She wants the Player of the Year award, too.

"The last few months I was thinking that I already had the rookie of the year award and I really wasn't thinking about being player of the year," said the 21-year-old Shin, a three-time winner this season who also sings and has a hit single in Korea. "Now we have just one tournament left, and I am on top of the race. Now I really want it.

"It is close so I really want to win it."

If Shin were to win the player of the year award, she would become the first player since Nancy Lopez in 1978 to capture both the player of the year and rookie of the year awards in the same season.

Shin leads three-time reigning player of the year winner Lorena Ochoa by eight points heading into the final event of the season. Under the points system which rewards staggered points totals for top-10 finishes, Ochoa, who also has three wins, would have to finish third and Shin would have to finish out of the top-10 for Ochoa to make it a four-peat.

The only other player who has a chance at player of the year is Cristie Kerr, who would be the first American to win the award since Beth Daniel in 1994. Though Kerr said she isn't a long shot, she would have to win this week — "If I shoot four rounds in the 60s I can win," Kerr said — and have Shin and Ochoa both finish out of the top 10.

"It's definitely challenging, The statistics are against me," said Kerr, a 12-time winner in her career, including a win at Kingsmill this season, and a star of the USA's victorious Solheim Cup team in August. "But if I can go out there and take care of my business, and if the stars align, it would be a heck of a story.

"I had my chance last week (when she finished in a tie for third behind winner Michelle Wie in the Lorena Ochoa Invitational). But I still have a chance to win this week. All I can ask for is a chance on Sunday."

Ochoa, the world No. 1 who won 21 times from 2006-08, isn't about to relinquish her reign without a fight. When asked if she was ready to win this week, which would secure the title for her, she replied with a firm "Yes."

"I would like to finish the year off in a good way," said Ochoa, who is getting married next month and has coped with balancing her time at and away from the golf course this year. "It's been a good year in so many ways. I've learned a lot this year which will help me play better in the future.

"The competition is so tough out here. Either way, if I win it or not, it's been a good year for me. But I want to win it."

Shin, known as "Chalk Line" for her consistency to hit the middle of the fairways with her tee shots, has played 69 events since February 2008. She has 29 wins since the beginning of the 2006 season, 20 coming on the Korean LPGA tour. She also won her first major last season at the Ricoh Women's British Open.

When this year started, Shin's main goal was to win the rookie of the year award because "you only have one chance to do it." Now she has a chance to pull a rare award double.

"I will just focus on my game. If I do my best and miss, I will do so understanding that I gave it my best and Lorena is a great player," said Shin, who is ranked No. 2 in the world. "After this week? Now my goal is to be the best player in the world."

She'll have to get by Ochoa to claim that honor, too.

Enlarge By David J. Phillip, AP Lorena Ochoa of Mexico, the three-time LPGA Player of the Year, has to catch Jiyai Shin in the race for the tour's top honor this year.