LPGA/JLPGA Stats Breakdown

For the first time since I can remember, the LPGA.com stats pages got updated on a Sunday--just like the PGA and JLPGA! Let's take advantage by comparing key stats among the top 20 on the U.S. and Japanese tours:

RANK NAME WINNINGS SCORING AVE. BIRDIE RATE TOP-10 %AGE
1. Akiko Fukushima ￥34.02M 72.24 3.72 50%
2. Miho Koga ￥31.92M 71.68 3.12 75%
3. Sakura Yokomine ￥28.79M 70.91 3.55 85.7%
4. Bo-Bae Song ￥26.79M 71.91 3.27 42.9%
5. Ayako Uehara ￥25.90M 71.96 2.75 22.2%
6. Yukari Baba ￥24.35M 72.44 2.48 55.56%
7. Hiroko Yamaguchi ￥21.94M 72.87 3.13 37.5%
8. Hyun-Ju Shin ￥20.17M 73.00 1.96 25%
9. Miki Saiki ￥18.04M 71.86 3.55 37.5%
10. Ji-Hee Lee ￥17.30M 72.43 2.38 57.1%
11. Shinobu Moromizato ￥15.49M 72.04 3.37 66.7%
12. Mi-Jeong Jeon ￥14.50M 72.38 2.71 50%
13. Yuri Fudoh ￥13.82M 73.47 2.58 16.7%
14. Erina Hara ￥13.69M 73.04 2.78 11.1%
15. Yun-Jye Wei ￥11.43M 72.71 2.38 28.6%
16. Midori Yoneyama ￥11.32M 73.00 2.41 22.2%
17. Ji-Yai Shin ￥11.00M 71.00 3.25 100%
18. Eun-A Lim ￥10.68M 73.54 2.77 33.3%
19. Yuko Mitsuka ￥10.37M 72.76 2.68 33.3%
20. Maiko Wakabayashi ￥9.43M 73.96 2.74 11.1%

Note that Ji-Yai Shin's stats do not (yet?) include her win, which was worth ￥14.4M--how conveeenient! (Although I suspect she may not have joined the JLPGA before then.)

RANK NAME WINNINGS SCORING AVE. BIRDIE RATE TOP-10 %AGE
1. Lorena Ochoa $1.54M 68.55 4.71 87.5%
2. Annika Sorenstam $1.24M 69.17 4.13 87.5%
3. Paula Creamer $.85M 70.50 3.62 44.4%
4. Jeong Jang $.49M 70.94 3.29 30%
5. Ya Ni Tseng $.47M 70.31 3.76 37.5%
6. Suzann Pettersen $.42M 70.53 3.80 25%
7. Angela Stanford $.33M 71.22 3.31 30%
8. Karen Stupples $.33M 70.87 3.63 37.5%
9. Jee Young Lee $.30M 71.73 3.38 30%
10. Christina Kim $.28M 71.56 3.38 44.4%
11. Song-Hee Kim $.27M 70.91 3.64 28.6%
12. Laura Diaz $.26M 71.64 3.15 20%
13. Inbee Park $.26M 71.56 3.31 30%
14. Teresa Lu $.26M 72.14 2.57 20%
15. Juli Inkster $.25M 71.64 3.00 14.3%
16. Louise Friberg $.25M 72.42 2.77 22.2%
17. Lindsey Wright $.25M 70.83 3.57 37.5%
18. Karrie Webb $.25M 71.05 2.73 33.3%
19. Seon Hwa Lee $.25M 71.55 2.76 20%
20. Maria Hjorth $.24M 71.66 3.44 33.3%

A few major differences stand out: only 7 of the JLPGA top 20 are making 3 or more birdies per round, while only 3 of the LPGA top 20 are not; 8 of the JLPGA top 20 are getting top 10s in half or more of their starts, while the top 2 on the LPGA are the only ones to do this; only 1 person on the JLPGA has a scoring average under 71 (although it would be 2 if both Shin's tournaments were included), while the 10th LPGA player with a similar scoring average, Hee-Won Han, is not even in the top 20 on the money list (she is #23).

I don't know if the courses are harder on the JLPGA or conditions are tougher (I vote for the latter, on a hunch), but I do know that only a handful of the top JLPGA players should even be considering LPGA Q-School: Ji-Yai Shin, Sakura Yokomine, Miki Saiki, Miho Koga, and Bo-Bae Song (if Fukushima and Moromizato were going to have done it, they would have already, and it's far too late for Fudoh, not that she would do it now of all times). But they should keep in mind the LPGA is no picnic. For reference, here are the stats of the 2 best JLPGA youngsters to come over thus far:

33. Momoko Ueda $.16M 72.54 2.89 22.2%
50. Ai Miyazato $.09M 72.90 2.13 0%

Shin, by the way, has a chance to be highly ranked on both the LPGA and JLPGA in addition to her home tour, the KLPGA. There's no question she should come over. But the rest should really consider the decision carefully, at least based on their early-season stats.