The final LPGA major of the season is upon us, the RICOH Women's British Open.  Royal Lytham & St. Annes hosts the WBO for the fourth time, the third time in the last seven years.  Sherri Steinhauer won two of the three previous Lytham Opens (I almost keep typing "Lythium") but I daresay she won't be challenging this week as she has missed the entire season after having two hip surgeries.  Jiyai Shin won last year's event by three shots at Sunningdale, the one WBO rota course which isn't your typical British Open style (meaning "links") course.

Lytham is about as "links" as you can get, even down to the crappy weather that's being forecast for this week.  I've said before that I'm not a big fan of watching anybody get rained on and/or wind-blown in 55-degree temperatures for any extended period and I especially don't care to see my favorite lady golfers have to endure it.  Yes, it's a test of their fortitude and all that rubbish but since I wouldn't want to set foot outside on such a day and would never consider playing a round of golf in it, I shouldn't expect nor want my favorite players to risk getting sick or injured by spending five hours in it.  Insult me in the comments if you wish but you'd better first convince me that you would have no qualms about walking the course for four days in weather like that.

Another thing this situation does is wreck havoc on your handicapping (mine needs no extra wrecking, thank you very much) by forcing you to throw out perfectly good Hot players simply because they might not be mudders.  Some might be mothers, but that's not nearly the same.  The oddsmakers know it too, with nobody being better than a 9-to-1 shot and 15 players being 33-to-1 or better (as of noon local time Tuesday).  Which is too bad because this week's field is the first to score 100 since last year's U.S. Open.  All of my Top 40 players are here - the top 42, in fact.  Which would normally make it very tough for an outsider to break through and win, if not for the weather factor.

So here is my best shot.  If I get more than three players in the Top 10, I'll be surprised.  Is this the biggest downer of a tournament preview you've ever read?