NAPLES, Fla. -- Friday was "Stars and Stripes Day" at the CME Group Tour Championship, with spectators encouraged to wear patriotic American colors to support Wounded Warrior Project. By the end of a beautiful fall day at Tiburon Golf Club, the memo seemed to have reached the leaderboard, where seven players from the United States were in the top 10 after 36 holes.
Lexi Thompson is leading. Brittany Lincicome and Amy Olson are lurking. Marina Alex, Nelly Korda, Megan Khang and Jessica Korda are loitering within striking distance going into the weekend.
This doesn't happen every week, not on an LPGA Tour that holds tournaments in 13 countries and is populated by golfers from about twice as many nations.
"Everyone says we need more American players, but it's not that we're not doing well," Lincicome, competing in her home state, said after a 71 that left her three strokes behind. "It's just this tour is so global and everybody is so darn good. We can't get away with mediocre golf. You have to play your best all the time."
Perhaps it's no surprise that Lincicome, Alex and the Korda sisters are in good position to win this season-ending event. Along with Danielle Kang, Annie Park, Angela Stanford and Michelle Wie, they have combined for eight victories for U.S. players in 31 events so far this season, one fewer than golfers from the women's golf juggernaut, South Korea. The total of U.S. triumphs quadruples the all-time low of two wins in 2016.
"This is embarrassing to admit, but I didn't know we had eight [American] winners this year," LPGA commissioner Mike Whan said.
After taking the job in 2010 when the tour was on the rocks -- reeling from the twin whammy of a bad economy and bad relationships with tournament sponsors -- Whan relied on the circuit's international potential to stabilize and subsequently expand it.
"Embrace global," as he recalled Friday while addressing the state of the LPGA, was a key mantra -- and still is. Thirteen of 32 LPGA tournaments were contested outside the U.S. in 2018.
"We've got a ton of North American sponsors," Whan said. "I want them to have American heroes too. It's good for our U.S. business to have American winners. It's good for our international business to have U.S. winners. I don't mean my global thing to be an anti-American spiel. I'm born in Chicago. I enjoyed the Solheim Cup in Des Moines. But I don't think the tour is reliant on it."
"We are an American-based tour, but it's for everybody. Girls give up a lot to come play over here." Lizette Salas
While the number of international players on the PGA Tour has also increased in recent years, it hasn't been to the extent on the LPGA ... yet.
"I think it's really cool what's going on in women's golf, and whether we like it or not, what's going on in women's golf is just a precursor," Whan said. "Men's golf is going to look like women's golf in 10 years. It's not like great male golfers aren't coming from all over the world and at some point they're going to play on the PGA Tour and you're going to have a lot more [national] flags on a lot more leaderboards. Versus when I started in 2010, it's changed there. I think it's the future."
Meanwhile, American women professionals are dealing with the present, fields deep with talent from many countries. The number of LPGA victories by Americans is the most it has been since U.S. players claimed 12 titles in 2014. South Carolinian Austin Ernst, now 28, earned her lone victory that season.
"It's much harder to win now than in my rookie year of 2013 or in 2014 when I did win," Ernst said. "I'm playing way better golf now than when I won. My scoring average is down, I'm a much more complete player. I've finished second every year since I won but haven't gotten another victory. We're literally playing against the best players in the world."
And many of the top players are from Asia, women who compete much of the calendar many miles from their homelands, sacrificing family ties and familiar comforts to chase dreams.
"It is a global tour," Californian Lizette Salas said. "It keeps us working hard. We have to embrace everybody, embrace everybody's stories. I think it's beneficial to everybody. We are an American-based tour, but it's for everybody. Girls give up a lot to come play over here. As Americans, we're lucky enough to still play in a lot of domestic events."
The diverse tapestry of the LPGA was on full display Thursday night at its annual awards dinner. There were first-rate speeches given in second languages, Jin Young Ko of South Korea accepting the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year in heartfelt fashion.
"I don't know how you listen to Jin Young Ko last night and not love the kid," Whan said. "I'd root for her and it doesn't matter where she grew up."
The kind of effort that Ko clearly put into her speech typifies the drive of the LPGA's international contingent to succeed on the course. Stacking up well with them is a challenge for American golfers, but, they believe, a challenge worth tackling.
"When this tour wasn't as global, getting a win would have been amazing, but now if you win, that's something to really be proud of," said Floridian Jaye Marie Green, still looking for victory No. 1. "As a competitor, that's what you want -- you don't want to just play against Americans; you want to play against the best in the world. And that's what our tour has."
