Tuesday, March 31, 2009

The Best of the Young Guns: Top Junior Mints, March 2009 Edition

The top players in the Class of 2007--the new Junior Mints on the LPGA--seem to be owning the top of the leaderboard of late. So who's got the best chance of continuing the tradition at the Kraft Nabisco Championship?

Simply the Best

1. Angela Park: Off to a great start this season, she's still staying barely ahead of the lead chase pack in her class. But as she also has the best record in her class at the KNC, don't look for her to get passed this week.
2. Eun-Hee Ji: Continues to impress in comparatively fewer starts than her top peers, but she's still chasing Angela. Coming off a missed cut at last year's KNC, her top-20 streak is in danger of being broken this week.
3. In-Kyung Kim: It's going to take a win to move up this list, and Inky came just shy last week. Hopefully the big mo' will count for more than her MC at last year's KNC.

The Contenders

4. Inbee Park: Despite getting her 1st real top 20 in Phoenix since last July (her 19th-place finish at the Samsung doesn't really count, right?), I'm officially demoting her from the top rank of her class. Doing this last year kicked off a great run that culminated in that U.S. Women's Open win, so I'm hoping the Mostly Harmless Reverse Jinx will strike again in '09 for her! Plus, she's coming off a top 10 at last year's KNC.
5. Song-Hee Kim: Her finishes are starting to match her performance stats and she's been playing great on Sundays. Watch out for her in '09! I wonder if she'll beat Angela Park and Jane Kim to the next-to-get-her-1st-win in this class? Getting it in her 1st KNC would be amazing!
6. Jane Park: Still plagued by more inconsistency than her top peers, but make no mistake: she's a major talent and will be for a long time to come. It's time to start showing it at the KNC, where she's finished better as an amateur than as a pro.
7. Ji Young Oh: Needs to start hitting more greens and making more birdies to move up this ranking. If not, her #2 status in her class at the KNC is definitely in jeopardy.
8. Kristy McPherson: Showing signs of building toward a breakthrough this spring. She has the talent to win on tour, particularly once her putter comes around. Playing in her 1st KNC, though, so I'm not expecting that much out of her this week.
9. Jin Joo Hong: Off to a slow start in '09, particularly when it comes to hitting greens, but hey, nobody can take away that non-member win in Korea, she recently got featured in the Wall Street Journal, and she is the last in her class to qualify for the KNC, so she has that going for her.

Quantum Leap Candidates

10. Na On Min: Just got her 1st top 20 in a year--that T11 finish last week was her best since the '07 Women's British Open. The former whiz kid (2 top 5s in her 1st 6 LPGA starts) has fallen far and fast over the last 2 seasons, but is she about to get up?
11. Charlotte Mayorkas: Despite a great Q-School, she's off to a slow start in '09, but at least she's hitting greens at a decent rate.
12. Irene Cho: If her putting improves, watch for her to get on a hot streak in '09. If not....

On the Bottom Looking Up

13. Sophie Giquel: She's a Category 11 player, which means she'll get into plenty of events, but if she keeps missing cuts at the rate she has been, it'll be back to Q-School for her.
14. Paige Mackenzie: A Category 15er, but at least she's made a cut this season.
15. Becky Lucidi: Another Category 15er, but hasn't yet made a cut in '09.
16. Jeanne Cho-Hunicke: Got Category 11 status in Q-School, but has missed every cut thus far this season.

On the Outside Looking In

17. Su A Kim: Will be trying to restart her career on the Futures Tour, but only has Category D status there this season.
18. Seo-Jae Lee: Ditto, except for the Category D part.
19. Sarah Lynn Sargent: Ditto.
20. Cindy Pasechnik: Ditto, but only has Category D status there this season.

For your reference--and mine--here are the stats on which I'm basing the March ranking.

2009 LPGA Money List (rank), stroke average (rank), birdies per round average (rank [in total birdies]), greens in regulation rate (rank): I focus on four key indicators of how well someone is playing this season--how much money they've made, how they've scored, how many birdies they've averaged per round, and how many greens they've hit in regulation on average per round, plus how they rank in each category (except for birdies, which LPGA.com ranks by total and not by average). I figure I can figure out how well they're hitting their irons and putting by comparing the last three figures, so I don't include putts per green in regulation here. Some of the figures Hound Dog thinks are the 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. Angela Park, $228.2K (#7), 70.80 (#5), 3.53 (#15), 79.4% (#2)
2. Song-Hee Kim, $148.4K (#13), 71.20 (#10), 3.67 (#12), 70.8% (#18)
3. Eun-Hee Ji, $148.2K (#14), 71.06 (#8), 3.44 (#5), 77.8% (#3)
4. In-Kyung Kim, $130.0K (#18), 72.13 (#18), 3.93 (#8), 75.4% (#7)
5. Jane Park, $103.7K (#21), 72.25 (#22), 3.13 (#18), 66.7% (#34)
6. Kristy McPherson, $72.7K (#25), 72.11 (#17), 2.67 (#23), 69.8% (#19)
7. Ji Young Oh, $62.2K (#28), 72.67 (#30), 2.47 (#46), 58.3% (#93)
8. Na On Min, $30.3K (#51), 73.33 (#48), 2.67 (#68), 60.2% (#83)
9. Inbee Park, $29.9K (#52), 73.93 (#64), 2.71 (#44), 65.3% (#47)
10. Irene Cho, $14.3K (#74), 74.50 (#84), 2.63 (#79), 69.4% (#24)
11. Jin Joo Hong, $12.9K (#83), 74.30 (#77), 2.00 (#83), 44.4% (#136)
12. Charlotte Mayorkas, $2.6K (#125), 75.57 (#109), 2.00 (#111), 66.7% (#34)
13. Paige Mackenzie, $2.2K (#130), 76.80 (#123), 1.80 (#129), 57.4% (#98)
14. Jeanne Cho-Hunicke, $0K (#187), 77.00 (#128), 1.83 (#122), 48.6% (#132)
14. Sophie Giquel, $0K (n.r.), 78.25 (#137), 1.75 (#138), 50.0% (#126)
14. Becky Lucidi, $0K (#113), 78.67 (#139), 1.83 (#122), 50.0% (#126)


Career LPGA Money List (rank), # of LPGA events entered/majors/wins/top 3s/top 10s/top 20s/cuts made (made cut rate): About the only thing these stats are useful for is comparing people who entered the LPGA in the same year (although if you count generations by 3 years, it can be interesting). 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 Junior Mints haven't been at this all too long, so the career money list is a decent stat for comparing them, even if it's a bit unfair to people who have not been exempt 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--although Thomas Atkins has posted an inflation-adjusted LPGA Career Top 50 as of the end of the 2008 season over at Hound Dog's place. In any case, I include these other ways of seeing how the Junior Mints 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 grinding out top 20s and top 10s to contending for wins. So here's how they stand at the start of '09.

1. Angela Park, $2.08M (#86), 60/0/0/8/18/25/56 (.933)
2. Inbee Park, $1.55M (#111), 56/1/1/3/9/16/43 (.768)
3. In-Kyung Kim, $1.36M (#126), 56/0/1/4/13/21/47 (.839)
4. Eun-Hee Ji, $1.31M (#130), 37/0/1/4/13/18/34 (.919)
5. Song-Hee Kim, $1.21M (#146), 48/0/0/3/9/15/35 (.729)
6. Ji Young Oh, $.89M (#193), 55/0/1/1/6/13/40 (.727)
7. Jane Park, $.80M (#206), 42/0/0/3/6/10/35 (.833)
8. Kristy McPherson, $.56M (#245), 49/0/0/0/6/11/35 (.714)
9. Jin Joo Hong, $.51M (#255), 46/0/0/0/2/7/33 (.717)
10. Na On Min, $.49M (#267), 48/0/0/1/2/6/30 (.625)
11. Charlotte Mayorkas, $.26M (#338), 44/0/0/0/0/4/31 (.705)
12. Irene Cho, $.25M (#349), 43/0/0/0/2/4/25 (.581)
13. Paige Mackenzie, $.13M (#426), 38/0/0/0/0/1/18 (.474)
14. Sophie Giquel, $.11M (#445), 29/0/0/0/0/0/15 (.517)
15. Becky Lucidi $.09M (#478), 25/0/0/0/0/2/8 (.320)
16. Su A Kim, $.07M (#494), 26/0/0/0/0/0/12 (.462)
17. Seo-Jae Lee, $.07M (#498), 25/0/0/0/0/0/10 (.400)
18. Sarah Lynn Sargent, $.05M (#538), 26/0/0/0/0/0/12 (.462)
19. Jeanne Cho-Hunicke, $.02M (#600), 21/0/0/0/0/1/3 (.143)
20. Cindy Pasechnik, $.02M (#612), 19/0/0/0/0/0/5 (.263)


Other Career Measures: Rolex Ranking (as of 3/30/09) and rank, Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index (as of 3/29/09) and rank, International and Non-Member LPGA Wins (as of the end of the 2008 season): This is a way of seeing how those Junior Mints who sometimes or regularly or often 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. Eun-Hee Ji, 3.76 (#11), 70.11 (#12); 4
2. Angela Park, 3.68 (#15), 70.67 (#20); 0
3. In-Kyung Kim, 3.46 (#19), 70.62 (#17); 0
4. Inbee Park, 3.09 (#24), 71.15 (#38); 0
5. Song-Hee Kim, 3.01 (#26), 70.13 (#13); 0
6. Jane Park, 2.19 (#42), 71.13 (#35); 0
7. Ji Young Oh, 1.91 (#52), 71.08 (#32); 0
8. Kristy McPherson, 1.56 (#61), 71.14 (#36); 0
9. Jin Joo Hong, 1.09 (#84), 72.25 (#82); 2
10. Na On Min, .83 (#104), 73.13 (#126); 0
11. Irene Cho, .76 (#113), 72.89 (#110); 0
12. Charlotte Mayorkas, .54 (#144), 73.21 (#132); 0
13. Sophie Giquel, .45 (#165), 73.65 (#162); 1
14. Becky Lucidi, .32 (#219), 74.35 (#228); 0
15. Paige Mackenzie, .24 (#249), 73.74 (#173); 0
16. Su A Kim, .18 (#281), ? (n.r.); 0
17. Seo-Jae Lee, .14 (#311), 73.93 (#193); 0
18. Jeanne Cho-Hunicke, .03 (#538), 77.18 (#436); 0
19. Sarah Lynn Sargent, .01 (#647), 75.40 (#315); 0
20. Cindy Pasechnik, .01 (#672), 75.92 (#352); 0


FYI, here's the rest my 2009 schedule:

April: Class of 2008 (post-Corona)
May: Young Guns (post-Corning)
June: Class of 2006 (post-Wegmans)
July: Class of 2007 (pre-WBO)
August: Class of 2008 (post-Safeway)
September: Young Guns (post-Longs Drugs)
October: Class of 2006 (post-Korea)
November: Class of 2007 (post-Stanford)
December: Class of 2008 (post-Q School)
January '10: Young Guns (final 2009 ranking)

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