My field rating for this event is 35.5%, down from 39.5% last year.
My breakdown is 39% from the LPGA Priority List and 32% from the Rolex World Rankings.
Top ten players teeing it up this week:
Nelly Korda #1
Jeeno Thitikul #2
Maja Stark #6
Mao Saigo #10
Top ten players skipping the event this week:
Lydia Ko #3
Ruoning Yin #4
Haeran Ryu #5
Lilia Vu #7
Hannah Green #8
Hyo Joo Kim #9
The Monday local qualifiers are:
Joanna Coe (-3)
Gabriella Then (even par)
Other Stuff:
Jeeno Thitikul and Mi Hyang Lee both missed the cut at the US Women's Open last week, they both had made their last 16 cuts. Sarah Schmelzel currently leads the tour as she has made 22 straight.
Rio Takeda's top ten finish last week was her 6th of the year, tying Jeeno Thitikul for the LPGA lead.
Maja Stark's victory was the third for a player from Sweden this year, tying Japan and Korea for most wins. Nelly Korda's 2nd place finish was the 6th runner-up finish for the USA this year. The USA has 2 wins.
In the Louise Suggs Rookie of the Year Race:
Rio Takeda continues to widen her lead with 632 points. She is followed by Chisato Iwai (360) and Miyu Yamashita (328). Akie Awai (223) and Ingrid Lindblad (216) round out the top five.This is certainly turned out to be one of the strongest rookie crops in LPGA history.
In the Race for the Vare Trophy (and Hall of Fame point): Nelly Korda leads with a stroke average of 69.14. She is followed by Jeeno Thitikul (69.20), Yealimi Noh (69.53), Angel Yin (69.63), and Jin Young Ko (69.93).
As is always the case after a major championship (with all those ranking points up for grabs), there was plenty of movement by LPGA players in the Rolex Rankings this week:
Nelly Korda's 2nd place finish, coupled with Jeeno Thitikul's missed cut, has Nelly way out in front again in the top position. Nelly has now been Number one for 100 weeks in her career, making her just the 6th player in history to accomplish this.
Nelly is just six weeks away from passing Inbee Park (106 weeks) and nine weeks away from passing Yani Tseng (109 weeks) and moving into 4th place on the all-time list. It would get much tougher after that as Lydia Ko (125) is in 3rd place.
Maja Stark makes the most important move this week, slamming her way up from 33 to 6.
Mao Saigo also moves into the top ten, rising from 13 to 10. Jin Young Ko and Lauren Coughlin drop out of the top ten this week.
Hye-Jin Choi surges up from 45 to 28.
Linn Grant Climbs from 39 to 33.
Sarah Schmelzel, once again makes this list, improving from 52 to 46.
Hinako Shibuno powers her way up from 86 to 67. Narin An and Jenny Shin fall out of the top 75, reducing their value in my future field ratings.
Auston Kim moves into the top 100 and my field rating, springing up from 110 to 100.
There were also some big moves outside the top 100 by LPGA players:
Saki Baba hurdles up from 191 to 168.
Aline Krauter blasts her way up from 253 to 224.
Jing Yang explodes up from 357 to 254.
Julio Lopez Ramirez rockets her way up from 440 to 280.