Locals Freed, Katz win IJGT event in Hershey

Kevin Dunleavy

May 16, 12:00 AM May 16, 06:00 PM

Evan Katz, 14, of the District won his first International Junior Golf Tour event, last weekend in Hershey, Pa. / Courtesy photo

Liza Freed of Alexandria and Evan Katz of Washington, D.C. battled heavy rain on Saturday and howling winds on Sunday to win titles in the International Junior Golf Tour Major Championship, held on the East Course at Hershey (Pa.) Country Club.

Freed, a 17-year-old member at Mount Vernon Country Club, won the girls 19-and-under division. Katz, a 14-year-old member at Bethesda Country Club, captured the boys 14-and-under competition. It was the first IJGT title for both players. Within the previous two months, both had finished in second place in other IJGT events.

After starting the final round a stroke back, Freed (79-80 — 159) took command on the back nine. In tough conditions, her four pars to start the back catapulted her to the lead as she won by two strokes over Zora Moore of Milford, N.J. (81-80 — 161).

In a seesaw back-nine duel on Sunday, Katz (73-77 — 150) won by two strokes over C.J. Hughes of Indiana, Pa. (74-78 – 152) and Evan Johnson of York, Pa. (76-76 — 152). The title wasn’t decided until the final hole, a par five which Katz reached in two shots while Hughes had to lay up after finding his tee shot in a bad lie.

The IJGT hosts roughly 60 tournaments a year for players age 9-19. Each event provides multi-day competition. Some the venues include TPC Sawgrass, Nemacolin Woodlands, Kiawah Island, and Harbour Town.

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Last September in the Kingsmill Championship, winner Jiyai Shin and runner-up Paula Creamer engaged in a riveting, LPGA-record, nine-hole playoff. On Tuesday, the tournament announced both will be back for the event, which has been moved up on the LPGA calendar to May 2-5.

Other stars headed to Williamsburg next week include world No. 2 Stacy Lewis, Michelle Wie, Natalie Gulbis, Lexi Thompson, and two-time tournament champion Cristie Kerr (2009, 2005).

“We are ecstatic to announce the commitment of these extraordinary athletes,” tournament director Katherine Thigpen said in a statement. “It’s exciting to be able to attract a field to Kingsmill and look forward to seeing everyone here in just one week.”

Earlier this month, the tournament received commitments from former Kingsmill winners Suzann Pettersen (2007), Karrie Webb (2006), and Se Ri Pak (2004), in addition to world No. 4 Yani Tseng. All four players skipped last year’s event, which ended a two-year hiatus for the LPGA Tour at the famed River Course.

Shin, ranked No. 7, followed her Kingsmill win with her second major victory, the Ricoh British Open. Shin has 11 LPGA victories overall. Creamer has nine.

“I was so close last year and I think my game is in great shape right now,” Creamer said in a statement. “The golf course suits my eye and I have great memories of last September. I am ready to get back there and look forward to hopefully being in the mix again on Sunday.”

Lewis, the top-ranked American, has already won two events this year. Kerr, the only two-time winner in Kingsmill history, has 14 LPGA titles. Thompson, 18, became the youngest winner of an LPGA event two years ago when he captured the Navistar LPGA Classic in Prattville, Ala.

Last year’s tournament drew 7,762 fans for the opening round, a Thursday record for the event. Tickets are on sale now at www.thekingsmillchampionship.com. Kids 17 and under are admitted free.

Kingsmill is a AAA four-diamond resort and a member of Preferred Hotels & Resorts Worldwide – a global association of the world’s finest independent luxury hotels. The facility has 422 guest rooms and suites, a 19,000-square-foot conference center, six restaurants, indoor/outdoor pools, a European-style spa, sports center, marina, and three championship golf courses, including the famed River Course which hosts the Kingsmill Championship.

Kingsmill is owned by Xanterra Parks & Resorts, the country’s largest operator of lodges, restaurants, tours and activities at national and state properties with operations at the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Zion, Crater Lake, Mount Rushmore, Rocky Mountain and Petrified Forest national parks. Xanterra also operates Windstar Cruises and the Grand Canyon Railway.

Through its environmental program, “Ecologix,” Xanterra has been recognized for its environmental leadership in the hospitality industry and is the recipient of awards from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Parks Service, Environmental Protection Agency, National Parks Conservation Association, and other worldwide, national, and state organization.

Kdunleavy@washingtonexaminer.com

Tiger Woods’ two-stroke penalty in the Masters for an illegal drop left him five shots behind leader Jason Day instead of three. It’s hardly an insurmountable disadvantage considering Woods’ history in the Masters. Going into the third round in his last three Masters victories, Woods was six back (2005), four back (2002), and two back (2000).

The difference however is how many players Woods had to pass. When play started on Saturday, there were 17 players between Woods and Day. In 2005, there was only one player between Woods and leader Chris DiMarco. In 2002, there were four players between Woods and leader Vijay Singh. In 2001, he was tied for second place with Phil Mickelson, trailing DiMarco.

In all four of his Masters wins, Woods was in the lead or tied for it after the third round. To do that on Saturday, Woods would have to have an incredible round.

Since his last Masters win, Woods has made up similar ground in the third round, but never gotten to the lead. With too much pressure to play catch-up on Sunday, Woods hasn’t played his best.

Here’s a summary of what has happened to Woods since 2005.

2006 – Woods was five back entering the third round, but there were 11 players between him and leader Chad Campbell. Woods shot a 71 to get within two strokes of the lead of Mickelson. But on Sunday, Woods shot 70 to Mickelson’s 69 and tied for third.

2007 – Woods started the third round, five behind Brett Wetterich and Tim Clark. On a day of brutal conditions, Woods shot 70 to scale the leaderboard, getting to within a shot of the lead of Stuart Appleby. On Sunday, however, when the course was more manageable, Woods shot 72 while Zach Johnson finished with a 69 and a two-shot win as Woods tied for second.

2008 – Woods trailed Trevor Immelman by seven shots entering the third round. His 68 allowed him to leapfrog several players, but Immelman (69) remained in command. On Sunday Immelman (75) was ripe to be overtaken, but Woods shot an uninspired 72. He would have won if he had shot the score posted in the final round by Miguel Angel Jiminez (68).

2009 – In a tournament won by Angel Cabrera, Woods (70-72-70-68 – 280) never made much of a run at the lead, finishing tied for sixth, four shots back.

2010 – Shooting a 70, Woods lost ground in the third round, going from two back to four behind of Lee Westwood. On Sunday, Woods (69) couldn’t run down Mickelson (67), finishing five shots back, tied for fourth.

2011 – Woods shot 74 in the third round, going from three behind Rory McIlroy (70) to seven back. On Sunday, Woods made a spectacular front nine charge, shooting 31 and tying for the lead, but couldn’t continue his pace, playing the back in even par and finishing four behind Charl Schwartzel.

2012 – Woods never was a factor.

Kdunleavy@washingtonexaminer.com

2012 – Woods never was a factor.

Former winners at Kingsmill, Suzann Pettersen (2007), Karrie Webb (2006), and Se Ri Pak (2004), will join superstar Yani Tseng at the Kingsmill Championship, May 2-5. All four players will participate in the tournament for the first time since 2009. They skipped last year’s event, which ended a two-year hiatus for the LPGA Tour at Kingsmill.

The 31-year-old Pettersen, winner of the 2007 LPGA Championship at Bulle Rock, has 10 victories in her career, has played for Europe in the Solheim Cup seven times, and has earned more than $9 million.

Webb has 38 LPGA wins, including seven major championships. In 2001, at age 26, Webb became the youngest player to achieve the career grand slam. The 38-year-old has won more than $17 million in her career.

Pak, who has 25 titles including five majors, has earned more than $11 million. Pak, 35, became the youngest player to reach the World Golf Hall of Fame when she entered in 2007.

Tseng, currently ranked No. 2 in the world, has 15 career wins, including five major championships, her last coming at the 2011 Women’s British Open. Tseng, 24, has earned more than $8 million in her career.

“We are excited to announce the commitment of these outstanding athletes to play in the Kingsmill Championship,” Kingsmill Resort VP of sports operations Wayne Nooe said in a statement. “We are looking forward to hosting these players at Kingsmill for the first time since 2009 as they missed out on the September event. With their commitment, the event is sure to draw an even larger crowd.”

Last year’s tournament drew 7.762 fans for the opening round, a Thursday record for the event. Tickets are on sale now at www.thekingsmillchampionship.com. Kids 17 and under are admitted free.

Kingsmill is a AAA four-diamond resort and a member of Preferred Hotels & Resorts Worldwide – a global association of the world’s finest independent luxury hotels. The facility has 422 guest rooms and suites, a 19,000-square-foot conference center, six restaurants, indoor/outdoor pools, a European-style spa, sports center, marina, and three championship golf courses, including the famed River Course which hosts the Kingsmill Championship.

Kingsmill is owned by Xanterra Parks & Resorts, the country’s largest operator of lodges, restaurants, tours and activities at national and state properties with operations at the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Zion, Crater Lake, Mount Rushmore, Rocky Mountain and Petrified Forest national parks. Xanterra also operates Windstar Cruises and the Grand Canyon Railway.

Xanterra has been recognized for its environmental leadership in the hospitality industry and is the recipient of awards from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Parks Service, Environmental Protection Agency, National Parks Conservation Association, and other worldwide, national, and state organizations.

For information about Xanterra Parks & Resorts, visit www.xanterra.com.

Kdunleavy@washingtonexaminer.com

Will Sheedy of the District shot 80-76 – 156 on Friday and Saturday to win the 14-and-under division of an International Junior Golf Tour event at Wigwam Golf Resort in Litchfield Park, Ariz. Sheedy came from four strokes back in the final round to edge Remington Hirano of Honolulu by one stroke.

“I was a little nervous trailing the leader,” Sheedy told the IJGT. “I was confident that if I just played my own game I would have a shot at the title … I worked on my short game. It really helped. I had a lot of up-and-down par saves.”

Earlier last month, Nathan Tenpas of Chevy Chase won an IJGT event at Westfields Golf Club in Clifton, shooting a 77-73 – 150 to win the boys 15-19 division by one stroke over 13-year-old Sam Jung (73-78 – 151) of Chantilly, who was playing up an age group in his first IJGT event. Tenpas is a junior at B-CC and a member at Bethesda Country Club.

In the same event, Gavin Rickert of Ijamsville shot 78-81 – 159 and emerged in a playoff against Evan Katz of Washington, D.C. to capture the 14-and-under division. It was the second IJGT victory for Rickert in seven months. The Holly Hills Country Club member also won the Labor Day Classic at Hershey (Pa.) Country Club.

Kdunleavy@washingtonexaminer.com

Caves Valley Country Club in Owings Mills, Md. will be the host of a first-of-its-kind event next year on the LPGA Tour. On Friday the tour announced it will establish the International Crown, a biennial, global match-play competition.

The four-day event will include eight countries represented by four players each, competing for $1.6 million in prize money, with players from the victorious team winning $100,000 each.

“At the LPGA, we celebrate great players from all over the world on a weekly basis, but this is the first time we’ll pit country versus country for global bragging rights,” LPGA Commissioner Michael Whan said in a statement. “Only countries that have produced the best female teams can compete and only four players from any one country will be invited. The International Crown will take women’s golf to the next level and allow fans to rally behind their homelands.”

Competing countries will be decided by the cumulative Rolex ranking points of the top four players from each country. The rise of women’s golf in Asia will make the competition interesting. If the event were held today, competing countries would be the U.S., South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, England, Sweden, Spain, and Australia.

“Our tour is so global and we need this type of event,” Stacy Lewis, the top-ranked American, said in the statement. “People always want to know why golfers from Asia are so good. Well, now we can see how all the countries stack up.”

There will be three days of head-to-head, round-robin match play between teams, which will be split into to groups of four. The top five teams will advance to Sunday singles completion, with points from the first three rounds carrying over.

The inaugural event will be played July 24-27 at Caves Valley. In 2016, it will move to Sugar Grove, Ill., host of the 2009 Solheim Cup.

Caves Valley, often ranked among the top 100 courses in the nation, hosted the 2002 U.S. Senior Open, the 1995 U.S. Mid-Amateur, the 2007 Palmer Cup, and the 2005 NCAA Men’s and Women’s Championships.

The LPGA has had an on-and-off relationship with the region. The LPGA Championship had a four-year run at Bethesda Country Club (1990-93) and lasted five years at Bulle Rock (2005-2009). The River Course at Kingsmill hosted an LPGA event from 2003-09. The Kingsmill Championship was reestablished last September, drawing record crowds for the event, and will be played this year in May.

Kdunleavy@washingtonexaminer.com

Historic Langston to enter National Black Golf Hall of Fame

Kevin Dunleavy

January 25, 12:00 AM January 25, 11:40 PM

Langston Golf Course in Washington, D.C., the first golf course built specifically for African-American golfers, will be inducted into the National Black Golf Hall of Fame. The ceremony will take place March 23 in Tampa.

Also inducted this year will be Wake Robin Golf Club, believed to be the oldest black women’s golf club in America. Established in 1937 by 13 D.C. women, the club worked to desegregate public golf in the District. Due in large part to their efforts, Langston was established in 1939, and two years later all public courses in D.C. were open to all.

Langston, a National Park Service property, is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and is named for John Mercer Langston, the first African-American elected to public office in America (1855), the first dean of Howard University’s law department, and the first president of Virginia State University.

Also inducted into the Black Golf Hall of Fame will be the parents of Tiger Woods, Earl Woods Sr. and Kultida Woods.

The Golf Couse Specialists, the management company of Langston as well as East Potomac and Rock Creek golf courses, will hold a local celebration honoring Langston on Saturday, June 8.

Kdunleavy@washingtonexaminer.com

With the latest equipment, clothing, and travel packages, the Washington Golf Show returns for its 17th year, Friday through Sunday, Feb. 1-3 at the Dulles Expo Center in Chantilly. Players will have the opportunity to try the newest clubs on the market.

“People can see, feel, and actually test the clubs on a driving range,” said Joe Stegh president of North Coast Golf Shows. “They can compare the different brands side by side and see what feels and works best for them.”

The show also includes the Ladies Golf Boutique, with the latest fashions and private dressing rooms, and the Celebrity Stage, which welcomes long drive champion Brian Pavlet, trick-shot master Chuck “Hit Man” Hiter, and celebrity instructor Michael Breed, star of the Golf Channel’s “The Golf Fix.”

Hours are Friday 12-7 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m.-6 p.m., and Sunday 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Admission is $10 and is good for all three days. Children under 12 are free. Visit WashingtonGolfShow.com or call (330) 963-6963.

Kdunleavy@washingtonexaminer.com

The LPGA made a successful return to Williamsburg last year, drawing 63,000 fans for the Kingsmill Championship. The tournament, staged last September and won in a memorable nine-hole, sudden-death playoff by Jiyai Shin over Paula Creamer, moves up on the LPGA calendar this year, to May 2-5 at the Kingsmill Resort’s famed River Course.

VIP tickets provide access to the grounds and clubhouse, the Pavilion Tent off the 16th fairway, and the Pete Dye Club at the 18th green, with buffet lunch, snack, and unlimited beer and wine. Single-day VIP access is $150. There also is a reduced-fee weekly VIP option. To purchase VIP tickets visit www.thekingsmillchampionship.com. Kids 17 and under are admitted free with a ticketed adult.

Kingsmill Resort has received a four-diamond rating from AAA and includes 422 guest rooms, three golf courses, six restaurants, indoor/outdoor pools, a spa, sports center, and marina. The facility is part of Xanterra Parks & Resorts, the nation’s largest operator of lodges, restaurants, tours, and activities at national and state properties, with operations at Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Zion, Mount Rushmore, Crater Lake and many other national attractions.

Kdunleavy@washingtonexaminer.com

Washington’s stop on the Web.com Tour will undergo another date change, moving back to its former spot on the calendar in 2013. The event will be played May 30-June 2, at TPC Potomac Avenel Farms and has been re-named the Mid-Atlantic Championship. Last year as the Neediest Kids Championship, it was staged in October, with the lightly-attended final round coinciding with a Redskins-Falcons game at FedEx Field and a Nationals road playoff game against the Cardinals.

The event wasn’t the only one on the Web.com Tour that moved to accommodate a new format, which should provide increased exposure. The tour now concludes in September with a four-tournament Web.com Tour Finals, a playoff format similar to the FedEx Cup, which will determine qualifiers for the PGA Tour. The field will include the top 75 players from the Web.com Tour and the bottom 75 in the FedEx Cup standings.

This is the final year that players could qualify for the PGA Tour by way of the December Qualifying School. Next year, those who emerge at Q School will advance to the Web.com Tour.

The Web.com Tour Finals will open with a new event, the Hotel Fitness Championship in Fort Wayne, Ind., followed by the Chiquita Classic (Charlotte, N.C.), the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship (Columbus, Ohio), and conclude with the Web.com Tour Championship at Dye’s Valley Course at TPC Sawgrass (Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.). The top 25 players will qualify for the PGA Tour, with the next 50 earning priority status for PGA events.

The Web.com Tour opens in late February, with the first three events held in Panama, Colombia, and Chile. Four events have remained on tour since its inception 24 years ago – the Wichita Open (Kansas), Price Cutter Charity Championship (Springfield, Mo.), Albertsons Boise Open (Idaho), and News Sentinel Open (Knoxville, Tenn.).

“The 2013 season is going to be a landmark year for the Web.com Tour,” tour president Bill Calfee said. “It marks the debut of a restructure of the PGA Tour’s qualifying system that will put a great deal more spotlight on the Web.com Tour.”

Kdunleavy@washingtonexaminer.com