THIS WEEK ON THE LPGA TOUR
Week of February 16 - February 22, 2015
ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open
The Royal Melbourne Golf Club
Melbourne, Australia
(Note: Melbourne is 16 hours ahead of the Eastern Time Zone)
TOP STORYLINES
WEBB BACK TO REPEAT
Karrie Webb returns to Royal Melbourne looking to capture her sixth ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open title after overcoming a five-shot deficit on a wind-swept Sunday a year ago. Chella Choi had climbed into the lead after the third round a year ago after a sizzling 10-under-par 62 in the third round, but Webb’s 4-under 68 was enough to overcome the five-shot deficit after Choi shot a 2-over 74 on Sunday.
The win was Webb’s 40th LPGA title, a fitting 40th for the Aussie legend. Webb has since piled on her 41st LPGA victory and, with a year like she’s enjoyed the few years prior, has a chance to become only the second player ever to $20 million in career earnings, joining Annika Sorenstam. Webb is currently $758,624 short of $20 million for her career.
KO RETURNS AS NO. 1
Rolex World Rankings No. 1 Lydia Ko, the youngest player in golf history to reach the world No. 1 ranking, arrives in Australia on the heels of back-to-back top-10 finishes to open the season. Ko finished in a tie for second at the Coates Golf Championship Presented by R&L Carriers to open the season after letting a win slip through her grasp. She held a one shot lead entering the 17th hole on Sunday but made a double bogey to give Na Yeon Choi a one-shot lead entering the last. Ko left her second shot on the par-five 18th just short of the green but thinned her pitch shot over the green and settled for par and second. She then finished in a tie for seventh the following week at the Pure Silk Bahamas. But that just shows the amazing, transcendant star power of this 17-year-old that it’s expected she’ll contend every single week.
Let’s put it in perspective. Six times a player under the age of 18 has won an LPGA Tour event in history. Ko is responsible for five of those. 43 times Lydia Ko has entered an LPGA Tour event without missing a cut - the longest active streak on Tour.
The 17-year-old Ko nearly won this tournament a year prior. She finished two shots back of Webb in a tie for third after a disappointing 1-over-par 73 in the final round.
KORDA LOOKING TO CONTINUE SOLID START
In the first year the ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open was co-sanctioned by the LPGA Tour, the event was particularly special as it was the first time The Royal Melbourne Golf Club had hosted a women’s professional golf event. Jessica Korda would go on to win that event, which was the season opener.
The fast start to the season has become a trend for Korda. After winning to kick start 2012, she did the same thing in 2014 at the Pure Silk Bahamas LPGA and nearly did the same in 2015 when she lipped out a putt at the last at the Coates Golf Championship Presented by R&L Carriers to keep her out of a playoff. She struggled with her flatstick at the Pure Silk Bahamas, but Korda’s striping it as well as anyone on Tour right now. She leads the Tour in greens in regulation at 81.3% and is sixth in scoring average.
SOLHEIM CUP LOOMING
If 2014 was the American women’s golf rebirth, 2015 has the chance to be their shining moment. Each American player from the 2013 team that got trounced by the European team on their home turf in Colorado has talked about the taste that left in their mouth and the fuel that a two-year wait for another shot has provided. It showed on the golf course in 2014 and so far it’s showing on the golf course in 2015 as the Americans fight for positions on the team with points at a premium ahead of Germany in September.
Through two events so far, eight different American players - Stacy Lewis, Lexi Thomspon, Jessica Korda, Brittany Lincicome, Brittany Lang, Danielle Kang, Gerina Piller, and Alison Walshe - each have a top-10 finish. Europe’s Azahara Munoz is the only European with a top-10 finish thus far to her credit. Interestingly, Lang, Kang and Walshe are not inside the top-10 that guarantees a spot, but surely have their eye on jumping inside that top 10 or making it too difficult for captain Juli Inkster to leave them off when she makes her two captains’ picks. Although it’s been a strong start to the season for the Americans, they’re still winless through two events, and stroke-play resumes have never proved much of an indicator in team match-play competition, where Europe’s always thrived. Either way, the American squad is looking deep and has brought it to start 2015.
ARRIVING IN STYLE
Karrie Webb arrives to this tournament with women’s australian golf in about as great of shape as it’s ever been thanks to a pair of phenom 18-year-olds.
Minjee Lee and Su Oh, who both came up through Webb’s Australian junior series, are the future and both are already showing their promise. Lee opened the season with a 12th place finish in her first start as a rookie and followed that with a tie for 27th in her second start. And Oh arrives in even more impressive fashion after winning the Australian Ladies Masters by three shots on Sunday over Charley Hull, Katherine Kirk, and Florentyna Parker. Both are in the field this week and could ensure this title stays in Aussie hands.
THE ROOKIE VETERAN
Charley Hull seems like anything but a rookie after going 2-1 at the 2013 Solheim Cup, winning the 2014 Ladies European Tour Order of Merit, and finishing in a tie for seventh at the Kraft Nabisco Championship and a tie for third at the 2014 AirBus LPGA Classic. But Hull is in fact an LPGA Tour rookie in 2015 and will be making her debut this week.
CHOI WANTS MORE
Na Yeon Choi broke through after a two-year winless drought to open the season after crucial pars on the last two holes to take the title from Ko. She missed the cut in the Bahamas, though, and will be looking to return to form here.
Choi currently is tied with Sei Young Kim for the lead in the Race to the CME Globe through two events.
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