In any case, the main purpose of these rankings remains to determine who among the Rookie Class of 2006 has had the best career to date, with improvement and consistency the key criteria. For those at the top, I'm counting their 2007 stats more highly than their career stats, as they already have the consistency and get more credit for improvement. For those at the bottom, I'm counting their career stats more highly than their 2007 stats, because that's a better indicator of potential than a slump in the first half of this season.
With the European swing coming up after the HSBC, it'll be interesting to see if the Super Sophs concentrating on the Ladies European Tour this season can outperform those ranked ahead of them here on their home turf. My guess is no, but we'll see. FYI, I pick Francella to lose to Meena Lee and Jee Young Lee to beat Karin Sjodin in the first round of the HSBC--and the other 7 Super Sophs to move on to the next round. I'll be back Sunday morning Japan time to check out how well the 100 Yen Nishijin Mostly Harmless Crystal Ball is working!
Certified Super Sophs
1. Morgan Pressel: After a blistering late June and early July, she has consolidated her position as the top Super Soph and even extended her lead on the competition, despite the generally fine play of the Lees and Miyazato.
2. Jee Young Lee: Seems to be getting her game back after a slight slump in the previous month. Pulled ahead of Lee a bit, who remained steady but couldn't get any top 10s in the last 3 events.
3. Seon Hwa Lee: The most consistent of the Super Sophs stayed just ahead of Miyazato by a hair.
4. Ai Miyazato: Extended her lead on Granada and would have passed Lee except for her unexpected missed cut in a major.
5. Julieta Granada: Showed signs of life the past 3 events, but if Francella gets healthy and Bae starts hitting more greens, is in serious danger of getting passed by them in the August ranking.
6. Kyeong Bae: A few more top 10s and she'll join the elite among the Super Sophs.
7. Meaghan Francella: Struggling with a rib muscle injury but still deserves to be ahead of Lang--that should tell you how badly Lang is playing this year!
8. Brittany Lang: Needs to wake up! Used to be among the elite of the Super Sophs--if things continue as they have been, will drop down to "Super Soph in Waiting" status by the end of the season.
Super Sophs in Waiting
9. Hye Jung Choi: She's shown she can make cuts and is having a very good year. Now the question is can she move to the next level with more top 10s and more tournaments in contention--if so, she could pass the ailing Francella. Already ranked ahead of Lang in the GSPI.
10. Karin Sjodin: Doing better than Yoo in most stats with fewer tournaments under her belt. Can she make the Jee Young Lee jump this season? She plays her in the first round of the HSBC, so that'll be one big test!
11. Sun Young Yoo: Good thing for her Lu is hurt and Wessberg isn't playing much on the LPGA this year--definitely in danger of getting passed unless she gets her game in gear.
12. Teresa Lu: Like Francella, she's struggling with a nagging injury, but her game has gone totally south, as opposed to merely southward. She's in a bit of a Catch-22, as she needs to earn enough money to get exempt next year without having to go through the ordeal of Q-School, but she needs to get better in order to start making cuts again.
13. Linda Wessberg: With 2 top 10s in only 9 LPGA starts, she could be a star on the LPGA if she commits to playing more events. Has already won this year on the Ladies European Tour.
Super Potential
14. Nina Reis: In danger of getting passed by Futcher.
15. Katie Futcher: Pulling ahead of those behind her.
16. Virada Nirapathpongporn: In danger of being passed by Hall and Kim.
17. Kim Hall: Some good play recently moves her up the rankings a bit.
18. Na Ri Kim: Doing well with relatively few LPGA events under her belt in her career.
19. Veronica Zorzi: Seems committed to the LET.
20. Minea Blomqvist: Only reason remains ahead of Hoagland is last year's performance.
Honorable Mention
Ashley Hoagland: fell off the chart this month.
For your reference--and mine--are the stats on which I'm basing the July ranking.
2007 LPGA Money List (rank), stroke average (compared to last year's), birdies per round average (compared to last year's), greens in regulation (compared to last year's): I'm going to focus on four key indicators of how well someone is playing this season--how much money they've made, how they're scoring, how many birdies they're averaging per round, and average greens in regulation per round. (I figure I can figure out how well they're hitting their irons and putting by comparing the last three figures, so I won't include putts per green in regulation here. And by comparing this year's and last's results on those same three figures, I can see who's improving and who's backsliding.) Some of the figures Hound Dog thinks are most important I'm looking at in the career stats (below), where I think they belong. These stats are all about the present and future.
1. Morgan Pressel, $778.9K (#4), 70.81 (-.70), 3.51 (-.10), 69.3% (-1.7%)
2. Jee Young Lee, $628.4K (#11), 71.30 (-.16), 3.44 (-.45), 72.8% (+4.7%)
3. Ai Miyazato, $413.5K (#15), 71.78 (+.56), 2.96 (-.75), 64.6% (-4.7%)
4. Meaghan Francella, $370.0K (#21), 72.57 (-1.18), 2.86 (?), 64.8% (?)
5. Julieta Granada, $333.5K (#23), 72.53 (+1.20), 2.51 (-.69), 64.2% (-3.8%)
6. Seon Hwa Lee, $310.5K (#25), 71.65 (+.35), 3.04 (-.49), 66.8% (-.9%)
7. Kyeong Bae, $238.4K (#30), 72.58 (+.25), 3.48 (+.44), 60.2% (-7.3%)
8. Hye Jung Choi, $211.0K (#35), 72.65 (-.35), 2.78 (?), 63.4% (?)
9. Karin Sjodin, $154.3K (#46), 73.02 (+.21), 2.76 (-.73), 64.4% (-3.7%)
10. Brittany Lang, $141.5K (#50), 73.51 (+2.16), 2.37 (-1.51), 65.5% (-3.9%)
11. Teresa Lu, $101.5K (#65), 72.95 (+.06), 2.82 (-.20), 67.0% (+.3%)
12. Sun Young Yoo, $80.4K (#78), 73.36 (+.83), 2.57 (-.39), 64.3% (-4.7%)
13. Linda Wessberg, $66.8K (#82), 72.96 (-4.57), 3.00 (?), 59.4% (?)
14. Nina Reis, $47.3K (#107), 73.50 (+.59), 2.86 (+.09), 61.3% (-4.7%)
15. Kim Hall, $45.8K (#109), 73.82 (+.08), 2.36 (-.16), 60.4% (-4.9%)
16. Katie Futcher, $44.5K (#111), 74.16 (+.18), 2.47 (-.44), 59.9% (-7.9%)
17. Na Ri Kim, $39.8K (#113), 74.22 (-1.51), 2.38 (?), 62.3% (?)
18. Ashley Hoagland, $31.2K (#122), 73.78 (+.90), 2.11 (?), 57.5% (?)
19. Virada Nirapathpongporn, $30.8K (#123), 73.81 (+.35), 2.83 (+.46), 59.4% (-1.9%)
20. Minea Blomqvist, $23.2K (#133), 74.97 (+1.93), 2.63 (-.04), 53.6% (-7.0%)
Career LPGA Money List (rank), LPGA Majors/Wins/Top 3s/Top 10s/Made/Missed Cuts Percentage (and totals): About the only thing these stats are useful for is comparing people who entered the LPGA in the same year. Between inflation, changing purses, and length/timing of careers, it's very hard to compare and contrast winnings across generations of LPGA greats. Fortunately the Super Sophs have not even been at this for two years, so the career money list is a decent stat for comparing their short careers, even if it's a bit unfair to people who were not exempt in either or both years. What would really be great is if we had a world money list in inflation-adjusted dollars, with inflation- and exchange-adjusted other cash denominations added in (or just totalled up separately to avoid comparing dollars and yen), which included all each golfer earned as a professional on any tour. But even the guys don't have that, so that'll have to remain a dream for now. I include these other ways of seeing how the Super Sophs finished relative to their competition in the tournaments they entered because they reveal a lot about how well someone is able to compete at every level, from just making cuts to getting top 10s, top 3s, and victories. So here's how they stand:
1. Julieta Granada, $1.97M (#79), 0/1/5/10/.795 (35/44)
2. Morgan Pressel, $1.24M (#124), 1/1/4/16/.919 (34/37)
3. Seon Hwa Lee, $1.23M (#125), 0/1/5/10/.977 (42/43)
4. Jee Young Lee, $1.20M (#131), 0/0/3/12/.949 (37/39)
5. Ai Miyazato, $.95M (#163), 0/0/3/12/.857 (30/35)
6. Brittany Lang, $.68M (#207), 0/0/2/8/.667 (28/42)
7. Kyeong Bae, $.53M (#234), 0/0/2/6/.757 (28/37)
8. Meaghan Francella $.38M (#263), 0/1/1/3/.647 (11/17)
9. Sun Young Yoo, $.31M (#291), 0/0/0/2/.707 (29/41)
10. Karin Sjodin, $.28M (#307), 0/0/0/3/.656 (21/32)
11. Hye Jung Choi, $.22M (#336), 0/0/0/2/.750 (12/16)
12. Nina Reis, $.19M (#349), 0/0/0/2/.684 (26/38)
13. Teresa Lu, $.18M (#366), 0/0/0/1/.625 (20/32)
14. Virada Nirapathpongporn, $.17M (#368), 0/0/0/1/.545 (18/33)
15. Katie Futcher, $.16M (#376), 0/0/0/1/.639 (23/36)
16. Minea Blomqvist, $.10M (#429), 0/0/0/0/.483 (14/29)
17. Veronica Zorzi, $.08M (#449), 0/0/0/0/.833 (10/12)
18. Kim Hall, $.08M (#454), 0/0/0/0/.360 (9/25)
19. Linda Wessberg, $.07M (#465), 0/0/0/2/.444 (4/9)
20. Shinobu Moromizato, $.06M (#475), 0/0/0/0/.000 (0/0) [this can't be right, but that's what her biodata form says!]
21. Ashley Hoagland, $.05M (#506), 0/0/0/0/.462 (6/13)
22. Na Ri Kim, $.05M (#509), 0/0/0/0/.455 (5/11)
Other Career Measures: Rolex Ranking (as of 7/16/07) and rank, Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index (as of 7/15/07) and rank, International (as of the end of the 2006 season) and Non-Member LPGA Wins: This is a way of seeing how those Super Sophs who sometimes or regularly or always compete on other tours stack up over the course of their careers to date (the RR includes results over the past 104 weeks on the LPGA, LET, JLPGA, KLPGA, and Futures Tour; the GSPI includes results over the past 52 weeks on all these tours except the KLPGA).
1. Morgan Pressel, 7.53 (#6), 69.76 (#5), 0
2. Ai Miyazato, 5.75 (#12), 70.20 (#11), 14
3. Jee Young Lee, 5.01 (#16), 70.03 (#8), 2
4. Julieta Granada, 3.97 (#25), 71.53 (#41), 0
5. Seon Hwa Lee, 3.77 (#28), 70.68 (#19), 3
6. Shinobu Moromizato, 2.75 (#42), 72.23 (#64), 0
7. Brittany Lang, 2.51 (#45), 72.73 (#78), 0
8. Meaghan Francella, 2.24 (#49), 72.03 (#55), 0
9. Kyeong Bae, 1.67 (#69), 71.59 (#42), 3
10. Linda Wessberg, 1.37 (#97), 73.40 (#128), 5
11. Karin Sjodin, 1.33 (#100), 72.51 (#71), 1
12. Veronica Zorzi, 1.12 (#116), 72.93 (#88), 2
13. Hye Jung Choi, .99 (#130), 72.38 (#68), 0
14. Teresa Lu, .97 (#134), 72.94 (#89), 0
15. Sun Young Yoo, .95 (#136), 72.29 (#66), 0
16. Nina Reis, .74 (#170), 73.04 (#98), 5
17. Louise Stahle, .68 (#186), 73.37 (#125), 0
18. Minea Blomqvist, .63 (#196), 74.50 (#209), 5
19. Virada Nirapathpongporn, .54 (#227), 74.63 (#220), 0
20. Katie Futcher, .41 (#273), 73.36 (#121), 0
21. Rebecca Coakley, .38 (#283), 74.94 (#248), 0
22. Kim Hall, .36 (#291), 74.26 (#179), 0
23. Na Ri Kim, .27 (#334), 74.02 (#164), 0
24. Ashley Hoagland, .25 (#347), 73.62 (#140), 0
4 comments:
I posted a short version of this as a diary at Waggle Room, with a few more predictions for the HSBC!
A quick update on the career money list post-HSBC, comparing the Super Sophs to slightly older yong stars like Paula Creamer ($3.3M, #40), Meena Lee ($1.7M, #94), and Shi Hyun Ahn ($1.7M, #95):
Granada: $2.0M, #78
SH Lee: $1.7M, #92
JY Lee: $1.3M, #124
Pressel: $1.2M, #125
Miyazato: $1.2M, #127
There's a strong possibility all 5 could be ahead of everyone but Creamer at the end of the season.
Thbaks to Hound Dog, who corrected an error on Morgan Pressel's cut rate for me over on a Seoul Sisters message board. I just fixed it in the above post.
Speaking of errors, it looks to me like the recent update to the career money list introduced some errors into the Super Sophs' totals.
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