Could Ochoa's Limited '09 Schedule Hurt Her POY Chances?

Lorena Ochoa's posted her 2009 LPGA schedule on her website. She's committed to playing 21 events (by my count), which is 1 fewer than her family-tragedy-shortened 2008 and 4 fewer than her previous 2 POY years. Meanwhile, Ji-Yai Shin played 37 events around the world in 2008, won more often, and earned more on the course than Ochoa did. Either Ochoa is supremely confident in her ability to face down her ever-growing lead chase pack (which includes Paula Creamer, Ya Ni Tseng, Cristie Kerr, and Suzann Pettersen, as well) this coming season, or she's resolved to seek a balance between her family life and professional life in her last 4+ seasons on tour and will let the chips fall where they may. What do you all think? More to the point, how many wins do you expect for her in '09 and how high on the money list do you expect her to finish?

7 to Watch at LET Q-School

The Ladies European Tour has been holding the final stage of its Q-School in Spain this week. After the 1st round, Korean Jessica Ji led at -4, American Beth Allen was 1 shot back, the LPGA's Julieta Granada and pre-qualifying stage medalist Christel Boeljon of the Netherlands were 3 shots back, India's Smriti Mehra was 5 back, and Sweden's Anna Nordqvist and Australia's Stephanie Na were another shot back. After the second round, Allen jumped into the lead with a 71 (-2), bringing her total though 36 holes to -5. Nordqvist leaped back into contention with a -4 round of her own that pulled her into a tie for 4th with Granada and Mehra 3 shots back, while 78s by Ji and Na dropped them 6 (tied with Boeljon) and 12 shots back, respectively.

There will be a cut to the top 50 after the end of today's round, so Na will need to improve on her T62 standing. After tomorrow's round, the top 30 players will get the equivalent of exempt status for 2009, while the remaining 20 will also have LET membership but only be able to get into a limited number of events.

[Update 1 (7:58 pm): Here are the 3rd-round results for the players I'm following:

Nordqvist 67, -8, 1st
Allen 72, -6, 3rd
Boeljon 69, -3, T7
Granada 72, -3, T7
Mehra, 73, -2, T10
Ji 72, E, T14
Na 72, +6, T43

The only name I know among those who missed the cut was Miriam Nagl, whose 76 today dropped her to +8/T56, just on the wrong side of the cut line.]

ANZ Ladies Masters Update: Ai Miyazato In, Amy Yang Out

Thanks to Chigger at Seoul Sisters.com for bringing to my attention this piece by Terry Wilson on the ANZ Ladies Masters, which looks at Amy Yang's difficult decision to skip the Australian tournament that she won as a 16-year-old amateur in 2006. Along the way, Wilson reveals that Ji-Yai Shin, Ya Ni Tseng, Inbee Park, Karrie Webb, and Ai Miyazato have committed to starting their seasons down under. They'll be joining the usual contingent of LET stalwarts, among them Laura Davies, Gwladys Nocera, Martina Eberl, Lotta Wahlin, Rebecca Hudson, Melissa Reid, Becky Brewerton, and Yuki Sakurai, along with players with dual LPGA/LET membership like Linda Wessberg, Anna Rawson, Ashleigh Simon, and Tania Elosegui (barring withdrawals in the next couple of weeks).

[Update 1 (1/14/09, 3:22 am): Yes, I did just confuse Amy Yang and Vicky Hurst! Somehow they occupy the same category in my brain: young golfers of Korean descent with strong ties outside Korea (Yang to Australia, Hurst to the U.S., where, as Jamie R.S. points out in comments, she was born in Melbourne, FL!) whom I expect to have breakout seasons in 2009. My bad!]

Look for Mina Harigae on the Futures Tour in '09

Well, well, well. Hannah Yun isn't the only talented young thing who's decided to strike while the iron is hot and leave a promising college golf career behind. Ryan Herrington reports that '08 Curtis Cupper and 2007 Women's Amateur Public Links champion Mina Harigae intends to turn pro in 2009. (See the Duke press release for more details.) While ranked only 49th among women amateurs, she was ranked 6th in the NCAA last November.

Harigae should fit right in among her peers who qualified for the Futures Tour in 2009. With each tournament reserving 3 spots for top 20 players in Golfweek's 2 rankings, she should be drafting her letters of request ASAP. Others looking to get into multiple FT events like Amanda Blumenherst and Tiffany Joh will likely be following in Stacy Lewis's footsteps and securing '10 status there as a fallback, in case they can't win enough through sponsor exemptions on the LPGA to get membership via an '09-money-list-top-80 equivalence--or disappoint at the LPGA Q-School like Alison Walshe. Walshe did earn exempt status on the Futures Tour for '09 with her T7 finish in their Q-School last November, so she'll be yet another player in the pipeline to watch this coming season.

Looks like I'll be doing some FT previews as well as LPGA ones later this month!

[Update 1 (1/16/09, 2:40 pm): Kevin Merfeld has more.]

[Update 2 (3/8/09, 12:09 am): Beth Ann Baldry has a Harigae update, after focusing on Ochoa and Hurst for most of her column. Not bad company!]

2009 Preseason Top 30 Predictions: Let the LPGA Prognostication Derby Begin

Hound Dog has kicked things off when it comes to predicting the top 30 at the end of the 2009 LPGA season, just as he did last year. I'll be entering the LPGA Prognostication Derby on the 1-year anniversary of my last attempt to fire up the Mostly Harmless 100-Yen Nishijin Crystal Ball (which apparently is a bit less reliable than the Mostly Harmless jinx).

For those of you who don't blog, feel free to join Seoul Sisters.com discussion board and participate in the Pakpicker thread I've started. Or just post your top 30 in comments or in an email to me at the_constructivist18[at]yahoo.com. Good luck, and happy picking!