March: Karine Icher 13th in Phoenix

Month by month, swing-feminine follows the performances of French players on two professional ladies circuits: the LPGA Tour (American) and the LET (European). Tournament location, date of final result, name of winner with commentary, best tri-color performance highlighted, complete Frenchies results. Everything, everything, everything, so as not to lose anything from the 2016 Blue Golf year.

By Agatha Crispy

  • Karine Icher The Evian Championship 2015 - © TPlassais / swing-feminin.com

March 6 : HSBC Women's Champions (Singapore), LPGA

1. Ha Na Yang (CDS)… 30. Karine Icher.

Two months after her first victory on the LPGA circuit at the Coates Golf Championship (in Ocala, Florida), the South Korean Ha Na Yang does it again. Two successes in five tournaments: here it is propelled for a few weeks at the head of the American Money List. Karine Icher, still the only French woman in the field, is not there yet. But with a place of 30th, it confirms each week, year after year, its place in the American top 40 and the world top 60. Five months from the Games in Rio, we do not see what could prevent Karine from being one of the two French women in the future Olympic selection for Brazil.

March 13 : World Ladies Championship (Mission Hills, CHINA), LET

1. Jung Min Lee (CDS)… 19. Celine Herbin, 37. Gwladys Nocera.

Team classification (two players per country): 1. South Korea (Jung Min Lee and Jin Young Ko), 2. France (Céline Herbin and Gwladys Nocera), 3. China (Tzu-Chi Lin and Ai-Chen Huo) .

Two of us are stronger! Céline Herbin (19th in the individual classification) and Gwladys Nocera (37th) bring back a place of second by teams at the World Ladies Championship, disputed in Mission Hills, in China. The defender of the Lacoste Ladies Open of France 2015 (Céline) and the Frenchwoman with fourteen victories on the European circuit between 2006 and 2015 (Gwladys) paired behind untouchable Koreans and in front of over-motivated Chinese women on their own fairways.

March 20 : JTBC Founders Cup (Phoenix, ARIZONA), LPGA

1. Sei Young Kim (CDS)… 13. Karine Icher.

61. Joanna Klatten. Cut: Perrine Delacour.

With Karine Icher, Joanna Klatten and Perrine Delacour, we find the basic trio of French women on the LPGA Tour. This JTBC Founders Cup marks the return of Perrine Delacour, injured in the right wrist last year and who had to resolve to an operation and long months of rehabilitation. Without this, the young Picardy would undoubtedly have continued to mark the American year in 2015 (she had been 4th in May of the Kingsmill Championship and 49th, in June, of the KPMG Women's PGA Championship, the second Major of the season). For her comeback in Phoenix, Perrine did not pass the cut (scores of 76 and 74) but the objective was above all to get back into the deep end. For Joanna Klatten, the JTBC Founders is the opportunity to score first points on the LPGA Tour in 2016: 61st at -7. Already a step for Joanna who has this year only a partial category of play in the United States. To compete with the best in the world, you had to play at a stratospheric height at the Wildfire Golf Club anyway. The winner, Sei Young Kim, wins with a final score of - 27, five strokes ahead of the world number 1, Lydia Ko! And it equals the record of -27 over four laps set in 2001 by the great Annika Sörenstam! Kim also played her last lap in 62, as did compatriot Mi-Hyung Lee in the first lap. In this superlative tournament, Karine Icher is no exception. The French number 1 signs her first big perf of 2016: 13th with a score of -17 (67, 67, 70, 67). Good for his American ranking, good for his world ranking, good for the rest of the season!

March 27 : KIA CLASSIC (Carlsbad, CALIFORNIA), LPGA

1. Lydia Ko (NZL)… 54. Karine Icher

Cut: Joanna Klatten, Perrine Delacour

And seven out of seven for Karine Icher! Seven tournaments played on the LPGA Tour in 2016 and not a missed cut. The leader in French women's golf lives up to its reputation as a true metronome of the fairways. At 37, Karine never drops in terms of consistency. It is really to be greeted in the face of the endless stream of new and young stars - Korean or American most often - which overwhelms the LPGA Tour. Even if the Frenchwoman sometimes admits that she would give several of these cuts cheerfully taken for a little more ranks in the top 5. Even this victory which is still denied to her in fourteen seasons on the LPGA Tour despite several “podiums”. Less success than the previous week in Phoenix (13th) for Karine in Carlsbad (54th to +1) but still this permanence at a very high level. And of the high level, there were some in Carlsbad! Lydia Ko, world number 1, wins in -19, ahead of Inbee Park, world number 2 at -15! With this second success of the season (already winner of the New Zealand Open, on the LET), Ko also takes back the controls of the LPGA Money List from Ha Na Yang… On the French side, Joanna Klatten and Perrine Delacour n ' failed to pass the cut but it was by one stroke for Perrine (74, 73) and two strokes for Joanna (74, 75). It should be noted, especially with all the best worlds who sharpened like blades before spinning to Rancho Mirage (in California, 170 kilometers from Carlsbad) for the ANA Inspiration, the first Major of the season, scheduled from March 31 to April 3.

All rankings as of March 28

ROLEX RANKING (world ranking): 1. Lydia Ko (NZL); 2. Inbee Park (CDS); 3. Lexi Thompson (EU)… 57. Karine Icher; 88. Gwladys Nocera; 164. Céline Herbin; 195. Perrine Delacour; 207. Joanna Klatten; 260. Anne-Lise Caudal; 262. Marion Ricordeau…

LPGA OFFICIAL MONEY LIST (American circuit, earnings): 1. Lydia Ko (NZL), $ 614; 122. Ha Na Yang (CDS), 2; 608. Sei Young Kim (CDS), 270 3… 433. Karine Icher, 556 42; 70. Joanna Klatten, 095; Marion Ricordeau, 126.

LET RANKING (European Order of Merit): 1. Beth Allen (EU), € 46; 315. Charley Hull (ANG), 2; 42. Camilla Lennart (SUE), 280 3… 29. Céline Herbin, 237 18; 15. Justine Dreher, 050; 23. Gwladys Nocera, 10; 275. Valentine Derrey, 25; 8. Marion Ricordeau, 796; 28. Karine Icher, 7; 583. Isabelle Boineau, 31.