Takefuji Classic

Course: Waikoloa Beach Resort, Big Island, Hawaii
Yardage: 6165
Par: 70  (three par-fives)
USGA Rating: 71.5
Greens: Tifdwarf Bermudagrass

Weather Forecast

Best Players Last 10 Years

Past Winners:
2001 - Lorie Kane
2000 - Karrie Webb

Outright plays:

Lorie Kane to win 14/1 e.w. @ Stan James
Not an event with which get heavily involved - 1st event of the LPGA season, played on a new course and my feeling to to avoid players who played in Australia last week rather than focus on this season-opening event. Instead, the three selections have solid form in Hawaii, not least Lorie Kane who is the defending champion, finished 10th in her previous start in this event and has secured top-25 finishes in the last three Hawaiian Ladies Opens. Rather a short price for a season-opening, three-day event, but she is a class above most of this field.

Sherri Steinhauer to win 80/1 e.w. @ NetBetSports
2001 was a season to forget for Steinhauer; just one top-10 finish - 4th in the Giant Eagle LPGA Classic. Quite a contrast from the 2000 season which she opened with 5 top-10 finishes in her first six events. But she does have a good record in Hawaii before 2001. In 2000 she was 5th in this event and 6th in the Hawaiian Open and secured a couple of other top-6 finishes in the 1990s in that event. With NetBetSports paying 6 places, she may just turn the clock back to her Hawaiian performances of two years ago.

Brandie Burton to win 80/1 e.w. @ Ladbrokes
The price on Burton is a strange one and will probably not last. It is at least twice as high at Ladbrokes than anywhere else! She has not played since the Women's British Open in the first week of August as she underwent shoulder surgery for her left shoulder after re-injuring it at that event. Assuming the injury has cleared, this should be a welcome return to Hawaii where she has finished 9th, 2nd and 4th in her last three Hawaiian Opens. She opened the 2000 season with a top-5 finish, let's hope she can prove Ladbrokes wrong and do it again.

54-hole play:

Janice Moodie to beat Catriona Matthew -110 @ Surrey
Just the one play in this event. Apart from Matthew's win in the Hawaiian Ladies Open last year, she has a much poorer record on the islands than her compatriot. Having also played in Australia last week and missed the cut, she look one to oppose this week.

BTW, Burton has withdrawn from the event.

Final update:

Matchups: 0-1; -1.10 units

Moodie/Matthew LOST by 6

Outrights: 1-1; -0.10 units

Kane 2nd
Steinhauer 43rd

Moodie was always trailing Matthew, Steinhauer was never on the pace and Kane lost in a playoff to Annika Sorenstam. Maybe I'm just saving up the wins for Spring