Hey, folks, I'm happy to welcome a new co-author to the team here at Mostly Harmless. Yes, this originally started as a group blog, founded by refugees from Michael Berube's first major sabbatical from academic blogging, but it quickly evolved into a pop culture blog when we ended up forming our own standalone site (which had a short but rich life!). Although I brought in some friends and colleagues and some stalwarts from the original team kept posting (particularly Bill Benzon), this quickly evolved into a blog that almost exclusively developed my own focus on the wide world of women's professional golf (along with contributions from co-author Bill Jempty). I'm really psyched that Tony Jesseli is interested in bringing his own perspectives on the LPGA to our readers here at Mostly Harmless. Before I turn the keyboard over to him, I'll extend an invitation to others who are interested in joining the Mostly Harmless golf writing team (or pop culture team, for that matter) to contact me via the coordinates in my profile. OK, take it away, Tony! --The Constructivist
First, let me introduce myself. My name is Tony Jesselli and I am honored to announce that I am a new author on Mostly Harmless.
I am a longtime fan of the LPGA and that is what I will be writing about here. I am a frequent visitor to LPGA events. Last year I was fortunate enough to attend the Sybase Championship (10 minutes from my hometown), the Wegmans LPGA Championship in Rochester, the U.S. Women's Open held at Oakmont, and the Canadian Women's Open in Quebec.
This year I will be at Sybase, and will be attending the Open in Colorado Springs, the Women's British Open held at Carnoustie, Angus, Scotland, and the Canadian Women's Open in Mirabel.
I am looking forward to sharing my experiences with everyone.
Golf is a passion of mine. Although I have never been that great at playing it, I keep trying and still get excited at any improvement. I have been following the LPGA for many years. I think it is the world's best kept secret. Not enough people are aware of what a good time they will have attending a tournament. If they go just once they will be hooked. They will go again. The girls are so friendly and cooperative when it comes to signing hats, balls and pictures. They will also be more than glad to take photos with you.
Where else can you get this? If I attended a Mets game and told you, "I'll be right back--I am going into the dugout to get Jose Reyes's and David Wright's signatures," you'd think I was crazy and of course I would be. But you can get Paula Creamer or Yani Tseng to sign for you anytime. I hope I can use this website to promote the LPGA and get more people to turn on their televisions and get the ratings up and get out of the house and attend a tournament in their area.
I am also a statistics freak. I have an accounting background and love to play with numbers. You will be seeing much of this in my future postings. I have already posted my predictions for my top 30 for 2011.
I have also created my own system for coming up with the 2011 player of the year.
I give 40 points to a winner of a tournament, 20 points for finishing 2nd, 19 for third, all the way down to 2 points for finishing 20th. Anyone finishing out of the top 20 will not receive any points. The points are doubled for the 4 major championships. How many of those maximum points they keep is based on the strength of field in a given week. I use the current week's Rolex Rankings top 50. For example, if a player wins a non major and 40 of the 50 top players were in the field, the winner gets to keep 80% (40/50ths) of her 40 points or 32 points. The 2nd place finisher keeps 80% of 20 points or 16 points and so on. At the end of the year the total points are divided by the number of tournaments a player played in for a final average score. (This gives someone like "Lexi" who might play in just 10 events a chance to average out with the big girls.)
Interlude: Honda LPGA Thailand Set-Up
It felt like a real long time for me but the first official tournament is this week.
Can anyone stop Yani Tseng? She has won 2 consecutive tournaments down under and is the new #1 player in the world. This is a very strong field as 48 of the top 50 ladies from the LPGA priority list are in the field. Only Jee Young Lee and Jeong Jang are missing. The field also includes 34 of the Rolex Rankings top 50, giving my player of the year system a 68% strength-of-field rating for this week.
In closing, I want to thank The Constructivist for getting me up and running here. I have been a big fan of his and other bloggers like Hound Dog for a long time. I'm excited to join them and hope you enjoy my posts.
First, let me introduce myself. My name is Tony Jesselli and I am honored to announce that I am a new author on Mostly Harmless.
I am a longtime fan of the LPGA and that is what I will be writing about here. I am a frequent visitor to LPGA events. Last year I was fortunate enough to attend the Sybase Championship (10 minutes from my hometown), the Wegmans LPGA Championship in Rochester, the U.S. Women's Open held at Oakmont, and the Canadian Women's Open in Quebec.
This year I will be at Sybase, and will be attending the Open in Colorado Springs, the Women's British Open held at Carnoustie, Angus, Scotland, and the Canadian Women's Open in Mirabel.
I am looking forward to sharing my experiences with everyone.
Golf is a passion of mine. Although I have never been that great at playing it, I keep trying and still get excited at any improvement. I have been following the LPGA for many years. I think it is the world's best kept secret. Not enough people are aware of what a good time they will have attending a tournament. If they go just once they will be hooked. They will go again. The girls are so friendly and cooperative when it comes to signing hats, balls and pictures. They will also be more than glad to take photos with you.
Where else can you get this? If I attended a Mets game and told you, "I'll be right back--I am going into the dugout to get Jose Reyes's and David Wright's signatures," you'd think I was crazy and of course I would be. But you can get Paula Creamer or Yani Tseng to sign for you anytime. I hope I can use this website to promote the LPGA and get more people to turn on their televisions and get the ratings up and get out of the house and attend a tournament in their area.
I am also a statistics freak. I have an accounting background and love to play with numbers. You will be seeing much of this in my future postings. I have already posted my predictions for my top 30 for 2011.
I have also created my own system for coming up with the 2011 player of the year.
I give 40 points to a winner of a tournament, 20 points for finishing 2nd, 19 for third, all the way down to 2 points for finishing 20th. Anyone finishing out of the top 20 will not receive any points. The points are doubled for the 4 major championships. How many of those maximum points they keep is based on the strength of field in a given week. I use the current week's Rolex Rankings top 50. For example, if a player wins a non major and 40 of the 50 top players were in the field, the winner gets to keep 80% (40/50ths) of her 40 points or 32 points. The 2nd place finisher keeps 80% of 20 points or 16 points and so on. At the end of the year the total points are divided by the number of tournaments a player played in for a final average score. (This gives someone like "Lexi" who might play in just 10 events a chance to average out with the big girls.)
Interlude: Honda LPGA Thailand Set-Up
It felt like a real long time for me but the first official tournament is this week.
Can anyone stop Yani Tseng? She has won 2 consecutive tournaments down under and is the new #1 player in the world. This is a very strong field as 48 of the top 50 ladies from the LPGA priority list are in the field. Only Jee Young Lee and Jeong Jang are missing. The field also includes 34 of the Rolex Rankings top 50, giving my player of the year system a 68% strength-of-field rating for this week.
In closing, I want to thank The Constructivist for getting me up and running here. I have been a big fan of his and other bloggers like Hound Dog for a long time. I'm excited to join them and hope you enjoy my posts.
1 comment:
Very cool, Tony! Have a great time, I am sure you can enlighten us all.
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