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Post by 18majors on Nov 25, 2024 1:19:49 GMT
Are you dreaming, both Amy and Hye-Jin were T8. Most importantly, Jin Young Ko was T12 after you recalled her heroics during her 2021 run. Oops, wrong about Amy, but she still finished in the top ten, so my prediction was still right. Also, I wrote about Jin Young in 2021 because someone said that we need someone to celebrate Jin Young, so I took it upon myself to do that. The truth is the only reason Korean mystique continued after 2020 is only because of Jin Young Ko. In Gee won a major, Sey Young didn't win, Hyo Joo won once per year for three years and Hae Ran won once each of the last two years, A Lim won a freaky major until this year; those aren't legendary staff. Jin Young alone carried the torch for Korea since 2020 but the light went out this year. It's tough to see the hay days of Jin Young, Inbee, So Yeon, Sung Hyun, Sey Young and Hyo Joo will ever return. The US has the same problem. Lilia Vu had a freaky 2023 but it won't happen again and there aren't any reliable winner other than Nelly. The reality is Korea caught up with the US first and then the rest of the world caught up with both Korea and the US. Ina Yoon or any other one player won't change that. |
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Post by haneymademedoit on Nov 25, 2024 1:21:02 GMT
I didn't watch any of this ... you'd think the GolfWeek website would have a story by now about Mariner Alex, who just upped and quit the tour today. I first saw her milling around the clubhouse area after she passed her USWO qualifier at Neshanic Valley in 2009.
 NAPLES, FLORIDA - NOVEMBER 24: Marina Alex of the United States celebrates after finishing on the 18th green and retiring during the final round of the CME Group Tour Championship 2024 at Tiburon Golf Club on November 24, 2024 in Naples, Florida. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)
"Marine-er" we will miss you... Finished T12 against the top golfers in the world and made more money in four days than most people make in a year... |
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Post by philknj on Nov 25, 2024 1:42:39 GMT
NASA needed a 48 today for the win ... didn't get it, so she will be excluded from the 2025 Hilton TOC in January ... somewhat embarrassing as Hilton is one of her sponsors ... I assume she won't be flying over from Japan to play in Bradenton the week afterward. 
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Post by HappyFan on Nov 25, 2024 2:38:51 GMT
Oops, wrong about Amy, but she still finished in the top ten, so my prediction was still right. Also, I wrote about Jin Young in 2021 because someone said that we need someone to celebrate Jin Young, so I took it upon myself to do that. The truth is the only reason Korean mystique continued after 2020 is only because of Jin Young Ko. In Gee won a major, Sey Young didn't win, Hyo Joo won once per year for three years and Hae Ran won once each of the last two years, A Lim won a freaky major until this year; those aren't legendary staff. Jin Young alone carried the torch for Korea since 2020 but the light went out this year. It's tough to see the hay days of Jin Young, Inbee, So Yeon, Sung Hyun, Sey Young and Hyo Joo will ever return. The US has the same problem. Lilia Vu had a freaky 2023 but it won't happen again and there aren't any reliable winner other than Nelly. The reality is Korea caught up with the US first and then the rest of the world caught up with both Korea and the US. Ina Yoon or any other one player won't change that. I think that's a bit harsh. There are 10 Koreans right now in the top 40 in the world rankings and 31 in the top 100. And that's not including players like Lydia Ko, Minjee Lee, etc. The Koreans are still one of the top countries in the golf world. The problem is that their top stars are not currently dominant like they used to be. From the time Jiyai Shin appeared in 2008 to 2020, the Koreans almost always had a player either atop the world rankings or in the top three. Heck, Jin Young was the #1 golfer in the world earlier this year. After the KPMG in July, they had two in the top five. By contrast, there are two Chinese in the top 100 and only one in the top 20. The Thais have two in the top 40 and just one in the top 20 (8 in the top 100). The Japanese have 4 in the top 20, one in the top 10, and 16 in the top 100, half of what the Koreans have. They still have a ways to go to catch the Koreans even if they are right now getting more wins than the Koreans have had this season. And if Ina or someone else gets into the top three, it won't be much different than it was in the "old days", at least rankings wise. So yeah, one player can make a difference. |
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Post by 18majors on Nov 25, 2024 5:02:27 GMT
Heck, Jin Young was the #1 golfer in the world earlier this year. Are you out your mind; the last time Jin Young was #1 was July 30, 2023. Women's World Golf Rankings |
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Post by HappyFan on Nov 25, 2024 5:29:08 GMT
Heck, Jin Young was the #1 golfer in the world earlier this year. Are you out your mind; the last time Jin Young was #1 was July 30, 2023. Women's World Golf RankingsYeah yeah, the one stat I didn't look up.  I think I heard somebody on one of the broadcasts say that and I stupidly believed them. Regardless, my point stands. The Koreans have not had a great two years by their standards, but they are still far ahead of the other Asian nations in depth and still have 1 - 2 top ten golfers most weeks. |
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Post by tonyj500 on Nov 25, 2024 6:05:57 GMT
Crappy season, crappy ending. Woulda been nice if they had gotten one of the three things I was rooting for this week, but it's just been that kind of two years. This is a transitional period for the Sisters, and though I'm not overly optimistic at this point, hopefully some of these newbies to the tour are going to pick up the pace in 2025. There are reasons to be hopeful. Haeran is the best ball striker on tour, possibly on the planet. It's time for her to step up and become the superstar she is capable of being. Which means, she needs to practice her putting to the exclusion of everything else in the off season. She lost the Vare because she lost to Furue all four rounds this week. She wins one round and she has the Vare. Heck, just one more putt falls and she might have had the Vare. Of course I'm looking forward (to put it mildly) to Ina Yoon coming over here. But I don't think it's fair to expect her to save the Koreans in her first year over here. She hasn't even played a single LPGA event in her career. But I don't see why Im, Yu Jin or So Mi can't become stars if Furue and Saigo did. They were all multiple winners on the KLPGA. And Hye Jin has the ability to become a multiple winner if she can get out of her own way. It's going to be tough in 2025. The Japanese are sending SIX of their top players to Q-Series this year. The KLPGA just one (OK, two including Sehee Lee, but she's not a top player). But the Koreans have at least ten players with the capability of winning on the LPGA. If just half of them play to their potential next year, they could turn things around. Hopefully Ina will be a shot in the arm for the rest of them and the Koreans will rally. It would be really hard to watch them not get out of the preliminaries at the International Crown in front of their home crowd. Hwaiting! Happy, As someone who suffered through an entire decade of what you have been going through the last few years, let me say this: The bad news: Everything you said above is true. Crappy season is probably a much kinder adjective then I would have used. It wasn't that Korean players weren't constantly in contention, it was that they couldn't finish. Ryu losing the Vare just added fuel to the fire. The good news: We all have short memories. Six weeks from now no one will remember or even care what happened this year (except for Nelly's seven wins). I can see Ryu turning those top tens into multiple wins. Hye-Jin has to break through right? Im will get that first victory. JYK will not go two seasons without a trophy. You will pick up a surprise win somewhere (An?). If Ina is as good as you suggest, then I can see a big bounceback season. I don't think it will be double digits, but seven to eight victories could and should be an attainable goal. |
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Post by 18majors on Nov 25, 2024 14:20:05 GMT
aptrojanLucy Li won the seasonal CME battle with Yealimi; but Yealimi won the consolation in prize money $826,470 to $780,181.
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Post by aptrojan on Nov 25, 2024 14:43:52 GMT
aptrojanLucy Li won the seasonal CME battle with Yealimi; but Yealimi won the consolation in prize money $826,470 to $780,181. Overall it was a great year for Yealimi. Her putting and scoring improved tenfold in 2024. Some key stats are she ranked 28th in GIR pct, 8th in birdie pct, 4th in par 5 scoring. The dark days are behind her, 40th in the CME is likely her floor moving forward. One thing that needs improvement is her driving accuracy. Nelly will inevitably pass her in the Solheim points, but I can't think of many others that will. |
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Post by HappyFan on Nov 25, 2024 17:24:21 GMT
Crappy season, crappy ending. Woulda been nice if they had gotten one of the three things I was rooting for this week, but it's just been that kind of two years. This is a transitional period for the Sisters, and though I'm not overly optimistic at this point, hopefully some of these newbies to the tour are going to pick up the pace in 2025. There are reasons to be hopeful. Haeran is the best ball striker on tour, possibly on the planet. It's time for her to step up and become the superstar she is capable of being. Which means, she needs to practice her putting to the exclusion of everything else in the off season. She lost the Vare because she lost to Furue all four rounds this week. She wins one round and she has the Vare. Heck, just one more putt falls and she might have had the Vare. Of course I'm looking forward (to put it mildly) to Ina Yoon coming over here. But I don't think it's fair to expect her to save the Koreans in her first year over here. She hasn't even played a single LPGA event in her career. But I don't see why Im, Yu Jin or So Mi can't become stars if Furue and Saigo did. They were all multiple winners on the KLPGA. And Hye Jin has the ability to become a multiple winner if she can get out of her own way. It's going to be tough in 2025. The Japanese are sending SIX of their top players to Q-Series this year. The KLPGA just one (OK, two including Sehee Lee, but she's not a top player). But the Koreans have at least ten players with the capability of winning on the LPGA. If just half of them play to their potential next year, they could turn things around. Hopefully Ina will be a shot in the arm for the rest of them and the Koreans will rally. It would be really hard to watch them not get out of the preliminaries at the International Crown in front of their home crowd. Hwaiting! Happy, As someone who suffered through an entire decade of what you have been going through the last few years, let me say this: The bad news: Everything you said above is true. Crappy season is probably a much kinder adjective then I would have used. It wasn't that Korean players weren't constantly in contention, it was that they couldn't finish. Ryu losing the Vare just added fuel to the fire. The good news: We all have short memories. Six weeks from now no one will remember or even care what happened this year (except for Nelly's seven wins). I can see Ryu turning those top tens into multiple wins. Hye-Jin has to break through right? Im will get that first victory. JYK will not go two seasons without a trophy. You will pick up a surprise win somewhere (An?). If Ina is as good as you suggest, then I can see a big bounceback season. I don't think it will be double digits, but seven to eight victories could and should be an attainable goal. Thanks, Tony. The thing that makes it tougher is that, when the Americans play poorly, they are still going to be shown a lot on the coverage. When the Koreans play poorly, it's like they don't exist. Even when they play well it can be like that. It's frustrating that the Chinese have only two world class players - just TWO! - and one of them is top five in the world. The Koreans have 15 - 30 (depending on where you draw the line) and none of them are in the top five. The Thais have their superstar. The Japanese have several players who contend frequently and won two Majors in a year for the first time ever. Meanwhile, the only Korean to win a Major had I think only one other top ten all year. Their two biggest stars won once and never in 2024, and that one win came when one beat the other in a playoff. And unlike the Thais, their second tier players are not contributing much, with the exception of A Lim's unlikely win in Hawaii. Even if you assume that the thirty-somethings won't do all that much going forward, though, it feels like things have got to turn around at some point. It would help if the KLPGA allowed their players to play more big events. The JLPGA gives official tour points to players who play LPGA Majors! The KLPGA fines them. Yamashita has played I think six straight Majors (may be wrong about that), no wonder she's getting good at it! I believe no current KLPGA golfer has played more than one. Anyhoo, I do think there are promising players here and in the pipeline. So Mi Lee feels like the kind of player who could rack up three - four career wins on the LPGA. When I watched her she was hitting it on top of Angel Yin's drives, so she's not short. Im won four events on the KLPGA in 2023. Yu Jin won two. So if just those three start playing better, it's bound to be a better 2025. Add on Hye Jin, Hae Ran and Ina, and I sure hope they beat three wins. Fingers crossed. |
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Post by 18majors on Nov 25, 2024 17:32:25 GMT
Anyhoo, I do think there are promising players here and in the pipeline. So Mi Lee feels like the kind of player who could rack up three - four career wins on the LPGA. When I watched her she was hitting it on top of Angel Yin's drives, so she's not short. Im won four events on the KLPGA in 2023. Yu Jin won two. So if just those three start playing better, it's bound to be a better 2025. Add on Hye Jin, Hae Ran and Ina, and I sure hope they beat three wins. Fingers crossed. Hope springs eternal; just like my hope for a Yealimi win every year! |
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Post by bullfinch on Nov 25, 2024 21:34:49 GMT
Jeeno becomes the first player to win $6M in a season. I bet Nelly’s a bit peeved off about that. I love the sisters but just feel an extra killing instinct is needed at times. Jeeno closing it out on 17 and 18 yesterday at her age shows their ice in those veins.
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Post by 18majors on Nov 25, 2024 22:04:22 GMT
Jeeno becomes the first player to win $6M in a season. I bet Nelly’s a bit peeved off about that. It's a great motivational tool for Nelly! On this course, Nelly needs to putt aggressively because the comebackers won't hurt much. |
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Post by SoYeonFan on Nov 25, 2024 23:07:19 GMT
Jeeno becomes the first player to win $6M in a season. I bet Nelly’s a bit peeved off about that. I love the sisters but just feel an extra killing instinct is needed at times. Jeeno closing it out on 17 and 18 yesterday at her age shows their ice in those veins. To be earnest until that big win I thought that Jeeno Thitikul has under achieved this year. She is one of the best golfers on the LPGA Tour, love watching her ball striking as much as I like watching Jin Young Ko. When Jin Young Ko fixes those tee shots that's going left, she will start winning again. Jeeno is my honorary Korean. |
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Post by bullfinch on Nov 26, 2024 8:21:09 GMT
It's not very often the BBC have an article on women's golf but this one is spot on. I wondered why on the last day they were in groups of 3 with some starting from the 10th tee. All to satisfy US TV schedules! We may have different views on Lexi but finishing up on the 9th hole is a crap way to finish - she deserved an 18th green standing ovation. www.bbc.co.uk/sport/golf/articles/c1lg6r8mj51o |
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I think I heard somebody on one of the broadcasts say that and I stupidly believed them. 
