Just as I suspected, the field was much stronger for this week's SunCoast Series tournament at MetroWest than for last week's Disney event. And we got a very intriguing winner out of the mix!
LPGA Class of 2014er Yueer Cindy Feng went 71-68-70 to hold off '13er Haley Millsap by 4 shots and last week's winner and '12er Sandra Changkija and Karlin Beck (also in the Class of '12, though without LPGA membership this season) by 6. They were the only golfers under par for the week, as Maria Hjorth, Sue Kim, and Ginger Howard finished at E and Jenny Suh fell back to +6, Ryann O'Toole to +7, Perrine Delacour to +9, Marina Alex to +12, Pernilla Lindberg to +14, and Amelia Lewis to +15.
This is a big win for Feng, who's moved up to #160 on the 2014 LPGA Priority Status List now that Ji-Yai Shin has dropped her LPGA membership to focus exclusively on the JLPGA. Feng's not listed among the alternates for the Pure Silk Bahamas LPGA Classic, so I doubt she'll try to Monday qualify, but the fact that she could beat handily 7 players who are in the field (Alex, Changkija, Delacour, Hjorth, Kim, Lindberg, O'Toole) bodes well for her once she does get into an LPGA event. She's going to need to take advantage of every early start, as the LPGA reshuffles its priority status list after the 10th event of the year. If she wants to be a factor in the Rookie of the Year race, she needs to move to the top of that list.
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