Sunday, June 14, 2015

Queen Bee Returns To Her Throne

- There have been other contenders that have challenged her over the past couple of seasons, but make no mistake about it - Inbee Park is the best ladies golfer in the world, and it might not even be close. Her success is almost boring in a way, as it has become incredibly predictable and she wins without a lot of flair. She is incredibly consistent and wins majors while all others struggle to close on the weekend. This is Inbee's Tour. Good luck to anyone trying to chase her.

- A birdie on the 18th stood between me and an almost perfect prediction. I expect a written apology, Inbee.

- With this victory, Inbee now has six LPGA major championships, which is one more than Hall of Famer Se Ri Pak. It may now be time to start wondering if Inbee is the best Korean golfer of all time. The argument against her would be that Pak was able to stretch out her career and win for a longer period of time. On the flip side, Pak was never as dominant of a player as Inbee is right now. The argument can go either way, but the one thing Inbee has on her side is time. As long as she keeps playing well, she could surpass Pak's number of victories and end the conversation herself.

- When Lydia Ko took over as the number one player in the Rolex Rankings, I predicted that she would hold that position for a very long time, and that Ko would begin to dominate the Tour. I was wrong, and it was foolish of me to expect such a dominance at such a young age. The reality is, Ko has never dealt with the hardships of struggling, as she dominated the amateur ranks pretty quickly and took over the LPGA Tour at the age of 17. Inbee, on the other hand, quickly won the US Open, but then struggled for several years before emerging as Queen Bee. Lydia will have her struggles, but anyone who writes her off would be insane. After all, this was only her first missed cut...ever.

- People will look at Sei Young Kim as someone who missed an opportunity to win two majors, but not all second place finishes are alike. At the ANA Inspiration, Kim could not handle the pressure and folded on Sunday, while at the Women's PGA Championship, Kim had a front row seat to Inbee's victory lap. Sure, there were a few shaky moments for Kim, but there were shaky moments on Sunday for everyone not named Inbee, and yet she held her ground and finished in second place. She will be a major champion very soon. Her skills are off the charts good.

- Lexi Thompson and Brittany Lincicome are incredibly similar. Both are big hitters from the United States that only show up during major championships. Since winning the ANA Inspiration, both players have been pretty quiet, only showing up with the brights of lights are shining on them. That's impressive, but I would like to see both of them win a couple more regular events.

- All of the conversation this week will likely be about Brooke Henderson, and I can't say I blame her. A young kid with no status on Tour playing incredibly well with the exemptions they are given to eventually earn a spot on Tour and be declared the future of the sport? Sounds like a certain Texan who put on a green jacket back in April.

- Fabian Gomez may have just now accepted the mantle of the most anonymous winner on the PGA Tour this season. At 288 in the world, Gomez isn't the highest ranked of all the winners, but there is very little knowledge about the man from Argentina. Even writing about him his difficult. He isn't a player that has been around for a long time and was finally able to notch his first victory, nor is he a young up and coming superstar in his early 20's looking to take over the Tour. Gomez is just kind of around, though now he'll just kind of be around the ground of Augusta National next year, and he doesn't have to apologize to anyone for that.

- Phil Mickelson's final round 65 and T3 finish in Memphis is just enough to get all the attention turned back onto Lefty heading into the US Open as he tries to complete the career grand slam. Personally, I don't think he has much of a chance to win, but he is Phil - the moment you think he's out, he surprises you.

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