It is unlikely we wwill be doing LPGA Tour tournaament previews in 2024. The was not enough interest in the previews, nor enough feedback on them in 2023 to justify the amount of time that is required to research and make the previews.
Hi again, Icy. I'll probably do a final round 'prospectus & Preview', as I do for some of the big LPGA Tour tournaments, especially since there has been so much interest in our preview of this tournament. That leaderboard will change remarkably after R3 as the 'cream' rises to the surface, so expect plenty of fireworks today as the presssure really goes on - could be a great finish to this tournament as it compresses at the top end of the leaderboard going into R4. -The Cad.
The most ridiculous thing I've seen so far in this tournament was Lydia Ko making the sign of the cross before teeing off at the first tee in R2. It's ridiculous because you have to wonder why one of the greatest players in the history of the women's game needs to invoke the supernatural to help keep her on the fairway. Furthermore, people should keep their religious rituals & symbolism out of the Olympic Games. This ought to be an entirely secular sphere. Bad form, Lydia Ko!!!!!
I agree 100%, Icy. It made me cringe, too. People should keep their religious nonsense right out of this. The 'Age of (primitive) Superstition' passed away centuries ago. Stupid, brainless stuff, Lydia!!! Are you trying to embarrass New Zealand? It's not a Catholic country. Get real!!!!😂 - The Caddie
@@IcyMelts-nd8or People should do this nonsense in private & not in the Olympic 'arena' in front of the cameras. It's a religious statement, that's why she did it in public rather than in private.
I just got around to watching the entire preview. Far & away the best golf preview I've ever viewed. Amazing that you guys provide so much information about all 60 players. In fact, I think it's great that you give all 60 players equal coverage, even though everyone knows a lot of them have no chance of winning the gold medal - you can bet every other preview of this tournament will mention only Nelly Korda, Lilia Vu, Celine Boutier & a few other players! Great photos of the players, great course desccription by the Cad, love the music & artistic depictions of Paris, too. Super great, guys!
Hi, Icy. Thanks so much for your kind comments. I'm a little surprised there has been so much interest in the preview. I'm in France & was amazed when I looked at the number of views it's had so far, bearing in mind the tournament is still over a week away. - The Bird.
There is zero publicity for this tournament on RU-vid & not much publicity for it elsewhere. How do they expect to get anybody (outside the local community) interested in it? These pro-ams are brainless, too. The LPGA Tour players have little time for rest & recovery in between tournaments as it is without the imposition of these idiotic pro-am tournaments, which are held on what ought to be largely a rest day for the players. concerned.
I agree entirely with both points, Icy. I can't see any pre-tournament interviews for this event on RU-vid - probably due to the "brainless" imposition on the players of the pro-am tournament. -The Cad
Hi, guys, you didn't do an update like you did after the cut in the US Open. Are you doing one after R3? You were right on the money with Nelly Korda. Who do you think will win it?
Hi, Icy. We thought anyone who made the cut has a chance with 2 rounds to go on that course, so we didn't see much point in trying to call it at that point. I think The Cad is doing a final round prospectus at the end of the day. He's good at weighing up things, so look out for that. I'll stick my neck out & say Hinako Shibuno will win it, but Lilia Vu is the one I'd be worried about. -The Birdie
Hi, Icy. It's hard to know what to read into that leaderboard. The only certainty is that this is another very slippery course, with only around 13-14% of the field under par after R1. *What happens next may depend on what they do to the course - flags, tees, & whether they water it. *If they water the greens, then they' ll soften up, but I don't think they'll want to make it any easier; apart from which it will dry out again by mid-afternoon at the latest, so watering might be seen to unduly favour the early starters. *I think there'll be a lot of dynamic movement on that leaderboard as some players get their heads around the course, while there'll be some desperation from those needing to get under the cut line. *Lexi & Nelly may be at the top of the leaderboard, but nobody has looked really solid & steady so far in this tournament. *Your guess is as good as mine as to what happens tomorrow. It's intriguing, that's for sure. -The Cad.
Just looking at the pairings, guys. I can't understand why somebody is pushing Sophia Popov into the limelight - she must have friends high up in the LPGA who have a say in the pairings. She shouldn't be playing with Atthaya Thitikul & Hyo-joo Kim, since she's Rolex-ranked no. 344. That's a joke!!!!.
I'm inclined to agree with you, Icy. She's on the comeback trail, but in a major the 'elite' pairings should be of the best players in the rankings at the moment, unless there's a very good reason why they should be otherwise. An exception to the 'rule' in this tournament is the soon to be retiring Lexi Thompson, who plays with Jin Young Ko & Yuka Saso - fair enough, she's been one of the greats of the game. But you could also say LInn Grant is getting unjustifiable favoured treatment - it seems someone keeps pushing her into the limelight, too. She's playing with Lilia Vu & Minjee Lee, but she shouldn't be. Jiyai Shin, for one, should be paired in Linn Grant's spot - she's higher in the Rolex rankings than Grant & is the winner of 62 tournaments on the LPGA, KLPGA & JLPGA Tours combined. Beat that! - The Birdie
@@birdieandcaddy I agree entirely, Birdie. 👌I'd call what's happening with some of these highly questionable pairings 'corruption' of sorts, but I know you guys have said before there's a lot of corruption at the top of the LPGA.
Great profiles of the players you cover in the preview, guys. I always learn something I didn't know about a lot of players from your previews. I think some of the Nelly Korda fans will put a price on your heads for rating her only a 7.5/10 chance to win at Sahalee. But you guys highlight all the plus & negative factors for the players & you always give really good reasons for what you're thinking. I think that's what makes your golf previews the best on the Internet.
Hi, Icy. Always good to read your comments & to know someone out there actually has an opinion about what we do.😀 When you look at all the top players we left out of the preview - Hannah Green, Minjee Lee, Lydia Ko, Charley Hull, Xiyu Lin, Alison Lee, etc.- then you can see it's not easy deciding who to include in the previews; bearing in mind we always like to go outside the square, to some extent at least. So, we have to make some difficult choices when it comes to excluding players. But, hey, at least we included Nelly in the preview! Cheers. -The Birdie.
@@birdieandcaddy I believe this is the last chance these players get to qualify for their country's Olympic Games team if they're in contention. Is that right?
@@IcyMelts-nd8or That is absolutely correct, Icy. There's a lot riding on this tournament for some of these players - some will be looking to hold onto their Olympic Games team spots, others will be trying to grab their places. We'll know a couple of days after this tournament who the 60 Olympians are going to be. -The Caddie
Hi guys, just went back over your preview. Good calls for Saso, Andrea Lee & Shibuno. Nobody else would have rated those 3 players as you guys did & yet they're in the top 5 going into R4. The course description was fantastic, too, & very accurate. And the Birdie rated Nelly Korda only 8.5/10 & said she wouldn't be surprised if all the favs got knocked over in this tournament - another great call.
Thanks, Icy. The preview didn't get as many views as we were hoping for, except from Japanese viewers - there were twice as many views of the small part of the preview I translated into Japanese as there were for the english language videos. * I think maybe our previews are not popular with a lot of people - even though they're the most comprehensive golf previews to be found in any media - because you have to read the content, but also because we don't tell people what we think they want to hear (as in "Nelly Korda, Nelly Korda, yay, yay, yay.....")😀. *The Birdie is at Lancaster & said she's never seen so much stunning golf before!
Some good calls there, Mr. Caddie. I remember you guys saying more than once this year that Saso would win a big one in 2024. She's not over the line by a long way, but you were right in the preview about how good she is with the putter & at reading tricky greens. Disaster for Nelly. Looks to me like she'd have to go -6 to get past the cut line tomorrow & I think you're right, that ain't going to happen.. The fans woud have been stunned by the '10' on a par 3. That was the most spectacular mishap of the year & Nelly Korda did it.
I said in the preview there would be carnage, but I wasn't expecting that! Four players under par? Wow! This is the US Open & all the best players in the world! *I'd say anyone who makes the cut tomorrow will have a chance of winning on this course. *I think it's a fantastic, if brutal, course & a very cleverly designed course in the way Flynn used the landscape. *Did I hear a commentator say "Maybe it's too difficult"? It may be difficult, but everyone gets their chance on this course. *Best round of LPGA golf I've ever watched, at least from the entertainment standpoint.. *Nelly's debacle was unbelievable, but nobody is bullet-proof on a course like this one. We were expecting the worst for Nelly on this course, which is why we rated her 8.5/10 while rating numerous other players at 8.75 & 9.0.
@@birdieandcaddy Saso was better than the -2 after R1 looks. She was paired with Hannah Green & Brooke Henderson. She beat Green by 8 shots & Henderson by 12 shots.
The commentators aren't in the real world if they think Nelly can make the cut from there. Unfortunately, it's not going to happen, despite the help of NBC commentators who believe in witchcraft.😀
Hey, Caddie, brilliant description of the course in your preview. Very accurate. That guy who you said in that earlier post that those guys in that Golf Channel preview didn't know what they were talking about was right.
The organizers of the US Open need to confront reality. The pairing of Lexi Thompson with Rose Zhang & Minjee Lee is something of an aberration - Lexi is no. 54 in the Rolex rankings & no. 64 in the CME rankings. She should be playing with 'lesser lights'.
I just watched the preview for this tournament on Golf Channel. It seems like these guys (Birdie & Caddie) are the only ones who realize there are 154 players in this tournament & more than 3 or 4 winning chances. I think those GC previewers have got the course all wrong, too. Many greens may look like over-sized saucers, but they ain't easy!.😀
The winning score on this course in 2015 was -9 (In-gee Chun). I don't think the course has changed so much they're going to go -20 or something crazy like that. I saw that preview on GC. Those guys don't really know what they're talking about. I think the course description in this video is far more accurate.
Hi, Guys. I'm attending the tournament & I'm already there. I can tell you these greens are not what they seem from photos & video flyovers. But their common sense ought to tell most people that in a US Open (with the best players in the world competing) in which the winner goes -9 that this is a very difficult course. Some of these greens do look like "big saucers", although they're more like inverted saucers in most cases. The Caddie's description of them in the preview is accurate. - The Birdie
A golf tournament preview to beat them all, guys.👍 Too bad Lilia Vu had to withdraw. The bookies think there's only 1 player in this tournament & not 154 players. I agree with The Birdie. I don't think Nelly Korda is anything like a home run in this tournament. I've never seen an LPGA tournament field this good before.
Hi, Icy. The Birdie has gone to Lancaster, but she'll have trouble deciding which players to watch each day. *This is the best LPGA Tour field I've ever seen, too - I counted 13 players coming off the JLPGA Tour alone & they're all good players. *I wouldn't bet on Nelly Korda to win the US Open, but I'd take 2/1 that she gets beaten.😀 *There are quite literally dozens of players with a realistic chance of winning this year's US Open, & especially so given that the course is something of an 'enigma' & a real leveller, at least I think it is. *This is going to be a fantastic tournament whoever wins it. *Thanks for the comment, Icy, always appreciated. - The CAD.
@@IcyMelts-nd8or I wouldn't have rated Rose quite as highly as The Bird did in the preview, but Rose is a great player. However, I don't think she has enough experience at this level to be able to beat some of these players on this course. And this is certainly the strongest field of women golfers Rose has ever come against. The CAD.
I was just watching a live interview with Lindsey Weaver-Wright, who is returning to the LPGA Tour after having a baby. For no apparent reason she started crying half-way through the LIVE interview. They stopped the LIVE interview & shortly thereafter deleted it from RU-vid. Psychologically, maybe she's not ready to play competitive golf.
One thing I don't like about THESE broadcast commentators is that they never call a poor shot a poor shot. *Instead, they make all kinds of excuses for it. *That's not their job. *A commentator's job is to call the action & if someone plays a poor shot, that's the way they should call it.
"You know, Caddie, I don't think I've seen Lucy Li smile on the LPGA Tour in the last 2 years." "I think she probably needs facial surgery to make it possible, Birdie."
"You know, Caddie, I don't think I've seen Lucy Li smile on the LPGA Tour in the last 2 years." "I think she probably needs facial surgery to make it possible, Birdie."
The Blue Bay LPGA tournament is limited to 108 players - by the organizers apparently. *The Chinese organizers of this tournament allocated an unprecedented & unwarranted 30 ‘invitation’ spaces for this tournament, 28 of which it allocated to Chinese players, most of whom have no right to be playing in this tournament. *On the other hand, there were 31 reserves for the tournament, most of whom ought to have had a prior right to play in it ahead of most of the China invitees, since they are LPGA Tour ‘Q-School’ graduates. *If the Chinese are going to abuse the invitee facility & effectively cheat in this way, then that’s another good reason to exclude them from the LPGA Tour. -The Caddie
The Blue Bay LPGA tournament is limited to 108 players - by the organizers apparently. *The Chinese organizers of this tournament allocated an unprecedented & unwarranted 30 ‘invitation’ spaces for this tournament, 28 of which it allocated to Chinese players, most of whom have no right to be playing in this tournament. *On the other hand, there were 31 reserves for the tournament, most of whom ought to have had a prior right to play in it ahead of most of the China invitees, since they are LPGA Tour ‘Q-School’ graduates. *If the Chinese are going to abuse the invitee facility & effectively cheat in this way, then that’s another good reason to exclude them from the LPGA Tour. -The Caddie
**NB** If you're wondering why the LPGA hasn't posted anything (interviews etc.) about this tournament on RU-vid, it's because RU-vid is banned in China. Which makes you wonder why the LPGA is bothering to go there in the first place - the LPGA should ditch its China tournament connection altogether & allocate the tournaments concerned to other countries.
The Blue Bay LPGA tournament is limited to 108 players - by the organizers apparently. *The Chinese organizers of this tournament allocated an unprecedented & unwarranted 30 ‘invitation’ spaces for this tournament, 28 of which it allocated to Chinese players, most of whom have no right to be playing in this tournament. *On the other hand, there were 31 reserves for the tournament, most of whom ought to have had a prior right to play in it ahead of most of the China invitees, since they are LPGA Tour ‘Q-School’ graduates. *If the Chinese are going to abuse the invitee facility & effectively cheat in this way, then that’s another good reason to exclude them from the LPGA Tour. -The Caddie
***NB*** If you're wondering why the LPGA hasn't posted anything (interviews etc.) about this tournament on RU-vid, it's because RU-vid is banned in China. Which makes you wonder why the LPGA is bothering to go there in the first place - the LPGA should ditch its China tournament connection altogether & allocate the tournaments concerned to other countries.
The European commentators on the broadcast 'talk up' Linn Grant as if she's already attained the elite echelon on the LPGA Tour; which she hasn't - she's not even in the T20 in the rankings. More generally, their commentary needs to be less 'Eurocentric'. -The Caddie
*Interesting that Sarah Schmelzel is the leader after round one. *On last year's LPGA Tour her best placing was T10 & she missed the cut 7 times. *But I'm not saying she should be drug tested!😀 ***More seriously, her all-round performance stats on the 2023 tour were those of a T40 player; so, I have no idea why she didn't get better results & is currently ourside the T100. -The Birdie
ps. Nelly Korda could struggle to even make the 2024 US Olympic team unless she plays some of her best golf early in 2024 - there are 16 tournaments (including 3 majors) before the Olympic qualification cut-off date, so those chasing a place in the US team will have plenty of opportunities to get past Nelly in the rankings. *** It may seem inconceivable to most people that Nelly Korda wouldn't be there to defend her Olympic title, but it's a far from unlikely scenario as things stand at the moment. ***The Caddie.
To do 60 player ratings is awesome and you guys know all these players better than anyone else, and I read every one. I think you're fair in your comments about all the players. Whether you give 5 stars or one star for the player you always give good reasons. Keep doing the previews. They are far superior to what usually passes for previews on YT or anywhere else. I watched another preview of this tournament on YT and it was all opinion with nothing to support it - it was trashy by comparison.
It is utterly ridiculous to have an elite field of 75+ players, then throw in an amateur who is so far out of their laegue it's not funny - a score of + 35 !!!!
