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Post by HappyFan on Nov 14, 2023 5:54:44 GMT
The final tournament of the 2023 LPGA season is upon us. I'll leave it to the usual experts to tell us about the field, course, etc. Not a lot of Koreans there this year, with mainstays like Six, In Gee, and So Yeon Ryu all missing out this year. On Thursday will be the annual ceremony for this year's honorees, and Hae Ran Ryu will get a chance to give her Rookie of the Year speech. She will have some big shoes to fill; I still think Jeongeun Lee6's speech from 2019 is one of the all time most touching moments from that event. Six gave the entire speech in English, the first time she had tried to speak so much English in public. She brought the house down. Hot Six's Rookie of the Year speech |
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Post by tonyj500 on Nov 14, 2023 19:09:15 GMT
My field rating for this final event of 2023 is a solid 64% (down from 66 % last year).
My breakdown is 64% from the LPGA Priority List and also 64% from the Rolex Rankings.
The reason the field rating isn't higher than it is, is that this a field of just 60 players and the players not in the top 60 of the Race to the CME globe did not qualify.
Make no mistake about it....in spite of the smaller field...all the top ranked players are here!
Every LPGA member that is ranked in the top 30 of this week's world rankings will be teeing it up except Lydia Ko (finished 100th in Race to CME Globe), and Lexi Thompson (finished 77th).
Other Stuff:
Congratulations go out to Hae Ran Ryu for winning the 2023 Louise Suggs Rookie of the Year Award.
Congrats also to Angel Yin for winning the AON Risk Reward Challenge. That award comes with a life changing 1 million dollar prize!
Congrats to Lilia Vu for winning her fourth tournament of the year (2 of them major championships).
Vu appears to be in the drivers seat for the player of the year award. If she finishes in 7th place or better this week at the CMA, the award is hers. If she fails to finish in the top seven, Celine Boutier will have to win the tournament to win the award. The award comes with a Hall of Fame point!
The Vare Trophy is still up for grabs, but has come down to two players. Atthaya Thitikul has a small lead over Hyo Joo Kim.
Lilia Vu's win was the 10th win this year by a player from the United States. No other country has more than four. The LPGA has had winners from ten different countries this year.
In the Race to the CME globe, where you had to get into the top 60 to qualify for this week's event:
Patty Tavatanikit (61-57) and Stephanie Kyriacou (71-56) were the big winners.
Celine Borge (58-62), and Albane Valenzuela (59-63) lost out at the end.
Lydia Ko is the first defending champion in the history of the event to not qualify the following year.
There were many players who failed to finish in the top 100 and retain their full time playing privileges for next year. Just to name a few interesting ones:
Mina Haragae
Ponanong Phatlum
Lucy Li
Yealimi Noh
Chella Choi
Annie Park
Pernilla Lindberg
There was some key movement by LPGA players in the Rolex Rankings this week:
Lilia Vu took back the top spot. She has now spent a total of 10 weeks at No. 1 this year.
Alison Lee continues her late surge 35 to 27.
Ariya Jutanugarn jumps from 60 to 53.
Stephanie Kyriacou leaps from 94 to 78.
Minami Katsui surges from 86 to 79.
Outside the top 100:
Azahara Munoz moves up 143 notches 240 to 97.
Emily Pedersen rises from 137 to 107.
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Post by HappyFan on Nov 15, 2023 10:02:08 GMT
I don't know what Jin Young did to anger the golf gods, but she's struggling with a brand spanking new injury, this time to her knee. She has said that she intends to play and in fact did play in the pro-am, but this means, for the third straight year, she has to deal with an injury at this event. Jin Young Ko to get MRI for knee injury |
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Post by bullfinch on Nov 15, 2023 13:54:19 GMT
Yeah, not looking good for Jin Young. I don't have high expectations for the Korean players in CME with Hyo Joo and maybe Hae Ran or Jenny Shin to be top 10. Battling out at the top will be Lilia, Minjee and I also have a suspicion Brooke will do well. Btw - I will definitely update this prediction at the end of round 2, probably with egg on my face!
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Post by HappyFan on Nov 15, 2023 15:35:23 GMT
On the one hand, Jin Young would drop out if she felt like her injury was too severe. And she managed to win two years ago despite an injury so severe that she couldn't hit practice shots before her rounds.
On the other hand, she insisted on playing last year when she definitely should have stayed home and nursed her wrist. And she finished middle of the pack. So based on that, I suspect her injury is just bad enough that she will have a mediocre outing.
It feels like Hyo Joo is in Winter break mode, but she might be just rested enough to put up a good score. And she might be motivated by what might be her last chance to win a Vare Trophy. She has been in the lead in that race pretty much all year until last week, so I hope she can rally and take it.
Hae Ran will be taking a victory lap. Will she be too relaxed to contend, or will that free her up? We'll see.
In all likelihood, all the Koreans will be out of it by Saturday, but I'm going to send positive vibes and hope for the best. Hwaiting!
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Post by HappyFan on Nov 16, 2023 15:33:04 GMT
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Post by bullfinch on Nov 17, 2023 15:36:13 GMT
Early days in round 2 but it's looking like another birdie fest. The Shinster -4 after 9. I fully expect plenty more 65s and 66s today. The course seems so flat and easy (of course I'd find the water on every hole) but for a pro this is more point and shoot.
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Post by HappyFan on Nov 17, 2023 18:15:58 GMT
This is like the third or fourth straight bunny course for the LPGA. I would have thought they'd at least make an important event like this challenging, but once again we are seeing too many low scores. My new rule I think is, if there are more than three 64 or lower scores in a round, don't bother to watch. This is right on the edge.
About the only highlight was Hye Jin's 66, but to be honest she'll probably not follow that up today, so I think we are looking at another event without any Sisters in the hunt. Jin Young played with The Minjee yesterday and was thoroughly owned. She only went under par on the final hole. Hyo Joo was so so but is behind Thitikul and so the Vare is in precarious condition.
I'm still going to hope that at least one or two Sisters can start making birdies and put herself into contention. It would be nice to win at least one semi-important event this year. Hwaiting!
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Post by HappyFan on Nov 17, 2023 18:24:56 GMT
Jin Young's already done with her second round. Hit every fairway and most of her greens and shot one under par.
Come one, Korean Kontingent! Let's get somebody hot with the flat stick! Hwaiting!
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Post by haneymademedoit on Nov 17, 2023 21:11:36 GMT
AMY!!!!!
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Post by HappyFan on Nov 18, 2023 0:36:47 GMT
Round 2 Ask and you shall receive! Low scoring insanity continued, with multiple players getting into double digits under par in just the second round. But the best result was turned in by Amy Yang! You can't deny that she is playing well right now. But it's hard to have faith that this time she can finally get over the hump and get a win in the States. Yes, that's right, despite her skill and four wins, she has never won outside of Asia. It seems almost beyond belief that she could finally do it at the biggest money event of the year, but stranger things have happened. Good luck to her! Hyo Joo had an all right day, but unfortunately Thitikul had a really good day and now has a three-shot margin over her. Kim's entire year, I think, comes down to tomorrow. She needs to go low, end of story. If she puts together a 64 or so I think she has a chance. Anything worse and probably not. She just has to beat the Thai by two or more shots by the end of the week. She doesn't need to win. Go Hyo Joo!!! Hye Jin is 7 back. Pretty much in the same state as Hyo Joo. She needs to go ultra low to have a chance. She is certainly capable of it. Get into contention, Hye Jin! Hwaiting!  |
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Post by haneymademedoit on Nov 18, 2023 5:11:24 GMT
Round 2 Ask and you shall receive! Low scoring insanity continued, with multiple players getting into double digits under par in just the second round. But the best result was turned in by Amy Yang! You can't deny that she is playing well right now. But it's hard to have faith that this time she can finally get over the hump and get a win in the States. Yes, that's right, despite her skill and four wins, she has never won outside of Asia. It seems almost beyond belief that she could finally do it at the biggest money event of the year, but stranger things have happened. Good luck to her!Hwaiting! HF, we gotta believe! |
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Post by verdantgarden on Nov 18, 2023 15:39:56 GMT
Jin Young Ko has withdrawn.
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Post by HappyFan on Nov 18, 2023 18:20:09 GMT
Jin Young Ko has withdrawn. Can't say I'm surprised. I hope she takes care of herself in the off-season. |
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Post by HappyFan on Nov 18, 2023 18:33:22 GMT
Hyo Joo is +1 early, Thitikul is one under, now a five shot gap. I'm calling it, Thitikul has the Vare. This is a major disappointment, but it's Hyo Joo's fault. Had she just attended that scoring giveaway last week she probably would have kept her lead and might have still won. Seriously, 3 under on that bunny course and she would have improved her average. She had that lead all year until last week. Sigh.
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