Rolex Rankings No. 1 Yani Tseng highlights the field as she attempts to capture her eighth LPGA Tour victory this season and her 12th win worldwide. Tseng is coming off a victory in China at the Suzhou Taihu Ladies Open on the Ladies European Tour at the end of October and the previous week she had won the inaugural Sunrise LPGA Taiwan Championship in her home country. The 22-year-old has won three of the last four events she's played in this year and currently leads the LPGA Tour in nearly every statistical category, including driving distances, birdies, and scoring average.
I.K. Kim will try to make it back-to-back titles in Mexico after she captured her third career victory at last year's event when she defeated Suzann Pettersen by two strokes. Kim donated her entire $220,000 winner's check to charity, half going to the Lorena Ochoa Foundation. Kim returned to Guadalajara this past April to visit La Barranca, a primary school in Guadalajara with 250 underprivileged students that is operated by Ochoa's foundation and was the beneficiary of her gracious gift. During her trip, Kim toured La Barranca with Ochoa, meeting the children and teaching them Korean. She also visited a classroom that was dedicated in her name as a sign of gratitude for her gracious gift.
Former LOI champions Angela Stanford (2008) and Michelle Wie (2009) will also be in this week's star-studded field, which features eight of the top 10 players in the Rolex Rankings and 17 of the top 20 players on the 2011 LPGA Tour Official Money List.
Rounding out the field at this year's event in Guadalajara will be five sponsor's exemptions. They are LPGA Tour members Beatriz Recari and Natalie Gulbis, LPGA Futures Tour members Sophia Sheridan and Lili Alvarez and amateur Regina Plasencia.
For the first time in the history of the event, Ochoa won't be playing in her tournament. Ochoa, a 27-time winner on the LPGA Tour who retired from the Tour back in May 2010, is currently pregnant with her first child but she will be at the event throughout the tournament week.
