Legendary basketball coach John Wooden often said that he enjoyed the "purity" of watching the fundamentally strong women's hoop game.
I thought of his statement over the weekend as I watched pure golf swings at the Symetra Tour's Albany stop, the CDPHP Open at Capital Hills.
I was photographing the event as a journalist, a player and a fan. One highlight for me was watching the duo of American Madison Pressel, the younger sister of 27-year-old LPGA star Morgan Pressel, and 2016 Rio Olympian Laetitia Beck of Israel take on the short-but-steep 350-yard par-4 11th. I admired Beck as she carried her clubs on a brutally hot day.
Beck, the first woman from Israel to qualify for the LPGA Tour, just missed a birdie. On the same hole, Pressel hit a beautiful blind pitch that landed just short of the hole, took two small bounces, and skimmed the cup for a tap-in birdie.
Another memorable moment was watching Julieta Granada and her caddie/mom, Rosa, joking on the 18th tee after Granada stuck a shot about 10 feet from the hole. She kissed her putter as she waited for her playing partner to tee off.
The Paraguayan athlete — who also played in the 2016 Summer Olympics — in 2006 captured the first $1 million prize in women's golf, winning the season-ending ADT Championship. She made $1.6 million her first year and is poised to get back to the LPGA Tour as she sits fifth in Symetra earnings for the year. The top 10 money earners at season's end receive LPGA exempt status.
The excellence on display in Albany wasn't lost on the volunteers who turn out year after year to support the event.
Mary Ellen Trumbull of Averill Park is in her fourth year of volunteering as a scorer. She drives a cart that includes gear for two players, reports the scores back to the central scorekeeping...
