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Devil Ball Golf 18 for '15: Who will reign over the LPGA?

Welcome into the latest installment of Devil Ball Golf's 18 for '15, where we're taking a comprehensive look at the world of golf heading into and the New Year. We turn our attention to the LPGA Tour and the women's game.

I sure hope you had a chance to see the LPGA in 2014. The competition was incredible. With few exceptions, the docket featured close tournaments that had the game's biggest names in contention week after week. That's appointment TV.

And the tournaments had fantastic results. Michelle Wie got her major -- and, later, her twerk on -- at the U.S. Women's Open at Pinehurst No. 2. Lexi Thompson got her major first, against Wie, in the former Kraft Nabisco Championship (now the ANA Inspiration). Mo Martin won the Women's British Open with a 72nd-hole eagle that should be considered among the greatest shots in major championship history. Inbee Park struck at the last LPGA Championship (it becomes the Women's PGA Championship in '15). And in the youngest major, The Evian, eventual winner 19-year-old Kim Hyo-joo shot the first-ever 61 in a major.

Christina Kim ended a nine-year winless skid at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational. Jessica Korda and Anna Nordqvist were among the many multiple-time winners. Michelle Wie won again on her home soil in Hawaii.

However, the LPGA has three big names vying for the sport's No. 1 ranking.

Inbee Park notched another two Ws on top of her LPGA Championship win. Stacy Lewis won three times and became the first American in two decades to win the scoring title, money title and player of the year award. And then 17-year-old Lydia Ko closed out the year with the largest pay day in women's golf history, winning the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship for $500,000 and the inaugural Race to the CME Globe for another $1 million. 

Park leads Ko and Lewis in the Rolex Rankings by a little over an average point per tournament, but that gap could close quickly come the new season, which kicks off at the Coates Golf Championship in Ocala, Fla., near Orlando, from January 28-31. The question is if one of the three will take control over the LPGA.

If one does emerge, expect Lewis to take charge. Of the three, Lewis was the most consistent. She's also the most hungry, looking for that elusive U.S. Women's Open. Her ranking points are also spread out, unlike Park, whose three-major season in 2013 will lose value in the coming year. With Ko about to enter college at Korea University and take a little attention away from her game, Lewis is primed to have everything working her way. 

Now, all Lewis has to do is be her typical spectacular self. Easy, right? Sure, with Park, Ko, Wie, Suzann Pettersen, Shanshan Feng, So Yeon Ryu, Thompson and more looking for some upward mobility of their own in the year to come.

Read all of the Devil Ball Golf 18 for '15:


Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.