Inbee Park ranked No. 1 as LPGA 2014 season begins

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., Jan. 20 (UPI) -- The 2014 LPGA season gets under way this week with Inbee Park holding the No. 1 spot in the world women's golf rankings.

Park, 25, has been ranked No. 1 for the last 41 weeks. Over that period she won five of her six 2013 titles, a run that included three major tournament championships.

Park had a very large lead in the rankings by midyear but her average sagged some in the second half of the year and both Suzann Pettersen and Stacy Lewis cut into her lead. Park is 0.40 average points ahead of Pettersen and 1.68 average points up on Lewis.

The LPGA 2014 season opens Thursday at the Pure Silk Bahamas LPGA Classic on Paradise Island near Nassau. A field of 138 players is expected with Pettersen and Lewis, along with fourth-ranked Lydia Ko, set to play.

The world women's Top 10, listing player's name, home country and ranking points average:

1. Inbee Park, South Korea, 10.34

2. Suzann Pettersen, Norway, 9.94

3. Stacy Lewis, United States, 8.66

4. Lydia Ko, New Zealand, 7.18

5. Ryo So-yeon, South Korea, 6.33

6. Feng Shanshan, China, 6.13

7. Choi Na-yeon, South Korea, 5.39

8. Karrie Webb, Australia, 4.87

9. Lexi Thompson, United States, 4.73

10. I.K. Kim, South Korea, 4.38