Kraft Nabisco Eligibility

We are a couple of weeks away from the first major of 2010, the Kraft Nabisco Championship.  I thought I'd spend a few minutes detailing how players have qualified and how some who haven't still have a chance.

The KNC has its own eligibility standards which are separate from the LPGA norm.  All LPGA Hall of Fame members are eligible to play, even if they haven't teed one up in years.  This rule admits Juli Inkster, Karrie Webb and Se Ri Pak but presumably not Lorena Ochoa (who has qualified for the Hall but is not yet a member because she has not fulfilled the minimum 10-year requirement).  No worries for Lorena - she gets in via Category-2 by having won an LPGA event during the span of 2005 through 2010.  Many of the Tour's stars get in this way but a few lesser-knowns do as well, like Louise Friberg, Silvia Cavalleri and Leta Lindley.

Category-3 is all of the past winners of the Kraft Nabisco, which opens the door for Grace Park and Patricia Meunier-Lebouc to participate.  Cat-4 includes the Top 5 finishers of last year's U.S. and British Opens as well as the LPGA Championship.  This invites Lindsey Wright, Kyeong Bae and Kristy McPherson to the party.  Cat-5 adds in the remaining members of the LPGA's Category-1 classification (last year's Top 80 money winners plus a few medical extensions).  This brings in Song-Hee Kim, Sun Young Yoo, Vicky Hurst, Janice Moodie and many others.

Category-6 is the one I really want to emphasize.  The Top 10 finishers of next week's Kia Classic qualify, which gives a lot of people one last chance to make it into the KNC field.  In a season with fewer tournaments than normal, an opportunity for the rank-and-file to gain entry into one of the season's richest events is a big deal.  That's something to keep a close eye on next Sunday afternoon while you're scoreboard watching.

Cat-7 is the Top 20 plus ties from last year's Kraft Nabisco.  This admits no one new to the event.  Nor does Cat-8, last year's Rolex Rookie of the Year (Jiyai Shin has already been covered multiple times) or Cat-9, the top three in the Rolex Rankings as of March 1.  Category-10 admits Jennifer Song, the 2009 U.S. Women's Amateur champion - provided she doesn't turn pro prior to the KNC.  Frankly, I think that stipulation stinks.  Jennifer earned the exemption properly - why does it matter whether she's an amateur now?

Category-11 covers the remaining members of both 2009 Solheim Cup teams, which admits Team Europe's Laura Davies, Diana Luna, Tania Elosegui, Becky Brewerton and Gwladys Nocera.  Category-12 is an interesting one so I'll quote it here:

Any LPGA Tour member who did not compete in the 2009 Kraft Nabisco Championship due to injury, illness or maternity, who subsequently received a medical/maternity extension of membership from the LPGA in 2009 season, and whose last year of eligibility for the Kraft Nabisco Championship was in 2009, and she is otherwise not qualified for the 2010 Kraft Nabisco Championship

This item isn't needed to cover Mi Hyun Kim or Jeong Jang because they are already in by virtue of Cat-2 (good thing too, since neither Kim nor Jang applied for or received a medical).  Without last year's KNC eligibility list in front of me, I can't think of anybody this definitely covers but I'm sure I'll remember them when I see them in the Final Field listing!  The rest of the field gets filled by up to 15 sponsor's exemptions ranging from LET, JLPGA and KLPGA players, to LPGA and T&CP pros and various amateurs.

The KNC field is always one of the year's strongest and most interesting, primarily because of its qualifying criteria.  The fact that it is always contested on the same course gives it a special aura not unlike the Masters - with its on-the-spot memories of past heroics, especially at 18 thanks to Karrie Webb in 2006 and Brittany Lincicome in 2009.  The Kraft Nabisco is probably my favorite LPGA major and it is certainly the one I look forward to the most.