Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic Preview, Predictions, Pairings

The Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic will be without its 5-time champion, Se Ri Pak, due to injuries both nagging and recent, as well as without the new world #1 Cristie Kerr, #2 Ai Miyazato, #4 Suzann Pettersen, #5 Ya Ni Tseng, #6 Anna Nordqvist, and #7 Karrie Webb, and #9 Michelle Wie, all of whom will be resting and preparing for the U.S. Women's Open. But former #1 and current #3 Ji-Yai Shin will continue her comeback from an emergency appendectomy less than 3 weeks ago with the sherbet that Highland Meadows Country Club will be compared to the majors at Locust Hill and Oakmont that, uh, sandwich it, along with former champions Paula Creamer (herself on the comeback trail from recent wrist/thumb surgery), Laura Davies, Mi Hyun Kim, Eunjung Yi, Brandie Burton, and Meg Mallon, not to mention a group of golfers who have been playing great of late like Song-Hee Kim, Inbee Park, Angela Stanford, Azahara Munoz, and Amy Yang, or who have been coming on recently like In-Kyung Kim, Seon Hwa Lee, Stacy Lewis, Jeong Jang, Meena Lee, and Na On Min, or who will have something to prove like Na Yeon Choi (who missed the 1st cut of her LPGA career last week), Mika Miyazato (who wilted under major pressure and a Cristie Kerr onslaught last weekend), and Morgan Pressel (who lost in a playoff here last year to Yi).

So who in the field will break -20 this week? Here are my entries in this week's PakPicker:

1. Kim Song-Hee
2. Pressel
3. Choi Na Yeon
4. Shin
5. Park Inbee
6. Kim In-Kyung
7. Lewis
8. Creamer
9. Miyazato Mika
10. Lee Seon Hwa
11. Hull
12. Stanford

Alts: Kim Mi Hyun; Yang, Amy; Jang

As for the pairings, I'm most interested in the groups in the late-morning front-side prime-time quadrant:

Start Time: 8:50 AM
In-Kyung Kim
Maria Hjorth
Leta Lindley

Start Time: 9:00 AM
Morgan Pressel
Brandie Burton
Mika Miyazato

Start Time: 9:10 AM
M.J. Hur
Meg Mallon
Na On Min

Start Time: 9:20 AM
Seon Hwa Lee
Ji-Yai Shin
Azahara Munoz

Start Time: 9:30 AM
Mi Hyun Kim
Grace Park
Natalie Gulbis

Well, it would be prime time if the event were being telecast! Anyway, their peers going off the back in the late morning are no slouches, either:

Start Time: 8:50 AM
Alena Sharp
Catriona Matthew
Karen Stupples

Start Time: 9:00 AM
Kristy McPherson
Eun-Hee Ji
Katherine Hull

Start Time: 9:10 AM
Paula Creamer
Inbee Park
Na Yeon Choi

Start Time: 9:20 AM
Angela Stanford
Amy Yang
Jeong Jang

Start Time: 9:30 AM
Sarah Jane Smith
Karine Icher
Sandra Gal

The rookie closest to ROY race leader Azahara Munoz will be going off the back in the early afternoon, in the same quadrant as the defending champion:

Start Time: 12:25 PM
Eunjung Yi
Jee Young Lee
Katie Futcher

Start Time: 12:35 PM
Haeji Kang
Amanda Blumenherst
Ji Young Oh

Start Time: 12:45 PM
Sherri Steinhauer
Janice Moodie
Sun Young Yoo

Start Time: 12:55 PM
Candie Kung
Heather Bowie Young
Hee-Won Han

Start Time: 1:05 PM
Stacy Lewis
Brittany Lincicome
Laura Davies

That leaves the early afternoon front-side quadrant:

Start Time: 12:25 PM
Louise Friberg
Kyeong Bae
Wendy Ward

Start Time: 12:35 PM
Christina Kim
Lorie Kane
Vicky Hurst

Start Time: 12:45 PM
Jimin Kang
Meaghan Francella
Meena Lee

Start Time: 12:55 PM
Hee Young Park
Stacy Prammanasudh
Amy Hung

Start Time: 1:05 PM
Song-Hee Kim
Gwladys Nocera
Momoko Ueda

Other pairings of note include the 1st off the 1st tee:

Start Time: 7:30 AM
Jane Chin
Mikaela Parmlid
Mariajo Uribe

And these off the 10th tee:

Start Time: 7:30 AM
Pernilla Lindberg
Mina Harigae
Audra Burks

Start Time: 1:35 PM
Jane Park
Tamie Durdin
Julieta Granada

Start Time: 2:15 PM
Paola Moreno
Beatriz Recari
*Jessica Korda

I'm also interested in seeing how Futures Tour money-list leader Cindy LaCrosse (#10, 1:25 pm), not to mention former ROY Angela Park (#10, 8:40 am), NYers Moira Dunn (#1, 8:20 am) and Danielle Downey (#10, 8:00 am), and Mallory Blackwelder (#10, 7:40 am), who's playing her 1st LPGA event and has her dad on the bag, all do this week.

Word has it that the Farr will take a year off to avoid conflicting with a men's event, but return with a multi-year contract in 2012. We'll see. But more important, let's see who takes advantage of the absence of many of the LPGA's hottest players!

[Update 1 (5:10 am): David Barrett has a well-informed account of why Americans no longer dominate the LPGA and why some of them may be threats to join Cristie Kerr in the winner's circle soon. Of them, probably Morgan Pressel has the best chance this week, although Stacy Lewis may be due to break through soon. The biggest story for me, though, would be the Pink Panther picking up another Farr title this week. As it would be for onechan!]

[Update 2 (5:15 am): Terrible news for Nicole Castrale. She aggravated a shoulder injury at the LPGA Championship and will require season-ending shoulder surgery.]

[Update 3 (5:36 am): Hey, I finally beat Hound Dog to the punch on our previews!]