2011 Kraft Nabisco Championship TV Schedule and Tournament Notes

THE 2011 KRAFT NABISCO CHAMPIONSHIP, the year’s first major on the LPGA Tour, is underway at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California. World No. 1 Yani Tseng edged Suzann Pettersen by a stroke to win last year. The event began in 1972 and became a major in 1983. Mission Hills measures 6,702 yards and plays to a par of 72.

Mika Miyazato and Sandra Gal lead after posting 67s, with the first round still in progress.

UPDATE: Brittany Lincicome and Stacy Lewis are tied for the first-round lead after firing 6-under 66s.

Purse: $2 million
Defending champion: Yani Tseng

2011 Kraft Nabisco Championship Leaderboard

Tournament preview
Final field
Pairings
Kraft Nabisco Championship website


TV SCHEDULE

All TV coverage of the 2011 Kraft Nabisco Championship is on Golf Channel.

Thu, Mar 31
6:30-9:30 PM ET

Fri, Apr 1
12:00-3:00 PM ET
6:30-9:30 PM ET

Sat, Apr 2
4:30-8:30 PM ET

Sun, Apr 3
4:30-8:30 PM ET

−The Armchair Golfer

English Open Canceled Until Further Notice

I SAW THIS OVER at BBC Sport. No headline sponsor, no English Open, which was set to be played in August at St. Mellion, where no less than £20m has been poured into the facilities.

Goodness gracious. I know the economy still has a foul odor, but we’re talking about the home of John Henry Taylor, Horace Rawlins, Jim Barnes, Bernard Darwin, Abe Mitchell, Cyril Walker, Samuel Ryder, Archie Compston, Sir Henry Cotton, Peter Alliss, Tony Jacklin, Peter Oosterhuis, Sir Nick Faldo, Mark James, Laura Davies, Darren Clarke, Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, Luke Donald, Paul Casey and Justin Rose.

The small dimpled ball is an important part of English heritage. Am I right? Who’s with me?

Alas, sponsors are not cueing up.

The English Open has not been on the European Tour schedule since 2002 when Darren Clarke won at Forest of Arden. It was supposed to return in 2009 at St. Mellion but was delayed because of the financial difficulties of developers. Now that the facility is up to snuff, sponsors are scarcer than a Yankee near the top of the world rankings.

Stephen Towers, St. Mellion’s resort director, told BBC Radio that many blue-chip companies are pursuing Olympic sponsorships or simply cutting back on spending.

“It’s a reflection of the trend that we’re seeing in European golf at the moment,” said golf correspondent Iain Carter at BBC Sport, “in that the sponsors are to be found on the other side of the world, not in Europe, not in Great Britain and certainly not in England.”

Last year’s Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor raked in £84.5m for Wales. I know. The English Open is not the Ryder Cup. Still, I ask, how can England not stage an Open?

This is not jolly good.

−The Armchair Golfer

Phil on ‘PARADE’

THE PHIL MICKELSON INTERVIEW at Parade.com (Phil Mickelson: “I Couldn’t Be Any Luckier”) is a feel-good piece that covers a lot of ground many golf fans already know, with a few new anecdotes thrown in.

Phil says, “I’m much more emotional than Tiger.” No surprise there. And Lefty says he wants to make 2011 the kind of golf year he was expecting to have in 2010. He better get busy.

Following is one of my favorite paragraphs from the Kate Meyers interview. It really sums things up.

In this era of golf, Mickelson’s name will always come after Tiger Woods’s. He is the anti-Tiger, though not because he’s gracefully weathered the obstacles life has thrown at him while Tiger is still stinging from self-inflicted wounds. He’s the anti-Tiger because on the course he plays a mild-mannered, sometimes bumbling Clark Kent to Woods’s Superman. And fans love him for it. He never looks chiseled, never seems invincible, and—despite 38 PGA wins—has never been No. 1 in the world. He’s been faulted for taking too long to win his first major (in his 12th year as a pro) and for making too many suicidal shots at critical moments. But throughout his nearly 20-year professional career, he has had the same caddie, the same manager, and the same wife.

Does Phil have a chance next week at the Masters? You bet he does.

I don’t care how Phil is playing, the place energizes him. It offers the risk-reward shotmaking opportunities he lives for. And, of course, experience is huge at Augusta National.

PARADE’S photo shoot with Phil Mickelson

−The Armchair Golfer

(Image: Courtesy of PARADE)