Inbee Park shot a final round 61 to win the Manualife Financial LPGA Classic at Grey Silo Golf Course in Waterloo Ontario.  How impressive is that?

I was at the tournament on Saturday and followed around a number of the top players for a few holes.  Some of the players followed were Stacy Lewis, Michelle Wie, Cristie Kerr, Lydia Ko, So Yeon Ryu, Na Yeon Choi and Inbee Park. All of these players were extremely impressive, especially Ko, as we followed her for 3 holes and she birdied them all, with the longest putt being about 15 feet.

Surprisingly, there were a couple of very poor shots seen.  Stacy Lewis hit a fairway wood fat on the par-5 fifth, with the shot only travelling about 150 yards and barely clearing a hazard.  She promptly hit her approach from about 100 yards out to less than 10 feet from the hole, and then surprisingly 3-putted (she birdied the next hole to get the shot back, but you could see the blood boiling).

Michelle Wie also hot a little hot under the collar when she hit her tee shot on the 14th hole into a fairway bunker.  Michelle had just birdied the 13th, and then gave the stroke back on 14 when she made bogey.

The course itself was in great shape, but it is very difficult to get around.  There is no way to directly go from the 12th hole to the 11th (and vice versa). Spectators are forced to walk behind the 14th, halfway down the 15th, hallway up the 16th, down the 18th and around behind the grandstands to get to the 11th tee (and in reverse if you are following a player from the 11th and want to see the 12th).  Holes 6, 7, 13 and 14 all run next to each other, so you can see a large number of golfers just by sticking to those holes.

Also, there are very few trees on the property, so prepare for a day in the sun. Also, there is no water station on the property. I was told that the reason for this is because the LPGA prefers to sell $4 bottles of water. Ridiculous.  Two hamburgers and two pops cost $24 (although originally the cashier said it would be $28 until I questioned the math). My suggestion is that they sell souvenir cups at the concession stands that can then be re-filled at water stations (that’s what they did at the Masters).

Golftown had a much smaller booth set up this year than last, and everything seemed a little bit smaller scale. I am not sure why this was, but I hope this does not mean the tournament is on life support.

Getting in and out of the tournament was pretty simple.  Parking is nearby and only a 5 minute bus ride. When you enter the course, you are right at a major nexus where 5 or 6 holes are all nearby.

For all of my complaints, I still am already looking forward to going back to the tournament next year, and possibly golfing at Grey Silo myself some time this summer.

So Inbee Park won, as was mentioned earlier, and with the win she moves up to sixth on our Power Rankings. And if you are wondering where Ben Crane’s victory at the FedEx St. Jude puts him, he went from 1744 to 118.

The U.S. Open starts at Pinehurst tomorrow. The Pinehurst area is somewhere that every golfer should visit, and the road Pinehurst is on (Midland Rd I think) has a number of top courses on it.  Pine Needles and Mid-Pines are just down that street, Pinehurst has 9 courses associated with it, and you cannot go more than a couple of miles on Midland Rd without passing another impressive looking course.  You could probably spend two or three weeks golfing in that area playing every day and not play the same course twice.

The World Golf Hall of Fame used to also be in the Pinehurst area.  Unfortunately the PGA Tour moved the hall to St. Augustine Florida in the late 90s.

If St. Andrews is the home of golf, Pinehurst is the home of golf in North America.

Sorry for the rambling. Hopefully the U.S. Open will live up to the expectations.