Hot Sexy JLPGA Scandal Gossip Post!!!!!!!

Now that I have your attention, you may be interested to find out that one of the visiting LPGAers is not leading JLPGA Q-School's Final Qualifying Tournament.  Esther Lee, who finished 64th on this year's money list but was a top-20 player in 2008, eagled her last hole to finish at -3, good enough to be tied for the lead with Kaori Oe.  Right behind them are the LPGA's Candie Kung and Seon Hwa Lee, followed by the KLPGA's Sun Ju Ahn and youngster Jae Bae, who may be trying to start her pro career on the JLPGA.  3 shots off the pace are the LPGA's Teresa Lu, Na Ri Kim, and Onnarin Sattayabanphot, who are tied with the LET's Yuki Sakurai.  The only LPGAers over par after the 1st round were Inbee Park (73, T24) and Young Kim (74, T43). 

Turns out that Amy Yang decided against going for dual LPGA-JLPGA membership (perhaps realizing that she already has dual LPGA-LET membership and a track record of success in Europe to draw on).  And Na Yeon Choi and Eun-Hee Ji chose to join Team Korea in the Kyoraku Cup against Team Japan (on which more later) instead of going for dual LPGA-JLPGA membership.  With Yuko Mitsuka a favorite in this week's LPGA Q-School, and Bo-Bae Song winning dual membership via her win at the Mizuno Classic, we could have as many as 10 players crossing the Pacific next season.  (I'm assuming Shiho Oyama will get some sort of medical exemption to remain a JLPGA member in 2010; Na Ri Kim and Sattayabanphot are counting on being JLPGA members only, while Mika Miyazato will remain an LPGA member only.) 

If the LPGA doesn't get more North American tournaments in 2011, I expect to see that number rise sharply.  Three things the LPGA ought to do to keep this a dual-membership phenomenon and not a migration are to ramp up their co-sponsorships of events with the JLPGA, KLPGA, and LET, bring back the ADT Championship, and work with the JLPGA, KLPGA, and LET in synchronizing the timing and formats of the Kyoraku and Solheim Cups so that the winners and losers of each face off in off-years.  Unless all the tours work together to make globalization work for them, more and more players will see the benefits of constructing their own schedules across multiple tours.