Top Super Sophs
1. Seon Hwa Lee: The Rookie of the Year regains her top spot. I really should have made this call last month, come to think of it. An uncharacteristic weak finish at the Navistar Classic kept her from matching Pressel's top 10 at the State Farm in early September, but the fact is Lee has been playing better than Pressel for quite some time now.
2. Morgan Pressel: She was lucky to make the cut at the Navistar, got a top 10 at the State Farm, and salvaged her Solheim Cup by beating Annika Sorenstam in singles. So all in all, not bad. But not good enough to keep the top spot.
3. Jee Young Lee: Looks like she's back from her shoulder injury. Pressel had better watch out--in my book, this Lee is the most likely to win down the stretch of all the Super Sophs.
4. Ai Miyazato: Blame the Mostly Harmless jinx. Or her hairdresser. She's in "whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger" territory now.
5. Julieta Granada: I take back what I said last month about having a chance to pass Miyazato this year--well, her only chance is to win a tournament. If she qualifies this year for the ADT Championship that she won last year, it'll be a miracle.
Certified Super Sophs
6. Brittany Lang: Better watch her back, as both Bae and Francella look to be getting their games back.
7. Kyeong Bae: Only question is if she can rack up enough top 10s to pass Lang this year. She missed a great chance at the Navistar.
8. Meaghan Francella: At least she came close to a top 10 at the Navistar, but close isn't good enough to even pass Bae.
Super Sophs in Waiting
9. Hye Jung Choi: Looks to be getting her game back--most likely to jump a category, in my opinion, if she could just figure out how to get more top 10s, top 3s, or win. The top 10 at the Navistar was a good start.
10. Karin Sjodin: Gutty 69 got her in on the cut line at the Navistar, but her lead on Yoo is shrinking.
11. Sun Young Yoo: Picking up her game at the end of the season well enough to guarantee her card for 2008, but a weak weekend at the Navistar kept her behind Sjodin.
12. Linda Wessberg: Great Solheim Cup showing, despite not getting much play, verifies my faith in her talent. T30 at the Navistar is nothing to write home about, but at least she got to play in it--she's an alternate at the Longs Drugs Challenge.
13. Teresa Lu: Getting healthy again and notched her 2nd career top 10 at the Navistar--enough to put her back in the "in waiting" category, with a good shot at passing Wessberg at the end of the season (assuming she's doing the Asian swing and Wessberg isn't).
Super Potential
14. Katie Futcher: Fighting to keep her card. Missing the cut at the Navistar did not help, but she is in the field at the Longs Drugs.
15. Kim Hall: Guaranteed to earn her card for 2008. Still needs to work on making cuts.
16. Nina Reis: One of many LET-bound players who will fall off or down the charts next year (especially if Blomqvist gets her card).
17. Minea Blomqvist: She's on the bubble for getting her card in 2008. Her T30 at the Navistar will help her cause, but not guarantee it--she's not in the field for the Longs Drugs and she's 90th on the money list after the Navistar. [Update 10/3/07: Whoops, she is in the field--good for her!]
18. Veronica Zorzi: May end the season with a career cut rate better than Ai-chan's, but given how badly she finishes in the few events she plays on the LPGA, she's LET-bound for 2008.
19. Virada Nirapathpongporn: Putting on a late charge but likely to be too little, too late to keep her card. Her heartbreaking Sunday at the Navistar won't make it any easier--in fact, she needs a top 5 finish at the Longs Drugs.
20. Na Ri Kim: Looks like Hoagland is going to be seeking some kind of medical exemption for the 2008 season, so Kim's position is safe this year, despite her continuing troubles on the course. However, she's practically guaranteed to lose her card, unless she can eke out a top 5 finish at the Longs Drugs.
For your reference--and mine--are the stats on which I'm basing the September 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, although this week they don't include the Navistar Classic's results.
1. Seon Hwa Lee, $913.7K (#6), 71.72 (+.42), 3.00 (-.46), 65.9% (-1.9%)
2. Morgan Pressel, $899.8K (#7), 71.06 (-.45), 3.47 (-.14), 68.1% (-2.9%)
3. Jee Young Lee, $862.3K (#8), 71.60 (+.14), 3.42 (-.47), 67.6% (-.5%)
4. Ai Miyazato, $753.7K (#12), 72.36 (+1.14), 2.98 (-.73), 57.5% (-10.8%)
5. Meaghan Francella, $449.8K (#27), 73.00 (-.75), 2.64 (?), 62.2% (?)
6. Julieta Granada, $376.5K (#33), 72.71 (+1.38), 2.50 (-.70), 62.1% (-5.9%)
7. Brittany Lang, $293.4K (#37), 73.19 (+1.84), 2.71 (-1.17), 64.4% (-5.0%)
8. Kyeong Bae, $275.0K (#40), 72.75 (+.42), 3.22 (+.18), 58.5% (-9.0%)
9. Hye Jung Choi, $224.6K (#47), 73.07 (+.17), 2.67 (?), 60.6% (?)
10. Karin Sjodin, $167.8K (#58), 73.53 (+.72), 2.72 (-.77), 61.8% (-6.3%)
11. Kim Hall, $127.9K (#69), 73.47 (-.27), 2.42 (-.10), 57.3% (-8.0%)
12. Linda Wessberg, $127.9K (#70), 73.16 (-4.34), 3.00 (?), 51.2% (?)
13. Teresa Lu, $108.6K (#77), 73.22 (+.33), 2.65 (-.26), 64.0% (-2.7%)
14. Sun Young Yoo, $103.2K (#80), 73.17 (+.64), 2.55 (-.41), 62.7% (-6.3%)
15. Katie Futcher, $78.9K (#89), 73.90 (+1.07), 2.58 (-.33), 60.7% (-7.1%)
16. Minea Blomqvist, $76.1K (#92), 74.11 (+1.07), 2.68 (+.01), 56.1% (-4.5%)
17. Nina Reis, $47.3K (#116), 73.71 (+.80), 2.81 (+.04), 58.6% (-7.4%)
18. Na Ri Kim, $44.0K (#119), 74.15 (-2.80), 2.46 (?), 62.0% (?)
19. Virada Nirapathpongporn, $34.7K (#129), 73.66 (+.22), 2.84 (+.47), 59.6% (-1.7%)
20. Ashley Hoagland, $31.2K (#130), 73.78 (+.90), 2.11 (?), 57.5% (?)
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 (with everything except money updated as of the Navistar Classic):
1. Julieta Granada, $2.01M (#78), 0/1/5/10/.745 (38/51)
2. Seon Hwa Lee, $1.83M (#88), 0/2/6/12/.960 (48/50)
3. Jee Young Lee, $1.44M (#111), 0/0/4/14/.953 (41/43)
4. Morgan Pressel, $1.36M (#116), 1/1/4/17/.909 (40/44)
5. Ai Miyazato, $1.29M (#123), 0/0/4/13/.825 (33/40)
6. Brittany Lang, $.83M (#183), 0/0/2/9/.673 (33/49)
7. Kyeong Bae, $.56M (#227), 0/0/2/6/.727 (32/44)
8. Meaghan Francella $.46M (#252), 0/1/1/4/.609 (14/23)
9. Sun Young Yoo, $.33M (#283), 0/0/0/2/.723 (34/47)
10. Karin Sjodin, $.29M (#302), 0/0/0/3/.615 (24/39)
11. Hye Jung Choi, $.24M (#335), 0/0/0/2/.652 (15/23)
12. Katie Futcher, $.20M (#350), 0/0/0/3/.590 (23/39)
13. Nina Reis, $.19M (#354), 0/0/0/2/.605 (26/43)
14. Teresa Lu, $.18M (#361), 0/0/0/2/.595 (22/37)
15. Virada Nirapathpongporn, $.18M (#369), 0/0/0/1/.514 (19/37)
16. Kim Hall, $.16M (#380), 0/0/0/1/.400 (12/30)
17. Minea Blomqvist, $.15M (#388), 0/0/0/0/.548 (17/31)
18. Linda Wessberg, $.13M (#406), 0/0/0/3/.583 (7/12)
19. Veronica Zorzi, $.09M (#450), 0/0/0/0/.813 (13/16)
20. Na Ri Kim, $.05M (#501), 0/0/0/0/.391 (9/23)
21. Ashley Hoagland, $.05M (#508), 0/0/0/0/.462 (6/13)
Other Career Measures: Rolex Ranking (as of 9/24/07) and rank, Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index (as of 9/23/07) 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, 6.64 (#9), 70.38 (#6), 0
2. Jee Young Lee, 5.49 (#14), 70.33 (#5), 2
3. Ai Miyazato, 5.46 (#15), 71.05 (#23), 14
4. Seon Hwa Lee, 4.71 (#17), 70.94 (#21), 3
5. Julieta Granada, 3.63 (#32), 72.24 (#51), 0
6. Brittany Lang, 2.45 (#45), 72.97 (#81), 0
7. Meaghan Francella, 2.45 (#46), 72.46 (#57), 0
8. Linda Wessberg, 1.95 (#64), 72.74 (#68), 5
9. Kyeong Bae, 1.60 (#78), 72.54 (#61), 3
10. Karin Sjodin, 1.19 (#107), 73.22 (#99), 1
11. Veronica Zorzi, 1.05 (#123), 73.56 (#115), 2
12. Hye Jung Choi, 1.02 (#126), 72.76 (#69), 0
13. Sun Young Yoo, .93 (#140), 72.79 (#72), 0
14. Teresa Lu, .84 (#153), 73.74 (#139), 0
15. Minea Blomqvist, .83 (#156), 73.98 (#156), 5
16. Kim Hall, .77 (#165), 74.02 (#160), 0
17. Nina Reis, .66 (#193), 73.90 (#151), 5
18. Katie Futcher, .55 (#221), 73.74 (#140), 0
19. Virada Nirapathpongporn, .50 (#233), 74.54 (#210), 0
20. Na Ri Kim, .23 (#351), 74.47 (#201), 0
1 comment:
See Waggle Room for a pruned and updated version of this.
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