It may seem hard to believe, but the 2015 LPGA Tour season is already at its midway point.
This week’s break from action allows LPGA fans the chance to reflect on the first 16 events and look ahead at what may come in the next 17 events. The Solheim Cup is part of the second half Sept. 14-20, but there are 16 regular-season events remaining in the Tour’s second act.
The first half of the season has been high on drama, excitement and surprises, and a select number of players have emerged as the ones to beat in 2015. Inbee Park has been the Tour’s best and most consistent star, racking up a Tour-best three wins to go along with five other top-10 finishes.
Park has amassed an LPGA-best $1,422,500 in earnings and wrestled the top spot away from Lydia Ko in the Rolex Women’s Golf World Rankings in the process. Her most recent victory, at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, was the third consecutive triumph for the Republic of Korea native at that major championship, one of the more impressive feats on Tour in recent memory.
The biggest surprise of the first half has to be the stellar play of rookie Sei Young Kim, who has two wins, five other top 10s and $1,121,643 in earnings so far this season. Kim – who has climbed into the top 10 of the world ranking – has been part of an immensely impressive rookie class that has made big waves on Tour and has established players and veterans taking notice on a weekly basis.
Perhaps the other big surprise has been that Stacy Lewis is still without a win in 2015. That high standard is a testament to the two-time and reigning Rolex Player of the Year’s career, and she has not been far from the winner’s circle.
Lewis lost to Brittany Lincicome in a playoff at the season’s first major, the ANA Inspiration, and has seven other top-10 finishes. In fact, five of her eight top 10s have been second or third place, an illustration of just how close Lewis has been to hoisting yet another trophy.
The smart money would be to count on Lewis – who has $911,790 in earnings in 2015 – to win at least once in the second half.
Kim is one of four players who won not once, but multiple times this season. Na Yeon Choi won the season-opener in Ocala, Fla., and added another triumph on Sunday in Arkansas, while Ko won in Australia in February and again in San Francisco in April.
Players born in the Republic of Korea have simply been dominant, winning 12 of the season’s first 16 events. Only Lincicome and Cristie Kerr (United States), Anna Nordqvist (Sweden) and Suzann Pettersen (Norway) have kept the first half from being a complete sweep.
The aforementioned stars should factor into the mix the rest of the season as well, but the big question is who else will take their game to the next level and become major forces to be reckoned with? Can Park hold off Kim, Ko, Lewis and others for the sport’s top prize?
The Tour has hosted events in six countries so far, and fans from nine other nations will be able to see the world’s top women’s professional golfers battle for titles in their own back yards during the second half. If the first half is any indication of what is to come, those global golf fans should be more than pleased when all is said and done.
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