Sunday, September 5, 2010

Golf5 Ladies Overview: Akane Iijima Takes Down Ayako Uehara in Playoff

Akane Iijima is now a 6-time winner on the JLPGA, thanks to her playoff win over Ayako Uehara in the Golf5 Ladies. She did it despite suffering a 2-shot swing on the 53rd hole of the tournament, a long par 4 that she bogeyed and Uehara birdied. Unfortunately, reports in English don't reveal how the playoff played out, so I'll just note that Shiho Oyama and Teresa Lu, the only players in the top 10 with dual LPGA-JLPGA membership, were also the only ones to fail to go under par. As a result, they got passed by a passel of full-time JLPGAers--and 1 teenage amateur:

1st/-12 Akane Iijima (67-69-68) [won in playoff]
2nd/-12 Ayako Uehara (72-63-69)
T3/-11 Maiko Wakabayashi (70-68-67), Yukari Baba (67-70-68)
T5/-10 Nikki Campbell (71-70-65), Midori Yoneyama (69-71-66)
T7/-8 Serena Aoki [a] (70-69-69), Shinobu Moromizato (70-67-71)
T9/-7 Asako Fujimoto (71-71-67), Li-Ying Ye (69-72-68), Saiki Fujita (71-69-69), Teresa Lu (70-67-72), Shiho Oyama (68-69-72)

T14/-6 Ji-Hee Lee (69-71-70), Na-Ri Lee (70-68-72)
T17/-5 Jae-Hee Bae (73-70-68), Erika Kikuchi (71-69-71), Yumiko Yoshida (68-72-71), Mayu Hattori (70-68-73), Rikako Morita (68-70-73)
T26/-4 Rui Kitada (71-72-69), Kaori Aoyama (71-72-69), Ji-Woo Lee (70-73-69), Kumiko Kaneda (69-74-69), Hiromi Mogi (73-69-70)
T31/-3 Kyung-Min Lin (73-70-70)
T35/-2 So-Hee Kim (70-73-71), Na-Ri Kim (73-67-74), Eun-A Lim (68-68-78)
T41/-1 Hyun-Ju Shin (71-70-74)
T43/E Tamie Durdin (73-71-72)
T48/+1 Ritsuko Ryu (73-71-73)

MC: Mika Takushima (76-69), Erina Hara (74-71), Onnarin Sattayabanphot (72-73), Ah-Reum Hwang (73-73), Sakurako Mori (72-75), Yuko Mitsuka (77-72), Esther Lee (73-76),
WD: Yuki Ichinose (75-WD)

Here's how the JLPGA money list now stands, now that 2-time winner Iijima has leaped to #3!

1. Sun-Ju Ahn ¥63.03M
2. Sakura Yokomine ¥54.17M
3. Akane Iijima ¥51.77M
4. Yuri Fudoh ¥48.36M
5. Mi-Jeong Jeon ¥46.54M
6. Yukari Baba ¥45.48M
7. Ji-Hee Lee ¥43.58M
8. Rui Kitada ¥41.89M
9. Chie Arimura ¥41.42M
10. Inbee Park ¥36.50M
11. Nikki Campbell ¥36.14M
12. Miho Koga ¥33.58M
13. Mie Nakata ¥31.94M
14. Shinobu Moromizato ¥31.39M
15. Ayako Uehara ¥30.39M
16. Mayu Hattori ¥30.01M
17. Saiki Fujita ¥27.97M
18. Hyun-Ju Shin ¥27.22M
19. Hiromi Mogi ¥26.57M
20. Akiko Fukushima ¥26.03M
21. Young Kim ¥26.03M
22. Ji-Yai Shin ¥25.76M
23. Hiromi Takesue ¥25.22M
24. Ji-Woo Lee ¥25.15M
25. Na-Ri Kim ¥23.67M
26. Asako Fujimoto ¥23.41M
27. Bo-Bae Song ¥21.22M
28. Yun-Jye Wei ¥20.76M
29. Eun-A Lim ¥20.61M
30. Rikako Morita ¥19.40M

#49 Momoko Ueda is skipping the LPGA's NW Arkansas event this coming week, presumably to compete in the JLPGA's 2nd major, the Konica Minolta Cup, but except for Teresa Lu (who moved up to #55 on the money list) she's the only one of the tours' dual members who will be doing so. It'll be interesting to see who among Ai Miyazato, Ji-Yai Shin, Inbee Park, and Seon Hwa Lee rejoin the JLPGA for part of September. Miyazato needs to shore up her position on the money list to keep her cards for next season, while Lee needs to move up it fast; moreover, both need to win an event to qualify for the season-ending major, the Tour Championship, so there's more pressure on them to make the long trip.

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