LPGA season winding to an end
BY Bruce Young | LPGA Tour | 2010 CVS Pharmacy LPGA Challenge | Preview | 12 Oct 2010
The LPGA Tour plays its last full field event in the US this season when it heads to Danville in California for this week’s CVS Pharmacy LPGA Challenge at the Blackhawk Country Club.
An original Bruce Devlin and Robert Von Hagge design, the course was extensively remodelled in 1999 by Pascuzzo and played host to this event for the first time in 2006 although the tournament itself actually dates back to 1996.
Next week the LPGA Tour heads off on their three week sojourn to Malaysia, Korea and Japan before returning to play an event in Mexico followed two weeks later by the Tour Championship in Florida.
This week Sophie Gustafson returns to defend her four shot victory over Lorena Ochoa while In Kyung Kim, Suzann Pettersen and Karrie Webb have been other winners at the Blackhawk Country Club.
Several of the game’s leading players are missing from this week’s field including the world number one Ai Miyazato, Ji Yai Shin, Suzann Pettersen, Yani Tseng and Na Yeo Choi, so it will be world number two, Cristie Kerr, and former winner, Kim, who are likely to start as favourites.
Both Katherine Hull, who of course won in Alabama last week, and Amy Yang, who shared 5th in that same event, played well in this event last year and could carry their current form over to this week. It is always difficult to go back to back in winning tournaments but Hull was so impressive last week she should give it a good shake.
Yang has yet to win on the LPGA Tour but when she does she will win several. She finished in a share of 3rd her last year.
Other Australians in the field in addition to Hull are Lindsey Wright who produced a brilliant final round of 63 in Alabama last week, previous winner Karrie Webb, Sarah Jane Smith, Sarah Kemp, and Anna Rawson.
Both Kemp and Rawson need good tournaments if they are to finish inside the top 90 on the money list as at present Kemp is in 92nd position and Rawson 128th. The top 90 regain full status for 2011.
