The LPGA's Top Rivalries: Generation Gaps, Revisited

Now that the 2011 LPGA season is over, 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), the overlapping Ochoa Era (2003-2009), and the overlapping Tseng Dynasty (2008-present).  Thanks to Mike Scanlan for sending me the excel file of the complete career money list; hopefully LPGA.com will return to including it instead of limiting it to a top 50 that excludes many of the biggest young stars on tour!

[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) $16.52M (#2), 38*/7
3. Catriona Matthew (1995) $6.93M (#16), 4/1
4. Pat Hurst (1995) $6.89M (#17), 6/1
5. Lorie Kane (1996) $6.84M (#18), 4/0
6. Wendy Ward (1996) $4.91M (#39), 4/0
{7. Carin Koch (1995) $4.43M (#43), 2/0}

Matthew and Hurst both passed Kane in the 2nd half of the season.  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. A more interesting question is whether Webb will be able to catch Sorenstam (in winnings, not wins)!

1997-1999: The Pak Generation

1. Cristie Kerr (1997) $13.53M (#4), 14/2
2. Se Ri Pak (1998) $11.39M (#6), 25/5
3. Mi Hyun Kim (1999) $8.62M (#11), 8/0
4. Sophie Gustafson (1998) $6.00M (#24), 5/0
5. Maria Hjorth (1998) $5.96M (#25), 5/0
[6. Rachel Hetherington (1997) $5.73M (#29), 8/0]
7. Laura Diaz (1999) $5.11M (#37), 2/0
8. Karen Stupples (1999) $3.83M (#50), 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, although given the way Diaz has been playing lately, she'll need a real turnaround to catch even Hetherington.

2000-2002: Seoul Sisters

1. Hee-Won Han (2001) $6.59M (#20), 6/0
2. Angela Stanford (2001) $6.52M (#21), 4/0
3. Jeong Jang (2000) $6.44M (#22), 2/1
4. Grace Park (2000) $5.43M (#35), 6/1
5. Candie Kung (2002) $5.06M (#38), 4/0
6. Natalie Gulbis (2002) $4.32M (#45), 1/0
{7. Gloria Park (2000) $3.28M (#64), 2/0}

With Jang taking the year off (marriage and pregnancy) and Han only playing so-so golf as a relatively new mom, herself, it looks like Stanford is on track to become the top player of this generation.  The "other Park" is on the KLPGA in 2011.

2003-2005: The Ochoa Generation

[1. Lorena Ochoa (2003) $14.86M (#3), 27/2]
2. Paula Creamer (2005) $8.78M (#9), 9/1
3. Suzann Pettersen (2003) $8.19M (#13), 8/1
4. Brittany Lincicome (2005) $4.43M (#42), 5/1
5. Christina Kim (2003) $4.06M (#48), 2/0
6. Meena Lee (2005) $3.51M (#57), 2/0
7. Stacy Prammanasudh (2003) $3.32M (#60), 2/0
8. Katherine Hull (2004) $3.00M (#70), 2/0
9. Shi Hyun Ahn (2004) $2.65M (#82), 1*/0
{10. Young Kim (2003) $2.36M (#92), 1/0}
11. Lindsey Wright (2004) $2.22M (#100), 0/0
12. Jimin Kang (2003) $2.11M (#104), 2/0

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. She's finished her 2nd season in a row on the JLPGA and seems to be liking it, so I don't expect her to return to the LPGA anytime soon.

2006-2008: The Tseng Dynasty

1. Ya Ni Tseng (2008) $7.54M (#15), 12/5
2. Ai Miyazato (2006) $5.71M (#31), 7/0
3. Na Yeon Choi (2008) $5.67M (#32), 5/0
4. In-Kyung Kim (2007) $4.56M (#40), 3/0
5. Morgan Pressel (2006) $4.39M (#44), 2/1
6. Seon Hwa Lee (2006) $4.01M (#49), 4/0
7. Song-Hee Kim (2007) $3.65M (#54), 0/0
8. Jee Young Lee (2006) $3.31M (#62), 1*/0
9. Brittany Lang (2006) $3.12M (#67), 0/0
10. Inbee Park (2007) $2.99M (#72), 1/1
11. Sun Young Yoo (2006) $2.80M (#76), 1/0
12. Eun-Hee Ji (2007) $2.45M (#87), 2/1
13. Julieta Granada (2006) $2.40M (#90), 1/0
14. Hee Young Park (2008) $2.32M (#96), 1/0
[15. Angela Park (2007) $2.12M (#103), 0/0]
16. Amy Yang (2008) $2.04M (#108), 0/0
17. Kristy McPherson (2007) $1.88M (#117), 0/0
18. Ji Young Oh (2007) $1.49M (#131), 2/0
19. Momoko Ueda (2008) $1.40M (#141), 2*/0
20. Kyeong Bae (2006) $1.40M (#142), 0/0
21. Shanshan Feng (2008) $1.24M (#160), 0/0
22. Sandra Gal (2008) $1.21M (#163), 1/0
23. Meaghan Francella (2006) $1.16M (#169), 1/0
{24. Teresa Lu (2006) $1.13M (#173), 0/0}
25. Jane Park (2007) $1.01M (#191), 0/0
26. Katie Futcher (2006) $1.00M (#192), 0/0

Time to retire the Young Guns moniker for this generation; not only have they come of age, but Tseng has imprinted her name on it!

2009-2011: New Blood

1. Ji-Yai Shin (2009) $4.31M (#46), 8**/1*
2. Michelle Wie (2009) $2.43M (#89), 2/0
3. Stacy Lewis (2009) $2.22M (#99), 1/1
4. Anna Nordqvist (2009) $1.90M (#115), 2/1
5. Mika Miyazato (2009) $1.49M (#133), 0/0
6. Azahara Munoz (2010) $.92M (#205), 0/0
7. Vicky Hurst (2009) $.92M (#208), 0/0
8. M.J. Hur (2009) $.90M (#213), 1/0
9. Hee Kyung Seo (2011) $.73M (#238), 1*/0
10. Chella Choi (2009) $.53M (#274), 0/0
11. Beatriz Recari (2010) $.49M (#288), 1/0
12. Gwladys Nocera (2010) $.48M (#290), 0/0
13. Mindy Kim (2009) $.42M ($301), 0/0
14. Amanda Blumenherst (2010) $.42M (#302), 0/0
15. Haeji Kang (2009) $.39M (#310), 0/0
16. Mina Harigae (2010) $.27M (#364), 0/0
17. Tiffany Joh (2011) $.24M (#383), 0/0
18. Ryann O'Toole (2011) $.19M (#410), 0/0
19. Mariajo Uribe (2010) $.17M (#429), 0/0
20. Christel Boeljon (2011) $.17M (#430), 0/0
21. Pornanong Phatlum (2009) $.17M (#436), 0/0
22. Jenny Shin (2011) $.16M (#441), 0/0
{23. Shiho Oyama (2009) $.14M (#459), 0/0}
24. Dewi Claire Schreefel (2010) $.14M (#466), 0/0
25. Cindy LaCrosse (2010) $.14M (#469), 0/0
26. Jennifer Johnson (2011) $.13M (#474), 0/0
27. Alison Walshe (2010) $.13M (#476), 0/0
28. Caroline Hedwall (2011) $.13M (#477), 0/0
29. Ilhee Lee (2010), $.12M (#484), 0/0
30. Maria Hernandez (2010) $.11M (#502), 0/0
31. Belen Mozo (2011) $.10M (#505), 0/0
32. Gerina Piller (2010) $.10M (#510), 0/0

Obviously with this generation, it's really too soon to tell who's going to have a great LPGA career. I'm erring on the side of inclusiveness by putting everuone over $100K in career winnings in this generation on this list.  As we get further into their careers, I'll slowly start raising the bar, until by 2014 they'll need to have broken the $1M barrier to stay on the list.  I'd be very impressed if as many of them did it as in the previous generation!

2012-2014: Generation Prodigy

To be determined!