| Francella, LPGA Tour head to Mexico for the MasterCard Classic
HUIXQUILUCAN, Mexico – Meaghan Francella returns to the steep terrain and height elevation of BosqueReal Country Club to defend her title this week at the MasterCard Classic Honoring Alejo Peralta Presented by Nextel March 14-16. A successful title defense would result in a pay raise to $195,000, a tournament-high check due to a purse increase to $1.3 million in 2008.
Francella outlasted multiple weather delays—which forced play into Monday—and 2006 defending champion Annika Sorenstam, on her path to becoming the season's first of seven Rolex First-Time Winners in 2007. With play starting on Friday, Francella only played nine holes, followed by 27 on Saturday. She was unable to start the final round on Sunday and played 18 holes on Monday, ending tied with Sorenstam at 11-under-par 205. After four holes of a sudden-death playoff, Francella, who was playing in just her sixth career LPGA Tour event, emerged the winner.
As the defending champion, Francella will lead the field of 132, challenged by eight of the top-11 finishers from 2007, including the trio who tied for third: Angela Stanford, Kyeong Bae and Stacy Prammanasudh. Prammanasudh and Stanford are ranked seventh and ninth, respectively, on the 2008 LPGA Official Money List.
Among 2007's top-11 is also the Rolex Rankings' number-one player Lorena Ochoa. A national personality recognized as much for what she does off the course as inside the ropes, Ochoa had a tournament-best finish last year with her tie for sixth. She convincingly posted an 11-stroke victory two weeks ago at the HSBC Women's Champions in Singapore over Sorenstam and Paula Creamer, who had each won the season's first two events in Hawaii—the SBS Open at Turtle Bay and Fields Open in Hawaii, respectively.
Violeta Retamoza, a 2008 LPGA Tour rookie, joins Ochoa as the LPGA's only two members from Mexico. Retamoza earned her Tour card by finishing fourth on the Duramed FUTURES Tour season-ending money list in 2007. One year ago, Retamoza played as a sponsor exemption in this event and finished tied for 63rd. |