... well, we'll have to wait until the end of 2009, won't we? But one of the primary candidates (among many great candidates - Vicky Hurst, Stacy Lewis, perhaps even Michelle Wie) will be Ji-Yai Shin.
We can now classify Shin as a candidate for the award because she has finally declared her intention to play in America next year. Shin, a great young Korean golfer, had been planning to spend 2009 on the Japan LPGA. But those plans were challenged after Shin earned 2009 LPGA membership by winning the Women's British Open during Summer 2008.
On Sunday, Shin earned LPGA Tour win No. 2 at the Mizuno Classic in Japan. And afterward, she said this:
"LPGA is everybody's dream tour. All the world's best players play there, so we want to join. I play about 10 years golf but almost every time I’m dreaming LPGA tournaments."
She went on to say, in what the SportsTicker writer described as her "rapidly improving English," that her goal in 2009 is to be LPGA Rookie of the Year.
The gauntlet is thrown down. Hurst, Lewis, Wie - are you up to the Ji-Yai challenge?
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I would like to see Michelle do well in 2009, however, I think she has too much baggage to haul around with the “Wie Camp” and Leadbetter. If she still insists to be a “part time golfer” and a “part time student” her chances of her becoming the 2009 Rookie of the Year is nil.