Kapalua Classic Pairings

The Thursday pairings for the Kapalua Classic have been released and the Japanese media contingent will not be happy. Some will have to follow Momoko Ueda as she starts on the front in the early-morning prime-time quadrant, while others will have to follow Ai Miyazato when she starts 10 minutes earlier on the 10th tee. If Sony would just step up and commit to being a title sponsor for this event, snafus like this just wouldn't happen!

Seriously, though, there's a clear winner in the prime-time quadrant competition, and that's the early-afternoon 1st-tee pairings:

Start Time: 11:15 AM
Janice Moodie
Julieta Granada
Giulia Sergas

Start Time: 11:25 AM
Wendy Ward
Brandie Burton
Katherine Hull

Start Time: 11:35 AM
Diana D'Alessio
Eun-Hee Ji
Lindsey Wright

Start Time: 11:45 AM
Karrie Webb
Ya Ni Tseng
Helen Alfredsson

Start Time: 11:55 AM
Lorena Ochoa
Morgan Pressel
Annika Sorenstam

Pressel has the best of the losing records in head-to-head competition against Sorenstam this season, while Ochoa is tied with Tseng for the most wins but still has the worst winning record of the 10 players in the entire LPGA who can boast that they have one.

With all due respect to Momo-chan, Ai-chan is in the next-best quadrant:

Start Time: 7:45 AM
Stacy Prammanasudh
Laura Diaz
Maria Hjorth

Start Time: 7:55 AM
Becky Morgan
Jee Young Lee
Shanshan Feng

Start Time: 8:05 AM
Brittany Lang
Pat Hurst
Kristy McPherson

Start Time: 8:15 AM
Angela Stanford
Ai Miyazato
Christina Kim

Start Time: 8:25 AM
Juli Inkster
Cristie Kerr
Suzann Pettersen

In fact, tip to toe, Ai-chan's quadrant may well have the strongest pairings of all.

But at least Momo-chan can claim to be in the headliner pairing in her quadrant:

Start Time: 7:45 AM
Michele Redman
Teresa Lu
Hilary Lunke

Start Time: 7:55 AM
Sung Ah Yim
Jane Park
Christa Johnson

Start Time: 8:05 AM
Sophie Gustafson
Liselotte Neumann
Irene Cho

Start Time: 8:15 AM
Jill McGill
Hee-Won Han
Laura Davies

Start Time: 8:25 AM
Momoko Ueda
Ji Young Oh
Angela Park

It's not like the early-afternoon back-9 quadrant is weak, just that besides the 2006 Rookie of the Year, it has few "name" players compared to the others:

Start Time: 11:15 AM
Allison Fouch
Lorie Kane
Louise Friberg

Start Time: 11:25 AM
Silvia Cavalleri
Carin Koch
Sun Young Yoo

Start Time: 11:35 AM
Minea Blomqvist
Meena Lee
Candie Kung

Start Time: 11:45 AM
Meaghan Francella
Rachel Hetherington
Seon Hwa Lee

Start Time: 11:55 AM
Jimin Kang
Brittany Lincicome
Nicole Castrale

The average talent level in each pairing here is actually quite high and very well-balanced, so don't be surprised if you see a disproportionate share of top 10ers come from this quadrant.

In the not-ready-for-prime-time pairings, Anna Rawson takes over the traditional glamour spot (yup, 1st off the 10th), relegating Stacy Lewis to following Ochoa, Sorenstam, and Pressel off the 1st tee at 12:05 pm. Bubble girls Moira Dunn and Jamie Hullett (12:35 off #1), Jennifer Rosales and Russy Gulyanamitta (12:25 off #10), and Kelli Kuehne and Charlotte Mayorkas (12:05 off #1) go off in pairs in the afternoon, while threesome Wendy Doolan, Mikaela Parmlid, and Karin Sjodin (7:35 off #1) get to enjoy the feeling of mutual-assured-desperation in the morning. At least Danielle Downey (6:55 am off #10) got into the field, so she has a fighting chance to move up 8 spots on the money list and secure top priority status for next season. And thankfully the tournament organizers saw fit not to pair Violeta Retamoza, Aree Song, and Jeanne Cho-Hunicke together, despite their presence at the, uh, foundation of the money list.

Good luck to one and all!