Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings Update

Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings Update

The Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings (WWGR) today announced a return to its “normal” historical ranking calculations beginning with tournaments staged the week of March 1, 2021. On March 20, 2020, the WWGR announced a pause in the rankings amid the global COVID-19 pandemic. On July 20, 2020, the WWGR implemented a temporary modification to the rankings to focus on the individual athlete and the weeks she competed. Under that modification, an athlete’s points and divisors did not change on weeks when she did not compete.

The WWGR Technical Committee has been monitoring this approach, tracking the frequency of play among the world’s top 400 players and the schedules of professional women’s tours globally. As tour schedules begin to normalize in comparison to previous years, the WWGR has taken the decision to resume the rankings as usual beginning this week.

What “normal” means:

Points and divisors change and age for all athletes

Points and divisors will change and age every week when an athlete competes and when she does not compete

Weeks when an athlete does not compete count in the 104-week rolling period

On weeks when no tournaments are played, the rankings continue to operate as normal, with points, divisors and rankings changing based on the 104-week rolling period for all athletes

“While it will take the rankings quite some time to level set to all athletes having the same 104-week period,” said Heather Daly-Donofrio, executive director of the WWGR, “The WWGR Board remains confident that this was the most fair way to manage the rankings and the athletes during this time. While there is no perfect solution, we believe we have followed an approach that is reasonable for athletes and also protects the integrity of the ranking system.”

USA Olympics tracker: Five Americans now ranked inside top 15

With her victory at the LPGA Drive On Championship, Austin Ernst moved up 19 spots in the Rolex Rankings to No. 14 in the world. It’s still a long way to Tokyo, but that jump inside the top 15 carries a great deal of significance. The same is true for Jennifer Kupcho, who moved up nine spots in the rankings to 12th with her second-place finish on Sunday in Ocala.

The maximum number of women who can represent the U.S. in the 2021 Olympics is four, and all four of those players must be ranked 15th or higher.

There are currently five American women ranked inside the top 15.

At the 2016 Games, Lexi Thompson, Stacy Lewis and Gerina Piller made up the U.S. Olympic Women’s Golf Team.

The women’s competition for the 2021 Olympics will take place Aug. 4-7 at Kasumigaseki Country Club. The cutoff to qualify is June 28, immediately following the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club.

Ernst joins good friends Jessica and Nelly Korda as the only winners so far in the 2021 LPGA season. There are 13 LPGA events scheduled between now and the qualification deadline, though that number could shrink if any of the three Asian events are canceled due to the pandemic.

“If you talk to anybody this year and they don’t mention playing the Olympics,” Angela Stanford said when asked about her goals, “then they’re lying. So I don’t want to lie to you. Playing in the Olympics is a dream for every athlete … that’s probably the long shot.”

Here are the top 10 Americans in the world as of Monday, March 8.

Leona happy with Solheim Cup boost

Leona Maguire got a congratulatory text from Solheim Cup skipper Catriona Matthew after securing her first top 10 on US soil in the LPGA Drive On Championship in Florida, writes Brian Keogh.

The Slieve Russell star (26) tied for sixth behind Austin Ernst at Golden Ocala to move to 14th in the Race to CME Globe Points list, second in the Rookie of the Year race and close to the top 100 in the Rolex Rankings.

“I got a text last night,” she said. “I played with Catriona in the summer in North Berwick and she has her hands full with everything that’s going on but it was nice to get her text. She said she’d be at the ANA so we will catch up there.”

She was also pleased to pick up 20 yards off the tee thanks to a new driver, playing the par-fives in 12-under and also hit more quality shots into firm greens thanks to a shaft change in her irons.

As for the news that the Davy Group has paused its sponsorship programmes, including a deal with the Cavan golfer, Maguire and her Modest Golf! Management agency had no comment to make.

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Online Editors