July 6 — With on-course temperatures soaring well into the 90s, and putting surfaces at Oakmont Country Club as slippery as glass, LPGA Tour golfers will have all they can handle at this week’s U.S. Women’s Open.
“I asked what the greens were rolling at today and they were a 13.9 on the stimp meter,” Paula Creamer posted on her Twitter feed Tuesday evening. “Probably fastest greens I have ever putted on.”
That just bowled over Karen Stupples, who will also be in the Open field this week. “omg quicker than I was told,” Stupples replied via Twitter. “no wonder they feel slip[p]ery.”
90-degree rule. Any New England golfers who joined the mad dogs and Englishmen on the course during the near-100-degree temps of the last few days can certainly sympathize with the women set to tee it up Thursday morning in Oakmont, Penn. At least New England hackers can avail themselves of the slight breezes that driving an electric cart at full speed can generate.
You know, the 90-degree rule: When the thermometer hits 90 degrees, you take a cart.
Not so for the women or their caddies at Oakmont, where the mercury was in the mid-90s during Monday and Tuesday practice rounds and was expected to stay there at least through Thursday’s first round.
Mental challenge. “Mentally I felt like I was a little fried at the end of the [five-hour, 20-minute] practice round yesterday,” top-ranked Cristie Kerr told reporters Tuesday. “You have to learn how to manage in this kind of weather,” Kerr said. “I just think for me it’s more mentally challenging than physically, because the physical kind of leads to the mental.
“You have to pay attention to your health in this kind of weather at my age,” Kerr added, jokingly. “I have to tell you I’m not 18 anymore.”
Kerr said she would carry an umbrella to protect herself from the sun and planned to play just nine holes each on Tuesday and Wednesday.
And Kerr’s from Florida, where people actually choose go to enjoy the heat and humidity.
Just gross. Creamer agreed that the heat would take a mental and physical toll.
“It’s hot. It’s humid. It’s gross,” she said to reporters. “This golf course just eats you alive mentally. Then when you have all of those factored into it, it’s going to be the battle of the fittest, battle of who’s going to stay the sharpest for 18 holes out there.”
Cold front. New England and Oakmont golfers can expect relief from the oppressive conditions by the end of the week when a cold front is expected to lower temperatures into the 80s.
Until then, take some advice from newly minted professional golfer, Alexis Thompson.
Lots of water. “I’ve just got to stay hydrated, that’s for sure,” Thompson, 15, told reporters. “Keeping my hands dry and just eating so I don’t get hungry or dehydrated. I think that’s the key out here.”
(Emily Kay is a regular contributor to New England Monthly. She also writes the Boston Golf Examiner and National Golf Examiner blogs.)
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