Office Depot Championship

Course: El Caballero Country Club, Tarzana, California
Yardage: 6394
Par: 72  (four par-fives)
USGA Rating: 73.2
Greens: Bermudagrass/Poa Annua

GCSAA Tournament Fact Sheet

Weather Forecast

Best Players Last 10 Years

Past Winners:
2001 - Annika Sorenstam
2000 - Grace Park
1999 - Rachel Teske
1998 - Karrie Webb
1997 - Karrie Webb

Outright plays (1 unit unless stated):

Rosie Jones to win 25/1 e.w. @ Ladbrokes
Ultra-consistent player - her worst finish since the U.S. Women's Open ten months ago has been 21st in the AFLAC Champions - who finished just two shots behind Annika last week. The tight fairways of La Caballero will suit her game and a top-5 finish should be very likely.

Grace Park to win 40/1 e.w. @ NetBetSports
Very much higher odds than elsewhere and with six places on offer, I am tempted. Park has finished in the top-10 in six of her last nine events and in three of four starts this season. She improved every round from a disastrous opening 75 to finish 9th last week and while she is more suited to the longer courses, there is definitely value IMO in 40/1 for this player.

Cristie Kerr to win 66/1 e.w. @ William Hill, Centrebet or Sportsinteraction
Hard to ignore a player at these odds who has finished in the top-20 in all her four starts this year and finished 3rd on two of those occasions. She did so in the PING Banner Health and in the Nabisco Championship last week. She has yet to win on Tour, but at these odds, another 3rd place finish would be more than welcome!

Matchup plays (1 unit unless stated):

Tammie Green to beat Tina Fischer -111 @ BetandWin
Some very strange matchups from BetandWin, concentrating on the lesser-known players, but two are of interest. Both have had one decent finish this year - Green finished 23rd in the Welch's/Circle K Championship two weeks ago and Fischer finished 15th in the Takefuji Classic five weeks ago - but this is basically a play against Fischer. Since the Takefuji Classic she has yet to break par in any of her eight rounds and four of those have been in the 80s.

Jane Geddes to beat Sandrine Mendiburu -111 @ BetandWin [3 units]
One start and one cut made for Geddes so far this year and that is enough for me to side with her and oppose Mendiburu who has played three events on American soil and missed the cut by quite a distance on each occasion. She has won four times on the Ladies European Tour, but did not play for almost 12 months until competing in a couple of evens at the end of last season. I can only presume the layoff was because of injury and she played poorly on those occasions. This is her first start of 2002 and I really don't see a return to the form of 1999.

Final update:

Matchups: 2-0; +4.00 units

Green/Fischer WON by 9
Geddes/Mendiburu WON by 5

Outrights: 0-3; -3.00 units

Jones 20th
Park WD
Kerr mc

A comparatively poor event by this week's standards! Both the matchups were decided at the cut and at least covered some very disappointing outright selections. Park had been best-placed after the 1st round, but withdrew after a few holes of the 2nd round. Jones improved with every round, but finished 10 shots behind Se Ri Pak who had obviously fully recovered from her illness early in the week!