History is in the making this week! If Annika Sorenstam wins the Longs Drugs Challenge she will tie Nancy Lopez's record set in 1978 of five consecutive LPGA Tour wins. Some would even consider it a greater achivement than that of Lopez because Lopez missed a tournament on the LPGA schedule, whereas this would be both Sorenstam's and the Tour's fifth consecutive event.
But history also repeats itself and last week's final round collapse by Hurst and Sorenstam's victory from a ten-shot final day deficit was reminiscent of the AT&T last year. At Pebble Beach Tiger Woods covered a seven-shot deficit with seven holes to play and best Matt Gogel to the title. It took him to six consecutive titles, though he was still some way short of Byron Nelson's record. The following week at he Buick Invitational Phil Mickelson took advantage of the draining effect of such charges and saw off the Tiger. I expect something similar to happen this week!
The player to end Sorenstam's record bid will be Julie Inkster who is chasing a unique achievement herself this week. If she wins, she will become the seventh player in LPGA history to win the same tournament three years in a row. Only Laura Davies has won an event (Standard Register Ping) four times in a row. But it should be no surprise that Inkster plays well here, this is as close to a home tournament as she can get. She lives in Los Altos (125 miles away) and she and her family will stay at her sister-in-law's house in nearby Auburn. She always enjoys considerable support around this tight, demanding course and if it became a head-to-head with Sorenstem, the Swede would have history and the crowds to overcome. Too much too soon after last week's heroics.
Apart from Inkster, the other outright plays this week are Janice Moodie and Brandi Burton. Moodie came within a shot of securing a place win for us last week, but it was a valiant attempt and coming off a 2nd place finish at the Nabisco Championship, she will come into this event full of confidence. She has not played this event since 1998 when she finished 28th, but with her currently standing very high in the greens in regulation stats and in a rich vein of form, she should perform much better this time around.
No such worries over course form for Brandi Burton. She was 6th in 1998, did not play in 1999 and was 2nd to Inkster last year. When her only round in the 70s was her final round 74; this is a par-72 course and only eight players finished under par last year. She has not had the best of seasons so far, but 7th in the Nabisco and 14th last week are signs of improvement and with the 3rd best greens in regulation stats of this week's field she will relish the move to this tight course.
Outright plays:
Julie Inkster to win 9/1 @ William Hill
Janice Moodie to win 33/1 e.w. @ Surrey
Brandi Burton to win 28/1 e.w. @ Surrey
But history also repeats itself and last week's final round collapse by Hurst and Sorenstam's victory from a ten-shot final day deficit was reminiscent of the AT&T last year. At Pebble Beach Tiger Woods covered a seven-shot deficit with seven holes to play and best Matt Gogel to the title. It took him to six consecutive titles, though he was still some way short of Byron Nelson's record. The following week at he Buick Invitational Phil Mickelson took advantage of the draining effect of such charges and saw off the Tiger. I expect something similar to happen this week!
The player to end Sorenstam's record bid will be Julie Inkster who is chasing a unique achievement herself this week. If she wins, she will become the seventh player in LPGA history to win the same tournament three years in a row. Only Laura Davies has won an event (Standard Register Ping) four times in a row. But it should be no surprise that Inkster plays well here, this is as close to a home tournament as she can get. She lives in Los Altos (125 miles away) and she and her family will stay at her sister-in-law's house in nearby Auburn. She always enjoys considerable support around this tight, demanding course and if it became a head-to-head with Sorenstem, the Swede would have history and the crowds to overcome. Too much too soon after last week's heroics.
Apart from Inkster, the other outright plays this week are Janice Moodie and Brandi Burton. Moodie came within a shot of securing a place win for us last week, but it was a valiant attempt and coming off a 2nd place finish at the Nabisco Championship, she will come into this event full of confidence. She has not played this event since 1998 when she finished 28th, but with her currently standing very high in the greens in regulation stats and in a rich vein of form, she should perform much better this time around.
No such worries over course form for Brandi Burton. She was 6th in 1998, did not play in 1999 and was 2nd to Inkster last year. When her only round in the 70s was her final round 74; this is a par-72 course and only eight players finished under par last year. She has not had the best of seasons so far, but 7th in the Nabisco and 14th last week are signs of improvement and with the 3rd best greens in regulation stats of this week's field she will relish the move to this tight course.
Outright plays:
Julie Inkster to win 9/1 @ William Hill
Janice Moodie to win 33/1 e.w. @ Surrey
Brandi Burton to win 28/1 e.w. @ Surrey
