2014 LPGA Tour Year In Review
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Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - The 2014 LPGA Tour season has come and gone, but not before it left behind an incredible number of storylines that should continue to develop heading into the 2015 campaign.
Stacy Lewis and Inbee Park continued to dominate the LPGA circuit, while a new face in Lydia Ko turned professional and absolutely took the women's golf world by storm. The trio of Lewis, Park and Ko combined for nine wins, 33 top-5 finishes and 50 top-10 finishes on the season.
Still, there was a lot more parity in the five major championships compared to a season ago. While Park took home the first three major titles in 2013, all five were won by different players in 2014.
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Michelle Wie had a breakthrough season that was headlined by her first career major championship victory when she defeated Lewis by two shots at the U.S. Women's Open. Wie also picked up one other win at the LPGA LOTTE Championship, making it a total of four for her career.
While some names remained in the spotlight for another year, numerous names emerged, making the future rather bright for the LPGA Tour.
Now let's see who did what in 2014:
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PLAYER OF THE YEAR -- STACY LEWIS
This was far from the easiest choice to make as the seasons Park and Ko put together were just as impressive, but despite not winning a major championship in 2014, Stacy Lewis added to her already loaded resume.
Lewis dominated the middle of the LPGA schedule this past year and was a model of consistency throughout the season. While Lewis did not win in her first eight events, she notched seven top-10 finishes, including three runner-ups.
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In her ninth event, Lewis finally broke through with a win at the North Texas LPGA Shootout. Lewis finished the week with three straight rounds in the 60s, including 7-under 64s in the second and final rounds, to earn a 6-shot win over Meena Lee at 16-under-par 268.
Three events later, Lewis grabbed her second win at the ShopRite LPGA Classic, which was a 54-hole event. Lewis fired a sub-70 round all three days and again won by six shots at 16-under 197, this time over Christina Kim.
Following a tie for sixth and a runner-up finish at the U.S. Women's Open, Lewis got back to her winning ways at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, also a 54-hole event. Lewis carded rounds of 70-66-65 to outlast Ko, Cristie Kerr and Angela Stanford to win by a shot at 12-under 201.
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Lewis picked up three wins in her first 15 events, but she did not finish atop the leaderboard in any of the final 13. Still, Lewis did grab five top-10 finishes, including two runner-ups, over that final stretch.
Lewis played in 28 events in 2014 and did not miss a single cut. She had 11 top-5 finishes and 18 top-10 finishes. Lewis ended as the solo runner-up five times and also tied for second once.
At the conclusion of the season following the CME Group Tour Championship, Lewis had officially won the Rolex Player of the Year, the Vare Trophy (lowest scoring average) and the season money title.
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Lewis won the Vare Trophy for the second straight year with a scoring average of 69.48. Her total of $2,539,039 were the highest earnings on tour as well. Lewis became the first American since Betsy King in 1993 to win Rolex Player of the Year, the Vare Trophy and the official money title in the same season.
Park and Ko were also highly considered for the 2014 Player of the Year.
TOURNAMENT OF THE YEAR -- U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP
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Michelle Wie had started to pick up a head of steam at the start of the 2014 season as she secured her third career victory at the LPGA LOTTE Championship, but something was still missing from her resume: A major championship win.
A week after Martin Kaymer ran away with the U.S. Open Championship at Pinehurst No. 2, Wie and the world's best on the women's circuit headed to North Carolina for the U.S. Women's Open Championship.
A huge birdie putt on No. 17 followed by a par on 18 helped Wie hold off Lewis by two shots to win her first major title. Wie carded an even-par 70 in Sunday's final round and she was the only player to finish under par for the week at 2-under 278.
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Wie entered the final round tied for the lead with Amy Yang, but both of them tripped to bogeys on the first and Yang made double-bogey on No. 2 to fall back two shots and she never recovered. Wie steadied the ship and made eight straight pars to finish her front nine at 1-over for the day.
Six groups ahead of Wie was Lewis, who began with six straight pars before draining a trio of birdies from eight. Lewis then made another gain on No. 13, getting her to even par and one shot back of Wie.
A poor tee shot led to a bogey on No. 14 for Lewis and Wie got to 3-under with a 9-foot eagle putt on the par-5 10th, putting her up by four shots. Another bogey on 16 had Lewis reeling, but back-to-back birdies on 17 and 18 put the pressure on Wie as Lewis was back to even par.
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Still up by three after five straight pars from 11, Wie did not make things easy on herself as she made a mess of No. 16 and had to settle for a double- bogey. Just like that Wie only had a 1-shot lead yet again.
After her approach on 17 found the green about 18 feet from the hole, Wie made the putt of the tournament. When her ball found the center of the cup, Wie gave a huge fist pump as her lead was back up to two with one hole to play.
Wie calmly two-putted for her par at the last to claim her first major championship.
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Not only was this Wie's first major title, but it was also her first career win on mainland United States as her other three victories came in Canada, Mexico and her native Hawaii.
ROOKIE OF YEAR -- LYDIA KO
There is no surprise here as Lydia Ko put together one of the greatest rookie seasons in history after turning pro at the beginning of the 2014 campaign.
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Ko, who secured two victories as an amateur, received permission to turn pro in 2014 and she did not disappoint.
In her first eight events of the season, Ko came close to earning her first professional victory multiple times with three top-10 finishes including a tie for second at the JTBC Founders Cup.
Ko finally broke through with her first professional win and third overall with a 1-shot victory over Lewis at the Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic.
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It only got better from there for Ko as she went on to win by one shot over So Yeon Ryu at the Marathon Classic seven events later.
Ko also finished the 2014 season on fire as she ended in the top 10 in each of her final four events including a win at the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship, where she outlasted Carlota Ciganda and Julieta Granada in a playoff.
The 17-year-old also won the season-long Race to the CME Globe and the $1 million prize with her fifth career victory on the LPGA Tour. Her incredible season is why Ko easily won LPGA Rookie of the Year honors.
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On the year, Ko earned three wins, two runner-ups and three third-place finishes. Overall, Ko ended inside the top five 10 times and inside the top 10 15 times. Ko did not miss a single cut in 26 total events this year.
Perhaps the only thing missing from Ko's resume right now is a major championship, but she will have plenty more chances in the future as she figures to be one of the game's true rising stars.
GOOD YEAR
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- Inbee Park was able to overtake Lewis as the world No. 1 late in the season. After winning the first three major championships in 2013, Park secured her second LPGA Championship and fifth major title when she defeated Brittany Lincicome in a playoff in August. Park had three wins on the year, two runner- ups, four third-place finishes and 17 top 10s. In 23 events, Park missed just one cut all year.
- Michelle Wie had a breakthrough year in 2014 as she walked away with two more wins including a major championship. Wie was one of eight players on tour to win multiple times on the year. She also had one runner-up, three third- place finishes and 13 top 10s.
- So Yeon Ryu made all but two cuts on the season and she had 15 top-10 finishes in 25 events. Ryu picked up her third career victory at the Canadian Pacific Women's Open and she finished inside the top five 10 times.
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- Shanshan Feng followed in Ko's footsteps as she did not miss a cut all season in 24 events. Feng also came away with a victory at the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia, her fourth career win. Feng had two runner-ups as well and she ended inside the top 10 12 times.
- Anna Nordqvist, Karrie Webb, Jessica Korda and Mirim Lee were the other four players to finish with multiple wins on the season. Each of them had two victories in 2014.
BAD YEAR
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- Laura Davies has won 20 times on the LPGA Tour and she also has over 50 career international victories. However, despite a tie for ninth at the Women's British Open in 2014, Davies did not have another top 10 finish and she ended 68th on the money list.
-Ai Miyazato has won nine times on the LPGA Tour, but she did not record a single top-10 finish and she missed seven cuts this past season. Miyazato finished 86th on the money list.
- In 18 events this year, Cydney Clanton made just five cuts during the 2014 season.