LPGA Tour Championship 2010: An exciting finish to an interesting season
The 2010 LPGA season is about to finish off with the LPGA Tour Championship taking place at the Grand Cypress Golf Club in Orlando, Florida this weekend. The tournament will be a deciding factor for many end-of-the year-awards,
including the Rolex Player of the Year Award, the Vare Trophy, and the top of the money list. Yani Tseng is leading the list for the Rolex honour, even though she has won two less tournaments than the Japanese Ai Miyazato. Tseng’s victories in two major tournaments
this year, the Kraft Nabisco Championship and the RICOH Women’s British Open, have given her the lead.
On the money list, however, Tseng stands at third place, behind Jiyai Shin at second place and Na Yeon Choi currently in the lead, ahead of Shin by just $34,790.
The fact that this final event, the LPGA Tour Championship, will ultimately decide so many things for the 2010 season makes it all the more exciting. But there have been other events that have made this a colourful year for the
LPGA.
The biggest story this year was the retirement of 28-year-old Mexican golfer Lorena Ochoa, who quit professional golf to be able to spend more time with her new husband and family and become involved in social work. Ochoa’s retirement
made headlines because the decision had come while she was at the peak of her career – she had been the world number one for four years straight. Her decision is reminiscent of the shocking retirement of Annika Sorenstam, another amazing golfer who quit the
game at the height of her career. Ochoa’s retirement has, however, set the stage for fierce competition to fill the number one spot.
Meanwhile, Norwegian golfer Suzann Pettersen has played in 18 tournaments this year and been the runner-up in six of them. The last time Pettersen won a tournament was at the 2009 CN Canadian Women’s Open. One year and 23 tournaments
later, Suzann still has not made an addition to her victory count, but despite this, her statistics are much better when compared to most golfers. Pettersen is fourth on the money list with $1,532,960 and sixth on the Player of the Year list with 134 points.
Where one player had such a disappointing year, another really caught the world's attention with a legendary performance at the LPGA Championship. American golfer Cristie Kerr won a second major by a margin of 12 shots, and is
just .09 points behind the South Korean Choi to win the Vare Trophy for the best scoring average.
As for the best round of the year, it was Miyazato from Japan who posted a 9-under 63 on the last 18 holes in the fourth round of the Honda PTT LPGA Thailand, winning six shots clear of Pettersen. With the Honda event being the
first one in the LPGA season, it really started the season with a bang for Miyazato.
While the media was watching these players, there was one move by a golfer that went unnoticed. South Korean star I.K. Kim donated her entire $220,000 first place winnings from the Lorena Ochoa Invitational to charity. Half the
money was given to the Lorena Ochoa Foundation itself, with the other half going to an American charity chosen by Kim. It is amazing that this act of generosity was not given more media attention.
Overall, with all its stories, the 2010 season was an interesting one and yet more excitement remains as it comes to a close this weekend.
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