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Wednesday, February 16, 2000

By Ken Sakamoto, Star-Bulletin
Alison Nicholas, the LPGA Cup Noodles Hawaiian Ladies
Open defending champion, works on her putting yesterday
under the watchful eye of her caddy at the Kapolei Golf Course.

Nicholas tops
star-studded
LPGA field

She is back in Hawaii to defend
her title in the Hawaiian
Ladies Open

Tomorrow's first-round pairings

By Bill Kwon
Star-Bulletin

Alison Nicholas defends her title, Michelle McGann returns with an eye toward making up for last year's final-round collapse, while Moira Dunn and Annette DeLuca hope to make it to the LPGA Tour winner's circle for the first time.

That's the scenario as the $650,000 Cup Noodles Hawaiian Ladies Open begins tomorrow at the par-72 Kapolei Golf Course.

The 144-player field for the fourth LPGA Tour stop of the year includes 12 of the leading money winners on the Japan LPGA Tour.

The winner of the 54-hole event will get $97,500.

CUP NOODLES HAWAIIAN LADIES OPEN What: LPGA Cup Noodles Hawaiian Ladies Open. When: Tomorrow through Saturday, Kapolei Golf Course. Format: 54-hole stroke play, 144-player field. Purse: $650,000 ($97,500 top prize). Ticket prices: $10 daily, $15 for three-day pass. Television: Golf Channel, tomorrow and Friday, noon to 2:30 p.m; Saturday, 12:30 to 3 p.m. (Hawaii time). JNN (Japan network) Friday and Saturday only.

Nicholas overcame rain and 30 mph gusts for a final-round 73 and a 209 total last year to win by one stroke over Dunn and DeLuca, who are still looking for their first tour victory.

McGann shared the 36-hole lead with Nicholas at 136, but closed with an 81 to finish tied for 34th place.

Six past HLO winners are also entered - former University of Hawaii golfer Cindy Flom (1987), Sherri Turner (1988), Marta Figueras-Dotti (1994), Barb Thomas Whitehead (1995), Meg Mallon (1996) and Annika Sorenstam (1997).

Hall of Famers Betsy King and Pat Bradley will be joined by 18 tour rookies, including Kellee Booth, the LPGA Q-School medalist, 1998 U.S. Women's Amateur champion Grace Park and Jen Hanna, who finished tied for eighth in her LPGA debut two weeks ago.

By Ken Sakamoto, Star-Bulletin
Annika Sorenstam of Sweden should be a contender.

Besides Park, making up a "Korean connection" in the field will be 1999 LPGA rookie of the year Mi Hyun Kim, Pearl Sinn, Oh Yeon Kwon, Jeong Jang, Gloria Park and Monday qualifier Jenny Park.

Korea's Hee Won Han, who ranked fifth on the JLPGA money list in 1999, is one of the 12 players from Japanese tour in the event.

Missing is Se Ri Pak, who missed the cut at Kapolei the last two years.

Japan's Hiromi Kobayashi, Akiko Fukushima and Mayumi Hirase, who play full-time on the American tour, make the event a popular weekend telecast in Japan for the Mainichi Broadcasting System.

Nancy Scranton, who ended a seven-year victory famine by winning the Subaru Memorial in Naples, Fla., Jan. 23, is the only 2000 winner entered.

Laura Davies, who won in Los Angeles last week, is skipping the HLO for the first time in four years.

---

TOMORROW'S TEE TIMES

FIRST TEE:

7:20 a.m. - Lenore Rittenhouse, Joan Pitcock, Vickie Odegard. 7:30 - Jennifer Feldott, Lori West, Dorothy Delasin. 7:40 - Audra Burks, Jody Anschutz, Toshimi Kimura. 7:50 - Jenny S. Park, Michelle Bell, Michelle Murphy.

8:00 - Annette DeLuca, Aki Nakano, Stephanie Brecht. 8:10 - Nanci Bowen, Lisa Hackney, Ashli Bunch. 8:20 - Aki Takamura, Kate Golden, Carri Wood. 8:30 - Kristi Albers, Deb Richard, Chris Johnson. 8:40 - Eva Dahllof, Denise Killeen, Gail Graham. 8:50 - Jane Geddes, Michelle McGann, Carin Koch.

9:00 - Catriona Matthew, Michele Redman, Maggie Will. 9:10 - Emilee Klein, Jill McGill, Moira Dunn.

11:50 - Alison Nicholas, Becky Iverson, Brandie Burton.

Noon - Pat Hurst, Hollis Stacy, Jean Bartholomew. 12:10 p.m. - Betsy King, Cindy McCurdy, Jackie Gallagher-Smith. 12:20 - Mayumi Hirase, Laura Philo, Dale Eggeling. 12:30 - Liselotte Neumann, Jenny Lidback, Lisa Kiggens. 12:40 - Caroline Blaylock, Jenny Rosales, Leigh Ann Mills. 12:50 - Pamela Kerrigan, Joanne Morley, Yu Ping Lin.

1:00 - Melissa McNamara, Julie Piers, Kristal Parker. 1:10 - Leslie Spalding, Tish Certo, Erika Wicoff. 1:20 - Kathryn Marshall, Marta Figueras-Dotti, Marisa Baena. 1:30 - Ellie Gibson, Amy Read, Marie-Josee Rouleau. 1:40 - Yuri Fudoh, Liz Earley, Kellee Booth.

10TH TEE

7:20 a.m. - Karen Stupples, Nancy Harvey, Lisa DePaulo. 7:30 - Sophie Gustafson, Mhairi McKay, Oh-Yeon Kwon. 7:40 - Heather Daly-Donofrio, Susan Ginter, Stephanie Sparks. 7:50 - Penny Hammel, Debbie Harmon, Michelle Estill.

8:00 - Gloria Park, Barb Whitehead, Amy Benz. 8:10 - Debbi Koyama, Cathy Johnston-Forbes, Vicki Fergon. 8:20 - LaRee Pearl Sugg, Jane Egan, Sally Dee. 8:30 - Tina Barrett, Susie Redman, Suzanne Strudwick. 8:40 - Rosie Jones, Pearl Sinn, Kim Saiki. 8:50 - Tracy Hanson, Pat Bradley, Leta Lindley.

9:00 - A.J. Eathorne, Sherri Turner, Charlotta Sorenstam. 9:10 - Cristie Kerr, Kris Tschetter, Amy Fruhwirth. 11:50 - Riko Higashio, Cindy Flom, Jan Stephenson.

Noon - Hee-Won Han, Lorie Kane, Janice Moodie. 12:10 p.m. - Nancy Scranton, Kaori Higo, Maria Hjorth. 12:20 - Sherri Steinhauer, Annika Sorenstam, Hiromi Kobayashi. 12:30 - Akiko Fukushima, Meg Mallon, Mi Hyun Kim. 12:40 - Kyoto Ono, Caryn Wilson, Jen Hanna. 12:50 - Susan Veasey-Florin, Harumi Sakagami, Heather Bowie.

1:00 - Michie Ohba, Dana Dormann, Caroline McMillan. 1:10 - Katie Peterson, Stefania Croce, Jean Zedlitz. 1:20 - Jeong Jang, Sara Sanders, Fiona Pike. 1:30 - Midori Yoneyama, Karen Weiss, Patricia Baxter-Johnson. 1:40 - Grace Park, Lori Atsedes, Vicki Goetze-Ackerman.