the lpga season came to a close yesterday
when u.s. women’s open champion na Yeon
choi finished with a 70 for a two-stroke victory
over 2011 u.s. women’s open winner and newly
crowned rolex rookie of the Year so Yeon ryu
in the cme group titleholders at twineagles
in naples, fla. the win was the seventh on the
lpga tour for the 25-year-old Korean and
pushed her career earnings past $7.6 million.
more than half of choi’s $1.9 million in winnings this year came in just two tournaments:
$585,000 in the open and $500,000 in the
titleholders, fully one-third of the $1.5 million
purse with ryu getting $106,379 for second
place. the tour now takes a 2½-month break before resuming in asia next february. the lpga
has yet to release its 2013 schedule, mostly
because commissioner mike whan likes to wait
as long as possible to see if he can squeeze out
more events. whan added four events in 2012
to push the total to 27 after only 23 last year. He
says his goal is to have at least 30, which might
not be reached in 2013 but is a reasonable goal
for the year after that. —Ron Sirak (@ronsirak)
01choi;eNds;year with;a;wiN
scott Halleran/gett Y images
cover // contents // 10 things // lpga tour // european tour // eQuipment // tim rosaforte
