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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Wednesday, February 23, 2005

LPGA tees off 2005 at Turtle Bay

 •  Today's Pro-Am starting times

By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer

As it prepares to return to Hawai'i for its first full-field event of 2005, this week at the SBS Open at Turtle Bay, the LPGA is celebrating past, present and future.

The organization, founded in 1950, is the world's longest-running women's professional sports association. It was also the first professional golf tour to institute a "kids free" admission policy.

SBS Open at Turtle Bay

WHAT: First full-field event of 2005 LPGA season

WHEN: From 7:10 a.m. tomorrow and Friday, and 9 a.m. Saturday

WHERE: Turtle Bay Palmer Course (Par 72, 6,563 yards)

FIELD: 131 pros and Honolulu amateur Michelle Wie

PURSE: $1 million ($150,000 first prize)

TICKETS: $5 daily or $15 for four-day pass good through Saturday. Children 15-under free when accompanied by ticketed adult. Free parking on Kamehameha Highway, with shuttles to first tee.

PRO-AM: Today, from 7 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. off first and 10th tees

TV: The Golf Channel, 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. HST, and SBS in Korea

Free admission for children 15 and under (accompanied by a ticketed adult) began in 1999. Michelle Wie, the world's most well-known 15-year-old golfer, has found another way to get in for free.

The Punahou sophomore will be the only amateur in a field of 132 that tees off at the Palmer Course. Wie received a sponsor's exemption from SBS soon after this inaugural tournament was announced. She is possibly the most noteworthy in a field of notoriously noteworthy golfers gathered on the North Shore.

In Grace Park, Lorena Ochoa, Meg Mallon and Cristie Kerr, four of last year's top-five money winners are here. Annika Sorenstam is the exception. Three of the LPGA's top-five career money winners are also here, in Juli Inkster, Mallon and Beth Daniel. All but six of the top 30 money winners from last year will play, with Karrie Webb, Se Ri Pak and Lorie Kane among the missing.

Former University of Hawai'i golfer Cindy Rarick is back where she captured her first of five LPGA victories. Rarick won the Tsumura Hawaiian Ladies Open at Turtle Bay's Fazio Course in 1987. She was the tour's Most Improved Player that year.

Rarick is "thrilled" the LPGA is returning to the North Shore this year.

"It will be a very interesting field and we're all excited because it's the first event of the year," she said. "There are so many young stars and established players here. Even without Annika the field is incredible with Michelle, Lorena and Grace, and Beth and Meg and the rookies."

Rarick has won more than $2 million as she begins her 21st year. Her caddy this week will be Waikoloa Director of Golf Dave Pritchett. Yesterday, Waikoloa Beach Resort announced that Rarick would begin her second decade as its representative.

This year, Rarick came to Hawai'i a week early to "watch whales and work on my game," along with grazing on the sashimi, kim chee, kalbi and shoyu chicken she misses so much on the Mainland. Next year, she hopes to be here two weeks for tournaments. Rarick says Waikoloa is working to bring a second LPGA event to Hawai'i.

NOTES

Monday qualifying: Naree Song and Natalie Tucker qualified Monday after shooting 1-under-par 71, then winning a three-way playoff with Michelle Simpson. Honolulu's Mari Chun (77) and Stephanie Kono (78) missed out.

Sister act: Naree Song and sister Aree are the first set of twins to play on the LPGA tour. Natalie Tucker, 26, won the RE/MAX Long Drive Contest last year on the Futures Tour. Naree Song and Tucker hold non-exempt status on the tour. Aree Song finished second at last year's Kraft Nabisco Championship, and was runner-up to Shi Hyun Ahn for Rookie of the Year.

By the numbers: Play is scheduled to conclude at 4 p.m. each day, with the final threesome teeing off around 11:15 a.m. Saturday.

About the sponsor: SBS, or Seoul Broadcasting System, was the first to broadcast TV programs in high definition in Korea. The network's programming reaches nearly all the Korean population. SBS owns and operates one TV station, two radio stations, three able TV channels and three satellite TV channels. Other business subsidiaries and interests include a professional basketball franchise and a production and distribution company.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8043.

• • •

TODAY'S PRO-AM STARTING TIMES

First tee

7 a.m.—Young Kim. 7:10—Seol-An Jeon. 7:20—Natalie Gulbis. 7:30—Aree Song. 7:40—Wendy Ward. 7:50—Pat Hurst. 8—Candie Kung. 8:10—Juli Inkster. 8:20—Mi Hyun Kim. 8:30—Grace Park. 11:30—Cristie Kerr. 11:40—Jeong Jang. 11:50—Shi Hyun Ahn. Noon—Lorie Kane. 12:10 p.m.—Laura Diaz. 12:20—Gloria Park. 12:30—Sherri Steinhauer. 12:40—Liselotte Neumann. 12:50—Paula Creamer.

10th tee

7 a.m.—Beth Bauer. 7:10—Kelli Kuehne. 7:20—Kelly Robbins. 7:30—Beth Daniel. 7:40—Michelle McGann. 7:50—Rosie Jones. 8—Carin Koch. 8:10—Catriona Matthew. 8:20—Jennifer Rosales. 8:30—Meg Mallon. 11:30—Lorena Ochoa. 11:40—Hee-Won Han. 11:50—Christina Kim. Noon—Wendy Doolan. 12:10 p.m.—Michele Redman. 12:20—Becky Morgan. 12:30—Moira Dunn. 12:40—Sophie Gustafson. 12:50—Soo-Yun Kang.

TOMORROW'S

FIRST ROUND

First tee

7:10 a.m.—Katie Allison, Joo Mi Kim, Beth Allen. 7:21—Deb Richard, Marcy Hart, Young Jo. 7:32—Leslie Spalding, Joanne Morley, Denise Killeen. 7:43—Beth Bauer, Audra Burks, Becky Iverson. 7:54—Tracy Hanson, Cindy Rarick, Kris Tschetter. 8:05—Pamela Kerrigan, Mee Lee, Naree Song. 8:16—Michelle Estill, Hilary Lunke, Jean Bartholomew. 8:27—Hee-Won Han, Michelle McGann, Carin Koch. 8:38—Young Kim, Wendy Doolan, Seol-An Jeon. 8:49—Danielle Ammaccapane, Soo-Yun Kang, Kelly Robbins. 9—Moira Dunn, Sophie Gustafson, Catriona Matthew. 11:40—Juli Inkster, Grace Park, Shi Hyun Ahn. 11:51—Mi-Hyun Kim, Aree Song, Lorena Ochoa. 12:02 p.m.—Vicki Goetze-Ackerman, Meg Mallon, Reilley Rankin. 12:13—Beth Daniel, Laura Diaz, Jeong Jang. 12:24—Kristi Albers, Brandie Burton, Giulia Sergas. 12:35—Karen Weiss, Amy Hung, Beth Bader. 12:46—Cathy Johnston-Forbes, Nancy Harvey, Dina Ammaccapane. 12:57—Yu Ping Lin, Sae-Hee Son, Catrin Nilsmark. 1:08—Sung Ah Yim, Jordan Cherebetiu, Paula Marti. 1:19—Bernadette Luse, Angela Jerman, Riko Higashio. 1:30—Aram Cho, Celeste Troche, Lindsey Wright.

10th tee

7:10 a.m.—Il Mi Chung, Cindy Figg-Currier, Marilyn Lovander. 7:21—Joellyn Erdmann-Crooks, Emily Bastel, Hana Kim. 7:32—Patricia Baxter-Johnson, Jinny Lee, Mikaela Parmlid. 7:43—Natalie Tucker, Jenna Daniels, Pearl Sinn-Bonanni. 7:54—Erica Blasberg, Nicole Jeray, Johanna Head. 8:05—Malinda Johnson, A.J. Eathorne, Lee Ann Walker-Cooper. 8:16—Angela Stanford, Kate Golden, Chris Johnson. 8:27—Heather Daly-Donofrio, Jennifer Rosales, Cristie Kerr. 8:38—Natalie Gulbis, Kelli Kuehne, Dorothy Delasin. 8:49—Young-A Yang, Siew-Ai Lim, Pat Hurst. 9—Gloria Park, Sherri Steinhauer, Liselotte Neumann. 11:40—Jill McGill, Wendy Ward, Michele Redman. 11:51—Candie Kung, Tina Barrett, Janice Moodie. 12:02 p.m.—Jamie Hullett, Donna Andrews, Rosie Jones. 12:13—Christina Kim, Becky Morgan, Candy Hannemann. 12:24—Lorie Kane, Emilee Klein, Heather Bowie. 12:35—Stephanie Louden, Kristen Samp, Mhairi McKay. 12:46—Nicole Perrot, Leta Lindley, Soo Young Moon. 12:57—Eva Dahllof, Ju Kim, Anna Acker-Macosko. 1:08—Sherri Turner, Jimin Kang, Maggie Will. 1:19—Paula Creamer, Isabelle Beisiegel, Brittany Lincicome. 1:30—Catherine Cartwright, Na Yeon Choi, *Michelle Wie. *—amateur