LPGA plays Safeway Classic
BY Bruce Young | LPGA Tour | 2012 Safeway Classic | Preview | 15 Aug 2012
The LPGA Tour heads west this week to North Plains in Oregon with the leading five players in the game participating.
Yani Tseng, Stacy Lewis, Shanshan Feng, Na Yeon Choi, Ai Miyazato and the defending champion Suzann Pettersen head the field in terms of world ranking.
Pettersen defeated Choi in a playoff in 2011 and in 2010 Miyazato defeated Cristie Kerr and Choi.
Normally a consistent player, Choi has been a little below her best since her US Open victory four starts ago but she might well bounce back on a golf course where she obviously enjoys a comfort zone.
Pettersen not only won last year she finished 4th in 2010 and although she has yet to win anywhere in 2012 she has played well. She finished runner-up at the Ladies Irish Open at her last start admittedly against a weaker field, was second at the LPGA Championship and 9th at the US Women’s Open.
Tseng has been on a horror run in the last two months missing three of her last four cuts. At her best she can beat any field but she appears to be a long way from it at present.
Lewis has won twice and been three times runner-up this season and finished 8th in this event last year. She and Shanshan Feng have been the big improvers in 2012 and it might be that there is further improvement in both of them this week.
Feng won in Japan at her last start a week ago and was 4th at both the US Women’s Open and the Evian Masters. The 23 year Chinese star old looks to be one of the game’s next great players.
Australians in this week’s field are Karrie Webb, Katherine Wright, Lindsey Wright and Sarah Jane Smith
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