Don't look now, but Cheyenne Woods opened her Symetra Tour tune-up for the U.S. Women's Open with a 4-birdie 69 that left her only 2 shots off the 1st-round lead. She hasn't been making that much noise in the States so far in 2014, but the season is still young and nobody can take that LET victory Down Under away from her!
Woods's round got me thinking about which of the other USWO sectional qualifiers have the best chance of making some serious noise at Pinehurst. With Ariya Jutanugarn failing to qualify, it's down to only 3 good bets, in my book:
Best Bets
Misuzu Narita, Minjee Lee, Yueer Cindy Feng
Long Shots
Laura Davies, Ayaka Watanabe, Ashleigh Simon, Belen Mozo, Stacey Keating, Rebecca Lee-Bentham, Marissa Steen, Jaye Marie Green, Cheyenne Woods, Brooke Mackenzie Henderson
Apologies to everyone else who played their way into the USWO, but making the cut alone would be a huge accomplishment, even for many on this list!
16 comments:
Brooke Henderson shot 62 yesterday to win the Women's Porter Cup by 3 after trailing by 9 going into the final round. If her putter is working, she could be a real factor next week.
Very impressive! It's all going to come down to who adjusts to Pinehurst best!
While not the same level as most of the ladies Marissa Steen does have two victories on the Symetra Tour this year and is #2 on their money list.
I'd also love to see Kristy McPhereson and Brianna Do do well. :)
Also, I might add Belen Mozo as a potential threat considering her form last week.
Hopefully Jennifer Song can recapture her USGA magic, too.
I'm with you, Jamie! The reason I put Narita in the upper category is she's coming off her 2nd JLPGA victory of the year last week....
I would be amazed if any of these players could suddenly find the skill set to not only beat the best LPGA players at the moment but also tame Pinehurst No2. I imagine the course will be set up a little easier for the woman but just like the men there will be some pretty ugly scores out there on this course and that may include some of the better LPGA players let alone those who are not good enough to be on the LPGA tour.
My best bets are clearly good enough to be full LPGA members (Feng is a rookie tearing up the Symetra Tour and SunCoast Series; many of my long shots are also members).
Could not agree with you more Bruce and I'm sure some will be there next year. It's just that it's hard to see them stepping up on a course like Pinehurst. That's not to say they won't make the cut but top 20-25? This is not a field of the top 155 RR players so there are some genuine chances for some to make it there.
Here's what's making it very difficult for me to predict who's going to do well at Pinehurst (beyond the usual suspects). The women tend to be more accurate than the guys off the tee and the best hit greens at a higher rate than the best guys, but Pinehurst is the kind of course that you need a great total short game. I really don't know who's the best scrambler on tour because so few of its best players need to scramble all that much in a typical week. I'm going to try to figure it out by Wednesday, though!
I know what to expect from one player: Michelle Wie. I expect her to play like she did early this year up until the Kraft, making little use of her driver. I expect long second shots that end up on or just off the green--but rarely close to the hole. I expect a lot of pars with few birdies or bogeys. That won't win very often on the LPGA, but it could win a USWO.
The pairings are already up and there are half a dozen that look great. I will post a link here for live streaming for those without pay TV and also our betting odds as soon as it's available. My early picks on this course are Karrie Webb, Cristie Kerr, Inbee Park. Experienced players who are in form are accurate off the tee and on the greens but you are right everyone will have regular pitches out of the bunkers and who will be accurate enough to then not only get it close to the pin but then keep it on the green.
Skybet.com's opinion of your picks: Misuzu Narita 200-1, Minjee Lee 80-1, Yueer Cindy Feng 125-1, Laura Davies 500-1, Ayaka Watanabe 300-1, Ashleigh Simon 500-1, Belen Mozo 175-1, Stacey Keating 500-1, Rebecca Lee-Bentham 1000-1, Marissa Steen 300-1, Jaye Marie Green 300-1, Cheyenne Woods 200-1, Brooke Henderson 100-1
http://www.skybet.com/golf/betType/us-womens-open-outright
Odds to make top 10: Misuzu Narita 16-1, Minjee Lee 7-1, Cindy Feng 10-1, Laura Davies 33-1, Ayaka Watanabe 20-1, Ashleigh Simon 33-1, Belen Mozo 12-1, Stacey Keating 33-1, Rebecca Lee-Bentham 66-1, Marissa Steen 20-1, Jaye Marie Green 20-1, Cheyenne Woods 16-1, Brooke Henderson 8-1
Interesting how they give odds based on which looks like Rolex rankings so there is some money to be made if you can see past that criteria. Their putting Lexi Thompson right up there but she will have to adjust her game to this course. She won't get the advantage of just bombing it off the tee like she did in the KNC and that should go for others who play long.
Other sectional qualifiers with 500-1 or better odds: Stephanie Meadow 400-1, So-Young Jang 250-1, Stephanie Na 500-1, Nikki Campbell, Holly Clyburn 500-1, Brooke Pancake 500-1, Lala Anai 500-1, Hee-kyung Bae 500-1, Dori Carter 300-1, Sarah Jane Smith 500-1, Marta Silva 500-1, Weiling Hsu 500-1, Ally McDonald 250-1
I don't think they use just the Rolex Rankings, or Morgan Pressel (125-1), Natalie Gulbis (200-1),
Beatriz Recari (175-1) would all have lower odds (among others)
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