Mostly Harmless

10 Questions for 2012

2012-01-30T16:45:00.004-05:00

Now that all my ten questions for 2011 have been answered, it is time that I ask the ten questions that I am hoping will be answered during the 2012 season.

1- We all know that Yani Tseng is the real thing, no question about that. The question here is can she be as dominant in 2012 as she was in 2011, or will someone step up and challenge her for her crown?

2- Lexi Thompson will be 17 years old on February 10th. We all expect her to be an elite golfer soon. The question here is, is it expecting too much for us to think that she could be a top ten golfer this year?

3- No American player has won the player of the year award in 18 years. The last player to do so was Beth Daniel in 1994. Will someone rise to the occasion in 2012?

4- Can Stacy Lewis and Sandra Gal, the golfers who in my opinion improved the most in 2011, continue thier rise in 2012?

5- Who will win the 2012 Rookie of the Year Award? Will it be one of the favorites (Lexi Thompson & So Yeon Ryu), or will someone else sneak up ( Junthima Gulyanamitta, Kathleen Ekey, Sydney Michaels), and pull off an upset?

6- Is Ryann O'Toole the real thing, or just a "flash in the pan"?

7- Who is the real Song-Hee Kim? Is it the golfer that had 15 top ten finishes in 2010, or the golfer who had only two in 2011?

8- Can Michelle Wie, who graduates from Stanford University early this year, now focus only on golf and move to elite status?

9- Can Amy Yang and Brittany Lang, two golfers with so much talent, finally break through and get their first LPGA victory?

10- Can Michael Whan, who has done a great job so far, continue adding tournaments and get the number up to 30 by 2013?

I have other questions, but these are the ones I would like answered most.

Feel free to give me your answers or add your own questions.

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Way to Go, Lydia Ko!

2012-01-30T10:37:00.000-05:00

Lots going on here at the Constructivist household: not long after the Full Metal Archivist and I got back to work (the FMA for the 1st time in quite a while), she had to go to the ER to be treated for vertigo last Saturday! She's already walking unaided just 2 mornings after that visit, but nowhere near where she was 3 mornings ago. Before we head out to our doctor's office, though, I just had to take a minute to offer my congratulations to 14-year-old Lydia Ko, who won decisively on the ALPG yesterday. Not only did she get to -14 in the 54-hole tournament to beat Becky Morgan by 4 shots, Lindsey Wright and Kristie Smith by 5, and Katherine Hull by 6, she took down the likes of Gwladys Nocera by 7, Marianne Skarpnord by 12, Melissa Reid by 13, Laura Davies and Jessica Korda by 14, Ashleigh Simon by 16, and Lorie Kane by 17!

My Top 30 Predictions for 2012

2012-01-24T00:11:00.002-05:00

We are two weeks away from the first LPGA tournament of the year.
Here are my top 30 picks for the 2012 Player of the Year.

1- Yani Tseng
2- Suzanne Petterson
3- Paula Creamer
4- Stacy Lewis
5- Na Yeon Choi
6- Cristie Kerr
7- Brittany Lincicome
8- I.K. Kim
9- Ai Miyazato
10- Jiyai Shin
11- Angela Stanford
12- Morgan Pressel
13- Lexi Thompson
14- So Yeon Ryu
15- Amy Yang
16- Michelle Wie
17- Mika Miyazato
18- Brittany Lang
19- Maria Hjorth
20- Catriona Matthew
21- Anna Nordqvist
22- Karrie Webb
23- Sun Young Yoo
24- Sandra Gal
25- Hee Kyeong Seo
26- Azahara Munoz
27- Caroline Hedwall
28- Junthima Gulyanamitta
29- Inbee Park
30- Song-Hee Kim

This was the toughest time I ever had narrowing this down to just 30 players.
I have included 3 rookies (Thompson, Ryu, and Gulyanamitta), which resulted in me leaving off some pretty good players.
Among the players I left off that I think I could regret, include: Se Ri Pak, Katie Futcher, Hee Young Park, Momoko Ueda, Sophie Gustufson, Christel Boeljon, Ryann O'Toole, and Shanshan Feng.

Feel free to post your own top 30, or comment on any player you think should be on my list.

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Come One, Come All: Now Accepting Entries for the 2012 LPGA Prognostication Derby

2012-01-22T19:50:00.004-05:00

A growing group of us have been playing a little game over here at Mostly Harmless for each of the last several years, a contest to see who's best at predicting the top 30 golfers on the LPGA at the end of each season, christened by Hound Dog the LPGA Prognostication Derby. Check out the links in the previous sentence for rules and results from 2008, 2009, and 2010, which Mulligan Stu, Hound Dog, and rjay won, respectively. I was hoping to have the 2011 results ready to announce today, but what with the start of my spring 2012 semester coming up tomorrow, my hoping against hope that Hound Dog will release his final 2011 LPGA rankings soon, and my kids discovering Power Pack (a comic I collected for about 30 issues in the mid-'80s) this weekend, I'm not going to be ready tonight.

So while you wait (hold that bated breath thing--this may take awhile!), I'm thinking that it's about time I put out a 1st call for entries for 2012. All you have to do is compile a list of the 30 LPGA members you think have the best chance of garnering Player of the Year honors this season, ranked from most likely at #1 to least likely at #30 (least likely among your very elite group of picks, that is). Then submit your list by posting it on your own blog, or as a comment to this post, or as a fan post at Hound Dog LPGA, or simply by sending it in an email to me (see my blogger profile for my coordinates).

Good luck to all of last year's and this year's participants!

So Who Did Well at LET Q-School?

2012-01-19T10:47:00.001-05:00

A few days ago, I listed the players North American fans of women's golf might be familiar with who were trying their luck across the pond in the LET's Final Qualifying Tournament. Let's run down how they did.

The following players got full status on the LET:

Esther Choe (Group A medallist): T26 at +6
Carlota Ciganda (#257 on LPGA Priority Status List): 3rd at -4
Valentine Derrey (#158 on LPGA Priority Status List): T26 at +6
Kendall Dye: T9 at +2
Jodi Ewart (#101 on LPGA Priority Status List): medallist at -11
Meaghan Francella (#98 on LPGA Priority Status List): T19 at +4
Jennie Lee (#95 on LPGA Priority Status List): T9 at +2
Amelia Lewis (#139 on LPGA Priority Status List): T16 at +3
Stephanie Na: T22 at +5
Dawn Shockley: T26 at +6
Jessica Yadloczky: T7 at +1
Heather Bowie Young (#70 on LPGA Priority Status List): T16 at +3

The following player got partial status on the LET:

Alison Whitaker: T48 at +12

The following players got very low status on the LET (I believe):

Dori Carter (#97 on LPGA Priority Status List): MC
Benedikte Grotvedt: MC
Stefanie Kenoyer: MC
Caroline Larsson: MC
Camila Lennarth: MC
Whitney Neuhauser: MC
Garrett Phillips: MC
Karin Sjodin (#114 on LPGA Priority Status List): MC

The only player I'm unsure about was in a big playoff for the 29th and 30th spots:

Miriam Nagl: T29 at +7

Will update when I find out what happened!

[Update 1 (10:54 am): Just noticed that Americans Ashley Knoll (T35 at +8), Cara Freeman (T43 at +11), and Mary Mattson (T48 at +12) also got partial status for 2012 on the LET. Congratulations to them and their families!]

[Update 2 (10:57 am): Turns out I should have checked twitter 1st: Nagl will have to settle for partial status in 2012.]

Ranking the LPGA's Rookie Class of 2010

2012-01-18T11:01:00.001-05:00

Azahara Munoz was Rookie of the Year in the Class of 2010, the 2nd of 3 classes in what I'm calling the "New Blood" generation on the LPGA. Could anybody pass her by the end of the 2011 season? Or begin approaching the feats of the best in the Class of 2009? Or stay ahead of last year's rookies? So far, this class has a lot of survivors, which is another way of saying that there are a lot in it who have been hanging onto their cards by the skin of their teeth. How many of them will retain or regain their membership in 2013? Read on!

Simply the Best

1. Azahara Munoz: She's really the only player in her class whose recent and career performance stats and results stack up fairly well with the best in previous rookie classes. The big questions for her in 2012 are, can she start to contend more often? how long will it take before she's ready to win on the LPGA? The key to both questions is her putting.

The Contenders

2. Beatriz Recari: She's made a fairly successful transition to the LPGA from the LET, in that she's the 1st and only player in her rookie class to get a win, she's making a decent number of cuts, and she's outperformed everyone besides Munoz in her class thus far. But compared to those in other rookie classes, she has a long way to go, needing work in almost every aspect of her game. Can she step it up in 2012?
3. Gwladys Nocera: She sacrificed distance for accuracy in 2011, but her irons and putter let her down big-time. In fact, a T14 at the Navistar--her last event and only top 20 of the year--was the only thing that kept her in the top 100 on the LPGA money list, plus she couldn't even crack the top 40 of the LET money list in 13 starts over there. At #102 on the LPGA Priority Status List, she'll be able to play all she wants over here this coming season, but the big question is whether she'll decide to continue to challenge herself against the best female golfers on the planet or will be tempted to return to the LET, where she would have a better chance to fight her way back among that tour's elite. Her current struggles make me wonder how her LPGA career would have gone had she been the one who had won the CVS instead of Recari in their rookie season....
4. Amanda Blumenherst: She's tied with Recari for the 2nd-most top 20s in her class and has the 2nd-best made cut rate, as well, so she's shown some pretty decent consistency thus far in her career. But compared to the best rookies in other classes, she still has miles to go.

Quantum Leap Candidates

5. Mina Harigae: She actually had the highest birdie rate in her class in 2011 (3.14 birdies per round, just ahead of Cindy LaCrosse and Pernilla Lindberg) and the second-lowest scoring average (behind only Munoz), so if she can improve her ball-striking, especially when it comes to hitting greens, she can keep steadily improving in 2012.
6. Dewi Claire Schreefel: In only 15 career starts on the LPGA, she's set a solid pace. If she could finish #38 on the LET money list in only 10 starts there in 2011, I'm sure she can do better than she has so far on the LPGA in 2012. Let's see if she can keep improving her game and pick up that pace this coming season.
7. Gerina Mendoza Piller: She only has 14 career LPGA starts, and like Schreefel she needs to take advantage of her full schedule in 2012. If she can capitalize on her length and ability to hit greens, she can really take off this coming season; if not, she'll struggle to keep her card.
8. Cindy LaCrosse: She showed she can play with the big girls in 2011, so if she can draw on the positives from her top 20s, like when she played her way into the final group with Ya Ni Tseng on Sunday at the Wegmans LPGA Championship, she'll have a leg up in 2012 on those with less LPGA experience.
9. Mariajo Uribe: After dropping out of the top 100 on the money list in 2011, she really needs a big bounceback in 2012. Fortunately for her, at #134 on the priority status list, she'll get into every regular event she wants to play in and should have every opportunity to play her way into the limited-field events.
10. Alison Walshe: She played just well enough to make the top 80 on the money list in 2011 and has shown flashes of brilliance in her 20 career LPGA starts. But she's going to have to make more cuts to stay in this category next ranking. The interesting thing is that at #52 on the LET money list in only 9 starts there in 2011, she'll have plenty of chances to supplement her LPGA schedule with some trips across the pond. How extensive a dual LPGA-LET membership she wants to explore in 2012 is a big question facing her this coming season.

On the Bottom, Looking Up

11. Ilhee Lee: She hit her share of greens in 2011, but just couldn't get the ball to fall in the hole, so she's back in the #110 spot on the priority status list. Let's see if she can bounce back in 2012.
12. Maria Hernandez: She had to cut her 2011 season short due to injury, so she comes back in 2012 at #75a on priority status list, thanks to a medical exemption. If she's recovered, she's in a great position to join her fellow Spaniards at the top of this class. Plus, if she also got a medical exemption from the LET, she'll have a chance to take advantage of a dual LPGA-LET membership this coming season.
13. Pernilla Lindberg: To me, she's the biggest disappointment in her class, bar none, despite finishing #18 on the 2011 LET money list in only 13 starts. I still think she has the talent and potential to be among the best in her class, and from #108 on the priority status list, she'll have plenty of chances to prove it. The key for her is hitting more greens!
14. Yoo Kyeong Kim: At #140 on the priority status list, she's going to get into all the full-field events she wants to, but she's really got to upgrade every aspect of her game if she wants to stay on the LPGA long-term (or even short-term!).
15. Paola Moreno: At #154 on the priority status list, she's going to have to hope a large number of players skip a large number of events. I think if she's smart she'll make the Symetra Tour her home in 2012 and supplement her income from it with the odd LPGA start. If she can squeak into the top 100 of the LPGA money list or better, great. If not, she definitely has the potential to be a top 5er on the Symetra Tour.
16. Christine Song: At #93 on the priority status list, let's see how she handles her 1st full LPGA season. She hasn't done much of anything in her 1st 12 starts on tour, but knowing where you're going to be playing from week to week can make a huge difference.
17. Tanya Dergal: She played her way via Q-School into the #123 spot on the priority status list, so should get into the full complement of full-field events. Let's see how her 9th career LPGA start and up go this coming season.
18. Nannette Hill: She got back to #153a on the priority status list thanks to a medical exemption. Like Moreno, I think she'd be better off treating the Symetra Tour as her home tour in 2012.

On the Outside, Looking In

19. Adrienne White: She's made 6 cuts in her 10 career LPGA starts, so has shown she can compete on the big tour. Looks like she'll need to make it back via the Symetra Tour in 2012.
20. Lisa Meldrum: She's gotten into many more LPGA events than her fellow Canadian, but doesn't have nearly as good a made-cut rate as White. Hopefully she'll regroup on the Symetra Tour this coming season.
21. Marianne Skarpnord: She fell to #78 on the LET money list in 2011 in only 13 starts. I assume she'll be back there full-time in 2012.
22. Misun Cho: This 2-time winner on the Futures Tour took a step back in 2011, finishing 39th on their money list and failing to return to the LPGA via Q-School. Let's see if she can turn it around in 2012 on the Symetra Tour.
23. Jean Reynolds: Another 2-time winner on the Futures Tour, she'll be looking to start her comeback on the Symetra Tour in 2012.
24. Katie Kempter: She was #51 on the Futures Tour money list and couldn't get back to the LPGA via Q-School in 2011, so it's another year in the minor leagues for her in 2012.
25. Whitney Wade: Although she has a Futures Tour win, she could finish only in 66th place on their 2011 money list and couldn't advance to the LPGA via Q-School. Let's see if she can improve in 2012.
26. Mallory Blackwelder: She was #27 on the 2011 Futures Tour money list, so is in good position to improve on it in 2012.
27. Cathryn Bristow: She got her 1st Futures Tour win in 2011 and finished 19th on their money list, so she is also in good shape to contend for the top 5 on the Symetra Tour in 2012.

Missing in Action

28. Jane Chin: Didn't play on the LPGA or Futures Tour in 2011 and hasn't updated her twitter account since last February. Anybody know what she's up to?

For your reference--and mine--here are the stats on which I'm basing the January 2012 ranking.

2011 LPGA Money List (rank), scoring average (rank), birdies per round average (rank [in total birdies]), greens in regulation rate (rank): I focus on four key indicators of how well someone was playing last season--how much money they made, how they scored, how many birdies they averaged per round, and how many greens they hit in regulation on average per round, plus how they rank in each category (except for birdies, which LPGA.com ranks by total and not by average). I figure I can figure out how well they're hitting their irons and putting by comparing the last three figures, so I don't include putts per green in regulation here. Some of the figures Hound Dog thinks are the most important I'm looking at in the career stats (below), where I think they belong. These stats are all about the present and future (although with so many events out of the country, it would be nice for the LPGA to collect performance stats there, too!).

NAME/$$/SCORING AVE./BIRDIES PER ROUND/GREENS IN REGULATION
1. Azahara Munoz, $520.3K (#24), 72.11 (#30), 2.81 (#25), 69.3% (#20)
2. Beatriz Recari $223.1K (#43), 72.58 (#44), 2.89 (#29), 63.8% (#93)
3. Mina Harigae, $178.7K (#49), 72.54 (#41), 3.14 (#48), 64.6% (#75)
4. Amanda Blumenherst, $164.9K (#52), 73.12 (#67), 2.91 (#39), 66.9% (#41)
5. Dewi Claire Schreefel, $136.1K (#62), 72.83 (#53), 2.77 (#64), 60.4% (#121)
6. Cindy LaCrosse, $114.8K (#65), 72.85 (#55), 3.13 (#60), 65.3% (#66)
7. Gerina Mendoza Piller, $103.3K (#68), 72.95 (#60), 3.02 (#67), 68.5% (#25)
8. Alison Walshe, $90.1K (#73), 73.89 (#103), 2.75 (#83), 61.6% (#108)
9. Gwladys Nocera, $57.6K (#86), 74.37 (#121), 2.42 (#81), 65.6% (#63)
10. Pernilla Lindberg, $53.4K (#90), 73.33 (#79), 3.10 (#89), 62.6% (#102)
11. Ilhee Lee, $52.9K (#91), 73.67 (#91), 2.50 (#105), 67.7% (#35)
12. Mariajo Uribe, $34.3K (#103), 73.87 (#101), 2.64 (#82), 62.9% (#99)
13. Yoo Kyeong Kim, $28.2K (#110), 73.46 (#83), 2.58 (#118), 63.0% (#97)
14. Christine Song, $16.0K (#126), 74.71 (#131), 2.25 (#125), 57.6% (#133)
15. Maria Hernandez, $15.4K (#127), 73.50 (n.r.), 2.92 (n.r.), 60.6% (n.r.)
16. Lisa Meldrum, $12.9K (#130), 74.38 (#122), 2.65 (#110), 61.5% (#110)
17. Jean Reynolds, $12.4K (#131), 75.26 (#136), 2.47 (#136), 55.0% (#138)
18. Paola Moreno, $11.6K (#136), 74.78 (#133), 2.13 (#131), 64.3% (#84)
19. Adrienne White, $6.9K (#144), 73.36 (n.r.), 2.91 (n.r.), 72.2% (n.r.)
20. Nannette Hill, $2.2K (#151), 76.00 (n.r.), 2.43 (n.r.), 51.6% (n.r.)
21. Mallory Blackwelder, $0K (n.r.), 77.50 (n.r.), 1.50 (n.r.), 50.0% (n.r.)
22. Whitney Wade, $0K (n.r.), 79.00 (n.r.), .50 (n.r.), 41.7% (n.r.)

Career LPGA Money List (rank), # of LPGA events started/majors/wins/top 3s/top 10s/top 20s/withdrawals/disqualifications/missed cuts/finished events (rate): About the only thing these stats are useful for is comparing people who entered the LPGA in the same year (although if you count generations by 3 years, it can be interesting). Between inflation, changing purses, and length/timing of careers, it's very hard to compare and contrast winnings across generations of LPGA greats. Fortunately the '10ers all started at the same time, so the career money list is a decent stat for comparing them, even if it's a bit unfair to players who have not been exempt every season (although that in itself is an indication of how someone's career has been going!). What would really be great is if we had a world money list in inflation-adjusted dollars, with inflation- and exchange-adjusted other cash denominations added in (or just totalled up separately to avoid comparing dollars and yen), which included all each golfer earned as a professional on any tour. But even the guys don't have that, so that'll have to remain a dream for now--although Thomas Atkins posted an inflation-adjusted LPGA Career Top 50 as of the end of the 2008 season and a Best of All Time ranking over at Hound Dog LPGA). In any case, I include the other ways of seeing how the '10ers finished relative to their competition in the tournaments they entered because they reveal a lot about how well someone is able to compete at every level, from just making cuts to grinding out top 20s and top 10s to contending for wins. Many thanks to the LPGA for updating their 2011 Performance Chart after every event (although it would be nice for them to include the CME Titleholders in it)!

NAME/$$/STARTS/MAJORS/WINS/TOP3/TOP10/TOP20/WD/DQ/MC/FIN (RATE)
1. Azahara Munoz, $.92M (#205), 44/0/0/2/6/17/0/0/6/38 (.864)
2. Beatriz Recari, $.49M (#288), 41/0/1/1/5/9/0/0/14/27 (.659)
3. Gwladys Nocera, $.48M (#290), 36/0/0/1/2/4/0/0/15/21 (.583)
4. Amanda Blumenherst, $.42M (#302), 43/0/0/0/3/9/0/0/12/31 (.721)
5. Mina Harigae, $.27M (#364), 31/0/0/0/2/4/0/0/9/22 (.710)
6. Mariajo Uribe, $.17M (#429), 29/0/0/0/1/2/0/0/13/16 (.552)
7. Dewi Claire Schreefel, $.14M (#466), 15/0/0/0/0/2/0/0/5/10 (.667)
8. Cindy LaCrosse, $.14M (#469), 22/0/0/0/0/2/0/0/8/14 (.636)
9. Alison Walshe, $.13M (#476), 20/0/0/0/1/4/0/0/11/9 (.450)
10. Ilhee Lee, $.12M (#484), 24/0/0/0/1/2/0/0/13/11 (.458)
11. Maria Hernandez, $.11M (#502), 20/0/0/0/0/1/0/0/12/8 (.400)
12. Gerina Mendoza Piller, $.10M (#510), 14/0/0/0/1/3/0/0/5/9 (.643)
13. Pernilla Lindberg, $.09M (#515), 26/0/0/0/0/0/0/1/13/12 (.462)
14. Lisa Meldrum, $.05M (#590), 24/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/13/11 (.458)
15. Yoo Kyeong Kim, $.05M (#591), 22/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/16/6 (.273)
16. Paola Moreno, $.04M (#632), 18/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/11/7 (.389)
17. Jean Reynolds, $.03M (#651), 23/0/0/0/0/1/0/0/18/5 (.217)
18. Misun Cho, $.02M (#694), 14/0/0/0/0/0/1/0/11/2 (.143)
19. Marianne Skarpnord, $.02M (#696), 16/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/12/4 (.250)
20. Adrienne White, $.02M (#707), 10/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/4/6 (.600)
21. Christine Song, $.02M (#743), 12/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/9/3 (.250)
22. Katie Kempter, $7.3K (#830), 13/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/11/2 (.154)
23. Tanya Dergal, $5.4K (#863), 8/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/6/2 (.250)
24. Nannette Hill, $2.2K (#929), 4/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/3/1 (.250)
25. Whitney Wade, $0K (n.r.), 3/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/3/0 (.000)
26. Mallory Blackwelder, $0K (n.r.), 4/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/4/0 (.000)
27. Cathryn Bristow, $0K (n.a.), 0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0 (.000)
28. Jane Chin, $0K (n.a.), 0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0 (.000)

Other Career Measures: Rolex Rankings (as of 1/16/12) and rank, Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index (as of 1/15/12) and rank; International Wins (as of the end of the 2011 season): This is a way of seeing how those '09ers who sometimes or regularly or often compete on other tours stack up over the course of their careers to date (the RR includes results over the past 104 weeks on the LPGA, LET, JLPGA, KLPGA, and Futures Tour; the GSPI includes results over the past 52 weeks on all these tours except the KLPGA).

1. Azahara Munoz, 3.22 (#40), 70.96 (#27); 1
2. Beatriz Recari, 1.97 (#72), 72.19 (#74); 1
3. Mina Harigae, 1.34 (#115), 72.49 (#89); 0
4. Amanda Blumenherst, 1.24 (#128), 72.48 (#88); 0
5. Pernilla Lindberg, 1.14 (#134), 73.11 (#120); 0
6. Alison Walshe, 1.10 (#139), 73.84 (#174); 0
7. Gwladys Nocera, 1.09 (#143), 74.18 (#204); 10
8. Cindy LaCrosse, .89 (#169), 72.67 (#95); 0
9. Dewi Claire Schreefel, .81 (#178), 73.11 (#119); 0
10. Ilhee Lee, .79 (#181), 73.87 (#176); 0
11. Maria Hernandez, .64 (#213), 73.75 (n.r. [too few starts]); 1
12. Gerina Mendoza Piller, .63 (#218), 73.41 (#146); 0
13. Mariajo Uribe, .61 (#223), 73.54 (#152); 0
14. Marianne Skarpnord, .51 (#248), 73.96 (#184); 2
15. Yoo Kyeong Kim, .24 (#345), 74.21 (n.r. [too few starts]); 0
16. Christine Song, .19 (#380), 75.12 (#272); 0
17. Paola Moreno, .15 (#408), 75.81 (#330); 0
18. Lisa Meldrum, .11 (#452), 74.48 (#230); 0
19. Jean Reynolds, .10 (#460), 76.48 (#374); 0
20. Misun Cho, .07 (#504), 74.24 (#210); 0
21. Katie Kempter, 06 (#528), 75.73 (#322); 0
22. Mallory Blackwelder, .06 (#534), 74.79 (#253); 0
23. Cathryn Bristow, .03 (#617), 76.40 (#371); 0
24. Nannette Hill, .03 (#618), 73.92 (n.r. [too few starts]); 0
25. Adrienne White, .03 (#619), 74.88 (#260); 0
26. Whitney Wade, .01 (#727), 75.76 (#325); 0
27. Tanya Dergal, n.r., 77.37 (#414); 0

The Best in the Tseng Dynasty: January 2012 Edition

2012-01-16T09:24:00.002-05:00

Since last April's ranking of the Best of the Young Guns generation on the LPGA, a lot has changed, most notably Ya Ni Tseng's achieving escape velocity relative to her peers in the rookie classes of 2006, 2007, and 2008, so much so that it's no exaggeration to speak of this as her generation, the Tseng Dynasty, a la Annika, Se Ri, and Lorena's. Let's take a look at who has the best shot of overthrowing--or at least keeping pace with--Tseng in 2012!

In a Class of Her Own

1. Ya Ni Tseng: Since I last did this ranking, Tseng has added 2 majors, 6 wins, 8 top 3s, 10 top 10s, and 14 top 20s to her already-best-in-class career totals. That's more majors than anyone else in her generation, more wins than anyone except Ai Miyazato, and more top 3s than most in her generation will garner in their entire careers--all in only 17 starts!

Simply the Best

2. Na Yeon Choi: She did her best to keep up with Tseng, with a win, 6 top 3s, 11 top 10s, and 13 top 20s in her 17 starts since the last ranking. Even though she has the most top 10s in her generation, she needs to contend and win more often to even start thinking about catching her Class of '08 rival!
3. Ai Miyazato: She lost a good deal of ground on Tseng and Choi since last April, despite getting career win #7 and adding another top 3, 6 top 10s, and 10 top 20s in her 15 starts.
4. In-Kyung Kim: She matched Miyazato in top 3s and top 10s and actually had 1 more top 20 than her in her 17 starts since the last ranking, but she needs to go off in her next 12 starts, with 4 wins and $1M in winnings, to get to where Miyazato is now.
5. Morgan Pressel: She has the most top 20s in her generation, but her lead on Choi has shrunk to 1 in this category, and Choi has 46 fewer starts as an LPGA member than she does. She's consolidated her position ahead of the players in the next rank since the last ranking, but she's falling behind the best in her generation.

The Contenders

6. Seon Hwa Lee: She's in a real career nosedive, tailspin, free fall--whatever you want to call it. She's young enough to bounce back, but at this point the question is not when but if.
7. Song-Hee Kim: Compared to others in this category, her slump in 2011 was relatively mild. She still made a bunch of cuts and added a lot of top 20s to her career totals, but the clearest indication she's no longer among the game's elite is in how few top 10s and better finishes she could garner since last April.
8. Amy Yang: She's now the best on the LPGA without a win, in my books, but more on that later. It's not just that she's set a good pace early in her career, it's that she's poised to really take off in 2012, whereas most in this category have been struggling of late or just starting to get out from under pretty big slumps.
9. Eun-Hee Ji: Speaking of which, Ji is still not out from under her U.S. Women's Open jinx. I'd say she's stabilized her fall, but she hasn't completely pulled out of it, as I expected her to last season. Maybe this one?
10. Inbee Park: I want to rank her higher than this based on her strong performances on the JLPGA over the last 2 seasons, but the fact is that she just hasn't been as good on the LPGA as she's been in Japan.
11. Jee Young Lee: Something is definitely wrong with her, as she's made only 2 cuts since last April.
12. Hee Young Park: The Rocket finally got her 1st LPGA win, and what a win it was! Let's see if she uses it to really blast off in 2012.
13. Brittany Lang: She played great since the last ranking and her 2nd major career slump is now a distant memory I'd love to see her break through for her 1st LPGA win in 2012!

Quantum Leap Candidates

14. Momoko Ueda: Her strategy of dividing her time almost equally between the LPGA and JLPGA has been netting her diminishing returns the last 2 seasons--but she did win the Mizuno in 2011, which salvaged her year on both tours. If she can get her putter going in 2012, watch out for her!
15. Sun Young Yoo: She's plateaued and will need to get it going to jump another level in 2012.
16. Kristy McPherson: Her recovery from surgery was on the slow side in 2011, but she's too tough a competitor to let missing out on the Solheim Cup get her down for too long. I expect to see her bounce back in 2012.
17. Sandra Gal. I'm still giving the nod to her over Shanshan Feng, even though Feng outplayed her a bit since the last ranking--her win over Ji-Yai Shin at the Kia and better made-cut rate continue to carry the day for her.
18. Shanshan Feng: She's started playing very good golf again and has put her 2nd career slump behind her, but she's another dual LPGA-JLPGA member who's been playing even better in Japan than she has anywhere else in the world.

On the Bottom, Looking Up
If you're struggling to keep your card, you're not going to be moving up this ranking any time soon. The players in this category may be millionaires, but getting to that 2nd million (or, in Granada's case, 3rd) will be difficult for them as the best players from the New Blood and Generation Prodigy rookie classes come more and more into their own.

19. Julieta Granada.
20. Ji Young Oh.
21. Jane Park.
22. Kyeong Bae.
23. Meaghan Francella.
24. Katie Futcher.

On the Outside, Looking In

25. Teresa Lu: A full-time JLPGAer now.

Over and Out

26. Angela Park.

***

For your reference, here's how the millionaires in the Tseng Dynasty stack up, stats-wise, at the end of the 2011 season.

STARTS/MAJORS/WINS/TOP 3/TOP 10/TOP 20/WD/DQ/MC/FINISHES (RATE)
[Note: *=non-member win (not counted toward other stats).]

1. Ya Ni Tseng (2008), $7.54M (#15), 95/5/12/29/46/68/0/0/4/91 (.958)
2. Ai Miyazato (2006), $5.73M (#31), 131/0/7/16/45/67/1/0/18/112 (.855)
3. Na Yeon Choi (2008), $5.67M (#32), 97/0/5/22/48/70/0/0/2/95 (.979)
4. In-Kyung Kim (2007), $4.56M (#40), 119/0/3/15/44/63/0/0/16/103 (.866)
5. Morgan Pressel (2006), $4.39M (#44), 143/1/2/12/42/71/0/0/15/128 (.895)
6. Seon Hwa Lee (2006), $4.01M (#49), 150/0/4/11/30/61/2/0/19/129 (.860)
7. Song-Hee Kim (2007), $3.65M (#54), 111/0/0/11/36/54/0/0/18/94 (.849)
8. Jee Young Lee (2006), $3.31M (#62), 139/0/1*/9/35/65/5/0/20/114 (.820)
9. Brittany Lang (2006), $3.12M (#67), 151/0/0/7/34/59/0/0/30/121 (.801)
10. Inbee Park (2007), $2.99M (#72), 111/1/1/5/25/37/1/1/20/89 (.802)
11. Sun Young Yoo (2006), $2.80M (#76), 147/0/1/4/22/48/1/0/29/117 (.796)
12. Eun-Hee Ji (2007), $2.45M (#87), 96/1/2/5/15/26/0/3/14/79 (.823)
13. Julieta Granada (2006), $2.40M (#90), 144/0/1/5/12/24/0/1/55/78 (.542)
14. Hee Young Park (2008), $2.32M (#96), 96/0/1/4/19/32/0/0/18/78 (.813)
15. Angela Park (2007), $2.12M (#103), 84/0/0/8/18/25/5/0/18/61 (.726)
16. Amy Yang (2008), $2.04M (#108), 74/0/0/4/16/30/0/0/8/66 (.892)
17. Kristy McPherson (2007), $1.88M (#117), 111/0/0/4/16/30/0/0/25/86 (.775)
18. Ji Young Oh (2007), $1.49M (#131), 106/0/2/2/8/18/1/0/39/66 (.623)
19. Momoko Ueda (2008), $1.40M (#141), 70/0/2*/2/8/21/0/0/12/58 (.829)
20. Kyeong Bae, $1.40M (#142), 134/0/0/2/10/22/5/0/39/90 (.672)
21. Shanshan Feng (2008), $1.24M (#160), 82/0/0/2/12/19/1/0/24/57 (.695)
22. Sandra Gal (2008), $1.21M (#163), 86/0/1/2/7/22/2/0/19/65 (.756)
23. Meaghan Francella (2006), $1.16M (#169), 111/0/1/1/7/15/0/0/38/73 (.658)
24. Teresa Lu (2006), $1.13M (#173), 107/0/0/1/8/23/2/0/25/80 (.748)
25. Jane Park (2007), $1.01M (#191), 85/0/0/3/6/11/4/1/22/58 (.682)
26. Katie Futcher (2006), $1.00M (#192), 120/0/0/1/7/16/0/1/36/83 (.692)

Ranking the LPGA's Rookie Class of 2009

2012-01-15T15:20:00.002-05:00

Now that I've finished ranking the rookie classes from the LPGA that I group under the moniker "Tseng Dynasty," it's time to turn my attention to the next generation, which I've been calling New Blood.

Simply the Best

1. Ji-Yai Shin. 2011 was a down year for her, as she had trouble adjusting to a new swing, new coach, and new caddy, but when you consider that she was able to gain distance off the tee without sacrificing accuracy, hit more greens than the previous season, and remain among the best putters on the LPGA, you'll understand that a down year for her is a career year for most golfers. Still, she barely held onto her JLPGA card with a blah 48th-place finish on their money list in 6 starts, so it'll be interesting to see how she responds and what kind of schedule she puts together in 2012.
2. Michelle Wie. Chapter 4 of her golfing career is ready to start once she finishes up her last classes at Stanford this spring, so we'll see what she's able to do when the LPGA is her full-time job. After a roller-coaster 1st 3 chapters (I: Young Phenom; II: Troubled Teen; III. Student-Athlete), she'll probably be looking for some more stability and consistent excellence in 2012. Although she has a decent share of wins (2) and a good share of top 3s (10) over her 1st 3 seasons as an LPGA member, she doesn't get nearly the number of top 10s and top 20s that she should. Maybe being able to practice more will help straighten out her driver and get her more confidence on the greens.
3. Stacy Lewis. She's improved each year she's been out on tour and matured into one of the top players on the planet in 2011. Soon we'll see whether she will sustain this upward trajectory, level off, or struggle in 2012. I'm betting on the 1st.
4. Anna Nordqvist. She has the 2nd-highest number of top 20s in her class (well behind Shin but 4 ahead of Wie in the same number of starts), but hasn't been able to keep up the torrid pace of wins and tournaments in contention from her rookie season over the past 2 seasons. Even though she gained distance and accuracy off the tee in 2011, her putter held her back for most of the season. If she can improve her touch around and on the greens, watch out for her in 2012.

The Contenders

5. Mika Miyazato. She dramatically improved her driving accuracy in 2011 and enjoyed a lot more made cuts and top 20s than in her previous 2 seasons, but her biggest achievement was finishing in the top 10 in 3 of 4 majors (her worst finish was T14 at the Women's British Open), thereby maximizing her donation to Japan relief that season. I'm thinking she's ready to contend a lot more often in 2012.
6. Vicky Hurst. She lead the tour in driving distance in 2009 and was 2nd in 2010, but lost a lot of distance and couldn't hit 60% of her fairways for the 2nd-straight season, which put a lot of pressure on her rather average skills with her irons, wedges, and putter. She needs to become a more complete player to compete successfully with the best on the LPGA.

Quantum Leap Candidates

7. M.J. Hur. She's been going in the wrong direction with her game over the last 3 seasons, but despite having trouble with almost every aspect of her game in 2011, she's firmly in Category 1 on the 2012 Priority Status List, so she'll have every opportunity to reverse these trends this coming season.
8. Chella Choi. Very quietly had the best year of her career in 2011, despite worse-than-average putting for most of it. A classic precision player, she needs to improve her hybrid and iron play so that she can give herself more and better birdie chances in 2012.
9. Mindy Kim. Got off to a hot start in 2010 but couldn't sustain it into the last 2/3rds of the season. Basically, her worse-than-average ball-striking caught up with her once her putter cooled off--and her putting got worse as her ball-striking regressed to mean as the season wore on.
10. Haeji Kang. Another player whose weaknesses with her ball-striking contributed to her problems with her putting in 2011. Whereas the season before she averaged 1.77 putts per green in regulation, last season she ballooned to 1.87 PPGIR. If she doesn't turn this trend around soon, her 3rd full season on tour (after having made the leap from the Futures Tour mid-way through her rookie year) threatens to be her last.
11. Pornanong Phatlum. After grinding it out on the Futures Tour in 2010, she made the most of her opportunities on the LPGA in 2012, making the cut in 15 of 17 starts. Next step for her is to keep improving her overall game so that she can start competing for top 20s and better finishes.

On the Bottom, Looking Up

12. Samantha Richdale. At #143 on the priority status list, she should get more than the 10 starts she got in 2011 and hopefully will be able to build up more of a playing rhythm. The key is to get out to a fast start, something many golfers from the northern states and the Great White North often find difficult to do.
13. Jessica Shepley. At #141 on the priority status list, she should get plenty of opportunities to play in 2012 and is looking to build on streak of 4 made cuts in a row to close out last season.
14. Angela Oh. At #115 on the priority status list, she'll finally get a chance to put together a full season on the LPGA. She made the 1st and only cut of her career last season and simply can't afford to have another such year. This is a make-or-break year for her.

On the Outside, Looking In

15. Shiho Oyama. Finally returned to the winner's circle in Japan after suffering through 2 years of elbow problems (tendinitis and a long recovery from surgery) most likely brought on by her intense preparations for her rookie season on the LPGA. Although she finished #124 on the 2011 LPGA money list, she turned down membership for 2012. But I wouldn't be surprised to see her try again for the LPGA if she returns to the elite of the JLPGA this coming season. I'm sure she wants to improve on her #12 standing from last year's money list over there.
16. Tania Elosegui. Having dropped to #33 on the 2011 LET money list, a return engagement on the LPGA is looking increasingly unlikely.
17. Kim Welch. Tried out the LET for awhile but didn't find much success on it. I'm assuming she'll be on the Symetra Tour full-time in 2012. Probably a make-or-break year for her, as well.
18. Nontaya Srisawang. She was #60 on the LET money list last season in only 13 starts, so it's looking like she'll divide her time between Europe and Asian tours in 2012. It would be great to see her back on the LPGA soon as part of a wave of young Thai golfers seeking success outside the LAGT.
19. Song Yi Choi. She never made a cut in her 17 career starts on the LPGA and now I'm not sure whether she's seeking her fortune on the KLPGA or has already retired from competitive golf.

Over and Out

20. Jeehae Lee. Well, she gave the LPGA and the LET the ol' college try, but wasn't seeing the results she needed to keep her professional golf experiment alive any longer.
21. Sunny Oh. Working as a teaching professional at the Lakes at El Segundo while hoping her slowly-healing elbow injury sustained at the U.S. Women's Open during her rookie season allows her to return to competitive golf.

For your reference--and mine--here are the stats on which I'm basing the January 2012 ranking.

2011 LPGA Money List (rank), scoring average (rank), birdies per round average (rank [in total birdies]), greens in regulation rate (rank): I focus on four key indicators of how well someone was playing last season--how much money they made, how they scored, how many birdies they averaged per round, and how many greens they hit in regulation on average per round, plus how they rank in each category (except for birdies, which LPGA.com ranks by total and not by average). I figure I can figure out how well they're hitting their irons and putting by comparing the last three figures, so I don't include putts per green in regulation here. Some of the figures Hound Dog thinks are the most important I'm looking at in the career stats (below), where I think they belong. These stats are all about the present and future (although with so many events out of the country, it would be nice for the LPGA to collect performance stats there, too!).

NAME/$$/SCORING AVE./BIRDIES PER ROUND/GREENS IN REGULATION
1. Stacy Lewis, $1.36M (#4), 70.98 (#7), 3.70 (#2), 70.6% (#11)
2. Ji-Yai Shin, $720.7K (#15), 70.81 (#4), 3.59 (#24), 70.9% (#9)
3. Michelle Wie, $627.9K (#18), 71.94 (#24), 3.39 (#23), 69.7% (#19)
4. Mika Miyazato, $591.7K (#22), 71.17 (#12), 3.31 (#19), 68.5% (#23)
5. Anna Nordqvist, $589.8K (#23), 71.22 (#13), 3.41 (#19), 70.4% (#12)
6. Chella Choi, $325.3K (#35), 71.96 (#25), 2.96 (#34), 70.1% (#14)
7. Mindy Kim, $262.1K (#38), 72.44 (#38), 3.11 (#40), 65.8% (#53)
8. Vicky Hurst, $201.4K (#45), 72.99 (#62), 3.00 (#33), 64.1% (#87)
9. Pornanong Phatlum, $149.7K (#57), 72.55 (#43), 2.92 (#49), 64.8% (#70)
10. M.J. Hur, $87.2K (#74), 73.88 (#102), 2.69 (#65), 59.4% (#126)
11. Haeji Kang, $81.7K (#77), 73.50 (#85), 2.54 (#73), 62.4% (#104)
12. Jessica Shepley, $23.7K (#113), 73.24 (#75), 2.80 (#109), 58.0% (#132)
13. Samantha Richdale, $22.7K (#115), 74.19 (#115), 2.63 (#108), 62.6% (#103)
14. Jeehae Lee, $18.0K (#123), 74.42 (#125), 2.65 (#110), 61.3% (#111)
15. Shiho Oyama, $17.8K (#124), 73.23 (n.r.), 2.31 (n.r.), 65.6% (n.r.)
16. Angela Oh, $4.5K (#149), 74.77 (#132), 2.23 (#121), 61.6% (#109)

Career LPGA Money List (rank), # of LPGA events started/majors/wins/top 3s/top 10s/top 20s/withdrawals/disqualifications/missed cuts/finished events (rate): About the only thing these stats are useful for is comparing people who entered the LPGA in the same year (although if you count generations by 3 years, it can be interesting). Between inflation, changing purses, and length/timing of careers, it's very hard to compare and contrast winnings across generations of LPGA greats. Fortunately the '09ers all started at the same time, so the career money list is a decent stat for comparing them, even if it's a bit unfair to players who have not been exempt every season (although that in itself is an indication of how someone's career has been going!). What would really be great is if we had a world money list in inflation-adjusted dollars, with inflation- and exchange-adjusted other cash denominations added in (or just totalled up separately to avoid comparing dollars and yen), which included all each golfer earned as a professional on any tour. But even the guys don't have that, so that'll have to remain a dream for now--although Thomas Atkins posted an inflation-adjusted LPGA Career Top 50 as of the end of the 2008 season and a Best of All Time ranking over at Hound Dog LPGA). In any case, I include the other ways of seeing how the '09ers finished relative to their competition in the tournaments they entered because they reveal a lot about how well someone is able to compete at every level, from just making cuts to grinding out top 20s and top 10s to contending for wins. Many thanks to the LPGA for updating their 2011 Performance Chart after every event (although it would be nice for them to include the CME Titleholders in it)!

NAME/$$/STARTS/MAJORS/WINS/TOP3/TOP10/TOP20/WD/DQ/MC/FIN (RATE)
1. Ji-Yai Shin, $4.31M (#46), 61/1*/8**/16/33/45/1/0/1/59 (.967)
2. Michelle Wie, $2.43M (#89), 58/0/2/10/20/28/2/0/5/51 (.879)
3. Stacy Lewis, $2.22M (#99), 70/1/1/5/18/30/0/0/13/57 (.814)
4. Anna Nordqvist, $1.90M (#115), 58/1/2/4/14/32/0/0/4/54 (.931)
5. Mika Miyazato, $1.49M (#133), 65/0/0/2/12/28/0/0/11/54 (.831)
6. Vicky Hurst, $.92M (#208), 67/0/0/1/6/15/0/0/14/53 (.791)
7. M.J. Hur, $.90M (#213), 64/0/1/2/5/12/2/0/21/41 (.640)
8. Chella Choi, $.53M (#274), 53/0/0/0/2/10/0/0/15/38 (.717)
9. Mindy Kim, $.42M ($301), 50/0/0/0/5/8/1/0/21/28 (.560)
10. Haeji Kang, $.39M (#310), 51/0/0/0/2/4/0/0/17/34 (.667)
11. Pornanong Phatlum, $.17M (#436), 23/0/0/0/0/5/0/0/4/19 (.826)
12. Shiho Oyama, $.14M (#459),20/0/0/0/1/1/0/0/10/10 (.500)
13. Samantha Richdale, $.06M (#569), 28/0/0/0/0/1/0/0/17/11 (.393)
14. Tania Elosegui, $.03M (#645), 15/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/12/3 (.200)
15. Jeehae Lee, $.03M (#663), 28/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/22/6 (.214)
16. Jessica Shepley, $.03M (#674), 15/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/9/6 (.400)
17. Angela Oh, $4.5K (#874), 11/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/10/1 (.091)
18. Kim Welch, $2.2K (#932), 5/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/4/1 (.200)
19. Sunny Oh, $0K (n.r.), 2/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/2/0 (.000)
20. Nontaya Srisawang, $0K (n.r.), 4/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/4/0 (.000)
21. Song Yi Choi, $0K (n.r.), 17/0/0/0/0/0/1/0/16/0 (.000)

Other Career Measures: Rolex Rankings (as of 1/9/12) and rank, Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index (as of 1/8/12) and rank; International Wins (as of the end of the 2011 season): This is a way of seeing how those '09ers who sometimes or regularly or often compete on other tours stack up over the course of their careers to date (the RR includes results over the past 104 weeks on the LPGA, LET, JLPGA, KLPGA, and Futures Tour; the GSPI includes results over the past 52 weeks on all these tours except the KLPGA).

1. Ji-Yai Shin, 7.30 (#7), 69.75 (#5); 28
2. Stacy Lewis, 6.50 (#9), 69.86 (#7); 0
3. Michelle Wie, 5.00 (#17), 71.24 (#32); 0
4. Mika Miyazato, 4.29 (#24), 70.37 (#15); 1
5. Anna Nordqvist, 3.83 (#31), 70.24 (#10); 0
6. Shiho Oyama, 3.55 (#35), 71.63 (#48); 12
7. Chella Choi, 2.05 (#70), 71.58 (#44); 0
8. Mindy Kim, 1.69 (#86), 72.41 (#84); 0
9. Vicky Hurst, 1.62 (#92), 72.72 (#99); 0
10. Pornanong Phatlum, 1.53 (#99), 71.73 (#52); 0
11. M.J. Hur, 1.20 (#130), 74.12 (#195); 0
12. Haeji Kang, 1.16 (#133), 73.39 (#143); 0
13. Tania Elosegui, .57 (#233), 74.68 (#245); 1
14. Nontaya Srisawang, .48 (#257), 73.74 (#165); 0
15. Jessica Shepley, .27 (#328), 73.50 (#149); 0
16. Jeehae Lee, .27 (#332), 75.64 (#311); 0
17. Samantha Richdale, .18 (#388), 75.09 (#271); 0
18. Kim Welch, .11 (#451), 76.05 (#348); 0
19. Angela Oh, .11 (#457), 75.80 (#329); 0
20. Song Yi Choi, n.r., 78.26 (n.r. [too few events]); 0

Ranking the LPGA's Rookie Class of 2008

2012-01-14T00:00:00.000-05:00

I used to group together the LPGA's rookie classes of 2006, 2007, and 2008 into a generation I called "Young Guns," in honor of the noise so many of them were making in the upper echelons of women's professional golf so soon after they joined the top tour in the world. Then Ya Ni Tseng exploded in 2011 and even I had to admit that this generation should be known as the "Tseng Dynasty," as bangkokbobby so memorably coined it.

The Class of 2008 will probably go down in history as Tseng's, but I wouldn't be surprised if her rival for Rookie of the Year in 2008 and for Player of the Year in 2010, Na Yeon Choi, plays Karrie Webb to Tseng's Sorenstam. Plus, 2011 witnessed some serious stirrings from the next tier of players in the class, as most of them emerged briefly from Tseng's and Choi's shadows to claim a victory. As opposed to the '06ers and '07ers, then, who mostly struggled last season, the top '08ers took center stage on the LPGA. Let's review how they all did.

Simply the Best

1. Ya Ni Tseng. She had a season for the record books. More on that soon!
2. Na Yeon Choi. She continued to play at a very high level--remaining among the very best female golfers on the planet--but got lapped by her ROY rival anyway. To put this in perspective, Choi has only 1 fewer career top 20 than Morgan Pressel, but she has 46 fewer starts than the '06er. She has more top 10s than anyone else in her generation and has way more top 3s than anyone except Tseng. Her 5 career LPGA wins put her behind only Tseng (12) and Miyazato (7). She's only missed 2 cuts as an LPGA member in her 97 starts. She's broken the $1M barrier in season winnings 4 years in a row. But she's going to have to do even better to make up ground on Tseng!

The Contenders

3. Amy Yang. Well, she couldn't break through for her 1st career LPGA victory and she just missed breaking the $1M barrier in season winnings, but she did play very good golf pretty much all year and captured a KLPGA major late in the season. If she can continue to improve her putting in 2012, she can have a monster year.
4. Hee Young Park. A moving win over Sandra Gal at the CME Titleholders capped off a much-improved 2nd half of the season in 2011, but her iron play and putting need to improve in 2012 if she's going to build on it.
5. Momoko Ueda. A win at the Mizuno salvaged both her LPGA and JLPGA seasons, but overall, the frustration continued for her in 2011. Even though her ball-striking was much improved, her putting was truly horrific no matter where she played. At least she knows what she needs to be working on for 2012!
6. Sandra Gal. She bounced back from her worst LPGA season in 2010 with her best in 2011, kick-started by a fantastic win at the Kia over "Final-Round Queen" Ji-Yai Shin when she stuck her wedge on 18 inside Shin's own stuck wedge. That one has my vote for shot of the year!
7. Shanshan Feng. She won twice on the JLPGA, finished 7th on their money list on a limited schedule there, and played solid golf on the LPGA, with her best performance coming at the Mizuno, where she finished runner-up to Ueda, but she'll have to build on her momentum from last season's late Asian swing to start moving back up this list in 2012. Good news is she's a good straight shooter in the Kerr-Stanford-Kim-Yoo mold and was #4 in greens in regulation in 2011. Bad news is the birdies weren't falling for her as often as for most everyone ahead of her on this list! If she can get the putts to drop in the States like they were dropping for her in Japan, watch out for her this coming season.

Quantum Leap Candidate

8. Eunjung Yi. She'll be back on tour on a medical exemption after playing in only 6 events in 2011.

On the Bottom, Looking Up

9. Taylor Leon. Last year was nothing to write home about, but at #128 on the priority status list, she has a good chance to bounce back this year. Of course, that's exactly what I wrote at the end of the 2010 season, as well.
10. Anna Grzebien. Her comeback in 2011 on a medical exemption wasn't all that impressive, but she managed to snag position #138 on the priority status list for 2012, so she lives to fight another day.
11. Sarah Kemp. At #100 on the LPGA's 2012 Priority Status List, will this finally be the season that she figures out how to translate her successes Down Under to the big tour? She was #63 on the LET's 2011 money list in only 9 starts over there, so she certainly has the talent to do better on the LPGA than she has so far.
12. Nicole Hage. She dropped from #115 on last year's priority status list to #146 on this one, but odds are she'll get in her share of events in 2012. She just has to take better advantage of her opportunities!

On the Outside, Looking In

13. Jimin Jeong. She finished outside the top 125 on the LPGA money list in 2011 and missed the 72-hole cut at LPGA Q-School, so I assume that means she's headed to either the Symetra Tour or the KLPGA in 2012.
14. Anja Monke. Just as I predicted, she made the LET her primary tour last season, where she dropped from #11 on their money list in 2010 to #58 in 2011.
15. Hannah Jun. She ended 2011 at #40 on the LET money list, so she'll be spending most of her time there in 2012, although her T38 at LPGA Q-School gives her very high status on the Symetra Tour, if she does decide to try for more than her 4 starts last season on the Futures Tour.
16. Ashleigh Simon. She's developed into one of the better players on the LET (#17 on their money list in 2010, #15 in 2011), so it's no surprise she's staying there in 2012.
17. Leah Wigger. She finished #15 on the Futures Tour money list in 2011, but she didn't do well in LPGA Q-School, so it's on to the Symetra Tour for her in 2012.
18. Onnarin Sattayabanphot. A full-time JLPGA member for the 1st time in 2011, she didn't do anything all that special, but she did secure a full-status card for 2012 at their Q-School. Let's see if she can do better there this year!
19. Sofie Andersson. She had hand surgery in fall 2011 and wasn't recovered enough to advance out of the pre-qualifying tournament for LET Q-School earlier this week, so I'm assuming she'll be on the Symetra Tour in 2012 by virtue of her #68 standing on their 2011 money list.
20. Sarah Oh. She finished 10th on the ALPG Order of Merit in 2011 and is 17th so far this year, but she just can't seem to ever get any status on another tour.
21. Violeta Retamoza. She didn't make it out of pre-qualifying for LET Q-School last week, but since I thought she was retired from competitive golf, I was surprised to see that she even tried.
22. Emma Cabrera-Bello. She finished #101 on the 2011 LET money list, but isn't in the field for their Final Qualifying Tournament. Is her competitive career over?

Over and Out

23. Louise Friberg. After missing every single cut in 2011, she pulled the plug on her competitive career and is pursuing a teaching/writing career in the golf industry.
24. Anna Rawson. I'm assuming the "sabbatical" from professional golf that she announced awhile back is now permanent, but I haven't really dug into her web site to check.
25. Carolina Llano. She only played 3 times on the Futures Tour in 2011, none since mid-July, and didn't enter LPGA or LET Q-School, so I'm assuming she's calling it quits, competitive golf-wise.
26. Liz Janangelo. A local paper reported she's going to continue competing professionally here and there, but will primarily focus on a career as a teaching pro.
27. Chris Brady. Have to assume her competitive career is over..
28. Amie Cochran. Ditto.
29. Hwanhee Lee. Ditto. Perhaps she's continuing to focus on her fashion design career in 2012?
30. Sukjin Lee Wuesthoff. Ditto.

For your reference--and mine--here are the stats on which I'm basing the January 2012 ranking.

2011 LPGA Money List (rank), scoring average (rank), birdies per round average (rank [in total birdies]), greens in regulation rate (rank): I focus on four key indicators of how well someone is playing this young season--how much money they've made, how they've scored, how many birdies they've averaged per round, and how many greens they've hit in regulation on average per round, plus how they rank in each category (except for birdies, which LPGA.com ranks by total and not by average). I figure I can figure out how well they're hitting their irons and putting by comparing the last three figures, so I don't include putts per green in regulation here. Some of the figures Hound Dog thinks are the most important I'm looking at in the career stats (below), where I think they belong. These stats are all about the present and future. Of course, because the LPGA doesn't keep performance stats for international events, the GIR rates are a little skewed for the top players in the class. Maybe Tseng would have been #1 in yet another category if the LPGA kept better stats!

NAME/$$/SCORING AVE./BIRDIES PER ROUND/GREENS IN REGULATION
1. Ya Ni Tseng, $2.92M (#1), 69.66 (#1), 4.65 (#1), 74.3% (#2)
2. Na Yeon Choi, $1.36M (#3), 70.53 (#2), 3.93 (#4), 70.0% (#15)
3. Amy Yang, $912.2K (#10), 71.12 (#10), 3.53 (#8), 70.1% (#13)
4. Hee Young Park, $851.8K (#12), 72.42 (#37), 3.00 (#28), 67.8% (#33)
5. Sandra Gal, $623.5K (#20), 71.64 (#19), 3.51 (#14), 65.7% (#58)
6. Shanshan Feng, $362.1K (#32), 71.72 (#20), 3.33 (#40), 73.8% (#4)
7. Momoko Ueda, $333.5K (#34), 72.19 (#31), 2.94 (#55), 70.8% (#10)
8. Sarah Kemp, $58.5K (#85), 74.35 (#119), 2.62 (#85), 65.0% (#67)
9. Taylor Leon, $40.6K (#100), 73.29 (#77), 3.18 (#94), 63.9% (#88)
10. Anna Grzebien, $29.4K (#108), 73.69 (#92), 2.41 (#103), 65.5% (#64)
11. Nicole Hage, $18.7K (#121), 74.17 (#112), 2.93 (#98), 63.2% (#95)
12. Jimin Jeong, $12.4K (#132), 74.50 (#126), 2.31 (#145), 57.3% (#136)
13. Eunjung Yi, $6.2K (#146), 77.53 (n.r.), 1.47 (n.r.), 54.1% (n.r.)
14. Louise Friberg, $0 (n.r.), 75.68 (#139), 2.18 (n.r.), 57.3% (n.r.)
14. Hannah Jun, $0 (n.r.), 76.83 (n.r.), 2.17 (n.r.), 58.3% (n.r.)
14. Anja Monke, $0 (n.r.), 76.00 (n.r.), 3.00 (n.r.), 69.4% (n.r.)

Career LPGA Money List (rank), # of LPGA events started/majors/wins/top 3s/top 10s/top 20s/withdrawals/disqualifications/missed cuts/finished events (rate): About the only thing these stats are useful for is comparing people who entered the LPGA in the same year (although if you count generations by 3 years, it can be interesting). Between inflation, changing purses, and length/timing of careers, it's very hard to compare and contrast winnings across generations of LPGA greats. Fortunately the Class of 2008 hasn't been at this all too long, so the career money list is a decent stat for comparing them, even if it's a bit unfair to people who have not been exempt every season (although that in itself is an indication of how someone's career has been going!). What would really be great is if we had a world money list in inflation-adjusted dollars, with inflation- and exchange-adjusted other cash denominations added in (or just totalled up separately to avoid comparing dollars and yen), which included all each golfer earned as a professional on any tour. But even the guys don't have that, so that'll have to remain a dream for now--although Thomas Atkins has posted an inflation-adjusted LPGA Career Top 50 as of the end of the 2008 season and a Best of All Time ranking over at Hound Dog LPGA). In any case, I include the other ways of seeing how the '08ers finished relative to their competition in the tournaments they entered because they reveal a lot about how well someone is able to compete at every level, from just making cuts to grinding out top 20s and top 10s to contending for wins. Many thanks to the LPGA for updating their 2011 Performance Chart after every event (well, except the last one). [Note: *=non-member win.]

NAME/$$/STARTS/MAJORS/WINS/TOP3/TOP10/TOP20/WD/DQ/MC/FIN (RATE)
1. Ya Ni Tseng, $7.54M (#15), 95/5/12/29/46/68/0/0/4/91 (.958)
2. Na Yeon Choi, $5.67M (#32), 97/0/5/22/48/70/0/0/2/95 (.979)
3. Hee Young Park, $2.32M (#96), 96/0/1/4/19/32/0/0/18/78 (.813)
4. Amy Yang, $2.04M (#108), 74/0/0/4/16/30/0/0/8/66 (.892)
5. Momoko Ueda, $1.40M (#141), 70/0/2*/2/8/21/0/0/12/58 (.829)
6. Shanshan Feng, $1.24M (#160), 82/0/0/2/12/19/1/0/24/57 (.695)
7. Sandra Gal, $1.21M (#163), 86/0/1/2/7/22/2/0/19/65 (.756)
8. Louise Friberg, $476.6K (#292), 72/0/1/1/3/4/0/0/47/25 (.347)
9. Eunjung Yi, $475.7K (#293), 59/0/1/1/1/2/1/0/25/33 (.559)
10. Taylor Leon, $289.7K (#350), 56/0/0/0/3/6/0/0/31/25 (.446)
11. Sarah Kemp, $286.0K (#352), 64/0/0/0/2/7/0/1/31/32 (.500)
12. Anna Grzebien, $243.3K (#378), 54/0/0/0/0/5/3/0/24/27 (.500)
13. Jimin Jeong, $198.8K (#407), 51/0/0/0/2/3/2/0/26/23 (.451)
14. Anna Rawson, $166.9K (#434), 46/0/0/0/1/4/1/0/29/16 (.348)
15. Carolina Llano, $111.3K (#495), 40/0/0/0/1/1/0/0/25/15 (.375)
16. Anja Monke, $109.3K (#500), 22/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/10/12 (.545)
17. Ashleigh Simon, $72.9K (#544), 30/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/17/13 (.433)
18. Leah Wigger, $58.8K (#575), 36/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/24/12 (.333)
19. Nicole Hage, $43.0K (#622), 33/0/0/0/0/1/1/0/25/7 (.212)
20. Liz Janangelo, $38.1K (#638), 35/0/0/0/0/0/1/0/24/10 (.286)
21. Hannah Jun, $32.0K (#656), 12/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/7/5 (.417)
22. Amie Cochran, $17.2K (#735), 5/0/0/0/0/1/0/0/4/1 (.200)
23. Onnarin Sattayabanphot, $8.6K (#818), 8/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/6/2 (.250)
24. Chris Brady, $6.1K (#855), 4/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/2/2 (.500)
25. Violeta Retamoza, $2.2K (#933), 19/0/0/0/0/0/1/0/17/1 (.053)
26. Emma Cabrera-Bello, $0K (n.r.), 2/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/2/0 (.000)
27. Sarah Oh, $0K (n.r.), 3/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/3/0 (.000)
28. Hwanhee Lee, $0K (n.r.), 5/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/5/0 (.000)
29. Sofie Andersson, $0K (n.a.), 0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0 (.000)
30. Sukjin Lee Wuesthoff, $0K (n.a.), 0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0 (.000)

Other Career Measures: Rolex Ranking (as of 1/9/12) and rank, Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index (as of 1/8/12) and rank, International Wins (as of today): This is a way of seeing how those '08ers who sometimes or regularly or often compete on other tours stack up over the course of their careers to date (the RR includes results over the past 104 weeks on the LPGA, LET, JLPGA, KLPGA, and Futures Tour; the GSPI includes results over the past 52 weeks on all these tours except the KLPGA).

1. Ya Ni Tseng, 17.23 (#1), 68.77 (#1); 8
2. Na Yeon Choi, 9.70 (#3), 69.57 (#3); 5
3. Amy Yang, 5.67 (#12), 70.49 (#19); 4
4. Shanshan Feng, 5.51 (#13), 70.61 (#21); 2
5. Hee Young Park, 3.35 (#38), 71.36 (#36); 4
6. Sandra Gal, 3.23 (#41); 71.15 (#29); 0
7. Momoko Ueda, 2.61 (#50), 72.10 (#69); 9
8. Ashleigh Simon, 1.26 (#127), 73.61 (#157); 2
9. Onnarin Sattayabanphot, 1.00 (#157), 73.15 (#125); 0
10. Sarah Kemp, .79 (#183), 74.12 (#196); 0
11. Anja Monke, .70 (#198), 74.70 (#247); 3
12. Hannah Jun, .59 (#228), 74.88 (#262); 0
13. Taylor Leon, .31 (#155), 73.68 (#162); 0
14. Louise Friberg, .27 (#327), 76.35 (#367); 0
15. Sarah Oh, .23 (#352), 74.98 (n.r. [too few events]); 0
16. Eunjung Yi, .17 (#393), n.r.; 0
17. Emma Cabrera-Bello, .14 (#415), 76.19 (#356); 0
18. Anna Grzebien, .13 (#433), 73.41 (#145); 0
19. Jimin Jeong, .12 (#439), 75.34 (n.r. [too few events]); 0
20. Leah Wigger, .12 (#446), 73.98 (#187); 0
21. Nicole Hage, .11 (#454), 74.60 (#238); 0
22. Anna Rawson, .05 (#569), n.r.; 0
23. Sofie Andersson, n.r., 75.66 (#314); 0
24. Carolina Llano, n.r., 75.25 (n.r. [too few events]); 0

Check Out Who's Playing in the LET's Final Qualifying Tournament

2012-01-13T00:00:00.000-05:00

The LET's Q-School enters its final stage this coming Sunday and a host of former or current LPGAers, along with many Futures Tour, SunCoast Series, and Cactus Tour regulars, are entered in the Final Qualifying Tournament, which also includes those who made it into the top 35 (and ties) from Group A and Group B in the Pre-Qualifying Tournament that concluded earlier this week.

Here's an alphabetical list:

Dori Carter (#97 on LPGA Priority Status List)
Esther Choe (Group A medallist)
Carlota Ciganda (#257 on LPGA Priority Status List)
Valentine Derrey (#158 on LPGA Priority Status List)
Kendall Dye
Jodi Ewart (#101 on LPGA Priority Status List)
Meaghan Francella (#98 on LPGA Priority Status List)
Benedikte Grotvedt
Stefanie Kenoyer
Caroline Larsson
Jennie Lee (#95 on LPGA Priority Status List)
Camila Lennarth
Amelia Lewis (#139 on LPGA Priority Status List)
Miriam Nagl
Whitney Neuhauser
Garrett Phillips
Dawn Shockley
Karin Sjodin (#114 on LPGA Priority Status List)
Alison Whitaker
Jessica Yadloczky
Heather Bowie Young (#70 on LPGA Priority Status List)

Looks like the youngsters are looking to pursue the Caroline Hedwall track, Francella and Sjodin the Julieta Granada track, and Young the rare veteran game-revival track via dual LPGA-LET membership! Let's see who gets full membership, who gets partial membership, and who gets nothing....

A Hitchhiker's Guide to the 2012 LPGA Priority Status List

2012-01-12T07:00:00.000-05:00

Just as the LPGA announced their 2012 schedule, they also released the new priority status list that establishes members' access to regular, full-field events. Actually, last December, Seoul Sisters.com com regular IceCat noticed that the new list went live early on LPGA.com, and produced his own analysis of it, from which I'm drawing to do mine. Here's his take in its entirety:

There are five medical exemptions (including JJ) within Category 1, meaning that there are 85 players instead of 80 in the coveted position. Laura Davies is the lone player in Category 2 (Career Top 20), while Helen Alfredsson and Ji Young Oh are in Category 4 (Multiple Wins In The Past 2 Years). Next on the list is Eunjung Yi, who holds a medical exemption in Category 6 (One Win In The Past 2 Years), followed by the two Category 7s (2011 non-member winners So Yeon Ryu and Alexis Thompson) and the Top Five from the 2011 Futures Tour Money List (Category 9 - Kathleen Ekey, Lisa Ferrero, Mo Martin, Sydnee Michaels and Jane Rah).

Grace holds position #92 in Category 11, but as sort of revenge for the 2004 Kraft Nabisco Championship (or more likely just a coincidence) Aree Song was shoehorned in between her and #91 Junthima Gulyanamitta, who was the Q-school medalist, by way of a medical exemption. Grace's true Priority List position thus becomes #99, while Jin Young Pak, who finished #82 on the 2011 Money List, becomes listed #94/actual #101, just ahead of another medical exemption Irene Cho. There's a third medical further down in Category 11.

Jelly is the lone player in Category 12 (Top 40 Two Years Prior), putting her at listed #130/actual #139. The next player on the list is the lone occupant of Category 14 (Career Top 40), Laura Diaz. Anyone in Category 15 and below probably can't count on more than a handful of starts in 2012, and at listed #148/actual #159 Jeehae Lee decided to rejoin the real world and put away her clubs.

Let's slow down and unpack IceCat's take by reviewing the key categories of membership on the LPGA. Category 1, for the top 80 on the money list from 2011, includes 85 golfers. Who are the lucky additions (or unlucky, if you consider that while some of them got medical exemptions for happy reasons like a maternity leave, others are coming back from injuries or worse)?

(25a) Karine Icher
(41a) Jeong Jang
(52a) Nicole Castrale
(74a) Janice Moodie
(75a) Maria Hernandez

Next on the list is the lone Category 2 player, a player in the top 20 on career money list who decided to exercise one of her 2-time exemptions into this category, someone following in the footsteps of Meg Mallon, Lorie Kane, and Liselotte Neumann, among others:

(81) Laura Davies

Category 3 includes major winners in the past 5 years who have played at least 10 tournaments in the last 2, which includes exactly...nobody in 2012 (nobody not already in Category 1, that is).

Category 4 is made up of players who have won at least twice in the past 4 seasons and played at least 10 events in the past 2 without getting into a higher priority status category. That would include, um, 2 players:

(82) Helen Alfredsson

(83) Ji Young Oh

Alfredsson was focusing on her television career in 2011; I wonder how many times she'll tee it up in 2012?

Then we skip a couple of categories (no new winners in 2010 yet or 3-time winners in a single season who aren't already in a higher priority status category) down to #6, which includes players who have won once in the last 2 seasons:

(83a) Eunjung Yi

Hmm, another medical exemption. Her last (and only) win came in 2009 at the now-returning Farr event, so it's fitting she's also returning in 2012!

We actually have 2 exciting non-member winners from 2011 in Category 7, who will probably be the top 2 rivals for Rookie of the Year in 2012:

(84) So Yeon Ryu
(85) Lexi Thompson

Skipping again (since no events have been played in 2010, it's impossible for anyone from a lower category to jump into Category 8 via getting into the top 40 of the 2012 money list in 2011) down to Category 9, here are the proud top 5 from the 2011 Futures Tour money list:

(86) Kathleen Ekey

(87) Lisa Ferrero

(88) Mo Martin

(89) Sydnee Michaels

(90) Jane Rah

I'd really like to see this list expanded to 10 to give more opportunities to young players.

There's nobody in Category 10, as no non-members would have made the top 80 on the money list in 2011 who didn't already secure a higher status by winning, but we do get a neat clarification of what winnings are eligible for being counted towards this threshold: those that come in "official LPGA co-sponsored domestic tournaments with field[s] of seventy-five (75) or more." Sorry, couldn't resist correcting that grammar there (although it might make more sense to turn it singular: "any official LPGA co-sponsored domestic tournament with a field of seventy-five [75] or more.")

In any case, we then approach the last of the categories that will guarantee you entry into just about any full-field event you want, Category 11, which is made up of players who finished from #81 to #100 on the 2011 LPGA money list and from #1 to #20 in the 2011 LPGA Q-School. Here's where things get interesting, for two reasons.

First, the LPGA apparently took Hound Dog's and my critiques of the way they handled membership in this category for the 2009 season and have offered a clarification of what happens when someone gets higher priority status with her Q-School finish than her money list finish (unfortunately failing to cut that 1st comma from previous priority lists in the process).

However, if a player No. 81-100 on the LPGA Official Money List at the end of the last official LPGA tournament of the previous year, improves her status within this category by way of her finish in the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament, she will assume the higher priority status. Her lower priority status will be assumed by the next available player within this category from the LPGA Official Money List of the previous year who has also not improved her status via the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament.

Their clarifying example is indeed illuminating (although unfortunately they fix only one of the 3 typos I've previously noted):

Example: A player finishes 95th on the LPGA Official Money List at the end of the last official LPGA tournament of the previous year. She competes in the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament and finishes 1st. She assumes the higher priority status within this category and vacates her lower priority status position, which is then assumed by the player who finishes 96th on the LPGA Money List of the previous year. If the player who finishes 96th on the LPGA Official Money List also improves her position within this category via the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament, the player who finished 97th on the LPGA Official Money List will assume the vacated priority status by the [player] who finished 95th and the player who finished 98th will assume the priority status vacated by the player who finished 96th[,] etc.

As it turns out, there were no players already in Category 11 in this season's Q-School, so they didn't need to use this clarification this time around. But it's good to have it.

So here's how Category 11 looks for 2012:

(91) Junthima Gulyanmitta

(91a) Aree Song

(92) Grace Park

(93) Christine Song

(94) Jin Young Pak

(94a) Irene Cho

(95) Jennie Lee

(96) Marcy Hart

(97) Dori Carter

(98) Meaghan Francella

(98a) Wendy Doolan

(99) Karlin Beck

(100) Sarah Kemp

(101) Jodi Ewart

(102) Gwladys Nocera

(103) Sandra Changkija

(104) Lorie Kane

(105) Maude-Aimee Leblanc

(106) Sarah Jane Smith

(107) Rebecca Lee-Bentham

(108) Pernilla Lindberg

(109) Meredith Duncan

(110) Ilhee Lee

(111) Minea Blomqvist

(112) Jessica Korda

(113) Cydney Clanton

(114) Karin Sjodin

(115) Angela Oh

(116) Haru Nomura

(117) Stephanie Kono

(118) Giulia Sergas

(119) Victoria Tanco

(120) Silvia Cavalleri

(121) Ayaka Kaneko

(122) Shi Hyun Ahn

(123) Tanya Dergal

(124) Jane Park

(125) Hannah Yun

(126) Na On Min

(127) Elisa Serramia

(128) Taylor Leon

(129) Lizette Salas

Since there are 9 medical exemptions, Salas is really at #138, which means that (and this is my 2nd interesting thing about this category) she may have trouble getting into a full-field event that's smaller than the standard 144-player field.

As opposed to previous years, though, the lone Category 12er, Jee Young Lee, and the lone Category 14er, Laura Diaz, don't find themselves as close to the edge of that magic number as those in previous years, as they're listed at #130 and #131 but actually are at #139 and #140. While it's possible they'll have trouble getting into a few events, the real bubble girls are the Category 15ers, who finished #101 through #125 on the '11 LPGA money list:

(132) Stephanie Sherlock

(132a) Diana D'Alessio

(133) Michele Redman

(134) Mariajo Uribe

(135) Stephanie Louden

(136) Moira Dunn

(136a) Michelle Ellis
(137) Ashli Bunch

(138) Anna Grzebien

(139) Amelia Lewis

(140) Yoo Kyeong Kim

(141) Jessica Shepley

(142) Danah Bordner

(143) Samantha Richdale

(143a) Jill McGill

(144) Beth Bader

(145) Jenny Suh

(146) Nicole Hage

(147) Louise Stahle

(147a) Mikaela Parmlid

(148) Jeehae Lee [retired]

(149) Jennifer Rosales

This is a good mix of veterans and newbies. While most of them will have to get lucky to get into an event, there are always some players who skip a tournament they're eligible for, so it'll be interesting to see how far down this list the LPGA goes in 2012. Rosales is actually #162, so it's hard to imagine she'll get into all that many, short of Monday qualifying.

Category 16 includes those who finished #21 to #30 at LPGA Q-School in 2011:

(150) Veronica Felibert

(151) Lacey Agnew

(152) Sophia Sheridan

(153) Min Seo Kwak

(153a) Nannette Hill

(154) Paola Moreno

(155) Jacqui Concolino

(156) Mi Hyang Lee

(157) Patcharajutar Kongkraphan

Kongkraphan at actual #171 will be spending the vast majority of her time on the Symetra Tour in 2012, as will the players in Category 17 who finished #6 to #10 on the Futures Tour money list in 2011:

(158) Valentine Derrey

(159) Hanna Kang

(160) Jenny Gleason

(161) Tze-Chi Lin

I still believe that the gap in status between #5 and #6 on the Futures Tour is too large. If the LPGA doesn't want to expand Category 9 to 10 spots, why not give these players Category 15 status and turn the current Categories 15, 16, and 20 into a mirror image of Category 11? That way, those finishing between #21 and #45 at Q-School could be shuffled among those who finished between #101 and #125 on the money list. Right now, because the current Category 20ers (#31 through #40 and ties at Q-School) are stuck behind mostly-firmly-retired past champions, including Lorena Ochoa in Category 18 (made up of anyone in the top 80 of the money list in the last 3 years who also has a win in that span) and Dorothy Delasin, Kris Tschetter, Jackie Gallagher-Smith, and Birdie Kim in Category 19 (the only ones in it to have played on tour in the last 2 years), their status looks much worse than it really is:

(255) Mitsuki Katahira

(256) Thidapa Suwannapura
(257) Carlota Ciganda
(258) Izzy Beisiegel
(259) Kirby Dreher
(260) Juliana Murcia Ortiz
(261) Katy Harris
(262) Danielle Kang

If my proposed change had been put into effect for this year, then several additional players from Q-School would have been the last players to be shuffled into that new Category 16 I'm proposing. Since many players who finished between #21 and #45 in Q-School also finished between #101 and #125 on the money list, the shuffling would be a little complicated. But in any case they all would be behind the new Category 15ers, those who finished #6 through #10 on the Futures Tour money list in 2011, who would have become the new bubble girls of 2012.

I guess it comes down to whether you think finishing just outside the top 100 of the LPGA money list, just outside the top 5 of the Futures Tour money list, or just outside the top 20 of the Final Qualifying Tournament is a bigger achievement. Personally, I think that in 2012 there should be more of a reward for doing well on the Symetra Tour, more of a penalty for falling outside the top 100 of the LPGA money list, and more of a premium put on improving your status via Q-School. In fact, building on a post from December 2010, here's the full range of changes I'd like to see in the next priority status list:

Reduce Category 1 from the top 80 on the previous season's money list to the top 70.
Change Category 7 so that any non-member who wins--amateur or pro, older or younger than 18--is eligible for full membership immediately or in the following season.
Expand Category 8 from the top 40 on the current season's money list to the top 50--as calculated after every 7 events rather than using the current reshuffles for those in Category 15 and lower after the 8th and 14th events on the 2012 schedule.
Expand Category 9 from the top 5 on the previous season's Symetra Tour money list to the top 10.
Change Category 10 from non-members who would have made the top 80 on the previous season's money list via their maximum 6 sponsor exemptions into domestic full-field non-major events into non-members who would have made the top 70 on the previous season's money list in their maximum 4 sponsor exemptions into domestic full-field non-major events and maximum 2 sponsor exemptions into international limited-field non-major events. Any non-member who qualifies via this category is waived from having to meet the LPGA's minimum age requirement for membership.
Expand Category 11 to players ranked between #71 and #100 on the previous season's money list and the top 30 players from the previous season's Q-School using the same shuffling system as already exists.
Change Category 15 to include those who finished between #11 and #15 on the previous season's Symetra Tour money list.
Use the same system as exists in Category 11 for the new Category 16, which would shuffle those who finished between #101 and #130 on the money list in with those who finished between #31 and #60 from the previous season's Final Qualifying Tournament.
Put all the various veterans' allowances after Category 16.

In my system, assuming nobody takes advantage of any medical, non-member, career, or recent wins or winnings exemptions, you'd have 70 players in Category 1, 10 in Category 9, and 60 in Category 11, for a total of 140 players with a good shot at getting into any regular event. But you'd put a much higher premium on doing well on the Symetra Tour and only then increase opportunities for those in Q-School to skip ahead of those who couldn't make the top 70 on the LPGA money list. In effect, you'd be giving more incentives for low-priority-status LPGAers to focus on the Symetra Tour rather than ditching the LPGA/Symetra system and trying their luck on the JLPGA, KLPGA, or LET. You'd also be encouraging those who finished closer to #100 than #71 on the LPGA money list to improve their status by playing in Q-School. The increased competitiveness at Q-School, then, would help justify expanding access to higher-priority status to 10 more players than under the current system. And it gives a bigger margin for error for both struggling LPGAers and hot shots from the NCAA and from other tours (while ratcheting up the pressure on them). Plus, given that higher-status players skip LPGA events for all sorts of reasons, there still would be a premium on, and a reward for, getting close to those magic numbers of #100 and #30 on the money list and at Q-School, respectively.

Yes, doing all this wouldn't have saved the big names in this year's Category 20 like Kang, Ciganda, and Katahira, but who knows if they wouldn't have played just a little bit better at Q-School if they had been fighting to make the top 30 instead of the top 20? Even if they hadn't, wouldn't they be better off in the high 100s rather than the high 200s on the priority status list? Wouldn't it send a signal to young players around the world that the LPGA is lowering barriers to membership and giving them every chance to play their way in? If the tour has truly turned a corner in 2012 and can be expected to be in expansion mode in the next several years, now is the time to increase the odds that even more of the best female golfers on the planet want to make it their home.

A Hitchhiker's Guide to the LPGA's 2012 Schedule--and Beyond

2012-01-11T06:54:00.002-05:00

I wholeheartedly agree with Tony Jesselli that the long-awaited announcement of the 2012 LPGA schedule is full of great news. When you compare the new schedule to those from 2009, 2010, and 2011, the improvements are striking. The LPGA now has 27 official tournaments scheduled for 2012, without having to include any shaky ones this time around (you'll notice there's no Tres Marias event listed and not even a TBA for a China event). What else stands out about the 2012 schedule? And what could it become in future years? Let's take a look.

The late winter is starting to look a bit healthier. I've been calling for years for the LPGA to bulk up its early-spring schedule with co-sponsorships with other major women's professional tours. While the return to Australia by co-sponsoring the Women's Australian Open with the ALPG doesn't exactly fit this model, it's definitely a step in the right direction. For the future, I'd still love to see newly-created co-sponsored events with the JLPGA and KLPGA (in late February and early March) extend the lead-up to the HSBC Women's Champions (in mid-March), but I understand that would involve convincing 2 tours which like the way they kick off their own seasons to create limited-field opportunities for their top golfers (to make room for the LPGA's best).

There's still room for improvement in the transition from the early Asian swing to the start of the domestic schedule. I'm as excited about the LPGA's return to Hawaii as anyone, but I'm not so thrilled with the placement of the event 17 days after the Kraft Nabisco Championship, with only 5 days between its finish and the start of the Mobile Bay Classic in Alabama. The obvious place the LPGA LOTTE Championship Presented by J-Golf should go is the week after the HSBC Women's Champions. This would not only improve travel for the players, but also push LPGA's Phoenix-to-California 3-event swing well into April, with room for the creation of, say, the San Antonio event that Lorena Ochoa has been pushing for, to break up the trip from the Southwest to the Southeast (whether or not the Tres Marias is kaput for good).

The outlines of regional mini-swings within the U.S. are starting to emerge. As I noted before, the LPGA has a nice Southwestern mini-swing to kick off the 2012 domestic schedule. And it seems to be setting up the foundation for a Southeastern mini-swing in May by, say, moving the LPGA's return to Kingsmill, which is awkwardly placed the week before the RICOH Women's British Open in September 2012, back to the spring to follow on the Mobile Bay Classic and, say, the new Florida event than Annika Sorenstam's been pushing for, as well as act as the transition to the LPGA's already-existing Northeastern mini-swing, which culminates in the Wegmans LPGA Championship after a couple of events in New Jersey. I'd like to see the new Waterloo event be better integrated into this visit to the Northeast in future years. Perhaps the LPGA could free up some space in the late spring by tranforming the unoffical HSBC LPGA Brasil Cup into an official kickoff event to the season sometime before the 2016 Olympics? That way they could still have a 4-event mini-swing to the Northeast in May and June, but keep some separation between their 2nd and 3rd majors by making the Walmart and Farr events a Midwestern entry into a somewhat later U.S. Women's Open (if the USGA cooperates). And with The Evian becoming a major in 2013 and moving to mid-September (where the Women's British Open will most likely stay), there's plenty of room to do that and build in a Northwestern mini-swing via the Safeway Classic and CN Canadian Women's Open (with the Navistar somewhat awkwardly appended to it), as a lead-in to either the European swing or the fall Asian swing. Heck, there's even room to expand the Midwestern and Northwestern mini-swings with new events as opportunities arise.

There's even room for improvement in the late Asian swing. The LPGA's mini-swing from Malaysia to Korea to Taiwan to Japan could be augmented in various ways after 2012. Another Hawaii event at its beginning (if the NW mini-swing leads into it) or its end (my preferred solution if the LPGA decides to move from Europe straight to Asia) wouldn't be bad. A real-life, actual China event would be cool to kick off that latter kind of Europe-to-Asia swing.

What about a mini-Americas swing to conclude the season? It wouldn't be that hard to create. If the Brasil Cup organizers don't like kicking off the LPGA season, what if their event were moved back to November to precede Lorena's and, say, a new event in the Caribbean? What if it were to become the vehicle for that team-event concept that Mike Whan has been talking up in recent months, to drum up further interest in the 2016 Olympics and to add Solheim Cup-style spice at the end as well as near the beginning of the LPGA's European/Asian sojourns? Heck, the lead-up to the CME Titleholders could even include 1 or 2 more domestic events that fit the "mini-Americas" concept (perhaps the Navistar better belongs here?). Yes, doing all this would involve extending the LPGA schedule past Thanksgiving, starting in January, or both, but what's wrong with that? Wouldn't a 36-to-39-tournament schedule (when you add up all the additions I'm calling for) be worth it?

So, yes, Virginia, the 2012 schedule is the best I've seen in years for the LPGA. But I'd love to see Mike Whan and his team come up with a fuller schedule that makes even more sense in terms of travel and weather. My idea--going from Southeast Asia to Hawaii to the U.S. Southwest and Southeast in the late winter and early spring, from the U.S. Northeast to the Midwest to the Northwest in late spring and early summer, from Europe to East Asia in the late summer and fall, and back to a concluding mini-Americas swing from Hawaii to Brazil to Mexico to the Caribbean to the U.S. Southeast in the late fall and early winter--capitalizes on the global strengths of the best women's professional tour on the planet while raising the number of U.S. events from 15 in 2012 to as many as 21 by 2016.

Now, a lot's going to have to go right for this vision to become a reality, there are some bugs to be worked out (making sure there's always a window left open for the Solheim Cup and the Olympics, for instance), and there are even more ways to improve on it (for example, I'm still hoping that the JLPGA's/KLPGA's Pinx-Kyoraku Cup will be synchronized with the Solheim Cup in odd-numbered years and lead up to world team championships among the 4 top women's tours in even-numbered years, with winners and losers of each regional match-play team event facing off against each other).

But wouldn't it be great for the LPGA to put together a sustainable 21st-century schedule as awesome as its players are?

[Update 1 (7:33 am): Here are more stories/reactions from Steve DiMeglio, Ron Sirak, Stephanie Wei, and Emily Kay.]

[Update 2 (1/12/12, 2:36 am): And here's Randall Mell, Beth Ann Baldry, Brent Kelley, Ruthless Mike, and Armchair Golfer.]

2012 LPGA Schedule Finally Announced.

2012-01-11T00:38:00.005-05:00

It was worth the wait. Commissioner Michael Whan and the LPGA have finally released the 2012 schedule. Whan who promised more tournaments in 2012, came through with flying colors as the ladies will be playing 27 tournaments this year, up from the 23 that were played last year. Here are some of the highlights of the new schedule:

The LPGA renewed eight of the nine contracts that expired at the end of 2011. The State Farm Classic was the only tournament not renewed.

After a one-year absence, the LPGA will return to Toledo, Ohio for the Jamie Farr Toledo Classic Presented by Kroger, Owens Corning and O-I.

The ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open, an LPGA event for the first time this year, will kick off the season in February.

The Manulife Financial LPGA Classic in Waterloo, Ontario, will make its debut at the end of June.

The LPGA returns to Hawaii with the playing of the LPGA Lotte Championship Presented by J Golf. That tournament will be held on the island of Oahu in the middle of April.

The biggest surprise was the announcement of the Kingsmill Championship in Williamsburg, Va. This tournament will be played the first week of September, after a two-year absence.

An increase in total purse money from $40.4 million in 2011 to $47 million in 2012.

100 percent of Golf Channel’s weekend telecasts of the LPGA’s North American tournaments will have live weekend coverage and the percentage of overall live telecasts is projected to be at least 90 percent.

The RR Donnelley LPGA Founders Cup has been changed from 54 holes to 72 holes and will have a $1.5 million purse.

The LPGA also stated that the tour is showing strong gains in its fan base as well. In 2011, viewership on Golf Channel increased 29 percent across all tournaments and 38 percent for North American events versus 2010.

The Tour also announced new Japanese television rights partnerships with WOWOW. I am hoping that will result in television coverage for the Mizuno Classic.

My congratulations go out to Michael Whan, who promised results when he took over as commissioner, and has delivered.

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2011 LPGA Highlights

2012-01-10T00:30:00.012-05:00

As I wait here very impatiently for the LPGA to announce the 2012 schedule, I would like to look back at my biggest highlights of 2011.

I have narrowed my list to ten, although I know there were many more. Of course this list is very subjective, depending on who your favorite golfers are. A highlight for me may be a lowlight to someone else, if the golfer they were rooting for lost. I tend to put special emphasis on first-time winners.

So in reverse order, here we go:

10-Hee Young Park wins the Titleholders Championship. It took her longer than I thought (4 years and 79 tournaments), but she beat the best in the final tournament of the year.

9- LPGA announces 5th major. The Evian Masters will become the tour's 5th major, starting in 2013.

8- Sportsmanship shown in a competitive environment. Tiffany Joh becomes my first example. At the Navistar Classic, Tiffany had cut Lexi Thompson's 5-stroke lead to 2 strokes late in the 4th round. Lexi then made the shot of the tournament, putting her ball on the green just inches from the hole, pretty much sealing the victory. Tiffany, who was paired with Lexi, turned to her opponent and gave her (and the TV audience) a great big smile and laugh. You would never have known that it had eliminated any chance of her getting her first win. My second example was when Hee Young Park sank a putt on the 18th hole to beat Sandra Gal. Sandra actually ran up to Park, and was the first to congratulate her on her first LPGA victory.

7- Yani Tseng winning in Taiwan. The pressure was enormous, she was expected to win in her home country. That is not usually a good combination for winning. As we all know by now, Yani won it going away.

6- Watching Yani Tseng dominate. I tend to start rooting against a player when they start to dominate the way Yani did this year. I like to see more ladies win, as I am a believer in spreading the wealth. That said, I still have to put this high on my list as we experienced something truly special.

5- The Solheim Cup. The team I was rooting for lost. That did not change the fact that we got to see such quality golf. It was fiercely competitive, and made us look forward to the 2016 Olympics.

4- Sandra Gal wins the Kia Classic. This one came out of nowhere, setting the tone for Sandra's 2011 season. It was probably the most exciting finish of the year, as Sandra birdied 18 to take down "the final round queen," Jiyai Shin.

3- New Tournaments announced for 2012. We haven't seen the new schedule yet, but we know for sure it is going to be big news. We know losing the State Farm event, and getting the Jamie Farr back, will cancel each other out. Three new tournaments have already been announced in Canada, Australia, and Hawaii. Look for one or two more when the schedule is finally announced.

2- Stacy Lewis wins the Kraft Nabisco. We knew she was going to win soon. I also suspected it would be in 2011. Making her first win a major was certainly a surprise. Coming from behind and taking down Yani Tseng sure wasn't expected.

1- Lexi Thompson becomes youngest winner in LPGA history. I had no trouble at all putting this on the top of my list. Lexi won the Navistar Classic at the age of 16. We may not see that again in our lifetime. To show that it was no fluke (not that anyone actually thought it was), she won again on the European tour 2 months later.

Those are my top ten highlights. Feel free to add your own.

Rolex Rankings Movers of the week:
With no golf being played, the rankings are adjusting to the rolling 2-year period only. The biggest movement was in the top 10 as:

Stacy Lewis moved from #10 to #9.
Brittany Lincicome enters the top ten at #10.
Ai Miyazato took the biggest fall, dropping out of the top ten for the first time in awhile. She drops from #9 to #11.

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Ranking the LPGA's Rookie Class of 2007

2012-01-09T09:44:00.000-05:00

Having recently reviewed the careers of the LPGA's rookie class of 2006, it's time to update last February's ranking of the Class of 2007--or what I'm starting to think of as "The Incredible Shrinking Rookie Class."

Simply the Best

1. In-Kyung Kim: Whenever you drop from #3 on tour in greens in regulation (as she was in 2010) to #56 (in 2011), it's going to be hard to have a very good year, yet Inky still came close to breaking the $1M barrier, kept making birdies at a very fast pace, and kept her scoring average low, so I'd say she hung in there really well last season. Yes, she didn't get her 4th LPGA victory, but she had 4 top 3s, 10 top 10s, and 16 top 20s in 21 starts. Very sucessful by most players' standards, yet I'll bet it was still disappointing to her. Let's see if she comes out with some extra motivation and intensity early in 2012!
2. Song-Hee Kim: Yes, she made over $350K in season winnings in 2011, so her year wasn't a total wash, but her scoring average jumped over 2 full strokes from 2010, when she was clearly the best player on tour without a win. So let's just say she won't be at the top of that particular ranking once I get around to updating it. Sure, she limited the major damage to only 3 missed cuts in a row in the middle of the season, but when one of the best players on tour gets only 1 top 3, 2 top 10s, and 4 top 20s in 21 starts, you know there's something seriously wrong with her game. From looking at her key performance stats, I'd say her putter wasn't hot enough to save her from some seriously wonky ball-striking by her standards. Will she right the ship in 2012 or drop into the 2nd major slump of her career? To be sure, drops are what characterized last season: from #2 on tour in greens in regulation in '10 to #49 in '11, from #4 in the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index to #54, from #9 in the Rolex Rankings to #30.... Here's hoping those trends reverse for her in the coming season.
3. Eun-Hee Ji: She didn't return to the top 20 on the LPGA in 2011 like I predicted before the start of that season, but she did continue her slow ascent from the depths of the U.S. Women's Open jinx. It's going to be a tough choice whether I'll pick her in my 2012 top 30 predictions.
4. Inbee Park: She had the 2nd-best 2011 of her rookie class, but it wasn't as impressive as 2010, where she rocked both the LPGA and JLPGA. She remained a dual member in 2011, but was steady rather than spectacular on both tours. Still, at the rate she's going, she'll pass Ji in this ranking in 2012.

The Contender

5. Kristy McPherson: After elbow surgery before the start of the 2011 season, expectations were pretty low for this precision player, but she got her ball-striking back and kept her card. If she can get her putter going in 2012, she should have a great year.

Quantum Leap Candidates

6. Ji Young Oh: If 2010 was a "huge step backward," as I put it last February, what should I call 2011, when she made only 1 cut in 11 starts? How about "free fall"?
7. Jane Park: I'll say what I said last time around again: "Although I still believe she can be a top player in her class and on the LPGA, I'm worried that her back problems are so chronic and severe that she'll never realize her potential." It's hard to stay optimistic about someone who missed 5 cuts in a row in the 2nd half of the season, but I'm going to hope against hope that both she and Tiffany Joh make the 2013 Solheim Cup team!
8. Na On Min: She took a big step back in 2011, barely squeaking into the top 100 on the money list after missing 8 cuts in a row in the 1st half of the season.
9. Paige Mackenzie: In December '09, I asked, "If she ever figures out that she could have a Cristie Kerr-Angela Stanford-Brittany Lang quality game with a little more practice around and on the greens, who knows how good she could get?" Well, she bounced back from a terrible 2010 with a very good year off the tee in 2011, but she missed 4 cuts in a row in the 2nd half of the season and couldn't get the quality from her irons and putter that she needed for a really good year. Still, she made a move in the right direction when most of her peers were faltering, so she's got some decent momentum heading into 2012.

On the Bottom Looking Up

10. Irene Cho: She had plenty of opportunities to play in 2011 based on the priority status list, but didn't tee it up a single time. I'm assuming she'll be getting a medical exemption for 2012, but I don't know for sure. Signed up with Golf Belles in November 2011 to serve on their advisory board. [Update (1/11/12): Yup, she did get that medical exemption. Here's hoping she comes back strong!]

On the Outside Looking In

11. Jin Joo Hong: She decided to concentrate on the KLPGA full-time in 2011 and I expect she'll stay there in 2012.
12. Sophie Giquel-Bettan: After finishing #22 on the LET money list in 21 starts last season, she's got her career moving in the right direction again.
13. Charlotte Mayorkas: On twitter last February she told me she's recovering from a wrist injury and playing professionally in Canada.
14. Seo-Jae Lee: Is she back on the KLPGA or out of professional golf? Even Seoul Sisters.com lists her status as unknown!
15. Su A Kim: I believe she's still on the KLPGA.

Over and Out

16. Angela Park: From Rookie of the Year to no LPGA status in only 4 years is a very sad story. In 2011, we heard that she was closing the books on her professional golfing career. Even sadder!
17. Becky Lucidi: Don't know what she's up to.
18. Jeanne Cho-Hunicke: Seoul Sisters.com has her as an assistant coach at Duke as of 2010. She's listed as Jeanne Cho on the team's site.
19. Sarah Lynn Sargent: Associate Head Coach at Coastal Carolina.
20. Cindy Pasechnik: She should have finished up her MBA at the University of Calgary by now.

For your reference--and mine--here are the stats on which I'm basing the January 2012 ranking.

2011 LPGA Money List (rank), scoring average (rank), birdies per round average (rank [in total birdies]), greens in regulation rate (rank): I focus on four key indicators of how well someone was playing last season--how much money they made, how they scored, how many birdies they averaged per round, and how many greens they hit in regulation on average per round, plus how they rank in each category (except for birdies, which LPGA.com ranks by total and not by average). I figure I can figure out how well they're hitting their irons and putting by comparing the last three figures, so I don't include putts per green in regulation here. Some of the figures Hound Dog thinks are the most important I'm looking at in the career stats (below), where I think they belong. These stats are all about the present and future (although with so many events out of the country, it would be nice for the LPGA to collect performance stats there, too!).

NAME/$$/SCORING AVE./BIRDIES PER ROUND/GREENS IN REGULATION
1. In-Kyung Kim, $.89M (#11), 71.01 (#8), 3.69 (#10), 65.8% (#56)
2. Inbee Park, $365.2K (#31), 72.00 (#27), 3.33 (#47), 68.1% (#29)
3. Song-Hee Kim, $350.4K (#33), 72.62 (#46), 3.16 (#21), 66.1% (#49)
4. Paige Mackenzie, $184.4K (#47), 72.60 (#45), 2.80 (#57), 62.2% (#97)
5. Eun-Hee Ji, $181.7K (#48), 72.25 (#32), 2.94 (#45), 67.2% (#37)
6. Kristy McPherson, $157.0K (#56), 72.65 (#49), 2.85 (#38), 69.7% (#18)
7. Jane Park, $742.3K (#98), 74.12 (#110), 2.53 (#97), 59.2% (#127)
8. Na On Min, $41.6K (#99), 74.29 (#118), 2.62 (#94), 60.7% (#116)
9. Ji Young Oh, $5.5K (#148), 74.42 (#124), 2.67 (#115), 58.3% (#131)

Career LPGA Money List (rank), # of LPGA events started/majors/wins/top 3s/top 10s/top 20s/withdrawals/disqualifications/missed cuts/finished events (rate): About the only thing these stats are useful for is comparing people who entered the LPGA in the same year (although if you count generations by 3 years, it can be interesting). Between inflation, changing purses, and length/timing of careers, it's very hard to compare and contrast winnings across generations of LPGA greats. Fortunately the Class of 2007 all started at the same time, so the career money list is a decent stat for comparing them, even if it's a bit unfair to players who have not been exempt every season (although that in itself is an indication of how someone's career has been going!). What would really be great is if we had a world money list in inflation-adjusted dollars, with inflation- and exchange-adjusted other cash denominations added in (or just totalled up separately to avoid comparing dollars and yen), which included all each golfer earned as a professional on any tour. But even the guys don't have that, so that'll have to remain a dream for now--although Thomas Atkins has posted an inflation-adjusted LPGA Career Top 50 as of the end of the 2008 season and a Best of All Time ranking over at Hound Dog LPGA). In any case, I include the other ways of seeing how the '07ers finished relative to their competition in the tournaments they entered because they reveal a lot about how well someone is able to compete at every level, from just making cuts to grinding out top 20s and top 10s to contending for wins. Many thanks to the LPGA for updating their 2011 Performance Chart after every event (although it would be nice for them to include the CME Titleholders in it)!

NAME/$$/STARTS/MAJORS/WINS/TOP3/TOP10/TOP20/WD/DQ/MC/FIN (RATE)
1. In-Kyung Kim, $4.56M (#40), 119/0/3/15/44/63/0/0/16/103 (.866)
2. Song-Hee Kim, $3.65M (#54), 111/0/0/11/36/54/0/0/18/94 (.849)
3. Inbee Park, $2.99M (#72), 111/1/1/5/25/37/1/1/20/89 (.802)
4. Eun-Hee Ji, $2.45M (#87), 96/1/2/5/15/26/0/3/14/79 (.823)
5. Angela Park, $2.12M (#103), 84/0/0/8/18/25/5/0/18/61 (.726)
6. Kristy McPherson, $1.88M (#117), 111/0/0/4/16/30/0/0/25/86 (.775)
7. Ji Young Oh, $1.49M (#131), 106/0/2/2/8/18/1/0/39/66 (.623)
8. Jane Park, $1.01M (#191), 85/0/0/3/6/11/4/1/22/58 (.682)
9. Na On Min, $.71M (#242), 85/0/0/1/3/9/1/0/30/54 (.635)
10. Jin Joo Hong, $.58M (#264), 60/0/0/0/2/7/6/0/17/37 (.617)
11. Paige Mackenzie, $.51M (#278), 86/0/0/0/2/6/0/0/37/49 (.570)
12. Irene Cho, $.44M (#300), 77/0/0/0/3/6/4/0/31/42 (.545)
13. Charlotte Mayorkas, $.28M (#358), 56/0/0/0/0/4/1/0/22/33 (.589)
14. Sophie Giquel-Bettan, $.12M (#487), 39/0/0/0/0/0/1/0/21/17 (.436)
15. Becky Lucidi $.10M (#507), 35/0/0/0/0/2/0/1/25/9 (.257)
16. Su A Kim, $.07M (#547), 26/0/0/0/0/0/1/0/13/12 (.462)
17. Seo-Jae Lee, $.07M (#552), 25/0/0/0/0/0/2/0/13/10 (.400)
18. Sarah Lynn Sargent, $.05M (#603), 26/0/0/0/0/0/14/12 (.462)
19. Jeanne Cho-Hunicke, $.02M (#687), 34/0/0/0/0/1/0/0/29/4 (.118)
20. Cindy Pasechnik, $.02M (#728), 19/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/14/5 (.263)

Other Career Measures: Rolex Rankings points (as of 1/2/12) and rank, Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index score (as of 1/8/12) and rank, International Wins (as of today): This is a way of seeing how those '07ers who sometimes or regularly or often compete on other tours stack up over the course of their careers to date (the RR includes results over the past 104 weeks on the LPGA, LET, JLPGA, KLPGA, and Futures Tour; the GSPI includes results over the past 52 weeks on all these tours except the KLPGA).

1. In-Kyung Kim, 6.76 (#8), 70.29 (#12); 1
2. Inbee Park, 4.57 (#23), 71.25 (#33); 3
3. Song-Hee Kim, 4.00 (#30), 71.78 (#54); 0
4. Kristy McPherson, 1.54 (#98), 72.15 (#70); 0
5. Eun-Hee Ji, 1.45 (#106), 71.63 (#47); 4
6. Paige Mackenzie, 1.18 (#132), 72.35 (#83); 0
7. Na On Min, .69 (#203), 74.30 (#216); 0
8. Jin Joo Hong, .61 (#227), ? (n.r.); 2
9. Sophie Giquel-Bettan, .59 (#232), 74.17 (#202); 1
10. Jane Park, .37 (#292), 74.19 (#205); 0
11. Ji Young Oh, .32 (#309), 75.69 (#316); 0
12. Irene Cho, .24 (#345), ? (n.r.); 0

Ranking the LPGA's Rookie Class of 2006

2012-01-06T16:00:00.000-05:00

The LPGA's rookie class of 2006 was the 1st that I started paying really close attention to as a group, at first because of the way in which Ai Miyazato dominated Q-School in late 2005 but over time because I became interested in the different kinds of career paths the various players followed. Given that I started blogging here at Mostly Harmless not long after the '06ers started on the LPGA, it was a pretty obvious move to start tracking how each member of the class was doing, both season-by-season and from season to season. By looking at key performance stats on an annual basis, from winnings and scoring average to birdies per round and greens in regulation, and combining those snapshots with an examination of career winnings, majors, wins, top 3s, top 10s, and top 20s, I developed a system for dividing the '06ers--and later rookie classes--into tiers and then ranking each player within her tier. Before I knew it, I had a career ranking system for immediate cohorts and for recent LPGA generations.

The last time I did this for the Class of 2006 was at the end of the 2010 season, so this review of the 2011 season's stats and updating of my rankings will also serve as a 2012 preview. Let's get right to it!

Simply the Best

1. Ai Miyazato: I argued after the 2010 season that "statistically speaking, at least, I would venture that she played better, more consistently excellent golf in 2009 than 2010" and attributed her 5-win breakout that year mainly to her putting. Unfortunately, my hope that "If she can improve her ball-striking and keep her putting anywhere near where it was last season, the sky's the limit for her," did not pan out in 2011. She did improve her ball-striking, but her putter went from white-hot to not-quite-hot. I'm sure the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear crisis in Japan had a lot to do with her struggles on the course and on the greens, but any year that an LPGAer gets a win and breaks the $1M barrier is a good one, so under the circumstances I'd call this one a great one for her--on the LPGA, that is. On the JLPGA, where she couldn't even finish in the top 50 on the money list in 6 starts and may well have lost her membership there for 2012, not so much. But from comments of hers that I've seen in the media, it seems she wants to focus on the LPGA this coming season. Here's hoping she has a fantastic year!
2. Morgan Pressel: She did everything but win in 2011. Even though her performance stats were down a touch from 2010, she was much more consistent overall and was rewarded with nearly $100K more in winnings as a result. The next step for her is to return to the winner's circle in 2012.
3. Seon Hwa Lee: The worst slump of her career got even worse in 2011, even though she gave up on her failed experiment in dual LPGA-JLPGA membership from the previous season. How bad was it? Well, in just one season her career average fell from making the cut in over 90% of her starts to 86%. Forget about being lapped by Ai Miyazato in wins, top 3s, and top 10s and passed by Morgan Pressel in top 20s--she just needs to start finishing more tournaments. If she doesn't, she'll have gone from one of the best players on the LPGA to a golfer who needs to return to the KLPGA to make a living in the sport.

The Contenders

4. Jee Young Lee: I don't know what happened to her near the end of the 2010 season, but whatever it was, it continued to bother her all 2011. How bad was her year? Well, at the end of 2010 she was ranked #17 in the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index, which looks back at the last 52 weeks of competition on all the major women's tours except the KLPGA. That's a pretty good year, especially considering she pretty much lost the last quarter or third of it. Where did she stand at the end of 2011? #237. Yikes! Looking at her stats, she lost everything this past season, from ball-striking to putting. Here's hoping she finds it in 2012--and fast!
5. Brittany Lang: She went from being in danger of being passed by Sun Young Yoo at the start of 2011 to being this close to passing Jee Young Lee at the start of 2012. If she can continue to improve her putting as she did in the 2nd half of last season, the sky's the limit for her this coming one!
6. Sun Young Yoo: It seems the class's late bloomer has hit a plateau, but steadiness at her latest level of performance is by no means a bad thing.

Quantum Leap Candidates

7. Julieta Granada: She maintained her dual LPGA-LET status by finishing 62nd on the LET money list in only 6 starts in 2011 (thanks in large part to a great showing in Dubai), but the big difference from the last few years was that she was able to carry her solid play overseas back to the LPGA, where she finished #61 on the money list and finally was able to avoid going back to Q-School. Her career winnings are inflated by that $1M payday she won in the last event of her rookie year, but even without it, I'd probably end up putting her back in this category after a year like 2011. Here's hoping her 2012 is even better!
8. Kyeong Bae: Kind of a blah year for a player who usually makes a lot more birdies than she did on the LPGA in 2011. Fell out of the top 100 in both the Rolex Rankings and Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index as a result.
9. Katie Futcher: Made Tony Jesselli's top 20 among those moving up the Rolex Rankings in 2011. Can she keep the positive momentum going in 2012?

On the Bottom Looking Up

10. Meaghan Francella: She slightly exceeded my expectations in 2011, comfortably staying in the top 100 on the LPGA money list and even coming close to making the top 80, but last season's +74 scoring average doesn't bode well for this coming season.
11. Minea Blomqvist: After using her medical exemption in 2011 due to her late return from maternity leave in 2010, she had a tough time making cuts, but she went back to Q-School and made the top 20, so she's got Category 11 status for 2012.
12. Karin Sjodin: She remained a good ball-striker in 2011, but struggled to stay in the top 100 of the LPGA's money list. Given that she's entered in LET Q-School's pre-qualifying tournament this week, it looks like she wants to go for dual membership next year. Let's see if it works out better for her in 2012 than it has for other Euro '06ers in recent years.
13. Sarah Jane Smith: Made the top 100 of the 2011 LPGA money list with room to spare, but needs to get it going in 2012 if she wants to stay on tour for the long run.

On the Outside Looking In

14. Teresa Lu: She decided to play full-time on the JLPGA in 2011, finishing #33 on their money list. The only LPGA events she entered were a couple of majors and the Mizuno Classic--kinda surprising she skipped the tour's 1st-ever event in her home country (hard to believe she didn't get offered a sponsor's invite). Will continue to play the JLPGA exclusively in 2012. Too bad, as she's definitely in the top 10 of her class based on her career stats.
15. Hye Jung Choi: Played full-time on the KLPGA in 2011 and won in late September, but I don't recall her doing anything else all that fantastic over there last season.
16. Linda Wessberg: She ended up 14th on the LET's 2011 money list and will be gunning for her 8th victory on that tour next season. If she can get it, I'll warrant that she's ready to take another shot at the LPGA in 2013.
17. Na Ri Kim: Another '06er flourishing on the JLPGA, she finished #23 on their money list last season and will be playing there full-time next season. I wonder if she's regaining the confidence needed to take another shot at the LPGA soon?
18. Allison Fouch Duncan: After a bad 2011, capped off by a T51 at LPGA Q-School, it's back to the Symetra Tour for her.
19. Nina Reis: Played the LET full-time in '09 and ended up 57th on their money list in 16 events; in '10, she dropped to 78th in 18 starts; now, I don't see her on their '11 list, even though she is still listed as an LET member. Despite that, I don't see her name on the entry list for LET Q-School's pre-qualifying tournament. Either she's exempt into the final qualifying tournament in a few weeks or got a medical exemption or is calling it quits. Anyone know what's going on with her?
20. Louise Stahle: Looks like she's pulling the plug again on the dual LPGA-LET membership thing after a bad 2011 in which she played only a handful of LPGA events but managed to finish #64 on the LET money list in 13 starts on that tour.
21. Veronica Zorzi: In 2009, she finished 29th on the LET money list in 14 starts; in 2010, she ended up 31st in 21 starts; this past year, she dropped all the way to #55 in 19 starts. I don't think she's coming back to the LPGA, and if this 3-year trend continues, she may well be struggling to continue her professional career when 2013 rolls around.
22. Danielle Downey: I seem to recall reading somewhere that she took a coaching position. If she's retired from professional golf, her last LPGA event will have been the P&G NW Arkansas Championship in September 2010.
23. Libby Smith: She lost trust in her driver in 2011 and had trouble breaking 80 far too often to get it back. I don't even know if she has Symetra Tour status in 2012. She's not entered in LET Q-School's pre-qualifying tournament, so is this the end of the line for her?

Over and Out

24. Virada Nirapathpongporn: Retired in 2011. Last event: Kapalua Classic in October 2008.
25. Kim Hall: Retired in 2010. Last event: LPGA Tour Championship in November 2009. Now VP of the LPGA's Board of Directors.
26. Ashley Hoagland Johnston: Retired in 2009. Last event: sometime in 2007 season.

***

For your reference--and mine--here are the stats on which I'm basing the January 2012 ranking.

2011 LPGA Money List (rank), scoring average (rank), birdies per round average (rank [in total birdies]), greens in regulation rate (rank): I focus on four key indicators of how well someone was playing last season--how much money they made, how they scored, how many birdies they averaged per round, and how many greens they hit in regulation on average per round, plus how they rank in each category (except for birdies, which LPGA.com ranks by total and not by average). I figure I can figure out how well they're hitting their irons and putting by comparing the last three figures, so I don't include putts per green in regulation here. Some of the figures Hound Dog thinks are the most important I'm looking at in the career stats (below), where I think they belong. These stats are all about the present and future (although with so many events out of the country, it would be nice for the LPGA to collect performance stats there, too, particularly when my favorite golfer has won so many times abroad!).

NAME/$$/SCORING AVE./BIRDIES PER ROUND/GREENS IN REGULATION
1. Ai Miyazato, $1.01M (#8), 71.63 (#18), 3.37 (#32), 65.6% (#59)
2. Morgan Pressel, $845.5K (#13), 71.34 (#14), 3.60 (#6), 67.0% (#40)
3. Brittany Lang, $627.7K (#19), 72.00 (#27), 3.37 (#12), 69.8% (#17)
4. Sun Young Yoo, $476.7K (#25), 72.04 (#29), 3.16 (#27), 67.0% (#44)
5. Katie Futcher, $373.6K (#30), 72.34 (#34), 2.77 (#51), 64.7% (#72)
6. Julieta Granada, $137.2K (#61), 73.16 (#69), 2.57 (#68), 63.9% (#88)
7. Kyeong Bae, $109.1K (#66), 73.65 (#90), 2.67 (#62), 65.5% (#64)
8. Seon Hwa Lee, $93.9K (#71), 73.45 (#82), 2.76 (#63), 61.7% (#107)
9. Meaghan Francella, $66.8K (#84), 74.23 (#116), 2.61 (#74), 66.7% (#44)
10. Sarah Jane Smith, $54.5K (#89), 74.05 (#107), 2.80 (#77), 64.8% (#70)
11. Karin Sjodin, $51.0K (#93), 74.03 (#106), 2.38 (#89), 67.1% (#38)
12. Minea Blomqvist, $25.0K (#112), 73.89 (#103), 2.56 (#110), 60.7% (#119)
13. Jee Young Lee, $22.6K (#116), 73.97 (#105), 2.68 (#92), 61.1% (#112)
14. Louise Stahle, $18.7K (#122), 73.67 (n.r.), ? (n.r.), ? (n.r.)
15. Allison Fouch Duncan, $10.4K (#139), 74.57 (#127), 2.43 (#123), 68.6% (#22)
16. Teresa Lu, $0 [official]/$56.5K [unofficial] (n.r.), 71.86 (n.r.), ? (n.r.), ? (n.r.)

Career LPGA Money List (rank), # of LPGA events started/majors/wins/top 3s/top 10s/top 20s/withdrawals/disqualifications/missed cuts/finished events (rate): About the only thing these stats are useful for is comparing people who entered the LPGA in the same year (although if you count generations by 3 years, it can be interesting). Between inflation, changing purses, and length/timing of careers, it's very hard to compare and contrast winnings across generations of LPGA greats. Fortunately, the members of the Class of 2006 started at the same time, even if some of them have not had full status every season (although that in itself is an indication of how someone's career has been going!). What would really be great is if we had a world money list in inflation-adjusted dollars, with inflation- and exchange-adjusted other cash denominations added in (or just totalled up separately to avoid comparing dollars and yen), which included all each golfer earned as a professional on any tour. But even the guys don't have that, so that'll have to remain a dream for now--although Thomas Atkins has posted an inflation-adjusted LPGA Career Top 50 as of the end of the 2008 season and a Best of All Time ranking over at Hound Dog LPGA). In any case, I include the other ways of seeing how the '06ers finished relative to their competition in the tournaments they entered because they reveal a lot about how well someone is able to compete at every level, from just making cuts to grinding out top 20s and top 10s to contending for wins. Many thanks to the LPGA for updating their 2011 Performance Chart after every event, although it would be nice for them to add the CME Titleholders to the chart! [Note: *=non-member win]

NAME/$$/STARTS/MAJORS/WINS/TOP3/TOP10/TOP20/WD/DQ/MC/FIN (RATE)
1. Ai Miyazato, $5.73M (#31), 131/0/7/16/45/67/1/0/18/112 (.855)
2. Morgan Pressel, $4.39M (#44), 143/1/2/12/42/71/0/0/15/128 (.895)
3. Seon Hwa Lee, $4.01M (#49), 150/0/4/11/30/61/2/0/19/129 (.860)
4. Jee Young Lee, $3.31M (#62), 139/0/1*/9/35/65/5/0/20/114 (.820)
5. Brittany Lang, $3.12M (#67), 151/0/0/7/34/59/0/0/30/121 (.801)
6. Sun Young Yoo, $2.80M (#76), 147/0/1/4/22/48/1/0/29/117 (.796)
7. Julieta Granada, $2.40M (#90), 144/0/1/5/12/24/0/1/55/78 (.542)
8. Kyeong Bae, $1.40M (#142), 134/0/0/2/10/22/5/0/39/90 (.672)
9. Meaghan Francella, $1.16M (#169), 111/0/1/1/7/15/0/0/38/73 (.658)
10. Teresa Lu, $1.13M (#173), 107/0/0/1/8/23/2/0/25/80 (.748)
11. Katie Futcher, $1.00M (#192), 120/0/0/1/7/16/0/1/36/83 (.692)
12. Hye Jung Choi, $.73M (#237), 84/0/0/0/8/12/2/0/26/56 (.667)
13. Minea Blomqvist, $.69M (#246), 97/0/0/1/3/8/1/1/44/51 (.526)
14. Karin Sjodin, $.66M (#251), 108/0/0/0/3/12/0/0/44/64 (.593)
15. Allison Fouch Duncan, $.60M (#266), 76/0/0/1/4/8/0/0/35/41 (.539)
16. Kim Hall, $.35M (#322), 74/0/0/1/3/4/0/0/44/30 (.405)
17. Linda Wessberg, $.34M (#329), 43/0/0/0/5/6/0/0/17/26 (.605)
18. Sarah Jane Smith, $.33M (#333), 62/0/0/0/2/8/0/0/30/32 (.516)
19. Virada Nirapathpongporn, $.23M (#390), 56/0/0/0/1/4/0/0/28/28 (.500)
20. Louise Stahle, $.23M (#389), 59/0/0/0/1/2/1/0/30/28 (.475)
21. Nina Reis, $.23M (#392), 51/0/0/0/3/4/0/0/23/28 (.549)
22. Danielle Downey, $.15M (#450), 49/0/0/0/1/2/0/0/34/15 (.306)
23. Na Ri Kim, $.15M (#451), 50/0/0/0/0/0/3/0/24/23 (.460)
24. Veronica Zorzi, $.09M (#529), 16/0/0/0/0/1/0/0/3/13 (.813)
25. Libby Smith, $.05M (#597), 36/0/0/0/0/0/1/0/27/8 (.222)
26. Ashley Hoagland Johnston, $.05M (#606), 13/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/7/6 (.462)

Other Career Measures: Rolex Rankings points (as of 1/2/12) and rank, Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index score (as of 1/1/12) and rank, International Wins (on JLPGA, KLPGA, LET as of today): This is a way of seeing how those '06ers who sometimes or regularly or often compete on other tours stack up over the course of their careers to date (the RR includes results over the past 104 weeks on the LPGA, LET, JLPGA, KLPGA, and Symetra Tour; the GSPI includes results over the past 52 weeks on all these tours except the KLPGA).

1. Ai Miyazato, 6.60 (#9), 70.89 (#25); 15
2. Morgan Pressel, 5.34 (#16), 70.47 (#18); 1
3. Brittany Lang, 3.82 (#32), 70.62 (#22); 0
4. Sun Young Yoo, 3.06 (#44), 71.39 (#38); 0
5. Na Ri Kim, 2.76 (#47), 71.68 (#50); 1
6. Katie Futcher, 2.15 (#67), 72.26 (#78); 0
7. Teresa Lu, 1.63 (#92), 73.03 (#115); 0
8. Jee Young Lee, 1.54 (#97), 74.59 (#237); 1
9. Julieta Granada, 1.33 (#121), 73.07 (#117); 0
10. Kyeong Bae, 1.15 (#134), 73.27 (#130); 3
11. Linda Wessberg, 1.15 (#135), 72.51 (#90); 7
12. Seon Hwa Lee, 1.12 (#141), 73.15 (#124); 3
13. Hye Jung Choi, 1.11 (#144), ? (n.r.); 2
14. Minea Blomqvist, .88 (#172), 74.24 (#209); 5
15. Sarah Jane Smith, .74 (#193), 74.12 (#198); 0
16. Meaghan Francella, .70 (#198), 74.04 (#190); 0
17. Louise Stahle, .70 (#199), 73.96 (#185); 0
18. Veronica Zorzi, .53 (#243), 74.74 (#250); 2
19. Karin Sjodin, .48 (#258), 73.83 (#172); 1
20. Allison Fouch Duncan, .16 (#402), 75.26 (#287); 0
21. Libby Smith, .10 (#474), 80.90 (#475); 0
22. Nina Reis, .04 (#572), ? (n.r.); 5

LPGA Adds Hawaii to 2012 Schedule

2012-01-05T12:00:00.005-05:00

The LPGA announced today that they are adding a tournament in Hawaii in 2012.

Here are the details from the official LPGA website.

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My Final Player of the Year Standings

2012-01-02T01:25:00.007-05:00

First, here is my formula for how I come up with my player of the year:

I give 40 points to a winner of a tournament, 20 points for finishing 2nd, 19 for third, all the way down to 2 points for finishing 20th. Anyone finishing out of the top 20 will not receive any points. The points are doubled for the 4 major championships. How many of those maximum points they keep is based on the strength of field in a given week. I use the current week's Rolex Rankings top 50. For example, if a player wins a non major and 40 of the 50 top players were in the field, the winner gets to keep 80% (40/50ths) of her 40 points or 32 points. The 2nd place finisher keeps 80% of 20 points or 16 points and so on.

Here are the final 2011 standings:

PLAYER TOTAL POINTS

1 Yani Tseng 357.48
2 Stacy Lewis 203.86
3 Cristie Kerr 178.58
4 Suzann Pettersen 177.56
5 Na Yeon Choi 159.28
6 I.K. Kim 151.92
7 Angela Stanford 144.62
8 Paula Creamer 141.46
9 Amy Yang 136.50
10 Brittany Lincicome 129.82
11 Mika Miyazato 128.30
12 Morgan Pressel 122.04
13 Karrie Webb 116.24
14 Ai Miyazato 104.10
15 Maria Hjorth 103.66
16 Anna Nordqvist 100.18
17 Jiyai Shin 99.40
18 Brittany Lang 94.46
19 Michelle Wie 93.72
20 Catriona Matthew 86.10
21 Sun Young Yoo 82.36
22 Sandra Gal 77.66
23 Katie Futcher 76.40
24 Inbee Park 72.72
25 Se Ri Pak 66.84
26 Hee Young Park 64.00
27 Meena Lee 62.44
28 So Yeon Ryu 62.40
29 Sophie Gustafson 61.12
30 Julie Inkster 58.79
31 Hee Kyung Seo 54.78
32 Azahara Munoz 49.78
33 Karen Stupples 46.94
34 Chella Choi 45.52
35 Mindy Kim 41.50
36 Chie Arimura 40.28
37 Candie Kung 39.82
38 Shanshan Feng 38.48
39 Song Hee Kim 38.20
40 Julieta Granada 32.66
41 Ryann O'Toole 30.14
42 Christel Boeljon 28.36
43 Hee-Won Han 26.62
44 Momoko Ueda 25.42
45 Caroline Masson 25.16
46 Jenny Shin 24.44
47 Sun Ju Ahn 24.06
48 Amy Hung 23.84
49 Pat Hurst 23.36
50 Lexi Thompson 21.68
51 Paige Mackenzie 19.90
52 Wendy Ward 19.90
53 Beatriz Recari 19.56
54 Dewi Clair Schreefel 18.68
55 Pornanong Phatlum 18.24
56 Kyeong Bae 18.22
57 Cindy Lacrosse 17.70
58 Jimin Kang 17.46
59 Amanda Blumenherst 16.92
60 Mina Harigae 16.62
61 Tiffany Joh 16.40
62 Miki Saiki 14.82
63 Vicky Hurst 14.36
64 Jennifer Johnson 13.40
65 Belen Mozo 12.96
66 Katherine Hull 12.84
67 Soo-Jin Yang 12.54
68 Ran Hong 12.48
69 Mi Hyun Kim 11.56
70 Gerina Piller 11.38
71 Christina Kim 11.20
72 Natalie Gulbis 10.98
73 Junthima Gulyanamitta 10.92
74 Lizette Salas 10.92
75 Heather Bowie Young 10.88
76 Marci Hart 10.20
77 Stacy Prammanasudh 10.20
78 Alison Walshe 9.96
79 Yeon-Ju Jung 9.90
80 Kris Tamulis 9.52
81 Teresa Lu 9.36
82 Becky Morgan 9.34
83 Ariya Jutanugarn 9.24
84 M.J. Hur 9.24
85 Seon Hwa Lee 8.82
86 Sakura Yokomine 8.32
87 Alena Sharp 8.06
88 Caroline Hedwall 7.80
89 Grace Park 7.20
90 Sara Kemp 6.96
91 Esther Lee 6.76
92 Ha-Neul Kim 5.94
93 Julia Sergas 5.50
94 Sarah Jane Smith 5.28
95 Reilly Rankin 5.04
96 Jin Young Pak 4.34
97 Silvia Cavalleri 4.34
98 Mayu Hattori 4.16
99 Gladys Nocera 4.00
100 Haeji Kang 4.00
101 Ayako Uehara 3.90
102 Ilhee Lee 3.48
103 Jennifer Song 3.36
104 Stephanie Sherlock 3.36
105 Jenny Suh 3.10
106 Kristy Mcpherson 2.72
107 Karina Icher 2.64
108 Melissa Reid 2.40
109 Akane Iljima 2.08
110 Asako Fujimoto 2.08
111 Eun-A Lim 2.08
112 Li-Ying Ye 2.08
113 Shin-Ae Ahn 1.98
114 Jessica Korda 1.68
115 Hsuan-Yu Yao 1.50
116 Jean Reynolds 1.32
117 Samantha Richdale 1.32
118 Eun-Hee Ji 1.24
119 Shi Hyun Ahn 1.24

It is always my aim to try to improve my formulas that measure players' success. I also take into consideration ideas passed along to me by other writers, and comments from this board. Therefore, starting in 2012 I have made the following changes on how I will be calculating the strength of field.

I will now be using the top 80 players in the Rolex Rankings.
The top 20 players in that week's rankings will be worth 2% each, equalling 40%.
Players 21-40 will be worth 1 1/2 %, equalling 30%.
Players 41-60 will be worth 1%, equalling 20%.
Players 61-80 will be worth 1/2 of one percent, equalling 10%.
The 80 players will total 100% of the strength of field.

The above formula now allows me to use 30 more players than I was using before. Also it puts a higher value on the higher-ranked player.

Here is an example:

If 75 of the top players were in the field of a non-major championship, and the top 5 players were the ones missing, the strength of field would be 90%.

If the 5 players that were missing were the last 5 players in the top 80, the strength of field would be 97 and a half percent.

Hopefully the above changes will lead to even more accuracy in my standings this coming year.

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Lady Gaga on New Year's Eve Kohaku Uta Gassen

2012-01-02T00:00:00.000-05:00

Just like Annika Sorenstam and Paula Creamer before her, Lady Gaga delivered a great performance in a big event in Japan: the New Year's Eve countdown/musical extravaganza on NHK known as Kohaku Uta Gassen.

Somebody uploaded the closing montage from the 62nd annual show, along with the final judgment of who won the competition between the Red (girls') and White (boys') team. It gives you some sense of the range and kinds of J-pop, enka, and other forms of music popular in Japan in 2011:

You probably noticed Lady Gaga in the montage, but here's her full performance of "Born This Way":

And "You and I":

I don't know if her performances counted toward the Red team's total, but maybe she helped pushed them over the top for the 1st time since 2004. Somehow I doubt groups like AKB48 needed the help, though:

Heck, I think they outnumbered the guys all by themselves!

Make It BABYMETAL in 2012!

2012-01-01T00:00:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year from Mostly Harmless! Enjoy some BABYMETAL, what looks like an elementary-school-aged kawaii metal band from Japan, to kick off 2012:

OK, so even though Laughing Squid thinks they're teenagers, I'm going with Blabbermouth, who has the lead singer at 13 and the 2 dancers/screamers at 12, not least b/c it fits my '12 theme. Anyway, if you think they look young in this video, check out this fan montage, which lays the "Doki Doki Morning" track over clips of Sakura Gakuin performing live (that's the band they are an offshoot of):

It's going to be a great year! Or at least a weird one! How could it not be when a fan came out with a computer-game style video of their debut song within 8 days of its official release?

Rolex Rankings Movers of the Year, "Final 2011"

2011-12-26T23:40:00.004-05:00

The final Rolex World Rankings have now been posted. As we get ready to celebrate the new year, let us look and see who made the biggest gains and who took the biggest losses.

Rolex ranks the ladies based on average points per event on a rolling 2-year calendar. For example, Yani Tseng (the #1 player in the world) has accumulated 866.11 points playing in 49 tournaments over that period, for an average of 17.68 points per tournament. I have gone back to the first published RR of the year and compared them to the final rankings of the year. The only requirement for my list is that a player must have been in the top 100 at the start of the year or in the top 100 now.

This Year's Biggest Winners:

1- Yani Tseng - 9.25 to 17.68 = Gain of 8.43 (moved from #5 to #1)
2- Shanshan Feng - 1.85 to 5.66 = Gain of 3.81 (move 79-13)
3- Stacy Lewis - 3.23 to 6.68 = Gain of 3.45 (move 37-10)
4- Caroline Hedwall - 0.19 to 3.44 = Gain of 3.25 (move 351-37)
5- Shiho Oyama - 1.07 to 3.63 = Gain of 2.56 (move 131-34)
6- Ha Neul Kim - 1.20 to 3.59 = Gain of 2.39 (move 115-36)
7- Brittany Lincicome - 4.42 to 6.66 = Gain of 2.24 (move 21-11)
8- Sandra Gal - 1.11 to 3.29 = Gain of 2.18 (move 111-41)
9- Kumiko Kaneda - 0.40 to 2.66 = Gain of 2.17 (move 234-52)
10-Ji-Hee Lee - 3.33 to 5.42 = Gain of 2.09 (move 30-15)
11-Amy Yang - 3.98 to 6.01 = Gain of 2.03 (move 25-12)
12-Lexi Thompson - 1.64 to 3.42 = Gain of 1.78 (move 89-38)
13-Tiffany Joh - 0.20 to 1.74 = Gain of 1.54 (move 346-85)
14-Diana Luna - 0.43 to 1.96 = Gain of 1.53 (move 256-76)
15-Hyun-Hwa Sim - 0.74 to 2.25 = Gain of 1.51 (move 181-65)
16-Catriona Matthew - 3.29 - 4.47 = Gain of 1.50 (move 32-21)
17-So-Yeon Ryu - 2.83 to 4.20 = Gain of 1.37 (move 42-27)
18-Ritsuko Ryu - 1.25-2.52 = Gain of 1.27 (move 112-57)
19-Paula Creamer - 6.80 to 8.06 = Gain of 1.26 (move 11-5)
20-Katie Futcher - 0.95 to 2.18 = Gain of 1.23 (move 146-67)

Some side notes that I found interesting about the above top 20 would include the fact that Paula Creamer made one of the most important moves (going from #11 to #5), without winning this year. Also of note, Lexi Thompson has played in only 23 tournaments, but her points are divided by 35 not 23 (the RR minimum is 35). Her average total per tournament of 5.20 points would have placed her #17 in the world rankings without the minimum.

This Year's Biggest Losers:

1- Jiyai Shin - 10.60 to 7.58 = Loss of 3.02 (move from #1 to #7)
2- Song-Hee Kim - 6.98 to 4.08 = Loss of 2.90 (move 9-30)
3- Ai Miyazato - 9.47 to 6.72 = Loss of 2.75 (move 6-9)
4- Inbee Park - 6.51 to 4.65 = Loss of 4.65 (move 12-23)
5- Katherine Hull - 4.58 to 2.72 = Loss of 1.86 (move 19-50)
6- Shinobu Moromizato - 3.27 to 1.55 = Loss of 1.72 (move 35-101)
7- Kristy McPherson - 3.27 to 1.57 = Loss of 1.70 (move 34-97)
8- Michelle Wie - 6.83 to 5.16 = Loss of 1.67 (move 10-17)
9- Jee Young Lee - 3.20 to 1.58 = Loss of 1.62 (move 38-96)
10-M.J. Hur - 2.80 to 1.26 = Loss of 1.54 (move 44-131)
11-Lindsey Wright - 2.33 to 0.94 = Loss of 1.39 (move 64-164)
12-Laura Davies - 2.67 to 1.35 = Loss of 1.32 (move 49-121)
13-Anna Nordqvist - 5.12 to 3.92 = Loss of 1.20 (move 14-31)
14-I.K. Kim - 7.86 to 6.86 = Loss of 1.00 (move 7-8)
15-Jeong Jang - 1.59 to 0.60 = Loss of 0.99 (move 92-230)
16- Mi-Jeong Jeon - 5.09 to 4.19 = Loss of .90 (move 15-28)
17-Seon-Hwa Lee - 2.03 to 1.15 = Loss of 0.88 (move 72-140)
18-Christina Kim - 2.60 to 1.77 = Loss of 0.83 (move 51-82)
19-Miho Koga - 2.22 to 1.41 = Loss of 0.81 (move 67-115)
20-Vicky Hurst - 2.44 to 1.68 = Loss of 0.76 (move 57-90)

A side note to the above would be that Ai Miyazato made this list in spite of winning the Evian Masters. Players from Korea, with 14 players, were surely the most active on the above lists. Unfortunately 9 of them were on the down side. The USA was next with 10 players listed, 6 for positive movement. Japan split their 6 players evenly.

The above study probably took me longer to do than anything I have previously posted on here, as I have had to sort through hundreds of players. I think it is worth the time, as I consider this very indicative of a players' season.

On a completely different note I would like to say that I can't believe that it has been just about a year since I became an author for Mostly Harmless. I want to thank the Contructivist for the opportunity to express my views on the LPGA. I have tried to bring to this page statistics that you won't easily find elsewhere, and have even tried my hand at humor, but most importantly I have tried to promote the LPGA in a positive way. Getting the message across to more and more people about what a wonderful show these ladies put on is always my highest priority.

Since this is my last post of the year, I also want to thank some of the other writers who do such a great job of keeping the LPGA in the news. Your posts are so important in promoting the LPGA Tour. I would like to single out Hound Dog, Seoul Sisters, and Ruthless Golf, just to name a few of my favorites.

Everyone have a safe and healthy New Year.

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Daisuke Takahashi, Mao Asada Win Japanese Nationals

2011-12-26T07:31:00.000-05:00

His free skate certainly wasn't pretty, but Daisuke Takahashi retained just enough of his 10-point lead from the short program to hold onto the gold medal at Japanese nationals and hold off Takahiko Kozuka and Sendai native Yuzuru Hanyu.

Instead of making the post-ISU Grand Prix statement I was hoping for, Dai-chan brought his D-game and was lucky that neither Kozuka nor Hanyu could put together a perfect performance. Both of his challengers had great programs going, but couldn't nail a late jump, the 17-year-old Hanyu clearly because of asthma-induced exhaustion at the end of his program:

Clearly the future of Japanese figure skating is in good hands, as another 17-year-old, Kanako Murakami, had a chance to take the gold after a fantastic short program gave her a tiny lead over Mao Asada:

But the bubbly teenager was off in the free skate, falling to 3rd after Akiko Suzuki thanks to a flat-out trip late in her program:

The contrast in moods between Murakami and gold-medal winner Mao Asada couldn't have been more pronounced. Asada, who pulled out of the ISU Grand Prix Finals in Quebec the moment she found out her mother was terminally ill but who couldn't get back to Japan in time to see her before she died, was somber in interviews even after skating her best short program of the year:

But Mao-chan kept her composure the entire competition and skated a great-under-the-circumstances long program:

The changing looks on her face during the awards ceremony say it all:

You can see in the reactions of the crowd and hear in the voices of the announcers how deeply moved everyone was who watched Asada perform in Osaka the last few days. The Full Metal Archivist and I were holding back tears ourselves. Gambatte, Mao-chan!

My Solution

2011-12-23T20:09:00.000-05:00

There has been an uproar caused by Ai Miyazato winning the LET money title this year despite playing only two events. I have a solution I'd like to propose.

Since it's football season here in the US, I'll take an example from that sport to make my point. Let's say Tom Brady needs to leave the field to repair an equipment malfunction, so the backup replaces him for a few plays. During that time the backup throws two passes, completing both. The backup's completion percentage is 100, but he's not eligible for post-season awards based on that because he has not met minimum number of attempts that has been established by the league to be eligible for awards. To repeat, even though the backup is a league member, he's not eligible because he did not meet the minimum number of attempts.

Now to the LET: Women's golf is in a unique position at the present time. There are three viable Tours (LPGA, LET, JLPGA) that attract the best players in the game at one time or another. Wouldn't it make sense for the LET to establish a relatively low base number of tournaments so that Europeans (or Americans, or Asians) who normally play the LPGA could maintain LET membership, but establish a much higher number to qualify for post-season awards?

Could the LET establish three tournaments per year (one more than Evian and WBO, for example) as a minimum to maintain membership, but require 10 tournaments to qualify for awards? The best players in the world will make an effort to play a few times a year, especially when there are holes in the LPGA schedule, but doing so wouldn't skew post-season awards.

Daisuke Takahashi Breaks 95 in Short Program at Japanese Nationals

2011-12-23T18:43:00.000-05:00

Unlike in golf, breaking 95 is a very rare achievement in figure skating when it comes to the score for your short program. Well, that's what Daisuke Takahashi just did at the Japanese nationals:

He wasn't satisfied with his step sequence, he said in interviews afterward, but he nailed his quad (in a quad-triple combo!) and was awesome on his other jumps, as well. Ended up earning himself a 96.05, over 10 points ahead of his nearest pursuer (Kozuka) and over 20 points ahead of his next-closest competitor (Hanyu)!

I'm hoping Takahashi skates great in his long program, because I'd love to see him eclipse the hyper-inflated score Patrick Chan beat him with at the ISU Grand Prix, where Chan actually extended his lead on Dai-chan despite bringing his C-game to the free skate. Everyone watching thought that Dai-chan completed outskated Chan when the chips were down and that the only question was whether Chan's huge lead from the short program would hold up against Dai-chan's onslaught. Instead.... Well, just watch. I still can't write about it....

First, Dai-chan's challenge:

Then, Chan's response:

Dai-chan wuz robbed, I tellz yuh!

Now let's hear the commentary in English, first for Takahashi:

Then, for Chan:

What do you think?

It's Official: LET Recognizes Ai Miyazato as Their Leading Money-Winner

2011-12-21T00:00:00.000-05:00

The LET has formally announced that Caroline Hedwall is their 2011 Rookie of the Year and Ai Miyazato their 2011 money-list title-holder.

Ai-sama's in great company internationally--here are the other money-list winners from women's professional tours, great and small, that I could find information on so far this year:

Ya Ni Tseng: LPGA, ALPG, LAGT, and TLPGA
Sun-Ju Ahn: JLPGA
Ha Neul Kim: KLPGA
Porani Chutichai: CLPGA
Kathleen Ekey: Futures Tour (LPGA)
Aoi Nagata: Step-Up Tour (JLPGA)
Marieke Nivard: LET Access Series
Jessica Shepley: CN Canadian Women's Tour
Julie Maisongrosse: Generali Ladies Tour
Ginger Howard: SunCoast Series

Anyone know who won the KLPGA's Dream Tour or Phoenix's Cactus Tour? [Update 4 (1/2/12, 12:09 pm): Happy Fan over at Seoul Sisters informs me Hae Rim Kim won the Dream Tour money list!]

[Update 1 (9:15 am): pearshapedhuman pointed out in comments on another post that Ya Ni Tseng won over 400 million euros this year on the LET--but as she wasn't an LET member, she doesn't appear on their official money list. So call her their unofficial money leader this year and, if she takes LET membership for 2012, not only their frontrunner for Rookie of the Year but also the player with the best chance in the world of women's golf to win both the LPGA and LET money titles!]

[Update 2 (11:14 am): Ah, the AP is actually paying attention to women's golf! It's more of an editorial than a news story, but still interesting!]

[Update 3 (8:28 pm): Jonathan Wall agrees with the AP's Doug Ferguson that the LET needs to require a minimum number of events to remain a member and be eligible for the money-list title. How high should they set the bar, then, when the higher you go the more top European players you force off your tour? In 2011, Suzann Pettersen and Azahara Munoz only played 3 times, Anna Nordqvist 4, and Karen Stupples and Sandra Gal 5.]

The 2011 Worldwide Women's Developmental Tour Schedule and Results, Final Edition

2011-12-20T00:00:00.000-05:00

Here's the final update to my 2011 guide to playing opportunities custom-made for up-and-coming female pros, from the major tour-affiliated organizations like the Futures Tour in the USA, the Step-Up Tour in Japan, the Dream Tour in Korea, and the LET Access Series in Europe to mid-size tours like the ALPG in Australia, the LAGT in Asia, and the CLPGA in China, to the even smaller ones like the TLPGA in Taiwan, the CN Canadian Women's Tour in Canada, the Generali Ladies Tour in Europe, the Cactus Tour in Phoenix, AZ, and the SunCoast Series in Florida.

It'll be interesting to see if this year's trend of well-established and even big-time players competing and winning on these developmental and mini-tours (often due to events being co-sponsored with major tours, but not always) will continue in 2012. And given how many of this year's graduates from these tours have already made waves in the big leagues--think O'Toole, LaCrosse, and Joh on the LPGA and Nomura on the JLPGA--it'll be interesting to see who among them steps up their games even further next season.

DECEMBER 2010

2-3 St. Georges Basin Country Club Pro-Am (ALPG) JOANNE MILLS

17-19: Hyundai China Ladies Open (CLPGA/KLPGA) HYE YOUN KIM

JANUARY 2011

6-8 Royal Open (TLPGA) MI RIM LEE
8-9 Xstrata Coal Branxton Golf Club Pro-Am (ALPG) RACHEL BAILEY

12 NRE Gujarat Russell Vale Challenge Cup (ALPG) RYANN O'TOOLE
13-14 Moss Vale Golf Club Classic (ALPG) KATHERINE HULL
14-16 Taifong Ladies Open (TLPGA) YA NI TSENG

16-17 Mount Broughton Classic (ALPG) KATHERINE HULL
18-20 Orange Tree Country Club (SCS) CINDY LACROSSE
21-23 Bing Lee Samsung NSW Women's Open (ALPG) CAROLINE HEDWALL; Hitachi Classic (TLPGA) PORNANONG PHATLUM

24-26 West Orange Country Club (SCS) LAURA DIAZ
28-30 ActewAGL Royal Canberra Ladies Classic (ALPG) ASHLEY ONA [a]
31-2/2 The Legacy (CT) MINDY KIM

FEBRUARY 2011

1-3 Red Tail Country Club (SCS) MOIRA DUNN
3-6 Women's Australian Open (ALPG/LET) YA NI TSENG

7-9 Papago (CT) JULIE YANG [a]
8-10 Magnolia Plantation (SCS) CHELLA CHOI
9-11 Thailand Ladies Open (LAGT) TANAPORN KONGKRIATKRAI
10-13 ANZ RACV Ladies Masters (ALPG/LET) YA NI TSENG

14-16 Wigwam Red (CT) ALENA SHARP
15-17 Mission Inn Resort--Las Colinas (SCS) HYUN-JI KIM
17-20 Pegasus New Zealand Women's Open (ALPG/LET) KRISTIE SMITH

22-24 CC of Mount Dora (SCS) KRIS TAMULIS
24 Lady Anne Funerals Ryde Parramatta Pro-Am (ALPG) SARAH KEMP
24-26 Yumeya Championship (LAGT) SAKURA YOKOMINE

28-3/2 Ocotillo (CT) MINA HARIGAE

MARCH 2011

1-3 LPGA International--Champions (SCS) PAIGE MACKENZIE

7-9 Florida Women's Open (CT) ISABELLE BEISIEGEL

14-15 Encanterra (CT) JENNIFER JOHNSON
16-18 Terre Blanche Ladies Open (LETAS/GLT) HENRIETTA ZUEL

21-23 Palm Valley--Palms (CT) JOY TROTTER
25-27 Florida's Natural Charity Classic (FT) TZU-CHI LIN

28-30 Seville GC (CT) DINA AMMACCAPANE
29-31 Mission Inn Resort--El Campeon (SCS) RACHEL CONNOR

APRIL 2011

1-3 Daytona Beach Invitational (FT) HARUKYO NOMURA; Shanghai Classic (CLPGA) LI YING YE; Q-School [for foreign players] (CLPGA)
4-6 Wigwam Red (CT) STEPHANIE LOUDEN
5-7 Falcons Fire GC (SCS) NICOLE HAGE

8-10 Santorini Riviera Navarit Classic (FT) RYANN O'TOOLE
11-13 Seville (CT) JOY TROTTER
12-14 Rock Springs Ridge (SCS) CHELLA CHOI
13-15 La Nivelle Ladies Open (LETAS/GLT) ANNE-LISE CAUDAL

22-24 Yangzhou Challenge (CLPGA) PORANI CHUTICHAI

25-26 KLPGA Dream Tour #1 HYE NA JUNG
25-27 The Legacy (CT) JOY TROTTER
26-28 Harmony Golf Preserve (SCS) RENEE SKIDMORE
29-5/1 Symetra Classic (FT) LISA FERRERO

MAY 2011

2-4 Southern Dunes (CT) DINA AMMACCAPANE
3-5 Eastwood GC (SCS) LISA MELDRUM

9-11 Ocotillo (CT) KENDALL DYE
10-12 Stoneybrook East GC (SCS) MARIA HJORTH
11-12 KLPGA Dream Tour #2 HAE RIM KIM

16-18 Squamish Valley GC (CWT) JESSICA SHEPLEY
20-22 Beijing Renji Challenge (CLPGA) PORANI CHUTICHAI

27-29 Beijing Pearl Challenge (CLPGA) PATCHARAJUTAR KONGKRAPHAM
30-31 KLPGA Dream Tour #3 DA SOM LEE

JUNE 2011

2-3 Deodeo Cup (SUT) AOI NAGATA
3-5 Ladies Titan Tire Challenge (FT) KATHLEEN EKEY

7-8 KLPGA Dream Tour #4 AH RA KO
8-10 Forest Lake (SCS) GINGER HOWARD
10-12 Teva Championship (FT) LISA FERRERO; Yantai Yangmadao Challenge (CLPGA) TIAN HONG

13-14 KLPGA Dream Tour #5 RA SO
13-15 Club de Golf Beloeil (CWT) KATY HARRIS
16-19 Tate & Lyle Players Championship (FT) VALENTINE DERREY

24-26 Island Resort Championship (FT) STEPHANIE KIM; Caofeidian Wetlands Challenge (CLPGA) PATCHARAJUTAR KONGKRAPHAM

28-29 Blue Springs (CWT) JESSICA WALLACE [a]
30-7/2 South Shore Championship at White Hawk (FT) TIFFANY JOH

JULY 2011

5-7 Stoneybrook West (SCS) JACQUI CONCOLINO
7-8 ANA Princess Cup (SUT) HIKARI KAWAMITSU

12-14 LPGA International (SCS) GINGER HOWARD
13-14 KLPGA Dream Tour #6 SU-A KIM
15-17 ING New England Golf Classic (FT) BRITTANY JOHNSTON

18-20 Harmony Golf Preserve (SCS) GINGER HOWARD
22-24 The International at Concord (FT) JESSICA SHEPLEY
25-26 KLPGA Dream Tour #7 SUNG-WOON LEE

27-28 Castrol Ladies (SUT) CHIAKI TAKAHASHI
29-31 Alliance Bank Golf Classic (FT) KATHLEEN EKEY

AUGUST 2011

1-2 KLPGA Dream Tour #8 HAE RIM KIM
5-7 Pennsylvania Classic (FT) CATHRYN BRISTOW

8-9 KLPGA Dream Tour #9 HAE RIM KIM
8-10 Whirlwind (CT) KAYLA MORTELLARO
9-11 Orange County National (SCS) HAEJI KANG
12-14 Eagle Classic (FT) MO MARTIN

15-17 Ocotillo (CT) JUNTHIMA (NUMA) GULYANAMITTA
16-18 Falcon's Fire (SCS) GINGER HOWARD

22-23 KLPGA Dream Tour #10 HAE-JEE CHO
22-24 The Legacy (CT) JUNTHIMA (NUMA) GULYANAMITTA
26-28 Vidalia Championship (FT) SYDNEE MICHAELS

SEPTEMBER 2011

5-7 Southern Dunes (CT) JUNTHIMA (NUMA) GULYANAMITTA; Reunion Resort (SCS) GINGER HOWARD
7-8 KLPGA Dream Tour #11 SUN YOUNG AHN
9-11 Price Chopper Tour Championship (FT) SYDNEE MICHAELS

13-15 Reunion Resort (SCS) JACQUI CONCOLINO
16-18 Wenzhou Yangyi Challenge (CLPGA) YAN HONG PAN
17-18 Women's Cup Sanyou Newspapers (SUT) AOI NAGATA
19-21 Wigwam Red (CT) ALEJANDRA LLANEZA

20-22 Reunion Resort (SCS) CASSANDRA BLANEY
21-23 Swinging Skirts TLPGA Open (LAGT/TLPGA) YU LING HSIEH; Dinard Ladies Open (LETAS/GLT) JULIE MAISONGROSSE
23-25 Wuhan Challenge (CLPGA) PORANI CHUTICHAI
27-28 KLPGA Dream Tour #12 SO YEON PARK
27-29 Seville (CT) ALENA SHARP

OCTOBER 2011

3-5 Kokopelli (CT) JESSI GEBHARDT

6-7 KLPGA Dream Tour #13 DO-YEON KIM

12-13 KLPGA Dream Tour #14 MIN-JEE SONG
13-14 Aso GrandVrio Ladies Route Inn Cup (SUT) MINA NAKAYAMA
13-15 Trophee Preven's (LETAS) MARIEKE NIVARD

18-20 AZ Open (CT) JASI ACHARYA
18-20 Grand Pines (SCS) BENEDIKTE GROTVEDT
19-20 KLPGA Dream Tour #15 AH RA KO
21-23 Sanya Ladies Open (LAGT/CLPGA/LET) FRANCES BONDAD

24-26 Palm Valley--Palms (CT) THERESE KOELBAEK
25-27 Metrowest (SCS) JACQUI CONCOLINO
28-30 Suzhou Taihu Ladies Open (LAGT/CLPGA/LET) YA NI TSENG

NOVEMBER 2011

7-9 Ocotillo (CT) JENNIE LEE

14-16 Legacy (CT) CAMILLA LENNARTH
16-18 LPGA International (SCS) MITSUKI KATAHIRA
17-19 Murcia Ladies Open (LETAS) CARLOTA CIGANDA

21-23 LPGA International (SCS) REBECCA LEE-BENTHAM

DECEMBER 2011

2-4 Azores Ladies Open (LETAS) MARIEKE NIVARD

9-11 Hero Women's India Open (LAGT/LET) CAROLINE HEDWALL; TLPGA Swinging Skirts Invitational (TLPGA/CLPGA) YA NI TSENG

16-19 Hyundai China Ladies Open (CLPGA/KLPGA) HYE YOUN KIM

Were My Pre-Season Questions Answered?

2011-12-19T00:23:00.002-05:00

Way back in February, before the LPGA season began, I listed 10 questions that I hoped would be answered this year.

Below I asked those same questions again. Let us see whether or not they were answered.

1- Is Paula Creamer finally healthy and ready to return to her 2008 form, which brought her 4 victories?

Under normal circumstances, if an elite player like Paula goes an entire year without a victory, I wouldn't call it a success. However, in this instance, I have to make an exception. Because of her thumb surgery, she is just now starting to get back some of her length off the tee. She will be working with a strength coach this off season, to address that situation. Paula did have two 2nd-place finishes, seven top fives, and 10 top tens. She started the year #11 in the Rolex Ranking, and finished at #5. Yes, she is now ready to get back to her earlier form.

2- Can Michelle Wie climb to the next level, while taking exams?

Michelle failed to climb to the next level in 2011. She dropped from #10 to #17 in the Rolex Rankings. She will be an early graduate from Stanford in February. No more running back to her hotel room to study or mail in her exams. Hopefully she will now have the time to straighten out her putting woes. If she does, watch out!

3- Was Azahara Munoz really the best 2010 rookie? Was she even the best Spaniard?

After a horrible first half of the 2011 season, Azahara turned it completely around, finishing in the top 20 in 4 consecutive tournaments. Her back-to-back top 3 finishes in Asia really capped off her season. The answer to the above questions: Yes and Yes.

4- How many times will Suzann Petterson be a bridesmaid, before winning again?

The answer turned out to be Zero. Suzann quieted all critics by winning the Sybase Match Play Championship in May. She later followed that up by winning the Safeway Classic. She moved up to #2 in the world rankings, and did not have a single 2nd-place finish all year.

5- Will the Miyazatos join the Kims with 2 players in the top 10 of the world rankings?

No. Mika Miyazato looked so good in 2010, as she stormed to #22 position, never really got hot this year and dropped to #24. Meanwhile, Ai barely hung on to her top-10 position, dropping from #6 to #9. As far as the Kims are concerned, they no longer have 2 players in the top ten, either, as Song-Hee dropped from #9 to #29.

6- Is Lexi Thompson ready to compete with the girls at age 16.

This one is a resounding Yes! Lexi sure made believers out of anyone who may have had doubts, when she won the Navistar Classic by 5 strokes. The victory made her the youngest winner in LPGA history. She has now followed that up with a victory at the Omega Dubai Ladies Masters, making her the youngest professional to win on the LET.

Granted full-time membership by commissioner Michael Whan, she will be teeing it up regularly in 2012. Rookie of the Year in 2012? Maybe. Solheim Cup member in 2013? Definitely. It is hard not to get excited about this girl's future.

7- Will the number one player in the world change on a weekly basis, or will someone step up and dominate?

If you don't know the answer to this question, I guess you must have spent the last year on Mars.

8- Will Song-Hee Kim reach 50 top tens (she has 34), before she actually wins?

Maybe a better question would have been, will she ever get another top 10? Song-Hee's 2011 season was already summarized in question #5.

9- Can the United States retain the Solheim Cup for the 4th consecutive time, on the road in Ireland?

We all know the answer turned out to be No, and I still haven't gotten over it. 2013 can't come soon enough.

10- With all the efforts these girls are making on and off the golf course, will they finally be rewarded with more tournaments in 2012?

The LPGA schedule has not been released as of this writing, but it seems slow progress is being made. The ladies played 23 official tournaments in 2011. We know that in 2012 they have lost the State Farm Classic. We also know that the Jamie Farr Classic will return to the schedule. Add to that new tournaments in Australia and Waterloo, Canada, and we should be up to at least 25. More tournaments in the United States would be nice, but as the old saying goes, "Rome wasn't built in a day." Maybe Michael Whan still has some surprises for us. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Sometime early next year, I will be listing the top 10 questions I would like to be answered in 2012.

Rolex Rankings Mover of the Week:
Lexi Thompson's win in Dubai moves her from #53 to #38.

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Omega Dubai Ladies Masters Spoiler Alert!

2011-12-17T08:45:00.004-05:00

Lexi did it! Convincingly!

Editor's Note: A profile of Yani Tseng appears on pg. 74.

2011-12-16T10:20:00.000-05:00

Man, those editors at Golf Magazine are quick with the comebacks! After LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan politely but resolutely roasted their ridiculous decision to name Rory McIlroy their Player of the Year instead of everyone's obvious choice, Ya Ni Tseng, they responded with the bon mot that I took for my title.

I can come up with several ways of slicing the tone of that little note. What do you got?

Move-it-along-nothing-to-see-here just-the-facts blaseness: "[Whistling casually] Thank you for your letter. Can we interest you in our table of contents?"
Embarrassed defensiveness: "Hey, we screwed up, we know, but at least we mentioned her in this issue, right? Right? Come on, you guys, stop being so harsh on us! ....Please?"
Brazen arrogance: "Yeah, Ya Ni had a pretty good year. Not a Player of the Year year. A pg. 74 year. Siddown and shaddup, Commish!"

I'm leaning toward the last reading, given that the one line from the letter they chose to blow up in a graphic--"Yani certainly doesn't need me--or anyone else--to validate her position"--seems to suggest that Whan didn't need to write the letter and they didn't need to award her the POY.

Nicely done, editors of Golf Magazine. Well played!

[Update 1 (12/19/11, 4:30 pm): Armchair Golf has picked up this story; instead of focusing on the editors' anemic response, Neil summarizes Whan's letter and adds in telling supporting evidence that Whan didn't cite (like the fact that 96% of those Golf Magazine polled on Facebook thought Ya Ni should be POY!).]

Can Lexi Close the Deal in Dubai?

2011-12-16T09:46:00.001-05:00

Lexi Thompson is the only player in the Omega Dubai Ladies Masters to reach double digits under par through the 1st 54 holes. At -10, she has a 1-shot lead on Sophie Gustafson, a 2-shot lead on Lee-Anne Pace and Pernilla Lindberg, a 3-shot lead on Becky Morgan, Julieta Granada, and Stacy Lee Bregman, and a 5-shot lead on Michelle Wie. With Caroline Hedwall and Carlota Ciganda breaking 70 today to get to -4, I'm curious to see if they can get in the mix tomorrow. The LET has the details on all the leaders, along with the final-round pairings. Can Lexi become the youngest professional winner and 2nd-youngest winner on the LET? 18 holes will tell!

[Update 1 (12/17/11, 8:56 am): bangkokbobby did his usual bang-up job on the 3rd round, with lots of great photos and a rundown of the entire leaderboard.]

2011 CLPGA Money Title Up for Grabs this Week...in 2012 KLPGA Season-Opener!

2011-12-14T00:00:00.000-05:00

There's one money-list title in women's golf that has yet to be decided: the CLPGA's. And it's going to be decided in the 1st KLPGA event of 2012, the Hyundai China Ladies Open.

As the Asia Pacific Golf Group's preview makes clear, a few Thai and Chinese golfers have a chance to leapfrog the absent Porani Chutichai and take the #1 spot for 2011, including Patcharajutar Kongkraphan, Yan Hong Pan, and Jia Yun Li (it looks to me like 19-year-old Thidapa Suwannapura and Tian Hong have an outside chance to take the title, as well). Given that this is the 2011 season-closer for the CLPGA and the 2012 season-opener for the KLPGA, though, the competition should be particularly intense. Let's see how the CLPGA's hopefuls stand up against the likes of Shanshan Feng from the LPGA and JLPGA, Pornanong Phatlum from the LPGA, Li-Ying Ye from the JLPGA, and the top 40 from the 2011 KLPGA money list. It's a swan song of sorts for most of them, as in 2012 Li will be a JLPGA member (along with Chutichai, who finished T11 at JLPGA Q-School) and Kongkraphan and Suwannapura LPGA members.

Who will join the LPGA's Ya Ni Tseng, the JLPGA's Sun-Ju Ahn, the KLPGA's Ha Neul Kim, and the LET's Ai Miyazato as the queen of the hill for the CLPGA? Stay tuned!

Stats & Facts, "Vol 6"

2011-12-13T00:30:00.006-05:00

With the LPGA's 2011 season now over, let us take a look at some of the not-so-obvious stats from the past year.

Players who did not miss a cut all year:
1- Paula Creamer - (21 tournaments)
2- Brittany Lincicome - (21)
3- Karrie Webb - (20)
4- Maria Hjorth - (20)
5- Jiyai Shin - (18)

Players who ended the season on a streak of consecutive missed cuts:
Louise Friberg - (13) She retired.
Allison Hanna - (11)
Ji Young Oh - (9)
Jean Reynolds - (8)
Nicole Hage, Alison Whitaker, Angela Oh, Nicole Jeray, Kimberly Kim, Shasta Averyhardt - (7)
Allison Fouch - (6)

Players who went the entire season without a top-20 finish:
Meaghan Francella, Lindsey Wright, Jee Young Lee - (15 tournaments)
Mariajo Uribe - (14)
Na On Min, Karin Sjodin - (13)
Anna Grzebien, Pernilla Lindberg, Jennifer Rosales, Lorie Kane, Laura Davies - (12)
Ji Young Oh, Birdie Kim - (11)

The only players to play in all 23 LPGA Tournaments:
Stacy Lewis
Azahara Munoz
Beatriz Recari

Other Tidbits:

Yani Tseng won her 12th worldwide tournament this past weekend. She won the Swinging Skirts 2011 Taiwan Invitational. She was the only player to post an under par finish. Her 6-under total was 7 shots better than Ji-Yai Shin and So-Yeon Ryu.

Caroline Hedwall won her fourth L.E.T tournament at the Hero Women's Indian Open. The L.E.T's schedule concludes this weekend with the playing of the Omega Dubai Ladies Open. Besides Hedwall, the field will include LPGA regulars Michelle Wie, Anna Nordqvist, Christina Kim, Sandra Gal, Sophie Gustafson, and Lexi Thompson. The Golf Channel will broadcast this tournament all four days.

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Caroline Hedwall Wins Hero Women's Indian Open; Ai Miyazato Will Be 2011 LET Money-List Title-Holder

2011-12-11T10:45:00.001-05:00

Caroline Hedwall held off a challenge from Pornanong Phatlum and others today to take the Hero Indian Women's Open by 2 shots to move up to 3rd on the 2011 LET money list. However, even if she or #2 Melissa Reid were to win in Dubai next week, neither can catch Ai Miyazato's winnings total from the Women's British Open and the Evian Masters alone. So Ai-sama will be the 2011 LET money-list champion!

The LPGA's Top Rivalries: Generation Gaps, Revisited

2011-12-07T07:00:00.001-05:00

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!

Initial Thoughts on the LPGA's Class of 2012

2011-12-06T12:00:00.000-05:00

LPGA.com has a (sometimes-badly-transcribed) list of the 33 members of the LPGA Class of 2012, the 1st members of what I'm calling for now the tour's "Prodigy" generation. Here are some quick thoughts on how I'd categorize their short- and medium-term potential, irrespective of their place on next season's priority status list.

Potential Game-Changer

Lexi Thompson

This is a new category for me, comprising players who could step up in their rookie year and not only immediately join the tour's super-elite, but also bring new buzz to the LPGA because of the historic nature of their achievements. Looking over my overviews of the rookie classes of 2006 through 2011, and particularly my pre-season prediction posts before their rookie years began, I'd say that only Ai Miyazato and Ji-Yai Shin came onto the LPGA with expectations as sky-high as those for Lexi Thompson, and only Michelle Wie brought as much buzz from the American golfy media as she has. Even though Lexi's record before joining the LPGA is not nearly as impressive as Miyazato's and Shin's--both had more than proven themselves on their original home tours, the JLPGA and KLPGA, respectively, and Shin had 3 LPGA wins, including a major, before her rookie year actually began--still, given that Lexi's an awesomely-talented American teenager who earned her way onto the tour with an impressive win at the Navistar Classic, and given that she may yet avoid the growing pains and backlash that Wie has endured, there's a good chance that she may even live up to the hype surrounding her in 2012. Like maybe 20%. That's optimistic for me. Of the 3 players in this category before Lexi, only Shin lived up to the hype in her rookie season.

Star Quality

So Yeon Ryu
Junthima Gulyanamitta
Sydnee Michaels
Carlota Ciganda
Danielle Kang

This is my usual top category, the place I put Jennifer Song and Hee Kyung Seo last year, Amanda Blumenherst, Azahara Munoz, and Pernilla Lindberg the year before, Stacy Lewis, Shiho Oyama, and Vicky Hurst in 2009, and Momoko Ueda, Hee Young Park, Ya Ni Tseng, and Na Yeon Choi in 2008. If I had been doing that sort of thing for the Class of 2007 back when I 1st started LPGA blogging, I'd like to think I would have identified Song-Hee Kim, Eun-Hee Ji, and Jane Park, and maybe In-Kyung Kim and Inbee Park, while for the Class of 2006, I would hope I'd have put Morgan Pressel and Brittany Lang and maybe even Seon Hwa Lee in it. In other words, it's where I put my top prospects from other tours (including the Futures Tour) and from the NCAA.

Scary-Good Kids

Victoria Tanco
Stephanie Kono
Sandra Changkija
Mitsuki Katahira
Hannah Yun
Jane Rah
Cydney Clanton
Maude-Aimee Leblanc
Lizette Salas

This is the category in which I place super-talented young golfers whom I think may take a little bit of time to rise to the level of LPGA competition but who nevertheless have great shots at earning their 2013 cards via the top 80 of the 2012 money list. It may not happen for all of them--Jessica Korda from 2011, Pernilla Lindberg from 2010, Mindy Kim from 2009, Amy Yang from 2008, and Song-Hee Kim and Jane Park from 2007 are probably the most prominent recent examples of hot young things who struggled in their rookie seasons--but it should happen for more than half of them. And any of them could contend for top honors in their class in the long run.

Raised Expectations Elsewhere

Kathleen Ekey
Rebecca Lee-Bentham
Patcharajutar Kongkraphan
Thidapa Suwannapura
Jacqui Concolino

This is the category in which I place Futures Tour standouts whom I can't justify placing in a higher category, along with players who did really well on other developmental tours, at Q-School, or both. It's hard to tell whether they just peaked at the right time or whether they'll build in 2012 on their earlier successes. But they each have a decent shot of making the top 100 on the LPGA money list and avoiding Q-School in 2012. And some may surprise on the upside. If enough of them turn out to be good enough to keep on keeping their LPGA cards over the next 5 years, this may end up being the deepest class in recent tour history.

Something of a Surprise

Valentine Derrey
Tzu-Chi Lin
Hanna Kang
Mo Martin
Elisa Serramia
Veronica Felibert
Juliana Murcia Ortiz
Karlin Beck
Min Seo Kwak
Mi Hyang Lee
Kirby Dreher
Katy Harris
Lacey Agnew

These are the players who, frankly speaking, I didn't expect to be in this rookie class. I hate to say it, but odds are most of them will have to prove themselves in next year's Q-School all over again. I hope they prove me wrong!

2011 Surprises and Disappointments, "Part 3"

2011-12-05T17:28:00.004-05:00

It has been nearly four months, and eleven tournaments, since I last took a look at the most pleasant surprises and biggest disappointments of the 2011 LPGA season. Many changes have occurred since then. Azahara Munoz and Hee Young Park were on my disappointment list back then, but strong late-season play certainly turned their seasons around. I am going to limit this to six players in each category, though I know that I could have added more.

Let's take a look: (based only on LPGA play):

Biggest Surprises:

1- Sandra Gal - This was a tough decision for me. I picked Sandra because out of all the pleasant surprises, this was the one I thought was most unexpected. Who can forget her 9 Iron shot on the 72nd hole, which led to a birdie and a Kia Classic Victory? She also had 4 other top-10 finishes. Last year she finished 67th on the money list; this year she finished 20th.

2- Stacy Lewis - What a year Stacy had. She finished 2nd in the Rolex Player of the Year Ranking. Why don't I have her number one? Only because I always knew she would become an elite player. I just didn't expect this big a jump this year. Stacy's 12 top tens were only exceeded by Yani Tseng's 14. Last year she was number 21 on the money list; this year she was number 4.

3- Ryann O'Toole - A priority list Category 20 rookie, you would think she would never have had a chance. Ryann fooled us all by making the most of her few early opportunities. Her strong year started when she went out and successfully qualified for the U.S. Open. She turned all our heads when she finished 9th. She would later have a top-5 finish at the Safeway Classic, which led to her getting picked for the U.S. Solheim Cup Team. She did them solid, with a 2-0-2 record.

4- Tiffany Joh - A priority list Category 16 rookie, she came into the season with a bit more expectations then Ryann. Without a doubt, the funniest girl on the tour. If you haven't heard her sing, you must go to You Tube and check out her videos. She isn't a bad golfer, either. Her 2nd-place finish to Lexi Thompson at the Navistar Classic was the highlight of her season. Finishing #41 on the money list, she is a future star.

5- Katie Futcher - Katie spent most of her first 5 seasons struggling to maintain her full-time status. That certainly was not the case this year. She finished in the top 15 in 3 of the 4 major championships. Jumping from #63 to #30 on the money list, she earned this spot.

6- So Yeon Ryu - I said this was based exclusively on LPGA results. I didn't say it couldn't include a non-LPGA player. She gets on here for one reason, and one reason alone: she won the United States Open. Assuming she decides to play on the LPGA tour next season, she may very well become an elite player on tour very quickly.

Honorable mentions - Karen Stupples, Catriona Matthew, and Caroline Hedwall.

Biggest Disappointments:

1- Song-Hee Kim - I wish all my decisions were this easy. Was she the worst player on tour? No, she wasn't, but she sure was the most disappointing. Last year she was ranked eighth on the Rolex Player of the Year Rankings. This year she finished 35th. Last year she led the tour with 15 top ten finishes (that is one more than Yani had this year); this year she had two. I could go on, but you get the picture.

2- Jee Young Lee - Last year she was number 19 on the money list, this year she finished 116th. She only made 5 of 15 cuts. Her best finish was tied for 33rd at the Sybase Championship, and that was for getting eliminated in the first round.

3- Gwladys Nocera - Always a solid player, it is hard to explain her missing 8 of 15 cuts. She was number 37 on last year's money list. This year she fell to number 86.

4- Christina Kim - She was just a shell of herself in 2011. Did not have a single top-ten finish. She fell from number 26 on last year's money list to number 58.

5- Vicky Hurst - One of the biggest hitters on the tour, she has yet to live up to her expectations. She was a captain's pick for the Solheim Team, but I am not sure why. Playing in 22 tournaments, she had just one top-10 finish. Last year she raised some hopes by finishing number 28 on the money list. This year she has certainly lowered my expectations by finishing number 45.

6- Seon Hwa Lee - She never got on track this year. Missing 7 cuts, she dropped from number 42 to number 71 on the money list.

Dishonorable mentions - Laura Davies, Birdie Kim, and Na On Min.

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It Wouldn't Be LPGA Q-School Without a Controversy or Two: On Stephanie Kono and Hannah Yun

2011-12-04T17:22:00.001-05:00

For the 2nd year in a row, and the 3rd since the LPGA switched over in July 2008 to its Priority Status List system for entry into full-field, non-major domestic tournaments, their Q-School has been visited by controversy. Last year, the LPGA retroactively awarded memberships to nine golfers after it was determined that there shouldn't have been a playoff to determine membership in Category 20 on the 2011 Priority Status List. Back in 2008, the LPGA mistakenly ran a playoff at T21 to determine membership in Category 11, when they really should have either run it at T25 or not held it at all.

Now, having switched over to a 3-stage qualification process that merges the former Futures Tour (now Symetra Tour) and LPGA Q-Schools for the 1st time, the LPGA is facing bad publicity for refusing to allow UCLA senior Stephanie Kono to defer her 2012 membership. Instead, it's forcing her to decide between turning pro immediately following her T9 finish at the Final Qualifying Tournament today or giving up her ticket for full-time status on the LPGA next season in order to maintain her amateur status. Why is this such a terrible thing? Well, the argument goes, since all Kono wanted to do was assure herself of membership on the ~~Futures~~ Symetra Tour next season when she turned pro as planned after the Curtis Cup, and since she and her coach repeatedly checked in with LPGA HQ on whether she needed to play in the Final Qualifying Tournament to do that, and since the LPGA repeatedly made a mistake in assuring her and her coach that she did, therefore the LPGA needs to do something to compensate Kono by putting her in a tight spot--and probably compensate UCLA for depriving them of one of their star players, as they did when Kono decided to turn pro. As Beth Ann Baldry puts it:

To correct the situation, the LPGA should make an exception for Kono and allow her to defer membership until after she graduates. The LPGA made a mistake. An apology doesn’t seem like enough this time, and it’s ludicrous to expect her to withdraw.

Kono agrees that solution would be ideal, but thinks it’s a long shot.

Forsyth brings up a good point to consider: Eliminate amateurs at the final stage. Give amateurs the chance to earn status on the Futures Tour through two stages, and then if they want to give the LPGA a chance, make them turn professional. Sounds fair to college coaches, who are tired of their programs being used as a safety net when Q-School doesn’t work out.

While it does seem odd that you can choose to defer your membership onto the LPGA's developmental tour but can't onto its big tour, this rule has been in place for a long time and there's no point in bending it just because you feel bad about your mistake and feel worse for the player affected. Doing so would be bad for the players who exercise that option, too, as it would make it very difficult to win enough money in the events they entered after the NCAA season were done or after the Curtis Cup were over to avoid 2012 Q-School. More important, it's the player's responsibility to know the rules; if Kono and her coach thought the LPGA was misinterpreting their own rules, they should have made a bigger stink this fall and forced the commissioner to offer a final ruling.

So the most the LPGA could, and probably should, do for Kono is offer to pay her travel and lodging expenses, and, for UCLA, donate the amount Kono would have won if she hadn't competed as an amateur to their women's golf program ($2125). Well, maybe they should also follow Kono's coach's suggestion. I'm not sure if it's a good one--I'd have to think about it more carefully than I have time to now--but since there's no way it could be implemented until 2012 Q-School, and then only after being vetted according to the LPGA's constituted procedures, there's no sense in my taking the time now to sort through its pros and cons.

As bad a beating as the LPGA may take in the media (and has already taken on twitter) for the Kono conundrum, imagine the controversy that would have erupted if the 2-stroke penalty given to Hannah Yun for returning her ball to its original spot after the wind blew it an inch on the 3rd green had dropped her back into the playoff for the 20th spot (which most likely would have dropped her back to Category 16 status) or back to +6 (which would have dropped her down to Category 20 status). Turns out that in the heat of the moment, Yun, who told me on the phone at 5 pm tonight that she knows the correct ruling--play it from where the wind blew it--followed the advice of playing partner Tanya Dergal instead of sticking to her guns, calling for a decision right then from a rules official, or playing 2 balls (1 from each spot) and getting a ruling after her round. Whether Dergal really was unsure whether she had given Yun the correct advice or whether she had laid a subtle trap for the 19-year-old is unclear, but she reported what had happened to a rules official in the scoring tent and Yun was assessed a 2-shot penalty. It was the right call, but if Yun hadn't finished birdie-birdie to end up T15, the LPGA would have been in a world of hurt--again for making the right call. As Yun hastens to emphasize, it was her responsibility to know the rules and apply them correctly. Failure to do that should entail consequences.

Hopefully this will be a lesson for Dergal, Yun, Kono, and the LPGA.

[Update 1 (11:21 pm): Baldry follows up on her earlier Kono story. I wonder if the LPGA will offer take up my earlier advice and also pay for her last 6 credits at UCLA?]

LPGA Q-School Final Qualifying Tournament Overview: Close Races at the Top and Bottom of the Top 20; Gulyanamitta and Salas Prevail

2011-12-04T16:18:00.002-05:00

Junthima Gulyanamitta fired a 6-birdie 68 in the final round of the Final Qualifying Tournament on the Champions course at LPGA International to take medallist honors from Christine Song for 2011 LPGA Q-School. Song started her bid for a wire-to-wire win with 3 bogeys and no birdies in her 1st 10 holes, but a double bogey by Gulyanamitta on the par-4 12th gave her some hope. However, Gulyanamitta finished strong with 3 birdies and no bogeys in her last 6 holes to take a 2-shot victory over Song.

There were other great rounds and great finishes among those who earned full LPGA status for next year by finishing in the top 20, but probably none were better than Lizette Salas's. Sure, Rebecca Lee-Bentham shot the low round of the day, a 6-birdie 67, to jump from T38 all the way to T9. Dori Carter fired a 6-birdie 68 to finish T4 with Karlin Beck, 1 shot behind fellow Class of '11er Jennie Lee, who also got her 2012 card the hard way. Victoria Tanco went -4 over her last 14 holes of bogey-free golf to finish in T15. Meredith Duncan finished birdie-eagle and Hannah Yun finished birdie-birdie to avoid having to take part in the 9-player playoff at +5 for the last spot in the top 20. There, Salas faced off against Danah Bordner, who played her last 15 holes -6 and bogey-free, including a walkoff eagle that earned her a 68 and a +5 finish for the week; Sophia Sheridan, who birdied 2 of her last 4 holes to make the playoff; and the likes of Stepanie Sherlock, Paola Moreno, Veronica Felibert, Jacqui Concolino, Min Seo Kwak, and Lacey Agnew in a 3-hole cumulative playoff. Thanks to tweets from Golfweek's Julie Williams and Beth Ann Baldry, we know that Salas took what seemed to be an insurmountable lead by birdieing her 1st 2 holes, but Agnew and Bordner struck back from the 1st threesome with eagles on the par-5 18th. (That's 2 for 2 by Bordner for you folks scoring at home.) So what did Salas do but sink an 18-footer for her 3rd-straight birdie in the playoff to take the last spot that guarantees a full LPGA schedule for 2012? Clutch!

If the LPGA were using the rules for 2011 Q-School that were in effect the last 2 years, then only the next 10 players following Salas would be in Category 16, with ties broken by final-day scores. That would leave Mi Hyang Lee and Patcharajutar Kongkraphan the 9th and 10th players in that category on the priority status list. But if what I'm reading from LPGA.com is correct, this year they're including those who finished in the top 30 and ties, which would mean that Mitsuki Katahira (who bogeyed 18 to drop to +6) and Thidapa Suwannapura (who finished birdie-bogey-birdie to salvage a 75) are also in Category 16.

This has implications for 2-time U.S. Women's Amateur champion Danielle Kang, who would be the 11th player after Kongkraphan and hence the odd woman out of Category 20 under the old rules. But if top 40 and ties are in, then Kang is just barely in, too.

I've been seeing several players and media folks referring to a penalty Hannah Yun had to take on the 3rd hole. She had originally been in with a 69, but all of a sudden it got changed to a 71 when she had to take a double there. Beth Ann Baldry promises to write up this story. I have to give Hannah a call and then I'll update this post.

I know the media is going to make a big deal about the Stephanie Kono story that Baldry broke yesterday--how she has to give up the rest of her senior year at UCLA and a chance for a spot on the 2012 Curtis Cup because she was required to either accept or reject LPGA membership after finishing T9, rather than given a chance to defer for a few months, even though she was mistakenly told that she had to participate in the Final Qualifying Tournament to get ~~Futures~~ Symetra Tour status for 2012. More on that later, too!

[Update 1 (5:19 pm): LPGA.com has its final results page out and both it and the updating live scoring page clarify that indeed top 30 and ties are in Category 16 and top 40 and ties are in Category 20. I just got off the phone with Hannah Yun and will treat her penalty in a separate post after I make some rice for dinner!]

[Update 2 (6:19 pm): My bad, it's next 10 for Category 16 and top 40 and ties for Category 20! Kono/Yun post not done; will have to wait till after dinner!]

[Update 3 (7:14 pm): Great final-round overview by Lisa Mickey!]

[Update 4 (10:05 pm): Here's Tom Abbott's take. I think he went easy on Danielle Kang and Carlota Ciganda, who vastly underachieved on their way to getting practically worthless LPGA status in 2012.]

[Update 5 (12/5/11, 9:58 am): Here's LPGA.com 's profile of the top 20 in Category 1 for 2012.]

It's Down to the Wire at LPGA Q-School's Final Qualifying Tournament

2011-12-04T08:21:00.001-05:00

The 76 golfers who survived the cut line at LPGA Q-School's Final Qualifying Tournament are already on the Champions course and it should be a real shootout at LPGA International today. Not so much for the 4 players under par through 4 rounds, whom Lisa Mickey focused on so well yesterday, or the 3 at E, 1 of whom Beth Ann Baldry profiled. Whereas something horrific would have to happen for these 7 golfers to fall out of the top 20, with 10 players at T19 and the rest of the field only 7 shots or less behind them, literally anything can happen over the last 18 holes. Just look at Ayaka Kaneko, who went 79-76 on the Legends course earlier in the week but whose 67 on the Champions course yesterday moved her up from T78 (+10) to T19 (+5)!

What's amazing to me is who's struggling to remain in or get into that top 20. Minea Blomqvist, who's had a long and successful, if slightly underachieving, LPGA career, is in that big group at T19. A pair of 75s on the Legends course have been her downfall thus far, but she's only broken par at the Champions course once and didn't break 70 when she did it. Hopefully that means a low number is in the cards for her. Mariajo Uribe is only 1 shot better, having gone 75-74 her last 2 rounds to fall to +4 for the week; she'll need to improve greatly on that 75 on the Champions course from a couple of days ago if she doesn't want to have barely-there LPGA status (from being only in the top 125 on the 2011 LPGA money list) in 2012. Hot young prospects like Mitsuki Katahira, Hannah Yun, Lizette Salas, and Jaclyn Sweeney are also right on the bubble at +5 through 72 holes, as are Meredith Duncan and Jean Reynolds.

1 stroke behind them are Sophia Sheridan and Lili Alvarez, who are trying to return to the LPGA, along with 2-time U.S. Women's Amateur champion Danielle Kang, who's gone 78-75 on the Legends course but is coming off a 69 a couple of days ago on the Champions course. And don't forget Thailand's Patcharajutar Kongkraphan, a 2-time winner on the CLPGA this year.

Victoria Tanco and Veronica Felibert are another shot back at +7; neither had broken 73 all week until Felibert shot a 72 at the Champions course yesterday. Both will have to do much better than that today if they want to move into the top 20.

There's a traffic jam at +8 that includes Carlota Ciganda, Ginger Howard, Valentine Derrey, Stephanie Na, Izzy Beisiegel, Rebecca Lee-Bentham, Hannah Jun, and Kendall Dye. The only one of the bunch to break 70 this week is Jun (she shot a 69 Friday to bounce back from an 80 on the Legends course on Thursday!). Perhaps that means they're all due to go low today....

A couple of Canadians are looking to do just that from 4 shots behind the bubble girls. Just like Lee-Bentham and Beisiegel, Samantha Richdale and Lisa Meldrum need to do something they haven't accomplished all week--break 70 on the Champions course--today. So does Danah Bordner, like Richdale and Meldrum an LPGAer this year and like Richdale a victim of the Legends course yesterday.

There are others further back--from youngsters Julia Boland, Jenny Suh, and Shasta Averyhardt to established pros like Cathryn Bristow, Allison Fouch Duncan, and Leah Wigger, to veterans like Jamie Hullett, Birdie Kim, and Nicole Jeray--who basically need a miracle. But this is Q-School, where someone's miracle is everyone else's nightmare, so I'm going to be careful what I wish for--absolutely nothing!

You can follow the live scoring at LPGA.com--if you dare!

Kristie Smith and a Host of Other Notables Miss the Cut at LPGA Q-School's Final Qualifying Tournament

2011-12-03T21:31:00.001-05:00

I have to admit that I'm shocked that Kristie Smith missed the cut at LPGA Q-School's Final Qualifying Tournament. The only other player in the field I was more confident would make the top 20 this week than Smith was long-time LPGAer Minea Blomqvist, on whom more in another post. But at #17 on the LET money list and a long-time stand-out on the ALPG, Smith, I figured, was due to break through onto the LPGA. Instead, she opened with an 80 on the challenging Legends course at LPGA International and failed to break 73 over each of her next 3 rounds. Just like that, she missed the cut by 2 shots.

But Smith was by no means alone. Jennifer Gleason, Hanna Kang, and Tzu-Chi Lin, who were looking to improve their 2012 LPGA status from finishing in the top 10 on the 2011 Futures Tour money list, all missed the cut; Gleason missed it by 4 shots and couldn't break 74, Kang missed it by 5 shots and never broke 74, and Lin missed it by 12 shots, failing to break 75. LPGAers Sara Brown (+20), Sarah Brown (+21), Nicole Hage (+20), Allison Hanna (+17), Jimin Jeong (+13), Kimberly Kim (+37), Stephanie Kim (WD), Junko Nakada (+23), Libby Smith (+46), Alison Whitaker (+17), and Adrienne White (+24) played their way off the tour for 2012, except for Hage, who finished 121st on the 2011 LPGA money list and will have some kind of nominal status for 2012. No such luck for developmental tour winners this season (like Smith, Lin, Hage, and Stephanie Kim) Jasi Acharya (+14), Alejandra Llaneza (+15), and Benedikte Grotvedt (+16). Or former can't-miss prospects like Esther Choe (+13), Mallory Blackwelder (+13), and Natalie Sheary (+15). At least Brianna Do (+18) has her senior year at UCLA to look forward to.

So Gleason, Kang, Lin and Hage have very limited status on the LPGA in 2012. Odds are they'll be spending most of their time with everyone else who missed the cut on the Futures Tour--sorry, Symetra Tour--in 2012.

What a week to not even have your B-game. Yup, Q-School is cruel!

JLPGA Q-School Final Qualifying Tournament Overview: Erina Hara Medals, Harukyo Nomura T2

2011-12-03T16:19:00.001-05:00

Erina Hara birdied her last hole of the Final Qualifying Tournament at JLPGA Q-School to salvage an even-par 72 at the Yamana Katsuragi Golf Club in Shizuoka and secure a 2-shot victory over veteran Chie Sakai and youngster Harukyo Nomura.

With the top 30-40 golfers in the field getting into most 2012 JLPGA events, seasoned veterans Ikuyo Shiotani (96th) and Kaori Harada (92nd) will have to decide whether to retire and mid-career players like Yoshimi Koda (55th) and Julie Lu (64th) will have to decide whether to join youngsters Aoi Nagata (69th), Hiroko Ayada (72nd), Aiko Ueno (79th), and Sakurako Mori (80th) on the JLPGA's Step-Up Tour, LAGT, and perhaps other developmental tours. Meanwhile, Ya-Huei Lu (50th), Mizuho Ozawa (48th), Erina Yamato (47th), Mie Nakata (46th), and Satsuki Oshiro (45th) will be hoping they get into a decent number of JLPGA events in 2012.

So who dodged the Q-School bullet and assured themselves full membership (or close to it) for next season? Here are the lucky few:

1st/-12 Erina Hara
T2/-10 Chie Sakai, Harukyo Nomura
4th/-9 Shiho Toyonaga
5th/-6 Orie Fujino
6th/-4 Yuki Ichinose
T7/-3 Ming-Yen Chen, Hiromi Takesue
T9/-2 Mayumi Shimomura, Megumi Shimokawa
T11/-1 Tomoko Takahashi, Lala Anai, Nana Akahori, Porani Chutichai
T15/E Ikue Asama, Yuko Saitoh, Yui Kawahara
T18/+1 Erika Kikuchi, Eriko Sonada, Kaori Yamamoto
T21/+2 Miki Sakai, Ayako Okazaki, Yuko Fukuda, Hiroko Fukushima, Hiroko Takahama, Misuzu Narita, Onnarin Sattayabanphot
T28/+3 Mikiko Nishi, Da E Na, Rie Murata, Airi Saitoh, Sae Yamamura
T33/+4 Tao-Li Yang, Kotono Kozuma, Aiko Kaneda, Toshimi Kimura, Tomoko Kusakabe
T38/+5 Keiko Sasaki, Yeo-Jin Kang, Yoko Inoue, Natsu Nagai, Kaori Nakamura

There are a few teen sensations who will be JLPGA members in 2012; Mizusu Narita turned 19 in early October, preceding Mostly Harmless regular Harukyo Nomura by almost 2 months, while Sae Yamamura has almost a half-year and Kotono Kozuma almost 3/4 of a year on the player who won the 1st JLPGA event she entered as a professional. But there are also portraits in perseverance who will be playing on the big tour in 2012, like 39-year-old Ayako Okazaki, who's earned less than 2 million yen in her much-interrupted 5-year career on tour that dates back to 2001 and has been on hold since 2009, and 34-year-old Hiroko Fukushima, who's now made it 6 years in a row on a tour whose top 100 on the money list she has never yet cracked.

While there's a good mix of newcomers to the tour (Da E Na and Porani Chutichai join the Japanese teenagers), young guns whose careers so far have mostly misfired (Ichinose, Anai, Kikuchi, Miki Sakai, Sattayabanphot, Yang, Kang), and vets (pretty much everyone else), probably the only really exciting ones for sure are Hara and Nomura. Both have won once on tour and have the capacity to be top 10 players in 2012. But they, like everyone else, have an uphill battle to prove themselves against those who made the top 50 on the money list in 2011. It'll be interesting to see next year who can do it!

Final Check On My Top 30 Predictions

2011-11-28T19:15:00.001-05:00

Way back in February, before the first LPGA tournament was played, the Constructivist asked us to predict the top 30 players for the coming year. Since the season is over, and I haven't seen anyone else analyze their picks, let me be the first.

1- Na Yeon Choi - Wasn't quite as good as she was in 2010. She still finished 3rd in the Rolex Player of the year race. It wasn't that bad a miss.

2- Ji-Yai Shin - A big miss here. I know she played through some injuries, but a 20th place finish was not what I expected.

3- Suzann Petterson - I was real close here, she finished tied for 4th.

4- Paula Creamer - Seemed she did everything but win. Her actual finish was tied for 8th.

5- Yani Tseng - When the season started, she was part of a bunch of players fighting for the top. Who knew she would dominate like she did? At least I had her top five.

6- Cristie Kerr - I was close here, as she tied for 4th.

7- Song-Hee Kim - I dare anyone to tell me they saw this coming. Finishing 35th, she was invisible the entire season.

8- Ai Miyazato - Her season just seemed worse than it actually was. She finished #11, so I wasn't far off.

9- I.K. Kim - Didn't think this big talent could go the whole year without a win. That is exactly what happened. She finished #13.

10- Michelle Wie - Please get rid of the Belly Putter. She finished 17th.

11- Mika Miyazato - Did we actually ever see her in prime time coverage this year? I'm guessing not many times, as her 24th place finish tells us.

12- Morgan Pressel - Small off the tee, but big on heart. Morgan finished #10.

13- Hee Kyung Seo - Maybe I expected a little too much, after all she did win the rookie of the year award. Her actual finish was 21st.

14- Brittany Lincicome - Changing her caddie certainly seemed to spark her. Her two victories led her to a 6th place finish.

15- Amy Yang - Was right on here. She finished 14th.

16- Angela Stanford - Her tying for 8th, makes me look bad.

17- Anna Nordqvist - Played much better in the second half of the season, and rose to 22nd.

18- Stacy Lewis - She finished #25 in 2010. I thought I was doing her solid by picking her this high. Tell me the truth, how many people expected her to finish #2?

19- Brittany Lang - Hard to believe she still has never won. She did finish #16.

20- Inbee Park - Not a good year, she made me look bad by finishing 30th.

21- Karrie Webb - I missed big here. She won twice early, and then vanished. She still finished 7th.

22- Amanda Blumenherst - Sometimes I pick with my heart, and not my head. Improved slightly in her second season, but finished 56th.

23- Vicky Hurst - I keep waiting for this bomber to live up to her potential. A 43rd place finish was not what I expected.

24- Karine Icher - Her maternity leave, gives me a pass on this one.

25- Azuhara Munoz - You can pat me on the back for this one. She finished 25th.

26- Beatriz Recari - Sophomore jinx? Didn't have a single player of the year point.

27- Natalie Gulbis - Maybe I should start looking at her golf. A consistent top 50 money list achiever, I rated her way too high.

28- Christina Kim - Wasn't a good year if your name was Kim (see I.K. and Song-Hee). Christina didn't have a single player of the year point.

29- Hee Young Park - Her season ending victory placed her 19th for the year.

30- Belen Mozo - I wanted to put a long shot in this position. It turned out I did, as she finished 43rd.

Now that I have embarrassed myself, by actually showing these results. I would like to see some of the others who played, show theirs.

Rolex Mover of the Week:
Mi-Jeong-Jeon - Moves from #34 to #28.

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JLPGA and LPGA Q-School Previews

2011-11-28T02:07:00.000-05:00

With the Final Qualifying Tournaments for both the JLPGA and LPGA starting this week, I thought it would be interesting to compare and contrast the fields for the last stage of Q-School on each tour.

I'll begin with the big news from the JLPGA: Ai Miyazato (who was just profiled by Lisa Mickey on LPGA.com), Hee Young Park, Meena Lee, and Harukyo Nomura finished outside the top 50 on the 2011 money list but are not playing this week, which most likely means that they will not be dual LPGA-JLPGA members in 2012--unless the JLPGA makes some kind of exception for Miyazato (who after all has 15 career wins on tour) and/or Nomura (who won as a non-member this year in her 1st start on tour as a professional). I'm guessing that with Miho Koga retiring, #51 on the money list Midori Yoneyama will take her spot, but it's possible she's also retiring, as she isn't playing this week, either. (In fact, nobody between #51 and #54 is playing--not quite sure what that means.) It doesn't appear that any big stars from the LPGA, KLPGA, or LET will be trying to join the JLPGA for the 1st time in 2012, either.

OK, enough about who won't be playing in Shizuoka this week. Who will? Probably the biggest names in the field belong to Mie Nakata and Erina Hara. Nakata's been on tour for over a decade but finished this season by making only 2 cuts in her last 16 starts; Hara was one of the young stars of the JLPGA when she joined the tour at age 19 in 2007 and continued to shine brightly in her next 2 seasons, but this is now the 2nd year in a row she has to go to Q-School to try to keep her card. Nakata and Hara will be joined by fellow veterans Yuko Saitoh, Ikuyo Shiotani, Chie Sakai, Toshimi Kimura, Rie Murata, Mayumi Shimomura, Megumi Shimokawa, Julie Lu, Ya-Huei Lu, Nana Akahori, Kaori Harada, Yuko Fukuda, and Yoshimi Koda, among the many others fighting to rejoin the tour in 2012. But I'm more interested in the new talent trying to make it on tour for the 1st time--like Aoi Nagata, Porani Chutichai, Da E Na, and a host of Chinese youngsters--or give themselves another chance to get their fledgling careers off the ground--like Yuki Ichinose, Onnarin Sattayabanphot, Erika Kikuchi, Satsuki Oshiro, Tao-Li Yang, Sakurako Mori, Miki Sakai, and Aiko Ueno.

How does LPGA Q-School stack up? Pretty darn good. There's a broader range of Asian players in the field, including Mitsuki Katahira, Junko Nakada, and Ayako Kaneko from Japan (Samantha Richdale and Shayna Miyajima are of Japanese descent, as well), Jean Chua from Malaysia, Junthima Gulyanamitta, Patcharajutar Kongkraphan, and Thidapa Suwannapura from Thailand, Yu-Ling Hsieh, Tzu-Chi Lin, and Peiyun Chien from Taiwan, Vietnamese-America Brianna Do, and of course a host of Koreans and Korean-Americans, headed by Danielle Kang, Christine Song, Birdie Kim, Stephanie Kono, Jimin Jeong, Hannah Yun, Hannah Jun, Angela Oh, Kimberly Kim, Esther Choe, Stephanie Kim, Misun Cho, Hanna Kang, Jenny Suh, and Jennie Lee. There are several good Australians and New Zealanders, from Kristie Smith to Stephanie Na to Julia Boland to Emma De Groot to Cathryn Bristow. There are a lot of impressive Spanish speakers, from Carlota Ciganda and Mariajo Uribe to Sophia Sheridan and Lili Alvarez, from Paola Moreno and Juliana Murcia Ortiz to Lizette Salas and Victoria Tanco, from Veronica Felibert and Alejandra Llaneza to Macarena Silva and Anya Sarai Alvarez (just to name a few). Europe is well represented not only by Ciganda and countrywoman Elisa Serramia, but also Minea Blomqvist, Jodi Ewart, Benedikte Grotvedt, Valentine Derrey, and Camilla Lennarth. Closer to home, Richdale is joined by many other Canadians, including Maude-Aimee Leblanc, Izzy Beisiegel, Rebecca Lee-Bentham, Angela Buzminski, Lisa Meldrum, Adrienne White, Stephanie Sherlock, and Sue Kim. And of course there are a bunch more Americans than the ones I've already listed who have a chance to win this thing, including Alison Fouch (now Duncan), Nicole Hage, Meredith Duncan, Sara Brown, Cydney Clanton, Natalie Sheary, Jaclyn Sweeney, Mallory Blackwelder, Ginger Howard, Jacqui Concolino, Leah Wigger, Jean Reynolds, and Dori Carter.

Bottom line is, when you look at the long list of developmental tour winners this year, LPGA Q-School has JLPGA Q-School beat, hands-down. If I had to pick a handful or 2 of favorites in Florida, I'd say to look out for Minea Blomqvist, Kristie Smith, Carlota Ciganda, Mariajo Uribe, Mitsuki Katahira, Junthima Gulyanamitta, Danielle Kang, Christine Song, Victoria Tanco, and Hannah Yun, but there are so many players in their league or close to it coming in with pretty hot hands that I frankly don't see any of them as real locks. All I can say is it's a good thing LET Q-School comes so late (January 2012!), as there's going to be a large number of very good golfers who won't get LPGA membership come Sunday.

[Update 1 (11/29/11, 12:36 am): Looking back over my final LPGA Q-School stage 2 post, I was surprised to see that Carlota Ciganda and several others who are in the field this week were originally slated as missing the cut. Suggests to me that a good number of LPGAers who didn't make the top 100 on the money list elected not to enter the Final Qualifying Tournament. I knew Moira Dunn was among them, but now I'm wondering how many and who joined her....]

The 2011 Women's Worldwide Professional Golf Schedule and Results

2011-11-27T10:44:00.001-05:00

With the close of the LPGA and JLPGA seasons, it's about time I provided a cleaned-up version (from September's) of the LPGA's, JLPGA's, KLPGA's, and LET's 2011 schedules and most recent winners.

Note: A [D] following a player's name indicates that she is the defending champion of a tournament that has not yet been completed.

DECEMBER 2010

17-19: Hyundai China Ladies Open (KLPGA/CLPGA) HYE YOUN KIM

FEBRUARY 2011

3-6: ISPS HANDA Women's Australian Open (LET/ALPG) YA NI TSENG

10-13: ANZ RACV Ladies Masters (LET/ALPG) YA NI TSENG

17-20: Honda LPGA Thailand (LPGA) YA NI TSENG; Pegasus New Zealand Women's Open (LET/ALPG) KRISTIE SMITH

24-27: HSBC Women's Champions (LPGA) KARRIE WEBB

MARCH 2011

4-6: Daikin Orchid Ladies Open (JLPGA) INBEE PARK

18-20: RR Donnelley LPGA Founders Cup (LPGA) [new event] KARRIE WEBB

24-27: Kia Classic (LPGA) SANDRA GAL

31-4/3: Kraft Nabisco Championship (LPGA major) STACY LEWIS; Lalla Meryem Cup (LET) ZUZANA KAMASOVA

APRIL 2011

14-17: LOTTE Mart Ladies Open (KLPGA) HYUN HWA SHIM; European Nations Cup (LET team event) SWEDEN
15-17: Nishijin Ladies Classic (JLPGA) YURI FUDOH

22-24: Fujisankei Ladies Classic (JLPGA) KUMIKO KANEDA; Hyundai E&C Seokyung Ladies Open (KLPGA) HA NEUL KIM

28-5/1: Avnet LPGA Classic (LPGA) MARIA HJORTH
29-5/1: Cyber Agent Ladies Cup (JLPGA) YURI FUDOH

MAY 2011

5-8: Salonpas Cup (JLPGA major) SUN-JU AHN; Turkish Airlines Turkish Ladies Open (LET) CHRISTEL BOELJON

12-15: Taeyoung Cup Korean Women's Open (KLPGA major) YEON JOO JEONG
13-15: Fundokin Ladies (JLPGA) MIKI SAIKI; ISPS Handa Portugal Ladies Open (LET) ASHLEIGH SIMON

19-22: Sybase Match Play Championship (LPGA) SUZANN PETTERSEN; Unicredit Ladies German Open (LET) DIANA LUNA
20-22: Chukyo TV Bridgestone Ladies Open (JLPGA) HARUKYO NOMURA; Rush & Cash Charity Classic (KLPGA) SUNG HYUN LEE

26-29: Doosan Match Play Championship (KLPGA) SOO-JIN YANG; Ladies Slovak Open (LET) CAROLINE HEDWALL
27-29: Yonex Ladies (JLPGA) HIROMI MOGI

JUNE 2011

3-5: ShopRite LPGA Classic (LPGA) BRITTANY LINCICOME; Resort Trust Ladies Open (JLPGA) SAKURA YOKOMINE; Woori Investment & Securities Ladies Championship (KLPGA) SUL AH YOON; Deloitte Dutch Ladies Open (LET) MELISSA REID

9-12: LPGA State Farm Classic (LPGA) YA NI TSENG; Suntory Ladies Open (JLPGA) SUN-JU AHN
10-12: Tenerife Ladies Match Play (LET) BECKY BREWERTON; Lotte Cantata Women's Open SBS Tour (KLPGA) SO YEON RYU

16-19: Deutsche Bank Ladies Swiss Open (LET) DIANA LUNA
17-19: Nichirei PGM Ladies (JLPGA) JI-HEE LEE; S-OIL Champions Invitational (KLPGA) MI RIM LEE

23-26: Wegmans LPGA Championship (LPGA major) YA NI TSENG

30-7/2 Finnair Ladies Masters (LET) CAROLINE HEDWALL

JULY 2011

1-3: Nichi-Iko Ladies Open (JLPGA) AYAKO UEHARA

7-10: U.S. Women's Open (LPGA major) SO YEON RYU

15-17: Stanley Ladies (JLPGA) CHIE ARIMURA

21-24: Evian Masters (LPGA limited-field event/LET major) AI MIYAZATO

26-20: Stage 1 (LPGA Q-School) LEXI THOMPSON
28-31: Ricoh Women's British Open (LPGA/LET major) YA NI TSENG
29-31: SBS Tour Hidden Valley Ladies Open (KLPGA) HYUN MIN PYUN

AUGUST 2011

5-7: Meiji Chocolate Cup (JLPGA) SHANSHAN FENG; Ladies Irish Open (LET) SUZANN PETTERSEN

12-14: NEC Karuizawa 72 Ladies (JLPGA) SUN-JU AHN

17-19: Stage 1 (JLPGA Q-School) YANG PAN RED [?] (District B)
18-20: Aberdeen Ladies Scottish Open (LET) CATRIONA MATTHEW
18-21: Nefs Masterpiece (KLPGA) JUNG EUN LEE 5
19-21: Safeway Classic (LPGA) SUZANN PETTERSEN; CAT Ladies (JLPGA) CHIE ARIMURA

24-26: Stage 1 (JLPGA Q-School) YUSHU YAO XUAN (District A), XIE LING ? (District C)
25-28: CN Canadian Women's Open (LPGA) BRITTANY LINCICOME
26-28: Nitori Ladies Cup (JLPGA) RITSUKO RYU; LIG Ladies Classic (KLPGA) HYUN HEE MOON

SEPTEMBER 2011

1-4: Hanhwa Finance Network Open (KLPGA) NA YEON CHOI
2-4: Golf5 Ladies (JLPGA) LI-YING YE; UNIQA Ladies Golf Open (LET) CAROLINE HEDWALL

8-11: Konica Minolta Cup (JLPGA major) YUKO MITSUKA; Prague Golf Masters (LET) JADE SCHAEFFER
9-11: Walmart NW Arkansas Championship (LPGA) YA NI TSENG

15-18: Navistar LPGA Classic (LPGA) LEXI THOMPSON; Open de Espana Femenino (LET) MELISSA REID
16-18: Munsingwear Ladies Tokai Classic (JLPGA) MAYU HATTORI

22-25: MetLife Hankyung KLPGA Championship (KLPGA major) HJ CHOI
23-25: Solheim Cup (LPGA/LET team competition) EUROPE; Miyagi TV Cup Dunlop Ladies Open (JLPGA) SHANSHAN FENG

27-30: Stage 2 (LPGA Q-School) GINGER HOWARD
29-10/2: Japan Women's Open (JLPGA major) YUKARI BABA; Lacoste Open de France Feminin (LET) FELICITY JOHNSON
30-10/2: Daewoo Securities Ladies Open (KLPGA) YU NA PARK

OCTOBER 2011

7-9: LPGA Hana Bank Championship (LPGA/KLPGA) YA NI TSENG; Sankyo Ladies Open (JLPGA) SUN-JU AHN; Sicilian Ladies Italian Open (LET) CHRISTINA KIM

13-16: Hite/Jinro Cup Championship (KLPGA major) HA NEUL KIM
14-16: Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia (LPGA) NA YEON CHOI; Fujitsu Ladies (JLPGA) SAIKI FUJITA

20-23: Sunrise LPGA Taiwan Championship (LPGA) YA NI TSENG
21-23: Masters GC Ladies (JLPGA) SHIHO OYAMA; Sanya Ladies Open (LET/CLPGA) FRANCES BONDAD

27-30: 2011 KB Star Tour Grand Final (KLPGA major) AMY YANG
28-30: Hisako Higuchi Morinaga Weider Ladies (JLPGA) CHIE ARIMURA; Suzhou Taihu Ladies Open (LET/CLPGA) YA NI TSENG

NOVEMBER 2011

2-4: Stage 2 (JLPGA Q-School) DA E NA (Kyoto); YA-HUEI LU (Ibaraki); MEGUMI SHIMOKAWA (Gunma); MAMI FUKUDA (Mie)
4-6: Mizuno Classic (LPGA/JLPGA) MOMOKO UEDA; EDaily Kim Young Joo (KYJ) Golf Ladies Open (KLPGA) HA NEUL KIM

10-13: Lorena Ochoa Invitational (LPGA) CATRIONA MATTHEW
11-13: Ito-En Ladies (JLPGA) ASAKO FUJIMOTO

17-20: CME Group Titleholders (LPGA) HEE YOUNG PARK
18-20: Daio Paper ElleAir Ladies (JLPGA) JI-HEE LEE; ADT CAPS Championship 2011 (KLPGA) YOUNG-RAN JO

22-24: Stage 3 (JLPGA Q-School) MAYUMI SHIMOMURA (Ibaraki); YUKO FUKUDA (Mie)
24-27: Ricoh Cup (JLPGA major) MI-JEONG JEON

29-12/2: Final Qualifying Tournament (JLPGA Q-School) ERINA HARA
30-12/4: Final Qualifying Tournament (LPGA Q-School) JUNTHIMA GULYANAMITTA

DECEMBER 2011

9-11: Hero Women's Indian Open (LET) CAROLINE HEDWALL

14-17: Omega Dubai Ladies Masters (LET) LEXI THOMPSON

JANUARY 2012

8-11: Pre-Qualifying Tournament (LET Q-School) ESTHER CHOE (Group A); HANNAH BURKE (Group B)

15-19: Final Qualifying Tournament (LET Q-School) JODI EWART

***

I'll add in dates and results for the KLPGA's Q-School when I find them.

Ricoh Cup Overview: Mi-Jeong Jeon Goes Wire-to-Wire for 17th JLPGA Win of Her Career

2011-11-27T09:53:00.001-05:00

It took all season, but Mi-Jeong Jeon secured her 1st win of 2011 in the last event on the JLPGA schedule, the Ricoh Cup, going wire-to-wire for her 17th career victory on tour.

Jeon opened with a 68 on Thursday; despite closing with 3 bogeys in her last 5 holes, she was the only player in the elite field to break 70 and found herself with a 2-shot lead on Inbee Park and a 3-shot lead on Ji-Yai Shin. She finished weakly again on Friday, with another 3 bogeys in her last 5 holes that forced her to settle for a 72, but Shin fell back with a 74 and Park ballooned to a 77, leaving fellow Koreans Bo-Bae Song and Sun-Ju Ahn, who both fired 69s, to take their places 2 and 3 shots behind Jeon, respectively. On moving day, a bogey-free 33 on the back allowed Jeon to extend her lead on Song to 3 shots, while a sizzling 66 by Chie Arimura brought her within 5 and Rui Kitada and Yuri Fudoh moved within 4 thanks to a 68 and a 69, respectively. And today Jeon held steady despite a bogey-free 69 from Ahn and a bogey-free 70 from Song; 2 birdies in her last 6 holes were all she needed to hold onto a 2-stroke victory over Song and a 4-shot margin on Ahn, Ji-Hee Lee, and Junko Omote.

It was a great week for the "Korean Power Wave" on the JLPGA; all 8 Koreans in the field finished in the top 15, ahead of the likes of Miki Saiki, Ayako Uehara, Saiki Fujita, and Yukari Baba, not to mention perennial heavy hitters like Shiho Oyama (+10), Sakura Yokomine and Momoko Ueda (+12)--and even the promising youngster Harukyo Nomura (+14). With Shanshan Feng making the top 10, international players outnumbered Omote, Arimura, Fudoh, and Kitada.

Ahn's clinching the money-list title last week took some of the drama out of the final event of the year, but even so the 25-million yen purse allowed Jeon to extend her top-6 streak to 6-straight seasons, Lee to break the 100-million yen barrier for the 2nd time in her career, and, even with Arimira passing her for 3rd, Yokomine to extend her top-4 streak to 7-straight seasons. Here's how the 2011 JLPGA money list ended up:

1. Sun-Ju Ahn ￥127.93M
2. Ji-Hee Lee ￥102.32M
3. Chie Arimura ￥88.69M
4. Sakura Yokomine ￥87.30M
5. Yukari Baba ￥76.29M
6. Mi-Jeong Jeon ￥67.78M
7. Shanshan Feng ￥67.14M
8. Miki Saiki ￥62.73M
9. Yuri Fudoh ￥60.52M
10. Ritsuko Ryu ￥57.56M
11. Bo-Bae Song ￥55.22M
12. Shiho Oyama ￥52.17M
13. Mayu Hattori ￥50.79M
14. Asako Fujimoto ￥50.03M
15. Saiki Fujita ￥48.16M
16. Ayako Uehara ￥45.85M
17. Rui Kitada ￥45.70M
18. Junko Omote ￥40.14M
19. Kumiko Kaneda ￥38.495M
20. Hiromi Mogi ￥37.88M
21. Rikako Morita ￥36.33M
22. Momoko Ueda ￥35.71M
23. Na-Ri Kim ￥35.68M
24. Ji-Woo Lee ￥29.97M
25. Yuko Mitsuka ￥29.37M
26. Li-Ying Ye ￥28.38M
27. Akane Iijima ￥28.14M
28. Na-Ri Lee ￥27.10M
29. Inbee Park ￥26.86M
30. Kaori Aoyama ￥26.66M
31. Hyun-Ju Shin ￥26.62M
32. Ah-Reum Hwang ￥24.40M
33. Teresa Lu ￥24.39M
34. Young Kim ￥23.67M
35. Esther Lee ￥23.59M
36. Akiko Fukushima ￥23.25M
37. Eun-A Lim ￥22.59M
38. Soo-Yun Kang ￥21.90M
39. Eun-Bi Jang ￥21.05M
40. Bo-Mee Lee ￥19.15M
41. Shinobu Moromizato ￥18.64M
42. Yumiko Yoshida ￥18.17M
43. Kaori Ohe ￥17.38M
44. Nikki Campbell ￥17.07M
45. Nachiyo Ohtani ￥16.86M
46. Tamie Durdin ￥16.85M
47. Miho Koga ￥16.64M
48. Ji-Yai Shin ￥16.61M
49. Megumi Kido ￥16.07M
50. So-Hee Kim ￥15.78M

All these players automatically keep their cards for 2012, including Ji-Yai Shin, who moved into the top 50 (barely) in her 7th start on tour. With Harukyo Nomura at #64, Ai Miyazato at #71, Hee Young Park at #88, and Meena Lee at #96, I'm very curious to see who will be playing in the final stage of Q-School next week.

For more on Jeon's win, head on over to Fairways and Forehands--bangkokbobby has plenty of photos and the final leaderboard in its entirety!

Tim Maitland Looks Ahead to the 2012 Showdown in Singapore

2011-11-25T00:00:00.000-05:00

Why the #1s?

Tim Maitland

The HSBC Women's Champions returns to Singapore in February, with LPGA legend Karrie Webb defending the title as the latest name in a roll of honour that is almost unrivalled in recent years. Tim Maitland talks to the stars of the women's game to work out why the event has only ever been won by the best of the best.

Lorena Ochoa, at her most dominant, finished streets ahead of a returning Annika Sorenstam in 2008. A year later Jiyai Shin lifted the trophy at the start of her “rookie” season (she won three LPGA events as a non-member in 2008, including a Major), as part of a relentless charge that would make her the third number one in the history of the official rankings. In 2010, Ai Miyazato held the same silverware and shortly afterwards held the number one ranking, too. Then came Karrie, who by the age of 25 had already qualified for the World Golf Hall of Fame and who, but for the Rolex Rankings only being introduced in 2006, was a number one in everything but name.

Has any other tournament consistently crowned such worthy champions in this time span? It's a question that prompts plenty of head scratching.

“Maybe Kraft is one?” ponders current world number one Yani Tseng of Taiwan.

“The British Open?” she asks, cracking up laughing because her main motivation for mentioning it is the fact that she's won it the past two seasons.

Of the Majors, the Ricoh Women's British Open might be the nearest comparison to the HSBC Women's Champions roll of honour, with Yani winning in 2011 and 2010 while Jiyai claimed it in 2008, but 2009 champion Catriona Matthew might be the first to point out that she doesn't quite belong in the conversation if we're talking about the greats in the game. The same applies for Stacy Lewis and Brittany Lincicome, winners of the Kraft Nabisco Championship in 2011 and 2009 respectively, in between wins for Yani (2010) and Lorena (2008). The LPGA Championship also comes close with Cristie Kerr in 2010 and Yani in 2011 and 2008, but 2009 winner Anna Nordqvist hasn’t yet thrust her name into the highest echelon.

New to Major status next year, the Evian Masters won by Ai, Jiyai and Ai in the past three years comes close, and another of the Asian Spring Swing--the Honda LPGA Thailand--also belong in the conversation, with Yani, Ai and Lorena its most recent champions.

One can talk oneself around in circles debating the argument. The certainty is that in short order the HSBC Women's Champions has become something special.

“It's one of the best tournaments we ever play!” is Yani's take.

“I think the HSBC event is the biggest LPGA event in Asia!” is Jiyai Shin's verdict.

“It's great from when we first arrive to when we leave. We get looked after very, very well. We stay in great hotels, there’s great hospitality and we play on a great challenging golf course!” declares Karrie, who has certainly earned the right to talk about greatness.

“We'd like it like that every week,” the Queensland legend adds.

Yani, like Webb, expands on her statement by citing the overall package of the tournament week, rather than purely the golf.

“It's a good one. They're all the best players in the world challenging that week. It's always very tough to win that tournament. You have to play so well to be among the great players, which is fun. It doesn't matter what your score is; it's always very enjoyable in Singapore, the hospitality there. And you know I love Singapore; I have so many good friends there. I always look forward to going back. I have so much fun and have so many good friends come,” says Tseng, last year's double Major champion, seven-time winner and Player of the Year on the LPGA with 11 total wins worldwide.

Jiyai meanwhile backs up her description of the event being Asia's best with the following explanation: “All the events are very important, but it feels like a really big tournament. It's a beautiful course and a nice city. The tournament is early in the season, and when you win it feels like a good start and it gives you confidence at the beginning of the season, too.”

Roll of Honour

The first sign that something unusual was happening in Singapore was, perhaps, when Ai Miyazato declared eight months after her 2010 win that it was “an honour” to have added her name to a list of winners that had only two others on it. At the time she was speaking as the reigning world number one.

Karrie Webb is the youngest member of an exclusive club of five other legends to have won the LPGA’s Career Grand Slam of Majors, joining Louise Suggs (1957), Mickey Wright (1962), Pat Bradley (1986), Juli Inkster (1999) and Annika Sorenstam (2003). Yet the Aussie is unswerving when asked whether joining the HSBC Women's Champions roll of honour registered with her.

“Definitely!” says the Aussie.

“It's a quality field there. Anytime you win with that sort of field--you can win an event another time of the year and not every one of those players is there--when you win with that quality of field: I held off Yani at the end and since then she has completely dominated the tour. She's done it for two years, really, but I take a lot of pride in that.”

What's interesting is it's hard to put a tag on the Singapore winners, beyond the fact that they have all been at the very top of the women's game. As Jiyai Shin explains, it doesn't seem to be the style of the player, more just the ability to play at a world-class level for four demanding days.

“Ai and me, we're a pretty similar game type. Karrie plays quite safely and Lorena plays aggressively, so we're all a little different. The LPGA Tour has a lot of long hitters and the course is pretty long, but you need consistency. It's got really narrow fairways, lots of bunkers, pretty tough greens: it's a good course for consistent players,” Shin says of the highly regarded Tanah Merah Country Club's Garden Course.

The runners-up over the years also defy a stereotype as golfers, but do have a common trait. Chie Arimura, who fought Webb all the way last year, is described by caddies on the Japan tour as mentally tougher than any other player out there. Cristie Kerr, runner-up to Ai in 2010, happily calls herself as “a scrapper, a mudder and a grinder.” Annika needs no introduction, while Katherine Hull, pipped by Shin in 2009, thrives in a battle.

“I agree, they're tough players,” says Shin.

“They're all good players. They all hit good iron shots and have good control over their second shots. They really focus only on their own game.”

What's Luck Got to Do with It?

While the tournament doesn't seem to favour any particular aspect of the game--despite the length of Tanah Merah, it certainly can't be described as a long hitter's haven--there is a consensus that it does bring out the best from the best.

“I think so. You have to have good skill and a good mentality to win the tournament. You can't be lucky and win that tournament; you have to play good for four whole days,” says Tseng.

Her statement, that there will never be a lucky winner, is greeted with all-round agreement.

“That's true. The golf course is difficult enough; it's like a Major tournament,” Miyazato concurs.

“I agree. If you miss a shot, your next shot is a tough shot,” says Shin.

“We play great golf courses around the world, but on some holes you can miss a shot and it'll come back and you can escape. When you miss a shot a Tanah Merah you lose a shot, so we have to hit good shots all the time. For me, it's fun!”

England's Karen Stupples, who won the 2004 Women's British Open at Sunningdale by starting her final round with an eagle and albatross in successive holes, is another to wholly back Yani's point of view.

“That's absolutely right. It's about quality shots. You can't get away with having a lucky bounce and banking it onto the green, because if you miss the green the chances are it's going to bounce into some trouble. Kicking off a mound and bouncing onto the green doesn't happen there. She's right. You've got to hit good drives, good shots and you've got to golf your ball; that's the bottom line,” declares the 38-year-old from Kent.

Further proof to support the argument comes from the fact that every winner of the HSBC Women's Champions has had multiple wins in the season of their Singapore triumph. Karrie doubled up in her next outing to take the RR Donnelley LPGA Founders Cup. In 2010, Ai had four other LPGA wins. Jiyai claimed two other titles and the Rolex Rookie of the Year award as well as a win on the Japan LPGA, while Lorena went wild in 2008, winning seven events in total, including a Major at the Kraft Nabisco Championship during a spell of four wins in four successive weeks.

Not a Game of Perfect

That's not to say all the winners have played perfectly. Jiyai Shin was one over par after two rounds in 2009 when she headed to the range and found a fix: it worked. The next morning she started her third round with almost no-one watching her, but by the time she had completed back-to-back rounds off 66 she had everyone's undivided attention.

Karrie Webb's win was based on one part of her game working brilliantly and that perhaps helped her believe in the rest.

“It was one of those events where my short game was probably the best weeks I've had, especially in the last five or six years. My ball striking I wouldn't say was my best, but under the gun, even when it was a little erratic, I hit some great shots and trusted myself. I hadn't won on the LPGA for a couple of years and I think I always felt I had to be at my best to win; I took away from that week that I didn't have to be 110 per cent to win. I just need to find a way to get it in the hole,” she says, echoing what Karen Stupples means when she uses the phrase “golf your ball.”

In contrast, Ai killed the course with consistency in 2010, carding three 69s in her four rounds.

“I'd won the first event in Thailand, so I felt good about my game at that time. I just tried to make simple plays; trying to hit the fairway and trying to hit the greens. That golf course is always in good shape, but the greens are really difficult. You need to make sure you know where you're going to hit your second shot. You need to be really smart on the golf course. I played really well. My putting was really good all week. I always remember the 16^th, the short par four: I made eagle hitting driver to a back pin, getting on the front and making the putt. I played really good the whole week, really solid,” Ai said.

The Japanese star has little doubt as to the stand-out winning performance of the four.

“Lorena shot 17 under or something?” she asks.

It was actually 20 under par.

“That's ridiculous!” she declares.

“I think shooting 10 under par on that golf course is really good. I played with her when she won the tournament and she was playing totally different golf. It looked so easy. Annika finished second, but Lorena was so solid and Annika couldn’' touch her!” Ai adds.

That win becomes even more impressive when one considers the context. Lorena had risen to number one in April 2007 when Annika was struggling with ruptured and bulging discs in her neck. By the start of 2008 Annika had announced her return to fitness and not just verbally; she won the SBS Open in Hawaii and 10 days later, with Lorena opening her season in Singapore, it was on! Annika beat the rest of the field, but was a massive 11 shots behind Lorena's winning total.

A Chess Match

So what is it about Tanah Merah's Garden Course that tests the best in women's golf? It starts with the fiendish mind of Phil Jacobs and his 2004 redesign. The end result is a course where the current world number one says you have to think several shots ahead and there is hardly a shot out there that allows you to relax.

“Maybe for tap-in putts! All the other shots you have to think in a different way and you have to think about what your strategy is, because it might cost you when you get to your second shot or third shot. You're always thinking ahead about what you're going to do. It's a really fun course to play,” says Yani.

“You play all the 14 clubs in your bag. Even though you're using all 14 clubs, you still have to hit a lot of different shots. There are different winds; all the challenges make you think and make you think you're enjoying the tournament and having fun with the challenges of the course. It doesn't feel stressful. You have to have the challenge and some stress, but that's why it's so much fun.”

For Karen Stupples, one of the things that stands out is the number of times you find yourself with nowhere to make a ‘good’ mistake.

“There are some holes you play and you think 'where is the out?' and there is no out. Typically a golf hole has an out--one side or another that is favourable to a miss. There are some holes where there is nowhere to miss it. That's a bit brutal! It's like the 17^th at Sawgrass; there's no get out! There's a tiny little bridge, but that's it. You've got to bring it!” says the Englishwoman.

“There are some holes that are incredibly challenging, like 10. Last year, 1 and 10 were incredibly tough holes. You're going in there with four irons; there are not too many courses that we go into with four irons with elevated greens and bunkers or water.”

For Jiyai, the enjoyment comes from the way Tanah Merah tests everything you've got.

“It's a really strong course for the women: long distance, tight golf course, firm greens. So we need really good ball control with every club. We need the whole skills. It's pretty tough because the greens are mostly elevated above the fairway, so if you miss, the ball is going a long way,” she explains, adding that her duel with Katherine Hull in the final round three years ago shows how slim the margin is for error.

“Katherine and me, she made only one mistake, but it made a big difference. She played good and could have made a lower score, but if you make one mistake it can lose you a lot of strokes, easily. You have to focus each and every shot. Number 18 is pretty tough. If you lead by one shot, you can easily lose one or two there. You have to really focus. It’s easy to make bogey or double-bogey. So nobody knows before the finish.”

Sheer Willpower

All those factors demand a level of resolve that Na Yeon Choi, currently the highest-rated Korean in the official rankings, believes plays into the hands of the women at the top of the global game.

“We have to have really good course management on that course. The top players never give up and always do their best until the last hole on Sunday, and the top players get better results because of that,” adds the winner of the 2010 LPGA Official Money List.

In a nutshell, it's a course that demands you get into the designer's head and understand the questions he's posing. In Phil Jacobs's own words, he does everything from test the golfer's self-discipline to “constantly have that question in a player's mind: 'If I'm going to miss it, where should I miss it?'” And in the case of the hardest holes, he tests their game to the breaking point.

“It asks you to miss in the right places and to be aggressive when you can be, and I think I did a good job of that,” says Webb of last year's victory.

“When I missed greens, I missed in places where I could get up and down. With my putting that week, I didn't give myself 12 or 13 unbelievably great birdie opportunities each day. I gave myself six or seven and probably made five of them. I just took advantage of the opportunities I had. It was just about getting the ball in the hole.”

Webb reckons that all the factors--a great course, a great field enjoying their entire week at the time of year, when everyone is raring to go--is what has combined to produce the almost unparalleled list of victors...that with the more unusual challenge of the holes that run along the side of Changi Airport.

“I think with the quality of the field, you're bound to get a good winner and it's the start of the year, so it's whoever is ready to go straight out of the blocks. It's whoever is ready mentally to overcome those things and to overcome not making that birdie on the first day, and the heat and the wind and the planes, and all of that,” she explains

Stupples, however, feels the final preparations for the tournament--the speeding up of the greens, the growing in of the rough and the other adjustments made to take something a weekend warrior can survive and morph it into a monster--play a big part, together with the fact that the most successful players make more minor adjustments during the winter break.

“They set it up particularly well. It's a tough, quality golf course, particularly that early in the season. You've got to be ready to play and typically you'll find that the quality players will always be ready to go. That's what you’re finding there,” she explains.

“They're ready for it. They've had a very good season the year before, so they're coming off good finishes, so the confidence is already pretty high. They've done a little bit of maintenance work over the winter, but they haven't had to do swing overhauls or any of that crap. They're ready to go. They're primed. All they have to do is go and play a quality golf course, which is what it is. You have to hit good shot after good shot after good shot, make good putt after good putt. That's what the course does for you and that's why you get the winners you do there.”

Digging the Vibe

Another of the factors seems to be the feeling of the whole week. To understand that, one has to remember just how many weeks of the year these players spend on the road and, especially for the internationals, how much time they're away from their real homes. It's also worth bearing in mind just how hard women golfers have had to fight over the years to establish their tour and to be taken seriously in a sport where, in certain parts of the world, to this day women golfers aren't always welcomed.

So when Singaporeans throw open their arms and the red carpet is both literally and metaphorically rolled out, it's universally appreciated.

“I love the tournament atmosphere, too. It's very special for everything. Very organized and the people are very nice. Because the tournament atmosphere is so good, that's why everyone is playing so good,” says Ai, referring as much to what is available away from the golf course as to what they get on it.

“The hotel is really nice and you can go shopping or do whatever you like. That's really special as well. That tournament is almost too good!” she exclaims.

“It is a terrific event. Every which way, it's top class!” says Stupples, who appreciates some of the “home” comforts all the more having gambled her house, furniture and car to move to the States in a bid to make it on the LPGA at the start of her career.

“I love Singapore! I feel very comfortable in Singapore. With my British background, how could you not feel comfortable in Singapore? The sockets are UK sockets. There's a kettle in the room and you can make a cup of tea...even if the weather is a little warmer. You've got Raffles just across the road and Marks & Spencers! It feels very comfortable. I love Marks & Spencers! I'm old now, what can I say?”

The answer to Stupples rhetorical question is 'lots.' We leave her as she enters into a charming monologue about all the reasons why she would be the perfect person for the British retailer to sponsor.

Who's Next?

If you start asking who is most likely to be the next to add their name to the prestigious list, one shouldn't overlook the chances of the event producing its first back-to-back champion. Karrie Webb has an unusually strong record going back as the title-holder, despite the fact that conventional wisdom suggests it is one of the harder things to do in golf.

“I've always enjoyed it. I obviously played the best there last year. I always feel it gives me an advantage: it gives me good vibes going into the event. I enjoy it,” says Webb, whose CV backs her up.

Among the Aussie's multitude of triumphs are repeat wins at the U.S. Women's Open title in 2000 and 2001, as well as The Office Depot tournament in Florida, Washington State's Safeco Classic and at two very differently named editions of an event at Murrells Inlet in South Carolina. At the Australian Ladies Masters in her native Queensland, she monopolized the trophy from 1998 to 2001, and more recently won the MFS Women's Australian Open title in 2007 and 2008.

Given that an HSBC Women's Champions victory has more often than not been the early signal as to who the year's dominant player will be, Na Yeon Choi might be a contender after a year of constant English lessons. The difference it has made to this engaging, but previously shy and nervous 24-year-old is heart-warming. With her multiple wins in 2009 and 2010 and the fact that last year she was close to Yani's levels in making the top 10 in over half of her events in 2011, the more outgoing Na Yeon could be set for a career year, simply because her new-found language skills have made her life less stressful.

“I wasn't scared, but I think I was uncomfortable. If I was walking through the clubhouse and someone was smiling at me, I would worry about what they were about to say to me. I didn't have the confidence with my English and that was why I seemed uncomfortable with maybe the LPGA players and with all the fans. I'm a lot more comfortable with American people or with Asian people who are speaking English. I have fans on facebook from Singapore, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand; I like it! It's made me a better player I think, a more confident player!” she reveals.

The most logical choice, however, is the most confident player of all: Yani Tseng.

Third behind Webb and Arimura last year, Yani has turned into a winning machine. She now understands that to add the HSBC Women's Champions to her rapidly increasing list of titles she has to find a balance between the self-styled “Birdie Machine” approach that helped her become the youngest player ever, male or female, to win five Majors and being more selective about when she attacks.

“Being more patient is better, playing smart. Some of the holes are sometimes really hard to make birdie. You can still be aggressive, but sometimes you have to play smart, too,” she says.

“I'm getting closer and closer. I was pretty close last year! I played well and did my best. Everyone wants to win, but it's not like I'm playing bad. This year I have a chance, because I know the course better, better than the last four years. I know how the strategy is on the golf course and how to play on the golf course. I'm looking forward to playing this year, because it's a fun course and it's a very good challenge.”

CME Group Titleholders Saturday and Sunday: Hee Young Park Breaks Through

2011-11-24T00:00:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! By now, you've probably read all the fantastic posts on Hee Young Park's breakthrough win at the CME Group Titleholders, from bangkokbobby's great weekend reports to Happy Fan's amazing overview of The Rocket's career to Tony Jesselli's look at the implications of the 2011 season-ender for a variety of players on a variety of bubbles for 2012.

Me, I'm finally healthy enough to get back to a minimal blogging schedule, but The Full Metal Archivist and onechan have now been sick for days, so things won't be getting back to normal for me at Mostly Harmless for awhile, if this monster cold holds true to form. On the bright side, with Paula Creamer in contention last weekend, onechan and imoto were excited to watch the Golf Channel coverage with me; we got to see all of the final round and most of the 3rd round over the last few days. I was so impressed with the way that Park charged on Saturday and kept it going on the front nine on Sunday as 1st- and 2nd-round leader Na Yeon Choi was falling apart and then coming back, but I was even more impressed with The Rocket's 10 straight closing pars to seal the deal against charges from Creamer, Sandra Gal, and Suzann Pettersen--a very un-Rocket-like performance, in that she avoided the crash-and-burn that's so often undermined her chances for victory in the past, and on a course built to produce exactly those kinds of runs. I've gotta acknowledge that I let Park's reputation keep her out of my projected top 15 this time last week. And I was totally wrong. Way to go, Hee Young--hopefully the 1st of many wins on the LPGA!

Although my favorite players didn't do so well, I wasn't too disappointed because of how emotional the Rocket's victory turned out to be. Besides Choi and Creamer, nobody else I'm really crazy about was in the hunt; Ai and Mika Miyazato, In-Kyung Kim, Amy Yang, and Mina Harigae were at least respectable, but Tiffany Joh had another terrible tournament playing in LPGA bonus time for the 1st time in her career. Oh well, at least they'll all be back on tour full-time next year. Plus, Ai-sama broke the $1M barrier on the LPGA money list for the 3rd year in a row, Creamer came very close to doing it for the 6th time in her career, and Ya Ni Tseng ended up just short of crossing the $3M rubicon.

I'll have much more looking back on the 2011 LPGA season in a month or so, but for now I'm focusing on the JLPGA's final tournament of the season, the Ricoh Cup, along with JLPGA and LPGA Q-School--when health, work, and family permit, that is. Take it easy, and enjoy Tony Jesselli's blogging here!

Sun-Ju Ahn Clinches 2nd-Straight JLPGA Money-List Title

2011-11-23T20:08:00.001-05:00

Congratulations to Sun-Ju Ahn for clinching her 2nd-straight JLPGA money-list title. And thanks to Tim Maitland for sending me the link that alerted the English-speaking world to Ahn's feat!

LPGA Rookie Report Card Part 3 - Final Rating

2011-11-23T00:01:00.001-05:00

As we all know by now the 2011 LPGA season has come to its conclusion. It is time to take one final look at the 28 rookie players. These ratings are strictly based on how they fared on the LPGA tour this season. Any successes or failures on other tours are not considered here. Success in retaining their LPGA tour cards was the determining factor for my final grades.

The Best

Hee Kyung Seo - Playing in 21 tournaments, she missed just 3 cuts this year. Her #21 finish on the money list, and three top tens, made her a runaway winner of the Rookie of the Year award. Her best performance was a 2nd-place finish (a playoff loss) at the U.S. Open.

Ryann O'Toole - When she was good, she was very good. When she was bad, she was awful. It was a very erratic season, but certainly had its success stories. Playing 15 times, Ryann missed 4 cuts. She had 2 top-ten finishes, including 9th at the U.S. Open. Finishing #46 on the money list, her year was highlighted by being chosen as a captain's pick for the U.S. Solheim Team. She did not lose a match there, going 2-0-2.

Tiffany Joh - Teeing it up 14 times, Tiffany missed just 2 cuts. Her 2nd-place finish at the Navistar Classic was her only top 10. She finished #41 on the money list, and, with the 2 ladies listed above her, will be playing full time next year.

Caroline Hedwall - Those rookies who will say they never had a chance because of lack of playing opportunities should read this. Caroline, a category 20 rookie, teed it up just 6 times. She did not miss a single cut. She tied for 9th at the Evian Masters and was a captain's pick for the European Solheim cup team. My guess is she will be playing both the LPGA and LET tours next year. Her #64 spot on the LPGA money list means she can play here whenever she chooses.

Consider them a success

Christel Boeljon - Played very little on the LPGA tour the first half of the season, as her first priority was to gather points for the European Solheim team. Once that goal was accomplished, she came on very strongly. She missed just 2 of 14 cuts, and had two top-ten finishes. She finished #52 on the money list. Look for her to play both tours again next year.

Jenny Shin - Playing 15 times, she very quietly put together a very solid season. Making 10 of 15 cuts, she had 2 top-ten finishes. Her #55 money list finish tells me she will be teeing it up 20-plus times next year.

Jennifer Johnson - Jennifer teed it up 13 times this year and missed just 3 cuts. Her 8th-place finish at the Navistar Classic went a big way towards her #63 money-list finish. She will be playing full time next year.

Just good enough

Belen Mozo - Got off to a terrible start by missing 7 of her first 9 cuts. It didn't really get a lot better after that, either, but a big check for finishing 5th at the Walmart Championship saved her season. A 67th place finish on the money list assures her full-time status next year.

Jennifer Song - Making just 10 of 16 cuts, Jennifer was my biggest disappointment this year. Expected by many to be a Rookie of the Year contender, it wasn't to be. Her best finish was 16th place at the Avnet Classic. She barely made the top 80, sneaking in at #79. A future star, or a bust? Maybe next year will give us some answers.

Jessica Korda - She did not make the most of her 15 opportunities this year. Missing seven cuts, she could do no better than #92 on the money list. Her only good showing was a 19th-place finish at Avnet. Missing the top 80, she won't get many more opportunities next year. A big talent, I look for her to improve in 2012.

The above ten rookies are the only ladies we are guaranteed to see regularly next year. Here is a breakdown of the other 18.

Just Not Good Enough

Haru Nomura - Played 11 times this year, and missed 5 cuts. A 25th-place finish at the Walmart Championship was her best finish. Finishing #94 on the money list, and choosing not to go back to Q-School, she will have to make the most of her limited opportunities next year to retain her card.

Stephanie Sherlock - Missing 7 of 12 cuts, she finished #101 on the money list. Rather than settle for limited status next year, she will be going back to Q-School at the end of the month, in an effort to improve her priority status.

Will we ever see them again?

Amelia Lewis - One would think that finishing #109 on the money list, would drive her back to Q-School. That was not the case. If she continues to play, expect her to only get a few starts.

Becky Brewerton - Played only twice on the LPGA this year, missing the cut both times. Played poorly in Q-School last year, she is not attending in November. She will only be a LET member next year.

They are going back to Q-School

Danah Ford Bordner - Missed 8 of 12 cuts this year. Her best finish was 50th place. She finished #114 on the money list.

Jennie Lee - Missed the cut in half of her 10 appearances. Finished #118 on money list.

Jenny Suh - Missed 6 of 10 cuts, which landed her at #120.

Dori Carter - Also missed the cut in 6 out of 10 tournaments. Finished #128.

Jaclyn Sweeney - Teed it up eight times this year, but did not take advantage of her opportunities, missing all but one cut. She finished #137 on the money list.

Sara Brown - She got some chances to show her Big Break fans she was ready for the big time. Unfortunately she missed her first 8 cuts, and could finish no better than tied for 48th. She finished the year #141.

Kimberley Kim, Allison Whitaker, and Shasta Averyhardt - It could not have gone worse for these three girls, as each of them teed it up seven times and never made a single cut.

Stephanie Kim - Played in only 2 tournaments, missing one cut and finished 44th in the other.

Jodi Ewart - Missed the cut in both events she played in.

Sarah Brown, Junko Nakada, and Ayako Kaneko - Category 20 rookies, they never teed it up at all this year. They will be hoping to get a better priority rating next year, by going to Q-School in November.

As you can see 2011 will not go down as a big success for rookies. Looking ahead to 2012, the possibilities for better results look very favorable. Here are a few possible rookie stars:

Lexi Thompson - No need to say much about her. A potential superstar and already a winner in 2011.

So-Yeon Ryu - Won the U.S. Open this year as a non-LPGA player. Already ranked #28 in the world, many will consider her the Rookie of the Year favorite.

Kathleen Ekey - With her #1 finish on the Futures Tour this year, Kathleen has secured her spot as a full time player on the LPGA Tour. Both fans and sponsors are going to love this girl.

Danielle Kang - Winner of 2 consecutive U.S. Amateur Championships. Has all the tools to be a huge star. The only thing keeping me from putting her higher on this list is she has to make it through phase 3 of Q-School this month. Shouldn't be a problem.

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Hee Young Was the Story, But Others Found Some Glory.

2011-11-21T11:04:00.012-05:00

A big congratulations goes out this week to Hee Young Park. She becomes the sixth first-time winner on the LPGA this year. The others were Stacy Lewis, So-Yeon Ryu, Lexi Thompson, Sandra Gal, and Momoko Ueda.

Lots will be written this week about Park, and deservingly so, but much was at stake for some of the other ladies for 2012.

Here is what they were fighting for:

A Top 50 money list finish, to qualify for the 2012 U.S. Open.

A Top 48 money list finish, for automatic qualification into the Sybase Match Play Championship.

A Top 80 finish on the money list to maintain full playing status in 2012. Finishing below number 80 means having the top 5 players from the Futures Tour play ahead of you on the Priority List next year. Players 81-100 will also have to alternate on the priority list with graduates from Qualifying School.

Here is some of what was gained and lost:

Ryann O'Toole - Back in Canada, she personally guaranteed me she would be in my home town for the Sybase tournament. With some extremely erratic play since then, she had me worried. Her #46 money list finish qualifies her for both The U.S. Open and the Sybase tournaments. Actually, her eighth-place finish in this year's U.S. Open already had her in that tournament next year.

Paige Mackenzie - Moved up to the #47 spot, to also qualify her in both tournaments.

Natalie Gulbis - She was the biggest loser here. She dropped from the #49 position to #51, knocking her out of both tournaments.

Pat Hurst - Held onto the last U.S. Open spot at #50. No automatic spot at Sybase.

Mina Harigae - Her T21 finish moved her from #52 to #49, getting her into The U.S. Open, but not Sybase.

Mi Hyun Kim - Her 17-over-par score killed any chance for her. She finishes #53.

It is also worth noting that longtime qualifiers in both tournaments, Christina Kim and Kristy McPherson both failed to finish in the top 50.

It is also worth noting that Grace Park ,who qualified for the Titleholders tournament and did not play, missed finishing in the top 80. She finished #81. With at least 5 Futures tour players, at least 1 Qualifying Graduate, and a few other priority list category 2 through 8 players falling in after #80, it is possible that decision could cost her a tournament or two.

Rolex Rankings Movers of the Week:
Hee Young Park moves from #58 to #37 (CME Titleholders Winner)
Paula Creamer Moves from #7 to #5 (Passes Jiyai Shin and Sun Ju Ahn)
Ji-Hee Lee Moves from #21 to #18 (Winner of Daio JLPGA Tournament)

Special Achievement of the Week:
Paula Creamer's second-place finish this week moves her up to #8 on the Career Money List, passing Laura Davies.

My Final Top 20 Player of the Year rankings:

1- Yani Tseng - 357.48 points
2- Stacy Lewis - 203.86
3- Cristie Kerr - 178.56
4- Suzann Petterson - 177.56
5- Na Yeon Choi - 159.28
6- I.K. Kim - 151.92
7- Angela Stanford - 144.62
8- Paula Creamer - 141.46
9- Amy Yang - 136.40
10-Brittany Lincicome - 129.82
11-Mika Miyazato - 128.30
12-Morgan Pressel - 122.04
13-Karrie Webb - 116.24
14-Ai Miyazato - 104.10
15-Maria Hjorth - 103.66
16-Anna Nordqvist - 100.18
17-Jiyai Shin - 99.40
18-Brittany Lang - 94.46
19-Michelle Wie - 93.72
20-Catriona Matthew - 86.10

Highest-ranking player without a win - Cristie Kerr #3.
Lowest-ranking player with a win - Hee Young Park #26.
Highest-ranked rookie - Hee Kyung Seo - #31.

Rookie of the Year winner - Hee Kyung Seo at the Canadian Open.

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Daio Paper ElleAir Ladies Sunday: Ji-Hee Lee Defeats Bo-Bae Song in Playoff

2011-11-20T12:56:00.001-05:00

Ji-Hee Lee moved to #2 on the JLPGA money list when she defeated Bo-Bae Song in a playoff at the Daio Paper ElleAir Ladies today for her 2nd win of 2011 and 15th on tour in her 11-year career.

Shanshan Feng had shot the round of the day from way back in the pack, a 67 that moved her all the way to -8 for the week and made her the leader in the clubhouse. Even as Feng was charging, second-round leader Saiki Fujita was moving in the opposite direction, bogeying 4 of her 1st 10 holes to fall back to -6. That opened the door for Lee, who got off to a hot start with birdies in 3 of her 1st 6 holes to climb to -8. After a bogey on the 148-yard par-3 7th, she bounced back with 3 more birdies in her next 9 holes to get to -10 with 2 holes left to play. By then, the only player with a chance to catch her was Song. Playing in the group behind Lee, however, Song bogeyed the 385-yard par-4 15th to drop to -7 and failed to birdie the 273-yard par-4 16th to remain 3 shots back with 2 holes left to play. But Lee finished par-bogey on the closing par 3 and par 5, while Song finished birdie-birdie. And when nobody in the final group could catch them at -9--Fujita was the only one to make a charge with birdies on 14 and 16 to get to -8, yet neither she, money-list leader Sun-Ju Ahn, nor Aiko Ueno could buy a birdie coming home--we had yet another JLPGA playoff, which Lee took.

Here's a quick rundown of the leaders and notables:

1st/-9 Ji-Hee Lee (71-68-68) [won in playoff]
2nd/-9 Bo-Bae Song (68-70-69)
T3/-8 Shanshan Feng (70-71-67), Saiki Fujita (67-67-74)
T5/-7 Sakura Yokomine (68-71-70), Rui Kitada (69-69-71), Aiko Ueno (69-66-74)
T8/-6 Erina Hara (72-69-69), Sun-Ju Ahn (71-67-72), Young Kim (66-72-72)

T11/-5 Miho Koga (70-71-70), Yukari Baba (70-71-70), Hyun-Ju Shin (69-71-71)
T15/-4 Mayu Hattori (70-72-70), Harukyo Nomura (69-73-70), So-Hee Kim (67-75-70), Kaori Ohe (71-69-72)
T19/-3 Bo-Mee Lee (71-73-69), Hiromi Mogi (69-71-73)
T25/-2 Na-Ri Lee (73-70-71), Miki Sakai (71-72-71), Asako Fujimoto (70-73-71), Kaori Aoyama (70-70-74)
T30/-1 Li-Ying Ye (76-69-70), Shinobu Moromizato (73-72-70), Akane Iijima (71-72-72), Mika Takushima (71-72-72), Erika Kikuchi (72-70-73), Chie Arimura (70-72-73)
T38/E Megumi Kido (74-71-71), Ji-Woo Lee (70-74-72), Akiko Fukushima (67-77-72)
T46/+2 Mie Nakata (72-72-74)
T48/+5 Tamie Durdin (74-71-76), Yumiko Yoshida (74-71-76)

So heading into the final tournament of the year, the Ricoh Cup, here's how the JLPGA money list stands:

1. Sun-Ju Ahn ￥119.73M
2. Ji-Hee Lee ￥94.12M
3. Sakura Yokomine ￥86.86M
4. Chie Arimura ￥84.01M
5. Yukari Baba ￥75.82M
6. Shanshan Feng ￥64.94M
7. Miki Saiki ￥62.13M
8. Ritsuko Ryu ￥56.20M
9. Yuri Fudoh ￥55.84M
10. Shiho Oyama ￥51.69M
11. Mayu Hattori ￥50.19M
12. Asako Fujimoto ￥49.02M
13. Saiki Fujita ￥47.65M
14. Ayako Uehara ￥45.34M
15. Mi-Jeong Jeon ￥42.78M
16. Rui Kitada ￥41.02M
17. Bo-Bae Song ￥40.72M
18. Kumiko Kaneda ￥38.48M
19. Hiromi Mogi ￥37.40M
20. Rikako Morita ￥35.57M
21. Momoko Ueda ￥35.27M
22. Na-Ri Kim ￥34.12M
23. Junko Omote ￥31.94M
24. Yuko Mitsuka ￥29.37M
25. Ji-Woo Lee ￥29.21M
26. Akane Iijima ￥28.14M
27. Li-Ying Ye ￥27.96M
28. Na-Ri Lee ￥27.10M
29. Kaori Aoyama ￥26.66M
30. Hyun-Ju Shin ￥26.62M
31. Inbee Park ￥25.70M
32. Ah-Reum Hwang ￥24.40M
33. Teresa Lu ￥24.39M
34. Young Kim ￥23.67M
35. Esther Lee ￥23.59M
36. Akiko Fukushima ￥23.25M
37. Eun-A Lim ￥22.59M
38. Soo-Yun Kang ￥21.90M
39. Eun-Bi Jang ￥21.05M
40. Bo-Mee Lee ￥19.15M
41. Shinobu Moromizato ￥18.64M
42. Yumiko Yoshida ￥18.17M
43. Kaori Ohe ￥17.38M
44. Nikki Campbell ￥17.07M
45. Nachiyo Ohtani ￥16.86M
46. Tamie Durdin ￥16.85M
47. Miho Koga ￥16.64M
48. Megumi Kido ￥16.07M
49. So-Hee Kim ￥15.78M
50. Midori Yoneyama ￥15.49M

With Ji-Yai Shin at #52, Harukyo Nomura at #68, Ai Miyazato at #71, Hee Young Park at #88, and Meena Lee at #99--all with at least the minimum number of events played this year (6)--it'll also be interesting to see who among the dual LPGA-JLPGA members of 2011 have to (and who among them decides to) play in JLPGA Q-School's final stage.

Daio Paper ElleAir Ladies Friday and Saturday: Fujita and Ueno Lead; Ahn and Yokomine Lurk

2011-11-19T10:50:00.001-05:00

No time to do a full-blown set-up post for the Daio Paper ElleAir Ladies, but I can report that veteran Saiki Fujita and youngster Aiko Ueno lead the way at -10 and -9, respectively, while JLPGA money-list leader Sun-Ju Ahn is only 4 off the lead and her chasers Sakura Yokomine and Chie Arimura are 5 and 8 back, respectively. It'll be interesting to see tomorrow if the big names will make a run at the leaders, if other Koreans in the hunt like Young Kim and Bo-Bae Song at -6, Ji-Hee Lee at -5, or Hyun-Ju Shin at -4 can join the chase, or whether Japanese veterans like Rui Kitada (-6), Hiromi Takesue (-5), Hiromi Mogi (-4), Kaori Aoyama (-4), Miho Koga (-3), Yukari Baba (-3), or Mihoko Iseri (-3) will make more of a run than youngsters Kaori Ohe (-4), Erina Hara (-3), Mayu Hattori (-2), or Harukyo Nomura (-2).

With the likes of Shiho Oyama, Ayako Uehara, Nikki Campbell, Soo-Yun Kang, Kumiko Kaneda, Ritsuko Ryu, Rikako Morita, Maiko Wakabayashi, Yuki Ichinose, Onnarin Sattayabanphot, and Yuki Sakurai missing the cut, and a super-hot Shanshan Feng 7 shots off the lead, this tournament shows just how competitive the JLPGA is this year and what an accomplishment keeping your card really is. It's looking like So-Hee Kim at -2 through 36 holes will knock Ji-Yai Shin out of the #50 spot on the money list. What will the JLPGA do about players like Shin and Ai Miyazato, who will have (barely) played the required minimum number of events in 2011 but failed to make the top 50 on the money list?

Mostly Harmless

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Way to Go, Lydia Ko!

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Ranking the LPGA's Rookie Class of 2010

The Best in the Tseng Dynasty: January 2012 Edition

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Check Out Who's Playing in the LET's Final Qualifying Tournament

A Hitchhiker's Guide to the 2012 LPGA Priority Status List

A Hitchhiker's Guide to the LPGA's 2012 Schedule--and Beyond

2012 LPGA Schedule Finally Announced.

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Ranking the LPGA's Rookie Class of 2007

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LPGA Adds Hawaii to 2012 Schedule

My Final Player of the Year Standings

Lady Gaga on New Year's Eve Kohaku Uta Gassen

Make It BABYMETAL in 2012!

Recommended Reading: Stephanie Wei on 2012 LPGA Schedule

Rolex Rankings Movers of the Year, "Final 2011"

Daisuke Takahashi, Mao Asada Win Japanese Nationals

My Solution

Daisuke Takahashi Breaks 95 in Short Program at Japanese Nationals

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The 2011 Worldwide Women's Developmental Tour Schedule and Results, Final Edition

Were My Pre-Season Questions Answered?

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Editor's Note: A profile of Yani Tseng appears on pg. 74.

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Caroline Hedwall Wins Hero Women's Indian Open; Ai Miyazato Will Be 2011 LET Money-List Title-Holder

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The LPGA's Top Rivalries: Generation Gaps, Revisited

Initial Thoughts on the LPGA's Class of 2012

2011 Surprises and Disappointments, "Part 3"

It Wouldn't Be LPGA Q-School Without a Controversy or Two: On Stephanie Kono and Hannah Yun

LPGA Q-School Final Qualifying Tournament Overview: Close Races at the Top and Bottom of the Top 20; Gulyanamitta and Salas Prevail

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Kristie Smith and a Host of Other Notables Miss the Cut at LPGA Q-School's Final Qualifying Tournament

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The 2011 Women's Worldwide Professional Golf Schedule and Results

Ricoh Cup Overview: Mi-Jeong Jeon Goes Wire-to-Wire for 17th JLPGA Win of Her Career

Tim Maitland Looks Ahead to the 2012 Showdown in Singapore

CME Group Titleholders Saturday and Sunday: Hee Young Park Breaks Through

Sun-Ju Ahn Clinches 2nd-Straight JLPGA Money-List Title

LPGA Rookie Report Card Part 3 - Final Rating

Hee Young Was the Story, But Others Found Some Glory.

Daio Paper ElleAir Ladies Sunday: Ji-Hee Lee Defeats Bo-Bae Song in Playoff

Daio Paper ElleAir Ladies Friday and Saturday: Fujita and Ueno Lead; Ahn and Yokomine Lurk