Man. What an incredible week I have had...
It started on Monday, where, after having gotten a two-hour massage at a spa that ended up being 5 miles and 45 minutes away from my hotel (yes, I got lost. With my GPS. Thanks a lot, Garmin!) I met up with Ron Stockton on the putting green of Highland Meadows Country Club, the site of the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic. He and his father, Dave, have worked with some of the world's best players, including Annika Sorenstam, Michelle Wie (briefly), and currently works with Morgan Pressel, Yani Tseng, Amy Hung, Julieta Granada, to name a few. He was available for an hour in the late afternoon, and we had spoken at the State Farm Classic about maybe him giving me an idea as to what I was doing on the putting greens I played in, and so when I got the text from him, I leaped at the chance to work with him.
Though we only worked together for an hour, and much of it was spent laughing and joking around, Ron helped me to see just how jumbled and garbled my mind used to be on the putting green. I truly pride myself in my distance control with my long game, and I had no idea why I could not have the same mentality with my short game. When I went through my routine with Ron, he seemed to be astounded that I managed to make contact at all. I couldn't blame him. When he introduced me to what his methods and beliefs were, I was amazed by the simplicity of it all. My body was standing above the ball, but my mind was already on the hole, on whether I made the putt or not. He helped me to focus on staying within the present, and on making a good stroke, making an adjustment to my spot putting, and before I knew it, I was loving what I was doing on the putting green again! It was as if the light bulb was turned on, and all the voices in my head finally shut up! Poor Ron, however... I joked with him that, while I putted in my flip flops and asked the most asinine, simple, childish questions, he hadn't done a junior clinic in years. I was an absolute sponge, and lapped up every word he said. I was rolling it like a champ, and as strange and simple as it felt, I was sure that my putting mentality was going in the right direction.
Tuesday, I had a quick nine hole practice round with Dorothy Delasin, who was my bunky for the week. We played quickly, had about nine holes of laughter, and I took my new putting method to the course with me.
My caddy, Brian Funk (his nickname on tour is BFunk, and I often shorten it to just B), whom I had been working with since the Shop Rite LPGA in Atlantic City, noticed a new resolve in my eye once we approached the greens. I told him about my lesson with Ron, and he immediately fell in love with the new confidence I had on the greens. After our nine holer, I played in the Image Group Celebrity/Pro Challenge. My group consisted of Stacy Lewis, who partnered with Christine Brennen (sp?), Nancy Lopez with Jamie Farr (talk about an amazing duo. They were hilarious beyond belief), and I was paired up with Henry Cho, comedian and actor. There were six teams, and four of us tied, meaning we were all winners!
Tuesday evening was followed by my book signing in Toledo, which was awesome, and filled with many great questions. I sold a few books, and met some incredible people.
Following the book signing, I met up with some folks for the Annual Player & Caddy Pool Tournament, and though I came to the tournament late, I took part in the raffle prize giveaway, where like four or five of my six tickets won, and I thus went on to wear all of my winnings. I didn't get home until 11:30, which wasn't too late... Until one considers the fact that I had a 7:20am teetime for my proam the next morning...
5:45 am Wednesday morning came far too early for me, but I managed to make it back to the golf course with plenty of time to tie my shoes and waltz to the putting green. My proam partners were with Penn National Gaming, INC. They are in the top three gaming companies, and are working on opening a Hollywood Casino in the greater Toledo area. When we come back in 2012, I am hoping to stay in said casino! Will be fun! The guys were hilarious, and I really had such a remarkable time with them! Its amazing how much fun one can have on the golf course at such an ungodly hour when you have people around you that love life and know how to try and explain craps to you!!!!
After finishing my proam, I briefly hit the range with B, and as I was going through my shots, I grabbed my 5-iron, and hit a really wonky shot. It went straight as an arrow, but I hit it at a weird angle. I felt a sharp pain on the inside of my right elbow, as if I had hyper-extended my elbow, hit three more shots, and then had to scramble to the LPGA Fitness Trailer. Our physios have great skills, and they were able to help prevent too much swelling in my arm. I never play in pain, but the last two weeks have been pretty much riddled in aches. I had no time to mess around with pain, though. I had a tournament to go after!!!
Well, tis the eve before our second major of the year, the LPGA Championship Presented by Wegmans. You may all be wondering what I am doing to prepare for my first round tomorrow... Candles...? Meditation...? Soothing tea... ? Nooooot quite. I am presently doing laundry. The monotonous drone from the washing machine is putting me into a lull, nay, into a trance, if you will. I am sitting here, waiting for my clothes to get all nice and clean, while I sit back and reflect on my week thus far.
On Monday, I played in an afternoon pro-am at Locust Hills Country Club, the site of the 2010 LPGA Championship Presented by Wegmans. I was fortunate enough to play with Colleen and Joy Wegman, two of the most incredible ladies that I have ever met, and two amazing supporters of this tournament. It is safe to say that without the Wegmans family, as well as the staff for the tournament, the staff at the club, and all of the volunteers, this tournament would not be here today.
The LPGA has been coming to the Rochester, NY region for decades, and the LPGA Wegmans Championship has always been known as one of the tour's staple tournaments. People like to call it a community run event, which makes no sense to me. For years, The Wegmans came the week before the US Women's Open, and was an amazing preparatory course for it. The staff, the crowds, they all treat the LPGA members like royalty. The hospitality is always amazing, large tents are set up all over the course, and this tournament used to always rival the crowds we would get at almost any other tournament, be it a major or not. However, now that this tournament has become a major, people are flooding in at an even more astonishing rate! You should have seen the amount of people that came to support this tournament, on a freaking MONDAY!!! It is more than safe to say that this event definitely has that indescribable, intangible "major" feel to it.
Monday night also brought my personal rendition of Puccini's masterpiece, La Boheme, as I had to tend to the plethora of greenheadhorseflymonstrouslyitchyandmorethanalittlebitpainfulhorrible bug bites that I received in the ShopRite LPGA the week before. I am very surprised that I did not get any phone calls from the front desk asking whether I was performing animal sacrifices or not... The concoction of Bactine+Hydrogen Peroxide+Calamine Lotion provided me with a bit of relief. For a couple of hours, anyway... Suffice to say, the 4lbs of epsom salts that I dumped into my bath that night were quite nice.
Tuesday, I had a 9:00am pro-am time. Monday's pro-am was optional, and has been played for many many years. When Wegmans took over as the presenting sponsor for the LPGA Championship, I believe they requested that their Monday pro-am stay, and I am personally glad that it did. I always get a hoot in my pro-ams, and this week was no exception. Sorry, I digress. The Tuesday Pro-Am, which was put on and sponsored by Excedrin, started off beautifully. There were a few perfect, fluffy clouds in the sky, and my group was amazing. At 10:30, we got through three holes, and just hit our approach shots into the 13th hole, our 4th, when the BERRRRRRRR of the horns blew. Severe weather was approaching. We all scuttled into the maintenance shed, and before we knew it, we were being shlepped back into the clubhouse. After a two hour delay, we were back on the course. Thankfully the clouds stayed away... Or so we thought... At about 3pm, we heard those horns go off again. This time we were on the 7th tee, our 16th of the day. We managed to scurry back into the clubhouse, as there was a severe storm coming our way. Unfortunately, after two more hours, the course was deemed unplayable, and there wasn't going to be enough light out to finish. I felt terrible that we weren't going to be able to complete our round, even though we teed off at 9:00am. I ran to my car, in the pouring rain, and gave each of my pro-am partners a signed copy of my book. It was little consolation, I am sure, as they would have loved to have finished the round, but I hope reading it may brighten their day a bit!
By the way, for those of you wondering, this is how we sometimes enjoy our time while in a rain delay. This was taken during the Korea vs. Nigeria World Cup game, and as you can see, the Korean players are definitely NOT robotic, as many in the world of the media make you believe!
Tuesday night I also had my book signing in the Rochester Barnes&Noble. Penelope, the lady that helped me with said signing and passage reading of my book, was an absolute doll, and in the end, surprise surprise, I walked away with a nook. I know, I don't need one at all, as I have the Kindle DX (though I am letting Jane Park use it as she determines if she wants an iPad for ebook reading) and an iPad... But Penelope was so damned good at selling it, I just had to have it!!!!My evening ended with me coming to my hotel, whipping up a delicious plate of Angel Hair pasta (made from Jerusalem Artichoke Flour), grass-fed ground beef, and a pound of organic spinach, in an organic tomato sauce. Pink Himalayan Sea Salt and Paprika to increase flavor. I finished my evening off with a small bowl of strawberries and a cup of detoxifying tea. 4lbs of epsom salts in my bath, two nights in a row, and I passed out, my Brookstone sleeping mask on.
Today, Wednesday, I had another great day. I woke up after a wondrous night's sleep, got to the course, visited the LPGA Fitness trailer for some stretching, and then hit quite a few balls on the range. My swing is feeling very good, but my clubs, I come to find, were a bit flat. Don't ask me how this happened... I have no clue. After getting them adjusted, I was flushing balls down the range, and a great sense of calm came over me. I was feeling ready to take on the world. After my practice on the range, I had a luncheon and round-table discussion called "Everything Major." The talk was hosted by Gail Graham, former LPGA Player and LPGA President, and present were myself, Betsy Rawls (one of the most incredible women on the planet), Meg Mallon (another amazing human being, and one of my heroes/closest friends) Abby Wambach (Rochester native, and she scored gold medal winning goal in the 2004 Summer Olympics. HERO!!!), and Diann Roffe (Two-time Olympic Medalist, including the gold in the 1994 Winter Olympics in Norway. Amazing woman, great spirit. Utter inspiration!!). I, having only won two LPGA tournaments in my career, felt a bit like the ugly duckling. Very humbled to be in the presence of such greatness, and as we sat in front of 300+ people, I was as enraptured with the conversation as anyone in the room. I sat there, wide-eyed, and gobbled up every bit of information that the amazing women next to me were saying, and though I believe I said a few poignant pieces myself (the only thing that sticks out in my head, when Betsy Rawls and Meg Mallon were discussing what makes separates a good golfer from a great, was when I blurted out "HUH! And here all this time I was thinking it was MONKEY DUST!!!" <-that term was inspired by John Raser, by the way), I felt so honored, so humbled, and so determined to perform, after having sat with such greatness. After the discussion came to a close, Diann Roffe leaned over (as I was sitting next to her!! SQUEEEP!!!!) and said "Christina, I am a huge fan of yours. I think what you did in the Solheim Cup, what you bring to the game of golf, is huge, and you should be proud of yourself." I mean, really?! An Olympic GOLD MEDALIST, a hero to the sports world, was a fan of ME?! I damned near fell out of my chair and almost started to cry. But no. Big girls don't cry. I stammered something utterly incoherent, hugged her, and then floated to the first tee, where I was meeting my caddy, Brian Funk. We calls him BFunk. He lives in Rochester, and so he is the town hero. I love him, and we had such a great day out there in our practice round. We played nine holes, where I hit just about any and every conceivable shot in the book, worked a bit on my putting (long story about my putter to come at another date...) and then came home. As I sit here now, my laundry mumbling something to me in the dryer, I am looking forward to my plate of Jerusalem Artichoke Flour Angel Hair pasta with the same grass-fed ground beef, pound of organic spinach, organic tomato sauce, with my Pink Himalayan Sea Salt and Paprika to flavor that I am going to whip up. Tonight, methinks I will partake in more than 5 strawberries in the bath, which is all I had in my bowl last night, and I will savor my cup of detoxifying tea a little bit slower. My sleeping mask will fall over my eyes, and as I drift off to sleep, I will be looking forward to starting my round tomorrow.
For those of you that haven't seen them, I have been UStreaming my book signings for the book Alan Shipnuck and I have written, Swinging From My Heels. I have decided that every week I will post the UStream video from each signing, that way my loving followers (that's YOU!!!) will be able to see my signings! Also, this will make me feel less like ish since my last blog update was back in the Mesozoic Era... Again, my bad!!!
The signing in Rochester was awesome, by the way! I saw a few people that I have known for years, and also met a lot of new faces! The interactions that I am having with the people that have come out has been incredible, and I am looking forward to the remaining signings that are left!
I am so so sorry it has been so long since my last post!!! I have the ability to try and use so many excuses, but there are not really any that would denote the fact that I have let my blog go by the way side! I have a new vigor for sharing my experiences with you all and am so stoked to get back into blogging! I hope you can all forgive me and continue to enjoy my life's sharings with you all!!! Oh, and by the way, you all have @urfriendbwhite to thank for me getting back into this. He gave me Hell for not giving him something to read and continue to be enthralled with, so this one's for you, kiddo!!!
And since @johnraser introduced myself to B White, I suppose we should thank him as well. Actually, JR has been an inspiration anyway, a true friend that has accepted me for the good AND the grumpy, and I wish nothing but the best for him. You rock, dudes.
Ugh... Where to even begin... Since I last posted (prior to my Book Signing Schedule, which I will be updating every time there is a new venue, by the way...), I have played a half dozen tournaments or so... Or at least been seen on the golf course, with a golf club in my hands, thrashing away at the grass, anyway. I have been undergoing a lot of swing changes, as well as trying to juggle a bunch of commitments, book signings, and what have you.
I am just going to focus on one of the highlights of the year so far, though, which has got to be my participation in The Mojo 6 where I finished as a quarterfinalist, or T5. I know that not everyone was able to witness the sheer beauty of the region, feel the wind whipping against your face or the sun kissing your skin, or play the majestic golf course that is Cinnamon Hill at Rose Hall (and I highly recommend anyone that may get the opportunity to do so), but I truly hope everyone was able to witness the coverage and be left with a desire for more. More Mojo. More near hole outs on the first hole (happened to me in the first two matches!), more battling it out in a short spurt of energy where Every. Single. Shot. Could. Determine. The. Match. More triumph. More tragedy. More emotion, and more More MORE!!!! I had such an amazing time with the other 15 players, can not wait for Mariah Stackhouse to start to make a real splash on the golf world. She is an incredible young woman, a fierce competitor, and a wonderful ambassadress for loving life.
Here I am with Mariah, a future star in the world. Not just the world of golf, but the world. Period. She is going to be a mover and shaker. And speaking of movers, here I am with Usain Bolt, the world's fastest man. He and I had quite a few laughs when I met him, and he even used my driver when he hit his first teeshot ever. And man, HE IS TALL!!!!!!
Here are a few pics from the last night out we had. There was champagne, dancing, a true celebration for a wonderful tournament. That is Ed Moses, 2000 Olympic Gold Medalist, one of the founders of Mojo Marketing and Media, and one of my closest friends. An awesome human being, and one of the driving forces as to my desire to want to change the world. As time goes on, I may touch up on some, if not all of the other tournaments, but The Mojo 6 was an incredibly fun week, one which I would never want to trade for the world!
OK, that is all for now! I am going to get some shuteye before heading out to the beach for a weekend fun trip with the girls! Ciao for now!!!
This is just a quick post listing where I am going to be having my book signings!!! If you are in the Bay area, PLEASE COME AND SAY HI!!!! I will be UStreaming my very first book passage reading tomorrow, so if you can not make it, you can still be a part of it! :)
I will be posting something new (I know, I know) very soon!!!
WEDNESDAY, MAY 5, 2010
at 7 p.m. (with Alan)
Borders Union Square
400 Post Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
THURSDAY, MAY 6, 2010
at 7 p.m. (with Alan)
Barnes & Noble
Eastridge Mall
2200 Eastridge Loop
San Jose, CA 95122
FRIDAY, MAY 7, 2010
at 7 p.m. (with Alan)
Book Passage
51 Tamal Vista Blvd.
Corte Madera, CA 94925
(415) 927-0960
SATURDAY, MAY 8, 2010
at 2 p.m. (with Alan)
Borders
2080 California Avenue
Sand City, CA 93955
I'm LPGA Tour player Christina Kim, and, well, this is my blog....! Here I will be writing my musings, my contemplations, pontificating my very existence, as logging the awesome trips I will be taking, writing about the amazing people I will meet, and the crazy things I will do. So.... ENJOY!!!
