Thursday 19 November 2015 08:30, UK
Sarah Stirk looks ahead to the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship and salutes an incredible year for Lydia Ko and Inbee Park on the LPGA Tour.
It's been a really good year on the LPGA Tour, and we've seen a similar pattern to their male counterparts. Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy and Jason Day have been the "big three" on the PGA Tour, but Lydia Ko, Inbee Park and Stacy Lewis have emerged as the dominant trio among the ladies.
Ko is still only a teenager, and it's frightening what she has achieved in her career so far. She has said she wants to retire by 30, and she could have broken many more records by then.
The New Zealander has won five times this year, while Park picked up her fifth win of the season after a thrilling battle with Carlota Ciganda at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational last week.
Stacy hasn't managed a win this year, but she's had 14 top-10 finishes and been runner-up six times. Stacy is very hard on herself, and she has got more frustrated with every close call. She has been pushing so hard for that win and almost got in her own way in recent weeks.
But she has one event left to get it right, and it would be a great story if Stacy could land that elusive win in the final LPGA Tour tournament of the season.
Park goes into the CME Group Tour Championship on the back of that fantastic win last week, when she needed a top-eight finish to keep the Player of the Year race alive. Lydia took last week off and will be fresh for the Florida finale, so who has the advantage?
Park has the momentum following her victory in Mexico, but she had a couple of weeks off before that as she had a problem with her finger. She is relatively fresh along with Lydia, so I don't think either of them has a significant edge in Naples.
It's a shame there are no European players in the running for the Race to CME Globe title this week. We've had a few excellent performances from the Solheim Cup team, and Ciganda pushing Park all the way in Mexico was one of the best.
The Spaniard fired a career-low 63 in the final round, so that bodes well for a strong challenge in Naples. Carlota has won on the Ladies European Tour but not on the LPGA Tour, so it would be great to see her break through this week.
Suzann Pettersen has had a disappointing season by her standards, although she has managed one win and 10 top-10s in her 22 appearances. Like Lewis, Suzann is also very hard on herself, something Butch Harmon was quick to point out when he started coaching her back in January.
He also noticed she was not devoting enough time to practising her short game. Suzann is a perfectionist and spends hours on the range honing her swing, but she is now working harder on her chipping and putting and let's hope she bounces back next year.
Charley Hull has played only 13 events on the LPGA Tour this term with three top 10s, and she will probably play more regularly next season. She has set her stall out to play more in the US, and she is still confident of challenging for titles.
Things haven't quite gone to plan for Charley since she burst onto the scene at the 2013 Solheim Cup, and she's been very frustrated by her performances this year. Charley has played herself into contention only to endure a couple of bad holes a few times, and she needs to find more consistency.
But I still think she is finding her feet on the LPGA Tour, and I wouldn't be surprised to see her land a few big wins over the next couple of years when she is fully confident. She certainly has the ability.
One of the stars to emerge over the last 12 months has been Sei Young Kim, who has won three times and is fourth on the order of merit. The teenager has already wrapped up the Rookie of the Year award and has been widely tipped for a very big future.
Sei Young is the latest to hop off the conveyor belt of incredibly talented Korean players, and they are dominating the women's game at the moment. There are 12 South Koreans in the top 25 on the LPGA Tour, and they are all so good right now.
They have a tremendous dedication and work ethic from a very young age, and Sei Young has had an amazing year to win three times as a rookie. Although she is a rookie, she had played on the Korean LPGA Tour which is also a seriously good standard. The gulf between Korea and the LPGA is not that big compared to the LET.
So the Koreans are graduating and then winning very quickly, much like some of the Web.com Tour youngsters who we have seen winning events on the PGA Tour early in the season.
Join Sarah with studio guests Henni Zuel and Mickey Walker for the conclusion of the LPGA Tour season, live on Sky Sports 4 - your home of golf.
