Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Kewl Pairings at the ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open!

The ALPG has announced the tee times for the 1st round of the ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open.  (There, managed to link to all 3 tours that are tri-sponsoring this event in that last sentence.)  Here are my faves:

10th tee, 8:05 am:  Karrie Webb, Suzann Pettersen, Stacy Lewis
1st tee, 1:10 pm:  Ya Ni Tseng, Morgan Pressel, Lexi Thompson
1st tee, 1:00 pm:  Paula Creamer, Jessica Korda, Charley Hull
10th tee, 8:15 pm:  Azahara Munoz, Beatriz Recari, Lydia Ko
1st tee, 1:20 pm:  Laura Davies, Brittany Lincicome, Cheyenne Woods
1st tee, 1:30 pm:  Lorie Kane, Lee-Anne Pace, Caroline Hedwall
1st tee, 8:10 am:  Pat Hurst, Hee Young Park, Chella Choi
10th tee, 1:15 pm:  Pornanong Phatlum, Carlota Ciganda, Jenny Shin
1st tee, 9:00 am:  Sophie Gustafson, Moira Dunn, Tiffany Joh
1st tee, 8:00 am:  Jane Park, Gerina Piller, Caroline Masson
10th tee, 1:25 pm:  Anna Nordqvist, Nikki Campbell, Moriya Jutanugarn
10th tee, 8:25 am:  Catriona Matthew, Katherine Kirk, Stacey Keating
1st tee, 12:50 pm:  Lindsey Wright, Sarah Kemp, Minjee Lee
1st tee, 9:20 am:  Ryann O'Toole, Dori Carter, Ariya Jutanugarn
10th tee, 1:35 pm:  Giulia Sergas, Melissa Reid, Bree Arthur

There's a 95% chance the winner will come from among these pairings, but I wouldn't count out the likes of Sandra Gal (8:35 am off #10), Gwladys Nocera (7:45 am off #10), Min-Sun Kim (7:30 am off #1), Mi Hyang Lee (1:45 pm off #10), Su-Hyun Oh (2:25 pm off #10), or Joanna Klatten (12:45 pm off #10).

So who are you going to be following on Thursday?  Or wishing you were following?

[Update 1 (4:54 am):  Here's Ruthless Mike's preview.]

[Update 2 (5:23 am):  Here's a pre-tournament interview with Lydia Ko.  Very genuine and thoughtful answers.  Another very young woman with her head on straight.  And neat to hear that her aunt who introduced her to golf is in Melbourne to watch her play!]

3 comments:

Colin N.Z said...

Hi Bruce first I would like to clear up last week’s non TV coverage and comment on this week’s live coverage. I also hope this helps Mike from Ruthless Golf. The ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open is being covered by ABC1 in Australia again this week. After contacting the LET on why the You Tube live stream last week was geo blocked to N.Z, the U.S and others I was told.

Dear Colin:
We are really sorry that you were not able to watch it Live Streaming, but as we mentioned on our information here: http://www.ladieseuropeantour.com/main_article.php?id=68393&pid=1001 , it was not possible due to the broadcaster´s regulations. If it is shown on TV, even is not paid TV, it is not supposed to be shown on Live Streaming.
In this case, the host broadcaster was the rights holder for Australia and New Zealand and that means they have the guarantee of exclusivity. That is the reason for the geo block.
I hope I answered your questions. We are planning to show Live Streaming on some of our next events, and I hope you will be able to watch some of them from your country. We will always inform about which countries will be available, which will depend on the TV.
Kindest regards,
Vanessa Vignali
Public Relations Manager
LADIES EUROPEAN TOUR
Buckinghamshire Golf Club
Denham Court Drive, Denham
Buckinghamshire UB9 5PG
England

So to me it’s the broadcasters who are to blame. My point is if they have the rights to the broadcast and decide not to show it live they should advise the LET and it should then become unblocked. We can thank Lydia Ko this week because of her SKY SPORT here will show all of the ABC Australia live feed but to U.S LPGA fans it’s disappointing that the GC is short changing you on their coverage.

Golf Channel Feb. 12 11:00 p.m-2:00 a.m. Feb. 14 12:00-2:30 p.m. Feb. 15 5:00-9:00 p.m. Feb. 16 5:00-7:00 p.m.

TELECAST TIMES Live coverage of the tournament will be broadcast via ABC (Australia) at the following times: Day / Date Time Thursday, 13 Feb 15:00 – 18:00 p.m. AEDT Friday, 14 Feb 15:00 – 18:00 p.m. AEDT Saturday, 15 Feb 14:00 – 16:00 p.m. AEDT Sunday, 16 Feb 13:00 – 18:00 p.m. AEDT

N.Z coverage 13 Feb Sky Sport2 5.00pm – 8.00pm. 14 Feb Sky Sport2 5.00pm – 8.00pm. 15 Feb Sky Sport3 4.00pm – 8.00pm. 16 Feb Sky Sport4 3.00pm – 8.00pm.

I do know there will be some live streams on the net this week so I will post a link here if I find one with more coverage than the GC.
My picks for this week top 5 finish. Stacey Lewis, Pornanong Phatlum, Lydia Ko, Sandra Gal, Paula Creamer. Like you I will wait to see how Suzann Pettersen and Ariya Jutanugarn go on returning.

The Constructivist said...

Thanks, Colin; I was told something similar when I asked about geoblocking on twitter, but obviously it was briefer and I appreciate the details. Did you see how Pettersen admitted/boasted she's been so into Team Norway she's been pulling all-nighters? Probably an exaggeration, but you never know!

Colin N.Z said...

Suzann probably found it easy to stay awake if she has just come from a European time zone. Be interesting how that will tell on her in the last 2 rounds. I assume she will make the cut!!