1. Top-ranked Ochoa goes for three-peat at J Golf Phoenix LPGA International Presented by Mirrasou Winery
2. This week: J Golf Phoenix LPGA International Presented by Mirassou Winery, Papago Golf Course, Phoenix, Ariz., $1,500,000, March 26-29, 2009; TV Times; GCSAA Course Information
3. Next week: Kraft Nabisco Championship, Mission Hills Country Club, Dinah Shore Tournament Course, Rancho Mirage, Calif., $2,000,000, April 2-5, 2009; TV Times; GCSAA Course Information
4. Race for the Cup
5. LPGA News and Notes
1. Top-ranked Ochoa goes for three-peat at J Golf Phoenix LPGA International Presented by Mirrasou Winery
PHOENIX, Ariz. - The LPGA Tour makes its 30th annual trip to Phoenix this week for the J Golf Phoenix LPGA International Presented by Mirassou Winery. The event will be played at the newly renovated Papago Golf Course. Centrally located in Phoenix, Rolex Rankings' number one Lorena Ochoa will seek to defend her 2008 title March 26-29. One year ago, Ochoa hung around the top of the leaderboard all four rounds and secured her victory by firing a 6-under-par 66 on the final day, seven strokes better than Jee Young Lee. This week at Papago Golf Course, a field of 144 talented competitors will be looking for a victory of their own and a portion of the $1.5 million purse.
In addition to Ochoa, a 25-time LPGA Tour winner who won the Honda LPGA Thailand in February, the top-10 players in the world and 79 of the top-80 players on the 2009 LPGA Official Money List will be in contention for this week's $225,000 winner's check. Seven entrants are past champions of the Phoenix event, including Ochoa, 2007, 2008; Juli Inkster, 2006; Se Ri Pak, 2003; Rachel Hetherington, 2002; Karrie Webb, 1999; Liselotte Neumann, 1998; and Laura Davies, 1994-97.
If Ochoa were to come out ahead once again this week, she would join Davies and Annika Sorenstam (2001, 2004, 2005) as the only players to win the LPGA's Phoenix event three or more times. Accomplishing a three-peat, Ochoa would be only the second player, after Davies, to win the tournament at least three straight times.
Along with the veterans, 10 rookies are in the field, nine of whom have their eyes set on becoming a Rolex First-Time Winner. Rookie Jiyai Shin won the HSBC Women's Champions earlier this year in Singapore - her fourth overall LPGA Tour victory - but first as an official member of the LPGA Tour. Other season winners from 2009 in the field are Angela Stanford (SBS Open at Turtle Bay) and Arizona resident Pat Hurst, who earned her first Tour victory in more than two years at last week's MasterCard Classic Honoring Alejo Peralta Presented by Nextel.
2. This week: J Golf Phoenix LPGA International Presented by Mirassou Winery, Papago Golf Course, Phoenix, Ariz., $1,500,000, March 26-29, 2009; TV Times; GCSAA Course Information
Par: 36-36, 72
Yardage: 6,711
Format: 72-hole stroke play
Winner: $225,000
Runner-up: $137,861
Field: 144 players
Defending champion: Lorena Ochoa
Victory margin: Defeated Jee Young Lee by seven strokes
Media center: 602-682-7204
LPGA media contacts: Mike Scanlan and Jason Taylor
● TV Times
Golf Channel
March 26-27 6:30-8:30 p.m.
March 28 6:30-9:30 p.m. (tape delay)
March 29 7:00-9:30 p.m. (tape delay)
All times Eastern
● GCSAA Course Information
Golf Course Superintendents Association of America
Papago Golf Course
Phoenix, Ariz.
GCSAA Golf Course Superintendent, contact: Thomas M. Wolff, 602-663-8836
Course architect, date: Billy Bell, 1962
Most recent redesign/renovation: Billy Fuller, 2008
Course grasses
Tees - Overseeded bermudagrass
Fairways - Overseeded bermudagrass
Greens - Bermudagrass
Rough - Bermudagrass
For more information, access GCSAA Fact Sheets at GCSAA.org
3. Next week: Kraft Nabisco Championship, Mission Hills Country Club, Dinah Shore Tournament Course, Rancho Mirage, Calif., $2,000,000, April 2-5, 2009; TV Times; GCSAA Course Information
Par: 36-36, 72
Yardage: 6,673
Format: 72-hole stroke play
Winner: $300,000
Runner-up: $183,814
Defending champion: Lorena Ochoa
Victory margin: Defeated Annika Sorenstam and Suzann Pettersen by five strokes
Tournament information: 760-324-4546
● TV Times
ESPN2
April 2-3 5-7 p.m.
April 4 6-8 p.m.
CBS
April 5 3-6 p.m.
All times Eastern
● GCSAA Course Information
Golf Course Superintendents Association of America
Mission Hills Country Club, Dinah Shore Tournament Course
Rancho Mirage, Calif.
GCSAA Class A Golf Course Superintendent, contact: David R. Johnson, 760-202-4531
Course architect, date: Desmond Muirhead, 1970
Course grasses
Tees - Bermudagrass
Fairways - Bermudagrass, Kentucky bluegrass
Greens - Bermudagrass, perennial ryegrass; poa trivialis
Rough - Bermudagrass, perennial ryegrass
For more information, access GCSAA Fact Sheets at GCSAA.org
4. Race for the Cup
Pat Hurst, winner of the 2009 MasterCard Classic Honoring Alejo Peralta Presented by Nextel, earned 60 points with her victory toward qualifying for the 2009 U.S. Solheim Cup team. Entering the event in 17th place with 62 points, Hurst is now in 13th place with 122 points. Paula Creamer continues to lead the U.S. Solheim Cup Team points race with 580.50 points, followed by Angela Stanford (411 points), Cristie Kerr (389 points), Brittany Lang (223.50 points) and Nicole Castrale (216.50 points) to round out the top-five.
The J Golf Phoenix LPGA International Presented by Mirassou Winery is the fifth opportunity this season for U.S.-born players to earn one-and-a-half times the points toward a spot on the 2009 U.S. Solheim Cup team. U.S. captain Beth Daniel and her squad will face off with the European team led by 1997 U.S. Women's Open champion Alison Nicholas at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill., Aug 21-23, 2009.
The Solheim Cup is a biennial, trans-Atlantic team match-play competition featuring the best U.S.-born players from the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour and the best European members from the Ladies European Tour (LET). The U.S. Team leads the competition, 7-3, and has never lost The Solheim Cup on home soil.
2009 Solheim Cup countdown:
· 10 days until the season's first major - the Kraft Nabisco Championship - where double points will be awarded to U.S.-born LPGA players.
· 132 days until U.S. and European teams are announced following the RICOH Women's British Open.
· 151 days until matches begin at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill.
5. LPGA News and Notes
Hurst sneaks in win at MasterCard Classic Honoring Alejo Peralta Presented by Nextel
Lorena Ochoa rallies on back nine for runner-up finish with Yani Tseng
HUIXQUILUCAN, Mexico, March 22, 2009 - Pat Hurst had flirted with the lead off-and-on for nearly two rounds at the 2009 MasterCard Classic Honoring Alejo Peralta Presented by Nextel. However, it wasn't until the ball rolled in on the 54th hole from 10 feet for birdie that Hurst (68-70-68=206, -10) finalized the win - the sixth in her 16-year Tour career, which was worth $195,000.
"It's very emotional for me," said Hurst, who last won on Tour at the 2006 Safeway Classic Presented by Pepsi. "I think any time you win, it's emotional."
It was an up-and-down final round for Hurst, who was playing in the final group with 2008 Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year Yani Tseng (68-69-70=207, -9) and Na Yeon Choi (67-70-76=213, -3) - the 36-hole co-leaders. One group ahead was Mexico's Lorena Ochoa (65-73-69=207, -9). Ochoa had tied a tournament record with a 7-under-par 65 in the first round, but a frustrating 1-over-par 73 left her one-stroke shy of the lead entering Sunday. Ochoa gave her home-country fans a show with birdies on holes six and seven, and a string on the back nine: holes 12, 13, 17 and 18. On her approach shot to 18, Ochoa's 7-wood from 226 yards was headed straight for a rear-left bunker, but ended up ricocheting off the upper lip of the bunker and veered right toward the back-right hole location to stop 15 feet away. She two putted for birdie on the hole to finish at 9-under-par 207. And then she waited.
"I learned a lot and I think the way I finished on the back nine was the way to play and I enjoyed it with my crowd," said Ochoa, who took over the top-spot on the 2009 LPGA Official Money List with her runner-up finish. "I tried to be aggressive on the last ball. But unfortunately, I didn't make the putt, but I tried my best. I really enjoyed today."
Meanwhile, Hurst had birdied the 17th to move to 9-under-par as Tseng was watching her lead at 10-under-par shrink. Tseng's approach shot on the par 5, 565-yard 18th hole landed 30 feet short of the hole, while Hurst's sand wedge was 10 feet above the hole. Tseng putted first and pushed the ball 15 feet past. She two putted from there, leaving Hurst's putt to either secure her win, or send the tournament into a three-way playoff with Hurst, Ochoa and Tseng.
"Basically, when I was reading the putt, I was not thinking about playoff or anything, just about making the putt," said Hurst. "I tried to put a good stroke on it and give it a chance. I knew the putt was downhill, so I knew I could get it there. It was just a matter of getting the line, and it was on the right line."
She found the line to finish at 10-under-par 206, leaving Ochoa and Tseng tied for second - the second time in as many years for Tseng.
"I feel like I played really good today, but my putting distance control was really bad all week, like my long putt," said a disappointed Tseng after her round. "I didn't think that I wouldn't win the tournament, and even though I'm the leader through 17 holes, so I figured I really learned a lot from last year to today."
Pettersen crosses $4 million. Suzann Pettersen (69-71-74=214, -2) crossed the $4 million mark in career earnings with her $26,774 tie for ninth at the MasterCard Classic Honoring Alejo Peralta Presented by Nextel. Pettersen, of Norway, has earned $4,005,755 since her rookie year in 2003. Since then, Pettersen has earned five career LPGA Tour victories and is now 38th on the LPGA Career Money List.
Alcott writes book. Amy Alcott, a LPGA Tour and World Golf Halls of Famer and 29-time LPGA Tour winner, has penned "THE LEADERBOARD: Conversations on Golf and Life." She co-wrote the book with Don Wade, a former senior editor of Golf Digest. In this collection of conversations, Alcott offers a look at the personal lives and experiences -- both on and off the golf course -- of prominent entertainers, athletes, political leaders, and other influential figures. The book includes interviews with former President Bill Clinton, Jack Nicholson, Lorena Ochoa, Annika Sorenstam and many, many more. The book will be released this week and available in bookstores across the country starting March 24.
Hurst earns stay at Canyon Ranch. With her victory at the 2009 MasterCard Classic Honoring Alejo Peralta Presented by Nextel, American Pat Hurst earned an all-inclusive stay for two at a Canyon Ranch resort. In a combined effort to promote health and overall well-being among Tour players, Canyon Ranch will provide every winner of an LPGA event with one all-inclusive stay at one of Canyon Ranch's two destination resorts.
Uribe ties for 50th. Amateur Maria Jose Uribe, of Colombia, was the only one of eight sponsor exemptions to make the cut at the 2009 MasterCard Classic Honoring Alejo Peralta Presented by Nextel, tying for 50th. Uribe's three-day score was a 6-over-par 222 (73-72-77). She entered Sunday's final round tied for 25th. Uribe, of Colombia, won the 2007 U.S. Women's Amateur Championship and went on to earn low amateur honors at the 2008 U.S. Women's Open with a tie for 10th.
Reynolds captures Duramed FUTURES Tour opener. 24-year-old Jean Reynolds outlasted Song Yi Choi to win the inaugural $100,000 Florida's Natural Growers Charity Classic on the Duramed FUTURES Tour. Reynolds carded rounds of 69-73-70 to win at 4-under-par 212, edging Choi after three playoff holes at Lake Region Yacht and Country Club in Winter Haven, Fla. Choi carded rounds of 64-73-75=212 (-4) to finish second. With her first professional victory, Reynolds claimed the $14,000 first-place check and took the lead in the 2009 Duramed FUTURES Tour official money list. For more information about the 2009 Duramed FUTURES Tour, log on to www.duramedfuturestour.com.
Topics: News and Notes
