Minjee Lee must have been tired of hearing all the hoopla about other 2015 LPGA Tour rookies.
It may have taken two days, but the 18-year-old Australian shot a blissful 6-under 65 en route to her first LPGA Tour victory at the rain-delayed Kingsmill Championship Presented by JTBC in Williamsburg, Va.
The former top-ranked amateur is the latest rookie to find the winner’s circle in 2015, joining Sei Young Kim and Hyo Joo Kim, in what is quickly becoming the “Year of the rookie.” Lee won’t feel nearly as bad about missing a U.S. Women’s Open qualifier on Monday after banking $195,000 and has some extra time to enjoy her triumph as the Tour takes another week off.
Rookies have won four of the season’s first 12 events, and there’s no reason to think they won’t keep it going in the coming weeks. First though, it’s a week off to recalibrate.
The week off precedes a trio of events that will take the 2015 season well into June and that will culminate with the season’s second major. After the longstanding ShopRite LPGA Classic Presented by Acer in Galloway Township, N.J., May 28-31, players will head north of the border for the Manulife LPGA Classic in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada, June 4-7.
Stacy Lewis is the defending champion in New Jersey, while Inbee Park will begin back-to-back title defenses in Canada. Park is also the defending champion the following week at the LPGA’s second major of the season, the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, which takes over for the Wegmans LPGA Championship.
Westchester Country Club in Harrison, N.Y., is the new host site for the major championship, which is a new collaboration between the LPGA Tour and the PGA of America that has the golf world excited about two of the industry’s giants working together to promote the game. Park will actually be looking for a three-peat after also winning the event in 2013, but she will have a new track to try and tame.
The three weeks after the break offer a total of $6.5 million in prize money – $3.5 million of it coming at the major – and 1,625 points in the Race to the CME Globe. The season will be 15 events into the 33-tournament slate for 2015, and races for the major awards should begin to heat up during this stretch.
But for the time being, players will work on their games, enjoy the Spring weather and maybe have some fun before they hit the road again for another adventure on the invigorating traveling circus that is the LPGA Tour.
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