Monday, October 29, 2012

Mizuno Classic Preview & Pairings

Let me start off by giving a big congratulations to Suzann Pettersen for winning the Sunrise LPGA Taiwan Championship. This was Suzann's second consecutive victory on the LPGA Tour. Suzann held off challenges from Inbee Park and Yani Tseng to win by 3 strokes.

The tour moves to Japan this week for the playing of the Mizuno Classic. It is the final stop on the current four-stop Asian swing.

This is tournament number 25 of 27 this year. Here are the key details:

Course:  Kintetsu Kashikojimo Country Club
Location:  Shima-shi, Mie, Japan
Defending Champion:  Momoko Ueda
Winning Score:  67-64-69=200 (-16)

Final Field:  78 players
Par 36/36=72
Yardage:  6506 yards
Purse:  $1,200,000

This tournament is only 54 holes.

I will post the pairings as soon as they become available.

My strength of field rating is 53%, making it the eighth most weakest field of the year. Most Americans and Europeans have chosen to skip this event. Some of the bigger names missing include: Suzann Pettersen, Paula Creamer, Cristie Kerr, Brittany Lincicome, Ai Miyazato, Catriona Matthew, Michelle Wie, Sandra Gal, Azahara Munoz, Sun Young Yoo, Meena Lee, Mindy Kim, Natalie Gulbis, Katherine Hull, So Yeon Ryu, Lexi Thompson, Jessica Korda, and Katie Futcher.

With that many players missing, you may be wondering why the field rating isn't lower. It is because so many highly ranked non LPGA players are playing in this event. These highly Rolex ranked players include: Sun Ju Ahn, Chie Arimura, Yukari Baba, Mayu Hattori, Sakura Yokomine, Miki Saiki, Rikako Morita, and Ritsuko Ryu.

There is no television broadcast in the United States for this event.

Other Tidbits:
Inbee Park's second place finish earned her 12 player of the year points. Stacy Lewis's lead, for that very importatnt Hall of Fame point, has been cut to 28 points. A first place finish is worth 30 points.

Jiyai Shin who did not play, is also skipping next week's tournament in Mexico. This will eliminate her from winning the Vare Trophy for the tour's lowest scoring average. It now will be a 3 way race between, InbeePark (70.27), Stacy Lewis (70.39), and So Yeon Ryu (70.42). A Hall of Fame point will be awarded to the winner.

Rolex Mover of the Week:
LPGA rookie Carlotta Ciganda, won for the second time this year on the Ladies European Tour. She jumps from #84 to #58 in the world.

Titleholders Update:
Belen Mozo, Mariajo Uribe, and Mo Martin are the latest to qualify.

Who's Hot: 
Catriona Matthew has now finished in the top ten in five consecutive tournaments.

Who's Not:
Sophie Gustafson has finished no better than 55th in her last eighth tournaments.



2 comments:

Ladies Golf Clothes said...

Thanks for the post, really appreciate it. Will stop by again!

tony jesselli said...

Sorry for not being able to update. Hurricane Sandy has us without power for four days so far. Hope to be up and running soon.