Some top pros still searching for elusive victory

Gerina Piller’s clutch performance at the Solheim Cup in Germany had many people calling her “the best player without a win.”

It may be a dubious moniker, but there are worse things a player can be called. The reference brings up an interesting conversation though about who really is the best current LPGA player without a victory.

From a Rolex Women’s Golf World Rankings perspective, the best LPGA member without a trophy is 18^th-ranked Ha Na Jang. The 2015 rookie has come amazingly close, however, notching three runner-up finishes so far this season.

Jang has six top 10s this season that have helped her put $651,320 in the bank, and there are not too many people who don’t believe her first win will come soon. There are still seven events left this season for her to take her name off the winless list.

Reigning U.S. Women’s Open champion In Gee Chun is ranked higher than Jang (10^th), but is not an LPGA member, at least not yet, and her major title certainly eliminates her from the conversation despite that minor detail.

Solheim Cup rookie Alison Lee is 27^th in the world thanks to six top-10 finishes this season, but is still searching for her first triumph. The 2015 rookie no doubt has even more confidence after helping Team USA to a big come-from-behind win last month, so a win could be just around the corner.

Piller is the world’s 39^th-ranked player, but that number likely will continue to drop after her Solheim Cup heroics. The two-time U.S. Team member has a runner-up finish this season (Meijer LPGA Classic Presented by Kraft), 20 career LPGA top 10s and more than $1.8 in career earnings, so it is just a matter of time before her first LPGA victory becomes a reality.

Jenny Shin, the No. 40-ranked player in the world, is also in the conversation. She has 16 career top 10s and one runner-up finish to go along with $2.1 million in career money, so Shin certainly has the game to break through.

England’s Charley Hull is ranked 44^th in the world, is a two-time European Solheim Cup Team member and has two of her four career top 10s this season as an LPGA rookie. The 2014 LET ISPS HANDA Order of Merit winner has $226,440 in earnings this season and has the tools to become a tournament champion soon.

When it comes to the LPGA career money list, France’s Karine Icher enters the mix. The 13-year Tour veteran is 65^th on the career money list with $3,991,381, has 36 career top 10s – two of which are runner-up finishes – and is a three-time European Solheim Cup Team member.

Ranked 59^th in the world, Icher is a well-respected player who just has not been able to string four rounds together. That could change at any time, and she played great golf in Germany, so her breakthrough may happen sooner rather than later.

It may be difficult to single out one player who most deserves the title as “the best without a win,” but one thing is for certain – the ones mentioned in the debate can still flat-out play and may not be part of the conversation much longer.