If you need an explanation of how the LPGA moves around the world each season, just ask Chella Choi.
The 25-year Seoul, South Korea native and Jacksonville, Fla., resident has been a week-by-week fixture on the LPGA since early 2011. This week marks the one-year anniversary of the last time she missed an LPGA event. Choi opted not to play in the 2014 Lorena Ochoa Invitational in Mexico last November, but that was a very unusual circumstance. Missing the event, which she had qualified for, broke a 106-consecutive tournament streak.
She played in the 2014 season finale, the CME Group Tour Championship, and has played in all 29 tournaments this season, meaning that Choi has started 136 of the last 137 LPGA tournaments, dating back to missing the 2011 season-opening tournaments in Thailand and Singapore. As she is entered this week and again next week at the CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Fla., Choi will enter the 2016 season having played 138 of the 139 LPGA events over the last five seasons. She was a rookie on the LPGA in 2009.
Playing a marathon schedule might lead to fatigue, you would think, but Choi has won for the first time (this season’s appropriately named Marathon Classic in Toledo, Ohio) and all 30 of her career top-10 finishes have come since 2011.
Choi is following in the footsteps of Spain’s Beatriz Recari, who played 62 consecutive tournaments through 2013, including 46 made cuts in a row.
Ko vs. Park next week
Inbee Park is back this week and Lydia Ko is resting for next week in a showdown for multiple LPGA titles. For Park, the return was in question because she has been experiencing discomfort in her left hand. She withdrew from the Blue Bay LPGA two weeks ago and wondered if she would be able to play any more in 2015. Park returned home to South Korea and saw a couple hand specialists who recommended a week’s rest before returning to participate in Mexico. Ko withdrew from the Lorena Ochoa Invitational citing “fatigue” from playing the first four tournaments of the Asian Swing.
The duo has swapped the leads in the top categories in women’s golf for much of 2015. Here’s where they stand now:
| Category | Ko | Park | Difference | Noteworthy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CME Globe | 4,913 | 3,944 | 969 points | Ko will be the No. 1 seed next week, but a points reset will close the gap. |
| Rolex Rankings | 12.55 | 12.04 | .51 | Ko has been No. 1 for three weeks but can’t play it safe next week. |
| Stroke Average | 69.449 | 69.523 | .074 | At present, Park must score approximately seven strokes lower next week to overtake Ko. |
| Player of Year | 276 | 243 | 33 points | Ko will lead entering the finale, but 30 points to the winner this week and next will determine season’s best player. |
| Earnings | $2,758,417 | $2,370,096 | $388,321 | Ko will hold the lead entering the final event, but there’s a $500,000 first-place prize next week. |
Small field, big week
The field for this week’s Lorena Ochoa Invitational is traditionally the smallest of the LPGA season. The 36-player field includes the top five ranked golfers in the Rolex Ranking, the first 26 on the LPGA money list and five sponsor exemptions.
But don’t let the small size fool you. This is the last chance to jockey for positon and qualify for next week’s CME Group Tour Championship. The top three players in the Race to the CME Globe entering next week will control their own destiny in the season-long competition, the top nine can win it all with some help and the the top 72 and ties get a spot in the field. Also, non-LPGA members In Gee Chun, Brooke Henderson and Sun-Ju Ahn have all won and earn spots in the season ender.
Mexico City for second consecutive year
The Lorena Ochoa Invitational moved from Ochoa’s hometown, Guadalajara, to Mexico City last year. The new site, Club de Golf Mexico, is located in southwest Mexico City, approximately one mile from Azteca Stadium, the 100,000-plus capacity stadium that is home to Mexican soccer. The course sits 7,600 feet above sea level and will be the site through 2016.
The course was designed by Percy Clifford, the father of Mexican golf, in 1952. It will play to 6,684 yards at altitude and finishes with a 507-yard par 5 and a 351-yard par 4.
Christy O’Connor and Harry Bradshaw of Ireland won the Canada Cup – now called the World Cup of Golf – in 1958 there. In 1967, playing in his final World Cup, Arnold Palmer teamed with Jack Nicklaus to win by 13 strokes and Palmer also captured the individual title by five strokes over Nicklaus.
Americans have won five of the seven playings of the event, including the last three. Christina Kim won the 2015 tournament in Mexico City.
Etc.
Mexico’s Alejandra Llaneza is one of the five sponsor exemptions this week. The 27-year-old finished in the top 10 on the Epson Tour this season and will be a LPGA member next season. … One of the more interesting sponsor exemptions is Candy Hannemann. The native of Brazil is trying to get back in playing shape after leaving the LPGA to start a family in 2008. Hannemann started her comeback this season with 11 Epson Tour starts (four made cuts) and three LPGA starts (no made cuts.). She is attempting to qualify for the Olympics in her home country as one Brazilian, the highest ranked on the Rolex Women’s World Rankings, will get in as of next July’s rankings. … This week’s TV: 4-6 p.m., EST Thursday-Sunday on Golf Channel. … So Yeon Ryu hasn’t won since the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open in August 2014, but this week sets up for her. The South Korean has finished T4, 3 and T6 and is 33-under in her three years playing the Ochoa event.
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