Tournament Number Seven Might Bring Some Matches Made in Heaven.

Na Yeon Choi vs. Paula Creamer?
Jiyai Shin vs. Ai Miazato?
Michelle Wie vs. Yani Tseng?
Suzanne Petterson vs. I.K. Kim?
Morgan Pressel vs. Song-Hee Kim?

These are just some of the matches we just might see..... But not in the first round.

No, we will not get to see any of these matches in the first round because players seeded 1 to 32 can not play each other. Players seeded 33-64 will have their names put in a hat and players 1-32 will pick an opponent.

Will that mean that the first round will be predictable? No, not if last year was any indication. Last year's first round results included the following upsets:

Juli Inkster (35) defeated Suzann Pettersen (3)
Shi Hyun Ahn (48) defeated Anna Nordqvist (6)
Beatriz Recari (62) defeated Brittany Lincicome (16)

In fact, the winner of the 2010 Sybase Championship was Sun Young Yoo who was seeded #28. Her 6 victories included wins over #34 Karen Stupples, #5 Cristie Kerr, #12 Song-Hee Kim, #4 Yani Tseng and #10 Angela Stanford.

The 2011 Sybase Match Play Championship is sure to have many more upsets, and many matches between top contenders in the later rounds. It is the only tournament of its kind on the LPGA schedule. If you are in the New York/ New Jersey area come on out this weekend. It is sure to be the best entertainment in the area. I will be there all six days.

For a limited-field event, this one has a very strong field. Nine of the top 10 players in the world and 49 of the top 52 on the LPGA priority list will be playing. The 2 notable absentees will be Momoko Ueda (playing a JLPGA event) and Sandra Gal (playing in Germany).

As we enter tournament number 7, here are are the top 25 players in my player of the year rankings:

1- Stacy Lewis - 86.60 points
2- Yani Tseng - 83.68
3- Karrie Webb - 72.10
4- I.K. Kim - 54.66
5- Morgan Pressel - 52.68
6- Sandra Gal - 51.24
7- Michelle Wie - 49.64
8- Angela Stanford - 43.68
9- Mika Miyazato - 38.70
10-Chie Arimura - 38.20
11-Na Yeon Choi - 37.70
12-Suzanne Pettersen - 37.04
13-Maria Hjorth - 36.56
14-Katie Futcher - 33.88
15-Cristie Kerr - 32.32
16-Juli Inkster - 31.88
17-Brittany Lincicome - 31.64
18-Amy Yang - 31.26
19-Sun Young Yoo - 30.26
20-Anna Nordqvist - 25.44
21-Paula Creamer - 24.94
22-Julieta Granada - 24.60
23-Mindy Kim - 22.28
24-Jiyai Shin - 21.08
25-Se Ri Pak - 19.68

As you can see, Stacy Lewis's top-5 finish at Avnet, while Yani Tseng was missing the cut, catapulted her into first place.

Hard to believe stat of the week:

Brittany Lang has shot under par in only 3 of her 21 rounds this year. She has yet to break 70.

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