Arch LPGA Tour Championship breakdown



By Greg Robertson
ESPN Golf Online
Sunday, November 19

Details
When Thursday-Sunday
Course LPGA International, Daytona Beach, Fla.
Par/Yardage Par 72; 6,497 yards
Purse $1 million (Winner: $215,000)
1999 champion Se Ri Pak
Tournament record 16-under 272 (Karrie Webb, 1996)
Television Thursday-Friday: 3-5 p.m. ET (ESPN)
Saturday: 4-6 p.m. ET (ESPN)
Sunday: 4-6 p.m. ET (ABC)

The tournament
  Hole by hole
  Hole Par Yards
  1 4 374
  2 5 527
  3 3 140
  4 4 371
  5 4 385
  6 4 382
  7 3 168
  8 5 487
  9 4 389
  Out 36 3223
  10 4 375
  11 4 381
  12 3 168
  13 4 378
  14 5 505
  15 3 158
  16 5 519
  17 4 410
  18 4 380
  In 36 3274
  Total 72 6497
There are plenty of personal goals at stake at the LPGA's season-ending tournament, but the big picture has already been decided before the 30 players tee it up on Thursday at LPGA International.

Karrie Webb has already wrapped up player of the year and the money titles heading into the Tour Championship, but a victory is still important to her. Victory would make Webb the first player to surpass $2 million in earnings in one season on the LPGA Tour.

A win would make her the first player since Nancy Lopez in 1979 to record eight victories in one season. Lopez won nine times that year.

Webb also has a shot at a new scoring record. She enters the tournament with a 69.91 average; Annika Sorenstam set the standard last year at 69.99.

Several other players are trying to reach goals this week. Juli Inkster and Lorie Kane are trying to reach the $1 million mark in earnings for the year, joining Webb, Sorenstam and Meg Mallon.

Defending champion Se Ri Pak is trying to get her first victory of 2000 after winning eight times over her first two seasons.

And Cristie Kerr, Carin Koch, Wendy Doolan and Leta Lindley are trying to become the first women to make the Tour Championship their first LPGA Tour victory. That would be a nice finish for the most successful financial seasons of their young careers.

The tournament is for the top 30 money-winners from the season, but No. 6 Mi Hyun Kim has withdrawn with an injury which keeps her from flying. Her spot has been taken by No. 31 Michelle McGann, who came up just $4,151 shy of No. 30 Lindley.

This is the first time the tournament has been played at LPGA International, after a four-year run in Las Vegas. LPGA officials were concerned about the condition of the Desert Inn course in Las Vegas since the recent closure of the hotel. While the PGA Tour decided to use the course for its Invensys Classic in October, the LPGA chose to move its event to the Legends course at its headquarters.

Players are familiar with LPGA International, however, since it had been the site of the Mercury Titleholders, an event which vanished from the schedule this season. That event was played on a different course, however, giving the Tour Championship a new feel.

While there are a couple of unofficial Silly Season events on the December calendar, this event marks an end to the 2000 season. The next official event is the 2001 season opener, the JCPenney Afterschool Open, set for Jan. 12-14 at Grand Cypress Resort in Orlando, Fla.