ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open--League Marshal's Roundup

The 2013 LPGA Season starts with the Women's Australian open on February 14. The 2013 edition of the Women's Australian Open marks the second year that it has been co-sanctioned by the LPGA. It became part of the official LPGA schedule last year, when the tournament was held at the Composite Course at Royal Melbourne. It will be hard to beat last year's exciting conclusion, when Jessica Korda won after a historic six-player playoff including Brittany Lincicome, Stacy Lewis, Julieta Granada, Hee Kyung Seo and So Yeon Ryu.

Royal Canberra Golf Club

Preparations for the 2013 Women's Australian Open at the Royal Canberra Golf Club have been underway for well over a year. The course was extended from 5891m to over 6100m (that translates to 6671 yards) to challenge the world's top-ranked ladies. The history of Royal Canberra Golf Club goes back as far as the city of Canberra itself, which is the national capital of Australia. The site of the Club changed several times from 1913 to 1962, at which time it moved to the present site at Westbourne Woods.

Who to Watch

Karrie Webb definitely has the home field advantage, not to mention she has won this tournament 4 times already (2000, 2002, 2007, 2008), and she just grabbed her 8th title at the Volvik RACV Ladies Masters on February 3. According to the Canberra Times, Karrie "played at Royal Canberra once, as part of the Queensland schoolgirls team in 1989." She clearly will know the course better than anyone else in the field! Read more at the Canberra Times Online. Other Aussies in the field include Katherine Hull-Kirk, Bree Arthur, Stacey Keating, Emma De Groot, and about 20 others. They have all played in several tournaments in Australia and New Zealand in the weeks leading up to the Women's Australian, so expect them to be in full form. Other players flying from around the world to play in their first tournament of the season, may take some time to get into their groove.

New Zealand amateur Lydia Ko and Aussie amateur Minjee Lee finished the recent ALPG Bing Lee Samsung Women's NSW Open in 2nd and 3rd place, respectively. Lydia followed that up with an impressive win at the New Zealand Women's Open on February 10. Wow! Stacey Keating also had an impressive outing at the NSW Open, finishing 5th, and then followed that up with a 6th place finish at the Volvik RACV Ladies Masters, and then a 3rd place finish at the New Zealand Women's Open. Talk about consistency. And she won both the Spanish Open and French Open on the Ladies European Tour late last year. She seems like the one to watch right now! Caroline Hedwall from Sweden won the NSW Open, which moved her up two positions to 37 in the 1/28/13 Rolex rankings. The win should give her momentum going into the Women’s Australian Open.

Long hitters may fair well on the long course. Look for Brittany Lincicome, Lexi Thompson, Gerina Piller, and Michelle Wie to take advantage of their tee shots.

Yani Tseng won 3 of the first 5 tournaments of the 2012 LPGA Season. Although she didn't win another tournament in 2012, she proved that she is a strong starter! Could she start 2013 in the same manner??