With the number of international players in the top 20 growing from 12 to 17 between February's and my latest ranking at Mostly Harmless (now a top 45!), not to mention the percentage of ranked players who grew up in non-English-dominant countries rising from 45% to 58%, it's hard to argue that the widespread perception of international dominance on the LPGA Tour is unfounded.  Even though Cristie Kerr's win last week brings 2 Americans into the top 5 for the first time since the start of the season, just about everyone else who was born in the U.S.A. has been struggling.  But you know what?  So have 100% of the Japanese and Chinese players on tour, 75% of the Taiwanese, and so on.  It's just not easy to excel at the highest levels of women's professional golf.  Just ask the world #1 and #1A.

(BTW, I get these figures by combining the most recent results from the Rolex Rankings, the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index, the LPGA Official Money List, and Hound Dog's Top 30. We'll revisit them at the end of October.)

The chase pack is closing on the world #1, but she's not going down without a fight:

1. Lorena Ochoa: #1 money ($2.38M), #1 RR (18.60), #1 GSPI (67.70), #1 HD. Only a player of Ochoa's stature could be said to be "struggling" since my last ranking, but that's what happens when you go from winnng almost every tournament you enter to having trouble contending. Still, she dominates almost every major statistical category, often by a wide margin, and has made enough since June alone to rank just outside the top 50 on the money list, which is to say that in less than 2 months she's done better than 130 of her competitors have done all season. She is so due that I predict multiple wins for her down the stretch.

Even as the chase pack is closing, it's also fragmenting. There are only 2 other players in the top 5 in all 4 systems and only 4 in the top 10:

2. Annika Sorenstam: #2 money ($1.59M), #2 RR (10.79), #4 GSPI (69.05), #2 HD. Like Hound Dog, I can't picture her getting LPGA victory #73. I'll go further and worry publicly that my prediction that she'd end the season at #5 may have been a bit too generous. Does she have anything left in the tank for the home stretch? She skipped the Midwest swing to prepare for the European swing. Will she even play September's Southern swing? And would even that extended a rest help her in October and November?

3. Paula Creamer: #3 money ($1.48M), #5 RR (8.62), #2 GSPI (68.85), #3 HD. I'll tell you, I was tempted to put Creamer ahead of Sorenstam. She's already ahead in top 10 percentage and greens in regulation rate--and right behind in scoring average, birdies per round rate, and rounds under par percentage. Do you realize she's had only 4 finishes outside the top 16 all season? (Sorenstam's had 7.)

4. Ya Ni Tseng: #4 money ($1.41M), #3 RR (8.79), #8 GSPI (69.53), #4 HD. At the same time, if Tseng had turned any of her 4 silvers and 1 bronze this season into just 1 gold, I would have strongly considered making her my #2. Her disappointing missed cut at the Safeway Classic is only her 6th finish outside the top 16. With her nagging triceps problem, the LPGA's late-summer vacation couldn't have come at a better time for her physically. She still could end the season at #2. As great as Creamer's been playing this season, I think Tseng is the only 1 on tour who has a real chance at taking Player of the Year away from Ochoa. She's the only other player on tour averaging above 4 birdies per round, so she has the gunslinger's mentality that's needed to take on the challenge. And she's recently joined the elite group of players that Lorena mentions by name, following a similar compliment from Annika.

5. Cristie Kerr: #9 money ($882.3K), #6 RR (6.42), #6 GSPI (69.22), #5 HD. Amazing what a win will do for your year, isn't it? With it, she jumped back to where she started the season after dropping to #9 in June. But with 10 straight finishes of 21st or better (and only 8 worse than 16th all season), she's punched her ticket for the ADT Championship, given herself a great shot at her 5th straight million-dollar season, and established herself as 1 of the hottest players on tour. It'll be very interesting to see how the multiple weeks off in August and September will affect her momentum.

Don't look now, but the trio with a trio of top 10s is due to break out:

6. Suzann Pettersen: #11 money ($868.9K), #4 RR (8.78), #3 GSPI (68.94), #9 HD. You know, I'm sure she's not terribly happy with her results this season, but I have to say I've been impressed with her mental toughness. Her worst finish all season has been a T34 at the LPGA Championship--it's her only finish outside the top 30. So even when she hasn't had her A-game, she's proven that her B-game is pretty damn good. If she can get half as hot at the end of this season as she did at the end of 2007, she'll not only make it 2 years in a row that the Class of 2003 has a pair of million-dollar winners, but also give herself a chance to catch Annika.

7. Na Yeon Choi: #8 money ($1.00M), #27 RR (3.56), #7 GSPI (69.44), #6 HD. Although she recently matched her worst finish on the LPGA from the 1st event of the year at the Canadian Women's Open (T32) and hasn't medalled as often as Rookie of the Year race leader Tseng, she could still finish at the top of her class. She's got a better top 10 rate, after all, and is hanging with Tseng in just about every other category. This could be the best ROY race in LPGA history....

8. Seon Hwa Lee: #7 money ($1.06M), #10 RR (5.22), #13 GSPI (70.40), #7 HD. Talk about the Mostly Harmless reverse jinx: Lee has gotten each of her wins this season soon after I complained about her short game in April and her inconsistency in June. So it's time to complain about her hangover since that NW Arkansas victory. Time to snap out of it, Seon Hwa!

The rest of the chase pack has fallen back a bit and can be found in the top 10 in only 2 of the 4 systems (and/or in the top 20 in all):

9. Jeong Jang: #10 money ($874.3K), #11 RR (4.87), #9 GSPI (69.89), #11 HD. Ouch--her taking that break to rest her wrist that I recommended back in June hasn't helped. Expect her to have surgery in the off-season. But also look for her to break the million-dollar mark this season. That's how tough she is.

10. Inbee Park: #5 money ($1.10M), #12 RR (4.74), #33 GSPI (71.02), #8 HD. You know, it's sad to see that the U.S. Women's Open jinx is even stronger than the Mostly Harmless reverse jinx. Or is it? Only time will tell if this attempt to trigger the latter can overcome the former. And if noting that she had a worse start to the season and a similar rough patch in the middle weakens the latter too much. How about this? I think the GSPI is a more accurate indicator of her chances the rest of the season than the other systems.

11. Helen Alfredsson: #6 money ($1.10M), #9 RR (5.43), #49 GSPI (71.58), #17 HD. You know, I just love to see the Mostly Harmless reverse jinx in action. In June I wrote, "don't expect to see her back here in August." Instead, she moves from #30 almost into my top 10! Still, I'd be shocked to see her finish in my top 20. There. She'll probably win the ADT Championship now.

12. Eun-Hee Ji: #12 money ($819.8K), #15 RR (4.57), #15 GSPI (70.46), #12 HD. Had a great Midwest swing and European swing, but cooled off up north, so the LPGA's summer break is coming at a good time for her. I would not be surprised to see her win again this season, perhaps even in the Southern swing. Nor would I be surprised to see her pass fellow Super Soph Inbee Park on the money list by season's end. What can I say? She reminds me of Seon Hwa Lee.

13. Hee-Won Han: #17 money ($683.8K), #19 RR (4.21), #10 GSPI (69.95), #13 HD. Now that's more like it! If she can continue the pace she's been setting of late--4 top 10s in her last 5 events--she'll validate her pre-season ranking of #8 from me.

14. Karrie Webb: #14 money ($711.9K), #8 RR (6.05), #11 GSPI (70.01), #14 HD. Hey, I finally got a call right back in June: "Don't expect her to remain in the top 10 next ranking. There are too many hungry young guns behind her playing better and more consistent golf than she has been the past 2 years." If she doesn't turn it around soon, my pre-season #21 ranking will prove to be prescient.

15. Angela Park: #13 money ($784.9K), #13 RR (4.68), #17 GSPI (70.60), #16 HD. Movin' on up! 4 top 6s in your last 7 events will do that for you.

Surprisingly, there's only 1 player with top 20s in 3 of the 4 systems.

16. Jee Young Lee: #18 money ($561.4K), #17 RR (4.43), #18 GSPI (70.61), #21 HD. The good news: she has 8 top 20s in her last 10 events. The bad news: she's missed the cut twice and has no top 10s in that same span. Come on, Jee Young!

And there are only a couple of golfers with a pair of top 20s:

17. Song-Hee Kim: #15 money ($709.6K), #44 RR (2.56), #29 GSPI (70.94), #15 HD. Has the opportunity to turn a great season into a fantastic one if she can recapture that mid-season form. Taking a rest before the European swing didn't help her, so we'll have to see how she handles these 2 weeks off after a very good and a solid finish on the Northern swing. Here's hoping the Super Soph heats up in the South.

18. Karen Stupples: #25 money ($522.7K), #33 RR (3.20), #12 GSPI (70.32), #18 HD. Cooling off fast, but less fast than those behind her.