Safeway Classic Preview

This is the 40^th consecutive year that the ladies have visited the Portland, Oregon area, keeping it tied with Rancho Mirage, California as the longest-running stops on Tour.  Portland does carry an asterisk, however - from 1977 to 1982 this was an unofficial event, held under a best-ball team format.  The team of Donna Caponi and Kathy Whitworth won three of those six tournaments.

Safeway often gives us a wide-open finish (witness last year's account), primarily due to its 54-hole format.  With 33% fewer holes being played prior to the final round, the leaders aren't able to get nearly as much separation from the field.  Ergo, a lot more players go into Sunday with a chance to win.

You need another example of how consistently great Yani Tseng has been this season?  She has been ranked in the top three of every Hot 20 list I've published in 2011.  The only other player who is anywhere close to that accomplishment is Cristie Kerr, who has been among the top three the last six in a row (despite not winning a single event) but was just once in the first five lists of the year.

As usual, the Safeway field is a strong one with only one of my Top 20 players (Catriona Matthew) not on site.  What surprises me about the field is how far down the cutoff point came.  While only four of my Top 40 didn't show up, about thirty more active players above Adrienne White (a Category 20 player) passed on Portland as well.  They're not playing the Futures Tour, either - no event scheduled there this week.

The race for the U.S. Solheim team concludes this weekend so I'm sure that will be a frequent topic for the Golf Channel commentators this weekend.  Click here if you need a refresher on the current points situation and my choices for the U.S. Captain's picks.  I'm rooting for Paige Mackenzie and Ryann O'Toole to have great weeks and make Rosie Jones' job a tough one!