Young players continued their successful roll last week when South Korea’s Kyu-Jung Baek won the LPGA KEB-HanaBank Championship. The victory by the 19-year old was the fifth this season by a teenager (two wins by Lydia Ko, 17, and three victories by 19-year-olds Lexi Thompson, Hyo Joo Kim and Baek).
Additionally, no one older than age 26 has won on the LPGA for 10 consecutive tournaments, dating back to 31-year-old Mo Martin’s victory in the Ricoh Women’s British Open in mid-July. Two teenagers have also won majors this year, Thompson and Kim, ranking as the second and third youngest to win a major championship in LPGA history. Only Morgan Pressel, 18, the winner of the 2007 Kraft Nabisco, was younger.
The average age of winners this season is 24 years, 7 months and 14 days and only two players older than age 30 have won (39-year-old Karrie Webb with two wins and Martin).
Here’s a look at the age of winners this season:
| Tournament | Winner | Age (Yrs-Mos.-Days) |
| Pure Silk Bahamas | Jessica Korda | 20-10-30 |
| ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open | Karrie Webb | 39-1-25 |
| Honda LPGA Thailand | Anna Nordqvist | 26-8-13 |
| HSBC Women’s Champions | Paula Creamer | 27-6-28 |
| JTBC Founders Cup | Karrie Webb | 39-3-2 |
| Kia Classic | Anna Nordqvist | 26-9-20 |
| Kraft Nabisco Championship | Lexi Thompson | 19-1-27 |
| LPGA Lotte Championship | Michelle Wie | 24-6-9 |
| Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic | Lydia Ko | 17-0-3 |
| North Texas LPGA Shootout | Stacy Lewis | 29-2-18 |
| Kingsmill Championship | Lizette Salas | 24-10-1 |
| Airbus LPGA Classic | Jessica Korda | 21-2-28 |
| ShopRite LPGA Classic | Stacy Lewis | 29-3-16 |
| Manulife Financial LPGA Classic | Inbee Park | 25-10-27 |
| U.S. Women’s Open | Michelle Wie | 24-8-11 |
| Walmart NW Arkansas Championship | Stacy Lewis | 29-4-13 |
| RICOH Women’s British Open | Mo Martin | 31-9-5 |
| Marathon Classic | Lydia Ko | 17-2-26 |
| Meijer LPGA Classic | Mirim Lee | 23-9-17 |
| Wegmans LPGA Championship | Inbee Park | 26-1-5 |
| Canadian Pacific Women’s Open | So Yeon Ryu | 24-1-26 |
| Portland Classic | Austin Ernst | 22-7-0 |
| The Evian Championship | Hyo Joo Kim | 19-2-0 |
| Yokohama Tire Classic | M.J. Hur | 24-10-13 |
| Reignwood LPGA Classic | Mirim Lee | 23-11-10 |
| Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia | Shanshan Feng | 25-2-7 |
| LPGA KEB-HanaBank Championship | Kyu-Jung Baek | 19-0-4 |
Welcome to Blue Bay
This week’s event, the Blue Bay LPGA, will be the second tournament in China this season and the third and final new event on the LPGA schedule. The Swinging Skirts Classic in April at Lake Merced Golf Club in San Francisco (won by Lydia Ko) and the Meijer LPGA Classic at Blythefield Country Club in Grand Rapids, Mich. (won by Mirim Lee) were the other new events.
The tournament was announced in late March as an event to be conducted by the LPGA, China Golf Association and IMG Golf.
Blue Bay is a two-year-old course designed by American architectural firm JMP Golf Design Group and course architect Mark Hollinger. The firm is based in Belmont, Calif., and Chapel Hill, N.C., but has done extensive design work in China over the past two decades.
Hollinger said Blue Bay may be one of his favorite courses, in particular the par-3 17th hole where the U-shaped green sits on the beach of the South China Sea with similar shaping to 11th hole of The Old Course at St. Andrews.
Etc.
American golfers won 11 of the first 17 events on the LPGA this season. South Korean golfers have won seven of the last nine. … There have been 29 holes-in-one this season, but none have occurred during the first three events on the recent Asian Swing. The record for a season is 37 in 1999 and 2001. … Australian rookie Minjee Lee became the 17th player this season to make two eagles in one round last week at the LPGA KEB-HanaBank Championship. She made one on the par-5 seventh hole and another on the par-4 15th hole en route to a final-round 64 and a T24. … When Kyu-Jung Baek won the LPGA KEB-HanaBank Championship last week, she also won a green jacket similar to one that has been made famous at the Masters Tournament. The Titleholders, the LPGA event that originated at Augusta Country Club, adjacent to Augusta National, also awarded a lighter colored green jacket.
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