Depth in women’s golf helps Ko keep No. 1 ranking

So Yeon Ryu and Ariya Jutanugarn each had a chance to take over the No. 1 ranking in women’s golf over the weekend.

Instead, all they did was switch places at No. 2.

Lydia Ko remained atop the Rolex Rankings on Monday for the 84th consecutive week. She’s managed to stay at No. 1 despite being winless so far in 2017 — and despite skipping last week’s LPGA Tour event in Michigan. In a season of unusual parity in women’s golf, nobody has been able to catch her.

Ryu was second and Jutanugarn third heading into the Volvik Championship at Travis Pointe Country Club, and there were a number of scenarios in which one of them could have moved to No. 1 by finishing near the top in that event. Instead, Ryu finished tied for 56th, snapping a streak of 11 straight top-10 showings. Jutanugarn ended up tied for 21st.

Jutanugarn moved past Ryu and is No. 2 in the new rankings, but her performance wasn’t nearly enough to overtake Ko.

“I think that is not really important for me,” Jutanugarn said Sunday. “I think, to be honest, I really want to improve my game, and go out and have fun.”

Jutanugarn, who is from Thailand, won five times in 2016 and took player-of-the-year honours, but she’s without a victory this season. Ko, who is from New Zealand, hasn’t won either and is only 17th on the money list. None of the top players in the Rolex Rankings was much of a factor in Ann Arbor, with fourth-ranked Lexi Thompson finishing tied for 65th.

Shanshan Feng of China won the tournament, giving the LPGA 12 different winners in 12 events this year. The last time there were no repeat winners this long into the season was in 1991, so the tour appears to have an impressive amount of depth right now.

Of course, with nobody else able to dominate for any extended period, Ko has been able to keep the No. 1 ranking despite only one topfive finish in 2017.

Ryu, who is from South Korea, won the ANA Inspiration after Thompson was penalized four strokes following a rules violation reported by a television viewer.