YOU can’t call Cristie Kerr a dark horse to win the inaugural HSBC Match Play Championship that begins today at Hamilton Farm in Gladstone, N.J. Not when she’s ranked second on the LPGA money list behind Annika Sorenstam and not when she’s seeded No. 2 in the 64-player field.

Maybe it just seems as if Kerr is being overshadowed by the hullabaloo over Sorenstam and the emerging young pros like Paula Creamer and amateurs Michelle Wie, Morgan Pressel and Brittany Lang.

Truth is, if anyone should be favored to win the women’s first official match-play event in 50 years, it should be Kerr, who faces 63rd-seeded Lindsey Wright in today’s first round. She’ll enjoy a home-course advantage of sorts, having played Hamilton Farm on several occasions. She also lives part-time in Manhattan, but will be staying in “a really, really nice house” avoiding the hassle of hotel living.

“I’m very, very familiar with the area,” she said yesterday. “I love hot, humid weather being from Miami. I’m going to have a lot of fans and supporters come out and watch me from the New York area, so it definitely feels like I’m more at home this week than other weeks.”

Kerr, 27, could use a win here. In her ninth year on tour, she seemed on the verge of becoming Sorenstam’s chief rival this spring when she won the Michelob Ultra Open in May and followed that with a third-place showing at the Chick-Fil-A. She expanded her national profile by making a guest appearance on “The Apprentice” and was featured on the May cover of Golf World magazine, which trumpeted her as America’s best female golfer. But Kerr has had just one Top-10 finish since then, that coming in last week’s U.S. Women’s Open, where she finished tied for 10th.

“Things just haven’t quite come together,” Kerr said. “I’m a little disappointed in the way I’ve played the last month and half, but that’s golf sometimes. You’ve just got to Work through those times and know all the work you put in is going to pay off eventually.

“I know that if I don’t try too hard and I just play for the right reasons and try to obtain my smaller goals of greens in regulation and putts, just break it down to the most elementary parts of the game, I generally do better that way than coming in and saying, ‘I’m trying to win the golf tournament.’ I’ve gotten back to that.”

Kerr has earned $912,125 this year, second only to Sorenstam’s $1.5 million and while the two don’t share the kind of rivalry of, say, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, unseating Sorenstam as the No. 1 women’s golfer is a goal Kerr definitely wants to achieve.

“I think what Annika has done is pretty remarkable,” Kerr told The Post earlier this year. “Now it’s time for the challengers to step up. What she’s doing is great for women’s golf, but what would be better is if we had some rivalries to build on. It would make it more interesting and more exciting and more dramatic for the fans.”

Kerr remains the most likely person to offer that challenge. She has the experience, the confidence and the game.

“I don’t feel I’m not that far away,” she said. “I don’t say it arrogantly because I’m not that kind of person. But I see a lot of improvement in my game. I’ve just got to keep working hard.”

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Today’s pairings

8 a.m. Rosie Jones (7) vs. Wendy Doolan (58)

8:08 a.m. Jimin Kang (26) vs. Pat Hurst (39)

8:16 a.m. Natalie Gulbis (5) vs. Marisa Baena (60)

8:24 a.m. Michele Redman (28) vs. Grace Park (37)

8:32 a.m. Candie Kung (8) vs. Candy Hannemann (57)

8:40 a.m. Stacy Prammanasudh (25) vs. Leta Lindley (40)

8:48 a.m. Birdie Kim (6) vs. Sophie Gustafson (59)

8:56 a.m. Karine Icher (27) vs. Shi Hyun Ahn (38)

9:04 a.m. Gloria Park (10) vs. Janice Moodie (55)

9:12 a.m. Jill McGill (23) vs. Nicole Perrot (42)

9:20 a.m. Lorie Kane (12) vs. Beth Daniel (53)

9:28 a.m. Jennifer Rosales (21) vs. Angela Stanfor(44)

9:36 a.m. Catriona Matthew (9) vs. A.J. Eathorne (56)

9:44 a.m. Heather Bowie (24) vs. Dorothy Delasin(41)

9:52 a.m. Juli Inkster (11) vs. Sung Ah Yim (54)

10 a.m. Laura Diaz (22) vs. Ai Miyazato (43)

10:16 a.m. Laura Davies (15) vs. Kim Saiki (50)

10:24 a.m. Hee-Won Han (18) vs. Meena Lee (47)

10:32 a.m. Jeong Jang (13) vs. Reilley Rankin (52)

10:40 a.m. a-Shinobu Moromizato (20) vs. Emilee Klein (45)

10:48 a.m. Mi Hyun Kim (16) vs. Meg Mallon (49)

10:56 a.m. Se Ri Pak (17) vs. Rachel Hetherington (48)

11:04 a.m.Wendy Ward (14) vs. Joo Mi Kim (51)

11:12 a.m. Carin Koch (19) vs. Silvia Cavalleri (46)

11:20 a.m. Cristie Kerr (2) vs. Lindsey Wright (63)

11:28 a.m. Liselotte Neumann (31) vs. Moira Dunn (34)

11:36 a.m. Paula Creamer (4) vs. Maria Hjorth (61)

11:44 a.m. Karrie Webb (29) vs. Soo-Yun Kang (36)

11:52 a.m. Annika Sorenstam (1) vs. Joanne Morley (64)

Noon – Tina Barrett (32) vs. Young Kim (33)

12:08 p.m. Lorena Ochoa (3) vs. Laurie Rinker (62)

12:16 p.m. Christina Kim (30) vs. Karen Stupples (35)