Sei Young Kim had the Rolex Rankings Move of the Week, moving up four spots to No. 8 with her outstanding play in Mexico. In the Tour’s first match play event since 2012, Kim held off Ariya Jutanugarn in the championship match to pick up her sixth victory on the LPGA Tour and first of the 2017 season at the Lorena Ochoa Match Play.
“I am really pleased, because it’s been one year that I have not played good,” said Kim, whose last win came in June 2016 at the Meijer LPGA Classic. “I got really disappointed, and even last week, I missed the cut. But this week I bounced back and had a really good result. So, I’m really happy with that.”
Michelle Wie continues to climb the Rolex Rankings with her second top-5 finish of the season, moving up seven spots to No. 58.
Other Notable Moves
Players continue to jockey for one of the automatic spots on Team USA and Team Europe.
For six-time Solheim Cup veteran Angela Stanford, her T9 finish in the Citibanamex Lorena Ochoa Match Play Presented by Aeromexico and Delta enabled her to leapfrog 2015 teammate Brittany Lincicome for the eighth spot on the roster.
Michelle Wie, who hopes to make it onto her fifth U.S. roster this August, continues to perform well each week on the course. Wie finished fourth this past weekend in Mexico and moved into the 10th position in the Solheim Cup points standings and closer to representing the United States in Des Moines, Iowa.
Marina Alex, Angel Yin and Cydney Clanton made jumps in the Solheim Cup points standings with their outstanding match play performance this past week in Mexico, hoping to catch the eye of Captain Juli Inkster.
“It would be awesome. It’s always a goal to make the team and represent your country, but it’s a far away goal and I’m trying just to focus on one tournament at a time. If that’s the result that ends up happening then it’s amazing and if it doesn’t then you just have to keep working harder toward it for the next time around,” said Alex on the possibility of making the U.S. Solheim Cup team.
For Team Europe, England’s Florentyna Parker moved into the second position in the Ladies European Tour Solheim Cup points after defeating Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist and Spain’s Carlota Ciganda in extra holes at the Estrella Damm Mediterranean Ladies Open.
“I knew I had to win. I know I’m not going to get picked for The Solheim Cup, so I know I have to qualify automatically. I think today I’ve proved that I can play against the best and best them, so I’m really happy,” said Parker.
For complete USA Rankings>> and Europe Rankings>>
Sei Young Kim earned 500 points and moved up from 25th to 7th in the LPGA’s season-long Race to CME Globe with 894 points with her victory in Mexico.
The Race to the CME Globe is in the fourth year, and fans have already seen players jockey for the top spot. Ariya Jutanugarn cut into So Yeon Ryu’s lead with a runner-up finish in this past weekend’s event in Mexico.
The top five finishers entering Naples control their destiny at the CME Group Tour Championship, meaning if they win in Naples, they will also win the CME Globe, but the top twelve finishers will have a mathematical chance at winning the CME Globe.
Ryu (1), Jutangarn (2), Cristie Kerr (3), Inbee Park (4), Lexi Thompson (5), In Gee Chun (6), Kim (7), Ha Na Jang (8), Mirim Lee (9), Stacy Lewis (10), Nomura (11), and Amy Yang (12) make up the top-12.