Karin Sjödin I’ve now played three tournaments, two in Hawaii and one in Mexico, with very mixed results.   The first tournament is one I’d rather forget about. I don’t think I’ve ever hit the ball as poorly as I did that week – awful! I hit it left, right, fat and thin. I’m pretty sure I covered every possible direction except for straight… Oh well, that’s a long time ago now and nothing to dwell over. We did have a great time that week though. A couple of friends and I rented a little house right on the beach, and there is nothing better than to wake up to the sound of the ocean! It’s also nice to be able to cook our own food and not have to worry about finding restaurants every single night. The American fried foods, melted cheese, and enormous portions get a bit old in the long run…   After playing the first tournament on Oahu’s north shore, we went south to play at Ko Olina, just west of Honolulu. We once again opted out of staying in a hotel and rented an apartment right on the course instead. Two other players (Nina Reis and Linda Wessberg) and Nina’s fiancé Marcus were my room-mates this week. We talked lots of Swedish, cooked lots of Swedish food, and invited other Swedish players (Carin Koch) to join in the fun. I wouldn’t do the “Swedish thing” every week, but it sure is nice to be around fellow countrymen every once in a while.   And by the way, my game felt a bit better in Ko Olina. I couldn’t really get it going, but made the cut on the number. I finished in 52nd place after an uneventful last day.   After a week off it was time to go to Mexico. Most places we play in are fairly safe – we travel between small towns in the US, where all players are moving around as the please without any regulations. Mexico City is not like most places… Because of the high crime rates, we were pretty much confined to the player hotel. We had police escorts to and from the course and guards outside the hotel at all times. The poor air quality and extreme altitude makes the course almost impossible to walk. The tournament organizers were choosing between placing out oxygen tanks on the tee boxes and fairways, or giving us carts and they chose the latter (something we all were very happy about). The weather gods weren’t on our side that week either… Every day got interrupted by rain and thunder, which forced the us to finish the tournament on Monday.   After going through a few tough weeks, I finally got my game together! I was in a tie for 4th place after three rounds and was paired with Annika Sörenstam for the last day. Playing with Annika was great! She doesn’t have the most impressive long game, but her wedge play is outstanding! I didn’t play that great the last day and dropped to 9th place, but I shouldn’t complain about my first top-10 finish of the year.   I’m heading to Phoenix, Arizona, tomorrow to prepare for the next tournament. My coach is coming in from Sweden to help out and I’m really looking forward to seeing him again! Well, I think that’s it for now. See ya!