LYTHAM ST. ANNES, England — A change in the LPGA's world ranking system resulted in Michelle Wie plunging from No. 2 to No. 7.

When the rankings made their debut in February, the minimum number of tournaments was 15 (the men use 40). Coincidentally, that was the exact number of events Wie played, and she started at No. 3.

Now, points accumulated over two years will be divided by a minimum of 35 tournaments.

The original argument was that some players on the Korean circuit played a limited schedule, although any player of moderate skill was spending most of her time on the LPGA Tour. Chris Higgs, a senior vice president of the LPGA who is head of the technical committee for the world ranking, came to this conclusion in the announcement last week.

"We took into consideration that the top 200 players are consistently playing in more than 35 events in the 104-week period," he said. "The divisor will ensure that players' performances will be weighted and valued in a more balanced fashion against other global competitors."

The new ranking has Annika Sorenstam at No. 1, followed by Lorena Ochoa, Karrie Webb, Paula Creamer and Cristie Kerr.