Though form held nicely at April’s Kraft Nabisco Championship (where world number one Lorena Ochoa emerged victorious), it is difficult not to notice the youthfulness of the LPGA Tour’s two most recent Major champions, Taiwan’s 19-year-old Yani Tseng (who claimed the LPGA Championship) and last week’s U.S. Open winner, 19-year-old Inbee Park of Korea.  And while in each case the Major title was the player’s first official LPGA victory, neither young woman could in any way be called a fluke; Tseng came into the LPGA Championship ranked 25th in the world (with two 2nd-place finishes already on her 2008 ledger) and Park arrived at the Open ranked 42nd, with two top 10s in her last three starts, and an earlier 9th-place finish at the Kraft Nabisco.  Though both were helped by the sub-par play of Ochoa and world number two Annika Sorenstam, their victories were impressively achieved – and likely will not be either player’s last.

But this run of youthful success got me to thinking…  (Continue)