As defending champion of the Evian Masters, Natalie Gulbis has the honor of playing with the LPGA's and LET's leading money winners, Lorena Ochoa and Gwladys Nocera.  Gulbis, however, is slumping this season, with few signs of life  Nocera doesn't have a history of playing well against the LPGA's best.  So what do you think an interesting over/under would be on the total number of strokes Ochoa beats her playing partners by in Thursday's round?  Over at Mostly Harmless, I threw out...8  Anyone willing to take the over?

Interesting week in the world of women's golf, eh?  With Lorena Ochoa and Annika Sorenstam taking some time off before the LPGA's European swing, Paula Creamer got her 7th career victory in Toledo, Suzann Pettersen got her 9th in Dublin, Yuri Fudoh broke the billion-yen barrier in career winnings when she became the JLPGA's 1st repeat winner of 2008, and Vicky Hurst got her 4th Futures Tour victory of the season.  So whose win do you think was the biggest--and why?

It's definitely an interesting time to be ranking the Super Sophs in particular and the Young Guns in general. Before the start of the season, I went out on a limb and predicted that we'll start seeing the best of them play a major role in the Player of the Year race, and I was duly impressed by Inbee Park when I watched her play the last few holes with Ai Miyazato at the Wegmans a couple of Saturdays ago, but even I have to admit to being blown away by Park's and Eun-Hee Ji's back-to-back wins. The Super Sophs have now tied the Class of 2008 in victories this season and overall majors, but both still trail the Junior Mints by 2 total wins. I wonder who will be next in the Young Gun victory parade? Here are the top Super Soph prospects.

Simply the Best

1. Inbee Park: From #5 to #1 in 3 months--that's what getting hot will do for you in this class. That and becoming the youngest winner in U.S. Women's Open history! She's been riding her putter thus far this season; if her ballstriking doesn't improve, she's vulnerable to runs from her peers.

2. Eun-Hee Ji: Her win at the Wegmans shouldn't have been all that surprising, given her 4 victories on the KLPGA and her gaining exempt status in only a handful of starts as a rookie. If she can putt like she did at Locust Hill the rest of the season, she'll be the #1 in her class by season's end. But she needs to make more birdies more consistently just to hold steady.

3. Angela Park: The former #1 has given her peers a lot of help the past few months, but hopefully her T3 at the Open means her putter is coming back online for her. She needs something to go right for her--she's dropped all the way from #9 to #26 in my Best of the LPGA ranking system in the past 6 months.

The Contenders

4. In-Kyung Kim: Like Angela Park, this former #2 in her class had a great Open, but what a long drought between her top 10 at the HSBC Women's Champions and her feats at Interlachen. I've heard injuries had something to do with it, so let's hope she's healthy for the rest of the season.

5. Song-Hee Kim: The second-highest-ranked Super Soph in my Best of the LPGA system, she would be at the top of her class if she hadn't let that 1 bad round back into her most recent tournaments.

6. Jane Park: Still not making as many birdies or cuts as a player of her obvious talents ought to be, but her accomplishments in her 1st full season on tour show how much potential the current leader in the "best career-to-be among the LPGA's Parks" Waggle Room poll has.

Quantum Leap Candidates

7. Na On Min: Struggling by the standards she set for herself last season when she won her card as a non-exempt player, but a lock to win her card again.

8. Ji Young Oh: On of the nice surprises of her class this season. She's shown she can go low and put herself in contention, but she still has a tendency to blow up on Sundays.

9. Jin Joo Hong: This 2-time KLPGA winner (including, like Junior Mint Jee Young Lee, a surprise win at the Asian Swing's joint KLPGA-LPGA event) definitely has the potential to excel on the LPGA, but she needs to make more birdies if she plans to keep her card.

10. Kristy McPherson: Now that this non-exempt player has locked up her card for 2009, she can focus on improving her putting and getting more birdies.

11. Irene Cho: Another non-exempt player who locked up her card for 2009, she's been less consistent than McPherson but got a top 10 at the LPGA Championship. Now she can get to work on her ballstriking.

12. Charlotte Mayorkas: Slumping badly lately, but can still keep her card if her ballstriking and putting both come around....

As always, I show my work at Mostly Harmless--and rank the rest of the class.

I closed April's ranking of the Best of the LPGA with this comment on Lorena Ochoa's dominance: "No one can stay in the zone forever...." After the loss of her uncle and grandfather, I'm sorry to see her sublime play come to an end. But the 2nd half of the season becomes even more interesting, doesn't it, when anyone can win any given week?

Who has the best chance to make up the most ground on Ochoa this summer? Let's find out 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.  (For #21-35, head on over to Mostly Harmless!)

Despite her recent struggles, there's no question who's #1:

1. Lorena Ochoa: #1 money ($2.03M), #1 RR (19.46), #1 GSPI (68.00), #1 HD. She still leads in almost every single significant statistical category the LPGA keeps track of, but the gap between her and her closest competitors is closing. More important, her run of utter dominance is over. The LPGA's Young Guns are gaining in confidence; with each win by one of their peers, it makes the rest of them wonder why they haven't yet done it. Rookies Louise Friberg and Ya Ni Tseng and Junior Mint Seon Hwa Lee woke up Super Sophs Eun-Hee Ji and Inbee Park. Who will be next? With Ochoa not returning to competition for a few weeks, the possibilities are endless....

While it's clear who Ochoa's top competition on tour is and that this chase pack has been gaining on her, it's just as clear that they've been dealing with problems of their own, as symbolized by Suzann Pettersen's and Paula Creamer's inability to close the deal the past 2 weeks (and Jeong Jang's multiple near-misses this season), along with Annika Sorenstam's inability to build on her own dominating win back in mid-May. The only 1 moving up is a rookie--and Tseng's been playing hurt, just like Jang.

2. Annika Sorenstam: #2 money ($1.46M), #2 RR (11.39), #3 GSPI (69.24), #2 HD. If she was putting 1/10th as well as she was striking the ball, she'd have made up some serious ground on Ochoa. As it is, she's missed the top 10 in 4 of 5 tournaments since she ran away with the Michelob Ultra.

3. Paula Creamer: #3 money ($1.06M), #4 RR (8.08), #4 GSPI (69.41), #3 HD. With her final round blow-up at the U.S. Women's Open, she missed her chance to pass Sorenstam and get tha "best player without a major" label off her back at the ripe old age of 21. But she did get her 3rd straight top 10.

4. Ya Ni Tseng: #5 money ($876.8K), #6 RR (6.16), #5 GSPI (69.86), #5 HD. This is not a typo. I'm ranking Tseng ahead of Pettersen. Winning a major will do that for you. With tricep tendonitis, though, she's better think long and hard about getting some rest before the European swing.

5. Suzann Pettersen: #8 money ($729.5K), #3 RR (8.93), #2 GSPI (69.52), #4 HD. After blowing up in the first round of the Open, she outplayed just about everyone over her final 3 rounds. But that's been the story of her season--she's probably playing better than she was last year, but one big round has dashed her hopes for contention. And when she has been in the hunt, she hasn't closed the deal: 3 top 3s but 0 wins will not put her back in the top 4.

6. Jeong Jang: #6 money ($826.0K), #8 RR (5.10), #8 GSPI (70.17), #7 HD. With 5 top 3s this season and missed chances for multiple wins, Jang knows just how Pettersen is feeling. And with a bad wrist, she ought to be considering a short break before the European swing just as Tseng should be.

Surprisingly, there's only 1 player in the top 10 in 3 of the 4 systems:

7. Karrie Webb: #10 money ($524.6K), #5 RR (6.34), #12 GSPI (70.61), #8 HD. She has 3 top 3s but no other top 10s this season. I call it veteran-itis. 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.

The rest of the lead 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):

8. Seon Hwa Lee: #7 money ($738.8K), #14 RR (4.47), #16 GSPI (70.72), #6 HD. Seemed to be coming out of a bad stretch in May but hasn't followed up on her amazing come-from-behind win in the Ginn Tribute.

9. Cristie Kerr: #20 money ($395.4K), #7 RR (5.32), #7 GSPI (70.08), #14 HD. Big disappointment over the weekend at the Open, but she does have 5 straight top 20s, so seems to be overcoming her early-spring inconsistency.

10. Maria Hjorth: #13 money ($457.0K), #10 RR (4.84), #13 GSPI (70.61), #10 HD. Lost to Tseng in a playoff at the LPGA Championship right after missing the cut at the Ginn Tribute. What more can I say to illustrate her inconsistency?

11. Jee Young Lee: #15 money ($436.6K), #13 RR (4.55), #15 GSPI (70.64), #9 HD. Inconsistency has been her demon this season, as well. She's either following up top 10s with a finish in the 50s or sandwiching a missed cut among top 20s. Like Pettersen, made a good comeback after a bad start to the Open, so maybe she's due for better things....

But there's a large group of golfers with a top 10 in 1 system or top 20s in 3 of the 4.

12. Inbee Park: #4 money ($1.01M), #12 RR (4.55), #33 GSPI (71.44), #26 HD. Ever since I proclaimed that she had been passed by a couple of classmates who have much fewer events under their belts, she's been playing great in 2008. And now she's the youngest winner of the U.S. Women's Open! I love it when a plan comes together....

13. Na Yeon Choi: #11 money ($508.1K), #39 RR (2.86), #9 GSPI (70.28), #11 HD. Her worst finish on the LPGA (T32) is still her 1st event of the year and she did well to get a top 20 at the Open after competing in Korea the week before. With Tseng's injury and Ueda's lost opportunity on Open Sunday, she may be the favorite for the rookie of the year, even though she's still 97 points behind.

14. Hee-Won Han: #21 money ($395.1K), #29 RR (3.22), #10 GSPI (70.54), #20 HD. The top new mom on tour hasn't played at all well since the Michelob Ultra, but despite her uncharacteristic inconsistency, she still has 2 top 10s in that stretch. Look for her to shake off her terrible Open quickly.

15. Song-Hee Kim: #9 money ($553.4K), #56 RR (2.00), #40 GSPI (71.74), #12 HD. Was one of the hottest players on tour in the spring, but has shown signs of her early-season shakiness since her 3rd-place finish at the Ginn Tribute.

16. Mi Hyun Kim: #30 money ($338.5K), #16 RR (4.18), #11 GSPI (70.60), #16 HD. Her T6 at the Open was the 3rd straight top 10 in a major for the player with my vote for the "best w/o a major" title. Unfortunately, she has a bad history at the British Open....

17. Christina Kim: #17 money ($421.7K), #35 RR (2.92), #14 GSPI (70.63), #15 HD. She's #3 in the Solheim Cup standings and #4 in top 10s this season, so why is she ranked so low? Say it with me: inconsistency!

18. Stacy Prammanasudh: #31 money ($330.0K), #19 RR (3.86), #19 GSPI (70.95), #17 HD. She was the 12th player to finish under par at the Open, but missed out on a top 10 last weekend. Still has a good chance to salvage a season that opened with such promise (a 5th-place finish at the HSBC Women's Champions) but has resulted in only 2 other top 10s.

There are only a few golfers with top 20s in 2 of the 4 systems.

19. Eun-Hee Ji: #12 money ($486.7K), #18 RR (3.94), #22 GSPI (70.98), n.r. HD. One hot weekend in Rochester does not a season make, but beating the LPGA's #5 golfer shows just how much potential this Super Soph has!

20. Sophie Gustafson: #27 money ($360.9K), #28 RR (3.28), #17 GSPI (70.84), #19 HD. Like Pettersen and Hjorth, suffering an all-too-common European disease of being unable to finish off tournaments, but look for her to shake off her Open MC quickly.

21. Momoko Ueda: #39 money ($280.9K), #11 RR (4.57), #18 GSPI (70.84), n.r. HD. Her recent win on the JLPGA and near-miss of a top 10 at the Open may be signs of better things to come for Japan's top golfer. But she's had chances to go on a tear earlier this season and failed to sustain the momentum of twice playing in the final pairing on a Sunday. Here's hoping she heats up as the summer does.

...the JLPGA's Suntory Ladies Open features a possible showdown this weekend between last year's #1 player Momoko Ueda and Sakura Yokomine, who's taken over the top spot this season.  Ueda is in third place in the LPGA's rookie of the year race and could join Ai Miyazato in inspiring other 20-something and teenage Japanese stars to cross the Pacific over the next few years.  But she trails Yokomine by 4 shots after the first round.

...and the KLPGA's BC Card Classic features a possible showdown between LPGA Hall Famer Se Ri Pak, the #2 LPGA rookie Na Yeon Choi, and the KLPGA's top golfer over the past 2 seasons, Ji-Yai Shin, who's LPGA-bound in 2009 and gearing up for the U.S Women's Open at the end of the month, not to mention the JLPGA's #2 player, Miho Koga.

You may now return to your regularly-scheduled Berman-bashing....

Now that the cut has been made at the LPGA  Championship, let's check in on the players on the bubble for qualifying for the ADT Championship--winner-takes-$1M end-of-season 32-player shootout--for the first half of the season.  If Lorena Ochoa, Annika Sorenstam, or Seon Hwa Lee wins, everyone up to and including #12 is in; if not, it's the winner plus the top 11.  I'm excluding from the following list everyone already over $400K in season earnings--there's no way they're not in.  So what about everyone else?

8 Karen Stupples 373466 (T31)
9 Inbee Park 361219 (T52)
10 Christina Kim 356421 (CUT) [in trouble]
11 Jee Young Lee 353766 (T11)
12 Sophie Gustafson 348466 (CUT) [in huge trouble]
13 Angela Stanford 334491 (T52)
14 Jane Park 333672 (T27)
15 Leta Lindley 332814 (T62)
16 Teresa Lu 330769 (CUT) [OUT]
17 Brittany Lang 328595 (T4)
18 Sun Young Yoo 317568 (T62)

Looks like it's Brittany Lang and Jane Park with the best chance to knock out Sophie Gustafson and Christina Kim.  But with the first 4 or so spots bringing you 6 digits, Lindsey Wright (269859) at 2nd, Laura Diaz (285843) and Maria Hjorth (242266) at T11, Hee-Won Han (260285) at T18, Cristie Kerr (219518) at T27, and Candie Kung (253302) at T31, among several others, have legitimate shots to end the first half of the season near the $400K mark in winnings.  So the situation is still quite volatile.  Go, Jane!