Miyazato in Elite Company in Japan, LPGA Past & Present

With her two shot win at the HSBC Women's Champions on Sunday, Ai Miyazato became only the fifth player in the history of the LPGA Tour to start the season two-for-two.  The other four to accomplish the feat are legends in the women's game:

• Marilyn Smith (1966)
• Mickey Wright (1963)
• Louise Suggs (1952)
• Babe Zaharias (1951)

It was the third win for Miyazato on the LPGA Tour, on top of the 18 JLPGA titles she has taken.  At 24, Miyazato has an awfully impressive resume.  Perhaps most impressive about this particular win, though, is the mental grit of Miyazato in pulling out the victory. 

After bogeying the opening two holes, in upwards of ten players had a reasonable opportunity to win the tournament.  Miyazato remained mentally though, and rallied to finish the front side at one-under.  She battled again on the back, with four birdies against two bogeys to finish on -10. 

Cristie Kerr certainly gave Miyazato a much wider door to walk through when she bogeyed the final two holes of regulation.  Nonetheless, Miyazato had to keep her game together to come home in par over the last two holes.

The win moves Miyazato up another spot in the Rolex Rankings into third position.  She is .01 points behind Jiyai Shin and a mere 1.26 points behind number one Lorena Ochoa. 

Shin surged in the final round, per her moniker of "final round queen," into a tie for third.  Perhaps otherwise Miyazato would be the second ranked player in the world today.

Ochoa never recovered from a second round 79 - her worst round since an 81 in '04 - and finished T38.  Miyazato could plausibly pass Ochoa if she continues to stay hot, but that seems unlikely until the end of March at the earliest, or early April.

Confident now in her short and long game, Miyazato has finally found the consistency that caused the hype before her jump to the LPGA Tour.  That has resulted in two wins that have her back in the Japanese limelight, vying for time with wunderkind Ryo Ishikawa.

Asked how she would feel if she surpassed Ishikawa in Japanese public opinion, she simply responded, "[I]f I do end up becoming more popular, I'll feel like, 'Yes!'"