LPGA Hana Bank Championship Preview
by hound dog on Oct 4, 2011 3:00 PM PDT
Email
Print
|
Defending Champion - Na Yeon Choi Sky 72 Golf Club, Ocean Course Incheon, South Korea 54 holes, begins Friday Par 72, 6364 yards Tournament Odds - from Oddschecker.com Last Player In - n/a First Players Out - n/a Scoring Averages - 72.81 (2010), 73.40 (2009), 73.26 (2008) 2011 Scoring Average to date - 73.14
U.S. TV coverage (all times EDT): Fri 1p-3p GC Sat 1p-3p GC Sun 1p-3p GC |
The LPGA starts its autumn Asian swing with its tenth annual trip to Korea for the Hana Bank Championship. The Tour will spend the next four weeks playing limited field events in the Far East, from here traveling to Malaysia, Taiwan and Japan.
Na Yeon Choi is the two-time defending champion. That's such a rare distinction these days that I just had to point it out (Yani Tseng will be a two-time defender at least twice next year). It's especially notable when Choi's career win total is only four. Most other two-timers you can find in LPGA history had a lot more than four victories. Since those wins came on this same course, shouldn't that make Choi more of a favorite? Her odds are running 2.5-3 times longer than Tseng's, who did finish T2 in 2009 - her only previous appearance here. But Choi's also being shown behind Suzann Pettersen. It's debatable but I don't see how anybody could pick against NYC this weekend.
These events often suffer from absences from a handful of top players. The highest Field Score for a fall Asian event over the last three years was 78 at last year's Hana Bank. As you can see from the Tournament Box, this year's 88 is substantially higher. Ai Miyazato is my only Top 10er not here and Mika Miyazato is the only other missing Top 20 player. The field is bolstered by the sponsor's exemption which was given to U.S. Open champion So Yeon Ryu as well as the return of Jiyai Shin and the appearance of Cristie Kerr (I thought her tendonitis might have prevented her from playing so soon post-Solheim).
I mentioned them in my Hot 20 post but wanted to clarify something a little further. Because they finished in the Top 10 at Navistar, Tiffany Joh, Jenny Shin and Jennifer Johnson would all have been automatically in this field if it were not a limited-field tournament. The "Top 10 in previous event" rule only applies toward full-field events. I don't believe that they would be guaranteed a place in the next full-field tournament (which won't be until next season) by virtue of the Top 10 finish but since they are all in the Top 60 on the money list, this becomes a moot point. So why did I bring it up in the first place? Just call me the King of Trivial FYIs...
1 comment
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Tseng is not even offered in the head-to-head matchups this week
That’s very rare but it demonstrates the level she’s approaching, no one considered on her level, at least not that the oddsmakers are willing to risk. Fairly soon Yani may be asked to give strokes in head-to-head matchups instead of mere odds. That’s been done with Tiger. At his best often he would be matched against two players instead of one, and still asked to surrender strokes if you wanted to bet his way.
As I’ve pointed out previously, oddsmakers don’t really care about past performances on a specific course when it comes to establishing the favorite. Tseng would be the favorite on any course in the world at this point, even if she had never so much as parred a hole in a previous try.
NYC is allotted benefit of a doubt beyond the norm. She’s matched against Pettersen, who is a -125 chalk. Normally NYC is one tier lower in the matchups.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
