The Best of the Young Guns: Top Junior Mints, March 2009 Edition

The top players in the Class of 2007--the new Junior Mints on the LPGA--seem to be owning the top of the leaderboard of late. So who's got the best chance of continuing the tradition at the Kraft Nabisco Championship?

Simply the Best

1. Angela Park: Off to a great start this season, she's still staying barely ahead of the lead chase pack in her class. But as she also has the best record in her class at the KNC, don't look for her to get passed this week.
2. Eun-Hee Ji: Continues to impress in comparatively fewer starts than her top peers, but she's still chasing Angela. Coming off a missed cut at last year's KNC, her top-20 streak is in danger of being broken this week.
3. In-Kyung Kim: It's going to take a win to move up this list, and Inky came just shy last week. Hopefully the big mo' will count for more than her MC at last year's KNC.

The Contenders

4. Inbee Park: Despite getting her 1st real top 20 in Phoenix since last July (her 19th-place finish at the Samsung doesn't really count, right?), I'm officially demoting her from the top rank of her class. Doing this last year kicked off a great run that culminated in that U.S. Women's Open win, so I'm hoping the Mostly Harmless Reverse Jinx will strike again in '09 for her! Plus, she's coming off a top 10 at last year's KNC.
5. Song-Hee Kim: Her finishes are starting to match her performance stats and she's been playing great on Sundays. Watch out for her in '09! I wonder if she'll beat Angela Park and Jane Kim to the next-to-get-her-1st-win in this class? Getting it in her 1st KNC would be amazing!
6. Jane Park: Still plagued by more inconsistency than her top peers, but make no mistake: she's a major talent and will be for a long time to come. It's time to start showing it at the KNC, where she's finished better as an amateur than as a pro.
7. Ji Young Oh: Needs to start hitting more greens and making more birdies to move up this ranking. If not, her #2 status in her class at the KNC is definitely in jeopardy.
8. Kristy McPherson: Showing signs of building toward a breakthrough this spring. She has the talent to win on tour, particularly once her putter comes around. Playing in her 1st KNC, though, so I'm not expecting that much out of her this week.
9. Jin Joo Hong: Off to a slow start in '09, particularly when it comes to hitting greens, but hey, nobody can take away that non-member win in Korea, she recently got featured in the Wall Street Journal, and she is the last in her class to qualify for the KNC, so she has that going for her.

Quantum Leap Candidates

10. Na On Min: Just got her 1st top 20 in a year--that T11 finish last week was her best since the '07 Women's British Open. The former whiz kid (2 top 5s in her 1st 6 LPGA starts) has fallen far and fast over the last 2 seasons, but is she about to get up?
11. Charlotte Mayorkas: Despite a great Q-School, she's off to a slow start in '09, but at least she's hitting greens at a decent rate.
12. Irene Cho: If her putting improves, watch for her to get on a hot streak in '09. If not....

On the Bottom Looking Up

13. Sophie Giquel: She's a Category 11 player, which means she'll get into plenty of events, but if she keeps missing cuts at the rate she has been, it'll be back to Q-School for her.
14. Paige Mackenzie: A Category 15er, but at least she's made a cut this season.
15. Becky Lucidi: Another Category 15er, but hasn't yet made a cut in '09.
16. Jeanne Cho-Hunicke: Got Category 11 status in Q-School, but has missed every cut thus far this season.

On the Outside Looking In

17. Su A Kim: Will be trying to restart her career on the Futures Tour, but only has Category D status there this season.
18. Seo-Jae Lee: Ditto, except for the Category D part.
19. Sarah Lynn Sargent: Ditto.
20. Cindy Pasechnik: Ditto, but only has Category D status there this season.

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

2009 LPGA Money List (rank), stroke 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 (except for birdies, which LPGA.com ranks by total and not by average). I figure I can figure out how well they're hitting their irons and putting by comparing the last three figures, so I don't include putts per green in regulation here. Some of the figures Hound Dog thinks are the 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. Angela Park, $228.2K (#7), 70.80 (#5), 3.53 (#15), 79.4% (#2)
2. Song-Hee Kim, $148.4K (#13), 71.20 (#10), 3.67 (#12), 70.8% (#18)
3. Eun-Hee Ji, $148.2K (#14), 71.06 (#8), 3.44 (#5), 77.8% (#3)
4. In-Kyung Kim, $130.0K (#18), 72.13 (#18), 3.93 (#8), 75.4% (#7)
5. Jane Park, $103.7K (#21), 72.25 (#22), 3.13 (#18), 66.7% (#34)
6. Kristy McPherson, $72.7K (#25), 72.11 (#17), 2.67 (#23), 69.8% (#19)
7. Ji Young Oh, $62.2K (#28), 72.67 (#30), 2.47 (#46), 58.3% (#93)
8. Na On Min, $30.3K (#51), 73.33 (#48), 2.67 (#68), 60.2% (#83)
9. Inbee Park, $29.9K (#52), 73.93 (#64), 2.71 (#44), 65.3% (#47)
10. Irene Cho, $14.3K (#74), 74.50 (#84), 2.63 (#79), 69.4% (#24)
11. Jin Joo Hong, $12.9K (#83), 74.30 (#77), 2.00 (#83), 44.4% (#136)
12. Charlotte Mayorkas, $2.6K (#125), 75.57 (#109), 2.00 (#111), 66.7% (#34)
13. Paige Mackenzie, $2.2K (#130), 76.80 (#123), 1.80 (#129), 57.4% (#98)
14. Jeanne Cho-Hunicke, $0K (#187), 77.00 (#128), 1.83 (#122), 48.6% (#132)
14. Sophie Giquel, $0K (n.r.), 78.25 (#137), 1.75 (#138), 50.0% (#126)
14. Becky Lucidi, $0K (#113), 78.67 (#139), 1.83 (#122), 50.0% (#126)

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 both years. 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--although Thomas Atkins has posted an inflation-adjusted LPGA Career Top 50 as of the end of the 2008 season over at Hound Dog's place. 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 at the start of '09.

1. Angela Park, $2.08M (#86), 60/0/0/8/18/25/56 (.933)
2. Inbee Park, $1.55M (#111), 56/1/1/3/9/16/43 (.768)
3. In-Kyung Kim, $1.36M (#126), 56/0/1/4/13/21/47 (.839)
4. Eun-Hee Ji, $1.31M (#130), 37/0/1/4/13/18/34 (.919)
5. Song-Hee Kim, $1.21M (#146), 48/0/0/3/9/15/35 (.729)
6. Ji Young Oh, $.89M (#193), 55/0/1/1/6/13/40 (.727)
7. Jane Park, $.80M (#206), 42/0/0/3/6/10/35 (.833)
8. Kristy McPherson, $.56M (#245), 49/0/0/0/6/11/35 (.714)
9. Jin Joo Hong, $.51M (#255), 46/0/0/0/2/7/33 (.717)
10. Na On Min, $.49M (#267), 48/0/0/1/2/6/30 (.625)
11. Charlotte Mayorkas, $.26M (#338), 44/0/0/0/0/4/31 (.705)
12. Irene Cho, $.25M (#349), 43/0/0/0/2/4/25 (.581)
13. Paige Mackenzie, $.13M (#426), 38/0/0/0/0/1/18 (.474)
14. Sophie Giquel, $.11M (#445), 29/0/0/0/0/0/15 (.517)
15. Becky Lucidi $.09M (#478), 25/0/0/0/0/2/8 (.320)
16. Su A Kim, $.07M (#494), 26/0/0/0/0/0/12 (.462)
17. Seo-Jae Lee, $.07M (#498), 25/0/0/0/0/0/10 (.400)
18. Sarah Lynn Sargent, $.05M (#538), 26/0/0/0/0/0/12 (.462)
19. Jeanne Cho-Hunicke, $.02M (#600), 21/0/0/0/0/1/3 (.143)
20. Cindy Pasechnik, $.02M (#612), 19/0/0/0/0/0/5 (.263)

Other Career Measures: Rolex Ranking (as of 3/30/09) and rank, Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index (as of 3/29/09) and rank, International and Non-Member LPGA Wins (as of the end of the 2008 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, LET, JLPGA, KLPGA, and Futures Tour; the GSPI includes results over the past 52 weeks on all these tours except the KLPGA).

1. Eun-Hee Ji, 3.76 (#11), 70.11 (#12); 4
2. Angela Park, 3.68 (#15), 70.67 (#20); 0
3. In-Kyung Kim, 3.46 (#19), 70.62 (#17); 0
4. Inbee Park, 3.09 (#24), 71.15 (#38); 0
5. Song-Hee Kim, 3.01 (#26), 70.13 (#13); 0
6. Jane Park, 2.19 (#42), 71.13 (#35); 0
7. Ji Young Oh, 1.91 (#52), 71.08 (#32); 0
8. Kristy McPherson, 1.56 (#61), 71.14 (#36); 0
9. Jin Joo Hong, 1.09 (#84), 72.25 (#82); 2
10. Na On Min, .83 (#104), 73.13 (#126); 0
11. Irene Cho, .76 (#113), 72.89 (#110); 0
12. Charlotte Mayorkas, .54 (#144), 73.21 (#132); 0
13. Sophie Giquel, .45 (#165), 73.65 (#162); 1
14. Becky Lucidi, .32 (#219), 74.35 (#228); 0
15. Paige Mackenzie, .24 (#249), 73.74 (#173); 0
16. Su A Kim, .18 (#281), ? (n.r.); 0
17. Seo-Jae Lee, .14 (#311), 73.93 (#193); 0
18. Jeanne Cho-Hunicke, .03 (#538), 77.18 (#436); 0
19. Sarah Lynn Sargent, .01 (#647), 75.40 (#315); 0
20. Cindy Pasechnik, .01 (#672), 75.92 (#352); 0

FYI, here's the rest my 2009 schedule:

April: Class of 2008 (post-Corona)
May: Young Guns (post-Corning)
June: Class of 2006 (post-Wegmans)
July: Class of 2007 (pre-WBO)
August: Class of 2008 (post-Safeway)
September: Young Guns (post-Longs Drugs)
October: Class of 2006 (post-Korea)
November: Class of 2007 (post-Stanford)
December: Class of 2008 (post-Q School)
January '10: Young Guns (final 2009 ranking)

J Golf Phoenix International Sunday: Karrie Who?

Since Hound Dog picked up on every exciting move on the leaderboard over the 1st 10 holes that I was planning to mention, and since the second coming of Tiger preempted Golf Channel coverage of Karrie Webb going into lockdown mode to secure her 36th career LPGA win, I'm going to have to assume with him that the last eight holes of the J Golf Phoenix International held the kind of drama, if any, that doesn't make it onto scorecards. LPGA.com isn't much help in this regard, but they do help put Webb's 1st win on tour in 44 starts and two seasons in perspective. As does this moment from her interview:

Q. What does this mean to you to get back in into the winner's circle after a couple years?
KARRIE WEBB: It's very important. It means a lot to me. You know, you go through--I mean, I have won in Australia in those two years, but winning on the LPGA against the best players in the world is obviously very important to me. And you just sometimes wonder if--you know you have got the ability to do it, but you are just not putting the scores on the board that indicate that you can still do it. And, you know, even less than a month ago I was still questioning that. And I think watching certain players--you know, not that Phil Mickelson has gone a long time without winning, but he started off pretty rough this year, and then last week Pat Hurst. It really isn't as far away as you think.

Typical of Karrie to get her comeback win the week Tiger gets his. To beat Ji-Yai Shin, In-Kyung Kim, Ya Ni Tseng, and Suzann Pettersen, all of whom got to double digits under par under tough conditions, must have been the icing on the cake. The plot for next week's major, the Kraft Nabisco Open, has officially thickened. The Saturday leader can still be the 1st of the year on the LPGA to hold a lead on Sunday!

Other achievements worth noting: Tseng had the best weekend of anyone, going 67-67, but Hee Young Park wasn't too shabby either; her 69-68 gave her the bronze behind Webb. Song-Hee Kim had another strong Sunday finish; her 67 vaulted her to 6th place. Rounding out the 67 club was Jimin Kang. Morgan Pressel was working on doing all of them even better, until she she took a ride on the bogey train over her final 3 holes to shoot her 2nd straight 70 (still a moral victory for her). Brittany Lincicome followed up 2 straight 72s with a 71, the 1st time she's shot par or better 3 rounds in a row since the Jamie Farr last July. And Moira Dunn avoided her 2nd-straight last-place finish with a fine 71 yesterday (of course her place was taken by another New Yorker, Danielle Downey).

I'll leave you for now with Golf Channel's highlights. Once again, Webb steals the show at the end of them. Congrats, Karrie. Onechan is proud of you!

[Update 1 (7:15 am): I'm sure Jason Sobel is, too, but he buried news of your win on the 16th hole of his weekly 18, commenting on a photo of In-Kyung Kim that reminded him of Tiger. Maybe he should look in the mirror when he wonders on the 10th hole why there is "no hype" for the LPGA in its run-up to its 1st major. When even someone paid to pay some attention to the LPGA doesn't get it as badly as Sobel does, you really have to hope Ryan Ballengee's idea takes off.]

[Update 2 (8:16 am): Who needs GC when you have Seoul Sisters.com? IceCat followed Ai-chan and Angela Park for the front on Saturday (watching the former miss an excruciating number of short putts) and has the play-by-play on the Webb-Shin showdown!]

[Update 3 (9:52 am): Here's Hound Dog's epilogue. And his idea (which Ryan in the link above builds on) for a bloggers' answer to the AP.]

[Update 4 (3/31/09, 4:44 am): Speaking of Waggle Room, Ryan Ballengee also pursues the Webb-Dangerfield connection.]

[Update 5 (4:448 am): I'll forgive Daniel Wexler his Shakespeare heresy b/c he gets Webb's win and the upcoming KNC so right!]

[Update 6 (4/1/09, 6:42 am): Just catching up with Shane Bacon's excellent caddie tales from Papago (he looped for Erica Blasberg and learned a lot).]

Mr. Jero Goes to Washington

For the DC Cherry Blossom Festival, of course:

J Golf Phoenix International Saturday: Webb Catches Kim, Shin Leapfrogs Both

Playing with the 1st- and 2nd-round leader and #3-ranked Junior Mint In-Kyung Kim, Hall of Famer Karrie Webb did just what she needed to do yesterday in the J Golf Phoenix International, breaking 70 for the 2nd day in a row and catching Kim (who struggled early on the back after twice getting to -10 on the front) with back-to-back walk-off birdies. But Rookie of the Year--and to some, Player of the Year--favorite Ji-Yai Shin made the biggest move of moving day, throwing down 7 birdies on her way to a Papago-record 66 that vaulted her to -10, 1 shot ahead of both Kim and Webb. Beth Daniel's favorite, Suzann Pettersen, failed to break 70 for the 1st time this week, but bounced back from an early double bogey with an eagle on the 10th and birdie on the 18th to pull within 2 of Shin. Eun-Hee Ji's road to her 70 was a little less hilly, but her mistakes put her 3 back. Meanwhile, Brittany Lang and Ya Ni Tseng also made big moves on moving day with matching 67s, the former with 3 birdies in both her 1st 6 holes and last 4 that brought her to -6, the latter with a birdie-par-birdie-eagle run on the front that helped her get to -5, tied with the steady Ai Miyazato and Angela Park, both of whom are so due to go low on a Sunday.

So Shin has a bunch of fantastic golfers looking to chase her down and pass her like every other leader going into a final round on the LPGA has been in '09. Sunday marks at least the third time Shin and Webb have put themselves in position for a final-round showndown, including last year's ADT Championship and Australian Women's Open, although this is the 1st time they're together in the final pairing. Who among the players within 6 of Shin will walk away with a win?

Start Time: 11:41 AM
Cristie Kerr
Song-Hee Kim

Start Time: 11:49 AM
Angela Park
Na On Min

Start Time: 11:57 AM
Ya Ni Tseng
Ai Miyazato

Start Time: 12:05 PM
Eun-Hee Ji
Brittany Lang

Start Time: 12:13 PM
In-Kyung Kim
Suzann Pettersen

Start Time: 12:21 PM
Ji-Yai Shin
Karrie Webb

I'm rooting for Ai-chan and In-Kyung! I think 7, 8, or 9 strokes back is too much ground to make up, even for Angela Stanford, Lorena Ochoa, and Jee Young Lee, respectively, but if anyone in the world of women's golf can do it, they can.

I'm off to read LPGA.com's notes and interviews before steeling myself for the AP and Golf Channel. Wish Hound Dog had posted already to help give me strength. Back in a minute!

[Update 1 (3:00 am): How good were Shin's 66 and Tseng and Lang's 67s? Here's what Webb had to say about the pin positions: "Where the pin positions were, it was hard to get it real close to have decent birdie putts."]

[Update 2 (3:03 am): OK, I'll go easy on Pettersen from here on out this week. She's fighting tendonitis in her knee.]

[Update 3 (3:06 am): It was kind of the AP writer not to note that Michelle Wie got beat by Morgan Pressel by 4 shots. Let's see if GC mentions it.]

[Update 4 (3:09 am): Nice job by Beth Ann Baldry calling Shin's moving day fireworks. OK, on to GC.]

[Update 5 (3:18 am): Golf Channel wasn't as terrible as they'd been the previous 2 days. Didn't even exploit the Pressel-Wie mini-showdown. Good taste!]

[Update 6 (3:33 am): Check out on-course blogging from Cactus Dave and the usual suspects at Seoul Sisters.com.]

[Update 7 (8:46 am): Here's Hound Dog!]

J Golf Phoenix International Friday: Kim Leads Webb and Pettersen

Even with calmer conditions today at the J Golf Phoenix International, the best score of the day was Angela Stanford's 67. But breaking 70 for the 2nd straight day were 1st-round leader In-Kyung Kim and Suzann Pettersen, who moved to -8 and -6 respectively. Only Karrie Webb could manage to join Pettersen 2 shots behind the leader. But Kim's classmates Song-Hee Kim and Eun-Hee Ji are only 3 back, while Ji-Yai Shin joins Stanford 4 behind the leader.

In fact, most of the hottest players in the world of women's professional golf can be found in the top 25. Even Lorena Ochoa, Ya Ni Tseng, Se Ri Pak, and Hee-Won Han, who have shot nothing but 72s between them, still have a chance to get right back into contention tomorrow. But many players will be unable to take advantage of moving day, having either failed to start (Creamer), withdrawn (Grace, Gulbis, Jo, Kang, Ellis), or missed the cut (Stacy Lewis, So Yeon Ryu, Anja Monke, and Mika Miyazato barely; Jane Park, Seon Hwa Lee, Momoko Ueda, Karen Stupples, Vicky Hurst, and Johanna Mundy by a handful of shots or less; Mi Hyun Kim, Carlota Ciganda, and Shiho Oyama by a lot). Staying alive today were Moira Dunn, Morgan Pressel, and Michelle Wie, among the 12 players who made the cut on the dot at +5; Pat Hurst, Laura Davies, and Brittany Lincicome (+4, T49); and Katherine Hull, Christina Kim, and Amy Yang (+3, T42).

Pettersen has the best explanation of why scores were still so high at Papago today:

Q. The scores still aren't particularly low, even with lower wind. Is the play around the greens, is that's what is causing the difficulty?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: I think the hardness of the greens is what is protecting this golf course. It's very, very hard to play full yardage to the pin. You have pretty much got to allow the ball to, even for like a full seven iron, to release like 15. So you are pretty much looking at front edge on a lot of the greens. And like I say, you have got to make sure you have got good angles and you have got to miss in the right place. These greens, there's hardly any grass on them, and the grass that's on it is quite dead and fairly new, so it's not holding the ball. So that's kind of what probably makes this a bit tough.

Under conditions like these, length can make a big difference among those who are doing everything else comparably well--better to have a more lofted club in your hands than a less-lofted one. But Kim made 2 of her last 3 birdies of the day with fairway woods for approach shots, so it's not like the precision players have no hope heading into the weekend. I'm hoping that Ai Miyazato's best rounds are still to come this weekend. Even though she continues to make lots of birdies, she's still having trouble breaking 70. But if the leaders falter and she simply continues her solid play, she'd be in perfect position for her 1st LPGA win come Sunday.

Once again, I'll leave you with the typically weak Golf Channel wrap-up coverage. I wonder if the Wie interview would have been twice as long as the highlights (half of which were on her, anyway) if she had missed the cut? I would love to see In-Kyung Kim prove Beth Daniel wrong over the weekend! Go, Inky!

[Update 1 (3/28/09, 12:12 am): At least Dan Bickley figured out how to make the obligatory Wie piece somewhat interesting. Being regularly outdriven by Vicky Hurst, who's...shorter than Wie...hmmm. Maybe "marginally more interesting than GC highlights" is the best I can say for this piece.]

[Update 2 (12:15 am): Tim Tyers at least seems to know who is who on tour. Nice job on Stanford's round and Ammaccapane's retirement (Danielle, whose daughter's a movie star!).]

[Update 3 (12:27 am): They're going out in pairs off #1 all day today! Guess who's playing together early on? Yup, Pressel and Wie! (I was kind of hoping for Jeehae Lee and Wie, but Jeehae got Moira instead.) You could have a spelling bee with the Dina Ammaccapane (who hasn't retired) and Stacy Prammanasudh pairing. Han/Ochoa, Pak/Tseng, Yoo/Lang, and Kerr/Choi are all fascinating, and the leading pairings are of course impressive, as well:

Start Time: 12:12 PM
Ji-Yai Shin
Sophie Gustafson

Start Time: 12:20 PM
Eun-Hee Ji
Angela Stanford

Start Time: 12:28 PM
Suzann Pettersen
Song-Hee Kim

Start Time: 12:36 PM
In-Kyung Kim
Karrie Webb

But if I were in Phoenix, I'd follow Angela Park and Ai-chan right before them.]

J Golf Phoenix International Thursday: Papago More Than Holds Its Own

Just a feeling from looking over the leaderboard after the 1st round of the J Golf Phoenix International, but I have to believe many pros are going to miss Superstition Mountain, particularly the ease with which low scores had a tendency to go zinging around it. Not to say that many won't go low the rest of the week, but when the low score is In-Kyung Kim's 68, only 5 other players broke 70, only 20 went under par, and only 67 broke 75, the best thing that can be said about Papago is that it seems to present a major-level test of your game, which makes it a great lead-in to the LPGA's 1st major, the Kraft Nabisco Championship, next week. Of course, as LPGA.com points out, afternoon winds in the range of 25-30 mph, with gusts over 40 mph, had a lot to do with the high scoring, which explains why Cristie Kerr needed a couple of eagles just to break 70 and only 4 other players who went out in the afternoon pairings got and stayed under par.

Moreover, given the number of birdies and eagles scored on the 18th hole (which usually plays as the 9th for the general public) and forecasts for less wind, there's great opportunity for better scoring today and high drama down the stretch on Sunday. Plus, who doesn't love to see elevation-, wind-, and dryness-aided driving distances like Michelle Wie's 316.5 yards, Ya Ni Tseng's 309.5, Lorena Ochoa's 308, Vicky Hurst's 307.5, Se Ri Pak's 301.5, Carlota Ciganda's 300, Pat Hurst's 299.5, Shanshan Feng's 299, Brittany Lincicome's 297, and Sun Young Yoo's 294.5? (Never mind that many of them struggled mightily with seemingly every other part of their games yesterday.) Best of all, I love that the leaderboard is nevertheless dominated for the most part by precision players, short game specialists, and great putters. Ji-Yai Shin turned up her game as the wind began to blow harder, finishing birdie-birdie-eagle for her 69. Eun-Hee Ji was -4 and bogey-free through 12, but needed a final-hole birdie for her 69 after making back-to-back bogeys mid-way through the back. Inbee Park birdied 2 of her last 4 holes for her 1st sub-70 competitive round since November and only her 5th since she won the U.S. Women's Open (in final-round wind, you'll recall). In fact, the lone power player under 70, Suzann Pettersen, only hit 10 greens and scrambled her way around the course with only 26 putts. What makes the lst 2 so impressive is that they, like Kerr, did it in the afternoon's high winds.

Because the leaders didn't go low, anyone who kept it respectable yesterday is still very much in the game. Angela Park, Song-Hee Kim, and Karrie Webb are looking very dangerous after their 70s, Ai Miyazato had yet another round where she played better than she scored after making 33 putts on her way to a 71 (those 3 birdies in a row she made as she made the turn are encouraging!), and there's a logjam at 72 that includes Ochoa, Tseng, Pak, Laura Davies, Hee-Won Han, Jee Young Lee, Christina Kim, Amy Yang, Natalie Gulbis, and Candie Kung. Not at all out of it yet are Wie, Yoo, Angela Stanford, Brittany Lang, Stacy Prammanasudh, and Juli Inkster at 73, Na Yeon Choi, Jane Park, Morgan Pressel, Teresa Lu, and Helen Alfredsson at 74, and even Katherine Hull, Hee Young Park, and Sarah Lee at 75. Heck, I'm not putting a win out of reach for the Hurst twins (joke!) at 76, Mi Hyun Kim and Seon Hwa Lee at 78, or even Momoko Ueda and So Yeon Ryu at 79, provided they can bounce back in a big way in better conditions today and make the cut.

I'll leave you with Golf Channel highlights for now.

[Update 1 (2:18 am): OK, can I just say that after a decent preview--why not focus on Ochoa and Wie, after all?--I'm incredibly disappointed that GC never even showed or mentioned anyone else in their highlight reel? I know your new contract doesn't start until next year, guys, but please try just a little bit harder as the week goes on, ok?]

[Update 2 (2:36 am): Oh, and for anyone coming trying to figure out why Paula Creamer didn't start and Grace Park WDed, don't ask me. Bob Baum's AP story has nothing substantive on them, John Davis doesn't even mention them, and the Seoul Sisters.com crew has only found out about Park WDing to protect her back--oh, and the teeny tiny, almost insignificant, FANTASTIC news that Mi Hyun Kim is expecting!! On a related note, here's hoping that Momo-chan shows Annika's caddie what she's made of over the course of her tryout with him.]

[Update 3 (2:54 am): Don't get your hopes up when you see that Ryan Reiterman live-blogged round 1. It's just a list of Wie's hole-by-hole results, with no details of any kind. Have to suspect he wasn't there.]

[Update 4 (2:56 am): The LPGA Insider is pretty flat, as usual, but at least there's a there there.]

[Update 5 (7:33 am): Hound Dog points out that it was Kerr, Park, and Pettersen from the afternoon groups who broke 70. I added a sentence to the end of my 2nd paragraph above giving the latter 2 credit for doing this. Thanks, HD!]

[Update 6 (3/27/09, 11:46 pm): Nice to see the Golf Girl doing some LPGA blogging!]

J Golf Phoenix LPGA International Preview/Predictions/Pairings

As Hound Dog emphasizes, the J Golf Phoenix LPGA International has a major-quality field, but even though the LPGA has competed in Phoenix since 1980, they've moved to a new course that has just completed renovations (Hound Dog links to a caddie who thinks Papago will play easy; local journalist Bill Huffman thinks it'll play tough). So take Golf Observer's historical stats and Ochoa's domination last year with a big grain of salt if you're playing this week's Pakpicker over at Seoul Sisters.com. Me, I'm basically going with my hot list, with some adjustments based on who I think will adjust best to the new track. Of course, Hound Dog's been kicking my butt all winter in the Pakpicker, so take my predictions with an even bigger grain of salt!

1. Ochoa
2. Stanford
3. Lee Jee Young
4. Tseng
5. Choi Na Yeon
6. Kerr
7. Lang
8. Ji
9. Shin
10. Wie
11. Pettersen
12. Creamer

Alts: Hull, Kim Song-Hee, Yoo

It would be nice to know who have been the best ballstrikers on tour this season, but the LPGA's key performance stats were not kept in Mexico, just as they weren't in Asia. So this is a bit more guesswork than I usually like to be making. Still, the LPGA is back in the States and winter is over, so I'm hoping my luck will turn over a new leaf. (At the same time, I'd love to see Moira Dunn, Ai Miyazato, Seon Hwa Lee, and In-Kyung Kim make me pay for leaving them off my list!)

In any case, the pairings for the first 2 rounds are up, and once again, they are a treat. I'm not even going to try to rank the prime-time quadrants. Just check out the front-side morning groups for Thursday's round:

Start Time: 8:07 AM
Ji-Yai Shin
Eun-Hee Ji
Angela Park

Start Time: 8:18 AM
Laura Davies
Hee-Won Han
Na Yeon Choi

Start Time: 8:29 AM
Sophie Gustafson
Brandie Burton
Laura Diaz

Start Time: 8:40 AM
Wendy Ward
Teresa Lu
Meaghan Francella

Start Time: 8:51 AM
Ji Young Oh
Silvia Cavalleri
Helen Alfredsson

Yeah, it's a little vet-heavy at the bottom for my taste, but these vets got game. Compare their counterparts in the back-side morning pairings and you'll see what I mean about how hard it is to say one set is better than another:

Start Time: 8:07 AM
Young Kim
In-Kyung Kim
Song-Hee Kim

Start Time: 8:18 AM
Stacy Prammanasudh
Candie Kung
Louise Friberg

Start Time: 8:29 AM
Karrie Webb
Carin Koch
Angela Stanford

Start Time: 8:40 AM
Paula Creamer
Juli Inkster
Natalie Gulbis

Start Time: 8:51 AM
Christina Kim
Grace Park
Morgan Pressel

OK, maybe you could make a case that there are more players among those going off the back with a legitimate shot at winning the tournament and fewer in danger of missing the cut, but you'd have to work really hard to convince me.

Now check out the front-side afternoon pairings:

Start Time: 11:45 AM
Jane Park
Brittany Lang
Liselotte Neumann

Start Time: 11:56 AM
Leta Lindley
Katherine Hull
Cristie Kerr

Start Time: 12:07 PM
Se Ri Pak
Hee Young Park
Seon Hwa Lee

Start Time: 12:18 PM
Sun Young Yoo
Meena Lee
Momoko Ueda

Start Time: 12:29 PM
Lorena Ochoa
Suzann Pettersen
Pat Hurst

Wow! But check out their counterparts going off the back:

Start Time: 11:45 AM
Lindsey Wright
Ya Ni Tseng
Karen Stupples

Start Time: 11:56 AM
Lorie Kane
Brittany Lincicome
Jee Young Lee

Start Time: 12:07 PM
Rachel Hetherington
Michelle Ellis
Inbee Park

Start Time: 12:18 PM
Nicole Castrale
Minea Blomqvist
Giulia Sergas

Start Time: 12:29 PM
Michele Redman
Shanshan Feng
Mi Hyun Kim

Even with vets struggling to find their top games, 2 legitimately slumping younger players, and others who haven't been playing quite up to their potential lately, any quadrant with Ya Ni Tseng and Jee Young Lee in it has a lot going for it.

But to get a true sense of the strength of the field, consider who'll need to earn their way into the prime-time weekend pairings. Off the 1st tee, we have Futures Tour playoff-loser Song Yi Choi (7:01 am), Europe's hottest golfer Anja Monke (7:12 am), American rookies Michelle Wie (who's featured in the 1st pre-tournament interview) and Vicky Hurst, playing with NCAA superstar Carlota Ciganda (12:40 pm), sponsor exemption and KLPGA Super Soph So Yeon Ryu (1:02 pm), American rookie Stacy Lewis (1:24 pm), Australian media magnet Anna Rawson (1:35 pm), and 11-time JLPGA winner Shiho Oyama (1:46 pm). Off the 10th tee, we have Japanese rookie Mika Miyazato (7:12 am), LPGA Super Soph Amy Yang (7:23 am), LPGA Senior Standout Ai Miyazato (7:45 am), and Euro-star Johanna Mundy (1:46 pm).

This should be an exciting week! If Pat Hurst can come out of nowhere and beat a relatively strong field in Mexico, who says someone else can't do the same to a much stronger field in Phoenix?

Atsui, Samui, Daijo Bu: Spring Break Edition

Ignoring all State Department warnings, the LPGA went to Mexico for spring break. Fortunately, the only carnage was caused by Bosque Real's hilly layout. So who's returning to the States with a great tan (atsui), a bad hangover (samui), and some nice souvenirs (daijo bu)?

Atsui

1. Angela Stanford: Tops on the hot list is someone who decided to stay home and study rather than going out and partying. Stanford's 3 wins highlighting her 9-event top 10 streak still make her the hottest player in the world of women's golf in my book. She's gotta keep it going in Phoenix if she wants to stay #1, though.

2. Lorena Ochoa: Despite her win in Thailand, she's going to need to find another gear if she wants to outdo her start to the 2008 season, when she won 6 of her 1st 9 events. By normal standards, she's plenty hot lately, with 2 wins, 7 top 5s, and 9 top 10s in her last 13 starts, but that's only ho-hum for Super Ochoa. A great 1st round and final 7 holes (in which she made 4 birdies) were not enough to offset a bad stretch in the middle of the MasterCard Classic or chase down Pat Hurst.

3. Cristie Kerr: Her hot streak dates back to last May, for in her last 21 tournaments, she's only finished outside the top 20 twice (her worst being a T34 in China), while garnering 11 top 10s, including a win, a runner-up, and yesterday's 5th-place finish.

4. Ji-Yai Shin: Lackluster performance in Mexico was a disappointing follow-up to Thailand, where she came from behind for her 4th win in her 8 previous LPGA starts. Hopefully just a blip.

5. Paula Creamer: Once again, Mexico was cruel to her. But she would have been in contention for yet another top 20 if she hadn't suffered a walk-off snowman on Saturday.

Honorable Mention:

Katherine Hull: A missed cut at Bosque Real?! What's up with that?

Ya Ni Tseng: Yup, I invoked the Mostly Harmless jinx just by drafting the following before the MasterCard Classic was finished: "Yup, we have a new #3! That 2nd career win was a long time coming for Tseng, but no doubt it was well worth the wait--and sweet vindication for a Super Soph who let her 1st career win slip through her fingers in her final round at Bosque Real last season. It gives her her 2nd top 5 and 3rd top 10 of 2009, not to mention her 6th-straight top 20." Still, yet another runner-up for Tseng is nothing to sneeze at. Oh, and by the way, for what it's worth, Jason Sobel may have jinxed Tseng, too.

Angela Park: With 2 top 3s in her 1st 3 official starts on the LPGA in '09 and 3 top 10s in her last 4, taking the week off didn't hurt her standing on the hot list all that much.

Jee Young Lee: Started a new top 10 streak in Mexico (after having a 6-event streak broken in Thailand) and brought her top 20 streak to 9 events (following up on an earlier streak where she had 8 top 20s in 12 starts). Watch out for her in Phoenix! I know, different course this time around, but still....

Eun-Hee Ji: Her T9 gives her 2 top 10s in 4 events this season and top 20s in her last 6 starts.

Na Yeon Choi: Struggled mightily Sunday with the co-leader target on her back, but still managed to hang on for her 2nd top 10 of '09.

Brittany Lang: Started a new top-20 streak in Mexico.

Sun Young Yoo. Struggled on Sunday and fumbled a chance for her 5th top 10 in her last 9 starts.

Jane Park: Even with a disappointing Sunday in Mexico, she still has 2 top 10s and hasn't finished outside the top 30 in '09.

Samui

1. Julieta Granada: Another badly missed cut for her, this time in Mexico.

2. Inbee Park: Ditto.

3. Brittany Lincicome: 81-68-76 in Mexico. At least she made the cut.

4. Shiho Oyama: Made the cut in Mexico, but couldn't follow up on a great 1st round.

5. Ashleigh Simon: Skipped Mexico and is not listed in the Phoenix field--must be resting that back injury.

Dishonorable Mention: Na On Min's disappointing tenure as a full-time member of the LPGA continued this week. At least she made the cut. But after 2 top 5s in her 1st 6 LPGA events (back in '07), she hadn't had a top 10 since. Minea Blomqvist is also off to an underwhelming start to the season. With her T50 in Mexico, she's now had 3 finishes outside the top 40 in her 1st 4 events of '09. She hasn't had an LPGA top 20 since the Women's British Open or a top 10 since the Ginn Open.

Daijo Bu

1. Song-Hee Kim: Birdies on 4 of her last 7 holes at Bosque Real boosted her to her 1st top 4 since the Samsung World Championship.

2. Suzann Pettersen: After a couple of un-Pettersen-like starts to the season, she's gotten a pair of top 20s in her last 2 starts, including a T6 in Mexico. And she still isn't playing all that well by her standards.

3. Seon Hwa Lee: Still playing inconsistently by her standards, but got her 2nd straight top 20 this past weekend in Mexico.

4. Se Ri Pak: Is Pak back? Despite a disappointing final 10 holes at Bosque Real, all signs point to "yes"!

T5. Meena Lee and Teresa Lu: Their solid play in '09 continued in Mexico, as each earned their 2nd top 20 of 2009.

Honorable Mention: Among the recovering Korean stars, Grace Park gave her fans some hope that she's back from her recurring back problems (despite that trio of doubles as she made the turn on Sunday), Mi Hyun Kim rested her knee, and Jeong Jang recently had wrist surgery. I'm sure Park and Kim would tell her not to rush her comeback!

[Update 1 (5:21 am): Bill Nichols has a Texas-sized profile of Stanford.]

[Update 2 (3/25/09, 11:20 am): Here's Hound Dog's latest LPGA hot list, a top 20 that's much better thought-out than mine.]

[Update 3 (11:35 am): Nice of Alan Shipnuck to mention both Hurst and Papago on his hot list.]

MasterCard Classic Sunday: Pat Hurst Beats Tseng and Ochoa with Walkoff Birdie

Once again, holding onto the lead proved impossible on the LPGA but not so much on the JLPGA. This time, it was Ya Ni Tseng who was the victim at the MasterCard Classic and Ayako Uehara the victor at the Yokohama PRGR Ladies Cup. True, Uehara never had to defend her 5-shot lead on Sunday--the final round was called off due to inclement weather--and Tseng had to try to hold off charges by Song-Hee Kim (4 birdies in her final 7 holes to get to -8), Lorena Ochoa (ditto to get to -9), and Pat Hurst (who twice bounced back from 2-shot deficits on the back 9 with 4 birdies in her last 8 holes). But Tseng definitely had her fate in her hands, with a 1-shot lead on Hurst and Ochoa heading into the final hole, a par 5 she had birdied on Friday and parred on Saturday. As LPGA.com and Hound Dog describe, however, Tseng was due for disappointment on her 2nd Sunday in a row at Bosque Real. A final-hole 3-putt from 30 feet opened the door for Hurst to avoid a playoff with Tseng and Ochoa (who had missed an eagle chance from roughly the same distance as Tseng's par-saver just minutes earlier), and she canned the 10-footer to get to -10 for the 1st time since she finished double bogey-bogey-bogey the day before. Whereas Tseng couldn't hang onto that elusive 2nd career win--yesterday was her 5th career 2nd-place finish and 3rd since winning the LPGA Championship--Hurst's pressure putt earned her the 6th win of her storied career and 1st since 2006.

As I predicted, there were lots of ups and downs all week at Bosque Real, and Sunday was no exception. Cristie Kerr, who fired the best round of the day yesterday, a 67, had to bounce back from a bogey late on each side. Eun-Hee Ji needed birdies on the last 2 holes (like Hurst and Ochoa) to fight back into the top 10. 2nd-round co-leader Na Yeon Choi, meanwhile, bogeyed more holes on Sunday than she had the previous 2 days combined, but was still able to hang on for a T6 finish. That's because many others plummeted out of contention. Suzann Pettersen was +2 over her final 5 holes, but at least she stayed in the top 10. Grace Park sandwiched a trio of double bogeys between pairs of birdies in the middle of her round to fall from -5 to +1 and bounce back to -1, T12 with Sun Young Yoo, whose Sunday struggles continued with a 75 yesterday. Se Ri Pak was +5 ver her final 10 holes to fall back to E and T16, while Jane Park and Brittany Lang made big numbers and multiple bogeys on their ways to 75s that dropped them all the way to +1 and T22.

So Tseng shouldn't feel too bad about her 70 yesterday. Expect her to bounce back fast next week. But Hurst's closing 68 is even more impressive in this context. Congrats to her, to Vicky Hurst (low rookie), and to Katie Futcher (whose 68 vaulted her into the top 10 for the 1st time since the State Farm Classic last July).

[Update 1 (12:45 pm): Here's Hound Dog's epilogue.]

[Update 2 (3/25/09, 12:49 am): Wouldn't it be cool if Hurst makes my pre-season comment look very good?]

Yokohama PRGR Ladies Cup Sunday: Uehara Wins 36-Hole Event

Bad weather forced tournament organizers to cancel the final round of the Yokohama PRGR Ladies Cup today, so Ayako Uehara is your 36-hole winner. She jumps to the head of the JLPGA money list:

1. Ayako Uehara ￥17.12M
2. Yuko Mitsuka ￥14.92M
3. Erina Hara ￥6.32M
4. Ah-Reum Hwang ￥5.71M
5. Midori Yoneyama ￥5.44M
6. Sakura Yokomine ￥5.24M
7. Miho Koga ￥4.63M
8. Mi-Jeong Jeon ￥4.11M
9. Bo-Bae Song, Hiromi Mogi, Tamie Durdin ￥3.44M

Futures Tour Link-o-Rama

Some great stories coming out of the 1st week of the Futures Tour's 2009 season. Kevin Minnick reported that Angela Oh was unable to afford the attempt to Monday-qualify in Mexico. Lisa Mickey profiled 1st-round leader Song-Yi Choi, who shot a 64 Thursday despite flying in late from a failed Monday-qualifier attempt (by 2 shots) in Mexico this week. Mickey struck again in her 2nd-round recap, giving as much attention to Nicole Hage and Alison Walshe as to Choi's struggles in the wind. The final-round pairings are very interesting, as well. There are only 2 threesomes within 5 shots of the lead, but another 13 within 10. And at this level, all kinds of Sunday numbers are not only possible, but plausible. If the Florida winds stay up, Winter Haven will be anything but for most of the field on the 3rd day of spring. Every day is a final exam on the FT, but this one should prove tougher than most.

[Update 1 (3/25/09, 12:31 am): Forgot to link the to final results. Heartbreaking playoff loss for Song Yi Choi, but great come-from-behind win for Jean Reynolds. Florida winds did end up playing havoc with scoring for most in the field, which makes the 69s by Ashley Prange and Dewi Claire Schreefel all the more impressive. Next up in early April is the iMPACT Invitational. Be there or I'll write a post in all caps except for 1st letters of each word!]

[Update 2 (3/27/09, 3:05 am): Beth Ann Baldry does a nice job with her FT coverage!]

MasterCard Classic Saturday: Rookie of the Year Race Reprise?

With Ya Ni Tseng and Na Yeon Choi tied for the lead at -7 after the 2nd round of the MasterCard Classic, 1st-round leader Lorena Ochoa wasn't talking so tough in her post-round interview this time around, as her 2-shot lead on Choi turned into a 1-shot deficit heading into the final round tomorrow. With the likes of Pat Hurst (1 down despite a double bogey-bogey-bogey finish), Se Ri Pak (2 down after a 31 on the back), and Grace Park (3 back despite making 2 bogeys on the back) very much in the hunt--not to mention Song-Hee Kim, Sun Young Yoo, and Suzann Pettersen--anything can happen tomorrow.

And that includes huge numbers from the lead pack and a huge charge from behind like we saw last year. So don't count out Jane Park (who made 3 birdies in her last 7 holes to pull within 5 of the lead), Eun-Hee Ji (who shot a bogey-free 68 to pull within 5 of the lead), Brittany Lang (who bogeyed 3 of her final 5 holes to fall 5 back), Jee Young Lee (wh shot a 33 on the back to draw within 6 of the lead), and Seon Hwa Lee (who settled for 12 straight pars after a double bogey on the par-5 6th dropped her to -1). All of these players have gone low on Sundays past.

In fact, even Cristie Kerr (72, E, T19), Vicky Hurst (73, +1, T25), and Johanna Mundy (76, +2, T30) could pull a Louise Friberg tomorrow and find herself in the winner's circle. The same can't be said for Friberg herself, who missed the cut badly, but at least she was in good company. Katherine Hull, Karen Stupples, Helen Alfredsson, Stacy Lewis, Christina Kim, Inbee Park, Julieta Granada, and Sarah Lee couldn't make it to +6. Neither could Hee Young Park, who followed up her 1st-round 69 with an 87 today. Or Liselotte Neumann, who went 70-81. So when you take into account that Shiho Oyama (69-78), Natalie Gulbis (70-78), and Mika Miyazato (70-78), barely held on to make the cut--and that Brittany Lincicome went 81-68--it looks like Sunday's round should showcase some of the severest ups and downs on tour all season.

[Update 1 (11:24 pm): Here's Hound Dog's 2nd-round recap.]

[Update 2 (3/22/09, 12:33 am): Get a load of the final-round pairings!

Start Time: 10:45 AM
Eun-Hee Ji
Jane Park
Brittany Lang

Start Time: 10:55 AM
Sun Young Yoo
Suzann Pettersen
Grace Park

Start Time: 11:05 AM
Lorena Ochoa
Song-Hee Kim
Se Ri Pak

Start Time: 11:15 AM
Ya Ni Tseng
Na Yeon Choi
Pat Hurst

And that's just the last 4 groups! Earlier, Oyama is paired with Creamer, Miyazato with Gulbis, and Uribe with Vicky Hurst. And check out the "avoid-last-place" trio of Han, Bae, and Blomqvist. Wow!]

Yokohama PRGR Ladies Cup Saturday: Uehara Maintains 5-Shot Lead

It wasn't pretty, but a walk-off birdie preserved Ayako Uehara's 5-shot lead from the 1st round of the Yokohama PRGR Ladies Cup. Actually, the main reasons her 71 didn't hurt her were Yayoi Arasaki's bogey-bogey finish and Midori Yoneyama's inability to follow through on her front-side 32. Still, with the likes of Miho Koga, Sakura Yokomine, and Ji-Hee Lee within striking distance and high scores aplenty over the 1st 36 holes from most of the field, Uehara can't rest easy heading into Sunday's final round.

1st/-9 Ayako Uehara (64-71)
T2/-4 Midori Yoneyama (72-68), Ah-Reum Hwang (70-70)
T4/-3 Miho Koga (73-68), Yayoi Arasaki (69-72)
T6/-2 Sakura Yokomine (74-68), Mika Takushima (74-68), Ji-Hee Lee (71-71), Shinobu Moromizato (71-71), Kaori Aoyama (71-71)

Eun-A Lim and Akiko Fukushima made great comebacks today, but will still need to play well tomorrow to end the tournament under par.

T11/-1 Yuko Saitoh (73-70)
T13/E Mayu Hattori (74-70), Namika Omata (72-72), Mayumi Nakajima (72-72)
T16/+1 Eun-A Lim (76-69), Michiko Hattori (74-71), Rui Yokomine (74-71), Mi-Jeong Jeon (73-72), So-Hee Kim (73-72), Hyun-Ju Shin (72-73)
T22/+2 Yukari Baba (76-70), Yuko Mitsuka (74-72), Miki Saiki (74-72), Rui Kitada (74-72)
T28/+3 Mie Nakata (76-71), Nikki Campbell (76-71), Woo-Soon Ko (75-72), Saiki Fujita (74-73)
T38/+4 Akiko Fukushima (80-68), Hiroko Yamaguchi (78-70)
T45/+5 Ji-Woo Lee (77-72), Yuki Ichinose (75-74), Ritsuko Ryu (72-77)

Missing the cut were a host of established stars and young guns:

T55/+6 Akane Iijima (78-72), Erina Hara (77-73), Maiko Wakabayashi (77-73)
T62/+7 Chie Arimura (78-73), Hiromi Mogi (76-75), Esther Lee (75-76)
T70/+8 Yuri Fudoh (79-73), Rikako Morita (75-77)
T79/+9 Tamie Durdin (77-76), Yuki Sakurai (76-77)
T97/+12 Kumiko Kaneda (83-73), Sakurako Mori (79-77)
105th/+15 Kaori Higo (80-79)

Looks like Ai Miyazato and Momoko Ueda made the right call to rest before playing in Phoenix on the LPGA next week, rather than go through the pressure cookers of Shikoku and Mexico!

MasterCard Classic Friday: Ochoa's Tournament-Record-Tying 65 Gives Her 2-Shot Lead

If I were Lorena Ochoa, I'd be saying exactly what she said in the 1st-round interview for the MasterCard Classic. Sure, she got the bad-1st-round monkey at Bosque Real off her back in a big way--not only had she never broken 70 to start this event, her best round in it before her scintillating 65 today had been 68, too--but she's only 2-up on Na Yeon Choi and 3-up on Ya Ni Tseng and Brittany Lang (and Pat Hurst). This trio ranks among the hottest players on the planet right now and it's been very difficult to hold a lead on the LPGA. So what is the world #1 to do?

There are two more days to play. Anything can happen. I will play tomorrow as if I were three strokes behind, looking for the first place. I’ll go out 100 percent concentrated and calm. I am convinced that being conservative can be a huge mistake.

Yup, she's upping the ante, reminding everyone on tour that her mindset is to go low every round. Can the Young Guns in the lead chase pack keep up? What about rookies Shiho Oyama (69, T6) and Mika Miyazato (70, T12), who had to be feeling pretty good about their 1st career rounds at Bosque Real? How about Suzann Pettersen, Seon Hwa Lee, Hee Young Park, Ji Young Oh, and Grace Park, who joined Oyama at -3? And even more to the point, can other hot golfers like Ji-Yai Shin (74, T50), Katherine Hull (77, T96), Paula Creamer (73, T37), Cristie Kerr (72, T26), Jee Young Lee (73, T37), Jane Park (71, T23), Sun Young Yoo (70, T12), and Eun-Hee Ji (74, T50) shake off the doldrums, put the pedal to the metal, and get themselves back into contention with a mid-60s round or 2 of their own this weekend? Knowing Ochoa is looking to get double digits under par after 2 rounds makes it all the more difficult to do that.

Still, as Hound Dog points out, there are many big numbers out there at Bosque Real, along with the birdies and eagles. More on this theme soon.

[Update 1 (3/21/09, 11:20 pm): Never got a chance to update this post like I planned, and ESPN Deportes is being stingy with the 1st-round highlights this year. Instead of showing huge chunks of their coverage online, this time around they're only showing Ocha highlights so far.]

Yokohama PRGR Ladies Cup Friday: Uehara Opens Up a 5-Shot Lead after Opening with a 64

Ayako Uehara passed up a good chance to steal a victory away from Yuko Mitsuka in the JLPGA's opening event a couple of weeks ago in Okinawa, but she's put herself in the driver's seat this week in Shikoku at the Yokohama PRGR Ladies, thanks to a stretch where she made 8 birdies in 11 holes on her way to a bogey-free 64 and a 5-shot lead on Yayoi Arasaki. She won't have to worry about defending champion Ji-Yai Shin, who beat Sakura Yokomine in a playoff, thanks mostly to Yokomine's yips down the stretch--Shin's playing in the LPGA's MasterCard Classic this week. And it appears Uehara won't have to worry much about Yokomine, either, as she's opened up a 10-shot lead on her as they head into the weekend. More of a threat is the JLPGA's top golfer of 2008, Ji-Hee Lee, who was in contention here last year until a final-round 77 knocked her back into a tie for 4th with Miho Koga. But a 7-shot deficit is a lot to make up in 36 holes.

Still, given how high the scoring was today and has been in the recent past (only 3 players ended last year's tournament under par), anything can happen this weekend. Take a look at the top 10 and notables:

1st/-8 Ayako Uehara (64)
2nd/-3 Yayoi Arasaki (69)
3rd/-2 Ah-Reum Hwang (70)
T4/-1 Ji-Hee Lee, Shinobu Moromizato, Kaori Aoyama (71)
T7/E Hyun-Ju Shin, Midori Yoneyama, Ritsuko Ryu, Namika Omata, Mayumi Nakajima, Toshimi Kimura (72)

T13/+1 Miho Koga, Mi-Jeong Jeon, Yuko Saitoh, So-Hee Kim (73)
T19/+2 Sakura Yokomine, Yuko Mitsuka, Mayu Hattori, Miki Saiki, Saiki Fujita, Rui Kitada, Michiko Hattori, Rui Yokomine (74)
T35/+3 Woo-Soon Ko, Esther Lee, Yuki Ichinose, Rikako Morita (75)
T48/+4 Eun-A Lim, Hiromi Mogi, Mie Nakata, Yukari Baba, Nikki Campbell, Yuki Sakurai (76)
T64/+5 Erina Hara, Ji-Woo Lee, Maiko Wakabayashi, Tamie Durdin (77)
T72/+6 Hiroko Yamaguchi, Chie Arimura, Akane Iijima (78)
T84/+7 Yuri Fudoh, Sakurako Mori (79)
T94/+8 Akiko Fukushima, Kaori Higo (80)
106th/+11 Kumiko Kaneda (83)

It looks to me like there were at least as many double bogeys made today as birdies. I have to assume the weather was bad, but all I can tell from the Weather Channel is that some very high-top clouds blew quickly over Shikoku during the day, so let's say it was windy and rainy. Hopefully conditions will be nicer over the weekend!

State Farm on NBC, CWO on CBC: LPGA Network TV Deal Prospects?

Dave Kane reports that NBC will be covering the weekend play at the LPGA's State Farm Classic in early June--a nice follow-up to CBC's announcement that they'll be airing the Canadian Women's Open for the next 3 years, starting this September. Can a network TV deal for the LPGA for 2010-2015 be too far away?

MasterCard Classic Pairings

Picking up where I left off yesterday in my MasterCard Classic preview, I'll be focusing on the pairings today. But first a note on the pre-tournament interview with Ji-Yai Shin. Here's the money quote for me (even more important than the news that the 2nd-hottest golfer on the planet and hottest player in the field is still homeless and that she still considers $6000 a lot of money):

Q. Did you change anything with your game during the off-season?
JI-YAI SHIN: I tried getting more distance with my driver, so I tried more training. But my friends say don’t do that because many players try to get more distance, but make more mistakes. So, I tried not to change. I tried more of the same, like last year. Last year, I was very successful--I had three victories--so I tried to stay the same.

I wish more players (not just Morgan Pressel) would take Shin's decision to heart. Improved fitness and increased strength is great for everyone--and of course your swing changes as your body changes--but unless your name is Tiger Woods, reengineering the swing that got you to the top tour in the world is a very risky proposition. And Tiger wasn't even trying to find more distance the times he did it. Remember, Annika Sorenstam went from being an average to a long hitter over the course of several seasons, but never at a cost to her accuracy. If you're a precision player, accept it. The LPGA is a long way away from trying to "Wie-proof" course set-ups. Getting better at the 100 yards and in game is always a good investment and most often a better one than trying to gain a few more yards with each club. Just ask Lorena Ochoa.

OK, back to the pairings. The tournament organizers certainly have a sense of drama, pairing Futures Tour rivals Vicky Hurst and M.J. Hur off the 1st tee at 7:50 am (not to mention Marisa Baena and Maria Jose Uribe off the 10th at the same time). It carries over to their prime-time pairings, such as the back-side early morning quadrant that may well be the strongest of them all:

Start Time: 8:00 AM
Inbee Park
Cristie Kerr
Jane Park

Start Time: 8:10 AM
Katie Futcher
Ji-Yai Shin
Il Mi Chung

Start Time: 8:20 AM
Song-Hee Kim
Heather Young
Karine Icher

Start Time: 8:30 AM
Natalie Gulbis
Brittany Lincicome
Christina Kim

Start Time: 8:40 AM
Suzann Pettersen
Kim Hall
Lindsey Wright

Those going off the front in the same time span can be counted on to disagree with my assessment, though:

Start Time: 8:00 AM
Stacy Prammanasudh
Lorie Kane
Janice Moodie

Start Time: 8:10 AM
Alena Sharp
Brittany Lang
Kristy McPherson

Start Time: 8:20 AM
Brandie Burton
Liselotte Neumann
Irene Cho

Start Time: 8:30 AM
Karen Stupples
Katherine Hull
Teresa Lu

Start Time: 8:40 AM
Louise Friberg
Lorena Ochoa
Hee-Won Han

Similarly, I have to rank the back-side mid-day quadrant ahead of their front-side counterparts:

Start Time: 11:30 AM
Young Kim
Meaghan Francella
H.J. Choi

Start Time: 11:40 AM
Laura Davies
Hee Young Park
Paula Creamer

Start Time: 11:50 AM
Na Yeon Choi
Sun Young Yoo
Helen Alfredsson

Start Time: 12:00 PM
Minea Blomqvist
Jee Young Lee
Diana D'Alessio

Start Time: 12:10 PM
Seon Hwa Lee
Candie Kung
Se Ri Pak

It's pretty close, though:

Start Time: 11:30 AM
Allison Fouch
Ya Ni Tseng
Jill McGill

Start Time: 11:40 AM
Giulia Sergas
Meena Lee
Michelle Ellis

Start Time: 11:50 AM
Grace Park
Shi Hyun Ahn
Eun-Hee Ji

Start Time: 12:00 PM
Sandra Gal
Becky Morgan
Silvia Cavalleri

Start Time: 12:10 PM
Michele Redman
Ji Young Oh
Pat Hurst

Looking beyond those whom the tournament organizers expect to see at the top of the leaderboard on Sunday, it'll be interesting to see how the SunCoast Series gang--Johanna Mundy, Kris Tamulis, M.J. Hur, Meredith Duncan, Moira Dunn, Jin Young Pak, Jeehae Lee, Taylor Leon, Lisa Strom, and Brittany Lincicome, who have been hanging out with many of their Futures Tour peers for much of the winter--will handle the tougher competition on the LPGA (recent winners Tamulis and Duncan will get to feed off each other's play Thursday; they start on the back at 12:30 pm). Same goes for the ALPG gang, although with the likes of Ji-Yai Shin, Katherine Hull, Ya Ni Tseng, and Laura Davies in their ranks (not to mention Karrie Webb, Rachel Hetherington, and Ai Miyazato, who are not playing this week), it's easy for Mollie Fankhauser, Sarah Jane Smith, Diana D'Alessio, Anna Rawson, Wendy Doolan, Michelle Ellis, Lorie Kane, Sarah Kemp, and Haeji Kang (the last 2 of whom Monday-qualified) to be overshadowed. Hey, taking the best 8 scores each day from each "team" (barring those in my projected top 12) would make a nice little match, especially if Kemp makes the field. Come to think of it, since Shi Hyun Ahn, Marisa Baena, Brandie Burton, Sophie Giquel, and Kris Tschetter are kicking off their 2009 seasons this week, the newbies can join in the fun, too, with their top 4 scores of the day. It'll be a great opportunity to see what kind of preparation for the LPGA works best for which players.

I'm hoping that Shiho Oyama benefits from the early starting time (7:00 am off #10 with Mika Miyazato and Jamie Hullett). She's been one of the fastest players on the JLPGA, so I'm curious to see how quickly that pairing moves with no one in front of them. I'm also curious to see how Sarah Lee (7:20 am off #10) does in her 2nd event of what will hopefully be her comeback season. And I'm also hoping fellow early bird Amy Yang (7:00 am off #1) plays fast and plays well. But most of all, I'm hoping that Moira Dunn plays great from the moment she leaves the 1st tee (with Anna Rawson and Becky Lucidi) at 12:30 pm to the time she steps off the 18th green. Go, Moira!

[Update 1 (3/20/09, 3:42 am): Here's some pre-tournament interviews from ESPN Deportes with Natalie Gulbis and Lorena Ochoa. Guess which one is in Spanish?]

MasterCard Classic Preview/Predictions

It seems like forever, but the LPGA will finally be in action again this week at the MasterCard Classic. As I've already explained why this year's event is likely to be so interesting, I'll simply provide the links to Hound Dog's preview, the field (which is stronger than the SBS Open's, according to Hound Dog), tournament history, site, Charlotte Mayorkas's 2007 blog, Louise Friberg's current blog, and the Seoul Sisters.com discussion forum...and move on to my predictions in this week's Pakpicker.

1. Shin
2. Jane Park
3. Ochoa
4. Hull
5. Tseng
6. Choi Na Yeon
7. Kerr
8. Creamer
9. Yang
10. Lee Seon Hwa
11. Lewis
12. Ji

Alts: Monke, Pettersen, Mundy

With a Friday start, the tournament organizers still haven't announced the pairings. More on them soon.

Hitchhiker's Guide to Mostly Harmless 2009 LPGA Previews

Doing my Futures Tour Preseason Top 50 post this past weekend made me realize I haven't made it easy to find all my LPGA preview posts from earlier this season. Without further ado, I'll attempt to remedy that.

2009 LPGA Prognostication Derby
Mostly Harmless Preseason Top 30
The Next 20
Sleepers and Wild Cards
Pre-Projection Angst
Call for Picks
Last Call for Picks

Generations, Classes, Players
Generational Overview
Clashes of the Titans
Battles of the Veteran Stars
Prime Time
Young Guns
New Blood
On the 2009 Rookie of the Year Race
On the Class of 2009
On the Classes of 2010 and Beyond
On Lorena Ochoa
On Ai Miyazato
On Momoko Ueda

Schedule Speculation
Predicting the 2009 LPGA Schedule
On the 2009 LPGA Schedule
On the 2009 JLPGA and LET Schedules
For Dual JLPGA/LPGA Members
On the Fall of the House of Ginn
On the Future of the LPGA [added 7/7/09]

2009 Futures Tour Preview: Mostly Harmless Preseason Top 50

Following up on a great preview by Lisa Mickey, I offer another Mostly Harmless preview of the 2009 Futures Tour season, which kicks off this week in Florida. This time I'm going out on a limb and trying to predict what the top 50 on their money list will look like at the end of the season.

1. Onnarin Sattayabanphot: This member of the LPGA's Class of 2008 will be playing full-time on the FT in 2009. I don't know why I'm so high on her for her to add to her 2007 FT win this season, but I am.
2. Mina Harigae: Having entered this week's event, she probably will be a fixture on the FT this season. Look for her to bounce back from a disappointing college career, but it may take her some time to adjust to professional life.
3. Alison Walshe: Tuned up on the ALPG this winter and had some very good rounds, but could only manage to place 49th on their money list due to playing in only 2 events. Going by her professional record to date, Walshe may find herself struggling to close the deal down the stretch this season like M.J. Hur did last one on the FT, but I'd be shocked if she didn't follow in Hur's footsteps and win high-priority status on the LPGA in '10.
4. Haeji Kang: #230 on the LPGA's priority status list, low among the Category 16 players who just missed the top 20 on the LPGA's Q-School last season, so look for her to rock the FT when she plays, which should be fairly often.
5. Pornanong Phatlum: This 4-time winner on the LAGT has been playing well this winter and practicing hard, so when she doesn't get into LPGA events, expect to see her winning on the FT in '09. Strangely enough, she shows up in neither the alternates list for Mexico nor the field for Florida. I guess that's what happens when you're #319 on the LPGA's priority status list....
6. Song Yi Choi: At the top of the LPGA's Category 17, she's #232 on the priority status list, thanks to her near-miss at a top 5 on the FT last season. I think it's going to be tough for her to avoid the same fate this season, particularly as she's focused on the LPGA so much. (Contrary to her rookie blog, however, she is playing in Florida, not Mexico, this week.)
7. Hannah Jun: The medalist from FT Q-School last season will be playing full-time here this season, so she has a great chance for a top 10.
8. Eunjung Yi: She's the highest-ranked member of the LPGA's Super Sophs on the FT this season, but with Category 15 status on the LPGA and at #152 on the priority status list, she should get into a decent number of events there. Case in point: she's playing in Mexico this week. If she plays as well on the LPGA as I expect her to, she may end up much lower on the FT list than this.
9. Emily Bastel: She's dominated the Futures Tour before, but will find it harder to do it this time around.
10. Sarah Kemp: Like Yi, she has Category 15 status on the LPGA, but will get into fewer events than her due to her #162 placement on the priority status list. Still, as I expect her to do well in those events, she, too, could end up much lower down the FT money list than this.
11. Hannah Yun: I don't think she's as ready for prime time as Harigae, but she's getting closer.
12. Liz Janangelo: She'll be playing full-time on the FT this season, but I just don't see it helping out this 2-time winner on tour all that much in her quest to return to the LPGA.
13. Kristie Smith: That 62 on the ALPG this winter shows what kind of talent she has. A 14th-place finish on their Order of Merit in only 4 events isn't too shabby, either, nor is her 29th-place finish on their overall money list.
14. Sophia Sheridan: At #234 on the LPGA's priority status list, she'll be playing quite often on the Futures Tour.
15. Jessica Shepley: At #233 on the LPGA's priority status list, she, too, will be playing quite often on the Futures Tour.
16. Pernilla Lindberg: After graduating from Oklahoma State, she should do very well on the FT, but will find it hard to make up for her limited schedule.
17. Taylor Leon: Got into the Mexico field this week on the LPGA, thanks to her Category 15 status and #156 placement on the priority status list, which helps explain why I'm not ranking her higher on this list.
18. Gerina Mendoza: Lisa Mickey is higher on her than I am.
19. Briana Vega: Dave Andrews is higher on her than I am.
20. Sara Brown: Golfgal is higher on her than I am.
21. Kate Golden: It'll be interesting to see how this LPGA vet in Category 15 stacks up against the up-and-coming players on the FT in '09.
22. Nontaya Srisawang: At #228 on the LPGA's priority status list in the middle of the Category 16 pack, she'll be spending plenty of time on the FT this season. But she's not starting the season this week in Florida.
23. Angela Oh: Mired in Category 20 on the LPGA at #323 on the priority status list, she, too, will be spending plenty of time on the FT this season.
24. Garrett Phillips: Just missing Category 20 status on the LPGA for '09 will turn out to be a blessing in disguise for this recent Georgia graduate, as it will allow her to focus completely on the FT this season.
25. Chris Brady: Made the cut in half her starts on her rookie season on the LPGA in '08, not that she had so many of them. I look for her to do much better on the FT this season than last.
26. Jane Chin: Look for her to do well on the FT after she graduates from UC Irvine, but probably won't be able to catch the top players on tour in her limited schedule.
27. Jennie Lee: Look for this former Curtis Cupper to play solidly on the FT after she graduates from Duke this spring, but like Lindberg and Chin, she'll have too much ground to make up to do more than gain some insurance in case LPGA Q-School doesn't go as planned.
28. Samantha Richdale: At #227 on the LPGA's priority status list, she'll be spending plenty of time on the FT this season.
29. Jessica Yadloczky: This Florida sophomore will continue to gain FT experience after the end of the spring NCAA schedule, but will find it hard to move up the "money list" (obviously, as an amateur, her winnings will be purely virtual, but my point is that those ahead of her are very good).
30. Virada Nirapathpongporn: I'm hoping this Senior Standout on the LPGA comes back from her shoulder surgery stronger than ever, but as of the LPGA's Thailand event she couldn't play more than 9 holes at a time.
31. Candy Hannemann: Did fairly well in Brazil this winter, so I'm surprised to see this LPGA vet skipping the FT's kickoff event this season.
32. Sarah Lynn Sargent: Another LPGA vet looking to reset her career on the FT.
33. Lisa Ferrero: She's going to find it difficult to repeat her '08 FT success this season.
34. Mo Martin: Ditto, despite her 2 wins on tour.
35. Kim Welch: Ditto, in part because she'll get into a few LPGA events this season, thanks to her #235 position on their priority status list.
36. Maria Hernandez: Look for this All-American to do pretty well on the FT this season after she graduates from Purdue.
37. Paola Moreno: This USC grad should have a solid season on the FT in '09.
38. Natalie Sheary: Look for this Wake Forest sophomore to gain valuable experience on the FT in '09.
39. Amanda Blumenherst: Just like Stacy Lewis last season, don't expect to see her playing very often on the Futures Tour this one. She'll be focusing on lining up her 6 sponsor exemptions on the LPGA and trying to win or win enough to get into the top 80 of the '09 money list.
40. Tiffany Joh: She should be joining Blumenherst on the LPGA for her full complement of sponsor exemptions, but like her she'll probably play in just enough FT events to qualify for '10 there, having learned from Walshe's struggles in LPGA Q-School last December.
41. Kira Meixner: This Kent State grad is still listed as an amateur for the '09 FT season.
42. Mallory Hetzel: This Georgia grad is also listed as an amateur.
43. Sofie Andersson: Should play a little better, now that she's back on the FT full-time again after not getting into a single event as an LPGA rookie last season.
44. Caroline Larsson: Should improve on her previous 2 FT seasons. But the level of competition on tour will likely improve faster.
45. Nicole Hage: One of the struggling LPGA rookies from last season will play full-time on the FT this season, but I expect it to end up being another tune-up for another run at LPGA Q-School.
46. Su A Kim: Ditto.
47. Violeta Retamoza: Ditto. Will definitely make more FT cuts in '09 than she made on the LPGA in '08.
48. Seo-Jae Lee: Ditto. But she only has Category D status on tour this season.
49. Amie Hartje: Ditto. Look for her to start putting the pieces back together this season on the FT, but it's going to take some time.
50. Victoria Kiser: This young amateur is going to get quite an education on the FT this season.

[Update 1 (3/17/09, 2:06 pm): Kang and Kemp both Monday-qualified for the LPGA event in Mexico! Congrats!]

[Update 2 (3/18/09, 6:18 pm): Too bad the LPGA.com preview didn't take note of Kang's being in Mexico!]

[Update 3 (3/20/09, 2:31 am): Great FT preview by Dave Andrews and great choice by Armchair Golfer to give him a bloggy platform!]

[Update 4 (3/25/09, 12:20 am): Ryan Herrington profiles another amateur you may see applying for A-5 status on the Futures Tour after graduation, Purdue's Maria Hernandez, an 11-time winner on the NCAA.]

[Update 5 (3/27/09, 3:06 am): Beth Ann Baldry gives some of her picks.]

Recommended Reading: Hound Dog's "Where Were They Then?"

Neat idea from Hound Dog to take a look at some of the hottest and coldest players on the LPGA today and take a peek back at where they stood at the start of last season. Wish I had had it.

But I drove 4 hours so the girls could hang out this weekend with my parents, running around the house and every so often checking in on some great golf at Doral. So of course I'm flat out of ideas. Onechan actually paid a little bit of attention to the Paula Creamer commercial, but leave it to me to pick a weekend with access to Golf Channel and none to the LPGA!

Should be a pretty quiet weekend here in blogoramaville for me, but maybe I can convince onechan and Grandpa Bob to share some Haato-chan and Doggie stories....

Ya Ni Tseng Doing What?

Should this John Strege post be filed under "truth is stranger than fiction" or "too weird to be true"? Look, I can understand being angry at a politician, and I can understand trying to use your celebrity status to influence politics, but threatening to become a citizen of another country just because the current administration won't follow your suggestion that Taiwan ought to host an LPGA event? That sounds pretty extreme to me. Why not first try to find another Taiwanese politician or party that will back you up?

Now that Michelle Wie is reportedly leaving William Morris and joining Tseng with IMG, maybe the two rivals can team up and lobby for their management agency together the next time they're in Taiwan. Or maybe they can really set a new standard and seek citizenship in a corporation rather than a nation.

[Update 1 (11:24 am): Strege just blogged on another story, on Christina Kim's lawsuit against a Korean newspaper, that Tseng should be looking at and thinking about very carefully.]

[Update 2 (11:32 am): Thanks to Bill Jempty for pointing me to this thoughtful and funny post by Brian, which lead me to this one by Kushibo.]

[Update 3 (1:34 pm): Got the link from Shackelford--Wie has signed with IMG. Funny that the Bloomberg piece doesn't mention Tseng as another IMG golfer. Not really! She's not on Tiger's or Annika's level--but then, neither is Wie.]

[Update 4 (3/15/09, 12:14 am): Here's an update on the Tseng story.]

[Update 5 (3/19/09, 10:14 am): Here's the IMG press release on Wie.]

Annoying LPGA Stats Bugs

Maybe Hound Dog can find out what's up with this, but I've noticed that the LPGA hasn't updated their key performance stats for the players who competed in the early-season Asian Swing. By my count, their figures for greens in regulation, driving accuracy and distance, and total putts and putts per green in regulation are based only on SBS Open results. Which is why, for instance, Lorena Ochoa doesn't show up in them. And why their averages and raw numbers don't add up.

[Update 1 (12:06 pm): Click on Ji-Yai Shin's performance chart for another glitch. The LPGA fails to list Shin's unofficial winnings at Thailand, where she finished T13 on a sponsor exemption, in the column for them. But her career winnings include them, which is why they're higher than her official season winnings. That's better than Shiho Oyama's situation--according to the LPGA, she hasn't played this year. While she may wish she hadn't, she most definitely has.]

LPGA Expansion Possibilities

Yes, the LPGA has been on a roll lately, what with the good news that the Samsung will be held at Torrey Pines in '09 (and maybe '10) and that IMG is responsible for the season-ending Tour Championship (not the Stanford Financial Group).

Well, the good news keeps on coming. Interesting (potential) news from Eric Pfahler: the LPGA has opened up talks with a group looking to bring the tour to St. Lucie County, FL, and the Bahamas. Sounds a little less likely to happen than what Gary Baines is reporting: Hollis Stacy is trying to lure the tour back to Colorado. If it happens, I know who their first sponsor exemptions should be: Kimberly Kim and Sue Kim of the University of Denver (as of this coming fall, that is). Even if neither of these projects pan out, I'm encouraged by the fact that folks are announcing that they want an association with the LPGA.

Now do you see why I'm so optimistic about the LPGA getting a network TV deal for 2010-2015?

Can Anyone Hold a Lead on the LPGA?

Yuko Mitsuka has already done on the JLPGA what Michelle Wie, Paula Creamer, and Katherine Hull have proven unable to do on the LPGA thus far--hold a lead down the stretch. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say that Erina Hara and Ayako Uehara were unable to pounce like Angela Stanford, Lorena Ochoa, and Ji-Yai Shin.

If this streak is going to continue, Bosque Real, the site of the MasterCard Classic, is just the place for it to happen. Last year, Louise Friberg shot a tournament-record 65 on Sunday, making up a 10-shot deficit to Ji Young Oh. Here's the recipe for a volatile leaderboard: take a challenging course with lots of ups and downs, add favorable scheduling (it's part of a 3-week stretch that culminates in the LPGA's 1st major, the Kraft Nabisco Championship, with a week off before it and 2 after it) and a tight money list and Player of the Year race, mix the strongest field in the event's brief history, bake for 54 holes, and voila!

Yes, I'm aware that Meaghan Francella held her second-round lead in 2007, but she needed to beat Annika Sorenstam, who was gunning for her 3rd straight win in the tournament, in a sudden-death playoff, after Sorenstam fired a closing 66, to do it. And that past fields haven't been as strong as you might have expected. But this year will be different. You'll see!

[Update 1 (3/11/09, 4:20 am): Well, that didn't take long...the LPGA has already announced the field for the MasterCard Classic. Yes, money-list leader Angela Stanford is resting her shoulder, but only Angela Park, Michelle Wie, Ai Miyazato, Karrie Webb, and Mi Hyun Kim from the rest of the top 20 are also skipping the event. The only players missing from #21 to #40 on the money list are Juli Inkster, Sophie Gustafson, Laura Diaz, Momoko Ueda, Morgan Pressel, Shanshan Feng, and Nicle Castrale. I'll be interested to see how this field ranks in Hound Dog's field strength scoring system relative to previous years, but in my book, whenever Ochoa, Creamer, Shin, and Tseng are facing off, that's a strong field!]

[Update 2 (3/12/09, 3:15 am): Daniel Wexler looks at the Shin-Ochoa "anything you can do I can do better" exchange in Southeast Asia the last 2 weeks. Meanwhile, Armchair Golfer takes a more lighthearted look at Shin's more lighthearted side.]

[Update 3 (4:08 am): Steve Elling gives Shin some props, but why diss Wie, Lewis, and Hurst along the way? Just goes to show how high expectations are for this year's rookie class. I'm interested to see how Oyama and Mika Miyazato do at Bosque Real, myself. They're probably lucky to be flying under the media radar, especially with Oyama playing as bad as she has been lately.]

Atsui, Samui, Daijo Bu: Pink Lady Edition

Today is the 51st birthday of Mitsuyo Nemoto, who has been performing as Mie with Keiko Masuda (Kei) in the J-pop duo Pink Lady for most of the Full Metal Archivist's lifetime. In fact, the tsuma remembers rocking out to songs like "Tomei Ningen" when she was a toddler:



Well, Pink Lady is still performing, three decades later.



Here's hoping the golfers I'm focusing on this week have similar staying power, whether they're playing great (atsui), suffering through slumps (samui), or doing just fine (daijo bu).

Atsui

1. Angela Stanford: OK, so she had her worst finish in her last 8 events in Thailand, a T7, and had to settle for T3 in Singapore when her history of Sunday struggles cropped up again at the worst possible moment (see #2 below). But those 3 wins highlighting her 9-event top 10 streak still make her the hottest player in the world of women's golf in my book. She's gotta keep it going if she wants to stay #1, though.

2. Ji-Yai Shin: After a terrible 39 to close out her 2nd round at the Showdown in Singapore, she seemed stuck in two-steps-forward-one-step-back mode, but then she fired a pair of 66s on the weekend, chasing down two of the hottest players on the planet on Sunday for her 1st win as an LPGA member and 4th on tour since taking the Women's British Open last summer. She's moved from #5 on my samui lost to #2 on my hot list in 3 events. Not bad!

3. Katherine Hull: Even though she let her 3rd win in her last 16 starts slip away on the back 9 yesterday, she still got her 4th runner-up and 9th top 5 in that stretch and proved that her T40 in Thailand was a blip (after all, it was only her 2nd finish outside the top 20 since her win at the Canadian Women's Open).

4. Lorena Ochoa: Despite her win in Thailand, she's going to need to find another gear if she wants to outdo her start to the 2008 season, when she won 5 of her 1st 6 and 6 of her 1st 9 events. By normal standards, she's plenty hot lately, with 2 wins, 6 top 5s, and 9 top 10s in her last 12 starts, but that's only ho-hum for Super Ochoa.

5. Paula Creamer: Yes, she couldn't maintain her 3-shot lead on Ochoa on Sunday in Thailand and her Sunday charge in Singapore was too little, too late. But in her last 15 events, she has 2 wins and 11 top 10s.

Honorable Mention:

Cristie Kerr: Her hot streak dates back to last May, for in her last 20 tournaments, she's only finished outside the top 20 twice (her worst being a T34 in China), while garnering 10 top 10s, including a runner-up and a win. She missed a great chance to add to that top 10 total in Asia, but T19 and T11 are still very good results.

Jee Young Lee: Her top-10 streak ended at 6 events a couple of weeks ago, but since last June she has had 10 top 20s (including her most recent ones in Thailand and Singapore). Too bad for her that her best finish in her other 4 events during that stretch is a T22--incredibly, she missed the cut 3 times!

Ya Ni Tseng: Just missed her 4th straight top 10 in '09, counting her adventure Down Under, but going back to last season she has a 6-event top-20 streak going and looks unlikely to break it any time soon.

Yuko Mitsuka: With her win in the JLPGA's kickoff event of 2009, she extends her top-5 run to her last 4 events, for a total of 7 in her last 13 starts. Her worst finish in that run has been T22, so you know she's been playing very well, even if she hasn't been facing the same level of competition or pressure week in and week out during that stretch.

Angela Park: That's 2 top 3s in her 1st 3 official starts on the LPGA in '09 and 3 top 10s in her last 4, going back to the ADT Championship.

Jane Park: That makes it 2 top 10s in her 1st 3 events of 2009. Is this the start of a streak?

Sun Young Yoo. She was in contention briefly during the final 9 in Singapore, and even though she quickly dropped out of it, she nabbed her 4th top 10 in her last 8 starts.

Eun-Hee Ji: Her T14 in Singapore breaks her 4-round multiple-of-5 finish but brings her top-20 streak to 5.

Brittany Lang: Her top 10 streak ends at 7. Here's hoping Singapore was a blip.

Samui

1. Brittany Lincicome: Couldn't sink any lower, not having qualified for the early-season Asian swing. Oh wait, how about finishing out of the money last week on the SunCoast Series?

2. Julieta Granada: Ditto, except at least she took the week off.

3. Inbee Park: Couldn't get anything going in Thailand or Singapore.

4. Shiho Oyama: Having a tough time adjusting to life on the LPGA, even with a pair of sponsor exemptions that got her into the early-season Asian swing. To add to the indignity, the LPGA hasn't been updating her player page this season.

5. Ashleigh Simon: After getting her LPGA card with a great performance in Q-School, she's finished near the bottom of the pile in her only two starts in '09. My guess is she's playing hurt.

Daijo Bu

1. Na Yeon Choi: Her top-20 streak ended at 4 with her T31 in Singapore, but look for her to start a new one in her next event.

2. Mi Hyun Kim: Even a birdie-less 38 on her final 9 in Singapore couldn't knock her out of the top 10. It's her 1st since the U.S. Women's Open and the clearest sign yet that her recovery from knee surgery before the start of last season is finally on track.

3. Se Ri Pak: A top-15 finish in Singapore raises hopes that Pak is back!

4. Amy Yang: Got it to -7 on the final 9 in Singapore before stumbling down the stretch, but joined her peers among those playing their 1st full season on the LPGA in notching an early top 20. Officially off the samui list.

5. Ai Miyazato and Momoko Ueda: A great Thursday and terrible Sunday for Ai-chan in Singapore were the outliers on her very good play since the very end of 2008. Momo-chan still hasn't been playing to her potential yet in '09, but she's still nabbed 2 top 20s in a row on the LPGA.

Honorable Mention: Looks like Suzann Pettersen, Seon Hwa Lee, Song-Hee Kim, and Meena Lee are back, as well, after rocky starts to 2009 for all of them. And Anja Monke keeps putting together solid start after solid start, showing that her run at the end of '08 was no fluke.

One final note on Mie, the birthday girl: she sometimes sings for a Japanese metal group called Animetal. Here they are covering a Dragon Ash tune I blogged about a little under a year ago:



Small world, eh?

[Update 1 (4:04 am): Hmm, only Ji-Yai Shin and Paula Creamer made Jason Sobel's Weekly 18. Oh, well.]

[Update 2 (5:55 pm): Jim Gorant talks Annika, Lorena, Angela (Stanford), and Ji-Yai.]

[Update 3 (3/10/09, 1:09 am): Maybe I should add "the LPGA" to my hot list. Regular readers of Hound Dog, Brent Kelley, and Ryan Ballengee already know the Samsung World Championship is moving to Torrey Pines in '09, but unless you check out LPGA.com regularly, this may be news to you.]

[Update 4 (1:27 am): More good news for the LPGA, this time courtesy of Jon Show: their deal for their season-ending Tour Championship is with IMG, not Stanford Financial, which explains why they've been relatively calm and why Dottie Pepper has sounded so confident lately, despite the "massive ongoing fraud" investigation and all.]

[Update 5 (1:33 am): Show also notes the Samsung could come back to the South Course in 2010, assuming Samsung decides to keep sponsoring the event.]

[Update 6 (3/12/09, 2:18 am): Alan Shipnuck is wrong wrong wrong about Angela Stanford. In what universe is she not the hottest golfer on the LPGA right now? Not ours, that's for sure.]

[Update 7 (2:57 am): Hound Dog offers some indirect confirmation for my hot list with his latest Hall of Fame Watch post.]

[Update 8 (4:14 pm): Hound Dog reports the latest from the SunCoast Series and I'm happy to report that Brittany Lincicome finished under par, in the money, and only 4 shots out of the lead this time around! She finished behind Alexis Thompson, it's true, but I suspect a lot of people will be saying that in upcoming years.]

[Update 9 (3/18/09, 5:42 pm): Hound Dog has a surer method than mine for determining who's hot!]

HSBC Women's Champions Sunday: Shin Makes a Move on Hull

If you haven't been following the live blog for the HSBC Women's Champions, go there now. I'll wait for you.

...

OK, so you know that Karrie Webb just missed a 65 when she bogeyed the 18th and Jee Young Lee and Alena Sharp shot near-flawless 68s, right? And you saw how Katherine Hull was cruising until a bogey at the par-4 10th and a double at the par-5 13th dropped her to -10 for the tournament and back into a tie for the lead with Ji-Yai Shin, who birdied her 1st 4 holes and followed with 6 pars in a row until she birdied the par-3 11th to also get to double digits under par, right?

Well, time to wait for that live tv feed to kick in! Enjoy. I'll be back.

[Update 1 (1:42 am): Darn it! Still can't get that feed to work. Would have been nice to see how Hull's bogey on the par-3 14th and Shin's birdie on the par-5 15th opened up a 2-shot lead for the latter.]

[Update 2 (1:50 am): Just as Shin isn't the only golfer making a great run today, Hull isn't the only one finding big trouble on the back. Amy Yang was -2 on her day and -7 for the tournament walking off the 10th green, but proceeded to make 2 doubles and a bogey over the next 5 holes before coming back with a birdie on the short par-4 16th. In-Kyung Kim, meanwhile, had birdied 7 of her last 9 holes heading into the par-4 17th, but walked away with a triple that dropped her to +1 for the tournament. Karen Stupples peaked at -4 before a triple on the par-4 12th stopped her dead in her tracks; in the end, she had to settle for an E finish. And it just hasn't been Angela Stanford's or Ai Miyazato's day, either. Ouch.]

[Update 3 (3:11 am): Welcome, daylight savings time! And on a brighter note than last update, props to Vicky Hurst for not giving up after her 79-84 start. Only Ji-Yai Shin, Angela Park, Jee Young Lee, Karrie Webb, Lorena Ochoa, Cristie Kerr, Ya Ni Tseng, and Laura Diaz have matched or outdone her 71-70 weekend. And only Katherine Hull and Angela Stanford are likely to join them. Not bad company at all.]

[Update 4 (3:13 am): Paula Creamer birdied 16 and 17 to get to -9 and while Katherine Hull failed to birdie either the par-5 15th or the short par-4 16th, she birdied the tough par-4 17th to pull within 1 of Ji-Yai Shin. Shin's parred out since making her 6th birdie; a birdie on 18 would clinch her 1st win as an LPGA member, while a par would leave the door open slightly for Hull to force a playoff.]

[Update 5 (3:18 am): Sun Young Yoo was at -9 when the troubles were hitting Hull, but she bogeyed her next 3 holes in a row. Still, a nice birdie on the 17th has lifted her into a tie with Lorena Ochoa and Jane Park at T6 right now. Angela Stanford is making an even nicer comeback, having matched Creamer's back-to-back birdies on 16 and 17. She's currently T4 with Angela Park, who fired a great 68 but had to settle for 8 straight pars to finish out her round. Stanford still has a chance to make it 3 in a row, though.]

[Update 6 (3:24 am): Nice walk-off birdie for Se Ri Pak to post a 71 and finish the tournament at -4, alone in 13th. Here's hoping Pak is back!]

[Update 7 (3:26 am): Shin parred 18 and Creamer bogeyed it to fall to -8, now T3 with the Angelas, Stanford and Park. Hull will need to birdie 18 to force a playoff!]

[Update 8 (3:37 am): Hull bogeyed the 18th to take solo 2nd at -9. What an incredible win for Shin!]

[Update 9 (12:25 pm): Got some linkage for y'all. Here are Bill Jempty and LPGA.com on Shin's win. And look for updates to the LPGA's stats pages any time now....]

[Update 10 (3/9/09, 3:54 am): Hound Dog's final round play-by-play was well worth the wait--he goes into how things happened the way they did, not just what happened.]

[Update 11 (3/10/09, 1:02 am): Hound Dog asks a great question (just ask Ryan Ballengee), and Bill Jempty finds out his suggested answer was right. All is well.]

[Update 12 (1:11 am): Sal Johnson and Dave Seanor agree. Good thing, b/c Dave really ripped the LPGA on that silly member vs. non-member win thing.]

[Update 13 (1:25 am): Tim Maitland finds better quotes than the AP. No surprise: he's been responsible for most of the great writing at the HSBC site. Want to know how good he is? He manages to bury his lede that HSBC hasn't yet committed to re-upping this event. Hey, you've got to sugarcoat a little when you're writing on HSBC's dime, right? I suspect HSBC actually wanted the news that they're performing due diligence on their ROI and ROO metrics to leak out there, given the problems in the banking sector around the world. (Sorry, my trial sub to Sports Business Journal just ran out. Anyway, I hope AP snaps up Tim soon. A Maitland-Song duo covering the LPGA regularly would be fantastic!)]

[Update 14 (2:02 am): Here are the Golf Channel highlights. Not bad, but not as good as the HSBC site's.]

Daikin Orchid Ladies Sunday: Can Yuko Mitsuka Hold On?

In her bid to become the 1st winner on the JLPGA in 2009 and notch her 3rd career win on tour, Yuko Mitsuka has taken a 3-shot lead on Ayako Uehara into the final 5 holes of the Daikin Ladies Orchid. The 11th-ranked and 18th-ranked players at the end of last season have played very different kinds of rounds before heading into the home stretch. Uehara has played steady, bogey-free golf, but only has a single birdie, on the par-4 2nd, to show for her efforts. Still, when Mitsuka made her 3rd bogey in her last 6 holes on the par-4 10th, offsetting her 3 earlier birdies, her lead had slipped to 1. But she's bounced back with consecutive birdies on the par-5 11th and par-4 12th to extend her lead to 3. Meanwhile, Erina Hara has birdied 3 holes between the 12th and 15th to pull within 1 of Uehara and 4 of Mitsuka. Back with more when the JLPGA lifts their freeze on their live scoring page!

[Update 1 (4:35 am): Wow, Mitsuka sure made it interesting down the stretch, didn't she? With back-to-back bogeys on the 14th and 15th holes, she fell back to -8, but neither Uehara nor Hara could make a charge. Here are the final results:

1st/-8 Yuko Mitsuka (70-66-72)
T2/-6 Erina Hara (70-71-69), Ayako Uehara (69-69-72)
T4/-5 Bo-Bae Song (68-76-67), Sakura Yokomine (68-75-68), Hiromi Mogi (74-68-69), Mi-Jeong Jeon (70-72-69), Tamie Durdin (69-71-71)
T9/-4 Nikki Campbell (71-73-68), Yukari Baba (75-68-69), Yuri Fudoh (72-71-69)

T12/-3 Yuko Saitoh (73-71-69), Miho Koga (71-72-69)
T16/-2 Ji-Woo Lee (73-72-69), Maiko Wakabayashi (72-73-69), Hyun-Ju Shin (71-74-69)
T22/-1 Midori Yoneyama (76-68-71), Akane Iijima (71-71-73)
T30/E Yuki Ichinose (71-73-72)
T33/+1 Chie Arimura (73-73-71), Shinobu Moromizato (69-75-73), Miki Saiki (71-71-75)
T43/+2 Rikako Morita (75-72-72)
T45/+3 Mai Arai (79-67-73), Mie Nakata (72-72-75)
T49/+4 Saiki Fujita (75-72-73)
T53/+7 Woo-Soon Ko (78-69-76)
56th/+11 Riko Higashio (75-72-80)

Mitsuka's win is her 4th straight top 5 and 7th in her last 13 events. Her worst finish in that stretch is T22, so you know she's been playing very well coming into the 2009 season. With 5 players breaking 70 twice this week, though, it looks like maintaining that streak will be a challenge.]

HSBC Women's Champions Saturday: Stanford and Hull Pull Away

The 2 hottest golfers in the world of women's professional golf after the LPGA's 1st event of 2009 are neck-and-neck in its 3rd. Katherine Hull (-11) and Angela Stanford (-9) fired sizzling 66s on moving day in the HSBC Women's Champions, to pull away from the field. Only Sun Young Yoo (-8) among the leaders could keep pace with them, thanks to a 68 marred only by bogeys on the 1st and 17th holes. But there are only 4 players within 5 shots of Hull heading into Sunday's final round. Looks like the rain delay made things tough on many players.

Even though a few other players made big moves today, it may be too little, too late for them. Ji-Yai Shin's bogey-free 66 joined Hull's and Stanford's as the low rounds of the day, moving her into a tie for 6th with Lorena Ochoa (69), Juli Inkster (69), Amy Yang (69), and Jane Park (73) at -5. Karen Stupples's 67 was capped off by an eagle on the short par-4 16th hole, but it only moved her to T19 (-2). Candie Kung's 67 was 10 shots better than Friday's round's results, bringing her to +2 for the tournament (T33).

Too many of yesterday's leading golfers basically treaded water today, allowing themselves to get caught from behind. It didn't happen to Mi Hyun Kim (70, -7, 4th) or Paula Creamer (4-birdie, 4-bogey 72, -6, 5th), but, along with Jane Park, it happened to Ai Miyazato (72, -4, T11), who was -6 for the tournament after playing her 1st 8 holes bogey-free, but then collapsed with a double and 2 bogeys over her final 10 holes that more than offset her 2 birdies on the back. She got caught by Ya Ni Tseng (69), Angela Park (69), and Eun-Hee Ji (70). None of the players T15 at -3--Suzann Pettersen (71), Meena Lee (71), Se Ri Pak (72), and Lindsey Wright (72)--made tomorrow's round any easier on themselves, either.

The final-round pairings are a treat. Check out the last 5 groups:

9:50 AM
Eun-Hee Ji
Ai Miyazato
Meena Lee

10:00 AM
Jane Park
Yani Tseng
Angela Park

10:10 AM
Amy Yang
Juli Inkster
Lorena Ochoa

10:20 AM
Mi Hyun Kim
Paula Creamer
Jiyai Shin

10:30 AM
Katherine Hull
Angela Stanford
Sun Young Yoo

Hopefully I'll be able to stay up tonight to watch them!

[Update 1 (11:56 am): Hound Dog reminds us not to forget Sun Young Yoo!]

Daikin Orchid Ladies Saturday: Mitsuka Leads Uehara by 2

Scoring conditions for the second round of the Daikin Orchid Ladies JLPGA kickoff event must not have been favorable, as many of the leaders from last round moved backwards today. Among them were Shinobu Moromizato, who appeared on the game show VS Arashi before the season's start, and Miho Koga, who got to play in the sand with SMAP:



Definitely go onto part 2 of this episode to see the putting challenge's finale!

Perhaps it's better to start the season flying a little below the media radar? If Yuko Mitsuka can put together another round as spectacular as her bogey-free 66, she'll be getting plenty of attention this season. The player with the best chance of spoiling the 3rd-year pro's 3rd career JLPGA win is Ayako Uehara (69), who probably will need to break 70 for the 3rd time in a row to do it. Even though she remained bogey-free on the back, she'll have to end the birdie drought that began there if she wants to chase down Mitsuka.

Here are the top 10 and notables:

1st/-8 Yuko Mitsuka (70-66)
2nd/-6 Ayako Uehara (69-69)
3rd/-4 Tamie Durdin (69-71)
4th/-3 Erina Hara (70-71)
T5/-2 Hiromi Mogi (74-68), Kuniko Maeda (73-69), Mamiko Higa (73-69), Miki Saiki (71-71), Akane Iijima (71-71), Mi-Jeong Jeon (70-72)

T11/-1 Yukari Baba (75-68), Yuri Fudoh (72-71), Miho Koga (71-72), Sakura Yokomine (68-75)
T16/E Midori Yoneyama (76-68), Yuko Saitoh (73-71), Mie Nakata (72-72), Nikki Campbell (71-73), Yuki Ichinose (71-73), Shinobu Moromizato (69-75), Bo-Bae Song (68-76)
T26/+1 Ji-Woo Lee (73-72), Maiko Wakabayashi (72-73), Hyun-Ju Shin (71-74)
T39/+2 Mai Arai (79-67), Rikako Morita (75-72), Chie Arimura (73-73)
T48/+3 Woo-Soon Ko (78-69), Saiki Fujita (75-72), Riko Higashio (75-72)

Great job by the living legend of the KLPGA Ko to make the cut. In addition, rookie Arai made the cut, despite making a double bogey early in her otherwise blemish-free round, by following it up with 5 birdies in her last 12 holes. Not as fortunate were many of the JLPGA's young guns, new guard, and veterans, including the following notables:

T57/+4 Yuki Sakurai (75-73)
T65/+5 Mayu Hattori (77-72)
T78/+7 Rui Kitada (75-76)
T88/+8 Kaori Higo (79-73), Yun-Jye Wei (77-75), Kumiko Kaneda (76-76), Hiroko Yamaguchi (75-77)
T94/+9 Esther Lee (81-72)

There's always next week--no, the next JLPGA event is opposite the LPGA's next, in 2 weeks--for these players. Those playing Sunday will have their work cut out for them to chase down Mitsuka, though. There are only 4 of them within 5 shots of her. If she doesn't come back to the field on the front, this could end up being a 2- or 3-golfer race down the stretch.

Daikin Orchid Ladies Friday: Yokomine and Song School the JLPGA's New Guard

Speaking of growing pains, learning curves, and expectations, the JLPGA's new guard faced some problems of their own in the 1st round of the Daikin Orchid Ladies. Rikako Morita and Yuki Sakurai opened with 75s, and they were the best of the bunch. Kumiko Kaneda could only manage a 76, while Mai Arai ballooned to a 79. Their peers with more JLPGA experience generally did better. Although Mayu Hattori struggled to a 77 and Chie Arimura to a 73, Maiko Wakabayashi (72), Yuki Ichinose (71), Miki Saiki (71), and Erina Hara (70) got off to solid starts.

But the day belonged to defending champion Bo-Bae Song and Sakura Yokomine, who both shot bogey-free 68s. If Shinobu Moromizato could have avoided a double bogey on her next-to-last hole, she would have had the outright lead, but as it is, she's tied with Ayako Uehara and Tamie Durdin for 3rd at -3.

Here are the top 10 and notables:

T1/-4 Sakura Yokomine, Bo-Bae Song (68)
T3/-3 Ayako Uehara, Shinobu Moromizato, Tamie Durdin (69)
T6/-2 Mi-Jeong Jeon, Yuko Mitsuka, Erina Hara (70)
T9/-1 Miho Koga, Hyun-Ju Shin, Miki Saiki, Akane Iijima, Nikki Campbell, Yuki Ichinose, Ah-Reum Hwang, Rui Yokomine, Yoko Inoue (71)

T19/E Yuri Fudoh, Maiko Wakabayashi, Mie Nakata (72)
T25/+1 Chie Arimura, Ji-Woo Lee, Yuko Saitoh (73)
T41/+2 Hiromi Mogi (74)
T56/+3 Hiroko Yamaguchi, Saiki Fujita, Yukari Baba, Rui Kitada, Riko Higashio, Yuki Sakurai, Rikako Morita (75)
T73/+4 Midori Yoneyama, Kumiko Kaneda (76)
T83/+5 Yun-Jye Wei, Mayu Hattori (77)
T90/+6 Woo-Soon Ko (78)
T97/+7 Kaori Higo, Mai Arai (79)
T105/+9 Esther Lee (81)

We'll see who among the new guard can bounce back and who among the big names can chase down Yokomine and Song tomorrow.

HSBC Women's Champions Friday: Growing Pains, Learning Curves, and the Expectations Game

I don't care who you are or how many wins you've racked up in your amateur career or on other women's professional tours, there is a huge learning curve to be climbed when you play full-time on the LPGA for the 1st time, not to mention when you start qualifying for big-time events like the HSBC Women's Champions. The course is a real test of your game, your nerves, your course management, and your resilience. Add high expectations--your own and others'--and it's a pretty volatile mix. A quick look at some highly touted rookies' and young guns' performances over the event's 1st 2 days shows just how good the leaders have been playing thus far--and just how difficult it is to join them.

Take Vicky Hurst, for instance, who's currently sitting in last place. She started on the back yesterday with a great birdie, but the 11th tee was the last time she's been under par in the tournament, thanks to a quad on that par 3, a double on the par-4 17th, and a bogey-par-bogey-double finish to close out the front and her day. And it doesn't look like she'll see the right side of par all week after her start today: a pair of doubles sandwiched between a pair of bogeys over her 1st 6 holes and a bogey on the 18th hole to close out her 1st 9 (that's a 43, for those counting at home). Despite her top 15 finish in Hawaii, she's going through here what Amy Yang went through there. Remember how Amy decided to skip the Australian swing to better prepare for the SBS Open? And how she responded to that self-imposed pressure with a 75-80 meltdown? Well, you can bet she does. That's why this week matters so much to her. Those 4 birdies in a row on Thursday were a welcome breakthrough, but she followed them up with a birdie-less 39 on the front. Still, she's playing bogey-free golf today and has strung together 3 birdies in her last 4 holes to move to -2 with 2 holes left to play on the front.

Rookie Hurst and Super Soph Yang are coming to the LPGA full-time after a handful of wins on the Futures Tour and LET, but what about the player with fistfuls of KLPGA wins and 3 non-member LPGA titles to her name, including a major and the season-ending ADT Championship? Well, while Michelle Wie was contending in Hawaii, Ji-Yai Shin was missing the cut--badly--raising doubts that her brief hospitalization while competing in Australia was a more serious sign than it first appeared. She bounced back with a nice top 15 in Thailand, putting together 3 under-par rounds in a row to close out the tournament. But Shin has been riding the roller-coaster thus far in Singapore (a much less pleasant ride, you can bet, than the one on the rickshaw Suzann Pettersen gave her before the tournament began). She was -1 and bogey-free through the 6th hole yesterday, but then made 2 bogeys over her next 6 holes, 2 birdies over her next 3, and a walk-off bogey to finish at 72. Today, her swings have been even worse, in more ways than 1. She bounced back from an opening triple on the 10th with 3 birdies in her next 6 holes, but gave them right back with a bogey-double finish to close out the back. So what does she do but follow it up with a bogey-free 34 on the front? Just what will Ji-Yai do next?

How about that other rookie with a double-digit win total in Asia? Shiho Oyama continues to find it a difficult adjustment to life on the LPGA. After barely making the cut in Hawaii and never going under par in Thailand, she got off to a solid start in Singapore, with 12 holes of bogey-free, -2 golf. But since then she's made 6 bogeys and 2 doubles, offsetting her 4 birdies and dropping her back to +5 for the tournament. Looks like she's suffering the disease Hee Young Park suffered through last season of shooting about 1 big number per event. (Speaking of Park, she's been the epitome of steadiness this week, making a grand total of 2 birdies and 2 pars in her 1st 36 holes--not quite the fireworks of last week, eh?)

If even players with this much experience in the winner's circle and with the glare of media attention are finding the golf to be quite a challenge this season, what about those who unexpectedly thrust themselves into the limelight, like, say, Inbee Park, who got hot last summer at the U.S. Women's Open and hasn't even been warm ever since? Well, she, too, continues to struggle this week. When she got off to a bad start last season, you could count on 1 hand the number of people who noted or cared about it (not counting myself and the Seoul Sisters.com cognoscenti). Now? At least 2 hands!

But you know what? Everyone goes through rough patches and slumps. Just ask Brittany Lang, who endured a terrible sophomore season, began to come back in '08, and is now fighting to keep a 7-event top-10 streak alive this week. Or Song-Hee Kim, who couldn't translate Futures Tour domination into LPGA success until her own sophomore season. Or Ai Miyazato, whose tailspin began with a minor injury incurred during the 2006 HSBC Women's World Match Play (where she lost to fellow Senior Standout Seon Hwa Lee in the finals) and whose comeback began later in 2008 than Lang's. Hey, if it can happen to a Hall of Famer like Se Ri Pak more than once in her career, losing your game for awhile can happen to anyone. The point is to bounce back. Which is why it's so great to see all these golfers playing well again this week.

And why it's so gratifying to see Mi Hyun Kim finally making birdies in bunches again like before her knee surgery last winter, Juli Inkster and Hee-Won Han making nice moves today, Karrie Webb and Suzann Pettersen bouncing back from early triples on Thursday, and Seon Hwa Lee hanging in there despite cooling off from her bogey-free -6 start over her 1st 14 holes (before a rain delay and a monitor lizard knocked her out of the zone) during her last 14 (although that bogey on the 11th hole to begin her next 14 is a troubling sign). There's a reason, after all, why they're among the Best of the LPGA.

So, yeah, Angela Stanford, Lorena Ochoa, Paula Creamer, Cristie Kerr, Brittany Lang, and Katherine Hull have been the hottest players in the world of women's professional golf lately, but if the 1st 27 to 36 holes of the Showdown in Singapore are any indication, they're going to have a lot of company in the coming months. And don't count out those among the Young Gun and New Blood generations whose 2009 campaigns have not begun as they had imagined or hoped. It may take some time to get used to needing your A-game to play with the big girls week in and week out, but time is on their side.

[Update 1 (12:12 am): Trying furiously to find a live feed that my computer can read from among those recommended on Seoul Sisters.com and commenters at Hound Dog's place and mine, but no luck so far.]

[Update 2 (12:18 am): This one is teasing me right now--and the China-J-golf link available through here isn't working any better. Anyone having any better luck?]

[Update 3 (12:22 am): Ah, I'll let HSBC's live bloggers take it from here!]

[Update 4 (12:32 am): Hey, I don't want to hear anyone blaming me for jinxing Hee-Won Han! I made a point not to mention Jee Young Lee's comeback, and she still fell apart over her last 4 holes.]

[Update 5 (12:34 am): That 1st streaming video link up there in update 2 is now working!]

[Update 6 (1:56 am): Saw Ai-chan suffer through some shaky ballstriking and uninspiring chips and pitches down the stretch, but fight back to a 72 with a gutsy birdie on 18. She fired at the pin, flirting with the water, and canned what looked like a 15-to-18-footer with plenty of speed to spare when it hit the back of the cup. Her -4 total isn't all that bad, as many of the players in the last groups struggled. More on that in a minute.]

[Update 7 (2:15 am): Let's start with Paula Creamer. She missed some good birdie chances and made a pair of sloppy bogeys on the par 3s on the back, but banged home a tough 5-footer on the same hole Jane Park had a kick-in birdie after almost spinning her wedge back for an eagle. Both Creamer and Park could have had much more than a 1-shot lead on Mi Hyun Kim (68) and Katherine Hull (69) if they had been sharper on the back. But given that Se Ri Pak doubled 10 and Angela Stanford doubled 18 to fall back to -3--and Angela Park (76), Seon Hwa Lee (74), Lorena Ochoa (73), Eun-Hee Ji (73), and Natalie Gulbis (73) went over par to fall back even further--they didn't do that badly. Not as good as Sun Young Yoo (69, -4) or Lindsey Wright (69, -3), but being tied for 1st going into moving day is never a bad place to be!]

[Update 8 (8:58 am): Here are Hound Dog's 2nd-round recap and LPGA.com's notes and interviews. Too bad they don't include Ai-chan and her comment from the J-golf broadcast that she's eager to see her niece in Okinawa.]

Way to Go, Moira!

Nice T3 finish for Moira Dunn on the SunCoast Series today. She bounced back from an opening 76 with a 69 yesterday and a 70 today to catch M.J. Hur (69-73-73) and Jeehae Lee (70-72-73), among others, at -1. But nobody could deal with Samantha Head's -5 total, which moved her one spot ahead of Moira on the 2009 money list and only a couple of thousand dollars (a lot on this tour, admittedly) behind her sister, Johanna Mundy, who's already won twice there in '09.

On a sadder note, Brittany Lincicome's problems reared their ugly head again today. She was in the hunt after a 73-71 start, but ballooned to a 79 today that dropped her out of the money. That's life in the competitive world of professional women's golf these days. 2 wins and 9 top 10s in your 1st 3 years on tour don't count for anything when your game goes south. Lincicome is not quite in the same boat as Julieta Granada, who will need to go to LPGA Q-School if she can't finish in the top 100 on the money list in '09. Her 2007 win gets her Category 6 status for 2010, which should put her near the top 100 on the priority status list next season and get her into just about any tournament she wants to play.

Moira, meanwhile, will be fighting to make the top 80 or 100 this season. A made cut in Hawaii shows that the grinding she's been doing in Florida this winter has gotten her off on the right foot--something that's often difficult for New Yorkers on the LPGA. Expect to see her playing pretty well in Mexico at the end of the month.

Around the World of Women's Golf in 2 Minutes

A perfect storm of work and illness forces me to curtail my golf blogging today. It's completely fitting that just as the weather gets better I get under the weather and just as the snow melts I get a workload blizzard!

I'll just point you to the HSBC Women's Champions leaderboard, Hound Dog's round 1 recap, LPGA.com's notes and interviews, and HSBC's day 1 and day 2 live blogs--none of which I've gotten a chance to even read yet--much less check out any video from the HSBC site or from Golf Channel. All I can say is, gambatte, Ai-chan!

Fortunately, the Daikin Orchid Ladies kickoff event for the JLPGA doesn't start till tonight (east coast time), so that leaves the 2nd round of the latest event in the SunCoast Series to mention. Moira Dunn has made a nice move toward the top of the leaderboard with a fine 69 (the only sub-70 round of the day).

It's great to see my two favorite golfers playing well the same week. That's all, folks, till tomorrow!

[Update 1 (12:48 pm): One interesting thing to note about round 2's pairings--with no cut, they've gone ahead and grouped the players by score, without trying to balance who starts front and back, morning and afternoon, over the 1st 2 days of the event. Love to see Ai-chan and Seon Hwa playing together in another HSBC event--their showdown in the match play finals in '06 was amazing! Another great pairing is the Jee Young Lee-Christina Kim-Morgan Pressel one going off the back, not to mention the Hee Young Park-Ji-Yai Shin-Suzann Pettersen one even earlier.]

[Update 2 (9:56 pm): It's all Lorena and Paula for the Golf Channel, but I'll forgive them this time, b/c their preview wasn't half bad. Plus, the HSBC site gives you a lot more.]

JLPGA Kicks Off 2009 Season with Daikin Orchid Ladies

If you can read Japanese (or have a half-decent translation program at hand), you, too, can check out the JLPGA's preview of the Daikin Orchid Ladies event in Okinawa that kicks off their 2009 season. I'm brushing off my own rusty Japanese to figure out who's in the field and what the 1st round pairings are. You can expect all the JLPGA's finest to be there, except for those playing in the HSBC Women's Champions Showdown in Singapore.

Defending champion Bo-Bae Song is going off the 1st tee at 10:18 am with Sakura Yokomine and Mayu Hattori. They'll get to see a lot of Mi-Jeong Jeon, Erina Hara, and Yuko Mitsuka in the pairing before them, as well as Yuri Fudoh, Miho Koga, and Shinobu Moromizato after them. If you click on the names in the other front-side pairings, you'll see that the tournament organizers continued this pattern of placing up-and-coming young players (including promising amateurs) with established stars. Of particular interest to me are the professional premieres of Kumiko Kaneda (10:00 am), Rikako Morita (9:51 am), and Yuki Sakurai (9:42 am)--who actually started her professional career on the LET but may well have decided to play regularly on the JLPGA this season or split her time between the 2 tours--as well as the return to the JLPGA of Miki Saiki (9:24 am) after her failure to secure any status on the LPGA at their 2008 Q-School and Hyun-Ju Shin (10:36 am) after injuries kept her out of most of the 2nd half of last season. Among the 2008 Step-Up Tour graduates going off the back alongside the 30- and 40-something veterans (including Korean legend Woo-Soon Ko), I'm most interested in Mai Arai (8:30 am).

We'll see how all the newbies fare and how quickly they adjust to life in the JLPGA fast lane starting tonight!

Lisa Strom Is the Bomb

Do yourself a favor and listen to Karen Palacios-Jensen and Ken Hartis (aka Hound Dog) interview LPGA veteran Lisa Strom on Inside the LPGA this week. Lisa has all kinds of interesting things to say about Lorena Ochoa, Michelle Wie, and Stacy Prammanasudh, not to mention her Q-School experience (where she tied Wie and played the final day with Mika Miyazato). And Hound Dog and Karen do as good a job as the Wegmans podcasters did with her last summer. But the most interesting thing to me in the entire interview was the glimpse Lisa gave into what those players who don't qualify for the limited-field events in the LPGA's early-season Asian swing do to stay sharp.

She and my old golfing buddy Moira Dunn are currently in the middle of the pack in this week's SunCoast Series event. Jeehae Lee (70) and M.J. Hur (69) are among the many LPGA players near the front of the pack after the 1st round. The series regulars are not playing for big money--as their 2009 money list shows--but instead to get ready for the opportunities that come their way to play on the LPGA and Futures Tour.

Anhone who thinks golf is a rich man's game should try following the ladies of the SunCoast Series around for a round or two.

Paging Gary Van Sickle

Gary Van Sickle points out--rightly--that the U.S. vs. Europe Solheim Cup excludes many of the world's best professionals in the world of women's golf. His proposed solution? A brilliant one: let's create a President's Cup for the women...Asia vs. the world. Let me get this straight. A senior writer for Sports Illustrated has never heard of the Lexus Cup?

I still stand by my modest proposals from last August and the previous September, by the way. Too bad Van Sickle will never read them.

[Update 1 (1:55 am): Hats off to Ryan Ballengee for beating me to the punch on this one (even if it was more of a love tap at first)!]

HSBC Women's Champions Preview/Predictions/Pairings

It's finally time for the Showdown in Singapore! What's not to love about this event? Boasting one of the best fields in the world, it's Asia's answer to the Evian Masters. If it were a full-field event with a cut, it would lay serious claim to being the LPGA's 5th major. As it is, I rank it slightly behind Evian because the tournament organizers haven't instituted a cut. (And I'm disappointed at their announcement that this event supercedes the Women's World Match Play.)

Be that as it may, I have to give the tournament organizers credit for putting together a fantastic website. The pre-tournament profiles and interviews are fantastic, for one thing, and I'm not just saying that because they feature my favorite golfer and ratify my comeback call for her. In addition to Ai Miyazato, the website features a veritable who's who of the hottest players in the world of women's professional golf, from Lorena Ochoa, Paula Creamer, and Ya Ni Tseng to Angela Stanford and Katherine Hull. They also profile players who have been struggling of late like Morgan Pressel, Inbee Park, and Laura Davies. And they even give some props to their sponsor exemptions, Shiho Oyama and Russy Gulyanamitta. But also check out their course guide, which is impeccable, and their overview of Ochoa's monster win last season.

Can Lorena Ochoa defend her title and win her 2nd straight event of 2009? I don't see why not.

1. Ochoa
2. Creamer
3. Stanford
4. Tseng
5. Lang
6. Choi Na Yeon
7. Shin
8. Kerr
9. Lee Jee Young
10. Miyazato
11. Hull
12. Park, Jane

Alts: Park Hee Young; Ji; Hurst, Vicky

Hound Dog likes Lorena's chances, too. For the rest of the Pakpickers' picks, head over to Seoul Sisters.com.

Just like last week's limited-field event in Thailand, every pairing is incredible. And what's lost by going out in threesomes instead of actual pairs this week is gained by the tournament organizers' excellent taste. Here are my favorites:

1st tee, 10:10 AM
Christina Kim
Morgan Pressel
Ai Miyazato

1st tee, 10:50 AM
Ji-Yai Shin
Momoko Ueda
Suzann Pettersen

1st tee, 10:20 AM
Paula Creamer
Helen Alfredsson
Eun-Hee Ji

1st tee, 11:00 AM
Seon Hwa Lee
Katherine Hull
Stacy Prammanasudh

1st tee, 10:40 AM
Lorena Ochoa
Hee Young Park
Cristie Kerr

1st tee, 10:30 AM
Ya Ni Tseng
Karrie Webb
Angela Stanford

10th tee, 10:10 AM
Jee Young Lee
Inbee Park
Hee-Won Han

1st tee, 9:00 AM
Sophie Gustafson
Brittany Lang
Sun Young Yoo

With half the JLPGA's top 10 from 2008 in this event, I'll be very curious to see how my #1 Ji-Hee Lee kicks off this season. The other half of the top 10 will be competing in the season-opening JLPGA event, the Daikin Ladies Open in Okinawa. Just as it hurts women's golf for the LPGA to have scheduled its SBS Open against the ALPG/LET's Women's Australian Open, it's bad for everyone when as big a tournament as the HSBC conflicts with any JLPGA event. I'm hoping that in 2010 the various women's professional tours will do a better job of coordinating--and perhaps consolidating through co-sponsorship--their winter seasons.

In the meantime, I can't wait to see if anyone is ready to stand up to Lorena in Singapore!

The Best of the Young Guns: Senior Standouts, February 2009 Edition

The Junior Mints are no more--long live the Senior Standouts. As we head into the Showdown in Singapore, which members of the LPGA's rookie class of 2006 are ready to take their games to a new level?

Simply the Best

1. Seon Hwa Lee: She didn't play any warm-up events in 2009 before her Thailand debut, and it showed. But she can turn it around any week.
2. Morgan Pressel: Early verdict on those swing changes she's been working on for a while now? Still a work in progress. But more positive signs lately than negative ones.
3. Jee Young Lee: Playing the best golf lately of all her classmates except perhaps Brittany Lang. But even though she's been racking up top 10s and top 20s, she still hasn't found the consistency to contend as often as a golfer of her caliber should.

The Contenders

4. Ai Miyazato: She's back, baby! Now, if she can just cut down on all those bogeys she's been making since starting the season Down Under, she'll find herself in the winner's circle very soon.
5. Brittany Lang: Her top-10 streak is up to 7, so it's no surprise that I just put her as the 4th-hottest player in the world of professional women's golf. In fact, the only thing keeping her behind Ai-chan on this list is that she's played in 8 more events and made less money than her.

Quantum Leap Candidates

6. Sun Young Yoo: Had a great 2008--will 2009 be her breakout year? She's getting off on the right foot, thanks to a T11 in Thailand.
7. Teresa Lu: Good result in Thailand gets her 2009 back in the right gear, after she had continued late 2008's struggles in her debut performance in Hawaii.
8. H.J. Choi: Missed the cut in Hawaii, but she's too good for that to happen much more often this season.
9. Julieta Granada: Did great in LET Q-School, so can bail for Europe any time if her struggles on the LPGA continue, as they did in Hawaii.
10. Meaghan Francella: Made the cut in Hawaii, a good start to her 2009 comeback campaign.
11. Allison Fouch: Made the cut in Hawaii, but results were rather disappointing considering how hot her 2008 season was. She can pass a lot of people if she plays as well or better in 2009.
12. Kyeong Bae: Back to making birdies and cuts, it appears. Anther one who can move up these rankings quickly.
13. Minea Blomqvist: She's not hitting many greens this season, but is still making a lot of birdies, so watch out for her once her ballstriking improves, as it's bound to do soon.
14. Linda Wessberg: Another player with a lot of potential who's been struggling of late, but at least she made her 1st cut of the season.

On the Bottom Looking Up

15. Katie Futcher: Made her 1st cut of the season--barely.
16. Sarah Jane Smith: Let's see how her 1st full season on tour goes.
17. Karin Sjodin: Can she arrest her slide in these rankings this season?
18. Kim Hall: Watch for her to nab a top 10 when you least expect it this season. But I'd be amazed if she's able to keep her card (i.e., Category 1 status) for next season.
19. Danielle Downey: Ditto.
20. Louise Stahle: A surprisingly solid Q-School gives her another lease on LPGA life. Let's see if this former LET rookie of the year can take advantage this time around.

On the Outside Looking In

21. Virada Nirapathpongporn: Recovering from shoulder surgery, she will spend a lot of time on the Futures Tour in 2009. She'll have a lot of Thai company, at least.
22. Na Ri Kim: Ditto, except the company will be Korean and with Category 16 status, she will get into a few LPGA events this season. Here's hoping she plays better than she did in Hawaii.
23. Nina Reis: Will be playing the LET full-time in '09.
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 February ranking.

2009 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 the 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. Brittany Lang, $100.6K (#6), 70.71 (#5), 2.86 (#18), 77.8% (#5)
2. Ai Miyazato, $60.0K (#11), 71.57 (#13), 3.57 (#4), 70.4% (#25)
3. Jee Young Lee, $38.6K (#15), 71.71 (#17), 68.5% (#31)
4. Sun Young Yoo, $33.4K (#19), 72.14 (#23), 3.00 (#16), 59.3% (#80)
5. Teresa Lu, $31.1K (#21), 72.57 (#33), 3.14 (#11), 70.4% (#25)
6. Morgan Pressel, $25.4K (#26), 72.43 (#30), 2.71 (#24), 63.0% (#63)
7. Minea Blomqvist, $14.9K (#38), 73.57 (#58), 3.43 (#6), 44.4% (#130)
8. Kyeong Bae, $9.9K (#50), 73.00 (#39), 3.33 (#54), 77.8% (#5)
8. Meaghan Francella, $9.9K (#50), 73.00 (#39), 2.00 (#79), 68.5% (#31)
10. Allison Fouch, $9.0K (#57), 75.00 (#76), 2.71 (#24), 55.6% (#100)
11. Seon Hwa Lee, $7.2K (#65), 73.50 (#57), 2.25 (#57), 67.7% (#15)
12. Sarah Jane Smith, $5.6K (68), 73.67 (#59), 2.00 (#79), 68.5% (#31)
13. Katie Futcher, $2.3K (#90), 75.67 (#98), 1.33 (#96), 74.1% (#13)
13. Louise Stahle, $2.3K (#90), 75.67 (#98), 2.00 (#79), 63.0% (#63)
15. Linda Wessberg, $2.2K (#94), 76.33 (#108), 0.67 (#130), 53.7% (#116)
16. Na Ri Kim, $0K (n.r.), 76.00 (#101), 1.00 (#142), 55.6% (#100)
16. H.J. Choi, $0K (n.r.), 77.50 (#125), 1.00 (#130), 50.0% ($122)
16. Kim Hall, $0K (n.r.), 77.50 (#125), 1.00 (#130), 55.6% (#100)
16. Julieta Granada, $0K (n.r.),78.00 (#133), 1.50 (#114), 55.6% (#100)
16. Danielle Downey, $0K (n.r.), 78.00 (#133), 1.50 (#114), 58.3% (#87)

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 Senior Standouts 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--although Thomas Atkins has posted an inflation-adjusted LPGA Career Top 50 as of the end of the 2008 season over at Hound Dog's place. In any case, I include these other ways of seeing how the Senior Standouts 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, $3.19M (#52), 87/0/4/10/23/45/82 (.943)
2. Jee Young Lee, $2.38M (#73), 80/0/0/6/25/47/75 (.938)
3. Morgan Pressel, $2.17M (#83), 76/1/2/6/23/38/67 (.882)
4. Julieta Granada, $2.15M (#84), 83/0/1/5/10/21/56 (.675)
5. Ai Miyazato, $1.79M (#100), 71/0/0/4/18/27/57 (.803)
6. Brittany Lang, $1.62M (#106), 83/0/0/4/19/34/61 (.735)
7. Sun Young Yoo, $1.08M (#159), 81/0/0/1/9/21/63 (.778)
8. Teresa Lu, $.82M (#202), 70/0/0/1/6/16/52 (.743)
9. Kyeong Bae, $.77M (#210), 76/0/0/2/7/12/54 (.711)
10. Meaghan Francella $.64M (#230), 54/0/1/1/4/9/31 (.574)
11. Minea Blomqvist, $.59M (#240), 60/0/0/1/3/8/40 (.667)
12. H.J. Choi, $.56M (#245), 55/0/0/0/7/11/38 (.691)
13. Karin Sjodin, $.42M (#278), 66/0/0/0/3/9/38 (.576)
14. Alison Fouch, $.39M (#286), 32/0/0/1/3/6/21 (.656)
15. Katie Futcher, $.38M (#288), 64/0/0/0/3/5/43 (.672)
16. Kim Hall, $.34M (#305), 58/0/0/1/3/4/26 (.448)
17. Linda Wessberg, $.33M (#308), 37/0/0/0/5/6/24 (.649)
18. Virada Nirapathpongporn, $.23M (#361), 57/0/0/0/1/4/28 (.491)
19. Nina Reis, $.23M (#363), 52/0/0/0/3/4/28 (.538)
20. Danielle Downey, $.13M (#424), 33/0/0/0/1/2/10 (.303)
21. Sarah Jane Smith, $.11M (#446), 19/0/0/0/1/3/8 (.421)
22. Na Ri Kim, $.09M (#459), 37/0/0/0/0/2/16 (.434)
23. Veronica Zorzi, $.09M (#473), 16/0/0/0/0/1/13 (.813)
24. Louise Stahle, $.05M (#519), 23/0/0/0/0/1/12 (.522)
25. Ashley Johnston, $.05M (#538), 13/0/0/0/0/0/6 (.462)

Other Career Measures: Rolex Ranking (as of 3/2/09) and rank, Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index (as of 3/1/09) and rank, International and Non-Member LPGA Wins (as of the end of the 2007 season): This is a way of seeing how those Senior Standouts 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, 4.06 (#10), 70.60 (#20); 3
2. Jee Young Lee, 3.55 (#16), 70.31 (#14); 2
3. Morgan Pressel, 3.22 (#24), 71.47 (#55); 0
4. Brittany Lang, 2.58 (#33), 70.82 (#29); 0
5. Ai Miyazato, 2.52 (#35), 70.86 (#30); 14
6. Sun Young Yoo, 1.89 (#50), 70.97 (#34); 0
7. Teresa Lu, 1.69 (#57), 71.07 (#37); 0
8. Minea Blomqvist, 1.46 (#61), 71.53 (#57); 5
9. Allison Fouch, 1.16 (#76), 72.41 (#90); 0
10. H.J. Choi, .93 (#95), 72.40 (#87); 1
11. Meaghan Francella, .90 (#98), 73.47 (#153); 0
12. Linda Wessberg, .88 (#102), 73.30 (#141); 6
13. Kim Hall, .67 (#124), 73.68 (#172); 0
14. Katie Futcher, .61 (#132), 71.84 (#66); 0
15. Julieta Granada, .58 (#138), 73.54 (#158); 0
16. Kyeong Bae, .57 (#140), 73.00 (#124); 3
17. Karin Sjodin, .48 (#167), 73.84 (#189); 1
18. Danielle Downey, .44 (#177), 73.82 (#183); 0
19. Sarah Jane Smith, .43 (#184), 72.81 (#116); 0
20. Veronica Zorzi, .38 (#200), 74.37 (#238); 2
21. Louise Stahle, .37 (#206), 72.87 (#117); 0
22. Nina Reis, .27 (#243), 73.55 (#159); 5
23. Virada Nirapathpongporn, .22 (#263), 74.27 (#225); 0
24. Ashley Johnston, .02 (#697), n.r. [not in database], 0
25. Na Ri Kim, n.r. [not in database], 73.58 (#160); 0

FYI, here's the rest of my 2009 schedule:

March: Class of 2007 (pre-Kraft Nabisco)
April: Class of 2008 (post-Corona)
May: Young Guns (post-Corning)
June: Class of 2006 (post-Wegmans)
July: Class of 2007 (pre-WBO)
August: Class of 2008 (post-Safeway)
September: Young Guns (post-Longs Drugs)
October: Class of 2006 (post-Korea)
November: Class of 2007 (post-Stanford)
December: Class of 2008 (post-Q School)
January '10: Young Guns (final 2009 ranking)

Atsui, Samui, Daijo Bu: Hinamatsuri Edition

In just a few hours, Hinamatsuri will begin in Japan. What better time than during Girls' Festival to take another look at recent trends in the world of women's professional golf to see who are the hottest (atsui) and coldest (samui) players, and who's doing all right (daijo bu)? Let's get in the mood:



Now a little more up-tempo:



OK, then! The name of this new Mostly Harmless feature comes from a little song I made up for onechan when she was a baby, sung to the tune of "Frere Jacques," about filling the bathtub and getting it the right temperature, but its purpose is to give a little bit better information than jumps in the Rolex Rankings or Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index indicate.

Atsui

1. Angela Stanford: OK, so she had her worst finish in her last 8 events in Thailand, a T7. But those 3 wins in that stretch still make her the hottest golfer in the world of women's golf in my book. Still, guess who's gaining on her fast?

2. Lorena Ochoa: That's right, the undisputed world #1! With her win last week, she put the world on notice she's ready to outdo her start to the 2008 season, when she won 6 of her 1st 9 events. Even though she couldn't maintain that pace over the entire season, consider this: she hasn't missed a cut since 2005, she hasn't finished outside the top 40 since February 2007, and her worst finish since then was a T31 in the U.S. Women's Open. In fact, in her last 68 starts, she's finished outside the top 20 a grand total of 3 times. So the fact that she's got 2 wins, 6 top 5s, and 8 top 10s in her last 11 starts is only ho-hum territory for her. Still, it's enough to vault her ahead of the player she vaulted ahead of on the way to yesterday's win.

3. Paula Creamer: Yes, she couldn't maintain her 3-shot lead on Ochoa yesterday. But in her last 14 events, she has 2 wins and 10 top 10s. That's hot.

4. Brittany Lang: Although she faded on the weekend in Thailand, she still posted her 7th straight top 10 and her 2nd-best finish (T4) in that run.

5. Cristie Kerr: Her hot streak dates back to last May, for in her last 19 tournaments, she's only finished outside the top 20 twice (her worst being a T34 in China), while garnering 10 top 10s, including a runner-up and a win. She missed a great chance to add to that top 10 total in Thailand with a weak finish yesterday, but still nabbed a T19.

Honorable Mention:

Katherine Hull: In her 14 starts from the Canadian Women's Open to the Women's Australian Open, Hull had 2 wins, 3 runner-ups, 8 top 5s, 11 top 10s, and 13 top 20s (her worst finish? T23!). So why on earth did she finish T40 in her 15th event, her LPGA debut in Thailand? Let's hope that was just a blip.

Jee Young Lee: Her top-10 streak ended at 6 events, but since last June she has 9 top 20s (including her most recent one in Thailand). Unfortunately for her, her best finish in her other 4 events during that stretch is a T22--incredibly, she missed the cut 3 times!

Ya Ni Tseng: Just missed her 3rd straight top 5 in '09, counting her adventure Down Under.

Eun-Hee Ji: Now has a 20th-, 15th-, 10th-, and 5th-place finish over her last 4 starts (although not in that order).

Na Yeon Choi: Extended her top 20 streak to 4 events with her T13 this past week.

Hee Young Park: Known for her ability to go low and high in the same tournament, Park opened her week in Thailand with her 2nd-worst score on the LPGA (and a hospital visit), but then broke 70 3 times in a row for the 1st time in her LPGA career, including the 2 lowest rounds of her LPGA career, a 64 on Friday and a 65 on Sunday. Wow!

Samui

1. Brittany Lincicome: Couldn't sink any lower, not having qualified for the early Asian swing.

2. Julieta Granada: Ditto.

3. Se Ri Pak: Her slump continues. Hopefully she'll play well in Singapore.

4. Inbee Park: Not as bad an LPGA debut for her as I feared.

5. Amy Yang: Waiting anxiously to see how she handles the Showdown in Singapore.

Dishonorable Mention: Ashleigh Simon came in dead last in Thailand. Guess that back injury isn't fully healed.

Daijo Bu

1. Ji-Yai Shin: After an opening 75, broke par the next 3 rounds in Thailand and finished T13. Heading in the right direction as she heads into the Showdown in Singapore.

2. Ai Miyazato: Extended her par or better streak to 11 rounds before fading over the weekend with her worst 2 rounds over her last 18 (a 73 and a 74). But she's among the LPGA's leaders in birdies, putts per green in regulation, and scoring average. I've said it before and I'll say it again: watch out for her this season!

3. Sun Young Yoo. Her closing 68 on Sunday wasn't enough to snag her her 4th top 10 in her last 7 starts, but T11 is a giant step in the right direction.

4. Helen Alfredsson: Continues to show flashes of absolute brilliance since her breakthrough in last year's U.S. Women's Open. From then on, she's had 2 wins, 2 runner-ups, and 2 other top 10s, including her T7 this past week.

5. Natalie Gulbis: A bad weekend dropped her to T26 in Thailand, but she's still showing every indication of being all the way back from last season's back injuries.

Honorable Mention: Rookie Mika Miyazato posted her 1st LPGA top 10 in her 2nd career start on tour. She's only 13 points behind Michelle Wie in the ROY race.

Over and out!



[Update 1 (3/3/09, 11:20 am): Nice to see Lorena's win perking up the ears of Daniel Wexler, the Devil Ball Golf guys, and Ryan Ballengee.]

[Update 2 (7:58 pm): Here's Happy Fan's recap of Hee Young Park's excellent adventure in Thailand.]

Honda LPGA Thailand Sunday: Prammanasudh Fires 31 on Front

Stacy Prammanasudh made 4 birdies in her 1st 6 holes and tacked on another for a 31 on the front today in the final round of the Honda LPGA Thailand, moving to -3 for the tournament and T8 as the leaders tee off. Prammanasudh has joined Jee Young Lee in figuring out how to take advantage of the opening holes--Lee made 10 birdies and only 4 bogeys in that trio of 6-hole stretches, while Stacy P's hot start today brings her to -5 for those 18 holes. If Karrie Webb and Lorena Ochoa are going to make runs at Paula Creamer, look for it to happen early: whereas Creamer has excelled on the back, Webb and Ochoa have a chance to outdo even Prammanasudh and Lee over the opening 6 holes (and, for that matter, Cristie Kerr, who's already played 16 bogey-free holes at -5, and Mika Miyazato, who's -5 on that stretch with 5 left to play). On the other hand, if they don't make a move, they'll have to hope Creamer falters on a back 9 where she's never shot worse than 35. Let's see what happens!

[Update 1 (12:56 am): Well, that didn't take long at all. Lang doubled 1 to drop to -6 and Webb tripled it to drop to -2. Ouch!]

[Update 2 (12:57 am): So barring a miracle charge from someone still on the front, this comes down to a 2-player race with the world #1 trying to chase down her closest competitor.]

[Update 3 (12:59 am): Having said that, nice bounce-back birdies from Lang and Webb!]

[Update 4 (1:01 am): Cautionary tale from the early starters...Giulia Sergas was -3 through 7 and -4 through 11, but could only manage a 71.]

[Update 5 (1:03 am): How about that Hee Young Park? She's now bogey-free and -6 on that opening 6-hole stretch after making back-to-back birdies on the 2nd and 3rd holes.]

[Update 6 (1:06 am): Unfortunately for Ai Miyazato, she offset her 4 birdies in those opening holes with 4 bogeys. Combine that with her 1st bad back 9 yesterday and it makes a top 10 look increasingly difficult for my favorite golfer. So that's it for me until the morning!]

[Update 7 (7:22 am): Wow, I gotta tell you, I didn't see that one coming. Sure, Lorena Ochoa was tied with Creamer by the 3rd hole, ahead by the 5th, and comfortably ahead by the 8th--going -4 while Creamer's going +2 will do that for you. But I just didn't expect Ochoa to be that dominant that early this season. Nor did I expect Hee Young Park to shoot her 2nd 31 on the front, either. What a great runner-up for Park! Finally, I didn't expect Prammanasudh to go and take the course record away from her, despite that hot start of her own. Great finish to tie Lang for 4th.]

[Update 8 (7:25 am): I was kinda hoping I would get the whole Ai-chan prediction thing wrong, actually. But even though she made 5 birdies today--including 3 in a 4-hole stretch to start the back--she bogeyed 2 of her last 3 holes to fall back to T22 at E for the tournament. That's been thr story of her year, thus far. She's making birdies like the Ai-chan of old but making way too many bogeys to contend. Oh, well, there's always next week!]

[Update 9 (12:22 pm): Hound Dog isn't sure whether to be more impressed with Ochoa or Park!]

[Update 10 (2:48 pm): Brent Kelley notes that Ochoa's victory--her 25th on the LPGA--puts her past Se Ri Pak and Donna Caponi. Not bad!]

[Update 11 (10:23 pm): Here are notes and interviews from LPGA.com, your source for the AP!]

[Update 12 (3/2/09, 8:35 am): Here's Bill Jempty's take on Lorena's win and Hee Young's runner-up!]

[Update 13 (9:22 am): Here are Hound Dog's reflections on the 2nd event of the season.]