Click the links if you missed Parts 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5.

#26  Christina Kim  (27-20-8)

Nine Top 10s in 30 starts but only one of them (T2 at Michelob) was a Top 5.  Christina also missed four cuts, two of them coming in majors - the Kraft Nabisco and LPGA Championship.  Those 30 starts tied Seon Hwa Lee, Katherine Hull, Sun Young Yoo and Meena Lee for the most on Tour.  Over the last five seasons, Christina has led or tied for the lead in this category four times.  She missed the lead by one in 2006 and while I couldn't find rankings data for her rookie season, in 2003 Kim started 28 out of 31 scheduled events.

#27  Morgan Pressel  (5-11-4)

The only "swing change victim" I know of to register a Top 30 season (I never confirmed that Angela Park was actually tinkering with hers), Morgan won at Kapalua and finished in the Top 10 a total of five times.  Those other four Top 10s all came prior to July but so did four of her five missed cuts.  Pressel played more on the weekend over the second half but you couldn't call her performances "more consistent".  Her second-half finishes ranged from the win to T69 at Mizuno, running the gamut between.

Pressel finished the year ranked 154^th in driving distance (down from T117 in 2007) and dropped from 241.8 yards per drive to 229.8.  It would be difficult to call her swing changes successful.

#28  Maria Hjorth  (15-30-10)

Maria lost to Yani Tseng in a four-hole playoff at the LPGA Championship, her fourth Top 10 of the season which vaulted her to #10 in the HD rankings.  The rest of 2008 saw no more Top 10s although she did collect five more Top 20s.  Her only two missed cuts of the year came before the playoff loss, so her slide down to this point was a relatively slow progression.  Hjorth does have a valid excuse for the decline - she's expecting her first child soon.  Because of that, we probably won't see her back in action until the second half of 2009.

#29  Mi Hyun Kim  (4-8-6)

After starting no less than 27 events in her last nine seasons running, Peanut was reduced to only 21 in 2008 while recovering from off-season knee surgery.  When she was able to go, she played well.  Four Top 10s including T3 at Corning, T6 at the U.S. Open and T10 at the LPGA Championship.  She missed two cuts, about her career average per start.  Her scoring average of 71.62 was a little off but comparable with her recent seasons.  Kim is getting married this off-season and while I wish her well in that, my greater wish is for her to regain the physical ability to play as many events as she is accustomed to in 2009.  

#30  Stacy Lewis  (NR-NR-25)

Stacy did nothing to invalidate this ranking by winning the Q-School Final by three shots.  In seven LPGA events this year, she twice finished in the Top 10 including a tie for third at the U.S. Open.  Her total earnings of $247,464 would have finished 59^th on the money list had she been a Tour member.  Lewis did miss one cut, at Navistar in late September.  Despite her ranking here, Stacy could be considered only the third favorite for Rookie of the Year next year behind Ji-Yai Shin and Michelle Wie.