I know you all are wondering how the week went for me up in beautiful town of Corning NY last week.  Yes, I went to Corning to help Celebrate their 30^th Year Anniversary and it was an action packed week of social events, and oh yea I played a couple of rounds of golf with the girls too.  Not great, but we had a lot of fun as I teed it up with Meg Mallon and Sherri Steinhauer in the first two rounds of the LPGA Corning Classic!  Yes, that means I missed the cut with scores of 74 & 76.

No surprises, it rained the first 3 days we were there, but we managed to get in some what of a practice round, as well as a 2^nd place finish in the skills test with my partner, a very niche young local golf star.  I also recieved a beautiful piece of Steuben Glass as The Queen of Corning Award at a special dinner for most popular player ever, and a quick 4 minute 45 second 6 hole relay against Meg Mallon's team, who happened to beat us by a mere 17 seconds.  Poo!  Next year, what? I mean, Next time, we will know the ropes and have all the cheating ways down.  Yikes! Cheat in golf!  Only in the relay.  Let me explain.

Abbreviated down to only 6 holes from the original 9, we placed as many girls as par on each hole to relay a ball from the first tee all the way to the final hole.  Yes, think about it, as Soo-Yun Kang tees it off the first hole while another player (even squinting I don't recognize her) is waiting in the fairway to receive the ball and send it up to the green.  Once there, another player is planted just in case to chip and yet another player to putt, drag, whatever the ball into the hole.  Heave Ho to the Tee Box and so on!

The Rules are anything goes except you have to tee it off and putt it in.  Drop a ball, foot wedge, throw it, whatever you have to do to get the ball around as fast as possible.  Of course, my team wasn't as experienced as Meg's as we played our 6 holes with a fraction  more honesty until we finally got the ball back to me, where I gave it a cricket smack from 10 yards off the green.  It looks as though I won the tournament in this picture here showing Soo-Yun pulling the flag just in time to see the ball go in.  Just a little Corning excitement that looked a little too familiar.  Ha Ha!  

Nice to know I can still jump when the mood strikes! 

Congratulations go to Leta Lindley and her husband/caddie Matt for their first LPGA Win on tour as Leta beat Joeng Jang in a Sudden Death Playoff to take the titile there at the 2008 Corning Classic.  Way to go Leta! 

All for now, take care,  Relax but Attack!

 Rosie  (TQC)

The Queen of Corning

The Corning Classic is much like the 2 other longest running events on Tour, The LPGA State Farm in Springfield IL, and The Wegmans LPGA in Rochester NY.  All three of these events are super special to me.  My first win was in Springfield in 1987 when the tournament was called The Rail, and I have two wins each at both the Wegmans event and back to back wins in Corning.  Of course in all those years I played there at Corning I was able to rack up several Top 10's to go with those wins, making me the most celebrated player to ever play the event.  Which gives me the title Queen of Corning!

 But, that's not why Corning is Special to me!

The Corning Classic we have always called it is one of those tournament set in a very small town in the Upper part of New York State.  It really is one of those Norman Rockwell towns with the old fashioned Market Street, with quaint shops and restaurants that invite you in for a bite of food or cold drink.  The town folk as well as the shop keepers get very excited for the LPGA to come to town and have fun with their window display competition using golf themes and decorations.  As a player, you are drawn to the excitement of the town with as much enthusiasm as you are to play the event.  You can even find an LPGA scoreboard in the Market St. Courtyard to keep the shoppers abreast to the action on the course.  But that's not why Corning is Special to me!

It was in 1986 while at the Corning Classic, I received one of those dreaded phone calls, back when our only thread to family and friends was the phone in the Hotel Room.  It was 4:00 am and I was informed that my youngest brother Jerry Lee Jones was killed in a car accident.  Devastated at loosing my closest sibling, I packed up my things to go home.  On the way to the very small airport in nearby Elmira, NY, I stopped at the tournament site to inform the LPGA Officials of my loss and that I would have to withdraw from the golf event.   I was catching a plane to Albuquerque, via Pittsburg, Dallas and then finally by night fall I would get home.  By the time I got myself to the Elmira Airport, the Tournament Director of The Corning Classic, Lee Robbins met me in the parking lot of the Rental Cars.   He told me that they had the Corning Jet ready to escort me to Cincinnati where I could then pick up my sister and fly home together on a much faster route.  There I was 5 minutes later on a Lear Jet flying to an airport close to my sister's house so we could comfort each other on the rest of the trip.

From that day forward I never missed another Corning Classic.  I will always cherish the kindness they shed on me that horrible day.  And from my love of Corning came many great memories, trophies and friends, whom I still hold close to my heart.  And that is why Corning is Special To Me! Thanks Corning!

 Rosie Jones,  TQC

What's to miss of those 25 years of travel schedules, including thousands of Airports, Car Rentals, Hotels, and Restaurants. Actually, those aspects I do not miss, nor those early mornings on the dewy range in cold tempetures getting ready for that early tee time, or late afternoons on the putting green looking for that groove that worked so well last week.

But, what I do miss about those moments were the camaraderie we players would have on those early mornings, telling jokes, singing, cutting up on each other. In some ways the tour was like a big family, a circus of talent and each week we were at a new venue. Lots of fun, and not always as glamorous as you might think.

Of course I miss that competitive drive I had to maintain to be one of the best women golfers in the world and to be out there in that competition playing with a passion that defined my character. I miss that. I miss having that satisfaction at the end of the day that I played my best, and that my hard work has paid off.

Now, I reminisce over shots I have hit over the years and I cherish those memories that are etched into my mind. My time on tour was special and for me, and I played my hardest every day that I teed it up. Now I'm done and I'm proud of those rounds I played, the people I played with, and the fans I played for.

 Thanks for being my Fan!

Rosie

Hey Everyone and Welcome to my Blog here at RosieJones.com

 This has been my first attempt at writing and now that Im finally writing I really don't know what to say!

We are getting ready around here to head out to Palm Springs later this month, so that means Im out there every day on the course trying to get this ol body of mine to cooperate with the schedule and hit those ball out there where I want them to go. 

 Yes, just like you, I have to start the whole Spring time regiment where I first start hitting balls, slowly (with a wedge) that is not to hurt anything, graduating to a 6 iron then a 7 wood and finally with a couple of oohs and ahs from my back, Im hittin my driver out there right where I always do. 

The tricky part of laying off the game for a couple of months is getting that rythem back, and feeling some sort of consistancy with in your swing.  That and to sharpen up those inside  6 foot putts, and well, the rest of your short game.  Really, in no time it should all come together just as you left it.  Yea,  Right, and don't I know it.  Golf is a funny game and you have to just laugh when you pick it back up because just like Tiger says,  First day is great, second day a little off, third day is sensless, fouth day I feel like a beginner and by the end of the week, totally messed up and need a teacher.  It is hard for all of us so don't panick.  I'm telling myself not you.  But you too!

Anyways,  Golf is Great and keep plugging away at it. 

Relax but attack,  Rj