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Finishing Whole With one event to go, the author assesses her progress
Updated: Friday November 17, 2000 5:53 PM
Leta Lindley, 28, is in her sixth season on the LPGA Tour. She had her best year in 1999 with a tie for second, as well as four other top 10 finishes. In 1997, she finished second at the LPGA Championship, losing to Chris Johnson on the second hold of a sudden-death playoff. She was a four-time All-American at the University of Arizona and set an NCAA record for lowest 54-hole score (nine under par). Check out Lindley's diary each Wednesday on CNNSI.com. November 15, 2000
I came to Daytona Beach at bit earlier in the week than I usually do for other tournaments. Matt and I drove over on Sunday. Since I've never seen this course, I wanted to have the opportunity to practice and play. I worked so hard to get here, I might as well get the most out of it, right? I'm very excited to be here. It's very strange playing in such a small field (30 players playing for a purse of $1 million). I played a practice round on Monday, and I didn't see anybody on the course. I hit balls at the range and I didn't see anybody. I felt as if I had the whole course to myself. My prep week was good. It went by so fast. I was trying to adjust from the jet lag. It was good and nice to be home, but I was ready to go. I said to Matt that it actually felt nice to be back on the road. That's kind of scary! It's as if we don't know what to do with ourselves.
While I was home, I did a year-end evaluation at Innova. Since I've been working out and watching what I eat, I was anxious to see how I was doing. From the beginning of the year, I lost six pounds and six percent body fat. I knew my clothes were fitting differently. I did the fat test and I was really pumped about it. I went from 22 percent body fat to 16 percent. It was fun to see where I'm at and to feel as if I really accomplished something. On the golf course, Matt and I worked on a really cool thing. I know I say this every time, but I really think we hit the nail on the head. We always dance around it, but I think we finally, finally, got it now that I'm entering the last tournament of the year. I've talked about being stuck on the inside plane. I've been fighting it all year. Some weeks I've been better at controlling the ball than other weeks. Matt made a comment about getting my arms down faster. We talked about keeping the club in front of me and swinging down the line versus moving so fast with my lower body that my arms lag behind and come from the inside. These are actually things I worked on two years ago. I don't know if I got away from them after my knee surgery. Maybe there was a fear of coming too hard on my left side. But since he made those comments, I've been hitting some really good shots. I think I have the answer, but we'll see. I'm going to really try to enjoy this week. I've worked really hard for it. But obviously I want to have the best tournament possible and I think I can do it. It's a good course and I think can play well here. -Leta
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