HALF MOON BAY, Calif. -- In many ways, this week's $1 million Samsung World Championship has a fresh look and feel to it. The Championship, showcasing the world's 20 most accomplished female golfers of 2008, takes residence at the Ocean Course at Half Moon Bay Golf Links for the first time, features its youngest field ever, including seven Samsung World Championship rookies, and reflects the increasing international membership on the LPGA.
Samsung World Championship Qualifiers:
1. Lorena Ochoa
2. Yani Tseng
3. Inbee Park
4. Ji-Yai Shin
5. Helen Alfredsson
6. Juli Inkster
7. Annika Sorenstam
8. Paula Creamer
9. Seon Hwa Lee
10. Na-Yeon Choi
11. Cristie Kerr
12. Suzann Pettersen
13. Jeong Jang
14. Eun-Hi Ji
15. Angela Park
16. Katherine Hull
17. Song-Hee Kim
18. Karrie Webb
19. Hee-Won Han
20. Angela Stanford
The mission of World No. 1 Lorena Ochoa is also to establish a new precedent, albeit by keeping order the same as the past two years. Among the world's 20 most accomplished female golfers of 2008, Ochoa will attempt to become the first player to win three consecutive Samsung World Championships. She has won seven LPGA titles in 2008.
The qualifiers for the 28th Samsung World Championship are comprised of the LPGA's four major winners – Kraft Nabisco Championship winner Ochoa, the two-time defending LPGA Rolex Player of the Year, LPGA Official Money List and Vare Trophy winner, McDonald's LPGA Championship winner Yani Tseng, U.S. Women's Open champion Inbee Park, RICOH Women's British Open champion Ji-Yai Shin, Ladies European Tour Order of Merit leader Helen Alfredsson, Samsung World Championship Committee invitee Juli Inkster and LPGA Official Money List qualifiers (as of Sept. 15) Annika Sorenstam (officially qualified as the leading "active" LPGA Tour Hall of Fame member on the LPGA Official Money List), Paula Creamer, Seon Hwa Lee, Na-Yeon Choi, Cristie Kerr, Suzann Pettersen, Jeong Jang, Eun-Hee Ji, Angela Park, Katherine Hull, Song-Hee Kim, Karrie Webb, Hee-Won Han and Angela Stanford.
"This year's Samsung World Championship field represents the best female golfers of 2008 and the past generation, without a doubt, and Half Moon Bay and Northern California golf fans will be treated with an all-star display of the best the women's game has to offer," Samsung World Championship Director Torrey Gane said. "There are golf legends, Hall of Famers, major champions, top-ranked players and 2008 winners everywhere you look in this field. Everyone has impressive credentials. Given the competition in this field, everyone has a legitimate chance to win."
Golf Channel will broadcast the Samsung World Championship live from 3:30-5:30 p.m. PST/6:30-8:30 p.m. EST on Oct. 2-3. NBC's live coverage is 9:30-11:30 a.m. PST/12:30-2:30 p.m. EST on Oct. 4 and 1-3 p.m. PST/4-6 p.m. EST on Oct. 5.
The Samsung World Championship field largely reflects the world's best female players – the top 10, and 17 of the top 21, players in the Rolex Rankings are entered. The field has combined to win 210 LPGA Tour events, including 33 majors, and has won all but three tournaments on this year's LPGA – Ochoa has won seven events, Sorenstam and Creamer three and Lee two.
The field represents eight nations and the largest number of South Koreans (eight), and the least amount of Americans (four), in a Samsung World Championship. The roster of golfers also includes two Australians, two from Sweden and one each from Mexico, Taiwan, Norway and Brazil.
The field's average age is a tournament record-low 24.15 years. Of the nine players 22 years of age and younger in the field, Shin, Choi, Kim, Inbee Park and Angela Park are 20, and Tseng is 19. Only four players are over 30 and include LPGA Tour and World Golf Halls of Famers Inkster, Sorenstam and Webb.
Ochoa is one of three past Samsung World Championship winners and is bidding to become the fourth player to win three Championships, along with all-time leading Samsung World Championship winner Sorenstam (1995, 1996, 2002, 2004, 2005), Inkster (1997, 1998, 2000) and Beth Daniel (1980, 1981, 1994).
Ochoa has left no doubt that she is the player to beat at the Ocean Course. She won four consecutive starts, and five of six, earlier this year and remains No. 1 on the LPGA Official Money List and in scoring average. Her winning both of these titles, for what would be a third consecutive year, would likely lead to a third consecutive Rolex Player of the Year award.
This will be the final Samsung World Championship for Sorenstam, the World No. 2 and Swedish superstar who is stepping away from competitive golf at the end of 2008. In addition to her five Championship titles, she has finished runner-up in the event in 1998, 2000 and 2006. Sorenstam has won on four different courses in the Samsung World Championship and holds the tournament's lowest score, 22-under-par 266 score in 2002, among her many tournament records.
A winner of 72 LPGA Tour events, including 10 majors, as well as 18 international tournaments, eight Rolex Player of the Year awards and LPGA Official Money List titles, and six Vare Trophies, Sorenstam is the all-time leading money winner in the history of the LPGA ($22,426,216) and the Samsung World Championship ($1,234,058). Sorenstam has seven events left to play in 2008, following this week, and only one of those is in the continental U.S. She ranks No. 2 on the LPGA Official Money List and in scoring average.
Inkster and Creamer, the top-ranked American in the world at No. 5, will be considered local favorites among many of the fans. Inkster is a Santa Cruz native, Los Altos resident and a four-time All-American at San Jose State University. Creamer was born in Mountain View and raised in Pleasanton. While living in Northern California, Creamer won 11 AJGA events, was named the 2003 AJGA Player of the Year and turned professional, at 18, after winning the LPGA's Final Qualifying Tournament by five shots in 2004.
It has been quite a year for the breakthrough of the young international player. The 2008 majors won by Tseng, Inbee Park and Shin also gave each player their first LPGA victory. The Samsung World Championship also hosts the top two players vying for LPGA Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year. Tseng currently holds a slim lead over Choi in the race for that award.
Known for being held on some of the world's finest courses, the Samsung World Championship has been played on five continents in 27 years. Half Moon Bay Golf Links becomes the 15th course to host the elite event, which began in 1980 at The Country Club in suburban Cleveland, Ohio.
An Arthur Hills design that opened in 1997, the Ocean Course at Half Moon Bay Golf Links is a links course set on the bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. There are ocean views on every hole, but the course's signature holes are the final three: a 384-yard (from the tips) par 4, a 184-yard par 3 and the finishing 533-yard par-5 18th. All three play along the ocean bluffs and all three combine stellar shot making demands with stunning views.
Besides Ochoa, Sorenstam, Inkster and Daniel, past Samsung World Championship winners include: JoAnne Carner (1982, '83), Nancy Lopez (1984), Amy Alcott (1985), Pat Bradley (1986), Ayako Okamoto (1987), Rosie Jones (1988), Betsy King (1989), Cathy Gerring (1990), Meg Mallon (1991), Dottie Pepper (1993), Se Ri Pak (1999), Dorothy Delasin (2001) and Sophie Gustafson (2003).
Daily tickets for the Samsung World Championship are available for purchase by calling 888-345-LPGA (888-345-5742), and are available online at the tournament Web site, www.samsung.com/golf.
Daily tickets to Thursday's first round and Friday's second round are $24 when purchased pre-event (before Sept. 30), $29 during the event. The weekend's final rounds, Saturday and Sunday, are $29 pre-event, $34 during the event. Admission is free to the Samsung World Championship Pro-Am on Wednesday, Oct. 1. Children 17 and under are admitted free of charge when accompanied by a paid adult. For more information, call the Samsung World Championship tournament office at 650-712-8060.
About Samsung Electronics America, Inc.:
Samsung Electronics America, Inc. (SEA), based in Ridgefield Park, NJ, is a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. The company markets a broad range of award-winning consumer electronics, information systems, and home appliance products, as well as oversees all of Samsung's North American operations including Samsung Telecommunications America, LP, Samsung Semiconductor Inc., Samsung Electronics Canada, Inc. and Samsung Electronics Mexico, Inc. As a result of its commitment to innovation and unique design, the company was ranked #6 in the Electronics Industry segment in Fortune Magazine's "Most Admired Companies 2008," and named as one of Fast Company's "Fast 50 Most Innovative Companies of 2008." Among popular BusinessWeek rankings, the company ranked #26 in the publication's "Most Innovative Companies of 2008" and #21 in the "100 Best Global Brands" for 2007. Samsung Electronics Co, Ltd. is also a top patent holder, ranking second overall in the U.S. in 2007. Please visit www.samsung.com for more information.
About Half Moon Bay Golf Links:
Set against dramatic cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean, Half Moon Bay Golf Links features 36 holes of championship golf. For over 30 years, avid golfers have been returning to this incomparable setting, enjoying the variety of play offered by our two award winning courses, The Ocean and The Old. In 1997, Golf Digest ranked the Ocean Course at Half Moon Bay Golf Links has been ranked as one of the top new courses for that year, and since 2005 has been ranked as one of the top 50 by Golf for Women. It earned a No. 38 ranking among top Resorts for Golf Digest and a Silver Award Winner for Golf Magazine's top resorts issue.
Half Moon Bay has been home to Costanoan Indians, Spanish explorers, and Canadian rumrunners from the days of Prohibition. Modern-day Half Moon Bay is known for fields of pumpkins and artichokes, but it keeps the spirit alive with the legendary Mavericks and the idyllic natural beauty that makes today's explorers want to stay.
Contact:
Toby Zwikel/Brian Robin/Damian Secore
Brener Zwikel & Associates, Inc., (818) 462-5599, 462-5610, 462-5614
