Japan Women's Open Sunday: Shanshan Feng Goes Wire-to-Wire for 2nd Major of 2012

With a once-Super Typhoon bearing down on Yokohama, the final round of the Japan Women's Open kicked off at 7 am today.  By the time the leaders made the turn about 6 hours later, only 4 golfers had a real chance to win. 

Shanshan Feng, who held the lead or a share of the lead after each of the 1st 3 rounds, bounced back from an opening bogey with 3 birdies over her last 6 holes on the front to get back to -1 for the week.  Although she had gone 24 holes without making a birdie, she never panicked and kept her damage to a minimum during her rough patch, then exploded out to a big lead on her playing partner and co-leader at the start of the day.  Megumi Kido suffered a triple bogey on the very same hole Feng broke out of her birdie-less run, and she never recovered.

Playing 1 pairing ahead of Feng and Kido, Inbee Park opened with a 34 that extended her bogey-free run to 14 holes in which she made 3 birdies.  But she could only make up 1 shot on Feng during that stretch and ended the front 9 where she started--2 shots back.  Still, she hadn't shot herself out of contention, as her playing partner Ayako Uehara did with a birdie-less 39 on the front.

Playing another pairing ahead of the final group, Rui Kitada was making the biggest move of the week, firing a bogey-free 32 to move from +4 to E.  That was part of a 21-hole bogey-free run in which she had made 6 birdies in all!  Unfortunately for her playing partner Ai Miyazato, Kitada was the only one making birdies in that pairing on Sunday, as Ai-sama dropped out of contention with a birdie-less 38.

Finally, playing yet another pairing ahead of the leaders, 2010 champion Mika Miyazato was making a run of her own, with a 3-birdie 33 that made up for her disappointing 3-bogey 39 the afternoon before and pulled her within 2 of the lead.  Things went from bad to worse for her playing partner, living legend Yuri Fudoh, who had doubled the long par-4 17th on Saturday and followed up an early birdie with back-to-back bogeys on the front on Sunday.

But almost as soon as the field narrowed down to 4 players with a real chance to win, 2 of them ran into trouble on the back.  First Mikan bogeyed the 295-yard par-4 12th to fall to +3.  Then Kitada bogeyed both the 160-yard par-3 11th and the 12th to drop back to +2.  When they bogeyed the 200-yard par-3 14th in turn, their chances were pretty much down to zero.

That's because Feng kept making par after par to stay under par for the week and Park kept her hot play going with birdies on the 375-yard 10th and 365-yard 13th to make it 5 birdies in her last 18 holes of bogey-free golf and catch Feng at -1.  So it was down to 2 of the hottest golfers in the world of women's golf over the last 5 holes.  Yes, Ji-Hee Lee had made 4 birdies in a 9-hole stretch midway through her round Sunday and hung tough at the end to finish the week at +2 on the strength of a fine 69, but even a Park bogey on the 515-yard par-5 15th left Lee 2 shots out of 2nd place.  And even though Feng joined Park at E with a bogey of her own on the 430-yard 17th, the 18th was a 575-yard par 5, so it was highly unlikely that 1st Park and then Feng would double it.

But Park bogeyed it, taking the pressure off Feng, who made the par for her 3rd win in her last 4 starts on the JLPGA and 5th of her career.

E Shanshan Feng (68-75-74-71)
+1 Inbee Park (73-76-70-70)
+2 Ji-Hee Lee (73-77-71-69)
+3 Mika Miyazato (72-75-73-71)
+4 Ah-Reum Hwang (76-77-68-71), Rui Kitada (77-73-70-72)
+5 Ayako Uehara (72-74-72-75)
+6 Akane Iijima (75-77-71-71), Hiromi Takesue (78-74-71-72), Jeong Jang (74-73-74-73)
+7 Chie Arimura (76-75-71-73), Hiromi Mogi (75-75-71-74), Teresa Lu (72-74-75-74), Ai Miyazato (72-77-70-76)
+8 Maiko Wakabayashi (75-72-78-71), Na Yeon Choi (77-76-70-73), Na-Ri Lee (74-75-74-73), Mi-Jeong Jeon (74-77-71-74), Soo-Yun Kang (71-80-71-74), Onnarin Sattayabanphot (74-76-72-74), Miki Sakai (73-77-72-74), Megumi Kido (70-74-73-80)
+9 Sakura Yokomine (79-75-71-72), In-Kyung Kim (74-74-75-74), Yuri Fudoh (71-79-70-77), Megumi Kido (70-74-73-80)
+10 Miki Saiki (74-78-71-75), Na-Ri Kim (70-75-76-77)
+11 Ji-Yai Shin (81-74-72-72)
+12 Momoko Ueda (72-81-73-74) 
+14 Hyun-Ju Shin (77-77-73-75), Mayu Hattori (76-77-74-75)
+15 Kumiko Kaneda (74-79-74-76), Young Kim (75-76-73-79)
+16 Shinobu Moromizato (78-76-76-74)
+17 Erina Hara (73-79-77-76), Bo-Bae Song (75-77-76-77)
+18 Rikako Morita (72-75-82-77), Ya Ni Tseng (73-75-77-81) 
+20 Maria Iida (78-73-77-80)
 
With Rolex Rankings #1 Ya Ni Tseng closing out her week with a back-9 44 (consisting of a birdie, 3 pars, 2 bogeys, 2 doubles, and a triple) and Women's British Open champion Ji-Yai Shin unable to go low after opening with an 81, it's looking like Shanshan Feng, Inbee Park, and last week's LPGA winner Stacy Lewis have the most serious mo' heading into the LPGA's fall Asian Swing.  If Feng and Park weren't in the thick of things on the LPGA, they'd certainly be tempted to try to take the JLPGA money-list lead away from Mi-Jeong Jeon!

1. Mi-Jeong Jeon ￥108.69M
2. Sun-Ju Ahn ￥93.22M
3. Chie Arimura ￥91.38M
4. Shanshan Feng ￥71.28M
5. Ji-Hee Lee ￥64.72M
6. Rikako Morita ￥64.03M
7. Mayu Hattori ￥63.28M
8. Ritsuko Ryu ￥61.86M
9. Miki Saiki ￥59.47M
10. Inbee Park ￥57.34M
11. Bo-Mee Lee ￥56.15M
12. Sakura Yokomine ￥46.03M
13. Yumiko Yoshida ￥43.64M
14. Hiromi Mogi ￥40.22M
15. Soo-Yun Kang ￥37.93M
16. Esther Lee ￥36.40M
17. Mihoko Iseri ￥33.65M
18. Maiko Wakabayashi ￥31.50M
19. Yuri Fudoh ￥30.12M
20. Kaori Ohe ￥28.90M
21. Natsu Nagai ￥27.41M
22. Megumi Kido ￥27.16M
23. Rui Kitada ￥26.10M
24. Ayako Uehara ￥24.81M
25. Kumiko Kaneda ￥24.10M
26. Hyun-Ju Shin ￥23.52M
27. Akane Iijima ￥23.48M
28. Na-Ri Lee￥22.83M
29. Yuki Ichinose ￥22.79M
30. Miki Sakai ￥22.57M
31. Na-Ri Kim ￥22.22M
32. Junko Omote ￥21.92M
33. Yukari Baba ￥21.78M
34. So-Hee Kim ￥21.75M
35. Shinobu Moromizato ￥21.02M
36. Yeo-Jin Kang ￥20.83M
37. Erina Hara ￥19.86M
38. Young Kim￥19.20M
39. Airi Saitoh ￥19.12M
40. Teresa Lu ￥18.95M
41. Ji-Yai Shin ￥18.68M
42. Erika Kikuchi ￥18.53M
43. Eun-Bi Jang ￥17.31M
44. Bo-Bae Song ￥16.26M
45. Saiki Fujita￥15.78M
46. Yuko Fukuda ￥15.60M
47. Harukyo Nomura ￥14.48M
48. Ah-Reum Hwang ￥13.85M
49. Da-Ye Na ￥13.66M
50. Asako Fujimoto ￥12.23M

So, to recap, Shanshan Feng now has 5 worldwide wins in 2012.  Everyone who joined her on the JLPGA from the LPGA will be returning to the top tour in women's golf on the planet in 2 weeks in Malaysia.  The JLPGA returns to action in a couple of weeks, as well, at the Fujitsu Ladies.  Take a deep breath, folks!  The home stretch on both tours is shaping up to be fantastic.

Japan Women's Open Saturday: Shanshan Feng and Megumi Kido Hold Onto Slim Lead

Scores continue to creep higher at the Japan Women's Open.  With 1st- and 2nd-round leader Shanshan Feng enduring a birdie-less 74 to drop to +1, we now not only have no players under par through 54 holes, we now have no players at par, either!

That's not to say that several golfers didn't move up the leaderboard in a big way on moving day.  Ah-Reum Hwang fired a 5-birdie 68 to move within 4 shots of Feng and her co-leader Megumi Kido.  Ai Miyazato finished birdie-birdie to match 70s by Inbee Park, Na Yeon Choi, Yuri Fudoh, Rui Kitada, and Hiromi Takesue that brought all of them within that magic "5 shots of the lead" margin that gives them a shot at victory tomorrow.  And we saw a passel of 71s from such top JLPGAers as money-list leader Mi-Jeong Jeon, her closest pursuer in the field Chie Arimura, Ji-Hee Lee, Sakura Yokomine, Soo-Yun Kang, Miki Saiki, and Hiromi Mogi.  With dark horse Ayako Uehara only 1 back, 2010 champion Mika Miyazato lurking 3 off the pace, and the LPGA's Jeong Jang right in the mix at +5, just about anything can happen tomorrow.

Here's how everyone stood once the smoke settled:

+1 Megumi Kido (70-74-73), Shanshan Feng (68-75-74)
+2 Ayako Uehara (72-74-72)
+3 Inbee Park (73-76-70), Ai Miyazato (72-77-70)
+4 Rui Kitada (77-73-70), Yuri Fudoh (71-79-70), Mika Miyazato (72-75-73)
+5 Ah-Reum Hwang (76-77-68), Hiromi Mogi (75-75-71), Ji-Hee Lee (73-76-71), Jeong Jang (74-73-74), Teresa Lu (72-74-75), Na-Ri Kim (70-75-76)
+6 Hiromi Takesue (78-74-71), Chie Arimura (76-75-71), Mi-Jeong Jeon (74-77-71), Soo-Yun Kang (71-80-71), Onnarin Sattayabanphot (74-76-72), Miki Sakai (73-77-72)
+7 Na Yeon Choi (77-76-70), Akane Iijima (75-77-71), Miki Saiki (74-78-71), Na-Ri Lee (74-75-74), In-Kyung Kim (74-74-75)
+8 Young Kim (75-76-73)
+9 Sakura Yokomine (79-75-71), Ya Ni Tseng (73-75-77), Maiko Wakabayashi (75-72-78)
+10 Momoko Ueda (72-81-73)
+11 Ji-Yai Shin (81-74-72), Hyun-Ju Shin (77-77-73), Mayu Hattori (76-77-74), Kumiko Kaneda (74-79-74)
+12 Bo-Bae Song (75-77-76), Maria Iida (78-73-77)
+13 Erina Hara (73-79-77), Rikako Morita (72-75-82)
+14 Shinobu Moromizato (78-76-76)

With 20 players within 5 shots of the lead, tomorrow should be a very tense and  volatile day!  Stay tuned!

Japan Women's Open Friday: Shanshan Feng Only Player Under Par at Halfway Point

Wow, the scoring is even higher after 36 holes of the Japan Women's Open!  Check out how the leaders and big names are doing:

-1 Shanshan Feng (68-75)
E Megumi Kido (70-74)
+1 Na-Ri Kim (70-75)
+2 Ayako Uehara (72-74), Teresa Lu (72-74)
+3 Maiko Wakabayashi (75-72), Jeong Jang (74-73), Mika Miyazato (72-75), Rikako Morita (72-75)
+4 In-Kyung Kim (74-74), Ya Ni Tseng (73-75)
+5 Na-Ri Lee (74-75), Inbee Park (73-76), Ai Miyazato (72-77)
+6 Ji-Hee Lee (73-76), Yuri Fudoh (71-79)
+7 Maria Iida (78-73), Chie Arimura (76-75), Young Kim (75-76), Mi-Jeong Jeon (74-77), Soo-Yun Kang (71-80)
+8 Bo-Bae Song (75-77), Miki Saiki (74-78), Erina Hara (73-79)
+9 Na Yeon Choi (77-76), Mayu Hattori (76-77), Kumiko Kaneda (74-79), Momoko Ueda (72-81)
+10 Sakura Yokomine (79-75), Shinobu Moromizato (78-76), Hyun-Ju Shin (77-77)
+11 Ji-Yai Shin (81-74)
+12 Bo-Mee Lee (80-76), Ritsuko Ryu (76-80)
+13 Shiho Oyama (78-77), Yuki Sakurai (78-77)

And the cut line came in at +11.  So Ji-Yai Shin squeaked into the top 60 and ties.  And given how many people you can pass just by staying near par, I wouldn't say anyone playing tomorrow is out of it!

Japan Women's Open Thursday: Shanshan Feng Breaks 70, Takes 2-Shot Lead

The stars are out at the Japan Women's Open!  Shanshan Feng has jumped out to an early lead on the strength of a 5-birdie 68.  Only 4 other players went under par, including Na-Ri Kim and Megumi Kido at -2 and Yuri Fudoh and Soo-Yun Kang at -1.  But check out who's lurking--or struggling--as the case may be....

E Ai Miyazato, Mika Miyazato, Momoko Ueda, Rikako Morita, Ayako Uehara, Teresa Lu
+1 Inbee Park, Ya Ni Tseng, Ji-Hee Lee, Erina Hara
+2 In-Kyung Kim, Mi-Jeong Jeon, Jeong Jang, Kumiko Kaneda
+3 Maiko Wakabayashi, Young Kim, Bo-Bae Song
+4 Chie Arimura, Ritsuko Ryu
+5 Na Yeon Choi, Hyun-Ju Shin
+6 Shiho Oyama, Yuki Sakurai, Maria Iida
+7 Sakura Yokomine
+8 Bo-Mee Lee
+9 Ji-Yai Shin
WD Sun-Ju Ahn

Scores are always high at this event and the weather doesn't always cooperate, but for so many great golfers to be unable to break 75, you have to wonder what happened....  Check out this version of the leaderboard that allows you to see exactly how many bogeys and worse players were making at a glance!

Rolex Rankings Movers of the Year 2012 "Vol 2"

Before I get to today's subject, let me give a big congratulations to Stacy Lewis for winning the Navistar Classic. It breaks a dry spell for American players and gets them back into the winner's circle. It was only the sixth victory for an American player this year, but that number does tie South Korea for first place.

With Stacy receiving 30 Player of the Year points for the victory, she now has a huge 56-point lead. With only 6 tournaments to go, she will be next to impossible to catch. With her ability to finish in the top 10 every week--she leads the tour with 14--she just has to play what is average golf for her, to be the first American Player of the Year winner since 1994.

It has been 4 months since I last looked at the biggest winners and losers in the Rolex Rankings for the 2012 season. A lot has changed since then.

Rolex ranks the ladies based on average points per tournament, on a rolling 2-year calender. For example, Yani Tseng, the #1 player in the world, has accumulated 639.58 points playing in 48 tournaments over that period, for an average of 13.32 points per tournament. I have gone back to the first published rankings of the year and compared them to the rankings released today. The only requirement for my list is that a player must have been in the top 100 at the start of the year, or be in the top 100 now.

The Year's Biggest Winners:

1- Inbee Park - 4.57 to 7.17 = Gain of 2.60 (moved from #23 to #7)
2- Shanshan Feng - 5.61 to 7.94 = Gain of 2.33 (move 13-4)
3- Lydia Ko - 0.36 to 2.69 = Gain of 2.33 (move 295-42)
4- Stacy Lewis - 6.59 to 8.77 = Gain of 2.18 (move 10-2)
5- So Yeon Ryu - 4.15 to 6.10 = Gain of 1.95 (move 27-12)
6- Mika Miyazato - 4.37 to 6.31 = Gain of 1.94 (move 24-10)
7- Azahara Munoz - 3.29 to 5.12 = Gain of 1.83 (move 40-17)
8- Sun Young Yoo - 3.06 to 4.80 = Gain of 1.74 (move 44-21)
9- Jenny Shin - 1.07 to 2.74 = Gain of 1.67 (move 147-40)
10- Hyo-Joo Kim - 0.38 to 1.95 = Gain of 1.57 (move 289-62)
11- Jessica Korda - 0.31 to 1.73 = Gain of 1.42 (move 314-74)
12- Karen Sjodin - 0.48 to 1.78 = Gain of 1.30 (move 258-73)
13- Haeji Kang - 0.95 to 2.22 = Gain of 1.28 (move 162-53)
14- Lexi Thompson - 3.38 to 4.61 = Gain of 1.23 (move 39-22)
15- Chella Choi - 2.07 to 3.14 = Gain of 1.07 (move 70-35)
16- Karine Icher - 1.71 to 2.74 = Gain of 1.03 (move 85-39)

The Year's Biggest Losers:

1- Yani Tseng - 17.46 - 13.32 = Loss of 4.14 (move 1-1)
2- Cristie Kerr - 9.74 to 5.80 = Loss of 3.94 (move 4-14)
3- Suzann Pettersen - 10.12 to 6.69 = Loss of 3.43 (move 2-8)
4- Michelle Wie - 5.08 to 2.32 = Loss of 2.76 (move 17-49)
5- Song-Hee Kim - 4.00 to 1.32 = Loss of 2.68 (move 30-104)
6- Maria Hjorth - 4.65 to 2.52 = Loss of 2.13 (move 22-45)
7-Morgan Pressel - 5.34 to 3.26 = Loss of 2.08 (move 16-32)
8- Paula Creamer - 7.97 to 5.99 = Loss of 1.98 (move 5-13)
9- Yukari Baba - 4.29 to 2.42 = Loss of 1.87 (move 26-48)
10- Sun Ju Ahn - 7.83 to 6.14 = Loss of 1.69 (move 6-10)
11- Brittany Lincicome - 6.57 to 4.95 = Loss of 1.62 (move 11-19)
12- Shiho Oyama - 3.61 to 2.08 = Loss of 1.53 (move 34-58)
13- Sakura Yokomine - 4.83 to 3.25 = Loss of 1.48 (move 20-33)
14- Yuri Fudoh - 4.34 to 2.89 = Loss of 1.45 (move 25-38)
15- I.K. Kim - 6.76 to 5.33 = Loss of 1.43 (move 8 to 15)

Yani Tseng on top of this chart is probably a surprise to most people. The fact remains that she has not had a top ten in stroke play since the Lotte Championship in April. The LPGA has played 14 tournaments since then, and over that period Yani is ranked the 74th-best player. Let 's take a closer look:

First Rolex Ranking of the Year:
1- Yani Tseng - 17.46
2- Suzann Pettersen - 10.12
Yani's Lead = 7.34 points

April 2, 2012 Rolex Rankings:
1- Yani Tseng - 18.64
2- Na Yeon Choi - 9.17
Yani's Lead = 9.47 points 

Current Rolex Rankings:
1- Yani Tseng - 13.32
2- Stacy Lewis - 8.77
Yani's Lead = 4.55 points

As you can see, Yani's lead is shrinking faster than we ever thought possible. In fact she has lost about 55% of her lead since April. I don't think she is intimidating anyone anymore. I look for either Stacy, Shanshan, or Inbee to challenge her number one ranking in 2013.

Other Tidbits:

Rolex Movers of the week:
Stacy Lewis moves from #3 to #2. Lexi Thompson moves from #25 to #22.

Titleholders Update:
M.J. Hur, Sarah Jane Smith, and Pernilla Lindberg are the latest to qualify. Sophie Gustafson remains the highest-ranked player on the LPGA Priority List yet to qualify.


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