It was a very quiet week for our leading golfers, male and female. Only Ryan Fox and Steve Alker were plying their respective trades last week. Regulars Daniel Hillier and Sam Jones skipped the French Open on the DP World Tour and Lydia Ko had another week off, extending her current break to three full weeks since her last appearance on the LPGA Tour where she won the Kruger Open back on September 23.
Lydia however, by all accounts, will return to the action this week when the Ladies PGA Tour stops by her country of birth, South Korea, for the BMW Ladies Championship.
There are just six tournaments left on the LPGA schedule for 2024, culminating in the US$11 million CME Globe Tour Championship beginning on November 23. So, there is an awful lot of money up for grabs over the next five weeks for the world’s leading female golfers. If Lydia were to win in her home country this week, she would leap from 5th on this year’s money list to second behind Nelly Korda. These two have been far and away the two dominant players in women’s golf in 2024 (9 wins between them). Yet if you look at their individual statistics for 2024 you might question that assertion of dominance. Neither, for example, is among the really big hitters in women’s golf.
In fact, distance off the tee Lydia doesn’t even rank in the top 100. Currently she stands at 110th with an average drive this year of 255 yards. Korda, with an average drive of 269 yards, comes in only at 25th place.
But who was it that said in golf, “you drive for show and putt for dough”. Lydia Ko absolutely personifies that observation. Currently she is the 8th best putter on the LPGA Tour this year, averaging 29 putts per round, less than half a putt per round behind leader Danielle Kang of the USA.
With wins in her last three starts Lydia will start this week as favorite as she seeks her 4th win of the season. It is certainly a golden run she’s having of late. She has now finished in the top ten in her last five starts which include those three wins.
Meanwhile to the blokes on tour.
Ryan Fox began the Black Desert Championship in Utah with a reminder to us all of just how good this guy is when he is on form. He recorded a 5 under par 65 off the back of two bogeys in his opening three holes. Then, the fox did truly get on the run, reeling off 7 birdies in his last 15 holes. Unfortunately, Foxy couldn’t maintain that super low scoring pace over the ensuing three days as he went 72, 68, 70 to finish in a tie for 46th place, all of which has left him in 102nd place on the FedEx Cup points table. In order to retain his playing card for the USPGA Tour next year he has to finish the year inside the top 125 at year’s end which would seem he’s likely to do.
Meanwhile Steve Alker on the Champions Tour finished in a tie for 5th place in the SAS Championship. As if yet again to underline his remarkable consistency Steve recorded only 2 bogeys from his 3 rounds and lifted his money winnings this year to US$2.1 million dollars to remain second on the money list and second on the Charles Schwab Cup list.
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