Paula Creamer, who grew up in Pleasanton, gets excited any time the LPGA Tour comes to the Bay Area.
Creamer is in a strong field that will tee it up on Thursday in the Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic at Lake Merced Golf Club in Daly City, on the outskirts of San Francisco.
“It’s always great when you’re able to come back home and play in front of your home crowd,” said Creamer, who has won 10 times on the PGA Tour, including the 2010 U.S. Women’s Open. “I feel like I’m getting actually used to it just with having family and stuff.
” … I feel bad for the tournament office. They have had to deal with me and my family. My dad has been in there the last couple days, 10 times, dealing with tickets and this and that.”
Creamer has started slowly this season, but is encouraged by some solid recent results, a tie for 10th in the Kia Classic in Carlsbad and tie for 18th in the Lotte Classic in Hawaii, where a 78 in the final round dropped her out of contention.
She has made some changes and hopes they kick in completely at Lake Merced.
“My game actually is better than what my scores are showing,” said Creamer, who provided one of the highlights to the 2014 season when her 75-foot eagle putt beat Azahara Munoz of Spain in a playoff to win the HSBC Women Champions in Singapore. “I’ve made some serious changes in last the couple of months just in what’s important to me. I was very discouraged after my Asia swing. I have changed a lot about how I practice, what I practice, what I’m doing, and kind of just reevaluated all my goals and my priorities with things.
” … I feel great. My coach, David (Whelan), and I are very simple right now with my swing thoughts. My putting feels excellent. It’s just getting four good days. My ball- striking has been the thing that’s been letting me down. I feel like it’s much better now. It’s coming back.”
The Swinging Skirts features 19 of the top 20 players in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, with top-ranked Lydia Ko of New Zealand defending the title she claimed by one stroke over Stacy Lewis last year.
