Mizuno Classic Preview

After a one-week break, the LPGA tour resumes this week with the Mizuno Classic.

Here some of the details:

Course: Kintetsu Kashikojima Country Club
Location: Shima-shi, Mie, Japan
Defending Champion: Jiyai Shin
2010 Winning Score: 65-66-67=198 (-18)

Final Field: 78 Players
Par: 72
Yardage: 6,506 Yards
Purse: $1.2 Million

This tournament is only 54 holes.

I assure you this IS an LPGA event. Unfortunately, it seems someone forgot to inform the girls. Here is a list of the major players who will NOT be competing this week:

Yani Tseng, Suzann Pettersen, Cristie Kerr, Paula Creamer, Michelle Wie, Katherine Hull, Morgan Pressel, Amy Yang, Brittany Lincicome, Sun Young Yoo, Angela Stanford, Jee Young Lee, Maria Hjorth, Anna Nordqvist, Juli Inkster, Sophie Gustafson, Se Ri Pak, Brittany Lang, Karen Stupples, Wendy Ward, Natalie Gulbis, Sandra Gal, and Katie Futcher.

As you can see the top 3, 6 of the top 10, and 24 of the top 50 players in the Rolex Rankings are not in attendance, making this an extremely weak field, in spite of the fact that all of the great players from the JLPGA are playing.


Here are some of the elite players on the JLPGA tour that will be teeing it up:

Sun Ju Ahn, Chie Arimura, Sakura Yokomine, Ji-Hee Lee, Miki Saiki, Mi-Jeong Jeon, Yukari Baba, Shiho Oyama, Na Ri Kim, Kumiko Kaneda, Ayako Uehara, and Ritsuko Ryu.

The above is an impressive list of JLPGA stars. They are all ranked in the top 50 of the Rolex Rankings. The fact that the Mizuno field is still ranked as one of the 3 weakest of the year is attributed to all the missing LPGA players.

This will NOT be televised in the United States.

Rolex Rankings Mover of the Week:
Chie Arimura, winner this week on the JLPGA tour, moves from #18 to #13.

Hard to Believe Stat of the week:
Suzann Pettersen, the #2 player in the world, is closer to the #37 player than she is to #1. Let's take a look:

#1 Yani Tseng - 18.40 Rolex Rating
#2 Suzann Pettersen - 10.93
#37 Soo Jin Yang - 3.47

I usually don't report the Ladies European tour results, but it is certainly worth mentioning that Yani Tseng won again this week. She beat Pernilla Linberg by 7 shots. Melissa Reid and Lee-Anne Pace were 8 shots back.

[Update 1 (5:58 pm):  It's also worth noting that Amy Yang won the last KLPGA major of the year last week.  So the only winner from a major tour from last week in this week's field is Chie Arimura.--TC]



Follow @tonyjesselli


Tweet

Free website hit counter