Monday, September 16, 2013

The LPGA's Top Rivalries: Generation Gaps, September 2013

With the LPGA taking a pause before its fall Asian swing, it's time to reexamine how the LPGA's last 8 generations stack up. Check out the career money 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).

[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) $18.05M (#2), 39*/7
3. Catriona Matthew (1995) $8.22M (#16), 4/1
4. Pat Hurst (1995) $6.94M (#22), 6/1
5. Lorie Kane (1996) $6.93M (#23), 4/0
6. Wendy Ward (1996) $4.97M (#45), 4/0
{7. Carin Koch (1995) $4.44M (#48), 2/0}

Hurst and Kane are locked in a real fight for the #4 spot.  Webb continues to inch closer to Sorenstam (moreso in winnings than wins).

1997-1999: The Pak Generation

1. Cristie Kerr (1997) $14.99M (#3), 16/2
2. Se Ri Pak (1998) $12.14M (#6), 25/5
[3. Mi Hyun Kim (1999) $8.62M (#13), 8/0]
{4. Sophie Gustafson (1998) $6.17M (#27), 5/0}
5. Maria Hjorth (1998) $6.09M (#28), 5/0
[6. Rachel Hetherington (1997) $5.73M (#34), 8/0]
7. Laura Diaz (1999) $5.19M (#43), 2/0
8. Karen Stupples (1999) $3.98M (#53), 2/1
9. Janice Moodie (1998) $3.68M (#57), 2/0

Even though Kerr's passed Pak and now Ochoa on the career money list, she'll have to join them in the Hall of Fame to have her name on a generation, too. With Kim and Hetherington retired, and Gustafson limiting herself to the LET for the foreseeable future, Hjorth has a great opportunity to move up the list. Stupples is this close to breaking the $4M barrier.

2000-2002: Angela and the Seoul Sisters

1. Angela Stanford (2001) $8.06M (#17), 5/0
2. Hee-Won Han (2001) $6.97M (#21), 6/0
3. Jeong Jang (2000) $6.61M (#25), 2/1
4. Candie Kung (2002) $5.72M (#36), 4/0
[5. Grace Park (2000) $5.44M (#40), 6/1]
6. Natalie Gulbis (2002) $4.80M (#46), 1/0
{7. Gloria Park (2000) $3.28M (#70), 2/0}
8. Heather Bowie Young (2000) $3.18M (#72), 1/0
9. Jennifer Rosales (2000) $2.74M (#90), 2/0
10. Dorothy Delasin (2000) $2.65M (#92), 4/0
11. Nicole Castrale (2002) $2.53M (#96), 1/0
12. Guilia Sergas (2002) $2.13M (#111), 0/0

Stanford is increasing her lead on Han as the top player of this generation in terms of winnings (hence the change to the generation's name), although it's still hard to argue that her overall career tops the now-retired (and much missed) Grace Park's. Meanwhile, the "other" Park's pursuers are slowly catching up on her.

2003-2005: The Ochoa Generation

[1. Lorena Ochoa (2003) $14.86M (#4), 27/2]
2. Suzann Pettersen (2003) $11.09M (#7), 13/2
3. Paula Creamer (2005) $10.35M (#8), 9/1
4. Brittany Lincicome (2005) $5.37M (#41), 5/1
5. Christina Kim (2003) $4.22M (#49), 2/0
6. Meena Lee (2005) $4.14M (#50), 2/0
7. Katherine Hull-Kirk (2004) $3.54M (#62), 2/0
8. Stacy Prammanasudh (2003) $3.54M (#63), 2/0
9. Karine Icher (2003) $3.03M (#78), 0/0
10. Shi Hyun Ahn (2004) $2.65M (#93), 1*/0
11. Lindsey Wright (2004) $2.57M (#95), 0/0
{12. Young Kim (2003) $2.36M (n.r. [~#105]), 1/0}
13. Jimin Kang (2003) $2.26M (#108), 2/0

With Lorena looking less and less likely to ever come back to the LPGA full-time, the only real question is how close Pettersen and Creamer can come to matching her career. The race between the 3 mid-level Americans, 2 Australians and 3 Koreans below them will be of interest, as well, as Lincicome has broken out of the pack and Icher wants to join in the fun. (I've heard Stacy P will be the 2nd in the generation to retire, but I won't bracket her just yet. Looks like Young Kim won't be returning from the JLPGA, either.) Creamer, Lincicome, and Lee (the top '05ers) are the 1st from this generation that I've started tracking more closely with a wider variety of stats and have included in my career ranking that focuses mainly on the younger generations.

2006-2008: The Tseng Dynasty

1. Ya Ni Tseng (2008) $9.29M (#9), 15/5
2. Na Yeon Choi (2008) $8.41M (#14), 7/1
3. Ai Miyazato (2006) $7.54M (#19), 9/0
4. Inbee Park (2007) $7.45M (#20), 9/4
5. In-Kyung Kim (2007) $6.18M (#26), 3/0
6. Morgan Pressel (2006) $5.08M (#44), 2/1
7. Seon Hwa Lee (2006) $4.06M (#52), 4/0
8. Brittany Lang (2006) $3.95M (#54), 1/0
9. Sun Young Yoo (2006) $3.80M (#56), 2/1
10. Song-Hee Kim (2007) $3.67M (#58), 0/0
11. Jee Young Lee (2006) $3.52M (#64), 1*/0
12. Hee Young Park (2008) $3.49M (#66), 3/0
13. Amy Yang (2008) $3.15M (#74), 0/0
14. Julieta Granada (2006) $3.03M (#79), 1/0
15. Eun-Hee Ji (2007) $3.00M (#80), 2/1
16. Shanshan Feng (2008) $2.87M (#85), 1/1
17. Angela Park (2007) $2.12M (#112), 0/0
18. Kristy McPherson (2007) $2.06M (#114), 0/0
19. Sandra Gal (2008) $2.02M (#116), 1/0
20. Momoko Ueda (2008) $1.70M (#130), 2*/0
21. Ji Young Oh (2007) $1.61M (#134), 2/0
22. Kyeong Bae (2006) $1.44M (#146), 0/0
23. Katie Futcher (2006) $1.33M (#153), 0/0
24. Jane Park (2007) $1.24M (#166), 0/0
25. Meaghan Francella (2006) $1.19M (#173), 1/0
{26. Teresa Lu (2006) $1.13M (#180), 0/0}

The Tseng Dynasty is still strong, but fellow '08er NYC is making some noise and Inbee is buzzing up the list. This generation is the deepest in LPGA history, despite the fact that so many golfers in it have already suffered huge slumps in their short careers. Few LPGA generations have more than 4 players with 5 or more wins, but I'll bet this turns out to be one of them!

2009-2011: New Blood

1. Ji-Yai Shin (2009) $6.07M (#29), 11**/2*
2. Stacy Lewis (2009) $5.64M (#38), 8/2
3. Anna Nordqvist (2009) $3.11M (#75), 2/1
4. Mika Miyazato (2009) $2.94M (#83), 1/0
5. Michelle Wie (2009) $2.76M (#88), 2/0
6. Azahara Munoz (2010) $2.37M (#103), 1/0
7. Hee Kyung Seo (2011) $1.95M (#120), 1*/0
8. Beatriz Recari (2010) $1.81M (#126), 3/0
9. Chella Choi (2009) $1.61M (#132), 0/0
10. Vicky Hurst (2009) $1.42M (#147), 0/0
11. Haeji Kang (2009) $1.20M (#172), 0/0
12. Mi Jung Hur (2009) $1.19M (#175), 1/0
13. Jessica Korda (2011) $.92M (#212), 1/0
14. Jenny Shin (2011) $.87M (#220), 0/0
15. Ilhee Lee (2010), $.87M (#221), 0/0
16. Caroline Hedwall (2011) $.87M (#222), 0/0
17. Jennifer Johnson (2011) $.78M (#233), 0/0
18. Mina Harigae (2010) $.76M (#238), 0/0
19. Pornanong Phatlum (2009) $.75M (#239), 0/0
20. Gerina Piller (2010) $.74M (#242), 0/0
21. Jodi Ewart Shadoff (2011) $.64M (#256), 0/0
{22. Gwladys Nocera (2010) $.61M (#261), 0/0}
23. Mindy Kim (2009) $.59M (#266), 0/0
24. Mariajo Uribe (2010) $.57M (#267), 0/0
25. Amanda Blumenherst (2010) $.53M (#274), 0/0
26. Cindy LaCrosse (2010) $.47M (#295), 0/0
27. Alison Walshe (2010) $.46M (#298), 0/0
28. Dewi Claire Schreefel (2010) $.43M (#304), 0/0
29. Pernilla Lindberg (2010) $.37M (#316), 0/0
30. Christel Boeljon (2011) $.37M (#319), 0/0
31. Belen Mozo (2011) $.34M (#330), 0/0
32. Ryann O'Toole (2011) $.34M (#335), 0/0
33. Tiffany Joh (2011) $.31M (#345), 0/0
34. Jennifer Song (2011) $.24M (#369), 0/0

Obviously with this generation, it's really too soon to tell who's going to have a great LPGA career, besides Shin and Lewis (and Blumenherst, who is retiring). For now, I'm erring on the side of inclusiveness by putting everyone over $150K 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 2015 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 in the same amount of time. The problem for everyone who hasn't already done it is they are all competing against each other and are sandwiched between 2 historic generations. Still, this is about the time in a player's career that they start to make quantum leaps. Let's see if Shin and Lewis can pull others in their generation in their wakes.

2012-2014: Generation Prodigy

1. So Yeon Ryu (2012) $2.37M (#101), 2*/1*
2. Lexi Thompson (2012) $1.26M (#163), 1*/0
3. Lizette Salas (2012) $.94M (#209), 0/0
4. Danielle Kang (2012) $.43M (#303), 0/0
5. Mo Martin (2012) $.42M (#305), 0/0
6. Carlota Ciganda (2012) $.33M (#337), 0/0
7. Sydnee Michaels (2012) $.29M (#353), 0/0
8. Caroline Masson (2013) $.24M (#368), 0/0
9. Chie Arimura (2013) $.23M (#377), 0/0
10. Moriya Jutanugarn (2013) $.22M (#386), 0/0
11. Ayako Uehara (2013) $.21M (#390), 0/0
12. Jacqui Concolino (2012) $.19M (#400), 0/0
13. Veronica Felibert (2012) $.13M (#434), 0/0
14. Thidapa Suwannapura (2012) $.12M (#440), 0/0
15. Austin Ernst (2013) $.12M (#445), 0/0
16. Rebecca Lee-Bentham (2012) $.11M (#459), 0/0

OK, why am I so high on this generation if very few from the Class of 2012 have made over $500K in their short careers and only 5 '13ers have broken the $100K barrier thus far this season? Partly it's because I don't think those already in it have really begun to fight, and partly it's because I'm anticipating that Lydia Ko, Ariya JutanugarnHyo-Joo Kim, and Charley Hull will be joining them next year.  If so, game on!  But with 108 active players already on this list, you can see how tough it's going to be for most in the Class of 2014 just to keep their cards....

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