The short answer is that players like Lydia Ko, Inbee Park, Suzann Pettersen and Lexi Thompson, among others, make the LPGA Tour worth every second of attention you eventually decide to give it. In 2016, incidentally, LPGA Tour players will be playing a total of 34 events covering 12 different countries for over $63 million in prize money. Don’t sell these players or this tour short, as a whole, and give it a test drive in 2016 if you’re not following things already.
For those unfamiliar with the likes of top draws, such as Ko or Park, here is the truncated version: Ko earned just over $2.8 million in 2015 by posting 17 top-10 finishes, including five victories, one of which was her first professional major, The Evian Championship. At the tender age of 18, and based on that stellar year of golf, she became the youngest winner ever of the Rolex Player of Year Award. Park, on the other hand, at age 27 is presently playing the role of savvy veteran. An LPGA Hall of Fame member in-waiting and now armed with a putting stroke for the ages, Park turned professional at age 17 in 2006, and is a 17-time winner on the LPGA Tour, including seven professional major championships.
In 2015, Ko and Park notably battled neck-in-neck up to and including the last event on the LPGA Tour calendar, known as the CME Group Tour Championship. While neither player was victorious, finishing T7 and 6th, respectively, Ko was able to earn the Rolex Player of the Year Award as well as win the Race to CME Globe and LPGA Tour money list. Park ultimately captured the Vare Trophy (low stroke average) providing her with enough points to become eligible for the Hall of Fame after next season. The point being not only is the LPGA Tour highly competitive and global in terms of both players and venues, but it is smack dab in the middle of having a couple (if not more) Hall of Fame careers intersect, yet again, in 2016.
There’s no doubt that the battle for supremacy to be waged in 2016 between Jordan Spieth, Jason Day, and Rory McIlroy on the PGA Tour will be worth its weight in gold, but the same can be said for the LPGA Tour. With young players such as Ko, Thompson, Sei Young Kim, and Jessica Korda consistently fighting for victories against a backdrop of veterans like Park, Pettersen, Stacy Lewis, and Cristie Kerr for a record amount of total prize money in 2016, there is no better place to be for captivating professional golf than the LPGA Tour, especially if you lack appreciation for the current bomb-and-gouge trend on professional mens’ tours around the world. You only have until January 25th when the new season starts at the Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic to get up to speed on your new favorite players.
3 players to watch next year
Typically, this section would be dedicated to identifying players not so well-known, i.e., under the radar types, as potential impact golfers for the upcoming season. Annie Park, former USC Trojan and leading money winner on the Symetra Tour (feeder tour to the LPGA Tour; akin to the Web.com Tour) in 2015, would be just such a player. Despite another crop of promising young talent, like Annie Park, it is more compelling to hypothesize on how some existing LPGA Tour players might play in 2016. With that in mind, here are my LPGA Tour players to watch.
Stacy Lewis
Twitter
A former No. 1 ranked player in the world, Lewis, by all accounts, had a consistent year on the LPGA Tour in 2015 with 14 top-10 finishes and almost $1.9 million in total earnings. In fact, Lewis’ play protected her spot as the top-ranked American sitting at No. 3 in the current Rolex Rankings (despite a hard-charging Lexi Thompson) as well as earned her third place on the money list. Yet, as an 11-time LPGA Tour winner, including, the 2011 Kraft Nabisco Championship and 2013 Women’s British Open with 88 career top-10 finishes and over $10 million in earnings, Lewis had to be disappointed that she did not find the winner’s circle for the first time since 2010.
Plainly enough, Lewis’ expectations for 2016 will likely involve not only returning to the winner’s circle, but to the top of the Rolex Rankings, even if she has to go through Ko and Inbee Park to do it. Lewis has the skill-set, drive, and desire to achieve all of the above. Seemingly held back by an inconsistent putter this past season, if Lewis can find the groove that previously took her to world No. 1, you can certainly bet she will be in the mix once again for that coveted spot. Keep an eye out for an early win in 2016 by Lewis to set the tone for the year. The only variable, at this point, is Lewis recently became engaged and how changes to her personal life affect her golf, if at all, remains to be seen.
Sei Young Kim
Twitter
Kim is the reigning 2015 LPGA Tour Rookie of the Year, having won three times and posting 11 top-10 finishes in winning over $1.8 million in total earnings. Before earning status on the LPGA Tour through the 2014 qualifying school finals, Kim won five times on the LPGA of Korea Tour in 2013 and 2014. Presently, she’s ranked No. 7 in the Rolex rankings after finishing 4th on the LPGA Tour money list in 2015, Kim has already shown not only a knack for winning, but playing to win.
It will be interesting to see if Kim steps into 2016 looking to build on her incredible 2015 season and plays with the same fearlessness that brought her Rookie of the Year honors. Amongst a sea of incredible young talent like Ko, Thompson (20-years old), and Korda (22-years old) et al., Kim will need to keep pace by playing her best and closing the door on wins, just as she did this past season. Soon to be just 23-years old, Kim will inevitably be in thick of things throughout 2016 on the LPGA Tour.
Brooke Henderson
Twitter
Currently, ranked No. 18 in the Rolex Rankings, Henderson was a top-ranked amateur before turning professional in December 2014. At the age of 18, the Canadian has already amassed six professional wins, including the LPGA Tour’s Cambia Portland Classic by eight shots in August 2015 (at 17-years old). That winning margin was the largest on the LPGA Tour in 2015, made her the third youngest winner ever on the LPGA Tour, and made her only the third player to win before the age of 18 (Ko and Thompson being the other members of that prestigious trio). Upon winning in Portland, LPGA Tour commissioner Michael Whan granted Henderson immediate membership to the LPGA Tour as she was playing as a non-member. Notably, Henderson become only the second player ever to win an LPGA Tour event after having earned the right to play through a Monday qualifier.
Apart from demonstrating her ability to win and compete on the LPGA Tour throughout 2015 by virtue of, among other high finishes, top-5 finishes at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and U.S. Women’s Open, Henderson looks to join a somewhat select group of young guns headlined by Ko and Thompson in 2016. Evident by her steady progression from touted junior to amateur and now LPGA Tour professional, Henderson will inevitably be mixing it up late on Sunday trying to capture victory nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, and beyond for the foreseeable future.
Your Reaction?- LIKE92
- LEGIT10
- WOW3
- LOL0
- IDHT1
- FLOP0
- OB0
- SHANK4
19th Hole2 weeks ago
19th Hole1 week ago
Russell Platt
Dec 26, 2015 at 8:23 pm
I have been watching the LPGA more lately, to try and figure out how they hit the ball so long. There is no way I can ever be that flexible. I also agree about the clubs they use being closer to mine, except how strong their shafts are.
Martin
Dec 25, 2015 at 1:49 pm
I like to watch the LPGA, the game they play is a lot closer to mine than the guys.
Brooke Henderson will have a great year, Lydia Ko is great to watch as well.
Jafar
Dec 22, 2015 at 8:56 am
I think the title should be “What to watch” instead of “Why to watch”.
Steve Thomas
Dec 18, 2015 at 3:20 pm
I volunteer at the range every year at an LPGA event. Working the range is fantastic. The shifts is 12 hours long and it allows you to get up close to the players, listen to what they are working on by themselves or with their instructor. You can see what kinds of clubs they are playing, what shafts are in their clubs and the makeup of their bag. You also get a first hand look at the people who work for the Darrel survey. They walk up to the players bags and see what clubs they are actually playing with and then write it down in a notebook.
I find that with the exception of Suzzan Petterson every single LPGA player that I have personally been around is extremely nice and they go out of their way to sign autographs, pose for pictures or just talk to the fans, in particular the kids.
The incident she (Petterson) had at the Solheim Cup didn’t surprise me or the other volunteers I work with at all. When you are around her at a tournament, she is not friendly at all to the volunteers or fans and her language can be somewhat “R” rated or worse.
Working 12 hours at the range allows me to see what player really works on their game. Without question, the Asian players are at the range much longer than most of the American players with the exception of Michelle Wie. Michelle works extremely hard at her game. When I work that many hours, I see a lot of things and Michelle is the hardest working American during the week I work. Her parents are there too helping her with her game. We give them folding chairs and her parents sit and watch her hit balls or putt for hours.
Asian players for the most part don’t have any swing devices that help them with their game other than alignment sticks and most all of the LPGA players have the sticks.
If you have never been to an LPGA event, try it one time. Take the kids, especially if you have girls and you will have a really good time. Go on a practice day and a tournament day so you can see how they warm up, practice, and get prepared for the tournament. It’s very entertaining and educational.
Park District Hacker
Dec 17, 2015 at 3:08 pm
I love the LegsPGA.
Seriously though, I think I watch the LPGA more than the PGA because my own game is similar to the ladies. My distances are similar to theirs and I carry the same type of clubs as them (lots of 4,5, & 6 hybrids on the LPGA tour). I think a lot of guys would improve by modeling their swings and course strategy after some of the talented ladies on the LPGA tour.
Chuck
Dec 18, 2015 at 10:06 pm
Absolutely. The LPGA plays courses I can relate to. In some cases, they play very nice classic design courses that have been made obsolete for the Mens’ Tour by virtue of technology and distance. And yes, their distances and golf bags look more like my own, than like Jason Day’s or Dustin Johnson’s bags.
I’m not kidding myself about compelling personalities; the LPGA is lacking, frankly. But I’d be very happy to see double the number of WITB posts for the ladies, because that’s information I am more likely to use.
Tom
Dec 17, 2015 at 1:52 pm
I watch religiously. Damn good entertainment.
Bob
Dec 16, 2015 at 8:34 pm
Not knocking their golfing skills, but if you need to keep telling people they “should” watch something then there is a larger issue at hand.
Jack
Dec 17, 2015 at 1:11 am
It’s just a thing with women’s sports. Not as many people watch it. They’re just trying to bring awareness to it, and there’s nothing wrong with that. You keep pretending that people are going to watch, and nothing happens. This is all part of marketing. That said, they really are very good players. Only difference is distance vs the PGA. And people tend to go for the most athletically impressive, and distance is usually more impressive than consistency and accuracy, since they just replay the good ones.
Sean
Dec 16, 2015 at 2:53 pm
Megan Khang. Way, way under the radar. But her game will surprise many.
LT
Dec 17, 2015 at 10:38 am
Definitely will keep an eye out for her, she did just turn pro.
prime21
Dec 16, 2015 at 8:35 am
If your familiar w/ golf, I doubt your “unfamiliar with Ko or Park”. The golf channel relentlessly floods our television sets with their images in hopes of boosting ratings. Much like ESPN showing WNBA games, forcing anything upon an uninterested audience, simply doesn’t work. By definition, this article would be unnecessary if there was a sincere fan base, would it not? I don’t think I’ve seen the PGA version of this article yet, and for good reason, people DO care about that. I am fully aware that times have changed and by all means believe equality on every level is important. I am also quite capable of making up my own mind regarding what is considered entertainment as well as where my attention will be directed when prioritizing my free time. I was thinking that Ben would soon hear from the Golf Channel as they look for more writers to fill their expanding LPGA coverage, but then, as Mike points out above, he went and ruined the entire premise of his article by making a ridiculously sexist statement regarding the reasoning behind Stacy’s 2015 “slump”. You can’t force fans, Ben, just like you can’t force sincerity.
Jack
Dec 17, 2015 at 1:14 am
Actually he’s predicting some issues in 2016, not explaining 2015. Doesn’t make it better (who talks about getting engaged affecting any of the guys? Is Rory expect to struggle because he just got engaged too?). That said Aaron Rodgers caught slack and they’re blaming Olivia Munn for the Packers sucking.
PhilUp
Dec 15, 2015 at 2:17 pm
I look forward to more coverage of Paige Spiranac.
Midwest Blade
Dec 15, 2015 at 1:10 pm
The best thing about watching the LPGA is that the top Ladies definitely play in a lot more events therefore you generally get to see a fair amount of the top players playing just about every tournament week. Probably has something to do with the purse size. In comparison the top men on the PGA do not have to tee up nearly so often with the giant purses available. I give the ladies full credit for the support they show to most all of their tour events.
Greg V
Dec 15, 2015 at 12:40 pm
In Gee Chun had a pretty good year – US Open, Japan Open, World Ladies Championship Salonpas Cup. I hope that we see more of her this year. She is very good.
L
Dec 15, 2015 at 12:07 pm
I already do watch the LegsPGA, I meant LovelyPGA, no I meant…….
Mike
Dec 15, 2015 at 11:08 am
“The only variable, at this point, is Lewis recently became engaged and how changes to her personal life affect her golf, if at all, remains to be seen.”
You have to be kidding me, right? Is it 1955?
Comp
Dec 15, 2015 at 11:57 am
No but it could be 2008 and comparisons to Eldrick Woods must be made.