ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open Preview & Pairings

The wait is over. After a  three month break the LPGA season will kick off this week with the playing of the ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open.

The long layoff it seems, wasn't long enough for most of the LPGA stars. Either that or Commissioner Michael Whan forgot to inform his players that there is a tournament this week.The following players will not be playing in this event:

Inbee Park, Na Yeon Choi, Ai Miyazato, Suzann Pettersen, Shanshan Feng, Mika Miyazato, Amy Yang, Cristie Kerr, Paula Creamer, Sun Young Yoo, Hee Kyung Seo, Sandra Gal, I.K. Kim, Candie Kung, Se Ri Pak, Hee Young Park, Julie Inkster, Meena Lee, Natalie Gulbis, Morgan Pressel, and Momoko Ueda.

This will be good news for the players who are way down on the Priority List, as they will be able to get into a tournament very early in the season. Cheyenne Woods and Lydia Ko, are two of this week's sponsor exemptions.

This is the first of 28 tournaments this season. Here are some of the key details:

Course:  Royal Canberra Golf Club
Location:  Yarralumla, Australia
Defending Champion:  Jessica Korda (won a 6 player playoff)
Winning Score:  72-70-73-74=289 (-3)

Final Field: 156 players
Par 36/37=73 (Yes this is a par 73)
Yardage:  6,679 yards
Purse:  $1,200,000

Here are the television times:

Feb 14 - GC 12:30 PM-2:30 PM EST

Feb 15 - GC 12:30 PM-2:30 PM EST

Feb 16 - GC 3:00 PM-6:00 PM EST

Feb 17 - GC 3:00 PM-6:30 PM EST

For anyone planning on watching the telecast, I would advise you not to visit the LPGA website. Australia is 16 hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Time, and the results will be posted long before we get to watch the telecast. I will not post any spoilers on my blog until after the completion of the final telecast.

Here are the Pairings for the first 2 rounds:

My strength of field rating (which is based on the participation of top players on both the LPGA Priority List and the Rolex Rankings), is just 49.5%. This could very well remain the weakest field the entire season. Only 20 of the top 50 players on the Rolex Rankings, and 6 of the top 15 players on the LPGA Priority list will be teeing it up.

Other Tidbits:
Fifteen year old Lydia Ko has done it again. It seems that she wins every time she tees it up. Lydia who won last year on the LPGA tour, now adds an L.E.T. trophy to her collection. She also has a win on the ALPG. Lydia won the ISPS Handa NZ Women's Open (with a score of -10), by one shot over Amelia Lewis. This was even more impressive when you consider Angela Stanford (+7), Anna Nordqvist (+5), and Sophie Gustufson (+4) all missed the cut.

Rolex Movers of the week:
Lydia Ko moves from #38 to #30 in the world rankings.


Follow @tonyjesselliTweet

Free website hit counter