LPGA - HSBC Women's Champions Preview From The Sports Network DATES: Thursday, February 25th through Sunday, February 28th SITE: Tanah Merah Country Club (Garden Course), Singapore COURSE ARCHITECT: Thompson, Wolveridge, Fream & Associates (1984),          Max Wexler (1990), Phil Jacobs (2004 - redesign) PAR: 72 YARDAGE: 6,547 Hole-By-Hole: 1 - Par 4 401 yds 10 - Par 4 382 yds 2 - Par 4 381 yds 11 - Par 3 172 yds 3 - Par 3 140 yds 12 - Par 4 384 yds 4 - Par 4 394 yds 13 - Par 5 512 Yds 5 - Par 5 531 yds 14 - Par 3 169 yds 6 - Par 4 415 yds 15 - Par 5 554 yds 7 - Par 4 384 yds 16 - Par 4 269 yds 8 - Par 3 153 yds 17 - Par 4 395 yds 9 - Par 5 497 yds 18 - Par 4 414 yds ------------- ------------- 36 3,296 yds 36 3,251 yds Annual:  3rd Television:  Golf Channel - Thursday/Friday -- 12:30-3:30 p.m. (et) - taped,   - Saturday/Sunday -- 1-3:30 p.m. (et) - taped Defending Champion:  Jiyai Shin Runner-Up:  Katherine Hull Tournament Record:  268 (Lorena Ochoa, 2008) 54-Hole Record:  200 (Lorena Ochoa, 2008) 36-Hole Record:  131 (Lorena Ochoa, 2008) 18-Hole Record:  65 (Lorena Ochoa, 2008) Total Purse:  $1,300,000 Shares:  1st Place - $195,000; 2nd Place - $118,722; 3rd Place - $86,125 2009 Finish Player Score Player Score Jiyai Shin 277 Lorena Ochoa 281 Katherine Hull 279 Jane Park 281 Angela Park 280 Sun Young Yoo 281 Paula Creamer 280 Karrie Webb 282 Angela Stanford 280 Mi Hyun Kim 282 Past HSBC Women's Champions Winners Year Winner (Score) -- Runners-Up 2009 Jiyai Shin (277) -- Katherine Hull 2008 Lorena Ochoa (268) -- Annika Sorenstam Top Contenders in the Field Player 2008 2009 Jiyai Shin 7th Won Katherine Hull T-23 2nd Angela Stanford T-12 T-3 Angela Park T-38 T-3 Lorena Ochoa Won T-6 Karrie Webb T-5 T-9 Seon Hwa Lee T-12 T-8 Cristie Kerr wd T-11 Yani Tseng --- T-11 Suzann Pettersen T-30 T-14 Juli Inkster T-25 T-22 In-Kyung Kim T-8 T-26 Ai Miyazato T-18 T-26 Christina Kim T-8 T-31 Morgan Pressel T-8 T-39 Stacy Prammanasudh T-5 T-45 Helen Alfredsson --- T-56 Anna Nordqvist --- --- Michelle Wie --- --- Sports Network Selections Pick to Win - Ai Miyazato Darkhorse - Song-Hee Kim   Last Week's Pick to Win (Lorena Ochoa) - Finished tied for 18th Last Week's Darkhorse (Amanda Blumenherst) - Finished tied for 18th   NOTES: The LPGA Tour travels to Singapore this week for the HSBC Women's Champions. The best female golfers in the world will compete at Tanah Merah Country Club for the $195,000 first prize. The purse decreased $700,000 from last year to $1.3 million. Nineteen of the top-20 players in the current world rankings are in the field this week. Only world No. 8 Paula Creamer is not in the field, as she aggravated a left thumb injury last week at the Honda PTT LPGA Thailand. Ai Miyazato captured the season-opening event in Thailand last week and moved to No. 4 in the world rankings. The top-20 players from the Rolex Women's World Ranking (as of December 31, 2009), winners on the LPGA Tour from 2009, HSBC Women's Champions winners from 2008 and 2009, the 2010 Honda LPGA Thailand winner, two sponsor invites and the Singapore qualifier are in the select field of 63 players this week. Leading players on the 2009 LPGA Tour money list not otherwise qualified fill the field. Last year, Jiyai Shin fired a six-under 66 in the final round to come from behind and capture this event at Tanah Merah Country Club. She finished at 11-under 277 and won by two strokes over third-round leader Katherine Hull, who tallied a double-bogey and two bogeys on her back nine for a two-over 74. Shin began the final round six shots out of the lead and flew out of the gate. She birdied her first four holes, but was still behind Hull, who played even-par over her first six. Hull birdied the seventh and ninth and was four clear with the back nine to go. The first swing came at the 11th when Shin made birdie. Hull, playing the group behind, bogeyed No. 10 and the margin was cut to two strokes. Hull found huge trouble at the par-five 13th. She drove well left of the fairway and had to take an unplayable lie. By the time Hull came close to the green, she was there in five. Hull two-putted for a double- bogey seven and found herself tied for the lead with Shin at minus-10. Hull could not recover from the error at 13. She bogeyed the 14th hole and Shin birdied 15 so now Shin was two ahead with only four holes to play for Hull. Shin parred out, but Hull made things interesting. The Australian birdied the 17th to cut the margin to a single stroke, but there was very little drama at 18. Hull bogeyed the last to give Shin a two-shot victory, her first as an LPGA member. In 2008, Lorena Ochoa endured three rain delays in the final round to cruise to victory at this event. Ochoa, who fired rounds of 66-65-69-68, was the only player in the field to shoot all four rounds in the 60s. She held an eight-shot, third-round lead and finished the tournament at 20-under 268. That was good enough for an eye-opening, 11-stroke victory over Annika Sorenstam. The HSBC Women's Champions is the first official stroke-play event that the LPGA Tour has played in Singapore. Tanah Merah Country Club in Singapore is the site of this week's event. Tanah Merah Country Club has hosted the Singapore Open, the Johnnie Walker Classic on the European Tour and the Lexus Cup on the LPGA Tour. Ian Woosnam won the Johnnie Walker Classic on the European Tour at Tanah Merah in 1996. Team International defeated Team Asia at the Lexus Cup in 2005 at Tanah Merah, while Team Asia defeated the International Team in 2006. The LPGA Tour moves back across the Pacific Ocean to California in four weeks for the inaugural KIA CLASSIC in Carlsbad. 02/23 16:13:06 ET As of February 23, 2010, at 04:13 PM ET

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