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LPGA Offseason
Happy new year, friends. Hope you all rang in the new year in style!
The first two tournaments of the 2020 season are right around the corner, if you can believe that. The season kicks off in Lake Buena Vista, Florida (January 13-19) and is followed up by the Gainbridge LPGA in Boca Raton, Florida (January 20-26). The tournament in Boca Raton is a brand new event in 2020 with a $2 million purse before the tour heads to Australia for the Vic Open and the Australian Open.
Other than the season getting underway very soon, there isn’t a whole lot of other major news in the women’s golf world. However, there is still a lot that goes on in the offseason when it comes to the players and what they are up to—so I thought I’d highlight players off the course this week.
What’s so much fun, to me, are all the different personalities and stories that come out of women’s golf. The offseason is a particularly good way to see what sorts of things they like to do outside of golf. Believe it or not, they do more than practice! So here you have it, some social media highlights over the last couple months.
Jess Korda went skiing right before Christmas.
Marina Alex asked Max Homa to roast her on Twitter. Which, by the way, go to his Twitter page for some really good banter about golf swings.
Carlota Ciganda treated her people in Spain. When I interviewed her after she won the $1 million for the Aon Risk Reward Challenge, this is one of the things she mentioned. She just wanted to spend time with the people who mean the most to her.
Alena Sharp and Mel Reid shredded some gnar.
Suzann Pettersen continues to live her best life during retirement.
Brittany Lincicome enjoying full-time motherhood.
Stacy Lewis and family soaked up Christmas from the beach.
Tiff Joh played a little guitar.
This Week in Women’s Golf
Reminder: First, the underlined words are the links. Second. CLICK these, even if you’ve already read them. Clicks = Attention from editors, producers and webmasters. Third, if you want to push out stuff you’ve written or read, email me! carlygrenfell@gmail.com
New episode up on the podcast! Check it out.
Check out Power Plays. Amazing insight on the LPGA if you haven’t read yet!
The final foursome of the decade has been decided.
Yani Tseng is on the verge of Hall of Fame status. Read about her storied career.
A lot of lessons to be learned when going through LPGA Qualifying Series.
Catriona Matthew got a call from Queen Elizabeth. Here’s why!
If you missed it, here’s a look at the 2020 LPGA Tour Schedule from LPGA.com.
Sandra Gal’s 2020 season is up in the air—but she’s still making a difference.
This LPGA rookie will be following in her grandfather’s footsteps next season.
Blazing the way for Indian golf: Aditi Ashok doing her part to evolve the game.
There were a handful of controversies in 2019. See what LPGA moments made the list.
A fun look back at Suzann Pettersen winning the Solheim Cup from Golf.com.
Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols gives us her take on the top players of the decade.
2019 marks a real celebration of Canadian Golf (via Golf Canada).
Cindy LaCrosse is hanging it up on the LPGA. Here’s her tweet announcing it.
Tweet of the Week
Five at The IX: 2020 Predictions
We’ve reached a new decade, which gave me the idea to lay out a few predictions heading into the 2020 golf season. There were a lot of highs this past year and as shown in the 2020 schedule and increased purse size, among other things, the LPGA continues to gain momentum. I look forward to revisiting these at the end of 2020!
I. Carlota Ciganda wins a major. Over $5 million in prize money. Ranked 16th in the world. Two career wins and 37 Top 10s—but no major currently on her resume. She’s a steady, consistent player that I can see making even bigger noise in 2020.
II. Lydia Ko reignites her game. It’s no secret Lydia Ko hasn’t shined like she did her rookie season (2014) and the season after. She’s shuffled around caddies and coaches the last few years, and I can see this trend slowing down this year.
III. Michelle Wie retires. By no means is this a shot at how incredibly talented Wie is as a golfer; I just think it’s time. I can’t imagine the mental and physical toll that injury has had on her the last few years. At some point you have to decide if it’s really worth it and I truly feel she’s been tough as nails trying to play through it. With her commentating career potentially starting to take off, I could see that giving her a renewed sense of purpose.
IV. The LPGA-LET venture partnership starts to see gains. Even though it’s still not quite clear what this partnership will all entail, other than more LET events and hopefully more prize sponsors, 2020 will start to shape this relationship even further. I haven’t heard a negative word about what it all means for either party—so I’m taking that as a good sign for how things will blossom down the line.
V. An American wins gold at the Olympics. The last time I was writing about golf in the Olympics was 2016 when I was an intern for the LPGA! What an amazing stage for the game as a whole come the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Right now, Nelly Korda, Danielle Kang and Lexi Thompson are the top ranked Americans. I’ll put my money on any of them. Right now, they are all in the current field.
