Navistar LPGA Classic - Epilogue
by hound dog on Sep 19, 2011 6:04 AM PDT
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Weren't we just talking about what a washout Lexi Thompson's first full professional season has been? After challenging at last year's Evian Masters, I wrote that it was nearly inevitable that Thompson would break Marlene Hagge's record as the youngest player to win an LPGA event. In seven 2011 starts, Lexi had missed four cuts and finished no better than T19 (oddly enough that was at Avnet, the Tour's other Alabama stop). To come here and win by five shots with that seasonal line makes her this week's Big Surprise but the facts that she became a Tour winner and also became the youngest to do it are no surprise at all.
As you might expect with Thompson entering Sunday with a five-shot lead and holding on to win, she was never really challenged. She did bogey 11 and 12 and had her lead trimmed to three but birdies at 16 and 17 sealed the deal. I don't know if Golf Channel mentioned it yesterday or not (I'm in Florida on vacation this week and only saw the last few minutes of Sunday's coverage) but Lexi's win as a non-member earns her Category 7 status for 2012 - the same status Hee Kyung Seo has played under this year.
Video sensation Tiffany Joh can play some golf too! Entering the weekend only one under par, Joh shot 65 on Saturday to climb into a tie for third and her final-round 68 earned solo second for her first career Top 10 finish. Also worthy of a Big Shout-Out this week are Becky Morgan, Giulia Sergas and Jennifer Johnson - all of them finished in the Top 11 and Johnson collected her first career Top 10. Sergas vaulted to #94 on the money list and secured Category 11 status for next year. I'll update all of the money list races later today or tomorrow.
On the Solheim front, five U.S. team members finished in the Top 10 plus Juli Inkster turned around her recent woes with a T14 finish. Vicky Hurst is still scuffling somewhat, making the cut but getting home only T51. Christina Kim and Ryann O'Toole missed the cut in their final warm-up as did Cristie Kerr, who collects this week's Big Disappointment Award.
One of my favorites decided to call it quits this week. Louise Friberg writes a blog, which I discovered in the winter of 2007-08. About two months after I started following her, Louise won the MasterCard Classic. Her comeback from eleven ten shots down is the largest I have documented dating back to at least 2004. She contended a couple of other times during the 2008 season but has since dropped off the leaderboard. Having not made a cut all year and facing Q-School this fall, Friberg decided to pursue the instructional profession. Other players have dabbled with blogs but none stuck with it as long nor did they post nearly as often as Louise. Though the results on the course weren't always so great, she always kept a sunny outlook for her readers. For that and her amazing victory in Mexico, I'll always remember Louise Friberg. Good luck, Lollo!
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I don't do predictions, but
Lexi Thompson’s win this week was one I was expecting to happen this year. Back in January when I wrote a primer for LPGA 2011 – Predictions I pointed out that in each of the last 6 years a non-member had won a tournament. I was hoping to find someone somewhere who would predict a win for Lexi this year. In all the blogs I read, nobody did predict that she would. You came close by predicting a win before February 2013.
Yes I know
that makes 2 for this year and the possibility there may be more with the tournaments in Japan and Korea still to come. A bunch of the non-member wins have been in the Korean tournament.
The number of non-members to win
the Mizuno and South Korea LPGA Tour stops is the same since 2002(The first year for the Korea tournament)
Mizuno- Momoko Ueda, Ji Yai Shin, Bo Bae Song
Korea- Shi Hyun Ahn, Jee Young Lee, Jin Joo Hong
Shin’s first Mizuno win in 2008 was before she became a Tour member
by Bill Jempty on Sep 19, 2011 10:15 AM PDT up reply actions
I should have looked it up
I blame my faulty memory, I thought it was 4 for the Korean tournament and 2 for the Japanese tournament.
Hate to throw a spanner in the works...
…but Lexi’s win doesn’t automatically give her the opportunity to become a member, because she’s still not 18 yet. The Tour’s statements on Sunday evening said as much: the only petition they currently have in their posession was the one waiving the age requirement so that she could earn her membership VIA Q-SCHOOL. It apparently did not anticipate her winning an event in the interim, so a separate petition based on that fact would have to be filed, although given that she was already given one waiver this exchange of paperwork should be a formality. Everyone has to make sure all the proper procedures are followed, after all.
a mere technicality
Like tatkins says below, any decent legal argument can show that by the Tour having waived the age requirement so Lexi could attempt to earn her card at Q-School, they effectively waived it for any other means that the Tour qualifies players for cards.
As for being the 2012 ROY favorite, I think So Yeon Ryu probably should still hold that distinction. Of course we don’t have to make that choice just yet, do we?
If I were Lexi's agent...
…the LPGA would already have a new petition requesting membership for 2012 and 2013 based on approval of previous petition to waive age requirement for Q-School and the victory in the tournament. The second stage of Q-School is next week so the approval is time sensitive and she should not have to continue in the Q-School. Unless Whan is an idiot, which I doubt very much, Lexi should get the age requirement waiver and immediately become the favorite for the rookie of the year for 2012.
Friberg
Louise Friberg came from 10 shots back—not 11—at the 2008 Mastercard. That tied the LPGA record held by Mickey Wright and Annika Sorenstam.
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