By Keely Levins
Kim Kaufman began not feeling well during the LPGA’s swing through Asia in the middle of October.

“In Malaysia, I got to a point where I didn’t warm up I was so tired,” Kaufman said. “I would just go take a nap.”

The next event was in Japan, and she was an alternate. She took the opportunity to go see a doctor.

“The plan was to go back to Blue Bay,” said Kaufman, “and I found out the night before that I had mono, that that’s what I’ve been having. So, I didn’t go to China. I’ve been resting at home [in South Dakota] for two weeks.”

Kaufman flew to Florida on Tuesday before the LPGA’s CME Group Tour Championship began and teed it up in the pro-am without playing a practice round. She shot rounds of 70 and 72 to start, and then fired a 64 on Saturday to catapult up the leader board into a tie for the lead at 10 under par with a threesome of LPGA stars: Michelle Wie, Ariya Jutanugarn and Suzann Pettersen.

RELATED: Michelle Wie in a four-way tie for lead with 18 holes left at CME Group Tour Championship

It probably wasn’t a position Kaufman expected to be in with mononucleosis, no practice and two weeks resting in bed. Kaufman spent her time doing what anyone might do: She went on a serious Netflix binge. Her shows of choice were Fixer Upper and Friends.

Mono was not her only issue. Kaufman took a little fall on the stairs of her home while she was recovering and caught herself with her wrist.

“I’m the only person to take two weeks off and get injured,” Kaufman said. “I don’t feel it on the golf course. It’s no problem. I just feel better taping it, because I did feel it on Tuesday.

“I feel great. I’m a little bit shaky actually, which isn’t great out there, but it’s just great to be out and doing something. I was going a little bit stir crazy. You know, just kind of fighting through it.”

Kaufman is not the first player this season to get mono and still play well. Anna Nordqvist was dealing with the illness earlier in the season, having to take two weeks off after the U.S. Women’s Open. She went on to finish T-7 in the Ricoh Women’s British Open after spending those two weeks resting, and eventually won the Evian Championship in September.

Though both players have played well while having mono, mono should make playing well harder. The exhaustion alone makes hours walking in the heat difficult, not to mention repeating the golf swing with speed and strength over 18 holes. But there is a valuable simplicity that sometimes comes when you’re playing sick. You’re so focused on just getting through the round, you’re not likely to overthink.

“Sometimes your best weeks you play you get in late and don’t get a practice round. You know, you just get out there and play,” said Kauffman. “It’s just a drive and a green and you just got to play.”

The post Kim Kaufman had mono, fell going down stairs before the CME Group Tour Championship, now tied for lead appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Keely Levins
It has not exactly been a smooth season for Michelle Wie, who in a bid at some redemption will enter the final round of the last event of the 2017 LPGA season tied for the lead.

Wie shot a six-under-par 66 in the third round of the CME Group Tour Championship at Tiburon Golf Club on Saturday to finish 54 holes at 10-under-par 206 and be tied with Ariya Jutanugarn, Suzann Pettersen and Kim Kaufman.

The first half of the season, leading up to the U.S. Women’s Open, Wie finished in the top 15 seven times, in stark contrast to the year before, when she failed to finish in the top 15 once and missed eight cuts. Momentum was on her side in 2017.

But then neck issues caused her to drop out of the U.S. Women’s Open this year. Two weeks later, she was back playing in the Aberdeen Asset Management Ladies Scottish Open, and finished T-3 in the Ricoh Women’s British Open a week later.

Back on the trajectory with which she began the season, Wie was primed to win for the first time since her 2014 U.S. Women’s Open triumph at Pinehurst No. 2. But three weeks after the Women’s British, Wie withdrew again after three rounds of the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open, going to the hospital for an emergency appendectomy. The surgery was successful, but it meant six weeks of bedrest for Wie.

She said she got a little stir crazy taking those six weeks off, and that you can thank for her new blonde hair color and short haircut. After about three days in bed she said she decided to dye her hair, and then a couple weeks later had her mom cut it short with the kitchen scissors.

“I kind of went crazy after being in bed for that long,” Wie said, laughing. “It’s not good for me.”

Sam Greenwood

But what clearly is good for her is being back on the course. Though it took a little time for Wie to get back to the level of play she had before the surgery, she’s feeling better about her game since coming back in mid-October.

“I really did struggle for a bit just really trying to get my feel back, but every week was an improvement,” Wie said. “Every week, I felt like I got a little part of my game back. From last week, I felt pretty good. I’m just excited to end the season on a good note. I just want to go out there and try to play the best I can. I wish there were a couple more tournaments after this, like three or four more. But I’m just excited that I’m out here playing again.”

While positive energy comes with being excited to be playing again, it’s still the last tournament of the season. And Wie, like many players, is feeling the effects that come at the end of a long, travel-heavy schedule. Just one week ago, Wie was playing in China at the Blue Bay LPGA event.

Sam Greenwood

“I’ve been sitting as much as I can,” said Wie of her recovery techniques. “Last week I was laying down on the golf course. Today you might catch me sitting down any chance I get. Stacy was playing behind me yesterday, and I just sat down in the middle of the fairway, sat down on the green. I kept waiving at them. Basically, I’m just a hermit crab this week. I’m just sleeping as much as I can and not leaving my room, just really trying to keep my energy levels up.”

Clearly it’s working. She’ll be playing in the final group with Kaufman and Jutanugarn on Sunday.

It’s hard not to look at Wie sharing the lead and wonder if this could be her breakthrough. She has threatened before, with six top five finishes in the first half of the season before her surgery.

And here on the eve of the final round of the tour championship she is close again.

“Obviously there is a lot of pressure just wanting to do it,” said Wie on the prospect of winning. “For me, how I’m looking at it, I’m just happy to be here. I’m just extremely grateful that I’m healthy, I’m here playing. Just grateful, and that’s what the mindset I’m going to go into tomorrow with.”

The post Michelle Wie is part of a four-way tie for the lead at LPGA CME Group Tour Championship appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.