Quiet Couple of Weeks

I was on vacation the last couple weeks, but for the most part, the pro qualifiers were as well.

For the weekend ending March 18, the LPGA was off altogether. On the PGA, Kyle Reifers was the best finisher at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, with a 12th place finish.

Last weekend, the PGA tournament was a WGC event, and none of this year's qualifiers participated. On the LPGA side, Irene Cho led the qualifiers with a forgettable 23rd place finish.

Not surprisingly, a number of qualifiers dropped out of the top 125/90 for the year over the last few weeks, with Reifers being the only one who moved up. The worst group so far this year has been the LPGA Futures group, where Meaghan Francella has been the only one to play well. Ironic, since last year, all the Futures qualifiers did well throughout the year.

Francella Wins Master Card Classic

For the second week in a row, a qualifier has won a pro tournament. This time it was on the LPGA Tour, where Futures qualifier Meaghan Francella beat Annika Sorenstrom in a four-hole playoff to win the Master Card Classic. Hye Jung Choi came in 6th as the only other LPGA qualifier to break the top 20.

On the men's side, things were quite a bit tougher. Anthony Kim finished 14th as the only men's qualifier to break the top 20. Cliff Kresge led after the first round, shooting a 65, but had trouble breaking par after that and ended up in 34th place.

I may not be able to update the web site this week (or next), since I'm traveling. We'll see...

Mark Wilson Wins Honda Classic

Mark Wilson became the first qualifier to win a tournament this year, winning the Honda Classic in a playoff extending into Monday. The win jumped Wilson over $1M in earnings into 7th place overall, and into first place among this year's qualifiers. Boo Weekley also made it into playoff, ending up with a 2nd place finish - the next best finish of any qualifier this year.

Several other qualifiers did well. Tripp Isenhour finished 5th, Doug LaBelle, Jason Dufner, and Charlie Wi finished 13th, and Stephen Marino 20th. Wi was the fist round leader.

The LPGA was off this week.

I'm going to be on vacation the next couple weeks, so I may not be able to update the web site or this blog until I return. Will see...