HSBC LPGA Brasil Cup Preview

27 players will tee it up this weekend in the second-annual HSBC Brasil Cup, an unofficial LPGA tournament.  Itanhanga Golf Club, just outside of Rio de Janeiro, will again be the venue.  Catriona Matthew is the defending champion, having won last year's inaugural event by five strokes.  The Brasil Cup will not be televised in the United States.

23 LPGA regulars plus four local sponsor's invitees make up the field.  Angela Stanford (Rolex and HD #9) is the highest-ranked player to make the trip, followed by Matthew, Brittany Lang, last year's runner-up Kristy McPherson, Eun-Hee Ji and Hee Young Park.  They will play two rounds beginning Saturday for a $700,000 purse, of which the winner will bring home $105,000.  Being an unofficial event, none of the winnings will count towards the official LPGA money list.  A native of Brazil, Angela Park will attract a large share of the attention this week - I hope her game is up to it.

As you probably already know, Rio will host the 2016 Olympic Games where golf makes its return as an Olympic sport.  This event was born out of the effort to host those Games.  My hope is that as that year comes closer, the sponsorship can bump the purse over the million-dollar barrier and make the Brasil Cup a limited-field official event, a la the HSBC Women's Champions in Singapore or the Ochoa Invitational.  There are plenty of openings in the spring schedule to fit it in - witness the late announcement of the 2010 edition landing on what should be a coveted holiday weekend (in America, anyway).  From what we know so far about Commissioner Whan, I suspect this proposal has already been discussed.