Thursday, April 10, 2014
Recommended Reading: HappyFan's KLPGA Primer
Swamped at work, so today I'll just pass along the link to HappyFan's 2014 KLPGA Primer. It's essential reading for anyone who cares about the state of golf around the world!
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
The World Doesn't Stop for the Masters
I'll be watching as much of the Masters as I can this week, but it's worth pointing out that the world doesn't stop for it. Particularly the world of women's golf. Yes, the LPGA and LET have gone dark this week, but the KLPGA's Lotte Mart Women's Open kicks off Thursday and the JLPGA's Studio Alice Ladies on Friday. This time last year was a good week for the Kims, as Sei Young Kim (who I recently ranked #7 among female professional golfers 21 and under) won on the KLPGA and ex-LPGAer Na-Ri Kim on the JLPGA (no, they're not related, as far as I know!).
So drop by here when you can this week!
So drop by here when you can this week!
Monday, April 7, 2014
Congratulations to Lexi Thompson, Inbee Park, Sun-Ju Ahn
Lexi Thompson's outgunning Michelle Wie to take the Kraft Nabisco Championship was definitely the biggest story in the world of women's golf yesterday--and maybe all of golf. But as important as Lexi's 4th LPGA victory and 1st major title was, other players passed milestones of their own.
Inbee Park is now an $8M woman, despite playing badly by her standards at the KNC.
After winning the Yamaha Ladies, Sun-Ju Ahn now has 14 career JLPGA victories.
Congratulations to them all!
Inbee Park is now an $8M woman, despite playing badly by her standards at the KNC.
After winning the Yamaha Ladies, Sun-Ju Ahn now has 14 career JLPGA victories.
Congratulations to them all!
Sunday, April 6, 2014
Kraft Nabisco Championship Sunday: Lexi Thompson's Bogey-Free 32 Heading Out Allows Her to Cruise Home for Her 1st Major
Lexi Thompson had a 36-hole bogey-streak end on the 18th hole yesterday of the Kraft Nabisco Championship, but she didn't let that bother her today. She just started a new one, and it proved too much for 3rd-round co-leader Michelle Wie and everyone chasing them today.
After 4 birdies in her 1st 9 holes, Thompson led Wie and Se Ri Pak by 5, while nobody else was even within shouting distance. Charley Hull's bogey-free run had ended at 40 holes in a big way, with a double bogey and a bogey to finish the front. Meanwhile, Thompson kept making par after par on the back, and although Cristie Kerr briefly got within 7 shots of her, and Stacy Lewis made a late birdie to finish at -7, Lexi's only real competition was Wie, who cut her lead to 3 with birdies on 11 and 14. But that was as close as Michelle would get today, and when Pak doubled the 18th to hand the bronze to Lewis, Thompson had won her 4th title and 1st major on the LPGA by 3 shots over Wie, 7 over Lewis, and 8 over Pak and Kerr.
If the back 9 may have seemed a bit anticlimactic, Thompson's consistent excellence would be seriously underestimated. On a day when some of the best golfers in the world ran into worlds of trouble, Lexi stayed strong. Even as Hull fell to -4 and Catriona Matthew stumbled back to -2 thanks to trouble down the home stretch, Ji-Yai Shin couldn't buy a birdie all day and dropped to -1, ending up tied with Chella Choi, who matched Hull's and Matthew's 76s. Mirim Lee had a great chance to make up some ground on Lydia Ko in the Rookie of the Year race this week, but she, too, finished with a 76 and allowed Ko to pull within 1 shot of her. World #1 Inbee Park opened with a double and ended up shooting a 75 that dropped her back to +4 and solo 38th. A trio of Thailand's finest fell back to +5, as Thidapa Suwannapura (76), Pornanong Phatlum (77), and P.K. Kongkraphan (77) wasted opportunities to make a statement. But at least they beat So Yeon Ryu (77, +6), Ha Na Jang (79, +8), Sun Young Yoo (79, +8), Sei Young Kim (77, +10), Caroline Hedwall (78, +11), and Ai Miyazato (76, +12), among many others.
Given all those Sunday train wrecks, Thompson's bogey-free 68 secured a very impressive win for a player who still is, after all, a teenager. For Lexi to beat low amateur Minjee Lee by 14 shots, despite the fact that Lee finished -3 and bogey-free over her last 10 holes, says a lot about how overwhelming Lexi was this week and particularly over the final 54 holes. Karrie Webb and Anna Nordqvist have won twice each on the LPGA already this season, but Lexi beat them by 12 and 13 shots, respectively. Lewis would have had to get twice as many under par as she did this week just to have tied Lexi. And Shanshan Feng was the only other player besides Pak and Kerr to avoid getting beat by 10 shots or more this week by Thompson.
In short, this is the kind of 1st win at a major that makes you wonder how many Lexi will collect over the course of her career!
[Update 1 (11:02 pm): Brent Kelley agrees!]
[Update 2 (11:28 pm): Lexi's victory moves her from #37 in my last ranking of the best on the LPGA in majors since 2000 to #16 now.]
After 4 birdies in her 1st 9 holes, Thompson led Wie and Se Ri Pak by 5, while nobody else was even within shouting distance. Charley Hull's bogey-free run had ended at 40 holes in a big way, with a double bogey and a bogey to finish the front. Meanwhile, Thompson kept making par after par on the back, and although Cristie Kerr briefly got within 7 shots of her, and Stacy Lewis made a late birdie to finish at -7, Lexi's only real competition was Wie, who cut her lead to 3 with birdies on 11 and 14. But that was as close as Michelle would get today, and when Pak doubled the 18th to hand the bronze to Lewis, Thompson had won her 4th title and 1st major on the LPGA by 3 shots over Wie, 7 over Lewis, and 8 over Pak and Kerr.
If the back 9 may have seemed a bit anticlimactic, Thompson's consistent excellence would be seriously underestimated. On a day when some of the best golfers in the world ran into worlds of trouble, Lexi stayed strong. Even as Hull fell to -4 and Catriona Matthew stumbled back to -2 thanks to trouble down the home stretch, Ji-Yai Shin couldn't buy a birdie all day and dropped to -1, ending up tied with Chella Choi, who matched Hull's and Matthew's 76s. Mirim Lee had a great chance to make up some ground on Lydia Ko in the Rookie of the Year race this week, but she, too, finished with a 76 and allowed Ko to pull within 1 shot of her. World #1 Inbee Park opened with a double and ended up shooting a 75 that dropped her back to +4 and solo 38th. A trio of Thailand's finest fell back to +5, as Thidapa Suwannapura (76), Pornanong Phatlum (77), and P.K. Kongkraphan (77) wasted opportunities to make a statement. But at least they beat So Yeon Ryu (77, +6), Ha Na Jang (79, +8), Sun Young Yoo (79, +8), Sei Young Kim (77, +10), Caroline Hedwall (78, +11), and Ai Miyazato (76, +12), among many others.
Given all those Sunday train wrecks, Thompson's bogey-free 68 secured a very impressive win for a player who still is, after all, a teenager. For Lexi to beat low amateur Minjee Lee by 14 shots, despite the fact that Lee finished -3 and bogey-free over her last 10 holes, says a lot about how overwhelming Lexi was this week and particularly over the final 54 holes. Karrie Webb and Anna Nordqvist have won twice each on the LPGA already this season, but Lexi beat them by 12 and 13 shots, respectively. Lewis would have had to get twice as many under par as she did this week just to have tied Lexi. And Shanshan Feng was the only other player besides Pak and Kerr to avoid getting beat by 10 shots or more this week by Thompson.
In short, this is the kind of 1st win at a major that makes you wonder how many Lexi will collect over the course of her career!
[Update 1 (11:02 pm): Brent Kelley agrees!]
[Update 2 (11:28 pm): Lexi's victory moves her from #37 in my last ranking of the best on the LPGA in majors since 2000 to #16 now.]
Yamaha Ladies Sunday: Sun-Ju Ahn Holds On for 14th JLPGA Victory
The revolving door at the top of the leaderboard at the Yamaha Ladies kept turning today, and the player who ended up inside the winner's circle was 26-year-old Sun-Ju Ahn. The former KLPGA star caught Yumiko Yoshida at -6 with a birdie on the par-3 7th and held the lead alone when Yoshida bogeyed the par-4 9th, but only for 6 holes, until she bogeyed the long par-4 16th. Ahn and Yoshida came to the final hole tied at -5, but only Ahn parred the 527-yard par 5. When Yoshida bogeyed it, Ahn had held on for her 14th career JLPGA victory.
It was a tough day for Ahn's fellow Seoul Sisters on the JLPGA, as Hyo-Joo Kim bogeyed 6 of her 1st 14 holes and barely hung on for a 10th-place finish, while Bo-Mee Lee was +5 through her 1st 12 holes and ended up in a tie for 8th with Rikako Morita at +1. Still, Esther Lee rode a bogey-free 32 to solo 6th at -1, so I'd say the South Korean contingent on tour had a pretty good week. It was also a good week to be 26, Erina Hara and Ritsuko Ryu tied for 3rd with 31-year-old Yukari Baba at -2. But the Japanese youth movement wasn't completely shut out, as Kaori Ohe birdied 3 of her last 7 holes the day after her 24th birthday and Asako Fujimoto caught 28-year-old Saiki Fujita in 11th.
With her win, Ahn leaped from #15 to #2 on the 2014 JLPGA money list:
1. Onnarin Sattayabanphot ￥24.84M
It was a tough day for Ahn's fellow Seoul Sisters on the JLPGA, as Hyo-Joo Kim bogeyed 6 of her 1st 14 holes and barely hung on for a 10th-place finish, while Bo-Mee Lee was +5 through her 1st 12 holes and ended up in a tie for 8th with Rikako Morita at +1. Still, Esther Lee rode a bogey-free 32 to solo 6th at -1, so I'd say the South Korean contingent on tour had a pretty good week. It was also a good week to be 26, Erina Hara and Ritsuko Ryu tied for 3rd with 31-year-old Yukari Baba at -2. But the Japanese youth movement wasn't completely shut out, as Kaori Ohe birdied 3 of her last 7 holes the day after her 24th birthday and Asako Fujimoto caught 28-year-old Saiki Fujita in 11th.
With her win, Ahn leaped from #15 to #2 on the 2014 JLPGA money list:
1. Onnarin Sattayabanphot ￥24.84M
2. Sun-Ju Ahn ￥24.49M
3. Rikako Morita ￥23.17M
4. Ayaka Watanabe ￥21.83M
4. Ayaka Watanabe ￥21.83M
5. Erina Hara ￥18.35M
6. Yuki Ichinose ￥15.66M
6. Yuki Ichinose ￥15.66M
7. Bo-Mee Lee ￥14.64M
8. Saiki Fujita ￥12.13M
9. Ritsuko Ryu ￥11.03M
10. Yumiko Yoshida ￥10.37M
11. Asako Fujimoto ￥10.19M
12. Miki Sakai ￥9.65M
13. Mami Fukuda ￥9.53M
14. Yukari Baba ￥8.59M
15. Ji-Yai Shin ￥8.04M
16. Esther Lee ￥6.95M
17. Bo-Bae Song ￥6.91M
18. Airi Saitoh ￥6.90M
19. Mamiko Higa ￥6.88M
20. Rui Kitada ￥6.69M
Next up is the Studio Alice Ladies, which former LPGAer Na-Ri Kim won last year. Ji-Yai Shin is scheduled to return to the JLPGA after playing well through 54 holes at the Kraft Nabisco Championship (even though Sakura Yokomine and Bo-Bae Song decided to take a week off after travelling across the Pacific for the LPGA's 1st major), while Momoko Ueda gets another chance to reset her career after missing the cut this week. Most important, the top 4 players on tour in 2014 get another chance to face off. Let's see how they do and who can challenge them!
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