Defending Champion – Sherri Steinhauer
Panther Creek Country Club
Springfield, Illinois
72 holes, begins Thursday
Par 72, 6608 yards
Field Score – 31
Scoring Averages – 71.97 (2007), 71.56 (2006 The Rail), 71.55 (2005 The Rail)
2008 Scoring Average to date – 72.99
U.S. TV coverage (times EDT):
Fri 2p-4p ESPN2
Sat 1p-3p ESPN2
Sun 3p-5p ESPN2
One of 2007’s best finishes came at this event when Sherri Steinhauer dropped a 20-footer at the final hole to edge Christina Kim by one shot. Their duel over the last three holes was some of the most exciting golf I’ve ever seen.
This year’s model is being played about six weeks earlier than last year’s Labor Day weekend show. The Springfield area has gotten a lot of rain recently (last year’s tournament was played in near-drought conditions) so although that will make the already-lengthy course play longer and the rough somewhat thicker, the State Farm scoring might be even lower than it usually is because the greens are holding well.
When the best players in your field are Yani Tseng, Christina Kim and Hee-Won Han, you might wonder whether that schedule change was a good idea after all. Almost everybody who is playing at Evian, the British or both is using this week to travel so this event suffers tremendously. State Farm ties the MasterCard for second-worst Field Score of 2008.
I didn’t snap my winless streak at the Farr but I did pick Creamer as a CYA. Still no great shakes on the Top Ten side either, and here we have another event where virtually anybody in the field could contend. Great. I made my weekly list of players and it surprisingly fell into place in a semi-logical manner, so of course I’m doomed again. Oh well, here goes… Jee Young Lee to win, with Angela Park and Na Yeon Choi as CYAs.
Stats: Winners 5-19 (9-19 with CYAs), Top Tens 22-57.
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3 comments:
Aren't Jee Young Lee and Na Yeon Choi among the very best players in the field?
It's amazing what a difference one little word makes - I meant to say "best known players" in that sentence.
Congrats on the new show! It's encouraging that I'm not the only LPGA podcast anymore....despite the competition :)
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