A beautiful backdrop by the bay, the world’s top-ranked player defending a title and one of the most successful new tournaments in recent memory – what more could the LPGA ask for this week?
That’s the scenario for the upcoming Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic Presented by CTBC at Lake Merced Golf Club in San Francisco as the Tour’s best players and 21 sponsor exemptions battle for the $270,000 first-place check at the $2 million event. The tournament was a consummate success in its first year in 2014, and fans were treated to an epic back-and-forth down the stretch.
World No. 1 Lydia Ko birdied the 18th hole to post a final-round 69 and edge Stacy Lewis by one stroke a year ago, and Lewis would love to turn the table on her teenage friend. Rookie Sei Young Kim, who became the season’s first two-time winner with her dramatic playoff victory at the LOTTE Championship Presented by Hershey in Hawaii on Saturday, is also teeing it up this weekend as part of a loaded field.
All eight tournament winners fro 2015 are competing this week, as well as stars Paula Creamer, Ai Miyazato, Azahara Munoz, Anna Nordqvist, Shanshan Feng and Suzann Pettersen and Hall of Famers Laura Davies, Juli Inkster, Karrie Webb and Se Ri Pak. Add the likes of Morgan Pressel, So Yeon Ryu, Beatriz Recari, Ariya and Moriya Jutanugarn, Lexi Thompson, Michelle Wie and Yani Tseng and the field strength borders on ridiculous.
Players born in the Republic of Korea, including Kim and Ko, have won seven of the season’s first nine events, but U.S.-born players have taken two of the last three, and that storyline could continue to develop this week. Ko won the CN Canadian Women’s Open in consecutive years from 2012-13, so she knows how to successfully defend a title.
This week’s event is the second of a three-week stretch that will take the Tour to the one-third mark of the season. Tournaments are clipping by rapidly, and year-end awards battles are beginning to take shape as the Tour heads to San Francisco.
Kim leads the Rolex Player of the Year standings, the LPGA money list and Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year standings, while Ko is atop the Race to the CME Globe points standings and Lewis leads the Vare Trophy standings for lowest scoring average. That trio is in the mix in a number of categories, but there is still plenty of time for other players to make their presences felt and make a charge toward 2015 glory.
Players loved the Swinging Skirts event last year, and the tournament’s creation came about because of the Tour’s growing strength in the sports marketplace, so it represents everything that is going right for the LPGA these days. Fans can check out the action from 6-9 p.m. ET on Golf Channel, and it should be fun to watch.
The last two LPGA events have required playoffs to settle matters, and Ko’s 72nd-hole birdie last year in San Francisco was the only thing keeping her out of one with Lewis. So, chances are good Golf Channel’s broadcast may need to go a bit long again on Sunday.
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