TALLEY DID IT

Stacy Emma Talley emailed the Marathon Classic Presented by Owens Corning and O-I staff this spring hoping for a sponsor’s exemption into the tournament. Unfortunately, the reply came that the staff wasn’t picking the exemptions this year. Instead, they would be sorted out on the course through their play with the tournament deciding to give exemption to the individual winner and to the top-ranked member of the winning team at the NCAA Women’s Golf Championships.

Ultimately, Talley, though, got the exemption anyways, winning the individual championship to earn her way into the field this week.

“They said, ‘Good luck. You can do it.’ And then after I won they sent me an email and they were like, ‘Well, you did it.’ So that was really nice to get that email,” Talley said. “I think it’s a great just source for NCAA and the LPGA to kind of be together. Because not everyone knows that if you win you get to play in this tournament. I think that’s really cool. For the college players, that’s something else to just go after, you know.”

For Talley, this week has practically served as an Alabama women’s golf reunion. Along with Talley, former Alabama women’s golfers and current LPGA Tour players Jennifer Kirby, Stephanie, Meadow, Brooke Pancake and Jenny Suh are all in the field this week. And although she’s proven she’s got the game to play on the LPGA Tour with wins at the U.S. Amateur and her NCAA title, Talley isn’t quite ready to join her old teammates out on Tour. She’s still got work left to do in Alabama and says she’ll spend her final season in Tuscaloosa before turning professional next summer.

“It’s really exciting to see everybody,” Talley said, “But I’m going to finish my last year of school.”

For Talley, though, her schedule the last two weeks hasn’t been much different than many pros. She qualified for the U.S. Women’s Open and played all four rounds, finishing in a tie for 60th before making the trek up to Sylvania from Lancaster to play in this week’s event.

“Every time I go home from a professional event it just seems like you have fire to get better and better,” Talley said. “You know, playing out of the rough last week, having different kind of shots that I usually don’t have, just everything is about the process. The more practice I get with the best players in the world, the better I’m going to get as a player.”

The one thing that won’t bother her is the crowds. The bigger, the better, Talley believes, and few stops on Tour bring crowds as big as Toledo.

“Well, the good thing is I love to talk, and I like to talk the whole way up the fairway,” Talley said with a laugh. “So I hope there are a lot of people here so I can talk to everybody.”

WIE WITHDRAWS

Walking with a boot up to her mid calf, Michelle Wie had to begrudgingly withdraw from the Marathon Classic Presented by Owens Corning and O-I Tuesday. Wie issued a statement Tuesday about her decision.

“After consulting with Dr. Thomas Graham, Dr. James Rosneck (hip specialist), Dr. Alan Davis (foot specialist) at the Cleveland Clinic, I have decided to withdraw from the Marathon Classic this week due to lingering bursitis in my left hip and a bone spur in my left foot,” Wie said. “I’m disappointed to miss one of the LPGA’s best tournaments, but I remain determined to get healthy as I know my best golf is still to come. I expect to return to competition at the RICOH Women’s British Open.”

Bonding with the Brother

Lauren Kim, the highest ranked amateur on the Stanford Women’s Golf Team, winner of the NCAA Championship Team, is ready to take on a new experience in her golf career. Kim got back Sunday at 11:00 AM pacific time from the World University Games in South Korea then took a 7:00 AM flight out Monday morning and drove seven hours from Chicago. She earned a spot to play in the Marathon Classic through an exemption given to the highest ranking member of the winning team at the NCAA Women’s Golf Championships.

With her brother on the bag for the first time, she is excited for the week but just is never sure what her brother may ask her heading up the fairway during the tournament. During her practice round on Tuesday, he hit her with a question that had her really stretching the memory banks: “Lauren, can you name all 50 states,” he asked. She did, and now they have potentially five more days of brother, sister bonding on the course.

“Yeah, it is really cool. It’s awesome to be here and to see how the pros are and how the life is out here. I’m really excited for this week,” said Kim. “However it turns out, I’m just here to have fun. My brother is on the bag, so that’ll be interesting.”

Stanford University beat University of Southern California 3-2 in the championship match play finals to win the NCAA Title. That week Kim was not focused at all on future exemptions that stem from the NCAA Championship. It was all about her team.

“No, not at all. It was all about the team. That was just an amazing week. I was even surprised that coach had asked me if I could make it here,” said Kim. “I didn’t even know we would get an exemption until the beginning of that week, and then it kind of slipped my mind by the end.”

Wearing Stanford gear and all Lauren Kim wants is happy to have this first-time experience and play some good golf.

A Call from Old Friends

As a student at the University of Alabama, Talley’s used to winning national championships. However, although her women’s golf team won a national championship the year before she arrived to Tuscaloosa, winning her own national title was a different experience and came with a wave of congratulations from some old friends – Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas.

“After I won the National Championship, Justin called me, and him and Jordan and Patrick [Rodgers] usually room together at tournaments, and so they were all together and they had me own speakerphone,” Talley said. “Patrick was asleep so I didn’t get to talk to him. But him and Jordan just talked to me. It was like it was back to junior golf. Like we were in Europe at the Junior Ryder Cup again. It’s just great to know that those guys are still themselves, truly themselves, and they’re still really good golfers.”

Even Talley couldn’t believe the humility displayed by her old running mates.

“They did not have to call me. I should be calling them right?” she asked with a chuckle. “Just gives you some
motivation to work hard. If all my friends can do it, hopefully I can do it.”

KEY NUMBERS TO KNOW

7 – Defending champion now has seven career LPGA titles and is only 18

8 – Number of past champions of this event in the field this week

15 – Amount under par Lydia Ko shot a year ago in her win.

30 – This is the 30th edition of this tournament2 – Stacy Lewis posted 12-under-par for the three-day event a year ago.

62 – Laura Diaz shot a course-record 9-under 62 last year here in the first round.

ROLEX RANKINGS SCENARIOS

Below are the Rolex Rankings No. 1 projections for this week at the Marathon Classic Presented by Owens Corning and O-I.

Inbee Park will remain No. 1 in the Rolex Rankings this week regardless of her finish this week. Lydia Ko cannot regain No. 1 with a win.

AIRTIMES THIS WEEK

Golf Channel will broadcast all the action at the Marathon Classic Presented by Owens Corning and O-I with air times listed below. All times listed are Eastern.

July 16 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

July 17 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

July 18 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

July 19 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

You can always catch full coverage of the LPGA on the Golf LIVE Extra app / golfchannel.com.

Marathon Classic Tuesday Pre-Tournament Notes

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