It's like The Tale of Two Cities for the youngest class in the Young Guns generation. Their top 6 can play with anyone in the world, while the rest of the class is struggling to stay on or get back onto the LPGA.
Simply the Best
1. Ya Ni Tseng. Winning her 2nd career major kept her ahead of a charging Na Yeon Choi. She's not just fighting for #1 in her class or generation any more, though. She's got a legitimate chance to end the season #1 in the world and win Player of the Year on the LPGA. It all depends on whether she can improve her ballstriking just a little bit!
2. Na Yeon Choi. Her top-20 run (dating from the end of last season) ended at 10 in a row, and she hasn't been able to find the winner's circle again just yet, but she's extended one of the longest made-cut streaks on the LPGA and hasn't even gotten her approach shots working up to her standards just yet.
The Contenders
3. Momoko Ueda. Despite some shaky ballstriking (at least in the States, where such stats are kept) and only solid putting, she's upped her birdies per round rate to close-to-elite levels and should continue to improve when she returns to the States from the JLPGA, where she's underwhelmed thus far this season (#37 on their money list in 7 starts).
4. Hee Young Park. The Rocket's got her driver going this season, but little else is working well for her, so it's a good sign that she's making as many birdies per round as she has been thus far. Just wait till she gets her putter going!
5. Amy Yang. Last December, I wrote that "2010 could be a very big year for her"--and it will be if she can improve her ballstriking just a bit. She's finally putting well in the States. That 4th-place finish in the Sybase was no fluke. Watch out for her!
6. Shanshan Feng. She's baaa-ack! Like Yang, she's got her putter going, so if she can improve her driving accuracy, she's going to be in contention quite often the rest of the season.
Quantum Leap Candidates
7. Sandra Gal. Last season, she made a large number of birdies in 2009 despite hitting very few greens by the standards of the LPGA's elite, but this season her ballstriking has backslidden and her birdie rate has plunged while her scoring average has soared. She's gotta turn this bus around soon, or she's going to start missing more cuts.
8. Eunjung Yi. Even without much to work with when it comes to either ballstriking or short game, she's making cuts at a much better rate than usual, so maybe she's seeing the light at the end of the tunnel--or maybe it's a train coming right at her. Too soon to tell.
9. Louise Friberg. With her rookie win putting her at #96 on the LPGA priority status list, she still has time to play her way out of this slump. Like I said last time, Ai Miyazato, Brittany Lang, and Inbee Park have all slogged through their career valleys, so there's no reason she can't, too.
On the Bottom, Looking Up
10. Jimin Jeong. She's playing the best of those struggling to stay on the LPGA right now in her class. If she can get her irons, hybrids, and fairway woods working better, this precision player can consolidate her position on tour.
11. Anna Grzebien. She's been putting herself in pretty good position off the tee so far this season, but hasn't done much with the opportunities she's given herself afterwards. Sounds like where my game's at right now, too!
12. Taylor Leon. Her putter's been the culprit thus far this season, as indicated by both her birdie rate (1.57) and PPGIR rate (1.96).
13. Sarah Kemp. Hasn't been able to translate her 2 ALPG winter wins and #3 position on their Order of Merit into LPGA success thus far in 2010.
14. Anna Rawson. Hasn't made a cut on the LPGA in 3 starts this season. It's amazing she's averaging 3 birdies per round as bad as her performance stats have been. Let's see if she can turn it around.
15. Anja Monke. It's not clear that my prediction last season that she'll make the LPGA "her 'other' tour" in 2010, as she doesn't have a start here as of yet, while she's played 4 times on the LET and is #7 on their money list.
16. Ashleigh Simon. Ditto for her, except it's #6 in 7 LET starts.
17. Liz Janangelo. So far, that T16 at last year's LPGA Q-School has netted her 0 made cuts in 3 starts.
18. Leah Wigger. Ditto, except it was T9 at Q-School and she's made 1 cut in 4 starts.
19. Nicole Hage. She's got Wigger's 2009 Q-School finish Janangelo's 2010 LPGA record, but at least she's making a bunch of birdies.
On the Outside, Looking In
20. Carolina Llano. In 5 Futures Tour starts, she's #21 on their money list. Let's see if she can get it going there this week!
21. Sofie Andersson. Ditto, except she's #91 on the FT money list in 6 starts.
22. Hannah Jun. In only 2 LET starts, she's #11 in their ROY race, but she's #14 on the FT money list in 5 starts. Not surprisingly, she's in Iowa this week, not the Netherlands.
23. Onnarin Sattayabanphot. Hasn't made it into a JLPGA event yet in 2010, and in 2 starts on the Ladies Asian Golf Tour, is only #12 on their money list.
24. Emma Cabrera-Bello. In 7 starts, she's #37 on the LET's money list.
25. Sarah Oh. #7 on the ALPG Order of Merit in 2010 in 8 starts.
26. Hwanhee Lee. In 6 FT starts, she's #81 on their money list.
Missing in Action
27. Chris Brady. #124 on the '09 FT money list; did not enter FT Q-School. Associated with Play Golf Designs in some capacity.
28. Amie Cochran.
29. Violeta Retamoza. #94 on the '09 FT money list; did not enter FT Q-School.
30. Sukjin Lee Wuesthoff.
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. Ya Ni Tseng, $505.9K (#3), 70.53 (#5), 4.05 (#9), 68.2% (#21)
2. Amy Yang, $226.2K (#11), 71.35 (#12), 3.78 (#5), 63.6% (#52)
3. Na Yeon Choi, $202.4K (#14), 70.65 (#6), 4.22 (#1), 67.7% (#24)
4. Momoko Ueda, $101.0K (#25), 71.42 (#13), 3.53 (#19), 62.1% (#63)
5. Hee Young Park, $92.1K (#27), 71.95 (#27), 3.47 (#20), 67.3% (#28)
6. Shanshan Feng, $80.1K (#31), 71.67 (#21), 3.87 (#38), 67.5% (#26)
7. Sandra Gal, $46.9K (#47), 74.05 (#83), 2.32 (#44), 65.3% (#82)
8. Eunjung Yi, $45.0K (#49), 73.10 (#56), 2.76 (#38), 64.6% (#43)
9. Jimin Jeong, $17.4K (#84), 73.45 (#65), 2.82 (#77), 57.1% (#97)
10. Anna Grzebien $7.9K (#102), 74.67 (#112), 2.92 (#69), 61.8% (#66)
11. Taylor Leon, $7.5K (#104), 75.71 (#124), 1.57 (#131), 68.9% (#15)
12. Sarah Kemp, $5.3K (#107), 74.13 (#89), 2.50 (#107), 54.6% (#113)
13. Louise Friberg, $4.7K (#108), 74.60 (#108), 2.30 (#99), 58.3% (#93)
14. Leah Wigger, $4.2K (#110), 74.14 (#91), 2.57 (#118), 66.7% (#31)
15. Anna Rawson, $0K (n.r.), 74.67 (#112), 3.00 (#118), 58.3% (#93)
16. Liz Janangelo, $0K (n.r.), 74.83 (#115), 2.50 (#127), 62.5% (#58)
17. Nicole Hage, $0K (n.r.), 76.17 (#128), 3.33 (#107), 61.1% (#68)
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 2008 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 '08ers 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. Ya Ni Tseng, $3.58M (#48), 60/2/3/15/28/42/0/0/2/58 (.967)
2. Na Yeon Choi, $2.65M (#74), 60/0/2/8/23/40/0/0/0/60 (1.000)
3. Hee Young Park, $1.24M (#148), 60/0/0/2/11/21/0/0/14/46 (.767)
4. Momoko Ueda, $942.6K (#195), 43/0/1*/1/6/15/0/0/6/37 (.860)
5. Shanshan Feng, $683.2K (#234), 53/0/0/1/7/9/1/0/20/32 (.604)
6. Amy Yang, $554.7K (#255), 37/0/0/1/5/12/0/0/6/31 (.838)
7. Sandra Gal, $538.7K (#260), 52/0/0/0/2/13/2/0/10/40 (.769)
8. Eunjung Yi, $461.4K (#285), 42/0/1/1/1/2/1/0/13/28 (.667)
9. Louise Friberg, $433.9K (#289), 49/0/1/1/3/4/0/0/29/20 (.408)
10. Anna Grzebien, $213.9K (#382), 39/0/0/0/0/5/0/0/18/21 (.538)
11. Taylor Leon, $207.1K (#387), 35/0/0/0/3/6/0/0/20/15 (.429)
12. Jimin Jeong, $180.9K (#404), 33/0/0/0/2/3/0/0/12/21 (.636)
13. Sarah Kemp, $158.9K (#419), 39/0/0/0/0/4/0/1/18/20 (.513)
14. Anna Rawson, $148.9K (#428), 34/0/0/0/1/4/0/0/21/13 (.382)
15. Carolina Llano, $111.3K (#463), 40/0/0/0/1/1/0/0/25/15 (.375)
16. Anja Monke, $72.3K (#507), 19/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/9/10 (.526)
17. Ashleigh Simon, $64.2K (#525), 29/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/17/12 (.414)
18. Leah Wigger, $42.7K (#564), 26/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/18/8 (.308)
19. Liz Janangelo, $34.0K (#580), 25/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/16/9 (.360)
20. Hannah Jun, $32.0K (#585), 9/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/4/5 (.556)
21. Amie Cochran, $17.2K (#628), 5/0/0/0/0/1/0/0/4/1 (.200)
22. Onnarin Sattayabanphot, $8.6K (#678), 8/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/6/2 (.250)
23. Nicole Hage, $8.4K (#679), 11/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/9/2 (.182)
24. Chris Brady, $6.1K (#689), 4/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/2/2 (.500)
25. Violeta Retamoza, $2.2K (#734), 19/0/0/0/0/0/1/0/17/1 (.053)
26. Emma Cabrera-Bello, $0K (n.r.), 2/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/2/0 (.000)
27. Sarah Oh, $0K (n.r.), 3/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/3/0 (.000)
28. Hwanhee Lee, $0K (n.r.), 5/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/5/0 (.000)
29. Sofie Andersson, $0K (n.a.), 0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0 (.000)
30. Sukjin Lee Wuesthoff, $0K (n.a.), 0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0 (.000)
Other Career Measures: Rolex Ranking (as of 5/31/10) and rank, Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index (as of 5/30/10) and rank, International and Non-Member LPGA Wins (as of today): This is a way of seeing how those '08ers 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. Ya Ni Tseng, 8.74 (#4), 69.56 (#9); 0
2. Na Yeon Choi, 5.85 (#10), 69.17 (#2); 4
3. Momoko Ueda, 3.34 (#29), 70.50 (#25); 8
4. Hee Young Park, 2.94 (#34), 71.75 (#61); 4
5. Amy Yang, 2.76 (#41), 70.44 (#22); 3
6. Eunjung Yi, 1.89 (#60), 72.17 (#82); 0
7. Shanshan Feng, 1.49 (#78), 72.21 (#84); 0
8. Sandra Gal, 1.47 (#80); 71.42 (#46); 0
9. Anja Monke, .86 (#125), 73.84 (#191); 2
10. Sarah Kemp, .77 (#141), 73.01 (#133); 0
11. Anna Grzebien, .75 (#144), 72.38 (#98); 0
12. Taylor Leon, .69 (#155), 73.36 (#152); 0
13. Ashleigh Simon, .60 (#175), 73.54 (#167); 1
14. Sarah Oh, .55 (#184), 74.26 (n.r. [too few events]); 0
15. Jimin Jeong, .49 (#201), 73.45 (#156); 0
16. Anna Rawson, .47 (#205), 73.38 (#153); 0
17. Louise Friberg, .33 (#251), 74.96 (#274); 0
18. Emma Cabrera-Bello, .26 (#273), 74.67 (#252); 0
19. Leah Wigger, .12 (#374), 75.32 (#303); 0
20. Hannah Jun, .08 (#432), 74.39 (#231); 0
21. Carolina Llano, .07 (#438), 75.23 (#299); 0
22. Liz Janangelo, .03 (#536), 73.68 (#174); 0
23. Nicole Hage, .02 (#622), 76.74 (#393); 0
24. Sofie Andersson, .01 (#641), 75.98 (#343); 0
25. Onnarin Sattayabanphot, .00 (#705), 75.64 (n.r. [too few events]); 0
26. Hwanhee Lee, n.r., 76.94 (#398); 0
28. Chris Brady, n.r., 76.95 (n.r. [too few events]); 0
27. Violeta Retamoza, n.r., 77.57 (#426); 0
29. Amie Cochran, n.r., n.r.; 0
30. Sukjin Lee Wuesthoff, n.r., n.r.; 0
***
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