SB Nation User Blog: The Constructivist

Thinking Globally About Women's Golf in 2010

The Constructivist — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 07:19:17 -0000

Over at Mostly Harmless and Hound Dog's place, I'm trying to get the US golfy media and golfoblogosphere to look at women's golf from a global perspective, first by putting together all we know right now about the major women's tours' 2010 schedules and then thinking about that list from the perspective of a player with dual membership on any two of those tours.

What kind of schedule are those with dual LPGA-JLPGA membership likely to put together in 2010? How about dual LPGA-LET members? Or KLPGA-LET members?

The last question is hard to answer right now, as the KLPGA hasn't yet finalized its 2010 schedule (even though it's already 2010 for them in China this week). But right now, it's looking like the JLPGA will have 35 individual events, the LET 26, the LPGA 24, and the KLPGA 20 or more. All those numbers are rough, as each announced schedule has some TBAs, TBDs, and TBCs (seriously) in them. Still, we may start seeing some dual-membership players begin treating the LPGA as their "other" tour in 2010 for the first time. Some may choose to play fewer than 15 LPGA events so as to maximize their opportunities to stay in Europe or Japan for extended lengths of time and build some momentum heading into major events on the LET or JLPGA. And we may see more doing that in 2011 if the LPGA schedule for the following season doesn't start growing - particularly in the U.S. - and fast.

The LPGA is approaching a crossroads very quickly. Michael Whan is going to have to think very hard about how the tour ought to capitalize on globalization. Of course the LPGA needs more U.S. events. And they would do well to keep expanding into the Americas. But they are in serious danger of getting left behind in the Asian Pacific and Indian Ocean basin by the LET and potentially even the JLPGA.

I think it's high time for the LPGA to reach out to the JLPGA, KLPGA, and LET and look to jointly-sponsor events and coordinate schedules so that the best women golfers on the planet don't have to choose between tours. Not by creating more limited-field, no-cut tournaments, but by working together to make more full-field tournaments with cuts available to a wider range of female professional golfers around the world. With women's golf huge in Japan and Korea, growing in China and Europe, and poised for a comeback in the U.S., it's in the top tours' best interests to work together to promote women's golf and continue growing the game, particularly in the run-up to the first golfing Olympics of the decade/century/millennium in Rio.

On the 2010 Worldwide Women's Golf Schedule

The Constructivist — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 06:21:09 -0000

Over at Mostly Harmless, I just put together a first draft of a worldwide women's golf schedule for 2010. As far as I can tell, the KLPGA has not released its final schedule and it's pretty clear that the LPGA, JLPGA, and LET are still working on the finishing touches on theirs. Still, my post provides some insight into the options open for those players with dual LPGA-JLPGA or LPGA-LET membership next season (the latter list is still to be finalized, as LET Q-School ends in a few days and there are a good number of LPGAers in it).

Depending on how much these players want to travel, a good number of them may literally be globetrotting and tourhopping all season. They certainly have some huge incentive to do so in late winter, as they could scrape off the off-season rust in up to 5 events across the Asian Pacific before flying to the U.S. West Coast for the LPGA's J Golf and Kraft Nabisco Championship at the end of March and start of April. After that, we might not see those with JLPGA membership back on the LPGA until June, as they have little incentive to fight jet lag for the Tres Marias and Bell Micro events in late April and mid-May and break their momentum leading up to the JLPGA's first major, the Salonpas Cup, in early May. LETers might decide to spend May travelling through Turkey, Germany, Slovakia, and the Netherlands to warm up for the LPGA's summer stretch from mid-June through mid-July before returning with the rest of the top LPGAers to France and England for the traditional European swing. And who knows how many will decide to stay in the UK for the next 3 weeks, as well? Or how many JLPGAers will decide to skip the Safeway Classic, the Canadian Open, and the NW Arkansas Classic to prepare for their tour's major season in September? And if you're playing well, why not just wait for the LPGA to come to Asia in late October and early November? A good number of LETers who don't qualify for those events will still be coming to Asia, as the LET now has its own late fall Asian swing at the same time as the LPGA and is actually making faster inroads into China. With only Lorena's invitational and the LPGA Tour Championship remaining in November, I wouldn't be surprised if a good number of JLPGAers decided not to come back to North America the rest of the season.

What this suggests to me is that we may be seeing a major shift in the way female professional golfers put together their schedules next decade. It used to be that anyone with LPGA membership would play a very limited schedule on their "other" tour--maybe 5-10 events. But with possibly 35 JLPGA events and 26 individual LET ones next season vs. hopefully 24 for the LPGA, it's possible that some players with dual membership might decide to make the LPGA their "other" tour instead--and soon. If the LPGA doesn't get its act together and start serious negotiations with the JLPGA, KLPGA, and LET to jointly sponsor more events and coordinate their schedules so the best players in the world can play in each tour's major events, it may lose its status as the world's top tour in women's golf sometime next decade, as its best golfers play more and more events on other tours.

Which is to say that the criticism the LPGA is facing in most quarters of the U.S. media over its approach to globalization is even more wrongheaded than it may at first appear. The LPGA is in serious danger of falling behind in the Asian Pacific and Indian Ocean basin to the LET and the JLPGA. The LET by its nature is virtually a transnational tour with a geographic base fairly close to the Middle East and South Asia. It can put on tournaments at a cost of something like a fifth to a third of a typical LPGA event, so it has much more potential for explosive growth in those regions, even in a bad economy. We may start seeing up-and-coming Korean players looking to flesh out their schedules by playing in more LET events outside of Asia before trying to move up to the JLPGA and LPGA--or even instead of making that move. Speaking of the JLPGA, it can put on events at about half to two-thirds the cost of an LPGA event, so if it ever decided to start putting together tournaments outside Japan, it would have more opportunities to do so than the LPGA, as well. And if it ever simplified its Q-School to make it easier for foreigners to try to join, its purses could rise and it could become the top tour in the world by 2020.

The world's top women's tours need to decide fairly quickly how they're going to approach next decade. Will they move in the direction of creating one world tour for the best female golfers on the planet, as Ron Sirak and Dave Seanor have envisioned? Will they follow my advice and get into jointly-sponsoring events and better coordinating their schedules, while still retaining their different core geographic bases for their rank-and-file players? Or will they each try to go it alone and race to beat each other into China, India, and the Middle East?

The JLPGA's Finest, 2009 Edition

The Constructivist — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 12:20:38 -0000

I've just finished my profiles of the top 30 players on the JLPGA, but just for Hound Dog's readers, here's a peek at my top 10.

1. Sakura Yokomine: #1 2009 money (￥175.02M), #14 GSPI (70.28) [3], #15 RR (4.90) [3], #3 2008 money (￥103.19M). Did she do well enough this season to move up from #2 last season? Only if breaking the single-season winnings record on the JLPGA and winning 2 of her last 3 events--bringing her totals to 6 wins and 1 major for 2009 in the process--count as significant improvements in your book. Oh, and in 33 starts, she snagged 4 silver medals, 3 bronzes, and 3 other top 5s (2 more than last season) and ended up with 21 top 10s (1 more than last season). If she hadn't had a short mid-season slump, she would most likely have broken the 200-million yen mark. An apt goal for 2009's JLPGA Player of the Year in 2010.

2. Shinobu Moromizato: #2 2009 money (￥165.26M), #27 GSPI (70.87) [7], #17 RR (4.21) [4], #12 2008 money (￥64.37M). It's a good thing she didn't take my advice from last November to build "more off-weeks into her 2009 schedule." She only won 5 more times this season than last and gave herself a chance for a Grand Slam heading into the JLPGA's 3rd major, the Japan Women's Open. Even though she wasn't meant to have another major (Song won that week and Yokomine beat her in the final one of the season, the Ricoh Cup, to take the money title away from her, as well), she still had an historic season, coming within about a million yen of the winnings record set by Shiho Oyama in 2006 and nearly matched by Momoko Ueda in 2007. As if that wasn't enough to move her up 13 spots from last year's final ranking, she ended up with 13 top 5s and 20 top 10s in 34 starts.

3. Chie Arimura: #3 2009 money (￥105.21M), #28 GSPI (70.88) [8], #21 RR (3.97) [5], #23 2008 money (￥47.35M). -20. That's what she shot in only 54 holes while taking her 5th title of 2009 in the penultimate event of the year. She was right in the mix for the money-list title for most of the following week, but came up a few shots shy in the end. Still, by snagging 5 silvers, 1 bronze, 14 top 5s in all, and 21 top 10s in 33 starts, she advanced a whopping 23 spots in this year's ranking. That's what coming close to matching Yuri Fudoh's best season will do for you!

4. Mi-Jeong Jeon: #4 2009 money (￥127.29M), #19 GSPI (70.39) [4], #22 RR (3.95) [6], #6 2008 money (￥90.85M). This was arguably the best season in her 5-year JLPGA career. Most wins, most winnings, lowest scoring average, 2nd-highest finish ever...the list goes on (including 11 top 5s and 20 top 10s in 29 starts). The most I can move her up, though, is 5 spots from last year's ranking. The culprit? Those 4 silver medals and 1 bronze--most of them were definite wins that got away. Let's hope she can completely escape the fallout from her +3 finish over her final 2 holes of 2008--the only reason 2009 wasn't her 4th-straight season in the 100 Million Yen Club--in 2010!

5. Ji-Yai Shin: #24 2009 money (￥37.40M), #2 RR (9.27) [1], #6 GSPI (69.43) [1], #24 2008 money (￥45.54M). A gold, a silver, 3 top 5s and 5 top 10s in 6 JLPGA starts this season is enough for me to make her my #5 on tour for the 2nd-straight season. Her worst finish was in her 1st event: T15. She clearly would have been a POY candidate if she had played a full season on tour.

6. Ai Miyazato: #14 2009 money (￥46.56M), #8 GSPI (69.54) [2], #8 RR (6.74) [2], #32 2008 money (￥27.89M). She ended up with a gold, a silver, a bronze, and 5 top 10s in 8 JLPGA starts in 2009, but had trouble making birdies in Japan (3.26 per round vs. 3.90 per round on the LPGA). If this season featured her return to her 2004-2006 JLPGA form without the wins in bunches (she put herself in contention 13 times but walked away with only 2 worldwide wins), I wonder what next season has in store for her? Here's hoping that final-round 64 of hers in the Kyoraku Cup is a sign of things to come in 2010.

7. Momoko Ueda: #21 2009 money (￥42.38M), #24 GSPI (70.80) [6], #26 RR (3.65) [7], #17 2008 money (￥54.62M). She switches places with Miyazato from last year's list, mostly because in 12 JLPGA starts she could only manage a gold, a silver, 4 top 5s, and 8 top 10s. To add insult to injury, Annika's former caddie Terry McNamara was on In-Kyung Kim's bag when she won in Dubai last Saturday. I wonder if Momo-chan's trial run with him is over. I wouldn't be too concerned if it is, though. She seemed to be pressing all season. Here's hoping things click for her in 2010.

8. Ji-Hee Lee: #6 2009 money (￥79.70M), #22 GSPI (70.64) [5], #29 RR (3.37) [8], #2 2008 money (￥119.65M). 2008's #1-ranked player slips all the way down here in 2009, but a putt not dropping here or there was all the difference between her 2 seasons. In 25 starts (2 down from last year), she won only once and had to settle for 3 silvers, 10 top 5s (5 down), and 15 top 10s (6 down). What's more, she had a WD and 4 finishes outside the top 20, as opposed to last season, when she came back from an opening MC with 25 of 26 top 20s. Here's hoping Team Korea's victorious captain in this year's Kyoraku Cup has a breakthrough season next year--and that the injuries she suffered when her team dropped her during a celebratory captain toss afterwards quickly heal.

9. Yuko Mitsuka: #5 2009 money (￥89.79M), #30 GSPI (71.02) [9], #38 RR (2.90) [11], #7 2008 money (￥83.56M). Maybe I'm letting her waterlogged LPGA Q-School performance unduly influence me, but it certainly brought out her inconsistency this season. Yes, she won the 1st event of the season and got a bronze in its last, but in between she didn't win another, missed 2 cuts, withdrew from 2 events, finished outside the top 20 5 other times, racked up only 2 silvers and 2 more bronzes, and ended up with 10 top 5s and 16 top 10s in 30 starts. So the most I can do is move this 3rd-year pro up 2 spots from last season's final ranking. If she continues to improve in her 4th season like she did between each of her 1st 3, watch out for her in 2010.

10. Miho Koga: #8 2009 money (￥72.11M), #32 GSPI (71.18) [10], #40 RR (2.83) [12], #1 2008 money (￥120.85M). It was a frustrating 2009 for 2008's money-list leader and #4-ranked player on the JLPGA. She went winless for the 1st time since 2005 and only the 2nd time since breaking into the top 10 on the money list in 2003. Sure, she extended her streak in money-list top 10s to 4 in a row and 6 in her last 7 seasons, but just when it seemed she was finally building up some momentum mid-season, she stumbled a bit at the end. In 31 starts, she got 3 silvers, 3 bronzes, 7 top 5s, and 17 top 10s--a career season for most people but not for a player of her caliber.

Who Had the Best 2009 in Women's Golf?

The Constructivist — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 13:31:34 -0000

I profile 15 nominees over at Mostly Harmless. Here's the list:

Sakura Yokomine (JLPGA stats: 6 wins, 1 major, ￥175.02M in 33 starts, 70.43 scoring average, 3.61 birdies per round).

Shinobu Moromizato (JLPGA stats: 6 wins, 2 majors, ￥165.26M in 34 starts, 71.05 scoring average, 3.22 birdies per round).

Hee Kyung Seo (KLPGA stats: 5 wins, 3 majors, 663.76M won in 18 starts, 70.51 scoring average, 3.86 birdies per round).

Chie Arimura (JLPGA stats: 5 wins, ￥140.80M in 33 starts, 70.75 scoring average, 3.60 birdies per round).

Ji-Yai Shin (LPGA stats: 4 wins, $1.81M in 25 starts, 70.26 scoring average, 3.97 birdies per round; JLPGA stats: 1 win, ￥37.42M in 6 starts, 70.47 scoring average, 3.71 birdies per round).

Mi-Jeong Jeon (JLPGA stats: 4 wins, ￥127.29M in 29 starts, 70.64 scoring average, 3.71 birdies per round).

So Yeon Ryu (KLPGA stats: 4 wins, 597.86M won in 18 starts, 71.02 scoring average, 3.63 birdies per round).

Lorena Ochoa (LPGA stats: 3 wins, $1.49M in 22 starts, 70.16 scoring average, 4.18 birdies per round).

Ai Miyazato (LPGA stats: 1 win, $1.52M in 22 starts, 70.33 scoring average, 3.90 birdies per round; JLPGA stats: 1 win, ￥46.43M in 8 events, 70.70 scoring average, 3.26 birdies per round).

Anna Nordqvist (LPGA stats: 2 wins, $.87M in 17 starts, 70.78 scoring average, 3.48 birdies per round; LET stats: 100.97K euros in 6 starts, 70.87 scoring average, 3.91 birdies per round).

Na Yeon Choi (LPGA stats: 2 wins, $1.34M in 26 starts, 70.51 scoring average, 3.77 birdies per round).

Bo-Bae Song (JLPGA stats: 2 wins, ￥72.92M in 27, 71.27 scoring average, 3.13 birdies per round).

In-Kyung Kim (LPGA stats: 1 win, $1.24M in 25 starts, 71.00 scoring average, 3.92 birdies per round, plus won the LET's Dubai Ladies Masters yesterday).

Marianne Skarpnord (LET stats: 2 wins, 203.35K euros in 17 starts, 71.54 scoring average, 3.26 birdies per round).

Diana Luna (LET stats: 2 wins, 185.91K euros in 17 starts, 71.89 scoring average, 3.20 birdies per round).

Best 2009 in Women's Golf?

The Constructivist — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 13:22:55 -0000

Hound Dog has argued that Lorena Ochoa had the best 2009 on the LPGA, but when you take into account that Ji-Yai Shin got her 4th worldwide win late in the JLPGA's season, and that 6 players on the JLPGA and KLPGA won at least as often as she did, the question of who had the best 2009 in the world of women's golf is wide open. Here are the Mostly Harmless nominees, each of whom had more than 1 worldwide win this season.

Diana Luna (LET stats: 2 wins, 185.91K euros in 17 starts, 71.89 scoring average, 3.20 birdies per round).

The KLPGA Sexes Up Their Annual Award Ceremony

The Constructivist — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 04:38:30 -0000

This one's really about what happened at the KLPGA's award ceremony. For more pictures and videos, head on over to the Seoul Sisters blog or discussion board. Can any of you see the LPGA ever doing anything like this?

I'm sorry to report it seems to have been good clean fun. Oh, for the good old days when you could get a debate going over sex appeal and the female golfer, right?

Hot Sexy JLPGA Scandal Gossip Post!!!!!!!

The Constructivist — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 12:04:56 -0000

Now that I have your attention, you may be interested to find out that one of the visiting LPGAers is not leading JLPGA Q-School's Final Qualifying Tournament. Esther Lee, who finished 64th on this year's money list but was a top-20 player in 2008, eagled her last hole to finish at -3, good enough to be tied for the lead with Kaori Oe. Right behind them are the LPGA's Candie Kung and Seon Hwa Lee, followed by the KLPGA's Sun Ju Ahn and youngster Jae Bae, who may be trying to start her pro career on the JLPGA. 3 shots off the pace are the LPGA's Teresa Lu, Na Ri Kim, and Onnarin Sattayabanphot, who are tied with the LET's Yuki Sakurai. The only LPGAers over par after the 1st round were Inbee Park (73, T24) and Young Kim (74, T43).

Turns out that Amy Yang decided against going for dual LPGA-JLPGA membership (perhaps realizing that she already has dual LPGA-LET membership and a track record of success in Europe to draw on). And Na Yeon Choi and Eun-Hee Ji chose to join Team Korea in the Kyoraku Cup against Team Japan (on which more later) instead of going for dual LPGA-JLPGA membership. With Yuko Mitsuka a favorite in this week's LPGA Q-School, and Bo-Bae Song winning dual membership via her win at the Mizuno Classic, we could have as many as 10 players crossing the Pacific next season. (I'm assuming Shiho Oyama will get some sort of medical exemption to remain a JLPGA member in 2010; Na Ri Kim and Sattayabanphot are counting on being JLPGA members only, while Mika Miyazato will remain an LPGA member only.)

If the LPGA doesn't get more North American tournaments in 2011, I expect to see that number rise sharply. Three things the LPGA ought to do to keep this a dual-membership phenomenon and not a migration are to ramp up their co-sponsorships of events with the JLPGA, KLPGA, and LET, bring back the ADT Championship, and work with the JLPGA, KLPGA, and LET in synchronizing the timing and formats of the Kyoraku and Solheim Cups so that the winners and losers of each face off in off-years. Unless all the tours work together to make globalization work for them, more and more players will see the benefits of constructing their own schedules across multiple tours.

Sakura Yokomine Takes Ricoh Cup and JLPGA Money-List Title

The Constructivist — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 12:26:33 -0000

Sakura Yokomine hasn't finished worse than 4th on the JLPGA money list since 2005, but #1 has always slipped through her fingers--until today at the Ricoh Cup.

She made a series of clutch approach shots, chips, and putts down the stretch over her final 5 holes, clawing her way to -6 and passing LPGA regulars Momoko Ueda and Ai Miyazato in the process (for Ai-sama, it was her 8th near-miss since winning the Evian Masters this summer--don't get me started).

Then she had to sit and wait while 4 golfers took their shots at beating her. Ji-Hee Lee, who lost the money-list title this time last year when Mi-Jeong Jeon collapsed down the stretch and handed a victory to Miho Koga, had the chance to play spoiler this year, but couldn't recover from her bogey on the 15th and ended up at -5. Ditto for young gun Mayu Hattori. Shinobu Moromizato, the money-list leader coming into this week, also bogeyed the 15th to drop to -4, but she came back with a birdie on 17 just as her playing partner and 3rd-round leader Akane Iijima bogeyed 16 and 17 to join her at -5. When they, too, failed to birdie the long 18th, Yokomine had her 6th victory of the season and became the 1st player in JLPGA history to win more than 175 million yen in a single season.

Over at Mostly Harmless, I have highlights from youtube and news on Ryo Ishikawa's failed bid to clinch the JGTO money-list title.

Meanwhile, Over in Japan...

The Constructivist — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:09:05 -0000

...without Thanksgiving or the NFL to mess with professional golf schedules, the JLPGA is having its season finale and the JGTO its penultimate event this week. Both tours feature tight money-list races.

Shinobu Moromizato, a 6-time JLPGA winner this season, has pulled within 2 strokes of 5-time winner Sakura Yokomine, who trails her by less than 6 million yen, while 5-time winner Chie Arimura, who needs to win the Ricoh Cup to take the title from them, is only 3 shots behind Yokomine and 4 behind leader Momoko Ueda.

Meanwhile, JGTO money-list leader Ryo Ishikawa is only 2 strokes behind Shigeki Maruyama and defending champion Koumei Oda in the Casio World Open, looking to extend his 5-shot and less-than-2-million-yen lead on Yuta Ikeda this weekend.

The golfing Miyazato family could play spoiler in both events. Ai-sama has had trouble finishing her rounds thus far this week but only trails Ueda by 4, while her brothers are tied with Ryo-kun and PGA Tour regular Shingo Katayama at -10.

Some of the biggest names in Japanese golf are in contention in some of Japan's biggest events. You'd think corporate American media would pay the slightest bit of attention, wouldn't you?

Nah, they're too busy dissing the LPGA for going global. Not to worry: the golfy Olympics are still more than half a decade away. That's time enough for us all to pick up our game and play a little catch-up!

If You Care About Golf, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie, and Chevrolet, You'll Be Watching the LPGA Today

The Constructivist — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 15:09:50 -0000

Hey there, golfoblogosphere! How's it going? Glad to see all the focus on the globetrotting guys of the golfing world lately amid the dawning recognition that the Asian Pacific is where it's at. Oh, sorry, where are my manners? Please bow your heads and shout out 3 w00ts in honor of Tiger's big win down under. Think he's remembering how to close again? Tiger v. Phil in 2010 is ON!

OK, now that the formalities have been dispensed with, let me hasten to assure you that this post is not about Sakura Yokomine's wire-to-wire win on the JLPGA that just about pulled her even with Shinobu Moromizato in the money-list race on the 2nd-best women's tour on the planet. Seriously, if Rory had pulled his hair into a ponytail, worn knee-highs and a short skirt, and snuck into the field, maybe a few golf writers in Europe would have cared. But everyone knows the cardinal rule of golf: only care about what goes on in the biggest tour in your own country, and only to the top 2 or 3 players on it.

But let's face it, you can only drum up so much interest in the names and the nameless ones trying to avoid PGA purgatory today at the Magic Kingdom. No worries for Golf Channel, though. As it turns out, the U.S. hosts the #1 women's tour on the planet, the LPGA. (You may have heard of it.) Well, it just so happens that Lorena Ochoa, who is finally showing signs of being merely human since overtaking Annika Sorenstam as the world #1 in 2006, is in danger of having her 3-year streaks of winning both the Player of the Year and Vare Trophy (for lowest scoring average) come crashing to an end at the very tournament she's hosting this week. No, no, not to Michelle Wie, although she does happen to be tied for the lead with Cristie Kerr, who actually does have an outside chance of winning both year-end awards. Actually, the favorite to win both those awards is the same player who can clinch the money-list title this week. Ji-Yai Shin, the Final Round Queen of the KLPGA and 2009 LPGA Rookie of the Year, who's gunning for her 7th LPGA win in the last year and a half, is only a shot back after an unfortunate series of events over her final 7 holes yesterday opened the door to 1/3 of the elite field to play spoiler. She's still got a big lead on Ai Miyazato and Suzanne Pettersen, and...

No, wait, I'm doing this all wrong. Forget those f-ing furriners! It's time to think like GC and party like it's 2016!

USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! MICHELLE WIE, CRISTIE KERR, and PAULA CREAMER are duelling for AMERICA'S HONOR today at 4. They're concerned for Steve Elling's health as he cries us a river every week another American fails to win on OUR OWN TOUR. Now they MEAN BUSINESS. And they're IN IT TO WIN IT. USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!

Hey, who cares that Yu Na Kim is going to win Skate America at Lake Placid today? It's back to the future today on the LPGA. Guadalajara is the new Lake Placid. You heard it here first--here's what the final leaderboard will look like at the end of the day:

1. Michelle Wie

2. Paula Creamer

3. Cristie Kerr

4. Brittany Lang

5. Morgan Pressel

6. Kristy McPherson

7. who cares? she won't be American!

But if you don't watch it live on Golf Channel at 4 today, it'll be your fault it doesn't happen. On behalf of the nation, let me be the first to say, "Shame on you! And you call yourself an American?"

[Note: I'm concerned that SBN's editing program not allowing strikethroughs in titles is diminishing the ultra-nationalism of this super-patriotic post. For the record, I tried crossing out "golf," so people can tell that I put country before sport. Under god.]