Top Super Sophs
1. Seon Hwa Lee: A nice run at the end of the season cemented her status as the top Super Soph. Will have to wait till 2008 to pass Granada for the career money lead, though, due to a disappointing Saturday at the ADT Championship.
2. Morgan Pressel: Showed some real signs of life here and there in the last two events of the season, but inconsistency remains an issue. Will come back rejuvenated and better prepared in 2008, which should make her classmates nervous, as she was the only one among the elite Super Sophs to improve her scoring average from last year to this one, even with her weak finish to the season.
3. Jee Young Lee: The best Super Soph without a win as an LPGA member on the LPGA Tour (she won as a non-member in the Korea event in 2005) should excel in 2008. It's more a question of "how many?" than "when?" when it comes to wins for this Lee.
Certified Super Sophs
4. Ai Miyazato: Clutch performance on Friday got her to the Sweet 16 in the ADT, but a late collapse Saturday shows how far she has to go to recover her form. Even though injuries made her post-HSBC schedule a nightmare, she should be back better than ever in 2008. No doubt is rooting for Louise Stahle to do well in Q-School and for Momoko Ueda to take advantage of her fully-exempt status on the LPGA in 2008.
5. Julieta Granada: Almost cracked the top 30 on the money list and had 6th-best scoring average in her class this year, despite suffering almost a season-long slump. Would still be in the $1M club for career winnings even without her ADT Championship victory last year, so starts 2008 with a good chance to make up ground on Miyazato.
6. Brittany Lang: Made it into the top 40 on the money list and still has the 4th-most career top 20s in her class, even while enduring the most disappointing 2007 of them all, so in a good position to be the next Super Soph to join the $1M club in career winnings and maybe even make up ground on those ahead of her.
7. Meaghan Francella: With 20 fewer events than Bae, only trails her by 2 in top 10s and top 20s and has pulled within $90K of her in career winnings, so when you take into account her victory over Sorenstam early in the season and qualifying for the ADT Championship late in it, I think you have to give her the nod. If she has a good start to 2008 and Lang's woes continue, will catch her.
8. Kyeong Bae: With the 3rd-best birdie rate and 5th-best scoring average in her class this year, not to mention her 7th-place standing on the career money list, she is poised to make a quantum leap in 2008.
Super Sophs in Waiting
9. Hye Jung Choi: Francella-like numbers (without the LPGA win) make her the most likely to succeed of the Super Sophs who have been flying beneath most people's radar thus far.
10. Linda Wessberg: Has the worst GIR rate but the 5th-best birdie rate among the Super Sophs, not to mention amazing top 10 and top 20 totals given the few LPGA events she has played in her career thus far. If she joins the LPGA full-time next season, look for her to move up the ranking fast, but she's also fully exempt on the LET, so should have an interesting schedule.
11. Sun Young Yoo: 2008 will tell if she can build on her ability to make cuts this year, the only thing that didn't desert her from 2006, and remain ahead of Sjodin and Lu.
12. Karin Sjodin: Broke her second-half slump with a top 20 at the Mizuno Classic and looking to surpass Wessberg as the top European in the class.
13. Teresa Lu: With the 4th-best stroke average in the class this year, along with a good ending to her season to match her good start, she's looking to break through in 2008.
Super Potential
14. Katie Futcher: Apparently happy with the number of tournaments her almost-but-not-quite-non-non-exempt status will get her into, as she's not trying for Q-School.
15. Nina Reis: It'll be interesting to see her 2008 schedule if she does as well in the LPGA's as the LET's Q-School. Looking to rebound next year from a terrible 2007 on both continents.
16. Minea Blomqvist: In same boat as Futcher, but as a winner on the LET is fully exempt there in 2008, so has something to fall back on if she continues to struggle in the States.
17. Kim Hall: Basically has had one good tournament a year, but this year's good one was good enough to get her fully exempt for 2008. Good for her.
18. Virada Nirapathpongporn: Needs a good performance in Q-School to have a chance to extend her career leads on Hall in 2008.
19. Veronica Zorzi: May be scaling back her appearances on the LPGA in 2008, as the only thing she has done well there is (barely) make cuts.
20. Na Ri Kim: Needs a good performance in Q-School to have a chance to stay ahead of Hoagland, who's likely to get a medical exemption for 2008.
For your reference--and mine--are the stats on which I'm basing the November ranking.
2007 LPGA Money List (rank), stroke average (compared to last year's), birdies per round average (compared to last year's), greens in regulation (compared to last year's): I'm going to focus on four key indicators of how well someone is playing this season--how much money they've made, how they're scoring, how many birdies they're averaging per round, and average greens in regulation per round. (I figure I can figure out how well they're hitting their irons and putting by comparing the last three figures, so I won't include putts per green in regulation here. And by comparing this year's and last's results on those same three figures, I can see who's improving and who's backsliding.) Some of the figures Hound Dog thinks are 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.
1. Seon Hwa Lee, $1.10M (#5), 71.56 (+.26), 3.13 (-.33), 67.0% (-.8%)
2. Morgan Pressel, $.97M (#9), 71.34 (-.17), 3.44 (-.17), 66.9% (-4.1%)
3. Jee Young Lee, $.97M (#10), 71.62 (+.16), 3.45 (-.44), 68.4% (+.3%)
4. Ai Miyazato, $.79M (#17), 73.01 (+1.79), 2.87 (-.85), 57.4% (-10.9%)
5. Meaghan Francella, $.51M (#29), 73.09 (-.66), 2.79 (?), 64.0% (?)
6. Julieta Granada, $.41M (#33), 72.92 (+1.59), 2.60 (-.60), 61.3% (-6.7%)
7. Brittany Lang, $.35M (#39), 73.05 (+1.70), 2.77 (-1.11), 64.3% (-5.1%)
8. Kyeong Bae, $.31M (#41), 72.91 (+.58), 3.25 (+.21), 59.8% (-7.7%)
9. Hye Jung Choi, $.29M (#45), 73.08 (+.18), 2.73 (?), 61.3% (?)
10. Karin Sjodin, $.20M (#58), 73.60 (+.79), 2.75 (-.75), 62.0% (-6.1%)
11. Teresa Lu, $.18M (#63), 72.84 (-.04), 2.86 (-.05), 65.0% (-1.7%)
12. Linda Wessberg, $.17M (#65), 72.93 (-4.57), 3.10 (?), 54.1% (?)
13. Sun Young Yoo, $.13M (#75), 73.06 (+.53), 2.58 (-.38), 63.6% (-5.4%)
14. Kim Hall, $.13M (#76), 73.88 (+.14), 2.38 (-.14), 57.8% (-7.5%)
15. Minea Blomqvist, $.09M (#93), 73.96 (+.92), 2.64 (-.03), 57.2% (-3.4%)
16. Katie Futcher, $.08M (#95), 74.04 (+1.21), 2.50 (-.46), 61.1% (-6.7%)
17. Nina Reis, $.05M (#120), 73.84 (+.93), 2.77 (+/-.00), 59.5% (-6.5%)
18. Na Ri Kim, $.04M (#125), 74.15 (-2.80), 2.46 (?), 62.0% (?)
19. Virada Nirapathpongporn, $.04M (#126), 73.48 (+.04), 2.82 (+.45), 61.1% (-1.2%)
20. Ashley Hoagland, $.03M (#136), 73.78 (+.90), 2.11 (?), 57.5% (?)
Career LPGA Money List (rank), Total Events/LPGA Majors/Wins/Top 3s/Top 10s/Top 20s/Made Cuts (rate): About the only thing these stats are useful for is comparing people who entered the LPGA in the same year. 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 Super Sophs have been at this for only two years, so the career money list is a decent stat for comparing them, even if it's a bit unfair to people who were not exempt in either or both years. 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. I include these other ways of seeing how the Super Sophs 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 getting top 20s, top 10s, top 3s, and victories. So here's how they stand:
1. Julieta Granada, $2.05M (#78), 56/0/1/5/10/19/43 (.768)
2. Seon Hwa Lee, $2.02M (#79), 56/0/2/6/16/31/54 (.964)
3. Jee Young Lee, $1.54M (#102), 48/0/0/4/16/28/46 (.958)
4. Morgan Pressel, $1.44M (#112), 49/1/1/4/18/29/45 (.918)
5. Ai Miyazato, $1.32M (#119), 45/0/0/4/14/19/37 (.822)
6. Brittany Lang, $.89M (#179), 53/0/0/2/9/21/36 (.679)
7. Kyeong Bae, $.60M (#226), 48/0/0/2/6/10/36 (.750)
8. Meaghan Francella $.51M (#238), 28/0/1/1/4/8/19 (.679)
9. Sun Young Yoo, $.36M (#273), 49/0/0/0/2/8/36 (.735)
10. Karin Sjodin, $.32M (#287), 43/0/0/0/3/9/28 (.651)
11. Hye Jung Choi, $.30M (#298), 27/0/0/0/3/7/18 (.666)
12. Teresa Lu, $.26M (#321), 41/0/0/0/2/5/26 (.634)
13. Katie Futcher, $.20M (#351), 40/0/0/0/2/2/24 (.600)
14. Nina Reis, $.19M (#356), 44/0/0/0/2/3/26 (.591)
15. Virada Nirapathpongporn, $.19M (#361), 39/0/0/0/1/4/20 (.513)
16. Linda Wessberg, $.17M (#376), 14/0/0/0/3/4/9 (.643)
17. Kim Hall, $.16M (#381), 32/0/0/0/1/2/13 (.406)
18. Minea Blomqvist, $.16M (#383), 32/0/0/0/0/2/18 (.563)
19. Veronica Zorzi, $.09M (#450), 16/0/0/0/0/1/13 (.813)
20. Na Ri Kim, $.05M (#501), 24/0/0/0/0/1/9 (.375)
Other Career Measures: Rolex Ranking (as of 11/19/07) and rank, Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index (as of 11/18/07) and rank, International (as of the end of the 2006 season) and Non-Member LPGA Wins: This is a way of seeing how those Super Sophs who sometimes or regularly or always 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. Morgan Pressel, 5.48 (#12), 70.65 (#12), 0
2. Jee Young Lee, 5.14 (#14), 70.34 (#6), 2
3. Ai Miyazato, 4.70 (#17), 72.26 (#50), 14
4. Seon Hwa Lee, 4.63 (#19), 70.57 (#11), 3
5. Julieta Granada, 2.98 (#42), 72.95 (#79), 0
6. Meaghan Francella, 2.22 (#51), 72.49 (#57), 0
7. Brittany Lang, 2.17 (#54), 73.20 (#87), 0
8. Linda Wessberg, 1.80 (#70), 72.22 (#45), 5
9. Kyeong Bae, 1.43 (#84), 72.51 (#60), 3
10. Hye Jung Choi, 1.30 (#96), 72.91 (#76), 0
11. Karin Sjodin, 1.06 (#120), 73.31 (#97), 1
12. Teresa Lu, .99 (#128), 73.27 (#94), 0
13. Sun Young Yoo, .90 (#139), 72.53 (#61), 0
14. Veronica Zorzi, .88 (#144), 73.83 (#145), 2
15. Minea Blomqvist, .77 (#162), 73.86 (#147), 5
16. Kim Hall, .73 (#171), 74.28 (#183), 0
17. Nina Reis, .55 (#216), 74.06 (#165), 5
18. Virada Nirapathpongporn, .50 (#230), 74.12 (#170), 0
19. Katie Futcher, .47 (#238), 74.00 (#159), 0
20. Na Ri Kim, .19 (#374), 74.75 (#222), 0
2 comments:
After deleting some Chinese comment spam, I Waggle Roomed this piece.
Post a Comment