My field rating for this Major Championship is 83.5%. Down slightly from 85.5% last year.
My breakdown is 80% from the LPGA Priority List and 87% from the Rolex Rankings.
Make no mistake about it, all the star players are here.
It is very unusual for my Rolex Ranking to be higher than the LPGA Priority list. That is because there are twelve players that will be teeing it up that are in the top 100 of the Rolex Rankings, but are not LPGA members. Those players are:
1- Jiyai Shin #29 in Rolex Rankings.
2- Youmin Hwang (#46)
3- Sakura Koiwai (#50)
4- Dasom Ma (57)
5- Su Ji Kim (#58)
6- Hyunjo Yoo (59)
7- Yui Kawamoto (67)
8- Shiho Kuwaki (#70)
9- Chiara Tamburlini (#73)
10- Seunqhui Ro (#79)
11- Ai Suzuki (#82)
12- Sohyun Bae (#87)
As you can see, the above players really strengthen the Rolex Ranking side of the field.
Other Stuff:
Chisato Iwai's win in Mexico was the third rookie to win on the LPGA Tour this year. She joins Rio Takeda and Ingrid Lindblad.
Chisato became the fifth player this year to register their first victory as a member of the LPGA. She joins Rio Takeda, Ingrid Lindblad, Yealimi Noh, and Mao Saigo.
Chisato's victory was the third for a player from Japan. Japan now joins Korea as the only countries with three victories. The USA's runner up finish last week in Mexico was their 5th this year (they have two wins).
In the Louise Suggs Rookie of the Year Race:
Rio Takeda continues to lead with 472 points. Chisato Iwai jumps into the runner-up position with 304 points. They are followed by Miyu Yamashita (300) and Ikai Iwai (213), making it a clean sweep of the top four by players from Japan.
With the weak playing field in Mexico last week, there was very little movement by LPGA players in the Rolex Rankings:
Chisato Iwai made the most important move, springing up from 45 to 37.
Weiwei Zhang Rises from 94 to 88.
There were some huge moves outside the top 100:
Jenny Bae blasts her way up from 222 to 142.
Haeji Kang rebounds from 511 to 219.
Brianna Do Skyrockets from 840 to 605.
