MasterCard Classic Preview

by hound dog on Mar 17, 2009 3:00 PM PDT

Defending Champion - Louise Friberg

Bosque Real Country Club (link en Espanol)

Huixquilucan, Mexico

54 holes, begins Friday

Par 72, 6892 yards

Field Score - 75

Last Player In - Paige Mackenzie (#161)

First Players Out - Sarah Kemp (#162), Young-A Yang, Maggie Will (#213)

Scoring Averages - 74.59 (2008), 73.32 (2007), 74.18 (2006)

2009 Scoring Average to date - 73.58

U.S. TV coverage - none

The Tour visits the Mexico City area this week for the fifth consecutive year to contest the MasterCard Classic Honoring Alejo Peralta Presented By Nextel (whew!). Last year, Swedish rookie and blogger extraordinare Louise Friberg came from ten shots behind on Sunday to win by one over Yani Tseng.

Bosque Real is the longest course that the LPGA plays regularly. Being at high altitude helps the players carry the ball farther (Friberg noted last year that she had to adjust her club yardages by 13%) but it is still a long track with severe elevation changes. Three times in its history, the scoring averages for the MasterCard have exceeded the yearly Tour average by more than a stroke.

The field is one of the best we've ever seen south of the Rio Grande. Last year's event had only 12 Top 40 players in attendance (the Field Score of 31 tied for the second-worst in 2008 - which one do you think was the worst, trivia fans?). This year, 28 of the Top 40 are here including nine of my current Top 10. Angela Stanford is sitting out this week but the rest of the best are in town.

Who is going to win? How about last year's runner-up who hasn't finished worse than T11 so far this year?

1. Yani Tseng

2. Lorena Ochoa

3. Ji-Yai Shin

4. Paula Creamer

5. Jane Park

6. Katherine Hull

7. Na Yeon Choi

8. Jee Young Lee

9. Brittany Lang

10. Cristie Kerr

11. Suzann Pettersen

12. Sun Young Yoo

Stats: Winner 0-3

Winner in Top 12 3-3

Top 10s 16 5.3

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Comments

Sarah Kemp along with Haeji Kang (230) Monday-qualified and Young-A Yang for whatever reason is off the alternates list, leaving Maggie Will and Na Ri Kim (223) on the outside looking in at the moment.

by IceCat on Mar 17, 2009 4:49 PM PDT reply actions