Kia Classic moves further up north at Industry Hills Golf Club near L.A – Golf news
The LPGA Tour is finally heading back to United States with the next round of Kia classic Championship to be played from March 21-27, at the Industry Hills Golf Club the Pacific Palms Hotel and Conference Centre, in the City of Industry. The inaugural event
of the Kia Classic was held further in the south at the La Costa Resort and Spa in Southern California, but organisers have decided to back to their old venue in the suburbs of Los Angeles-a former 1981 LPGA tour host. The 2010 episode of the event was won
by South Korean, Hee Kyung Seo, with a massive six-shot lead.
There are two courses at the club, The Babe and The Ike, designed specifically for international tours by William Bell Jr. and Casey O’Callaghan. The Babe is considerably tougher than Ike, which is more forgiving but a longer one. The courses offer multi-level
greens that might be tricky for foreigners and require accuracy off the tee. They have some nice elevated tees and numerous dog-leg holes which bring in a lot of 2-irons and hybrids into play for accuracy. The greens are wide and inviting and with exceptional
amenities off the course, Industry Hills Golf club is one of the revered courses on the west coast.
The excellent facilities do not come without a setback of unpredictable weather conditions. Last PGA Tour in 1981, the Olympia Gold Classic, was curtailed to 36 holes due to heavy rains and the final for the proceeding year had to be rescheduled on Monday.
Industry Hills director of golf, Dave Youpa, had his reservations about the weather and said, “The fact that it hadn't rained for the past two months and now we're getting rain, that's a little baffling to me.”
He added, “I think this is the good Lord cleaning up the place, putting some more snow in the mountains ... He's going to change the wind direction and it's going to be the most beautiful weekend of golf we've ever had.”
The $1.7 million event will be featuring the top women golfers from the world including World Number One, Yani Tseng and World Number Two, Jiyai Shin. Also, featuring would be ace American women golfer, Amy Hung, who will be playing in her home town. Australian,
Karrie Webb, who is on a winning streak at the moment will pose a serious challenge for Tseng as the World Number One is not playing at her best.
Webb, who won the LPGA Founders Cup in Phoenix, still holds high ranking on the money list although she designated the winner’s share to charities as per format of the Championship. She has hit her best form with her back-to-back wins and having started
off the year at 19th, she is now World Number Eight in a short span of less than three months. Other top ranking golfers on the LPGA Tour like Paula Creamer, Michelle Wie, Suzann Pettersen, In Kyung Kim and Na Yeon Choi will also bid for the top
slot in the tournament.
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