The ladies had their second U.S. tournament of the year, the Kia Classic, outside of L.A. this past weekend. It was an important tune-up event for the season's first major, the Kraft Nabisco Championship (nee Dinah Shore), which starts today in Rancho Mirage, CA. It is their 'Masters', in that it is the only LPGA major played on the same course, Mission Hills, every year, since 1972. World number one and 22-year old Yani Tseng is the defending champ (and another example of how LPGA stars achieve success at a much younger age than the men). Here's a really nice "My Life" story written by Yani in Sports Illustrated a couple months ago.
But back to this past weekend's action. The event was broadcast live in the evening on Golf Channel (the same network that will televise all four rounds of this weekend's major). Most of the top stars where near the top of the leaderboard. 25-year old German Sandra Gal won the event, her first on Tour. Due to an idiotic rule, she will not be able to play for the European side at this fall's Solheim Cup, since that squad requires its players to be members of the Ladies European Tour, which Gal is not.
The final round was essentially a battle between Gal and world no. 2 Jiyai Shin, as the pair had a huge lead on the field. On the final hole, both players were tied and had approximately 100 yard wedges for their 3rd shot on the par5. Jiyai went first, flew it past the hole, and spun it to about 4 feet. Knowing that Shin would likely make birdie, and realizing she likely needed to as well to force a playoff, Gal hit the best shot of her life, with the ball settling two feet away from the hole. Surprisingly, Shin lipped out to miss her putt. Now, Gal just needed to make her two-footer to win, and she did.
The most interesting part of the tournament to me was the leaderboard. Simply put, the LPGA has nowhere near the depth of the PGA Tour. Week in and week out, the LPGA leaderboard correlates pretty closely with the Rolex Women's World Rankings. Compare that to the PGA Tour, where the leaderboard is routinely filled with lower-ranked players. You're much more likely to find low-ranked players on the PGA Tour leaderboard than on the LPGA leaderboard.
Let's look at the numbers to back this up. In terms of their results this past week, the #1 ranked player was T5. #2 got 2nd. #3 was T3rd. #4 is T5. #5 is T10, #7 is T4. #10 is T18. #11 is T6. Look at last weekend's PGA Tour leaderboard. The tournament was won by world number 21 Martin Laird. Second was #54 Steve Marino. Third was #80 Marc Leishman.
After about the top 15 on the LPGA Tour, there seems to be a huge drop-off in the ability to have good results. Why is this? One theory I have is that it's the result of much more men wanting to be pro golfers than women wanting to be pro golfers.
Want proof of this? 9,052 entries were received last year for the men's U.S. Open, and 1,296 were received for the U.S. Women's Open.
So is this lack of depth good or bad for the LPGA Tour? I'll let others comment on if it's good for the PGA Tour. All in all, considering LPGA's somewhat precarious state, I think star power is good, at least for the next couple seasons.
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So on to today's major. Like I mentioned, Yani has already won multiple times this year and is the slight favorite at 8:1 over world number two Jiyai Shin. and American Cristie Kerr. Given her strong past performances here, I think Michelle Wie has good value to win at 16:1. Suzann Pettersen has a great history at this tourney, finishing in the top 5 each of the last four years.
Who will be doing the ceremonial jump in the pond? Hmm ... I really have no idea. Guessing golf is awful. I'll pick Cristie Kerr. She's somewhat under the radar, and has finished in the top 5 here each of the last two years.
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