How can a Gal get some respect around here?

What do Rodney Dangerfield and Sandra Gal have in common?  Looks?  Golf swing? (See Caddyshack.) Or is it that each "gets no respect?"

Should we be surprised that she's leading the Avnet after two rounds?  Before the tournament started, oddsmakers were listing her between 40-1 and 50-1. Longer odds than SH Kim and Anna Nordqvist, and roughly the same odds as Sun Young Yoo, Maria Hjorth, and Amy Yang. 

The larger question is when does one know that someone has risen to a new level and is not just a flash in the pan? I wish I could quantify how many excellent results are needed to become an indicator of future excellent performance. A single tournament can produce a fluke winner (Hilary Lunke and Birdie Kim), but at some point several top finishes in tournaments should indicate a consistent high-quality player.

In 2010, Gal was 67th on the money list, sandwiched between Sarah Jane Smith and Laura Diaz. What would she have to do to be lumped into the group of players that are no longer worried about maintaining their tour card, expected to make the cut every week, and regularly be on the first two pages of the leaderboard? I propose Morgan Pressel and Angela Stanford as typical members of this group--players ranked roughly from #10-#25, who get odds quoted around 25-1. (This group is a notch below the superstars: JY Shin, Yani Tseng, the 2011 Karrie Webb, etc.) 

The Fabulous Fraulein finished 2010 with a tie for 11th at the Tour Championship. She then started 2011 with two antipodean LET tournaments, finishing 6th and 36th. Now four LPGA finishes: 26T, 10T, the Kia Classic win, and 15T at the KNC major. These results are now spread out over a 6 month period: in 7 events, 1 win, 2 other Top Tens, an 11th, a 15th, and no missed cuts. My only reservation is that most of Gal's improvement is with her short game, especially her flat stick. And putters can go wrong in a hurry. Gal's GIR is still in the low 60%, both in 2010 and 2011. Intuitively, this feels like a real, lasting step forward to me. If I were a bookmaker, I'd be offering her at 25-1, not 50-1.

In another sign that Sandra Gal is earning respect, it now looks like she should make the European Solheim Cup team after all.  As reported by BangkokBobby, after Gal won the Kia Classic, European team captain Alison Nicholas was able to offer Gal LET membership. She only has to climb over Catriona Matthew to become the 4th highest ranking European on the Rolex Rankings, which would give her an automatic spot on the team.