Monday, December 13, 2010

The LPGA's Top Rivalries: Generation Gaps, December 2010 Edition

Now that the 2010 season is complete, it's time to reexamine how the LPGA's last 6 generations stack up. Check out the career money list and wins/majors totals for the top players in the generations that span the Sorenstam Era (1994-2008) and the overlapping Ochoa Era (2003-2009).

[Note: [square brackets] indicate the player has retired from professional golf; {squiggle brackets} indicate the player is no longer an LPGA member but still playing on another tour; *=includes non-member win; **=includes 3 non-member wins.]

1994-1996: The Sorenstam Generation

[1. Annika Sorenstam (1994) $22.57M (#1), 72/10]
2. Karrie Webb (1996) $15.76M (#2), 36*/7
3. Lorie Kane (1996) $6.78M (#16), 4/0
4. Pat Hurst (1995) $6.71M (#17), 6/1
5. Catriona Matthew (1995) $6.24M (#20), 3/1
6. Wendy Ward (1996) $4.70M (#37), 4/0
{7. Carin Koch (1995) $4.43M (#40), 2/0}

The race between Kane, Hurst, and Matthew continues to tighten up. Koch is living in Sweden and playing exclusively on the LET, so unless she does well in future Women's British Opens and Evian Masters--or moves back to the States--she will fall further behind her peers from here on out.

1997-1999: The Pak Generation

1. Cristie Kerr (1997) $12.06M (#5), 14/2
2. Se Ri Pak (1998) $10.97M (#6), 25/5
3. Mi Hyun Kim (1999) $8.46M (#10), 8/0
[4. Rachel Hetherington (1997) $5.73M (#25), 8/0]
5. Sophie Gustafson (1998) $5.56M (#28), 5/0
6. Maria Hjorth (1998) $5.33M (#32), 4/0
7. Laura Diaz (1999) $5.09M (#34), 2/0
8. Karen Stupples (1999) $3.43M (#54), 2/1

Even though Kerr's passed Pak on the career money list, she'll have to join her in the Hall of Fame to have her name on the generation, too. With Hetherington retired, the Gustafson-Hjorth-Diaz race takes on added urgency.

2000-2002: Seoul Sisters

1. Jeong Jang (2000) $6.44M (#18), 2/1
2. Hee-Won Han (2001) $6.34M (#19), 6/0
3. Angela Stanford (2001) $5.50M (#30), 4/0
4. Grace Park (2000) $5.36M (#31), 6/1
5. Candie Kung (2002) $4.78M (#35), 4/0
6. Natalie Gulbis (2002) $4.15M (#42), 1/0
{7. Gloria Park (2000) $3.28M (#61), 2/0}

Jang continues to hold off Han, while Stanford has passed Grace Park and Kung is closing on her. The "other Park" is KLPGA-bound in 2011.

2003-2005: The Ochoa Generation

[1. Lorena Ochoa (2003) $14.86M (#3), 27/2]
2. Paula Creamer (2005) $7.85M (#12), 9/1
3. Suzann Pettersen (2003) $6.86M (#14), 6/1
4. Christina Kim (2003) $3.91M (#45), 2/0
5. Brittany Lincicome (2005) $3.28M (#62), 3/1
6. Stacy Prammanasudh (2003) $3.18M (#64), 2/0
7. Meena Lee (2005) $3.10M (#66), 2/0
8. Katherine Hull (2004) $2.87M (#73), 2/0
9. Shi Hyun Ahn (2004) $2.60M (#80), 1*/0
{10. Young Kim (2003) $2.36M (#88), 1/0}
11. Lindsey Wright (2004) $2.13M (#98), 0/0

With Lorena looking less and less likely to ever come back to the LPGA, the only real question is how close Creamer and Pettersen can come to matching her career. The race between the 3 mid-level Americans and between the 2 Australians and 3 Koreans below them will be of interest, as well, but Young Kim will need to rejoin the LPGA to participate in it.

2006-2008: Young Guns

1. Ai Miyazato (2006), $4.71M (#36), 6/0
2. Ya Ni Tseng (2008), $4.62M (#38), 5/3
3. Na Yeon Choi (2008), $4.31M (#41), 3/0
4. Seon Hwa Lee (2006), $3.92M (#44), 4/0
5. In-Kyung Kim (2007), $3.68M (#47), 3/0
6. Morgan Pressel (2006), $3.55M (#53), 2/1
7. Song-Hee Kim (2007), $3.30M (#58), 0/0
8. Jee Young Lee (2006), $3.29M (#60), 1*/0
9. Inbee Park (2007), $2.62M (#79), 1/1
10. Brittany Lang (2006), $2.49M (#84), 0/0
11. Sun Young Yoo (2006), $2.32M (#91), 1/0
12. Eun-Hee Ji (2007), $2.27M (#94), 2/1
13. Julieta Granada (2006), $2.26M (#95), 1/0
14. Angela Park (2007), $2.12M (#99), 0/0
15. Kristy McPherson (2007), $1.72M (#117), 0/0
16. Ji Young Oh (2007), $1.49M (#126), 2/0
17. Hee Young Park (2008), $1.47M (#130), 0/0
18. Kyeong Bae (2006), $1.29M (#147), 0/0
19. Amy Yang (2008), $1.13M (#165), 0/0
20. Teresa Lu (2006), $1.13M (#166), 0/0
21. Meaghan Francella (2006), $1.09M (#171), 1/0
22. Momoko Ueda (2008), $1.07M (#172), 1*/0
23. Jane Park (2007), $.97M (#192), 0/0
24. Shanshan Feng (2008), $.88M (#210), 0/0

Looks to me like the Young Guns have come of age--and take it from me, they're just beginning to hit their stride!

2009-2011: New Blood

1. Ji-Yai Shin (2009), $3.59M (#52), 8**/1*
2. Michelle Wie (2009), $1.81M (#113), 2/0
3. Anna Nordqvist (2009), $1.31M (#142), 2/1
4. Mika Miyazato (2009), $.93M (#207), 0/0
5. Stacy Lewis (2009), $.86M (#211), 0/0
6. M.J. Hur (2009), $.82M (#217), 1/0
7. Vicky Hurst (2009), $.72M (#235), 0/0
8. Azahara Munoz (2010), #.40M (#299), 0/0
9. Haeji Kang (2009), $.30M (#335), 0/0
10. Gwladys Nocera (2010), $.29M (#342), 0/0
11. Beatriz Recari (2010), $.27M (#356), 1/0
12. Chella Choi (2009), $.20M (#396), 0/0
13. Amanda Blumenherst (2010), $.18M (#413), 0/0
14. Mindy Kim (2009), $.16M ($425), 0/0
15. Shiho Oyama (2009), $.13M (#455), 0/0
16. Mariajo Uribe (2010), $.10M (#480), 0/0

Obviously with this generation, it's really too soon to tell who's going to have a great LPGA career. I can't wait to see who among the newbies in the Class of '11 makes this list by this time next year. And whether Pernilla Lindberg, Pornanong Phatlum, Dewi Claire Schreefel, and Jeehae Lee from earlier classes in this generation will be able to take advantage of their full status on tour next season via Q-School--as well as Mina Harigae, who didn't need to go to it, and Paola Moreno, who got partial status out of it.

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