Monday, May 31, 2010

2010 Worldwide Women's Professional Golf Schedule: LPGA, JLPGA, KLPGA, LET

The LET has updated its schedule, so thought I'd provide another update to the worldwide women's professional golf schedule for all the major tours.

Thanks again to Tim Maitland and Happy Fan at Seoul Sisters.com, who posted the 2010 KLPGA schedule in a language I can understand! I'm also indebted to the KLPGA wikipedia page, although I've noted one key difference between it and Tim's and Happy Fan's below. Seems like both the LET and KLPGA have been having trouble nailing down new events in China....

Check back here to the newer version of this post on my right sidebar for updates to the list of winners as the year goes on.

DECEMBER 2009

17-19: Orient China Ladies Open (KLPGA) SO YEON RYU

FEBRUARY 2010

18-21: Honda PTT LPGA Thailand (LPGA) AI MIYAZATO

25-28: HSBC Women's Champions (LPGA) AI MIYAZATO; New Zealand Open (LET) LAURA DAVIES

MARCH 2010

4-7: ANZ Ladies Masters (LET) KARRIE WEBB
5-7: Daikin Orchid Ladies Open (JLPGA) SUN JU AHN

11-14: Women's Australian Open (LET) YA NI TSENG
12-14: Yokohama Tire PRGR Ladies Cup (JLPGA) YUN JYE WEI

18-20: Lalla Meryem Cup (LET) ANJA MONKE
19-21: T Points Ladies Open (JLPGA) RUI KITADA

25-28: Kia Classic Presented by J Golf (LPGA) HEE KYUNG SEO

APRIL 2010

1-4: Kraft Nabisco Championship (LPGA major) YA NI TSENG
2-4: Yamaha Ladies Open (JLPGA) MIHO KOGA

7-9: Kim Young Joo Golf Ladies Open (KLPGA) BO MEE LEE
9-11: Studio Alice Ladies Open (JLPGA) CHIE ARIMURA

14-16: Lotte Mart Ladies Open J Golf Series (KLPGA) BO BAE KIM
16-18: Nishijin Ladies Classic (JLPGA) INBEE PARK

23-25: Fujisankei Ladies Classic (JLPGA) MAYU HATTORI

29-5/2: Tres Marias Championship (LPGA) AI MIYAZATO
30-5/2: Cyber Agent Ladies Cup (JLPGA) JI-YAI SHIN

MAY 2010

5-7: Rush & Cash Charity Classic (KLPGA) HYE YOUN KIM
6-9: Salonpas Cup (JLPGA major) MORGAN PRESSEL
7-9: Turkish Ladies Open (LET) MELISSA REID

13-16: Bell Micro LPGA Classic (LPGA) SE RI PAK; Unicredit Ladies German Open (LET) LAURA DAVIES
14-16: Fundokin Ladies (JLPGA) SAKURA YOKOMINE; Taeyoung Cup Korean Women's Open (KLPGA major) SOO JIN YANG

20-23: Sybase Match Play Championship (LPGA) SUN YOUNG YOO; Doosan Match Play Championship (KLPGA) JUNG MIN LEE
21-23: Chukyo TV Bridgestone Ladies Open (JLPGA) YURI FUDOH

27-30: Ladies Slovak Open (LET) MARIA HERNANDEZ
28-30: Yonex Ladies (JLPGA) MI-JEONG JEON

JUNE 2010

4-6: Resort Trust Ladies Open (JLPGA) YOSHIMI KODA, Woori Financial Ladies Championship (KLPGA) HYUN JOO LEE, ABN AMRO Ladies Open (LET) FLORENTYNA PARKER

9-11: S-OIL Champions Invitational (KLPGA) RAN HONG
10-13: LPGA State Farm Classic (LPGA) CRISTIE KERR, Suntory Ladies Open (JLPGA) AKANE IIJIMA

17-20: Deutsche Bank Ladies Swiss Open (LET) LEE-ANNE PACE
18-20: ShopRite LPGA Classic (LPGA) AI MIYAZATO, Nichirei PGM Ladies (JLPGA) MI-JEONG JEON

24-27: LPGA Championship Presented by Wegmans (LPGA major) CRISTIE KERR
25-27: Ladies Open of Portugal (LET) KAREN LUNN

JULY 2010

1-4: Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic (LPGA) NA YEON CHOI, Tenerife Ladies Open (LET) TRISH JOHNSON
2-4: Nichi-Iko Ladies JMA Engineering Women's Open (JLPGA) HYUN-JU SHIN

8-11: U.S. Women's Open (LPGA major) PAULA CREAMER
9-11: Meiji Chocolate Cup (JLPGA) YURI FUDOH

16-18: Stanley Ladies (JLPGA) SUN-JU AHN

22-25: Evian Masters (LPGA limited-field event/LET major) JI-YAI SHIN
23-25: China Dangsan Cup Ladies Open (KLPGA)

29-8/1: Ricoh Women's British Open (LPGA/LET major) YA NI TSENG
30-8/1: SBS Tour Hidden Valley Ladies Open (KLPGA) SHIN AE AHN

AUGUST 2010

4-6: Lyle & Scott Ladies Open (KLPGA) YOON JI CHO
6-8: AIB Ladies Irish Open (LET) SOPHIE GUSTAFSON

12-15: S4C Wales Ladies Championship of Europe (LET) LEE-ANNE PACE
13-15: NEC Karuizawa 72 Ladies (JLPGA) JI-HEE LEE, High1 Resort Cup SBS Charity Ladies Open (KLPGA) SHIN AE AHN

18-20: Ladies Scottish Open (LET) VIRGINIE LAGOUTTE-CLEMENT
19-22: Nefs Masterpiece (KLPGA) YOUNG-AE HAM
20-22: Safeway Classic (LPGA) AI MIYAZATO, CAT Ladies (JLPGA) AKIKO FUKUSHIMA

26-29: Canadian Women's Open (LPGA) MICHELLE WIE
27-29: Nitori Ladies Cup (JLPGA) NOBUKO KIZAWA, LIG Ladies Open (KLPGA) HEE KYUNG BAE, Finnair Ladies Masters (LET) LEE-ANNE PACE

SEPTEMBER 2010

3-5: Golf5 Ladies (JLPGA) AKANE IIJIMA, TANI-KLPGA Ladies Pro-Am Hyundai/Seoul Economic Daily Ladies Open (KLPGA) JEONG EUN LEE 5; UNIQA Ladies Golf Open (LET) LAURA DAVIES

9-12: Konica Minolta Cup (JLPGA major) SAIKI FUJITA, Open de France Feminin (LET) TRISH JOHNSON
10-12: NW Arkansas Championship (LPGA) YA NI TSENG, Daewoo Securities Ladies Open (KLPGA) BO MEE LEE

16-19: KLPGA Championship (KLPGA major) JI-YAI SHIN, Open de Espana Femenino (LET) LAURA DAVIES
17-19: Munsingwear Ladies Tokai Classic (JLPGA) MI-JEONG JEON

23-25: Madrid Ladies Masters (LET)
24-26: Miyagi TV Cup Dunlop Ladies Open (JLPGA) EUN-A LIM

30-10/3: Japan Women's Open (JLPGA major), Acapulco LPGA Classic (LPGA) MIKA MIYAZATO

OCTOBER 2010

1-3: Centerium Ladies Open (KLPGA)

7-10: Navistar LPGA Classic (LPGA)
8-10: Sankyo Ladies Open (JLPGA), Himart Ladies Open J Golf Series (KLPGA), Carta Si Ladies Italian Open (LET)

14-17: CVS LPGA Challenge (LPGA), Hite Cup Championship (KLPGA major)
15-17: Fujitsu Ladies (JLPGA)

21-24: KB Star Tour Grand Final (KLPGA major)
22-24: Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia (LPGA), Sanya Ladies Open (LET), Masters GC Ladies (JLPGA)

29-31: LPGA Hana Bank Championship (LPGA/KLPGA), Hisako Higuchi IDC Otsuka Kagu Ladies (JLPGA), Suzhou Taihu Ladies Open (LET)

NOVEMBER 2010

5-7: Mizuno Classic (LPGA/JLPGA), KLPGA-LET Daishin Securities-Tomato Tour Korean Ladies Masters (KLPGA/LET)

11-14: Lorena Ochoa Invitational (LPGA)
12-14: Ito-En Ladies (JLPGA); Hillstate Seoul Economy Ladies Open TANI-KLPGA Ladies Pro-Am (KLPGA)

18-21: LPGA Tour Championship (LPGA)
19-21: Daio Paper ElleAir Ladies (JLPGA), ADT CAPS Championship (KLPGA)

25-28: Ricoh Cup (JLPGA major)

DECEMBER 2010

2-5: LPGA Tour Championship (LPGA)
4-5: Pinx Cup (KLPGA/JLPGA team competition)

8-10: Omega Dubai Ladies Masters (LET)

The LET's ROY Race Just Heated Up

Maria Hernandez finished birdie-birdie to overtake Kristie Smith for her 1st professional victory yesterday on the LET. She leapfrogged to the top of the Rookie of the Year race over many who've been playing much more regularly on the LET:

1. Maria Hernandez €52.50K
2. Kristie Smith €50.78K
3. Pernilla Lindberg €32.44K
4. Caroline Masson €18.86K
5. Rebecca Flood €14.93K
6. Mollie Fankhauser €14.36K
7. Diane D'Alessio €10.52K

For some reason, last year's ROY Anna Nordqvist is next on the list! In any case, with the big-money events (Evian Masters and Women's British Open) still a ways down the road, anything can happen. Mariajo Uribe, who just lost a 6-hole sudden-death playoff to Meaghan Francella in the LPGA's Brazil exhibition (not long after her gradnmother passed away), hasn't even teed it up on the LET yet. And Azahara Munoz, who won on the LET as a non-member last season, hasn't even played well in her 2 starts there, although she's still Amanda Blumenherst's main rival in the LPGA's ROY race (she's 46 points behind her right now). I wonder if we'll be seeing Hernandez and Smith spending more time in Europe this season than they had originally planned. The former hasn't been playing that well on the LPGA, but the latter has been doing fairly well on the Futures Tour. Should be interesting to follow in the coming weeks, as the LET's schedule starts to heat up and many players with dual memberships will need to decide which tour to play on!

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Yonex Ladies Weekend: Mi-Jeong Jeon Will Not Be Denied

Mi-Jeong Jeon took a 4-shot lead over Mika Miyazato into today's final round of the Yonex Ladies and with 6 holes left to play has extended it to 5 over Ayako Uehara and 6 over Miyazato. Even though Jeon has coughed up some pretty big leads in her very successful JLPGA career, I'm calling this one for her. Her pursuers have simply made too many mistakes to be viable threats. Although Uehara has birdied 3 of her last 4 holes, that's just brought her back to where she stood before she bogeyed 3 of her 5 closing holes on the front. Meanwhile, Miyazato hasn't made a birdie all round. Let's put it this way: we're going to need to see eagles from Jeon's pursuers on the short par 5s down the stretch (#13 and #18) for anyone to have a chance of denying her her 14th career JLPGA victory.

[Update 1 (12:54 am): Here's where the top 10 and notables stood after round 2, after Nikki Campbell was the only notable to make a move on Jeon:

1st/-8 Mi-Jeong Jeon (68-68)
2nd/-4 Mika Miyazato (72-68)
T3/-3 Ayako Uehara (71-70), Yuki Ichinose (71-70)
T5/-2 Nikki Campbell (76-66), Toshimi Kimura (74-68), Junko Omote (72-70), Sakura Yokomine (71-71)
T9/-1 Yukari Baba (73-70), Eun-A Lim (73-70), Shinobu Moromizato (70-73)

T12/E Yuri Fudoh (71-73)
T15/+1 Mie Nakata (77-68), Akane Iijima (73-72), Miki Saiki (71-74)
T19/+2 Miho Koga (73-73), Mayu Hattori (73-73), Hiromi Mogi (73-73), So-Hee Kim (72-74)
T25/+3 Maiko Wakabayashi (76-71), Ritsuko Ryu (75-72), Momoko Ueda (73-74), Asako Fujimoto (72-75)
T34/+4 Chie Arimura (77-71), Rikako Morita (75-73), Ji-Woo Lee (75-73), Yuko Saitoh (74-74), Na-Ri Kim (74-74), Na-Ri Lee (71-77)
T44/+5 Akiko Fukushima (77-72), Esther Lee (76-73)
T50/+6 Kaori Aoyama (74-76), Ah-Reum Hwang (74-76), Li-Ying Ye (74-76), Hyun-Ju Shin (73-77), Rui Kitada (73-77), Young Kim (72-78)

MC: Erina Hara (77-79)

Wow, Hara is really struggling, isn't she? That's now 8 missed cuts in 11 starts. This from a player who's never finished outside the top 25 on the money list in her 1st 3 JLPGA seasons....]

[Update 2 (7:30 am): I called it! Congrats to Jeon on a convincing title defense! Here's how it ended up:

1st/-9 Mi-Jeong Jeon (68-68-71)
2nd/-4 Ayako Uehara (71-70-71)
3rd/-3 Mika Miyazato (72-68-73)
T4/-1 Yumiko Yoshida (75-73-67), Ikue Asama (76-71-68), Miho Koga (73-73-69), Junko Omote (72-70-73)
T8/E Na-Ri Lee (71-77-68), Mie Nakata (77-68-71), Hiromi Takesue (72-72-72), Shinobu Moromizato (70-73-73), Sakura Yokomine (71-71-74)

T13/+1 Mayu Hattori (73-73-71), Miki Saiki (71-74-72), Yuri Fudoh (71-73-73), Yukari Baba (73-70-74)
T19/+2 Momoko Ueda (73-74-71), So-Hee Kim (72-74-72), Nikki Campbell (76-66-76), Yuki Ichinose (71-70-77)
T23/+3 Kaori Aoyama (74-76-69), Akiko Fukushima (77-72-70), Ritsuko Ryu (75-72-72), Eun-A Lim (73-70-76)
T28/+4 Ah-Reum Hwang (74-76-70), Yuko Saitoh (74-74-72), Maiko Wakabayashi (76-71-73)
33rd/+5 Asako Fujimoto (72-75-74)
T34/+6 Hyun-Ju Shin (73-77-72), Na-Ri Kim (74-74-74), Hiromi Mogi (73-73-76)
T39/+7 Chie Arimura (77-71-75)
T44/+8 Rui Kitada (73-77-74), Young Kim (72-78-74), Rikako Morita (75-73-76)
T47/+9 Li-Ying Ye (74-76-75), Esther Lee (76-73-76), Akane Iijima (73-72-80)
T51/+10 Ji-Woo Lee (75-73-78)

Some nice moves up the leaderboard--but not from anyone close to Jeon. It ended up being a walk in the par for her.]

[Update 3 (7:40 am): Here's the new money list:

1. Sakura Yokomine ¥41.05M
2. Inbee Park ¥36.50M
3. Sun-Ju Ahn ¥31.53M
4. Chie Arimura ¥29.61M
5. Miho Koga ¥28.02M
6. Rui Kitada ¥26.84M
7. Yuri Fudoh ¥26.50M
8. Ji-Yai Shin ¥25.76M
9. Mi-Jeong Jeon ¥25.56M
10. Mayu Hattori ¥22.67M
11. Yun-Jye Wei ¥19.24M
12. Mie Nakata ¥18.48M
13. Asako Fujimoto ¥17.10M
14. Nikki Campbell ¥16.43M
15. Shinobu Moromizato ¥15.99M
16. Hiromi Mogi ¥15.79M
17. Ayako Uehara ¥15.58M
18. Young Kim ¥14.26M
19. Akane Iijima ¥13.74M
20. Yukari Baba ¥13.27M
21. Ji-Hee Lee ¥12.99M
22. Bo-Bae Song ¥12.98M
23. Saiki Fujita ¥12.84M
24. Kaori Aoyama ¥12.59M
25. Hyun-Ju Shin ¥11.72M
26. Na-Ri Kim ¥11.46M
27. Tamie Durdin ¥11.04M
28. Chieko Amanuma ¥10.88M
29. Esther Lee ¥10.75M
30. Ah-Reum Hwang ¥10.44M

Jeon joins the top 10, but very few idle players were passed this week. Call it missed opportunities for Chie Arimura and Shinobu Moromizato--and for Momoko Ueda, who only moved up to #37 on the list--in particular.]

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Yonex Ladies Friday: Mi-Jeong Jeon Joins In

Having 2 of the JLPGA's biggest names winning the last 2 weeks seems to have woken up Mi-Jeong Jeon. Treading water at 15th on the money list heading into this week's Yonex Ladies, Jeon was the only player to break 70 in the opening round--and her 68 would have been better if she hadn't bogeyed 2 short par 4s on the back. When she couldn't birdie the short par-5 18th, she allowed Shinobu Moromizato (who's also gotten off to a slow start this season) to pull within 2 with a walkoff birdie. And those big-name winners I alluded to--Sakura Yokomine and Yuri Fudoh--are only 3 back, this despite the former opening with a pair of bogeys and the latter closing with 3 bogeys in her last 7 holes. Further back in the pack are LPGA regulars Momoko Ueda (73) and Mika Miyazato (72), while Ji-Yai Shin didn't start, due to illness (according to Tim Maitland).

Here's how the top 10 and notables stand:

1st/-4 Mi-Jeong Jeon (68)
2nd/-2 Shinobu Moromizato (70)
T3/-1 Sakura Yokomine, Yuri Fudoh, Ayako Uehara, Miki Saiki, Yuki Ichinose, Na-Ri Lee (71)
T9/E Mika Miyazato, Asako Fujimoto, Young Kim, So-Hee Kim, Junko Omote, Hiromi Takesue, Orie Fujino, Kaori Ohe, Tomoko Kanai (72)

T18/+1 Momoko Ueda, Miho Koga, Hyun-Ju Shin, Akane Iijima, Rui Kitada, Mayu Hattori, Hiromi Mogi, Yukari Baba, Eun-A Lim (73)
T31/+2 Kaori Aoyama, Na-Ri Kim, Ah-Reum Hwang, Li-Ying Ye, Yuko Saitoh (74)
T43/+3 Rikako Morita, Ji-Woo Lee, Ritsuko Ryu (75)
T51/+4 Nikki Campbell, Maiko Wakabayashi, Esther Lee (76)
T63/+5 Chie Arimura, Akiko Fukushima, Erina Hara, Mie Nakata (77)
DNS: Ji-Yai Shin, Jae-Hee Bae

Some really big names will need to play well in round 2 to make it to the final round!

Friday, May 28, 2010

The Best of the Young Guns: Class of 2007, May 2010 Edition

The '06ers, the oldest rookie class in the LPGA's Young Guns generation, have a new top gun in Ai Miyazato. Let's take a look at the class of 2007 to see what's new with their careers, shall we? For the vast majority of the class, it's not a pretty sight. But a few players are coming on strong in the early season.

Simply the Best

1. In-Kyung Kim: She's played well outside the States, but has had trouble hitting greens and making putts inside them this year. Still, given that Eun-Hee Ji's Open jinx has kicked into an even higher gear and Song-Hee Kim still hasn't broken through for her 1st win, Inky regains the #1 position in this ranking.
2. Song-Hee Kim: As a player who can both drive for show (she's a straight shooter like Cristie Kerr, Angela Stanford, Brittany Lang, and last week's winner Sun Young Yoo) and putt for dough, she's finally realizing the potential everyone saw in her years ago. As I wrote last December, "if she can improve her iron play in the offseason, that 1st win won't be too far away." Well, the 1st win still hasn't come, but she has improved her iron play--even though she's been very slightly shorter and less accurate off the tee so far this season than last, she's still hitting more greens than before. The result is that she's nabbed 7 straight top 10s to open this season (she also got a top 10 in the unofficial Mojo 6), which is even better than her 5 of 7 run to end last one. How due is she for a win?
3. Eun-Hee Ji: She's never been a fantastic iron player, but her approach shots this season have been truly horrendous (at least in the States, where the LPGA keeps performance stats). She's driving the ball the same or even better than ever, but she's missing a ton of greens and not getting anywhere close to the pin when she does hit them--her 1.98 PPGIR rate is among the worst on tour. At least there's only that one glaring culprit to focus on--if she can straighten out those approach shots, she can return to the LPGA's elite.
4. Inbee Park: Last December, I wrote that "If she can get her driver straightened out and start hitting more greens, she can take real advantage of being one of the best putters on the LPGA in 2010." Well, it's mission accomplished in the early season on both the LPGA and the JLPGA, where she's #2 on the money list despite playing in only 6 events (4 silvers and a gold will do that for you). She isn't quite putting as well on the LPGA as in Japan (3.10 birdies per round here vs. 4.11 there), and she still has room for improvement when it comes to finding the fairway off the tee (still only 62.3% of the time thus far in the States), but she's hitting close to 70% of her greens in regulation in Japan and over 72% here, so it's not much of a surprise that she's riding a 4-event top 20 run and has 3 top 10s in 6 LPGA starts despite playing indifferently on the Asian Swing. I'd say she's due to contend regularly and get win #2 some time in the next few months.

The Contenders

5. Kristy McPherson: Like Song-Hee Kim, she's both a leading candidate for best on tour without a win and a very good ballstriker. But unlike Kim, she's a precision player, not a straight shooter. While I wrote last December that "If she ever really gets her putter going in 2010, she could become a superstar," what's been holding her back thus far this season is actually her iron play--for whatever reason, she's had trouble finding the green and it's actually been her putter that's been saving her. With 3 top 20s in her last 3 starts, I expect her to find her precision groove soon and be a force in the early summer.
6. Angela Park: I'd say this former Rookie of the Year is the Julieta Granada of her class, but that might be unfair to Granada. Both are playing in the Brazil exhibition this week and I hope they start pulling out of their tailspins immediately. But Park's ballstriking stats are not encouraging, to say the least.
7. Ji Young Oh: It's been a very tough start to the season for Oh, who trained in the off-season with Ji-Yai Shin in Australia. Hopefully as she gets used to her new body, her ballstriking will come back on line.
8. Jane Park: Although she's making a decent amount of birdies thus far this season, she's been plagued by that "one-terrible-round-per-week" syndrome. Here's hoping her back stays healthy and she is able to build up a good playing rhythm over the next couple of months. I still believe she can be a top player in her class and on the LPGA.

Quantum Leap Candidates

9. Na On Min: She's taking advantage of her medical exemption this season by making a ton of birdies in the events she's gotten into, but needs to further improve her iron play to really get her career back on track.

On the Bottom Looking Up

10. Irene Cho: She's off to an uneven start this season, but still snagged a top 10 in Mexico and shot a 69 in the opening round of the Bell Micro, right after finding out about the death of her friend Erica Blasberg. Still, based on her performance stats and missed cuts, I have to demote her in this ranking. Sorry, Irene! Hang in there!
11. Paige Mackenzie: Last December, I asked "If she ever figures out that she could have a Cristie Kerr-Angela Stanford-Brittany Lang quality game with a little more practice around and on the greens, who knows how good she could get?" Unfortunately, she, too, has had a slow start to the season, with her performance stats way down from last year's.

On the Outside Looking In

12. Jin Joo Hong: Dealing with injuries last season, she began the year #148 on the priority status list, but she hasn't played a single LPGA event this season. She's been a regular on the KLPGA, however, so maybe she'll get some good vibes going back home and come back rejuvenated to the LPGA.
13. Charlotte Mayorkas: Hmm, I don't know where she'd disappeared to--she's not even playing in the Brazil exhibition this week, and hasn't been spotted on the Futures Tur or LET, either.
14. Sophie Giquel: Down to #93 on the LET money list in her 1st 6 starts, she's having another tough year already. Through 12 holes today, though, she's on track to make the cut, at least.
15. Seo-Jae Lee: Haven't seen her on the Futures Tour, so maybe she's playing the KLPGA?
16. Su A Kim: She's definitely back on the KLPGA.
17. Becky Lucidi: Don't know what she's up to.
18. Jeanne Cho-Hunicke: Ditto.
19. Sarah Lynn Sargent: She's only played 1 event on the Futures Tour and is at #119 on their money list.
20. Cindy Pasechnik: Going for her MBA at the University of Calgary.

For your reference--and mine--here are the stats on which I'm basing the May 2010 ranking.

2010 LPGA Money List (rank), scoring 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 (although with so many events out of the country, it would be nice for the LPGA to collect performance stats there, too).

1. Song-Hee Kim, $347.6K (#6), 70.00 (#2), 3.87 (#4), 71.2% (#10)
2. Inbee Park, $241.3K (#10), 71.79 (#23), 3.10 (#35), 72.2% (#4)
3. In-Kyung Kim, $153.4K (#19), 71.50 (#17), 3.41 (#11), 64.4% (#45)
4. Kristy McPherson, $80.8K (#30), 72.39 (#32), 3.09 (#13), 63.6% (#52)
5. Na On Min, $45.0K (#48), 73.00 (#47), 3.57 (#46), 65.6% (#37)
6. Irene Cho, $28.0K (#64), 73.55 (#69), 2.91 (#74), 57.1% (#97)
7. Eun-Hee Ji, $25.7K (#66), 74.33 (#100), 2.39 (#54), 53.3% (#117)
8. Jane Park, $25.6K (#67), 73.21 (#61), 3.00 (#55), 60.0% (#79)
9. Ji Young Oh, $21.4K (#71), 74.00 (#80), 2.75 (#52), 59.7% (#82)
10. Paige Mackenzie, $18.7K (#78), 74.08 (#86), 2.75 (#73), 54.2% (#114)
11. Angela Park, $9.0K (#100), 75.31 (#120), 2.38 (#77), 43.7% (#138)

Career LPGA Money List (rank), # of LPGA events started/majors/wins/top 3s/top 10s/top 20s/withdrawals/disqualifications/missed cuts/finished events (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 Class of 2007 hasn'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 every season (although that in itself is an indication of how someone's career has been going!). 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 and a Top 50 ranking over at Hound Dog's place (and recently updated it to a Greatest 100 LPGA Players ranking). In any case, I include the other ways of seeing how the '07ers 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. Many thanks to the LPGA for updating their 2010 Performance Chart after every event!

1. In-Kyung Kim, $2.63M (#75), 84/0/2/7/24/37/0/0/14/70 (.833)
2. Song-Hee Kim, $2.45M (#80), 76/0/0/7/26/38/0/0/15/61 (.803)
3. Eun-Hee Ji, $2.14M (#95), 62/1/2/5/15/23/0/3/8/51 (.823)
4. Angela Park, $2.12M (#96), 78/0/0/8/18/25/4/0/13/61 (.782)
5. Inbee Park, $2.05M (#99), 82/1/1/4/14/23/1/1/19/61 (.744)
6. Ji Young Oh, $1.42M (#130), 83/0/2/2/8/17/1/0/23/59 (.711)
7. Kristy McPherson, $1.40M (#133), 75/0/0/3/12/24/0/0/17/58 (.773)
8. Jane Park, $.92M (#199), 61/0/0/3/6/11/4/0/11/46 (.754)
9. Jin Joo Hong, $.58M (#252), 60/0/0/0/2/7/6/0/17/37 (.617)
10. Na On Min, $.55M (#256), 57/0/0/1/2/7/0/0/21/36 (.632)
11. Irene Cho, $.38M (#299), 65/0/0/0/3/5/3/0/25/37 (.569)
12. Paige Mackenzie, $.29M (#340), 56/0/0/0/1/2/0/0/27/29 (.518)
13. Charlotte Mayorkas, $.28M (#346), 56/0/0/0/0/4/1/0/22/33 (.589)
14. Sophie Giquel, $.12M (#454), 39/0/0/0/0/0/1/0/21/17 (.436)
15. Becky Lucidi $.10M (#472), 35/0/0/0/0/2/0/1/25/9 (.257)
16. Su A Kim, $.07M (#510), 26/0/0/0/0/0/1/0/13/12 (.462)
17. Seo-Jae Lee, $.07M (#514), 25/0/0/0/0/0/2/0/13/10 (.400)
18. Sarah Lynn Sargent, $.05M (#549), 26/0/0/0/0/0/14/12 (.462)
19. Jeanne Cho-Hunicke, $.02M (#603), 34/0/0/0/0/1/0/0/29/4 (.118)
20. Cindy Pasechnik, $.02M (#626), 19/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/14/5 (.263)

Other Career Measures: Rolex Ranking (as of 5/24/10) and rank, Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index (as of 5/24/10) and rank, International and Non-Member LPGA Wins (as of today): This is a way of seeing how those '07ers 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. Song-Hee Kim, 5.59 (#11), 69.40 (#8); 0
2. In-Kyung Kim, 5.50 (#12), 70.48 (#25); 1
3. Inbee Park, 4.81 (#15), 70.43 (#23); 0
4. Kristy McPherson, 3.56 (#24), 70.17 (#18); 0
5. Eun-Hee Ji, 3.10 (#33), 71.90 (#70); 4
6. Ji Young Oh, 2.05 (#51), 72.30 (#90); 0
7. Angela Park, 1.37 (#85), 75.42 (#313); 0
8. Jane Park, 1.06 (#103), 72.30 (#91); 0
9. Paige Mackenzie, .87 (#120), 71.98 (#74); 0
10. Irene Cho, .84 (#125), 72.57 (#108); 0
11. Jin Joo Hong, .70 (#151), 72.13 (n.r. [too few events]); 2
12. Na On Min, .56 (#184), 71.67 (n.r. [too few events]); 0
13. Sophie Giquel, .18 (#327), 75.22 (#297); 1
14. Charlotte Mayorkas, .12 (#381), 75.44 (n.r. [too few events]); 0
15. Becky Lucidi, .11 (#390), 75.86 (n.r. [too few events]); 0
16. Seo-Jae Lee, .03 (#544), 74.37 (n.r. [too few events]); 0
17. Su A Kim, .02 (#608), n.r.; 0
18. Sarah Lynn Sargent, .00 (#709), 75.72 (n.r. [too few events]); 0
19. Jeanne Cho-Hunicke, n.r., 76.07 (n.r. [too few events]); 0
20. Cindy Pasechnik, n.r., n.r.; 0

***

Looks like this class could get a lot smaller--and fast!

Thursday, May 27, 2010

I'm In!

My request for media credentials for the 2010 LPGA Championship was just approved! Many thanks to the LPGA and tournament organizers. Any advice for me?

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

The Best of the Young Guns: Class of 2006, May 2010 Edition

With the LPGA's season about to shift into high gear, the time is right to update my rankings of the Young Guns generation, the rookie classes of 2006, 2007, and 2008. With Annika and Lorena retired, Paula and Suzann battling injuries, and Cristie and Angela finding it difficult to return to the winner's circle, the time is ripe for the Best of the Young Guns to simply become the Best of the LPGA. After all, the '06ers have won 4 of the 1st 7 events of 2010 alone!

Simply the Best

1. Ai Miyazato: 3 of those wins, of course, belong to Ai-sama. While I pointed out last December that "her 64 in her final competitive round of the season is a sign of things to come in 2010," and made much bolder predictions in February, even I have to admit being surprised that she's been able to close the deal so consistently when being in contention this season. Don't mind her low GIR figure below; it doesn't include stats from any of her wins this season, which all came out of the country.
2. Seon Hwa Lee: Even though she's been playing slightly better on the LPGA than the JLPGA, she's been spending much more time in Japan than the States thus far this season (7 events there vs. 4 "here"--and 2 of those were in Asia!). Whichever tour you look at, though, her key stats are definitely way down from her career averages--GIR under 57% on both tours, a 2.35 JLPGA birdie rate, unimpressive putting stats--so I'd say she's definitely in danger of slipping further down this list. Here's hoping she's not injured!
3. Morgan Pressel: I said it before and I'll say it again: "Pressel is due in 2010." Once she improves her approach shots, watch out for her!
4. Jee Young Lee: It sure didn't take her long to bounce back from her worst season in her LPGA career: she's gotten 4 top 10s in 7 starts, thanks to some very good iron play and putting. Once she really gets her driver going, she's going to be a consistent contender.

The Contenders

5. Brittany Lang: I said it before and I'll say it again: "she could win any week her putter gets hot. It wouldn't hurt to work on her irons, too. She should be making a lot more birdies than she has been this season and it can't all be her putter's fault." At #1 on tour in GIR, she's taken 1 big step forward. But with 1.91 PPGIR and only 2.57 birdies per round, she's taken 2 giant leaps back with the flat stick. She'd better turn that trend around--and fast--or she's going to get passed by last week's winner by next ranking!
6. Sun Young Yoo: Last December, I asked "Will she be ready to chase down the cream of the crop in 2010?" Well, she's #4 on the money list right now! And she got there by going 6 rounds in the Sybase Match Play Championship against some of the very best on tour--and beating them all. Let's see if she picks up where she left off when the LPGA gets back in action.

Quantum Leap Candidates

7. Kyeong Bae: She's starting to hit more greens and make more birdies, but she'll need to both drive for more show and putt for more dough to move further up this list.
8. Teresa Lu: She, too, has been spending more time on the JLPGA (where she's made 3 of 5 cuts and gotten 1 T3) than the LPGA (where she's 3 for 3 with a T11 at the Kia Classic her best finish) thus far in 2010. She's having trouble making birdies on either tour right now, and there's no clear culprit, as neither her driver nor irons nor putter are doing anything very special lately. Let's see if she can turn it around soon!
9. Meaghan Francella: While she's making cuts more regularly this season than she has been in quite some time, her worse-than-average putting and disappointing iron play from 2009 have carried over into this season. She'll need to pick up the pace to catch Lu and Bae.
10. Julieta Granada: Despite her recent record of futility on the LPGA, she hasn't taken much advantage of her dual membership on the LET, having played only 6 events there last season and skipped their Down Under swing at the start of this one. But she's shown signs of life once she got this year started, having made 3 of 4 cuts thus far in 2010. Let's see how she does in the exhibition in Brazil this week!
11. Hye Jung Choi: Nothing much is working well for her this season, although she has made 3 of 5 cuts despite hitting less than 52% of her greens in regulation.
12. Katie Futcher: Off to a so-so start this season, she needs to go from barely making cuts to moving up leaderboards.
13. Allison Fouch: She kept her card by the skin of her teeth last season and she hasn't yet found her game this one.
14. Karin Sjodin: She finally showed some signs of life at the Bell Micro Classic. Let's see if she can really get it going as the season really gets going.

On the Bottom Looking Up

15. Sarah Jane Smith: At #149 on the priority status list, she's sure taken advantage of the events she's gotten into, averaging 4.14 birdies per round thus far in 2010. And in only 2 Futures Tour events, she's 31st on their money list.
16. Louise Stahle: She played all 3 events in the LET's Down Under swing, with her best finish a T16 at the Women's Australian Open, but she has had trouble hitting greens and making putts in LPGA play thus far this season.
17. Na Ri Kim: Like Lee and Lu, she's been focusing on the JLPGA this season, but unlike them, it's starting to pay off. Although she's made only 8 of 11 cuts there, she just got her best finish, a runner-up, last week. Wonder if she'll stay there all year or try to get into some U.S. LPGA events at some point this season?
18. Danielle Downey: So far she hasn't taken advantage of her medical exemption, missing the cut in all 3 starts thus far this season.
19. Libby Smith: Getting into the Sybase helped her pull her "finished events" (formerly "made cuts") rate over the Mendoza line. Let's see if she continues to attempt Monday qualifying to get into more LPGA events from her 326th position on the priority status list, or whether she'll decide to spend more time on the Futures Tour, where she's 116th on the money list through 5 events.

On the Outside Looking In

20. Minea Blomqvist: Still on maternity leave from the LPGA and LET. Let's see what kind of game she has when she returns before moving her back up this list.
21. Linda Wessberg: A full-time LETer this season, she's currently 15th on their money list through 6 events.
22. Virada Nirapathpongporn: Her recovery from shoulder surgery continues on the Futures Tour, where she's 28th on their money list through 5 events.
23. Nina Reis: Played the LET full-time in '09 and ended up 57th on their money list in 16 events; through 6 starts in '10, she's 47th.
24. Veronica Zorzi: In 2009, she finished 29th on the LET money list in 14 starts; through 5 starts in 2010, she's 26th.
25. Kim Hall: A San Antonio newspaper noted that she's focusing on the LPGA Board of Directors right now, which makes sense, as this Stanford grad lost her card last year and couldn't get it back via Q-School.
26. Ashley Johnston: I wonder if she's done with professional golf entirely--the LPGA has zeroed out all her old records on her player profile.

***

For your reference--and mine--here are the stats on which I'm basing the May 2010 ranking.

2010 LPGA Money List (rank), scoring 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 (although with so many events out of the country, it would be nice for the LPGA to collect performance stats there, too).

1. Ai Miyazato, $605.2K (#1), 70.43 (#4), 3.90 (#7), 55.6% (#106)
2. Sun Young Yoo, $431.0K (#4), 72.41 (#34), 2.82 (#48), 59.5% (#84)
3. Jee Young Lee, $216.2K (#13), 71.48 (#16), 3.91 (#3), 71.2% (#10)
4. Morgan Pressel, $122.3K (#22), 72.04 (#28), 3.04 (#15), 59.6% (#83)
5. Brittany Lang, $73.6K (#33), 72.62 (#39), 2.57 (#42), 75.9% (#1)
6. Seon Hwa Lee, $61.1K (#38), 71.88 (#26), 3.13 (#46), 52.8% (#119)
7. Kyeong Bae, $48.3K (#45), 72.65 (#41), 3.30 (#20), 68.8% (#16)
8. Teresa Lu, $44.9K (#50), 72.83 (#46), 2.83 (#70), 63.2% (#56)
9. Meaghan Francella, $41.0K (#53), 73.33 (#62), 2.95 (#29), 61.1% (#68)
10. Sarah Jane Smith, $28.7K (#62), 71.43 (#14), 4.14 (#84), 70.4% (#12)
11. Katie Futcher, $27.8K (#65), 73.46 (#66), 2.62 (#70), 65.4% (#40)
12. Julieta Granada, $18.7K (#79), 74.29 (#97), 2.21 (#77), 53.3% (#117)
13. Hye Jung Choi, $12.7K (#93), 74.45 (#105), 2.46 (#89), 51.9% (#123)
14. Louise Stahle, $10.3K (#98), 73.50 (#112), 2.60 (#92), 56.5% (#103)
15. Karin Sjodin, $7.5K (#104), 73.71 (#74), 3.29 (#99), 64.4% (#45)
16. Allison Fouch, $4.0K (#113), 75.40 (#121), 2.20 (#102), 59.0% (#91)
17. Libby Smith, $2.6K (#124), 73.33 (n.r.), ? (n.r.), ? (n.r.)
18. Danielle Downey, $0K (n.r.), 75.50 (#122), 1.83 (#131), 62.5% (#58)

Career LPGA Money List (rank), # of LPGA events started/majors/wins/top 3s/top 10s/top 20s/withdrawals/disqualifications/missed cuts/finished events (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 Class of 2006 hasn'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 every season (although that in itself is an indication of how someone's career has been going!). 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 and a Top 50 ranking over at Hound Dog's place (and recently updated it to a Greatest 100 LPGA Players ranking). In any case, I include the other ways of seeing how the '06ers 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. Many thanks to the LPGA for updating their 2010 Performance Chart after every event! [Note: *=non-member win]

1. Ai Miyazato, $3.87M (#41), 98/0/4/11/33/48/1/0/14/83 (.847)
2. Seon Hwa Lee, $3.70M (#43), 116/0/4/11/28/55/2/0/9/105 (.905)
3. Jee Young Lee, $2.93M (#62), 111/0/1*/8/31/58/5/0/8/98 (.883)
4. Morgan Pressel, $2.92M (#64), 105/1/2/9/30/48/0/0/12/93 (.886)
5. Brittany Lang, $2.27M (#88), 114/0/0/6/25/46/0/0/24/90 (.789)
6. Julieta Granada, $2.23M (#91), 104/0/1/5/10/22/0/1/37/66 (.635)
7. Sun Young Yoo, $1.95M (#106), 111/0/1/4/15/34/1/0/23/87 (.784)
8. Kyeong Bae, $1.14M (#163), 102/0/0/2/9/17/4/0/29/69 (.676)
9. Teresa Lu, $1.07M (#168), 94/0/0/1/6/21/1/0/21/72 (.766)
10. Meaghan Francella, $.97M (#187), 81/0/1/1/6/14/0/0/29/52 (.642)
11. Hye Jung Choi, $.74M (#225), 79/0/0/0/8/12/1/0/23/55 (.696)
12. Minea Blomqvist, $.67M (#237), 79/0/0/1/3/8/1/1/29/48 (.608)
13. Katie Futcher, $.53M (#261), 89/0/0/0/4/8/0/1/26/62 (.697)
14. Karin Sjodin, $.52M (#265), 84/0/0/0/3/11/0/0/35/49 (.583)
15. Allison Fouch, $.52M (#267), 55/0/0/1/4/8/0/0/21/34 (.618)
16. Kim Hall, $.35M (#311), 74/0/0/1/3/4/0/0/44/30 (.405)
17. Linda Wessberg, $.34M (#319), 43/0/0/0/5/6/0/0/17/26 (.605)
18. Virada Nirapathpongporn, $.23M (#374), 56/0/0/0/1/4/0/0/28/28 (.500)
19. Nina Reis, $.23M (#376), 51/0/0/0/3/4/0/0/23/28 (.549)
20. Sarah Jane Smith, $.20M (#392), 37/0/0/0/1/6/0/0/20/17 (.459)
21. Louise Stahle, $.16M (#421), 42/0/0/0/1/2/1/0/22/19 (.452)
22. Na Ri Kim, $.15M (#426), 49/0/0/0/0/0/3/0/24/22 (.449)
23. Danielle Downey, $.15M (#427), 44/0/0/0/1/2/0/0/30/14 (.318)
24. Veronica Zorzi, $.09M (#494), 16/0/0/0/0/1/0/0/3/13 (.813)
25. Ashley Johnston, $.05M (#552), 13/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/7/6 (.462)
26. Libby Smith, $.03M (#598), 23/0/0/0/0/0/1/0/17/5 (.217)

Other Career Measures: Rolex Ranking (as of 5/24/10) and rank, Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index (as of 5/24/10) and rank, International and Non-Member LPGA Wins (as of today): This is a way of seeing how those '06ers 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. Ai Miyazato, 8.93 (#2), 69.30 (#5); 15 [up from #8/#8 last December]
2. Morgan Pressel, 4.29 (#18), 70.08 (#17); 1 [up from #23/#23]
3. Sun Young Yoo, 3.85 (#20), 70.59 (#28); 0 [up from #35/#16]
4. Brittany Lang, 3.16 (#32), 70.72 (#30); 0 [down from #27/#13]
5. Jee Young Lee, 2.84 (#37), 70.94 (#33); 2 [up from #46/#33]
6. Seon Hwa Lee, 2.54 (#45), 70.65 (#29); 3 [down from #31/#25]
7. Kyeong Bae, 1.60 (#72), 71.66 (#59); 3 [up from #71/#70]
8. Teresa Lu, 1.50 (#77), 72.27 (#89); 0 [down from #76/#48]
9. Na Ri Kim, 1.34 (#88), 71.90 (n.r. [too few events in database]); 0
10. Meaghan Francella, 1.28 (#91), 72.63 (#113); 0
11. Hye Jung Choi, .87 (#118), 72.32 (#92); 1
12. Katie Futcher, .82 (#118), 71.83 (#67); 0
13. Sarah Jane Smith, .82 (#129), 72.64 (#116); 0
14. Allison Fouch, .76 (#141), 73.04 (#139); 0
15. Minea Blomqvist, .61 (#171), 73.81 (#188); 5
16. Louise Stahle, .59 (#176), 73.91 (#199); 0
17. Linda Wessberg, .56 (#181), 74.62 (#249); 7
18. Julieta Granada, .54 (#188), 72.62 (#111); 0
19. Karin Sjodin, .52 (#190), 72.81 (#125); 1
20. Veronica Zorzi, .43 (#214), 73.40 (#187); 2
21. Kim Hall, .23 (#285), 75.20 (#295); 0
22. Nina Reis, .20 (#316), 74.54 (#241); 5
23. Danielle Downey, .12 (#374), 74.58 (n.r. [too few events in database]); 0
24. Virada Nirapathpongporn, .08 (#428), 75.75 (#330); 0
25. Libby Smith, .04 (#492), 76.21 (#365); 0

***

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

I Finally Took the Plunge

Just applied for media credentials for the LPGA Championship in Rochester at the end of June!

Monday, May 24, 2010

The Best on the LPGA: 1-Time Winners, May 2010

1 may be the loneliest number, but I'll bet those on this ranked list of best players on the LPGA with a single tour victory wouldn't prefer to return to my Best Without a Win list. At the same time, those on that list may want to avoid making their 1st win the U.S. Women's Open, the Safeway, the Farr, the State Farm, or any event in Mexico. It's looking like the Corning Classic's demise will spare 1st-time winners that particular jinx, unless LPGA commissioner Michael Whan finds a way to revive it in 2011. You'll see what I mean when you check out these profiles of 1-time winners on the LPGA, ranked in part by career achievements and mostly by what I expect from them over the rest of the 2010 season.

Most Likely to Win in 2010

1. Michelle Wie: According to Hound Dog, she was part of the 2nd-greatest collective rookie season in LPGA history (behind Seon Hwa Lee's and Ai Miyazato's '06ers) and had an ROY-quality year--good enough for 12th on his list of all-time individual rookie performances on the LPGA. Even on a limited schedule in 2009, she ended up #11 on my final Best of the LPGA ranking. So it ahould be no surprise that with Ai Miyazato graduating from this list back in February, Wie's my new frontrunner here, particularly in light of the fact that I picked her to finish 4th on tour this season. I expect her to really get it going when the LPGA starts playing more regularly. [Update (8/30/10): Nice to see I was right that Wie would be the 1st to graduate from this list!]
2. Jee Young Lee: She's coming off her worst year in her 4 as an LPGA member following her non-member win in Korea in 2005, but she finally seemed to be on the comeback trail at its end, finishing 2009 with 3-straight top 20s and ending up #33 on my Best of the LPGA ranking. As I said back in February, "There's only 1 direction she can move in 2010. There's no way a player of her caliber has 2 bad seasons in a row." And lo and behold, she's gotten 4 top 10s in 7 starts this season.
3. Inbee Park: She's definitely slogged her way through her U.S. Women's Open jinx (see #29 and #30, below), having played well in Asia at the end of 2009 (T7 in Korea, T5 in Japan, T2 at JLPGA Q-School). As I said in the preseason, "If she plays her scheduling cards as well in 2010, she can build momentum on the JLPGA and improve on her #5 standing in her rookie class ('07ers) and #14 standing in her generation (Young Guns). I definitely expect her to improve on her #52 standing on my Best of the LPGA ranking." And lo and behold she's #2 on the JLPGA money list and on a 4-event top-20 streak on the LPGA, with 3 top 10s in that run.

The Contenders

4. Momoko Ueda: She won the 2007 Mizuno Classic as a JLPGA member and she did it with a bang:



Since then, she's brought her victory total on the JLPGA to 8, but has only cracked the top 10 as an LPGA member 7 times in 43 starts. So why do I rank her so high here? Well, she got 2 of them in the 2nd half of 2009, when the work she'd been putting into her game over the previous season and a half finally started to pay off. She gave herself a chance to win in Thailand has has finished in the top 30 in 5 of her 6 starts this season.
5. Katherine Hull: In 2009, she showed that her hot streak at the end of 2008, jumpstarted by her win at the Canadian Women's Open, was a true quantum leap, making the top 30 on the money list and keeping her scoring average in the mid-71s for the 2nd-straight season. Back in February, I wrote that "I'm looking for her to add to her total of 18 career LPGA top 10s in a big way in 2010, particularly if she augments her 7 ALPG wins at home Down Under in the next few weeks. She finished 2009 ranked #27 on my Best of the LPGA ranking and I don't see her going any lower in 2010." Well, she hasn't finished outside the top 35, but her best finish is a T20. [Update (10/12/10): Forgot to note here that Hull finally broke through for win #2 in a big way in Prattville--by chasing down Cristie Kerr and Na Yeon Choi, outracing Brittany Lincicome, and breaking Lorena Ochoa's 72-hole tournament record!]
6. Sun Young Yoo: In the preseason, I wrote, "This late-blooming '06er has the game to contend any given week, but hasn't done it as often as she will in 2010. She gets a good number of top 20s (31 in 104 LPGA starts) and has started to get comfortable with her name near the top of the leaderboard (3 top 3s and 13 top 10s at the end of 2009 are big improvements on where she stood at the end of 2008)." Well, now that she's gotten that 1st win at the Sybase Match Play Championship, I wonder what's in store for her the rest of the season?
7. M.J. Hur: I never expected her to beat Vicky Hurst, Stacy Lewis, and Shiho Oyama from the class of 2009 to that 1st LPGA victory, but she faced down Suzann Pettersen and Michele Redman in a playoff at the Safeway Classic to do it. Let's see if she can do better in the next few seasons than Soo-Yun Kang did after her lone LPGA win at the Safeway in 2005. With only 1 other top 10 in the 12 events she completed in 2009 (against 10 that she didn't finish), the jury's still out on her in 2010. But I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt for now. After all, she made #37 on my final Best of the LPGA ranking in 2009. And after her T13 in Thailand, I'm thinking she's in a better place than Gulbis and Castrale right now.
8. Natalie Gulbis: Recurring back problems since her 2007 Evian Masters playoff victory over Jeong Jang have dropped her back where she was in her 1st 3 seasons on the LPGA--a player who makes her share of cuts but has trouble cracking the top 10. In fact, 24 of her top 10s and all 7 of her top 3s came between 2005 and 2007, when she was a regular on the top 20 of the money list. If she can stay healthy this coming season, there's no reason she can't get back to that level. Yes, that's a big "if," but she's coming off a season where she brought her scoring average back in the low 71s and--even though she had to shut things down when her back started acting up again in October and November--still ended up #30 in my final Best of the LPGA ranking. So I'm actually optimistic for her in 2010. Her T40 in Thailand was a pretty big disappointment, however.
9. Nicole Castrale: Her 2 Solheim Cup appearances and playoff win at the Ginn Tribute in 2007 pushed me to give her the benefit of the doubt and rank her in this category, but she'll need to work very hard in 2010 to bounce back from a very disappointing 2009, when she missed 10 cuts, saw her scoring average approach 72.50, fell outside the top 50 on the money list, and only managed to get her 19th and 20th career top 10s on the LPGA. Still, I'd be very surprised to see her end up in 2010 as low as she ended up in last year's final Best of the LPGA ranking (#54).

Quantum Leap Candidates

10. Julieta Granada: This Senior Standout has been hanging on to her LPGA card by the skin of her teeth the last 2 seasons, playing well in Q-School both years to improve the priority status she earned from the regular season. She'll be trying out dual LPGA-LET membership for the 2nd year in a row this coming season, this time with a bunch of fellow Spanish speakers joining her, so it'll be interesting to see if she plays more often on the LET in 2010. That ADT Championship win at the end of her rookie season and those 10 top 10s in her 1st 2 years on tour are looking more and more like blips than foundations of a great LPGA career, but I can't justify ranking her lower than this just yet.
11. Shi Hyun Ahn: Like Jee Young Lee and Momoko Ueda, her only LPGA win comes with an asterisk, as she got it as a KLPGA member in 2003, but since then she's played roughly 20 events on the LPGA each year, garnering 27 top 10s in the process. Whereas she was a regular on the top 30 of the money list over her 1st 4 seasons, she's slipped into the 50s the last 2, missing more cuts (10 in 38 starts) and getting fewer top 10s (only 3) than usual. Let's see if she can reverse that trend in 2010.
12. Leta Lindley: Injuries curtailed her schedule in 2009, not even allowing her to defend her 2008 Corning Classic title. But as that win gives her high-priority status through the 2011 season, she's in good shape to begin adding again to her total of 33 career top 10s.
13. Meaghan Francella: She shocked the golf world with a win over Annika Sorenstam on the 4th playoff hole at the 2007 MasterCard Classic, but Annika's announcement a little later that season that she had been suffering significant back and neck injuries for some time put a little asterisk by that victory. To make matters worse, Francella had to deal with injury issues of her own over the next season and a half, but the Senior Standout bounced back in 2009 by getting her 5th and 6th top 10s on tour, breaking the 73 barrier in scoring average for the 1st time in her career, and returning to the top 50 of both the money list and my Best of the LPGA ranking, so things are looking up for this NYer in 2010.
14. Eunjung Yi: Her playoff victory over Morgan Pressel at the Farr last year remains her only LPGA top 10 since her LPGA career began in 2008. She won Hound Dog's fluke victory of 2009 award, a dubious distinction. The only way things could be worse for her prospects in 2010 would be if her defeat of Pressel had come in a U.S. Women's Open (see Kim, Birdie, below). Seriously, it remains to be seen what she'll do over the next 2 seasons she's guaranteed high priority status on the LPGA. And she starts 2010 having ended 2009 ranked #53 in my system. There's still hope for her! But I'm thinking her T32 in Thailand is more representative of how she stacks up against the LPGA's elite than her 1 win....

On the Bottom, Looking Up

15. Heather Bowie Young: She won at the Farr in 2005 and has collected 26 top 10s since joining the LPGA in 2000. 2009 was her 1st season without 1 and while her scoring average held steady, her made-cut rate plummeted to the lowest of her career. Still, she ended the season just outside the top 80 and will be playing a full schedule again in 2010. Let's see what she makes of it.
16. Moira Dunn: Her 2004 win at the Giant Eagle Classic was the high point of an LPGA career that dates back to 1995, but her best season was probably in 2001. She's been struggling to keep her card the last 4 seasons; let's see if my junior golf buddy can add to her 23 career LPGA top 10s in 2010.
17. Soo-Yun Kang: Her win at the Safeway Classic in 2005 was part of the best season of her career, where she got 6 top 10s and ended up #14 on the money list. But it was also the last season her stroke average dipped under 72. She's still making her share of cuts, but of her 17 career top 10s since she started on the LPGA in 2001, only 2 have come after 2005.
18. Jimin Kang: She's never matched her 1st full season in 2005, when she won the Corning Classic and finished 39th on the money list, but since then she hasn't lost her card and has added to her top 10 total every season (she now has 9). Let's see if she can reverse 2009's worrying trend of missing more cuts than usual--which dropped her to #74 on my year-end Best of the LPGA ranking--this coming season.
19. Silvia Cavalleri: She's only had 10 top 10s in an career that started back in 1999 and in that span has only cracked the top 50 on the money list once--in 2007, when she won the Corona Championship. She's finished outside the top 100 on the money list the last 2 seasons, though, so 2010 is a crucial year for her. It's her last in Category 6 on the priority status list, for starters. She needs a good season to get off Hound Dog's fluke victories list!
20. Joo Mi Kim: She came to the LPGA in 2005 with 3 KLPGA victories under her belt and made a lot of cuts in her rookie season, then followed it up with a playoff win at the SBS Open (over Lorena Ochoa and Soo Young Moon) and 4 top 10s in all the next season, where she ended up 27th on the money list. She stayed in the top 50 for the 3rd straight season the following year, but has only played 24 events over the last 2 seasons and hasn't cracked the 73 barrier in scoring average in that span. At #146 on the priority status list (at the head of Category 15), though, she should get plenty of chances to get back on track in 2010.
21. Louise Friberg: Her come-from-behind rookie win at the MasterCard Classic in 2008 gives her high-priority status in 2010 and 2011, which is a good thing, because she made only 3 cuts in 21 starts in 2009.
22. Kelli Kuehne: She got a medical exemption for 2010 and sits at #143 on the priority status list, so she'll get another chance to see if she can return to her 1999-2004 form, when she won at the Corning Classic at the start of that run and notched 24 of her 26 career top 10s over the course of it. Since then, though, she hasn't broken the 73 barrier in scoring average in any season and has made only 33 of 86 cuts. So 2010 may be her swan song.

On the Outside, Looking In

23. Young Kim: Last season was the 1st in her 7-year LPGA career that she failed to break into the top 10. Look for her to add to her total of 22 in 2010, when she'll also be looking to add a JLPGA victory to her 2 KLPGA ones after winning medalist honors at their Q-School in December. Whether she'll add to her win column at the LPGA remains to be seen, but if anyone on this list is going to break the Corning Classic jinx (see #12, #18, and #23), I would expect her to be the one to do it! But it probably won't happen this season, as she's playing full-time on the JLPGA and is now listed as a "Former Tour Member."
24. Kris Tschetter: Her current bio page is coming up blank on LPGA.com, so I'm going with her 2008 page. Her rookie season was 1988, she won the Northgate Computer Classic in 1992, and she sits at #160 on the priority status list for 2010. Even though 2002 was her last solid season, her 50 career top 10s show that she's got the talent to bounce back, now that her kids are elementary school age.
25. Sung Ah Yim: Like Joo Mi Kim, she joined the LPGA in 2005 and got her 1st win in 2006, at the Florida's Natural Charity Classic. But in the last 3 seasons she has neither added to her career total of 8 top 10s nor broken the 74 barrier in scoring average. At #227 on the priority status list (the last player in Category 15a), it's an open question how many events she'll get in on the LPGA in 2010--for all I know, she may have decided to play the KLPGA full-time or spend most of her time on the Futures Tour (where she played in 2004). In any case, it's going to be difficult for her to play her way out of the #6 spot in Hound Dog's fluke victories list.
26. Jin Joo Hong: After playing 3 seasons on the KLPGA, she won the jointly sponsored event with the LPGA and switched tours for the next 3 seasons, ending 2009 ranked #10 in her rookie class. Well, she's heading back to the KLPGA in 2010, according to Happy Fan at Seoul Sisters.com.
27. Marisa Baena: Her LPGA career started in 1999, but after a terrible 2004, it looked like it was in jeopardy. She bounced back in 2005 with a win in the HSBC Women's World Match Play Championship from the 60th seed. She'll need to draw on that experience in 2010, as 2009 was her 2nd-worst year on tour. She finds herself #159 on the priority status list, which means it'll be difficult for her to put together a consistent schedule, much less get her 14th career top 10 and 2nd since 2005.
28. Kate Golden: Her win at the State Farm Classic in 2001 was part of a run from 2000-2004 when she averaged in the mid 72s in scoring and mid-$200Ks in winnings, but since then she hasn't made more than half her cuts in any season and has only added 1 top 10 to her career total of 14. At #225 on the priority status list in 2010, this could be the last year of an LPGA career that started in 1992.
29. Birdie Kim: I had wanted to put her higher on this list, feeling that she had been coming back from the U.S. Women's Open jinx after her stunning 2005 win from the sand over then-amateurs Morgan Pressel and Brittany Lang. But no, she's only made 13 cuts in 31 starts over the last 2 seasons, hasn't added to her career total of 4 top 10s in that span, and has never broken the 73 barrier in scoring average since she started on the LPGA in 2004. Her exemption from that Open victory runs out in 2010; let's see what she makes of what could end up being her last season on tour.
30. Hilary Lunke: She may never be knocked from the top spot in Hound Dog's fluke victory list. Thanks to a medical exemption, her 2003 U.S. Women's Open victory ensures she'll be able to play a full schedule in 2010. Her 2nd career top 10 can wait on remembering what it's like to make cuts: she's 6 for 36 over the last 3 seasons.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Sybase Match Play Championship Sunday: Battle of the Straight Shooters

Mike Southern and Stephanie Wei have the semi-final results at the Sybase Match Play Championship and we have a showdown between Angela Stanford and Sun Young Yoo--who both have very similar games--in the finals. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Yoo continues her run of upsets. She's my 3rd-ranked player without a win on the LPGA and will move up my Best of the Young Guns ranking the next time I get around to updating it. Currently, she's 1-up through 5. I'm off to the park with the girls--more when we get back home!

[Update 1 (7:36 pm): Here are Hound Dog and Bill Jempty on Yoo's breakthrough win, which came when she won 4 of the last 5 holes of her match with Stanford. More from me later!]

[Update 2 (7:43 pm): So here's how it ended up:

1. Yoo Sun Young
2. Stanford
3. Shin Ji-Yai
4. Yang, Amy
T5. Tseng Ya Ni, Wie, Matthew, Kang Haeji
T9. Pressel, Kim Song-Hee, Lee Jee Young, Park Inbee, Blumenherst, Hur, Recari, Icher

A far cry from what I predicted:

1. Choi Na Yeon
2. Miyazato Ai
3. Kim Song-Hee
4. Lee Jee Young
T5. Shin Ji-Yai, Stanford, Park Inbee, Pressel
T9. Tseng, Kerr, Webb, Wie, Kim In-Kyung, Pak, McPherson, Yang Amy

Oh, well!]

[Update 3 (5/24/10, 6:03 pm): Here are Hound Dog and Stephanie Wei with more on the Sybase. Somehow I came in 2nd in the PakPicker!]

[Update 4 (6:18 pm): Nice article by Brendan Prunty on Yoo's march through Hamilton Farm. By the way, it netted her 20 spots up to #20 in the Rolex Rankings.]

[Update 5 (5/27/10, 9:09 am): Great post by Happy Fan running down Sun Young Yoo's match-play win on the LPGA and Jung Min Lee's on the KLPGA.]

Chukyo TV Bridgestone Ladies Open Weekend: Can Fudoh Seal the Deal?

Yuri Fudoh followed up her opening 66 with a 67 yesterday to take a 3-shot lead on Rikako Morita and Na-Ri Kim into today's round at the Chukyo TV Bridgestone Ladies Open. Through the 1st 2/3 of the day thus far, she's played bogey-free golf and extended her lead on them to 4, but they've been passed by 4 players going low so far: Chie Arimura, Young Kim, Rui Kitada, and Saiki Fujita. Kitada's -5 today with 4 holes to go, while the rest are -4 with 5 to go. They'll need to make some birdies down the home stretch to put some pressure on the JLPGA's Billion-Yen Woman, who's 3-up on the lead chase pack with 6 holes left to play. Can Fudoh log her 1st JLPGA victory since 2008 today? Stay tuned!

[Update 1 (3:49 am): Here's where everyone stood heading into today's round:

1st/-11 Yuri Fudoh (66-67)
T2/-8 Na-Ri Kim (68-68), Rikako Morita (65-71)
T4/-6 Saori Ikushima (70-68), Mi-Jeong Jeon (66-72), Asako Fujimoto (66-72)
T7/-5 Young Kim (73-66), Chie Arimura (71-68), Saiki Fujita (69-70)
T10/-4 Kumiko Kaneda (71-69), Rui Kitada (68-72)

T12/-3 Sakura Yokomine (71-70), Ayako Uehara (70-71), Yukari Baba (70-71), Yun-Jye Wei (70-71), Tamie Durdin (67-74), Miki Saiki (67-74)
T19/-2 Na-Ri Lee (72-70), Hiromi Mogi (71-71), Bo-Bae Song (68-74)
T24/-1 Akane Iijima (74-69), Shinobu Moromizato (73-70), Miho Koga (71-72)
T29/E Ji-Woo Lee (75-69), Ritsuko Ryu (74-70), So-Hee Kim (72-72)
T44/+1 Li-Ying Ye (74-71), Sun-Ju Ahn (73-72), Kaori Aoyama (73-72)

MC Esther Lee (76-70), Eun-A Lim (72-74), Ji-Hee Lee (76-72), Erina Hara (76-72), Mayu Hattori (71-77), Yuki Ichinose (72-78), Jae-Hee Bae (75-74), Maiko Wakabayashi (75-76), Ai-Yu Tu (78-78)
WD Hyun-Ju Shin (74-WD), Yuko Saitoh (74-WD)

Wow, Ahn just squeaked by the cut line--exactly 50 made it to today's round!]

[Update 1 (4:01 am): And here's where everyone stood coming out of it:

1st/-13 Yuri Fudoh (66-67-70)
2nd/-11 Na-Ri Kim (68-68-69)
3rd/-10 Saiki Fujita (69-70-67)
T4/-9 Rui Kitada (68-72-67), Young Kim (73-66-68)
6th/-8 Chie Arimura (71-68-69)
T7/-7 Shinobu Moromizato (73-70-66), Saori Ikushima (70-68-71), Rikako Morita (65-71-73)
10th/-6 Ayako Uehara (70-71-69)

T11/-5 Sakura Yokomine (71-70-70), Yukari Baba (70-71-70), Tamie Durdin (67-74-70), Miki Saiki (67-74-70), Mi-Jeong Jeon (66-72-73), Asako Fujimoto (66-72-73)
T18/-4 Akane Iijima (74-69-69), Yun-Jye Wei (70-71-71)
T22/-3 So-Hee Kim (72-72-69), Miho Koga (71-72-70), Na-Ri Lee (72-70-71), Hiromi Mogi (71-71-70), Kumiko Kaneda (71-69-73)
T27/-2 Sun-Ju Ahn (73-72-69), Kaori Aoyama (73-72-69)
T32/E Li-Ying Ye (74-71-71), Bo-Bae Song (68-74-74)
T34/+1 Ritsuko Ryu (74-70-73)
T48/+5 Ji-Woo Lee (75-69-77)

Great win for Fudoh and great runner-up for Kim, who decided to strike out for the JLPGA this season rather than try to get back to the LPGA via the Futures Tour!]

[Update 3 (4:14 am): Here's how the money list now stands:

1. Sakura Yokomine ¥39.74M
2. Inbee Park ¥36.50M
3. Sun-Ju Ahn ¥31.53M
4. Chie Arimura ¥29.31M
5. Rui Kitada ¥26.56M
6. Ji-Yai Shin ¥25.76M
7. Yuri Fudoh ¥25.69M
8. Miho Koga ¥25.25M
9. Mayu Hattori ¥21.87M
10. Yun-Jye Wei ¥19.24M
11. Mie Nakata ¥17.16M
12. Asako Fujimoto ¥16.72M
13. Nikki Campbell ¥15.89M
14. Hiromi Mogi ¥15.45M
15. Mi-Jeong Jeon ¥14.76M
16. Shinobu Moromizato ¥14.67M
17. Young Kim ¥13.98M
18. Akane Iijima ¥13.50M
19. Ji-Hee Lee ¥12.99M
20. Bo-Bae Song ¥12.98M
21. Saiki Fujita ¥12.84M
22. Yukari Baba ¥12.47M
23. Kaori Aoyama ¥12.11M
24. Hyun-Ju Shin ¥11.38M
25. Na-Ri Kim ¥11.12M
26. Tamie Durdin ¥11.04M
27. Chieko Amanuma ¥10.88M
28. Esther Lee ¥10.50M
29. Ayako Uehara ¥10.30M
30. Ah-Reum Hwang ¥10.03M

The season is still young, but wouldn't it be cool if Fudoh continued to play well?]

Sybase Match Play Championship Saturday: Shin, Stanford, Yang, Yoo Your Final 4

I'll let Hound Dog and Stephanie Wei fill you in on the Saturday action at the Sybase Match Play Championship, as they did me, and just cut to the chase with the not unexpected damage to my brackets:

Whitworth Bracket
Round 3
Ji-Yai Shin (1) v. Beatriz Recari (62): SHIN 4&3
Michelle Wie (8) v. Karine Icher (57): N.Y. CHOI WIE 3&2

Quarterfinals
Ji-Yai Shin (1) v. Michelle Wie (8): N.Y. CHOI SHIN 2&1

Berg Bracket
Round 3
Ya Ni Tseng (4) v. Inbee Park (13): I. PARK TSENG 5&3
Sun Young Yoo (28) v. Song-Hee Kim (12): S.H. KIM YOO 1-up

Quarterfinals
Ya Ni Tseng (4) v. Sun Young Yoo (28): S.H. KIM YOO 2&1

Wright Bracket
Round 3
M.J. Hur (31) v. Catriona Matthew (15): A. MIYAZATO MATTHEW 19 holes
Amanda Blumenherst (55) v. Angela Stanford (10): STANFORD 20 holes

Quarterfinals
Catriona Matthew (15) v. Angela Stanford (10): A. MIYAZATO STANFORD 5&3

Sorenstam Bracket
Round 3
Amy Yang (30) v. Morgan Pressel (14): PRESSEL A. YANG 4&3
Jee Young Lee (27) v. Haeji Kang (61): J.Y. LEE H. KANG 1-up

Quarterfinals
Amy Yang (30) v. Haeji Kang (61): J.Y. LEE YANG 1-up

That leaves the following semi-final matches:

Ji-Yai Shin (1) v. Sun Young Yoo (28): N.Y. CHOI
Angela Stanford (10) v. Amy Yang (30): A. MIYAZATO

Going by who knocked off my picks for the finals (or who knocked off the player[s] who knocked them off), then, it'll be a Shin-Stanford final, so everyone can rest easy.

[Update 1 (2:27 am): Whoops, I've been missing Mike Southern's entertaining (and informative) Sybase blogging! Sorry, Mike, I turn in my grades and my life becomes a blur. What can I say? I blame the 4-year-old! No, wait, the 6-year-old!]

[Update 2 (2:36 am): Big chance for Bo Mi Lee in the KLPGA match-play event going on this week!]

[Update 3 (3:14 am): Good run-down on round 3 from Jeff Skinner.]

[Update 4 (4:22 am): Mike is also calling a Shin-Stanford final. I wouldn't be surprised at all, though, if Yoo takes down Shin and we have a Stanford-Yoo final. Both players have remarkably similar games--"straight shooters," in my system.]

Friday, May 21, 2010

Sybase Match Play Championship Friday: Blumenherst, Yang Blow Out Hall of Famers Webb and Inkster

Well, Hound Dog and I continue to go out on our respective limbs when it comes to picking winners of round 2 matches in the Sybase Match Play Championship. Let's see how we did in the early going, shall we?

Wright Bracket
Ai Miyazato (2) v. M.J. Hur (31): A. MIYAZATO HUR 1-up
Catriona Matthew (15) v. Kristy McPherson (18): MCPHERSON MATTHEW 2-up
Karrie Webb (7) v. Amanda Blumenherst (55): WEBB BLUMENHERST 7&6
Angela Stanford (10) v. Pat Hurst (41): STANFORD 4&2

Sorenstam Bracket
Juli Inkster (35) v. Amy Yang (30): YANG 7&6
Morgan Pressel (14) v. Sophie Gustafson (19): PRESSEL 19 holes
Shi Hyun Ahn (48) v. Jee Young Lee (27): J.Y. LEE 2&1
Haeji Kang (61) v. Sandra Gal (46): I.K. KIM H. KANG 3&1

Pretty terrible, eh? I've now lost both my finalists, thanks to Ai-sama losing her last 3 holes in a row to Hur!

[Update 1 (3:44 pm): Here are the other brackets, mostly still in progress:

Whitworth Bracket
Ji-Yai Shin (1) v. Hee-Won Han (32): SHIN 3-up with 5 to play
Beatriz Recari (62) v. Azahara Munoz (54): PAK Recari 2-up with 4 to play
Michelle Wie (8) v. Hee Young Park (25): WIE 5-up with 7 to play
Karine Icher (57) v. Eun-Hee Ji (24): N.Y. CHOI Icher 3-up with 6 to play

Berg Bracket
Ya Ni Tseng (4) v. Candie Kung (29): TSENG 2&1
Inbee Park (13) v. Maria Hjorth (20): I. PARK 2&1
Cristie Kerr (5) v. Sun Young Yoo (28): KERR 3-down with 3 to play
Song-Hee Kim (12) v. Momoko Ueda (21): S.H. KIM 2-up with 2 to play

Looks like I'm losing a lot of my Sweet 16 today!]

[Update 2 (4:19 pm): Shin is 2-up with 2 to play and Icher is 2-up with 3 to play. Wie won 5&4, Yoo 4&2, Recari 2&1, and S.H. Kim 3&1.]

[Update 3 (4:28 pm): Shin won 3&1 and Icher is only 1-up with 2 to play!]

[Update 4 (4:40 pm): Man, Ai-sama shot a 67 today and still lost! Pressel lost 5 holes in a row to Gustafson on the front, but came roaring back on the back for the tie in regulation and the win in overtime. Ji had won 3 of 5 holes late in her match to put some pressure on Icher, but when she lost the 17th, it was all over--Icher 2&1.

So here are the Round 3 matches tomorrow:

Whitworth Bracket
Ji-Yai Shin (1) v. Beatriz Recari (62): SHIN
Michelle Wie (8) v. Karine Icher (57): N.Y. CHOI

Berg Bracket
Ya Ni Tseng (4) v. Inbee Park (13): I. PARK
Sun Young Yoo (28) v. Song-Hee Kim (12): S.H. KIM

Wright Bracket
M.J. Hur (31) v. Catriona Matthew (15): A. MIYAZATO
Amanda Blumenherst (55) v. Angela Stanford (10): STANFORD

Sorenstam Bracket
Amy Yang (30) v. Morgan Pressel (14): PRESSEL
Jee Young Lee (27) v. Haeji Kang (61): J.Y. LEE

Yeah, I "only" lost 2 of my Elite 8, but since I predicted they'd be precisely the ones to go to the finals, I'm basically dead in the water from here on out!]

[Update 5 (8:52 pm): Hope you've been following Stephanie Wei's often-live-blogging from the Sybase this week!]

[Update 6 (8:58 pm): Here's Hound Dog's run-down of the day's matches and picks for Round 3....]

Chukyo TV Bridgestone Ladies Open Friday: JLPGA Young Guns Taking on the Big Names

Rikako Morita is 20 years old and Asako Fujimoto is 19, they each rode 4-hole birdie trains today, and they're 1-2 after the 1st round of the Chukyo TV Bridgestone Ladies Open on the strength of an 8-birdie 65 and a 7-birdie 66, respectively. But veteran stars Yuri Fudoh and Mi-Jeong Jeon are tied with Fujimoto with bogey-free 66s of their own. We'll see if anyone from back in the pack can make a move on them, including those at or near the top of the money list--most particularly last week's winner Sakura Yokomine and perennial top-10er Sun-Ju Ahn.

1st/-7 Rikako Morita (65)
T2/-6 Yuri Fudoh, Mi-Jeong Jeon, Asako Fujimoto (66)
T5/-5 Tamie Durdin, Miki Saiki (67)
T7/-4 Bo-Bae Song, Rui Kitada, Na-Ri Kim, Tomomi Hirose (68)

T11/-3 Saiki Fujita (69)
T14/-2 Ayako Uehara, Yukari Baba, Yun-Jye Wei (70)
T20/-1 Sakura Yokomine, Chie Arimura, Miho Koga, Hiromi Mogi, Mayu Hattori, Kumiko Kaneda (71)
T34/E Eun-A Lim, So-Hee Kim, Na-Ri Lee, Yuki Ichinose (72)
T44/+1 Shinobu Moromizato, Sun-Ju Ahn, Young Kim, Kaori Aoyama (73)
T58/+2 Hyun-Ju Shin, Akane Iijima, Ritsuko Ryu, Li-Ying Ye, Yuko Saith (74)
T76/+3 Maiko Wakabayashi, Ji-Woo Lee, Jae-Hee Bae (75)
T87/+4 Ji-Hee Lee, Erina Hara, Esther Lee (76)
T98/+6 Ai-Yu Tu (78)

It's a little surprising to see Seon Hwa Lee skipping both the LPGA and JLPGA events this week. Wonder if anything's going on with her....

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Sybase Match Play Championship Thursday: Inkster Takes Down Pettersen in 21 Holes

Just for the humiliation factor, I'm putting my picks (in CAPS, and, far too often, STRIKETHROUGH) for the 1st round of the Sybase Match Play Championship next to the actual results (in BOLD):

Whitworth Bracket

Ji-Yai Shin (1) v. Kyeong Bae (42): SHIN 3&2
Hee-Won Han (32) v. Mika Miyazato (38): M. MIYAZATO HAN 2&1
Brittany Lincicome (16) v. Beatriz Recari (62): LINCICOME RECARI 1-up
Se Ri Pak (17) v. Azahara Munoz (54): PAK MUNOZ 3&2
Michelle Wie (8) v. Stacy Prammanasudh (50): WIE 2-up
Hee Young Park (25) v. Ji Young Oh (33): H.Y. PARK 19 holes
Na Yeon Choi (9) v. Karine Icher (57): N.Y. CHOI ICHER 4&3
Eun-Hee Ji (24) v. Janice Moodie (49): MOODIE JI 22 holes

Berg Bracket

Ya Ni Tseng (4) v. Wendy Ward (43): TSENG 2&1
Candie Kung (29) v. Natalie Gulbis (44): KUNG 5&4
Inbee Park (13) v. Laura Diaz (58): I. PARK 4&3
Maria Hjorth (20) v. Shanshan Feng (45): HJORTH 2&1
Cristie Kerr (5) v. Meaghan Francella (53): KERR 4&3
Sun Young Yoo (28) v. Karen Stupples (34): STUPPLES YOO 3&2
Song-Hee Kim (12) v. Nicole Castrale (52): S.H. KIM 2&1
Momoko Ueda (21) v. Vicky Hurst (37): UEDA 3&1

Wright Bracket

Ai Miyazato (2) v. Jeong Jang (51): A. MIYAZATO 4&3
M.J. Hur (31) v. Hye Jung Choi (60): H.J. CHOI HUR 1-up
Catriona Matthew (15) v. Grace Park (64): MATTHEW 1-up
Kristy McPherson (18) v. Meena Lee (47): MCPHERSON 3&2
Karrie Webb (7) v. Eunjung Yi (36): WEBB 4&3
Stacy Lewis (26) v. Amanda Blumenherst (55): BLUMENHERST 1-up
Angela Stanford (10) v. Amy Hung (60): STANFORD 4&3
Brittany Lang (23) v. Pat Hurst (41): LANG P. HURST 19 holes

Sorenstam Bracket

Suzann Pettersen (3) v. Juli Inkster (35): PETTERSEN INKSTER 21 holes
Amy Yang (30) v. Michele Redman (39): YANG 19 holes
Morgan Pressel (14) v. Jimin Kang (56): PRESSEL 20 holes
Sophie Gustafson (19) v. Na On Min (63): GUSTAFSON 5&4
Anna Nordqvist (6) v. Shi Hyun Ahn (48): NORDQVIST AHN 2-up
Jee Young Lee (27) v. Christina Kim (40): J.Y. LEE 4&2
In-Kyung Kim (11) v. Haeji Kang (61): I.K. KIM H. Kang 1-up
Katherine Hull (24) v. Sandra Gal (46): HULL GAL 1-up

More to come!

[Update 1 (6:54 pm): For many good tidbits from 1st-round play, check out the Sybase twitter page. Here are the 2nd-round match-ups, with my picks from before the tournament started in CAPS and, unfortunately STRIKETHROUGH:

Whitworth Bracket
Ji-Yai Shin (1) v. Hee-Won Han (32): SHIN
Beatriz Recari (62) v. Azahara Munoz (54): PAK
Michelle Wie (8) v. Hee Young Park (25): WIE
Karine Icher (57) v. Eun-Hee Ji (24): N.Y. CHOI

Berg Bracket
Ya Ni Tseng (4) v. Candie Kung (29): TSENG
Inbee Park (13) v. Maria Hjorth (20): I. PARK
Cristie Kerr (5) v. Sun Young Yoo (28): KERR
Song-Hee Kim (12) v. Momoko Ueda (21): S.H. KIM

Wright Bracket
Ai Miyazato (2) v. M.J. Hur (31): A. MIYAZATO
Catriona Matthew (15) v. Kristy McPherson (18): MCPHERSON
Karrie Webb (7) v. Amanda Blumenherst (55): WEBB
Angela Stanford (10) v. Pat Hurst (41): STANFORD

Sorenstam Bracket
Juli Inkster (35) v. Amy Yang (30): YANG
Morgan Pressel (14) v. Sophie Gustafson (19): PRESSEL
Shi Hyun Ahn (48) v. Jee Young Lee (27): J.Y. LEE
Haeji Kang (61) v. Sandra Gal (46): I.K. KIM

Well, it wouldn't be so bad to lose 3 of my Sweet 16 already, except that I've already lst my projected winner, Na Yeon Choi!]

[Update 2 (7:05 pm): Check out the Sybase blog for more details on the matches, player interviews, and more!]

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Sybase Match Play Championship Preview, Predictions, Brackets

LPGA.com's and Hound Dog's previews set the stage for the tour's return to Hamilton Farm, the site of the 2008 Solheim Cup, in the Sybase Match Play Championship. The field contains 18 of the hottest 20 players on tour, according to Hound Dog. The battle for the #1 spot between Ji-Yai Shin, Ai Miyazato, Suzann Pettersen, and Ya Ni Tseng will be getting a lot of attention, as it should, but I'm also quite interested in this week's implications for the Amanda Blumenherst-Azahara Munoz Rookie of the Year race. Unlike the NCAA's March Madness, the brackets in this 64-player event are not set up to pit the #1 seed vs. the #64 seed and so on, but instead there was a blind draw by the top 32 players in the Rolex Rankings to determine who they'd each play in the 1st round. You can check out the pairings or just look at the 1st-round leaderboard. I expect good things from the tournament web site, so be sure to check that out regularly, as well.

Match play is notoriously hard to predict and I only have time to go with my gut, but for what it's worth, here's how I think things will play out this week.

Whitworth Bracket

Round 1
Ji-Yai Shin (1) v. Kyeong Bae (42): SHIN
Hee-Won Han (32) v. Mika Miyazato (38): M. MIYAZATO
Brittany Lincicome (16) v. Beatriz Recari (62): LINCICOME
Se Ri Pak (17) v. Azahara Munoz (54): PAK
Michelle Wie (8) v. Stacy Prammanasudh (50): WIE
Hee Young Park (25) v. Ji Young Oh (33): H.Y. PARK
Na Yeon Choi (9) v. Karine Icher (57): N.Y. CHOI
Eun-Hee Ji (24) v. Janice Moodie (49): MOODIE

Round 2
Ji-Yai Shin (1) v. Mika Miyazato (38): SHIN
Brittany Lincicome (16) v. Se Ri Pak (17): PAK
Michelle Wie (8) v. Hee Young Park (25): WIE
Na Yeon Choi (9) v. Janice Moodie (49): N.Y. CHOI

Round 3
Ji-Yai Shin (1) v. Se Ri Pak (17): SHIN
Michelle Wie (8) v. Na Yeon Choi (9): N.Y. CHOI

Quarter-Finals: Round 4
Ji-Yai Shin (1) v. Na Yeon Choi (9): N.Y. CHOI

Berg Bracket

Round 1
Ya Ni Tseng (4) v. Wendy Ward (43): TSENG
Candie Kung (29) v. Natalie Gulbis (44): KUNG
Inbee Park (13) v. Laura Diaz (58): I. PARK
Maria Hjorth (20) v. Shanshan Feng (45): HJORTH
Cristie Kerr (5) v. Meaghan Francella (53): KERR
Sun Young Yoo (28) v. Karen Stupples (34): STUPPLES
Song-Hee Kim (12) v. Nicole Castrale (52): S.H. KIM
Momoko Ueda (21) v. Vicky Hurst (37): UEDA

Round 2
Ya Ni Tseng (4) v. Candie Kung (29): TSENG
Inbee Park (13) v. Maria Hjorth (20): I. PARK
Cristie Kerr (5) v. Karen Stupples (34): KERR
Song-Hee Kim (12) v. Momoko Ueda (21): S.H. KIM

Round 3
Ya Ni Tseng (4) v. Inbee Park (13): I. PARK
Cristie Kerr (5) v. Song-Hee Kim (12): S.H. KIM

Quarter-Finals: Round 4
Inbee Park (13) v. Song-Hee Kim (12): S.H. KIM

Wright Bracket

Round 1
Ai Miyazato (2) v. Jeong Jang (51): A. MIYAZATO
M.J. Hur (31) v. Hye Jung Choi (60): H.J. CHOI
Catriona Matthew (15) v. Grace Park (64): MATTHEW
Kristy McPherson (18) v. Meena Lee (47): MCPHERSON
Karrie Webb (7) v. Eunjung Yi (36): WEBB
Stacy Lewis (26) v. Amanda Blumenherst (55): BLUMENHERST
Angela Stanford (10) v. Amy Hung (60): STANFORD
Brittany Lang (23) v. Pat Hurst (41): LANG

Round 2
Ai Miyazato (2) v. Hye Jung Choi (60): A. MIYAZATO
Catriona Matthew (15) v. Kristy McPherson (18): MCPHERSON
Karrie Webb (7) v. Amanda Blumenherst (55): WEBB
Angela Stanford (10) v. Brittany Lang (23): STANFORD

Round 3
Ai Miyazato (2) v. Kristy McPherson (18): A. MIYAZATO
Karrie Webb (7) v. Angela Stanford (10): STANFORD

Quarter-Finals: Round 4
Ai Miyazato (2) v. Angela Stanford (10): A. MIYAZATO

Sorenstam Bracket

Round 1
Suzann Pettersen (3) v. Juli Inkster (35): PETTERSEN
Amy Yang (30) v. Michele Redman (39): YANG
Morgan Pressel (14) v. Jimin Kang (56): PRESSEL
Sophie Gustafson (19) v. Na On Min (63): GUSTAFSON
Anna Nordqvist (6) v. Shi Hyun Ahn (48): NORDQVIST
Jee Young Lee (27) v. Christina Kim (40): J.Y. LEE
In-Kyung Kim (11) v. Haeji Kang (61): I.K. KIM
Katherine Hull (24) v. Sandra Gal (46): HULL

Round 2
Suzann Pettersen (3) v. Amy Yang (30): YANG
Morgan Pressel (14) v. Sophie Gustafson (19): PRESSEL
Anna Nordqvist (6) v. Jee Young Lee (27): J.Y. LEE
In-Kyung Kim (11) v. Katherine Hull (24): I.K. KIM

Round 3
Amy Yang (30) v. Morgan Pressel (14): PRESSEL
Jee Young Lee (27) v. In-Kyung Kim (11): J.Y. LEE

Quarter-Finals: Round 4
Morgan Pressel (14) v. Jee Young Lee (27): J.Y. LEE

Semi-Finals: Round 5
Na Yeon Choi (9) v. Song-Hee Kim (12): N.Y. CHOI
Ai Miyazato (2) v. Jee Young Lee (27): A. MIYAZATO

Finals: Round 6
Na Yeon Choi (9) v. Ai Miyazato (2): N.Y. CHOI
Song-Hee Kim (12) v. Jee Young Lee (27): S.H. KIM

In short (for this week's PakPicker):

1. Choi Na Yeon
2. Miyazato Ai
3. Kim Song-Hee
4. Lee Jee Young
T5. Shin Ji-Yai, Stanford, Park Inbee, Pressel
T9. Tseng, Kerr, Webb, Wie, Kim In-Kyung, Pak, McPherson, Yang Amy

[Update 1 (8:52 am): Here are Hound Dog's predictions!]