Laura Gonzalez Escallon, who finished T-5 at the Manulife LPGA Classic, made the Rolex Rankings Move of the Week with her outstanding play in Canada.
The 2017 Tour rookie competed in her 13th career LPGA event and her 12th as a member in the week’s event; she started the season ranked No. 298 in the world and has continued to climb the Rolex Rankings. With her second top-10 finish of the season she moved up 42 spots to No. 156, which is the highest ranking of her career.
Gonzalez Escallon’s other top 10 finish came at the season-opening Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic where she finished T-9.
Other Notable Moves
Players continue to jockey for one of the automatic spots on Teams USA and Europe.
For Team USA Solheim Cup hopeful Austin Ernst, her T-11 finish in the Manulife LPGA Classic puts her in a good position to make the 2017 roster this August. Ernst’s finish enabled her to leapfrog six-time Solheim Cup veteran Angela Stanford for the seventh spot in the Solheim Cup points standings.
Last week was LPGA Tour rookie and European Team hopeful, Emily K. Pedersen’s third start of the season and third consecutive event. The 2015 Ping Junior Solheim Cup European Team member, is hoping to attract European captain Annika Sorenstam’s attention with her consistent play. In three starts on the LPGA Tour, she has three top 25 finishes and currently sits seventh in the LET Solheim Cup points standings.
For complete USA Rankings>> and Europe Rankings>>
With her victory at the Manulife LPGA Classic, Ariya Jutanugarn earned 500 points which moved her to the top spot in the season long Race to the CME Globe standings with 2,128 points. Jutanugarn has nine top-10 finishes in 13 starts this season, including three runner-ups and a win.
Thanks to her victory at last week’s event, the six-time winner also became the first player from Thailand to reach World No. 1 and ranks first on the 2017 Official Money List with $954,279.
The top five finishers entering Naples control their destiny at the CME Group Tour Championship, meaning if they win in Naples, they will also win the CME Globe, but the top twelve finishers will have a mathematical chance at winning the CME Globe.
Jutanugarn (1), Lexi Thompson (2), So Yeon Ryu (3), In Gee Chun (4), Cristie Kerr (5), Anna Nordqvist (6), Inbee Park (7), Sung Hyun Park (8), Minjee Lee (9), Sei Young Kim (10), Shanshan Feng (11), and Mirim Lee (12) make up the top-12.