Our golf tipster Jamie Worsley is back with another full preview of the LPGA Tour event, the HSBC Women’s World Championship and he has four interesting looking selections for you.
2.5pts Brooke Henderson- each way (1/4 5 places) – 16/1
1.5pts Celine Bouter – each way (1/4 5 places) – 30/1
1pt Sei-Young Kim – each way (1/4 5 places) – 45/1
0.5pts Ariya Jutanugarn – each way (1/4 5 places) – 250/1
After a stellar first year on the LPGA and contending on her first start of the year two weeks ago in the Saudi Ladies International, former #1 amateur Lilia Vu finally got that LPGA breakthrough at the Honda LPGA Thailand last week.
There she overcome a six-shot deficit heading into the final round, shooting a superb 64 to win by one stroke over another player bound for big things in the game, Thailand’s Natthakritta Vongtaveelap. She had played superbly up until that final round, building up a four stroke lead heading into Sunday and though ultimately ending in disappointment, the way she battled despite not having her best stuff was hugely impressive.
Onto this week and we stay out in the Far East in Singapore, for the HSBC Women’s World Championship at Sentosa Golf Club’s Tanjong Course.
Tournament History
The Tournament started off life in 2008 at Tanah Merah Country Club, before moving to the Serapong Course here at Sentosa Golf Club in 2013 and following a major renovation of the Tanjong Course at Sentosa in 2016, the event moved there in 2017, where it has remained.
Inbee Park is the only two-time winner of the event, first winning in 2015 at the Serapong Course and then taking home the title when the event first moved here in 2017, where her score of -19 is still the best winning score since the event moved to its current home.
Lorena Ochoa’s winning score of -20 in 2008, which was eleven shots better than her nearest competitor is still the event record and a hugely impressive one at that.
Koreans have dominated recent renewals of the event, taking home six of the last seven editions. Last year saw Jin Young Ko claim the trophy, holding off compatriot Ingee Chun and Australia’s Minjee Lee by two strokes.
This was prior to injury problems which blighted the latter stages of the year for the Korean star, who was the best player on the planet up until that point. With her encouraging return at last week’s event, where she finished 6th, she looks in a good place to try and hold on to that trophy but she will have to do so up against another world class field.
The Course
Originally designed by Frank Pennink in the 1970s, Sentosa Golf Club’s Tanjong Course went through a complete overhaul in 2016 at the hands of Andrew Johnston (also the course superintendent) and this is now ultimately his design. Amongst many things, he made major changes to the previously huge green complexes, as well as total redesign and repositioning of bunkers. Now huge, formidable and hugging most of the greens.
It’s a long par 72, measuring 6740 yards. The moderately tree-lined fairways are of average width and not too penal providing you don’t find the water, which is in-play on eleven holes.
As mentioned, the fast bermudagrass greens have been reduced greatly in size and are now relatively small, many with false fronts that will repel errant tee-shots. This is where that new bunkering comes into its own, defending many of the putting surfaces, whilst plenty of the greens are too in line with that water that is in-play.
The course starts off quite kindly, with a series of scorable, shorter par 4s that players will fancy attacking, though will increase with difficulty as you go on and culminates with a monstrous closing par 4 at close to 500 yards.
It has provided a solid test since taking over hosting duties, with an average winning score of -17 over the five renewals, posing equal parts scoring opportunities and dangerous holes where players will be happy to make par and run to the next tee.
The Stats
Strong iron players have thrived here over the previous five years, no doubt benefiting from the redesigned smaller greens.
Last year’s winner, Jin Young Ko is an excellent iron player in her own right and was chased home last year by the 1st and 2nd ranked approach players on the LPGA last season, Minjee Lee and Ingee Chun. Whilst Atthaya Thitikul is no slouch in this regard either, ranking 20th on the LPGA last season in approach and was 4th here last year. All of those also ranking top 15 in GIR.
Hyo Joo Kim is another high-class iron player (7th on the LPGA last season) and won here in 2021. Hannah Green in 2nd, with Xiyu Lin and Inbee Park in 3rd all excellent in approach, ranking in the top 15 on the LPGA in 2022.
Minjee Lee and Jin Young Ko featured again in 2019, whilst in 2018’s edition, we have players such as Brooke Henderson and Danielle Kang in the top 5, again, quality iron players.
A strong short-game will also be a must this week, with likely difficult conditions set to befall Sentosa Golf Club. Excellent putters have gone well here, Inbee Park a winner in 2017 has been one of the best putters on any tour over the years, whilst Jin Young Ko and Hyo Joo Kim – the last two winners – are certainly more than capable on the greens; as are top five finishers such as Thitikul, Hannah Green and Patty Tavatanakit.
Whilst last year’s leaderboard featured many who are good around-the-greens, Hyo Joo Kim emphasising this further in her 2021 victory, as the best player ATG on the LPGA last year.
Key Stats: SG: Approach, Greens-in-Regulation, SG: Putting, SG: Around-the-Greens
Correlating Events
Dana Open (Highland Meadows Golf Club)
A similarly lengthy, tree-lined yet open course, with fast, small greens and fairways of a similar width. The Dana Open at Highland Meadows Golf Club can give us further clues as to who can go well this week.
Gaby Lopez and Chella Choi have both won there and have good records here, with finishes in the top 10. Danielle Kang is a winner there and has finished 2nd here, whilst Xiyu Lin has a 7th to go with 3rd and 11th place finishes here. Ariya Jutanugarn has runner-up finishes in both, whilst Amy Yang compliments a good record here with a top 5 at Highland Meadows.
Honda LPGA Thailand (Siam Country Club – Old Course)
Whether it be just regional climate combining these two courses or that they are both open courses off-the-tee, the Old Course at Siam Country Club has developed strong form-ties with this week’s event.
Inbee Park has won both events, whilst Ariya Jutanugarn has won in Thailand to compliment her runner-up finish here. Amy Yang is a three time winner there, whilst Chella Choi has two top 7s. Form-ties are plentiful, with Ingee Chun 2nd at both and Xiyu Lin possessing finishes of top 3 across the two events.
The Weather
We look in for a wet, stormy week in Singapore, with thunderstorms predicted throughout the week. A strong breeze is set to accompany and could make conditions pretty treacherous if and when players do get out on the course.
Hopefully the worst of the predicted weather fails to materialise and we get a trouble-free event.
The Field
Another stellar field this week on the LPGA, with twenty-one of the top 25 in the world, including nine of the top 10 set to tee it up in Singapore.
Additionally, we have the interesting entry of Mao Saigo, a five-time winner on the Japanese Tour last year, who’ll be looking to give a good account of herself, mixing it with the best players in the world.
Selections
Lydia Ko heads the market at 9/2, followed by Nelly Korda at 17/2 and Atthaya Thitikul at 9/1. All have good records here and I expect them to be there or thereabouts, however there’s someone a little further down who has a better record at the Tanjong Course than them all and is a winner already this year, Canada’s Brooke Henderson.
2.5pts Brooke Henderson- each way (1/4 5 places)
Henderson had another good year on the LPGA last year, not just adding her 10th LPGA title in June at the ShopRite Classic but then became a two-time major winner the following month at the Evian Championship, six years after her first one in the 2016 PGA Championship.
She continued to play solid enough for the rest of the year, hitting the top 10 in the British Open, before signing off her year with a 7th place finish in the Tour Championship.
Henderson kicked off the new year in style, with a commanding four-stroke victory in the Tournament of Champions and followed with an underwhelming 44th place finish last week in Thailand, though still hit the ball well.
She ranked 2nd on the LPGA last year tee-to-green, where she produces quality in every area but is particularly a strong ball-striker, ranking 4th off-the-tee, 5th in greens-in-regulation and 13th in approach last year. Excellent around the greens too, where she ranked 21st, whilst a solid 71st on the greens is perfectly respectable due to the quality of the rest of her game.
Henderson’s game has translated to an excellent record here in Singapore. After finishing 2nd here on debut in 2018, she has gone on to record finishes of 4th, 15th and 6th in the three latest renewals. A 3rd place finish in the Dana Open provides further positives, whilst three top 7s in the Honda LPGA Thailand is another plus.
It’s another strong field but Henderson was the pick of the bunch at the top for me at the prices and has everything in her favour for a strong showing this week.
1.5pts Celine Bouter – each way (1/4 5 places)
France’s Celine Boutier is a superb approach player and strong on the greens, possessing a game that can see her improve on an average record so far in this event.
She started the year in unspectacular fashion, with a 26th place finish in the ToC and then finished 45th in the Saudi International but she burst into life last week in Thailand, finishing 4th and hitting the ball excellently, with the putter not quite getting hot enough over the weekend for her to contend.
This was more like it for a player who finished last season with five top 10s in her last seven starts, form that was engineered by the aforementioned quality she possesses in approach, ranking 5th last season and on the greens, where she ranked 14th.
Boutier has finished 23rd, 14th and 35th on her three starts in Singapore, though I’m certain she can go better. Her strong record in Thailand – adding a 4th place finish last week to her already existing 3rd – gives me more confidence in the belief she can improve on that this week and if hitting it as well as she did there, Boutier can add to her two LPGA titles.
1pt Sei-Young Kim – each way (1/4 5 places)
2020 PGA Champion, Sei Young Kim made a good start to the year last week with a 20th place finish in Thailand, firing three rounds in the 60s and looking strong across most areas. She can kick on from there this week and improve on her previous best of 10th in the event.
This solid start to the year is a continuation of the solid end to last year that she enjoyed, hitting the top 25 in twelve of her final fourteen starts but ultimately that first win since 2020 eluded her.
Her all-round game is solid but she particularly excelled with the short-game last season, ranking 3rd around-the-greens, whilst she hits plenty of greens, ranking 15th. Kim is solid in approach and on the greens, ranking just in and around the top 50 in both but will need to find a little more in at least one of those areas this week to contend against this stellar field.
She’s finished 37th, 10th and 48th on her three visits here, though as a past winner of the Dana Open, I’m sure she’s capable of better, whilst multiple top 5s in Thailand provide further encouragement.
Kim is a classy player and proven winner, with twelve LPGA title to her name, including that major win. If able to build on her promising start to the season, she’ll be a danger this week.
0.5pts Ariya Jutanugarn – each way (1/4 5 places)
Two-time major winner and former world #1 Ariya Jutanugarn hasn’t been in the greatest form of late. However with her excellent record here – where she finished 2nd on debut in 2017 – I just couldn’t pass her up at this price.
From 2016-2018, Jutanugarn was simply one of the best players on the planet, winning ten times, with two of them major wins: the 2016 British Open & 2018 US Open.
The wins have dried up since then, with her victory in the Honda LPGA Thailand in 2021 her most recent solo victory, though she did win the Dow Great Lake Bay Invitational team event with sister Moriya in the same year.
Despite being largely disappointing last year, there were some bright spots, particularly towards the end of the year, where she finished 10th in the Kroger Queen City Championship and 7th in the BMW Ladies Championship.
Though her bare form figures of 29th and 51st in two starts this year don’t inspire the utmost confidence, there have been positives. She hit her irons well over the first two rounds last week, whilst finally finding something on the greens in the final round; however, struggled with the driver for most of the week.
Jutanugarn’s record here is excellent, as well as her 2nd on debut, she finished 8th in 2019 and in all five renewals of the event, she hasn’t finished outside the top 25. More confidence in her ability to perform here coming from her win in the Honda LPGA Thailand, as well as a runner-up finish in the Dana Open.
At her very best, Jutanugarn was a strong, long driver and excellent putter, indeed the putter was her biggest positive last year where she ranked top 50. She’ll need to find a little something this week but with her proven class I’m willing to roll the dice at such a huge price.
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