WOMEN’S BRITISH OPEN
Site: Hoylake, England.
Schedule: Thursday-Sunday.
Course: Royal Liverpool Golf Club (6,657 yards, par 72).
Purse: $2.75 million. Winner’s share: $418,825.
Television: ESPN2 (Thursday-Sunday, 6-9 a.m.).
Last year: Taiwan’s Yani Tseng successfully defended her title for her second major victory of the year and fifth overall, beating Brittany Lang by four strokes at Carnoustie. Tseng won in 2010 at Royal Birkdale.
Last week: Jiyai Shin won the Kingsmill Championship in the longest playoff between two players in LPGA Tour history, beating Paula Creamer with a par Monday on the ninth extra hole. They played the par-4 18th eight times Sunday in an attempt to break the tie before darkness suspended play. The playoff was decided on the par-4 16th. ... Sweden’s Caroline Hedwall won the UNIQA Ladies in Austria for the second straight year, winning the Ladies European Tour event by four strokes.
Notes: Royal Liverpool, also known as Hoylake, is hosting the tournament for the first time. Tiger Woods won the 2006 British Open on the course. ... Lydia Ko is coming off a victory three weeks ago in the Canadian Women’s Open. The 15-year-old Ko became the youngest winner in LPGA Tour history and only the fifth amateur champion. The South Korean-born New Zealander won the New South Wales Open in Australia in January and took the U.S. Women’s Amateur last month. ... The top-ranked Tseng has struggled after winning three times in her first LPGA Tour starts this year, missing three cuts in her past six events. Last year, she led the tour with seven victories and finished with 12 worldwide titles. ... The event is the final major of the year. South Korea’s Sun Young Yoo won the Kraft Nabisco, China’s Shanshan Feng took the LPGA Championship, and South Korea’s Na Yeon Choi won the U.S. Women’s Open. ... The tournament became an official LPGA Tour event in 1994 and was elevated to major status in 2001, replacing the du Maurier. ... Shin won in 2008 at Sunningdale.
