“That’s almost too good."

What an astonishing 12-shot win by Cristie Kerr in Sunday's LPGA Championship.

“That’s almost too good,” Miyazato said, figuring 8 under would be good enough to win the tournament. “She’s just amazing. I played really good, too, but she is just better than me.”

Kerr’s rise comes with women’s golf going through a changing of the guard. In April, Lorena Ochoa followed Annika Sorenstam into retirement, leaving a vacuum at the top.

Kerr will become the third player at No. 1 in the past three weeks. Miyazato supplanted Shin last week by winning the ShopRite LPGA Classic, her fourth victory of the year.

Americans have won only four of the past 14 majors, with Kerr winning two of them. Americans also have won only six of the past 34 LPGA events, with Kerr winning three times.

Randall Mell wonders if we're seeing an transformative moment for the new world No. 1.

Kerr was a chubby, prickly teen who didn’t make friends easily when she first hit the tour, but she’s evolved. There’s evidence of that in the foundation she established to help fight breast cancer after her mother was diagnosed with the disease. There’s her well documented physical transformation that’s landed her on the cover of women’s magazines, and there’s the social transformation. She counts Natalie Gulbis and Morgan Pressel as close friends. She credits her husband, Erik Stevens, for helping her evolve since they married in ‘06.

“I’ve won one tournament without my husband,” Kerr said. “I’ve won all the others with him. He’s been one of the biggest influences on me becoming a better person, changing and evolving and giving back.”

Unfortunately, for Kerr’s fellow competitors, the evolution hasn’t softened the little warrior within who wants to kick their butts.