And Today's LPGA Event Is...

With the whole world seemingly abuzz about the demise of Wozzilroy, I decided to write about this week's LPGA event instead. I hope you guys don't mind.



The Airbus LPGA Classic is making its 6th appearance -- this is its 7th year but it wasn't played in 2009 -- and Jennifer Johnson is the defending champion. It's being played at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, Magnolia Grove, The Crossings (boy, that's a long name for one course) in Mobile, Alabama.

You can read Tony Jesselli's preview at this link. And here is the official LPGA tournament page where you can read the interviews, link to the scoreboard, and all that stuff.

As I see it, there are 3 major storylines this week:

1) Yani Tseng made some major strides last week at Kingsmill, finishing T2 for her best finish of the year. If she's finally regaining her game, she could make another run up the Rolex Rankings -- you don't lose your talent, after all, and Yani's proved she's got plenty of that -- so things could become very interesting over the next few months.

2) The race for #1 is probably the biggest storyline this week. Inbee Park believes she had food poisoning and then caught a cold. She skipped Kingsmill so she could rest, and now feels like she's ready to play. And she'd better be ready because...

3) Stacy Lewis is a mere .38 of a point behind Inbee Park and, while both are playing this week, Stacy has won here before (2012). With Lydia Ko out of the picture this week, this may be Stacy's best chance to grab the top spot. GC ran a list of scenarios where Stacy can jump to the top; here's the list from LPGA.com:

• With a win regardless of other finishes
• With a solo second and Inbee finishes T4 with two or more players or worse.
• With a T2 with one other player and Inbee finishes 9th or worse
• With a T2 with two other players and Inbee finishes 17th or worse
• With a solo 3rd and Inbee finishes 26th or worse

It should make for some interesting viewing this week.

The first round of the Airbus LPGA Classic airs tonight on GC starting at 6:30pm ET. (I can't find two listings that agree on when it comes on or how long it lasts, but that's the start time GC gave during Golf Central Wednesday night.) It'll be tape-delayed but after so many years with little if any LPGA coverage, I'm not complaining.