If the PGA Tour is the crust of the pie that is the LLLLet's Golf Blog, then the LPGA is the gooey goodness on the inside. I follow the PGA Tour ever week, but not nearly in as much depth as I follow the LPGA Tour. Last year, one of my first blog posts was my bold predictions for the 2014 season and I did relatively decently, so let's see if I can build on that success.
If I were a betting man, I wouldn't bet on it. Here are my five bold predictions for the 2015 LPGA season.
5) Lydia Ko Will Win A Major.
- I predicted Lexi Thompson would win a major last year, and she came through for me, so I'm going to go ahead and say that the trend of young major winners will continue and Lydia Ko walks away with one of the big ones next year. Yes, I know that predicting the third ranked player in the world who won three times last year to win a major isn't necessarily "bold", but in doing so, I am also predicting that the record for youngest major winner will be broken in the process. Predicting record breaking performances, no matter what the record may be, is difficult. Still, this is likely the easiest pick I make in this entire post.
4) Morgan Pressel Will Win In 2015.
- This is similar to my prediction last year of Michelle Wie winning. Every year, we seem to have a comeback from a player who hasn't won in a while, and given how Pressel seemed to have started to turn her game around at the end of the season, I think she will be the next to break out of her winless slump and hoist a trophy. Do I think Pressel will have a Michelle Wie-esque season where she wins a major and becomes one of the best players in the world. No, but I do expect the Solheim Cup to motivate her to get back to the winner's circle and begin a run of consistent play. Speaking of the Solheim Cup...
3) The United States Will Win The Solheim Cup.
- After getting absolutely crushed two years ago on home soil, Team USA turned to Juli Inkster to lead the Solheim Cup squad, which has lost the last two matches, into hostile territory. Fortunately for Team USA, they are entering with a much better team, and they will be playing against a European squad that has struggled mightily. Anna Nordqvist was the only European player to win on the LPGA Tour last season. Stalwarts like Caroline Hedwall, Beatriz Recari, and Carlota Ciganda, all who played great in the event two years ago, may not even make the team this year. Meanwhile, on Team USA, you have players like Michelle Wie and Lexi Thompson coming off of big years. I understand that the Solheim Cup is a different animal, and that Team Europe has won as underdogs in the past, but this is not a case of Team USA looking back the Europeans and not taking them seriously. They are going to enter this match hungry and angry, and they will take down the Euros 15.5-12.5
2) Michelle Wie Will Be The Top Ranked American.
- Judging by what I saw last year, if Michelle Wie is healthy all season, there is no reason to think she can't win three or four times in a season. On the flipside, while Stacy Lewis looked to be the best golfer ever for a stretch of time last season, she began to tail off as the Asian Swing began. I don't think Lewis starts pulling a Yani Tseng and begins to completely fade, but I think we're starting to see the end of the Stacy Lewis era on the LPGA Tour, while Michelle Wie is entering her prime. If Lewis wins twice next season, it will not be enough for her to maintain her position in the top three in the world. There are too many great players and not enough tournaments, and if players are going to start to rise, then somebody has to fall. Lewis will have to make some room.
1) The Player Of The Year And Rookie Of The Year Will Be The Same Person.
- The last time a rookie was named the LPGA Player Of The Year was Nancy Lopez in 1978. That streak ends this year, as Hyo Joo Kim joins the LPGA Tour and takes it by storm, winning her second major title along with two other tournaments to walk away with the incredibly rare double. To be fair, Lydia Ko did come close last year, and was only eliminated from contention two weeks before the season ended. Kim is as poised of a rookie as we've ever seen on the LPGA Tour, and the average golf audience will soon begin to see Kim's talent as she shows off in the US.
I think #2 and #5 will happen. 3 and 4 could happen. 1 won't happen.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your predictions I enjoyed reading them.
ReplyDeleteI think #5 is a bold prediction. I do like the prediction. I think Pressel's "youngest to win a major" record will remain intact next season.
I agree with the #3 prediction. Wie's play on Sunday in Korea was impressive. I don't believe that Lewis's high level of performance will decrease. Wie called Lewis's consistency "deadly," and it sure has been the past couple of seasons.
Other than #5, I think #1 is a bold prediction. The 2015 rookie class is outstanding. I believe two or three rookies will be in the hunt for the POY title by the end of the season, but Wie, Lewis, I. Park or Ryu will probably rack up more points and take POY.
The full-field events will be extremely competitive. LPGA released the priority list for its second event in 2015. It's been updated at least once today. Feng, Jang, Shon, and Koelbaek have moved up from the alternates section. Hyo-joo Kim is not in the field, so it makes me think that she is still committed to playing two tours.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:N-hr3yeWZBAJ:www.lpga.com/~/media/ddc53efbfa2e4923a55d02c86a977c0c/2015%2520pure%2520silk%2520bahamas%2520lpga%2520classic%2520priority%2520list.pdf+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
Bahamas field only has 111 players. Four players with medical extensions are in the field: Gleason, Ferrero, Elizabeth, and S.H. Lee, while Soobin Kim, Yokomine, Popov, and Ju Young Park are currently in the alternates section.
I appreciate all the feedback. Of course, I never expected everyone to agree on these predictions - in fact, if you did, then I clearly wasn't bold enough. From what I can gather, most people tend to agree on my Michelle Wie pick, which is interesting - I figured that was one of my boldest predictions.
ReplyDeleteInteresting predictions. My take is this:
ReplyDelete1. Stacy Lewis is going to play as she has done in the past. She's not going to go away.
2. Wei is also going to step up her game and duel stacy throughout the season.
3. Lexi and Lydia will form a rivalry.
4. Stacy edges Wei for a second straight Player of the Year Award.
5. UCLA's Alison Lee will win Rookie of the Year.
6. I don't think U.S is at the level to win a team event.