Notes on the MasterCard Classic Field

Let's not slight the LPGA, even though they have scheduled only two events in March. Let's just say it heightens the fans' anticipation while giving the players time to work the rust off their games and prepare their bodies and minds for keeping up with this year's Big 3 (in reverse chronological order of their wins, Ochoa, Creamer, Sorenstam). So let's look at the field for the Mexico City event just over a week away.

Worth noting first are the strange absences in the field, most notably Annika Sorenstam, who won the tournament in 2005 and 2006 and was denied a stirring come-from-behind victory when she was beaten in a playoff by Meaghan Francella last year. For that matter, where is Paula Creamer? Although she (barely) missed the cut last year, she had a T4 and a T6 in previous years. And what about fellow-top-10-on-the-money-list-er Lindsey Wright? Or top-20ers Karrie Webb, Morgan Pressel, Karen Stupples, Angela Park (who almost never misses an event!), and Momoko Ueda (will she stay in Japan, competing on the JLPGA, all March?)? With only 12 of the top 20 on the early-season money list in the field, there are loads of opportunities for others to move on up. (Like Ya Ni Tseng, Na Yeon Choi, Louise Friberg, Hee Young Park, and Ashleigh Simon in the Rookie of the Year race; In-Kyung Kim, Eun-Hee Ji, Jane Park, and Na On Min in the New Super Soph race; and Seon Hwa Lee and Jee Young Lee in the old Super Soph race.)

Not for Suzann Pettersen, though (best finish: T7). Or Cristie Kerr (best finish T9). Or Maria Hjorth (who's never gotten into the top 30). Or Natalie Gulbis (who matched Creamer's MC in 2007 and T4 in 2006, but only had a T27 in the first year of the tournament). Or Sophie Gustafson (where is she, anyway?). Or Ai Miyazato (although her friend Louise Stahle will). Or Catriona Matthew. Or Se Ri Pak. [Update 3/12/08: Or Mi Hyun Kim.] [Update 3/11/08: Or Christina Kim.]

I wonder if this being Lorena Ochoa territory plays a part in this pattern.... She didn't scare off defending champ Francella, though. Laura Davies is kicking off her quest to qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame in Mexico City, as well (just as Anna Rawson will be starting hers to shed the Kournikova label earlier in her career than Gulbis did). [Update 3/12/08: Mi Hyun Kim (best finish: T4) will be there, even though she can't possibly be fully healed from her off-season knee surgery.] Likely contenders S.H. Lee (best finish: T2), Hee-Won Han (best finish: T3), Kyeong Bae (best finish: T3), Stacy Prammanasudh (best finish: T3), and H.J. Choi (best finish: T6) will be there, too. Jeong Jang and Laura Diaz will be looking to break through to victory in Mexico City after early-season near-misses. And Americans Jane Park and Angela Stanford, and Christina Kim will aim to chase down Creamer, Diaz, and Prammanasudh on the top of the 2008 money list (and move up in the Solheim Cup qualifying race).

So it would be a mistake to characterize this as a weak field. In fact, I'll bet the final round looks a lot more like the LPGA's first two tournaments than its latest. But more on that later. [Update 3/12/08: All right, Hound Dog is probably right.]