lpga player
of the year

for the last nine years the lpga rolex player of the year has been won by two people: annika sorenstam (2001-05) and lorena ochoa (2006-09). since both have hung up their clubs, that streak will end in 2010. the battle to fill their spikes has yielded two contenders: ai miyazato and yani tseng. miyazato, 25, has led the poy points race since winning the first two events of the year, and now has five victories on the year. but tseng (pictured) caught her sunday by capturing the p&g nw arkansas championship and now holds a 176-174 advantage. how did tseng, just 21, take over the top spot? her success in the majors, that’s how. tseng won the kraft nabisco championship and the ricoh women’s british open, and was t- 10 in the u.s. women’s open and t- 19 in the lpga championship. miyazato was t- 3 at the lpga championship and t- 9 at the ricoh, but was t-31 in the u.s. women’s open and missed the cut at the kraft nabisco. with seven tournaments remaining there’s still plenty of time for both players to accumulate more points. but if you ask us to pick a winner right now, we would give the nod to the lady with two majors.