SBS Open Pairings

No time for a proper look at the inaugural pairings for the '09 LPGA season at the SBS Open, but here are a few quick observations:

• You know the field is pretty darn strong when some of the hottest players in the world are going off early in the morning and late in the afternoon, including Johanna Mundy (10th tee, 7:20 am), Anja Monke (1st tee, 8:10 am), Amy Yang (#1 tee, 1:30 pm), and Hee Kyung Seo and Ha Neul Kim (10th tee, 1:20 pm). Notice that they all spent a good deal of time on the LET or KLPGA last season.
  
• It would sure be great to see Se Ri Pak (1st tee, 11:50 am), Grace Park (10th tee, 12:30 pm), and Aree Song (10th tee, 7:30 am) start their comeback seasons off on the right foot. Same goes for Na On Min (1st tee, 7:10 am) and Kyeong Bae (10th tee, 7:20 am). I wouldn't call it a comeback, but I'm very curious to see how Morgan Pressel (1st tee, 12:30 pm) does in her return to Hawaii and whether Jee Young Lee (10th tee, 8:50 am) and Momoko Ueda (10th tee, 12:00 pm) will get off to a good start this season.
  
• The pressure's on players who hadn't been playing up to expectations for much of last season but who seem to have righted the ship recently and started playing well again, like Carolina Llano (1st tee, 7:10 am), Louise Stahle (10th tee, 7:30 am), Charlotte Mayorkas (10th tee, 7:50 am), Julieta Granada (10th tee, 8:10 am), H.J. Choi (1st tee, 8:20 am), Lindsey Wright (1st tee, 8:40 am), Nicole Castrale (1st tee, 11:50 am), Candie Kung (10th tee, 12:00 pm), Meena Lee and Ai Miyazato (10th tee, 12:20 pm), Natalie Gulbis (1st tee, 12:30 pm), Michelle Wie (1st tee, 12:50 pm), Anna Grzebien (10th tee, 1:30 pm), and Anna Rawson (1st tee, 1:30 pm).
  

Here are my favorite pairings, in terms of the threesomes I'd most like to follow:

10th tee, 12:00 PM
Na Yeon Choi
Candie Kung
Momoko Ueda

10th tee, 8:20 AM
In-Kyung Kim
Paula Creamer
Suzann Pettersen

10th tee, 8:30 AM
Stacy Prammanasudh
Cristie Kerr
Shanshan Feng

1st tee, 12:00 PM
Hee Young Park
Angela Park
Allison Fouch

1st tee, 8:50 AM
Brittany Lang
Kristy McPherson
Jane Park

10th tee, 8:40 AM
Angela Stanford
Eun-Hee Ji
Juli Inkster

There's much more to be said, but it'll have to wait!

[Update 1 (10:45 am): Two other categories of players to keep track of this week: vets like Juli Inkster, Rachel Hetherington, Lorie Kane, and Pat Hurst who could regain their top 30 form any given week; and players in lower priority status categories like Anna Nordqvist and Eunjung Yi who will need to play well in the events they get into a have a shot at the top 80 this season.]