Laura Diaz gets nod for win

With all the talk and concern going around Squaw Creek Country Club about the future of the Giant Eagle LPGA Classic, the fact that there is still a tournament here this year has seemed to be kind of overshadowed.
So Annika Sorenstam isn't here. Heck, she's only played here twice in the 15 years of this event so it's not like her absence is unusual.
Nancy Lopez is retired and that hurts, because nobody has ever been or ever will be a bigger draw in this area.
Nobody is going to argue the fact that this is not a strong field, at least according the most recent LPGA money list.
But that doesn't mean that the play will be any less exciting than it has been in past years. It just might be that the two or three players coming down the final holes on Sunday afternoon might be two or three players that nobody has heard of before.
But then that's how these young players become the future stars on the tour. It's probably going to be more exciting to watch a young player trying to win her first tournament title than to watch Sorenstam try for her two zillionth win.
Big names
It's not like this tournament still doesn't have any name players. There are still Dottie Pepper, Michelle McGann, Pat Hurst, Laura Diaz, Jill McGill, Brandie Burton, Donna Andrews, Tammie Green, Jackie Gallagher-Smith and of course, defending champion Rachel Teske.
The real treat for the spectators will be to watch the strong field of rookies and other youngsters out here trying to take advantage of the best chance they may have to pull out a tour victory.
LPGA veteran Colleen Walker is back this year after a successful battle with breast cancer, while LPGA Hall of Fame standout JoAnne Carner is also in the field.
Probably one of the big disappointments is the absence of two-time champion Dorothy Delasin. She was a first time winner here in 2000 and followed that up with another victory in 2001. She finished third in 2002 and 21th last year, but decided to pass up this year's event.
The tournament schedule is the main reason that this field doesn't include more of the top money winners.
It falls between two majors and most players are coming off a month in June where they played every week. The fact that the next two tournaments are in Europe also didn't help this field.
But then again a top player like Gloria Park from Korea, is playing in her 11th consecutive tournament this week. Her schedule calls for her to play in 15 consecutive events.
For a lot of this week's participants this tournament provides an opportunity to play. Many of the players here are non-exempt players on the tour and only get into a tournament when the field is not filled.
Such is the case for Kelly Cap, a product of Boardman High School. She's low on the non-exempt list and has only played in three tournaments this year before this week.
Every year for the past 14 years I've made a prediction on who I thought was going to win this tournament. And 14 straight years I've been wrong. I came closest last year when I went out on a limb and predicted that Sorenstam would win and she lost in a sudden-death playoff to Teske.
Of course the Swedish star could have made me a big winner by just making one putt over the final nine holes which would have given her the title outright.
With this year's field the prediction becomes even tougher because most of these players don't even know what it's like to be in contention for a title.
I could go with one of the former champions who have the knowledge and experience on this golf course, or even a Pepper, if she was healthy and not just playing out the schedule on her final season on tour. I don't know enough about the younger players on tour to pick one of them.
My choice
So I'm going with Laura Diaz, the Scotia, N.Y. native who now resides in Amelia Island, Fla.
Diaz is in her sixth season on tour with two career victories and has played well in this tournament the three previous appearances here.
She finished tied for third in 2000 at Avalon Lakes and in her only appearance at Squaw Creek tied for 15th in 2001. She didn't play here in 2002 and 2003.
Diaz has struggled early this year, missing three cuts in her first five events, but she finished seventh at Corning, N.Y. and has only missed one cut since. And she likes the course.
mollica@vindy.com