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Two wins before October. A crushing loss to Europe in the Solheim Cup. Three players in the top 10 in the world, and only one in the top five.
The year-to-year, ongoing saga of where Americans stand on the LPGA Tour against the rest of the world appears to be in another downturn.
Does it really matter?
Maybe not to the tour itself, which has successfully marketed itself as a global tour and tapped into the Asian market, which continues to grow rapidly. Maybe not to the players that much. Golf’s an individual sport anyway, and many tour players are happy to have friends on the tour from other countries.
“It matters to the tour in the aspect of people watching and your sponsors,” said former world No. 1 Stacy Lewis. “Your American players that are the ones that sell a little easier. On our side, for the players, we don’t care. I don’t see those other players as being Koreans or Japanese. They’re just people I want to beat.”
So it comes down to the American fans, the TV audience when an abundance of tournaments still are played on U.S. soil, and the sponsors that also still skew toward being based in the U.S., even though the fact that many are involved in a global economic market may make that less of a factor.
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“Us Americans, we’re just trying to do our best,” said Lexi Thompson, who has been one of the top Americans on tour for a few years. “It’s not like we come together and we’re like, ‘Hey, we got to play well this week.’ No. We’re all bringing the talent to the table. It is a global tour, so we come from so many different countries all over the world.
“It’s great to see the talent level out here, and it’s just getting better and better.”
There are players from 30 countries on the tour, and the tour plays in 12 countries. As Lewis pointed out, the PGA Tour doesn’t have that — at least not every week.
“We’re playing with the best players in the world, every single week,” she said. “There’s no other tour on this planet that does that. Until the PGA Tour does that, I think you can’t compare it to the PGA Tour. You can’t compare it to any other tour in the world.”
“Every market that they go to there is someone that people want to root for,” Golf Channel analyst Karen Stupples said. “That’s huge in terms of where they are placed in the marketplace.”
“Probably the real true golf fans have less of an issue with it because they can watch and admire the skill of people and the competition,” Golf Channel analyst Judy Rankin said. “But it hurts with the casual fan. There is no doubt about it.”
Thompson, just 24, is the name Americans most associate with women’s golf. And she had what she says is a successful year, with a victory and six other top-10 finishes. It’s the seventh straight year that Thompson has had at least one tour win.
Still, the media, fans and others expected more, but that can pretty much be said every year.
“It’s definitely tough,” said Thompson, who won her only major title five years ago. “I’ve gotten better with it over the years. It’s especially tough when you come out here at 15 and accomplish what I have in the first few years. And with what I’ve done, to not get the expectations from the outside and have that affect you in some way.
“But I think overall in the last few years, I’ve just kind of taken it in, but at the same time, I’m going to do me. I’m going to just try my best, and I can’t let the outside world get involved with my life.”
Nelly Korda, whose older sister Jessica also is a top player on the tour, has started to break through with two victories – she was one of three Americans to win in October – and is the top-ranked American at No. 3 in the world. The 21-year went 3-0-1 at the Solheim Cup, too.
“Playing with my sister at Solheim Cup, that was really special,” Korda said. “I’m going to look back to that moment for the rest of my career and life, actually.”
But it won’t be a moment that includes the win. Europe won the final three singles matches to pull out the victory in September.
As for the tour, not surprisingly, Asian players are remaining the dominant force.
Jin Young Ko of South Korea already has sewn up Player of the Year, won two majors this year, and is No. 1 in the world. Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand finished No. 1 last year, when there was just one American, Danielle Kang, in the top 10. South Koreans So Yeon Ryu and Sung Hyun Park tied for it in 2017 when Thompson tied for third.
No American has finished the year No. 1 since Lewis in 2014.
“It’s a cool accomplishment to be the highest-ranked American, but definitely my No. 1 goal as a professional golfer is to be the No. 1 golfer in the world,” Korda said. “I’ve been getting a lot of messages from little girls saying that I inspire them to take up the game of golf, so that’s really something that, you know, makes me happy.”
So did proving to herself that she could continue to win out on the tour.
“I think that I’ve learned that I can compete with a lot of these girls. I can win multiple times,” she said. “With the work I’ve put in, I’m just happy to see that it’s finally paying off.”
With Korda’s second win, Americans finished with five victories, including one from a relative unknown (Cheyenne Knight) and Danielle Kang, who also was on the U.S. Solheim Cup team.
Three American rookies — Knight, Jennifer Kupcho and Kristen Gillman — also finished in the top 60 to qualify for the CME Group Tour Championship.
So there are Americans coming up to bridge the gap as several thirtysomethings try to regain form. That includes Lewis, who coming off a rib injury this week, Paula Creamer, who has struggled since undergoing wrist surgery two years ago; Morgan Pressel, who finished 33rd on the money list, her best since 2015; Brittany Lincicome, who missed most of the year after having a baby in July; and perhaps most notably Michelle Wie, who took the last half of the year off due to lingering problems with her right wrist.
Ironically, two of Korda’s three career wins have been in Asia and at the same tournament.
“I think in little increments, Nelly Korda just keeps coming along,” Rankin said. “I mean, she’s already a star, but she’s just got all the qualities to be among the very top players in the world and the game.”
Korda also defended her title at the Swinging Skirts LPGA in Taiwan last month and did so at a different course.
“It was my first time ever defending, so it was definitely a type of pressure that I’ve never felt before,” she said. “I really liked it. I mean, the fans in Taiwan were great. I had so much fun that week. It was just a dream of a week, and to have my sister there.
“… Seeing my face on all the billboards, it was just a cool experience. You want to defend. You want to play well because you see all the fans chanting your name and telling you, ‘Again, again.’ So obviously it’s a good type of pressure.”
It’s also a type of pressure Korda has learned to deal during a professional career that began in 2016 on the Symetra Tour.”I definitely feel a bit more grown up, more mature,” she said. “Kind of learned from my mistakes as a golfer, anything really.
“But, yeah, I would say I’m a bit more mature. I’m a bit more mature as a person for sure. Being out here you definitely have to mature to succeed.”
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