Posted by In this week’s Stats and Stuff, Ward Clayton breaks down the Navistar LPGA Classic Presented by Monaco RV.
One week before the Solheim Cup
There have been five occasions where a Solheim Cup participant won a LPGA Tour tournament in the final event just before the Solheim Cup was played. Team Europe player Annika Sorenstam accomplished the feat twice (1998 and 2002). None of the five had losing Solheim Cup records that season and none have lost in Singles.
There are 20 of the 24 participants for next week’s Solheim Cup in the field this week at the Navistar LPGA Classic, including all 12 United States team members.
Here is a look at the five Solheim Cup team members who won the week before the competition, where they won and how they fared in the Solheim Cup:
| Player | Tournament win | Solheim Cup record that year |
| Beth Daniel | 1994 World Championship of Women’s Golf | 2-1 (Singles win) |
| Annika Sorenstam | 1998 Safeco Classic | 3-2 (Singles win) |
| Annika Sorenstam | 2002 Safeway Classic | 3-1-1 (Singles halve) |
| Pat Hurst | 2005 State Farm Classic | 2-2-1 (Singles win) |
| Catriona Matthew | 2009 Ricoh Women’s British Open | 1-1-2 (Singles win) |
This week’s field should be prepared to go low at the Navistar LPGA Classic. In the previous four years, a new tournament record has been established every year – 14-under in 2007, 15-under in 2008, 18-under in 2009 and 19-under last year.
Ochoa’s final victory
The 2009 Navistar LPGA Classic was the last of Lorena Ochoa’s 27 career LPGA Tour victories. Ochoa won the 2008 and 2009 Navistar. She announced her retirement from active play on April 23, 2010.
Yani Tseng did not play in the 2010 Navistar LPGA Classic, but she still has fared well at Prattville, finishing at 13-under par in both 2008 and 2009. In 2008, Tseng finished T6. She finished T4 in 2009, including a second-round 63.
Tseng will be making her 96th career LPGA Tour start this week. This includes 10 wins, 44 top-10s (46 percent of her starts) and only six missed cuts (includes participation as an amateur) in her career.
Hull’s turnaround
Katherine Hull is having a poor LPGA Tour season thus far, with one top-10 and $114,862 in earnings. The 29-year-old Australian has missed four consecutive cuts.
However, Hull came to the 2010 Navistar LPGA Classic off a missed cut at the Walmart Northwest Arkansas Open and won for the second time in her career. The victory pushed Hull to seven consecutive top-25
