So if you've been following Hound Dog's blogging or LPGA.com's updating, you'll have seen that Lorena Ochoa and Suzann Pettersen, despite a rough middle and a rough start to their final rounds, respectively, ended up in a playoff at -11 in the Longs Drugs Challenge--and #2 on the money list and in wins this year prevailed, inching closer to half the #1's achievements in 2007. Because the LPGA is a bit slower at updating their stats than the PGA--which informs us that Shigeki Maruyama's dropping just out of the top 10 at the Valero Texas Open only moved him up 10 spots on the money list, to #135--we won't know officially which of the women on the edge have earned their card for 2008. But it sure looks to me like Katie Futcher is going to Q-School and that Lorie Kane leapfrogged Minea Blomqvist to send a second Super Soph packing, as well. That leaves 14 fully exempt Super Sophs for 2008. It'll be interesting to see if the other Super Euros in Blomqvist's shoes--Nina Reis and Veronica Zorzi--will join her at Q-School. And whether Virada Nirapathpongporn and Na Ri Kim--whom it looks to me won't even have non-exempt status for next year--can perform under Q-School pressure.
Going into the Samsung World Championship, then, it's looking like Ochoa, Pettersen, Paula Creamer, and Maria Hjorth have to be the favorites, followed by Jeong Jang, Seon Hwa Lee, Se Ri Pak, Stacy Prammanasudh, and Nicole Castrale. It's entirely possible Angela Park, Jee Young Lee, Angela Stanford, Cristie Kerr, Brittany Lincicome, and Bettina Hauert will play well and earn a few top 10s from this bunch, but highly unlikely that Mi Hyun Kim, Ai Miyazato, Morgan Pressel, Sarah Lee, or Michelle Wie will (I hope they prove me wrong and everyone plays great!). With Ji-Yai Shin winning her record-breaking 7th tournament on the KLPGA this season, I'd love to see Samsung dropping all sponsor's invitations for the future and guaranteeing a spot to the top player from the JLPGA and KLPGA money lists, respectively. Otherwise they're going to see their event be quickly overshadowed by both the ADT Championship and the new HSBC stroke-play event in Singapore.
2 comments:
Amen to your comment on the KLPGA and JLPGA deserving a Samsung invite. They certainly deserve it as much as the LET does.
In fact, I'm going further now (at Shackleford's place and Seoul Sisters) and suggesting they drop all exemptions and invite top 3 money winners from those 3 tours, limiting the rest of the field to the top 11 LPGAers.
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