By Vince Robitaille

GolfWRX Staff Writer

Parity is an overused term in the contemporary golfing thesaurus.

The PGA Tour has been left without a clear-cut alpha male since Tigergate – a case could be made that Luke Donald filled the spot left vacant in 2011, although without inspiring much fear into his opponents or by-standing creatures amidst the golfing ecosystem. The LPGA’s prime predator, Yani Tseng, also has been dormant for the better part of the summer.

Parity though? Not quite. Golf – outside of soccer – is the sporting world’s paramount oligarchy. Mika Miyazato’s victory at Pumpkin Ridge on Sunday abounds in such a direction.

The Other Miyazato finally getting it done – not that Mika hadn’t obtained top results in recent memory as her four top-5 finishes in her last seven outings exemplify – meant that no fewer than six players have recorded their first “W” as LPGA members in 2012. Now, one could point out that such an important number of first-time champions, even across a full season, showcases how level the field is.

Of those six players, however, one had previously held the U.S. Women’s Open crown, one is a past Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year with previous runner-up finishes and a great Solheim Cup showing last fall, and the others were former amateur standouts. Arguably, of the group, Jessika Korda represented the best argument for parity, her professional struggles in 2011 prompting some to think that her meltdown in the 2010 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship were a good indicator of what her career would become.

Lang and Feng, despite their low points around the turn of the decade, were trending significantly upwards in 2011 with multiple top-10’s. There is congestion at the top, no doubt about that, but it’s a tightly knit pack that doesn’t allow for many intruders to run away with one on any given Sunday.

In a whole other class of overdue – especially after her second places at the Wegmans LPGA Championship and Walmart NW Arkansas Championship – Miyazato made her intentions clear quite early in the fourth edition of this three-day event, grabbing a share of the lead at 7-under 65 with a lap around the course that included 17 greens in regulations. Her co-leader by way of an over-achieving flat stick during the first round, sliding down the leaderboard as three lost strokes on 17th and 18th did her in, Miyazato’s blemish-free 68 on moving day left her sitting atop the leaderboard with an eagle-worth of cushion. Oddly enough, her closest pursuer was none other than So Yeon Ryu, last week’s champion and, most importantly, one of the aforementioned six.

Despite a pair of good runs, the final round’s most stress-charged moment came on the 72nd hole and was only brought by the eventual Rolex First-Time Winner herself. With her approach barely missing the putting surface, the now World No.10 found herself facing a tricky situation that could be negotiated in three strokes to win in regulation. After striking the ball a touch too high on the face and almost double-hitting it, the ball landed what appeared to be a tad short. Fortunately enough, the abrupt slope that led to the hole – and a greenside water hazard – enabled Miyazato’s nearly disastrous stroke to trickle within kicking distance of the cup and the wire-to-wire victory.

In a losing cause, two golfers that have enjoyed success up North in the past – namely Brittany Lincicome and Michelle Wie ­– have shown signs of vigor – recording their best respective results of the year – at an opportune moment as the LPGA Tour heads back to Canada for its Open this week. The question is: will any of them be able to maneuver around a wet Vancouver Golf Club?

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