Takefuji Classic

After three weeks in Florida, the LPGA Tour visits Hawaii for two weeks and first port-of-call is the Kona Country Club. The event has been staged just once before with Karrie Webb defeating Annika Sorenstam on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff. With just one year's history to work with, this may have been a difficult tournament to cap, but finally the LPGA.com site has the player stats listed for all of the players Hopefully, gone are the days when just the top-10 in each category were reported. Now we can analyze properly why certain players have done well on some courses and not on others.

Webb is again a very short-priced favorite and is passed over as a result and so is Sorenstam for whom this is the first tournament of the season. Instead, the value plays are on Michele Redman, Kelly Robbins and Jenny Rosales. Redman was almost a 50/1 winner last time out and finished 5th the week before at The Office Depot; she has been cut accordingly to 33/1 this week. She had a poor outing last year, but her excellent start to the year in Florida should carry her on to a much better finish this time around.

The course compatibility stats show that it was big hitters and greens in regulation specialists that gained high finishes last year. In both, Robbins excels. She has the 9th best driving distance stats of this week's field and the 2nd best in greens in regulation. A missed cut last year ensures a decent price and while her form does not match that of Redman, she has one top-10 finish in the three events so far and appears well-suited to Kona Country Club.

The same can be said for the big-hitting Rosales who has the 3rd best driving distance stats on view this week. She allies that with a 3rd place finish in the last LPGA event and comes here full of confidence. A missed cut last year ensures her a big price as well, but hopefully this week will show that course form needs to be based on more than just one year.

Outright plays:

Michele Redman 33/1 e.w. @ Ladbrokes

Kelly Robbins to win 50/1 e.w. @ Ladbrokes

Jenny Rosales to win 66/1 e.w. @ Ladbrokes

Final update: 0-3 and -3.00 units

Interest in this tournament ended on the first day when the winds blew all three players out of contention. Robbins was the only one with a chance of salvaging something out of the event, but she didn't and finished in 34th position. The other two picks missed the cut. Next week can only get better on this Tour!