For my last post of 2009, I'll be taking a final look at who was the best on the LPGA this past season. As usual, I'll be combining the LPGA money list (as of the end of the 2009 season), Hound Dog's latest ranking (which focuses exclusively on LPGA performances and results from 2009), the Rolex Rankings (which assigns points based on results over the last 104 weeks on the LPGA, JLPGA, KLPGA, LET, and Futures Tour as of December 28th), and the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index (which ranks players based on finishes over the last 52 weeks on the LPGA, JLPGA, LET, and Futures Tour as of December 26th) to divide LPGA players into tiers, then using my own judgment to rank them within each tier. It's the Mostly Harmless answer to the BCS--only less hated!
So just how close has Lorena Ochoa's chase pack gotten to her?
1. Lorena Ochoa: #4 money ($1.49M), #1 HD, #1 RR (11.75), #1 GSPI (68.92). She turned it on in the 2nd half of the year, and not just in the obvious ways (getting her 4th-straight Player of the Year award and Vare Trophy and joining Cristie Kerr in breaking the $1M barrier each of the last 6 seasons): she also beat out Michelle Wie for highest birdie rate (4.18 to 4.15) and Ji-Yai Shin for lowest putts per green in regulation rate (1.7457 to 1.7495), plus she regained the #1 spot in Hound Dog's total driving stat. By moving up to #4 on the money list, she also made her lead chase pack considerably smaller. In fact, you could make a good argument that it should be smaller than I'm calling it: only 1 other player is in the top 5 in every ranking system, only 3 others are in the top 5 in 3 of the 4, and only 5 others are in the top 5 in 2 of them.
2. Ji-Yai Shin: #1 money ($1.81M), #2 HD, #2 RR (9.04), #6 GSPI (69.43). The LPGA's ROY and 1st-ever Korean money-list leader was also head of her class (and generation, so far) in my final Mostly Harmless ranking. Plus, with her #5 ranking on the JLPGA and win there, she may well be the frontrunner for the coveted Mostly Harmless Best 2009 in Women's Golf award.
3. Cristie Kerr: #2 money ($1.52M), #4 HD, #4 RR (7.20), #2 GSPI (69.12). As great as her season was, she'll likely remember it more for its coulda woulda shouldas--the 2 majors that slipped through her fingers on Sundays and the lead on the money list, in Player of the Year points, and in scoring average that dissolved down the home stretch. So the title of best American on the LPGA is going to feel like a bit of a let-down.
4. Ai Miyazato: #3 money ($1.52M), #3 HD, #8 RR (6.61), #8 GSPI (69.54). Same goes for my favorite player, as she converted only 2 of the 13 weeks when she was playing well enough to win into actual victories, once on the LPGA and once on the JLPGA. She had a legitimate chance to jump from #41 in 2008 to #1 in 2009. But ending the year ranked #6 on the JLPGA in only 8 starts shows what a quality season she had. I'm hoping that 64 she shot in her final match in the Kyoraku Cup--and last round of 2009--is a sign of things to come in 2010.
5. Suzann Pettersen: #5 money ($1.37M), #6 HD, #3 RR (7.49), #5 GSPI (69.41). Illnesses and injuries cropped up at inopportune times for her this season, which is really too bad, as she, too, was giving herself a lot of chances to add to her career victory total and was in a great position to contend for all the LPGA's major year-end awards. She did get her 1st LPGA win since 2007 and joined the Million Dollar Club for the 3rd-straight season, so it's not like the year was a disappointment, but....
6. Na Yeon Choi: #6 money ($1.34M), #5 HD, #12 RR (6.01), #3 GSPI (69.34). She came on strong in the 2nd half of the season with 2 huge wins, the 1st over Ai Miyazato and the 2nd over Ya Ni Tseng and Maria Hjorth. She still hasn't missed a cut in her LPGA career and she's closing on the top Super Soph, Ya Ni Tseng. Just not that quickly, because Tseng also had a great 2nd half of her season.
7. Ya Ni Tseng: #7 money ($1.29M), #8 HD, #5 RR (7.13), #7 GSPI (69.52). Finally getting her 2nd career LPGA win didn't open the floodgates for her in 2009, but she showed a lot more endurance than in her ROY season in 2008, as she finished out this season with 8-straight top 25s and 5-straight top 10s. She can't be happy about moving 3 spots down from her position in last year's ranking, so look for a great 2010 from her.
8. Paula Creamer: #9 money ($1.15M), #11 HD, #6 RR (7.04), #4 GSPI (69.37). It's amazing that she made it 5-straight seasons in the Million Dollar Club and with double-digits in top 10s, despite playing in the fewest events of her career due to injuries and illnesses that spanned the entire season.
9. Angela Stanford: #10 money ($1.08M), #9 HD, #9 RR (6.49), #10 GSPI (69.66). At the end of the 2008 season, when I ranked her #7, I asked, "does she have the staying power to remain a top 10 player, or will she go back to being a very good and very streaky golfer?" And I indicated my skepticism by predicting that she'd finish 2009 in 25th. Well, color me convinced! Even though she had to shut down part of her season to support her mother during her treatments for cancer, she still had a great year, posting the lowest scoring average of her career. If she keeps improving like this in 2010, she could well end up the top American on tour.
10. Michelle Wie: #14 money ($918.7K), #10 HD, #10 RR (6.28), #9 GSPI (69.64). Here's one of the vagaries of my ranking systems: even though I ranked MW 3rd in her rookie class, behind Anna Nordqvist, she had more top 10s in the major ranking systems than Nordqvist, so ended up in Ochoa's lead chase pack instead of her. That makes it 4 Americans in the Mostly Harmless top 10, the most of any nationality. That's as many as were in the top 20 last year, not counting those who became naturalized U.S. citizens! And I've never put 3 rookies in an end-of-season top 10, either.
Here's why you can also make a good argument for expanding the lead chase pack: there are a bunch of very good players with a top 10 in at most 2 of the 4 systems and/or top 20s in at least 3 of them:
11. Anna Nordqvist: #15 money ($871.8K), #7 HD, #7 RR (7.00), #12 GSPI (69.93). The LET's ROY had to settle for #2 in her LPGA rookie class in my other ranking system and #3 in this one, but that's pretty impressive for someone who couldn't even make the top 20 in the LPGA's 2008 Q-School. And if she can improve on her approach shots next season, she could challenge Pettersen for head Euro in charge on the LPGA.
12. In-Kyung Kim: #8 money ($1.24M), #12 HD, #11 RR (6.03), #15 GSPI (70.30). A win in Dubai capped off a great season for the LPGA's #2 Junior Mint, giving her dual membership on the LPGA and LET in 2010. Given the way she missed cuts down the home stretch this past season, though, when lots of major end-of-year awards were well within her reach, she may want to avoid too much international travel in the upcoming one. She could easily have jumped much farther from her #22 position at the end of 2008. During 2010, I think she'll keep movin' on up.
13. Song-Hee Kim: #11 money ($1.03M), #13 HD, #14 RR (4.82), #11 GSPI (69.75). Another Junior Mint I expect to be moving up this list in 2010. Her stats over the last 2 seasons suggest she's due for her 1st LPGA victory early next season.
14. Karrie Webb: #12 money ($968.1K), #14 HD, #13 RR (5.84), #17 GSPI (70.37). I said it before and I'll say it again: "When she's on, she's still one of the world's best." That's why I wasn't surprised to see her win in 2009 and I wouldn't be to see her get more than 1 in 2010.
15. Eun-Hee Ji: #13 money ($937.3K), #16 HD, #19 RR (3.94), #35 GSPI (71.23). Even though she turned out to be yet another victim of the U.S. Women's Open jinx, her win there was no fluke. She's got the best career going in the LPGA's rookie class of 2007, even though she's played almost 20 fewer events than most of her top peers.
16. Kristy McPherson: #16 money ($816.2K), #18 HD, #21 RR (3.89), #18 GSPI (70.37). Made a huge jump from #48 at the end of last season. I think she's starting to realize how good she really is. She has the talent to make her 1st LPGA win a major--as she almost accomplished twice in 2009.
17. Brittany Lang: #19 money ($675.1K), #17 HD, #26 RR (3.57), #13 GSPI (70.13). Also made a great jump from #31 on last year's list, she's in a race with SH Kim, McPherson, Lindsey Wright, and fellow Senior Standout Sun Young Yoo to become the 1st to get that 1st LPGA win.
18. Sophie Gustafson: #17 money ($792.4K), #19 HD, #18 RR (4.08), #37 GSPI (71.24). Really came on in the 2nd half of the season, moving up 16 spots from last year's final ranking on the strength of her 1st LPGA win since 2003--and leading the LET money list in only 4 starts! She's still inconsistent from round to round, but 2009 was her 5th-straight season in the top 30 on the LPGA money list, so there's definitely still a there there. You don't move up 16 spots from last year's ranking without it.
19. Catriona Matthew: #26 money ($480.7K), #15 HD, #16 RR (4.45), #20 GSPI (70.47). In only her 2nd tournament back from maternity leave, she won the Women's British Open; she almost broke the $500K barrier in only 10 total LPGA starts and had a chance to beat Gustafson by enough in Dubai to take the LET money title away from her (in only her 3rd LET start of the year). That's a huge 21-spot jump in what amounts to half a season!
The top 19 on this list virtually monopolized the top 20 in each of the ranking systems I combine in mine--check out how many of Hound Dog's top 20 players he recently profiled are also in mine. So there were even relatively few players with at least 3 top 30s this season:
20. Lindsey Wright: #18 money ($734.7K), #20 HD, #28 RR (3.52), #26 GSPI (70.84). She got healthy and started playing like it was early 2008 again, at least in the 1st half of the season, when it took a miracle shot from Brittany Lincicome to deny her the LPGA Championship. She let down a little from August on, so will have to wait for 2010 for her 1st, and long overdue, LPGA victory, but she still moved up 19 spots from last year's ranking.
21. Morgan Pressel: #22 money ($630.3K), #22 HD, #23 RR (3.70), #23 GSPI (70.75). Her comeback continued in 2009, as she finally grooved her swing changes and was able to get back to working on her short game. I'm expecting a lot from the #2-ranked Senior Standout in 2010.
22. Sun Young Yoo: #23 money ($614.9K), #21 HD, #34 RR (3.13), #16 GSPI (70.37). Another Senior Standout with a strong season, she put up some stupendous ballstriking stats in 2009. If she ever gets her putter going in 2010, her 1st LPGA win will come sooner than later.
23. Seon Hwa Lee: #28 money ($458.3K), #27 HD, #31 RR (3.21), #25 GSPI (70.83). Staying the #1 Senior Standout in the face of charges from Morgan Pressel, Ai Miyazato, and Brittany Lang isn't enough of a challenge for her, apparently, as she won dual LPGA-JLPGA membership in 2010 thanks to a solid performance at JLPGA Q-School. I think this is a smart move for her, as she's in excellent shape and has a game that travels well. The main reason she dropped 15 spots from last year's ranking is that she didn't get to play her usual 28-to-30-event schedule.
24. Maria Hjorth: #32 money ($428.9K), #23 HD, #24 RR (3.65), #29 GSPI (71.00). The new mom returned to form quickly when she returned to competitive golf and got stronger the more she played, ending up with 9 top-25 finishes in her last 10 starts on the LPGA. She also placed 14th on the LET money list in only 4 starts.
25. Momoko Ueda: #33 money ($416.3K), #29 HD, #27 RR (3.56), #24 GSPI (70.80). All her hard work on her ballstriking started to pay off in the 2nd half of the season, as she didn't finish worse than T28 on either the JLPGA or LPGA from late August-on and finished 2009 with 3 top 10s and a T11 in her last 4 starts. There's nowhere to go but up for the 7th-ranked player on the JLPGA who only played 18 LPGA events this past season. I expect to see her swing changes grooved and a lot better touch around and on the greens in 2010.
A good number of players have at most 2 top 30s and/or at least 3 top 40s:
26. Hee Young Park: #20 money ($666.3K), #26 HD, #36 RR (2.99), #46 GSPI (71.56). She moved ahead of Ueda in my career ranking of the Super Sophs, so in my other system she definitely had a better season than her. But her relative inconsistency--which she got more under control this season but still cropped up to often--and exclusive focus on the LPGA kept her from being ranked higher in the Rolex Rankings and Sagarin Index. So she ends up at the top of this tier instead--still a 16-spot leap from last season.
27. Katherine Hull: #27 money ($461.8K), #30 HD, #35 RR (3.12), #38 GSPI (71.26). At the end of the 2008 season, I wrote that she "got super-hot during the 2nd half of the season, but is it just a nice run, or can she sustain her fantastic play and keep moving up the rankings?" Well, she won early on the LET and putted very well in 2009 but her ballstriking tailed off a bit, and that was enough to drop her down 4 spots from last year's ranking--still 6 spots higher than I predicted back in January.
28. Brittany Lincicome: #21 money ($647.1K), #24 HD, #30 RR (3.23), #59 GSPI (72.00). She was MIA for what seemed forever but got up for big events in 2009 and brought her career back from the dead. Bam Bam ended the season longer and wilder than Michelle Wie off the tee--both are pretty impressive feats--but was nowhere near as efficient on the greens. Still, making one of the most impressive approach shots in the history of golf to win the Kraft Nabisco with a walkoff eagle and hanging in there for a solo 5th at the U.S. Women's Open impressed the heck out of me.
29. Ji Young Oh: #24 money ($558.3K), #28 HD, #41 RR (2.58), #47 GSPI (71.63). Her 2 surprise LPGA wins are the only thing keeping her ahead of McPherson in my career Junior Mint ranking, but even her Sybase victory this past season couldn't put her any higher than this. I'm not expecting her to return to the top 30 in 2010.
30. Natalie Gulbis: #40 money ($326.4K), #25 HD, #58 RR (1.91), #21 GSPI (70.48). Her back was healthy for 2/3 of the season, but she needed to rest it by skipping the Asian swing, yet she had to withdraw from Lorena's event and didn't start the LPGA Tour Championship.
31. Helen Alfredsson: #35 money ($385.3K), #31 HD, #25 RR (3.59), #39 GSPI (71.27). She didn't have as fantastic a 2009 as her 2008--she dropped 20 spots from last year's ranking--but given that I had predicted she'd fall outside the top 50, I'd say she surprised on the upside nevertheless. Shooting a 62 in mid-May and a 63 in early June were definitely the highlights of her season, but she culdn't convert either into a top 10.
32. Hee-Won Han: #29 money ($450.2K), #33 HD, #40 RR (2.75), #41 GSPI (71.33). Had flashes of brilliance at the State Farm and Women's British Open--where she ended up with bronzes in each--but those were her only top 10s. In fact, she had as many top 10s in 2007, when she only played in 6 events due to maternity leave. Looks like raising a toddler is tougher on your game than having a baby! She's down 17 spts from last year's ranking.
33. Jee Young Lee: #37 money ($358.7K), #35 HD, #46 RR (2.45), #33 GSPI (71.19). If 2008 was a "disappointing season," as I called it last November, then what was 2009? A disastrous one? Well, maybe I shouldn't go that far--she only dropped 15 spots in all--but it sure was strange to see one of the tour's most promising young players go from bad to worse.
A large number of players have at most 2 top 40s and/or at least 3 top 50s:
34. Se Ri Pak: #30 money ($447.7K), #38 HD, #43 RR (2.55), #42 GSPI (71.42). Improved her ballstriking in 2009; now, if her putter comes back online in 2010, she could once again play like the Hall of Famer she is. Whether she can return to her 1998-2003 form is something I tend to doubt, but I don't see why she couldn't get her scoring average down around 71 and start winning again.
35. Candie Kung: #25 money ($539.9K), #54 HD, #37 RR (2.93), #78 GSPI (72.28). A gutty performance at the U.S Women's Open was definitely the highlight of an otherwise off-year, as her low rankings in Hound Dog's system and the Sagarin Index, which don't place as much weight on the majors as the money list or the Rolex Rankings, suggest. Her approach shots and especially her putting were primarily to blame for the 16-spot drop from last year's rankings. I'm curious to see how she puts together her schedule on the LPGA and JLPGA in 2010.
36. Juli Inkster: #51 money ($259.3K), #36 HD, #50 RR (2.20), #31 GSPI (71.14). Another veteran I predicted would drop out of the top 50 in 2009, she exceeded my expectations by continuing to make a lot of cuts and keeping her scoring average near par. She's finding it harder to contend and get top 10s in recent seasons, but maybe I was wrong that this Solheim Cup run would be her last.
37. M.J. Hur: #31 money ($445.0K), #40 HD, #45 RR (2.52), #89 GSPI (72.50). Her surprise win in a playoff against Suzann Pettersen and Michele Redman boosted her to #5 in the rookie class in my other system (behind Vicky Hurst, as a matter of fact). And as much as injuries and illnesses, it was a key stumbling block in Pettersen's quest for POY. But if she's going to go from playing the spoiler to being a real player on the LPGA, she's going to have to dramatically improve her ballstriking.
38. Amy Yang: #45 money ($302.8K), #34 HD, #52 RR (2.17), #36 GSPI (71.24). 2009 wasn't quite the breakout season I predicted for her--she's 28 spots below where I expected her to be at this point and couldn't get her 4th career LET win (although she did finish 30th on their money list in only 4 events)--but she made good progress and is poised for...wait for it...a breakout season in 2010.
39. Vicky Hurst: #44 money ($305.8K), #32 HD, #62 RR (1.78), #40 GSPI (71.31). Her rookie season was remarkably similar to Yang's 1st full LPGA season, so I expect a great sophomore campaign from her.
40. Christina Kim: #38 money ($334.1K), #44 HD, #49 RR (2.23), #55 GSPI (71.91). A disappointing run-up to the Solheim Cup was forgiven in the heat of competition and she carried it over with some strong finishes right afterward, particularly at the Women's British Open. Once her ballstriking catches up with her new body, she should be giving herself more birdie chances more regularly
41. Wendy Ward: #39 money ($326.4K), #37 HD, #68 RR (1.66), #45 GSPI (71.49). Seemed to let down a bit after failing to play her way onto the Solheim Cup team, skipping the Asian swing after missing several cuts leading up to it. But it was still a very successful season for the veteran.
42. Pat Hurst: #36 money ($370.9K), #39 HD, #64 RR (1.77), #54 GSPI (71.90). Played badly for several months after getting her 1st LPGA win since 2006, but finished 2009 by making 7-straight cuts, so has some momentum heading into 2010.
43. Sandra Gal: #46 money ($298.8K), #43 HD, #73 RR (1.58), #43 GSPI (71.44). Started playing like Hee Young Park in the 2nd half of 2009--going very low and then very high, even from round to round. Blame the high scores on inconsistent ballstriking, both off the tees and from the fairways (and rough). But the low scores show what this Super Soph is capable of in 2010.
44. Michele Redman: #42 money ($316.5K), #45 HD, #51 RR (2.19), #50 GSPI (71.72). Another veteran who exceeded expectations in 2009. Imagine if she had won that playoff against Pettersen and Hur!
45. Stacy Lewis: #47 money ($298.4K), #46 HD, #47 RR (2.26), #53 GSPI (71.90). The adjustment to the LPGA was tougher than most expected for the 2008 Q-School medalist, but now that she's made it, I don't expect to see her ranked this low again.
There's a good-sized group with at most 2 top 50s and/or at least 3 top 60s:
46. Meena Lee: #34 money ($386.3K), #42 HD, #67 RR (1.67), #57 GSPI (71.97). Dropped 9 spots from last year's ranking.
47. Kyeong Bae: #41 money ($324.5K), #47 HD, #71 RR (1.62), #70 GSPI (72.17). Nice to see her back among the best in the world again.
48. Teresa Lu: #54 money ($242.5K), #50 HD, #76 RR (1.50), #48 GSPI (71.68). Dropped 13 spots from last year's ranking. Wonder how many events she'll play in Japan as a dual LPGA-JLPGA member in 2010.
49. Janice Moodie: #58 money ($208.4K), #41 HD, #84 RR (1.31), #52 GSPI (71.85). Nice to see her back among the best in the world again.
50. Meaghan Francella: #48 money ($292.3K), #48 HD, #81 RR (1.32), #64 GSPI (72.11). Nice to see her back among the best in the world again.
51. Mika Miyazato: #49 money ($284.8K), #52 HD, #60 RR (1.85), #79 GSPI (72.28). Her biggest tournament of the year was off the LPGA: she was in a great position to win the Japan Women's Open, the most important event on the JLPGA schedule, as a non-member, but blew up in the final round.
52. Inbee Park: #50 money ($271.2K), #59 HD, #42 RR (2.56), #74 GSPI (72.24). Her slump is over; 2010 should be a good year for her, as she'll be splitting time between the LPGA and JLPGA.
53. Eunjung Yi: #43 money ($314.6K), #57 HD, #55 RR (2.06), #110 GSPI (72.73). Kept Morgan Pressel's 2009 from being even better than it was; let's see if she can build on her 1st LPGA win in 2010.
And here are the best of the rest:
54. Nicole Castrale: #52 money ($257.3K), #67 HD, #65 RR (1.72), #117 GSPI (72.82).
55. Shi Hyun Ahn: #59 money ($202.6K), #64 HD, #72 RR (1.62), #92 GSPI (72.55).
56. Jane Park: #60 money ($194.9K), #68 HD, #78 RR (1.44), #62 GSPI (72.04).
57. Angela Park: #53 money ($253.4K), n.r. HD, #54 RR (2.08), #165 GSPI (73.66).
58. Guilia Sergas: #61 money ($181.3K), n.r. HD, #85 RR (1.30), #66 GSPI (72.14).
59. Stacy Prammanasudh: #55 money ($218.0K), n.r. HD, #79 RR (1.37), #84 GSPI (72.36).
60. Young Kim: #62 money ($181.2K), #62 HD, #92 RR (1.21), #73 GSPI (72.24).
61. Soo-Yun Kang: #57 money ($212.4K), n.r. HD, #94 RR (1.18), #71 GSPI (72.21).
62. Hye Jung Choi: #66 money ($155.0K), n.r. HD, #102 RR (1.05), #67 GSPI (72.14).
63. Anna Grzebien: #64 money ($166.9K), #63 HD, #112 RR (.96), #72 GSPI (72.21).
64. Becky Morgan: #65 money ($158.1K), #61 HD, #120 RR (.90), #76 GSPI (72.27).
65. Paige Mackenzie: #69 money ($140.7K), #51 HD, #114 RR (.95), #88 GSPI (72.47).
66. Allison Hanna: #84 money ($104.6K), #49 HD, #146 RR (.67), #61 GSPI (72.03).
67. Haeji Kang: #67 money ($148.0K), #58 HD, #151 RR (.66), #101 GSPI (72.64).
68. Kris Tamulis: #85 money ($103.9K), #60 HD, #156 RR (.64), #65 GSPI (72.13).
69. Mikaela Parmlid: #70 money ($137.4K), #56 HD, #101 RR (1.07), #104 GSPI (72.67).
70. Karine Icher: #63 money ($171.6K), #66 HD, #127 RR (.81), #102 GSPI (72.65).
71. Sarah Lee: #79 money ($119.5K), n.r. HD, #119 RR (.90), #68 GSPI (72.15).
72. Karin Sjodin: #88 money ($97.1K), #70 HD, #172 RR (.59), #86 GSPI (72.42).
73. Karen Stupples: #68 money ($144.4K), n.r. HD, #57 RR (1.96), #109 GSPI (72.73).
74. Jimin Kang: #56 money ($214.9K), n.r. HD, #95 RR (1.16), #108 GSPI (72.72).
75. Mi Hyun Kim: #93 money ($88.6K), #55 HD, #88 RR (1.24), #123 GSPI (72.94).
76. Sarah Kemp: #96 money ($85.5K), #65 HD, #174 RR (.59), #124 GSPI (72.97).
77. Jeong Jang: #106 money ($65.8K), #69 HD, #48 RR (2.25), n.r. GSPI (72.52).
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Enter the New Blood: Ranking the LPGA's 2009 Rookie Class
Having ranked the LPGA rookie classes that make up the Young Guns Generation--the Senior Standouts (Class of 2006), the Junior Mints (2007, and the Super Sophs (2008)--I now turn to the 1st class in the LPGA's newest generation, which I've dubbed New Blood. How did their 1st seasons on the LPGA stack up?
Simply the Best
1. Ji-Yai Shin. Come on! Who else would be #1 in her class but the player who just missed out on a feat nobody's accomplished on the LPGA since Nancy Lopez--winning Rookie of the Year, Player of the Year, the Vare Trophy, and the money-list title in the same year? 2 out of 4 definitely ain't bad for the 1st Korean money-list leader in LPGA history! Oh, and she only ranked #5 for the 2nd-straight year on the JLPGA, too.
2. Anna Nordqvist. At the start of the season, I had thought she'd take the Amy Yang route to world domination, but instead, with her 2 wins on the LPGA, she had an ROY-quality season--just on the LET. (Even though Shin probably could have had membership on it in '09 via her '08 Women's British Open win, her winnings in Australia at the start of the season and during the European swing remain unofficial.) Given how accurate she is off the tee, she should be hitting way more greens in regulation. Just imagine how good she'll be when she improves her approach shots.
3. Michelle Wie. Another player who surprised me in 2009. I didn't expect her to play more than a dozen events in her rookie season and I certainly didn't expect her to get her 1st win during it, but she did both--and almost broke the $1M barrier in the process. There aren't that many players in LPGA history to have averaged over 4 birdies a round over the entire season. Just imagine how many she'll be making when she straightens out her driver.
The Contenders
4. Vicky Hurst. The tour's leader in driving distance in 2009 had a tougher transition from dominating the Futures Tour in 2008 than I anticipated, but put up some very solid stats. Key for her in 2010 will be improving her approach shots and giving herself more birdie opportunities.
5. M.J. Hur. Another player who surprised me in 2009, this time by doing on the LPGA what she had trouble doing on the Futures Tour in 2008: closing the deal on a Sunday. Sure, she had a little help from Suzann Pettersen and Michele Redman at the Safeway, but a win is a win. Still, when you look at the rest of her stats, I can't justify ranking her any higher than this. The key thing she has to do in the off-season is work on her ballstriking. Fantastic putting allowed her to exceed expectations in her rookie season, but she needs to hit way more fairways and greens to do as well in her sophomore campaign.
6. Stacy Lewis. It was a pretty blah season for the 2008 Q-School medalist. She putted terribly and didn't hit the ball all that great, either. 2010 will definitely be better!
Quantum Leap Candidates
7. Mika Miyazato. Got 3 top 10s in her 1st 11 starts, but seemed to tire as the season went on: she didn't finish higher than T58 in her last 6 starts from early September to mid-November and missed 3 cuts in that stretch.
8. Shiho Oyama. Played through tendonitis in both elbows for the 1st half of 2009 and when another injury cropped up mid-season, she pulled the plug. But she still made Category 1 in membership status for 2010 by staying in the top 80 on the money list. If she comes back healthy, watch out for her next season. In 2006, she broke Yuri Fudoh's chokehold on the top of the JLPGA money list from 2000-2005, setting a tour record in winnings that wasn't broken until this season by Sakura Yokomine. There's a reason she's won 11 times on the JLPGA.
9. Haeji Kang. I thought she'd be rockin' the Futures Tour in 2009, but she made a successful mid-season leap to the LPGA instead. We'll see what she's capable of doing on a full schedule in 2010. She'll need to improve on her approach shots if she wants to move up this ranking.
10. Chella Choi. Made it into Category 11 (#113 on the priority status list) for 2010 via her #86 finish on the 2009 money list. She needs to take better advantage of her driving accuracy by hitting more greens and giving herself more birdie chances in 2010.
On the Bottom, Looking Up
11. Mindy Kim. Made it into Category 11 (#125 on the priority status list) for 2010 via her #92 finish on the 2009 money list.
12. Tania Elosegui. She only got into 3 LPGA events in 2009, but she won full status in 2010 at Q-School (#134 on the priority status list). Given that she finished #5 on the LET money list in only 16 events (winning once), my guess is that she'll be the 1st in this group to make that quantum leap.
13. Samantha Richdale. She played well enough on the Futures Tour enough in 2009 to make the top 5 on their money list, moving up to #100 on the 2010 priority status list in the process. So we'll see what she's really capable of on the LPGA next season.
14. Song Yi Choi. Ditto for her--she's #101 on the 2010 priority status list.
15. Pornanong Phatlum. At #331 on the 2010 priority status list via her finish at LPGA Q-School, she'll be spending most of her time next season on the Futures Tour.
16. Jessica Shepley. Ditto for her--she's #328 on the 2010 priority status list.
17. Kim Welch. Ditto for her--she's #335 on the 2010 priority status list. Will most likely get into more LET events than LPGA events next season, even with partial LET status via their Q-School.
18. Jeehae Lee. We'll definitely be seeing more of her on the LET than the LPGA in 2010 after she won full status in their Q-School while getting very partial status on the LPGA (#329 on their priority status list) via their Q-School.
On the Outside, Looking In
19. Nontaya Srisawang.
20. Angela Oh.
21. Sunny Oh.
For your reference--and mine--here are the stats on which I'm basing the final 2009 ranking.
2009 LPGA Money List (rank), stroke 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 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 and are worth comparing to Hound Dog's final 2009 total driving and total putting stats.
1. Ji-Yai Shin, $1.81M (#1), 70.26 (#2), 3.97 (#3), 71.4% (#15)
2. Michelle Wie, $918.7K (#14), 70.57 (#9), 4.15 (#13), 70.2% (#21)
3. Anna Nordqvist, $871.8K (#15), 70.78 (#12), 3.48 (#41), 69.5% (#30)
4. M.J. Hur, $445.0K (#31), 72.40 (#55), 3.19 (#53), 61.9% (#113)
5. Vicky Hurst, $305.8K (#44), 71.76 (#30), 3.41 (#36), 69.6% (#26)
6. Stacy Lewis, $298.4K (#47), 72.21 (#46), 3.01 (#44), 68.7% (#38)
7. Mika Miyazato, $284.8K (#49), 72.70 (#75), 2.79 (#58), 65.6% (#76)
8. Haeji Kang, $148.0K (#67), 72.37 (#53), 3.08 (#87), 62.4% (#108)
9. Shiho Oyama, $122.5K (#76), 73.41 (#108), 2.91 (#104), 70.5% (#20)
10. Chella Choi, $100.8K (#86), 72.33 (#69), 2.87 (#83), 67.4% (#53)
11. Mindy Kim, $90.7K (#92), 72.41 (#57), 3.29 (#99), 65.2% (#84)
12. Pornanong Phatlum, $16.1K (#139), 72.38 (n.r.), ? (?), ? (?)
13. Tania Elosegui, $12.9K (#143), 74.50 (n.r.), ? (?), ? (?)
14. Jeehae Lee, $8.2K (#149), 74.68 (#140), 2.24 (#134), 64.0% (#93)
15. Samantha Richdale, $3.7K (#157), 74.44 (n.r.), ? (?), ? (?)
16. Kim Welch, $2.2K (#160), 74.10 (n.r.), ? (?), ? (?)
17. Jessica Shepley, $0K (n.r.), 73.33 (n.r.), ? (?), ? (?)
18. Nontaya Srisawang, $0K (n.r.), 73.50 (n.r.), ? (?), ? (?)
19. Song Yi Choi, $0K (n.r.), 75.08 (n.r.), ? (?), ? (?)
20. Angela Oh, $0K (n.r.), 76.50 (n.r.), ? (?), ? (?)
21. Sunny Oh, $0K (n.r.), 77.25 (n.r.), ? (?), ? (?)
Career LPGA Money List (rank), # of LPGA events entered/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 Super Sophs haven'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 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--although Thomas Atkins has posted an inflation-adjusted LPGA Career Top 50 as of the end of the 2008 season and a Top 50 ranking over at Hound Dog's place (and recently updated it to a Greatest 100 LPGA Players ranking). In any case, 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 grinding out top 20s and top 10s to contending for wins. So here's how they stand midway through the 2009 season. Many thanks to the LPGA for updating their 2009 Performance Chart after every event! [Note: *=non-member win; **=3 non-member wins]
1. Ji-Yai Shin, $1.81M (#109), 25/1*/6**/7/12/19/1/0/1/23 (.920)
2. Michelle Wie, $918.7K (#195), 19/0/1/5/8/10/1/0/1/17 (.895)
3. Anna Nordqvist, $871.4K (#205), 17/1/2/2/5/10/0/0/0/17 (1.000)
4. M.J. Hur, $445.0K (#283), 22/0/1/1/2/6/1/0/9/12 (.545)
5. Mika Miyazato, $336.5K (#318), 22/0/0/0/3/4/0/0/6/16 (.727)
6. Vicky Hurst, $305.8K (#330), 21/0/0/0/3/7/0/0/4/17 (.810)
7. Stacy Lewis, $298.4K (#335), 23/0/0/0/2/4/0/0/7/16 (.696)
8. Haeji Kang, $148.0K (#428), 16/0/0/0/1/1/0/0/6/10 (.625)
9. Shiho Oyama, $122.5K (#444), 16/0/0/0/1/1/0/0/9/7 (.438)
9. Chella Choi, $100.8K (#473), 17/0/0/0/0/1/0/0/6/11 (.647)
10. Mindy Kim, $90.7K (#486), 16/0/0/0/0/5/1/0/9/6 (.375)
11. Pornanong Phatlum, $16.1K (#624), 5/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/1/4 (.800)
12. Tania Elosegui, $12.9K (#645), 3/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/2/1 (.333)
13. Jeehae Lee, $8.2K (#672), 17/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/15/2 (.118)
14. Samantha Richdale, $3.7K (#703), 4/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/3/1 (.250)
15. Kim Welch, $2.2K (#720), 4/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/3/1 (.250)
16. Song Yi Choi, $0K (n.r.), 6/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/6/0 (.000)
17. Jessica Shepley, $0K (n.r.), 3/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/3/0 (.000)
18. Nontaya Srisawang, $0K (n.r.), 3/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/3/0 (.000)
19. Sunny Oh, $0K (n.r.), 2/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/2/0 (.000)
20. Angela Oh, $0K (n.r.), 1/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/1/0 (.000)
Other Career Measures: Rolex Ranking (as of 12/28/09) and rank, Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index (as of 12/26/09) and rank; International and Non-Member LPGA Wins (as of the end of the 2009 season): This is a way of seeing how those Super Sophs 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, 9.04 (#2), 69.43 (#6); 24
2. Anna Nordqvist, 7.00 (#7), 69.93 (#12); 0
3. Michelle Wie, 6.28 (#10), 69.64 (#9); 0
4. M.J. Hur, 2.52 (#45), 72.50 (#89); 0
5. Stacy Lewis, 2.26 (#47), 71.90 (#53); 0
6. Mika Miyazato, 1.85 (#60), 72.28 (#79); 0
7. Vicky Hurst, 1.78 (#62), 71.31 (#40); 0
8. Shiho Oyama, 1.31 (#82), 73.74 (#173); 11
9. Tania Elosegui, .88 (#122), 72.06 (#63); 1
10. Haeji Kang, .66 (#151), 72.64 (#101); 0
11. Chella Choi, .65 (#154), 72.55 (#94); 0
12. Mindy Kim, .58 (#178), 73.46 (#151); 0
13. Pornanong Phatlum, .32 (#234), 73.88 (#189); 0
14. Samantha Richdale, .19 (#308), 73.25 (#141); 0
15. Song Yi Choi, .14 (#345), 74.17 (#208); 0
16. Nontaya Srisawang, .07 (#434), 73.96 (#195); 0
17. Jeehae Lee, .06 (#458), 74.73 (#248); 0
18. Kim Welch, .04 (#490), 74.85 (#257); 0
19. Jessica Shepley, .02 (#590), 74.72 (247); 0
20. Sunny Oh, .01 (#617), 75.39 (n.r. [too few events]); 0
21. Angela Oh, n.r., 73.79 (n.r. [too few events]); 0
***
Next up: I rank the Best of the LPGA in 2009!
Simply the Best
1. Ji-Yai Shin. Come on! Who else would be #1 in her class but the player who just missed out on a feat nobody's accomplished on the LPGA since Nancy Lopez--winning Rookie of the Year, Player of the Year, the Vare Trophy, and the money-list title in the same year? 2 out of 4 definitely ain't bad for the 1st Korean money-list leader in LPGA history! Oh, and she only ranked #5 for the 2nd-straight year on the JLPGA, too.
2. Anna Nordqvist. At the start of the season, I had thought she'd take the Amy Yang route to world domination, but instead, with her 2 wins on the LPGA, she had an ROY-quality season--just on the LET. (Even though Shin probably could have had membership on it in '09 via her '08 Women's British Open win, her winnings in Australia at the start of the season and during the European swing remain unofficial.) Given how accurate she is off the tee, she should be hitting way more greens in regulation. Just imagine how good she'll be when she improves her approach shots.
3. Michelle Wie. Another player who surprised me in 2009. I didn't expect her to play more than a dozen events in her rookie season and I certainly didn't expect her to get her 1st win during it, but she did both--and almost broke the $1M barrier in the process. There aren't that many players in LPGA history to have averaged over 4 birdies a round over the entire season. Just imagine how many she'll be making when she straightens out her driver.
The Contenders
4. Vicky Hurst. The tour's leader in driving distance in 2009 had a tougher transition from dominating the Futures Tour in 2008 than I anticipated, but put up some very solid stats. Key for her in 2010 will be improving her approach shots and giving herself more birdie opportunities.
5. M.J. Hur. Another player who surprised me in 2009, this time by doing on the LPGA what she had trouble doing on the Futures Tour in 2008: closing the deal on a Sunday. Sure, she had a little help from Suzann Pettersen and Michele Redman at the Safeway, but a win is a win. Still, when you look at the rest of her stats, I can't justify ranking her any higher than this. The key thing she has to do in the off-season is work on her ballstriking. Fantastic putting allowed her to exceed expectations in her rookie season, but she needs to hit way more fairways and greens to do as well in her sophomore campaign.
6. Stacy Lewis. It was a pretty blah season for the 2008 Q-School medalist. She putted terribly and didn't hit the ball all that great, either. 2010 will definitely be better!
Quantum Leap Candidates
7. Mika Miyazato. Got 3 top 10s in her 1st 11 starts, but seemed to tire as the season went on: she didn't finish higher than T58 in her last 6 starts from early September to mid-November and missed 3 cuts in that stretch.
8. Shiho Oyama. Played through tendonitis in both elbows for the 1st half of 2009 and when another injury cropped up mid-season, she pulled the plug. But she still made Category 1 in membership status for 2010 by staying in the top 80 on the money list. If she comes back healthy, watch out for her next season. In 2006, she broke Yuri Fudoh's chokehold on the top of the JLPGA money list from 2000-2005, setting a tour record in winnings that wasn't broken until this season by Sakura Yokomine. There's a reason she's won 11 times on the JLPGA.
9. Haeji Kang. I thought she'd be rockin' the Futures Tour in 2009, but she made a successful mid-season leap to the LPGA instead. We'll see what she's capable of doing on a full schedule in 2010. She'll need to improve on her approach shots if she wants to move up this ranking.
10. Chella Choi. Made it into Category 11 (#113 on the priority status list) for 2010 via her #86 finish on the 2009 money list. She needs to take better advantage of her driving accuracy by hitting more greens and giving herself more birdie chances in 2010.
On the Bottom, Looking Up
11. Mindy Kim. Made it into Category 11 (#125 on the priority status list) for 2010 via her #92 finish on the 2009 money list.
12. Tania Elosegui. She only got into 3 LPGA events in 2009, but she won full status in 2010 at Q-School (#134 on the priority status list). Given that she finished #5 on the LET money list in only 16 events (winning once), my guess is that she'll be the 1st in this group to make that quantum leap.
13. Samantha Richdale. She played well enough on the Futures Tour enough in 2009 to make the top 5 on their money list, moving up to #100 on the 2010 priority status list in the process. So we'll see what she's really capable of on the LPGA next season.
14. Song Yi Choi. Ditto for her--she's #101 on the 2010 priority status list.
15. Pornanong Phatlum. At #331 on the 2010 priority status list via her finish at LPGA Q-School, she'll be spending most of her time next season on the Futures Tour.
16. Jessica Shepley. Ditto for her--she's #328 on the 2010 priority status list.
17. Kim Welch. Ditto for her--she's #335 on the 2010 priority status list. Will most likely get into more LET events than LPGA events next season, even with partial LET status via their Q-School.
18. Jeehae Lee. We'll definitely be seeing more of her on the LET than the LPGA in 2010 after she won full status in their Q-School while getting very partial status on the LPGA (#329 on their priority status list) via their Q-School.
On the Outside, Looking In
19. Nontaya Srisawang.
20. Angela Oh.
21. Sunny Oh.
For your reference--and mine--here are the stats on which I'm basing the final 2009 ranking.
2009 LPGA Money List (rank), stroke 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 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 and are worth comparing to Hound Dog's final 2009 total driving and total putting stats.
1. Ji-Yai Shin, $1.81M (#1), 70.26 (#2), 3.97 (#3), 71.4% (#15)
2. Michelle Wie, $918.7K (#14), 70.57 (#9), 4.15 (#13), 70.2% (#21)
3. Anna Nordqvist, $871.8K (#15), 70.78 (#12), 3.48 (#41), 69.5% (#30)
4. M.J. Hur, $445.0K (#31), 72.40 (#55), 3.19 (#53), 61.9% (#113)
5. Vicky Hurst, $305.8K (#44), 71.76 (#30), 3.41 (#36), 69.6% (#26)
6. Stacy Lewis, $298.4K (#47), 72.21 (#46), 3.01 (#44), 68.7% (#38)
7. Mika Miyazato, $284.8K (#49), 72.70 (#75), 2.79 (#58), 65.6% (#76)
8. Haeji Kang, $148.0K (#67), 72.37 (#53), 3.08 (#87), 62.4% (#108)
9. Shiho Oyama, $122.5K (#76), 73.41 (#108), 2.91 (#104), 70.5% (#20)
10. Chella Choi, $100.8K (#86), 72.33 (#69), 2.87 (#83), 67.4% (#53)
11. Mindy Kim, $90.7K (#92), 72.41 (#57), 3.29 (#99), 65.2% (#84)
12. Pornanong Phatlum, $16.1K (#139), 72.38 (n.r.), ? (?), ? (?)
13. Tania Elosegui, $12.9K (#143), 74.50 (n.r.), ? (?), ? (?)
14. Jeehae Lee, $8.2K (#149), 74.68 (#140), 2.24 (#134), 64.0% (#93)
15. Samantha Richdale, $3.7K (#157), 74.44 (n.r.), ? (?), ? (?)
16. Kim Welch, $2.2K (#160), 74.10 (n.r.), ? (?), ? (?)
17. Jessica Shepley, $0K (n.r.), 73.33 (n.r.), ? (?), ? (?)
18. Nontaya Srisawang, $0K (n.r.), 73.50 (n.r.), ? (?), ? (?)
19. Song Yi Choi, $0K (n.r.), 75.08 (n.r.), ? (?), ? (?)
20. Angela Oh, $0K (n.r.), 76.50 (n.r.), ? (?), ? (?)
21. Sunny Oh, $0K (n.r.), 77.25 (n.r.), ? (?), ? (?)
Career LPGA Money List (rank), # of LPGA events entered/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 Super Sophs haven'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 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--although Thomas Atkins has posted an inflation-adjusted LPGA Career Top 50 as of the end of the 2008 season and a Top 50 ranking over at Hound Dog's place (and recently updated it to a Greatest 100 LPGA Players ranking). In any case, 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 grinding out top 20s and top 10s to contending for wins. So here's how they stand midway through the 2009 season. Many thanks to the LPGA for updating their 2009 Performance Chart after every event! [Note: *=non-member win; **=3 non-member wins]
1. Ji-Yai Shin, $1.81M (#109), 25/1*/6**/7/12/19/1/0/1/23 (.920)
2. Michelle Wie, $918.7K (#195), 19/0/1/5/8/10/1/0/1/17 (.895)
3. Anna Nordqvist, $871.4K (#205), 17/1/2/2/5/10/0/0/0/17 (1.000)
4. M.J. Hur, $445.0K (#283), 22/0/1/1/2/6/1/0/9/12 (.545)
5. Mika Miyazato, $336.5K (#318), 22/0/0/0/3/4/0/0/6/16 (.727)
6. Vicky Hurst, $305.8K (#330), 21/0/0/0/3/7/0/0/4/17 (.810)
7. Stacy Lewis, $298.4K (#335), 23/0/0/0/2/4/0/0/7/16 (.696)
8. Haeji Kang, $148.0K (#428), 16/0/0/0/1/1/0/0/6/10 (.625)
9. Shiho Oyama, $122.5K (#444), 16/0/0/0/1/1/0/0/9/7 (.438)
9. Chella Choi, $100.8K (#473), 17/0/0/0/0/1/0/0/6/11 (.647)
10. Mindy Kim, $90.7K (#486), 16/0/0/0/0/5/1/0/9/6 (.375)
11. Pornanong Phatlum, $16.1K (#624), 5/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/1/4 (.800)
12. Tania Elosegui, $12.9K (#645), 3/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/2/1 (.333)
13. Jeehae Lee, $8.2K (#672), 17/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/15/2 (.118)
14. Samantha Richdale, $3.7K (#703), 4/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/3/1 (.250)
15. Kim Welch, $2.2K (#720), 4/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/3/1 (.250)
16. Song Yi Choi, $0K (n.r.), 6/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/6/0 (.000)
17. Jessica Shepley, $0K (n.r.), 3/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/3/0 (.000)
18. Nontaya Srisawang, $0K (n.r.), 3/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/3/0 (.000)
19. Sunny Oh, $0K (n.r.), 2/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/2/0 (.000)
20. Angela Oh, $0K (n.r.), 1/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/1/0 (.000)
Other Career Measures: Rolex Ranking (as of 12/28/09) and rank, Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index (as of 12/26/09) and rank; International and Non-Member LPGA Wins (as of the end of the 2009 season): This is a way of seeing how those Super Sophs 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, 9.04 (#2), 69.43 (#6); 24
2. Anna Nordqvist, 7.00 (#7), 69.93 (#12); 0
3. Michelle Wie, 6.28 (#10), 69.64 (#9); 0
4. M.J. Hur, 2.52 (#45), 72.50 (#89); 0
5. Stacy Lewis, 2.26 (#47), 71.90 (#53); 0
6. Mika Miyazato, 1.85 (#60), 72.28 (#79); 0
7. Vicky Hurst, 1.78 (#62), 71.31 (#40); 0
8. Shiho Oyama, 1.31 (#82), 73.74 (#173); 11
9. Tania Elosegui, .88 (#122), 72.06 (#63); 1
10. Haeji Kang, .66 (#151), 72.64 (#101); 0
11. Chella Choi, .65 (#154), 72.55 (#94); 0
12. Mindy Kim, .58 (#178), 73.46 (#151); 0
13. Pornanong Phatlum, .32 (#234), 73.88 (#189); 0
14. Samantha Richdale, .19 (#308), 73.25 (#141); 0
15. Song Yi Choi, .14 (#345), 74.17 (#208); 0
16. Nontaya Srisawang, .07 (#434), 73.96 (#195); 0
17. Jeehae Lee, .06 (#458), 74.73 (#248); 0
18. Kim Welch, .04 (#490), 74.85 (#257); 0
19. Jessica Shepley, .02 (#590), 74.72 (247); 0
20. Sunny Oh, .01 (#617), 75.39 (n.r. [too few events]); 0
21. Angela Oh, n.r., 73.79 (n.r. [too few events]); 0
***
Next up: I rank the Best of the LPGA in 2009!
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
The Best of the Young Guns: Super Sophs, Final 2009 Edition
Having ranked the LPGA rookie classes of 2006 and 2007, I now turn to the last class in the Young Guns generation, the Super Sophs. How do their brief careers on the LPGA stack up?
Simply the Best
1. Ya Ni Tseng. It's simply amazing that she closed out the season with 8-straight top 25s and 5-straight top 10s yet lost ground to her top pursuer in her class! The difference was on the greens.
2. Na Yeon Choi. Last time, I wrote, "She still has not missed an LPGA cut in her career and she's been improving in her key performance stats. But she still lost ground to Tseng in 2 key categories--wins and winnings. If she's going to join the Million Dollar Club for the 2nd time in as many seasons, it's time for her to reverse that last trend." Since then, she's won twice and is riding a 7-event top-20 run into 2010. Not half bad!
The Contenders
3. Hee Young Park. Just as I predicted, she broke the $1M barrier in career winnings in 2009. If she shows as much improvement in 2010 as she did this season, look for her to break the $2M barrier next one.
4. Momoko Ueda. Last time, I wrote, "I can't imagine anyone on tour who's been working harder on her game than Momo-chan, but accidents and health issues have prevented her from building on her wins on the JLPGA last season and just a few weeks ago. I can't wait to see her start playing to her potential in the States." Well, she only played 3 times on the LPGA since then, but finished T2, T11, and T9. Combined with her #7 ranking on the JLPGA this season, where she got her 8th career win, she was outdone by only Ji-Yai Shin, Ai Miyazato, and Anna Nordqvist among the LPGA's dual members in the Young Guns and New Blood generations.
5. Amy Yang. Well, she didn't have the breakout sophomore campaign that I expected, but she put up some very impressive numbers in 2009, and not just on the LPGA. Even without any more wins on the LET this season to follow up on her pair last one, she still finished #30 on their money list in only 4 starts. Like Ueda, if she keeps making steady improvements next season, 2010 could be a very big year for her.
Quantum Leap Candidates
6. Shanshan Feng. She had a terrible 2009 by the standards she set in the 2nd half of 2008, but as she finished in the top 80 on the money list, she'll give herself every opportunity to return to that form in 2010.
7. Sandra Gal. Made a large number of birdies in 2009 despite hitting very few greens by the standards of the LPGA's elite. If she can improve her driving accuracy and her iron play, she'll be one of them in 2010.
8. Eunjung Yi. Hound Dog is right to call her win at the Farr a fluke, but even though she missed 3 cuts in her next 4 starts, she's riding a 7-event made-cut streak into 2010. Let's see what kind of season she has.
9. Louise Friberg. Gotta give her credit--as bad as she played on the LPGA in 2009, she never pulled the plug and retreated to the LET. Her rookie win puts her at #96 on the LPGA priority status list, so she'll get as many chances to play her way out of this slump as she wants. I hope she realizes that most everyone goes through valleys like these and is heartened by the fact that Ai Miyazato, Brittany Lang, and Inbee Park have fought their way through theirs.
On the Bottom, Looking Up
10. Anna Grzebien. Call it the Stephanie Wei effect: although she didn't have as dramatic a turnaround as her buddy and Junior Mint Paige Mackenzie did at the end of 2009, she did elevate her game a notch after being featured on Steph's blog. Let's see if she can keep improving in 2010.
11. Taylor Leon. She did much more than start "making cuts to build some momentum for Q-School," as I counseled in early September; she finished 6th in NW Arkansas and T20 in Houston to move to #83 on the 2009 money list and #107 on the 2010 priority status list--and avoid Q-School entirely. If she can improve her ballstriking just a bit, she'll be giving herself more birdie chances next season. If not, she'll likely be passed by many in her class who are right on her tail.
12. Jimin Jeong. Thanks to a top 10 and a top 20, she made the jump from the Futures Tour mid-season, but played badly the rest of the way in 2009. At #137 on the priority status list in 2010, she'll be playing a full schedule, so we'll get a better sense of what she's capable of.
13. Sarah Kemp. Another player who jumped ship from the Futures Tour after getting a pair of mid-season top 20s on the LPGA, she, too, had her problems the rest of the way. But at #131 on the priority status list in 2010, well, you know the deal. She's already won twice on the ALPG this month, by the way, and leads their current money list.
14. Anna Rawson. In 18 LPGA starts, she finished #95 on the 2009 money list, which puts her at #129 on the 2010 priority status list, so she can keep trying to outdo fellow Aussie Kemp as many times as she wants to on the LPGA next season.
15. Anja Monke. Even though she stopped playing on the LPGA after the Canadian Women's Open, she hung on to #123 on the 2009 money list, which gives her the chance to get into some 2010 events from her position at #161 on the priority status list. However, as she finished 36th on the LET money list in only 8 starts, she may decide to make the LPGA her "other" tour next season.
16. Ashleigh Simon. She outdid Monke by a few spots on the LPGA's 2009 money list (#118) and 2010 priority list (#156), so it'll be interested to see how she puts together her schedule next season (I'm not sure what kind of status finishing #116 on the LET's money list in 3 events this season gives her for next one).
17. Liz Janangelo. She ended up #18 on the 2009 Futures Tour money list, but got her LPGA card back, anyway, with a T16 at LPGA Q-School.
18. Leah Wigger. Finished T9 at LPGA Q-School, moving her up to #122 on the 2010 priority status list. Let's see if she can avoid Q-School by the time next December rolls around.
19. Nicole Hage. Another surprise at LPGA Q-School, she also finished T9.
On the Outside, Looking In
20. Carolina Llano. Fell off the cliff in 2009. Can she climb back up it in 2010 (presumably on the Futures Tour)?
21. Sofie Andersson. At #20 on the Futures Tour money list, she played well above my expectations. But a MC at LPGA Q-School ended her quest to regain her LPGA card. It's back to the FT in 2010 for her.
22. Hannah Jun. The medalist at the FT's Q-School in 2008 finished at #28 on their money list in 2009. After missing the cut in LPGA Q-School, she'll have a chance to improve on her FT record in 2010.
23. Emma Cabrera-Bello. At #25 on the LET's money list, she's had an up-and-down 2009. But a T44 at the LPGA's Q-School ended it on a down note. Let's see how she bounces back on the LET in 2010.
24. Onnarin Sattayabanphot. Didn't play well at all during the last stage of JLPGA's Q-School, but she'll have partial status there in 2010.
Question Marks
25. Sarah Oh. She won on the ALPG last season, but hasn't yet played there this season, as far as I can tell.
26. Hwanhee Lee. #71 on the 2009 FT money list; did not enter FT Q-School. Associated with Play Golf Designs in some capacity.
27. Violeta Retamoza. #94 on the '09 FT money list; did not enter FT Q-School.
28. Chris Brady. #124 on the FT money list; did not enter FT Q-School. Associated with Play Golf Designs in some capacity.
Missing in Action
29. Amie Cochran.
30. Sukjin Lee Wuesthoff.
For your reference--and mine--here are the stats on which I'm basing the final 2009 ranking.
2009 LPGA Money List (rank), stroke 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 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 and are worth comparing to Hound Dog's final 2009 total driving and total putting stats.
1. Na Yeon Choi, $1.34M (#6), 70.51 (#7), 3.77 (#2), 71.4% (#14)
2. Ya Ni Tseng, $1.29M (#7), 70.44 (#5), 3.85 (#1), 71.7% (#11)
3. Hee Young Park, $666.3K (#20), 71.94 (#35), 3.39 (#16), 66.8% (#59)
4. Momoko Ueda, $416.3K (#33), 71.68 (#28), 3.15 (#58), 66.3% (#68)
5. Eunjung Yi, $314.6K (#43), 72.66 (#73), 2.98 (#55), 67.6% (#52)
6. Amy Yang, $302.8K (#45), 71.68 (#29), 3.37 (#21), 69.4% (#31)
7. Sandra Gal, $298.8K (#46), 72.12 (#41), 3.52 (#27), 65.3% (#82)
8. Anna Grzebien $166.9K (#64), 72.47 (#58), 3.08 (#56), 65.5% (#67)
9. Shanshan Feng, $123.7K (#75), 72.60 (#69), 2.98 (#61), 68.3% (#43)
10. Taylor Leon, $114.0K (#83), 72.78 (#81), 3.00 (#109), 63.1% (#100)
11. Anna Rawson, $86.1K (#95), 73.00 (#94), 2.67 (#102), 66.7% (#61)
12. Sarah Kemp, $85.5K (#96), 72.25 (#46), 3.29 (#75), 63.2% (#98)
13. Jimin Jeong, $81.6K (#99), 72.88 (#86), 3.08 (#84), 62.0% (#111)
14. Ashleigh Simon, $39.8K (#118), 73.18 (#101), 2.91 (#104), 61.4% (#120)
15. Anja Monke, $36.3K (#123), 73.10 (#97), 2.40 (#127), 68.3% (#45)
16. Louise Friberg, $34.1K (#126), 74.63 (#139), 2.40 (#114), 59.6% (#135)
17. Leah Wigger, $24.4K (#130), 74.05 (#128), 2.30 (#128), 63.3% (#97)
18. Carolina Llano, $23.3K (#132), 74.39 (#135), 2.24 (#128), 57.3% (#143)
Career LPGA Money List (rank), # of LPGA events entered/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 Super Sophs haven'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 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--although Thomas Atkins has posted an inflation-adjusted LPGA Career Top 50 as of the end of the 2008 season and a Top 50 ranking over at Hound Dog's place (and recently updated it to a Greatest 100 LPGA Players ranking). In any case, 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 grinding out top 20s and top 10s to contending for wins. So here's how they stand midway through the 2009 season. Many thanks to the LPGA for updating their 2009 Performance Chart after every event! [Note: *=non-member win.]
1. Ya Ni Tseng, $3.05M (#58), 54/1/2/12/24/38/0/0/2/52 (.963)
2. Na Yeon Choi, $2.44M (#79), 53/0/2/8/20/35/0/0/0/53 (1.000)
3. Hee Young Park, $1.14M (#160), 53/0/0/2/10/17/0/0/12/41 (.774)
4. Momoko Ueda, $829.7K (#211), 37/0/1*/1/5/12/0/0/6/31 (.838)
5. Shanshan Feng, $596.5K (#247), 48/0/0/1/5/7/1/0/20/27 (.563)
6. Sandra Gal, $479.9K (#277), 45/0/0/0/2/12/2/0/9/34 (.756)
7. Louise Friberg, $429.1K (#286), 45/0/1/1/3/4/0/0/26/19 (.422)
8. Eunjung Yi, $409.8K (#290), 35/0/1/1/1/2/1/0/12/22 (.629)
9. Amy Yang, $363.6K (#301), 30/0/0/1/3/8/0/0/6/24 (.800)
10. Anna Grzebien, $206.0K (#387), 35/0/0/0/0/5/0/0/16/19 (.543)
11. Taylor Leon, $199.6K (#389), 32/0/0/0/3/6/0/0/18/14 (.438)
12. Jimin Jeong, $163.5K (#414), 30/0/0/0/2/3/0/0/12/18 (.600)
13. Sarah Kemp, $158.9K (#419), 36/0/0/0/0/4/0/1/16/19 (.528)
14. Anna Rawson, $148.9K (#426), 31/0/0/0/1/4/0/0/18/13 (.419)
15. Carolina Llano, $111.3K (#460), 40/0/0/0/1/1/0/0/25/15 (.375)
16. Anja Monke, $72.3K (#505), 19/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/9/10 (.526)
17. Ashleigh Simon, $64.2K (#523), 29/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/17/12 (.414)
18. Leah Wigger, $38.5K (#573), 23/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/16/7 (.304)
19. Liz Janangelo, $34.0K (#577), 22/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/13/9 (.409)
20. Hannah Jun, $32.0K (#582), 9/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/4/5 (.556)
21. Amie Cochran, $17.2K (#622), 5/0/0/0/0/1/0/0/4/1 (.200)
22. Onnarin Sattayabanphot, $8.6K (#670), 8/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/6/2 (.250)
23. Nicole Hage, $8.4K (#671), 8/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/6/2 (.250)
24. Chris Brady, $6.1K (#689), 4/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/2/2 (.500)
25. Violeta Retamoza, $2.5K (#721), 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 12/28/09) and rank, Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index (as of 12/26/09) and rank; International and Non-Member LPGA Wins (as of the end of the 2009 season): This is a way of seeing how those Super Sophs 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, 7.13 (#5), 69.52 (#7); 0
2. Na Yeon Choi, 6.01 (#12), 69.34 (#3); 4
3. Momoko Ueda, 3.56 (#27), 70.80 (#24); 8
4. Hee Young Park, 2.99 (#36), 71.56 (#46); 4
5. Amy Yang, 2.17 (#52), 71.24 (#36); 3
6. Eunjung Yi, 2.06 (#55), 72.73 (#110); 0
7. Sandra Gal, 1.58 (#73); 71.75 (#51); 0
8. Shanshan Feng, 1.20 (#93), 72.78 (#112); 0
9. Anna Grzebien, .96 (#112), 72.21 (#72); 0
10. Taylor Leon, .73 (#139), 73.63 (#163); 0
11. Jimin Jeong, .62 (#159), 73.44 (#145); 0
12. Anja Monke, .61 (#161), 73.60 (#160); 2
13. Anna Rawson, .61 (#162), 73.62 (#162); 0
14. Louise Friberg, .59 (#173), 75.30 (#294); 0
15. Sarah Kemp, .59 (#174), 72.97 (#124); 0
16. Ashleigh Simon, .29 (#248), 73.79 (#180); 1
17. Emma Cabrera-Bello, .23 (#284), 74.73 (#248); 0
18. Carolina Llano, .13 (#356), 75.02 (#270); 0
19. Sarah Oh, .12 (#364), 72.15 (n.r. [too few events]); 0
20. Leah Wigger, .12 (#367), 74.99 (#266); 0
21. Liz Janangelo, .05 (#478), 74.18 (#209); 0
22. Nicole Hage, .03 (#558), 76.53 (#382); 0
23. Hannah Jun, .02 (#574), 74.50 (#233); 0
24. Sofie Andersson, .01 (#608), 75.27 (#292); 0
25. Onnarin Sattayabanphot, .01 (#640), 74.86 (#258); 0
26. Amie Cochran, .01 (#662), n.r.; 0
27. Hwanhee Lee, n.r., 76.19 (#363); 0
28. Violeta Retamoza, n.r., 77.18 (#411); 0
29. Chris Brady, n.r., 78.07 (#456); 0
30. Sukjin Lee Wuesthoff, n.r., n.r.; 0
***
Next up: I rank the LPGA's current rookie class!
Simply the Best
1. Ya Ni Tseng. It's simply amazing that she closed out the season with 8-straight top 25s and 5-straight top 10s yet lost ground to her top pursuer in her class! The difference was on the greens.
2. Na Yeon Choi. Last time, I wrote, "She still has not missed an LPGA cut in her career and she's been improving in her key performance stats. But she still lost ground to Tseng in 2 key categories--wins and winnings. If she's going to join the Million Dollar Club for the 2nd time in as many seasons, it's time for her to reverse that last trend." Since then, she's won twice and is riding a 7-event top-20 run into 2010. Not half bad!
The Contenders
3. Hee Young Park. Just as I predicted, she broke the $1M barrier in career winnings in 2009. If she shows as much improvement in 2010 as she did this season, look for her to break the $2M barrier next one.
4. Momoko Ueda. Last time, I wrote, "I can't imagine anyone on tour who's been working harder on her game than Momo-chan, but accidents and health issues have prevented her from building on her wins on the JLPGA last season and just a few weeks ago. I can't wait to see her start playing to her potential in the States." Well, she only played 3 times on the LPGA since then, but finished T2, T11, and T9. Combined with her #7 ranking on the JLPGA this season, where she got her 8th career win, she was outdone by only Ji-Yai Shin, Ai Miyazato, and Anna Nordqvist among the LPGA's dual members in the Young Guns and New Blood generations.
5. Amy Yang. Well, she didn't have the breakout sophomore campaign that I expected, but she put up some very impressive numbers in 2009, and not just on the LPGA. Even without any more wins on the LET this season to follow up on her pair last one, she still finished #30 on their money list in only 4 starts. Like Ueda, if she keeps making steady improvements next season, 2010 could be a very big year for her.
Quantum Leap Candidates
6. Shanshan Feng. She had a terrible 2009 by the standards she set in the 2nd half of 2008, but as she finished in the top 80 on the money list, she'll give herself every opportunity to return to that form in 2010.
7. Sandra Gal. Made a large number of birdies in 2009 despite hitting very few greens by the standards of the LPGA's elite. If she can improve her driving accuracy and her iron play, she'll be one of them in 2010.
8. Eunjung Yi. Hound Dog is right to call her win at the Farr a fluke, but even though she missed 3 cuts in her next 4 starts, she's riding a 7-event made-cut streak into 2010. Let's see what kind of season she has.
9. Louise Friberg. Gotta give her credit--as bad as she played on the LPGA in 2009, she never pulled the plug and retreated to the LET. Her rookie win puts her at #96 on the LPGA priority status list, so she'll get as many chances to play her way out of this slump as she wants. I hope she realizes that most everyone goes through valleys like these and is heartened by the fact that Ai Miyazato, Brittany Lang, and Inbee Park have fought their way through theirs.
On the Bottom, Looking Up
10. Anna Grzebien. Call it the Stephanie Wei effect: although she didn't have as dramatic a turnaround as her buddy and Junior Mint Paige Mackenzie did at the end of 2009, she did elevate her game a notch after being featured on Steph's blog. Let's see if she can keep improving in 2010.
11. Taylor Leon. She did much more than start "making cuts to build some momentum for Q-School," as I counseled in early September; she finished 6th in NW Arkansas and T20 in Houston to move to #83 on the 2009 money list and #107 on the 2010 priority status list--and avoid Q-School entirely. If she can improve her ballstriking just a bit, she'll be giving herself more birdie chances next season. If not, she'll likely be passed by many in her class who are right on her tail.
12. Jimin Jeong. Thanks to a top 10 and a top 20, she made the jump from the Futures Tour mid-season, but played badly the rest of the way in 2009. At #137 on the priority status list in 2010, she'll be playing a full schedule, so we'll get a better sense of what she's capable of.
13. Sarah Kemp. Another player who jumped ship from the Futures Tour after getting a pair of mid-season top 20s on the LPGA, she, too, had her problems the rest of the way. But at #131 on the priority status list in 2010, well, you know the deal. She's already won twice on the ALPG this month, by the way, and leads their current money list.
14. Anna Rawson. In 18 LPGA starts, she finished #95 on the 2009 money list, which puts her at #129 on the 2010 priority status list, so she can keep trying to outdo fellow Aussie Kemp as many times as she wants to on the LPGA next season.
15. Anja Monke. Even though she stopped playing on the LPGA after the Canadian Women's Open, she hung on to #123 on the 2009 money list, which gives her the chance to get into some 2010 events from her position at #161 on the priority status list. However, as she finished 36th on the LET money list in only 8 starts, she may decide to make the LPGA her "other" tour next season.
16. Ashleigh Simon. She outdid Monke by a few spots on the LPGA's 2009 money list (#118) and 2010 priority list (#156), so it'll be interested to see how she puts together her schedule next season (I'm not sure what kind of status finishing #116 on the LET's money list in 3 events this season gives her for next one).
17. Liz Janangelo. She ended up #18 on the 2009 Futures Tour money list, but got her LPGA card back, anyway, with a T16 at LPGA Q-School.
18. Leah Wigger. Finished T9 at LPGA Q-School, moving her up to #122 on the 2010 priority status list. Let's see if she can avoid Q-School by the time next December rolls around.
19. Nicole Hage. Another surprise at LPGA Q-School, she also finished T9.
On the Outside, Looking In
20. Carolina Llano. Fell off the cliff in 2009. Can she climb back up it in 2010 (presumably on the Futures Tour)?
21. Sofie Andersson. At #20 on the Futures Tour money list, she played well above my expectations. But a MC at LPGA Q-School ended her quest to regain her LPGA card. It's back to the FT in 2010 for her.
22. Hannah Jun. The medalist at the FT's Q-School in 2008 finished at #28 on their money list in 2009. After missing the cut in LPGA Q-School, she'll have a chance to improve on her FT record in 2010.
23. Emma Cabrera-Bello. At #25 on the LET's money list, she's had an up-and-down 2009. But a T44 at the LPGA's Q-School ended it on a down note. Let's see how she bounces back on the LET in 2010.
24. Onnarin Sattayabanphot. Didn't play well at all during the last stage of JLPGA's Q-School, but she'll have partial status there in 2010.
Question Marks
25. Sarah Oh. She won on the ALPG last season, but hasn't yet played there this season, as far as I can tell.
26. Hwanhee Lee. #71 on the 2009 FT money list; did not enter FT Q-School. Associated with Play Golf Designs in some capacity.
27. Violeta Retamoza. #94 on the '09 FT money list; did not enter FT Q-School.
28. Chris Brady. #124 on the FT money list; did not enter FT Q-School. Associated with Play Golf Designs in some capacity.
Missing in Action
29. Amie Cochran.
30. Sukjin Lee Wuesthoff.
For your reference--and mine--here are the stats on which I'm basing the final 2009 ranking.
2009 LPGA Money List (rank), stroke 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 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 and are worth comparing to Hound Dog's final 2009 total driving and total putting stats.
1. Na Yeon Choi, $1.34M (#6), 70.51 (#7), 3.77 (#2), 71.4% (#14)
2. Ya Ni Tseng, $1.29M (#7), 70.44 (#5), 3.85 (#1), 71.7% (#11)
3. Hee Young Park, $666.3K (#20), 71.94 (#35), 3.39 (#16), 66.8% (#59)
4. Momoko Ueda, $416.3K (#33), 71.68 (#28), 3.15 (#58), 66.3% (#68)
5. Eunjung Yi, $314.6K (#43), 72.66 (#73), 2.98 (#55), 67.6% (#52)
6. Amy Yang, $302.8K (#45), 71.68 (#29), 3.37 (#21), 69.4% (#31)
7. Sandra Gal, $298.8K (#46), 72.12 (#41), 3.52 (#27), 65.3% (#82)
8. Anna Grzebien $166.9K (#64), 72.47 (#58), 3.08 (#56), 65.5% (#67)
9. Shanshan Feng, $123.7K (#75), 72.60 (#69), 2.98 (#61), 68.3% (#43)
10. Taylor Leon, $114.0K (#83), 72.78 (#81), 3.00 (#109), 63.1% (#100)
11. Anna Rawson, $86.1K (#95), 73.00 (#94), 2.67 (#102), 66.7% (#61)
12. Sarah Kemp, $85.5K (#96), 72.25 (#46), 3.29 (#75), 63.2% (#98)
13. Jimin Jeong, $81.6K (#99), 72.88 (#86), 3.08 (#84), 62.0% (#111)
14. Ashleigh Simon, $39.8K (#118), 73.18 (#101), 2.91 (#104), 61.4% (#120)
15. Anja Monke, $36.3K (#123), 73.10 (#97), 2.40 (#127), 68.3% (#45)
16. Louise Friberg, $34.1K (#126), 74.63 (#139), 2.40 (#114), 59.6% (#135)
17. Leah Wigger, $24.4K (#130), 74.05 (#128), 2.30 (#128), 63.3% (#97)
18. Carolina Llano, $23.3K (#132), 74.39 (#135), 2.24 (#128), 57.3% (#143)
Career LPGA Money List (rank), # of LPGA events entered/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 Super Sophs haven'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 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--although Thomas Atkins has posted an inflation-adjusted LPGA Career Top 50 as of the end of the 2008 season and a Top 50 ranking over at Hound Dog's place (and recently updated it to a Greatest 100 LPGA Players ranking). In any case, 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 grinding out top 20s and top 10s to contending for wins. So here's how they stand midway through the 2009 season. Many thanks to the LPGA for updating their 2009 Performance Chart after every event! [Note: *=non-member win.]
1. Ya Ni Tseng, $3.05M (#58), 54/1/2/12/24/38/0/0/2/52 (.963)
2. Na Yeon Choi, $2.44M (#79), 53/0/2/8/20/35/0/0/0/53 (1.000)
3. Hee Young Park, $1.14M (#160), 53/0/0/2/10/17/0/0/12/41 (.774)
4. Momoko Ueda, $829.7K (#211), 37/0/1*/1/5/12/0/0/6/31 (.838)
5. Shanshan Feng, $596.5K (#247), 48/0/0/1/5/7/1/0/20/27 (.563)
6. Sandra Gal, $479.9K (#277), 45/0/0/0/2/12/2/0/9/34 (.756)
7. Louise Friberg, $429.1K (#286), 45/0/1/1/3/4/0/0/26/19 (.422)
8. Eunjung Yi, $409.8K (#290), 35/0/1/1/1/2/1/0/12/22 (.629)
9. Amy Yang, $363.6K (#301), 30/0/0/1/3/8/0/0/6/24 (.800)
10. Anna Grzebien, $206.0K (#387), 35/0/0/0/0/5/0/0/16/19 (.543)
11. Taylor Leon, $199.6K (#389), 32/0/0/0/3/6/0/0/18/14 (.438)
12. Jimin Jeong, $163.5K (#414), 30/0/0/0/2/3/0/0/12/18 (.600)
13. Sarah Kemp, $158.9K (#419), 36/0/0/0/0/4/0/1/16/19 (.528)
14. Anna Rawson, $148.9K (#426), 31/0/0/0/1/4/0/0/18/13 (.419)
15. Carolina Llano, $111.3K (#460), 40/0/0/0/1/1/0/0/25/15 (.375)
16. Anja Monke, $72.3K (#505), 19/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/9/10 (.526)
17. Ashleigh Simon, $64.2K (#523), 29/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/17/12 (.414)
18. Leah Wigger, $38.5K (#573), 23/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/16/7 (.304)
19. Liz Janangelo, $34.0K (#577), 22/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/13/9 (.409)
20. Hannah Jun, $32.0K (#582), 9/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/4/5 (.556)
21. Amie Cochran, $17.2K (#622), 5/0/0/0/0/1/0/0/4/1 (.200)
22. Onnarin Sattayabanphot, $8.6K (#670), 8/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/6/2 (.250)
23. Nicole Hage, $8.4K (#671), 8/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/6/2 (.250)
24. Chris Brady, $6.1K (#689), 4/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/2/2 (.500)
25. Violeta Retamoza, $2.5K (#721), 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 12/28/09) and rank, Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index (as of 12/26/09) and rank; International and Non-Member LPGA Wins (as of the end of the 2009 season): This is a way of seeing how those Super Sophs 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, 7.13 (#5), 69.52 (#7); 0
2. Na Yeon Choi, 6.01 (#12), 69.34 (#3); 4
3. Momoko Ueda, 3.56 (#27), 70.80 (#24); 8
4. Hee Young Park, 2.99 (#36), 71.56 (#46); 4
5. Amy Yang, 2.17 (#52), 71.24 (#36); 3
6. Eunjung Yi, 2.06 (#55), 72.73 (#110); 0
7. Sandra Gal, 1.58 (#73); 71.75 (#51); 0
8. Shanshan Feng, 1.20 (#93), 72.78 (#112); 0
9. Anna Grzebien, .96 (#112), 72.21 (#72); 0
10. Taylor Leon, .73 (#139), 73.63 (#163); 0
11. Jimin Jeong, .62 (#159), 73.44 (#145); 0
12. Anja Monke, .61 (#161), 73.60 (#160); 2
13. Anna Rawson, .61 (#162), 73.62 (#162); 0
14. Louise Friberg, .59 (#173), 75.30 (#294); 0
15. Sarah Kemp, .59 (#174), 72.97 (#124); 0
16. Ashleigh Simon, .29 (#248), 73.79 (#180); 1
17. Emma Cabrera-Bello, .23 (#284), 74.73 (#248); 0
18. Carolina Llano, .13 (#356), 75.02 (#270); 0
19. Sarah Oh, .12 (#364), 72.15 (n.r. [too few events]); 0
20. Leah Wigger, .12 (#367), 74.99 (#266); 0
21. Liz Janangelo, .05 (#478), 74.18 (#209); 0
22. Nicole Hage, .03 (#558), 76.53 (#382); 0
23. Hannah Jun, .02 (#574), 74.50 (#233); 0
24. Sofie Andersson, .01 (#608), 75.27 (#292); 0
25. Onnarin Sattayabanphot, .01 (#640), 74.86 (#258); 0
26. Amie Cochran, .01 (#662), n.r.; 0
27. Hwanhee Lee, n.r., 76.19 (#363); 0
28. Violeta Retamoza, n.r., 77.18 (#411); 0
29. Chris Brady, n.r., 78.07 (#456); 0
30. Sukjin Lee Wuesthoff, n.r., n.r.; 0
***
Next up: I rank the LPGA's current rookie class!
Monday, December 28, 2009
The Best of the Young Guns: Junior Mints, Final 2009 Edition
The race to be the best of the LPGA rookie class of 2006 is heating up, as Morgan Pressel and Ai Miyazato leapfrogged Jee Young Lee and made up ground on #1 Seon Hwa Lee this season, but it's nothing compared to the sparks generated by the best of the '07ers! So how do they stand at the end of 2009? And what's been happening to the rest of the Junior Mints?
Simply the Best
1. Eun-Hee Ji: When I'm wrong, I'm wrong. Last time, I wrote that "The 2nd U.S. Women's Open champion among the Junior Mints has had an on-again off-again season, but I doubt she'll suffer the same kind of Open hangover from which Inbee Park has only recently recovered." Well, Hound Dog is absolutely right that she was in the throes of the Open jinx over the 2nd half of the season. By season's end, she didn't even crack the top 40 in any of his key performance stats, so the fact that she still broke the $2M barrier in career winnings and almost won $1M in 2009 is amazing. Given how many fewer LPGA events she's played as a member than most others in her class, though, she holds onto the #1 spot for another ranking.
2. In-Kyung Kim: But my favorite player among the Junior Mints is coming on strong. Even though she, too, struggled by her standards after getting her 2nd career LPGA victory (at the State Farm Classic)--missing 4 cuts in her last 15 events and dropping out of the Player of the Year race in the process--she still played great in the other 11, with her worst other finish being a T24 to go with 5 top 10s and 10 top 20s in that run. She capped it off with a convincing win in Dubai over a charging Michelle Wie. So her prospects for 2010 are fantastic, especially if she can improve her driving distance and accuracy just a little bit.
3. Song-Hee Kim: With Brittany Lang, she's a top contender for best on the LPGA without a win. Even without 1, she broke the $1M barrier in 2009 and learned what it feels like to be in the thick of things in her 3rd season on tour, following a celebrated start to her career on the Futures Tour. Like Lang, she's long and straight off the tee, but unlike Lang, she's a great putter. So it stands to reason that if she can improve her iron play in the offseason, that 1st win won't be too far away.
4. Angela Park: The '07 Rookie of the Year started 2009 off with a bang: 2 bronzes and another top 10 in her 1st 4 starts. But come April, she dropped off a cliff, prompting rumors that she was planning to end her professional golfing career. Whatever she's been wrestling with since then is bigger than golf. I wish her the best in 2010, on and off the course.
The Contenders
5. Inbee Park: Just after I proclaimed her post-Open slump to be over, she missed 3 cuts in her next 4 starts. But she ended the season with a T7 in Korea and a T5 in Japan. If she can get her driver straightened out and start hitting more greens, she can take real advantage of being one of the best putters on the LPGA in 2010.
6. Ji Young Oh: She got her 2nd career win at the Sybase and broke the $500K barrier in winnings, despite the fact that she averaged less than 3 birdies per round. If she improves her iron play and putting in 2010, watch out for her! The only thing keeping her behind Inbee Park right now is the size of the Open purse.
7. Kristy McPherson: Another leading candidate for best on tour without a win, she's a great ballstriker. If she ever really gets her putter going in 2010, she could become a superstar.
8. Jane Park: After a great start to the season, her back gave out, and except for some bright spots on the European Swing, the rest of 2009 was a big disappointment. Even caddying for Tiffany Joh at LPGA Q-School backfired; not only did she get waterlogged, but her good friend didn't play well at all and has to settle for the Futures Tour next season. Here's hoping that both players make a big comeback in 2010 and are Solheim Cup teammates in 2011!
Quantum Leap Candidates
9. Na On Min: Turns out I was right that she was dealing with injury issues in the spring--after shutting down her season at the end of May, she finds herself back in Category 1 for 2010, on a medical exemption.
10. Jin Joo Hong: After finishing 103rd on the 2009 money list, she finds herself at #148 on the priority status list for 2010. At least she started making cuts and finishing events again in the fall. Here's hoping that means that she's put whatever injury issues that were the likely cause of her bad play this season behind her. And that she can put together a full schedule next season.
11. Irene Cho: A T68 at the LPGA Tour Championship was just good enough to secure her the last spot in Category 1 for 2010, so she'll get plenty of opportunities to improve her approach shots and give herself more birdie chances--something she'll need to do if she wants to move up this list.
On the Bottom Looking Up
12. Paige Mackenzie: After getting her 1st career top 10 at the Safeway Classic, she made another 5 cuts in a row and ended up with quality ballstriking stats and a very good birdie rate (3.42). Let's see if she can build on her Category 1 status in 2010. 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 know how good she could get?
On the Outside Looking In
13. Charlotte Mayorkas: Ouch! Her game absolutely deserted her in 2009 and she couldn't find the magic in this year's Q-School like she did at the end of 2008. So it's looking like the Futures Tour is in her future in 2010.
14. Sophie Giquel: Playing a split schedule in 2009, she made 2 of 12 cuts on the LPGA but finished #56 on the LET money list in only 7 starts. Guess where she'll be playing in 2010.
15. Seo-Jae Lee: She had a chance to win her LPGA card back via a top 10 finish on the Futures Tour money list, but she ended up at #14 and chose not to punch her ticket to LPGA Q-School. Wondering if she's headed for the KLPGA?
16. Su A Kim: After ending up #62 on the 2009 FT money list, I'm wondering if she's also KLPGA-bound in 2010.
17. Becky Lucidi: After making only 1 LPGA cut in 2009, it's unclear what her future holds in 2010.
18. Jeanne Cho-Hunicke: Ditto.
19. Sarah Lynn Sargent: Ended up #68 on the 2009 FT money list, but will she be back in 2010?
20. Cindy Pasechnik: Going for her MBA at the University of Calgary.
For your reference--and mine--here are the stats on which I'm basing the final 2009 ranking.
2009 LPGA Money List (rank), stroke 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 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 and are worth comparing to Hound Dog's final 2009 total driving and total putting stats.
1. In-Kyung Kim, $1.24M (#8), 71.00 (#13), 3.92 (#4), 72.2% (#7)
2. Song-Hee Kim, $1.03M (#11), 70.52 (#8), 3.80 (#7), 69.6% (#28)
2. Eun-Hee Ji, $937.3K (#13), 71.94 (#35), 3.18 (#24), 67.4% (#54)
4. Kristy McPherson, $816.2K (#16), 71.25 (#17), 3.27 (#16), 71.3% (#16)
5. Ji Young Oh, $558.3K (#24), 71.90 (#34), 2.96 (#31), 68.1% (#48)
6. Inbee Park, $271.3K (#50), 72.55 (#67), 3.16 (#35), 58.8% (#138)
7. Angela Park, $253.4K (#53), 73.71 (#117), 2.78 (#108), 60.4% (#128)
8. Jane Park, $194.9K (#60), 72.82 (#84), 2.81 (#80), 62.5% (#107)
9. Paige Mackenzie, $140.7K (#69), 72.23 (#45), 3.42 (#78), 70.6% (#19)
10. Irene Cho, $118.3K (#80), 72.78 (#80), 3.27 (#63), 67.0% (#56)
11. Jin Joo Hong, $69.4K (#103), 73.21 (#102), 2.67 (#104), 63.2% (#99)
12. Na On Min, $41.7K (#116), 73.29 (n.r.), 3.24 (n.r.), 59.1% (n.r.)
13. Becky Lucidi, $17.9K (#136), 74.50 (#138), 2.75 (#137), 61.6% (#117)
14. Charlotte Mayorkas, $13.8K (#144), 74.35 (#134), 2.59 (#130), 58.4% (#139)
15. Sophie Giquel, $9.0K (#148), 74.78 (#142), 2.22 (#144), 61.6% (#116)
16. Jeanne Cho-Hunicke, $2.6K (#159), 75.21 (#146), 2.18 (#138), 53.5% (#146)
Career LPGA Money List (rank), # of LPGA events entered/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 Junior Mints haven'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 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--although Thomas Atkins has posted an inflation-adjusted LPGA Career Top 50 as of the end of the 2008 season and a Top 50 ranking over at Hound Dog's place (and recently updated it to a Greatest 100 LPGA Players ranking). In any case, I include these other ways of seeing how the Junior Mints 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. So here's how they stand midway through the 2009 season. Many thanks to the LPGA for updating their 2009 Performance Chart after every event!
1. In-Kyung Kim, $2.47M (#76), 77/0/2/7/22/34/0/0/13/64 (.831)
2. Angela Park, $2.11M (#92), 73/0/0/8/18/25/3/0/11/59 (.808)
3. Eun-Hee Ji, $2.10M (#93), 56/1/2/5/15/22/0/3/7/46 (.821)
4. Song-Hee Kim, $2.09M (#94), 69/0/0/5/19/31/0/0/15/54 (.783)
5. Inbee Park, $1.79M (#110), 76/1/1/3/11/19/1/1/19/55 (.724)
6. Ji Young Oh, $1.39M (#132), 76/0/2/2/8/17/0/0/21/55 (.724)
7. Kristy McPherson, $1.30M (#139), 68/0/0/3/12/21/0/0/17/51 (.750)
8. Jane Park, $.89M (#202), 57/0/0/3/6/11/4/0/10/43 (.754)
9. Jin Joo Hong, $.58M (#252), 60/0/0/0/2/7/6/0/17/37 (.617)
10. Na On Min, $.50M (#272), 52/0/0/1/2/6/0/0/20/32 (.615)
11. Irene Cho, $.36M (#307), 61/0/0/0/2/4/3/0/23/35 (.574)
12. Charlotte Mayorkas, $.28M (#345), 56/0/0/0/0/4/1/0/22/33 (.589)
13. Paige Mackenzie, $.27M (#350), 52/0/0/0/1/2/0/0/25/27 (.519)
14. Sophie Giquel, $.12M (#453), 39/0/0/0/0/0/1/0/21/17 (.436)
15. Becky Lucidi $.10M (#469), 35/0/0/0/0/2/0/1/25/9 (.257)
16. Su A Kim, $.07M (#508), 26/0/0/0/0/0/1/0/13/12 (.462)
17. Seo-Jae Lee, $.07M (#512), 25/0/0/0/0/0/2/0/13/10 (.400)
18. Sarah Lynn Sargent, $.05M (#547), 26/0/0/0/0/0/14/12 (.462)
19. Jeanne Cho-Hunicke, $.02M (#599), 34/0/0/0/0/1/0/0/29/4 (.118)
20. Cindy Pasechnik, $.02M (#620), 19/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/14/5 (.263)
Other Career Measures: Rolex Ranking (as of 12/21/09) and rank, Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index (as of 12/20/09) and rank; International and Non-Member LPGA Wins (as of the end of the 2009 season): This is a way of seeing how those Junior Mints 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, 6.11 (#11), 70.30 (#15); 1
2. Song-Hee Kim, 4.88 (#14), 69.75 (#11); 0
3. Eun-Hee Ji, 4.01 (#19), 71.23 (#35); 4
4. Kristy McPherson, 3.93 (#21), 70.37 (#18); 0
5. Ji Young Oh, 2.61 (#41), 71.63 (#47); 0
6. Inbee Park, 2.60 (#42), 72.24 (#74); 0
7. Angela Park, 2.12 (#54), 73.66 (#165); 0
8. Jane Park, 1.47 (#78), 72.04 (#62); 0
9. Paige Mackenzie, .96 (#115), 72.47 (#88); 0
10. Irene Cho, .92 (#119), 72.68 (#106); 0
11. Jin Joo Hong, .83 (#125), 73.02 (#127); 2
12. Na On Min, .43 (#204), 73.23 (n.r. [too few events]); 0
13. Sophie Giquel, .26 (#268), 74.99 (#267); 1
14. Becky Lucidi, .24 (#280), 75.77 (#330); 0
15. Charlotte Mayorkas, .23 (#284), 75.34 (#297); 0
16. Seo-Jae Lee, .08 (#411), 73.63 (#164); 0
17. Su A Kim, .07 (#421), ? (n.r.); 0
18. Sarah Lynn Sargent, .01 (#686), 75.92 (#338); 0
19. Cindy Pasechnik, .00 (#695), ? (n.r.); 0
20. Jeanne Cho-Hunicke, ? (n.r.), 76.18 (#361); 0
***
Next up: the Super Sophs!
[Update 1 (1/14/10, 1:08 pm): BC Card has announced who they're sponsoring in 2010 and among them is none other than Jin Joo Hong, according to Happy Fan at Seoul Sisters.com. Looks like she'll be spending most of the season on the KLPGA.]
Simply the Best
1. Eun-Hee Ji: When I'm wrong, I'm wrong. Last time, I wrote that "The 2nd U.S. Women's Open champion among the Junior Mints has had an on-again off-again season, but I doubt she'll suffer the same kind of Open hangover from which Inbee Park has only recently recovered." Well, Hound Dog is absolutely right that she was in the throes of the Open jinx over the 2nd half of the season. By season's end, she didn't even crack the top 40 in any of his key performance stats, so the fact that she still broke the $2M barrier in career winnings and almost won $1M in 2009 is amazing. Given how many fewer LPGA events she's played as a member than most others in her class, though, she holds onto the #1 spot for another ranking.
2. In-Kyung Kim: But my favorite player among the Junior Mints is coming on strong. Even though she, too, struggled by her standards after getting her 2nd career LPGA victory (at the State Farm Classic)--missing 4 cuts in her last 15 events and dropping out of the Player of the Year race in the process--she still played great in the other 11, with her worst other finish being a T24 to go with 5 top 10s and 10 top 20s in that run. She capped it off with a convincing win in Dubai over a charging Michelle Wie. So her prospects for 2010 are fantastic, especially if she can improve her driving distance and accuracy just a little bit.
3. Song-Hee Kim: With Brittany Lang, she's a top contender for best on the LPGA without a win. Even without 1, she broke the $1M barrier in 2009 and learned what it feels like to be in the thick of things in her 3rd season on tour, following a celebrated start to her career on the Futures Tour. Like Lang, she's long and straight off the tee, but unlike Lang, she's a great putter. So it stands to reason that if she can improve her iron play in the offseason, that 1st win won't be too far away.
4. Angela Park: The '07 Rookie of the Year started 2009 off with a bang: 2 bronzes and another top 10 in her 1st 4 starts. But come April, she dropped off a cliff, prompting rumors that she was planning to end her professional golfing career. Whatever she's been wrestling with since then is bigger than golf. I wish her the best in 2010, on and off the course.
The Contenders
5. Inbee Park: Just after I proclaimed her post-Open slump to be over, she missed 3 cuts in her next 4 starts. But she ended the season with a T7 in Korea and a T5 in Japan. If she can get her driver straightened out and start hitting more greens, she can take real advantage of being one of the best putters on the LPGA in 2010.
6. Ji Young Oh: She got her 2nd career win at the Sybase and broke the $500K barrier in winnings, despite the fact that she averaged less than 3 birdies per round. If she improves her iron play and putting in 2010, watch out for her! The only thing keeping her behind Inbee Park right now is the size of the Open purse.
7. Kristy McPherson: Another leading candidate for best on tour without a win, she's a great ballstriker. If she ever really gets her putter going in 2010, she could become a superstar.
8. Jane Park: After a great start to the season, her back gave out, and except for some bright spots on the European Swing, the rest of 2009 was a big disappointment. Even caddying for Tiffany Joh at LPGA Q-School backfired; not only did she get waterlogged, but her good friend didn't play well at all and has to settle for the Futures Tour next season. Here's hoping that both players make a big comeback in 2010 and are Solheim Cup teammates in 2011!
Quantum Leap Candidates
9. Na On Min: Turns out I was right that she was dealing with injury issues in the spring--after shutting down her season at the end of May, she finds herself back in Category 1 for 2010, on a medical exemption.
10. Jin Joo Hong: After finishing 103rd on the 2009 money list, she finds herself at #148 on the priority status list for 2010. At least she started making cuts and finishing events again in the fall. Here's hoping that means that she's put whatever injury issues that were the likely cause of her bad play this season behind her. And that she can put together a full schedule next season.
11. Irene Cho: A T68 at the LPGA Tour Championship was just good enough to secure her the last spot in Category 1 for 2010, so she'll get plenty of opportunities to improve her approach shots and give herself more birdie chances--something she'll need to do if she wants to move up this list.
On the Bottom Looking Up
12. Paige Mackenzie: After getting her 1st career top 10 at the Safeway Classic, she made another 5 cuts in a row and ended up with quality ballstriking stats and a very good birdie rate (3.42). Let's see if she can build on her Category 1 status in 2010. 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 know how good she could get?
On the Outside Looking In
13. Charlotte Mayorkas: Ouch! Her game absolutely deserted her in 2009 and she couldn't find the magic in this year's Q-School like she did at the end of 2008. So it's looking like the Futures Tour is in her future in 2010.
14. Sophie Giquel: Playing a split schedule in 2009, she made 2 of 12 cuts on the LPGA but finished #56 on the LET money list in only 7 starts. Guess where she'll be playing in 2010.
15. Seo-Jae Lee: She had a chance to win her LPGA card back via a top 10 finish on the Futures Tour money list, but she ended up at #14 and chose not to punch her ticket to LPGA Q-School. Wondering if she's headed for the KLPGA?
16. Su A Kim: After ending up #62 on the 2009 FT money list, I'm wondering if she's also KLPGA-bound in 2010.
17. Becky Lucidi: After making only 1 LPGA cut in 2009, it's unclear what her future holds in 2010.
18. Jeanne Cho-Hunicke: Ditto.
19. Sarah Lynn Sargent: Ended up #68 on the 2009 FT money list, but will she be back in 2010?
20. Cindy Pasechnik: Going for her MBA at the University of Calgary.
For your reference--and mine--here are the stats on which I'm basing the final 2009 ranking.
2009 LPGA Money List (rank), stroke 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 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 and are worth comparing to Hound Dog's final 2009 total driving and total putting stats.
1. In-Kyung Kim, $1.24M (#8), 71.00 (#13), 3.92 (#4), 72.2% (#7)
2. Song-Hee Kim, $1.03M (#11), 70.52 (#8), 3.80 (#7), 69.6% (#28)
2. Eun-Hee Ji, $937.3K (#13), 71.94 (#35), 3.18 (#24), 67.4% (#54)
4. Kristy McPherson, $816.2K (#16), 71.25 (#17), 3.27 (#16), 71.3% (#16)
5. Ji Young Oh, $558.3K (#24), 71.90 (#34), 2.96 (#31), 68.1% (#48)
6. Inbee Park, $271.3K (#50), 72.55 (#67), 3.16 (#35), 58.8% (#138)
7. Angela Park, $253.4K (#53), 73.71 (#117), 2.78 (#108), 60.4% (#128)
8. Jane Park, $194.9K (#60), 72.82 (#84), 2.81 (#80), 62.5% (#107)
9. Paige Mackenzie, $140.7K (#69), 72.23 (#45), 3.42 (#78), 70.6% (#19)
10. Irene Cho, $118.3K (#80), 72.78 (#80), 3.27 (#63), 67.0% (#56)
11. Jin Joo Hong, $69.4K (#103), 73.21 (#102), 2.67 (#104), 63.2% (#99)
12. Na On Min, $41.7K (#116), 73.29 (n.r.), 3.24 (n.r.), 59.1% (n.r.)
13. Becky Lucidi, $17.9K (#136), 74.50 (#138), 2.75 (#137), 61.6% (#117)
14. Charlotte Mayorkas, $13.8K (#144), 74.35 (#134), 2.59 (#130), 58.4% (#139)
15. Sophie Giquel, $9.0K (#148), 74.78 (#142), 2.22 (#144), 61.6% (#116)
16. Jeanne Cho-Hunicke, $2.6K (#159), 75.21 (#146), 2.18 (#138), 53.5% (#146)
Career LPGA Money List (rank), # of LPGA events entered/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 Junior Mints haven'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 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--although Thomas Atkins has posted an inflation-adjusted LPGA Career Top 50 as of the end of the 2008 season and a Top 50 ranking over at Hound Dog's place (and recently updated it to a Greatest 100 LPGA Players ranking). In any case, I include these other ways of seeing how the Junior Mints 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. So here's how they stand midway through the 2009 season. Many thanks to the LPGA for updating their 2009 Performance Chart after every event!
1. In-Kyung Kim, $2.47M (#76), 77/0/2/7/22/34/0/0/13/64 (.831)
2. Angela Park, $2.11M (#92), 73/0/0/8/18/25/3/0/11/59 (.808)
3. Eun-Hee Ji, $2.10M (#93), 56/1/2/5/15/22/0/3/7/46 (.821)
4. Song-Hee Kim, $2.09M (#94), 69/0/0/5/19/31/0/0/15/54 (.783)
5. Inbee Park, $1.79M (#110), 76/1/1/3/11/19/1/1/19/55 (.724)
6. Ji Young Oh, $1.39M (#132), 76/0/2/2/8/17/0/0/21/55 (.724)
7. Kristy McPherson, $1.30M (#139), 68/0/0/3/12/21/0/0/17/51 (.750)
8. Jane Park, $.89M (#202), 57/0/0/3/6/11/4/0/10/43 (.754)
9. Jin Joo Hong, $.58M (#252), 60/0/0/0/2/7/6/0/17/37 (.617)
10. Na On Min, $.50M (#272), 52/0/0/1/2/6/0/0/20/32 (.615)
11. Irene Cho, $.36M (#307), 61/0/0/0/2/4/3/0/23/35 (.574)
12. Charlotte Mayorkas, $.28M (#345), 56/0/0/0/0/4/1/0/22/33 (.589)
13. Paige Mackenzie, $.27M (#350), 52/0/0/0/1/2/0/0/25/27 (.519)
14. Sophie Giquel, $.12M (#453), 39/0/0/0/0/0/1/0/21/17 (.436)
15. Becky Lucidi $.10M (#469), 35/0/0/0/0/2/0/1/25/9 (.257)
16. Su A Kim, $.07M (#508), 26/0/0/0/0/0/1/0/13/12 (.462)
17. Seo-Jae Lee, $.07M (#512), 25/0/0/0/0/0/2/0/13/10 (.400)
18. Sarah Lynn Sargent, $.05M (#547), 26/0/0/0/0/0/14/12 (.462)
19. Jeanne Cho-Hunicke, $.02M (#599), 34/0/0/0/0/1/0/0/29/4 (.118)
20. Cindy Pasechnik, $.02M (#620), 19/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/14/5 (.263)
Other Career Measures: Rolex Ranking (as of 12/21/09) and rank, Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index (as of 12/20/09) and rank; International and Non-Member LPGA Wins (as of the end of the 2009 season): This is a way of seeing how those Junior Mints 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, 6.11 (#11), 70.30 (#15); 1
2. Song-Hee Kim, 4.88 (#14), 69.75 (#11); 0
3. Eun-Hee Ji, 4.01 (#19), 71.23 (#35); 4
4. Kristy McPherson, 3.93 (#21), 70.37 (#18); 0
5. Ji Young Oh, 2.61 (#41), 71.63 (#47); 0
6. Inbee Park, 2.60 (#42), 72.24 (#74); 0
7. Angela Park, 2.12 (#54), 73.66 (#165); 0
8. Jane Park, 1.47 (#78), 72.04 (#62); 0
9. Paige Mackenzie, .96 (#115), 72.47 (#88); 0
10. Irene Cho, .92 (#119), 72.68 (#106); 0
11. Jin Joo Hong, .83 (#125), 73.02 (#127); 2
12. Na On Min, .43 (#204), 73.23 (n.r. [too few events]); 0
13. Sophie Giquel, .26 (#268), 74.99 (#267); 1
14. Becky Lucidi, .24 (#280), 75.77 (#330); 0
15. Charlotte Mayorkas, .23 (#284), 75.34 (#297); 0
16. Seo-Jae Lee, .08 (#411), 73.63 (#164); 0
17. Su A Kim, .07 (#421), ? (n.r.); 0
18. Sarah Lynn Sargent, .01 (#686), 75.92 (#338); 0
19. Cindy Pasechnik, .00 (#695), ? (n.r.); 0
20. Jeanne Cho-Hunicke, ? (n.r.), 76.18 (#361); 0
***
Next up: the Super Sophs!
[Update 1 (1/14/10, 1:08 pm): BC Card has announced who they're sponsoring in 2010 and among them is none other than Jin Joo Hong, according to Happy Fan at Seoul Sisters.com. Looks like she'll be spending most of the season on the KLPGA.]
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Dai-chan, Mao-chan, Omedetou Gozaimasu!
Meet your 2009 Japanese national figure skating champions, Daisuke Takahashi and Mao Asada!
That was the closest Dai-chan's come to landing a quad in competition since his knee surgery, but even though he had shaky landings on a couple of other jumps, his overall performance was good enough for the 1st major win of his comeback. Check out his reaction to his score at the very end of the clip: he was not sure he had beaten Nobunari Oda, and his surprise and relief was palpable.
Mao-chan, Mostly Harmless regulars will recall, had even her most devoted fans worried after a terrible start to the season. But after failing to qualify for the Grand Prix finals, she came roaring back in nationals:
Next up, 4 Continents, the Olympics, and then the worlds!
That was the closest Dai-chan's come to landing a quad in competition since his knee surgery, but even though he had shaky landings on a couple of other jumps, his overall performance was good enough for the 1st major win of his comeback. Check out his reaction to his score at the very end of the clip: he was not sure he had beaten Nobunari Oda, and his surprise and relief was palpable.
Mao-chan, Mostly Harmless regulars will recall, had even her most devoted fans worried after a terrible start to the season. But after failing to qualify for the Grand Prix finals, she came roaring back in nationals:
Next up, 4 Continents, the Olympics, and then the worlds!
Saturday, December 26, 2009
The Best of the Young Guns: Senior Standouts, Final 2009 Edition
I've been following the careers of the LPGA's rookie class of 2006 for most of my blogging career. This is my 2nd year-end ranking of their career accomplishments. So what has changed from 2007 (not to mention 2008, when I ranked their top players with the best of the Young Guns generation)?
Simply the Best
1. Seon Hwa Lee: As Hound Dog pointed out, there's nothing that jumps out stats-wise to explain why her 3-year streak with at least 1 LPGA win ended or why she couldn't even make half a million dollars on the course in 2009. Even a 63 in the 2nd round at the Farr followed by 2 more sub-70 rounds wasn't enough to put her over the top this season for her 5th career LPGA victory. My best guess is that she is the kind of player who was hurt most by the LPGA's abbreviated schedule. She's consistent, persistent, and seems as fresh and as sharp in her 30th event as in her 10th. Given time, she'll wear down the field 1 week or another. But time is what she doesn't have on the LPGA in 2010. No wonder she decided to join the JLPGA, as well, next season!
2. Morgan Pressel: She quietly put together one of the best 2009s of all the Senior Standouts, which is especially impressive when you consider that it took her half the season to get her driver and her putter working at the same time. Even so, it took some real bad weather to put the skids on her attempt to chase down Ji-Yai Shin at the Wegmans and some real heroics for Eunjung Yi to deny her at the Farr, while Suzann Pettersen went low to keep her out of the winner's circle at the Canadian Open and Michelle Wie stole the show at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational. My point? Pressel is due in 2010.
3. Ai Miyazato: When I'm right, I'm right. Back at the end of June I noted that she'd been playing better than she'd been scoring and upon her return to the LPGA would be "ready to contend from now on." That's just about what she did over the rest of the season. With 13 real chances to win on the LPGA and JLPGA combined, I'm actually surprised she won only once on each tour in 2009. I'm still not convinced she ever scored as well as she was playing all season. And I don't think she was ever playing out of her skull. I'm thinking that her 64 in her final competitive round of the season is a sign of things to come in 2010.
4. Jee Young Lee: This was easily the worst season of her LPGA career, thanks to a stretch from June to October when she played terribly. Still, she closed out November with 3-straight top 20s, so if that marks the end of her slump, then just about everyone else in the class ought to very jealous--and very worried.
The Contenders
5. Brittany Lang: I said it before and I'll say it again: "she could win any week her putter gets hot. It wouldn't hurt to work on her irons, too. She should be making a lot more birdies than she has been this season and it can't all be her putter's fault." Turns out she had her best chances for her 1st LPGA win at the very start and very end of 2009. It's only a matter of time: not counting Lee, who has a non-member win the jointly-sponsored late fall LPGA-KLPGA event, she's my top-ranked player on tour without one!
6. Sun Young Yoo: You could make a strong case she had a better 2009 than Lang. Even so, she's got a lot of ground to make up on her, career-wise, particularly when it comes to getting top 10s and top 3s. Still, she distanced herself from those behind her on the list and showed she's very close to her 1st LPGA win over the course of the 2009. Will she be ready to chase down the cream of the crop in 2010?
Quantum Leap Candidates
7. Teresa Lu: 2010 will be a crossroads year for her, as she couldn't sustain her great play over most of 2008 and had a pretty big let-down in 2009. Neither her irons nor her putter were her friends this season; if she can improve in either 1 of those areas significantly in 2010, watch out for her to make that quantum leap.
8. Kyeong Bae: Talk about getting up for the big events: after failing to qualify for the season's 1st major, she followed up with a 4th-place finish at the LPGA Championship, a T9 at the U.S. Women's Open, and a T17 at the Women's British Open. Good thing for her she did, as she made about 2/3 of her total 2009 winnings in those 3 events, mostly because her driver and putter were off most of the season and her irons weren't much better. If she could average 3.25 birdies per round in that kind of year, I wonder how many she could make in a good season? Maybe we'll find out in 2010.
9. Meaghan Francella: Lu and Bae beat her to the $1M mark in career winnings, but Francella showed that even with worse-than-average putting and disappointing iron play in 2009, she still belongs on the LPGA. It'll be interesting to see what she's capable of when she starts a season completely healthy, as she should for the 1st time in a while in 2010.
10. Hye Jung Choi: When last we left her, she was enduring one of her worst runs in her career, but that made cut at the Wegmans was a sign of things to come--with her card on the line, she didn't miss a cut over her last 9 events of 2009.
11. Allison Fouch: While her comeback from a terrible mid-season run wasn't as consistent as Choi's, she did what she needed to in her last 3 events of 2009 to keep her card. Let's see what she makes of the opportunity in 2010.
12. Julieta Granada: Despite her record of futility on the LPGA, she only played 6 events on the LET in 2009 even though she had full membership there, finishing #73 on their money list. But thanks to a great LPGA Q-School performance, she'll be able to spend most of her time on the LPGA in 2010 again if she wants to, although I'm wondering if she'll join the younger Spanish-speaking dual LPGA-LET members in crossing the pond fairly often.
13. Minea Blomqvist: Went into a nosedive the 2nd half of the season, but swinging around a growing bun in the oven can have that effect. At #127 on the LPGA's priority status list and #69 on the LET money list in 7 events, she'll be able to play both tours again in 2010 after she recovers from giving birth.
14. Katie Futcher: I'm putting her ahead of Sjodin on the grounds that she makes a lot more cuts. Let's see if she can build on that consistency and start finishing higher next season. I keep waiting for her to make that quantum leap that Junior Mint Kristy McPherson made this season. Maybe 2010 will be her year.
15. Karin Sjodin: Not much to say about her 2009 except that at #117 on the priority status list, she'll be back full-time on the LPGA in 2010.
On the Bottom Looking Up
16. Sarah Jane Smith: At #149 on the priority status list, the odds are good she'll play a virtually full schedule on the LPGA in 2010.
17. Louise Stahle: At #121 on the priority status list, she'll be playing full-time again on the LPGA, but this former LET Rookie of the Year had better practice hard in the off-season.
18. Danielle Downey: My guess last time that she was injured was right, as she had to sit out 5 months in 2009 and got a medical exemption for 2010, putting her at #142 on the priority status list.
19. Na Ri Kim: She's going to be trying her luck on the JLPGA next season, but at #152 on the LPGA priority status list, she actually has pretty good odds of getting into a good number of LPGA events in 2010. It'll be interesting to see how she puts together her schedule next season.
20. Libby Smith: At #327 on the 2010 priority status list, she'll be lucky to get into any LPGA events next season. More time on the Futures Tour for one of my dad's favorite players, looks like.
On the Outside Looking In
21. Linda Wessberg: My guess that she would stay in Europe for the 2nd half of the season proved correct. It was a good choice for her, as she got 1 win in 13 LET starts and moved up to #27 on their money list. So she'll definitely be playing there full-time in 2010.
22. Virada Nirapathpongporn: Recovering from shoulder surgery, she spent some time on the Futures Tour in 2009, where she played 9 events and finished #102 on their money list. In their Q-School, she finished T32, so she'll be back there in 2010, as she failed in her bid to return to the LPGA, finishing T64 in their Q-School.
23. Nina Reis: Played the LET full-time in '09 and ended up #57 on their money list in 16 events.
24. Veronica Zorzi: Didn't play a single LPGA event for the 2nd straight year, finishing #29 on the LET money list in 14 events.
25. Kim Hall: She just couldn't make it a 3-peat of getting into the top 125 via 1 good event per season. I wonder if this Stanford grad will be exploring other options than professional golf in 2010.
26. Ashley Johnston: I wonder if she's done with professional golf entirely--the LPGA has zeroed out all her old records on her player profile.
***
For your reference--and mine--here are the stats on which I'm basing the final 2009 ranking.
2009 LPGA Money List (rank), stroke 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 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 and are worth comparing to Hound Dog's final 2009 total driving and total putting stats.
1. Ai Miyazato, $1.52M (#3), 70.33 (#4), 3.90 (#8), 71.6% (#13)
2. Brittany Lang, $675.1K (#19), 71.08 (#15), 3.36 (#9), 72.5% (#5)
3. Morgan Pressel, $630.3K (#21), 71.38 (#20), 3.22 (#19), 69.0% (#37)
4. Sun Young Yoo, $614.9K (#22), 71.16 (#16), 3.49 (#11), 72.4% (#6)
5. Seon Hwa Lee, $458.3K (#28), 71.49 (#25), 3.13 (#25), 68.5% (#40)
6. Jee Young Lee, $358.7K (#37), 71.88 (#33), 3.40 (#18), 65.7% (#75)
7. Kyeong Bae, $324.5K (#41), 72.65 (#72), 3.25 (#47), 66.2% (#69)
8. Meaghan Francella, $292.3K (#48), 72.51 (#63), 2.85 (#53), 66.5% (#65)
9. Teresa Lu, $242.5K (#54), 72.57 (#68), 2.95 (#40), 65.7% (#74)
10. Hye Jung Choi, $155.0K (#66), 72.89 (#88), 2.62 (#67), 63.5% (#96)
11. Allison Fouch, $131.9K (#71), 73.39 (#107), 3.09 (#50), 68.3% (#44)
12. Katie Futcher, $128.7K (#72), 73.16 (#100), 2.60 (#58), 64.3% (#89)
13. Karin Sjodin, $97.1K (#88), 72.51 (#64), 3.20 (#81), 70.0% (#23)
14. Louise Stahle, $95.3K (#90), 73.50 (#112), 2.59 (#111), 66.4% (#67)
15. Minea Blomqvist, $86.5K (#96), 73.21 (#103), 3.10 (#65), 57.5% (#142)
16. Sarah Jane Smith, $67.6K (#105), 73.13 (#98), 2.96 (#98), 67.8% (#50)
17. Julieta Granada, $65.2K (#107), 73.94 (#126), 2.69 (#101), 61.0% (#123)
18. Na Ri Kim, $57.9K (#111), 72.50 (#62), 3.34 (#120), 68.1% (#48)
19. Kim Hall, $17.0K (#137), 74.39 (#135), 2.42 (#125), 61.7% (#114)
20. Danielle Downey, $16.7K (#138), 74.72 (#141), 2.48 (#142), 60.4% (#129)
21. Linda Wessberg, $8.1K (#150), ? (n.r.), 2.10 (n.r.), ? (n.r.)
Career LPGA Money List (rank), # of LPGA events entered/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 Senior Standouts haven'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 Top 50 ranking over at Hound Dog's place (and recently updated it to a Greatest 100 LPGA Players ranking). In any case, I include the other ways of seeing how the Senior Standouts 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 2009 Performance Chart after every event! [Note: *=non-member win]
1. Seon Hwa Lee, $3.64M (#43), 112/0/4/11/28/53/2/0/9/101 (.902)
2. Ai Miyazato, $3.25M (#53), 91/0/1/8/30/44/1/0/13/77 (.846)
3. Morgan Pressel, $2.78M (#65), 98/1/2/9/28/46/0/0/12/86 (.878)
4. Jee Young Lee, $2.70M (#70), 104/0/1*/7/27/54/5/0/8/91 (.875)
5. Julieta Granada, $2.21M (#89), 100/0/1/5/10/22/0/1/36/63 (.630)
6. Brittany Lang, $2.19M (#90), 107/0/0/6/24/44/0/0/23/84 (.785)
7. Sun Young Yoo, $1.67M (#114), 104/0/0/3/13/31/1/0/20/83 (.798)
8. Kyeong Bae, $1.09M (#166), 95/0/0/2/9/16/4/0/27/64 (.674)
9. Teresa Lu, $1.03M (#175), 91/0/0/1/6/20/1/0/21/69 (.758)
10. Meaghan Francella, $.92M (#193), 74/0/1/1/6/14/0/0/28/46 (.622)
11. Hye Jung Choi, $.72M (#228), 74/0/0/0/8/12/1/0/21/52 (.703)
12. Minea Blomqvist, $.67M (#236), 79/0/0/1/3/8/1/1/29/48 (.608)
13. Karin Sjodin, $.52M (#262), 81/0/0/0/3/11/0/0/33/48 (.593)
14. Alison Fouch, $.51M (#264), 51/0/0/1/4/8/0/0/18/33 (.647)
15. Katie Futcher, $.51M (#269), 85/0/0/0/4/7/0/1/25/59 (.694)
16. Kim Hall, $.35M (#308), 74/0/0/1/3/4/0/0/44/30 (.405)
17. Linda Wessberg, $.34M (#316), 43/0/0/0/5/6/0/0/17/26 (.605)
18. Virada Nirapathpongporn, $.23M (#373), 56/0/0/0/1/4/0/0/28/28 (.500)
19. Nina Reis, $.23M (#375), 51/0/0/0/3/4/0/0/23/28 (.549)
20. Sarah Jane Smith, $.17M (#408), 35/0/0/0/1/4/0/0/20/15 (.429)
21. Na Ri Kim, $.15M (#424), 49/0/0/0/0/0/3/0/24/22 (.449)
22. Danielle Downey, $.15M (#425), 41/0/0/0/1/2/0/0/27/14 (.342)
23. Louise Stahle, $.15M (#427), 39/0/0/0/1/2/1/0/21/17 (.436)
24. Veronica Zorzi, $.09M (#492), 16/0/0/0/0/1/0/0/3/13 (.813)
25. Ashley Johnston, $.05M (#550), 13/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/7/6 (.462)
26. Libby Smith, $.02M (#604), 21/0/0/0/0/0/1/0/17/3 (.143)
Other Career Measures: Rolex Ranking (as of 12/21/09) and rank, Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index (as of 12/20/09) and rank, International and Non-Member LPGA Wins (as of the end of the 2009 season): This is a way of seeing how those Senior Standouts 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. Ai Miyazato, 6.68 (#8), 69.54 (#8); 15 [up from #27/#16 at the end of June]
2. Morgan Pressel, 3.75 (#23), 70.75 (#23); 0 [up from #37/#44]
3. Brittany Lang, 3.61 (#27), 70.13 (#13); 0 [up from #31/#26]
4. Seon Hwa Lee, 3.27 (#31), 70.83 (#25); 3 [down from #16/#23]
5. Sun Young Yoo, 3.17 (#35), 70.37 (#16); 0 [up from #38/#31]
6. Jee Young Lee, 2.49 (#46), 71.19 (#33); 2 [down from #20/#21]
7. Kyeong Bae, 1.64 (#71), 72.17 (#70); 3 [biggest jump up of everyone]
8. Teresa Lu, 1.53 (#76), 71.68 (#48); 0
9. Meaghan Francella, 1.33 (#82), 72.11 (#64); 0
10. Allison Fouch, 1.13 (#99), 73.50 (#157); 0
11. Hye Jung Choi, 1.06 (#102), 72.14 (#67); 1
12. Minea Blomqvist, .97 (#114), 73.25 (#140); 5
13. Katie Futcher, .80 (#129), 72.44 (#87); 0
14. Louise Stahle, .62 (#160), 73.78 (#179); 0
15. Linda Wessberg, .60 (#170), 74.71 (#246); 7
16. Karin Sjodin, .60 (#172), 72.42 (#86); 1
17. Julieta Granada, .56 (#181), 73.96 (#197); 0
18. Sarah Jane Smith, .50 (#189), 73.72 (#170); 0
19. Na Ri Kim, .48 (#192), 72.87 (#118); 0
20. Veronica Zorzi, .44 (#198), 73.49 (#152); 2
21. Kim Hall, .35 (#226), 75.04 (#273); 0
22. Danielle Downey, .25 (#274), 74.65 (n.r. [too few events in database]); 0
23. Nina Reis, .21 (#302), 74.75 (#250); 5
24. Virada Nirapathpongporn, .06 (#447), 76.53 (n.r. [too few events in database]); 0
25. Libby Smith, .06 (#464), 75.90 (#336); 0
***
This is the 1st post in a series in which I'll lead up to my rankings of the top players in the LPGA's Young Guns generation, the rookie classes of 2006-2008. That'll provide a baseline for my assessment of the 1st rookie class in the New Blood generation, the class of 2009.
Simply the Best
1. Seon Hwa Lee: As Hound Dog pointed out, there's nothing that jumps out stats-wise to explain why her 3-year streak with at least 1 LPGA win ended or why she couldn't even make half a million dollars on the course in 2009. Even a 63 in the 2nd round at the Farr followed by 2 more sub-70 rounds wasn't enough to put her over the top this season for her 5th career LPGA victory. My best guess is that she is the kind of player who was hurt most by the LPGA's abbreviated schedule. She's consistent, persistent, and seems as fresh and as sharp in her 30th event as in her 10th. Given time, she'll wear down the field 1 week or another. But time is what she doesn't have on the LPGA in 2010. No wonder she decided to join the JLPGA, as well, next season!
2. Morgan Pressel: She quietly put together one of the best 2009s of all the Senior Standouts, which is especially impressive when you consider that it took her half the season to get her driver and her putter working at the same time. Even so, it took some real bad weather to put the skids on her attempt to chase down Ji-Yai Shin at the Wegmans and some real heroics for Eunjung Yi to deny her at the Farr, while Suzann Pettersen went low to keep her out of the winner's circle at the Canadian Open and Michelle Wie stole the show at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational. My point? Pressel is due in 2010.
3. Ai Miyazato: When I'm right, I'm right. Back at the end of June I noted that she'd been playing better than she'd been scoring and upon her return to the LPGA would be "ready to contend from now on." That's just about what she did over the rest of the season. With 13 real chances to win on the LPGA and JLPGA combined, I'm actually surprised she won only once on each tour in 2009. I'm still not convinced she ever scored as well as she was playing all season. And I don't think she was ever playing out of her skull. I'm thinking that her 64 in her final competitive round of the season is a sign of things to come in 2010.
4. Jee Young Lee: This was easily the worst season of her LPGA career, thanks to a stretch from June to October when she played terribly. Still, she closed out November with 3-straight top 20s, so if that marks the end of her slump, then just about everyone else in the class ought to very jealous--and very worried.
The Contenders
5. Brittany Lang: I said it before and I'll say it again: "she could win any week her putter gets hot. It wouldn't hurt to work on her irons, too. She should be making a lot more birdies than she has been this season and it can't all be her putter's fault." Turns out she had her best chances for her 1st LPGA win at the very start and very end of 2009. It's only a matter of time: not counting Lee, who has a non-member win the jointly-sponsored late fall LPGA-KLPGA event, she's my top-ranked player on tour without one!
6. Sun Young Yoo: You could make a strong case she had a better 2009 than Lang. Even so, she's got a lot of ground to make up on her, career-wise, particularly when it comes to getting top 10s and top 3s. Still, she distanced herself from those behind her on the list and showed she's very close to her 1st LPGA win over the course of the 2009. Will she be ready to chase down the cream of the crop in 2010?
Quantum Leap Candidates
7. Teresa Lu: 2010 will be a crossroads year for her, as she couldn't sustain her great play over most of 2008 and had a pretty big let-down in 2009. Neither her irons nor her putter were her friends this season; if she can improve in either 1 of those areas significantly in 2010, watch out for her to make that quantum leap.
8. Kyeong Bae: Talk about getting up for the big events: after failing to qualify for the season's 1st major, she followed up with a 4th-place finish at the LPGA Championship, a T9 at the U.S. Women's Open, and a T17 at the Women's British Open. Good thing for her she did, as she made about 2/3 of her total 2009 winnings in those 3 events, mostly because her driver and putter were off most of the season and her irons weren't much better. If she could average 3.25 birdies per round in that kind of year, I wonder how many she could make in a good season? Maybe we'll find out in 2010.
9. Meaghan Francella: Lu and Bae beat her to the $1M mark in career winnings, but Francella showed that even with worse-than-average putting and disappointing iron play in 2009, she still belongs on the LPGA. It'll be interesting to see what she's capable of when she starts a season completely healthy, as she should for the 1st time in a while in 2010.
10. Hye Jung Choi: When last we left her, she was enduring one of her worst runs in her career, but that made cut at the Wegmans was a sign of things to come--with her card on the line, she didn't miss a cut over her last 9 events of 2009.
11. Allison Fouch: While her comeback from a terrible mid-season run wasn't as consistent as Choi's, she did what she needed to in her last 3 events of 2009 to keep her card. Let's see what she makes of the opportunity in 2010.
12. Julieta Granada: Despite her record of futility on the LPGA, she only played 6 events on the LET in 2009 even though she had full membership there, finishing #73 on their money list. But thanks to a great LPGA Q-School performance, she'll be able to spend most of her time on the LPGA in 2010 again if she wants to, although I'm wondering if she'll join the younger Spanish-speaking dual LPGA-LET members in crossing the pond fairly often.
13. Minea Blomqvist: Went into a nosedive the 2nd half of the season, but swinging around a growing bun in the oven can have that effect. At #127 on the LPGA's priority status list and #69 on the LET money list in 7 events, she'll be able to play both tours again in 2010 after she recovers from giving birth.
14. Katie Futcher: I'm putting her ahead of Sjodin on the grounds that she makes a lot more cuts. Let's see if she can build on that consistency and start finishing higher next season. I keep waiting for her to make that quantum leap that Junior Mint Kristy McPherson made this season. Maybe 2010 will be her year.
15. Karin Sjodin: Not much to say about her 2009 except that at #117 on the priority status list, she'll be back full-time on the LPGA in 2010.
On the Bottom Looking Up
16. Sarah Jane Smith: At #149 on the priority status list, the odds are good she'll play a virtually full schedule on the LPGA in 2010.
17. Louise Stahle: At #121 on the priority status list, she'll be playing full-time again on the LPGA, but this former LET Rookie of the Year had better practice hard in the off-season.
18. Danielle Downey: My guess last time that she was injured was right, as she had to sit out 5 months in 2009 and got a medical exemption for 2010, putting her at #142 on the priority status list.
19. Na Ri Kim: She's going to be trying her luck on the JLPGA next season, but at #152 on the LPGA priority status list, she actually has pretty good odds of getting into a good number of LPGA events in 2010. It'll be interesting to see how she puts together her schedule next season.
20. Libby Smith: At #327 on the 2010 priority status list, she'll be lucky to get into any LPGA events next season. More time on the Futures Tour for one of my dad's favorite players, looks like.
On the Outside Looking In
21. Linda Wessberg: My guess that she would stay in Europe for the 2nd half of the season proved correct. It was a good choice for her, as she got 1 win in 13 LET starts and moved up to #27 on their money list. So she'll definitely be playing there full-time in 2010.
22. Virada Nirapathpongporn: Recovering from shoulder surgery, she spent some time on the Futures Tour in 2009, where she played 9 events and finished #102 on their money list. In their Q-School, she finished T32, so she'll be back there in 2010, as she failed in her bid to return to the LPGA, finishing T64 in their Q-School.
23. Nina Reis: Played the LET full-time in '09 and ended up #57 on their money list in 16 events.
24. Veronica Zorzi: Didn't play a single LPGA event for the 2nd straight year, finishing #29 on the LET money list in 14 events.
25. Kim Hall: She just couldn't make it a 3-peat of getting into the top 125 via 1 good event per season. I wonder if this Stanford grad will be exploring other options than professional golf in 2010.
26. Ashley Johnston: I wonder if she's done with professional golf entirely--the LPGA has zeroed out all her old records on her player profile.
***
For your reference--and mine--here are the stats on which I'm basing the final 2009 ranking.
2009 LPGA Money List (rank), stroke 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 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 and are worth comparing to Hound Dog's final 2009 total driving and total putting stats.
1. Ai Miyazato, $1.52M (#3), 70.33 (#4), 3.90 (#8), 71.6% (#13)
2. Brittany Lang, $675.1K (#19), 71.08 (#15), 3.36 (#9), 72.5% (#5)
3. Morgan Pressel, $630.3K (#21), 71.38 (#20), 3.22 (#19), 69.0% (#37)
4. Sun Young Yoo, $614.9K (#22), 71.16 (#16), 3.49 (#11), 72.4% (#6)
5. Seon Hwa Lee, $458.3K (#28), 71.49 (#25), 3.13 (#25), 68.5% (#40)
6. Jee Young Lee, $358.7K (#37), 71.88 (#33), 3.40 (#18), 65.7% (#75)
7. Kyeong Bae, $324.5K (#41), 72.65 (#72), 3.25 (#47), 66.2% (#69)
8. Meaghan Francella, $292.3K (#48), 72.51 (#63), 2.85 (#53), 66.5% (#65)
9. Teresa Lu, $242.5K (#54), 72.57 (#68), 2.95 (#40), 65.7% (#74)
10. Hye Jung Choi, $155.0K (#66), 72.89 (#88), 2.62 (#67), 63.5% (#96)
11. Allison Fouch, $131.9K (#71), 73.39 (#107), 3.09 (#50), 68.3% (#44)
12. Katie Futcher, $128.7K (#72), 73.16 (#100), 2.60 (#58), 64.3% (#89)
13. Karin Sjodin, $97.1K (#88), 72.51 (#64), 3.20 (#81), 70.0% (#23)
14. Louise Stahle, $95.3K (#90), 73.50 (#112), 2.59 (#111), 66.4% (#67)
15. Minea Blomqvist, $86.5K (#96), 73.21 (#103), 3.10 (#65), 57.5% (#142)
16. Sarah Jane Smith, $67.6K (#105), 73.13 (#98), 2.96 (#98), 67.8% (#50)
17. Julieta Granada, $65.2K (#107), 73.94 (#126), 2.69 (#101), 61.0% (#123)
18. Na Ri Kim, $57.9K (#111), 72.50 (#62), 3.34 (#120), 68.1% (#48)
19. Kim Hall, $17.0K (#137), 74.39 (#135), 2.42 (#125), 61.7% (#114)
20. Danielle Downey, $16.7K (#138), 74.72 (#141), 2.48 (#142), 60.4% (#129)
21. Linda Wessberg, $8.1K (#150), ? (n.r.), 2.10 (n.r.), ? (n.r.)
Career LPGA Money List (rank), # of LPGA events entered/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 Senior Standouts haven'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 Top 50 ranking over at Hound Dog's place (and recently updated it to a Greatest 100 LPGA Players ranking). In any case, I include the other ways of seeing how the Senior Standouts 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 2009 Performance Chart after every event! [Note: *=non-member win]
1. Seon Hwa Lee, $3.64M (#43), 112/0/4/11/28/53/2/0/9/101 (.902)
2. Ai Miyazato, $3.25M (#53), 91/0/1/8/30/44/1/0/13/77 (.846)
3. Morgan Pressel, $2.78M (#65), 98/1/2/9/28/46/0/0/12/86 (.878)
4. Jee Young Lee, $2.70M (#70), 104/0/1*/7/27/54/5/0/8/91 (.875)
5. Julieta Granada, $2.21M (#89), 100/0/1/5/10/22/0/1/36/63 (.630)
6. Brittany Lang, $2.19M (#90), 107/0/0/6/24/44/0/0/23/84 (.785)
7. Sun Young Yoo, $1.67M (#114), 104/0/0/3/13/31/1/0/20/83 (.798)
8. Kyeong Bae, $1.09M (#166), 95/0/0/2/9/16/4/0/27/64 (.674)
9. Teresa Lu, $1.03M (#175), 91/0/0/1/6/20/1/0/21/69 (.758)
10. Meaghan Francella, $.92M (#193), 74/0/1/1/6/14/0/0/28/46 (.622)
11. Hye Jung Choi, $.72M (#228), 74/0/0/0/8/12/1/0/21/52 (.703)
12. Minea Blomqvist, $.67M (#236), 79/0/0/1/3/8/1/1/29/48 (.608)
13. Karin Sjodin, $.52M (#262), 81/0/0/0/3/11/0/0/33/48 (.593)
14. Alison Fouch, $.51M (#264), 51/0/0/1/4/8/0/0/18/33 (.647)
15. Katie Futcher, $.51M (#269), 85/0/0/0/4/7/0/1/25/59 (.694)
16. Kim Hall, $.35M (#308), 74/0/0/1/3/4/0/0/44/30 (.405)
17. Linda Wessberg, $.34M (#316), 43/0/0/0/5/6/0/0/17/26 (.605)
18. Virada Nirapathpongporn, $.23M (#373), 56/0/0/0/1/4/0/0/28/28 (.500)
19. Nina Reis, $.23M (#375), 51/0/0/0/3/4/0/0/23/28 (.549)
20. Sarah Jane Smith, $.17M (#408), 35/0/0/0/1/4/0/0/20/15 (.429)
21. Na Ri Kim, $.15M (#424), 49/0/0/0/0/0/3/0/24/22 (.449)
22. Danielle Downey, $.15M (#425), 41/0/0/0/1/2/0/0/27/14 (.342)
23. Louise Stahle, $.15M (#427), 39/0/0/0/1/2/1/0/21/17 (.436)
24. Veronica Zorzi, $.09M (#492), 16/0/0/0/0/1/0/0/3/13 (.813)
25. Ashley Johnston, $.05M (#550), 13/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/7/6 (.462)
26. Libby Smith, $.02M (#604), 21/0/0/0/0/0/1/0/17/3 (.143)
Other Career Measures: Rolex Ranking (as of 12/21/09) and rank, Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index (as of 12/20/09) and rank, International and Non-Member LPGA Wins (as of the end of the 2009 season): This is a way of seeing how those Senior Standouts 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. Ai Miyazato, 6.68 (#8), 69.54 (#8); 15 [up from #27/#16 at the end of June]
2. Morgan Pressel, 3.75 (#23), 70.75 (#23); 0 [up from #37/#44]
3. Brittany Lang, 3.61 (#27), 70.13 (#13); 0 [up from #31/#26]
4. Seon Hwa Lee, 3.27 (#31), 70.83 (#25); 3 [down from #16/#23]
5. Sun Young Yoo, 3.17 (#35), 70.37 (#16); 0 [up from #38/#31]
6. Jee Young Lee, 2.49 (#46), 71.19 (#33); 2 [down from #20/#21]
7. Kyeong Bae, 1.64 (#71), 72.17 (#70); 3 [biggest jump up of everyone]
8. Teresa Lu, 1.53 (#76), 71.68 (#48); 0
9. Meaghan Francella, 1.33 (#82), 72.11 (#64); 0
10. Allison Fouch, 1.13 (#99), 73.50 (#157); 0
11. Hye Jung Choi, 1.06 (#102), 72.14 (#67); 1
12. Minea Blomqvist, .97 (#114), 73.25 (#140); 5
13. Katie Futcher, .80 (#129), 72.44 (#87); 0
14. Louise Stahle, .62 (#160), 73.78 (#179); 0
15. Linda Wessberg, .60 (#170), 74.71 (#246); 7
16. Karin Sjodin, .60 (#172), 72.42 (#86); 1
17. Julieta Granada, .56 (#181), 73.96 (#197); 0
18. Sarah Jane Smith, .50 (#189), 73.72 (#170); 0
19. Na Ri Kim, .48 (#192), 72.87 (#118); 0
20. Veronica Zorzi, .44 (#198), 73.49 (#152); 2
21. Kim Hall, .35 (#226), 75.04 (#273); 0
22. Danielle Downey, .25 (#274), 74.65 (n.r. [too few events in database]); 0
23. Nina Reis, .21 (#302), 74.75 (#250); 5
24. Virada Nirapathpongporn, .06 (#447), 76.53 (n.r. [too few events in database]); 0
25. Libby Smith, .06 (#464), 75.90 (#336); 0
***
This is the 1st post in a series in which I'll lead up to my rankings of the top players in the LPGA's Young Guns generation, the rookie classes of 2006-2008. That'll provide a baseline for my assessment of the 1st rookie class in the New Blood generation, the class of 2009.
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