Caroline Masson Archives - Golf Digest Middle East

Caroline Masson’s three years of swing work are paying off at just the right time

Golf Digest Middle East — Sat, 23 Nov 2019 05:17:02 +0000

Sam Greenwood
NAPLES, FLORIDA – NOVEMBER 21: Caroline Masson of Germany plays a shot on the second hole during the first round of the CME Group Tour Championship at Tiburon Golf Club on November 21, 2019, in Naples, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

By Keely Levins
NAPLES, Fla. — Caroline Masson had it going on Friday at the CME Group Tour Championship. The 30-year-old German shot a bogey-free, six-under 66 — highlighted by a massive, from the fringe, birdie putt on 18. She’s in solo second at 10-under, two shots behind leader Sei Young Kim.

It has been a while since Masson’s name has been mentioned as much as it has been over the last few weeks. She hasn’t won since 2016, when she won the Manulife LPGA Classic. It’s her lone LPGA Tour win.

But here she is in Florida, in contention. She had top-10 finishes in July, August, September and then in October, just three weeks before the CME, Masson got dangerously close to her second LPGA Tour win at the Taiwan Swinging Skirts LPGA. She was in a three-way playoff with Nelly Korda and Minjee Lee, with Korda coming out victorious. The whole situation was made a little more interesting by the fact that Masson is engaged to Korda’s caddie, Jason McDede.

It’s not that she hasn’t done anything since her win in 2016. She is ranked No. 40 in the world, had a second place finish at the Meijer LPGA Classic For Simply Give in 2018, and a T-3 at the 2017 Ricoh Women’s British Open. But those were moments of success. What is happening now appears more sustained, more consistent.

Masson believes that getting into that playoff in Taiwan, though it did not result in a victory, is part of the reason why she’s in contention at Tiburon Golf Club.

“I felt for years that I’m ready to win again. I should be up there more. But sometimes you just have to prove it to yourself to really believe it,” Masson told Golf Digest. “It was a big confidence booster, and with mixed emotions, because I had such a good chance to win. But I told myself, ‘This was not your last chance.’ It was a key week for me.”

Masson attributes her recent success to the last three years of work she’s been doing on her golf swing. She works with David Leadbetter, and when the two started working together, the goal was to create a swing that is more consistent. In order to do that, she had to commit to a long process, trusting that what they were doing was going to work instead of slipping into tinkering mode when the results didn’t come right away.

“Making it tighter, making it more consistent and I think it’s reflecting in my game now,” Masson said. “My bad weeks aren’t very bad and my good weeks are good enough to compete and to win. It hasn’t been one swing change. We didn’t rush it, and we didn’t feel like we had to do it all at once. Just that patience, having the same goals, it’s really helped me be confident. It’s so easy to get lost when you’re trying lots of different things. It’s been key for me to have a path that I’m following. It calms me down. And it’s working well.”

It takes fortitude to believe in a process when the results aren’t where you believe they could be. But Masson has been able to do it. Her reward: finding the best of her game at a moment where it really matters. The winner at the CME Group Tour Championship will win $1.5 million, the highest winner’s check in the history of women’s golf.

Maintaining her confidence through this weekend, while her game is good, might feel easy compared to the time she’s spent believing in herself when she wasn’t in contention. “Once you’re riding that high, it’s all a little easier,” Masson said. “We’re seeing it getting better, and it just proves we’re doing the right thing.”

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Nelly Korda defends her title in Taiwan, credits her caddie, who happens to be the runner-up’s fiancé

Golf Digest Middle East — Mon, 04 Nov 2019 03:36:28 +0000

Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty Images
Nelly Korda reacts on the 18th green during the final round of the 2019 Taiwan Swinging Skirts LPGA.

By Ryan Herrington
All’s well that ends well for Nelly Korda. But repeating as champion at the Taiwan Swinging Skirts LPGA proved more difficult than she had hoped for, and more surreal given how things played out.

On the back nine at Miramar Golf Country Club in New Taipei City, Korda looked to be on her way to victory, having made four birdies and two bogeys through 12 holes to get to 20 under par for the tournament. She was two strokes clear of the field after starting the day with a three-shot lead. But as the talented 20-year-old American was trying to close out her third career LPGA title, she began to show her nerves.

Three-putt bogeys on the 14th, 15th and 17th hole dropped Korda to 17 under and brought her playing partners in the final threesome, Caroline Masson and Minjee Lee, back into play. Masson made birdies on 15 and 16 to get to 18 under to take the lead heading to the 18th, with Korda and Lee one stroke back.

Korda regrouped on the par-5 18th, thanks in part to the calming influence of her caddie, Jason McDede, who happens to be Masson’s fiancé. A tap-in birdie after nearly chipping in for eagle got Korda back to 18 under. Lee also birdied to finish a three-under 69, and when Masson made par to close with a 68, it was off to a three-player playoff.

Back to the par-5 18th, Korda was the only one to find the fairway off the tee. On the advice of McDede, Korda clubbed up with her second shot, playing a 5-hybrid into the wind from 200 yards, finding the green and setting up a chance at eagle. She’d come up just short with the putt, but the birdie was enough to give her the victory.

“I kept telling myself, From the heart, from the heart, from the heart, because I was very nervous because it was my first playoff,” Korda said after her final-round 72. “I made a couple three-putts on the back. It just gets away from you so fast.”

Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty Images
Korda chats with McDede during the final round of the 2019 Taiwan Swinging Skirts LPGA.

Korda praised McDede afterward, saying without the pep talk he gave her between the 17th and 18th holes the tournament might have slipped away. The irony that McDede was helping Korda beat his future wife was not lost on the eventual champion.

“Yeah, Jason is engaged to Caroline, but at the end of the day, he is on my team and I am the one signing his paycheck,” Korda said, laughing. “Caroline is a great person, and she played amazing golf today. You know, it was kind of difficult for him. … But I wouldn’t be where I am without Jason, and he made sure that he kept me in the game.”

“It was a little funny,” Masson said of the way things played out. “I was happy—the shot into 18 [by Korda in the playoff], you can’t do anything but just applaud, and you know, I’m quite happy to see them win. I’m proud of them and proud of the two of them, the way they work together, and hopefully I get another chance to beat them down the stretch the next few years.”

It was also a special family moment for Korda in that it was her first LPGA victory with her older sister, Jessica, also playing.

“I felt bad for her when she made all those mistakes coming in, but every time she tried to look at me, I would try to tell her, It’s going to be OK,” Jessica said. “Seeing her walk off 18 in regulation, I saw she had fire in her eyes—I just felt really good about it and I was just praying that it was going to work out.”

There was drama til the end, but @NellyKorda was able to hold off Caroline Masson and Minjee Lee to win her second consecutive @SwingingSkirts title in a playoff.

Final round highlights –> pic.twitter.com/RAZcssWkt6

— LPGA (@LPGA) November 3, 2019

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So Yeon Ryu wins Meijer LPGA Classic, boosting her confidence heading into KPMG PGA Championship

Golf Digest Middle East — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 04:41:43 +0000

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – JUNE 17: So Yeon Ryu of South Korea hits her tee shot on the 12th hole during the final round of the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give at Blythefield Country Club on June 17, 2018, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)

By Keely Levins
So Yeon Ryu dominated to start to the 2017 season, but the same can’t be said about the beginning of her 2018 season. In 2017, South Korea’s Ryu, 27, finished in the top 10 nine times in her first 11 events. In her first 11 events this year, she finished in the top 10 just twice.

But the direction of her season changed at the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give at Blythefield Country Club in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Sunday. The former world No. 1 shot rounds of 64-67-69-67 to win by two over Caroline Masson. Three shots back in third was another former world No. 1, Lydia Ko.

The win came at the right time for Ryu, who hasn’t been pleased with her season.

“If I look back on my season, I wasn’t really satisfied with it and I’ve been really, really struggling, I had a lot of crazy moments,” said Ryu. “I had some good rounds, I had some really bad rounds, so I couldn’t even really finish top-10 much compared to any other season. So all those reasons just drove me crazy.”

The win marks the sixth of Ryu’s career, which started on the LPGA in 2012. With the $300,000 winner’s check, she passes the $9 million in career earnings.

Winning at this point in the season is good for Ryu in more ways than just financially; it boosts her confidence heading into the season’s next major.

“I’m going to play the KPMG PGA Championship and that’s going to be our third major event,” says Ryu. “I haven’t played well at the major events this year yet, so hopefully this win going to give me extra confidence to focus on the major tournament.”

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Power-pairing Thompson and Kerr out first for U.S. in Solheim Cup

Golf Digest Middle East — Fri, 18 Aug 2017 04:48:00 +0000

By Keely Levins
DES MOINES, Iowa — The pairings for the first matches of the 2017 Solheim Cup have been announced. After being shut out in 2011 and 2013, the Americans won in 2015. Here at Des Moines Golf Club, the number of USA chants that have been echoing through the grandstands during the practice rounds are a constant reminder that the Americans are defending on home soil. Both teams have rookies on their rosters, but the first tee shot, historically a loud, energetic and intense moment, will be handled by Solheim Cup veterans for both teams.

8:10 Cristie Kerr and Lexi Thompson vs Mel Reid and Charley Hull

8:22 Danielle Kang and Lizette Salas vs Carlota Ciganda and Caroline Masson

8:34 Paula Creamer and Austin Ernst vs Anna Nordqvist and Georgia Hall

8:46 Stacy Lewis and Gerina Piller vs Karine Icher and Catriona Matthew

The Kerr-Thompson pairing is very strong. Kerr is playing in her ninth Solheim Cup, and has been having an impressive and consistent season. She has a win along with five other top-five finishes in LPGA events this season. Thompson, who is playing in her third Solheim Cup, has also won this season and is currently ranked No. 2 in the world.

Though the 2017 resumes of Hull and Reid don’t match the feats of Thompson and Kerr, the two are good at the Solheim Cup. This is Hull’s third time playing, and her record is 6-2-0. This is also Reid’s third Solheim Cup appearance. She’s gone 4-3-1 in the last two.

If Hull and Reid were to win, it would certainly be considered an upset. But while good results in stroke play are important and can instill confidence, there’s no way to calculate how that’s going to translate into match play.

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With 2017 Solheim Cup teams finalised, captains Inkster and Sorenstam oversee changing of the guard

Golf Digest Middle East — Mon, 07 Aug 2017 06:35:39 +0000

By John Huggan
The teams for the 15th edition of the Solheim Cup matches will both reflect fresh blood and a fresh start when the United States and Europe line up at the Des Moines Country Club, Aug. 18-20. The home side will sport three Cup rookies, with the Old World team debuting four new players in the biennial contest.

At a press conference following the Ricoh Women’s British Open at Kingsbarns, non-playing U.S. skipper Juli Inkster added two captain’s picks—18-year-old LPGA rookie Angel Yin and 25-year-old Austin Ernst—to her 10 automatic qualifiers (see below). Europe’s Annika Sorenstam also named her four wild-cards—Anna Nordqvist, Emily Pedersen, Caroline Masson and Madelene Sagstrom—to complete her side.

Both captains made it clear how difficult it had been to arrive at their respective conclusions. Inkster omitted the likes of former U.S. Women’s Open champion Paula Creamer, as well as six-time Cup veteran Angela Stanford and five-time player Morgan Pressel.

“This has been a really tough day,” said Inkster, herself a nine-time Solheim participant. “I don’t know if there’s ever been so many people in the running for two captain’s picks. I could have gone a lot of different ways. But in the end I went with my gut, and who I thought deserved a chance to play. I hope it turns out OK. That’s all I can say.”

Noticeably absent from the European squad will be Catriona Matthew, who was looking to make her ninth appearance in European colors. The Scot will still make the trip to Iowa, however, as one of Sorenstam’s assistant captains.

“It is always hard to say ‘no’ to someone who lives for the Solheim Cup,” said Sorenstam of Matthew. “She was involved in the plans and knew the players we were talking about and that made it a bit awkward at times. But she has been strong and mature, and I am happy to have her on the team either way.”

UNITED STATES TEAM
Points List
Lexi Thompson, 3rd appearance (2013, ’15), 3-2-2 record
Stacy Lewis, 4th appearance (2011, ’13, ’15), 4-7-1
Gerina Piller, 3rd appearance (2013, ’15), 3-2-2
Cristie Kerr, 9th appearance (2002, ’03, ’05, ’07, ’09, ’11, ’13, ’15), 15-14-5
Jessica Korda, 2nd appearance (2013), 1-2-1
Danielle Kang, 1st appearance
Michelle Wie, 5th appearance (2009, ’11, ’13, ’15), 7-7-1
Brittany Lang, 5th appearance (2009, ’11, ’13, ’15), 5-6-3
Rolex Ranking
Brittany Lincicome, 6th appearance (2007, ’09, ’11, ’13, ’15), 5-11-2 Lizette Salas, 3rd appearance (2013, ’15), 1-3-2
Captain’s Picks
Austin Ernst, 1st appearance Angel Yin, 1st appearance

EUROPEAN TEAM
Points List
Georgia Hall (England), 1st appearance
Florentyna Parker (England), 1st appearance
Mel Reid (England), 3rd appearance (2011, ’15), 4-3-1
Jodi Ewart-Shadoff (England), 2nd appearance (2013), 2-1-0
Rolex Ranking
Carlota Ciganda (Spain), 3rd appearance (2013, ’15), 4-1-2
Suzann Pettersen (Norway), 9th appearance (2002, ’03, ’05, ’07, ’09, ’11, ’13, ’15), 16-11-6
Charley Hull (England), 3rd appearance (2013, ’15), 6-2-0
Karine Icher (France), 4th appearance (2002, ’13, ’15), 5-4-1
Captain’s Picks
Caroline Masson (Germany), 3rd appearance (2013, ’15), 2-3-2
Anna Nordqvist (Sweden), 5th appearance (2009, ’11, ’13, ’15), 8-7-1
Emily Pedersen (Denmark), 1st appearance
Madelene Sagstrom (Sweden), 1st appearance

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