The LPGA is headed again to Arkansas this week for the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, in which Stacy Lewis is the protecting champion. Stacy went to high school in Arkansas -- in case you by some means ignored it, she's a dyed-in-the-wool Razorback -- and is currently a volunteer assistant ladies?S golfing teach at the University of Arkansas.
Two of her players made the field this week ?- Gaby Lopez on a sponsor exemption and Samantha Marks through medalist honors at the Monday qualifier. That's Lopez in the image with Stacy beneath.
Tony Jesselli has his usual preview of the event over at his blog, so you can get all the important info there. An interesting factoid: The winning score has been -12 in each of the last 4 years.
Although Stacy is the defending champ this week, you could argue that Inbee Park is the fave. Fresh off her defense at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship -- her 1/3 victory this season -- she's definitely on a roll, whereas Stacy is winless on account that her victory here ultimate year. (Stacy does have some thing like 5 runner-up finishes though, so it is now not like she's gambling badly.)
And with Inbee regaining her #1 spot in the Rolex Rankings for the 1/3 time -- and commencing up a almost 3-point lead over Stacy (and a piece over 1.5 factors over Lydia Ko) -- it's difficult to believe that Stacy might not push a chunk too tough this week. That seems to were Stacy's problem currently; she needs that #1 spot (and some victories) a bit too much possibly.
We'll must see if some domestic cooking and "Pig, SOOEY!" calls can help her recover from the hump! Maybe -13 is in the cards for Stacy this 12 months.
This is another week where GC will be giving us live coverage. It starts Friday at 11:30am ET and is scheduled for 3 hours. YAY!.
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