How Are My Predictions Holding Up?

The very first blog post on this site was my 5 Bold LPGA Predictions, which I assumed was going to make me look foolish by the end of the year. So, am I looking foolish? Let's take a look. First, we'll start with the minor predictions that I didn't go into detail with:

- Se Ri Pak will win the HanaBank Championship- The Hana Bank Championship isn't until October, so we have a long way to go before we know the outcome of this one.

- Lydia Ko won't win on the LPGA Tour, but will still be Rookie Of The Year - So far, so good on this one, as Ko has a commanding lead in the ROY standings but has yet to win this season.

- The five majors will have five different champions - We're only one major into the season, so we won't know until much later. 

- Eun-Hee Ji will win before Yani Tseng - Neither player has won, and neither seem close to winning, either.

With the small ones out of the way, let's take a look at the five bold predictions I made prior to the start of the LPGA season, and see where we stand. 

5) Lexi Thompson Will Win A Major

Verdict: SUCCESS! Even I admitted, however, that this wasn't as much of a bold prediction as I'd like to pretend. Thompson was entering this season in tremendous form, so to say that she was going to win a major wasn't really that odd. I will say, however, that I expected it to be the LPGA Championship, and not the Kraft Nabisco, which makes my prediction of five different major champions at risk of being failed. There are a lot of great players out there playing lights out golf right now, but Thompson may be playing the best of them all, and can easily win another major before the season is over.

4) Beatriz Recari Will Win The Most Tournaments By A European Player

Verdict: We won't know until the end of the season for sure, but I'm calling this a FAILURE. A lot of factors are going against this one right now. One of them is Recari's struggles with her form and some injury issues which has caused her to struggle to make cuts this season. Another is Sweden's Anna Nordqvist, who has won twice this season already. In order for this to come true, Recari will have to return to form and win three times without Nordqvist winning again or any other European player getting hot. That's a lot to ask right now, but the Asian swing at the end of the year can yield some interesting results. For now, though, it's not looking good.

3) The Player Of The Year Will NOT Come From The Big Three

Verdict: Still undermined, but It's Looking Good. While Stacy Lewis and Inbee Park are playing well this season, neither have won yet, and players like Anna Nordqvist, Karrie Webb, Lexi Thompson, and Michelle Wie are playing at the highest level right now. This could easily change if Inbee or Lewis win, but right now they are both trailing. Suzann Pettersen has been sidelined with a back injury, and given her form prior to the injury, I doubt we'll be seeing her in the conversation. 

2) So Yeon Ryu Will Be The Top Ranked Korean

Verdict: There hasn't been a single winner from Korea yet this season, but given how Inbee Park has played, I'm going to call this a FAILURE. A win can easily change this verdict, but Ryu seems to be going in the opposite direction - when she was notching top 10's a year ago, she was in the middle of the conversation on Sunday before finding a way to lose. It seems, however, that her top 10's this year have been backdoor - top finishes without really contending. Is Ryu wants to pass Park and make this prediction a success, she will HAVE to win. It doesn't appear as if Park will start struggling anytime soon.

1) Michelle Wie Will Win In 2014

Verdict: SUCCESS! This prediction looked crazier before the first event tee'd off then it did prior to Wie's victory in Hawaii, where she was in top form. Wie had a couple of good tournaments down the stretch in 2013, but nothing spectacular, while her 2014 performances have all been great, never finishing outside the top 25 in any tournament she's played this season. If I knew Wie would be playing this well, I would have predicted she would win several times this season, and make a run for Player Of The Year. That would have been an incredibly bold prediction. As it is, Wie is playing as good as anyone on Tour right now.

I must say, I'm not doing bad for myself so far this season. We are only a forth of the way into it, so there is plenty of time for several of these predictions to turn bad, but as it stands right now, I feel confident. I think I'm starting to get the hang of this golf analyst stuff.