Miyazato reclaims No. 1 Rolex Ranking
Ai Miyazato has reclaimed her spot in women’s professional golf atop the Rolex Rankings, but her battle is not over yet. Miyazato will be defending her title at the Evian Masters Presented by Societe Generale in France this week.
Miyazato first saw herself at number one on June 21st after winning the ShopRite LPGA Classic, a spot she secured from Cristie Kerr. Kerr had held onto the top spot or the previous three weeks after winning the LPGA Championship Presented by Wegmans. Kerr was a favourite for the US Women’s Open but lost to Paula Creamer in the end.
The Rolex Rankings was launched in February of 2006, and is the first ever comprehensive world rankings system for women’s golf. Players are awarded points based on their field strength and performance evaluation over a two year period, weighted in favour of the current year and with more importance placed on the most recent 13 weeks.
Kerr and Miyazato are in a dead heat for the Rolex number one spot; Kerr’s point average is 10.2650 while Miyazato’s is 10.2656. The only players to top the Rolex Rankings have been Kerr, Miyazato, Annika Sorenstam, Lorena Ochoa and Jiyai Shin.
Miyazato has won four times this year. She opened the season with two consecutive wins, first at the Honda PTT PLGA in Thailand, and then the HSBC Women’s Championship. She was also victorious at the Tres Marias Championship and at the ShopRite. She is heading to Evian-Les-Bains in France to defend her title where she became a Rolex first-time winner at the competition last year.
Miyazato will be joined in France by almost all of the Rolex top players. After Ochoa’s retirement the race for her coveted number one spot has been hotly contested, as several top female players are in a position to grab the position. Ochoa’s final event before retiring was the Tres Marias Championship. After she stepped down, Shin ascended to the number one position and held onto it for seven weeks before Miyazato jumped to the top. It was then that Kerr won the LPGA Championship, enjoying the spotlight for three weeks.
Since turning professional in 2003 Miyazato has been making headlines. During her first two seasons she won 11 LPGA events and dominated the field with a record 12-shot lead in the 2005 LPGA Qualifying Tournament. Miyazato has made 16 top 10 finishes in her career, and earned almost $2 million from 2005-08. The 25-year old Japan native suffered a dry spell until she won the Evian Masters last year and defeated Sophie Gustafson in a one-hole sudden death playoff. This season Miyazato has come into her own, accomplishing the record equalling back-to-back wins which hasn’t been done since 1966.
As an amateur in 2003, Miyazato won a professional event on the Japan LPGA Tour in the Dunlop Ladies Open. She was still attending high school at the time. Miyazato joined the Japan LPGA in 2004, and during her rookie season she won five tournaments. She represented Japan at the Women’s World Cup of Golf in 2005 along with Rui Kitada and won the event. The same year she won six more events and was ranked No.2 on the JLPGA Tour.
Miyazato was only 20 years old when she won the Japan Open Championship in 2005 and became the youngest player on the JLPGA to win a major. She dominated the field during her U.S. LPGA qualifying school enabling her tour card for the 2006 season. She set the record for largest margin of victory when she finished under par for five of the six qualifying rounds, 12 strokes ahead of her closest competitor.
The Evian Masters Presented by Societe Gernerale holds fond memories for Miyazato, and she will be trying to live up to her former glory on the course to secure her fifth LPGA title this season, and second consecutive win at the event.
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