LPGA Hall of Fame Watch, November 2013 Edition

Thanksgiving has become the traditional ending to the LPGA season, so it's a great time to revisit an old Hound Dog LPGA question:  who will be the next player to qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame?

Here are the criteria from LPGA.com:

1. Must be/have been an "active" LPGA Tour member for 10 years;
2. Must have won/been awarded at least one of the following - an LPGA major championship, the Vare Trophy or Rolex Player of the Year honors; and
3. Must have accumulated a total of 27 points, which are awarded as follows - one point for each LPGA official tournament win, two points for each LPGA major tournament win and one point for each Vare Trophy or Rolex Player of the Year honor earned.

Check out how quickly Lorena Ochoa qualified in points in Hound Dog's follow-up post--although he couldn't have predicted then that she'd retire so soon, before actually meeting criterion #1!  So assuming Laura Davies and Ochoa will either play their way in or be voted in, who are the top candidates for entry right now?  

Check me on this, but here's how I believe the points breakdown stands at the end of the 2013 season:

1. Ya Ni Tseng (23)
2. Cristie Kerr (18)
3. Suzann Pettersen (16)
4. Inbee Park (15)
5. Ji-Yai Shin (13)
6. Stacy Lewis (12)
7. Paula Creamer (10)
8. Na Yeon Choi (9)
8. Ai Miyazato (9) [the only one on this list who doesn't meet criterion #2]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and officially doubt that Kerr will make it to 27 points.  And given how Shin, Creamer, Choi, and Miyazato have stalled, it's difficult to have much confidence that 2013's Big 3 will catch Tseng any time soon.  And Tseng needs to take a deep breath, realize that everyone runs into rough patches in a golf career, refocus, and learn to crawl again before she tries to run.

In short, everyone on this list has made a name for themselves, but it takes more than that to make history.  You might think that having 5 majors for the 2nd year in a row will make it easier to march up the list, but there are plenty of players capable of winning them who would love to catch those on the list by the end of next season.  Happy off season!