New venue for State Farm Classic
BY Bruce Young | LPGA Tour | 2007 State Farm Classic | Preview | 30 Aug 2007
The LPGA Tour is in the Illinois State capital of Springfield this week for the State Farm Classic, the host city for this event since it was first played back in 1976. In 2007, however, there is a new venue for the first time in the history of the event.
The Panther Creek Country Club was designed by a team headed by Hale Irwin and was built in 1990 although purchased by its members in 1993. The course will measure 6600 yards for this week’s event but a lack of rain in the area in recent times suggests the course will not play to that length.
While Lorena Ochoa has perhaps disappointed organisers by not playing this week, her absence is understandable given the schedule she has given herself in recent weeks and that she has contended in and won nearly every event she has played in that time.
Ochoa’s absence opens up the opportunity for her rivals to get a piece of the action this week with Annika Sorenstam looking to rekindle her game after a season which has been far below her amazing standards. Sorenstam is clearly pleased with the new venue.
“I had a chance to play the course today and yesterday,” said Sorenstam at the pre event press conference. “It’s a great place. It’s a little upgrade I must say with the facilities and the driving range. Everybody I’ve spoken to are just happy to try the new place so I think it’s going to be good for the future of the tournament.”
Sorenstam is the defending champion having won at the Rail Golf Club last year but that is of little relevance now given her struggles in 2007 and that this layout provides a completely new challenge. Sorenstam was engaged to Mike McGee last Saturday and clearly has that part of her life together, which may be reflected on course in the coming months.
Like Sorenstam, Karrie Webb has been off the boil in the last few months but as the world number two she will be keen to get things back on track.
Morgan Pressel was brilliant earlier in the season when she won the Kraft Nabisco but has been oout of form in recent weeks.
“It’s been a little bit of a mix,” said Pressel on her recent form. “I think that I’ve been working a lot on my putting and I think that it’s getting better. I still have my better days. And I mean, one of the most important things is just hitting my irons solid and getting them as close to the pin as I can. The days I hit them really solid I’m going to play well. The days where I’m a little off, it’s been more of a struggle.”
There have been signs that Sophie Gustafson is closing in on another win on the LPGA Tour, her first in four years. She was runner up to Ochoa last week in Portland and had other top tens in recent months.
Catriona Matthew might find the fast and firm fairways this week more suited to her style of play than many of the others this week and after a recent good finish at the Women’s British Open she has a chance.
Shi Hyun Ahn is close to her best with good finishes in each of her last two starts. She has won only once on the LPGA Tour, and that was in Korea, but she appears on the verge of her first LPGA Tour win in the US.
From an Australian perspective other than Karrie Webb, Rachel Hetherington, Lindsey Wright, Katherine Hull and Michelle Ellis will line up this week.
