Before the First Major of the Golf Season there will be the first major of the golf season. As with all things women’s golf, this week’s Kraft Nabisco Championship (it’ll always be the Dinah Shore to those of us old enough to remember when golf tourneys did not take the names of their benefactors), serves for many fans as the opening act for The Masters two weeks hence. But, as anyone who watched Sunday night’s thrilling conclusion to the LPGA Kia Classic in which Sandra Gal bested No. 2 Jiyai Shin for her first tour win -- or who follows women’s golf in general -- knows, there’s nothing second-best about the Kraft Nabisco.
The Kia Classic whetted fans’ appetite for this week’s major, in which the best players in women’s golf will tee it up at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif., for the 40th anniversary of Dinah’s tourney.
No overtime. Sunday, with Gal and Shin all square heading into the last hole at Industry Hills Golf Club, eight-time tour winner Shin knocked her approach to four feet above the cup. When Gal nearly stuffed a sand wedge shot from 83 yards, her ball spinning back to a foot below the hole, it looked like extra innings for the two leaders.
Then the normally dead-eye Shin stepped back from her set-up, gathered herself, and missed her birdie attempt. Gal gave herself a running start to the Kraft Nabisco when she tapped in for birdie, a final-round 2-under 71, and a 16-under 276 total for the week.
The Gal-Shin tilt took center stage, but No. 3 Cristie Kerr, top-ranked Yani Tseng, and Michelle Wie all made statements that they were aiming to leap into Poppy’s Pond on Sunday. No. 3 Kerr fired a final-round 66 to capture a tie with I.K. Kim for third place, five shots back of Gal, while Tseng carded a 67 on Sunday to grab a T5 with Na Yeon Choi (No. 4).
Wie’s clinic. Fan favorite Wie gave notice that she’s tuned up for the Dinah. The two-time tour victor started Sunday 10 shots back of Shin and nine behind Gal and proceeded to put on a clinic on her first nine. She had three birdies in her first seven holes and almost clubbed one in for an eagle on the fourth. Another birdie on the 11th got her to 9-under, which was six back of the leaders at the time.
"I felt like I shot a lot better than I scored kind of rounds," Wie told the media after her closing 70 Sunday. "But overall I had a lot of fun, played as hard as I could. The score is just what it is."
There are plenty of other story lines coming up at Mission Hills, including Karrie Webb’s bid to become the fourth three-time Kraft Nabisco champ. Only Amy Alcott, Betsy King, and Annika Sorenstam -- Hall of Famers all -- have achieved the feat. A star-studded cast of golfers including Paula Creamer, Suzann Pettersen, Brittany Lincicome, and Morgan Pressel will be aiming to keep Webb from earning her third win of the 2011 season.
Wall-to-wall coverage. Golf Channel, by the way, will go all out with its exclusive airing of the Kraft Nabisco this week, including six hours of live coverage in each of the first two rounds. Unlike last week’s Kia Classic broadcast, the LPGA’s first major will be in glorious high-definition.
Here is the Golf Channel schedule (all times EDT):
- Thursday and Friday -- Noon-3 p.m., 6:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m.
- Saturday and Sunday -- 4:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m.
In other golf news, Tiger Woods did not win a golf tourney last week. But read how his niece Cheyenne Woods hoisted a trophy.
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