Simin Feng is emblematic of the charge that Chinese golfers are making up the Rolex Women’s World Rankings. The upwardly mobile group is aiming at a more prominent position in the Olympic Games and a possible spot in the UL International Crown, both unique team-oriented events scheduled for this summer.
Feng, who turns 21 in April, has had a home base in the United States for a decade, as her parents settled in Windermere, Fla., at Isleworth Country Club. She was the first teen and amateur to win on the Chinese LPGA with a 2012 victory at the Wuhan Orient Masters Challenge. As a freshman at Vanderbilt in 2014, she won the SEC Championship by eight strokes.
Feng turned pro after that season and finished T6 at the 2014 LPGA Qualifying Tournament to earn a rookie LPGA card in 2015. She made just eight cuts in 19 starts last season to lose her LPGA playing privileges, but has quickly rallied to capture medalist honors by seven strokes at the 2015 Qualifying Tournament last December and then had a career-best T6 at the Coates Golf Championship in Ocala, Fla., two weeks ago.
As a result of her Coates finish, the David Leadbetter-tutored player moved up 268 spots in the Rolex Women’s Rankings to 235th. She is 236th this week, sixth among Chinese players, with Shanshan Feng, Xiyu Lin, Jing Yan and Yuting Shi currently the top four players from the emerging golf nation.
Here’s how Feng and the Chinese players stand in relation to the two events:
- UL International Crown: The field of eight countries will be determined by the combined Rolex World Ranking of the top four players from each country as of the Rolex World Rankings published on April 4. Team Australia, with five players competing at their home base in this week’s ISPS Handa Australian Open, currently has 388 points and is in eighth place as China stands close behind (420 points) in ninth. Even though the countries are determined in April, the final field of 32 players from those countries won’t be named until the rankings of June 13, leaving plenty of time for players such as Simin Feng to jockey for position to represent China if it is among the final eight. The event will take place July 19-24 at Merit Club just outside of Chicago.
- Olympics: With the rankings of July 11 being the final factor, 60 players will make the field. The top 15 qualify, with a limit of four players per country. The rest of the field is made up of the highest-ranked players from countries that do not already have two golfers qualified. China’s current team would include Shanshan Feng and Lin. The International Golf Federation has guaranteed that at least one golfer from the host nation and each geographical region (Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania) will play. Currently, South Korea is the only country with four players. The women’s 72-hole event is slated for Aug. 12-15 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
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