Winner and Still Player of the Year...Lorena Ochoa!

by Ryan Ballengee on Nov 23, 2009 7:58 PM EST

By the smallest of margins - one whole point - Lorena Ochoa will be the reigning LPGA Tour Player of the Year for the fourth consecutive year. She finished two strokes behind Anna Nordqvist at the Monday finish of the LPGA Tour Championship in Houston. That second place finish required Jiyai Shin to finish worse than solo 8th in order for Ochoa to snag the honor of the LPGA's best player.

Shin finished in 8th, with three other players, to leave her one point shy of Ochoa to become the first player since Nancy Lopez in 1978 to be Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year. A bogey on the 17th hole in today's round likely cost her the honor.

For what it's worth, Ochoa achieved the honor in six fewer total rounds than Shin. But Ochoa would be hard pressed to claim total victory over Shin. Ochoa boasted three wins this year, but lost the money list title to Shin by some $320,000, who also had three victories.

Ochoa certainly recognized how stern of a challenge she faced from Shin, as well as Cristie Kerr, who entered the week with a mathematical chance of winning Player of the Year.

"I always say that I want to stay at the top as long as I continue playing, so this is just a great year for me," Ochoa said after the round. "It's been tough in many different ways, but the important thing is I'm at the top."

The LPGA Tour record for consecutive Player of the Year honors is within Ochoa's sites. Were she to win this award again in the 2010 season, she would tie Annika Sorenstam at five in a row. Ochoa did manage to tie Kathy Whitworth with her fourth straight title.

That is a long way away, though. Ochoa will certainly face another strong challenge from Jiyai Shin and Kerr. With Michelle Wie's first less than ten days ago, optimists are anticipating that the 20 year old may join the conversation as well. Regardless, Ochoa will take things one day at a time. After all, her next goal is to get married in the off-season.

When reminded that she made birdie on her final hole as a single woman, Ochoa responded, "I like that. It's a good memory."

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Next year should be very interesting indeed.

Between Lorena, Jiyai, and Cristie..

Anna Nordqvist who was not wholly consistent this year, but won two of the bigget event.
Na Yeon Choi won two events, and was in the thick of things today also.
Then Ai Miyazato had a sweet top 10 streak after her win at the Evian also.

Then you have great players like Wiesy, Yani Tseng, In-Kyung Kim..

It might be awhile til we see another 6-win season

Jamie RS
Snaphook Herald
Jamie in the Rough
snaphookherald@gmail.com

by Jamie R. Belyea on Nov 23, 2009 8:14 PM EST reply actions

Despite the horrifyingly bad announcing – that was a lot of fun to watch. Nice to see Ochoa make a clutch putt when she needed it. With all the distractions she’s had this year, it’s good to know she’s still hungry. Shin has run out of steam late in the last few tournaments – just the end of the season ?

A rookie like Nordqvist is pretty exciting – big game and a lot of heart – and TWO wins already…including a major. I like it.

I want to see Choi more next season. What a swing !

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Nov 23, 2009 8:52 PM EST reply actions

the other thing to consider...

…is who will make quantum leaps like In-Kyung Kim and Ai Miyazato and Na Yeon Choi made this season and Angela Stanford and Katherine Hull did the season before? (And who will fall backwards like Seon Hwa Lee, Jee Young Lee, and Paula Creamer did this season?)

This year’s rookie class is scary good—and guess what? Vicky Hurst and Stacy Lewis never hit their strides. Injuries held back Shiho Oyama. And Mika Miyazato is definitely close to Kim, Choi, and Ai-sama in overall game. Then there’s Inbee Park and Eun-Hee Ji, who are too good to suffer the U.S. Women’s Open curse for much longer. And Hee Young Park and Momoko Ueda are close to breaking through from the year before them.

It’s not just the already-known elite players who are going to make life difficult for Ochoa, Shin, Kerr, Pettersen, Tseng, and Wie—it’s the up-and-comers.

by The Constructivist on Nov 24, 2009 5:45 AM EST reply actions

Parity – get used to it in spades on the LPGA Tour!

Find me! Email: ryan@thegolfnewsnet.com, Twitter: http://twitter.com/waggleroomryan, or Facebook: http://facebook.com/waggleroom.

by Ryan Ballengee on Nov 24, 2009 8:45 AM EST up reply actions

Get used to it ? Are you saying that you can’t enjoy a sport where a lot of players can win at any given time ? You can’t enjoy the sport if there isn’t one dominant player ?

I want to see more of Na Yeon Choi – what a swing !

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Nov 24, 2009 9:19 AM EST up reply actions

Not at all, I just think that parity is something that has been taking shape in the past two seasons on the LPGA Tour and now it’s coming full circle. There’s nothing wrong with that at all.

Find me! Email: ryan@thegolfnewsnet.com, Twitter: http://twitter.com/waggleroomryan, or Facebook: http://facebook.com/waggleroom.

by Ryan Ballengee on Nov 24, 2009 9:22 AM EST up reply actions

The last two weeks have been “edge-of-your-seat” exciting, going down to the last group on the last hole to determine the winner one week and POY the next. Awesome!

Truth has a well-known liberal bias.

by dianemarie on Nov 24, 2009 9:23 AM EST up reply actions

I think that between the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour that 2010 has the potential to be the greatest season in history. No lie!

Find me! Email: ryan@thegolfnewsnet.com, Twitter: http://twitter.com/waggleroomryan, or Facebook: http://facebook.com/waggleroom.

by Ryan Ballengee on Nov 24, 2009 9:34 AM EST up reply actions

Not sold on michele wie

I agree that next year for both PGA and LPGA tours should be fantastic. MW still has lots to prove and get over herself with the injury excuses. No doubt she had a limp of some sort, but you would have never known it when she all but dove out of the trap and jogged to mark her ball on the 18th at Lorena’s tournament. Watch out for the “Heat Stroke” excuse in Dubai, it’s pretty warm there… Great website here. I just joined…progolf

by progolf on Nov 24, 2009 10:49 AM EST reply actions