Top 10 in 2013: LPGA moments

There was never any doubt about Lydia Ko’s game. A two-time winner of the CN Canadian Open and a runner-up in the LPGA’s fifth major, the Evian Championship, Ko reached No. 6 in the Rolex Women’s World Rankings. But at 16, she still needed the LPGA to waive its 18-year-old age requirement. The tour accepted her petition and she turned pro in October. (Getty Images)

A not-so-funny thing happened to Stacy Lewis on her way to an apparent win in the LPGA’s first tournament in Beijing. China’s Shanshan Feng eagled the final hole to come away with the victory. Feng’s approach looked like it was headed for a water hazard, but it made it across and the ball struck the pin, thrilling the local gallery. (Getty Images)

Inbee Park grabbed a one-shot lead in the Kraft Nabisco Championship with a second-round 67, shot 67-69 on the weekend and won her second career major. Her four-shot margin over So Yeon Ryu was a harbinger of a season filled with superlatives for Park. (Getty Images)

Overcoming a two-stroke penalty for her caddie testing the surface of a bunker, Stacy Lewis won the RR Donnelley Founders Cup and vaulted to No. 1 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, ending Yani Tseng’s 109-week hold on the top spot. (Getty Images)

The Evian Championship’s debut as an LPGA major stirred debate about whether the tour should have a fifth major and what now would constitute a Grand Slam. None of that mattered to Suzann Pettersen, however. Playing in horrid weather that shortened the tournament to 54 holes, Pettersen recorded a two-shot win. (Getty Images)

Inbee Park made it back-to-back majors at the Wegmans LPGA Championship, holding off a determined Catriona Matthew. Park closed with a 75, including a final-hole bogey that sent her into a playoff, but rolled in a 20-foot birdie putt on the third extra hole. “It’s almost a miracle I won today,” Park said. (Getty Images)

Lydia Ko was born in South Korea and lives in New Zealand, but she might want to consider another residence in Canada, whose national women’s open she has won each of the past two years. In 2012 she shot 13-under 275, beating Inbee Park by three shots. In 2013, Ko was even more dominant, winning by five shots. (Getty Images)

By thrashing the Americans, 18-10, at Colorado Golf Club in the 13th edition of the Solheim Cup, the European side accomplished two firsts: winning on American soil and retaining the cup. U.S. captain Meg Mallon didn’t sugarcoat the defeat. “We really got our butts kicked this week,” she said. (Getty Images)

Few holes have such a storied history as the Road Hole, No. 17 at St. Andrews. Hitting what she called “the perfect golf shot,” a 5-iron from 189 yards through a stiff wind to 3 feet, Stacy Lewis birdied it (and No. 18) to come from behind and win the Ricoh Women’s British Open, ending Inbee Park’s run of three consecutive majors. (Getty Images)

Inbee Park’s four-shot win in the U.S. Women’s Open set up an unprecedented storyline: No woman had ever won four majors in a season. But the designation of the Evian Championship as a fifth major ignited a debate as to whether a win in the Ricoh Women’s British Open would give Park a Grand Slam. Because Park didn’t win at St. Andrews, the debate remains unsettled. (Getty Images)