With the return of women’s golf to the Olympics in the books and South Korea’s Inbee Park with the gold medal around her neck, the focus will shift back to the LPGA Tour this week. It’s been a while since we’ve seen a proper LPGA event. The ladies played the RICOH Women’s British Open from July 28th-July 31st, but haven’t played an LPGA event since. Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand was the winner of that event but keep in mind that she’s banged up these days. She was leading at the Olympics before she suffered a knee injury and then declined quickly. Although there has been little news about her since, it looks like she’ll be at the event this weekend to play.
She’ll join the best in the world, who will make their way to Alberta, Canada and the Priddis Greens Golf & Country Club in Calgary for this week’s Canadian Pacific Women’s Open.
Event Details
Event: Canadian Pacific Women’s Open
Category: LPGA
Date: August 25-28
Location: Priddis Greens Golf & Country Club, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
This week’s field will include 30 Olympians and 97 of the top 100 players in the world. The timing of this event will certainly be unique and it will be very interesting to see the role fatigue plays with so many golfers making the trip straight from Rio this week.
Past Five Winners
2015: Lydia Ko -12
2014: Ryu So-yeon -23
2013: Lydia Ko -15
2012: Lydia Ko -13
2011: Brittany Lincicome -13
What To Know About The Course
Accuracy will be the key to success at the Priddis Greens course but it isn’t necessarily only about the work these golfers do off the tee. Greens in Regulation is an important statistic to consider and putting numbers should be just as important. The last seven winners here have recorded a 12-under par score or better including Ryu So-yeon, who set a record with a 23-under par score back in 2014.
The Field
Lydia Ko will headline the field for this event as the defending champion and the winner of three of the last four Canadian Pacific Women’s Open tournaments. Ko is the obvious sports betting favorite at +300 odds and it won’t shock anybody if she comes out on top. Not only has she been playing well this year, she placed second in the Olympics in Rio and ended up taking home the silver medal. Meanwhile, Stacy Lewis and rookie sensation Ariya Jutanugarn are listed at +1200 odds, highlighting the significant gap between those two and the favorite in Ko. Remember that we don’t know what we’ll see out of Jutanugarn with the knee injury. A Canadian golfer has never won this event but Brooke Henderson represents the country’s best hope this week at +1400 betting odds to win outright.
A Good Matchup To Bet: Brooke Henderson over Amy Yang
Yang tied for third at the U.S. Women’s Open at the beginning of the month but she struggled at the Olympics and could be dealing with fatigue by the time she arrives in Alberta. We are banking on that fatigue won’t have nearly as big of an impact on the home favorite Henderson, who will have the benefit of playing in her home country and should get a boost from the cheering crowds. Henderson has shown flashes of her elite ability and she looked good at the Olympic tournament where she finished seventh. Henderson might not win this event outright but we like her to beat out Yang in the head-to-head betting matchup.
Top-Five Pick: Lydia Ko
It would be absolutely insane to pick anybody else over Ko as a top-five pick. The defending champion absolutely loves this course and should have no problem extending her incredible run of strong play here. Ko is a tremendous betting favorite for a reason and there is a very good chance the Olympic silver medalist makes a return to the win column by successfully defending her title this week.
Top 10 Odds To Win The Canadian Pacific Women’s Open
Lydia Ko +305
Stacy Lewis +1215
Amy Yang +1550
So Yeon Ryu +1550
Brooke M Henderson +1415
In Gee Chun +2050
Ha Na Jang +2250
Shanshan Feng +2250
Haru Nomura +2550
Anna Nordqvist +3050
Sei Young Kim +3050
