Golfgal Golf news and commentary from a business woman’s perspective.
Remember when long drive champion Jamie Sadlowski visited the Big Break set? And remember what Sara did that day? She drove her ball over 270 yards! From that point on, everyone thought Sara’s long game was rock solid.
But last night Sara faced a bit of a landslide with her driver. Everyone who golfs knows what that feels like. And everyone knows that when your favorite club fails you, it really hurts. But having it turn on you in an elimination challenge…Well, that just sucks!
Sara has been fun to chat with in my weekly BB interviews and a joy to watch on TV. I have had the pleasure of watching Sara play live at our Canadian Tour events in Vancouver and I have no doubt that Sara will make it to the LPGA, with or without the Big Break.
Sara, I look forward to calling you to congratulate you on getting your tour card. I am sure it will be sooner rather than later. You go girl!
Carling provided her typically entertaining interview this week, including inside information we didn’t see on TV. I love that!
Will try and catch up with Sara this week to get her final thoughts on the show and what’s next for her in her golf career. Stay tuned…
Golfgal
Hello, again, Gayle. Sorry for being late, but I wanted to watch the episode again and make sure I got everything.
I have a question for you. Can your heart be happy and break at the same time? That’s what happened to me Monday night. As happy as I was for Carling and Lili making the final of BBSR, I was equally sad that Sara was eliminated. I would have been sad if any of the three were kicked off, because it would mean a great golfer and person would be gone. Now, on to episode #9, “A Curious Trio.”
I don’t know if you get a chance to go to Golfchannel.com and see the official BBSR site there, but each week a producer of the show writes a blog about what went on behind the scenes that we may not have known about. This week, producer Chris Graham wrote about the first challenge. The producers wanted to have Lorena Ochoa appear on the show, but schedule conflicts prevented that, so they had to use her stats only. And truthfully, I was very impressed by the performance of all three ladies.
Lili is LONG! She definitely put some rockets into space on the first part of the challenge. Carling really suprised me there. For a tiny little slip of a girl, she really did well. I wasn’t expecting her to do that well. Sara, poor Sara. The driver deserted her the entire episode. In fairness, there weren’t that many challenges where they had to use driver, so as Carling mentioned, they probably weren’t sure what their drives were going to be.
Lili lived on the edge-literally and figuratively-in the Immunity Challenge. She was definitely lucky, but also skillful. Carling and Sara also had moments of greatness in that challenge, but Lili did the best. Lili has proven she is a money player-again literally and figuratively, she won the two money challenges-and she is a legitimate threat to take it all next week.
Which left Carling and Sara-roomates, friends, occasional adversaries-to battle in a three hole Elimination Challenge for the second spot. Sara bollixed the first hole by hitting driver into the water on the par 5, but Carling couldn’t deliver the knockout punch, findiing the greenside bunker. Carling didn’t choke, she simply didn’t execute. That could have been a major mistake.
Second hole, Carling fired a dart on her approach, but Sara came back with an even better chip from off the green. Major clutch shot from Sara. The only drawback was Tom Abbot’s attempt to describe the drama. This situation really needed someone like John Facenda to really provide the proper gravitas to the situation.
The penultimate hole. Carling made one of the shots of the series with her approach, but Sara again stepped up with an even better shot. That could have demoralized Carling, but she showed what she’s made of by dropping a dime on Sara with her putt. That is how events should be; someone wins, not somebody loses. Sadly, Sara couldn’t make her putt and is now going to be part of the peanut gallery for the final match.
It definitely promises to be an interesting final. Two very different players. Lili is long off the tee, but that’s not as big an advantage as some think. Length is only scary off the tee if you hit it straight, this is for all the marbles, especially the sponsor exemption to the Lorena Ochoa Invitational. Will Lili be able to stay in the moment and not get ahead of the game imagining herself playing in Lorena’s tournament? It will be important that she does.
Carling is probably the underdog in this match. She’s not as long as Lili off the tee, but Carling’s MO on this show has been consistency, especially from 100 yards and in. Carling also isn’t as emotionally attached to the prize package as Lili is, so that may allow her to play more freely than Lili will. It definitely promises to be an interesting final, and no matter who wins, she will be deserving and yes, Carling, America will be proud of both of you, and I know one Canadian who will be as well.
Hello, again, Gayle. Sorry for being late, but I wanted to watch the episode again and make sure I got everything.
I have a question for you. Can your heart be happy and break at the same time? That’s what happened to me Monday night. As happy as I was for Carling and Lili making the final of BBSR, I was equally sad that Sara was eliminated. I would have been sad if any of the three were kicked off, because it would mean a great golfer and person would be gone. Now, on to episode #9, “A Curious Trio.”
I don’t know if you get a chance to go to Golfchannel.com and see the official BBSR site there, but each week a producer of the show writes a blog about what went on behind the scenes that we may not have known about. This week, producer Chris Graham wrote about the first challenge. The producers wanted to have Lorena Ochoa appear on the show, but schedule conflicts prevented that, so they had to use her stats only. And truthfully, I was very impressed by the performance of all three ladies.
Lili is LONG! She definitely put some rockets into space on the first part of the challenge. Carling really suprised me there. For a tiny little slip of a girl, she really did well. I wasn’t expecting her to do that well. Sara, poor Sara. The driver deserted her the entire episode. In fairness, there weren’t that many challenges where they had to use driver, so as Carling mentioned, they probably weren’t sure what their drives were going to be.
Lili lived on the edge-literally and figuratively-in the Immunity Challenge. She was definitely lucky, but also skillful. Carling and Sara also had moments of greatness in that challenge, but Lili did the best. Lili has proven she is a money player-again literally and figuratively, she won the two money challenges-and she is a legitimate threat to take it all next week.
Which left Carling and Sara-roomates, friends, occasional adversaries-to battle in a three hole Elimination Challenge for the second spot. Sara bollixed the first hole by hitting driver into the water on the par 5, but Carling couldn’t deliver the knockout punch, findiing the greenside bunker. Carling didn’t choke, she simply didn’t execute. That could have been a major mistake.
Second hole, Carling fired a dart on her approach, but Sara came back with an even better chip from off the green. Major clutch shot from Sara. The only drawback was Tom Abbot’s attempt to describe the drama. This situation really needed someone like John Facenda to really provide the proper gravitas to the situation.
The penultimate hole. Carling made one of the shots of the series with her approach, but Sara again stepped up with an even better shot. That could have demoralized Carling, but she showed what she’s made of by dropping a dime on Sara with her putt. That is how events should be; someone wins, not somebody loses. Sadly, Sara couldn’t make her putt and is now going to be part of the peanut gallery for the final match.
It definitely promises to be an interesting final. Two very different players. Lili is long off the tee, but that’s not as big an advantage as some think. Length is only scary off the tee if you hit it straight, this is for all the marbles, especially the sponsor exemption to the Lorena Ochoa Invitational. Will Lili be able to stay in the moment and not get ahead of the game imagining herself playing in Lorena’s tournament? It will be important that she does.
Carling is probably the underdog in this match. She’s not as long as Lili off the tee, but Carling’s MO on this show has been consistency, especially from 100 yards and in. Carling also isn’t as emotionally attached to the prize package as Lili is, so that may allow her to play more freely than Lili will. It definitely promises to be an interesting final, and no matter who wins, she will be deserving and yes, Carling, America will be proud of both of you, and I know one Canadian who will be as well.
Hi Bluefalcon! So great to hear from you. Yes, I was happy and heart broken at the same time. I’ve known Sara for a couple of years now and she’s a sweetie – tough as nails, but a real sweet side too. Beautiful but deadly some might say 🙂
And Carling is such a delightful woman. She is so eloquent when I talk to her. Many people her age do not have that skill yet. And of course, her game has spoken for itself.
Your commentary is fantastic. You are a writer, correct? This comment wasn’t written by some amateur hack blogger. 🙂
I am surprised that they left the Lorena stats in there w/o her. It was a bit of a disappointment if you ask me. But…since they left it in, perhaps the schedule will be fixed and she’ll be in the final episode. Now THAT would be very cool, but I also can see that really disrupting Lili.
Should be a great showdown! I am so looking forward to your analysis of it. Instead of a comment, would you like to do a “guest blog post” on my site? I feel like cutting and pasting your comments into a new post 🙂
Cheers
Gayle
I would be more than happy to do a guest blog post on your site, Gayle. Thank you for asking me to do so.
I’m not a professional writer, I actually work in human services, but I have always loved writing and I’ve been told that I speak and write well.
An aside: I really appreciate your responses too. It feels really good to communicate with an adult; if you go to certain message boards and blogs, what I find is a bunch of people who say immature and hateful things, which is why I rarely post there anymore. But you make me feel comfortable and like we’re sitting in the same room talking. I really love that. Thank you again.
You’re on! You are an excellent writer and communicator of good analysis.
Next week, whenever you are comfortable, send me your commentary and I’ll post it as a blog post as you as my guest and not a comment. You can email me at golfgal [at] on-mark-it.com.
I used to frequent the golf forums and was beat up so many times, I ran away. It was a rough crowd. I like blogging, facebook and twitter – a much friendllier crowd. It is nice just to talk to someone without having to debate every little thing. I just hate that.
You are a breath of fresh air!
Chat next week!
Cheers
Gayle