The west coast swing continues this week as the Tour heads from So Cal to Nor Cal for the LPGA MEDIHEAL Championship at Lake Merced. It’ll be another top notch field as 19 of the top 25 (Amy Yang withdrew on Monday morning due to an elbow injury) in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings are scheduled to compete including the new No. 1 Inbee Park and seven of the top eight in the world.
Commissioner Mike Whan will transfer the green Rolex No. 1 caddy bib to Inbee and her longtime looper, Brad Beecher, before Thursday's first round. It’ll be the first time since 2015 that Beecher has worn the No. 1 bib. Park has been incredible this year and especially of late. She has finished in the top three in each of her last three starts and has finished inside the top 20 in five straight starts, including a win at the Bank of Hope Founders Cup which kick-started this stretch of dominance. Park paces the Tour in just about everything through nine events – No. 1 on the money list ($707,089), No. 1 in the Race to the CME Globe (1,458 points) and obviously No. 1 in Rolex Player of the Year points (75).
Her longest run at world number one lasted 59 weeks from April of 2013 through June of 2014.
Lydia Likes San Francisco
Maybe just driving over the Golden Gate Bridge will give Lydia Ko all she needs to find her form in 2018. Or maybe just stepping foot on the grounds of Lake Merced might do the trick. Ko won the Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic when it was played at Lake Merced in 2014 and 2015. In case you’re wondering, Haru Nomura won in 2016. The event at Lake Merced took a one-year hiatus in 2017. Lake Merced historically has provided a stiff challenge for the LPGA pros. Ko won in ’14 with a four-day score of 12-under and in ’15 at 8-under. There was quite a bit of drama when Ko won at Lake Merced in 2015. She needed to sink an 8-foot birdie on the 72nd hole to get into a playoff against Morgan Pressel and then won on the second extra hole. Friday of that tournament was Ko’s 18th birthday. In 2014, Ko had to make a 6-foot birdie putt on the 72nd to hold on for a one shot win.
This year, Ko has one top 10 finish in eight starts. She finished T31 last week in Hollywood.
Lewis Could Use Memory of 2014
In 2014, Ko held off Stacy Lewis to win at Lake Merced. Lewis turned in rounds of 69-68-68-71 to finish at 11-under, one back of Ko. The former world No. 1 is off to a slow start in limited action this year. In three tournaments, she has no top 30 finishes and missed the cut last week at the HUGEL-JTBC LA Open. Lewis also played well at Lake Merced in 2015 when she finished in a tie for sixth.
Paula Creamer Returns Home
Paula Creamer grew up in the San Francisco suburb of Pleasanton and lived there until she was 14. She’ll return this week as a 10-time LPGA winner, but also someone looking for a jolt. She has missed the cut in two of her four starts this season. Creamer tweeted “Home sweet home!!!! NOR-CAL” on Sunday so she is clearly enthused to be heading back to the bay. In a 2014 article in the Mercury News, Creamer described Lake Merced as a “golfer’s paradise, where you have to use every club in the bag.”
She also said the following.
“Having my family being able to come out and support, I think it’s going to be great.”
Creamer’s first golf coach, Larry O’Leary from The Pleasanton Golf Center, came to see her at Lake Merced in 2014.
There will likely be all sorts of reunions again in this week.
Talley in San Francisco After Career Finish
Yes, it looks like Jin Young Ko is miles ahead of every other rookie in the Louise Suggs Rookie of the Year race, but Emma Talley secured her second top 10 of the year last week in LA. Talley, who won a U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship and an NCAA individual Championship, carded a final-round 67 to finish in a tie for fifth. She has already earned over $100,000 this year and ranks 40th on the LPGA money list.Talley won the Island Resort Championship on the Epson Tour last year and finished ninth on the money list to earn her LPGA spot.
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