Honda LPGA Thailand Preview & Pairings

Congratulations goes out to Jiyai Shin for winning the first tournament of the 2013 season. Jiyai held off a charging Yani Tseng to capture the ISPS Women's Australian Open. The Constructivist's full recap can be found here.

The tour moves to Thailand this week for the playing of the Honda LPGA Thailand.

This will be tournament #2 of 28 this year.

Don't be fooled by the fact that this is a limited field event. This will be one of the strongest fields you will see all year for a non-major event, 18 of the top 20 ladies on this week's Rolex Rankings will be teeing it up. Even more impressive than that, 56 of the top 60 ladies on the LPGA Priority List will be in attendance. My strength of field rating is 80%. Way up from last week's 49.5%.

Here are the key details:

Course:  Siam Country Club, Pattaya Old Course
Location:  Chonburi, Thailand
Defending 2X Champion: Yani Tseng
Winning 2012 Score:  73-65-65-66 = 269 (-19)

Final Field:  70 players
Par:  36/36=72
Yardage:  6,469 Yards
Purse:  $1,500,000

Here are the television times:
Feb 21 - GC 9:00 AM-12:30 PM EST
Feb 22 - GC 9:00 AM-1:30 PM EST
Feb 23 - GC 2:00 PM-6:00 PM EST
Feb 24 - GC 1:30 PM-6:00 PM EST

Included among this week's sponsors exemptions will be: Michelle Wie, Cheyenne Woods, Lydia Ko, and both Jutanugarn sisters.

Once again I will remind everyone planning to watch the telecast that Thailand is 12 hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Time, so be careful of spoilers on other websites. The tournament will be long over, and the results posted before the telecast is shown. I will not post any spoilers here.

Here are the pairings for \round one..

Getting Married Hasn't Helped

Apparently marriage hasn't helped Amanda Blumenherst's game. Amanda, who had an awful second half last season, missed the cut this week by 12 strokes.

The Pancake Mix

Former University of Alabama star Brooke Pancake made her debut as a LPGA member this past week with mixed results. The good news is that she made the cut and finished in red figures. The bad news was she faded down the stretch and finished at 3 under par, good for 55th place.

Hard to Believe Fact of the Week:

Maude-Aimee Leblanc, was disqualified after the first round for signing an incorrect scorecard. She signed for a 3 on the 9th hole, when in fact she took a 4. 

Titleholders Update:

Jiyai Shin, Yani Tseng, and Moriya Jutanugarn, were the first three players to qualify.

Rolex Movers of the Week:

Jiyai Shin moved from #8 to #6. Beatriz Recari's 4th place finish was good enough to move her from #58 to #53. Carlotta Ciganda moved from #48 to #42.


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