The 2011 season draws to a close with the playing of the inaugural Titleholders.  Each event on the schedule qualified three players for the field to generate a gathering of the best players on Tour this year.

As the final event of 2011, the Titleholders is the last chance for several prominent players to collect their first victory of the year.  Most notable of that group is Cristie Kerr, who despite having been one of the top players on Tour, is still winless.  Kerr has had at least one victory in each of the last seven seasons but hasn't been able to convert any of her six Top 3 finishes into a win.  Other high-profile players who haven't yet won in 2011 include Paula Creamer, Angela Stanford, In-Kyung Kim and (the unfortunately absent-so-she-can't-win-this-week-either) Jiyai Shin.

Back in January, I wrote how the qualifying format for this event was a roundabout way of merely selecting the Top 45 or so players.  As expected, three players who merely had to finish the Ochoa Invitational made this field - Juli Inkster (who certainly deserves to be here), Natalie Gulbis and Beatriz Recari.  Gulbis made the Ochoa field on a sponsor's invite - certainly not the most well-earned of paths - but her inclusion here doesn't exactly rip anybody off.  According to my current rankings, the highest ranked players not invited were #47 Eun-Hee Ji and #54 Kristy McPherson.  Ji's best finish was T20 at ShopRite, which was much too early in the season for that finish to have qualified.  She registered a T25 in Korea and got beat out by Shanshan Feng (T13), a much more deserving player.  McPherson followed a similar trail - T18 at Kia and T24 at Safeway were nowhere near good enough.  Players with only one Top 20 finish (and just barely that) on the season have no reason to complain about being left out.

Despite missing seven of the 66 qualifiers, the field is still very strong.  All of my current Top 10 and 35 of my Top 40 are playing.  It should be a good one to close out the season.

All of this week's 20 have qualified to play in the inaugural Titleholders.

Catriona Matthew's victory was the fourth of her 17-year LPGA career and her first since the 2009 British Open.  Partly because of her constant presence on Europe's Solheim team, I always get a little underwhelmed when I start looking at Matthew's career numbers.  At second glance however, when you notice that she's only once failed to clear a quarter-million dollars earned since 1998 (and that was 2006, the year she missed time giving birth to her first child) and that she's collected 87 Top 10 finishes, you realize she's carved out one fine career.

Catriona was never really pushed on Sunday.  She started the final round three shots ahead of Suzann Pettersen, which is not-at-all a secure position.  But Matthew birdied the first two holes to take a five-shot lead and Pettersen went on to bogey 5, falling six back.  Suzann birdied not a single hole on the day and finished in solo seventh.  In-Kyung Kim and Anna Nordqvist started four shots back but neither was able to birdie on the front nine.  After birdies at 6 and 9, Matthew was -15 and leading by eight shots.  She played the back nine in 39 (three bogeys and no birdies), allowing Nordqvist to draw within three but Anna bogeyed the last two and Catriona won by four.

Sophia Sheridan one-upped herself this year.  She finished T25 +5, ahead of such luminaries as Stacy Lewis, Amy Yang, Angela Stanford and Hee Young Park and one shot better than her usual Ochoa Invitational finish of 27-28.

None of the lesser players in this elite field stood out so I'll pass on awarding a Big Surprise.  I will give a Shout-Out to Juli Inkster (T4 and co-leader after each of the first two rounds), who once again reminded us she could still possibly win on this Tour.  I'm going to award this week's Big Disappointment to Yani Tseng - not because I'm that disappointed in her T19 finish (but +3?  Really, Yani?), but because she had convinced me that her recent great play was plenty enough to override her prior lesser results on a given course.  For that breach of my newly-rewarded confidence, I'm very disappointed. 

The fourth-annual Lorena Ochoa Invitational will, for the first time, not feature Lorena Ochoa in action.  Being eight months pregnant, Lorena must not be physically able to walk the 72 holes.  It's her tournament, guys - give her a cart to ride in and watch her finish in the Top 20!

As an invitational, the LOI has a fine field but the absence of a handful of the upper-echelon lowers the Field Score a bit.  Na Yeon Choi is the hottest player missing while Karrie Webb and Jiyai Shin are the other big-name players not making the trip.  Beyond them however, the turnout is solid.  Defending champion In-Kyung Kim has had a decent 2011 but once again she comes down to the season's penultimate event still looking to extend her consecutive season win streak (currently three).  She'll have to beat out Yani Tseng to do that and not too many have succeeded lately in that respect.  Tseng finished 27^th here last year but we've seen "on-this-course" history not apply to Yani a lot this year.

Like all events, they hand out a few sponsor's invites (four this year) so Natalie Gulbis and local talents Lili Alvarez and Regina Plasencia will be playing.  As she has in all three prior Invitationals, Sophia Sheridan gets a sponsor's invite so she can grind out another $10,000 payday.  It's uncanny, I'm telling you - Sheridan's finishes here have been 27^th, T28 and T28.

Four Five players - most notably Na Yeon Choi and Jiyai Shin - of this week's Hot 20 are not in the field.

Momoko Ueda's first victory at the 2007 Mizuno Classic (has it really been four years?) gave her the opportunity to play full-time on the LPGA Tour.  She hasn't yet been an upper-echelon player (before this weekend, only seven Top 10 finishes in 69 starts since the beginning of 2008) though she reached #14 in my March 2008 rankings and #23 in April 2010.  2011 had not been kind as Momoko's best finish had been T18 in Thailand and she had only five Top 40 finishes in 15 starts coming into Mizuno.  Does this win signify a turnaround?  She'll need to follow this up with another Top 10 or two for me to answer "yes".

Ueda started the final round with a three-shot lead over Sakura Yokomine.  By the end of the front nine, her lead had dwindled to one over Yokomine and Shanshan Feng.  Na Yeon Choi was on fire (-7 on the day, -14 overall through 14) and joined the pursuit.  Momoko birdied 10 to reach -15.  Choi took a critical bogey at 15 but birdied the last two to take the clubhouse lead at -15.  Feng birdied 12 and 13 to tie for the lead.  Yokomine birdied 13 to pull within one.  At 16, Ueda birdied to take a one-shot lead over Feng and Choi.  Feng birdied 17 to tie again at -16.  Yokomine bogeyed the final two holes to finish tied for sixth.  Feng and Ueda parred out to go to a playoff.  Momoko had five feet to win on the first hole but missed on the left edge.  Neither player had a reasonable chance on the second hole but on the third attempt (all at 18), Ueda drained a 15-footer for birdie and the victory.

It was another low-scoring affair typical of Mizuno's past history.  The average of 70.46 was the lowest for this event since the 2005 edition and the lowest of 2011 by more than one stroke (State Farm 71.47).  Only one player on Friday shot worse than 74 (think about that for a minute) and just eight of the 78 players finished over par.

The JLPGA contingent got off to a great start this week with two players sharing the lead after Round One and seven others starting in the Top 20.  By Sunday afternoon, only Yokomine and Esther Lee managed to make the Top 10 as the relatively thin LPGA group rose up to claim the entire Top 5. Teresa Lu shared fourth place with Catriona Matthew, grabbing her best finish of 2011 by far.  In only two starts this year, Teresa had yet to make the cut.  This was her best finish since a tie for third at the 2008 Ginn Open and her first Top 10 since tying for eighth at last year's Safeway.  Normally that would be plenty good enough to win the Big Surprise Award but I have to select Ueda for that honor.

The Big Disappointment is unfortunately an easy choice.  Ai Miyazato failed to break par any of the three days and finished 77^th in a 78-player field. 

The Asian Swing's final stop is also its oldest, as this year's Mizuno Classic marks the 39^th consecutive year that the LPGA has visited Japan.  For the sixth time, Kintetsu Kashikojima Country Club is the venue.  Expect the scores to be low as only one Mizuno event since 2004 has failed to average under par (2007).  The average score for the winner of this 54-hole tournament over that stretch has been nearly -17.  One oddity I found among the past results - no American has won Mizuno since Betsy King did it back-to-back in 1992 and '93.  Annika Sorenstam's five straight wins here was the reason for a good part of that drought but the fact did surprise me.

Can you believe that Jiyai Shin's victory here last year is the last time she's won?  At the time, she had just nosed out Paula Creamer for the lead in the category of Young Player Most Likely To Reach The Hall Of Fame.  The Tseng Blitz of the last 12 months has relegated Jiyai and Paula to second and third chairs, I'd say.

If you dislike my tendency in previews to focus on players not in attendance, you'd probably better stop reading now.  The Field Score of 43 is the lowest since last year's CVS.  The two events have a lot in common.  CVS was the weekend prior to the start of 2010's fall Asian Swing while Mizuno, being at the end of this year's Swing, is the weekend prior to the Ochoa Invitational.  In both cases, many players passed to get a head start on the long travel.  In Mizuno's case, it was even worse because last week's open date gave players even more reason to head home early.  Hopefully the commonalities end there as the CVS did not survive to 2011.  Only three of my Top 10 players are here (Stacy Lewis, Na Yeon Choi, Karrie Webb) and only eight of my Top 20.  I was shocked to see that neither Creamer nor So Yeon Ryu is in the field.  Really?  Japan's favorite American player and the JLPGA's winner of the U.S. Open passed too?

You want to hear something really odd (boy, this preview is Jam-Packed with 'em!!)?  Paula Creamer has NEVER played in the Mizuno Classic.  My first search at Golfobserver.com returned no results so I looked it up manually - not a single appearance.  She plays one JLPGA event every year (usually the one she shares a sponsor with) but has always steered clear of the one Japanese event co-sanctioned by the LPGA.  I'm not sure which is more shocking - Creamer never having played Mizuno or that I've never noticed before.  Do players still get fined for missing an event four or more years running?

The last four Mizuno winners have been JLPGA members (including Shin, twice) and I would be foolish to bet against that happening again.  I'll defer to The Constructivist on the question of which of them should be expected to challenge.  Even so, we can't ignore the possibility that the red-hot Na Yeon Choi could dominate this field and take her second win in three events.

Wow...only six of this week's 20 are in the field at Mizuno (absentees are bolded).  I can hardly wait to tally the Field Score.

In case you were wondering, the next twelve players on my Hot List who ARE playing are Hee-Won Han, Jiyai Shin, Mika Miyazato, Ai Miyazato, Tiffany Joh, Jenny Shin, Shanshan Feng, Jimin Kang, In-Kyung Kim, Catriona Matthew, Mi Hyun Kim and Candie Kung.  Dewi Claire Schreefel, who is #41 on this week's List, is the next in line but she isn't even in the field yet (first alternate as of noonish EDT Monday).

No, I'm not surprised.  As commenter Fanslaststand said, "Yani's home soil is anywhere grass grows".  Yani Tseng's seventh LPGA victory of the year was her sixth win in her last twelve starts.  Having clinched the Player of the Year award prior to this event, she now has 19 Hall of Fame points with another one via the Vare Trophy all but in her pocket.

Tseng started the final round with a two-shot lead over Anna Nordqvist.  After both players birdied 2, Nordqvist birdied 4 to get within one.  It didn't stay tight for long - Yani ran off three straight birdies at 6, 7 and 8 to go up by three.  Anna hung on with a birdie of her own at 8 and another at 9 to make the turn down by two, but bogeys at 10 and 11 killed her chances.  Azahara Munoz went out in 32 to get within three shots but she stalled out on the back.  With no late pressure from the competition, Tseng cruised along with pars until she iced the cake with birdies at 16 and 18 to win by five shots.

Munoz is certainly enjoying her Asian experience.  She followed up last week's solo third with a tie for second, the first back-to-back Top 5s of her career.  Aza has definitely broken out of her sophomore slump (only one Top 10 in her first 18 events this year) in a big way.  Amy Yang shot a final-round 67 to grab a share of second place, her second runner-up this season (solo second at Arkansas).

Limited field events often make it tougher to pick out a Big Surprise.  Since both players collected only their second Top 10 of the year, I'm going to split the award between Katie Futcher (sixth) and Hee-Won Han (tenth).  I'd also like to give a Shout-Out to Wendy Ward, who barely missed her second Top 10 of the year.  The Big Disappointment is Brittany Lang, who finished +9 T54 after coming in at #4 on this week's Hot 20 list. 

Lorena Ochoa's popularity back home was such that by 2008 there were three LPGA events in Mexico.  I think it's safe to say that similar circumstances have given birth to this event in Taiwan, just as Yani Tseng has secured her position as Most Dominant Player on Tour.  It's no exhibition either - the purse of $2 million is second only to Evian as the largest among limited fields this year.

Given that sizeable purse, the field strength is disappointing.  Four of my Top 10 players (Lincicome, Webb, Creamer and Stanford) waved it off and the Field Score is the third-lowest of the season behind the Founders Cup (61) and Navistar (74).  To be fair to those missing Top 10ers, this is the first missed event of the year for three of them and only the second for Webb.  Here's a stat that really shows you how sparse the LPGA schedule has been in 2011 - through last week's event in Malaysia, 21 players had teed it up in all 19 scheduled events.

One missing player really caught my eye - Shanshan Feng.  Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but does anybody else think it's strange that the Tour's only player from mainland China isn't participating in the inaugural Taiwan event?  She's played well the last two weeks (T13 and T9) so I doubt it's a physical problem.

Returning to the Ochoa-Tseng parallel - my first inclination is against expecting Yani to win this week.  The many distractions that the local superstar has to face (especially in her first home start) are sure to take something away from her usual preparations.  Then I looked back at Lorena's record - three times she won in her home country, starting with the 2006 Corona Championship (all three of her wins in Mexico were Coronas) in just her third homeland start.  So I'll try not to be surprised if Tseng collects her seventh win of 2011 on Sunday.

Four of this week's Hot 20 are missing, and three of them are Top 10 players to boot.

Na Yeon Choi was #6 in my rankings coming into this weekend despite not having registered a single victory in 2011.  For the second straight week, she had to battle the hottest player in the world for the victory but this time Na Yeon came out on top.  It was her fifth career victory, all of which have come over the last 25 months.

Choi began the final round with a one-shot lead over Brittany Lang, two shots over Azahara Munoz, and four shots over Yani Tseng, Se Ri Pak and Stacy Lewis.  A double-bogey at 2 was a most auspicious beginning for NYC, dropping her to -10 and behind Lang.  Brittany birdied 3 to take a two-shot lead.  Choi cut the lead in half with a birdie at 6, and then another at 8 tied them at -12.  Meanwhile, Tseng had birdied 6 and 7 to reach -11.  Remaining the same through the turn, Yani birdied 11 to create a three-way tie at -12.  Lang birdied 11 to retake the solo lead.  Choi responded with birdie at 12 to get tied at -13.  Brittany suddenly collapsed - bogeys at 13 and 14, birdie at 15 but a double at 16 and a final bogey at 18 relegated her to -9 and a tie for fifth.  As Lang fell out, Munoz climbed back in - birdies at 13 and 14 brought Aza to within one of the lead.  Tseng birdied 15 to tie Choi at -13.  Na Yeon birdied 15 as well to go back in front.  Yani birdied 16 to tie them again at -14.  Munoz also birdied 16 to momentarily hang with them but she wound up bogeying 18 and finished in solo third.  After Tseng only parred 17, Choi birdied it to take the lead again.  Yani also parred 18, leaving NYC to need only a par for the win.  Which she did.

I didn't see the coverage (9:30-11:30 on a Sunday night?  Puh-lease!) but it must have been painful to watch Brittany Lang's final six holes.  This was her best chance to win in at least two years (her runner-up at this year's British was four shots behind Tseng) and we continue to wait for her first LPGA victory.  I still think she's gonna get one sometime.

Good to see last year's Rookie of the Year have a good finish.  Munoz had only registered one Top 10 and one other Top 20 this year before yesterday's third-place finish.  It was the best showing of her LPGA career, beating out a T4 at last year's Bell Micro Classic.  It's always good to see Se Ri Pak finish in the Top 5 - the solo fourth was her second such finish of the season (T5 at State Farm).

The Big Surprise Award gets split two ways this week.  Christel Boeljon finished T9, the rookie's first career Top 10.  Amanda Blumenherst also finished T9, her first Top 10 since last year Sybase Match Play Championship and her first Top 10 in a stroke-play event since last year's Tres Marias Championship.

There isn't a clear-cut choice for Big Disappointment so I'm going to pass on designating one.  But I am very disappointed in the performance of Tiffany Joh.  With a great opportunity to gain some ROY points on Hee Kyung Seo, Tiffany shot 80 on Thursday and finished tied for last (T71 +25).  With only four events left to play, Seo has a stranglehold on the rookie trophy. 

The Tour's second trip to Malaysia is Stop #2 on this fall's Asian Swing.  Jimin Kang permanently removed her name from Fluke consideration with her second career victory in last year's inaugural, besting Juli Inkster by one shot.  This year's tournament expands to 72 holes, joining next week's Taiwan event in breaking the Asian Swing model of only 54-hole tournaments.

While last week's field was plenty strong, this week's is slightly better as all of my Top 10 players and 18 of my Top 20 will tee it up.  Also, recent up-and-comers Tiffany Joh and Caroline Hedwall made the limited field.  With ROY front-runner Hee Kyung Seo not playing, this is a great opportunity for Joh to narrow the 282-point gap in that race.  With a win, Joh would chop 150 points off of that lead.

I could point out that there is no cut in this four-day event or that the late-evening Golf Channel coverage means that they will be airing taped action at the same time live action is taking place, but I would be duplicating information already provided by Tony Jesselli at Mostly Harmless.  The previews at MH by Tony and The Constructivist have been putting mine to shame recently so be sure to check them out every week.

The only two of this week's 20 not in the field are non-members of the LPGA.

In my tournament preview, I wondered how anybody - even Yani Tseng - could be favored to win over Na Yeon Choi given Choi's record on the course and her recent play.  Serves me right for doubting the Terror of Taiwan.  The countdown continues - Yani's sixth LPGA victory of 2011 is the eleventh of her career and gives her 17 Hall of Fame points.  Nobody is going to steal Player of the Year away from her and she now has a 0.94 lead in the low-scoring race for the Vare Trophy.

Tseng started the final round tied with Choi for second place, one shot behind KLPGA player Soo-Jin Yang.  NYC birdied the first hole to tie for the lead but gave it right back with a bogey at 2.  Yang slipped into a three-way tie when she bogeyed 3 and another bogey at 4 dropped her one back of her playing partners.  One group ahead, Jimin Kang had birdied three of the first five holes to reach -10 and take the lead.  Tseng birdied 5 to tie Kang at -10 as Yang rebounded with birdie to move into a tie for third.  Kang bogeyed 6 to give Tseng the solo lead.  Choi bogeyed 6 to fall two back and got the shot back at 7 but Yani birdied it too to open up a two-shot lead.  Kang bogeyed 8 to fall three back - though she rallied on the back, she never did get any closer.  Another birdie at 8 gave Tseng a three-shot lead heading to the back nine.  Na Yeon birdied 10 and 11 to charge within one while Yang birdied 11 to get within two.  All three players parred 12 and 14 and birdied the par-5 13^th, leaving Tseng at -13, Choi at -12 and Yang at -11.  At 15, Yang bogeyed to fall out of contention while Tseng birdied to go back up by two.  Yani parred out while Choi was only able to birdie 18, making the final margin one stroke.

If not for those two front nine bogeys, Jimin Kang would have stayed in contention for her second Asian swing victory in twelve months.  Oddly enough, the T3 finish was Jimin's first Top 10 of the year and her first since a T8 at Mizuno last November.  Since I don't have a good gauge on whether the KLPGA's Yang (T3) or Yeon-Ju Jung (T7) are more deserving, Kang gets this week's Big Surprise Award.

After being shown by the oddsmakers as the second-best favorite behind Tseng, Suzann Pettersen (+8 T63) was better than only five players in the field.  For that, she collects this week's Big Disappointment Award. 

The LPGA starts its autumn Asian swing with its tenth annual trip to Korea for the Hana Bank Championship.  The Tour will spend the next four weeks playing limited field events in the Far East, from here traveling to Malaysia, Taiwan and Japan.

Na Yeon Choi is the two-time defending champion.  That's such a rare distinction these days that I just had to point it out (Yani Tseng will be a two-time defender at least twice next year).  It's especially notable when Choi's career win total is only four.  Most other two-timers you can find in LPGA history had a lot more than four victories.  Since those wins came on this same course, shouldn't that make Choi more of a favorite?  Her odds are running 2.5-3 times longer than Tseng's, who did finish T2 in 2009 - her only previous appearance here.  But Choi's also being shown behind Suzann Pettersen.  It's debatable but I don't see how anybody could pick against NYC this weekend.

These events often suffer from absences from a handful of top players.  The highest Field Score for a fall Asian event over the last three years was 78 at last year's Hana Bank.  As you can see from the Tournament Box, this year's 88 is substantially higher.  Ai Miyazato is my only Top 10er not here and Mika Miyazato is the only other missing Top 20 player.  The field is bolstered by the sponsor's exemption which was given to U.S. Open champion So Yeon Ryu as well as the return of Jiyai Shin and the appearance of Cristie Kerr (I thought her tendonitis might have prevented her from playing so soon post-Solheim).

I mentioned them in my Hot 20 post but wanted to clarify something a little further.  Because they finished in the Top 10 at Navistar, Tiffany Joh, Jenny Shin and Jennifer Johnson would all have been automatically in this field if it were not a limited-field tournament.  The "Top 10 in previous event" rule only applies toward full-field events.  I don't believe that they would be guaranteed a place in the next full-field tournament (which won't be until next season) by virtue of the Top 10 finish but since they are all in the Top 60 on the money list, this becomes a moot point.  So why did I bring it up in the first place?  Just call me the King of Trivial FYIs...

Tiffany Joh and Jenny Shin are listed as alternates for this limited-field event (I believe the money list prior to Navistar is being used to determine priority).  Jennifer Johnson is probably an alternate but is no better than eleventh in line as of Monday morning.  The two Miyazatos are eligible but chose not to attend.  Lexi Thompson's Navistar win would have earned an automatic spot had this been a full-field tournament.  I'm pleasantly surprised that Cristie Kerr is listed in the field - the week off must have helped her tendonitis. FYI - she's not in the Hot 20 but Jiyai Shin makes her return this week after missing two events with a bad back.

With the seven-week homestretch on the LPGA schedule now reduced to six, this is the perfect time to issue my next-to-last rankings of the 2011 season.  The influence of 2010 statistics is dwindling (down to 15% now) so the vast majority of the rating is based on the current season.  The third column is the player's previous ranking, rookies are in bold and non-members are in italics.

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I've made a major correction to one of the paragraphs in my Solheim Epilogue post.  Since that correction is below the story jump and I feel the change is an important one, I thought it proper that I should note it on the front page for those of you who had already read the Epilogue.

Make no mistake - I am not blaming Ryann O'Toole for the Americans' loss yesterday.  She just happened to be the one without a chair when the music stopped.  A lot of other people's shortcomings placed Ryann in the situation where she absolutely had to hang on - and she couldn't.  Michelle Wie was 1-up with three holes to go and lost outright (I know - Suzann Pettersen made a terrific run to win the match).  Angela Stanford had two decent chances to win holes down the stretch and couldn't.  Juli Inkster absolutely pissed away a half-point.  O'Toole collected three points in her four matches this week and is by no means the reason the U.S. lost the Solheim Cup.

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Suzann Pettersen dropped a six footer to win her match 1-up over Michelle Wie and Ryann O'Toole surrendered the clinching half-point by dropping her final two holes as Team Europe rallied late to win their fourth Solheim Cup.  The final tally was 15-13.

Catriona Matthew set the early tone by blitzing Paula Creamer 6&5.  Sophie Gustafson took the lead at 10 and held off Stacy Lewis 2-up.  Morgan Pressel won five straight holes en route to beating Anna Nordqvist 2&1.  Brittany Lang lost only one hole as she took down Sandra Gal 6&5.  Christina Kim went 5-up through 11 holes and hung on to win 4&2 over Maria Hjorth.  Given those results and the Cristie Kerr WD, that would equal 11 points for each side and the remaining six matches pretty much decided things.

Juli Inkster and Laura Davies were All Square when Laura's flop shot at 13 flopped into the bunker and her fourth shot rolled 30 feet past the hole.  Now 1-up, Inkster missed a three-footer at 14 AND 15 while Davies was making from 15 and six to take the lead for herself.  Laura made an eight-footer at 16 to halve and recovered from a wayward tee shot (across TWO cart paths!) to go dormie at 18.  Inkster nearly sank her bunker shot at the last and earned a half-point when Davies couldn't get up and down from her bunker.

Vicky Hurst was 2-up until Melissa Reid dropped a 20-footer to win the 12^th hole.  It stayed that way until 18 (Reid saving a half from five feet at 16) when Vicky played her approach to five feet while Melissa flew hers over the green.  2-up win for Hurst.  Christel Boeljon took a 2-up lead when Brittany Lincicome missed a five-footer at 10.  Brittany rebounded by taking 11 and it too stayed 1-up until the final hole.  While Boeljon only four feet away for birdie, Lincicome ran her 20-foot birdie putt way past and conceded.  2-up win for Boeljon.  That makes the score 12.5-12.5 for this recap, as it was at the time Christel's win was recorded.

At this moment, the final three matches showed Michelle Wie and Suzann Pettersen All Square, Ryann O'Toole 2-up on Caroline Hedwall, and Azahara Munoz 1-up on Angela Stanford - results which would have retained the Cup for the Americans had they stood.  The next immediate returns were great for the U.S. - Wie won 15 with a five-footer to go 1-up and Munoz missed from ten feet at 14 to square her match.  Pettersen started her run by dropping a 15-footer at 16 to go All Square.  Stanford had 12 feet to win 15 but missed it right.  Hedwall saved par from eight feet at 16 as did O'Toole from four and that match went dormie, assuring the Yanks of at least 13 points.  Pettersen's approach at 17 stuck five feet away but Wie negated the great shot by canning a 15-footer for birdie.  Suzann's birdie was worth only a half, sending them to 18 tied.

Stanford and Munoz each failed to cash in from 15 feet at 16.  O'Toole drove so badly at 17 that she was forced to pitch out into the fairway.  Her third was also poor, landing 30 feet away with a short iron in hand.  The bogey took this match to 18 and was the first time all week Team Europe had won Hole 17.  At 18, Pettersen played another laser, this time to six feet.  Wie air-mailed her approach into the back bunker.  Michelle played a terrific shot, killing it in the fringe and rolling it down to about three feet but Suzann buried her birdie putt to win the match and put the Euros up 13.5-12.5.  Back at 17, Munoz played her best shot of the day (that we saw) - three feet from the pin.  The birdie put her 1-up and dormie, giving Europe a sure 14 points.

So it came down to whether or not Ryan O'Toole (the much maligned Captain's pick) could hang on for one more hole.  She flew her approach over the green.  Hedwall hit the back fringe perfectly and spun it back to within six feet.  O'Toole's chip (trying to be perfect) caught up in the fringe and stopped.  She had to chip her fourth and it rolled beyond Hedwall's ball mark, so Ryann conceded the hole and halved the match.  Suddenly, everybody realized that this result plus Munoz having gone dormie meant Team Europe had clinched the Cup.  Aza and Angela agreed to halve 18 to make the 15-13 final.

I'll save the rest of my thoughts for tomorrow's Epilogue.  The only thing left to say today is Congratulations Team Europe! 

The heavy rains at Killeen Castle have suspended play a second time today so this is a good time to update all the goings-on.  Team U.S.A. rallied from a 7-5 deficit by winning three of yesterday's fourball matches.  They entered Sunday singles tied 8-8, a position which boded very well for them as the U.S. has won over 60% of its singles matches over the years.

Two developments have put a serious damper on that outlook.  Paula Creamer, leading off the American's Sunday lineup and previously unbeaten in Solheim singles, has been dominated by Catriona Matthew.  She is 5-down through 11 holes.  Even worse, Cristie Kerr was forced to withdraw before her match began with Karen Stupples.  From her interview with Rich Lerner, Kerr said that tendonitis cropped up in her wrist on Tuesday and was diagnosed by a doctor on Thursday.  The more she played on Friday, the better it felt so she kept reporting to Rosie Jones that she was fine - though she was still "playing in pain" - and Jones kept sending her out, playing the maximum four matches (71 holes).  This morning on the range, Kerr could barely hold onto the club.  She broke down in tears as she realized she wasn't physically able to play.

Dottie Pepper is saying that despite her efforts the first two days (2-1-1 record), Kerr let her team down by not being honest with Jones about the pain so Rosie could perhaps choose to sit Kerr a match or two prior to the mandatory Sunday singles.  I tend to agree with Dottie but I also understand Kerr's position.  She could and did go Friday and Saturday and from the line scores (I didn't see any of the action so those of you who did can correct me) I would say she played pretty well.  Tendonitis isn't like a sprain, which gets bad and stays bad for a predictable period of time.  It flares up without warning and usually at the worst possible time, like on a Sunday morning for the anchor of an international golf team.  Cristie helped her team as long as she could - now they have to pick her up.

They are about to resume at 2pm local time with Europe leading 9-8.  The Americans lead in four matches, trail in five and are All Square in two.  Another rally will be required for them to retain the Cup but remember - a 14-14 tie is good enough to do just that.  Team Europe must collect 14.5 points to win.

In my opinion, Solheim is the most entertaining of all women's golf events.  From the format where every hole is its own mini-game and the nationalist pride among the two teams to the March Madness-like scoreboard watching of simultaneous events, you really can't top it for drama.

Two years ago a lot of people said that this competition was becoming a mismatch, apparently focusing on the 8-3 lead by the U.S. and the European team's lesser standings in the Rolex Rankings.  That notion might get adjusted this weekend as Team U.S.A. doesn't appear quite as strong while Team Europe seems to be the opposite plus owns the home-field advantage.  I don't think anybody can deny that Europe will be more comfortable (and the U.S. less so) playing in September Ireland weather than in August Illinois heat.

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I mentioned in the Navistar epilogue that Lexi Thompson secured Cat-7 status for next year (winning is a great way to avoid Q-School!) but here are the other changes that the Navistar results hath wrought:

Top 80:

Haeji Kang finished T14 to end up #75 and secure Category 1 status.  Jennifer Song withdrew after the first round (must have had a really good reason in this situation) but still held on the 80^th spot, $4500 ahead of #81 Jin Young Pak.  Pak's T25 was not quite good enough - two shots fewer would have earned enough to pass Song.  #82 Meaghan Francella (T65) made the cut but shot 80 on Saturday to ruin her last-minute chances.  #83 Alison Walshe (T51) and #84 Gwladys Nocera (T14 to move up from #98) came up $8000 and $10,000 short respectively.  #86 Sarah Kemp (T71), #87 Grace Park (T34), #88 Lorie Kane and #89 Sarah Jane Smith (both MCs) never got going this weekend, although Park shot 68 on Sunday to move up a couple of spots.

Top 100:

It was fairly close but all my Locks did finish in the Top 100 and make Cat-11.  Taylor Leon missed the cut but wound up #100, $2700 to the good.  #99 Na On Min wasn't a Lock but finished T51 to hang on to the penultimate spot.  #94 Giulia Sergas was the only player to jump into the Top 100, thanks to her T11 finish.  The $23,071 check nearly doubled her 2011 total.  Giulia's gain was #101 Stephanie Sherlock's loss.  Sherlock made the cut but shot 81 on Saturday and finished T68.  While the $2700 margin she missed by doesn't seem like much, she would have had to finish T44 to pass Leon and Stephanie would have had to save seven strokes somewhere to do that.  #102 Michele Redman (DNS) didn't take an active player's Cat-11 spot but she did take one in Cat-15.  #103 Mariajo Uribe (T39) missed the Top 100 by three shots.  #104 Stephanie Louden (MC) and #106 Ashli Bunch (MC) couldn't get going and #105 Moira Dunn (T39) needed five fewer shots to catch Leon.

Top 125:

Only one player passed the idle (and now #126) Maria Hernandez - Jennifer Rosales finished T56, good enough for position #124 and Cat-15 status.  Dori Carter, Janice Moodie (both MCs), Lisa Meldrum (T65), Jean Reynolds (MC) and Jimin Jeong (WD) all came up short.  Meldrum needed $3100 more to catch #125 Christine Song (MC) - seven fewer shots would have done it.  Carter missed the cut by two shots and Moodie by only one - making it would have resulted in at least $2530, which would have been enough for either to pass Song.  The margin between #125 and Q-School is that thin. 

Weren't we just talking about what a washout Lexi Thompson's first full professional season has been?  After challenging at last year's Evian Masters, I wrote that it was nearly inevitable that Thompson would break Marlene Hagge's record as the youngest player to win an LPGA event.  In seven 2011 starts, Lexi had missed four cuts and finished no better than T19 (oddly enough that was at Avnet, the Tour's other Alabama stop).  To come here and win by five shots with that seasonal line makes her this week's Big Surprise but the facts that she became a Tour winner and also became the youngest to do it are no surprise at all.

As you might expect with Thompson entering Sunday with a five-shot lead and holding on to win, she was never really challenged.  She did bogey 11 and 12 and had her lead trimmed to three but birdies at 16 and 17 sealed the deal.  I don't know if Golf Channel mentioned it yesterday or not (I'm in Florida on vacation this week and only saw the last few minutes of Sunday's coverage) but Lexi's win as a non-member earns her Category 7 status for 2012 - the same status Hee Kyung Seo has played under this year.

Video sensation Tiffany Joh can play some golf too!  Entering the weekend only one under par, Joh shot 65 on Saturday to climb into a tie for third and her final-round 68 earned solo second for her first career Top 10 finish.  Also worthy of a Big Shout-Out this week are Becky Morgan, Giulia Sergas and Jennifer Johnson - all of them finished in the Top 11 and Johnson collected her first career Top 10.  Sergas vaulted to #94 on the money list and secured Category 11 status for next year.  I'll update all of the money list races later today or tomorrow.

On the Solheim front, five U.S. team members finished in the Top 10 plus Juli Inkster turned around her recent woes with a T14 finish.  Vicky Hurst is still scuffling somewhat, making the cut but getting home only T51.  Christina Kim and Ryann O'Toole missed the cut in their final warm-up as did Cristie Kerr, who collects this week's Big Disappointment Award.

One of my favorites decided to call it quits this week.  Louise Friberg writes a blog, which I discovered in the winter of 2007-08.  About two months after I started following her, Louise won the MasterCard Classic.  Her comeback from eleven ten shots down is the largest I have documented dating back to at least 2004.  She contended a couple of other times during the 2008 season but has since dropped off the leaderboard.  Having not made a cut all year and facing Q-School this fall, Friberg decided to pursue the instructional profession.  Other players have dabbled with blogs but none stuck with it as long nor did they post nearly as often as Louise.  Though the results on the course weren't always so great, she always kept a sunny outlook for her readers.  For that and her amazing victory in Mexico, I'll always remember Louise Friberg.  Good luck, Lollo! 

As I mentioned in the Arkansas Epilogue, a lot of players made good progress towards improving their status.  Starting with the Race For #80:

There is now an $8800 gap between #79 Jennifer Song (who made $5600 with a T55 this week) and #80 Haeji Kang (who missed the cut).  Jennifer did exactly what I said she needed to do to become a Lock but I just can't call her one yet.  If only two players pass her at Navistar, she falls out.  That's a tall order - there are now only three active players within $15,000 of her but if two of them were to finish in this week's Top 20 while Jennifer misses the cut...  Having one extra position to play with, I do still consider #78 Marcy Hart a Lock along with everybody above her.  This situation developed because a handful of players leaped forward to clinch Cat-1 status.  Belen Mozo (T5), Kris Tamulis (T10) and Reilley Rankin (T18) went from Sweating Bullets (and for Mozo, a much lesser position) to become assured of playing virtually any event they choose in 2012.  So the rundown in the Cat-1 race is now:

RELAXED:

#79 Jennifer Song (all but in).

NERVOUS:

#80 Haeji Kang, #81 Meaghan Francella, #82 Alison Walshe all suffered greatly by missing the cut.  They absolutely must make this week's cut to have any chance and even if they do, they will be fighting amongst themselves (along with a handful of other players) for only one spot.  Unless of course two or more of them are in contention for the victory on Sunday which will make Jennifer Song not quite as Relaxed.

SWEATING BULLETS:

There's a $3600 gap after Walshe so the next players in line are worse off than just "sweating".

BACK AGAINST THE WALL:

#84 Jin Young Pak finished T32 to give herself a bump up to this level.  A similar finish at Navistar might be enough to claim the final spot.  #85 Sarah Kemp missed the cut and now needs a Top 30 finish to have any chance.  #86 Lorie Kane (T69) and #87 Sarah Jane Smith (T48) both helped themselves a little last week but need much more at Navistar to make it.

NEED A MIRACLE:

These ladies are nearly $4000 behind Smith plus they have so many more players to pass, getting to #80 would be miraculous.  #88 Pernilla Lindberg needs a Top 20 to reach the target number of $62,000 and everybody below her needs more.  Grace Park, Silvia Cavalleri and Karin Sjodin missed the cut last week to fall to this level while Shi Hyun Ahn fell to here by not playing.

I have to adjust my target number for the Top 100 upward as #100 Stephanie Sherlock is already $1200 ahead of $34,000.  I'm moving it up to $37,000.  This leaves #98 Gwladys Nocera a couple thousand over so I still consider her and everybody above to be a Lock.  Lindberg (T32), Jessica Korda (T38) and Jane Park (T69) move into Lock territory.  Ilhee Lee (T16), Haru Nomura (T25) and Taylor Leon (T22) clinch as well, thanks to their fine performances in Arkansas.  Three players would have to pass Gwladys to knock her out and only six active players are within $10,000 of her so I'm reasonably comfortable listing her as a Lock.  As for the rest of players in the Race For #100:

RELAXED:

Nobody really.

NERVOUS:

#99 Na On Min finished T38, putting her just a few hundred dollars over the new target.  If she makes the Navistar cut, she can probably hold off having two players pass her.  If she MCs, she's just as likely doomed.  #100 Stephanie Sherlock missed the Arkansas cut and is less than $300 ahead of Michele Redman but Good News!  Redman retired last month.  Sherlock is $1600 ahead of #102 Stephanie Louden so if she can make the cut, her chances are decent.

SWEATING BULLETS:

#102 Louden didn't miss the cut (T69 at Arkansas) but didn't reach the target number, much less the revised target number.  She needs to finish in the Top 60 to have a chance.  #103 Ashli Bunch (T32) improved her position greatly but still needs $6800 (at least Top 40) to reach the new target.

BACK AGAINST THE WALL:

#105 Amelia Lewis made the Arkansas cut but a T61 wasn't enough to keep her from dropping a notch in these rankings.  She's almost $8000 short of the target so a Top 35 is needed this weekend.  #106 Yoo Kyeong Kim (I wish she had stuck with her "Lucy" moniker) and #107 Mariajo Uribe both missed the cut and probably need a Top 30 to have a chance.  #108 Laura Davies (DNS) and #109 Anna Grzebien (MC) are about $11,000 short of the target and probably need a Top 25.

NEED A MIRACLE:

#110 Minea Blomqvist, despite a T32 at Arkansas, is still in need of divine intervention as are those trailing her.  A Top 25 is definitely needed for Minea to secure Cat-11.  Moira Dunn, Giulia Sergas, Danah Bordner, Beth Bader, Jenny Suh, Samantha Richdale, Nicole Hage (all MCs) and Louise Stahle (DNS) have fallen into this category now.

DONE:

#104 Aree Song didn't play at Arkansas and isn't playing at Navistar.

In the Race For #125, my assumption that the target wouldn't go above $14,000 was blown away as #125 Maria Hernandez is already at $15,356.  Maria didn't play in Arkansas and isn't playing Navistar so she's all but certain to fall out.  The cutoff point moved up because of these results - #122 Jee Young Lee's T79, #123 Jennie Lee's T55 and #124 Christine Song's T38.  #126 Dori Carter (T69) fell out despite making the cut because Song passed her.  Dori (and everyone below her obviously) must make the cut this week.  #127 Janice Moodie fell out as well because she missed the Arkansas cut.  #128 Jennifer Rosales (75^th) made some money but needs to do it again.  #133 Dina Ammaccapane collected her best finish of the year (T38) but isn't there yet.  #141 Sara Brown was playing in Sunday's third-from-last group but shot a 76 to finish T48 and collect her first paycheck of the year.  It isn't likely that JY or Jennie Lee will fall out even if they miss the cut at Navistar but I believe Song must make the cut to be sure nobody passes her.  For example - if both Carter and Moodie make the cut, Christine will definitely fall out if she misses the cut.  A Top 60 finish by Rosales, Jean Reynolds or Jimin Jeong would also pass Song if she MCs.

The final Futures Tour event was played this past weekend in Albany, NY and the FT money list Top 10 secured status on the Big Tour for 2012.  Kathleen Ekey, Lisa Ferrero, Mo Martin, Sydnee Michaels and Jane Rah will have Category 9 status (around positions 90-95) while Tiffany Joh, Valentine Derrey, Hanna Kang, Jenny Gleason and Tzu-Chi Lin will play as Category 17 (around position 170).  Congrats to the Futures Tour graduates!

Navistar is the LPGA's 17^th event of 2011 and the final full-field tilt of the year.  Fortunately for the Tour's rank-and-file (and somewhat unfortunately for the fans, who'll be attending free of charge), quite a few of the top echelon players are taking the week off.  Oddly enough, only a couple of them (Catriona Matthew and Anna Nordqvist) are involved in next week's Solheim Cup so we can't blame that for the year's second-lowest Field Score.  The other absent headliners include Ai Miyazato, Jiyai Shin, Karrie Webb, Mika Miyazato and Shanshan Feng.  Kudos to Suzann Pettersen, Cristie Kerr, Stacy Lewis, Brittany Lincicome, Paula Creamer and the other Solheimers for being here just ahead of the long flight to Ireland.

The relatively thinner top side means more room for everybody else so the cutoff point to make the field fell to a very low point for the second straight week.  When your second and third alternates are retired players, you've gone a long way down the list.

I doubt we'll see another successful title defense this week (Yani Tseng has done it twice in the last four events), as Katherine Hull has really been struggling of late.  We're on a run of four straight victories by players who had already won this year - Tseng, Suzann Pettersen, Brittany Lincicome and Tseng again - and the one before that was taken by Ai Miyazato (already a multi-winner on Tour).  In fact - since Stacy Lewis won at Kraft Nabisco, So Yeon Ryu's U.S. Open victory has been the only first-timer win.  So what do you think?  Can Amy Yang rebound from her playoff loss in Arkansas to buck the recent trend and grab that first victory?

The injured Shin and the two Miyazatos are the only members of this week's 20 not in Prattville.

And the beat goes on...  Yani Tseng's fifth victory of 2011 was the tenth of her career.  She now has 16 Hall of Fame points, tying her with Cristie Kerr for second on the active unqualified list to Laura Davies' 25.  Arkansas was her second successful title defense in six weeks, having done the same at the Women's British Open in July.

Tseng began Sunday tied for the lead with Amy Yang at -9.  Amy jumped out early with birdies at 2 and 3.  Yani birdied 5 but gave it back at 6 to remain two behind.  Both players birdied 7 then Tseng birdied 9 from 25 feet to close the gap to one.  Three groups ahead, Paula Creamer had gone out in 31 to join Yani at -11 but she ran out of birdies - a 38 on the back nine relegated Paula to a T8 finish.  Rookie Belen Mozo got within two shots after birdies at 10 and 11 but an ill-advised attempt to go for the par-5 14^th in two (I'll elaborate shortly) turned into double bogey so Belen settled for T5.  At 11, Cristie Kerr curled a birdie putt in from the left edge and she made a great chip to set up birdie at 14, bringing her to within one at -11.  Cristie faltered at 17, missing the green and chipping poorly to leave a 15-footer for par that failed to drop.  Ai Miyazato made a fine late charge, holing a bunker shot at 14 for eagle and rolling in a 25-footer for birdie at 15 to reach -11.  But Ai too faltered at 17, missing a par putt from about eight feet.

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Thanks to linkage provided by Life On Tour, we now know why Jiyai Shin isn't in Arkansas this week:

Shin, 23, was hospitalised in Seoul on Monday with severe back pain and cancelled all her scheduled competitions for the rest of September, SEMA Sports Marketing said in a statement.

"She is suffering from pain in the back and the right big toe... she has to be treated for three weeks," the statement quoted her doctor as saying.

The article goes on to erroneously list the Solheim Cup as one of the events Shin was forced to withdraw from but Golf365 confirms the injury.