The battle continues

The Hana Bank KOLON Championship was played in South Korea last week and it seemed like a very interesting tournament since Lorena Ochoa and Jiyai Shin were listed in the field and one of them would have the chance to grab a stronger lead in the Player of the Year race with a win.
Nevertheless, both contenders saw their chances slip when Na Yeon Choi lifted the trophy, which put her as the third player to win multiple times in 2009, along with Ochoa and Shin, who have 3 victories this season.

In 2009, Choi became a Rolex First Time Winner when she claimed the
Samsung World Championship.

The tournament was specially tough for Ochoa, who had difficulties on the green from start to finish. During the 54 hole event she scored three birdies, five bogeys and two double bogeys, which led her to a tie for 44, 16 strokes behind the winner.

This week world number 1 didn’t gain points in the POY category.

On the other hand, Jiyai Shin played two of the three rounds under par; the first one with 67 strokes and the third one with 70. The second round was complicated for her and scored 4 over.

Nevertheless, Shin went straight to the top 10 and finished 6th, securing the Rookie of the Year Award and adding five more points to her lead in the POY race. As of November 1st. Shin is 10 units ahead of Ochoa.

Even with last week’s results, the battle is still on and maybe at the Mizuno Classic Shin will become the POY, which will put her next to Nancy Lopez as the only players to make the double. Still, if Ochoa gives a good fight in Japan, she could extend the fight until the Ochoa Invitational, which will give her home advantage.