Because of the early TV instances the next day, I'm previewing the Ricoh Women's British Open today.
This year the Ricoh is being played at Royal Liverpool, in Hoylake, the course where Tiger won his 3rd Open Championship back in 2006. I'm glad the women are getting to play the same courses as the men now, even if the R&A sometimes sets them up a bit too soft. In fact, the course's site says that the course will duplicate the routing used in 2006, with players teeing off on the 17th hole (which has a new greens complex) and finishing up on the 16th. Apparently this is a logistics move, as the site indicates that 16 is where the grandstands and clubhouse are best situated.
The course will play 6660 yards -- fairly long for a ladies tournament -- and Yani Tseng will be attempting to make her 2nd defense of the title. (She won in both 2010 and 2011.) However, since she hasn't quite been on her game the last few months, it'll be interesting to see what happens. We know that both Jiyai Shin (the 2008 winner, when she beat Yani to do it) and Paula Creamer are playing well, as are Stacy Lewis, "the Kobra" aka amateur Lydia Ko, both Miyazatos, Shanshan Feng, and Na Yeon Choi, just to name a few.
Tony Jesselli has a preview over at Mostly Harmless that you might want to check out. Tony's picking Catriona Matthew as his favorite this week -- always a good pick, as Catriona won in 2009. I haven't really made choices yet, but my gut reaction is to take So Yeon Ryu as my fave (Tony has her #12). It's also hard for me not to think the Kobra's a good pick, amateur or not, and Paula Creamer. I think Paula's got something to prove this week and if her putting holds up, she could do it.
And most important, you need to remember that ESPN is carrying the tournament all 4 days, from 9am ET until noon.
This is the last of the ladies' majors this year, and the PGA is on a break, so you don't want to miss this one!
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