Hayley and Michelle’s folks in the newspaper!
Posted by Michelle on Jun 30, 2007 in Hayley, More Family
Hayley and my folks were interviewed at the U.S. Women’s Open by the Wilmington Star News and Hayley made the newspaper!! I posted the full article and bolded the parts about Hayley and my parents.
Click here to see the article on the Wilmington Star News website or read it below:
Golf, fans and good times meet at Southern Pines
By Dan Spears
and Brian Mull,
dan.spears@starnewsonline.com
Southern Pines | Turning the dogleg corner of the fairway, the typical USGA championship scene is in front of the players.
A green surrounded by large grandstands on three sides. White corporate tents rising out of the sky in the background. Fans cramming every nook and cranny of the green, while thousands more parade in and out the main entrance in the distance.
At Pine Needles this year for the U.S. Women’s Open, there is an added feature: the 15th tee.
Because of the resort’s tight layout surrounding the 18th green, the tournament’s main hub of activity is behind the 14th green and spills out to the southwest corner of the property.
But the large crowds remain the same. Women in sun dresses sip mixed drinks in the shade. Teenagers in flip-flops. Two men in “Redneck Yacht Club” T-shirts on the way to a sunburn while enjoying what is clearly not their first beer of the day – at 11:30 a.m.
Chapel Hill resident Gordon Perry, a PGA teaching pro (“now retired,” he added with a knowing nod), his wife, JoAnne, and granddaughter Hayley Hillison had just settled into a shady spot just off the 15th tee.
“We’ve been coming year after year,” Gordon said. “Coming in at No. 1 is more impressive.”
The Perrys said they had found their spot for the day, which was just fine with 9-year-old Hayley, who took her first golf lesson last week.
“I hit it about 100 yards,” Hayley said. “I think it’s pretty cool to watch them. It’s my first time.”
And in the end, even at the far reaches of the course, it’s about the golf. Annika Sorenstam’s putt for par drew the largest ovation.
“I’m coming to watch Michelle Wie,” Hayley said matter-of-factly. “And I came to watch the girl in the pink. But I can’t remember her name right now.” (It’s Paula Creamer.)
Strange company
Candie Kung owns the same oversized staff bag as most of the other tour professionals. Hers, however, has the most intriguing sponsor.
In broad letters down the side is a plug for Major League Baseball’s Texas Rangers. It’s on the bag strap as well.
According to the Dallas Morning News, Kung is a friend of Tom Hicks, who owns the Rangers and Dallas Stars of the NHL. Hicks sponsors all of Kung’s travel expenses in exchange for his teams’ names on her bag and clothing.
I’m sorry, who?
Every year at an Open, a name pops onto the leaderboard that sends the media scrambling for its bio book.
This year, it’s Kris Tamulis.
She hit 13 greens in regulation and made only one bogey Friday afternoon in an even-par round that left her at 1-over par for the tournament and in the hunt for a stunning first LPGA title.
“I think U.S. Opens kind of set up good for me because I just hit it down the fairway and then I hit it in the middle of the green and I make a putt every once in awhile,” Tamulis said.
She was a three-time all-ACC performer at Florida State, but she has good vibes in the Sandhills, making the semifinals of the 2003 North and South after her senior season with the Seminoles.
She also, apparently, is a jokester – including whistling and Golden Girls reruns in her list of hobbies.
Because they shoot the lowest scores
There are 35 South Korean golfers in the field this week.
In-Bee Park, the leader in the clubhouse at even-par 142, has an American flag beside her name. However, she grew up in South Korea and moved to the U.S. with her family when she was 12 years old to concentrate on golf.
Park, whose first name means “queen of virtue” in Korean, said she began playing the game in 1998, at age 10, inspired by Se Ri Pak’s victory in the Women’s Open. She said many of her friends also took up the sport around the same time.
She’s also tired of answering the question of why the Korean golfers are so good.
“I don’t know,” Park said. “I guess they work really hard, maybe it’s in their blood.”
