Honda LPGA Thailand Preview

The LPGA returns to Thailand after a brief hiatus for the third edition of the Honda LPGA Thailand.  The Asian events on the schedule were split into two swings (one late-winter, one mid-fall) after the 2007 season and rather than force a second Thai tournament in only four months time, the Tour and the Honda organizers agreed to delay until February 2009.  Suzann Pettersen won her fifth event of 2007 here (which remains her most recent victory), eagling the final hole to fend off Laura Davies' Sunday charge.

Siam Country Club will be hosting for the first time.  I've linked to the course map above but strangely, no part of the map mentions a "Plantation Course" so there's no certainty about which 18 of the 27-hole layout will be used.  The "B" and "C" nines are bunched together and have the most water hazards so I assume they would be the choices.

The limited field consists of the 50 highest-priority LPGA players (six players chose to sit this one out, allowing the cut to fall past Natalie Gulbis) plus 10 sponsor exemptions.  The Field Score of 91 is very high for an Asian Swing event and I expect to see a similar number next week at the HSBC in Singapore.  The exemptions run the gamut from Ji-Yai Shin and Laura Davies to Russian pro Maria Verchenova to Japanese rookies Mike Miyazato and Shiho Oyama to local pro Russy Gulyanamitta and two local amateurs.  The Thai golf fans are in for a treat.

This tournament is a perfect example of why I was so excited about the new TV deal with Golf Channel.  Beginning next season, this event will have (at the very least) tape-delayed highlights broadcast on GC.  This year - no American TV coverage at all.  And with the next two events being played in Singapore and Mexico, we may not have any more stateside LPGA coverage until the Phoenix event the last week of March.  Thanks to Jimbo at Seoulsisters, we do have a link which will hopefully provide online coverage this week.  I say hopefully because last year, it was blocked outside of Thailand during the event.

For only about the fourth time since I started picking winners back in July 2006, my choice missed the cut.  That won't happen again this week - there isn't any cut!  But I won't be picking Shin to win either.  With the season still early and no prior histories on this course, the hottest hand gets the nod.