The LPGA Tour will make the move from Australia to Thailand for this week’s Honda LPGA Thailand golf tournament at the Siam Country Club on the Pattaya Old Course in Chonbur, Thailand. It’s a continuation of the tour of exotic destinations before the LPGA eventually heads back to the main land.
Event Details
Event: 2016 Honda LPGA Thailand
Category: LPGA
Date: February 25-28
Location: The Pattaya Old Course, Siam Country Club, Chonbur, Thailand
It feels like just yesterday that Yani Tseng dominated the field in back-to-back wins at the LPGA Honda Thailand in 2011 and 2012, but the feel will be much different this time around. That is because world No. 1 Lydia Ko will not be present at this year’s tournament that includes a limited field of about 70 players. Ko is coming off a surprising runner-up finish to Haru Nomura at last week’s ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open and her absence from this week’s field will leave it wide open with a number of legitimate contenders among the betting favorites.
Past Five Winners
2015 – Amy Yang -15
2014 – Anna Nordqvist -15
2013 – Inbee Park -12
2012 – Yani Tseng -19
2011 – Yani Tseng -15
What To Know About The Course
The Pattaya Old Course has been the host course for this event since 2010 and was also the host course for this tournament back in 2007. The course is located on the low hills near Pattaya and there are many trees and hedges that line the fairways along with lakes and some creeks. The course is dotted with over 100 bunkers including some that are fairly deep. The fairways are narrow so accuracy will be among the keys to winning this tournament. The greens are long and not difficult to hit, but they can also play very fast depending on weather conditions.
The Field
Ko’s absence is very significant this week as it leaves her off the board as she would have easily been the betting favorite once again heading in to this tournament. Instead, the field is loaded with several legitimate contenders including the 2013 Honda PGA Thailand winner Inbee Park, who is listed as the outright favorite to win at +600 odds. Park is followed by Sei Young Kim and Stacy Lewis at +800 odds with Ha Na Jang and Shanshan Feng rounding out the top-five at +1100 and +1400 odds respectively. None of the top-ranked players in the field competed in last week’s Australian Open so they should all be well rested and focused heading in to this week’s event.
A Good Matchup To Bet: In Gee Chun over Suzann Pettersen
In Gee Chun continued an impressive rookie season with a top-five finish at the Coates Golf Championship and she should be rested and focused after taking last week’s tournament off. Chun doesn’t have a ton of experience, but she is very confident despite her rookie status and she currently ranks 10th in the Rolex Rankings. Chun’s incredible accuracy has a lot of people talking about her potential to do some serious damage on the LPGA Tour this season and she should be a good bet to win her matchup with the veteran Pettersen this week.
Top Five Prediction: Stacy Lewis
So Yeon Ryu and Shanshan Feng are both making their first start of 2016 this week and could be very rusty. Meanwhile, Inbee Park won this event in 2014, but there are legitimate concerns that she isn’t at full strength after she withdrew from the Pure-Silk Bahamas with a back injury a couple of weeks ago and hasn’t competed since. That leaves Lewis as a strong bet to finish in the top-five. Lewis is one of the only golfers in the field that has registered at least one top-10 finish on the LPGA Tour this season and she should be an excellent choice to excel in a relatively weak field at this week’s Honda LPGA Thailand. The defending champion Amy Yang also deserves some consideration to finish in the top-five. Yang is listed at +2800 odds at some books to repeat as this year’s Honda LPGA Thailand winner and should be a strong value pick at those long odds.
