The rankings: upside down

The days when golf was dominated by Annika Sörenstam and Tiger Woods are over; a long time ago -at least that's how it feels- both used to tease each other about majors. Today, things are completely different...

Woods hasn't recovered his mental side of the game due to his infidelity scandal, which came to light on November 2009, after he crashed his SUV in Isleworth; meanwhile, Sörenstam left the LPGA in 2008 to pursue two of her biggest dreams: creating her personal brand -ANNIKA- and starting a family. This brought changes in the world rankings.

In women's golf, it was Mexican Lorena Ochoa who assumed the top position, and managed to stay there for 3 years, before leaving the LPGA.

When Ochoa left, the Pandora box opened. After 11 months, we've seen 4 players atop the rankings - three Asian and one from the USA-. Still, non of them has stayed there for more than 15 weeks in a row. They are: Jiyai Shin (South Korea), Cristie Kerr (USA), Ai Miyazato (Japan) and Yani Tseng (Taiwan).

This seems to be expanding rapidly. After 5 years of dominance, Woods left the first place of the Official World Golf Rankings in October 2010, and ever since, men's golf has had an open season. Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer have had the privilege to lead golf, but haven't consolidated up there.

Throw Luke Donald in there, who has a 0.28 point difference with Westwood, and you'll get another guy on track to take over the first spot.

It's clear that the 'Monarchy' has come to an end, but far from being a mishap, it happens to be quite a treat for fans. For the first time in years, there's a range of possibilities ahead, there are no clear favorites, which brings excitement to the table, and to prove it, you have the first two majors of 2011: The Masters and the Kraft Nabisco Championship.

Tweet of the week:

Anyone remember when media outlets were slagging the @LPGA for not having one definite #1 player? We are SUCH trendsetters, @PGATOUR!! -@TheChristinaKim-

Annika's 59

Ten years ago the second round of the Standard Register Ping was played in Moon Valley Country Club; by that time, of the most dominant LPGA players was Annika Sörenstam. On March 16, 2001, the Swede did something no other women had ever done, shooting 59.

Sörenstam teed off from the 10th and grabbed her first birdie, which she repeated from 11 to 17, and was 8 under after 8 holes, before paring the 18th.

Annika stretched her birdie mark from 1 to 4, and by that time her score was 60. Therefore she had five opportunities to become the first woman to break 60. Nevertheless she couldn't accomplish the feat from 5 to 7, but sank her 3 footer on 8. She even had a chance to get to 58, but pared the 9th.

Sörenstam's feat was even more special because her sister Charlotta was paired with her.

Today, former world number one posted on her blog: "I earned the nickname 'Mrs. 59' that day and '59' is now my lucky number! My life sure has changed a lot since that day and it is a memory I will cherish forever.

Her focus on the field, her 70 plus wins all over the world and dozens of awards put her as a referent of the game, she's even considered, by many, as the greatest female golfer in history.

About rookies and a new season

The five most stressful rounds of the LPGA were over on Sunday. The Q-School brought some surprises, but perhaps the biggest one is that in this next season there will only be one South Korean rookie, compared with 14 from the U.S., all of them led by Jessica Korda, who was, until a few days ago, the top amateur.

17 year old Korda became a pro golfer after playing the last round of the Q-School.

Jessica Korda: she's one of the rookies you need to keep track on. She led the Q-School until Sunday, but faltered with a 5 over round, which put her as the runner-up. Her achievements include being part of the U.S. squads that won: 2009 Junior Solheim Cup, 2010 Curtis Cup, Copa de las Americas 2010; individually, she earned the 2010 Southern Amateur shooting and 2006 Czech Atlantic Amateur Championship. In addition, Korda managed to qualify three times to the U.S. Women's Open. Recently, the LPGA waived the minimum age requirement (18 years), so that Korda could join the tour.

Shasta Averyhardt: the Jackson State graduate never imagined she would win nine titles in her college days, since she temporarily abandoned golf and chose to play volleyball. However, at her high school senior year she decided to give golf another shot. Averyhardt became professional in 2010 and joined the Futures Tour, that same year she got into the U.S. Women's Open. She''ll be the first African-American golfer on the LPGA after a decade and the fourth in history. Laree Sugg was the last black player in the tour (2001).

The economic crisis and the problems that LPGA has experienced this years, as a result of poor coverage and lack of a key figure, have delayed the 2011 calendar. It is to be launched until the first week of January and seems that so far it only has confirmed 22 events, however, the commissioner and executives are confident that this number can be expanded till 26.

THE NOTE: former world number one, Annika Sorenstam, announced through her Twitter account (@ANNIKA59), that she's pregnant. The new family member will arrive between June and July.

Near the end

The 2010 LPGA season is almost over and up until now there have been 17 champions. This hasn't happened for several years. From 2003 to 2008 Lorena Ochoa and Annika Sörenstam dominated women's golf largely.

In 2009 someone else draw attention to the tour, South Korean Jiyai Shin, who not only won the Rookie of the Year honors, but also came one point short of grabbing the Player of the Year award, a situation that was defined in the last tournament of the season.

While some players have already shown they had the talent necessary to have a place among the best, Shin was the first to shoock Lorena's reign, who in turn supplanted Annika in 2007.

With their retirement, the LPGA was left without a leader, but soon resurfaced with great diversity, which goes from Michelle Wie and Paula Creamer, who have already won this year and are also favorite for their physical appearance, to Yani Tseng, Shin Jiyai and Ai Miyazato, Asian players with personality and enormous talent, and finally to Cristie Kerr, U.S. veteran who has already savored the glory of being the best in the world. 

With six tournaments remaining, there is a lot at stake. From October to December the most prestigious titles have yet to be defined:

Player of the Year: Yani Tseng, Ai Miyazato, Cristie Kerr, Na Yeon Choi, Shin Jiyai and Suzann Pettersen.
Vare Trophy: Na Yeon Choi, Cristie Kerr and Suzann Pettersen.
Money List: Jiyai Shin, Na Yeon Choi, Yani Tseng, Ai Miyazato, Cristie Kerr and Suzann Pettersen, all with more than $ 1.3 million dollars.

After Ochoa's retirement, everyone thought the tour would be in crisis, but everything points to a new era, which has been accepted by the fans, as they have more than one option in each event, which has brought emotion rather than uncertainty.

Back to the course

After 2 years away from all LPGA competitions, Swedish Annika Sörenstam will make an appearance during the 2011 Solheim Cup to be held in Ireland. This event is one of the most demanding and traditional on tour, since it confronts North Americans and Europeans in a battle, both inside and outside the ropes, during 3 days.

Sörenstam announced her decision to step away from competitive golf in 2008.

Considered by many as the greatest golfer in history, Sörenstam has been away from competitive golf for two years, but somehow she's managed to keep track on new talents and other affairs related to the sport; all of this has been possible thanks to her course design business, academy and foundation.

Her eagerness to give something back to the discipline that gave her more than 90 wins around the world and the chance to become the first woman to play in a PGA official event, since Babe Zaharias did the same in 1945, took her to accept Alison Nicholas', captain of the 2011 euro squad, invitation to become her assistant at the 12th Solheim.

Annika has lots of experience in this kind of tourney, she played in eight consecutive cups and holds the record as top points earner with 24, after winning 24 matches, losing 11 and halving 4.

Behind the curtains, she was captain of the international team that played the Lexus Cup (2005-2008), which they won two of the four times it was disputed. Besides, Sörenstam received great comments from her teammates that pointed her out as a great leader who was always there to listen and support them no matter what.

It's pretty clear that she'll be there to support her peers, but meanwhile the LPGA will continue without her until further notice, that is if she ever comes back.

The success continues

Annika Sörenstam is considered, by many, as the best women's golfer ever. Her perseverance and passion for the game took her to places she never imagined. After 15 LPGA seasons she decided to step away from competitive golf to start a family an build her brand.

Her first victory came at t5he US Women's Open in 1995. In her career she accomplished 83 victories, she was inductee into the Hall of Fame and she won eight Player of the Year awards.

It's been almost a year since she played her last event as a pro, the ADT Championship, but she's still involved with golf. She's been more focused in course design, her brand had become stronger, her academy is growing and her foundation has been receiving lots of money.

On the other hand, former world number 1 launched her Annika Fragance as well as her own wine along with Wente Vineyards.

Nevertheless, her biggest accomplishnment came on Septmeber the 1st, when Ava was born, giving her the greatest joy she could imagine.

Ava was born at 3:30 am, weighed six pounds, 10 ounces, and was 19 inches long.

Thanks to her effort and dedication, Annika will receive the EWGA Leadership Award at a dinner held at the Pinehurst Resort&Spa in April 7-10.

The EWGA grants this award annually to a woman who contributed to golf and  whose dedication has inspired others to follow in their footsteps. Previous recipients include: Patty Berg, Kathy Whitworth, Pia Nilsson, Lynn Marriott, Zayra Calderon, among others.

¡Habemus golf!

Just as it was expected, last Friday the IOC approved the inclusion of golf into Rio de Janeiro 2016 program. The news buried other sport’s hopes, such as baseball, softball, squash, karate and others.Golf debuted in Paris 1900 and the last time it was part of the Olympic Games was in St. Louis 1904.

Golf’s comeback isn’t a surprise, the International Golf Federation used as many resources as it had and had the best players in the world to speak on behalf of the sport:

Here’s a time table with the highlights of the process:
11/14/08: Ty Votaw (PGA) and Peter Dawson (R&A) talked with the Olympic Program Committee.

12/22/08: a questionnaire was sent in order to contend for a spot.

02/16/09: the document was sent back to the IOC.

06/15/09: Annika Sörenstam, Colin Montgomerie, among others, talked to the Executive Board of the IOC.

08/13/09: the Board recommends golf for its inclusion into the 2016 Program.

10/09/09: Michelle Wie, Pagraig Harrington and Suzan Pettersen went to Copenhagen to give the last speech. Finally golf got a spot with 63 votes and 2 absences.
The International Golf Federation proposed a format of 72-hole individual stroke play for both men and women. In case of a tie a three-hole playoff is recommended to determine the medal winners.
The Olympic field should include 60 players for each of the men's and women's competition, using the Official World Golf Rankings as a method of determining eligibility. The top-15 world-ranked players would be eligible for the Olympics, regardless of the number of players from a given country. Beyond the top 15, each country will have a maximum of two eligible players.
If this becomes a reality, then at least 30 countries would be represented. Still there’s a doubt in the air: will Tiger, Lorena and other dominant players will continue to play until 2016? Will others, such as Annika might leave retirement? We’ll see, it’s a long ways to go and we can have a few surprises.

Rio de Janeiro and golf?

Today around noon the IOC announced that the venue for the 2016 Olympic Games will be Rio de Janeiro.The question here is: how is this related to golf?, a sport which is basically making its return to the programme after more than 100 years, unless something weird happen next week when the Committee votes (October 9th).

Talking about golf, Rio de Janeiro doesn't have a huge structure or lots of tough course, actually there are only 2 that migh be selected to become venues:

Gávea Golf and Country Club 

It has a par 68 course - 6,000 yards. 

The course was fundated in 1921 and designed byScot Arthur Morgan Davidson. It runs thru the Gávea Stone and the Tijuca National Park. The first 9 holes are player, literally, at the mountain's foot; from 10 to 14 the golfer will found himself next at the sea level and from 15 to 18 the course goes behind some hills.The players must display tremendous skills with the irons, specially on the tee shots.

In 2005, the 5th, par 3, was acknowledge as one of the mos beautiful holes by Golf Illustrated magazine. The lowest round was scored by Gary Player; Tom Watson and Billy Casper have also played this course.

Itanhangá Golf Club

Par 72  -6, 600 yards- and it hosted the  HSBC LPGA Brazil Cup 2009.

It was founded in 1993 and has held the Andes Cup and the Brazil Amateur Open. The greens are small, therefore the precision on the approach is a must. The 18th is considered the toughest hole in Brazil. On the other hand the 5th is particularly demanding, it has a dog leg with a water hazard on the left, which usually compromises the tee shot.Some player who have played this course include Gene Littler, Gary Player, Christina Kim, Kristy McPherson, Catriona Matthew, among others.

So don't be surprised if we start to see or hear that Rio is investing in golf venues, maybe we even have the chance to see some designs from Jack, Tiger o Annika!

Scratch another one!

The LPGA keeps losing events and things aren't precisely in great shape. This year they started the season without two great tournaments, the Fileds Open and the Ginn Tribute; a couple of months ago the Kapalua LPGA Classic, which was supposed to take place in October withdrew from the schedule, this situation led to the "resignation" of Comissioner Bivens, the truth is some players decided it was time for her to leave.

Of course there were others who followed the Kapalua, such as the Corning Classic, which won't retuned in 2010, marking the first time this happens since its arrival 30 years ago.

Now the event which won't comeback is the so called "fifth major" of the season, the Michelob Ultra Open, that has been a premiun tournament since it's inclusion in 2003 mainly because of 2 reasons: great field and great purse, actually one of the biggest of the LPGA. Some of the former champions include Cristie Kerr (2009), Annika Sörenstam (2008), Suzann Pettersen (2007) and Karrie Webb (2006).

Seems like next year the tour will have to survive with 18 tournaments, unless something happens. This situation is clearly tough, especially for a sport which is very close to make it's Olympic comeback!