Take a glance at the Rolex LPGA Player of the Year and Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year standings and you will see quite a bit of duplication.
For only the second time ever, a rookie on the LPGA could be in line for a double in the season-ending awards. With her dramatic Saturday victory in the LPGA Lotte Championship, South Korea’s Sei Young Kim has ascended to the top of both categories. Only Nancy Lopez in 1978 has won both – and she had nine victories that year to reach that dual pinnacle.
Kim is the LPGA’s first multiple winner this season and leads in earnings and birdies. That would seemingly give her a sizeable advantage in the rookie race, but the depth of the first-year class is almost unprecedented, with rookie finishes no worse than eighth in every LPGA event this season:
| Tournament | Top Rookie | Finish |
| Coates Golf Championship | Ha Na Jang | T2 |
| Pure Silk-Bahamas | Sei Young Kim | Win |
| ISPS Handa Australian | Ariya Jutanugarn | 3 |
| Honda LPGA Thailand | Sei Young Kim | T5 |
| HSBC Women’s Champions | Hyo Joo Kim | T8 |
| JTBC Founders Cup | Hyo Joo Kim | Win |
| Kia Classic | Alison Lee | 4 |
| ANA Inspiration | Sei Young Kim | T4 |
| LPGA Lotte | Sei Young Kim | Win |
Check out the top rookies:
- Sei Young Kim – Kim, 22, has been the LPGA’s best player thus far, with two wins and five top-six finishes. Her win last week in Hawaii, with a chip-in to force a playoff and a hole-out eagle in the playoff, was the best finish of the season.
- Hyo Joo Kim – Kim, 19, took a giant step last year as a non-member by winning the Evian Championship, the final major championship of 2014. She has come back this year with a victory at the JTBC Founders Cup and three other finishes in the top eight.
- Ariya Jutanugarn – The 19-year-old from Thailand has a second and third this season and leads the LPGA in Driving Distance (274.1-yard average) along with ranking third in the rookie standings.
- Ha Na Jang – Another South Korean rookie, the 22-year-old has a second, sixth and seventh thus far in 2015 and ranks fourth in the rookie standings.
- Minjee Lee – The Australian resident, 18, was the world’s top amateur before turning pro last fall. She has a T7 this season and is fifth in the rookie standings.
- Etc. – As if that’s not enough, American Alison Lee, 20, has a fourth this season. Highly touted English rookie Charley Hull, 19, has an eighth this year. Cheyenne Woods, the 24-year-old niece of Tiger Woods, has made the cut in four of her first six starts. Finally, South Korea’s Julie Yang, 19, leads the LPGA in Putting (27.17 putts per round).
Not even Sei Young’s Kim’s career best
The finish was comparable to the 1983 Hawaiian Open on the PGA Tour when Isao Aoki holed out from 130 yards on the 72nd hole for eagle to beat Jack Renner by one stroke. That occurred at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu, about 30 miles from Ko Olina Golf Club west of Honolulu and the latest Hawaiian hole-out.
Sei Young Kim chipped in on the final hole of regulation on Saturday to force a playoff with Inbee Park. Then on the first hole of the playoff, again the par-4 18th, she hit an 8-iron from 154 yards that barely cleared the hazard fronting the green, took two hops and dove into the hole for clinching eagle on the par 4.
“I think this is probably the second most memorable shot for me, “ Kim said. “Because in 2013 on the KLPGA, I won a tournament which had the biggest prize money on the KLPGA. I won that tournament by making a hole-in-one on 17, so that was probably my most memorable shot. Sorry.“
Kim was six shots behind in that Korean LPGA event with 10 holes to play. She holed out on the ninth hole for an eagle-2 and while trailing by three, made an ace on the 17th hole. She tied So Yeon Ryu and won in a playoff.
“I think this is starting to become some kind of a habit for me,” Kim said.
Ko back in San Francisco
This week, professional golf and the LPGA are playing for the second time at Lake Merced Golf Club in San Francisco at the Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic. Next week, the PGA Tour will be playing approximately four miles across Lake Merced at another cherished destination, TPC Harding Park, for the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Match Play Championship. Next-door neighbors also include The Olympic Club, a frequent U.S. Open venue, and San Francisco Golf Club. So the golf world will be focused on northern California for two weeks.
The LPGA players have noticed, as 18 of the top 20 in the Rolex Women’s World Rankings are entered, led by defending champion Lydia Ko. She birdied the 72nd hole last year to beat Stacy Lewis by one stroke. Ko and Lewis didn’t play last week. Sei Young Kim, the only two-time winner this season, is also playing after winning in Hawaii last week.
Etc.
Americans Cristie Kerr and Brittany Lincicome won in consecutive weeks on the LPGA to break a streak of South Korean winners. Last week in Hawaii, the top five finishers were South Koreans. … There have been eight different winners in the first nine events this season: Na Yeon Choi, Sei Young Kim (twice), Lydia Ko, Amy Yang, Inbee Park, Hyo Joo Kim, Cristie Kerr and Brittany Lincicome. … In the last two tournaments, winners have made eagle on the final hole. Brittany Lincicome eagled the par-5 finishing hole to force a playoff en route to victory at the ANA Inspiration. Last week, Sei Young Kim holed out on the first playoff hole, the par-4 18th, for eagle to win the LPGA Lotte Championship. … After her runner-up finish last week, Inbee Park moved back to second place in the Rolex Women’s World Ranking, a 2-3 swap with Stacy Lewis for the third consecutive week.
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