Michelle Wie sprang up the Rolex Women’s Golf Rankings with her win at the LPGA Tour. The 20 year old is now on the 12^th rank with her fantastic display of skills at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational in Guadalajara, Mexico. Michelle Wie entered the Rolex Ranking at No. 227 with a score of 11.18 and an average of 0.32 for 16 events. This was her initial ranking when she first earned her LPGA Tour card last December. The numbers have leaped to a total of 210.30 points over 27 events and she now has an average score of 6.03. However, Lorena Ochoa still remains No. 1 with a score of 520.37 points over 43 events that brings her average to 12.10.

Michelle Wie has started her rookie career with a bang as she ranks 14 on the LPGA Tour money list with a total of $918,659 from only 18 events played. She will return to Stanford in December to complete the first semester of her school year. Michelle Wie has accumulated eight top ten finishes and five top three finishes which include two runner-up finishes that give her six in her LPGA Tour career. She held off Paula Creamer, who is rated No. 4, in the Lorena Ochoa Invitational for her first victory on the tour in 65 attempts. Michelle Wie is the fourth American to be rated and stands behind Paula Creamer who is No. 4, Cristie Kerr who is No. 5 and Angela Stanford who is No. 7.

Michelle Wie began playing golf at the age of four and by the age of 10 became the youngest player to qualify for the USGA amateur championship. Her inspiration to become a pro-golfer came from watching Tiger Woods play. She is an avid Tiger Woods fan and has posters of him in her bedroom. In 2006 she was named as “one of 100 people who shape our world� by Times Magazine. She is of South Korean descent and has been born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. At the age of 13 she became the youngest winner of an adult USGA sanctioned tournament with her performance at the 2003 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links. Her next accomplishment at 13 was to be the youngest player to make the cut in an LPGA tournament and major with the Nabisco Championship.

Michelle Wie became the youngest player to play in a PGA Tour event with her participation in the 2004 Sony Open and also was the youngest participant in the history of the Curtis Cup at the age of 14. Her other achievements include being the first female to score a sub-70 round in PGA Tour history and the first female medalist in a U.S. Open qualifying tournament at the age of 16. Rolex aims at promoting such young talents with its association and sponsorship of sports events. Rolex stands for precision and excellence in the world of watches. By supporting sports like golf, sailing, eventing, etc., Rolex aspires to bring out the very same attributes of precision and excellence from the sportspersons participating in the various competitions.

The only significant victory that Michelle Wie had to her credit until Sunday was her win at the 2003 USGA Women’s Amateur Public Links. The Stanford student recorded her first professional victory at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational on the 15^th of November. Her win at the LPGA Tour made her the sixth Rolex First Time Winner of the Year and raised her Rolex Rankings by three spots and helped her crack into the top 15. Michelle Wie is currently on number 12 on the Rolex Rankings with a total of 210.30 points in 27 events. The Rolex Rankings are updated each week and are sanctioned by the five major women’s professional golf tours. Rolex Rankings are for female golfers and are based upon the same principles as the ranking for their male counterparts.

Rolex makes an effort to recognize the best talent in the world of sports by sponsoring and supporting various sports competitions. The Rolex First Time Winner of the Year and Rolex Rankings are some of the ways adopted by Rolex to honor the winners and achievers on the LPGA tour. The Rolex Rankings were in fact established as an effort to credit female golfers as well as male golfers and recognize their achievements by weekly updating points and ranks. Rolex lends its name and support to sports like sports car racing, eventing and sailing besides golf and junior golf. Rolex’s main aim is to promote human excellence and highlight the achievements of sportspersons who push themselves to outperform everyone at each competition. Participants not only look forward to competing at these prestigious events but also aim for the reward which usually is a cash prize accompanied by a Rolex timepiece.

Winning first place in the LPGA Tournament earned Michelle Wie prize money of $220,000. The win came after a long wait for Michelle Wie as this was her 18^th tournament as a member. With this achievement Michelle Wie is the fifth American winner on Tour this season and also joins six other Rolex First-Time winners. A 30-yard sand shot to one foot on the 72^nd hole for abirdie brought about the accomplishment for the 20 year old talent. With birdies on hole one and three, Michelle Wie made a strong start for the day. She made a recovery from a three-putt bogey on hole five by smashing a 15-foot birdie on the seventh hole that made her turn the day at 2-under. She managed an outright lead by swinging another birdie at hole eleven.

The scenario turned extremely interesting as Michelle Wie approached hole 12. She knocked her drive on the cart path for which she was given relief. Her second shot set her back 50 yards when it caromed off a tree. While she strived for a bogey, she got some relief and a boost when Creamer bogeyed at 14 and 17. Soon after Cristie Kerr, who was leading along with Michelle Wie early in the back nine, bogeyed at 15 and 16. With Cristie Kerr and Creamer dropping out of the hunt Michelle Wie could picture victory. She sealed her position when she put her 5-wood into the front left bunker at 18 and tapped in range for a birdie. Michelle Wie is a student at Stanford University and has managed eight top ten finishes for the season. She has also had 18 starts in this season and tops it all with Rolex First Time Winner of the Year honor.

The most prestigious award for any women golfer who is into her first year at the LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association) Tour is the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year award which every single woman golfer dreams of winning. Year 2009 was expected to be one of the most competitive for the women professional golfers as there were many upcoming stars who were enjoying their rookie year. With consistent performance which was not only miles ahead of her rookie companions but was also of the absolute top notch quality Jiyai Shin was always the shoo in and this Monday’s announcement was only an official confirmation of the fact that she is the best when she was named the Rookie of the Year for 2009 for the US circuit. Though this trophy had practically become hers a long time ago during the season, yet the official announcement was a moment of joy and a moment to be remembered for ever for the remarkable golf player.

Jiyai Shin is only 21 years of age and belongs to South Korea. She had made her debut in the Korean Ladies Professional League when she was studying in high school and since then has gone to achieve higher and bigger things in the golfing world. She moved on to play outside her native country and entered the highly competitive world of LPGA which is always very difficult for any player. But Jiyai Shin showed tremendous ability to do the unthinkable and made sure that she performed right at the top consistently to not only be the best among the golfers who had made their debut but also among the well established and experienced players on the LPGA Tour.

Jiyai Shin’s remarkable run at the LPGA Tour has brought her to the top of the Rolex Rankings with even the Rolex Player of Year trophy well within her grasp. Though that dream is yet to be realized she has definitely got the one for her and quite comfortable too. She has performed well throughout the year with many top ten finishes. As a matter of fact even while competing against some of the most respectable names in the history of women golf she was able to hold on to her own and notched up three victories on the LPGA Tour. She won the HSBC Women’s Champions, she followed it up with the trophy at Wegmans LPGA and rounded up with Arkansas Championship, her third win of the 2009 season.  Her total earnings for the season are nearing $2 million and she has amassed 141 points to be the leader at the Rolex Player of the Year table.

Jiyai Shin has won the Rolex Rookie of the Year award after collecting 1,406 points from the LPGA Tour and has been so dominating that her nearest rival Michelle Wie only has 764 points to make it a no contest for the eventual winner. Her performance quite amply demonstrates the spirit of Rolex and its philosophy of promoting human brilliance through the various platforms it offers to athletes and sportspersons by sponsoring tours like the LPGA Tour.

The young and dynamic golfer Michelle Wie in a career spanning only few years has earned for herself a name and reputation that most spend life time only dreaming about. Like a star on the horizon with each passing year she shines more brightly and is now not only counted as the golfer to look out for but is actually the player that other can very well emulate, on the course and off it too. As serious and careful about her education as she is about her golf, Michelle Wie who is studying in the third year at the Stanford is also thoroughly enjoying her rookie season on the Rolex sponsored LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association) tour. Comfortably ranked 14^th in the Rolex World Ranking she is likely to take a break from her college classes next month to become a part of the Rolex sponsored LPGA Tour Championship.

LPGA Tour Championship presented by Rolex is going to take place in the month of November from 17^th to 22^nd at the popular Houstonian Golf and Country Club in Richmond, Texas. LPGA Tour Championship attracts the best of the women golfers from across the world who will be playing their best golf to get their hands on the rich purse of $1.5 million and the satisfaction of winning against the best of their peers. Michelle Wie would not find it easy to win or even score a place among the top considering the kind of tough field that is likely to be vying for the top honors at the tournament. There are going to be 120 LPGA professionals who would make a start in the LPGA Tour Championship. These women
golfers are going to be picked from the official LPGA Money List implying that the best top 120 players are going to make the cut. In a field as strong as this it can never be easy for anyone.

The LPGA Tour Championship presented by Rolex will be a 72-hole stroke play tournament and Michelle Wie will have to play consistently all along to make sure she can get a shot at the trophy and winner’s check. After the first 36 holes the field would be pruned to 70 golfers and which will be further reduced to only 30 at the end of the 54 holes. Competing against the best is never easy for anyone and the same is true for Michele Wie. But considering the fact that this is her rookie season on the LPGA tour and still she is ranked among the top 15 in the Rolex World Ranking speaks volumes of the capabilities she possesses, the depth of talent that defines her and the performances she can be trusted to come out with. If her performance on various fronts is to be taken into account then she is ranked 6^th in putting as well as rounds under par and driving average. In fact she is just outside top 10 when it comes to scoring thus ensuring that she is a possible threat to anyone on a given day. She might be coming off after a small break for her studies but she stands good chance of becoming a winner at the LPGA Tour Championship presented by Rolex.

The philosophy behind the support that Rolex renders to multiple events including woman’s golf is to ensure that virtues like human ambition, will power, tireless hard work and single minded dedication can be offered sufficient opportunities for unbridled growth. Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) in the world of golf is involved in running numerous golfing tournaments for female professional golfers across the world. Rolex has been actively assisting the Florida based organization in ensuring that the purpose behind LPGA as well as Rolex’s own values can be served in the best possible manner.

The year 2009 is turning out to be one of the most exciting in the history of LPGA and a major reason for that has been one player who has managed to outshine others achievements by long margins. Jiyai Shin is not only a rising star but the way she plays and what she has achieved so far makes her perhaps one of the most promising players to have ever played golf. The 1988 born South Korean player has done so many amazing things in a short career that to some all this might seem like a dream. She started off by winning her first KLPGA event in 2005 as an amateur while she was still in her high school. In 2007 she played in 19 events of KLPGA and won a staggering 10 out of them. In fact she has practically broken all KLPGA records. In 2008 she entered the LPGA Tour but only as a non-member and surprised everyone by picking three trophies including prestigious Women’s British Open. Winning the very first of these qualified her for the LPGA membership for the upcoming season, 2009.

Taking forward her achievements, Jiyai Shin has done tremendously well for herself in her rookie year at the LPGA as a member. With a slight shaky start at the beginning of the season she caught up fast and went to win her third event of the year, HSBC Women’s Champions. What has followed throughout the year so far and is likely to for the rest of the year was one of the rarest performances by a female golfer in the LPGA history in her rookie year.

With many finishes among the top she also won Wegmans LPGA cup and the recently concluded P&G Beauty NW Arkansas Championship. This level of unprecedented success has pulled her to super stardom and she all set to end the year on a high which no one has witnessed so far. By the end of last weekend she had won as much as $1,498,861 in prize money through the 19 event she participated in which she enjoyed a top 10 finish in 7 of them. The end result of that has put her at the top of the money list so far this season.

Also, she has earned good 127 points to be ahead of everyone in the race to the top of the Rolex Player of the Year trophy. Being a rookie and such marvelous performances has all but ensured her the coveted Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year award. With 1,269 points she is miles ahead of her nearest rival Michelle Wie who is placed second with 684 points.

When Jiyai Shin goes on to win these multiple Rolex awards, it would a suitable tribute to the game of golf and the support Rolex ensures for promoting the game.

The 2009 season’s first Rolex First-Time winner was named Sunday afternoon as South Korean star Jiyai Shin, a LPGA Tour rookie, won the HSBC Women’s Champions - and a $300,000 paycheck - by two strokes over 54-hole leader Katherine Hull. Shin overcame a four-stroke deficit on the back nine to take the lead in the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year race. Shin, 20, six strokes behind Hull at the start of the round and four back with nine holes to play, had an 11-under-par, 277 total to earn her first victory as a member of the LPGA Tour. “I’m very surprised and very happy,” said Shin, the Women’s British Open winner last August at Sunningdale. “I’m thinking, I had chance for top 10, not for win.” Shin broke a LPGA Tour record in 2008 for most wins by a non-member with three (considered unofficial for her LPGA career). Called the “Final-Round Queen” in South Korea, Jiyai Shin birdied the first four holes – opening with nine- and 12-foot putts, chipping in from 45 feet on No. 3 and adding a 15-foot shot – to put herself in position to take advantage of Hull’s back-nine meltdown. “I make it to the 15th hole, make a birdie. And Katherine, she at number 13, makes double bogey. I think she feels more pressure,” Shin said. “She start as the leader and I start tied for sixth. She looks at the score, she gets more, I think, big pressure. So I know the score, so I’m more set in my game. Just keep it on the fairway and greens.” With the win, Shin earned 150 valuable points to take the lead in the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year race with 194 points, ahead of Michelle Wie (80 points), Mika Miyazato (67 points), Vicky Hurst (45 points) and Stacy Lewis (30 points).

The Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year Award is awarded to the first-year player on the LPGA Tour who scores the highest in a points competition in which points are awarded based on a player’s finish in an event. The points system is: 150 points for first; 80 points for second; 75 points for third; 70 points for fourth; and 65 points for fifth. After fifth place, points are awarded in decrements of three, beginning at sixth place with 62 points. Points are doubled in the major events and at the season-ending LPGA Championship. Rookies who make the cut in an event and finish below 41st each receive five points. The award is named after Louise Suggs, one of the founders of the LPGA. Suggs was an inaugural inductee into the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame, established in 1967, and later was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1979. She is also a member of the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame. Rolex has been the proud sponsor of the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year Award since its inception. One of the cofounders of the LPGA in 1950, Louise Suggs is happy to see both the excellence of LPGA Rookie Jiyai Shin and just how far the LPGA has come since the beginning.