LPGA major Kraft Nabisco Championship all set to tee off from Friday
The 2011 Kraft Nabisco Championship, scheduled to start from Friday, is the first major LPGA event of the year, organized every year at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage in California. The Stroke play tournament will take place on the par 72, 6,627
yards course.
Kraft Nabisco has been played in continuation for the 40th time without a break and achieved the status of a major in 1983. The tour was founded by Dinah Shore in 1972 when it was first held under the banner of Colgate-Dinah Shore Winner’s Circle.
Dinah Shore’s name was removed from the nomenclature in 2000 but it is still referred to as the Dinah Shore Championship. The event features a traditional jump by the winner in the “Poppie’s pond” at the 18th hole, also often called the Green Jacket
of the LPGA. Amy Alcott was the pioneer in setting this tradition when she took the plunge for the third time in 1991 along with the host Dinah Shore.
The tournament is bound to bring exciting golf as the days of LPGA reigning champions Annika Sorenstam and Lorena Ochoa, who ruled the leaderboard for a long time are gone. The aspirants for the top slot is a long list of contenders who equally qualify for
the coveted title. Yani Tseng, the current World number one and defending champion will be pitched in a tight battle to defend her title. Tseng started off her bid last year with a lukewarm performance when Karen Stupples gained a surprise lead in the opening
rounds. Tseng was able to control the later rounds and won the tournament by a one shot lead over Suzan Peterson. She is has already won three major championships on the LPGA and is looking for her fourth title.
"I feel really excited to come back," Tseng told reporters, "Especially walking down the 18th, I saw my name was on the walk of champions and that brought me lots of good memories. And then I came over (the bridge), and that's the water I jumped in."
Also among the contenders is the Australian Kerrie Webb who has already recorded two back to back wins in the start of the year. She won the tournaments in Singapore as well as Phoenix but failed to ascend the leaderboard in Los Angeles last week. “Two wins
this early in the season probably was higher than my expectations starting out so I'm very happy with the way things are going," the 36-year-old said.
World number two Jiyai Shin and Michelle Wie will also be eyeing the top slot especially when Wie is looking all the more dangerous with her improved form. World number three, American Cristie Kerr, has finished in the top ten in Phoenix and Singapore and
she is all set to make her move in this event. This year’s Kraft Nabisco will be an overwhelming International affair, crowded with players from the Far East, Australia and Europe. The total purse of the event is $2 million with $300,000 going to the winner.
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