Hi Y'all

As I write this, I am currently traveling from Mobile, AL to NJ for this weeks Sybase Matchplay Championship.

Last week's tournament began, on Monday, with the sad news that fellow LPGA player, Erica Blasberg, had died. The circumstances of her death are still unknown to us, but her sudden passing was a shock to us all. A memorial service was held on Wednesday night to celebrate Erica's life. As expected, it was quite a sad occasion which I think was somewhat reflected throughout the whole week. Although I didn't know Erica all that well, she was always very pleasant and had a smile for everyone. I am saddened that such a young beautiful person's life has ended so soon.

As they say, though, the show must go on. The tournament started on Thursday, with all players, caddys and staff wearing purple ribbons in memory of Erica. After the event being skipped in 2009 because of major renovations to the Magnolia Grove - Crossings course, we arrived in Mobile not sure what to expect. I have to say that the redesign of all 18 greens and a couple of hole redesigns, that a fantastic job was done. The greens, being so new, of course were very firm, but I think once they settle down in the next couple of years, the course will be far superior from the way it was before the changes.

For me, my performance this week was pretty acceptable. For the 3 rounds that we got to play, I played very well at times but I had some stretches that were pretty average which held me back from being more in contention. All parts of my game were, at times, very good but all up I just didn't have the consistency throughout the whole round to put a real low one together. It was unfortunate that bad weather came in on Sunday which ended the days play and put the tournament back to 3 rounds. I would have liked the opportunity to see if I could have snuck up into the top 10 or 5 even. 

The tournament ended in a 3 way playoff with Se Ri Pak the eventual winner. I am really happy for Se Ri as she has had her ups and downs the last few years. It was really good to see her win.

So this week's event is matchplay. I'm looking forward to it, as we don't get to play this format very often. It really is a different kettle of fish mentally this week. Unlike normal strokeplay tournaments where you have to beat everybody in the field, each round you play you only have to play well enough to beat the person your playing against. Some days that means shooting 7 under to move on to the next round, other days it means even par. So it will be an exciting challenge that I am looking forward to.

Take care
Karrie