Georgia Hall made the Rolex Rankings move of the week after she finished in a tie for third place at the Ricoh Women’s British Open at Kingsbarns.
This result fires the Ladies European Tour member 41 places up the Rolex Rankings and inside the top-50 (44th) for the first time in her career, despite still searching for her first win as a professional.
Hall also secured top spot in the LET Solheim Cup Points list, meaning she will feature in Des Moines next week at the 2017 Solheim Cup.
The English golfer was one of winner In-Kyung Kim’s main competitors for most of the third round, however a bogey on 16 followed by a double bogey on 17 saw Hall fall back to 11-under-par. A final round of 70 meant she would finish five shots back of the leader.
“(I learned) that I can definitely compete with the best,” Hall said. “I played good golf this week. I think some shots could have been better. I made a couple of silly mistakes but coming third and still playing well, yeah, that's the main thing.
“It gives me loads (of confidence). Especially with Solheim, as well. I played with some of the players that will probably be on the team, on the American side, as well. I'm looking forward to that and looking forward to playing against them.”
For the winner of the Ricoh Women’s British Open, In-Kyung Kim, she finds herself moving inside the top-10 into ninth position. The victory was her first major championship and third on the LPGA Tour this season, more than any other golfer.
Her nearest competitor was England’s Jodi Ewart Shadoff who fired a course record equaling, eight-under-par, 64, in her final round to finish two back and in solo second place. This moves the English golfer from 51st in the Rolex Rankings, up to 28th.
Solheim Cup
Paula Creamer now finds herself on Team USA for the 2017 Solheim Cup after Jessica Korda’s withdrawal awarded captain Juli Inkster with an alternative pick.
Inkster chose Creamer as her replacement on Sunday night and informed team Europe as required by the captain’s agreement, but didn’t make it public knowledge until Korda withdrew. A forearm injury is the reason behind Korda’s withdrawal.
Creamer now joins Inkster’s two other captain’s picks, Austin Enrst and Angel Yin, alongside Lexi Thompson, Stacy Lewis, Gerina Piller, Cristie Kerr, Danielle Kang, Michelle Wie, Brittany Lang, Brittany Lincicome and Lizette Salas.
Take a look at the full U.S. Solheim Cup team here>>
Like Inkster, Team Europe captain Annika Sorenstam also picked two rookies as her wildcard picks. These were Emily Kristine Pedersen and Medelene Sagstrom, as well as the further two picks of Europe’s highest ranked player Anna Nordqvist and Germany’s Caroline Masson.
These four players join Georgia Hall, Florentyna Parker, Mel Reid, Jodi Ewart Shadoff, Carlota Ciganda, Suzann Pettersen, Charley Hull and Karine Icher on the Team Europe.
Take a look at the full European lineup here>>
As well as becoming the third person in the last four years to make the Ricoh Women’s British Open her first major victory, Kim also made a big move in the Race to the CME Globe standings. The win moves the Republic of Korea golfer up 10 places to 5th.
Lexi Thompson still leads the Race to the CME Globe with 2,642 points, with So Yeon Ryu (2), Airya Jutanugarn (3), Sung Hyun Park (4), In-Kyung Kim (5), Brooke Henderson (6), In Gee Chun (7), Sei Young Kim (8), Critstie Kerr (9) and Mi Jung Hur (10) rounding out the top 10.)
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