The year 2013 goes to Yani Tseng!
The top ten golfers in the world are Yani Tseng of Taiwan, Na Yeon Choi of South Korea, Stacy Lewis of the United States, Inbee Park of South Korea, Shanshan Feng of China, Suzann Pettersen of Norway, So Yeon Ryu of South Korea, Jiyai Shin of South Korea,
Ai Miyazato of Japan and Mika Miyazato of Japan.
As is plainly obvious, eight of the top ten lady golfers in the world are Asian. Let us limit ourselves to the top ten list of the world.
Yani Tseng is based in the US and has had substantial experience with the Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour. What adds to her impressive list of accomplishments is that she is the youngest player ever in the history of golf to win five major championships.
She has been Women’s World Golf Ranking (which is also called the Rolex Rankings, for sponsorship reasons) world number one since September last year.
The year Tseng turned professional, she participated in the Ladies Asian Golf Tour. She also won the Indian Open the same year.
Her 2012 season has been characteristically productive. At the Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour, she won the Honda Ladies Professional Golf Association of Thailand.
The World Golf Hall of Fame is point-based (meaning players make the venerated list as they rake in points throughout their careers).
For some, like the current world no. 1, “throughout their careers” is a tad too long. It has been announced that she is a mere four points shy of qualifying for the World Golf Hall of Fame list.
Na Yeon Choi from South Korea is at second place. She is a current member of the Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour, which is US-based.
Choi turned professional in 2004 after a victory over Se Ri Pak. She outdid Pak by a paltry four strokes (cause to break out the champagne considering Choi was just an amateur when she did) at the Ladies Professional Golf Association Korea Tour (KLPGA).
Se Ri Pak would go on to make the World Golf Hall of Fame.
The thing about Choi is that she is a consistent player. Always has been. In 2008, although failing to secure a fully exempt Tour card, her performance has been consistent.
In fact, the performance was consistent enough to get her permission to play at every tournament. The same year, she made $1 million.
Stacy Lewis is the Palm Beach Gardens-based American professional golfer whose finest professional performance, critics as well as fans are apt to agree, was the Solheim Cup debut in 2011.
The latest season has seen her win four more tournaments. The 2012 season also saw her get nominated for and win the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Player of the Year award.
The only other American golfer to have won the Ladies Professional Golf Association Player of the Year award was Beth Daniel, who won it back in 1994.
We may have digressed here a bit. Let us traverse to the original point in contention: who would rule the 2013 season?
If I may be so bold as to interject a personal opinion here, my money would be on Yani Tseng.
She is not only the current world number one, but she has also had a fairly good 2012, as opposed to the other two players who have had a brilliant year thus draining momentum.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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