Tony Jesselli has reproduced the LPGA's 2014 Priority Status List, which now can be downloaded from the pull-down menu under "Players" on lpga.com. Here are a few observations on it....
Category 1: Top 80, 2013 Money List. The only additions to it (via medical exemptions) are Karin Sjodin (#46), Mi Hyun Kim (#58), and Jimin Kang (#75). [Update (1/15/14, 9:32 am): The only deletion is former #22 Ji-Yai Shin. Like Teresa Lu and Momoko Ueda, she's given up LPGA membership to focus on the JLPGA in 2014.]
Category 2: Top 20, Career Money List; Category 3: Major Winner in Last 5 Years; Category 4: 2012 or 2013 Member Winner; Category 6: 3-Time Winner in Single Season, 2010-2013. Everyone who would have been eligible for these categories is in Category 1.
Category 5: Members with 2 Wins, 2010-2013. Maria Hjorth (#84) is the only multiple winner in the last 4 seasons who needed to gain eligibility via this category.
Category 7: 2013 Non-Member Winner. Lydia Ko (#85). Duh. [Update (1/12/14, 4:35 am): As Jamie pointed out in comments, Teresa Lu is not in this category. It seems she decided to stick solely with the JLPGA for 2014, bringing the number of actual dual LPGA-JLPGA members down to 2 (of whom only Ji-Yai Shin will be spending a significant amount of time in Japan; Shanshan Feng would be nuts to do any more than the minimum number required to keep her JLPGA card for 2015, given how she's poised to become one of the very best on the LPGA in 2014.]
Category 8: 2014 Money List Top 80 After 10th/18th Events; Category 13: 2014 3-Time Symetra Tour Winner. Obviously nobody could yet be in these categories.
Category 9: Top 10, 2013 Symetra Tour Money List. Jenny Gleason (#96) is the only addition to it (again via medical exemption).
Category 10: Non-Member Top 40 Equivalent, 2013 Money List. Nobody did it.
Category 11: Nos. 81-100, 2013 Money List. Nicole Smith (#98) is the only addition to it (again via medical exemption).
Category 12: Top 20, 2013 Q-School. I guess based on 2012 Q-School results, Kayla Mortellaro (#133) and Kim Welch (#135) got in via medical exemptions.
Category 14: Top 40, Career Money List. Pat Hurst (#139) keeps her quest to become a $7M woman on the LPGA alive via this category.
Category 15: 2014 Reshuffle After 10th/18th Events. This will be significant, as it allows those in lower categories to play their way into better status, which could translate into more starts for some of them. Stay tuned!
Category 16: Nos. 101-125, 2013 Money List. With Amanda Blumenherst (#140) retired, #141 Sarah Kemp, #142 Dori Carter, #143 Laura Diaz, #144 Kris Tamulis, and #145 Jennifer Song can have their pick of full-field events. And everyone from #146 Amelia Lewis to #154 Laura Davies and #155 Lorie Kane has a fighting chance, given that there are almost always multiple people ahead of them who will decide not to tee it up in a given week for various reasons. Jill McGill (#157) got LPGA status in this category via a medical exemption.
Category 17: Nos. 20-44, 2013 Q-School. #159 Meghan McChrystal to #184 Dani Holmqvist will be spending a lot of time on the Symetra Tour, unless they get into 1 of the 1st 10 events of the new season and play great in it. Basically, what this category means is that every LPGA tournament a player from it gets into is like Q-School all over again, just against better golfers.
The last categogies are basically honorary memberships for winners in the past 20 years (Category 18) and from more than 20 years ago (Category 19), or for Class A or international LPGA members in good standing for at least 10 years (Category 20). So the door is still cracked open slightly for Annika Sorenstam (#185), Lorena Ochoa (#191), Helen Alfredsson (#201), Grace Park (#204), Dorothy Delasin (#209), Sophie Gustafson (#210), Wendy Ward (#211), Wendy Doolan (#220), Janice Moodie (#225), Leta Lindley (#228), Eunjung Yi (#250), and more recent members who are even lower on the list to tee it up again and have any winnings count toward their career totals....
3 comments:
So, it appears Teresa Lu is following Bo Bae Song's lead and sticking to the JLPGA after winning the Mizuno. I thought she'd consider taking the win with her LPGA experience, but if she has a happy home in Japan, and with the money available on the JLPGA may have decided to keep it there?
Good catch, Jamie. I just assumed she'd be on the list....
BTW, it looks like she was a late WD from this week's TLPGA event. Wonder what's up with her?
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