Major Blues

By Ron Sirak
Photos By Getty Images June 20, 2008

Here are a couple of trivia questions whose answers are at best puzzling and at worst disturbing, depending on your perspective. Who was the last American to be the LPGA Player of the Year? And who was the last American to top the tour's money list?

The answer to the first is Beth Daniel in 1994, and to the latter the proper response is Betsy King in 1993. That either says a lot about the development of women's golf around the world, or it serves as an ominous signal about the health of the women's game in the United States. Most likely it's a bit of both.

And what better time to discuss the matter than as we head into the U.S. Women's Open which begins June 26 at Interlachen Country Club in Edina, Minn. Cristie Kerr, an American, is the defending champion, and Paula Creamer, who sports red, white and blue as well as her trademark pink, are among the favorites to win. But most of the contenders at Interlachen come from countries far from the Mall of America.

The first two majors of the year were won by Lorena Ochoa of Mexico, who took the Kraft Nabisco Championship in a romp, and Yani Tseng, the 19-year-old rookie from Taiwan, winner of the McDonald's LPGA Championship in a playoff with Maria Hjorth of Sweden. With their victories, non-Americans have now won 24 of the last 30 LPGA major championships.

The good news coming into Interlachen is that of the six majors Americans have won since the beginning of the 2001 season, four have been in the U.S. Open. Non-Americans have won the last eight LPGA Championships, seven of the last eight Kraft Nabiscos, and six of the last seven Ricoh Women's British Opens. That's bodes well for Creamer, who is looking for her first major and, with accuracy off the tee and a sure putter as her strong suits, has a perfect U.S. Open-style game.

The clear favorite, however, has to be Ochoa, who already has six victories in 2008. A close second is Annika Sorenstam, victorious three times this year, second to Ochoa in the Kraft Nabisco, albeit by five strokes, and along with Ochoa one stroke out of the playoff in the McDonald's. Tseng, a significant talent, has more majors in her future and it is only a matter of time before other rookie, Na Yeon Choi of Korea, picks off one of the big ones.

But before we finishing handicapping this year's tournament, let's go back into some historical numbers and try to figure out what they mean.

• From 1950 through 1993 when Betsy King topped the list, 43 of the 44 money leaders on the LPGA were Americans, with the lone exception being Ayako Okamoto in 1987. There have been none since

• The Player of the Year award was first given out in 1966 and up through its presentation to Beth Daniel in 1994, Okamoto was the only non-American to win. No American has won the award since Daniel.

• Every scoring title was won by an American until Sorenstam captured the honor in 1995. No American has won since.

• Beginning in 1987, 15 of the last 20 Rookie of the Year winners were born outside the United States, with Creamer (2005), Beth Bauer (2002), Dorothy Delasin (2000), Pat Hurst (1995) and Brandie Burton (1991) the exceptions.

• Creamer (3) and Laura Diaz (15) are the only Americans among the top-15 on this year's money list and player-of-the-year standings. Taylor Leon (9) and Amie Cochran (T-13) are the only Americans among the top-15 in rookie-of-the-year points.