Canadian Women's Open Pairings

The Canadian Women's Open organizers must have loved the Solheim Cup. Consider the following pairings for tomorrow's opening round:

1st tee, 12:10 PM
Suzann Pettersen
Helen Alfredsson
Sophie Gustafson

1st tee, 12:40 PM
Cristie Kerr
Juli Inkster
Christina Kim

10th tee, 9:00 AM
Angela Stanford
Paula Creamer
Brittany Lincicome

Kinda cool to put teammates together like that. Also nice of them to put recent Solheim Cuppers with former ones:

1st tee, 12:50 PM
Natalie Gulbis
Meg Mallon
Ji-Yai Shin

10th tee, 12:40 PM
Pat Hurst
Kristy McPherson
Jee Young Lee

Lots of stories to share if they have the inclination to chat while one of the season's biggest purses is at stake. As far as I can tell, though, the only Solheim Cup rivals they put together were Anna Nordqvist and Brittany Lang, off the 10th at 8:50 am. I also liked the way they sprinkled current and former Solheim Cuppers among those not eligible to compete in it, as for instance

1st tee, 9:20 AM
Eunjung Yi
Nicole Castrale
Sun Young Yoo

1st tee, 12:20 PM
Lorie Kane
Morgan Pressel
Katherine Hull

10th tee, 9:10 AM
Catriona Matthew
Lorena Ochoa
Meena Lee

10th tee, 12:20 PM
Stacy Prammanasudh
Lindsey Wright
Song-Hee Kim

10th tee, 12:50 PM
Kyeong Bae
M.J. Hur
Maria Hjorth

But the pairings I'd be most interested in following, are, in order:

1st tee, 12:30 PM
Eun-Hee Ji
Ai Miyazato
Michelle Wie

10th tee, 8:40 AM
In-Kyung Kim
Ya Ni Tseng
Laura Davies

10th tee, 12:30 PM
Na Yeon Choi
Jeong Jang
Young Kim

1st tee, 8:40 AM
Louise Friberg
Seon Hwa Lee
Candie Kung

1st tee, 9:10 AM
Momoko Ueda
Liselotte Neumann
Hee Young Park

10th tee, 9:20 AM
Karrie Webb
Rachel Hetherington
Se Ri Pak

10th tee, 12:10 PM
Hee-Won Han
Wendy Ward
Leta Lindley

Here are my picks for top sleeper pairings:

1st tee, 7:50 AM
Katie Futcher
Hye Jung Choi
Jane Park

10th tee, 1:50 PM
Shi Hyun Ahn
Leah Wigger
Angela Park

A lot of talent there, even if injuries and slumps have hidden it.

Most curious decision is putting the top-ranked Canadian in the tournament, Alena Sharp, in the 1st group off the 10th at 7:20 am. Ouch! Moira Dunn must be an honorary Canadian--she's going off 2 groups later, paired with Kira Meixner and Amber Prange. Hopefully she'll show those Futures Tour regulars a thing or 2 about getting it done in the big leagues. At #82 on the money list, Moira needs a big paycheck to have a chance of qualifying for the Asian swing.

It really is amazing how many different races within races there are in a single late-summer tournament--for the top of the money list, to join the Million Dollar Club, to qualify for the Samsung World Championship, to get inside the top 80, or 100, or 125.... One good week can make a huge difference in a golfer's season--and as Eunjung Yi and M.J. Hur have discovered, what a gigantic difference a great week can make in one's career! Good luck to everyone, but I'll be rooting for Ai-sama, the Stone Buddha, Inky, and Moira, as usual.

[Update 1 (5:33 pm): After all the weird hometown off-the-course mishaps Paige Mackenzie had to deal with last week (thanks to Stephanie Wei for the lowdown on them!), it's a good thing the CWO tournament organizers cut her a break and have her going off at a relatively late 8 am starting time tomorrow. Just in case something happens on the way to the course, you know?]

[Update 2 (8:48 pm): Here's hoping Momoko Ueda is completely over the nausea and stomach troubles that held her back in Portland, as she wrote in her blog last week. I'd really love to see all her hard work this season start paying off!]