Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Revisiting the LPGA's Top Rivalries

All right, it's time to focus on the players again. Now that we're well into the LPGA's pre-European-Swing break, let's take another look at my preseason take on how the tour's last 6 generations stack up by checking out the career money list and wins/majors totals for the 4 older generations and examining a wider variety of stats for the 2 younger generations that are already making such a huge impact on the tour.

1994-1996: The Sorenstam Generation

[1. Annika Sorenstam (1994) $22.57M (#1), 72/10]
2. Karrie Webb (1996) $14.73M (#2), 36/7
3. Lorie Kane (1996) $6.72M (#14), 4/0
4. Pat Hurst (1995) $6.44M (#16), 6/1
5. Catriona Matthew (1995) $5.50M (#25), 2/0
6. Wendy Ward (1996) $4.42M (#35), 4/0
7. Carin Koch (1995) $4.38M (#37), 2/0

Not too much movement here, but Ward passed Koch and Hurst continues to close on Kane.

1997-1999: The Pak Generation

1. Se Ri Pak (1998) $10.44M (#5), 24/5
2. Cristie Kerr (1997) $9.98M (#7), 12/1
3. Mi Hyun Kim (1999) $8.38M (#10), 8/0
4. Rachel Hetherington (1997) $5.62M (#23), 8/0
5. Laura Diaz (1999) $4.97M (#30), 2/0
6. Sophie Gustafson (1998) $4.64M (#32), 4/0
7. Maria Hjorth (1998) $4.36M (#38), 3/0
8. Karen Stupples (1999) $3.16M (#54), 2/1

If Kerr hadn't let those 2 majors slip through her fingers on the final 9, she'd have passed Pak on the career money list. Between Kim's slow recovery from her knee surgery 2 winters ago and upcoming maternity leave (at least according to rumors on Seoul Sisters.com), looks like she's going to have to settle for #3 in her generation. Finally, Gustafson failed to put much distance on Hjorth while her rival was on maternity leave.

2000-2002: Seoul Sisters

1. Jeong Jang (2000) $6.11M (#17), 2/1
2. Hee-Won Han (2001) $5.88M (#19), 6/0
3. Grace Park (2000) $5.31M (#29), 6/1
4. Angela Stanford (2001) $4.45M (#34), 4/0
5. Candie Kung (2002) $4.41M (#36), 4/0
6. Natalie Gulbis (2002) $3.87M (#40), 1/0
7. Gloria Park (2000) $3.24M (#53), 2/0

Han passed Park, who may be out for the season after arthroscopic hip surgery. Jang is back from her own layoff due to wrist surgery, so looks like a showdown between her and Han at the top is shaping up nicely. Stanford and Kung are locked in a great battle to see who will be the next to pass Park.

2003-2005: The Ochoa Generation

1. Lorena Ochoa (2003) $13.97M (#3), 26/2
2. Paula Creamer (2005) $6.48M (#15), 8/0
3. Suzann Pettersen (2003) $4.67M (#31), 5/1
4. Christina Kim (2003) $3.27M (#52), 2/0
5. Stacy Prammanasudh (2003) $2.88M (#60), 2/0
6. Brittany Lincicome (2005) $2.51M (#71), 3/1
7. Meena Lee (2005) $2.46M (#75), 2/0
8. Shi Hyun Ahn (2004) $2.32M (#80), 1*/0 [non-member win]
9. Young Kim (2003) $2.31M (#81), 1/0
10. Katherine Hull (2004) $1.96M (#96), 1/0
11. Lindsey Wright (2004) $1.86M (#104), 0/0

Lincicome is making a big move on Kim and Prammanasush and Hull and Wright are making similar-sized moves on Lee, Ahn, and Kim.

2006-2008: Young Guns
[I include this generation's numbers of events, majors, wins, top 3s, top 10s, top 20s, and made cuts (along with made cut rates); *=non-member win (not counted toward other stats).]

1. Seon Hwa Lee (2006) $3.46M (#45), 100/0/4/11/26/51/92 (.920)
2. Ya Ni Tseng (2008) $2.63M (#68), 42/1/2/11/18/30/40 (.952)
3. Jee Young Lee (2006) $2.60M (#69), 93/0/0/7/27/51/86 (.925)
4. Morgan Pressel (2006) $2.47M (#73), 87/1/2/7/25/42/75 (.862)
5. In-Kyung Kim (2007) $2.19M (#86), 66/0/2/7/18/27/56 (.848)
6. Julieta Granada (2006) $2.17M (#88), 94/0/1/5/10/21/60 (.638)
7. Ai Miyazato (2006) $2.17M (#89), 82/0/0/4/23/35/68 (.829)
8. Angela Park (2007) $2.10M (#90), 68/0/0/8/18/25/58 (.853)
9. Eun-Hee Ji (2007) $2.00M (#94), 46/1/2/5/15/20/41 (.891)
10. Brittany Lang (2006) $1.82M (#105), 96/0/0/4/20/38/74 (.771)
11. Inbee Park (2007) $1.64M (#111), 66/1/1/3/9/17/50 (.758)
12. Song-Hee Kim (2007) $1.64M (#112), 58/0/0/5/13/22/44 (.759)
13. Na Yeon Choi (2008) $1.57M (#115), 42/0/0/5/14/26/42 (1.000)
14. Sun Young Yoo (2006) $1.32M (#133), 93/0/0/1/11/26/73 (.785)
15. Ji Young Oh (2007) $1.28M (#140), 65/0/2/2/7/15/47 (.723)
16. Kristy McPherson (2007) $1.02M (#174), 59/0/0/2/9/16/42 (.712)
17. Kyeong Bae (2006) $1.01M (#176), 87/0/0/2/9/15/62 (.713)

Bae and McPherson are the latest additions to this generation's Million Dollar Club, and Teresa Lu and Meaghan Francella aren't far from joining them. Tseng just passed 1 Lee and has her sights set on another. Kim and Miyazato are closing on Pressel, while Ji is looking to leapfrog 1 Park as Kim and Choi are close to passing another.

2009-2011: New Blood
[I include this generation's numbers of events, majors, wins, top 3s, top 10s, top 20s, and made cuts (along with made cut rates); *=non-member win(s) (not counted toward other stats).]

1. Ji-Yai Shin (2009) $1.08M (#163), 14/1*/5*/4/4/9/13 (.929)
2. Michelle Wie (2009) $435.2K (#282), 11/0/0/3/5/6/11 (1.000)
3. Anna Nordqvist (2009) $387.5K (#291), 8/1/1/1/1/3/8 (1.000)
4. Mika Miyazato (2009) $263.7K (#346), 13/0/0/0/3/3/10 (.769)
5. Stacy Lewis (2009) $183.4K (#391), 13/0/0/0/2/3/8 (.615)
6. Vicky Hurst (2009) $134.1K (#437), 12/0/0/0/2/3/9 (.750)
7. Haeji Kang (2009) $123.7K (#440), 9/0/0/0/1/1/6 (.667)
8. Shiho Oyama (2009) $93.7K (#476), 12/0/0/0/1/1/6 (.500)
9. M.J. Hur (2009) $66.5K (#513), 12/0/0/0/0/1/5 (.417)
10. Mindy Kim (2009) $64.8K (#518), 9/0/0/0/1/1/3 (.333)
11. Chella Choi (2009) $57.4K (#530), 11/0/0/0/0/0/6 (.545)

Nordqvist, Miyazato, and Kang are exceeding my expectations, whereas I'm still waiting for Lewis, Hurst, and Oyama to really get it going. 2nd half of the season should be very interesting. Wie will need to start winning to have a hope of catching Shin.

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