Cristie Kerr has played in all eight LPGA events in 2009.  She has four Top 5 finishes and six Top 10s with her worst showing a T19 in Thailand.  After getting into the win column yesterday, Kerr is now among the handful of early favorites to win Player of the Year.

The difference between Lorena Ochoa Thursday-Friday and the Saturday-Sunday edition couldn't have been more pronounced - 64-65 before, 74-74 after.  68 putts over the weekend and a plethoria of poor approach shots epitomized by her double-bogey on 14 Saturday afternoon.  She flew over the green, chipped up so short that the ball rolled downhill back to her, chipped up short again to the fringe and chipped again ten feet short.  She made that putt to "save" double or else I think her head would have exploded.  Lorena was never a factor after that although she still finished 10th, which is a testament to her ability.  Nobody else on Tour can play that far below their established level for 36 holes and still collect a Top 10.

Wind may have been a factor I missed in my recap this morning but there's no denying the pressure got to Lindsey Wright and Song-Hee Kim.  Wright played the final eight holes in +3 while Kim played the final three in +3, surrendering the title to Kerr without a struggle.  I have to give Song-Hee credit for taking the lead in the first place with those birdies at 14 and 15 (at least one of which was from long range) but the mishit approach at 16 is going to be difficult for her to forget.  Wright missed several makable putts along the way - the four-footer for birdie at 14 stands out the most.  I'm less inclined to make the same judgement on In-Kyung Kim but had she canned her six-footer at 16, the result could have been very different.

Kudos to Wendy Ward for finishing fifth, her second straight Top 5.  This week's Big Surprise is LPGA rookie (but JLPGA veteran) Shiho Oyama, whose sixth-place finish was the first Top 10 of her LPGA career.  It's a Surprise because she's been struggling with tendonitis this year - T42 was her previous best.  Oyama has an outstanding record in Japan and I expect we'll see her real talent more often in the coming weeks.

The Big Disappointment is Sun Young Yoo, who missed the cut after coming in riding a five-week streak of finishes T12 or better.  Helen Alfredsson, Jee Young Lee and Morgan Pressel also missed the cut rather unexpectedly.  Jane Park was -2 through 36 holes but had to withdraw with back issues which forced her to fly to LA for treatment.  Christina Kim withdrew due to illness Friday morning but seems to be better now, judging by her Tweets over the weekend.