The top 10 ranked women golfers are all 28 years old or younger, and it "will be interesting to see if those young players are able to stay" at the top of the game, according to Golf Channel's Paige Mackenzie. Brittany Lang was the oldest tournament winner on the LPGA this season when the then 30-year-old claimed the U.S. Women's Open, and Mackenzie called the dominance of young players "surprising." She said, "It isn't necessarily a young person's sport that you can grow out of. It's a sport you can play into your 50s and be competitive." However, Mackenzie noted the "dynamic of the LPGA tour has changed." The youth movement is due in part to the fact international players "can start playing professionally at 16 years old, for example, in Korea." Mackenzie: "They get a little bit more experience before they come to the LPGA tour.” But Karrie Webb, who has played on the LPGA for more than two decades, said, "I just don't think there’s the balance there in their lives." Webb: "Look at a Michelle Wie or Lydia Ko -- they've virtually been professional golfers since they were the age of 12. So when they get to 30, they’ve pretty much been competing at the highest level for 18 years, even though they’re only a member of the LPGA for maybe 12 years. So to get to 40 for them, it seems like forever” (“Golf Central,” Golf Channel, 11/22).
UPS & DOWNS: Golf analyst Dottie Pepper in a special for ESPNW.com wrote the LPGA by all accounts "had its best season to date and there are certainly plenty of points to be praised, but also some areas for improvement." Pepper listed the "yearlong competition" on tour and the 24 wins "by players 24 or younger" among the good developments. Golf's presence in the Rio Games also was a positive, as "no LPGA-generated television deal can come close to having the impact that week did on an international level." However, among the negatives were that the new international events on the schedule are "not really 'new' but rather acquisitions, and the domestic growth is not keeping up with international expansion." Also, only two Americans "won official events" in '16: Lang and Lexi Thompson. This "cannot make the growth prospects" of Mike Whan's "business as commissioner any easier" (ESPNW.com, 11/21).
