Shiho Oyama Breaks Through

Shiho Oyama just got her 1st win of 2008 today on the JLPGA, moving her up to 7th place on their money list.  She held off the unheralded Ah-Reum Hwang, who was tied with her at -5 with a few holes left to play, and Ji-Hee Lee, who started badly but made a back-side charge to get back to -4 after 16 holes.  When Hwang bogeyed the 16th and 17th and Lee bogeyed the 17th and 18th, Oyama's birdies on the 16th and 18th were icing on the cake.

Maybe now Beth Ann Baldry will recognize that Mindy Kim has a lot more to worry about than being overshadowed by Vicky Hurst in the preseason Rookie of the Year buzz for the LPGA Class of 2009.  If all goes as expected at Q-School in December, it won't just be Michelle Wie and Stacy Lewis that Kim has to contend with, but the JLPGA's Oyama and Miki Saiki (who finally cracked the top 20 on the JLPGA money list with her top 10 this week), the KLPGA's Sun-Ju Ahn, the LET's Martina Eberl, Melissa Reid, Tania Elosegui, and Beatriz Recari, and amateurs Alison Walshe, Anna Nordqvist, Mika Miyazato, and Dewi Claire Schreefel, as well.  Not to mention Ji-Yai Shin, who ought to be the Class of 2009's presumptive ROY favorite.