Fields Open Pairings

Wow! Off #10:

Start Time: 8:25 AM
Sakura Yokomine
Suzann Pettersen
Morgan Pressel

Start Time: 8:35 AM
Ai Miyazato
Stacy Prammanasudh
Annika Sorenstam

Start Time: 8:45 AM
Momoko Ueda
Paula Creamer
Natalie Gulbis

Take a look at the official tournament web site and take one guess why the top 3 Japanese golfers got placed in the top 3 groups, while the top Korean golfers are less bunched and not getting the marquee partners:

Start Time: 8:35 AM (#1)
Gloria Park
Lorie Kane
Hee-Won Han

Start Time: 9:05 AM (#1)
Eun-Hee Ji
Seon Hwa Lee
Sophie Gustafson

Start Time: 12:05 PM (#10)
Reilley Rankin
Angela Park
Jeong Jang

Start Time: 12:15 PM (#10)
Sung Ah Yim
Brittany Lang
Jee Young Lee

Start Time: 12:25 PM (#1)
Meaghan Francella
Meena Lee
Christina Kim

Start Time: 12:25 PM (#10)
In-Kyung Kim
Angela Stanford
Maria Hjorth

Start Time: 12:35 PM (#10)
Young Kim
Se Ri Pak
H.J. Choi

I would have liked to see the Lexus Cup team of Se Ri Pak and In-Kyung Kim be reunited, for instance, joined by either Seon Hwa or Jee Young Lee, and given the first afternoon time on the front, followed by Cristie Kerr with Jeong Jang and Angela Park, and Pat Hurst with the other '06 Fighting Lee and Eun-Hee Ji. Get some star power on the other side of the bracket and give people with roughly similar chances of winning as those in the three prime-time morning groups a chance to face roughly similar weather conditions to each other (if not to the late morning people).

But to be fair, the less-well-known Japanese golfers get the early morning and late afternoon times, just like Michelle Wie, Jane Park, Hee Young Park, Song-Hee Kim, Jennifer Rosales, Shanshan Feng, Charlotte Mayorkas, Carolina Llano, New Yorkers Moira Dunn and Danielle Downey, and a panoply of Euro-youth and Am-vets. And I'm sure Japanese TV audiences want to see their top young golfers paired with the best-known and most photogenic American and European stars. I'll be glad, though, when we move away from Hawaii and the politics of a Korean-corporation-sponsored event preceding a Japanese-corporation-sponsored one....

[Update: Here's Hound Dog's tournament preview. For more on Wie's start, see Mulligan Stu at Waggle Room.]