ANA INSPIRATION

Dinah Shore Course a bomber's paradise, but it takes more to win the ANA Inspiration

Larry Bohannan
Palm Springs Desert Sun
Lexi Thompson tees off on the 2nd hole during the third round of the 2017 Ana Inspiration golf tournament at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage on April 1, 2017.

 

Judy Rankin, LPGA Hall of Famer, past winner of what was then called the Colgate Dinah Shore and a former homeowner at Mission Hills Country Club, may know as much about the Dinah Shore Tournament Course as anyone. And she thinks she knows what it takes to win the ANA Inspiration.

“The difference in being an average-length driver and long driver at Mission Hills is enormous,” said Rankin, the long-time lead women’s golf analyst for Golf Channel. “It takes it from quite a difficult golf course to a lot of birdie holes.  Anybody who has some length and drives the ball well, you have an advantage anywhere you play.  But the difference (on the Dinah Shore Course) is if you are in the average or shorter range, it is a very difficult golf course.”

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Rankin’s theory has been proven time and time again at the ANA Inspiration. Yes, there have been some shorter hitters who have won the tournament in recent years, from Morgan Pressel to Sun Young Yoo to 2016 winner Lydia Ko.

But for every shorter hitter who wins the event by keeping it straight and out of the rough off the tee, there are a couple of winners who blast the ball on a regular basis. That includes two-time champion Brittany Lincicome and past winner and the golfer who seemed in control of last year’s event for most of Sunday, Lexi Thompson.

“If you put apples to apples at a course like (the Shore Course) and they're hitting it roughly the same in terms of their ability and the level at which they're hitting it compared to their ability, if you put Lexi and Lydia side by side, Lydia is giving up three to four shots a round in strokes gained, tee to green, to Lexi Thompson,” said Jerry Foltz, Golf Channel’s LPGA on-course reporter. “So if the other aspects of her game aren't that much better than Lexi's, she simply can't compete with somebody of Lexi's ball-striking ability, or Michelle (Wie) when she's playing well, or Jessica (Korda) or any of the other number of players, Ariya (Jutanugarn).”

So who could that favor this week? Foltz says he hears Jutanugarn, who rarely hits driver but is still one of the longest hitters in the women’s game, may put a driver in her bag for Mission Hills. Angel Yin is perhaps the longest hitter of the driver in the women’s game, but she is also young. Thompson and Lincicome are no-brainer picks. But Golf Channel’s Karen Stupples said there might be another name to watch: Michelle Wie.

“She's much more prepared to hit a driver now than she was a number of years ago, get a driver back in her hands.  And that golf course will be very good for her,” Stupples said. “And I also think with her improvement with her short game, her wedges are really very good. Distance control is pretty awesome right now, and she's making more putts.”

Then again, when Inbee Park won the tournament in 2013, she made pretty much every putt she looked at in one of the all-time great putting performances. And Park won the Bank of Hope Founders Cup earlier this month.

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So much about winning the ANA Inspiration depends on factors outside of a player’s control, like the wind, the speed of the greens and the length of the rough. Yes, longer hitters have an advantage at the Dinah Shore Tournament Course, and odds might be that a bomber wins the tournament this week.

But on a windy day and with rough of 3 inches or higher, the Shore course can humble a longer hitter pretty quickly. So there’s no real way to predict a winner.

Larry Bohannan is The Desert Sun golf writer. He can be reached at (760) 778-4633 or larry.bohannan@desertsun.com. Follow him on Facebook or on Twitter at @Larry_Bohannan.

 

Larry Bohannan.