CN Canadian Women’s Open Preview

The Tour heads north of the border to Calgary, Alberta for the CN Canadian Women's Open.  The third-largest purse of the season is up for grabs - $2.75 million.  That's U.S. dollars, too.  Katherine Hull won last year at Ottawa Hunt & Golf Club by one shot over Se Ri Pak.

Priddis Greens consists of two championship courses and will use half of each to contest this event.  Its Hawk Course will comprise the par-35 front nine (using holes 1-5, 15-18) and the Raven Course will be used for the par-36 back (holes 10-18).  I found this info and a lot more in the tournament media guide.  All events should be so thorough.

The TV coverage in the U.S. gets short-changed in a big way.  Since Golf Channel is carried in Canada and the CBC has the live broadcast rights there, GC must air it on tape-delay.  Choosing to not to show delayed coverage on Thursday or Friday was apparently a voluntary decision that mildly pisses me off.  I do have some good news.  Since Monday is Labor Day, I can watch the coverage until midnight Sunday night with no worries about having to work the next morning.  Also, CBC Sports will be streaming coverage live at www.cbcsports.ca (hopefully not blocked in the U.S. of A.). 

As befitting an event with such a large purse, the field is stacked.  The top 48 players in my current rankings are in attendance.  Counting this tournament, the last four events have a total Field Score of 397 out of a possible 400 - the highest four-event total by far since I've started tallying it.  I'd like to extend a special Welcome Back message to Angela Park, who returns to action this week after taking several weeks off for personal reasons.  Go get ‘em Angela!

Quite a few Canadian players are granted exemptions into the event.  One of them was Samantha Richdale, who is unable to attend because of a very short-sighted Futures Tour rule.  Larry Smich gave us the details last week.  It's hard enough for these young ladies to make a living out here without forcing them to play a lesser event for negligible gain.  Richdale would make more money by finishing 38^th in Calgary than she could by winning the ILOVENY Championship.  Not to mention that the Futures money probably won't help her standing (she's already clinched a top five finish) while any LPGA cash could boost her priority for later this year as well as next.  Bad rule.

Safeway was my worst prognostication week of the year.  Only one of my 12 picks finished in the Top 10 (Ai Miyazato) and my pick to win barely made the cut.  I'll blame my recent poor results on the crazy schedule...yeah, that's it.  Maybe the next five weeks will turn out better.