Safeway International goes from strength to strength
IN: News | LPGA | Safeway International (2005) | Preview | by Bruce Young | 16 Mar 2005
After a week's break the 2005 LPGA Tour gets back into action this week when the Safeway International Presented by Coca Cola, gets underway on Thursday at Superstition Mountain in Arizona.
The tournament is being played for the second year at Superstition Mountain Golf & Country Club in Superstition, Arizona, about an hour from Phoenix, the event having been played in sixteen of the last seventeen years prior, at the Moon Valley Country Club in Phoenix. The Safeway International was first played back in 1980 when Australia's Jan Stephenson won at the Hillcrest Golf Course.
A Jack Nicklaus designed facility and one of two courses he designed on the residential driven development, the Prospector Course, which was built in 1997, carries Bermuda greens. The course is one of the longest on the LPGA schedule measuring some 6600 yards but such length proved to be of little concern to Annika Sorenstam last year when she powered away to a four shot win at eighteen under par. The quality of the leaderboard at the end of last year's event indicates just what a good test the new venue was with Cristie Kerr, finishing second and Lorena Ochoa and Grace Park sharing third.
Defending champion Sorenstam aside, the field includes Juli Inkster, Grace Park, Lorena Ochoa, SBS at Turtle Bay winner Jennifer Rosales, Meg Mallon, Cristie Kerr and former Phoenix winners Se Ri Pak, Karrie Webb, Laura Davies, Rachel Hetherington and Patty Sheehan. Davies is a four time winner of the Safeway when the tournament was staged at Moon Valley.
Perhaps the biggest drawcard aside from, and yes maybe even including, Sorenstam will be 15-year-old Michelle Wie. Wie was runner up to Rosales in Hawaii two weeks ago but she will also be joined by two other teenagers in Paul Creamer and Brittany Lincicome.
With such a strong field, a purse of US$1.4 million and the prospect of great weather, the record crowd of 90,000 for tournament week in 2004 may well be surpassed.
Sorenstam is clearly the favourite and likely winner, but the ever improving Cristie Kerr, who has been second and third in two starts this year and was runner up last year, Karrie Webb and Lorena Ochoa who was fourth here last year are likely to challenge at some stage. Webb, who finished second two weeks ago in Mexico, a week after he win over Ai Miyazato in Australia, appears refocused on her job now and although she did not perform well here last year, it is a somewhat new look Webb that we see in 2005.
Aside from Webb and Hetherington who have both won this event previously at other venues, Australia is well represented with Katherine Hull, Wendy Doolan, Michelle Ellis, Nadina Taylor and Lindsey Wright also teeing it up.
The event is played over seventy two holes.
