State Farm Classic Preview
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Defending Champion - Ji Young Oh Springfield, Illinois 72 holes, begins Thursday Par 72, 6539 yards Tournament Odds - from Oddschecker.com Last Player In - Young-A Yang (#170) First Players Out - Barb Mucha (#214), Becky Iverson, Kate Golden Scoring Averages - 70.83 (2008), 71.97 (2007), 71.56 (2006 The Rail) 2009 Scoring Average to date - 72.92
U.S. TV coverage (all times EDT): Fri 12p-2p ESPN2 Sat 3p-5p NBC Sat 5p-7p ESPN2 Sun 1p-3p ESPN2 Sun 4p-6p NBC |
The LPGA visits Illinois for the 34th consecutive year to contest the LPGA State Farm Classic. Panther Creek Country Club hosts this tournament for the third time. Ji Young Oh (who won two weeks ago at Sybase) defeated Yani Tseng (who won last week at Corning) in a one-hole playoff to take the 2008 State Farm title. This was also the event where Michelle Wie would have been playing in the final Sunday group had she not been disqualified for a Friday scorecard infraction.
For the second straight year, the State Farm moves to an earlier slot in the LPGA schedule. After being played in September 2007, it was held in July 2008 and now moves to the first weekend in June. According to Larry's Life On Tour blog, the seasonal difference in the course conditions is astonishing. In addition to the thicker rough, the course has been lengthened out in an effort to prevent a repeat of the very low scores we saw last July. I doubt we'll see anybody with four rounds in the 60s this week.
If true, the posted TV schedule this week is good news. Four hours of coverage both Saturday and Sunday with two hours each day on NBC would be great exposure for the Tour. Even though both LPGA.com and the State Farm Classic website are posting this schedule, I'm a little skeptical of it because NBC and ESPN2 aren't natural broadcast partners like ABC/ESPN or NBC/GC (who will be in the booth - Terry Gannon and Dottie Pepper?). Hopefully, my skepticism is unfounded.
Thanks again to Mr. Sporadic Schedule (or should I say Mr. Ginn?), the turnout in Springfield is outstanding. Yes, next week's LPGA Championship could have influenced that also. Lorena Ochoa and Jeong Jang are the only two players in my Top 40 not in attendance. Contrast the field with last year's - 2008's Field Score of 31 tied with the MasterCard Classic for second-worst of the year (Corona's 13 was the worst). Last year's edition was played the week before Evian so many players traveled early to get acclimated to the European time zones.
So - we have a familiar course which has been toughened up versus a very strong field, most of whom haven't played here in almost two years ...who to pick, I must ask? I think Yani makes it two in a row.
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1. Yani Tseng 2. Ai Miyazato 3. Suzann Pettersen 4. Song-Hee Kim 5. Paula Creamer 6. Natalie Gulbis 7. Michelle Wie 8. Angela Stanford 9. Hee Young Park 10. Seon Hwa Lee 11. Helen Alfredsson 12. Na Yeon Choi
Stats: Winner 2-10 Winner in Top 12 5-10 Top 10s 46 4.6 |
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