Hana Bank/KOLON Championship Friday: Trick or Treat

They're off at the Hana Bank/KOLON Championship and it's looking like the move from tropical Hainan Island to brisk Incheon is already taking its toll on the LPGA's finest. 2007 Rookie of the Year Angela Park has opened with a birdie-less 40 on the back. 2006 ROY Seon Hwa Lee is +3 through 7 and struggling to get off a 3-hole bogey train. And 2008 ROY contender Na Yeon Choi (whom I picked to win this thing!) just got off a similar train but is also +3 through 7. Paula Creamer, Suzann Pettersen, and Morgan Pressel are all over par early in their rounds, as well. But LPGA rookie and LET standout Amy Yang is making a bid to avoid Q-School with 5 birdies in her 1st 11 holes and stands alone at -5 through 13. Katherine Hull is also playing bogey-free golf, at -3 through her 1st 7 holes. More soon!

[Update 1 (12:45 am): Now In-Kyung Kim birdied the par-5 9th to open with a 34. Hull finished the front with a 33. Contrast that with 39s for Lee and Choi... (Yes, the leaderboard updates quite erratically.) BTW, the KLPGA stars aren't exempt from big numbers, either: Ji-Yai Shin, Hee Kyung Seo, and Hye Jung Choi are all off to +2 starts.]

[Update 2 (1:07 am): Yikes, Pettersen opened with a birdie-less 40 on the front! By contrast, Ji-Yai Shin birdied her last 3 holes on the front to battle back to a 36. And Hee Kyung Seo has started a little 2-hole birdie train to begin the back and join the 29 golfers at par or better thus far. Junior Mint Allison Fouch has a chance to close her round with a 4-hole birdie train as she plays the 18th....]

[Update 3 (1:21 am): I follow the KLPGA a little more closely than the average bear, but I have to admit to not having heard of the leader in the clubhouse, Chae Young Yoon, whose birdie on the 9th gave her a 69 and put her only 1 shot behind Amy Yang, who just bogeyed the par-5 14th to give new hope to In-Kyung Kim (who's started a little birdie train of her own on the 12th and 13th). Katherine Hull was chugging right along until she bogeyed the par-4 11th and got caught by Hee Kyung Seo, now on a 4-hole birdie train--they're only 2 behind Yang.]

[Update 4 (1:28 am): Don't look now, but Helen Alfredsson is making a little run of her own with consecutive birdies on the 12th and 13th to fight back to E. That's where Fouch ended up when her birdie train came to an end on the 18th. A late double bogey by Sun Ju Ahn on the par-4 7th derailed her round and lead to an opening 74. But she's in very good company at +2 thus far--too many big names to list, so I'll just name 1, Brittany Lang, whose lone birdie on the par-4 15th got her there.]

[Update 5 (1:51 am): Ouch! Poor Ha-Neul Kim, who followed up a bogey on the par-3 3rd with a triple on the par-4 7th, but salvaged a 73 with a walk-off birdie on the 9th. Nice little charge by Karen Stupples, though; she's got a 2-hole birdie train going with 2 holes to go on that same side and at -3 is only 1 behind Yang.]

[Update 6 (2:10 am): Aaargh! Yang got back to -5 with a birdie on the par-5 16th, but gave it right back on the very next hole with her 2nd bogey of the day and then dropped into a tie for the lead with Yoon when she also bogeyed the par-4 18th. She had a real chance to put some distance between herself and the field, but still will be one of the few players to break 70 today. Kim will need to keep playing well to stay on a sub-70 pace. Stupples couldn't sustain it, as a walk-off bogey on the 9th dropped her to -2. Christina Kim needed her 3rd birdie in a row on the 18th to break 70, but couldn't get it. The KLPGA's Ji-Na Lim fired a bogey-free 70 to match Kim's achievement. So Yang should still be proud of her round. But Katherine Hull just birdied the 13th and 14th to get to -4; if she can play the last 3 holes solidly, she'll have stolen Yang's thunder!]

[Update 7 (2:24 am): Nothing illustrates the changing of the guard among the top Korean players this season like recent events in this round. Mi Hyun Kim, who's coming back very slowly from off-season knee surgery and planning a humongous wedding, battled to -1 through 11 but then proceeded to get on a 3-hole bogey train to join new mom Hee-Won Han at +2. Meanwhile, Hall of Famer Se Ri Pak and close-but-no-cigar-wrist-wrapped Jeong Jang are battling to stay at E and -1, respectively. But Hee Kyung Seo continues to impress at -2 and Ji-Yai Shin is now -1, while Inbee Park and Song-Hee Kim are fighting to join Hee Young Park at E. Na Yeon Choi has fought back to +1 and Seon Hwa Lee to +2, along with Super Sophs Eun-Hee Ji and Ji Young Oh. They all have a few holes to go, so it's too soon to tell where they'll end up today. But one thing's for sure: the days when you could bank on top 10s from the Big 4 are starting to seem like the old days, indeed.]

[Update 8 (2:39 am): Got a little late correction on Teresa Lu's scorecard--she had been in for a long long time at 72, but it was actually a 71. Even with a double bogey on her very 1st hole, she bounced back with 2 birdies on the front and 2 in her last 3 holes. Minea Blomqvist joined her with 2 straight closing birdies on the front, which brings the Junior Mint total now at T11 to 3. And look who's making a bid to join or pass them: Alfredsson birdied the 16th and 17th and Pak the 15th to climb to -1. Meanwhile, Jang birdied the 7th and 8th to climb to T4 at -2. With In-Kyung Kim falling back there with a bogey on the 17th, and Hee-Won Han fighting back to +1 so far, maybe I was too hasty with my "changing of the guard" comments above!]

[Update 9 (2:43 am): Tough 77 for Angela Park, mitigated only by her lone birdie on the 9th, her final hole. Shanshan Feng's birdie-less 76 has to be even more disappointing--it's her 1st really bad round in a long time (and the only one besides her 77 in the 3rd round of the Longs Drugs since mid-August). Things aren't looking much better for Suzann Pettersen or Paula Creamer right now. Golf is cruel.]

[Update 10 (2:50 am): Eun-Hee Ji made a couple of birdies down the stretch on the front (her back) to salvage a 73, while Song-Hee Kim bogeyed the 9th to end up there. With Katherine Hull now -5 through 17, that's a lot of ground to make up in 36 holes. In-Kyung Kim fell back to a 70 in the end and Hee Kyung Seo to a 71, while Inbee Park and Helen Alfredsson joined Seo within striking distance of the leader.]

[Update 11 (2:55 am): Ji-Yai Shin got it to -2 through 14, but bogeyed the 15th to fall back to -1. If she and Se Ri Pak can make a move over their last 3 holes, this could be an even more interesting tournament. Mi Hun Kim sure made it interesting on the front: she only had 1 par on the side (on the 1st hole!), but birdied her last 2 to pull back to E for the tournament!]

[Update 12 (2:59 am): Well, Seon Hwa Lee joined Jee Young Lee at 74--disappointing starts, to be sure, but not as bad as they could have been, at least. That's 3 Junior Mints at 74. Contrast that with Hull's opening 66--which included 4 birdies in her last 6 holes--and you'll see why it's so hard to stay at the top on the LPGA.]

[Update 13 (3:03 am): Add Hee-Won Han to the list of those finishing at +1 (T30 so far).]

[Update 14 (3:27 am): Hold the phone! Yang didn't bogey 18, after all. So she's only 2 behind Hull heading into Saturday's round. It's Shin's turn to try to become the 4th player to break 70 today--all she needs is a birdie on the tough 18th that has eluded just about everyone else, Candie Kung included, stuck at -2. Surprise, surprise: it eluded her, too. Nice 71s for Pak and Lindley and good fight-back by Pressel for her 72. Creamer salvaged a 75, while Pettersen blew up to a 77. Wow.]

[Update 15 (10:32 am): Speaking of wow, Hound Dog reports that Eun-Hee Ji and Joo Mi Kim were disqualified and Angela Park and Ji Young Oh assessed 2-stroke penalties for accepting a ride between the 18th green and 1st tee when making the turn. See his post for the explanation and pithy overview!]

[Update 16 (11/1/08, 4:50 pm): Here are LPGA.com's notes and interviews.]

Hisako Higuchi IDC Otsuka Ladies Friday: Anything Goes

The big names are all over the place in the 1st round of the Hisako Higuchi IDC Otsuka Ladies JLPGA event this week. Consider the threesome of Mi-Jeong Jeon, Erina Hara, and Yuko Mitsuka, who have just completed the 15th hole. Mitsuka has made 5 birdies and 3 bogeys, Hara birdied the 2nd and has parred every other hole, while Jeon followed up a birdie on the third with a double bogey and 2 bogeys in the next 6 holes. That kind of volatility is showing up even within the same player's round. Keiko Sasaki made 6 birdies and had a bogey-free round, but only because she triple bogeyed the par-4 10th hole; still, she's the leader in the clubhouse at 69. Sakura Yokomine opened with a birdie, but followed up a quadruple bogey on the par-4 5th hole with a bogey on the 6th before rattling off 4 birdies between the 8th and 12th to claw her way back to E through 14. The upshot is that scoring conditions are challenging and anything can happen out on the course today. More soon!

[Update 1 (12:54 am): With her birdie on the par-3 15th, Yokomine is back below par for the 1st time since she was standing on the 5th tee. She joins a large group of players at T9 for now, even with Yui Kawahara and 1 behind Yayoi Arasaki, both of whom notched eagles on the back 9. There are a lot of big names showing similar fight on the back and making their way back from the depths. More on them next.]

[Update 2 (1:01 am): Maiko Wakabayashi came back from a double bogey on the par-4 6th to post a 72. Miho Koga is back to E after birdies on the 14th and 17th. Hiromi Mogi has done with same, thanks to birdies on the 11th and 16th, which matches Tamie Durdin's comeback from from double bogey and bogey at the turn. Ayako Uehara's birdie on the 14th has her E now with 2 holes to go.]

[Update 3 (1:14 am): Make that 3 birdies in her last 5 holes for Miho Koga--that's one gritty 71! Yuko Mitsuka and Erina Hara birdied the 18th, as well, the former to join Sasaki as co-leaders in the clubhouse, and the latter to secure a bogey-free 70. Playing partner Mi-Jeong Jeon, meanwhile, birdied the last 2 holes to salvage a 73 (T33 for now). And Mayu Hattori also birdied the 18th for her 70.]

[Update 4 (1:51 am): OK, the 1st round is complete in Japan and here are the top 10 and notables:

T1/-3 Mitsuka, Sasaki (69)
T3/-2 Hara, Hattori, Arasaki, Orie Fujino, Itsumi Okada, Yun-Joo Jeong (70)
T9/-1 Yokomine, Koga, Shinobu Moromizato, Yun-Jye Wei, Rui Kitada, Kawahara, Kurumi Dohi, Michie Ohba, Ji-Yeon Han, Na-Ri Lee, Nana Akahori (71)

T20/E Uehara, Mogi, Arimura, Nakata, Wakabayashi, Ji-Woo Lee, Durdin, Yuki Ichinose (72)
T36/+1 Jeon, Esther Lee, Nikki Campbell (73)
T46/+2 Hiroko Yamaguchi, Saiki Fujita (74)

T70/+4 Yukari Baba, Midori Yoneyama (76)
T82/+5 Akane Iijima (77)
T87/+6 Ritsuko Ryu (78)

With some huge names sitting this one out--from visiting LPGA stars Ai Miyazato and Momoko Ueda to future Class of '09ers Shiho Oyama and Miki Saiki, from money-list leaders Ji-Hee Lee and Akiko Fukushima to multiple winners Yuri Fudoh and Hyun-Ju Shin--the time is now for Mitsuka, Hara, Yokomine, Koga, Moromizato, Uehara, and Jeon to step up over the weekend. Who will do it? Stay tuned!]

Hana Bank/KOLON Championship Preview/Pairings/Predictions

As Hound Dog's preview and the Seoul Sisters.com discussion thread suggest, we should expect the KLPGA players in the field at the 7th playing of the Hana Bank/KOLON Championship to more than hold their own. True, Golf Observer's historical results reflect the depth and strength of the LPGA, and on an ocean course with a lot of water and sand near the fairways and greens anything can happen, but I'm staking my chances on winning this season's Pakpicker on the KLPGA's young guns.

1. Choi Na Yeon
2. Shin Ji-Yai
3. Pettersen
4. Lee Seon Hwa
5. Creamer
6. Ahn Sun Ju
7. Ji Eun-Hee
8. Feng
9. Yang Amy
10. Kim Ha-Neul
11. Seo Hee Kyung
12. Ryu So Yeon

Alts: Lang, Jang, Stupples

The pairings are quite interesting. For one thing, Amy Yang shows up in them--off #1 at 9:33 am--but not in the field list! [Correction: Go-Kimmie-Go at Seoul Sisters.com points out that Amy's Korean name is Hee Young.] More important, they're going off 2 tees, unlike in China, which equalizes the scoring chances a bit more for everyone, but because the pairings get recomposed for the next round based on 1st-round scores, they introduce a little bit of potential unfairness in terms of early and late starts. Because great players are fairly randomly scattered around the course tomorrow, I'll list the top 7 pairings off each tee by my sense of the strength/momentum of the players in them.

1st Tee

Start Time: 10:50 AM
Paula Creamer
Morgan Pressel
Ji-Yai Shin

Start Time: 10:28 AM
Katherine Hull
Seon Hwa Lee
Na Yeon Choi

Start Time: 10:39 AM
Nicole Castrale
Se Ri Pak
Suzann Pettersen

Start Time: 10:17 AM
Inbee Park
Hee Kyung Seo
Helen Alfredsson

Start Time: 10:06 AM
Louise Friberg
Meena Lee
In-Kyung Kim

Start Time: 9:11 AM
Hye Yong Choi
Brittany Lang
Jin Joo Kim

Start Time: 9:44 AM
Jane Park
Sun Young Yoo
Janice Moodie

10th Tee

Start Time: 9:33 AM
Karen Stupples
Jee Young Lee
Hee Young Park

Start Time: 9:55 AM
Eun-Hee Ji
Jeong Jang
Joo Mi Kim

Start Time: 9:11 AM
So Yeon Ryu
Kristy McPherson
Ha-Neul Kim

Start Time: 10:17 AM
Song-Hee Kim
Catriona Matthew
Mi Hyun Kim

Start Time: 10:06 AM
Ji Young Oh
Angela Park
Carin Koch

Start Time: 10:28 AM
Young Kim
Hee-Won Han
Jin Joo Hong

Start Time: 10:39 AM
Sophie Gustafson
Candie Kung
Leta Lindley

But don't be surprised to see Teresa Lu and Sun Ju Ahn (1st off the 1st and 10th, respectively) post some early low scores, Shanshan Feng and Anna Rawson (off #1 at 9:55) get off to good starts, and Junior Mints Allison Fouch and H.J. Choi (2nd off the 1st and 10th, respectively) to exceed expectations.

[Update 1 (8:32 pm): Here are the pre-tournament interviews.]

[Update 2 (8:34 pm): Here's The Florida Masochist's preview.]

[Update 3 (8:45 pm): Ron Sirak raises some good questions about the location--and direction--of the LPGA But he seems to ignore the possibility that talented but unseasoned young American golfers may benefit from playing on the LET, JLPGA, or KLPGA. There are more ways to the LPGA than the Futures Tour.]

[Update 4 (8:58 pm): Rico Williams hits the nail on the head when it comes to the asymmetry of Asian appreciation of LPGA stars but U.S. media's lack of interest in either the LPGA or the Asian Swing. Thanks for the link to his post, Golf Girl!]

The Best of the Young Guns: Top Junior Mints, October 2008 Edition

Now that Morgan Pressel has become the 2nd repeat winner among the LPGA's Junior Mints, will we start seeing more victories from this rookie class that's in serious danger of being overshadowed by the Super Sophs and Class of '08?

Simply the Best

1. Seon Hwa Lee: Slumping by her standards of late, but still one of the steadiest players on tour, with the talent to go low more often than most. The clear #1.
2. Morgan Pressel: Putting some serious swing changes in place this season, so her results have been wildly inconsistent of late, but you can't argue with her 2nd win. The clear #2.
3. Jee Young Lee: Still getting lots of top 20s, but not having the breakout year many expected of her. Playing a much more limited schedule than usual, as well. Injury issues? That's the only thing I can think of to account for the fact that Julieta Granada is still ahead of her on the career money list and Pressel is threatening to pass her.

The Contenders

4. Ai Miyazato: She got 2 top 10s--including a runner-up--when she played in the last two JLPGA majors, but her recent performances on the LPGA (missed and barely-made cuts) have not been inspiring. She's on the wrong side of the bubble when it comes to making the ADT Championship--she's probably about $70K shy right now--with only the Mizuno Championship and, if she can move into the top 36 on the money list after it, Lorena's Invitational, in which to earn it. If she can't do it, it'll be the first time in her career she hasn't played in it.
5. Brittany Lang: Coming on strong with 3 straight top 10s. She now has more top 20s than Ai-chan and is closing fast in other stats. If her putting ever matched her GIR rate, she'd be a pretty dangerous player.

Quantum Leap Candidates

6. Sun Young Yoo: Her fine play continues as intermittently as ever; next step is to get used to being in or near contention and nail down more top 10s and top 20s. I wouldn't be surprised if she got her 1st win before Ai-chan or Brittany--"surprise" wins been the model for the Super Sophs, so why not the Junior Mints, as well?
7. Teresa Lu: Not playing all that well lately, but still outplaying those below her in this ranking this season and in her career.
8. H.J. Choi: Not playing all that much on the LPGA lately, her weak performance in China shows her rust.
9. Julieta Granada: Still slumping, but I wouldn't put anyone ahead of her right now. She finished #100 on the money list on the dot, but has higher priority status because of her 2006 ADT victory.
10. Meaghan Francella: Ditto on just about everything, except her victory came in early 2007 in Mexico.
11. Allison Fouch: Getting more consistent, she has put up a number of good finishes lately. She's on a pace to pass a lot of people, but let's wait and see how she handles her 2nd full season on tour in 2009 before we get too excited.
12. Kyeong Bae: Since her top 10 at the State Farm, she's missed a passel of cuts. Injury?
13. Minea Blomqvist: She hasn't done anything special on the LPGA in a while, even after she won on the LET.
14. Linda Wessberg: Her 1st full season on the LPGA has been a disappointing one, but she still earned Category 1 status for next season. Needs to start hitting more greens to become a top 50 player here.

On the Bottom Looking Up

15. Sarah Jane Kenyon: Played pretty well on the LPGA after securing her 2009 card through a top-5 finish on the Futures Tour money list this season. Let's see how she handles a full season on tour.
16. Katie Futcher: Her stats remain better than her results this season. Hasn't been able to break through like Kristy McPherson of the Super Sophs has. Maybe next year?
17. Karin Sjodin: Major slump alert: hasn't finished better than T25 this season and has missed many more cuts than she's made. I assume she'll be going to Q-School to improve her priority status for 2009--if she had flipped with Granada, both would be in a majority of events next season. At #101, though, she'll need a good week at Q-School to avoid a split LPGA-LET schedule in '09.
18. Kim Hall: I don't know how she does it, but this Stanford grad keeps on keeping her card, thanks to yet another great late-season finish, this one a bronze at the Bell Micro.
19. Danielle Downey: She made a great charge to get into the top 100 of the money list, mostly on the strength of a T4 at the Bell Micro. A Hall understudy?

On the Outside Looking In

20. Virada Nirapathpongporn: It's back to Q-School for this Junior Mint everyone's rooting for.
21. Na Ri Kim: Ditto.
22. Nina Reis: Probably will be playing the LET full-time in '09.
23. Louise Stahle: Ditto.
24. Veronica Zorzi: Ditto.
25. Ashley Johnston: Hasn't used her medical exemption for 2008--will she have it for 2009?

***

For your reference--and mine--here are the stats on which I'm basing the October ranking.

2008 LPGA Money List (rank), scoring average (rank), birdies per round average (rank [in total birdies]), greens in regulation rate (rank): I focus on four key indicators of how well someone is playing this season--how much money they've made, how they've scored, how many birdies they've averaged per round, and how many greens they've hit in regulation on average per round, plus how they rank in each category. (I figure I can figure out how well they're hitting their irons and putting by comparing the last three figures, so I won't include putts per green in regulation here.) Some of the figures Hound Dog thinks are most important I'm looking at in the career stats (below), where I think they belong. These stats are all about the present and future.

1. Seon Hwa Lee, $1.14M (#6), 71.40 (#15), 3.12 (#14), 67.8% (#16)
2. Morgan Pressel, $687.6K (#21), 71.86 (#36), 3.20 (#36), 65.3% (#50)
3. Sun Young Yoo, $619.4K (#23), 71.63 (#22), 3.52 (#5), 66.7% (#25)
4. Jee Young Lee, $604.9K (#27), 71.44 (#17), 3.60 (#11), 66.4% (#34)
5. Brittany Lang, $510.3K (#32), 71.93 (#38), 3.04 (#27), 68.1% (#8)
6. Teresa Lu, $486.5K (#34), 72.31 (#51), 2.78 (#41), 63.9% (#68)
7. Ai Miyazato, $406.6K (#41), 72.18 (#48), 2.82 (#59), 62.1% (#97)
8. Minea Blomqvist, $395.9K (#45), 72.44 (#58), 3.25 (#46), 59.7% (#134)
9. Alison Fouch, $336.3K (#51), 73.07 (#93), 3.04 (#52), 62.6% (#86)
10. H.J. Choi, $245.1K (#58), 72.61 (#68), 2.79 (#49), 60.9% (#115)
11. Kim Hall, $168.7K (#68), 73.22 (#101), 2.46 (#99), 64.0% (#64)
12. Katie Futcher, $166.5K (#69), 71.69 (#30), 3.33 (#48), 65.7% (#44)
13. Linda Wessberg, $165.1K (#71), 73.23 (#103), 3.10 (#52), 59.8% (#131)
14. Kyeong Bae, $158.5K (#75), 73.04 (#89), 3.10 (#55), 60.7% (#118)
15. Meaghan Francella, $117.7K (#88), 73.75 (#131), 2.40 (#95), 65.2% (#52)
16. Danielle Downey, $117.3K (#89), 73.15 (#99), 2.83 (#112), 65.0% (#56)
17. Julieta Granada, $101.1K (#100), 73.31 (#107), 2.40 (#92), 58.3% (#144)
18. Karin Sjodin, $98.8K (#101), 73.43 (#113), 2.91 (#78), 62.3% (#95)
19. Sarah Jane Kenyon, $97.1K (#102), 72.61 (#67), 3.29 (#131), 67.6% (#17)
20. Na Ri Kim, $43.2K (#139), 73.03 (#88), 2.86 (#152), 66.3% (#35)
21. Virada Nirapathpongporn, $40.9K (#140), 74.06 (#138), 2.65 (#129), 61.1% (#112)
22. Nina Reis, $33.9K (#148), 75.18 (#?), 2.53 (#?), 53.9% (#?)
23. Louise Stahle, $23.0K (#154), 74.90 (#?), ?, ?

Career LPGA Money List (rank), # of LPGA events entered/majors/wins/top 3s/top 10s/top 20s/cuts made (made cut rate): About the only thing these stats are useful for is comparing people who entered the LPGA in the same year (although if you count generations by 3 years, it can be interesting). Between inflation, changing purses, and length/timing of careers, it's very hard to compare and contrast winnings across generations of LPGA greats. Fortunately the Junior Mints haven't been at this all too long, so the career money list is a decent stat for comparing them, even if it's a bit unfair to people who have not been exempt every year or who have chosen to focus more on other tours. What would really be great is if we had a world money list in inflation-adjusted dollars, with inflation- and exchange-adjusted other cash denominations added in (or just totalled up separately to avoid comparing dollars and yen), which included all each golfer earned as a professional on any tour. But even the guys don't have that, so that'll have to remain a dream for now. In any case, I include these other ways of seeing how the Junior Mints finished relative to their competition in the tournaments they entered because they reveal a lot about how well someone is able to compete at every level, from just making cuts to grinding out top 20s and top 10s to contending for wins. So here's how they stand:

1. Seon Hwa Lee, $3.16M (#52), 85/0/4/9/22/44/80 (.941)
2. Julieta Granada, $2.15M (#82), 83/0/1/5/10/21/56 (.675)
3. Jee Young Lee, $2.15M (#83), 74/0/0/5/20/41/69 (.932)
4. Morgan Pressel, $2.13M (#84), 72/1/2/6/22/37/62 (.861)
5. Ai Miyazato, $1.73M (#101), 68/0/0/4/17/26/55 (.809)
6. Brittany Lang, $1.40M (#121), 81/0/0/3/15/30/58 (.716)
7. Sun Young Yoo, $.98M (#173), 78/0/0/1/7/19/58 (.744)
8. Kyeong Bae, $.75M (#210), 77/0/0/2/7/12/53 (.688)
9. Teresa Lu, $.74M (#214), 67/0/0/1/5/15/48 (.716)
10. Meaghan Francella $.63M (#232), 54/0/1/1/4/9/30 (.556)
11. Minea Blomqvist, $.56M (#242), 57/0/0/1/3/8/35 (.614)
12. H.J. Choi, $.55M (#244), 53/0/0/0/6/11/36 (.679)
13. Karin Sjodin, $.42M (#277), 64/0/0/0/3/9/37 (.578)
14. Katie Futcher, $.37M (#291), 63/0/0/0/3/5/41 (.651)
15. Alison Fouch, $.34M (#300), 23/0/0/1/2/5/15 (.652)
16. Kim Hall, $.33M (#307), 55/0/0/1/3/4/23 (.418)
17. Linda Wessberg, $.33M (#308), 37/0/0/0/4/6/24 (.649)
18. Virada Nirapathpongporn, $.23M (#361), 56/0/0/0/1/4/27 (.482)
19. Nina Reis, $.23M (#363), 52/0/0/0/3/4/28 (.538)
20. Danielle Downey, $.13M (#424), 32/0/0/0/1/2/10 (.313)
21. Sarah Jane Kenyon $.10M (#449), 13/0/0/0/1/3/7 (.538)
22. Na Ri Kim, $.09M (#457), 34/0/0/0/0/2/14 (.412)
23. Veronica Zorzi, $.09M (#470), 16/0/0/0/0/1/13 (.813)
24. Louise Stahle, $.05M (#522), 23/0/0/0/0/1/10 (.435)
25. Ashley Johnston, $.05M (#535), 13/0/0/0/0/0/6 (.462)

Other Career Measures: Rolex Ranking (as of 10/27/08) and rank, Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index (as of 7/27/08) and rank, International and Non-Member LPGA Wins (as of the end of the 2007 season): This is a way of seeing how those Junior Mints who sometimes or regularly or often compete on other tours stack up over the course of their careers to date (the RR includes results over the past 104 weeks on the LPGA, JLPGA, KLPGA, LET, and Futures Tour; the GSPI includes results over the past 52 weeks on all these tours except the KLPGA).

1. Seon Hwa Lee, 4.83 (#10), 70.56 (#16), 3
2. Morgan Pressel, 4.47 (#15), 71.28 (#42), 0
3. Jee Young Lee, 4.13 (#19), 70.78 (#24), 2
4. Ai Miyazato, 2.79 (#38), 71.60 (#51), 14
5. Brittany Lang, 2.18 (#49), 71.14 (#34), 0
6. Teresa Lu, 1.90 (#59), 71.19 (#35), 0
7. Minea Blomqvist, 1.79 (#63), 71.80 (#65), 5
8. Sun Young Yoo, 1.78 (#65), 71.40 (#43), 0
9. Meaghan Francella, 1.34 (#83), 73.69 (#177), 0
10. H.J. Choi, 1.30 (#86), 72.33 (#85), 1
11. Allison Fouch, 1.26 (#88), 72.73 (#103), 0
12. Linda Wessberg, 1.19 (#91), 72.97 (#118), 6
13. Julieta Granada, 1.10 (#100), 73.42 (#152), 0
14. Kim Hall, .85 (#123), 73.54 (#162), 0
15. Kyeong Bae, .78 (#129), 73.35 (#148), 3
16. Katie Futcher, .73 (#139), 71.89 (#67), 0
17. Karin Sjodin, .67 (#153), 73.37 (#150), 1
18. Louise Stahle, .55 (#172), 72.73 (#106), 0
19. Danielle Downey, .53 (#185), 73.69 (#176), 0
20. Sarah Jane Kenyon, .42 (#219), 73.21 (#134), 0
21. Nina Reis, .31 (#253), 73.86 (#187), 5
22. Veronica Zorzi, .30 (#258), 74.55 (#246), 2
23. Na Ri Kim, .28 (#267), 73.57 (#165), 0
24. Virada Nirapathpongporn, .28 (#269), 74.32 (#231), 0
25. Ashley Johnston, .05 (#490), n.r. [not in database], 0

So there you have it. I'll be checking back in on these rankings on the following schedule:

February: Junior Mints
March: Super Sophs
April: both
May: Junior Mints
June: Super Sophs
July: Junior Mints
August: Super Sophs
September: both
November: Super Sophs (post-ADT)
December: all the Young Guns, including the '08 rookies (post-Q School)

Questions for the LPGA's Home Stretch

A few not-so-idle questions as the LPGA enters its home stretch.

With Lorena Ochoa sitting out the Asian Swing, Paula Creamer is the 1st but won't be the only player to get within $1M of her on the money list before the ADT Championship. (Assuming Lorena doesn't win her invitational in mid-November, Ya Ni Tseng and Annika Sorenstam should, too.) So does any one of these players--or others who could end up pulling ahead of her on the money list with a win in the ADT--have a legitimate shot at wresting Player of the Year honors from her? (Yes, I know she has almost double the points of her nearest challengers....)

Ya Ni Tseng has a 301-point lead on Na Yeon Choi in the Rookie of the Year race. But what if Choi wins twice and Tseng continues to find that 2nd win elusive? Who should be ROY? Would your answer change if Tseng stayed #2 in the Rolex Rankings and Choi only moved up, say, to #12 after her wins?

Helen Alfredsson is now only a couple of hundred thousand dollars and 1 win behind Annika Sorenstam. Who has a better case for Comeback Player of the Year?

Who is the best player without a win on the LPGA? Angela Park? Na Yeon Choi? Song-Hee Kim? Jane Park? Shanshan Feng? Hee Young Park? Ai Miyazato? Brittany Lang? Sun Young Yoo?

How many millionaires will the LPGA produce this season? 11? 15?

How much of a fight will the top KLPGA and JLPGA players put up against the LPGA's finest over the next two weeks?

Consider this an open-ish thread!

[Update 1 (10/28/08, 1:11 pm:) Here's one possible hint of an answer to my last question: Annika kicked Paula's, Ai-chan's, and Momo-chan's butts in the skins game they just played in Japan.]

Who Wants to Read a 9,000-Word Treatise Online?

Methinks Andrew Sullivan is laying a clever trap for Michael Berube in the November 2008 issue of The Atlantic:

The blog remained a superficial medium, of course. By superficial, I mean simply that blogging rewards brevity and immediacy. No one wants to read a 9,000-word treatise online. On the Web, one-sentence links are as legitimate as thousand-word diatribes--in fact, they are often valued more. (109)

A little later in his essay, Sullivan uses the word treatise in contrasting Aristotle unfavorably to Plato, Aquinas to Pascal--and he would have if he could have when comparing classical music to jazz at the end. But that last example of his actually goes in the opposite direction, an acknowledgment that treatises have their purposes and their places. Just not on blogs.

So here's a Mostly Harmless challenge for 2009: who can prove Sullivan wrong?

Grand China Air Sunday: Can Helen Alfredsson Do It?

It's not that 1st-round leader Laura Diaz (35) or 2nd-round leader Karen Stupples (36) played the front 9 all that badly in the final round of the Grand China Air LPGA event on Hainan Island today. It's just that Helen Alfredsson opened with a 31 to get to -10 and then kept her momentum going on the back with birdies on the 10th and 14th while Stupples bogeyed the 11th and 12th and birdied the 13th to fall to -9 and Diaz birdied the 11th and 12th and parred the 13th to climb to -11. Ya Ni Tseng, meanwhile, birdied the 13th and parred the 14th and 15th to join Stupples and Christina Kim, whose birdies came on the 10th, 11th, and 14th, in a tie for 3rd. So it's a 5-player race to the finish as Alfredsson plays the par-5 17th that's given up its share of birdies but also inflicted a good number of double bogeys on the field.

More soon!

[Update 1 (3:00 am): Ouch! Diaz just entered the stretch of holes that she played -3 on Friday and +4 on Saturday by bogeying the par-4 14th. And Kim's bogey on the par-4 15th gives her 2 in her last 3 holes, the last things she needs, particularly when Alfredsson birdied the 17th to get to -13. Tseng made her 3rd straight par to remain stalled at -9 with 2 holes left to play. She's going to have to take some risks to be a factor now.]

[Update 2 (3:08 am): Kim is toast after her double on the par-3 16th drops her to -6, only 1 shot ahead of leader in the clubhouse Shanshan Feng (68).]

[Update 3 (3:30 am): Yeesh, go to the JLPGA scoreboard to see if it's finally unfrozen and you sure miss a lot! Kim's travails continued as she bogeyed the 17th. And even though Alfredsson joined her with a bogey on the par-4 18th, she still holds onto her 3-shot lead, as Diaz bogeyed the 15th and parred the 16th while Tseng parred the 17th. Young Kim birdied 2 of her last 3 holes for a 71 that snuck her past Feng and into her 1st top 5 finish since the Stanford International. Despite bogeying 3 of her last 4 holes, Junior Mint Allison Fouch notched a solo 8th, 1 stroke ahead of a host of golfers who either played their way (Pettersen 68, Lang 71, Wright 71, Castrale 72) or stumbled their way (Oh 74, Seon Hwa Lee 74) into a top 10. Unless, that is, both Candie Kung (+3 today) and Na Yeon Choi (+2) can birdie the 18th to join Fouch at -4. That lone bogey down the stretch for Hong-Mei Yang could well be the only thing keeping her out of the top 10; still, her closing 68 gives her the best finish (-2, T17 with Annika Sorenstam) among the non-LPGAers in the field.]

[Update 4 (3:33 am): Well, Tseng parred out for a 68 and a -9 finish, which could be good enough for yet another runner-up in her rookie season if Laura Diaz can't mount a last charge over her last 2 holes. And by parring the final hole, Tseng's rival Na Yeon Choi assured herself yet another top 10.]

[Update 5 (3:42 am): Ugh, uncharacteristically bad play by the young guns down the stretch today. Seon Hwa Lee finished with 3 straight bogeys, Na Yeon Choi didn't make a birdie after the 3rd hole and closed with a 38, and Ji Young Oh responded to her 2-birdies-in-her-1st-3-holes start with 4 bogeys and no birdies over her final 15 holes. Louise Friberg dropped out of the top 10 entirely--and almost out of the top 20--with her birdie-less +5 round with 1 hole to play. But I guarantee they don't feel as bad as Laura Diaz, who just made her 3rd bogey in the stretch that killed her round yesterday, or Karen Stupples, who had it to -12 through the 4th today, but has since dropped 4 strokes to par and is tied with Diaz at -8 as they limp onto the 18th hole.]

[Update 6 (3:48 am): Speaking of ugh and ouch, Christina Kim bogeyed the 18th as well to give Allison Fouch quite a gift--a mutual T7. Candie Kung hung on for a 75 that allowed her--barely--to stay in the top 10. Congratulations to Helen Alfredsson for her 2nd win in 2008! All that's left is for Diaz, Stupples, and Friberg to get off the course.]

[Update 7 (4:02 am): Nice Beth Baldry piece on Vicky Hurst and Mindy Kim. But, Beth, Mindy is going to be overshadowed by many more players than Michelle Wie, Stacy Lewis, and Hurst, if all goes as expected at Q-School--namely, Sun-Ju Ahn, Shiho Oyama, Miki Saiki, Martina Eberl, Melissa Reid, Alison Walshe, Anna Nordqvist, Mika Miyazato, Dewi Claire Schreefel, Tania Elosegui, and Beatriz Recari will all have more buzz than Mindy in the Class of 2009. Speaking of buzzkills, Stupples bogeyed 18 for a 75 that dropped her to a solo 4th behind Diaz, who managed to par it. Friberg's score is yet to appear--ominous.]

[Update 8 (4:04 am): Sorry, Louise, the JLPGA scoreboard just updated--and guess who won? LPGA-bound Shiho Oyama got her 1st win of 2008!]

[Update 9 (9:56 am): Here's Hound Dog and The Florida Masochist!]

[Update 10 (12:23 pm): Whoops, linked to Hound Dog's epilogue before his final-round recap!]

[Update 11 (3:26 pm): The interviews on LPGA.com are wonderful!]

Masters Golf Club Sunday: Can Shiho Oyama Do It?

Ah-Reum Hwang is having the round of her career today in the JLPGA's Masters Golf Club event. Despite going double bogey-bogey as she made the turn, she has once again caught Shiho Oyama at -5, thanks to birdies on the 11th, 13th, and 14th holes that return her to the pace she set when she birdied 4 of her 1st 8 holes. Oyama, meanwhile, has been the model of steadiness--surprising for someone whose 2nd-round score was 10 strokes worse than her 1st--getting to -5 with a birdie on the par-5 1st hole and reeling off 13 straight pars to pull ahead of 2nd-round leader Ji-Hee Lee, the victim of 5 bogeys in her 1st 10 holes who has recently righted her ship with birdies on the 12th and 14th to join Eun-A Lim (68) and Miki Saiki (-2 through 15) at -3.

If Hwang can pull off the win, it would be huge for the 21-year-old, who's won twice on the JLPGA's Step-Up Tour but who hasn't finished better than T15 in the big leagues in 2008. Oyama, meanwhile, is looking for her 11th career JLPGA victory. The 2006 money list leader, who won 5 times that season to break Yuri Fudoh's stranglehold on the JLPGA, could use a confidence boost heading into the LPGA's Q-School, as could Saiki, who is also winless in 2008.

More soon!

[Update 1 (3:20 am): Lots of could-have-beens for those fighting for top 10s. Nikki Campbell bogeyed the 16th and 17th to drop back to a 71 and -1 for the tournament. Ji-Woo Lee also got it to -3 before a bogey on the 16th dropped her 3 shots off the pace with 2 to play, much like Yuki Sakurai and Mi-Jeong Jeon, whose bogeys came on the 9th and 14th, respectively. They, at least, have 3 holes left to get themselves into the mix. Sakura Yokomine has 4 left, but she's only -1 after going birdie-less with 2 bogeys in the mix for added frustration. Meanwhile, a nice charge by Yuri Fudoh--a bogey-free 34 on the back that earned her a 69--could yet net her a top 10, as Maiko Wakabayashi, Shinobu Moromizato, and Rui Kitada are struggling on the back and Bo-Bae Song has only recently righted her ship with a birdie on the par-5 12th that got her back to this big group T11 at E for the tournament. Momoko Ueda's 71 will not be good enough to get her a top 10, but unless Paula Creamer can birdie at least 1 of her last 2 holes, it'll tie her with the LPGA's #2 player at +1 (T16 thus far).]

[Update 2 (4:26 am): Oyama did it! After Hwang bogeyed 16 and 17, Oyama birdied 16 and 18 for what turned out to be a comfortable 4-shot victory.

Here are the final results for the top 10 and notables:

1st/-7 Shiho Oyama (65-75-69)
T2/-3 Eun-A Lim (74-71-68), Ah-Reum Hwang (72-71-70)
T4/-2 Yuki Sakurai (72-71-71), Sakura Yokomine (70-71-73), Ji-Hee Lee (70-69-75)
T7/-1 Ji-Woo Lee (74-70-71), Nikki Campbell (70-74-71), Miki Saiki (71-72-72), Mi-Jeong Jeon (70-72-73)

Huge finish for Sakurai, despite the bogey on 17 that kept it from being even better--wonder if this means she'll be joining her under-22 cohort on the JLPGA next season. Ji-Hee Lee, by the way, got it to -4 with 2 holes to go, but bogeyed out to join her and Yokomine in 4th.

T11/E Yuri Fudoh (73-74-69), Maiko Wakabayashi (73-71-72), Bo-Bae Song (70-73-73)
T14/+1 Momoko Ueda (76-70-71), Paula Creamer (73-71-73), Shinobu Moromizato (73-71-73), Rui Kitada (70-71-76)
18th/+2 Akiko Fukushima (72-72-74)
T19/+3 Mayu Hattori (76-72-71), Esther Lee (77-69-73), Tamie Durdin (74-71-74)
T22/+4 Yuko Mitsuka (75-72-73), Mie Nakata (74-73-73), Midori Yoneyama (72-73-75)
T26/+5 Yuki Ichinose (75-75-71), Miho Koga (75-73-73)
T30/+6 Kumiko Kaneda (75-70-77)
T36/+7 Hiromi Mogi (76-71-76)
T42/+8 Kaori Higo (73-74-77)
T49/+9 Hiroko Yamaguchi (72-77-76)
T54/+11 Yun-Jye Wei (73-75-79)
57th/+12 Ritsuko Ryu (71-79-78)

Too bad for Kaneda--maybe it's time for her to turn pro and spend a few years on the JLPGA.]

[Update 3 (4:44 am): Here's the new money list:

1. Ji-Hee Lee ￥112.00M
2. Akiko Fukushima ￥87.70M
3. Miho Koga ￥82.03M
4. Sakura Yokomine ￥80.54M
5. Mi-Jeong Jeon ￥77.34M
6. Yuri Fudoh ￥75.37M
7. Shiho Oyama ￥70.31M
8. Hyun-Ju Shin ￥64.20M
9. Yuko Mitsuka ￥64.12M
10. Erina Hara ￥60.82M
11. Eun-A Lim ￥59.40M
12. Ayako Uehara ￥58.92M
13. Shinobu Moromizato ￥53.40M
14. Bo-Bae Song ￥51.55M
15. Hiromi Mogi ￥49.37M
16. Akane Iijima ￥48.52M
17. Esther Lee ￥45.73M
18. Momoko Ueda ￥45.58M
19. Miki Saiki ￥43.72M
20. Maiko Wakabayashi ￥42.87M
21. Hiroko Yamaguchi ￥41.35M
22. Ji-Woo Lee ￥41.06M
23. Chie Arimura ￥40.90M
24. Yukari Baba ￥40.76M
25. Midori Yoneyama ￥34.34M
26. Rui Kitada ￥32.97M
27. Saiki Fujita ￥29.27M
28. Mayu Hattori ￥29.09M
29. Nikki Campbell ￥25.52M
30. Mie Nakata ￥24.75M

Ji-Yai Shin is now #32, Na Zhang #39, and Ai Miyazato #45.]

Grand China Air Saturday: Karen Stupples Leapfrogs Diaz

Hound Dog and LPGA.com have the 2nd round of the Grand China Air LPGA event this week covered; just as on the JLPGA, the 1st-round leader stalled and a hot player passed her. This time it was Karen Stupples who overcame 3 bogeys and 2 rain delays on her way to her 2nd straight 67. When Laura Diaz bogeyed 4 of her last 5 holes, Stupples got herself a 2-shot lead heading into the final round.

But with 14 players within 5 shots of the lead--including Ya Ni Tseng, who tied Stupples for the low round of the day despite making her 2nd double bogey of the tournament today--the lead moms will need their A-games tomorrow to stay ahead of a tough chase pack. Only 3 players--Stupples, Louise Friberg, and Candie Kung--have broken 70 twice on a course that Suzann Pettersen thought would give up a lot of low scores. True, 16 players broke 70 today, but I was disappointed that Seon Hwa Lee (73), Jane Park (70), Song-Hee Kim (71), Shanshan Feng (73), Mi Hyun Kim (70), Hee-Won Han (71), Eun-Hee Ji (71), In-Kyung Kim (75), Stacy Prammanasudh (73), and Morgan Pressel (73) were not among them. Hopefully conditions will be kinder tomorrow and allow for a nice closing shoot-out!

Masters Golf Club Saturday: Ji-Hee Lee Leapfrogs Oyama

After a bogey-free opening round in the Masters Golf Club JLPGA event this week, Shiho Oyama stumbled to a birdie-less 75 today, which opened the door for the tour's leading money-winner in 2008, Ji-Hee Lee, to make up 6 shots on her despite a walk-off bogey that dropped Lee back to -5 for the tournament. But with 15 golfers within 5 shots of the leader--including such big names as Paula Creamer, Akiko Fukushima, and Shinobu Moromizato (E), Bo-Bae Song and Miki Saiki (-1), Mi-Jeong Jeon (-2), and Sakura Yokomine (-3)--tomorrow's round is shaping up to be a classic free-for-all.

1st/-5 Lee (70-69)
2nd/-4 Oyama (65-75)
T3/-3 Yokomine (70-71), Rui Kitada (70-71)
5th/-2 Jeon (70-72)
T6/-1 Yuki Sakurai (72-71), Ah-Reum Hwang (72-71), Saiki (71-72), Song (70-73)
T10/E Ji-Woo Lee (74-70), Creamer (73-71), Moromizato (73-71), Maiko Wakabayashi (73-71), Yuko Saitoh (73-71), Fukushima (72-72), Nikki Campbell (70-74)

Yokomine would be tied for the lead were it not for her back-to-back walk-off bogeys; Song's closing 39 dropped her from 1 back to 4 back; Sakurai's closing 38 dropped her from 2 back to 4 back.

Some nice comebacks there among the players fighting for top 20s:

T17/+1 Kumiko Kaneda (75-70), Eun-A Lim (74-71), Tamie Durdin (74-71), Midori Yoneyama (72-73)
T22/+2 Esther Lee (77-69), Momoko Ueda (76-70)
T25/+3 Hiromi Mogi (76-71), Yuko Mitsuka (75-72), Mie Nakata (74-73), Yuri Fudoh (73-74), Kaori Higo (73-74)
T35/+4 Mayu Hattori (76-72), Miho Koga (75-73), Yun-Jye Wei (73-75)
T41/+5 Hiroko Yamaguchi (72-77)
T49/+6 Yuki Ichinose (75-75), Ritsuko Ryu (71-79)

But Durdin's round could have been a lot better, as she closed with 3 straight bogeys and 4 in her last 5 holes. And Ueda went 33-37 for a disappointing 70.

Wow, a lot of good players missed the cut:

T58/+7 Erina Hara (77-74), Saiki Fujita (76-75)
T69/+8 Yukari Baba (80-72), Ayako Uehara (77-75)
T84/+10 Akane Iijima (77-77)
T95/+12 Chie Arimura (79-77), Riko Higashio (79-77)

Hara and Fujita both shot birdie-less 39s on the back, while Baba's comeback was stalled by bogeys on the 10th and 18th holes.

So it comes down to this: Ji-Hee Lee has a golden opportunity to extend her lead on the JLPGA money list with her 3rd win of the season. But Shiho Oyama and Sakura Yokomine have a great chance to notch their 1st wins in 2008. And if this trio falters, any number of players could leapfrog past them....

Brother, Can You Spare 15 Minutes?

To help out some NYU researchers by filling out their survey? And post the link (with comments closed) on your blog? Please don't do anything to bias the survey results...thanks!

Masters Golf Club Friday: Shiho Oyama Makes 7 Birdies, Takes 5-Shot Lead

Shiho Oyama shot a bogey-free 65 in the Masters Golf Club event today to open up a 5-shot lead on some of the JLPGA's top players, including Ji-Hee Lee, Sakura Yokomine, and Mi-Jeong Jeon. With other big names struggling--Paula Creamer fell 1 shot behind Akiko Fukushima with an opening 73, but tied Yuri Fudoh and Shinobu Moromizato and beat Miho Koga (75), Yuko Mitsuka (75), Momoko Ueda (76), Erina Hara (77), and Ayako Uehara (77)--this is a huge opportunity for the winless Oyama to build up even more momentum prior to LPGA Q-School in December.

Here are the top 10 and notables from the 1st round:

1st/-7 Oyama (65)
T2/-2 Lee, Yokomine, Jeon, Bo-Bae Song, Rui Kitada, Nikki Campbell (70)
T8/-1 Miki Saiki, Ritsuko Ryu, Chieko Amanuma (71)

Jeon opened with a bogey-free 32, but closed with a birdie-less 38; Saiki was -3 through her 1st 8 holes and +2 the rest of the way; Ryu got a hole in 1 on the 156-yard par-3 14th but still only shot a 34 on the back; everyone else had kind of "blah" rounds.

T11/E Fukushima, Midori Yoneyama, Hiroko Yamaguchi, Yuki Sakurai (72)
T22/+1 Creamer, Fudoh, Moromizato, Maiko Wakabayashi, Yun-Jye Wei, Kaori Higo (73)
T30/+2 Eun-A Lim, Ji-Woo Lee, Mie Nakata, Tamie Durdin (74)
T45/+3 Koga, Mitsuka, Yuki Ichinose, Kumiko Kaneda (75)

Creamer and Fudoh each had 3 birdies but made 4 bogeys; Durdin was +4 through 10 holes but came back with 2 birdies in her last 6; amateur Kaneda opened with a birdie-less 39, then offset her 3 birdies on the back with 3 bogeys, including back-to-back ones to close out her round; the rest had seriously "blah" rounds.

But at least they're 1 great round away from contending on Sunday. Too many well-known players will need one just to make the cut:

T53/+4 Ueda, Hiromi Mogi, Saiki Fujita, Mayu Hattori (76)
T67/+5 Hara, Uehara, Akane Iijima, Esther Lee (77)
T87/+9 Chie Arimura, Riko Higashio (79)
T98/+8 Yukari Baba (80)

Ueda and Hattori opened with birdie-less 40s, while Fujita closed with one; Hara had more double bogeys (1) than birdies (0); Lee finished bogey-double. A lot of ugly golf from some very good players.

So heading into the weekend, the JLPGA's Q-School-bound players are in good shape, while everyone else will need to do something special to put pressure on Oyama.

Grand China Air Friday: Laura Diaz Makes 10 Birdies, Takes 3-Shot Lead

Laura Diaz got off to a good start in the Grand China Air LPGA event on Hainan Island today, making 4 birdies and a bogey for an opening 33, but she had an even better finish. With only 3 pars on the back, she shot a bogey-free 30, capped off by back-to-back birdies, to get to -9. Suzann Pettersen, meanwhile, who predicted lots of low scores this week, also got off to a good start with birdies on 2 of her 1st 3 holes, but only sits at E with 1 hole left to play. But that's good enough for T24 right now, as scoring hasn't been quite as low as she expected. Sure, her playing partner Seon Hwa Lee has made 3 birdies and no bogeys each side thus far in her round, fellow Junior Mint H.J. Choi and Karen Stupples shot bogey-free 67s, and Ji Young Oh and Candie Kung posted 68s (the latter with a double bogey on the back and the former with 2 bogeys on the front), but so far only the Ladies Asian Tour's Tao-Li Yang has broken 70.

Sure, In-Kyung Kim and Christina Kim headline the 7 players who shot 70s thus far, while Jeong Jang and Juli Inkster are the biggest names among the 5 who have posted -1, but about half the field finished over par. More on them next!

[Update 1 (4:06 am): Well, first I should report that in the time it took to write my JLPGA story (Q-School bound Shiho Oyama shot a 65 to take a 5-shot lead into the weekend), Seon Hwa Lee failed to match Diaz's closing birdies, so sits 3 back at -6. And Shanshan Feng bogeyed the 18th to fail to break 70. So unless Shi Hyun Ahn can birdie the 18th, only 8 players broke 70 today.]

[Update 2 (4:10 am): So who struggled today? Only the likes of Hee-Won Han, Brittany Lang, Katherine Hull, and Jane Park at +1 (T33), Cristie Kerr, Se Ri Pak, Mi Hyun Kim, Eun-Hee Ji, Laura Davies, and Pat Hurst at +2 (T38), Morgan Pressel and Angela Park at +3 (T47), and Inbee Park and Sun Young Yoo at +5 (77).]

[Update 3 (4:14 am): That leaves Annika Sorenstam, Ya Ni Tseng, Suzann Pettersen, Song-Hee Kim, Hee Young Park, and Hong-Mei Yang, among others, holding the fort at E (T24). Na Yeon Choi joined the big group at -1 (T18), while Ahn joined the even larger group at -2 (T9). Not very impressive scoring. Time for a quick check to see where the big numbers were coming.]

[Update 4 (4:40 am): Wow, Jimin Kang made 5 birdies in a row on the front but a double-bogey on the par-5 17th dropped her back to -2. Both Kims at -2 shot bogey-free 33s on the back. Among those who finished under par, the 2nd, 8th-10th, and 18th were the most troublesome holes. When you look at the course map, you can see why: the 2nd is a longish par 4 with bunkers that can grab an errant tee or approach shot; the 8th is a long par 3 with a pair of bunkers guarding the front; the long par-4 9th puts a lot of pressure on your driver, with bunkers on the right and water on the left, as well as on your approach shot, with the water continuing all the way up to the green; the long par-4 10th has truble on the left off the tee that seems fairly easy to avoid, but lots of bunkers around the green; and the 18th is a long par 4 with a creek running through it, much like the 17th, which caused a good number of doubles among those lower down the leaderboard. (I'm surprised scoring was so comparatively good on the 5th and 16th, a pair of long par 3s with a water carries, as well as the par-5 3rd and par-4 6th, each of which have water running down the entire hole.)

The pattern continued among those right around par; Ya Ni Tseng bounced back with 4 birdies in her last 6 holes after doubling the 9th, for instance. Se Ri Pak also doubled the 9th, but parred every other hole. Katherine Hull, in turn, bogeyed the 1st and then made 17 pars in a row.

Wonder what happened to Sun Young Yoo...she shot a 42 on the back! Maybe trying to make Inbee Park and Carin Koch feel good? They got their 42s on the front!]

[Update 5 (4:50 am): Just noticed that Annika, Ya Ni Tseng, Shanshan Feng, and Hong-Mei Yang got added to the pre-tournament interviews. Don't expect to see notes and interviews up that quickly for the 1st round.]

[Update 6 (10:21 am): Here's Hound Dog and LPGA.com.]

Women's World Cup of Golf Moving

Not from South Africa, its home for the past 3 years, but to the end of the 2009 schedule, according to Grant Winter, who seems to be cribbing from the event's own press release.

Grand China Air Pairings

As a rule, I hate guaranteed money events. To me, it's not a real tournament unless there's a cut. But I'm willing to make an exception over the next 3 weeks during the LPGA's Asian Swing. Take a look at the 1st-round pairings for the Grand China Air kickoff event and you'll see why. Here are some of my favorite threesomes:

Start Time: 8:57 AM
Helen Alfredsson
Inbee Park
Mi Hyun Kim

Start Time: 9:08 AM
Hong Mei Yang
Sophie Gustafson
Carin Koch

Start Time: 9:52 AM
Hee Young Park
Xiaolong Zhong
Brittany Lang

Start Time: 10:03 AM
Jane Park
Teresa Lu
Karen Stupples

Start Time: 10:19 AM
Juli Inkster
Laura Diaz
Leta Lindley

Start Time: 10:30 AM
Jeong Jang
Katherine Hull
Stacy Prammanasudh

Start Time: 10:41 AM
Morgan Pressel
Tao-Li Yang
Se Ri Pak

Start Time: 10:52 AM
Seon Hwa Lee
Suzann Pettersen
Ya Ni Tseng

Start Time: 11:03 AM
Annika Sorenstam
Shanshan Feng
Cristie Kerr

In addition, perhaps the 2 biggest surprise winners in 2008, Louise Friberg and Ji Young Oh, are paired together at 8:24 am, while Eun-Hee Ji and In-Kyung Kim, another pair of 1st-time winners this season, go off 2 groups behind them at 8:46 am. Junior Mint Allison Fouch gets to play with Christina Kim at 9:19 am, while Song-Hee Kim (7:40 am) and Na Yeon Choi (11:14 am) have the dubious honor of going off in the 1st and next-to-last pairings.

As we saw at the Samsung, the no-cut format can be cruel to slumping players. I hope in the coming years the tournament organizers decide to imitate the Evian Masters in making their entrance criteria somewhat less exclusive in exchange for the drama of a cut. On the other hand, given the fledgling status of professional golf in China, even a modest cut of, say, 90 to 70 would most likely result in the local Chinese talent only getting to play 36 holes. So until more Chinese golfers make it to the LPGA, JLPGA, KLPGA, and LET and show they can keep their cards, I wouldn't expect to see a cut here.

Grand China Air Preview/Predictions

The field at the Grand China Air LPGA event is missing some very big names, to be sure: Lorena Ochoa, Paula Creamer, Angela Stanford, Karrie Webb, Jee Young Lee, Maria Hjorth, Ai Miyazato, Momoko Ueda, and Natalie Gulbis (who actually could have gone because so many from the top 51 on the money list bowed out). Ochoa is skipping the Asian Swing entirely, Gulbis is hanging with The Donald or something, while Creamer and Ueda are joining Ji-Yai Shin as visitors on the JLPGA this week (although Eric at Seoul Sisters.com puts Shin in the KLPGA's final major). By the way, next week Creamer and Gulbis will hook up with the LPGA in the Korea Championship; the majority of the field hasn't yet been announced. The following week Miyazato and Ueda will be rejoining the tour in the Mizuno Championship. Asia is definitely going to be hopping the next few weeks!

So when you look at who will be playing on Hainan Island this week, you can't help but be struck at how some of the hottest players on the LPGA right now--Cristie Kerr, Ya Ni Tseng, In-Kyung Kim, Song-Hee Kim, Katherine Hull, Suzann Pettersen, Shanshan Feng, Sun Young Yoo, Morgan Pressel, and Laura Diaz--will be facing off. From the numbers and pictures I've seen, the course looks long and flat, with a good number of creeks and ponds and the occasional palm tree. As it's near the coast, it probably gets pretty windy. Hound Dog has found out more. Very high risk/reward on a good number of holes, especially the par 3s and some of the par 5s.

So who are my Pakpicker picks this week?

1. Kim Song-Hee
2. Hull
3. Kerr
4. Pettersen
5. Tseng
6. Lang
7. Choi Na Yeon
8. Feng
9. Yoo
10. Lee Seon Hwa
11. Kim In-Kyung
12. Pressel

Alts: Diaz, Sorenstam, Han

As Morgan Pressel's unexpected win last week shows, though, there's no predicting who's going to get hot on the weekend and beat out the players you'd expect to do the best in a given event. The fact that the next few events are only 54 holes adds even mre spice to the mix. Frankly, the way this season has been going for me, I'll be happy if I don't get shut out.

[Update 1 (1:18 pm): In pre-tournament interviews, Pressel confirms that the course can get windy and Pettersen licks her lips at the soft greens and considers the thin lines that separate good, great, and fantastic seasons.]

[Update 2 (4:18 pm): Annika has photos!]

[Update 3 (4:22 pm): And here's a link that takes you to Louise Friberg's photos. In her most recent diary entry, she suggests the course can be had:

I just got done with the practice round and it is the type of course that what you see is what you get. The fairways are wide and I think the scores this week could be very low. The tough part will be the grain on the greens. They are extremely grainy and that must be taken quite a bit into account around the greens.

Wonder if the fairways are that wide b/c the winds get so strong? We'll see!]

[Update 4 (10/23/08, 2:18 am): Ah, the field for the Korea Championship has been announced now. Too bad Tseng, Ueda, and Miyazato are skipping it!]

[Update 5 (2:24 am): Ji-Yai Shin is not listed in the pairings for the JLPGA event this week, but Paula Creamer is playing with Yuri Fudoh and Miho Koga! Amateur Kumiko Kaneda is also in the field, by the way.]

[Update 6 (2:30 am): Golf Channel gives the event about a minute....]

LPGA Break Points, 2000-2008

Between the end of the LPGA's regular season this past weekend and their new eligibility criteria for next season, I've been curious whether we can quantify an increase in competition on tour and look ahead to what the 2009 rookies will need to shoot for. Drawing on the history of total annual purses and the official money lists this decade, here are some stats to consider.

2000 ($38.5M, 41 events)
1. Karrie Webb $1.88M
2. Annika Sorenstam $1.40M
5. Lorie Kane $929.2K
10. Michele Redman $585.7K
20. Charlotta Sorenstam $421.7K
30. Wendy Doolan $295.3K
50. Maria Hjorth $181.9K (.472% of the total purse)
80. Karen Weiss $105.7K (.275%)
100. Helen Dobson $78.1K
125. Suzanne Strudwick $53.0K

2001 ($43.5M, 40 events)
1. Annika Sorenstam $2.11M
2. Se Ri Pak $1.62M
5. Maria Hjorth $848.2K
10. Catriona Matthew $728.0K
20. Kelly Robbins $483.7K
30. Betsy King $358.8K
50. Kate Golden $223.9K (.515% of the total purse)
80. Kristal Parker $109.7K (.252%)
100. Terry-Jo Myers $64.4K
125. Johanna Head $36.2K

2002 ($38.9M, 35 events)
1. Annika Sorenstam $2.86M
2. Se Ri Pak $1.72M
5. Karrie Webb $1.01M
10. Rosie Jones $722.4K
20. Meg Mallon $463.7K
30. Jennifer Rosales $342.9K
50. Jackie Gallagher-Smith $187.2K (.481% of the total purse)
80. Becky Morgan $102.3K (.263%)
100. Jenny Lidback $61.6K
125. Mitzi Edge $37.3K

2003 ($40.5M, 34 events)
1. Annika Sorenstam $2.03M
2. Se Ri Pak $1.61M
5. Juli Inkster $1.03M
10. Rosie Jones $808.8K
20. Mi Hyun Kim $511.2K
30. Heather Bowie $398.7K
50. Donna Andrews $211.2K (.521% of the total purse)
80. Deb Richard $86.8K (.214%)
100. Terry-Jo Myers $64.5K
125. Mardi Lunn $36.2K

2004 ($42.9M, 33 events)
1. Annika Sorenstam $2.54M
2. Grace Park $1.53M
5. Cristie Kerr $1.19M
10. Jennifer Rosales $693.6K
20. Carin Koch $568.4K
30. Beth Daniel $419.6K
50. Jill McGill $238.2K (.555% of the total purse)
80. Silvia Cavalleri $123.7K (.288%)
100. Beth Bauer $78.6K
125. Danielle Ammaccapane $42.6K

2005 ($45.1M, 33 events)
1. Annika Sorenstam $2.59M
2. Paula Creamer $1.53M
5. Jeong Jang $1.13M
10. Catriona Matthew $776.9K
20. Rosie Jones $615.5K
30. Karine Icher $452.0K
50. Joo Mi Kim $246.3K (.546% of the total purse)
80. Dawn Coe-Jones $102.4K (.227%)
100. Lee Ann Walker-Cooper $64.8K
125. Shani Waugh $37.9K

2006 ($51.9M, 35 events)
1. Lorena Ochoa $2.59M
2. Karrie Webb $2.09K
5. Cristie Kerr $1.58M
10. Pat Hurst $1.13M
20. Jee Young Lee $575.1K
30. Karine Icher $392.8K
50. Nancy Scranton $274.3K (.529% of the total purse)
80. Soo Young Moon $116.5K (.224%)
100. Yu Ping Ling $74.6K
125. Meredith Duncan $42.8K

2007 ($54.8M, 35 events)
1. Lorena Ochoa $4.36M
2. Suzann Pettersen $1.80M
5. Seon Hwa Lee $1.10M
10. Jee Young Lee $966.3K
20. Sarah Lee $713.1K
30. Sophie Gustafson $469.7K
50. Mhairi McKay $265.1K (.484% of the total purse)
80. Young Jo $117.1K (.214%)
100. Johanna Head $74.2K
125. Na Ri Kim $44.0K

2008 ($60.3M, 29 of 34 events played thus far)
1. Lorena Ochoa $2.74M
2. Paula Creamer $1.76M
5. Helen Alfredsson $1.13M
10. Na Yeon Choi $1.02M
20. In-Kyung Kim $680.1K
30. Sophie Gustafson $545.9K
50. Jin Joo Hong $306.5K
80. Wendy Doolan $137.5K (.228% of the total purse)
100. Julieta Granada $101.1K
125. Young-A Yang $68.8K

While Wendy Doolan has made significantly more than her predecessors, her percentage of the total purse remains fairly low compared to the peak years early in the decade. This suggests that the top 50 players are eating up more of the pie and that less is left over for the rest of the membership. It's too soon to tell for this season, as everyone in it has more opportunites to make significantly more money on the Asian Swing, in Lorena's invitational, and perhaps even in the ADT Championship, but Jin Joo Hong is not only the 1st player to break the $300K barrier, but also is on pace to consume close to the peak portions of the LPGA pie for a player at #50 on the money list this decade (.508% already).

I'll update the 2008 figures at the end of the season to get a better sense of how the top 30, 20, 10, and 5 breakpoints have changed over the course of the decade. Anything that jumps out at you about these numbers?

More on the Relative Strength of the JLPGA and KLPGA

So, Ji-Yai Shin beat a star-studded field in the Hite Cup, as Eric reported over at Seoul Sisters.com:

1st/-13 Ji-Yai Shin (68-67-68) [#1 KLPGA money list, 6 wins on tour in '08]
2nd/-11 Soo Yun Kang (71-66-68) [#77 LPGA money list]
3rd/-9 Sun Ju Ahn (67-69-71) [#6 KLPGA money list, Mission Hills medalist]
T4/-6 He Yong Choi (70-69-71) [#5 KLPGA money list; ROY #2 right now]
T8/-3 Soo Young Moon (70-70-73) [ex-LPGA player], Song-Hee Kim (69-71-73) [#11 LPGA money list]

T11/-2 H.J. Choi (71-73-70) [#58 LPGA money list], Mi-Jeong Jeon (73-68-73) [#5 JLPGA money list]
T14/-1 Ha Neul Kim (76-72-67) [#3 KLPGA money list], Ji-Hee Lee (72-72-71) [#1 JLPGA money list]
T17/E Se Ri Pak (71-73-72) [#49 LPGA money list], So Yeon Ryu (72-68-76) [#4 KLPGA money list, ROY #1 so far]
T25/+2 Hee Kyung Seo (75-72-71) [#2 KLPGA money list, 4 wins on tour this season], Hee Young Park (69-78-71) [#36 LPGA money list; LPGA ROY #3 right now]
T37/+4 Joo Mi Kim (76-74-70) [#176 LPGA money list], Ran Hong (72-75-73) [#7 KLPGA money list]
T57/+8 Inbee Park (73-74-77) [#6 LPGA money list]

With LPGA journeywomen Kang and Moon finishing in the top 10, Super Soph Kim finishing just in it and Junior Mint Choi just out of it, living legend Pak barely making the top 20, and U.S. Women's Open champion Park finishing out of the top 50, it suggests what a hair's breadth of talent, judgment, focus, momentum, and health separates the best of the Korean women's golfers any given week.

Ji-Hee Lee and Mi-Jeong Jeon, 2 of the hottest players on the JLPGA, were unable to crack the top 10 on the KLPGA last week. To be fair to them, they tied or beat the #2 and #3 players on the KLPGA in their 1st try on that tour this season, so they most likely would be top 5 material were they to play on the KLPGA full-time. Almost three times as many JLPGA players as KLPGA players have scoring averages of 72 or better in 2008, so the fact that Lee and Jeon have won only twice each on the JLPGA this season compared to 4 and 3 wins for Hee Kyung Seo and Ha Neul Kim on the KLPGA shouldn't be counted against them. Nothing that I've seen recently makes me doubt my earlier claim that the top 10-15 players on the JLPGA would do just fine on the LPGA, while the same could be said of about half that number from the KLPGA.

Still, with Miki Saiki missing the cut and Shiho Oyama getting a 6th place finish at the Fujitsu Ladies but remaining stuck in 16th place on their money list, it's clear the KLPGA has the advantage right now in future LPGA stars Shin and Ahn. As Ai Miyazato (T40 this week at Kapalua) and Momoko Ueda (T25) have barely passed the $400K mark and sit at the 39th and 40th positions on the LPGA money list, it seems fairly unlikely that Oyama or Saiki will be top 30 players in 2009 (assuming they breeze through Q-School in the 1st place). Ueda has 2 wins in 8 tries on the JLPGA this season and remains well ahead of Saiki and just behind Oyama on the JLPGA money list, while Miyazato has 2 top 10s (and 1 runner-up) in 2 starts (both majors) and is just outside the top 40. By comparison, if Shin's winnings from her non-member win on the JLPGA were counted toward her total for this season's money list, she'd be right behind Saiki--in only 4 events played on that tour! I would be shocked if Shin wasn't at least as good as Miyazato and Ueda in 2009 on the LPGA--and disappointed if she didn't maintain or improve her top 10 standing in the Rolex Rankings, where she's currently #7.

At the same time, the fact that Oyama and Saiki could hang with a hot Ahn at Mission Hills despite having lackluster seasns on the JLPGA suggests that there are many JLPGA players who could make a real bid for the kind of top 50 status that I expect from Ahn in her rookie season. Assuming older players who have tried a limited LPGA schedule before like Yuri Fudoh and Akiko Fukushima are not looking to try it again--and that Jeon and Lee have committed to staying in Asia--that leaves Miho Koga, Sakura Yokomine, Hyun-Ju Shin, Yuko Mitsuka, Erina Hara, Ayako Uehara, and Bo-Bae Song as the most likely candidates to follow Oyama and Saiki in following Ai-chan and Momo-chan to the States in the coming years. I'll definitely be rooting for one of them to win the Mizuno Classic in November!

Kapalua Classic Sunday: Pressel Chases Down Pettersen

Congratulations to Morgan Pressel for her comeback victory over Suzann Pettersen in the final round of the 1st playing of the tournament she hosts, the Kapalua Classic. Pettersen made 4 birdies in her last 5 holes on the front to charge out to a big lead, but Pressel made 2 birdies in the last 3 holes of each side to first pull within 2 strokes of Pettersen and then overtake her. Huge win for the struggling Junior Mint!

Busy day today, so I'll let LPGA.com and Jaymes Song take it from here for now.

[Update 1 (10:10 am): Here's Hound Dog and Bill Jempty on Morgan's win.]

[Update 2 (1:07 pm): Here's Hound Dog's reflections on the tournament.]

[Update 3 (1:12 pm): And here's Brent Kelley with a Morgan Pressel photo gallery.]

[Update 4 (1:16 pm): And here's Ryan Ballengee's reaction.]

[Update 5 (11:08 pm): Here's Hound Dog's final Quest for the Card post.]

Fujitsu Ladies Sunday: Fudoh Takes a Run at Mitsuka

Man, if Yuri Fudoh hadn't had that 1 double bogey in Saturday's round, it would have taken her only 13 holes to have made up Yuko Mitsuka's 5-shot lead on her after the second round of the Fujitsu Ladies JLPGA event this weekend. As it is, despite Mitsuka breaking her bogey-free streak at 37 holes and that 2-shot swing when she bogeyed and Fudoh birdied the par-3 13th, Mitsuka still has a 2-shot lead on the JLPGA's own living legend, because she actually had a 7-shot lead heading into the final round. Fudoh, by the way, is playing in the next-to-last pairing, so Mitsuka will at least know what she has to do to notch her 2nd win of the season.

In addition to the race for 1st, there's a neat race for 3rd going on, as well, between 2 players very high on the JLPGA money list. Miho Koga jumped out to a 32 on the front but lost her momentum with 5 straight pars on the back. Still, she has a 1-shot lead on Akiko Fukushima, who gave back her back-to-back birdies with back-to-back bogeys on the front and remains at E on her day, -8 for the tournament, after completing the 13th hole 2 groups behind Koga.

More coming when the JLPGA leaderboard unfreezes!

[Update 1 (8:42 am): Fudoh did it--in a playoff! Unbelievable! More soon....]

[Update 2 (9:04 am): Simply amazing! Fudoh birdied the 374-yard par-4 15th and parred her way in for a 66 that brought her to -13. Mitsuka held onto a 1-shot lead until she made her 3rd bogey of the day on a par 3--this time, the 186-yard 17th hole--and failed to birdie the 18th.]

[Update 3 (9:06 am): Wow! Then it took 5 holes to win the playoff! More later!]

[Update 4 (11:31 am): So here are the final results:

1st/-13 Fudoh (69-68-66) [won in 5-hole playoff]
2nd/-13 Mitsuka (66-64-73)
3rd/-10 Keiko Sasaki (70-70-66)
4th/-9 Miho Koga (69-70-68)
T5/-7 Shinobu Moromizato (70-71-68), Mayu Hattori (70-67-72)
6th/-6 Shiho Oyama (70-69-71)
T8/-5 Saiki Fujita (68-72-71), Akane Iijima (69-70-72), Akiko Fukushima (63-73-75)

Nice job by Sasaki to grab 3rd place from Koga! It was a 32 on the back that did it when Koga parred out after her opening 32. Also a good sign for Oyama that she shot 3 rounds under par. But a painful final-hole triple bogey for Fukushima....

T11/-4 Hiromi Mogi (72-69-71), Nikki Campbell (69-72-71), Kaori Higo (70-70-72)
T15/-3 Erina Hara (68-75-70), Tamie Durdin (70-68-75)
T18/-2 Esther Lee (71-74-69), Sakura Yokomine (67-73-74), Eun-A Lim (71-69-74)
T23/-1 Asako Fujimoto (69-73-73)
T33/+1 Hiroko Yamaguchi (69-74-74)
51st/+9 Ritsuko Ryu (70-75-79)

Nice final-round move by Esther Lee on a day that many bigger names found quite difficult. And congrats to amateur Fujimoto for staying under par for the tournament, despite those 4 bogeys in her final 7 holes.]

[Update 5 (11:41 am): Here's the new money list:

1. Ji-Hee Lee ￥105.85M
2. Akiko Fukushima ￥86.29M
3. Miho Koga ￥81.07M
4. Sakura Yokomine ￥74.39M
5. Mi-Jeong Jeon ￥73.96M
6. Yuri Fudoh ￥73.23M
7. Hyun-Ju Shin ￥64.20M
8. Yuko Mitsuka ￥63.05M
9. Erina Hara ￥60.82M
10. Ayako Uehara ￥58.92M
11. Shinobu Moromizato ￥51.69M
12. Eun-A Lim ￥49.69M
13. Bo-Bae Song ￥49.41M
14. Hiromi Mogi ￥48.65M
15. Akane Iijima ￥48.52M
16. Shiho Oyama ￥48.17M
17. Esther Lee ￥44.54M
18. Momoko Ueda ￥43.87M
19. Chie Arimura ￥40.90M
20. Hiroko Yamaguchi ￥40.86M
21. Yukari Baba ￥40.76M
22. Maiko Wakabayashi ￥40.73M
23. Miki Saiki ￥40.34M
24. Ji-Woo Lee ￥37.68M
25. Midori Yoneyama ￥33.27M
26. Rui Kitada ￥31.26M
27. Saiki Fujita ￥29.27M
28. Mayu Hattori ￥27.90M
29. Ji-Yai Shin ￥24.18M
30. Mie Nakata ￥23.68M

With her 4th win of the season, Yuri Fudoh puts herself right back into the race for the money-list lead! This is going to be a very interesting home stretch on the JLPGA!]

Move Over, Joe the Plumber!

Bobbio at Average Golfer considers the tax implications for Joe PGA-Tour-Winner of an Obama victory. Who said there'll be no Joe this weekend?

Kapalua Classic Saturday: The Junior Mints Strike Back

The LPGA's Super Sophs have done the impossible thus far this season: outshone 1 of the best rookie classes in LPGA history, the Junior Mints. Inbee Park has matched Morgan Pressel's major, and while Eun-Hee Ji, Ji Young Oh, and In-Kyung Kim haven't yet matched Seon Hwa Lee's pair of wins this season (much less her generation-leading 4 career victories), they not only have beaten Jee Young Lee, Ai Miyazato, and Brittany Lang to the LPGA winner's circle (to be fair, Lee does have a non-member win), but also have outplayed Junior Mint winners Julieta Granada and Meaghan Francella by a country mile. And the Super Sophs are beating the Junior Mints 7-3 when it comes to placing their players on the top 30 of the money list thus far this season. If I were to redo my latest Young Guns ranking as of last week, the Super Sophs would have 4 of the top 7 slots in it. With Angela Park, Song-Hee Kim, Jane Park, and Kristy McPherson knocking on the door this season for their 1st career wins, often repeatedly, I would have to admit that the Class of '07's elite talent pool goes deeper than the '06ers'--even in the face of the great seasons of Sun Young Yoo and Teresa Lu.

Let's not call the 3rd round of the Kapalua Classic a comeback just yet, but it's got to give the Junior Mints hope that they have 6 of the 24 players with a legitimate shot to become the 1st champion of this inaugural event, including 4 within 1 shot of the lead. Morgan Pressel's 67, which included 2 birdies and a rare eagle for the short hitter after she had made back-to-back bogeys at the turn, leapfrogged her all the way into a tie for 1st at -5 with classmate Jee Young Lee and 2nd-round co-leader Brittany Lang. 1 shot back is Sun Young Yoo, while Seon Hwa Lee is only 3 behind, despite making 3 bogeys on the back, and Linda Wessberg is still within reach at -1. Sure, these Junior Mints will have to beat the likes of Carin Koch (68, -5, T1), Suzann Pettersen (72, -4, T5), Cristie Kerr (70, -3, T9), Laura Davies (67, -2, T12), Helen Alfredsson (72, -1, T17), and Lorena Ochoa (73, E, T21)--and these are just the biggest names who could win this thing later today. But with no Super Sophs in sight, things are looking up for their class.

In fact, if Ai Miyazato can build on her strong finish that pulled her back to +3 and into a tie for 37th with Ya Ni Tseng, Juli Inkster, Stacy Lewis, and Moira Dunn, the Junior Mints might be able to place 9 players ahead the best of the Super Sophs this week (Eun-Hee Jee and Ji Young Oh are T25 at +1 with Momoko Ueda and Jane Park is T31 at +2 with Annika Sorenstam), as Sarah Jane Kenyon and Allison Fouch are +1 and +2, respectively. Heck, if Karin Sjodin, Katie Futcher, and Virada Nirapathpongporn (all at +4) can pull it off, it'll be an even dozen. How cool would that be for the Junior Mints?

So while I would love to see Ai-chan and Moira go super-low tomorrow and Momo-chan and Seon Hwa post some good numbers early, I'm most interested in seeing how the Junior Mints in the final pairing--Morgan Pressel and Jee Young Lee--handle the conditions and the pressure. Sure, Ai-chan is going 1st off the 10th with Stacy Lewis, so she'll benefit from hopefully quieter morning winds and being able to set the pace of play (for the back, at least), and Moira gets to play with Juli Inkster, but Morgan and Jee Young have had such equal accomplishments over such short careers with such contrasting styles of play that the 1st final round in this event will be quite a treat.

[Update 1 (2:02 am): Here's LPGA.com's notes and interviews.]

[Update 2 (3:33 am): Is it just me, or is Jaymes Song making a run lately at becoming the AP's regular LPGA guy?]

[Update 3 (3:43 am): Now Golf Channel is practicing anti-blonde bias! Their highlight reel focuses on Pressel and Pettersen (Morgan's missed 2-footer on 18 would have been a nice complement to Pettersen's histrionics, btw), but ignores Carin Koch and Brittany Lang. Of course Jee Young Lee is going to need to win to get any face time on Golf Central, but isn't it odd that they couldn't add another 30 seconds to their 2 minutes and change to cover, like, the co-freaking-leaders?! Never mind mention that 16 are within 3 of the lead and 24 within 5 heading into the final round!]

[Update 4 (10/20/08, 6:32 am): Here's Hound Dog!]

Fujitsu Ladies Saturday: Mitsuka Shoots 64, Leads Fukushima by 6

It was a classic anything-you-can-do-I-can-do-better day in the 2nd round of the Fujitsu Ladies event on the JLPGA. While 1st-round leader Akiko Fukushima struggled to a 73 that included 2 birdies in her last 3 holes on a bogey-free front and 3 consecutive bogeys on a birdie-less back, Yuko Mitsuka caught fire, making 6 birdies and an eagle in her 2nd straight bogey-free round, this one a 64 that brought her from 3 shots down to 6 shots up on Fukushima. As nobody else in the field could catch even the former leader, this tournament is officially Mitsuka's to lose. Yuri Fudoh would be her main challenger were it not for the 1 blemish on her scorecard being a double bogey, by the way.

1st/-14 Mitsuka (66-64)
2nd/-8 Fukushima (63-73)
T3/-7 Mayu Hattori (70-67), Fudoh (69-68)
5th/-6 Tamie Durdin (70-68)
T6/-5 Shiho Oyama (70-69), Miho Koga (69-70), Akane Iijima (69-70), Ah-Reum Hwang (69-70), Mikiyo Nishizuka (67-72)

T11/-4 Eun-A Lim (71-69), Kaori Higo (70-70), Saiki Fujita (68-72), Sakura Yokomine (67-73)
T16/-3 Hiromi Mogi (72-69), Shinobu Moromizato (70-71), Nikki Campbell (69-72)
T20/-2 Asako Fujimoto (69-73)
T27/-1 Hiroko Yamaguchi (69-74), Erina Hara (68-75)
T44/+1 Esther Lee (71-74), Ritsuko Ryu (70-75)

In light of how low the top 10 players have been able to go this week, it's a bit shocking how many big names missed the cut:

T52/+2 Mie Nakata (73-73), Rui Yokomine (72-74), Miki Saiki (70-76)
T63/+3 Ji-Woo Lee (73-74)
T67/+4 Yun-Jye Wei (76-72), Rui Kitada (74-74), Yuki Ichinose (73-75)
T73/+6 Chie Arimura (74-76)
T83/+8 Maiko Wakabayashi (76-76)
T86/+10 Midori Yoneyama (77-77)

Will Mitsuka bury the field like she did when she got her 1st win of the season, or will someone put some pressure on her in the final round? Stay tuned!

Kapalua Classic Friday: Look Who's Tied for 11th!!

Well, the 2nd round of the Kapalua Classic is history, but I couldn't let it pass without commemorating Moira Dunn's 69 that brought her into a tie for 11th place with the likes of Lorena Ochoa, Cristie Kerr, and Helen Alfredsson. Her 1st sub-70 round since the Women's British Open and 3rd-best round of the day couldn't have come at a better time: with it, she's practically guaranteed that she'll finish in the top 80 on the official money list and be a full-time player in 2009. Way to go, Moira!

Happy Birthday to Me!

The Full Metal Alchemist's birthday gift to me was the fan-subbed live-action version of the hit anime Nodame Cantabile. (Think Bad News Bears meets classical music. It's one of those funny-but-moving J-dramas I've already written about here.)

Just for you all, here are some opening and closing songs from the anime:



And here's the anime-style ending song from the special episode that takes place after the series we watched ends.



For the series itself, though, I recommend veoh.com--the episodes only get chopped down into 2- or 3-clip sequences.

Oh, and by the way, it's inspired a dance for all the kids out there:

Fujitsu Ladies Friday: Fukushima Shoots 63, Leads Mitsuka by 3

Unlike on the LPGA, scoring was low in the 1st round of the Fujitsu Ladies event on the JLPGA. Akiko Fukushima lead the way with 5 birdies on each side for a blistering 63, followed by Yuko Mitsuka's bogey-free 66 and Sakura Yokomine's bogey-free 67. Even with money-list leader Ji-Hee Lee and #1-ranked Mi-Jeong Jeon playing in Korea in the KLPGA's Hite Cup (Lee shot a 72 and Jeon a 73 to trail Sun Ju Ahn's 67 and Ji-Yai Shin's 68), Hyun-Ju Shin almost definitely injured, and Ayako Uehara, Bo-Bae Song, and Yukari Baba taking the week off, this will not be a walk in the park for Fukushima. Erina Hara bogeyed the par-3 17th hole to shoot a 68, Yuri Fudoh and Miho Koga shot solid 69s, and LPGA-bound Shiho Oyama and Miki Saiki are lurking at -2, along with Shinobu Moromizato.

Here are the top 10 and notables:

1st/-9 Fukushima (63)
2nd/-6 Mitsuka (66)
T3/-5 Yokomine, Mikiyo Nishizuka (67)
T5/-4 Hara, Saiki Fujita, Junko Omote (68)
T8/-3 Fudoh, Koga, Akane Iijima, Hiroko Yamaguchi, Nikki Campbell, Asako Fujimoto, and 3 others (69)

Fujimoto, by the way, is coming off a T14 at the Women's World Amateur event that Sweden just won; she tied Mika Miyazato and helped lead Japan to a 5th-place finish behind Spain, the U.S., and Canada.

T17/-2 Oyama, Saiki, Moromizato, Kaori Higo, Mayu Hattori, Ritsuko Ryu, Tamie Durdin (70)
T28/-1 Eun-A Lim, Esther Lee (71)
T35/E Hiromi Mogi, Rui Yokomine (72)
T49/+1 Mie Nakata, Ji-Woo Lee, Yuki Ichinose (73)

Nice to see the LET's Yokomine playing respectably. Lots of JLPGA young guns in this strata will be looking to at least catch Fujimoto tomorrow.

T64/+2 Chie Arimura, Rui Kitada (74)
T76/+4 Maiko Wakabayashi, Yun-Jye Wei (76)
T82/+5 Midori Yoneyama (77)

Looks like a post-win letdown for Wakabayashi. We'll see how much fight is left in this group looking to make the cut...and how much ground Akiko Fukushima can make up on Ji-Hee Lee on the JLPGA money list this week!

It's Official: ADT Out!

Geoff Shackelford links to the press releases and Beth Ann Baldry's Golfweek piece confirming the rumors from 4 months ago that the ADT Championship's name and timing are up in the air, even if its format remains the same.

Sources tell Golfweek that Bivens hopes to move ADT to the beginning of the schedule in 2010. Players expressed concern about someone starting the season with $1 million thanks to one good round, a huge advantage to start the annual money-title race.

Beginning in 2009, Bivens told players that Stanford International will take ADT’s place at the end of the schedule as a stroke-play tournament, doing away with its current pro-am format. The tour championship will take place in Houston and will consist of a 120-player field. Bivens did not disclose the course.

I wonder if Baldry's sources were clear on whether the current McDonald's LPGA Championship (which the LPGS takes over in 2010) is what's being referred to in that last sentence. While I'm glad to hear the Stanford International will no longer be a pro-am, I'm wondering if Bivens isn't keeping a trump card up her sleeve, namely, my idea that the January kick-off ex-ADT event actually be the culmination of the previous season and its winnings count toward the previous season's winnings....

In any case, Pettersen's comments in her post-round interview on the ADT make a whole lot more sense now:

Q. ADT today announced they will not be extending sponsorship into next year; what is your reaction?

SUZANN PETTERSEN: I mean, ADT has been great the last couple of years, how they have built it up with the two seasons, like first half, second half, and people are trying to get into those spots. You want to be there and kind of play for that million dollar first prize.

I think it's been great and even though ADT won't continue, and we will probably have some other great ending events next year. Hopefully some similar tournaments coming up in a couple of years time. It's just a very tough time these days, and unfortunately they are not continuing. But I think this year, we can prove that it will be another great event, and you never know.

Q. Any scenario where you see Kapalua shifting from here to next season in the ending position?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: I don't know, I'm not the tournament chief or tournament director of this tournament.

Q. Would you see that, as this being the season-ender?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: Personally I think this is a great full-field event. I think a season-ending tournament should be a more limited field like whatever, top in the Money List, like a tournament championship kind of thing. That's my opinion.

So I think that should be--that's why I think ADT is a great tournament. You have to kind of play your way in to get there and it's kind of based on how you've played all year, and I think that's great.

Hopefully the LPGA will come up with another season-ending tournament similar to that.

Here's hoping Bivens listens to Pettersen if she won't listen to me!

[Update 1 (4:00 am): Ron Sirak's sources are a little clearer--and disappointing from my P.O.V.--even if there's good news that the LPGA remains committed to the ADT's format. The bad news for me is that plans look clearer for it to become a kickoff event in 2010 (Sirak floated "February" for Bivens), while the Stanford International could well become the concluding event, after all.

Sources familiar with the situation told Golf World the leading candidate for the new season-ending event was the Stanford International Pro-Am, which made its tour debut last April at the Fairmont Turnberry Isle Resort & Club in Aventura, Fla.

A spokesperson for the tournament said a date for the 2009 event has yet to be determined, opening the way for it to move to the end of next year. Since Stanford Financial is a Houston-based company it would seem likely the tournament would be moved closer to the corporation's headquarters in Texas since it will serve as a high-profile tournament ripe for corporate entertaining....

While Bivens said the desire was to have a season-ending event with a field of more than 100 players--again a description consistent with the Stanford tournament--she said the tour would stick with the current ADT Championship format when it returns under a new name in 2010.

Well, let's wait and see. Bivens mentioned to Sirak she plans to release the 2009 schedule in November, right before the last ADT Championship begins.]

[Update 2 (4:11 am): Join the discussion at Waggle Room!]

[Update 3 (10:36 am): Here's Bill Jempty's critique of a very sketchy AP version of the story.]

[Update 4 (10:38 am): Ryan Ballengee asks the no-longer-million-dollar-to-the-winner question...the one Pettersen raises about the format of the season-ending Stanford Invitational.]

Kapalua Classic Thursday: Who Will Join Pettersen and Lang Under 70?

Scoring is high at the Kapalua Classic. Suzann Pettersen birdied her last 2 holes, the 8th and 9th, to shoot a best-in-the-morning-pairings 68, 1 shot better than Brittany Lang, who earlier had birdied her last hole, the 9th, to become the 1st player in the field to break 70. Candie Kung is the only player in the afternoon pairings off to a blazing start, having made 4 birdies on the back to offset her bogey on the 10th.

But even those who got off to good starts didn't usually finish as strong as Pettersen and Lang. Anna Rawson was -4 with 3 holes to play, but ended up with a 70 after consecutive bogeys on the 7th and 8th holes. Bogeys on the 8th dropped both Cristie Kerr and Laura Diaz to -1. Pat Hurst's came on the 9th, her final hole, to drop her back to -1.

By contrast, many of those who got under par had to come back to do it. Ji Young Oh was +2 after her 1st 5 holes, but made 4 birdies in her last 13 for a 70. Hee-Won Han was +2 after bogeys on the 8th, 10th, and 11th holes, but came back with 3 birdies over her last 6 holes, including on the 17th and 18th, to shoot a 71. Kristy McPherson birdied 2 of her last 5 holes to join Rawson and Oh at -2. Both Jee Young Lee and Johanna Head notched 2 birdies in their last 4 holes to get to -1. Karin Sjodin had a a little bit of everything happen on her way to her 71: 3 birdies in a 6-hole stretch as she made the turn to get to -3, 3 bogeys between the 13th and 17th to drop back to E, and a final-hole birdie to join the big group T7 (for now).

With Juli Inkster opening with a 72 (T22), Maria Hjorth, Stacy Prammanasudh, and Christina Kim with 73s (T45), and Jane Park, Ai Miyazato, and Momoko Ueda with 74s (T67)--not to mention Angela Park shooting an 81 82!--it's clear that conditions for the morning groups were quite challenging. And with Annika Sorenstam +5 through 10, Karrie Webb +2 through 11, Ya Ni Tseng +1 through 11, and Lorena Ochoa and Morgan Pressel E through 10, it's pretty clear they're not getting any better for the afternoon pairings. But there's a lot of golf left to be played. More later!

[Update 1 (9:01 pm): No sooner did I post this than Alena Sharp made a double-eagle on the par-5 1st hole to jump all the way to -2 on her round!]

[Update 2 (10/17/08, 3:24 am): Well, the answer to my title question is...Tracy Hanson! Thanks to a hole in one on the 12th (a 7-iron from 156 yards) and a birdie on the 15th, Hanson was the only player to post a bogey-free sub-70 round in the entire field. Brandie Burton birdied 2 of her last 4 holes to join the T4 logjam at 70, along with Sun Young Yoo, who followed up a roller-coaster 38 on the back with a bogey-free 32 on the front. Junior Mint Katie Futcher was the only other player in the afternoon pairings to go under par, thanks to a 34 on the front and 2 birdies in her last 4 holes on the back that offset 2 bogeys in her last 5; she finds herself T10 for her troubles.

And Sharp? That double eagle was an LPGA.com scoring glitch; she actually parred the 1st hole and joined the NY contingent of Moira Dunn, Meaghan Francella, and Danielle Downey--not to mention Lorena Ochoa--T60 at 74. Speaking of scoring glitches, Momo-chan made 2 birdies on the back before finishing bogey-double bogey, so she actually shot a 73, good enough for T41 with afternoon players Seon Hwa Lee, Eun-Hee Ji, Katherine Hull, Meena Lee, Louise Friberg, and Stacy Lewis, among others. Of the 21 players who shot even-par 72 yesterday (T20), Ya Ni Tseng, Helen Alfreddson, Morgan Pressel, and Carin Koch were afternoon notables.

That means that many big names blew up in Kapalua: Karrie Webb (75), Laura Davies (76), Annika Sorenstam, Lorie Kane, Michelle McGann, and Rachel Hetherington (77), and Liselotte Neumann (79) will be joining Angela Park (81), Minea Blomqvist (79), Sarah Lee, Jimin Kang, Nicole Castrale, and Lindsey Wright (77), Linda Wessberg (76), and Giulia Sergas, Jennifer Rosales, Gloria Park, and Brittany Lincicome (75) in struggling to make the cut.

Turning to the LPGA.com interviews, Pettersen noted that the winds made putting very difficult and that she played with her "feel game" all day:

I don't think I hit one normal golf shot, except for the tee shots. Most approach shots, I'm trying to hit like three-quarter, knock-down shots. Especially if you hit uphill into the grain and into the wind, you have to make sure you take the spin off the ball. That's all you're trying to do is trying to control the trajectory of the ball.

Now there's someone who likes to play in the wind! We'll have to wait and see if she can take advantage of the early struggles of many of her top-ranked peers over the next 54 holes....]

[Update 3 (3:46 am): While we wait for Hound Dog, Jaymes Song's AP story and Golf Channel's highlights will have to do.]

[Update 4 (1:14 pm): Hound Dog helpfully bolds the Bubble Girls' scores in his 1st-round recap.]

Kapalua Classic Pairings

The Thursday pairings for the Kapalua Classic have been released and the Japanese media contingent will not be happy. Some will have to follow Momoko Ueda as she starts on the front in the early-morning prime-time quadrant, while others will have to follow Ai Miyazato when she starts 10 minutes earlier on the 10th tee. If Sony would just step up and commit to being a title sponsor for this event, snafus like this just wouldn't happen!

Seriously, though, there's a clear winner in the prime-time quadrant competition, and that's the early-afternoon 1st-tee pairings:

Start Time: 11:15 AM
Janice Moodie
Julieta Granada
Giulia Sergas

Start Time: 11:25 AM
Wendy Ward
Brandie Burton
Katherine Hull

Start Time: 11:35 AM
Diana D'Alessio
Eun-Hee Ji
Lindsey Wright

Start Time: 11:45 AM
Karrie Webb
Ya Ni Tseng
Helen Alfredsson

Start Time: 11:55 AM
Lorena Ochoa
Morgan Pressel
Annika Sorenstam

Pressel has the best of the losing records in head-to-head competition against Sorenstam this season, while Ochoa is tied with Tseng for the most wins but still has the worst winning record of the 10 players in the entire LPGA who can boast that they have one.

With all due respect to Momo-chan, Ai-chan is in the next-best quadrant:

Start Time: 7:45 AM
Stacy Prammanasudh
Laura Diaz
Maria Hjorth

Start Time: 7:55 AM
Becky Morgan
Jee Young Lee
Shanshan Feng

Start Time: 8:05 AM
Brittany Lang
Pat Hurst
Kristy McPherson

Start Time: 8:15 AM
Angela Stanford
Ai Miyazato
Christina Kim

Start Time: 8:25 AM
Juli Inkster
Cristie Kerr
Suzann Pettersen

In fact, tip to toe, Ai-chan's quadrant may well have the strongest pairings of all.

But at least Momo-chan can claim to be in the headliner pairing in her quadrant:

Start Time: 7:45 AM
Michele Redman
Teresa Lu
Hilary Lunke

Start Time: 7:55 AM
Sung Ah Yim
Jane Park
Christa Johnson

Start Time: 8:05 AM
Sophie Gustafson
Liselotte Neumann
Irene Cho

Start Time: 8:15 AM
Jill McGill
Hee-Won Han
Laura Davies

Start Time: 8:25 AM
Momoko Ueda
Ji Young Oh
Angela Park

It's not like the early-afternoon back-9 quadrant is weak, just that besides the 2006 Rookie of the Year, it has few "name" players compared to the others:

Start Time: 11:15 AM
Allison Fouch
Lorie Kane
Louise Friberg

Start Time: 11:25 AM
Silvia Cavalleri
Carin Koch
Sun Young Yoo

Start Time: 11:35 AM
Minea Blomqvist
Meena Lee
Candie Kung

Start Time: 11:45 AM
Meaghan Francella
Rachel Hetherington
Seon Hwa Lee

Start Time: 11:55 AM
Jimin Kang
Brittany Lincicome
Nicole Castrale

The average talent level in each pairing here is actually quite high and very well-balanced, so don't be surprised if you see a disproportionate share of top 10ers come from this quadrant.

In the not-ready-for-prime-time pairings, Anna Rawson takes over the traditional glamour spot (yup, 1st off the 10th), relegating Stacy Lewis to following Ochoa, Sorenstam, and Pressel off the 1st tee at 12:05 pm. Bubble girls Moira Dunn and Jamie Hullett (12:35 off #1), Jennifer Rosales and Russy Gulyanamitta (12:25 off #10), and Kelli Kuehne and Charlotte Mayorkas (12:05 off #1) go off in pairs in the afternoon, while threesome Wendy Doolan, Mikaela Parmlid, and Karin Sjodin (7:35 off #1) get to enjoy the feeling of mutual-assured-desperation in the morning. At least Danielle Downey (6:55 am off #10) got into the field, so she has a fighting chance to move up 8 spots on the money list and secure top priority status for next season. And thankfully the tournament organizers saw fit not to pair Violeta Retamoza, Aree Song, and Jeanne Cho-Hunicke together, despite their presence at the, uh, foundation of the money list.

Good luck to one and all!

Kapalua Classic Preview/Predictions

Storylines abound at the inaugural Kapalua Classic. We have another chance for a world #1/#1A showdown, as Lorena Ochoa plays her last LPGA tournament until mid-November (she's skipping the Asian Swing) and Annika Sorenstam looks to snag her 2nd Hawaiian win of the season, regain the #2 spot on the LPGA money list, and get closer to breaking the $2M barrier in season winnings for the 6th time in her career and 1st since 2005.

Suzanne Pettersen, Eun-Hee Ji, Angela Stanford, Angela Park, and Katherine Hull look to break or get closer to breaking the million-dollar barrier in season winnings this week. In fact, there's a decent chance for the Super Sophs to become the first LPGA class to place 3 (and maybe even 4) players in the million-dollar club in a season. When Pettersen crosses the million-dollar mark, it'll mark the 2nd straight year that the Class of 2003 has gotten a pair into the club; the Class of 2008 started its own streak last week when Na Yeon Choi joined Ya Ni Tseng.

Ji Young Oh, Shanshan Feng, Nicole Castrale, and Candie Kung look to consolidate their standing in the race to qualify for the ADT Championship (everyone from Hee Won Han on up is a lock to get in), while Ai Miyazato, Kristy McPherson, Jane Park, Giulia Sergas, Sun Young Yoo, and Stacy Prammanasudh look to move into the top 11.

As Hound Dog points out in his latest Quest for the Card update, this week means even more to the players struggling to get into the top 80 or top 100 on the money list and secure their priority status for the 2009 season.

And finally this event means a lot to Maui, Kapalua, and the LPGA.

So who do I think will handle Bay Course and ocean trade winds bound to make it even a tougher challenge?

1. Sorenstam
2. Ochoa
3. Kerr
4. Tseng
5. Stanford
6. Park Angela
7. Han
8. McPherson
9. Ji
10. Pettersen
11. Feng
12. Hull

Alts: Castrale, Lang, Webb

By the way, if you're wondering where some of the top Korean players on tour are this week, they're getting ready for the Hite Open this weekend and should rejoin the tour sometime on the Asian Swing (in Korea, at least!).

[Update 1 (11:18 pm): Here's Hound Dog's preview!]

[Update 2 (11:26 pm): Of course the big story for me is that both Ai-chan and Momo-chan are playing this week on the LPGA. With Moira Dunn fighting to stay in the top 80, this event has just about everything I need!]

Longs Drugs Sunday: Congratulations to In-Kyung Kim!

In-Kyung Kim had slipped from 2nd to 4th in her class (and down to 8th in her LPGA generation) over the course of this season, during which Inbee Park won a major, Eun-Hee Ji and Ji Young Oh got their 1st wins, and Angela Park, Song-Hee Kim, and Jane Park had racked up top 5s, but all that has changed with her win today at the Longs Drugs Challenge.

And what a win it was! Kim let the top of the leaderboard back into the tournament with no birdies and 3 bogeys over her 1st 16 holes to dip all the way to -8. But nobody could walk through the door she had left ajar. Not Angela Stanford, who matched Kim's bogeys on the back to stay 2 back most of the day. Not Ya Ni Tseng, who was -7 through 12 holes and only 3 back, but proceeded to bogey her next 3 in a row to take the pressure off the leader and couldn't do more than salvage a solo 3rd-place finish with back-to-back birdies that got her back to E on the day. Not Lorena Ochoa, who made 6 birdies--and 6 bogeys--in a final round that needed to be flawless. Not Brittany Lang, who was -6 through 15 but faded fast with a double bogey and bogey in her next 2 holes.

So when Kim matched Stanford's birdie on 17 to maintain her 2-shot lead and capped off her day and the week with a walk-off birdie, she did more than slam that open door shut, more than move into the top 20 on the LPGA money list--more even than join Maiko Wakabayashi from the JLPGA as another 20-year-old winner this week. No, In-Kyung Kim established herself as one of the players to watch in a Class of 2007 that may well be the strongest on tour right now. Watch for her at the ADT Championship. With over $500K in 2nd-half winnings, she just punched her ticket for that race for the $1M 1st prize. The only players on the LPGA as hot as she's been lately are Lorena Ochoa, Paula Creamer, Cristie Kerr, Song-Hee Kim, Angela Stanford, Katherine Hull, Suzanne Pettersen, and Shanshan Feng.

[Update 1 (8:38 pm): Heeeere's Hound Dog!]

[Update 2 (10:42 pm): And heeeere's LPGA.com's notes and interviews.]

[Update 3 (11:21 pm): And heeere's Golf Channel.]

[Update 4 (12:04 pm): Here's Hound Dog's epilogue. Some great tidbits there. I particularly liked the bit on Kristy McPherson, who had one of the best rounds of the day Sunday with one eye swollen shut. She's a Super Soph, too, btw, as is Irene Cho, who just missed the top 10.]

[Update 5 (12:22 pm): Nice story from Cam Inman that uses Kim's victory speech as the hook for insight into her path to learning English.]

[Update 6 (12:50 pm): Ryan Ballengee thinks less highly of Inman's piece! Personally, I liked it b/c in the body of the piece Inman dug up some details you couldn't get from LPGA.com. Besides the cookie cutter opening, my only problem with the piece is in the end, when Inman fails to mention that Kim criticized the punitive aspects of the LPGA's withdrawn policy in her post-round interview that addressed the issue.]

[Update 7 (1:13 pm): Courtesy of bangkokbobby at Seoul Sisters.com:



What do you think of the way Kim's English is framed by GC?]

Sankyo Ladies Open Sunday: Maiko Wakabayashi Gets 1st Career Win!

20-year-old Maiko Wakabayashi had been having just the kind of season you'd expect from a young gun playing her 1st full season on the JLPGA tour: more missed cuts than top 10s, flashes of brilliance (like a 71-72 start at the Japan Women's Open) overshadowed by inconsistency (like an 80-74 finish over the weekend), and a rare near-miss at greatness (like losing to Miho Koga in a playoff at the Crystal Geyser Ladies in early May). Well, Wakabayashi just flipped the script today at the Sankyo Ladies.

With back-to-back birdies as she made the turn, Wakabayashi erased the back-to-back bogeys that had stalled her fast start (-2 over her 1st 4 holes) and got back to -6 for the tournament. With a 1-stroke lead on the struggling 2nd-round leader Hiromi Mogi (who was +1 through 10) and a charging money-list leader Ji-Hee Lee (who had birdied 3 of her last 6 holes), Wakabayashi played flawless golf down the stretch, going -2 over her final 8 holes. Lee fell off the pace at the par-5 13th when she failed to match Wakabayashi and Mogi's birdies. Mogi's bogey on the par-4 14th gave Wakabayashi a 2-stroke cushion, but her birdie on the par-3 13th cut the lead down to 1. But a Wakabayashi birdie on the par-4 17th and a Mogi bogey on the par-5 18th made the former's final victory margin 3 shots and allowed Lee to follow up her JWO win with a Sankyo Ladies T2.

Here are the top 10 and notables:

1st/-8 Wakabayashi (70-70-68)
T2/-5 Lee (73-68-70), Mogi (67-71-73)
T4/-3 Ayako Uehara (73-72-68), Nikki Campbell (74-69-70)
T6/-2 Mihoko Iseri (75-68-71), Miho Koga (72-70-72), Mihoko Takahashi (70-72-72), Miki Saiki (71-70-73)
T10/-1 Ji-Woo Lee (72-74-69), Bo-Bae Song (70-75-70), Erina Hara (75-69-71), Mayu Hattori (73-71-71), Sakura Yokomine (73-70-72), Mie Nakata (69-72-74)

Miho Koga had a ghost of a chance after her 3rd birdie in 4 holes on the par-4 14th brought her to -5, but she proceeded to bogey 3 of her last 4 holes. Defeating Wakabayashi in a playoff for the 2nd straight time wasn't to be for this JLPGA star.

A lot of players leaped into the top 10 thanks to good rounds on their part and serious stumbles from those who had been playing better coming into the final round.

T19/E Rui Kitada (75-68-73), Shiho Oyama (73-69-74), Eun-A Lim (69-73-74)
T26/+1 Midori Yoneyama (73-71-73)
T29/+2 Yuki Ichinose (73-71-74), Yukari Baba (71-71-76), Shinobu Moromizato (69-70-79)
T34/+3 Hiroko Yamaguchi (71-75-73), Akane Iijima (73-71-75)
T43/+4 Mi-Jeong Jeon (73-72-75)
T48/+6 Yun-Jye Wei (76-69-77)

There's plenty of disappointment to go around, but 2006 champion Moromizato must take the lion's share, along with Jeon, who got passed by Koga on the money list:

1. Ji-Hee Lee ￥105.85M
2. Akiko Fukushima ￥84.29M
3. Miho Koga ￥76.27M
4. Mi-Jeong Jeon ￥73.96M
5. Sakura Yokomine ￥73.56M
6. Hyun-Ju Shin ￥64.20M
7. Erina Hara ￥59.70M
8. Ayako Uehara ￥58.92M
9. Yuri Fudoh ￥58.82M
10. Yuko Mitsuka ￥56.01M
11. Bo-Bae Song ￥49.41M
12. Eun-A Lim ￥48.85M
13. Shinobu Moromizato ￥48.09M
14. Hiromi Mogi ￥47.25M
15. Akane Iijima ￥46.52M
16. Shiho Oyama ￥45.37M
17. Momoko Ueda ￥43.87M
18. Esther Lee ￥43.71M
19. Chie Arimura ￥40.90M
20. Yukari Baba ￥40.76M
21. Maiko Wakabayashi ￥40.73M
22. Miki Saiki ￥40.34M
23. Hiroko Yamaguchi ￥40.33M
24. Ji-Woo Lee ￥37.68M
25. Midori Yoneyama ￥33.27M
26. Rui Kitada ￥31.26M
27. Saiki Fujita ￥27.27M
28. Mayu Hattori ￥24.30M
29. Ji-Yai Shin ￥24.18M
30. Mie Nakata ￥23.68M

Congratulations to Maiko Wakabayashi for getting her 1st JLPGA victory and to Ji-Hee Lee for becoming the first JLPGA player in 2008 to pass the 100-million-yen mark!

Longs Drugs Saturday: And Then There Were Two?

Let's examine the Longs Drugs Challenge by the numbers.

Number of players to break 70 3 times: 1 (In-Kyung Kim, -11)

Number of players to break 70 twice: 3 (Angela Stanford, -10; Mollie Fankhauser, -6)

Number of players to break par 3 times: 3 (Kristy McPherson, -5)

Number of players not to go over par: 6 (Ya Ni Tseng, -6; Brittany Lang, -3; Irene Cho, -1)

Number of players to break 70 who have also failed to break 75: 13 (Teresa Lu, -2; Wendy Ward, -1; Michele Redman, -1; Hee-Won Han, E; Mikaela Parmlid, E; Kate Golden, +1; Julieta Granada, +1; Reilley Rankin, +1; Maria Hjorth, +2; Sarah Lee, +2; Il Mi Chung, +2; Sophie Giquel, +3; Suzann Pettersen, +3)

The upshot? While it may look like a Sunday shootout is brewing between Kim and Stanford, anything can happen tomorrow.

[Update 1 (10/12/08, 10:33 am): Hound Dog has more, as does LPGA.com.]

[Update 2 (10:42 am): Don't look now, but Golf Channel actually showed Kim in its highlights reel last night!]

"She Can Understand Swedish a Little Better Than English Right Now"

Awwwwwww. Tiger on Sam:



He's also pretty eloquent about golf course design. Definitely worth the 9 minutes to watch the whole thing.

Sankyo Ladies Open Saturday: Chase Pack Drawing Closer to Mogi

1st-round leader Hiromi Mogi birdied 3 of her last 4 holes today at the Sankyo Ladies Open, but, thanks to a double bogey on the 383-yard par-4 17th, could only manage a 71 that brought her to -6 for the tournament. By contrast, a bogey-free 33 on the back drew Shinobu Moromizato within 1 shot of Mogi heading into tomorrow's final round. And only a late bogey kept Maiko Wakabayashi from joining Moromizato. But this is anything but a 3-player race to the finish: there are 24 golfers within 5 shots of the leader, including such dangerous players as Sakura Yokomine (-1, T15), Miho Koga and Shiho Oyama (-2, T8), and Ji-Hee Lee and Miki Saiki (-3, T4).

Here are the top 10 and notables:

1st/-6 Mogi (67-71)
2nd/-5 Moromizato (69-70)
3rd/-4 Wakabayashi (70-70)
T4/-3 Lee (73-68), Saiki (71-70), Mie Nakata (69-72)
T8/-2 Oyama (73-69), Koga (72-70), Yui Kawahara (72-70), Yukiyo Haga (72-70), Yukari Baba (71-71), Mihoko Takahashi (70-71), Eun-A Lim (69-73)

T15/-1 Rui Kitada (75-68), Nikki Campbell (74-69), Yokomine (73-70)
T26/E Erina Hara (75-69), Akane Iijima (73-71), Midori Yoneyama (73-71), Mayu Hattori(73-71), Yuki Ichinose (73-71)
T38/+1 Yun-Jye Wei (76-69), Mi-Jeong Jeon (73-72), Ayako Uehara (73-72), Bo-Bae Song (70-75)
T45/+2 Ji-Woo Lee (72-74), Hiroko Yamaguchi (71-75)

T59/+4 Esther Lee (77-71)
T65/+5 Mai Arai (73-76)
T81/+8 Rui Yokomine (79-73)
T91/+12 Ritsuko Ryu (78-78)
T102/+17 Chie Arimura (79-82)

Will this be a battle of attrition tomorrow or a shootout? I wonder how many players will be able to break 70 twice this week....

Longs Drugs Friday: Will Anyone Chase Down In-Kyung Kim?

If the struggles of those in the morning groups today at the Longs Drugs Challenge are any indication, this tournament is gearing up for a classic free-for-all on Sunday. In-Kyung Kim looked like she was going to run away from the field when she followed up her eagle on the tricky 360-yard 8th hole yesterday with her 4th birdie of the morning, but after bogeying the 10th she reeled off 8 pars in a row to settle for a 69 that brought her to -8 for the tournament. And Mollie Fankhauser birdied 3 of her last 5 holes for a 68 that got her within 1 shot of the lead. But I would not be surprised at all if they turn out to be the only players in the field to shoot 2 straight sub-70 scores. Of the 17 players who broke 70 yesterday, most are having trouble staying near par, much less trying to go low. Everyone from the morning with a chance to break 70 is making a move from lower down the leaderboard. More on them when their rounds are complete.

Actually, most of the most compelling drama this morning has not come from the leaders but instead from the players trying to avoid the ignominy of missing a cut in a limited-field event. Eun-Hee Ji birdied her last 2 holes to salvage a 76 after going bogey-double-par-bogey-double between the 17th and 3rd holes earlier in her round. She joins a large group at +4, including Violeta Retamoza, who followed up her 72 yesterday with a pair of double bogeys on the back this morning helped her balloon to a 41, but came back with 2 birdies in her last 4 holes. Gloria Park was +8 for the tournament thanks to an early bogey and double bogey, but she played her last 13 holes in -4 to go 78-70. All these players and more are right on the bubble at T69 right now, with Retamoza looking to break an oh-fer streak that extends the entire season. Meanwhile, Jennifer Rosales is hoping that her birdie on the 18th to get to +5 for the tournament will give her a chance to move up the LPGA money list (she's #81 with only 1 more event--next week's in Hawaii--that counts when determining 2009 eligibility status). She'll need a lot of help from the afternoon groups, as the 1 shot separating her from Ji, Retamoza, Park, and the rest at +4 puts her at T81 right now.

More later--maybe much later! The grandparents are coming into town any minute!

[Update 1 (5:13 pm): A call from my folks suggests I have time for one more installment in Tales from the Cut Line. Morgan Pressel was cruising until the very end of her round today: on the 7th and 8th, she went double bogey-bogey, just like yesterday, to balloon to +2 on the day and +4 overall (this after a birdie on the 1st had finally brought her back to E for the tournament). How about 3rd-place rookie Hee Young Park, who had been sitting pretty at -1 on the day and for the tournament after her 1st 7 holes on the back? Well, she proceeded to make 4 pars, 3 bogeys, 2 doubles, and 2 birdies--yup, that's +5 in an 11-hole stretch--but will most likely still make the cut, as +4 is now T68 and there aren't enough players doing worse right now who could improve enough to knock the huge group at +4 out. The real question is whether the cut will go as high as +5. Stay tuned!]

[Update 2 (5:25 pm): Belay that last comment. Only 2 more people need to get to +3 to drop all the +4s out of the tournament. But Christina Kim birdied 3 of her last 5 holes on the front to claw her way back to +5, so I'm really hoping she and J-Lo make the cut. Two last tidbits for now. In case you didn't know already, Angela Stanford is tough--her 69 today brings her to -5 for the tournament, bad shoulder and all! And congrats to Joo Mi Kim, only the 4th player to break par in her 1st 2 rounds thus far--and she did it despite doubling her last hole, the 18th!]

[Update 3 (5:26 pm): Oh, and I couldn't leave you hanging on Pressel--she parred the 9th to stay at +4 (T69 now). Her playing partner Paula Creamer, by the way, went -5 over her last 13 holes to get all the way back to E (T31 so far).]

[Update 4 (10/11/08, 3:10 am): Oh, yeah, Lorena Ochoa. She certainly gave it the ol' college try yesterday when it came to answering my title question, going -4 over her last 5 holes on the front (with an eagle) and -3 over her last 4 holes on the back, but even that amazing effort was only good enough for a 68 that brought her to -6. The 6th and 7th people in the field to break par twice were Kristy McPherson (70, -4, T5) and Charlotte Mayorkas (71, -4, T5), while Il Mi Chung (69, -3, T9) was the only other plater t break 70 yesterday. Where there had once been 17 players at -3 or better, now there are only 23 players under par at all. But among them is Ai Miyazato, who birdied the 18th for a 71 that brought her to -1 (T19). On the down side, Maria Hjorth followed up her 66 with an 80, thanks to a 42 on the back that included 3 doubles. And Juli Inkster and Laura Davies shot 77s. But even though she shot a 78, Michelle McGann made the cut, along with everyone else at +5. It was not meant to be for Seon Hwa Lee, though, as a bogey-double-bogey-double stretch from the 17th through the 2nd holes dropped her to +6 for the tournament and she couldn't find a birdie the rest of the way. For Kyeong Bae, it was a triple-double on the back for a 42 that ejected her from weekend play. Ouch!]

[Update 5 (4:58 am): Here's Hound Dog's 2nd-round recap.]

[Update 6 (5:59 am): Nice to see In-Kyung Kim and Mollie Fankhauser gets interviewed! Kim gets some good lines in.]

[Update 7 (6:36 am): Apparently I've underestimated Golf Channel's ability to keep Asian faces off their highlight reels. Yes, Lorena Ochoa's 68 was big news, with great drama and great reactions, but nothing on Kim besides the fact she's hit 26 greens?? I guess it's fitting that Fankhauser gets no mention, either...equal-opportunity discrimination!]

Sankyo Ladies Open Friday: Mogi Takes the Lead

Hiromi Mogi opened the Sankyo Ladies Open with a 7-birdie barrage as her 67 helped her to a 2-shot lead over Eun-A Lim, Shinobu Moromizato, and Mie Nakata. With Ji-Yai Shin taking the week off, Ai Miyazato back on the LPGA, and Momoko Ueda headed to Hawaii for next week's LPGA event--not to mention Yuri Fudoh and Akiko Fukushima taking the week off--the Sankyo seemed like a golden opportunity for Ji-Hee Lee, Mi-Jeong Jeon, Miho Koga, and Sakura Yokomine to re-establish their dominance on the JLPGA. It still may be, but they'll need to turn it around fairly quickly over the next 36 holes. Koga is 5 shots off Mogi's pace (T20), while Lee, Jeon, and Yokomine are 6 back (T35).

Here are the top 10 and notables:

1st/-5 Mogi (67)
T2/-3 Lim, Moromizato, Nakata (69)
T5/-2 Bo-Bae Song, Maiko Wakabayashi, Yasuko Satoh, Julie Lu, Mihoko Takahashi (70)
T10/-1 Miki Saiki, Hiroko Yamaguchi, Yukari Baba, and 7 others (71)

Good to see Saiki and Song starting to play well again on the JLPGA. Wakabayashi seems to have put her disastrous JWO weekend behind her.

T20/E Koga, Ji-Woo Lee (72)
T35/+1 Lee, Jeon, Yokomine, Ayako Uehara, Shiho Oyama, Akane Iijima, Midori Yoneyama, Mayu Hattori, Yuki Ichinose, Mai Arai (73)

Nice to see Arai stepping up from the Step-Up Tour. She's certainly doing a lot better than a surprising number of her fellow young stars:

T55/+2 Nikki Campbell (74)
T66/+3 Erina Hara, Rui Kitada (75)
T78/+4 Yun-Jye Wei (76)
T85/+5 Esther Lee (77)
T90/+6 Ritsuko Ryu (78)
T96/+7 Chie Arimura, Rui Yokomine (79)

The last time Mogi went this low in her 1st round, she held off an Akiko Fukushima Sunday charge with a final-hole birdie to get a win in her hometown at the Belluna Ladies. Can she flash back to that quality of play this week? Her recent history isn't encouraging: only 1 top 10 in her last 9 events and more rounds at 75 or over than in the 60s. Moromizato, who won here in 2006 and shot the only bogey-free round of the day, has been playing a bit better, but Nakata, who was 2nd here in 2003, hasn't been doing anything special lately and Eun-A Lim has been floundering since her mid-season win. Time will tell if the 4 who broke 70 can stay ahead of the chase pack tomorrow!

Longs Drugs Thursday: Hjorth Out to Early Lead

Maria Hjorth has birdied 4 holes in a row from the 16th through the 1st on the Blackhawk track that's hosting the Longs Drugs Challenge to jump out to an early lead at -5 through 11. That tops Lorena Ochoa's 3-hole birdie streak on the 11th through 13th even earlier in the day.

Also off to good starts are Laura Davies (-4 through 11), Wendy Ward (-4 through 11), Michelle McGann (-3 through 14), Michele Redman (-3 through 9 thanks to 3 birdies in a row on the 3rd through 5th), and Kate Golden (-3 through 13 thanks to an eagle on the par-5 11th). Way to go, vets!

But don't worry--the kids are all right. Just not the ones you'd expect. Meaghan Francella is -3 through 13, Julieta Granada shot a 32 on the back, and Charlotte Mayorkas is -2 through 15. Even Sarah Lee is getting into the comeback act; she's -3 through 14.

[Update 1 (4:55 pm): Nice job by Sarah Kemp to come back with a pair of consecutive birdies late in her round to erase a double bogey on the par-5 3rd hole that threatened to torpedo her 31 on the back. Her 68 gets her into a tie for 3rd with Ward, Lee, and Francella. Meanwhile Sophie Giquel shot a nice 32 on the back to lift her into a tie for 7th at -3 with Golden, Granada, and Mayorkas. But Hjorth extended her lead on them with her 66 today, marred only by a bogey on the par-3 7th hole.]

[Update 2 (4:56 pm): Not everyone finished strong, though. Davies was -5 with only a handful of holes to go but took a devastating triple bogey on the par-4 6th hole to open with a 70 today. McGann had to settle for a 71 after consecutive bogeys late on the back 9. Juli Inkster was -4 with 2 holes to play, but bogeyed the tough 8th and also bogeyed the par-5 9th to drop to T11 thus far. And Ai Miyazato was -2 through her 1st 5 holes, but a double on the 8th and a birdie and bogey early and late on the back brought her down to T42 at E.]

[Update 3 (5:05 pm): Others are even more disappointed after their 1st rounds, though. Seon Hwa Lee was -2 through 7 but made 3 bogeys over her next 7 holes and didn't make a birdie the rest of the way to shoot a 73 that dropped her all the way back to T62 so far. Jane Park couldn't get anything going today and shot a 75. At least Stacy Lewis hung in there for her roller-coaster 71. And despite a double on the 3rd, Na Yeon Choi went bogey-free the rest of her day to tie her. But Redman has to be absolutely overjoyed to have chased Hjorth down with 3 birdies in her last 5 holes!]

[Update 4 (7:57 pm): In-Kyung Kim just eagled the difficult 8th hole, her next-to-last on the day, to leap to -4. Not to be outpaced, Ya Ni Tseng birdied it to join her in a tie for 3rd thus far. Suzann Pettersen and Mikaela Parmlid have several holes left to attempt to pass them and catch Hjorth and Redman. Rachel Hetherington had a chance to do the same, but bogeyed the 8th to fall back to -3.]

[Update 5 (8:02 pm): Ochoa, by the way, didn't make a single birdie after her trio early in the day, but she did make a bogey to fall back to -2 (T17 right now). Mi Hyun Kim just bogeyed 18 and ended the day at -1 (T29). Joining Miyazato at E (T40) were Jeong Jang and Laura Diaz from the morning and Eun-Hee Ji and Hee-Won Han from the afternoon.]

[Update 6 (8:05 pm): Wow, In-Kyung Kim followed up her eagle with a birdie to fire a 67 and take sole possession of 3rd place! Tseng parred the 9th to become the 5th player to shoot a 68 thus far today (T4).]

[Update 7 (8:15 pm): Angela Stanford has stabilized her game after a 3-hole bogey train almost derailed her front side; she countered with a pair of birdies on each of the 3 holes surrounding those bogeys and has just birdied the par-4 17th to get back to -2. In contrast, both Morgan Pressel and Paula Creamer have made a double bogey on each side to lose whatever momentum they had momentarily generated; the former is +3 and the latter is +2 with the 17th and 18th to play; playing partner Pettersen is still -4.]

[Update 8 (8:22 pm): Speaking of Americans doubling up on double bogeys, Stacy Prammanasudh fought back to -3 through 11 after her front-side double, but then went bogey-double to drop back to E, where she stands with the 18th left to play. Her playing partner, Christina Kim, took a quad on the par-3 7th never recovered--she's now +6. Good thing the Solheim Cup is a long time away.]

[Update 9 (8:28 pm): Pettersen just birdied 17 to join Kim at -5. If she can make a par or better on the 18th, she'll have a bogey-free opening round.]

[Update 10 (10/10/08, 5:50 am): Darn it, jinxed her! 68 for Pettersen, same as Reilley Rankin, but it was Parmlid who made it to and stayed at -5. Surprising 1st day!]

[Update 11: (5:54 am): As always, Hound Dog is a model of concision and organization; plus, he found out that Hjorth is pregnant! Wonder where--it's not on LPGA.com!]

[Update 12: (6:32 am): Lower down the leaderboard, Pressel ended up coming back and tying Creamer at +2 (T67), Moira got it back to +1 (T53), and Brittany Land made 3 birdies on the front after opening with 3 bogeys on the back to climb to E (T40). But here's what a weird day it was: Violeta Retamozo, who's been playing horrifically bad this season, opened with a 72, while Sun Young Yoo, whi's been having a career season, stumbled to an 82. Aree Song, who's been out most of this year and last with a serious illness, salvaged a 76, while Christina Kim, who's been MIA lately, needed a birdie on her final hole to shoot a 77. Yikes! This is almost as topsy-turvy an event as the Women's World Amateur, where the American team of Amanda Blumenherst, Alison Walshe, and Tiffany Joh is languishing in 8th, 21 shots behind the Swedish team of Caroline Hedwall, Anna Nordqvist, and Pernilla Lindberg and 13 shots behind the Spanish team of Carlota Ciganda, Azahara Munoz, and Belen Mozo.]

[Update 13 (9:24 am): Ron Kroichick has more details on Redman and Hjorth (who's due in February and hopes to return to competitive golf by May!).]

Sayonara, Bunker Shots

I was saddened to see that Randall Mell's employers are pulling the plug on his Bunker Shots. I appreciated his balanced, well-informed, and Morgan Pressel-centric perspective on the LPGA and am happy to hear his regular column will be unaffected by the end of his golf blog. But I was dismayed at the rationale that he wasn't getting "enough" readers, hits, and comments to justify the paper's "investment" in his blog. What about links? Just how many of all that does it take for a golf journalist to be allowed to keep a long-running and successful blog going?

Here's hoping Mell gets to resurrect Bunker Shots to live-blog the ADT Championship and Final Qualifying School at the end of this LPGA season.

Longs Drugs Challenge Preview/Predictions/Pairings

Check out Hound Dog's preview of and LPGA.com pre-tournament interviews for the Longs Drugs Challenge, a small-purse event at an unpopular course that had been the gateway to the LPGA's Asian Swing until the creation of the Kapalua Classic. The field, as a result, is a bit thinner than it ought to be, but only a little. I'm just pleased that my fave Ai Miyazato, fresh off last week's "win" on the JLPGA, is back on the LPGA for the next 2 events at least. And yet, I'm surprised that onechan's fave Karrie Webb, who's had a fair bit of success at this course and event of late, won't be going for it this week.

With Golf Observer's performance chart as my guide, here are my guesses for this week's Pakpicker. I'm going to need the same kind of charge Paula Creamer needs to catch Ochoa if I want to get into the top 3 this season.

1. Pettersen
2. Ochoa
3. Creamer
4. Kerr
5. Tseng
6. Inkster
7. Ji Eun-Hee
8. Kim Mi Hyun
9. Choi Na Yeon
10. Kim In-Kyung
11. Miyazato
12. Park Jane

Alts: Feng, Kung, Lu

Yeah, I'm going with the all-Taiwanese/Chinese [thanks, Jamie!] back-ups and guessing Tseng's triceps and Kim's knee will bother them less than Stanford's shoulder or Jang's wrist, that Maria Hjorth and Nicole Castrale won't keep up their good history at Blackhawk, that this will not be Stacy Lewis's or Kim Welch's week, and that Super Soph qualifiers Kristy McPherson and Irene Cho won't be able to sustain their Monday momentum.

Speaking of whom, let's look at the pairings, which are remarkably well-balanced. Sure, the world #1 highlights the early-morning back-9 prime-time quadrant:

Start Time: 8:14 AM
Jeong Jang
Julieta Granada
Meaghan Francella

Start Time: 8:25 AM
Sung Ah Yim
Young Kim
Irene Cho

Start Time: 8:36 AM
Na Yeon Choi
Laura Davies
Laura Diaz

Start Time: 8:47 AM
Maria Hjorth
Juli Inkster
Leta Lindley

Start Time: 8:58 AM
Shanshan Feng
Lorena Ochoa
Brittany Lincicome

But her highest-ranked contenders can mostly be found in the early-afternoon front-9 quadrant:

Start Time: 11:45 AM
Teresa Lu
Sophie Gustafson
Eun-Hee Ji

Start Time: 11:56 AM
Lorie Kane
Diana D'Alessio
Mi Hyun Kim

Start Time: 12:07 PM
Giulia Sergas
Janice Moodie
Hee Young Park

Start Time: 12:18 PM
Stacy Prammanasudh
Angela Stanford
Christina Kim

Start Time: 12:29 PM
Morgan Pressel
Suzann Pettersen
Paula Creamer

Don't assume, though, that the other quadrants can't produce a winner. Check out the early-morning front-9 one:

Start Time: 8:14 AM
Candie Kung
Karen Stupples
Helen Alfredsson

Start Time: 8:25 AM
Brandie Burton
Ai Miyazato
Allison Fouch

Start Time: 8:36 AM
Nicole Castrale
Jane Park
Wendy Ward

Start Time: 8:47 AM
Becky Morgan
Carin Koch
Seon Hwa Lee

Start Time: 8:58 AM
Michele Redman
Kristy McPherson
Ji Young Oh

Unlike in Ochoa's quadrant, there's nobody enduring a season-plus-long slump here. Similarly, the early-afternon back-9 quadrant is full of people who played their way into prime-time:

Start Time: 11:45 AM
Hee-Won Han
Karine Icher
Liselotte Neumann

Start Time: 11:56 AM
In-Kyung Kim
Silvia Cavalleri
Ya Ni Tseng

Start Time: 12:07 PM
Rachel Hetherington
Kyeong Bae
Pat Hurst

Start Time: 12:18 PM
Joo Mi Kim
Sun Young Yoo
Brittany Lang

Start Time: 12:29 PM
Christa Johnson
Sandra Gal
Kim Hall

There are a lot of bubble girls going out in the non-prime-time slots. Moira Dunn (#78) and Meredith Duncan (#85) get to be the last off the front, while Jennifer Rosales (#81) and Mikaela Parmlid (#96) have similar honors on the back. Check out Hound Dog's Navistar update for the big picture. With only 108 players in the field, competition should be especially intense at every level of the LPGA's performance hierarchy this season.

[Update 1 (10/8/08, 1:33 am): Of course Golf Channel is right to focus on this week's Creamer/Pettersen/Ochoa showdown, but would it have killed them to add another 15 seconds to their segment, follow Hound Dog's lead, and focus on the Rookie of the Year race, which Ya Ni Tseng could clinch this week?]

OK, This Is Just Embarrassing for the LPGA

I thought I was Ai Miyazato's biggest fan in the U.S., but apparently someone in the LPGA media department beats me hands-down. From their October 6 news for the week page:

Miyazato wins on JLPGA.
Third-year Tour member Ai Miyazato recorded a win on the LPGA of Japan at the Japan Women's Open this past weekend. Miyazato (73-76-68-67=284, -4) edged out South Korea's Esther Lee (74-71-72-68=285, -3) by just one stroke at Shiun Golf Club in Niigata Prefecture. Momoko Ueda (77-74-68-70), a 2008 LPGA Tour rookie, tied for seventh at 1-over-par 289 with Sakura Yokomine (74-75-71-69).

Last I checked, Ji-Hee Lee birdied the final hole to beat Ai-chan.

My guess is someone misread breitbart.com's results page, which always is badly formatted. Look, I can understand not reading Mostly Harmless. But skipping Daniel Wexler and Hound Dog, not to mention Golfweek? That's criminal!

AnnikaWatch Update 3

In the wake of the Samsung Championship, it's worth updating my August tally of the results of head-to-head match-ups against Annika Sorenstam in her final season on the LPGA.

More players than before have a winning record against her, but fewer are undefeated:

Se Ri Pak (1-0)
Catriona Matthew (1-0)
Amy Hung (1-0)
Maria Hjorth (1-0-1)
Mi Hyun Kim (1-0-1)
Ya Ni Tseng (4-1)
Juli Inkster (2-1)
Karrie Webb (2-1-1)
Paula Creamer (3-2-1)
Lorena Ochoa (4-3-1)

7 have broken even:

Jeong Jang (2-2-1)
Inbee Park (2-2)
Hee-Won Han (1-1)
Helen Alfredsson (1-1)
Jee Young Lee (1-1)
Minea Blomqvist (1-1)
Lindsey Wright (1-1)
Catrin Nilsmark (1-1)

But mostly playing against her has been an exercise in futility (more so for some than for others):

Morgan Pressel (1-2)
Sun Young Yoo (1-2)
Cristie Kerr (1-3)
Momoko Ueda (1-4-1)
Suzann Pettersen (1-4)
Stacy Prammanasudh (0-1-1)
Lorie Kane (0-1)
Pat Hurst (0-1)
Na Yeon Choi (0-1)
In-Kyung Kim (0-1)
Teresa Lu (0-1)
Kristy McPherson (0-1)
Young Kim (0-1)
Il Mi Chung (0-1)
Gloria Park (0-1)
Jin Joo Hong (0-1)
Nicole Castrale (0-1)
Meaghan Francella (0-1)
Reilley Rankin (0-1)
Alena Sharp (0-1)
Charlotte Mayorkas (0-1)
Erica Blasberg (0-1)
Marisa Baena (0-1)
Michelle Ellis (0-1)
Laura Davies (0-2)
Laura Diaz (0-2)
Christina Kim (0-2)
Ai Miyazato (0-2)
Diana D'Alessio (0-2)
Eva Dahllof (0-2)
Seon Hwa Lee (0-3)
Natalie Gulbis (0-4-1)

So, yes, Paula Creamer is the new world #2 in my book, but Annika has a chance to close out the season with a winning record against everyone she's played with head-to-head. Not too shabby!

Samsung Sunday: A New #2

Congrats to Paula Creamer on her 4th win of the 2008 season, which moves her to #2 on the LPGA money list and Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index and #3 in the Rolex Rankings. In case anyone coming here hasn't already read Hound Dog's recap and reflections on the Samsung World Championship or LPGA.com's notes and interviews, please do so forthwith. Work and family have kept me from my usual Sunday/Monday blogging schedule. My apologies! I'll try to add to this pitiful post if I can find some time for it!

[Update 1 (12:15 am): Here's Brent Kelley's take on Paula's win's significance.]

[Update 2 (12:28 am): Comparing Hound Dog's rundown to Golf Channel's highlights, GC is far behind, but at least they showed a bit of everyone who got within 1 or Creamer when it was still in doubt.]

Japan Women's Open Sunday: 3 Separate 5 with 5 to Go!

Ji-Hee Lee is -5 through her 1st 13 holes in the final round of the Japan Women's Open and at -4 for the tournament has opened up a 1-shot lead on Ai Miyazato and a 2-shot lead on Yuri Fudoh, both of whom are -4 through 14. 2nd- and 3rd-round leader Esther Lee is still very much in this, as is So-Hee Kim, as both are -1 through 13 to stay within 2 and 3 shots of the leader, respectively. More soon!

[Update 1 (1:49 am): Although Nikki Campbell is hanging tough at E with 4 holes to play, the rest of the field has fallen off the lead pack's pace today. Akane Iijima is a disappointing +3 over her 1st 13 holes today to fall back into a tie at +2 with Namika Omata (-2 through 16), Momoko Ueda and Sakura Yokomine (-1 through 15), and Midori Yoneyama (E through 14).]

[Update 2 (1:54 am): There have been some very nice moves up the leaderboard from back in the pack, however.

67: Shiho Oyama (+4, T13 so far)
68: Yui Kawahara (+3, 12th)
69: Kurumi Dohi (+5, T17), Tomoko Kusakabe (+11, 34th)
70: Bo-Bae Song and Ji-Woo Lee (+4, T13), Shinobu Moromizato (+5, T17), Hiroko Yamaguchi (+6, T22)

Fudoh just parred the 15th, but Lee bogeyed the 14th. Now Campbell is within 3 shots of the co-leaders, Lee and Miyazato!]

[Update 3 (1:55 am): Omata birdied the 17th to get to +1 for the tournament and -3 on her day, still not out of it.]

[Update 4 (1:56 am): But Kim's bogey on the 14th to join her does not help her cause.]

[Update 5 (1:59 am): Momo-chan bogeyed the 16th to fall to +3 for the tournament and E for the day. With a medium-length par 4 and par 5 to go, it's too late for her to leapfrog the 10 players ahead of her, no matter how badly they do down the stretch.]

[Update 6 (2:02 am): Pars on 15 for Ji-Hee Lee and Miyazato, on the 16th for Fudoh, and on the 14th for Esther Lee.]

[Update 7 (2:08 am): By the way, I should clarify that the pairings for the final twosomes are, in reverse order, Esther Lee and Akane Iijima, Ji-Hee Lee and So-Hee Kim, Ai Miyazato and Nikki Campbell, Yuri Fudoh and Midori Yoneyama, and Momoko Ueda and Sakura Yokomine. Not too shabby, eh? Yokomine parred 17, while Yoneyama joined Fudoh in parring the 400-yard par-4 16th.]

[Update 8 (2:15 am): Miyazato and Campbell both parred the 16th, which is the longest par 4 on the course. Now it's Ji-Hee Lee's turn on it. Meanwhile, Ueda 1st birdied the 17th and then Fudoh did. We now have a 3-way tie at -3! Namika Omata is the leader in the clubhouse after her 69 brought her to +1 on the tournament. But with Campbell's recent birdie to get to -1, we now have 5 players with at least a 2-shot cushion on her and only a few holes left to play.]

[Update 9 (2:21 am): Ji-Hee Lee parred the tough 16th to remain tied at -3 with Fudoh and Miyazato. So-Hee Kim did, too, for what it's worth. But get this: Esther Lee birdied the 15th to make it a 4-way tie for the lead! On the moral victory front, Yokomine (70) birdied the par-5 18th to finish a stroke ahead of Ueda (71) and tie Omata as leader in the clubhouse.]

[Update 10 (2:26 am): Next to play 18 were Fudoh and Yoneyama. The 3-time winner this season will need some help to get her 4th, as she bogeyed the 512-yard par 5. Yoneyama parred it to finish in a tie for 9th with Ueda. Meanwhile, Ai-chan and Campbell both parred the 17th, followed by Ji-Hee Lee, who matched them, and So-Hee Kim, who birdied it to get back to E for the tournament and alone in 6th place for now. So now Fudoh's -2 is the score to beat.]

[Update 11 (2:34 am): It took an unconscionably long time for the JWO site to update Esther Lee and Iijima on 16, but here's what they did. Lee bogeyed 16 to fall 1 behind her namesake and Ai-chan, but Iijima is now +7 on her day and +6 for the tournament (T20). Did Iijima just make a pair of doubles while her playing partner is trying to win the tournament? How awkward!]

[Update 12 (2:36 am): The wait to see how Miyazato and Campbell did on 18 was even worse for me, but they both parred it. Ji-Hee Lee can get her 2nd win of the season with a birdie on 18. Here's hoping Ai-chan gets a chance to beat her in a playoff!]

[Update 13 (2:41 am): Ji-Hee Lee did it! Unless Esther Lee can eagle the 18th, she's the winner of the 2008 Japan Women's Open, thanks to her clutch final-hole birdie!]

[Update 14 (3:03 am): And what a way to win, going 68-67 over the weekend! Nice birdie by her namesake to end her tournament on a high note, too.

Here are the final results:

1st/-4 Ji-Hee Lee (73-76-68-67)
T2/-3 Ai Miyazato (74-71-72-68), Esther Lee (68-73-74-70)
4th/-2 Yuri Fudoh (76-71-71-68)
T5/-1 Nikki Campbell (70-74-73-70), So-Hee Kim (71-74-71-74)
T7/+1 Namika Omata (74-75-71-69), Sakura Yokomine (77-74-68-70)
T9/+2 Momoko Ueda (73-74-72-71), Midori Yoneyama (76-71-71-72)

T12/+4 Shiho Oyama (72-79-74-67), Bo-Bae Song (75-74-73-70), Ji-Woo Lee (75-73-74-70), Ayako Uehara (74-73-73-72), Eun-A Lim (74-73-73-72)
T17/+5 Shinobu Moromizato (77-70-76-70), Akiko Fukushima (72-73-76-72)
T20/+6 Hiroko Yamaguchi (76-76-72-70), Erina Hara (75-73-74-72), Yuko Mitsuka (74-75-72-73)
T24/+8 Rui Kitada (74-74-73-75), Yuki Ichinose (74-72-74-76), Akane Iijima (75-71-69-81)
T28/+9 Mie Nakata (71-76-78-72), Maiko Wakabayashi (71-72-80-74)
T35/+12 Mi-Jeong Jeon (78-74-73-75)
T39/+13 Miho Koga (77-75-71-78)
T41/+14 Kaori Higo (76-72-80-74)
46th/+15 Chie Arimura (77-77-75-74)
T52/+18 Saiki Fujita (77-78-74-77)
T56/+19 Miki Saiki (76-77-77-77)
60th/+21 Yukari Baba (75-77-80-77)

Wonder how Jeon, Koga, and Saiki will bounce back from these huge setbacks.]

[Update 15 (4:10 am): Here's the money list after the results from the 2nd-richest purse of the season have been factored in:

1. Ji-Hee Lee ￥98.74M
2. Akiko Fukushima ￥84.29M
3. Mi-Jeong Jeon ￥73.51M
4. Miho Koga ￥73.34M
5. Sakura Yokomine ￥72.13M
6. Hyun-Ju Shin ￥64.20M
7. Yuri Fudoh ￥58.82M
8. Erina Hara ￥58.28M
9. Yuko Mitsuka ￥56.01M
10. Ayako Uehara ￥53.97M
11. Eun-A Lim ￥47.99M
12. Bo-Bae Song ￥47.98M
13. Shinobu Moromizato ￥47.41M
14. Akane Iijima ￥45.96M
15. Shiho Oyama ￥44.51M
16. Momoko Ueda ￥43.87M
17. Esther Lee ￥43.71M
18. Chie Arimura ￥40.90M
19. Hiromi Mogi ￥40.14M
20. Yukari Baba ￥40.08M
21. Hiroko Yamaguchi ￥39.77M
22. Miki Saiki ￥37.42M
23. Ji-Woo Lee ￥36.26M
24. Midori Yoneyama ￥32.52M
25. Rui Kitada ￥30.40M
26. Saiki Fujita ￥27.27M
27. Maiko Wakabayashi ￥24.53M
28. Ji-Yai Shin ￥24.18M
29. Mayu Hattori ￥22.88M
30. Yuko Saitoh ￥22.74M

We have a new #1! Also making big moves were Fudoh, Esther Lee, and Miyazato (all the way up to #40, right behind Nikki Campbell).]

[Update 16 (6:12 am): Kyodo News finally gets on the ball with their final-round story. Here are relevant excerpts:

While four players shared the lead at one point, Fudo took a dent in her bid for a second Japan Women's Open when she pulled her drive and needed five shots to reach the 18th green en route to a bogey 6.

Minutes after Fudo wrapped up her round, Esther Lee struggled to get out of trouble on the 16th, where she hit into two bunkers and wound up with a bogey. She birdied the last but the recovery proved short of bringing her a first career win in Japan.

Miyazato, the 2005 Japan Women's Open champion who went 4-under for the day through 13 holes, held steady late in her round and parred out the final five holes. But she was left to rue her failure to create a birdie opportunity on the last after her approach with a wedge left her with a long downhill putt.

Also on the 18th, Lee Ji Hee hit her drive into the nasty rough left of the dog-leg fairway and bailed herself out by playing with a superb intentional hook. She then put the proper end to the shot and subsequent deft approach with the winning [15-foot] putt.

"I thought at the time that it would be alright only if I can find a better place to hit a third shot," she said of her second shot on the 18th. "And I thought I definitely needed to make the putt to win. I read the line pretty well and I hit it very solidly."

Wonder if, after coming so close to her 1st win since 2006, Ai-chan will reconsider taking that flight to CA to compete in the Longs Drugs Challenge at Blackhawk CC. After all, she skipped the event her rookie season to compete in Japan and played terribly while hurt there last season. On the other hand, she can't afford to slip any further down the second-half ADT Championship qualification list....]

Samsung Saturday: Phew!

As Hound Dog, the LPGA, and the AP report, scoring conditions were closer to optimal for the 3rd round of the Samsung World Championship--and a lot of players took advantage. Although Paula Creamer (-6) birdied her last 3 holes for a bogey-free 68 that vaulted her 1 shot ahead of Angela Stanford--who, playing with a painful shoulder injury, also had 3 birdies in a row (at the turn) and a bogey-free round, but doubled 2 holes on the back to offset her pairs of birdies to open and close that 9 on the way to her 69--there are 8 more players within 5 shots of her lead.

Combined with the northern California coastal weather conditions they've been dealing with, narrow fairways, thick rough, and high-risk/high-reward design of the links-style Half Moon Bay course, literally anything can happen later today. Given how well Stanford's been playing in pain, what if Ya Ni Tseng (tricep/elbow problems) and Jeong Jang (wrist problems), go nuts early? Both are "due" to break 70 for the 2nd time.

Here are the Sunday pairings:

Start Time: 9:30 AM
Helen Alfredsson (75-73-76)
Angela Park (76-76-75)

Start Time: 9:40 AM
Inbee Park (77-71-74)
Karrie Webb (74-76-73)

Start Time: 9:50 AM
Hee-Won Han (75-71-72)
Annika Sorenstam (69-77-75)

Start Time: 10:00 AM
Seon Hwa Lee (75-69-72)
Yani Tseng (69-74-74)

Start Time: 10:10 AM
Jeong Jang (72-76-68)
Eun-Hee Ji (73-73-70)

Start Time: 10:20 AM
Cristie Kerr (73-73-68)
Na Yeon Choi (69-71-75)

Start Time: 10:30 AM
Suzann Pettersen (74-70-69)
Ji-Yai Shin (67-76-70)

Start Time: 10:40 AM
Lorena Ochoa (69-73-70)
Juli Inkster (73-72-68)

Start Time: 10:50 AM
Katherine Hull (70-73-69)
Song-Hee Kim (69-70-73)

Start Time: 11:00 AM
Paula Creamer (68-74-68)
Angela Stanford (69-73-69)

If the weather remains good, there's a chance for Creamer and/or Stanford to both break 70, but the odds favor someone from the 1st 2 chase groups to charge past them with a sub-70 round. With the firepower arrayed behind them, though, everyone in those last 3 pairings had better not look over their shoulders. Absolutely anyone in the top 15 could win this thing.

[Update 1 (9:25 am): Hats off to Golf Channel for mentioning Song-Hee Kim in their final stats page. Looks like a Seoul Sister is going to have to win this thing to get some face time!]

Japan Women's Open Saturday: Leaderboard Compression from Moving Day Pressure

Akane Iijima, Ji-Hee Lee, and Sakura Yokomine made huge moves Saturday at the Japan Women's Open as Esther Lee's continuing struggles further compressed the already tight leaderboard. Iijima's bogey-free 69 erased a 5-shot deficit to Esther Lee, who made 5 bogeys and 3 birdies in her own round to drop back to -1. Ji-Hee Lee, meanwhile, came back from a 73-76 start with a bogey-free 68 to pull within 2 of the leaders, 1 behind So-Hee Kim, whose 71 brought her back to E for the tournament, and into a tie for 4th with Ai Miyazato (72) and Nikki Campbell (73). Meanwhile, Yokomine, who was 8 over par after a bogey on the 1st hole, made 5 birdies and no bogeys the rest of the way to pull even at T9 with Momoko Ueda (who made a hole in one on the 153-yard 7th hole but could only manage a 72) and only 1 behind Yuri Fudoh (who eagled the short par 5 6th hole but faltered for a 71) and Midori Yoneyama (who like Fudoh went 33-38).

A few other notables could still pull themselves into contention tomorrow. Eun-A Lim made 4 birdies in a row to close out the front but ballooned to a 39 on the back to fall to T11 at +4 with Ayako Uehara (who made a double and a bogey on her final 2 holes) and Yuki Ichinose (who shot an undistinguished 74).

But most will need a miracle, little or big. Akiko Fukushima went 38-38 to drop to T15 at +5 with Yuko Mitsuka (72) and Rui Kitada (73). Ji-Woo Lee followed up an eagle on the 6th with 4 bogeys and no birdies the rest of the way to join Bo-Bae Song (73) and Erina Hara (74) at +6 (T19). Miho Koga made up for her 77-75 start with a 71 that pulled her into T22 with Shinobu Moromizato (76) and 2nd-round leader of the chase pack Maiko Wakabayashi (80). Hiroko Yamaguchi and Shiho Oyama's 72s kept them at +8 (T29) and +9 (T34), respectively. Mi-Jeong Jeon didn't help her cause with a 73 that sent her into a tie with Oyama and Mie Nakata (78), but she did better than Kaori Higo, whose 80 dropped her all the way back to T45 at +12, or Chie Arimura, who fell to T49 at +13 after a 75, or Saiki Fujita, whose 74 had the same result, or Miki Saiki, who's now T55 at +14 after her 77, or Yukari Baba, who plummetted to next-to-last place with her 80. At least they'll finish in the money, though. Missing the cut after the 2nd round were Yun-Jye Wei, Mayu Hattori, and Tamie Durdin.

With 8 dangerous players right behind the 3 who have so far managed to stay at par or better for the tournament, anything can happen tomorrow. I'll be rooting for Ai-chan!

[Update 1 (10/5/08, 3:38 am): Kyodo News did a little better with this one. But only a little.]

Samsung Friday: Every Day Is Moving Day

The pairings for the 2nd round at the Samsung World Championship showcase some good drama. Not just a repeat showdown between Ochoa and Sorenstam, but the top 2 rookies, Tseng and Choi, go head-to-head, as well. And in a race to avoid last place, Angela and Inbee Park, former Futures Tour best friends whose relationship has cooled in recent months, are 1st off the 1st today. And as we should get used to seeing Ji-Yai Shin and Paula Creamer paired together on many many weekends down the road, this is a good chance for them to size each other up.

Too early to tell how scoring is going to be, although Hull, Ji, Alfredsson, and Han are off to good starts. More later!

[Update 1 (4:42 pm): Sun-Ju Ahn won this week's Samsung KLPGA event--her 1st win on tour this season, and a great follow-up to being the medalist at Mission Hills.]

[Update 2 (7:50 pm): Ji-Yai Shin isn't living up to Ahn's example today. She's having the exact opposite round as Thursday's--6 bogeys interrupted only by a single birdie so far on the 14th hole. She's back to E, 6 shots off the lead set by Angela Stanford, who bogeyed her 1st 2 holes but got a double eagle on the par-5 4th and has followed it up with 2 more birdies.]

[Update 3 (7:57 pm): Whoa! Lorena Ochoa made 5 straight birdies on the front but then made 2 doubles and a bogey over the next 8 holes to fall right back where she started the day: -3. Weirdness.]

[Update 4 (8:00 pm): Inbee Park had a terrible round going but birdied 3 of her last 4 holes to get back to E on the day and +5 for the tournament, ensuring that she won't play with Angela Park tomorrow (Karrie Webb shares basement duties with her). BTW, both Ahn and Stanford bogeyed since my last update.]

[Update 5 (8:08 pm): Seon Hwa Lee had the round of the day, thanks to the 3 birdies and no bogeys over her final 11 holes that earned her a 69 and got her back to E for the tournament. Her steadiness since a shaky front 9 Thursday could serve her well on a course that leads to such volatility as Ya Ni Tseng's bogey-par-triple-bogey-par stretch closing out the front (she's since birdied 2 holes on the back to get back to -1 for the tournament).]

[Update 6 (8:11 pm): Yeesh, a bogey on 18 gives Lorena Ochoa a 32-41 reversal and drops her to -2 for the tournament. Playing partner Annika Sorenstam, meanwhile, goes 69-77 to fall 4 behind Ochoa.]

[Update 7 (8:13 pm): What the heck is going on here? Angela Stanford just doubled the par-3 17th to fall back to a tie for 1st with Na Yeon Choi, who's given back her 2 birdies on the front with consecutive bogeys on the back to fall back to -3 for the tournament.]

[Update 8 (8:18 pm): Wow, even steady players like Song-Hee Kim and Paula Creamer are getting bogeyitis late in their rounds. Creamer birdied 2 of her 1st 4 holes before rattling off 4 bogeys, 3 in her last 5 holes. She's -2 with 2 holes to go, as is Kim, who just bogeyed the 17th as she bogeyed the 8th.]

[Update 9 (9:02 pm): Wow, just wow. Nobody was able to break 70 twice and only the leader (Na Yeon Choi at -4) was able to go under par twice. What a weird day!]

[Update 10 (10/5/08, 12:48 am): As my lone commenter points out and both Hound Dog, the LPGA, and the AP corroborate, the weather conditions had a lot to do with the weirdness on Friday. Also, Annika got stung by a wasp she tried to kill early in her round, while Stanford is dealing with a mystery long-term shoulder injury that's been fklaring up the last couple of weeks.]

Venice Friday: This Is it!

We already have our 1st bubble girls at the Venice sectional Q-School qualifier. Jenna Pearson shot a 71 to get to T26 so far at +2. One stroke behind her but T33 right now are Tiffany Tavee (70), Jessica Carafiello (72), and Christi Cano (72). Get your Maalox ready, everyone. It's going to be a long day.

[Update 1 (1:50 pm): New bubble girl: Angela Oh (75, +5, 30th place).]

[Update 2 (4:14 pm): Hound Dog comments on the final results, helpfully highlighting who helped themselves out in a big way today. The cut ended up being about as high as I originally expected--+6 this time, compared to +5 at Mission Hills. Even though Beatriz Recari stayed under par every round, she got beat by 1 shot by Chella Choi, whose 69 brought her to -9 for the tournament, and caught by Nontaya Srisawang, who also shot a 69 today. Joining Recari, Choi, and Srisawang as the only golfers in the field not to go over par in a single round was amateur Jaclyn Sweeney (72, -7, 4th), although unlike them she only broke 70 once. So watch for these 4 to have a decent chance to hang with the top half of the Mission Hills field that they couldn't hang with then. The other 28 players have a lot of work to do to even get within the top 40, given the quality of competition about to face them in early December. Anything over 75 is going to be fatal then, at least without several sub-70 rounds to make up for it.]

[Update 3 (10/5/08, 1:37 am): Here's Brent Kelley's reaction to Friday's results.]

Japan Women's Open Friday: Grinding, Grinding, Grinding

Speaking of difficult playing conditions, the Japan Women's Open's 2nd round is under way and the scores remain high. Ai Miyazato bounced back from her disastrous final 7 holes yesterday to shoot a 71 today and move into a tie for 5th for now with money-list leader Akiko Fukushima at +1. But the way the scoring trends are going, they could be much higher on the leaderboard in a few hours. Sure, Esther Lee is playing a different course than everyone else, it seems, as she's -1 through 12 holes and -5 for the tournament, but nobody can keep that pace up for 42 more holes. And yes, Maiko Wakabayashi shot a 34 on the front to get within 2 of Lee, but this young gun is playing way over her head, as well. Nikki Campbell's falling back to E with a 74 to follow up on her opening 70 is a much better indication of where scores are heading today. Consider the following:

70: Shinobu Moromizato (+3, T13 so far)
71: Miyazato, Akane Iijima (+2, T10)
72: Yuki Ichinose (+2, T10), Kaori Higo (+4, T24)
73: Fukushima, Ayako Uehara (+3, T13), Eun-A Lim (+3, T13), Erina Hara (+4, T24)
74: Campbell, Bo-Bae Song (+5, T29), Sakura Yokomine (+7, T39), Mi-Jeong Jeon (+8, T43)
76: Mie Nakata (+3, T13), Hiroko Yamaguchi (+8, T43), Yun-Jye Wei (+13, T79)
77: Yukari Baba (+8, T43), Miki Saiki (+9, T59), Tamie Durdin (+13, T79)
78: Saiki Fujita (+11, T62)
80: Mayu Hattori (+12, T69)

Ouch! Wonder how top players like Momoko Ueda, Yuri Fudoh, Ji-Hee Lee, Miho Koga, Yuko Mitsuka, and Shiho Oyama will handle their final holes.... Stay tuned!

[Update 1 (3:48 am): Esther Lee had some trouble down the stretch, going +2 over her final 6 holes to end up with a 73, just as Maiko Wakabayashi fell back to -1 with her 72. So Miyazato and Fukushima are now in a tie for 4th with So-Hee Kim (74) and Yuka Kuriyama (70). Yuri Fudoh (71) and Momoko Ueda (74) are now T11 at +3. Ji-Hee Lee (76) and Yuko Mitsuka (75) are now T25 at +5. Miho Koga (75) is now T37 at +8. Chie Arimura (77) is now T51 at +10. More on Oyama and Midori Yoneyama soon.]

[Update 2 (4:04 am): Nice 71 by Midori Yoneyama to join the logjam at +3 (T10). Not-so-nice 79 by Shiho Oyama that dropped her all the way back to T47 at +9. Still, a bit better than that 16-year-old amateur, who followed up her 71 with an 86 and dropped to T71--just on the wrong side of the cut line, I believe.]

[Update 3 (4:08 am): Under the circumstances, Ji-Woo Lee's 73 wasn't all that bad--at +4, she's tied for 20th. Waiting for the regular JLPGA leaderboard to update....]

[Update 4 (12:56 pm): OK, here's the usual leaderboard and on it you can see what damage the last 11 holes did even to the leaders. Wakabayashi was -4 on the day until she doubled the medium-length par-4 8th and she never recovered from that. Esther Lee managed to birdie the medium-length par-4 9th to recover from a bogey on the 8th and shoot a 35 on the front, but like Wakabayashi, Campbell, Fukushima, Uehara, and Nakata, shot a 38 on the back. Miyazato was -3 through the 1st 5 holes but +2 the rest of the way. This course is tough!]

Turning Stone Thursday: Oh, the Joys of Central NY Golf!

Reading the PGATOUR.com game story on the Turning Stone Resort Championship and noting the opposite fortunues of Korean-Australian sensation Danny Lee (75, T80) here and Korean-American rock star Anthony Kim (64, 1st) at the KOLON-Hana Bank Korea Open on the Asian Tour, I had some flashbacks to my own college golfing experiences in central NY in the fall. Like the time during the ECAC Championship qualifier at Colgate University's Seven Oaks when the driving rain turned into swirling snow flurries. Come to think of it, it wasn't just during the fall that we had to deal with bizarre weather. My worst-ever round at the Utica City Amateur came during a rain/windstorm so intense that when it both broke and blew away my heavy-duty golf umbrella on the 16th fairway, I didn't even bother trying to chase it. Oh, and then there was the 1 and only time in my life that I qualified for the New York State Mid-Amateur one fall. It was being held in Buffalo that year and I worked so hard during the 1st round in soaking rain and freezing cold to stay only a few over par until it was called when I had only 7 or so holes to go and our scores were erased that when I came back for my early starting time the next day I was so sick and tired that I came in, uh, last. Just like that windy day on Bethpage Black.... (Wait, maybe those last 2 shouldn't count b/c of their western NY and Long Island locations. Nah, it's all "central" NY!)

Why is it the traumatic golf memories stick with you so much more intensely than the good ones--like during that year when I got a hole-in-one and an eagle with the same 3-wood? Or my 66? Just goes to show it's much easier to blog about competitive golf than play it. Do we keep coming back to the game because we love it or because of PTSD?

Samsung Thursday: Shin and Ahn Leading Their Respective Samsung Events

Hound Dog breaks down the Samsung World Championship in northern California down for us, while Eric at Seoul Sisters.com hits the highlights for the Samsung Finance Ladies Championship across the Pacific. Not all that surprisingly for those who have been following their careers and recent play, Ji-Yai Shin (67) and Sun-Ju Ahn (65-69) have taken the lead at each event, the LPGA's and KLPGA's, respectively.

While Ahn is benefitting so far from poor performances by her top competition--3-time winners Hee Kyung Seo and Ha Neul Kim and rookie sensations So Yeon Ryu and He Yong Choi, in particular--and has jumped out to a 3-shot lead with 1 round left to play, Shin has 54 holes to play keep-away with the LPGA's top players (Ochoa, Sorenstam, and Creamer) and top rookies (Tseng and Choi). But at least she's got a bit of a cushion on the LPGA's hottest players: Kerr's 1st par didn't come until the 9th hole and then she followed up that 35 with a 38 on the back to fall 6 off the pace, while Angela Park absolutely blew up with a 35-41 performance that included 2 double bogeys in 3 holes on the back. And she's got a 6-shot lead on the woman who came in 2nd last year to her on the KLPGA money list, Eun-Hee Ji. Even the brief fog delay seemed to be on Shin's side!

But 54 holes is a long way to go....

Venice Thursday: Not Too Shabby!

I'll tell you what: when I first saw the field for the Venice sectional qualifier, I wasn't at all impressed. But take a look at the scoring today. Sure, nobody's burning up the course, but a number of players are showing the kind of consistency that could get them in the top 80 next season on the LPGA money list--if they can just play as well or better over their next 6 rounds (tomorrow plus the 5 at Final Qualifying School in the 1st week of December).

Beatriz Recari couldn't break 70 for the 3rd straight time, but her 71 kept her safely under par again and puts her ahead of the entire field, except for amateur Jaclyn Sweeney, who's also gone under par every round to also get to -7. Janell Howland (70, -5, T4) is the only other player in the field to manage the 3-straight-under-par-rounds feat, but with their 72s today, Chella Choi (-6, 3rd), Nontaya Srisawang (-5, T4), Hae-Jung Kang (-5, T4), and Taya Battistella (-3, T8) have all managed to avoid going over par, joining Samantha Richdale (70, -5, T4).

And even the players who haven't shown that kind of consistency have been better than I expected. Pornanong Phatlum's 70 got her to -2 and into a tie with Sunny Oh, who fell back to a tie for 10th with her 74, but both remain in good shape. Sara Brown's 2nd-straight 72 kept her at +1 but moved her up to T17, a shot ahead of Jenny Suh and Angela Oh, who shot a 72 and a 71 today, respectively, and who balance precariously on the right side of the bubble heading into tomorrow's round. (Now, if only Sunny Park can get it together tomorrow and go low--she's T50 at +7 after a 73 today--we'd have some of the very best names in either sectional qualifying field keeping their hopes alive!)

The fact that anything between +1 and +5 could end up being the "move on" line leads me to 3 conclusions: 1) this field is a lot stronger than I thought; 2) 8 players in it have a chance to make themselves favorites for the top 20 at Final Qualifying School in December; 3) a 67 or lower tomorrow means that someone even as high as +10 so far could give themselves a fighting chance to enter Q-School. Oh yeah, and 4) should be pretty compelling golf tomorrow!

Berube's Back and There's Gonna Be Some Trouble (Hey La, Hey La)

Was it only 21 months ago (or so) that Michael Berube retired from blogging? That I wrote this tribute to his unauthorized mock-political party? That I instituted BerubeWatch to track his inevitable return?

Well, hang onto your hats, true believers. Berube's back!

For those who might be tempted to dig through the Mostly Harmless archives and figure out when this pop culture blog became a golf blog, I'll save you some time. You see, the seeds of MH's golfaramamania were, uh, seeded in comments over at Berube's old place. Whenever he'd take a break from his hockey blogging and golf blog, I'd always ask him, "what about the LPGA?" Eventually I figured I'd better fill that void myself. Might have been that time my prediction turned out to be right--and his? Well, not so much.

So, yeah, Michael Berube is to blame for the golf blogging I inflict on less than a hundred people a day. Putting aside the fact that that's a bigger and more regular readership than I ever got for obscure in-jokes and political satires, the only fitting punishment for him is for you to become a regular at his blog and leave him many many comments.

[Update 1 (10/3/08, 12:12 am): Yeesh, not only am I way late with this "news," now I find out I'm not even original with my title.]

[Update 2 (4:24 am): Aaargh, and I forgot to mention that Berube's bloggy return means that Annika Sorenstam will be back on the LPGA in 2011.]

Japan Women's Open Thursday: It's a Game Called Survival

25th-ranked Esther Lee is off to an early lead in the opening round of the Japan Women's Open after shooting a 4-under-par 68. Barely breaking 70 were Yui Kawahara and Mika Takushima. 16-year-old amateur Kotono Kozuma is only 3 shots back, along with JLPGA regulars Maiko Wakabayashi and So-Hee Kim. Among the big names going out early, Momoko Ueda and Ji-Hee Lee shot 73s, Yuko Mitsuka and Shiho Oyama 74s, Yuri Fudoh and Midori Yoneyama 76s, and Miho Koga and Chie Arimura 77s. Yup, the scoring is generally high. More as more scores come in!

[Update 1 (4:45 am): Mie Nakata joined the big group at -1 (T5), while Nikki Campbell's 70 put her alone in 4th. Rounding out the top 10 at E for the day were Akiko Fukushima, Ai Tanaka, and Yeojinn Kang. The hits just kept coming for the rest of the field. Ai Miyazato, Ayako Uehara and Yuki Ichinose shot 74s (T20), Erina Hara, Bo-Bae Song, Akane Iijima, Yukari Baba, and Ji-Woo Lee 75s (T30), Miki Saiki, Hiroko Yamaguchi, Kaori Higo, and Mayu Hattori 76s (T44), Sakura Yokomine and Shinobu Moromizato 77s (T59), Mi-Jeong Jeon 78 (T72), Tamie Durdin 80 (T89), and Yun-Jye Wei 81 (T96). Yeesh! As the JWO "readerboard" is only in Japanese and the JLPGA tournament site has not yet posted its hole-by-hole ranking, I'll hold off on more for now.]

[Update 2 (8:48 am): OK, here's the leaderboard I'm used to. A few notes on it: Esther Lee's round was the only bogey-free one of the day; Nikki Campbell sandwiched 5 birdies on the front between a bogey on the 1st hole and a double bogey on the 9th, but parred every hole on the back; Ji-Woo Lee eagled the short par 5 6th hole, but shot a 40 on the back; Ai-chan was -2 through 11 but doubled the 12th and made bogeys on the very same holes--the medium-length par 4 15th and short par 5 18th--that Momoko Ueda had birdied to salvage her round; Ayako Uehara was -1 heading into the par-3 14th and tripled it; Yun-Jye Wei went 36-45, with a par on the 10th and a double on the 11th her only non-bogeys of the back. There are many more horror stories than uplifting ones, with birdies seemingly coming less often than doubles or worse the further down the leaderboard you get. If anyone finishes this tournament under par, I'll be amazed!]

[Update 3 (8:56 am): Wow, you'd think Kyodo wire service would try a little harder for a major, wouldn't you?]

Reason #4,876 Why the LPGA Is More Interesting than the PGA

Just check the pre-tournament interviews for the Samsung World Championship. You can actually learn something from the players' answers even to the dumbest questions. Like why Ya Ni Tseng owes Lorena Ochoa $100. Why Juli Inkster and Paula Creamer are so tight. Why Inkster should be the next commissioner of the LPGA. Little things like that. Could you imagine Tiger, Vijay, Phil, Sergio, and Kenny being so interesting in a similar situation?

Venice Wednesday: Who Will Be Left Standing?

Yikes, my comments on the Tuesday scoring and the volatility to come over the next 54 holes were all-too-prescient for a few golfers who have already completed their rounds at the LPGA's Venice sectional Q-School qualifier today. 1st-round leader Moah Chang shot a 79 today on the Bobcat course, falling all the way to T61 right now at +3. Susan Nam followed up her 69 with a 76 to drop from T3 to T35 for now. On the bright side, former KLPGA and LPGA member Yeon Joo Lee bounced back from her 75 with a 68 to pull into the top 10 as of this writing. Of course, not everyone was so volatile over the 1st 36 holes. Showing some good early consistency were the leader in the clubhouse, amateur Jaclyn Sweeney (71-68), and #18 on the Futures Tour money list, Samantha Richdale (72-69).

More when more scores are in!

[Update 1 (10/2/08, 1:09 am): Chang's former co-leader Sunny Oh hung in there with a 72 today to remain at -4 (T69), while Chella Choi's 67 rocketed her into a tie for the lead at -6 with the LET's Beatriz Recari, a Spanish golfer who sits at #52 on their Order of Merit right now, with just over 37,000 euros in 15 events. All of Recari's stats look pretty good except for her scoring average and winnings, which suggest she has the talent to do better than she has thus far but has had some difficulty playing to her potential. Maybe this will be her week--she's the only player in the field to break 70 twice.

Joining Sweeney 1 shot back are the Ladies Asian Golf Tour's #6-ranked player, Hae-Jung Kim (who shot a fine 68) and part-time Futures Tour member, multiple winner in Asia, and #20-ranked player on the LAGT Nontaya Srisawang (who in matching Choi's 67 is looking to repeat her feat from last season of winning a sectional qualifying tournament). Showing some grit today were Pornanong Phatlum, who's won on the LAGT and sits #2 on their money list (she's T22 at E after a 71 yesterday), and Sara Brown, who's one of those upper-mid-level Futures Tour members to watch (she's T27 at +1 after a 72 today). Both are looking for redemption after bad pairs of closing rounds at Mission Hills.

So, with 21 players under par and 32 players at +1 or better, those further down the leaderboard have some work ahead of them. Jenny Suh (74, +2, T33) and Angela Oh (76, +3, T37) probably need just one good round and one decent one, while Natalie Tucker (73, +5, T53), Sunny Park (77, +6, T59), Caroline Larsson (70, +6, T59), and, yes, Leanne Bowditch (72, +6, T59) could use two pretty good ones. The key thing is, they have 2 more rounds left to play. The same can't be said for Shayna Miyajima, Gina Umeck, Christina Lecuyer, Esther Choe, Rebecca Kim, Vanessa Brockett, Aimee Cho, or Kiran Matharu, among many others. Back to the drawing board for them.]

[Update 2 (1:14 am): Hound Dog surveys several other players' results.]

[Update 3 (1:18 am): LPGA.com focuses on the leaders.]

Samsung World Championship Preview/Predictions/Pairings

The Samsung World Championship is coming! The Samsung World Championship is coming! As Hound Dog points out in his preview, they've changed sites from Bighorn to Half Moon Bay, so take Golf Observer's performance chart with a grain of salt. Certainly, Lorena Ochoa, Cristie Kerr, and Ji-Yai Shin have to be considered the hottest golfers in this highly-elite field right now, but in addition to Hound Dog's pick Katherine Hull, watch out for Super Sophs Angela Park, Song-Hee Kim, and Eun-Hee Ji. In fact, why don't I just jump to my predictions right now?

1. Shin Ji-Yai
2. Ochoa
3. Kerr
4. Park Angela
5. Tseng
6. Creamer
7. Kim Song-Hee
8. Choi
9. Hull
10. Ji Eun-Hee
11. Sorenstam
12. Lee Seon Hwa

Alts: Pettersen, Webb, Han

May as well justify who I'm not picking rather than who I am! Juli Inkster is a great Hall of Famer who can still win any given week, but she's playing such a reduced schedule this season I just can't see her hanging in there all 4 rounds against the world's best. Helen Alfredsson got hot in mid-summer but I haven't seen much from her since her win at Evian. Angela Stanford won recently and went very low early in the season, but I just don't see her beating the players I picked this week. Jeong Jang's wrist is still a huge question mark--she got off to a good start last week, but played terribly in the next 3 rounds. And Inbee Park has been in a little post-major funk. But you know what? In a field this good, I could end up being almost completely wrong: all 8 players I didn't pick could get top 10s and I wouldn't be all that surprised.

Take a look at the pairings and ask yourself which twosome you'd follow if you could only follow 1 all day:

Start Time: 11:50 AM
Ji-Yai Shin
Na Yeon Choi

Start Time: 12:00 PM
Hee-Won Han
Helen Alfredsson

Start Time: 12:10 PM
Juli Inkster
Karrie Webb

Start Time: 12:20 PM
Ya Ni Tseng
Suzann Pettersen

Start Time: 12:30 PM
Paula Creamer
Eun-Hee Ji

Start Time: 12:40 PM
Song-Hee Kim
Angela Park

Start Time: 12:50 PM
Katherine Hull
Jeong Jang

Start Time: 1:00 PM
Inbee Park
Angela Stanford

Start Time: 1:10 PM
Cristie Kerr
Seon Hwa Lee

Start Time: 1:20 PM
Lorena Ochoa
Annika Sorenstam

Think hard. They reshuffle the pairings after every round, so this could be your last chance for any 1 of 'em. World #1/World#1A is the obvious choice, but what about the other pair of Hall of Famers, the fireworks of Tseng/Pettersen, the precision of Creamer/Ji, or the raw talent of Shin/Choi?

As good as these pairings are, I would have done things a bit different. Shin and Kerr should have been paired in the penultimate group as the next-2-most-likely-to-succeed, preceded by the top 2 challengers to Ochoa's reign (Creamer/Pettersen), by the two previous rookies of the year (Lee/Angela Park), the current contenters for the ROY title (Tseng and Choi), the next-best-Super-Soph contenders (Ji/Inbee Park), and finally by nationality (Hull/Webb, Jang/Han) and, uh...ahem...experience (Inkster/Alfredsson). That would have made the pairings even harder to choose between.

The fact that I took 10 minutes to play armchair tournament organizer and come up with my fantasy pairings for the Samsung gives a hint why the LPGA schedule for the rest of the season is so much better than the PGA's. Even though the Tour Championship ended up being a great event, it was tied to a playoff format that would do well to imitate the LPGA's qualifying criteria for and event structure of the soon-to-be-at-least-renamed ADT Championship. Whereas the PGA's Tour Championship announces the end of the season for its top players, freeing them up to play enough European Tour events next season to get involved in the Race for Dubai, the Samsung World Championship kicks off a "fall series" for the LPGA that takes its best players from the west coast across the Pacific to Asia and back, eventually to Florida, for their final showdown of the season. While I don't like seeing so many limited-field- and guaranteed-money-events in this stretch, I can see all the tournaments in it evolving as the Evian Masters has (expanding the field, instituting a cut, and expanding the prize money) over time. And I love the idea of the LPGA's finest taking on Asia's best.

So while I'm psyched Danny Lee is playing close to my home town this week on the PGA, curious about the Venice Q-School qualifier, and pumped for the Japan Women's Open, the Samsung is where it's at!