Ochoa looks to defend in controversial World event
BY Bruce Young | LPGA Tour | 2007 Samsung World Championship | Preview | 09 Oct 2007
The Samsung World Championship of Women’s Golf is played this week at the Big Horn Golf Club’s Canyons Course in Palm Desert in California and to some extent represents a changing of the guard in LPGA golf.
Lorena Ochoa is in the field but neither the world number two, Karrie Webb, nor number three, Annika Sorenstam, will play the event. Webb is third alternate but is unlikely to get a start given the restricted nature of the field.
Sorenstam has had a poor year by her standard and had not qualified but received a late invite to play the event. On learning that her inclusion would rob Sarah Lee the chance to play the event Sorenstam, realised the error of the tournament organisers’ ways and withdrew. Lee was back in the field.
Tournament sponsors, Samsung, have utilised their rights as a sponsor to invite Michelle Wie to play the event which might irk the likes of Webb and other alternates such as Juli Inkster, Natalie Gulbis and Sherri Steinhauer who have all performed with far more distinction on the LPGA Tour than Wie in 2007. That, however, is the nature of tournament golf, the people putting up the money rightfully have a say but to call it the World Golf Championship and not include such luminaries as Webb or Inkster goes against the grain somewhat.
Some would argue that they had their chance to qualify and an event which carries the grand name of World Championship of Women’s Golf should embrace a more geographically diverse field than just those who have won on the LPGA Tour this season or performed with distinction. To have included the leader of the Japan Ladies Golf Tour, Momoko Ueda, might however have made more sense than including Wie who was originally invited much earlier in the year before her rather ordinary season had unfolded.
The qualifying criteria for this event is weighted far too heavily in the favour of the LPGA Tour and does little for Women’s golf worldwide.
The Canyons Course at the Bighorn Golf Club is an Arthur Hills designed layout built in 1991.
Ochoa won by three shots last year after overpowering Annika Sorenstam and the rest of the field with a final round of 65. In her current form, she is again the player to beat while Suzann Pettersen, Stacey Prammanasudh and Maria Hjorth offer perhaps her biggest obstacles.
The tournament carries a purse of US$1 million to be divided amongst the 20 player field.
