Week of August 26, 2013
Safeway Classic Presented By Coca-Cola
Columbia Edgewater Country Club
Portland, Oregon
(Note: Pacific Time Zone, three hours behind Eastern)
Top Storylines
Back to Defend
Japan native Mika Miyazato became the sixth Rolex First-Time Winner of the 2012 season at the Safeway Classic Presented by Coca-Cola when she posted rounds of 65-68-70 to claim her first LPGA Tour victory. She finished at 13-under par, two strokes ahead of Brittany Lincicome and Inbee Park.
Miyazato will try to defend her title this week, but on a different course as the event moves from Pumpkin Ridge to Columbia Edgewater. The fifth-year LPGA Tour pro has not exactly followed up her breakthrough season of 2012 and has two top-4 finishes so far this year in 15 starts. Miyazato, currently ranked No. 19 in the Rolex Rankings, missed three cuts and doesn’t have a finish inside T12 other than a T4 at the Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic and a third-place finish at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship Presented by P&G.
The 23-year old is coming off a solid showing last week in Edmonton at the CN Canadian Women’s Open where she tied for 13th and posted rounds of 70-67-70-69. Title defenses on the LPGA Tour don’t come easy. Sixteen-year old amateur Lydia Ko just last week defended her title in Canada and was the first player to do so since Yani Tseng won back-to-back RICOH Women’s British Opens in 2010 and 2011.
On to the Crown
With the 2013 Solheim Cup in the books, the LPGA Tour and its players look forward to the new international team event, the International Crown, to be played July 21-27, 2014 at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Md. outside of Baltimore. The event is a first-of-its-kind, global match play competition featuring teams from eight countries battling for the right to be “Crowned” the world’s best golf nation. Each of the countries will be represented by four players.
The field of eight countries will be set by the top four players’ ranks in the Rolex Rankings on Monday, November 25, 2013 following the LPGA Tour’s season-finale, CME Group Titleholders in Naples, Fla.
Once the country teams are set, players from those countries will still have a chance to fight for one of the final four spots on the team. The field of 32 players will be set the Monday of the 2014 Kraft Nabisco Championship. Below are the current standings for the top-8 teams with Rolex Rankings for each player and country total.
1) South Korea | 18 | 2) United States | 43 | 3) Japan | 105 |
Inbee Park | 1 | Stacy Lewis | 2 | Ai Miyazato | 14 |
Na Yeon Choi | 4 | Paula Creamer | 11 | Mika Miyazato | 19 |
So Yeon Ryu | 5 | Cristie Kerr | 13 | Rikako Morita | 34 |
I.K. Kim | 8 | Angela Stanford | 17 | Miki Saiki | 38 |
4) Spain | 252 | 5) Sweden | 275 | 6) Australia | 296 |
Beatriz Recari | 21 | Anna Nordqvist | 23 | Karrie Webb | 6 |
Azahara Munoz | 29 | Caroline Hedwall | 25 | Stacey Keating | 93 |
Carlota Ciganda | 33 | Pernilla Lindberg | 112 | Lindsey Wright | 97 |
Belen Mozo | 139 | Karin Sjodin | 115 | Katherine Hull-Kirk | 100 |
7) Thailand | 326 | 8) Chinese Tapei | 335 | ||
Ariya Jutanugarn | 22 | Yani Tseng | 15 | ||
Pornanong Phatlum | 56 | Candie Kung | 73 | ||
Moriya Jutanugarn | 101 | Teresa Lu | 94 | ||
Onnarin Sattayabanphot | 147 | Hsuan Yu-Yao | 153 |
Back to Columbia Edgewater
One of the longest-running events on the LPGA Tour returns to a familiar place this week as the Safeway Classic Presented by Coca-Cola makes its way back to Columbia Edgewater Country Club. The Portland-based club has hosted the event for over 25 years and will host a field off 144 players for the first time since 2008. The past four years, the LPGA has played at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in North Plains. Cristie Kerr was the last champion to be crowned at Columbia Edgewater in 2008 when she held off Sophie Gustafson and Helen Alfredsson for her 11th career victory.
Quick facts
August 29- September 1
Safeway Classic Presented by Coca-Cola
Columbia Edgewater Country Club
Portland, Oregon
Field: 144 (143 professionals, 1 amateur)
Par: 36-36, 72
Yardage: 6,465
Purse: $1,300,000
Winner: $195,000
Format: 72-hole stroke play
Defending champion: Mika Miyazato
TV Times
Golf Channel
Aug 29 5:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Aug 30 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Aug 31 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Sept 1 7:00 – 9:30 p.m.
All times Eastern
***This week’s field information: Safeway Classic Presented by Coca-Cola***
2013 LPGA Tour rookies (17) |
|
Chie Arimura | Felicity Johnson |
Julia Boland | Sara-Maude Juneau |
Katie Burnett | Moriya Jutanugarn |
Esther Choe | Taylore Karle |
Lauren Doughtie | Sue Kim |
Paz Echeverria | Caroline Masson |
Breanna Elliott | Lisa McCloskey |
Austin Ernst | Brooke Pancake |
Daniela Iacobelli |
Rolex Rankings
Top 7/10
Top 19/25
2013 LPGA Official Money List
Top 10: 9/10
Top 20: 16/20
Top 50: 40/50
Past Champions | ||
2012 Mika Miyazato | 2000 Mi Hyun Kim | 1989 Muffin Spencer-Devlin |
2011 Suzann Pettersen | 1999 Juli Inkster | 1988 Betsy King |
2010 Ai Miyazato | 1998 Danielle Ammaccapane | 1987 Nancy Lopez |
2009 Mi Jung Hur | 1997 Christa Johnson | 1986 Ayako Okamoto |
2008 Cristie Kerr | 1996 Dottie Pepper | 1985 Nancy Lopez |
2007 Lorena Ochoa | 1995 Alison Nicholas | 1984 Amy Alcott |
2006 Pat Hurst | 1994 Missie McGeorge | 1983 Joanne Carner |
2005 Soo-Yun Kang | 1993 Donna Andrews | 1976 Donna Caponi |
2004 Hee-Won Han | 1992 Nancy Lopez | 1975 JoAnn Washam |
2003 Annika Sorenstam | 1991 Michelle Estill | 1974 JoAnn Carner |
2002 Annika Sorenstam | 1990 Patty Sheehan | 1973 Kathy Whitworth |
1972 Kathy Whitworth |
Press conference schedule
Wednesday, August 28
11:00 a.m. Stacy Lewis, Rolex Rankings No. 2, top-ranked American with three wins in 2013
12:45 p.m. Mika Miyazato, Rolex Rankings No. 19 & defending champion
1:00 p.m. Paula Creamer, Rolex Rankings No. 11 & nine-time LPGA Tour winner
TBD Inbee Park, Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 1 player,
TBD Suzann Pettersen, Rolex Rankings No. 3 and 2011 Safeway Classic champion
*Times are approximate due to pro-am and subject to change (all times are local in Portland)
***Epson Tour current player and alum factoids***
With the Epson Tour off until the Volvik Championship September 20-22, three current players sitting comfortably inside the Volvik Race for the Card top-10 will be competing in this week’s Safeway Classic Presented by Coca-Cola.
P.K. Kongkraphan, Cydney Clanton and Sue Kim have made their way to Oregon where they will compete for a $1,300,000 total prize at Columbia Edgewater.
Kongkraphan currently holds the top spot in the Volvik Race for the Card and played her way into this week’s LPGA event by shooting a 4-under 68 in the Monday Qualifier. This year on the Road to the LPGA, the Thailand native took home her first-ever Epson Tour victory at the Northeast Delta Dental International and has posted eight additional top-20 finishes.
With only two events remaining on this year’s Epson Tour, Kim currently stands No. 3 in the Race and is well on her way to improving her current LPGA Tour status. This season, the Canadian claimed her first Road to the LPGA victory at the Decatur Forsyth Classic and carded six additional top-20 finishes. On the LPGA Tour this year, Kim has played in six events and recorded a season-best T34 at the Mobile Bay LPGA Classic.
In addition to Kim, Clanton will also be competing this week in Portland and currently stands No. 4 on the Volvik Race for the Card. The former Auburn University Tiger was the last woman standing in a seven-hole playoff at the Four Winds Invitational and has carded three additional top-20 finishes.