The way LPGA sensations tend to hit the tour, you might be surprised to learn that the last LPGA star to win both the LPGA Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year in the same season was Nancy Lopez way back in 1978. Annika Sorenstam didn't do it, neither did Karrie Webb and neither did Se Ri Pak.

What makes that interesting is that with just two official tournaments left in the LPGA season, Korea's Jiyai Shin has already wrapped up the Rookie of the Year award and she holds a slim lead in the Player of the Year race over Lorena Ochoa, the Mexican star who has won the LPGA's top prize the last three seasons.

In what is one of the closest races for the Player of the Year honor in more than a decade. Shin has a slim four-point lead over Ochoa in the points-based race. With 30 points available for a victory and 12 points for a second-place finish, Shin's lead over Ochoa is practically non-existent. And with the tour's next stop in Mexico at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational, the momentum for the award seems to be with Ochoa.

In a year when the LPGA has made more news off the course than on, the Shin-Ochoa race gives fans something positive to think about. Can Ochoa win a fourth consecutive Player of the Year honor and cement her place among the greatest LPGA players of all time? Or will Shin do something that no other Korean player has done, even in an era of Korean dominance of the tour? Can Shin become the first Korean to win the Player of the Year honor?

Too close to call

There is an outside chance that Cristie Kerr could become the first American to win the award since Beth Daniel in 1994. But Kerr would have to win one of the last two tournaments, play very well in the other event and hope that Shin and Ochoa struggle badly. It's a longshot for Kerr at best.

It's also interesting to note that none of the four winners of the LPGA's 2009 major championships are in the mix for the Player of the Year honor, unless of course one of them should sweep the last two events of the year and get a little help from Shin and Ochoa.

Since 1995, only four players have won the Player of the Year award for the women's tour. Sorenstam dominated the honor, earning the award eight times and often putting the title away by the middle of the summer. Ochoa has won the last three years, usually with Sorenstam-like dominance. Webb won the title in back-to-back years of 1999 and 2000, while Laura Davies won the title in 1996, the year after Sorenstam's first Player of the Year season.

That Ochoa is being challenged for the title is remarkable, since she averaged seven victories a year the last three years in walking away with the honor. That Shin is the Rookie of the Year after winning three events as a non-member in 2008 is also a little strange. But if Shin can hold on to her slim margin for just two more tournaments, she might just open a new era in the LPGA.

In a year of turmoil for the LPGA, who wins the Player of the Year award might not be the most important thing for the tour. But it does mean something to the players, and it might well mean something for the future of the tour as well.

Larry Bohannan covers golf for the Desert Sun. His columns appear Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. He can be reached at 778-4633.