With Inbee Park joining the ranks of the LPGA's 2-time winners thanks to her Evian Masters win, it's high time I updated my June 2012 ranking and offer up my latest best guesses as to who's most likely to enter "Club 36" (3-to-6-time winners on tour)!
Most Likely to Win (Again) in 2012
1. Inbee Park: She's got a solid combination of distance and accuracy off the tee and can bomb it out there when she wants, but given how great a putter she's been her entire career and how well she's been rolling the ball of late, the stat I'm focusing on is her 66% greens in regulation rate. Just think if her iron play were as solid as her driving--she'd certainly be averaging more than 3.875 birdies per round (which is already 3rd on tour, behind only Ya Ni Tseng and Stacy Lewis). In other words, if she improves in just that one area, the rest of the tour had better watch out for her week in and week out!
2. Anna Nordqvist: Hound Dog claims her rookie season in 2009 was the best by anyone in LPGA history who failed to win the Rookie of the Year award and ranks it 8th overall. What really distinguished it from her last 2 seasons was her driving accuracy that year--she declined from hitting about 77% of her fairways as a rookie to under 70% of late. It's a good sign that she's hitting 73% of her fairways so far this season, but her stats on the greens show where she needs to improve, with 1.81 PPGIR and only 3.352 birdies per round. The good news is she has been putting better in June and July than earlier in the season, as her stats in these areas have improved sharply since my last ranking and she's gotten top 10s in 4 of her last 6 starts. If she continues to heat up on the greens, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see her win before summer is over.
3. Sun Young Yoo: After seeming to plateau last year, something in the California air this year must have agreed with the Class of 2006's top late bloomer. After a not-even-close runner-up finish at the Kia to Ya Ni Tseng, she took advantage of In-Kyung Kim's heartbreaking final-hole miss from about a foot and beat her with a birdie in a playoff at the Kraft Nabisco Championship for the 2nd win and 1st major of her career. A straight shooter in the Cristie Kerr/Angela Stanford/Brittany Lang mold, she's doing everything well this year but getting the ball in the hole--if she can improve her 1.84 putts per green in regulation rate, she'll start averaging even more than 3.308 birdies per round and become a more regular visitor to the top of the leaderboard. Unfortunately, she's gone in the opposite direction since last ranking with these stats and her finishes have undergone a similar decline--she's gone from being a regular in the top 20 to falling outside the top 30 her last 2 starts. Still she's been playing better than almost everyone else on this list for most of the season, so I don't see any reason to put her lower in my ranking than this.
The Contenders
4. Morgan Pressel: Until the Sybase, she was on the upswing from a very flat start to 2012 and a huge falloff from her 2011 season, when she was regularly making top 20s and top 10s and had 2 top 3s in majors. Her driving had been the culprit, as one of the most accurate players on tour in a typical year was hitting the fairway off the tee only 65% of the time early in the season. Although she improved it to 71% last ranking, it's since fallen to 68%, due to a combination of emotional scars (from her semi-final match slow play penalty at the Sybase Match Play Championship) and physical ailments (stemming from her practice routine and the rough at the Wegmans LPGA Championship). More ominously, she has 2 WDs and a missed cut in her last 3 starts. I was surprised when I talked with her in Pittsford and in Waterloo in June how low her confidence level was; in retrospect, I can understand why. I'd love to see her turn her season around.
5. Eun-Hee Ji: Last ranking, I concluded, "She could be a real surprise at the Wegmans LPGA Championship." And she was, getting into the final pairing for the final round and finishing T2. Since then, though, she's fallen off a cliff, missing 3 cuts in a row. Even though her putts per green in regulation rate isn't bad at all, she's averaging just over 2.90 birdies per round, which is way below what you need to be doing if you want to be an elite player on the LPGA. Given that her greens in regulation rate has fallen below 70%, I'm guessing it's a combination of her iron play and putting that's been holding her back lately.
6. Meena Lee: She's been driving for show this year on the LPGA, hitting 77% of her fairways, but she couldn't capitalize on her exceptional play in Hawaii and her top 20 at Evian was her 1st since late April in Alabama. Clearly, her putter has cooled off this summer, but with only a 67% greens in regulation rate and declining driving accuracy since my last ranking in early June, I'm guessing that she's off in every area of her game.
7. Momoko Ueda: Her T12 at Evian was her 3rd top 20 of 2012 on the LPGA, she continues to drive the ball well, and she's hitting her irons more solidly (moving her greens in regulation rate up from 62% last ranking to 65% this one) of late, but her putting stats have declined during the same span (from averaging 1.79 PPGIR and 3.33 birdies per round to 1.84 and 3.19). The few times I followed her in Waterloo, I certainly saw her miss her share of makeable birdie chances. So if she can get the ball in the hole just a little faster, I'm thinking we should start seeing her contend more often on the LPGA. I'm hoping she's going to emphasize the LPGA more in the 2nd half of 2012 than she has in her previous 4 seasons as a dual LPGA-JLPGA major. I'm getting the feeling she's very close to putting it all together outside Japan for the 1st time in her career.
Quantum Leap Candidates
8. Katherine Hull: For someone who plays most of the winter at home in Australia, she had a very slow start to the LPGA's 2012 season, with a lone top 20 at the KNC to give some hope, and even after glimmers of brilliance in NJ (with a top 10 at the Sybase when she made the sweet 16 and a runner-up at the ShopRite), she hasn't been able to crack the top 25 ever since. All her key performance stats are just below elite levels, although her 3.22 birdies per round rate isn't half bad given her relative struggles in her other areas.
9. Jimin Kang: She got a T5 early in the season but hasn't done much of anything since she had to withdraw from the Kia Classic. Still, she managed a T21 at the U.S. Women's Open and has a history of pulling solid and even spectacular results seemingly out of nowhere (as evidenced by her top-3 finish in Korea late last season), so let's not be counting her out just yet. Given how bad the rest of her performance stats are looking right now, her averaging over 3.10 birdies per round is pretty amazing, which suggests to me she knows how to take advantage of a hot putter. Only question is whether and when it will get hot in the 2nd half of the season.
10. Michelle Wie: OK, her 1st half of 2012 was pretty nightmarish. It's gotten to the point where I'm just happy to see her playing on the weekend, no matter how early her starting times are. Feel free to throw rotten fruits and vegetables at me in comments for putting her odds of winning over the course of the season higher than the rest of the 2-time winners!
11. Jennifer Rosales: She was a top-30 caliber player from 2002-2005, when she notched her 2 wins and 17 of her 20 top 10s, but she hasn't broken into the top 10 since then. Between injuries and bad golf, she's been missing more cuts than she's made, yet still hanging onto her card. The good news is, she got her 2nd top 20 of the season at the Walmart and she's averaging over 3.31 birdies per round. The bad news is, her key ball-striking and putting stats have gone downhill since the last ranking and she didn't make it into either the USWO or the Evian fields. A lot's going to ride on how well she plays in her remaining starts. Let's see how she handles the pressure.
12. Jeong Jang: It's definitely going to take her awhile to get back in the swing of things, now that she's back from maternity leave after taking all of 2011 off. Let's see if infant Seul Samantha allows her mama enough practice time to return to the form that put her regularly in contention before wrist injuries derailed her career. I got to follow both of them for awhile at the Wegmans LPGA Championship, which turned out to be her best finish in the 1st half of the season, a T15. But she's gotta improve on her dismal greens in regulation rate (58%) to have more weeks like that one in the 2nd half of the season.
On the Bottom, Looking Up
13. Karen Stupples: She hasn't really done anything special this season on the LPGA since getting a top 10 at the Lotte in mid-April and she's riding a 3-event missed-cut streak, but she did improve on her opening score at the Evian by 12 shots on Friday and broke 70 for the 6th time this season and 1st time since the 2nd round at the Manulife in late June, so maybe there's reason for optimism in the run-up to the Women's British Open for this veteran and mother of 2.
14. Ji Young Oh: It's looking more and more like my doubts in February 2010--"Somehow I can't believe that this Junior Mint has as promising a future on the LPGA as the other Young Guns on this list...."--were right on target. She had a disastrous 2011 and even though she's straightened out her driver in 2012 and is starting to make cuts again, almost nothing else in her game is very dependable right now. She hasn't made a top 40 all year and hasn't played competitively since the Walmart a month ago, so it's hard to say where she's headed in the 2nd half of the season.
15. Laura Diaz: She'd been a regular in the top 40 and on the Solheim Cup since 2000, and even had 2 consecutive top-10 seasons early last decade, but coming back from the birth of her daughter a couple of years ago has proven quite difficult. From 2009 to 2011, she found every aspect of the game difficult and is now hanging onto her card by the tips of her fingers, at #132 on the Priority Status List thanks to a 1-time career top 40 exemption. About the only good thing you can say about her 2012 is that she's made the cut in 3 of her last 4 starts.
16. Christina Kim: A 67 on Friday at Evian broke her 4-event missed-cut streak, but even though she continues to get the ball in the fairway with great regularity (although she did drop from 78% to 76% now), she's still lost a lot of distance, and her iron play and putting continue to let her down in a big way, so it's way too soon to say she's seeing any light in the tunnel during the worst slump of her career. Regular readers of her blog know that she's been facing down much more than a terrible slump, though, including a serious back injury, depression, and thoughts of suicide the last 2 years. Here's hoping she can rediscover the fun in the game in the 2nd half of the season and use it to keep those negative thoughts in perspective on and off the course.
17. Stacy Prammanasudh: She, too, is stuck in the worst slump of her career, having made 1 cut in 8 starts so far this season, but maybe baby Ryp Walker will start giving her more practice time soon!
18. Janice Moodie: This 3-time Solheim Cupper has never lost her LPGA tour card, even when she gave birth in 2006 and played only 10 events. But she hasn't won since 2002 and has gotten only 5 of her 44 career top 10s in the last 6 seasons, so it's not like being a mom on tour hasn't taken its toll on her game. With a kindergartner and an infant, both boys, to corral, it's no wonder her putter has been suffering this season. What is surprising is that she hasn't made a cut all year since finishing near the bottom of the pack in Australia to kick off the season.
On the Outside, Looking In
19. Carin Koch: She notched 56 LPGA top 10s between 1995 and 2008, but only 2 wins--and at the Corning Classic and in Mexico (2 warning signs from my 1-time winners' ranking). But she moved back to Sweden in 2009 and has played only the 2 dual LPGA-LET events per season ever since. Don't get me wrong--she's often played well on the LET and is currently #18 on their money list--but she's not giving herself many chances to add to her LPGA win total.
20. Gloria Park: She's still playing full-time at home in Korea.
Friday, August 3, 2012
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Players Battle for Solheim Cup Position
We have reached the halfway point to the next Solheim Cup, which will be held at the Colorado Club in Parker, Colorado. As you may already know, players started accumulating points the very next tournament following last year's match. I don't think it is too early to take a look at the way things are shaping up.
The United States has changed the qualifications for entry. In previous years it was the top ten players who accumulated the most points, and then two captain's picks. They have now changed that to the top eight players off the point list, the 2 highest Rolex ranked players not already in, and 2 captain's picks.
Points are accumulated the following way:
(From the first event after the previous Solheim Cup match in 2011 through the end of the 2012 season)
Winner - 40 points, 2nd - 20 points, 3rd - 18 points, 4th - 17 points, all the way down to 20th - 2 points.
(The 2013 season tournaments, leading up to the Solheim match)
Winner - 60 points, 2nd - 30 points, 3rd - 28.5 points, 4th - 27 points, 5th - 25.5 points, all the way down to a 20th place finish worth 3 points.
The reason for the increased points for the last part of the term is to give an advantage to the players who are hot going into the match.
Lets see where we stand as of today:
1- Stacy Lewis - 349 Points (current Rolex Ranking #2)
2- Cristie Kerr - 178 (current RR #8)
3- Paula Creamer - 178 (current RR #12)
4- Angela Stanford - 150 (current RR #21)
5- Brittany Lincicome - 141 (current RR #16)
6- Brittany Lang - 133 (current RR #24)
7- Morgan Pressel - 70 (current RR # 26)
8- Natalie Gulbis - 70 (Current RR # 68)
The above 8 players would all be in if the tournament was held today.
9- Lexi Thompson - 69 (Current RR #25)
10- Katie Futcher - 69 (current RR #65)
11- Vicky Hurst - 66 (current RR # 68)
12- Michelle Wie - 53 (current RR# 41)
13- Mina Harigae - 49 (current RR #80)
14- Jessica Korda - 45 (current RR #76)
The above 6 players would have failed to qualify via the point system.
Highest Rolex-ranked players that wouldn't have already qualified:
1- Lexi Thompson - Ranked # 25
2- Michelle Wie - Ranked # 41
The above 2 players would get in via the Rolex Rankings.
The ten players above, highlighted in red, would all be on the team if the tournament were held today.
Then it gets interesting, because the team captain will have to pick two more players. As of this writing, that would be a hard decision. None of the remaining players are obvious choices, as none of them are playing that well. Since we have a year to go, I think someone not on this list could get hot, and be a captain's pick. Maybe someone like Jennifer Johnson? Only time will tell.
Another point I would like to make is that the above team is not all that different from the last team. Only Lexi and Natalie would be additions, taking the spots of last year's captain's picks, Ryann O'Toole and Vicky Hurst.
I will keep an eye on this in the weeks leading up to the 2013 Solheim Cup.
Follow @tonyjesselli Tweet
The United States has changed the qualifications for entry. In previous years it was the top ten players who accumulated the most points, and then two captain's picks. They have now changed that to the top eight players off the point list, the 2 highest Rolex ranked players not already in, and 2 captain's picks.
Points are accumulated the following way:
(From the first event after the previous Solheim Cup match in 2011 through the end of the 2012 season)
Winner - 40 points, 2nd - 20 points, 3rd - 18 points, 4th - 17 points, all the way down to 20th - 2 points.
(The 2013 season tournaments, leading up to the Solheim match)
Winner - 60 points, 2nd - 30 points, 3rd - 28.5 points, 4th - 27 points, 5th - 25.5 points, all the way down to a 20th place finish worth 3 points.
The reason for the increased points for the last part of the term is to give an advantage to the players who are hot going into the match.
Lets see where we stand as of today:
1- Stacy Lewis - 349 Points (current Rolex Ranking #2)
2- Cristie Kerr - 178 (current RR #8)
3- Paula Creamer - 178 (current RR #12)
4- Angela Stanford - 150 (current RR #21)
5- Brittany Lincicome - 141 (current RR #16)
6- Brittany Lang - 133 (current RR #24)
7- Morgan Pressel - 70 (current RR # 26)
8- Natalie Gulbis - 70 (Current RR # 68)
The above 8 players would all be in if the tournament was held today.
9- Lexi Thompson - 69 (Current RR #25)
10- Katie Futcher - 69 (current RR #65)
11- Vicky Hurst - 66 (current RR # 68)
12- Michelle Wie - 53 (current RR# 41)
13- Mina Harigae - 49 (current RR #80)
14- Jessica Korda - 45 (current RR #76)
The above 6 players would have failed to qualify via the point system.
Highest Rolex-ranked players that wouldn't have already qualified:
1- Lexi Thompson - Ranked # 25
2- Michelle Wie - Ranked # 41
The above 2 players would get in via the Rolex Rankings.
The ten players above, highlighted in red, would all be on the team if the tournament were held today.
Then it gets interesting, because the team captain will have to pick two more players. As of this writing, that would be a hard decision. None of the remaining players are obvious choices, as none of them are playing that well. Since we have a year to go, I think someone not on this list could get hot, and be a captain's pick. Maybe someone like Jennifer Johnson? Only time will tell.
Another point I would like to make is that the above team is not all that different from the last team. Only Lexi and Natalie would be additions, taking the spots of last year's captain's picks, Ryann O'Toole and Vicky Hurst.
I will keep an eye on this in the weeks leading up to the 2013 Solheim Cup.
Follow @tonyjesselli Tweet
Monday, July 30, 2012
Evian Masters Weekend: Inbee Park Putts for Dough, 2nd Career LPGA Victory
Inbee Park was not the best ball-striker over the weekend at the Evian Masters, but she put on a putting and short game clinic the likes of which hasn't been seen in a long time on the LPGA. When the dust settled, Park ended up at -17, having taken only 98 putts over 72 holes, for a 2-shot victory over Stacy Lewis and Karrie Webb, who hit 15 and 19 more greens in regulation than Park did for the week, respectively, but just couldn't get the ball in the hole as quickly or as consistently as the now-2-time-LPGA winner.
Lewis was -12 through her 1st 25 holes, but went +1 over her next 43 before finishing birdie-birdie-par-eagle. Webb, meanwhile, missed only 9 greens all week, but wasn't putting the ball as close to the pin as consistently as Lewis was. Even though she, too, put on a great final charge, going -4 over her last 7 holes, it was just too little, too late to put enough pressure on Park. The 2008 U.S. Women's Open champion went through troubles of her own, taking 15 holes to return to -12, after having gotten there with a birdie on the 10th hole on Saturday, but once she got there, with a birdie on the par-5 7th on Sunday, she never looked back, going -5 over her last 11 holes to knock a lot of golfers playing really well back on their heels.
Like Paula Creamer, who really got her putter going this week. Sure, just like Lewis and Park, she endured a rough patch on Saturday, ending her 36-hole bogey-free run on the very 1st hole, then negating her 2 birdies on the back with back-to-back bogeys. And she was +1 through her 1st 6 holes Sunday, falling all the way back to -7 for the week. But then she made 4 birdies in a row, including a 40-footer on the 10th, to fight back to -11. Even though she couldn't buy a birdie the rest of the way and had to settle for T9 at -10, it must have been fun to be back in the hunt at different times this week. I think it's a sign of things to come the rest of the season.
Or how about Cristie Kerr, who was putting with a lot of confidence all week. A 6-birdie 67 on Saturday got her into the mix, and when she birdied both closing par 5s on the front, she was -10 heading into her final 9. Sure, she faded, too, but it was a great ball-striking week and a better week with the putter than her stats indicated.
How about players closer to the top of the leaderboard than Creamer and Kerr? Let's start with Natalie Gulbis, who started off the season playing really well, endured a mini-slump in her last several starts, but came back with a bang at the site of her 1st and only LPGA victory. After a 69-69-68 start, it looked like the altitude (double digits under par, high up the leaderboard, as near to the final pairing on Sunday as she was to Lake Geneva) was getting to her at the start of her final round, as she bogeyed 2 of her 1st 3 holes and needed great scrambles for most of her 1st 6 just to keep the damage to that. But then she birdied 7 and 8 and just missed a birdie on 9 and boom, she was back in the mix at -10 heading into her final 9. Unlike Creamer and Kerr, she finished strong, with 3 birdies in a row early on the back and 2 in a row to close out the tournament. Except for failing to birdie the par-5 15th and bogeying the short par-4 16th (just like Creamer), she played great on the back. Just not well enough to beat Park.
What about the winner of the Wegmans LPGA Championship, Shanshan Feng? She seemed to have knocked herself out of the tournament when she went on a 3-hole bogey train late in her 2nd round, but she went 68-66 over the weekend, highlighted by a hole-out for eagle from the back trap on her 72nd hole, to force everyone still on the course to really buckle down over their closing holes. Great effort and maybe even a little better Sunday round than the one that got her her 1st LPGA win and major, but not enough to stop her fellow dual-LPGA-JLPGA member.
Speaking of golfers who have played great on multiple tours this year, how about that 17-year-old amateur Hyo-Joo Kim? She hit the ball well enough to win this week--something she's already done on the KLPGA and JLPGA. She put together 4 rounds in the 60s (something only Gulbis was also able to achieve) and took only 102 putts all week. If the birdies had started dropping sooner for her on Sunday than over her last 4 holes (where she made 3, including her last 2 in a row), she really could have given Park a run for her money. Of everyone in the field, she probably was closest to having the speed of the greens down as well as Park did.
How about Anna Nordqvist, who fist-pumped her way to 6 Sunday birdies that brought her to -12, good enough to finish alone in 7th? She was fantastic over her final 3 rounds, going 67-69-68, but she wasn't quite fantastic enough, making 4 bogeys and a double despite hitting 11 more greens than Park during the week.
Other players had their chances--Se Ri Pak at -11 was steady but never spectacular, Beatriz Recari and Ilhee Lee at -10 bounced back nicely from Saturday collapses that cost them a chance to win, Momoko Ueda fired 3 69s, including 2 over the weekend, to finish T12 with Kerr, Guilia Sergas, and Karine Icher and take low Japanese player from Mika Miyazato (-8, T16 with Azahara Munoz, Meena Lee, Lindsey Wright, and Lee-Anne Pace) and Ai Miyazato (-7, T21), Hee Young Park was doubled digits under par with 4 holes to go using the long putter for the 1st time this week, but finished with 3 bogeys in a row and a mere par on the final hole to finish tied with Ai-sama and Julieta Granada--but they couldn't put it all together the way those who finished ahead of them did.
But they certainly have more positives to take away from the week than Suzann Pettersen, Ji-Yai Shin, and Carlota Ciganda, who closed with 74s, So Yeon Ryu, who went 72-73 over the weekend, and Cheyenne Woods, who played great for 3 rounds but stumbled to a Sunday 78. In-Kyung Kim, Amy Yang, and Hee Kyung Seo had fewer downs, but also fewer ups, as they, too finished in the middle of the pack. Perhaps the biggest surprise (and disappointment) was U.S. Women's Open champion Na Yeon Choi, who opened with a 75 and failed to break 70 the rest of the way (although she did beat Kraft Nabisco Championship winner Sun Young Yoo, who closed with a 75, by a single shot).
All in all, though, with so many players from all around the world in the mix heading into the final 9, and so many spills and thrills from so many of them, the final playing of the Evian Masters as a regular-season event before it becomes a major next year had an Olympics-like feel to it. Hats off to Inbee Park! She deserves a week off before playing in the Jamie Farr the 2nd week of August. (Apparently, Shanshan Feng feels differently, as she's headed to Japan to defend her Meiji Cup title!)
Lewis was -12 through her 1st 25 holes, but went +1 over her next 43 before finishing birdie-birdie-par-eagle. Webb, meanwhile, missed only 9 greens all week, but wasn't putting the ball as close to the pin as consistently as Lewis was. Even though she, too, put on a great final charge, going -4 over her last 7 holes, it was just too little, too late to put enough pressure on Park. The 2008 U.S. Women's Open champion went through troubles of her own, taking 15 holes to return to -12, after having gotten there with a birdie on the 10th hole on Saturday, but once she got there, with a birdie on the par-5 7th on Sunday, she never looked back, going -5 over her last 11 holes to knock a lot of golfers playing really well back on their heels.
Like Paula Creamer, who really got her putter going this week. Sure, just like Lewis and Park, she endured a rough patch on Saturday, ending her 36-hole bogey-free run on the very 1st hole, then negating her 2 birdies on the back with back-to-back bogeys. And she was +1 through her 1st 6 holes Sunday, falling all the way back to -7 for the week. But then she made 4 birdies in a row, including a 40-footer on the 10th, to fight back to -11. Even though she couldn't buy a birdie the rest of the way and had to settle for T9 at -10, it must have been fun to be back in the hunt at different times this week. I think it's a sign of things to come the rest of the season.
Or how about Cristie Kerr, who was putting with a lot of confidence all week. A 6-birdie 67 on Saturday got her into the mix, and when she birdied both closing par 5s on the front, she was -10 heading into her final 9. Sure, she faded, too, but it was a great ball-striking week and a better week with the putter than her stats indicated.
How about players closer to the top of the leaderboard than Creamer and Kerr? Let's start with Natalie Gulbis, who started off the season playing really well, endured a mini-slump in her last several starts, but came back with a bang at the site of her 1st and only LPGA victory. After a 69-69-68 start, it looked like the altitude (double digits under par, high up the leaderboard, as near to the final pairing on Sunday as she was to Lake Geneva) was getting to her at the start of her final round, as she bogeyed 2 of her 1st 3 holes and needed great scrambles for most of her 1st 6 just to keep the damage to that. But then she birdied 7 and 8 and just missed a birdie on 9 and boom, she was back in the mix at -10 heading into her final 9. Unlike Creamer and Kerr, she finished strong, with 3 birdies in a row early on the back and 2 in a row to close out the tournament. Except for failing to birdie the par-5 15th and bogeying the short par-4 16th (just like Creamer), she played great on the back. Just not well enough to beat Park.
What about the winner of the Wegmans LPGA Championship, Shanshan Feng? She seemed to have knocked herself out of the tournament when she went on a 3-hole bogey train late in her 2nd round, but she went 68-66 over the weekend, highlighted by a hole-out for eagle from the back trap on her 72nd hole, to force everyone still on the course to really buckle down over their closing holes. Great effort and maybe even a little better Sunday round than the one that got her her 1st LPGA win and major, but not enough to stop her fellow dual-LPGA-JLPGA member.
Speaking of golfers who have played great on multiple tours this year, how about that 17-year-old amateur Hyo-Joo Kim? She hit the ball well enough to win this week--something she's already done on the KLPGA and JLPGA. She put together 4 rounds in the 60s (something only Gulbis was also able to achieve) and took only 102 putts all week. If the birdies had started dropping sooner for her on Sunday than over her last 4 holes (where she made 3, including her last 2 in a row), she really could have given Park a run for her money. Of everyone in the field, she probably was closest to having the speed of the greens down as well as Park did.
How about Anna Nordqvist, who fist-pumped her way to 6 Sunday birdies that brought her to -12, good enough to finish alone in 7th? She was fantastic over her final 3 rounds, going 67-69-68, but she wasn't quite fantastic enough, making 4 bogeys and a double despite hitting 11 more greens than Park during the week.
Other players had their chances--Se Ri Pak at -11 was steady but never spectacular, Beatriz Recari and Ilhee Lee at -10 bounced back nicely from Saturday collapses that cost them a chance to win, Momoko Ueda fired 3 69s, including 2 over the weekend, to finish T12 with Kerr, Guilia Sergas, and Karine Icher and take low Japanese player from Mika Miyazato (-8, T16 with Azahara Munoz, Meena Lee, Lindsey Wright, and Lee-Anne Pace) and Ai Miyazato (-7, T21), Hee Young Park was doubled digits under par with 4 holes to go using the long putter for the 1st time this week, but finished with 3 bogeys in a row and a mere par on the final hole to finish tied with Ai-sama and Julieta Granada--but they couldn't put it all together the way those who finished ahead of them did.
But they certainly have more positives to take away from the week than Suzann Pettersen, Ji-Yai Shin, and Carlota Ciganda, who closed with 74s, So Yeon Ryu, who went 72-73 over the weekend, and Cheyenne Woods, who played great for 3 rounds but stumbled to a Sunday 78. In-Kyung Kim, Amy Yang, and Hee Kyung Seo had fewer downs, but also fewer ups, as they, too finished in the middle of the pack. Perhaps the biggest surprise (and disappointment) was U.S. Women's Open champion Na Yeon Choi, who opened with a 75 and failed to break 70 the rest of the way (although she did beat Kraft Nabisco Championship winner Sun Young Yoo, who closed with a 75, by a single shot).
All in all, though, with so many players from all around the world in the mix heading into the final 9, and so many spills and thrills from so many of them, the final playing of the Evian Masters as a regular-season event before it becomes a major next year had an Olympics-like feel to it. Hats off to Inbee Park! She deserves a week off before playing in the Jamie Farr the 2nd week of August. (Apparently, Shanshan Feng feels differently, as she's headed to Japan to defend her Meiji Cup title!)
Surprises & Disappointments 2012 - "Part 2"
It has been more than
three months since I last took a look at the surprises and disappointments on
this year's LPGA Tour. Many things have changed since then, so I think it is
time to take another look.
Biggest Surprises:
1- So Yeon Ryu - She was my Rookie of the Year pick before the season started. I think we all expected her to have a good year, but even I didn't think it would be this good. She currently leads the Rookie of the Year standings by quite a big margin and shows no signs of letting up. Although she has not won this year, she has six top-five finishes and seven top tens. She has yet to miss a cut in her 19 career starts.
Biggest Surprises:
1- So Yeon Ryu - She was my Rookie of the Year pick before the season started. I think we all expected her to have a good year, but even I didn't think it would be this good. She currently leads the Rookie of the Year standings by quite a big margin and shows no signs of letting up. Although she has not won this year, she has six top-five finishes and seven top tens. She has yet to miss a cut in her 19 career starts.
2- Stacy Lewis - She was ranked #10 in the Rolex Rankings at the
start of the year, so I expected more progress from her as she gained more
experience. This much progress I didn't expect. She has moved all the way up to
#2 in the official world rankings. She is currently #1 on the money list and #1
on the Rolex Player of the Year standings. She not only has won twice this
year, but has 3 second-place finishes, nine top fives, and ten top tens. With
Yani Tseng in the midst of a horrific slump, Stacy has taken over as the tour's
most dominant player.
3- Azahara Munoz - The 2010 Rolex Rookie of the Year winner just
keeps getting better and better. She won her first tournament this year, at the
Sybase Match Play Championship. Azahara has showed no signs of slowing down as
she now has five top-five finishes this year. She started the year #40 in the
Rolex Rankings; she is now #14.
4- Natalie Gulbis - Back problems the last few years had derailed
her career. Now healthy, Natalie has come up big in some very big golf
tournaments. Her eighth-place finish at the Kraft Nabisco Championship, the
year's first major, was her first top ten in quite awhile. She followed that up
with a ninth-place finish, and finished fourth at the Evian Masters this past
weekend.
5- Jenny Shin - Has
cooled a bit after her strong start, but her top-five finish and four top tens
tell me she has a bright future.
6- Karin Sjodin - This is Karin's 7th year on tour and she has
never done anything to get excited about. That has changed this year as she has
finished in the top ten in three tournaments.
7- Jodi Ewart - Jodi
has only missed 2 cuts this entire season. Two top-ten finishes tell me she is
someone to watch. Let's see if she can maintain her improved play and make my
year-end list.
8- Giulia Sergas - Giulia fell off the end of the earth last year,
missing seven consecutive cuts at one point. This year she has played her best
in big tournaments. She finished 9th at the Kraft Nabisco, 4th at the U.S.
Open, and 12th this past weekend at the Evian Masters.
9- Se-Ri Pak - Why
do I have a Hall of Famer on here?
She has been playing hurt almost all year. She announced she is shutting it
down for what could be the rest of the season. Why is she a surprise? She has
made all 8 cuts this year (she did have one withdrawal due to injury), and has
four top tens. Her worst finish was 25th. Imagine if she were healthy.
10- Hyo-Joo Kim - Yes, I know she is an amateur and also know this
17-year-old is not an LPGA member. But how can I leave her off this list? She
has only 2 starts on the LPGA this year, finishing 12th at the Lotte LPGA
Championship, and 4th this past weekend at Evian. She became Japan's youngest
winner when she won the Suntory Ladies Open at 16 years old. She also has a
victory on the Korean Tour. The next superstar? Sure looks that way.
Biggest
Disappointments:
1- Song-Hee Kim - She has owned this spot for 2 years in a row.
She will not be on it next year as I have no more expectations for her
whatsoever. How quickly she has fallen is totally unexplainable. She has only
made 3 cuts the entire season. Her best finish this year is 33rd place. Her
76.86 scoring average ranks her 144 of 146 players ranked. She currently is
#135 on the money list and retaining her LPGA card for next year is looking
bleak.
2- Christina Kim - She has been just plain awful for the better
part of two years now. Christina has made only 5 of 14 cuts, with her best
finish 49th. Her 74.54 scoring average ranks her 120th. She is currently #106
on the money list. She must turn it around quickly or we won't be seeing much
of her at all next year.
3- Michelle Wie - I am through making excuses for her. I have used
youth, school, and anything else I could come up with to defend her. I give up.
It has all unraveled this season. She is having trouble with every phase of her
game. Her best finish in a stroke-play event was 35th place at the U.S. Open.
Her per round average last year was a solid 71.96, ranking her 24th. This year
it is 74.81, ranking her 126th. The only thing she has going for her is that
she has earned six paychecks this year, and her current #86 spot on the money
list shouldn't put her playing time in jeopardy.
4- Mindy Kim - It has all gone wrong for Mindy this year. She
has missed her last 3 cuts, 4 of the last 5, and 9 in all this year. Her
scoring average of nearly 74 is by far the worst in her career. She needs to
step it up some to maintain her full playing privileges for next year.
5- Tiffany Joh - Her
successful rookie season last year led us to expect some good things from
Tiffany this year. That has been far from the case. She has missed the cut in 5
of the last 6 tournaments and 8 times already this year. Her best finish this
year is 43rd. Her 74.38 scoring average ranks 116th on tour and she is
currently #96 on the money list. She better step it up very quickly, or playing
time will be an issue next year.
6- Morgan Pressel - Morgan
has slipped out of the top 20 in the Rolex Rankings for the first time in quite
awhile. Although she finished third at the Sybase Match Play Championship, her
best stroke-play finish is 20th place. She is not having a terrible season, but
her 50th-ranked 72.62 scoring average is not what we are accustomed to seeing.
With her upcoming wedding, maybe her concentration is divided.
7- Amanda Blumenherst - Amanda started the year with a bang, finishing
5th at the Honda Classic. Her entire game seems to have fallen apart since. In
her last 13 tournaments she has failed to finish higher than 31st. She has also
missed the cut in 7 of the last 9 events she has played in. Her 74.18 scoring
average ranks her 107th. Fortunately for her, that early top 5 finish assures
her full-time status next year. Like Pressel, she is also getting married at
the end of the year and her attention may be divided.
T8 - Sophie Gustafson and
Maria Hjorth - No playing cards in danger here, but wouldn't
you expect that one of these veteran stars would have at least one top ten?
Neither has been in contention all season.
10- Ryann O'Toole - As
is the case with Tiffany Joh, you have to question whether last year was a
fluke. Ryann has missed the cut in 8 of her 15 tournaments this season. Though
her numbers are much better than Tiffany's, her 73.57 scoring average could be
better. She has made enough money to retain her card, but her inconsistent play
leads me to question her long-term future.
I will review this again at the
season's end.
Other Tidbits:
Stacy Lewis's eagle on
the final hole of the Evian Masters this past weekend was her 7th of the
season, which leads the tour.
Stacy Lewis's 2nd-place finish this
past weekend was her 9th top-5 finish this year. No other player has more than
6.
Titleholders Update:
Natalie Gulbis, Beatriz
Recari, and Paula Creamer are the latest to qualify. Catriona Matthew is now
the highest-ranked player on the LPGA priority list yet to get in.
Rolex Rankings Movers
of the Week:
Inbee Park moves from #21
to #15. Hyo-Joo Kim (a) moves from # 83 to #60. Natalie Gulbis moves from #88
to #69.http://twitter.com/tonyjesselli Tweet
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Evian Masters Friday: Stacy Lewis Gets to -12 Early, Then Stalls, Opening Door a Bit
Stacy Lewis started yesterday's round at the Evian Masters just as hot as she ended Thursday 's, with a birdie on the par-4 4th and an eagle on the par-5 7th to get to -12 for the week, but she cooled off after that, needing 2 birdies in her last 4 holes just to get back there. Still, she holds onto a slim 1-shot lead over Ilhee Lee, who followed up yesterday's 66 with a bogey-free 67 yesterday. Lewis has had a hot putter so far this week, but Lee has been incandescent, taking only 49 putts over her 1st 36 holes. Only Julieta Granada, who put up a 65 today with only 20 putts, has taken as few strokes on the greens as Lee.
But lots of golfers have their putters working for them in Evian, most notably Paula Creamer, who's only 3 shots off the lead on the strength of a 36 hole-and-counting bogey-free run in which she's gone 68-67 with only 55 putts, a particularly impressive number given that she's hit 28 greens in regulation. Inbee Park, who shot the low round of the day, a bogey-free 64 with only 24 putts, joined her at -9; she's hit 23 greens so far and taken only 51 putts in all. Mika Miyazato, one of the very few players in the field to be hitting the ball and putting as well as Lewis and Creamer thus far, is alone at -8 after a bogey-free 69 today; she's hit 29 greens and taken 57 putts. Hee Young Park, who got it to -10 with 7 holes to play, responded with 4 bogeys in that stretch but got it back to -7 with a walkoff birdie; despite her hiccups, she's got the same GIR and putting stats as Mikan, even though she has hit fewer fairways. Ditto for Beatriz Recari, who put up a 66 on Friday. Teenage amateur Hyo-Joo Kim, meanwhile, also has her putter working for her, with 52 putts thus far, but she's hit only 26 greens in regulation, so joins the group at -7 for the week after a 68 yesterday (which, by the way, included an eagle on the par-5 9th!). So Yeon Ryu, who matched Granada's Friday 65, has taken 60 putts with 29 greens in regulation, so she's another shot back at -6. Ji-Yai Shin, who shot her 2nd-straight 69 in her 2nd tournament back after a long layoff due to hand surgery, has been hitting the ball as well as anyone (25 fairways, 31 greens in regulation), but has taken 61 putts. Azahara Munoz, Meena Lee, and Natalie Gulbis have been hitting the ball a little worse than Ryu and Shin, but have putted a bit better, and they, too, are half a dozen shots off the pace.
Even those more than 6 shots back are still in this thing, given how many eagles are out there on the course. Both Amy Yang and Cristie Kerr both finished birdie-eagle to climb to -4, tied with the likes of fellow eagler Hee Kyung Seo (hers came on the par-5 15th from the fairway with a little wedge), Suzann Pettersen, Shanshan Feng, Brittany Lang, and Cheyenne Woods. Anna Nordqvist didn't get an eagle, but she did shoot a 67 to join Granada and a pair of Hall of Famers (Karrie Webb and Se Ri Pak) at -5. Brittany Lincicome and Christina Kim bounced back from opening 73s with fine 67s, as well. Jessica Korda made an even more impressive comeback, improving 10 shots on Thursday's 77 yesterday. So you're never quite out of it at Evian. Me, I'm hoping defending champion Ai Miyazato can get her ball-striking to the level of her putting over the weekend, as she's hanging around at -3 with countrywoman Momoko Ueda, Kraft Nabisco Championship winner Sun Young Yoo, and KLPGA star Ha-Neul Kim, among others.
Correction: you are out of it if you fail to make the cut. And that's just what happened to Ya Ni Tseng, Angela Stanford, Vicky Hurst, Morgan Pressel, Tiffany Joh, Lexi Thompson, Melissa Reid, Candie Kung, Ryann O'Toole, and many others. But I was glad to see promising young players like Mina Harigae, Jennifer Song, and Danielle Kang hang in there and live to play the weekend.
Moving day action has already started, so once again, I'll warn you not to click onto links for the players' scorecards if you do click on the link above, which takes you to the 2nd-round scoreboard only. Golf Channel coverage starts at 1 pm today, so take a break this afternoon from the Olympics and see if Stacy Lewis and Paula Creamer can continue to lead the way for Team USA!
But lots of golfers have their putters working for them in Evian, most notably Paula Creamer, who's only 3 shots off the lead on the strength of a 36 hole-and-counting bogey-free run in which she's gone 68-67 with only 55 putts, a particularly impressive number given that she's hit 28 greens in regulation. Inbee Park, who shot the low round of the day, a bogey-free 64 with only 24 putts, joined her at -9; she's hit 23 greens so far and taken only 51 putts in all. Mika Miyazato, one of the very few players in the field to be hitting the ball and putting as well as Lewis and Creamer thus far, is alone at -8 after a bogey-free 69 today; she's hit 29 greens and taken 57 putts. Hee Young Park, who got it to -10 with 7 holes to play, responded with 4 bogeys in that stretch but got it back to -7 with a walkoff birdie; despite her hiccups, she's got the same GIR and putting stats as Mikan, even though she has hit fewer fairways. Ditto for Beatriz Recari, who put up a 66 on Friday. Teenage amateur Hyo-Joo Kim, meanwhile, also has her putter working for her, with 52 putts thus far, but she's hit only 26 greens in regulation, so joins the group at -7 for the week after a 68 yesterday (which, by the way, included an eagle on the par-5 9th!). So Yeon Ryu, who matched Granada's Friday 65, has taken 60 putts with 29 greens in regulation, so she's another shot back at -6. Ji-Yai Shin, who shot her 2nd-straight 69 in her 2nd tournament back after a long layoff due to hand surgery, has been hitting the ball as well as anyone (25 fairways, 31 greens in regulation), but has taken 61 putts. Azahara Munoz, Meena Lee, and Natalie Gulbis have been hitting the ball a little worse than Ryu and Shin, but have putted a bit better, and they, too, are half a dozen shots off the pace.
Even those more than 6 shots back are still in this thing, given how many eagles are out there on the course. Both Amy Yang and Cristie Kerr both finished birdie-eagle to climb to -4, tied with the likes of fellow eagler Hee Kyung Seo (hers came on the par-5 15th from the fairway with a little wedge), Suzann Pettersen, Shanshan Feng, Brittany Lang, and Cheyenne Woods. Anna Nordqvist didn't get an eagle, but she did shoot a 67 to join Granada and a pair of Hall of Famers (Karrie Webb and Se Ri Pak) at -5. Brittany Lincicome and Christina Kim bounced back from opening 73s with fine 67s, as well. Jessica Korda made an even more impressive comeback, improving 10 shots on Thursday's 77 yesterday. So you're never quite out of it at Evian. Me, I'm hoping defending champion Ai Miyazato can get her ball-striking to the level of her putting over the weekend, as she's hanging around at -3 with countrywoman Momoko Ueda, Kraft Nabisco Championship winner Sun Young Yoo, and KLPGA star Ha-Neul Kim, among others.
Correction: you are out of it if you fail to make the cut. And that's just what happened to Ya Ni Tseng, Angela Stanford, Vicky Hurst, Morgan Pressel, Tiffany Joh, Lexi Thompson, Melissa Reid, Candie Kung, Ryann O'Toole, and many others. But I was glad to see promising young players like Mina Harigae, Jennifer Song, and Danielle Kang hang in there and live to play the weekend.
Moving day action has already started, so once again, I'll warn you not to click onto links for the players' scorecards if you do click on the link above, which takes you to the 2nd-round scoreboard only. Golf Channel coverage starts at 1 pm today, so take a break this afternoon from the Olympics and see if Stacy Lewis and Paula Creamer can continue to lead the way for Team USA!
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