Safeway Ping

Outright plays (0.75 units):

Lorie Kane to finish in the top-five 13/2 @ Five Dimes
Extremely impressive course form with no worse than 11th in her five previous visits to Moon Valley and looked in very impressive form last week until an even-par final round enabled the Doolan to overtake her with a closing 65. With just four victories and last one two years ago, she looks a good player to side with for place-only bets rather than win-only and with Sorenstam, Pak and Webb in the field, everyone else's odds are sufficiently inflated.

Juli Inkster to finish in the top-five 7/1 @ Five Dimes
Inkster finished 5th when this event first came to Moon Valley in 1987 and her recent form is not bad either - three top-10 finishes in her last four visits. There was every evidence last week after her 2nd round 62 that she was playing well enough to contend and this week should be no different. High enough odds to look at the place-only option for a player who has not won since last July ... but that was the U.S. Women's Open!

Christina Kim to finish in the top-four 25/1 @ Centrebet
William Hill offer 125/1, which are very surprising odds for someone who finished 4th last week. Will take the place-only route again as Kim is not a consistent winner. She finished 2nd on the 2002 Futures Tour money list, but she only won once while finishing 2nd four times. The mitigating circumstances may have been that she was almost certainly going to finish 2nd in the Money List to Loren Ochoa, but it still shows that the Californian was a promising rookie before last week's high finish.

Matchup plays (0.75 units unless stated):

Meg Mallon to beat Laura Diaz -110 @ SkyBet
Successfully opposed Diaz last week as her form in Australia was a concern and she was defending champion. She missed the cut, while Mallon finished 6th. Mallon also has the upper hand on this course - in the times that they have played in the same year, Diaz has yet to finish ahead of Mallon.

Lorie Kane to beat Rachel Teske -125 @ Expekt
Also opposed Teske last week and while she made the cut, she finished down in 68th place. With the pressure of being defending champion this week, I'll oppose her with my main outright selection who has been extremely consistent on this course with last year being the only time in four occasions that Kane has finished ahead of Teske.

Christina Kim to beat Suzann Pettersen -118 @ Expekt [2.25 units]
Siding with Kim again who was put on the mike for the last two rounds of the Welch's/Fry Championship and coped very well even if the producers were quick to cut away from her at the first sign of her frequent "damnit"s! Still, that would be nothing compared to Pettersen's outbursts were she to be put on the mike! As for the golf, Pettersen has been trying out new Titleist irons for the last two weeks and it showed in her erratic 62nd place finish this week. She needs a high finish this week to qualify for the Nabisco Championship, but I can't see it while she is still experimenting. Will side with the impressive Kim again.

Mid-point update:

Mallon/Diaz Trails by 3
Kane/Teske LOST by 5
Kim/Pettersen Trails by 3

Kane mc
Inkster mc
Kim 51st

Good 2nd round by Kim saw her get back under the cut mark and prevent a missed cut sweep on the outrights. Will be a loss-making event, but it will all depend on Kim as to how much.

Final update:

Matchups: 0-3-0; -4.42 units

Mallon/Diaz LOST by 12
Kim/Pettersen LOST by 5

Outrights: 0-3; -2.25 units

Kim 50th

Disappointing blank. Not even close to win. Can only get better next week.