Buick returns: who makes the most sense from a betting standpoint | LPG | Professional Women’s Golf Association

After six weeks in North America, the LPGA heads to Asia for four weeks of tournament play. There are only five events left to crack the top 60 in the CME Group Tour Championship standings, so if you’re on the outside looking in, it’s time to cash in your frequent flyer miles. Buick LPGA Shanghai did not play on the LPGA Tour since 2019. Two-time defending champion Danielle Kang will certainly be eager to return to Shanghai after the 2020, 2021 and 2022 event was canceled as she is the only player to have ever won the event.

Kang shot 13 under in the inaugural competition, and a year later her score was 16 under, giving the American her second trophy in Shanghai. With the COVID-19 pandemic putting the event on hiatus, the tour returns in 2023 to Qizhong Garden Golf Club, a target-rich, 6,672-yard par 72 course. It’s a stereotypical scorecard with four par 3s, four par 5s, and 10 par 4s, and with 10 holes in par 4 play, our instincts tell us we should dig deeper into the scoring to find an advantage.

The fact is that Kang’s path to victory was more of a par 5 in terms of total points. In 2018, the major champion was 9 under on the par 5 and finished the tournament at 13 under. Similarly, in 2019, she shot a 10-under-par 5 and finished at 16-under. In this field, Xiyu Lin, Ruoning Yin, Minjee Lee and Lilia Vu are all great par 5 shooters, so it’s no surprise that they also top the bookmaker rankings.

Qizhong Garden Golf Club has over a hundred bunkers. Twelve holes feature water, and all but one of the fairways curve off the tee. This is a target specific layout and the best players from tee to green will have an advantage. Yin, Lee, Rose Zhang, Lin and Nasa Hataoka rank at the top in strokes gained from tee to green. Keep an eye on them as they should eventually climb to the top within four rounds.

There is another very important statistic to watch out for this week in Shanghai. There are 81 players on the field and there are not 36 holes, so head to Buick LPGA Shanghai and you’ll be playing all four days. Give the best in the world a Friday cut pass and see what happens. The water will find its level. Eight of the top 30 in the world are competing, and their chances of winning are understandably higher than the rest.

For the 72-hole format, it is interesting to examine the top 10 tournaments. Yin ranks in the top 10 more than 40 percent of the time, Zhang more than 30 percent of the time, and Carlota Ciganda, Angel Yin, and Hae Ran Ryu also rank in the top 10 about 30 percent of the time. In four out of 10 relegated tournaments, Ruoning Yin finishes in the top ten. Unleash her for a full series of 72 holes and watch out. Teeing off the number one ranked Green player and number two player in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings is a great pick this week.

Its odds do not allow us to select much more players and ensure that the week will be profitable. With a four-round survey and a board with the highest odds at your disposal, you should select your best player at the top and combine him with another mid-tier selection. One player in this bracket who has a lot of upside is Sei Young Kim. She placed third in P&G’s Walmart NW Arkansas Championship and had top-six finishes in both of her previous appearances at the Buick LPGA in Shanghai.

With five events left to determine the top 60 riders in the CME Group Tour Championship, you can expect a sense of urgency in the Pacific over the next four weeks. It’s been an interesting season and looking ahead to the fall Asian swing, it should be even better.

Keith Stewart is an award-winning PGA professional. He covers the LPGA and PGA Tour for Sports Illustrated, The Sporting News, the LPGA and the PGA TOUR. If you want to expand your knowledge of the game of golf and want to learn insider information about the game, check out his weekly newsletter titled Read the Line.