Wednesday, February 14, 2007

SBS Open at Turtle Bay Preview

The 2007 LPGA season officially gets underway this week with the third-annual SBS Open at Turtle Bay. The 54-hole event will be played on the Palmer Course at the Turtle Bay Resort in Oahu, Hawaii. Coverage begins Thursday at 6:30pm EST on TGC with the final round on Saturday. Joo Mi Kim is the defending champion.

The course is a par-72, 6578 yards. The front nine has a links-ish design while the back wanders through a tropical bird sanctuary. We should see some pretty pictures on TGC this weekend. If they can only resist that stale Wearing-Of-The-Hawaiian-Shirts ritual! The field is very strong – the only Top 20 players missing are Annika Sorenstam and Michelle Wie, and Michelle would probably have been here too if not for a wrist injury that threatens to keep her sidelined through March.

Despite my poor record in 2006, I decided to have another go at picking winners this year. If nothing else, it gives me an extra paragraph to add to these exciting tournament previews! I’ll pick Karrie Webb to win, since she’s coming off two straight victories Down Under, with Lorena Ochoa and Cristie Kerr as my CYA picks.

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