2017 ShopRite LPGA Classic Presented by Acer

I recommend you hang out at Footlocker if you're into that look.

"Corporate synergy."  If Golf Channel didn't have broadcast rights for the NCAA Championships, I guarantee we wouldn't be seeing Mariah Stackhouse on LPGA broadcasts. 

Stackhouse was on the NCAA commercials on golf channel for a year straight. They made her famous. Of course GC refuses to believe they could ever do the same thing with So Yeon or In Gee.

I don't know why the pairing happened, but it was definitely not a very respectful thing to do to the top ranked player in the field.

Well, So Yeon's long run without a missed cut is coming to an end. And she is not going to reach #1 before Jutanugarn.

So, will she ever be the top player? I think that there are two stages involved. The first is actually getting to be #1. But the second is truly establishing yourself as the top gun. Even if Ryu had made it to the top this week, I think she was still a long way from achieving the 'true #1' (to borrow a phrase from someone... ).

The fact that she mentioned in her press conference how she was talking to psychologists trying to get reassurance that she could be #1 shows me that even SHE doesn't believe she is there yet. I believe she can get there, but it's definitely a process, especially for a player who seems to have more self doubt than the average superstar in this sport.

I think back to when Inbee became #1 for the first time. She grabbed the top spot during an off week, and Stacy Lewis, who lost the #1, was less than gracious about it. Inbee had won more recent events when she ascended to the top than So Yeon has right now, but even so, she was not WINbee. It wasn't until she went on that incredible run in June, 2013, that she really arrived as the top gun. That's when Winbee was born, and she became the true #1. That's when you could see her break apart even her top rivals when they were paired with her (recall that both Lewis and Pettersen were paired with Inbee during the first two rounds of that 2013 US Open, and she flat out destroyed them with her flat stick. She did the same thing to Lewis and Ko at the HSBC the first year she won that, when she was paired with them in the final round. And again, when she thoroughly humbled Ko at the Olympics despite having not played most of the year).

So Yeon has yet to have a multi-win season on the LPGA tour. By the time Winbee became the "true #1", she had something like five wins in the previous year, including two Majors. Put simply, So Yeon needs to dial into a winning vibe like that. One win in the past two years, even a Major, is not a #1 player's record. If she gets to the point where she can start collecting more wins while keeping up her 12 - 16 top tens/year rate, then she can be the top star in the game.

I'm eagerly looking forward to her continuing to fight to get there. So Yeon Hwaiting!!!!

Another good round by In Kyung.

Ariya 51 becoming RR #1 when she's not playing and during a season in which she hasn't won really goes to show just how poorly Lydia has played this year.

I think my 18 month grandson could answer this question with ease.

Happyfan hates Lydia...yet like a FAKE Minjee who was not even born in Korea...go figure.