Women’s Golf: 10 to Watch in 2016
These 10 players have the potential to shake up the women’s golf status quo in 2016.
We’re going into the 2016 season anticipating a year-long battle for the top of the Rolex Rankings between Lydia Ko and Inbee Park, two of this generation’s finest women golfers.
Yet Lydia Ko and Inbee Park will not be the only players on the field this year. Stacy Lewis, who’s been sitting on the 3rd spot in the rankings for just about a year, is trailing Ko by almost 150 points and Lexi Thompson, who notched two wins in 2015, is sitting in the 4th slot.
If Lewis can find her winning game and if Thompson carries her strong 2015 game into 2016 they’re both poised to challenge Ko and Inbee Park. With the drop of a few putts a two-horse race could turn into a four-horse race at the top of the rankings.
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But if we stay myopically focussed on the battle at the top of the rankings we’re going to miss some splendid golf. Ours is an unusual sport. At every level of performance and without exception, those of us who play the game of golf lose more rounds than we win. Additionally, a round can turn from good to bad on a single shot gone stray that then sets up a catastrophic cascade of disasters. Putters go hot and cold without reason or explanation.
The best golfers at every level of the game accept these vagaries of fortune, are quick to forget the bad bounce and to seize any opportunity good luck sends their way.
To be sure, in any given round at any given tournament there will be favorites, but there will also be challengers; and beyond the challengers there’s a huge pool of fine athletes in women’s golf, plying their trade and waiting patiently for that moment of opportunity – the fortunate bounce.
Let’s take a closer look at ten of these likely challengers who’ll be playing LPGA and LET events in 2016. Some are familiar faces, others relatively unknown newcomers, but all have the potential to deliver a winning game. Together they promise to infuse women’s golf with considerable excitement, and some of them will probably hoist a trophy this year.
Next: #10: Gabby Lopez