Lorena Ochoa, Mexico’s best golfer, shot a blistering 66 on Saturday to hold the lead at a whopping 16 under. The bogey free round was her 3rd round in a row in the 60s. Ochoa has held the lead going into the final round 27 times in her career, winning 19 times and never losing with lead going into the final round since 2007.

Alexis Thompson, the young amateur playing in her first LPGA event, dropped back to 8 under after shooting a mind boggling 65 (remember she is only 14 years old!) the first day of the event. Were Thompson to win this event, she would have become the youngest winner in LPGA history, far surpassing Paula Creamer, who won her first LPGA title when she was 18 years, nine months old in 2005.

One day left, and you never know what’s going to happen in golf. But with Lorena a strong closer, everyone has their work cut out for them to pull of a win this weekend – Michelle included.

After starting classes last week at Stanford, Wie has her mind on golf this weekend however, trying (as is everyone else in the field) to put a tournament win under her belt. Taking some pressure off herself, she commented about winning and personal goals.

“My number one goal is definitely to win, but that’s a goal I can’t really control as much,” said Wie. “More of a personal goal is what I’ve tried to accomplish all year. Try my hardest and play my hardest and end the week, knowing I’ve done that.”

This is Michelle’s first visit to Alabama and seems to enjoy both the food and country music.

“I love the food and the music,” she sadi. “Every other station plays country, so that’s great.”

Casie aced the par-3 12th hole on her way to posting a 2-over 74, not bad for someone just a couple years out of elementary school.

While it looks like Cathrea won’t match Michelle Wie’s record of being the youngest player to ever make a LPGA Cut (Wie was 13 years, 5 months, 17 days when she made the weekend at the ‘03 Kraft Nabisco Championship), it is still a pretty incredible way to hit the ground running in professional golf.

Only time will tell how this next golf prodigy may fare throughout her teen years. Will she turn pro before she can drive? Women’s golf is beginning to look like the Women’s tennis world back in the 70’s and 80’s – players are getting younger and younger. Let’s also hope her parents have their heads screwed on straight and don’t push her too fast too soon.

The tournament will run from Sept. 24-27, and LPGA stars Paula Creamer, Lorena Ochoa and Natalie Gulbis are expected to participate.

“While I was excited about playing, a scheduling conflict with my return to Stanford unfortunately will not allow me to be there,” Wie, 19, said in a statement.

This is Michelle’s first full season on the LPGA tour where she is 16th on the money list ($600,000). Better still, she has logged six top 10 finishes in 16 events. It seems Michelle’s confidence has finally started to take shape, especially after her success in the recent Solheim Cup.

Still winless, it could be argued that Michelle has no business being captain, coupled with a true veteran of the LPGA. However, Michelle has been putting really well lately, and she can drive the ball farther than almost anyone on the tour. Granted, Michelle still has not won a tournament, but she continues to be a fan favorite on the LPGA.

Could she be starting to emerge as the player that everyone wanted her to be 3-4 years ago? As always with Michelle, this should be interesting.

The purpose of a custom golf club us is to make sure that the club is nice and square when you strike the ball, given a proper swing.

To custom fit your golf club sets, you need to know: your gender (male or female); your height in your stockings or socks; the distance from your wrist (where it bends) to the floor with your shoes off; your age; your handicap or skill level; how fast you swing a golf club; what club you use at the 150 yard marker.

Gender is used to put you into the correct fitting scale for custom golf clubs. The golf industry uses different definitions of “standard length” for men and women.

Your height and the distance in inches from your wrist to the floor are used together to determine the length of a custom golf club that is appropriate for you. Clubs can range from -3 inch to plus 1 inch. A tall person with long arms can very easily require shorter clubs than an average height person with short arms. Only 20 percent of golfers out there fall outside the standard length.

Your age, handicap (if you happen to have one), self-assessed skill level, estimated golf swing speed and club you use at the 150 yard marker are all combined to determined the custom golf club’s shaft flex that is appropriate for you.

Custom fitting can fix your slice. If you slice the ball it means that the toe of the club is leading into the ball which opens the face of the club. That may be down to a swing problem, but another possible cause is that the club flatter than it should be. So as part of the custom fitting process you can make the custom golf club more upright to help with this. This will mean that the toe of the club will be slightly off the ground at address to compensate.

There are different methods of fitting according to custom golf club manufacturers but ultimately they’re all trying to improve your game. To start with simple measurements such as wrist-to-floor, height and hand size are taken and will point you to the right size club and at what angle it should be to the ground. Then, you’ll go out and begin whacking some balls. One way of doing this is to put impact tape on the bottom of the club, with an impact board on the floor.

As you hit the ball the board will leave a mark on the tape showing whether the heel or the toe of the custom golf club is striking the floor first. The resulting mark will show whether the club face needs to be flatter or more upright. After this, things get trickier. Analysis equipment can measure everything from your club speed to the side spin of the ball so that you can get maximum distance from your shot. You can measure such things as the angle the ball is being launched, the amount of backspin generated, and the efficiency of the impact. The angle in which the custom golf club approaches the ball and the sidespin of it can help fix your game too.

Rather than bringing down your old clubs, it might be better to start from scratch. It is a large mistake to think that custom fit clubs are only for those special, good golfers. All can gain. That said, if you plan to upgrade a new set of clubs with the same manufacturer they might be able to adjust your old set to become custom golf clubs.

Finally, custom fitting many times will cost you nothing. But it is usually on the condition that you buy some clubs once you’ve been fitted. So it really depends on what your budget is. If you’re prepared to purchase a new set of clubs it’s definitely worth getting fitted.

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You think you are having a bad day?  Try getting fired from your job without even a phone call – and from a 16 year old boss!  That’s exactly what happened to caddie Greg Johnstone, Michelle Wie’s caddie of late.  It seems the Wie Corp. didn’t even have the sense enough to call the guy to tell him his fate.  He got the axe at the airport by her agent.

Johnstone was Julie Inkster’s caddie for 11 years when Michelle came along and “stole him out from under her”, according to Inkster.  An ultimatum was made – either her or Me (Wie) and Johnstone chose to lug around clubs for the rising superstar kid from Hawaii..  At the time it probably seemed like a no-brainer for Johnstone.  After all, Michelle was supposed to be cleaning up on the circuit, winning tournaments right and left, while Inkster was in her mid-40’s, getting old and retiring at some point in the near future.  How things change hmmm?

[Greg’s] “departure comes as part of Michelle’s maturation as a golfer, part of which is learning from many different bright golf minds.”

What?  What the hell does that mean?  Don’t you just wish that Michelle would start at least looking like she is calling some shots?  She could have called Greg himself and just told him that she needed a change and that things just were not working the way she wanted them.  Much better approach than having the Wie machine handle it.  If she is mature enough as a golfer to play on PGA tour events, she should be mature enough to call her damn caddie and tell him he’s out.    Oh, wait, she’s only 16.

With the constant assault on Michelle Wie, it is surprising that she plays as well she does. Her two-stroke penalty in the LPGA British Open recently only fueled the fire for Michelle Wie bashers. Many called her “immature” for saying she had no interest in reading the rules of golf and that they were “not a good read”.  Check out this blog where the writer practically crucifies her for making what most readers of the blog interpreted as simply a kidding remark.  Thankfully Michele has a few on her side. 

Michelle Wie continues to struggle at the LPGA British Open today.  Tied for 44^th place going into Friday’s round, Michelle picked up a 2 stroke penalty for violating rule 13-4c on the 14^th hole. She apparantly hit a piece of moss in her backswing in the greenside bunker at the 14th hole.  She did not learn of the infraction until after the round.  Here is the official definition of rule 13-4c:

Except as provided in the Rules, before making a stroke at a ball that is in a hazard (whether a bunker or a water hazard) or that, having been lifted from a hazard, may be dropped or placed in the hazard, the player must not:
(a) Test the condition of the hazard or any similar hazard;(b) Touch the ground in the hazard or water in the water hazard with his hand or a club; or(c) Touch or move a loose impediment lying in or touching the hazard.

Exceptions:
1.  Provided nothing is done that constitutes testing the condition of the hazard or improves the lie of the ball, there is no penalty if the player (a) touches the ground in any hazard or water in a water hazard as a result of or to prevent falling, in removing an obstruction, in measuring or in retrieving, lifting, placing or replacing a ball under any Rule or (b) places his clubs in a hazard 2.  After making the stroke, the player or his caddie may smooth sand or soil in the hazard, provided that, if the ball is still in the hazard or has been lifted from the hazard and may be dropped or placed in the hazard, nothing is done that improves the lie of the ball or assists the player in his subsequent play of the hole.

"It’s not good after you play you find out you add two more shots in the end," Wie said. "The par saves I made on 17 and 18 feel as though they count for nothing in the end."

After two penalties in the last year, Michelle still has no plans to read the rule book of golf.  She chalked it up as a “learning experience” and gave herself a break since she is “only 16”.  Now tied for 36^th place going into round 3, Michelle would have to shoot miracle rounds on Saturday and Sunday to even think of being in contention.

Juli Inkster leads the tournament at -6, 3 shots in the lead.  At 46, Juli could become the oldest woman to win a major tournament if she can hold off the others until Sunday.  Think about this:  Juli was 30 years old when Michelle Wie was born!  The best scenario would be to have Michelle and Juli paired up for a Sunday at a major.  Youth against experience.  Now that would draw in the ratings.  Almost like a Jack Nicklaus/Tiger Woods pairing.  Nice thought, but not this weekend.