ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open Top Storylines

Week of February 10, 2014
ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open
The Victoria Golf Club
Victoria, Australia

Top Storylines

Race to the CME Globe continues in The Land Down Under
The inaugural Race to the CME Globe officially kicked off at the season-opening Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic. After claiming her second LPGA Tour victory, Jessica Korda jumped in the lead with 500 points.

Players will accumulate points at each official LPGA event from the Bahamas through the Lorena Ochoa Invitational Presented by Banamex. The Race to the CME Globe will then come to an exciting conclusion on Sunday at the newly renamed CME Group Tour Championship.

Two big purses and two big winner’s payouts will be on the line during the final day of the CME Group Tour Championship. The winner of the CME Group Tour Championship will take home a $500,000 first-place prize, while the player who has accumulated the most points in the season-long points competition will be announced as the Race to the CME Globe champion with a $1 million unofficial money payout – the largest in all of women’s golf.

A total of 500 points will be awarded to the winner of this week’s ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open.

Battle for No. 1 in the World heats up
While Rolex Rankings No. 1 Inbee Park will make her 2014 debut at next week’s Honda LPGA Thailand, Rolex Rankings No. 2 Suzann Pettersen and No. 3 Stacy Lewis will attempt to make a dent in the South Korean’s significant lead for the top spot in the world rankings.

Lewis narrowly missed capturing her ninth career LPGA Tour victory at the season-opening Pure-Silk Bahamas after finishing one stroke behind Jessica Korda. The Texas native held the No. 1 spot in the rankings for four weeks last year following her win at the LPGA Founders Cup in March before Park overtook her. Park has held the No. 1 position for 44 weeks straight.

Eagles flying: A total of 15 eagles were made during the weekend of the season-opening Pure-Silk Bahamas LPGA Classic raising a total of $15,0000 for the Wounded Warrior Project® during the first Wounded Warrior Project® Weekend of the year.

Wounded Warrior Project® Weekends is a season-long charity program that will be tied into the Race to the CME Globe. Each Saturday and Sunday at LPGA tournaments, CME Group will donate $1,000 to Wounded Warrior Project® for each eagle that is recorded. This amount will increase to $5,000 for each eagle during the weekend of the CME Group Tour Championship and a formal check will be presented to the Wounded Warrior Project® during the trophy ceremony at the CME Group Tour Championship. To get involved and learn more, visit woundedwarriorproject.org.

Youth movement: In 2013 the LPGA Tour saw an emergence of young winners with teens Lexi Thompson and Lydia Ko both earning victories. Picking up right where 2013 left off, the youthful exuberance looks to be prevailing as 20-year-old Jessica Korda picked-up her second career LPGA Tour victory at the season-opening Pure-Silk Bahamas LPGA Classic.

In addition to the impressive victory by Korda, 16-year-old Lydia Ko jumped out to the early lead in the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year race after tie for seventh in the Bahamas. Another young gun and rookie to watch this season is 19-year-old Jaye Marie Green. After playing a full year on the Epson Tour, Green made her way to the LPGA following a record-setting 29-under-par performance at the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament.

Which teams to watch?
The eight countries that will be competing at the inaugural International Crown in July have already been determined. But just which players will be competing for those countries in the first-of-its-kind, global match play competition won’t be known for certain until the completion of the 2014 Kia Classic. There will be some tight races for the final spots on each team, particularly for teams near the top like South Korea and the United States. Below are the standings as of based the Rolex Rankings that were released on February 3rd.

Quick facts
February 13-16
ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open
The Victoria Golf Club
Victoria, Australia

Field: 156 (152 professionals)
Par:  36-36, 72
Yardage: 6,480
Purse: $1,200,000
Winner:  $195,000
Defending champion: Jiyai Shin

TV Times
Golf Channel
Feb 12 11:10 a.m. – 2;00 a.m.
Feb 14  12:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m..
Feb 15    5:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Feb 16    5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
All times Eastern

***This week’s field information: ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open***

2014 LPGA Tour Rookies (14)

                                                                       
Rolex Rankings
Top 10: 4/10
Top 20: 9/20

2014 LPGA Official Money List
Top 10: 5/10
Top 22: 18/22

Past Champions
2013    Jiyai Shin
2012    Jessica Korda

Press Conference and Media Event Schedule

Tuesday, February 11
1:00 p.m.         Jessica Korda Press Conference
2:15 p.m.         Suzann Pettersen Press Conference
2:30 p.m.         Paula Creamer Press Conference

Wednesday, February 12
1:00 p.m.         Lydia Ko Press Conference
1:30 p.m.         Stacy Lewis Press Conference
2:00 p.m.         Karrie Webb Press Conference

*Times are local in Australia