TED SOBEL SPORTS AUDIO VAULT: Your Inside Access to TOUCHING GREATNESS

It’s the first time in 7 years that the LPGA Tour has played a tournament in Los Angeles and it’s only fitting that it’s the lead-in for their first major of the year-the Kraft Nabisco Championship next week in Rancho Mirage. I spent the day roaming the grounds of Industry Hills Golf Club at Pacific Palms trying to get you the top players thoughts (before the heavy rains came) on this important stretch of tournament play which starts tomorrow (Thursday) in the Kia Classic. But first LPGA Commissioner Michael Whan gave me his time and the state of the tour in these rehabbing financial times…

LPGA Commissioner Michael Whan:

It’s always great to see Cali native Paula Creamer back in the neighborhood and the ‘Pink Panther’ was all smiles when telling me about finally being 100% healthy and ready to win more majors, hopefully next week on the Dinah Shore course…

Paula Creamer:

And then I spoke with Michelle Wie who’s still looking for her first major and the senior at Stanford wasn’t overly talkative when it came to how her game is now, while juggling it with her school work…

Michelle Wie:

I also ran into two great Scandinavian born players on the practice putting green and Norway’s Suzanne Pettersen shared her thoughts on how great it would be to win the Kraft after finishing 2nd there 3 times including last year…

Suzanne Pettersen:

Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist is just 23 years old but she already has a major trophy and told me she can’t help but think how awesome it would be to be the next champion to jump into Poppy’s Pond a week from Sunday…

Anna Nordqvist:

And finally America’s top ranked women’s player is Christie Kerr who told me it’s nice to visit L.A. again on this beautiful layout before she goes for a personal career grand slam next week in the desert…

Christie Kerr:

But first things first, the LPGA Kia Classic on the ‘Ike and Babe’ courses at Industry Hills Golf Club where the current rain will make it a long day for every pro. And where Ms. Zaharias might just be looking down to see how her old tour is progressing just down the freeway from where she won 2 gold medals and 1 silver in the 1932 L.A. Olympic games? Good luck ladies!

It’s official! For the 3rd straight year I will be your 18th green announcer at the LPGA’s first major of the year, the Kraft Nabisco Championship which gets underway next week in Rancho Mirage, California. I’d like to use this forum to thank KNC Tournament Director Gabe Codding and his very nice staff for having me back as it truly is special to be involved with one of the great traditions in golf while also having the priviledge of playing in the Pro-Ams (can’t wait to find out who my playing partners will be?). As for my gig there, I’ll be the voice you hear introducing each group after their approach shots on 18 (on Saturday and Championship Sunday only) as they walk past famous Poppy’s Pond in which one lucky woman will get to take that traditional jump in as the KNC Champ late on Sunday afternoon.

Last year, it was Yani Tseng (now ranked #1 in the world) who I briefly spoke with as we left the 18th green championship ceremony together (still in a wet robe from her jump in the pond) right after winning her 2nd LPGA major in 3 years. And she was understandly also wearing a huge smile from me to you…

Yani Tseng 2010 KNC champ:

What most don’t know is that Yani’s win was litterally earth-shaking as during her championship newsconference, we had a strong 6.9 earthquake shortly after she was handed the trophy. So of course, I felt compelled to get her reaction to that, too…

Yani Tseng on the earthquake that shook her post-round newser:

Yani’s in L.A. this week for her KNC prep at Industry Hills, the new venue for the LPGA’s Kia Classic. And we spoke on the phone today not only about her great golf game but also the house that she bought from Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam in Florida. Yani has some giant shoes to fill as she needs to fill up the huge trophy case that Annika used to store her championship keepsakes in…and we had some good laughs about that and what makes this 22 year old millionaire Taiwanese golfer and 2010 LPGA Rolex player of the year keep her constant and genuine smile…

Yani Tseng Tuesday from the Kia Classic:

The previous year it was the long-hitting Brittany Lincicome who’s amazing approach shot on her final hole led to a winning eagle as we spoke about at last year’s media day…

2009 champ Brittany Lincicome speaks KNC:

Yesterday, Brittany fell one stroke short of another former KNC champ and Hall of Famer Karrie Webb at the inaugural RR Donnelley LPGA Founders Cup in Phoenix and Karrie was kind enough to call me today and share thoughts on her 38th career win and the next 10 days ahead which of course includes going for her 3rd win at the KNC…

Karrie Webb on the Kia Classic and Kraft Nabisco Championship:

And FYI…Poppy’s Pond that Karrie, Yani and Brittany have all earned the right to jump into, was named after the KNC’s longtime tournament director and former PGA pro Terry Wilcox who I will always be grateful to after we met 3 years ago. Which is when he was kind enough to bring me on board so that the big gallery on 18 can rightfully cheer each player as they get ready for their final putts of the day.

If you’re into women’s golf at all (specially the history of it) this blog is the place to be as I’ll be interviewing some of the greatest golfers of all-time (including hall of famers such as Amy Alcott and several current stars) later this week so please check back here frequently. Amy and I worked together in 1995 on the first-ever major championship on network radio in the U.S., the PGA Championship from storied Riviera Country Club. Amy was a co-host alongside the great Jack Whitaker and I was their on-site producer and it was great working with those 2 legends of their fields. And now Amy (as a 3 time KNC champion) has created a new event to honor the legacy of Dinah Shore and the 40 year history of champions at the KNC as well as raise awareness and funding for important children’s education initiatives. It’s the inaugural Fresh and Easy Dinah Shore Charity Pro-Am to be played Saturday morning April 2 on the Palmer Course at Mission Hills Country Club.

For ticket info log on to http://www.kncgolf.com and check out some of the field of all-time greats that Amy has put together for Saturday morning…it’ll be like walking through the golf hall of fame on the course with the legendary greats of the game playing just for you!

First off this week it’s the LPGA’s Kia Classic with a stellar field at Industry Hills prepping for the women’s version of “The Masters” next week at the Kraft Nabisco. Hope to see you out there!

The NBA imposed a 2 games suspension today on Lakers center Andrew Bynum for his flagrant foul 2 nights ago against Minnesota’s Michael Beasley in the 4th quarter.

So that was the obvious topic of discussion in coach Phil Jackson’s pregame chatter with us media types. I thought you might like to hear the entire discussion which included Phil talking about Kobe Bryant’s recent shooting slump as he battles through his ankle injury and how the Lakers’ improved defense is the key to them winning all but one of their games since the All-Star break.

Phil Jackson pregame vs. Portland:

I also spoke with Lakers assistant coach Brian Shaw before the Blazers game and asked him about the impact of life without the new-look defensive prowess of Bynum?…

Brian Shaw:

The Lakers then went out and beat Portland with a late surge by 4 points and in my postgame chats, I got the chance to ask Kobe Bryant, Derek Fisher, and Lamar Odom how they felt about the 2 games suspension to Bynum?…

Kobe, Fisher, and Odom:

I also got a few minutes alone with Fish and we began with explaining his great last 2 minutes of action when helping to take the game away from Portland with 4 key plays after dealing with personal foul trouble throughout…

Derek Fisher:

And finally there’s the forgotten man on this Lakers squad-backup center Joe Smith (who’s always gracious with his time for me) the one-time first overall NBA draft pick who’s hoping to get his first championship ring at the latter stage of his career and I joked with him about finally getting some playing time with Bynum not in the building…

Joe Smith:

So it’s now 12-1 and counting for the Lakers since the All-Star break with new-look Phoenix in town on Tuesday night. And actually not having Bynum against the smaller Suns shouldn’t be that disasterous for the Lakes who will be heavily favored again to win their 4th straight game.

It’s always great to meet any player that you admired as a kid, but to do so as an adult gives you a feeling that’s hard to describe to someone who’s not into sports. Well tonight was one of those nights for me as before their big rivalry game against the Anaheim Ducks, the L.A. Kings honored one of their first players to reach the Hockey Hall of Fame Bob Pulford. One of the strange things for me personally is that I’m the last of the current press corps to have actually seen Pulford play in the old colors at the ‘Fabulous Forum’. And I also remember when he was traded by his beloved Toronto Maple Leafs (who he’d won 4 Stanley Cups with) to the Kings in 1970 as an aging veteran who still had something left to give besides just leadership. His retirement came only 2 years later but let’s not forget that ‘Pully’ (as he’s known) then immediately took over behind the L.A. bench and is still to this day, the only Kings coach to have ever been named the NHL’s coach of the year (1975) for his franchise record 105 point season (which also still stands). And now at a mere 75 years of age (turns 76 at the end of the month) Bob was really glowing tonight when wearing his old #20 on that original Kings’ Forum Blue (actually purple) and gold sweater when being introduced by another Kings legend and Hall of Famer broadcaster Bob Miller.
Of course the guy who’s #20 is remembered most and retired inside Staples Center is another HOF left winger named Luc Robitaille, and it’s funny to think that he was only 3 years old when Pulford first wore his number so it was passed on quite nicely don’t you think? FYI, did you know that Kings GM Dean Lombardi is married to one of Pulford’s daughters? You talk about keeping things in the family…now I know who’s really been making all their deals the past few years! 🙂 Back to Mr. Pulford, who did make his way down to the media room after the 2nd period and was kind enough to do a little sit down interview with me as we went down L.A. Kings memory lane together…
Bob Pulford:

Another guy who wore the same #20 on his ‘Forum gold’ (actually yellow) sweater before Luc was longtime NHL defenseman Mark Hardy who’s nickname is Harpo for wearing the old Marx Brother’s hairstyle when he began his pro career as the 30th overall draft pick by the Kings in 1979.

And as timing would have it, Mark was also in the pressbox tonight so how fitting to talk about his days wearing the purple and gold, what it means to him and reminiscing about the franchise’s greatest game in that uniform, the ‘Miracle on Manchester’ (in which he scored a very important goal)…

Mark Hardy:

The night ended with the Ducks beating the Kings 2-1 in overtime but seeing the L.A. skaters in their old purple and golds was worth the price of admission in itself! You see my personal preference would be to wear them most games and use the black and whites as the alternate sweaters…but maybe I’m like Pully and just too old fashioned?

And I’m living it, giving updates from 9:30am to 9:30 pm on KFWB Newstalk 980 today and tomorrow (Friday) sponsored by your Southern California Chevy Dealers.

KFWB Tournament promo:

I hope you had Morehead State as your opening day upset pick? If so, please take me along to Tahiti with you and I’ll promise not to bother you ever again! 🙂