JoePa's US Womens Open, Buick and Open de France

[joepa66]

US WOMEN'S OPEN - LPGA


PAULA CREAMER 14 / 1 - I'm backing Paula who is like the steady eddy David Toms of the LPGA. Her scoring average is 70.67, she's 3rd in GIR at 73.2%, 2nd in rounds under par 28/43, 4th in birdies with 155, 11th in putting, drives the ball 250 yards and is 4th in earnings for 2007 with $685,729. Prior to finishing T21st in the Wegman's last week, she had finished with 5 top 10s in a row in her last 10 starts. In her last 3 US Opens she has finished 16th, 19th, and 13th....and was cut in her first ever start. Her top 10 finishes this year have been a 2nd, two 4ths, a 6th and a 9th.


SUZANN PETTERSEN 25 / 1 - The 4th ranked player in the world has been on fire lately. She's 4th in scoring average at 70.89, 3rd in driving distance at 275.3 yards, is 67% off the tee in fairways. Pettersen won the MickeyD's two weeks ago, and finished 7 strokes back of Ochoa in the Wegman's last weekend. Through 12 events in 2007 she has 5 Top 10 with 2 wins. She won McDs & The Michelob Ultra, finsihed 2nd in the Safeway Classic and The Nabisco, and took 9th in the Sybase Classic at the beginning of the year. In her last five rounds her scoring average has improved to 70.6....doesn't seem like much but in a close race it can be all the difference.


CRISTIE KERR 20 / 1 - One of the prettiest faces on tour who has one of the biggest hearts too! For each birdie she gets this season, Kerr is donating $50 toward breast cancer research and she got 129 so far ($6450)! I really like her GIR which is 68%, driving accuracy which is 69.7%, she's tied at 14th in sand saves at 52%, a 251.6 yard driving average, and if tied for 17th in putts at 1.80...not to mention she has 3 Top 10s in 11 starts this year and has finished in the top 3 in her last 3 tournaments. She finished 4th in the Wegman's last week stumbling in the second round with a 75 after opening with a first round 66.

HMMMmmmm....that's 3 blondes, imagine that!

[joepa66]

OPEN DE FRANCE - EUROPEAN TOUR


SIMON KHAN 40 / 1 - Last year Khan finished T12th @ -4 while the winner finished with a -12. So far this season his best finishes are a T7th @ -9 in the BMW International last week, and an 11th place finish in the Telecom Italia Open. He definitely has the fortitude to go the distance as he came back from a 4 shot deficit over the last 7 holes of the Celtic Manor Open to defeat Paul Casey in a sudden death playoff in 2004, shooting a course record 61. In 2006 he had 6 top 10s with the highest being 2nd place in the BMW Championship bumping him to a 25th place on the order of merit. Khan hits GIR in 70% fashion, has a scoring average of 71.11, is currently ranked 25th on the European Tour, and drives the ball 286 yards with 64.65% accuracy.


JYOTI RANDHAWA 50 / 1 - Ranked 22nd on the European Tour on the strength five top 10 finishes this season. He has two top 10 finishes in a row, ending 9th in the HSBC Championship with a -7, 3rd in the UBS Hong Kong Open @ -12, 7th in the Dubai Desert Classic @ -13, 8th in the Singapore Masters @ -8, and 2nd in the Open de Espana @ -15, in addition to strong showing in last weeks T11th place finish with a -7 at the BMW International, and T17th with a -8 in the Celtic Manor Wales Open. Randhawa has a 70.53 scoring average, GIR is 69%, and he hits the ball a ton at 291 yards off the tee but just 58.56%......that's where his GIR comes into importance when missing fairways and he's done it well.


ANDERS HANSEN 14 / 1 - Hansen probably wishes that this week's tournament was sponsored by BMW! He tied for 4th place last week @ -10 in the BMW International (the winner finished -13), and he won the BMW PGA Championship earlier in the season with a -8. He's currently ranked 9th on the European Tour with a scoring average of 70.79, driving distance of 270 yards, driving accuracy of 74.76%, GIR of 75.56, and sand save average of 58%. And, he just keeps getting better.....in 2000 his first year on tour, his GIR was 68.77% which has risen to 75.56% this season. In 2004 his best driving year, he averaged 292 yards off the tee but sacrificed hitting fairway with a 65.46% average. This year his averages 22 yard less on drives but hits the fairways with higher accuracy at 74.76%.

[joepa66]

BUICK OPEN PGA

NO VIJAY....NO TIGER...the door is open! 7 first-time winners on the PGA tour this season and 5 of them are in their 20s.....


SEAN O'HAIR 20 / 1 - Looking for O'Hair to prove himself after a T5th @ -14 in the Jack's Memorial Tournament......since then he finished T46th in the St. Jude and he was one of those "average" golfers at Oakmont and couldn't break 80 to make the cut in the second round. O'Hair has experience at Warwick Hills and has made the top 10 in both his events there. In 2006 he played Warwick with ALL four rounds in the 60s, now that's impressive! He's 20th on the tour in driving distance at 296.4 yards, and his GIR is 65.89%, and ranks 25th in scoring @ 70.11. However, he ranks 93rd in final round scoring average with a 71.56......Warwick just may be the medicine the doctor ordered after also getting a break from the tour last week.


HEATH SLOCUM 50 / 1 - Why not? He's in that 20-something crowd! Last week he tied for 22nd at the Travelers @ -4 and has only missed the cut 3 times in 15 events this season. He's quietly worked his way to 7 Top 25 finishes, 3 Top 10s, and finished 2nd in the PODS Championship shooting -9. And two of those Top 10s, 4th at the Hope Chrysler Classic (-15) and 6th in the FBR Open (-16) came in back to back weeks. In the Hope, he finished just two strokes off of Charley Hoffman and John Rollins who had to playoff. In driving distance Slocum is 144th at 279.4 yards, but 10th in accuracy hitting 70.46% of the fairways. He's also 15th in putting......it could happen!


JIM FURYK 4 / 1 - Best of the field without Singh or Woods in my mind. In his last three starts he has two runner-up (2nd) place finishes...in the Crowne Plaza and the US Open. In 14 events this year he has two 2nds, one 3rd, 5 Top 10s, 9 Top 25s and only missed two cuts. Although Furyk is 173rd in driving distance at 274 yards, he's 3rd in accuracy hitting 74.67% of the fairways, 12th in GIR at 66.78%, and 5th in scoring with a 69.58 average. His bugaboo has been his 3rd round scoring average where he ranks 121st with a 72, while he ranks 15th in first round averge, 12th in second round average and 32nd in the final round. Jim, just make some pars at Warwick to stay close in round three, that's all this course begs from ya! He finished 2nd in the Buick in 2001 so he's no stranger here....and on a roll of late!

[joepa66]

BOL to ya Crickets.....it all starts today!
Thank God for Stanley or I'd be in here all alone.....LOL

[Nigel Tufnel]

Simon Khan T3
Furk on the Prowl going into the final round
Kerr with the lead headinginto the final round....

solid picks all around, JoePa. I'll be rooting for Kerr with ya today! Hopefully she can hold Ochoa off.

Good luck today!

[joepa66]

UPDATED FINALS

US WOMEN'S OPEN - LPGA

PAULA CREAMER 14 / 1 - T16th @ +5

SUZANN PETTERSEN 25 / 1 - CUT

CRISTIE KERR 20 / 1 - WINNER @-5 by two strokes


OPEN DE FRANCE - EUROPEAN TOUR

SIMON KHAN 40 / 1 - T3rd @ -5 winner was -7

JYOTI RANDHAWA 50 / 1 - T7th @ -4

ANDERS HANSEN 14 / 1 - T123rd @+12 (had the wrong Hansen...)


BUICK OPEN PGA

SEAN O'HAIR 20 / 1 - T27th @-9 winner was -15

HEATH SLOCUM 50 / 1 - CUT

JIM FURYK 4 / 1 - T6th @ -13

[williwonka05]

NAILED that christi kerr didn't you..

well not literally .... lol

i don't think anyway ... .lol

[joepa66]

Ah I must admit I did it.....but AFTER she lost the 50lbs......not before!
Congrats to Cristie...she deserved it!