Monday, March 24, 2008

Getting Excited About the Safeway International

No need to make excuses for the field at the Safeway International: every big name in the LPGA is registered for the tournament, which has seen its share of big-name winners (Laura Davies 4 years in a row in the mid-1990s; Annika Sorenstam 3 out of 5 years in the early 2000s; Pat Bradley twice; Beth Daniel, Betsy King, Jan Stephenson, Patty Sheehan, Juli Inkster, Karrie Webb, Se Ri Pak, and Lorena Ochoa once), not to mention first-time winners (7 in 28 events) and sudden-death playoffs (6). 2007 featured a weekend showdown between Ochoa and Suzann Pettersen; 2006 a Sunday charge by Juli Inkster past Sarah Lee and Aree Song; 2005 a Sunday chase-down of Soo-Yun Kang by Sorenstam and, thanks to a late collapse by Ochoa, a playoff victory for the living legend.

The Prospector Course, with its fantastic 18th hole, has not been kind to Hall of Famer Se Ri Pak (no weekend play for her the past 3 years), or, for that matter, any Young Guns, but plenty of other people seem to have figured out the place lately, including Paula Creamer, Jeong Jang, Hee-Won Han (who played her last tournament before going on maternity leave here last season), Stacy Prammanasudh, Catriona Matthew, Laura Diaz, and Shi Hyun Ahn.

As the LPGA enters a run of consecutive weekly tournaments that extends over most of the rest of the spring and spans the year's first two majors, it's safe to say that the preseason is over. Who will join Louise Friberg, Lorena Ochoa, Paula Creamer, and Annika Sorenstam in the winner's circle during this stretch? Who will become the first multiple winner on the LPGA in 2008? The Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year races have no clear favorites as yet; who will be the first to break away from the lead packs in each, and who will follow them?

So many questions. It's almost enough to make me want to splurge on a tv and cable package this spring and summer. Maybe after the end of the academic year....

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