A Quick Look at the LET on Independence Day!

Nice to see LPGA Class of 2008er Sarah Kemp leading at the halfway point of the ISPS Handa Ladies European Masters!  With Amy Boulden and Celine Herbin 3 shots back and the likes of In-Kyung Kim, Gwladys Nocera, Lee-Anne Pace, Minjee Lee, and American Amelia Lewis 4 off the pace, Kemp will need to build on her 67-68 start this weekend.

I'm glad to see Americans Katie Burnett (-3) and Hannah Jun (-2) beating Karrie Webb (-1) and Charley Hull (E), but I'm hoping they all play better on moving day.  Same goes for Ariya Jutanugarn, Cheyenne Woods, and Su-Hyun Oh at +1.  I'm happy Nobuhle Dlamini and Nontaya Srisawang held on to make the cut, but feel bad for those who couldn't, like Marianne Skarpnord, Carin Koch, Stacey Keating, Beth Allen, Minea Blomqvist, Joanna Klatten, Simin Feng, Melissa Reid, Caroline Martens, and Marta Silva Zamora.  At least Laura Davies (+4) and Lorie Kane (+5) get to play on the weekend!

Happy 4th of July, everyone!

Nichi-Iko Ladies Friday: Sakura Yokomine and Maiko Wakabayashi Fire 65s to Take Lead

Defending champion Young Kim birdied 5 of her 1st 7 holes to jump out to an early lead in the Nichi-Iko Ladies, but finished bogey-double-par to open the door to a host of players.  Leading the charge was Sakura Yokomine, who shot a bogey-free 65, and Maiko Wakabayashi, whose 31 on the back lifted her into a tie for the lead with the player who looks like she's peaking at just the right time for Team Japan in the LPGA's International Crown.  Meanwhile, KLPGA transplant Yeon-Ju Jung fired her best round as a JLPGA member, a 7-birdie 66 that left her tied with 6-time winner Akane Iijima 1 shot behind the co-leaders.  Ritsuko Ryu, 20-year-old Rie Tsuji, and 22-in-2-days Natsuka Hori all made it into the mid-60s, as well, shooting 67s with 1, 2, and 0 bogeys, respectively.

With many big-name players taking the week off to prepare for the Women's British Open, you have to look lower on the leader board to find the remaining well-known players:  Teresa Lu shot a 70, Bo-Mee Lee a 71, Yumiko Yoshida a 72, and Yuko Mitsuka withdrew.  That leaves former top players like Bo-Bae Song (70), Shinobu Moromizato (72), and Hyun-Ju Shin (72) amid a sea of players like Wakabayashi, who have shown glimpses of greatness but haven't sustained it:  Na-Ri Lee, Miki Sakai, and Lala Anai at -3, Junko Omoto, Hiromi Mogi, and Kaori Ohe at -2, Na-Ri Kim, Mayu Hattori, and Yukari Baba at -1, Saiki Fujita and Erika Kikuchi at E, Esther Lee at +1, Rui Kitada, Ji-Woo Lee, and Kumiko Kaneda at +2, Yun-Jye Wei and Yuki Sakurai at +3, and Kaori Aoyama at +6.

So Yokomine has a great opportunity to make a big statement on the eve of the Women's British Open.  Let's see how she does on the weekend!

The Best in LPGA Majors Since 2000, July 2014 Edition

With the 3rd LPGA major of 2014 one week away, it's time I unveiled my updated ranking of the top performers in LPGA majors since the start of the 2000 season (excepting the du Maurier, which last counted as an LPGA major that season).  What's different than the April 2014 and June 2014 editions?  Just wins in the 1st 2 majors of the season by Lexi Thompson and Michelle Wie!

You can find more details on my spreadsheet, which is basically a modification of my career ranking system of the LPGA's rookie classes from 2005 to 2014, but in a nutshell its core idea is to reward both consistency and peak performances, with a special bonus for being able to win more than one major and an even bigger bonus for winning the same major more than once (it's kind of like Yahtzee that way!).  The formula I use to put it all together results in the following ranking, with the number of points gained or lost since the last ranking [in brackets] following each player's point total (in parentheses):

Simply the Best

1. Annika Sorenstam (3034)
2. Ya Ni Tseng (2084) [-55]
3. Karrie Webb (1971) [-23]
4. Inbee Park (1834) [-43]

The Contenders

5. Stacy Lewis (1643) [+73]
6. Lorena Ochoa (1569)

The Next Best

7. Ji-Yai Shin (1463)
8. So Yeon Ryu (1441) [+5]
9. Se Ri Pak (1358) [-16]
10. Suzann Pettersen (1344) [-23]
11. Cristie Kerr (1312) [-18]
12. Na Yeon Choi (1176) [-18]
13. Paula Creamer (1137) [-11]

Quantum Leap Candidates

14. In-Kyung Kim (998) [-24]
15. Michelle Wie (996) [+204]
16. Morgan Pressel (992) [-20]
17. Lexi Thompson (896) [+32]
18. Catriona Matthew (825) [+14]
19. Grace Park (795)
20. Amy Yang (785) [+26]
21. Juli Inkster (762) [new]
22. Eun-Hee Ji (754) [-26]
23. Anna Nordqvist (740) [-26]
24. Ai Miyazato (694) [-15]
25. Brittany Lincicome (690) [-1]
26. Angela Park (664)
27. Shanshan Feng (629) [+1]
28. Lydia Ko (624) [+4]
29. Song-Hee Kim (621)
30. Angela Stanford (595) [-7]
31. Jeong Jang (533)
T32. Brittany Lang (522) [-8]
T32. Hee Kyung Seo (522)

The Best of the Rest

34. Sun Young Yoo (498) [-11]
35. Natalie Gulbis (486) [-8]
36. Candie Kung (485) [-5]
37. Hee Young Park (462) [+6]
38. Mika Miyazato (460) [-13]
39. Kristy McPherson (427)
40. Jee Young Lee (420) [-8]
41. Chella Choi (396) [+9]
42. Lindsey Wright (380)
43. Christina Kim (376)
44. Azahara Munoz (360) [-10]
45. Hee-Won Han (353)
46. Caroline Masson (336) [-19]
47. Lizette Salas (307) [-24]
48. Caroline Hedwall (306) [-11]
49. Meaghan Francella (296)
50. Katherine [Hull] Kirk (295) [-3]

It's interesting to see who performs better in majors than regular events and vice versa--although as you can see from the big movers, there's a bit more volatility on this list than in my career ranking system.

The Best to Join the LPGA Since 2005, July 2014 Edition

With all due respect to the JLPGA's Nichi-Iko Ladies, the LET's ISPS Handa Ladies European Masters, and the KLPGA's Kumho Tire Women's Open, I'm going to take advantage of the LPGA's off-week before the Ricoh Women's British Open to take another look at how the best players to join the LPGA since 2005 stack up against each other, career-wise, something I just did in June before the U.S. Women's Open.  For the full rundown, check out my spreadsheet.  The first number in brackets following each active player's name and point total represents how many points they have gained or lost since my last ranking; the 2nd, how many they have gained or lost in 2014.

Simply the Best

1. Ya Ni Tseng (3759) [-31] [-165]

The Contenders

2. Ji-Yai Shin (3376)
3. Stacy Lewis (3158) [+183] [+456]
4. Lydia Ko (3146) [+126] [n/a]
5. Inbee Park (2827) [-16] [+102]

6. Na Yeon Choi (2724) [+2] [-100]

7. Paula Creamer (2717) [-2] [+22]

The Next Best

8. So Yeon Ryu (2346) [+51] [-118]
9. Lexi Thompson (2185) [+6] [+343]
10. Ai Miyazato (2117) [-14] [-101]
11. Michelle Wie (1926) [+319] [+569]

Quantum Leap Candidates

12. In-Kyung Kim (1694) [-5] [-65]
13. Anna Nordqvist (1678) [-18] [+231]

14. Shanshan Feng (1635) [-7] [+12]

15. Brittany Lincicome (1449) [+3] [-38]

16. Morgan Pressel (1317) [-6] [-38]
17. Amy Yang (1254) [+25] [+15]
18. Azahara Munoz (1245) [-11] [+64]
19. Song-Hee Kim (1226)
20. Lizette Salas (1215) [-33] [+246]

21. Seon Hwa Lee (1173) [-4] [-51]
T22. Jessica Korda (1170) [-25] [+308]
T22. Hee Kyung Seo (1170) [+/-0][-89]

24. Mika Miyazato (1148) [-15] [-79]
25. Angela Park (1114)
26. Hee Young Park (1085) [+5] [-103]
27. Beatriz Recari (1072) [-12] [-92]

28. Eun-Hee Ji (1032) [-4] [-15]

29. Sun Young Yoo (1028) [-6] [-37]

The Best of the Rest

30. Jee Young Lee (969) [-7] [-39]
31. Caroline Hedwall (913) [-16] [-84]

32. Brittany Lang (909) [-3] [-28]
33. Meena Lee (879) [+23] [+28]

34. Chella Choi (874) [+21] [+92]
T35. Jenny Shin (770) [+33] [+132]
T35. Julieta Granada (770) [+9] [+16]

37. Momoko Ueda (765)
38. Gerina Piller (753) [-10] [+61]
39. Sandra Gal (725) [-1] [-5]
40. Jennifer Johnson (704) [-1] [+16]
41. Pornanong Phatlum (694) [+38] [+90]
42. Ilhee Lee (642) [-9] [-84]
43. Jodi Ewart Shadoff (624) [-13] [-39]
44. Ji Young Oh (589) [-1] [-23]
45. Teresa Lu (585)
46. Kristy McPherson (576) [-2] [-28]
47. Mi Jung Hur (566) [+4] [-31]

48. Carlota Ciganda (564) [-20] [-204]

49. Haeji Kang (552) [-5] [+4]

50. Caroline Masson (531) [-1] [+1]

So here are the golfers performing the most better thus far this season than their career averages would lead you to expect:

• Michelle Wie +41.9%
• Jessica Korda +35.7%
• Lizette Salas +25.4%
• Jenny Shin +20.7%
• Lexi Thompson +18.6%
• Stacy Lewis +16.9%
• Anna Nordqvist +16.0%
• Pornanong Phatlum +14.9%
• Chella Choi +11.8%
• Gerina Piller +8.8%
• Azahara Munoz +5.4%
• Inbee Park +3.7%
• Meena Lee +3.3%

And here are those performing the most worse:

• Carlota Ciganda -26.6%
• Ilhee Lee -11.6%
• Hee Young Park -8.7%
• Caroline Hedwall -8.4%
• Beatriz Recari -7.9%
• Hee Kyung Seo -7.1%
• Mika Miyazato -6.4%
• Jodi Ewart Shadoff -5.9%
• Mi Jung Hur -5.2%
• So Yeon Ryu -4.8%
• Ai Miyazato -4.6%
• Kristy McPherson -4.6%
• Ya Ni Tseng -4.2%
• Seon Hwa Lee -4.2%
• Jee Young Lee -3.9%
• Ji Young Oh -3.8%
• In-Kyung Kim -3.7%
• Na Yeon Choi -3.5%
• Sun Young Yoo -3.5%

To clarify the difference between these lists and those Tony Jesselli just did in his most recent surprises and disappointments post, my system isn't about absolute expectations (say, how high we might have expected a player to finish on the year-end money list, Player of the Year ranking, or Race to the CME Globe), but relative expectations (how well we'd expect them to perform this year based on their past performances).  

I set out my absolute expectations back in January, so you can see that my top disappointments thus far this season would be Ai Miyazato, Caroline Hedwall, Beatriz Recari, Carlota Ciganda, Mika Miyazato, Na Yeon Choi, In-Kyung Kim, Hee Young Park, and Sun Young Yoo (given Suzann Pettersen's injury and Hee Kyung Seo's pregnancy, it's not fair to put them on this list), while my biggest surprises would be Michelle Wie, Jessica Korda, Lizette Salas, Karrie Webb, Pornanong Phatlum, Anna Nordqvist, Cristie Kerr, Gerina Piller, and Meena Lee.

Given the greater potential volatility for those players with fewer starts as LPGA members (say, Ciganda, Hedwall, Ryu, Ewart Shadoff, Lee, and Seo on the down side and Salas, Thompson, Korda, Shin, and Phatlum on the up side), I would have to say that the most impressive improvements thus far this season on their own past performances have been made by Wie, Lewis, and Nordqvist, while those falling the furthest beneath the expectations their past performances have established are The Rocket, Recari, and Mikan.  True, Ai-sama's season has been going from mediocre to bad to worse, but not only has she built herself a big cushion with those 9 wins, she's also gone through slumps before.  I admit things aren't looking good for her heading into what used to be her best major (until she missed the cut in it the last 3 years in a row!), but I maintain that she just needs to find something on the greens to end this slump.

Next up, I'm going to take a closer look at how Michelle Wie's U.S. Open victory has affected her ranking among those to perform the best in LPGA majors since 2000.  Then I'll be in position to update my ranking of the best on the LPGA without a major next week and set up my picks for the WBO.

Strong Field at the Ladies European Masters This Week!

Check out the field list for the Ladies European Masters!  Along with legends like Laura Davies and Sophie Gustafson and LET stalwarts Carin Koch, Gwladys Nocera, Lee-Anne Pace, and Melissa Reid, the tournament features such international stars as defending champion Karrie Webb, Lorie Kane, and In-Kyung Kim, such rising stars as 2014 Order of Merit leader Charley Hull, Ariya Jutanugarn, Caroline Masson, and Cheyenne Woods, such intriguing LET young guns as Sally Watson, Nobuhle Dlamini, and Caroline Martens, and such top amateurs as Minjee Lee, Su-Hyun Oh, Simin Feng, Georgia Hall, and Mathilda Cappeliez.  And that's just the tip of the iceberg for this Women's British Open tune-up!