Monday, August 27, 2012

Nitori Ladies Overview: Sun-Ju Ahn Outguns Mi-Jeong Jeon for 10th Career JLPGA Win

While Lydia Ko was making history on the LPGA (on which more in a sec) and Mirim Lee was winning the KLPGA's 1st major of 2012, Sun-Ju Ahn was busy reminding everyone on the JLPGA why she has been the money-list leader for the past 2 seasons, as she held off a charging Mi-Jeong Jeon yesterday in the final round of the Nitori Ladies for her 2nd win of the season and 10th of her not-even-3-year career on the JLPGA.  Ahn had leaped into the lead on moving day with a bogey-free 63, but Jeon, looking for her 2nd win in a row, birdied the 324-yard par-4 6th and 502-yard par-5 7th to catch her at -9.  This year's money-list leader continued to put pressure on Ahn with 4 birdies over her next 10 holes, but unlike last week, when that kind of charge was enough for her to cruise to her 20th career victory, it wasn't this week, as Ahn kicked it into overdrive, making 5 birdies between the 8th and 14th holes, then cruised home with 4 straight pars for a 2-shot victory.

It was a great week for Rikako Morita, who closed with a 65, Soo-Yun Kang, who tied her for 3rd, and Lala Anai, who opened with a 66 and rounded out the top 5, but the big story coming out of Japan was how Ahn and Jeon have separated themselves from the rest of the JLPGA.  Jeon became the 1st to break the 100M yen barrier with her runner-up finish, but who will have the last laugh?

1. Mi-Jeong Jeon ¥100.06M
2. Sun-Ju Ahn ¥79.88M
3. Mayu Hattori ¥58.06M
4. Ritsuko Ryu ¥52.67M
5. Chie Arimura ¥52.08M
6. Miki Saiki ¥51.66M
7. Ji-Hee Lee ¥46.63M
8. Rikako Morita ¥45.64M
9. Bo-Mee Lee ¥44.97M
10. Sakura Yokomine ¥42.56M
11. Shanshan Feng ¥40.48M
12. Soo-Yun Kang ¥35.14M
13. Yumiko Yoshida ¥33.12M
14. Hiromi Mogi ¥31.36M
15. Inbee Park ¥29.62M
16. Maiko Wakabayashi ¥28.63M
17. Mihoko Iseri ¥27.18M
18. Kaori Ohe ¥26.76M
19. Yuri Fudoh ¥26.69M
20. Megumi Kido ¥22.44M
21. Esther Lee ¥22.28M
22. Hyun-Ju Shin ¥21.12M
23. Yuki Ichinose ¥20.75M
24. Shinobu Moromizato ¥20.35M
25. So-Hee Kim ¥18.84M
26. Erina Hara ¥18.68M
27. Ayako Uehara ¥18.55M
28. Airi Saitoh ¥18.35M
29. Miki Sakai ¥17.93M
30. Ji-Yai Shin ¥17.78M
31. Young Kim¥17.77M
32. Yeo-Jin Kang ¥17.50M
33. Akane Iijima ¥17.28M
34. Yukari Baba ¥17.10M
35. Erika Kikuchi ¥16.74M
36. Na-Ri Lee¥16.40M
37. Rui Kitada ¥16.17M
38. Teresa Lu ¥16.01M
39. Bo-Bae Song ¥15.63M
40. Eun-Bi Jang ¥15.54M
41. Harukyo Nomura ¥14.48M
42. Kumiko Kaneda ¥14.13M
43. Na-Ri Kim ¥14.11M
44. Junko Omote¥13.80M
45. Yuko Fukuda ¥12.52M
46. Da-Ye Na ¥10.59M
47. Lala Anai ¥10.26M
48. Shiho Toyonaga ¥9.85M
49. Natsu Nagai ¥9.59M
50. Asako Fujimoto¥9.45M

Next up on the JLPGA is the Golf5 Ladies, where Li-Ying Ye will attempt to defend her title.  It appears that both Mi-Jeong Jeon and Sakura Yokomine will be sitting this one out, but Ahn will be looking to make up serious ground on the money-list leader, Chie Arimura returns to action and will be trying to insert her name into the Player of the Year dialogue, and Shiho Oyama will continue her recovery from injuries that kept her out of action most of the season.

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