Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Wednesday Preview - KEB HanaBank Championship

For several members of the LPGA, this week is almost like a major. That is because this week is the LPGA's annual stop in South Korea, home to 8 of the top 20 golfers in the Rolex Rankings. This has typically been the tournament to showcase the next batch of Korean superstars who will likely make the jump to the LPGA and make a few commentators mispronounce their name.

Course: Sky 72 Golf Club. There is trouble to be had on a few of the holes on this course, but for the most part, it is all systems go for the players. Still, despite the general lack of trouble off the tee, it has been precision golfers that have done the best in this event.

Strength Of Field: B. No Stacy Lewis or Karrie Webb, but Hyo Joo Kim is playing her first LPGA event since the Evian, and major champions Michelle Wie and Mo Martin return to action. Still, limited field events rarely garner an A ranking, so this is as good of a field as you'll see in Asia.

Extra Tidbits: With Stacy Lewis taking a break, both Inbee Park and Lydia Ko have the opportunity to take over the number one spot on the Rolex Rankings. Park can get there with share of third place or better, provided Ko doesn't win. If Ko wins, then it will depend on Park's position at the end of the tournament. There are some complicated math formulas involved, but the short of it is this - win, and become number one...Hyo Joo Kim announced this week that she will take up LPGA membership next season following her victory at the Evian Championship. There was speculation that she may follow in the footsteps of Teresa Lu, who won last season but did not take up membership. Kim also announced that she will play in the CME Group Tour Championship at the end of the season...KLPGA pro Ha-Na Jang also announced her intention to play on the LPGA next season, as she will play in the finals of Q-School. Jang would be the top pro on the KLPGA had Hyo Joo Kim not won every trophy she looked at this season...Want to feel old? This is the 10 year anniversary of Grace Park's final LPGA victory, which was the at the CJ Nine Bridges, which is what this event used to be called.


Fantasy Four:

NOTE: This week, since the event is held in Korea, I decided to go with all Koreans for my Fantasy Four. That's not to say I wouldn't have done so anyway, given the way they've been playing, but I feel as if it is only fitting.

Inbee Park - A lot of people are discounting her because she got married on Monday. What those people don't realize is that Inbee doesn't exist on the same universal plane as the rest of us do. She's almost immortal. Her wedding may actually help her in some strange way. Besides, the fact that she could win and take over the Rolex Rankings in her home country after getting married that week is too good of a storyline. 

Hyo Joo Kim - Won on the KLPGA Tour last week, which I could say almost every week. Her first event since winning the Evian Championship. It's weird to think a major winner will be a rookie on the LPGA Tour next year, but you might as well hand her the trophy now, because she has just as much talent and just as much ability to win early and often as Lydia Ko.

So Yeon Ryu - Top 10 last week. Played solidly all week, but needed to make a few more birdies if she wanted a legitimate chance at winning. Still rebounded from her disappointing event in China, and heads into her home country with renewed confidence. 

JiYai Shin - Gave up her LPGA membership at the start of the season to focus on the JLPGA, and then promptly won four times on that Tour. The former Rolex number one doesn't have to worry about a learning curve - after all, she's won eleven times on the LPGA Tour, including two majors. Should feel right at home on the big stage in front of a home crowd.

(SLEEPER) Se Ri PakAt the beginning of the year I predicted that Se Ri Pak would win this tournament. She has been dealing with injuries for the last couple of months, so that is starting to seem unlikely, but if anyone can rebound from what was essentially a lost season and win in front of a home crowd full of ravenous fans, it would be Pak. She did play on the KLPGA Tour a couple weeks ago, so she should have some of the rust knocked off before playing on Friday. 

No comments:

Post a Comment