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
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
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
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.