2022 Lotte Championship (Apr 13 - 16)

[Argonne69]

Race to the CME Globe: 500 Points

 

Format: 72 Holes

 

Purse: $2,000,000

 

Location: Hoakalei Country Club, Ewa Beach, Oahu, HI

 

Par: 72

 

Yardage: 6,397 yds

 

History: This is the 10th year for the event. In 2021, Lydia Ko shot a final round 65 to win by 7 strokes over Inbee Park for her first win in nearly 3 years.

 

Coverage:

 

April 13: The Golf Channel 7:00 pm - 11:00 pm (EDT)

April 14: The Golf Channel 7:00 pm - 11:00 pm (EDT)

April 15: The Golf Channel 7:00 pm - 11:00 pm (EDT)

April 16: The Golf Channel 7:00 pm - 11:00 pm (EDT)

 

[Argonne69]

Fairly weak field this week with a lot of top players sitting out. On the positive side we get four hours of prime time coverage in North America each day.

 

'Just a reminder that this tournament starts on Wednesday.

 

[8602081]

Why such a weak field?

 

It's in Hawaii.. I would think people would flock to play there.

 

[Stooch]

Could be the indecision, there wasn't even a course for this event until a few weeks ago.  Not awe inspiring for a one week trip with a pretty long flight.

[8602081]

Disappointing.  If they are getting prime time coverage, LPGA members should put more effort to show their talents to increase their popularity.

 

More populstity means more sponsorship, higher prize money, etc..

 

 

The course looks nice and it's Top 100 in US..

[Stooch]

Kristen Gillman has dropped off quite a bit after a decent start to her playing on tour, she's 2nd reserve.  My question, how far down the list do you gotta be before you decide to jump on a flight to Hawaii and chance it, I guess you Monday qualifying (Sunday here) also.

[Tasals]

4 hours ago, 8602081 said:

Why such a weak field?

 

It's in Hawaii.. I would think people would flock to play there.

 

cost of flight, time changes, cost of hotel, cost of a car - everything keeps getting more expensive. Then you add that on for your caddie unless you choose a local, so it makes it really hard to justify the cost for just one week. Probably more convenient for the player to take a week off and go for a 3 week stretch in California.

[Pops99]

Pretty sure Sandra Gal is teeing it up this week. I am happy that she is trying to make it back. 

[Lobby]

I really like the prime time tv coverage. 
 

lpga should play all tourneys in Hawaii 

🙂

[Argonne69]

So Yeon is playing in the KLPGA Mediheal this week. Sei Young is invited.

 

[Stooch]

Looking at Google Maps, the condition should be very similar to Ko Olina, both real close to ocean.  There does seem to be plenty of water in play on almost all the holes here, so you really don't wanna get lost in the wind.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Hoakalei+Country+Club/@21.333951,-158.1116612,301m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m9!1m2!2m1!1sEWA+BEACH,+OAHU,+HI+golf+course!3m5!1s0x7c0064b24be3751d:0x929fb9c9ee2e4615!8m2!3d21.3126996!4d-158.0335834!15sCh9FV0EgQkVBQ0gsIE9BSFUsIEhJIGdvbGYgY291cnNlkgEMY291bnRyeV9jbHVi

Edited April 12, 2022 by Stooch

[ChronicSlicer]

Going with Pajaree and Pauline Roussin-Bouchard as a sleeper.

[Seamus_McDuff]

1 hour ago, ChronicSlicer said:

Going with Pajaree and Pauline Roussin-Bouchard as a sleeper.

Good sleeper pick. 
 

I’ll go Hannah Green. 

[18majors]

A scenic course:

 

 

[pmcuk]

On 4/11/2022 at 9:54 PM, Pops99 said:

Pretty sure Sandra Gal is teeing it up this week. I am happy that she is trying to make it back. 

 

She's a favourite with me - artistic and sings too! Anyone know if she finally shook off Lyme disease? Awful thing to get stuck with. All I see is that it's "dormant" so I guess still in her body. Tough to get rid of it completely.

[golfortennis]

On 4/11/2022 at 8:46 AM, 8602081 said:

Why such a weak field?

 

It's in Hawaii.. I would think people would flock to play there.

 

 

I thought the new commissioner had taken care of any issues the LPGA had?  

[8602081]

Just saw the list of players playing this week..

 

It's not too bad, should be fun to watch.

 

Emily Pederson

Su Oh

Brooke Henderson

Danielle Kang

Atthaya Thitkul

Lydia Ko

Hye-Jin Choi

In Gee Chun

Yu Liu

etc.. etc..

[Rapidcat]

1 hour ago, golfortennis said:

 

I thought the new commissioner had taken care of any issues the LPGA had?  

Where's @KBong?

[Rapidcat]

On 4/12/2022 at 12:52 AM, Stooch said:

Could be the indecision, there wasn't even a course for this event until a few weeks ago.  Not awe inspiring for a one week trip with a pretty long flight.

That's a key issue.

 

An interesting one to try and work out Mollie's effectiveness: why was it so last minute in securing a venue but on the other hand, maybe Mollie (& team) rescued the event from oblivion? Wouldn't want to see too many of these last minute 'saves'.

 

Who knows, but I expect those playing are happy to have a chance to play for some prizemoney on a decent course.

 

Can't leave these comments all to be made by our (temporarily?) departed friend KBong.

[18majors]

On 4/11/2022 at 3:23 AM, Argonne69 said:

April 13: The Golf Channel 7:00 pm - 11:00 pm (EDT)

April 14: The Golf Channel 7:00 pm - 11:00 pm (EDT)

 

This time window is specified in the contract, but most likely the broadcast will be carried until featured groups are done.  We'll probably have close to 5 hours viewing these two days.

[Stooch]

1 hour ago, 18majors said:

 

This time window is specified in the contract, but most likely the broadcast will be carried until featured groups are done.  We'll probably have close to 5 hours viewing these two days.

 

Everything seems straight, 5 hour time difference and the afternoon feature groups should be finished by 6 PM  local or 11 PM EST

[18majors]

14 minutes ago, Stooch said:

 

Everything seems straight, 5 hour time difference and the afternoon feature groups should be finished by 6 PM  local or 11 PM EST

 

The last time I checked, Hawaii is 6 hours behind East Coast time.

[Stooch]

8 minutes ago, 18majors said:

 

The last time I checked, Hawaii is 6 hours behind East Coast time.

Touche!  Fat fingers and 4 1/2 hour round don't change my point.

[18majors]

11 minutes ago, Stooch said:

4 1/2 hour round

 

A fat dream for threesome pairings; more likely between 5-1/6 to 5-1/2 hours.

[JungleJimbo]

10 hours ago, Rapidcat said:

Where's @KBong?

@Rapidcat
Maybe if you summon @KBong  a few times... he will appear again!

(Or perhaps he has moved to Toronto for good 🤷‍♂️ 🤔)

 

[Golf Dino]

 

Wow . . . Brooke and Danielle are going to have to pick things up for tomorrow's late round if they wish to make the cut.  

[JungleJimbo]

19 minutes ago, Golf Dino said:

 

Wow . . . Brooke and Danielle are going to have to pick things up for tomorrow's late round if they wish to make the cut.  

@Golf Dino the LPGA leaderboard indicates that Danielle Kang has “WD’d”?
 

https://www.lpga.com/tournaments/lotte-championship/leaderboard

 

 

 

Edited April 14, 2022 by JungleJimbo

[HMHS]

Yes they announced DK has withdrawn due to injury in the telecast earlier… 

[Golf Dino]

@JungleJimbo

 

She finished at +4 for the round.  She must have WD herself after the round.  

[Argonne69]

Lydia's tournament scoring record will likely be safe at the new course, but there are still some very good scores being posted. 'Not your typical leaderboard with a handful of players we don't usually see near the top.