With summer and the U.S. Women's Open both fast approaching, 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), the overlapping Tseng Dynasty (2008-2013), and the current interregnum during which Inbee Park and Stacy Lewis have been the most dominant golfers 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 2 non-member wins; ***=includes 3 non-member wins.]
1994-1996: The Sorenstam Generation (aka AnniKarrie!)
[1. Annika Sorenstam (1994) $22.57M (#1), 72/10]
2. Karrie Webb (1996) $18.79M (#2), 41*/7
3. Catriona Matthew (1995) $8.56M (#15), 4/1
4. Pat Hurst (1995) $6.96M (#23), 6/1
5. Lorie Kane (1996) $6.95M (#24), 4/0
6. Wendy Ward (1996) $4.97M (#45), 4/0
{7. Carin Koch (1995) $4.44M (#50), 2/0}
Hurst and Kane are locked in a real fight for the #4 spot and to see who can 1st become a $7M woman. Webb continues to inch closer to Sorenstam (more so in winnings than wins, of course, though 2 of the latter already this season is nothing to sneeze at!).
1997-1999: The Pak Generation (aka PaKerr!)
1. Cristie Kerr (1997) $15.55M (#3), 16/2
2. Se Ri Pak (1998) $12.49M (#6), 25/5
[3. Mi Hyun Kim (1999) $8.62M (#14), 8/0]
{4. Sophie Gustafson (1998) $6.17M (#28), 5/0}
5. Maria [Hjorth] McBride (1998) $6.10M (#30), 5/0
[6. Rachel Hetherington (1997) $5.73M (#36), 8/0]
7. Laura Diaz (1999) $5.23M (#44), 2/0
8. Karen Stupples (1999) $3.98M (#57), 2/1
9. Janice Moodie (1998) $3.68M (#62), 2/0
Even though Kerr's passed Pak and 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, McBride has a great opportunity to move up the list. Stupples is still this close to breaking the $4M barrier, but will she play well enough in her limited LPGA schedule to get there?
2000-2002: Angela and the Seoul Sisters
1. Angela Stanford (2001) $8.42M (#17), 5/0
2. Hee-Won Han (2001) $7.04M (#22), 6/0
3. Jeong Jang (2000) $6.63M (#26), 2/1
4. Candie Kung (2002) $5.84M (#33), 4/0
[5. Grace Park (2000) $5.44M (#41), 6/1]
6. Natalie Gulbis (2002) $4.85M (#46), 1/0
{7. Gloria Park (2000) $3.28M (#77), 2/0}
8. Heather Bowie Young (2000) $3.19M (#79), 1/0
9. Jennifer Rosales (2000) $2.81M (#90), 2/0
10. Dorothy Delasin (2000) $2.65M (#94), 4/0
11. Nicole Castrale (2002) $2.56M (#98), 1/0
12. Giulia Sergas (2002) $2.23M (#113), 0/0
Stanford is increasing her lead on Han as the top player of this generation in terms of winnings, but until she can get into the winner's circle more often, it's still hard to argue that her overall career tops the 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) $11.90M (#7), 14/2
3. Paula Creamer (2005) $10.87M (#8), 10/1
4. Brittany Lincicome (2005) $5.56M (#39), 5/1
5. Christina Kim (2003) $4.47M (#48), 2/0
6. Meena Lee (2005) $4.45M (#49), 2/0
7. Katherine [Hull] Kirk (2004) $3.70M (#61), 2/0
[8. Stacy Prammanasudh (2003) $3.54M (#68), 2/0]
9. Karine Icher (2003) $3.35M (#72), 0/0
{10. Shi Hyun Ahn (2004) $2.65M (#95), 1*/0}
11. Lindsey Wright (2004) $2.63M (#96), 0/0
{12. Young Kim (2003) $2.36M (n.r. [~#106]), 1/0}
13. Jimin Kang (2003) $2.29M (#110), 2/0
With Lorena looking less and less likely to ever come back to the LPGA full-time, the only real questions are how close Pettersen and Creamer can come to matching her career, whether Lincicome will ever challenge them, and who among the rest will finish at #5. 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) $9.55M (#9), 15/5
2. Na Yeon Choi (2008) $8.85M (#11), 7/1
3. Inbee Park (2007) $8.47M (#16), 10/4
4. Ai Miyazato (2006) $7.63M (#20), 9/0
5. In-Kyung Kim (2007) $6.31M (#27), 3/0
6. Morgan Pressel (2006) $5.37M (#42), 2/1
7. Shanshan Feng (2008) $4.41M (#51), 3/1
8. Brittany Lang (2006) $4.19M (#52), 1/0
9. Seon Hwa Lee (2006) $4.08M (#54), 4/0
10. Sun Young Yoo (2006) $4.05M (#55), 2/1
11. Amy Yang (2008) $3.78M (#59), 1/0
12. Hee Young Park (2008) $3.77M (#60), 2/0
13. Song-Hee Kim (2007) $3.67M (#63), 0/0
14. Jee Young Lee (2006) $3.60M (#67), 1*/0
15. Eun-Hee Ji (2007) $3.37M (#71), 2/1
16. Julieta Granada (2006) $3.30M (#75), 1/0
17. Sandra Gal (2008) $2.36M (#105), 1/0
18. Angela Park (2007) $2.12M (#116), 0/0
19. Kristy McPherson (2007) $2.10M (#117), 0/0
20. Momoko Ueda (2008) $1.70M (#131), 2*/0
21. Ji Young Oh (2007) $1.67M (#132), 2/0
22. Kyeong Bae (2006) $1.44M (#150), 0/0
23. Katie Futcher (2006) $1.36M (#156), 0/0
24. Jane Park (2007) $1.36M (#157), 0/0
25. Meaghan Francella (2006) $1.19M (#179), 1/0
26. Teresa Lu (2006) $1.13M (#180), 1*/0
The Tseng Dynasty is still in power for this generation if not for the LPGA as a whole any more, but fellow '08er NYC is hanging tough and Inbee continues 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 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. It's starting to look like it'll be Feng who's the next to 5 career LPGA victories, although I'm hoping Inky turns it around soon!
2009-2011: New Blood
1. Stacy Lewis (2009) $7.18M (#21), 10/2
2. Ji-Yai Shin (2009) $6.15M (#29), 11**/2*
3. Anna Nordqvist (2009) $4.03M (#56), 4/1
4. Michelle Wie (2009) $3.82M (#58), 3/0
5. Azahara Munoz (2010) $3.09M (#81), 1/0
6. Mika Miyazato (2009) $3.05M (#83), 1/0
7. Chella Choi (2009) $2.35M (#106), 0/0
8. Hee Kyung Seo (2011) $2.20M (#114), 1*/0
9. Beatriz Recari (2010) $1.99M (#121), 3/0
10. Jessica Korda (2011) $1.47M (#144), 3/0
11. Vicky Hurst (2009) $1.46M (#147), 0/0
12. Haeji Kang (2009) $1.40M (#152), 0/0
13. Jenny Shin (2011) $1.29M (#166), 0/0
14. Mi Jung Hur (2009) $1.26M (#169), 1/0
15. Gerina Piller (2010) $1.22M (#172), 0/0
16. Pornanong Phatlum (2009) $1.20M (#178), 0/0
17. Caroline Hedwall (2011) $1.18M (#180), 0/0
18. Ilhee Lee (2010), $1.14M (#184), 1/0
19. Jennifer Johnson (2011) $1.02M (#199), 1/0
20. Mina Harigae (2010) $.99M (#203), 0/0
21. Jodi Ewart Shadoff (2011) $.84M (#230), 0/0
22. Mariajo Uribe (2010) $.65M (#258), 0/0
23. Alison Walshe (2010) $.63M (#261), 0/0
24. Mindy Kim (2009) $.59M (#266), 0/0
25. Dewi Claire Schreefel (2010) $.55M (#273), 0/0
[26. Amanda Blumenherst (2010) $.53M (#276), 0/0]
27. Christel Boeljon (2011) $.52M (#280), 0/0
28. Pernilla Lindberg (2010) $.51M (#291), 0/0
29. Cindy LaCrosse (2010) $.49M (#294), 0/0
{30. Gwladys Nocera (2010) $.49M (#297), 0/0}
31. Belen Mozo (2011) $.48M (#300), 0/0
32. Tiffany Joh (2011) $.41M (#315), 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, but Nordqvist and Wie are making bids to be considered. For now, I'm erring on the side of inclusiveness by putting everyone over $400K 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 the end of 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 she starts to make quantum leaps, if she's going to at all. And we're starting to see more fine play from those in the middle of this pack....
2012-2014: Generation Prodigy
1. So Yeon Ryu (2012) $2.87M (#88), 2*/1*
2. Lexi Thompson (2012) $2.47M (#100), 4*/1
3. Lizette Salas (2012) $1.47M (#143), 1/0
4. Lydia Ko (2014) $.63M (#260), 3**/0
4. Mo Martin (2012) $.58M (#269), 0/0
5. Danielle Kang (2012) $.53M (#278), 0/0
6. Carlota Ciganda (2012) $.50M (#293), 0/0
7. Caroline Masson (2013) $.43M (#310), 0/0
8. Sydnee Michaels (2012) $.34M (#335), 0/0
9. Moriya Jutanugarn (2013) $.34M (#340), 0/0
10. Ayako Uehara (2013) $.29M (#355), 0/0
11. Chie Arimura (2013) $.28M (#358), 0/0
12. Thidapa Suwannapura (2012) $.26M (#368), 0/0
13. Jacqui Concolino (2012) $.21M (#392), 0/0
14. Mi Hyang Lee (2012) $.21M (#397), 0/0
15. Austin Ernst (2013) $.20M (#399), 0/0
16. Mirim Lee (2014) $.17M (#416), 0/0
17. Rebecca Lee-Bentham (2012) $.15M (#427), 0/0
18. Line Vedel (2014) $.14M (#432), 0/0
19. Lisa McCloskey (2013) $.14M (#434), 0/0
20. Veronica Felibert (2012) $.14M (#435), 0/0
21. Brooke Pancake (2013) $.12M (#454), 0/0
22. Sandra Changkija (2012) $.12M (#458), 0/0
23. Katie Burnett (2013) $.11M (#475), 0/0
OK, why am I so high on this generation if there's such a big gap between its leaders and its pack? It's true that very few from the Class of 2012 have made over $500K in their short careers and only 8 '13ers have broken the $100K barrier thus far. But I'm still optimistic, partly because I don't think many in this generation have really begun to fight, and partly because Lydia Ko has already exceeded rookie expectations this season, as have Mirim Lee and Line Vedel.
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