Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic Pairings

There are some very interesting pairings for the 1st 2 rounds of the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic this year! Breaking with Mostly Harmless tradition, I'm going to make the players in the prime-time quadrants wait, because the tournament is opening with a bang:

Start Time: 7:30 AM
Anna Grzebien
Stacy Lewis
Liz Janangelo

Start Time: 7:40 AM
Angela Jerman
Michelle McGann
Michelle Wie

Start Time: 7:50 AM
Beth Allen
Amy Yang
Yu Ping Lin

That's right, #2 on the LET money list Amy Yang Monday qualified! If she can get a top 10 this week, she'll be added to next week's State Farm field. And if she can get herself in the top 50 of the money list in the LPGA's midwestern and European swings, she'll be able to go on their Asian swing in the fall. We'll see how she responds to the pressure. Same goes for sponsors' exemptions Lewis and Wie, both of whom have to finish very well to have a chance to get their card in regular season LPGA events. Otherwise, it's the Futures Tour and/or Q-School for them. (Whatever their LPGA results, they should both play as many FT events as they can the rest of this season, b/c they both lack tournament experience as professionals playing week in and week out.) But if Lewis and Wie do very well in the 1st 36 holes at the Farr and finish in the top 5 among those who haven't already qualified for the Women's British Open, they'll present the LPGA with an interesting dilemma, because right now those 5 slots are reserved for LPGA members.

Since these youngsters are going off the 1st tee, the tournament organizers stacked the late-morning back-9 prime-time quadrant:

Start Time: 8:40 AM
Se Ri Pak
Eun-Hee Ji
Laura Diaz

Start Time: 8:50 AM
Mi Hyun Kim
Natalie Gulbis
Paula Creamer

Start Time: 9:00 AM
Kristy McPherson
Karrie Webb
Meg Mallon

Start Time: 9:10 AM
Christina Kim
Brittany Lincicome
Meena Lee

Start Time: 9:20 AM
Nancy Lopez
Laura Davies
Nicole Castrale

What an honor for Ji to be paired with Pak and Diaz, McPherson with Webb and Mallon, and Castrale with Lopez and Davies! Hope the big names can keep up with the young guns! Maybe this will be the week Gulbis breaks out of her slump; it'll be very interesting to see how quickly Creamer and Mi Hyun Kim can get over their terrible results last week at the P&G. Same goes for Lincicome; maybe playing with Christina Kim and Meena Lee will inspire her....

The next-best quadrant goes off the 10th tee in the early afternoon:

Start Time: 12:15 PM
Julieta Granada
Meaghan Francella
Momoko Ueda

Start Time: 12:25 PM
Jin Joo Hong
Karen Stupples
Ji Young Oh

Start Time: 12:35 PM
Catriona Matthew
Giulia Sergas
Katherine Hull

Start Time: 12:45 PM
Alena Sharp
Leta Lindley
Rachel Hetherington

Start Time: 12:55 PM
Lorie Kane
Brandie Burton
Angela Stanford

You could see a lot of contenders come out of these pairings, including dark horses like Hong, Sergas, Hull, and Sharp.

This week presents a great opportunity for the players going off the 1st tee in the late morning to kick-start their seasons:

Start Time: 8:40 AM
Stacy Prammanasudh
Sung Ah Yim
Carin Koch

Start Time: 8:50 AM
Wendy Ward
Heather Young
Becky Morgan

Start Time: 9:00 AM
Sun Young Yoo
H.J. Choi
In-Kyung Kim

Start Time: 9:10 AM
Marisa Baena
Kyeong Bae
Dorothy Delasin

Start Time: 9:20 AM
Kelli Kuehne
Irene Cho
Sandra Gal

Prammanasudh and Gal are so due for a great tournament, while Junior Mints Yoo, Choi, and Bae and Super Sophs Kim and Cho are always threats to put together at least a couple of great rounds.

Last but not least by much is the early-afternoon back-side prime-time quadrant:

Start Time: 12:15 PM
Jill McGill
Johanna Head
Il Mi Chung

Start Time: 12:25 PM
Hee Young Park
Grace Park
Sherri Steinhauer

Start Time: 12:35 PM
Christa Johnson
Karine Icher
Soo-Yun Kang

Start Time: 12:45 PM
Diana D'Alessio
Allison Fouch
Young Kim

Start Time: 12:55 PM
Russy Gulyanamitta
Janice Moodie
Sophie Gustafson

Can Chung and Kang follow up on their good weeks at the P&G? Can Gustafson and Kim return to the form that put them in contention earlier in the season? Can Icher and Fouch play to their potential this week? Can Grace Park and Hee Young Park overcome their history of inconsistency this season?

NYers Moira Dunn and Danielle Downey will be going off the 1st tee right after this quadrant, at 1:05 and 1:15 pm, respectively, opposite rookies Ashleigh Simon and Anna Rawson, who will be starting on the 10th.

Expect some great golf both before and over the weekend. There's a lot at stake for everyone in the field.