The latest stop on the LPGA Tour takes in the Columbia Edgewater Country Club and as always, our golf tipster has done plenty of research and has prepared his in-depth preview along with four each-way picks for you to consider…
Portland Classic 2023 Betting Tips:
Megan Khang won a long overdue first LPGA title at the CPKC Women’s Open at Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club last week, with a playoff victory over Jin Young Ko.
She has been one of the more consistent performers on tour over recent years and regularly shows up in the majors, recording several top 10s and having now earned that breakthrough title, many will expect trophies to flow regularly for the American from here.
Khang has the chance for a follow-up win this week as she makes up part of another strong field, as the tour heads to Oregon for the Portland Classic at Columbia Edgewater Country Club.
Tournament History
Starting off life in 1972 as an unofficial event – including showcasing a team format from 77-82 – the Portland Classic was granted LPGA status in 1983.
The tournament has taken place here at Columbia Edgewater Country Club in all but eight editions since then. Riverside G&CC hosted in 1984, 1985 and 1989; Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club from 2009-2012 and it took place at Oregon Golf Club in 2021.
Three-time major winner, Nancy Lopez is the most successful player in the event’s history, winning three titles in 1985, 1987 and 1992. There are a further three players to record multiple wins here.
Legend of the game, Annika Sorenstam, was the first player to successfully defend the title by winning back-to-back trophies in 2002 and 2003. Then ten years later, fellow Scandi – and this year’s European Solheim Cup captain – Suzann Pettersen matched her tally with wins in 2011 and 2013.
Canada’s Brooke Henderson’s two victories here are memorable for multiple reasons. She dismantled the field in 2015 by eight strokes, shooting a record-breaking 21-under-par. Though what is more remarkable is that the then 17-year-old needed to Monday qualify for the event; making her just the second Monday qualifier in the history of the tour to then go on and win.
Henderson returned the following year and again won comfortably, shooting -14 to win by four strokes and in the process, equalled Sorenstam’s achievement of retaining the championship.
Hannah Green matched Henderson’s -21 winning score when she won the event in 2019; a victory that came just a matter of months following her major success in the Women’s PGA.
2020 and 2021 saw renewals shortened by poor weather and played over 54 holes. England’s Georgia Hall won her first pro event stateside here in 2020 and was followed by Jin Young Ko, who won the second of her five titles that year in this event at Oregon Golf Club.
The tournament returned to Columbia Edgewater last year and saw former #1 amateur, Andrea Lee claim her first LPGA win; coming out on top of a tightly packed leaderboard by one stroke.
Lee returns to defend this week and no doubt full of confidence after successfully making the U.S Solheim Cup team for the first time, I expect her to put up a stern defence of her title.
The Course
A.V. Macan designed this course in 1925 and it’s our second week on the spin playing one of his courses; as he also designed last week’s CPKC Women’s Open host, Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club.
This traditional old course is short, as a par 72 measuring 6467 yards; comprising of ten par 4s (337-410 yards), four par 5s (463-546 yards) and four par 3s (145-166 yards).
It originally provided a pretty stern test to the players of the LPGA. However, since returning from a four-year absence in 2013, modern pros have found the course to be much more scorable. In the eight fully completed editions here since then, the event has averaged a winning score of -18.5 and the winner has shot -19 or lower on six of those occasions.
Almost every hole at this course is framed by an excess of tall evergreen trees – among other species – which create a feeling of seclusion, occasionally bordering on claustrophobic.
Though the sometimes-undulating fairways are largely generous, many dogleg gently from left-to-right and with the trees often encroaching on your line of play, you have to position your ball well off the tee; or risk having your angle into the green blocked out.
The fast poa annua greens are around average in size and vary greatly in design; typical of Macan. Many are at an angle to your position in the fairway and though protected by plenty of bunkers – some of which are fairly deep – a portion are open fronted and allow you to play along the ground if you wish/need.
They’re full of undulations and consistently slope from back-to-front. False fronts occupy the openings of several and subtle run-offs lead into further trouble around the greens.
Having said that, though there are fast and challenging, they’re generally quite easy to find providing you get in a good position off the tee and with rain set to fall before the event, they should be receptive.
The routing of the course can make things tricky if there is any wind about, with no two holes played in the same direction and there is further danger in the shape of water being in-play on six holes; including on the final two. Which can make for a particularly nervy finish.
Though there is a lot to be wary of at this course, the generous fairways and receptive greens make things easier if conditions don’t play their part. As a short course it allows the longer hitters to be a little more conservative off-the-tee to get in position whilst still giving them a relatively short approach into the greens. Conversely, it’s also a course where more accuracy-dependent players won’t feel disadvantaged.
The Stats
Key Stats
- § SG: Approach
- § Greens-in-Regulation
- § SG: Putting
- § Par 5 Scoring
As suggested, this is a course where most players can go well and it doesn’t discriminate based on length. We’ve had longer players such as Brooke Henderson and Georgia Hall win; balanced with accurate hitters such as last year’s winner, Andrea Lee and 2018 winner, Marina Alex.
With conditions kind this week and scoring expected to be low, it’s going to be what you do in approach and on the greens that will separate you from the pack.
It is with the irons that Andrea Lee excelled most last year, ranking 1st in the field and she also hit more greens than anyone else. Hannah Green in 3rd ranked 2nd in both of those areas and of the top seven, six ranked 16th or better for GIR.
Georgia Hall, Ashleigh Buhai and Esther Henseleit are other strong iron players to go very well here over recent years and 2018 champion, Marina Alex, was one of the top 10 green hitters on tour the year she won.
Though not quite up the standard of her approach play, Lee was good on the greens last year; ranking 24th. Narin An, Ayaka Furue, Esther Henseleit and Lilia Vu all finished tied for 3rd there and ranked inside the top 5 in putting.
Past winners, Georgia Hall, Hannah Green and Marina Alex are all strong or at the very least decent putters.
Each of the four par 5s come in reasonably close proximity to one another; from holes 5-12. These eight holes will be the most scorable part of the course and players will need to take advantage of these chances before facing the more demanding finish. All of the last seven winners – barring Hannah Green in 2019 – ranked high in par 5 scoring that year.
Correlating Events (Courses)
Dana Open (Highland Meadows Golf Club)
Highland Meadows Golf Club is a tree-lined though generous course, with similarly sized, open-fronted poa annua greens to this week’s host; and lots of water in play.
Recent Portland Classic winners, Andrea Lee, Marin Alex and Austin Ernst have finished top 5 there; as have runners up, Daniela Darquea and Ha Na Jang.
Three players have recently won there and have good records here. I.K Kim won in 2017 and finished 2nd here in 2014; 2015 Dana Open winner, Chella Choi has finishes of 3rd, 5th and 9th here and 2021 champion, Nasa Hataoka has finished 4th and 15th on her two visits to Columbia Edgewater.
NW Arkansas Championship (Pinnacle Country Club)
With generous, tree-lined fairways, speedy greens that are comparable in size and water in-play throughout, Pinnacle Country Club has been able to develop some strong form-ties with Columbia Edgewater.
Stacey Lewis and Austin Ernst have both completed the double at the two events over recent years and Nasa Hataoka is a two-time winner in Arkansas.
Marina Alex has multiple top 10s there to go with her win here; Chella Choi has several top 10s there and Brittany Altomare has top 5s across the two events.
Meijer LPGA Classic (Blythefield Country Club)
Blythefield Country Club is another old fashioned, tree-lined course with generous fairways and well-bunkered poa annua greens.
Brooke Henderson is a two-time winner there – as she is here – and Mirim Lee is another past winner of the Meijer Classic with a good record in Portland, possessing finishes of 5th and 9th.
Brittany Altomare and Nasa Hataoka have finished 2nd at Blythefield. So have Caroline Masson, Su Oh and Lizette Salas, who have all recorded top 5s here.
LA Open/Championship (Wilshire Country Club)
Wilshire Country Club plays to a similar length as Columbia Edgewater and because of its small, quick poa greens and generous fairways, has some strong form-ties with this week’s event.
Hannah Green and Brooke Henderson have won both events; Nasa Hataoka has a win there too and Thailand’s Moriya Jutanugarn – who has twice finished 3rd here – won at Wilshire in 2018.
Palos Verdes Championship/LA Open (Palos Verdes Golf Club)
Though it has only hosted two LPGA events, there were a notable amount of form-ties between Palos Verdes and Columbia Edgewater. It’s a tree-lined course that requires strategy and has small poa greens.
Marina Alex won the first event there last year; Georgia Hall finished 2nd there this year and Andrea Lee and Hannah Green have finished 5th. Nasa Hataoka, Megan Khang and Ashleigh Buhai each have good form at the two courses.
The Weather
Rain is scheduled to fall on each day leading up to the event and continues into Thursday/Friday. Couple this with little in the way of wind and the conditions should once again make for low scoring at Columbia Edgewater.
The Field
We have another strong field this week, which is much the same as in Canada. Lilia Vu heads the lot as the #1 ranked player in the world and is joined by a further seven from inside the top 10; Celine Boutier and former Portland Classic winner, Jin Young Ko are the two absentees.
Andrea Lee returns to defend and is one of eight former champions in the field, including two-time winner Brooke Henderson; who will be hoping to match Nancy Lopez’s record of three wins this week.
Charley Hull returns to action following her runner-up finish in the Women’s Open three weeks ago and we also welcome Epson Tour star Jenny Bae; a player with two wins in six starts on that tour so far this year.
Selections
Hyo Joo Kim heads the betting at 11/1, with Nelly Korda next at 12s and Linn Grant at 14s. However, there’s no player who looked a more likely winner than the next woman in the betting and it is once again Japan’s Nasa Hataoka that looks to have the standout chance this week.
Nasa Hataoka
I have put Hataoka up in four of her last five starts and it’s quite obvious why. She hasn’t missed a cut in seventeen starts this year and hit the top 25 in thirteen of those; turning six into top 10s.
She comes into this week after a 13th-place finish in Canada last week, which follows a run of results which reads: 4th in the US Women’s Open, 3rd in the Evian Championship, 24th in the Women’s Scottish Open and 11th in the Women’s Open.
Hataoka is gaining strokes in every area and excels most with her approach play, ranking 13th and is 17th in GIR. Indeed she produced her 2nd-best approach performance of the year last week in Canada, ranking 6th. As a top 25 ranked player in par 5 scoring and sitting 35th on the greens, she undoubtedly has the skills needed to transfer that form to this week’s challenge.
However, we don’t need to look at stats for clues on this as in two visits to Columbia Edgewater CC, Hataoka has recorded finishes of 15th on debut in 2017 and returned to finish 4th in 2019.
Not only does she tick the current form, course form and correct skillset boxes but she has one of the most compelling books of correlating form this week.
Hataoka has twice won in Arkansas and once at Wilshire Country Club and in the Dana Open. A runner-up finish in the Meijer LPGA Classic and 7th at Palos Verdes on her one and only visit means she has a finish of 7th or better in each of the correlating courses mentioned above.
The Japanese star has been one of the most consistently excellent performers on tour this season and with the most complete case of anyone else in the field this week, I’m more than happy to give her another shot.
Maja Stark
Maja Stark’s 4th in the Women’s Scottish Open three starts ago was her best result in over five months. Though she hasn’t quite built on that over her next two starts, she comes to a place where she shot 16-under to finish 8th on debut last season and with the continued strength of her approach play, she can go even better than that this year.
Stark started the year strongly, finishing 2nd in the Tournament of Champions and winning the Lalla Meryem Cup when hopping it back over to the LET. While her form following that has been far from worrying, it hasn’t quite reached the level that her start suggested it might, but she has looked good over recent weeks.
Prior to her 4th in Scotland, Stark finished 9th in the US Women’s Open for her first major top 10. That effort in Scotland saw her produce her 2nd-best ball-striking performance of the year, as she ranked 4th in approach and 9th off-the-tee.
Her approach play is what has driven her best golf this season, as she ranks 11th on tour and is 39th in GIR. Her ability on the par 5s, where she ranks 27th is another tick towards her possibilities this week.
All of those areas were to the forefront of reasons for her 8th-place finish here last year, as she ranked 1st in the field T2G. Owing especially to her approach play as she ranked 5th and this quality enabled her to eat up the par 5s; shooting 10-under on those holes for the week and ranking 5th.
Stark has won six times on the LET, which includes the co-sanctioned ISPS Handa Invitational last year for her first sanctioned LPGA win. Picking up a win stateside is next on the agenda and she looks to have a good chance to do just that this week.
Esther Henseleit
Esther Henseleit put up a fine effort last time out when I put her up in the ISPS Handa Invitational, eventually losing in a playoff to Alex Pano. The putter let her down in the final round there as she
missed plenty of chances that would’ve taken her to an outright win but she putted well enough for the rest of the week – as she has done plenty of times recently – and with her approach play looking as good as ever, she can claim some redemption for that narrow defeat this week. At a place where she has a 3rd-place finish to her name.
Following a slow start to the year on the LPGA, the German has been showing some really positive signs over her last five starts. She has recorded four top 20s across those events – including that 2nd at Galgorm Castle – with a 14th in the Evian Championship another standout.
Her iron play has been the most important factor in this form and she ranks 10th for the season, as well as 30th in GIR and added encouragement is found in her ranking of 16th on the par 5s.
Though the putter cost her a win on her last start, she has been putting well of late. She ranked 6th on the greens when 20th in the Women’s Scottish Open and was ranked 12th when finishing 16th in the Dana Open; also comfortably gaining strokes in the Evian.
I’m further encouraged by her putting performance here last year, as a ranking of 4th largely engineered her excellent 3rd. Although she did produce some quality approach play too, ranking 11th.
Henseleit has a good record in the Dana Open, with finishes of 4th and 16th to her name and with her game looking in a positive place, I’m confident she can produce a similar performance this week, as she managed last year.
Jeongeun Lee6
2019 US Women’s Open winner, Jeongeun Lee6 has looked out of sorts for much of this year. However, signs have been much more positive over recent starts and with evidence of her ability to perform here on show from a 9th on debut in 2019, she looks a nice price for a big effort this week.
Lee missed over half of her first thirteen cuts this year but started to turn her form around when 27th at Pebble Beach in the US Women’s Open six starts ago. Though she missed her next two cuts following that she has bounced back over her next three, finishing 28th in the Women’s Scottish Open 16th in the Women’s Open and 22nd in Canada last week.
The primary reason for this turnaround in form has been her approach play. Prior to those three most recent performances, Lee had lost strokes on approach in every event this year. Whilst rankings of 43rd, 49th and 57th on her last three starts don’t sound overly impressive, they’ve been positive numbers and a massive improvement on those other performances. The rewards of which have been clear to see.
She now has something to compliment her quality putting, for which she ranks 14th this season and despite struggling for much of the first half of this year, she is still ranked top 25 in par 5 scoring.
Aside from her 9th here on debut, Lee has some attractive correlating form, with finishes of 4th in the Dana Open, 7th at Wilshire Country Club and 8th in Arkansas. If she can squeeze out a little more improvement with her irons, this classy golfer can put up her best finish of the year this week.
Share Article
