#21  Katherine Hull  (NR-NR-21)

Quick - how many players won a million dollars in LPGA events this year?  If you cheated by looking at the money list and answered 13, you lose.  Add Ji-Yai Shin to those official money listers for a record total of 14 millionaires in 2008.

Count Hull among those millionaires.  Considering she had only accumulated $156,000 by the end of June, that was quite an accomplishment.  Won the Canadian Open along with four other Top 5s and eight total Top 10s.  Katherine missed eight cuts in her first 14 starts but was one of the ten best players on Tour the rest of the way.

#22  Jee Young Lee  (10-5-7)

Not one of my best pre-season predictions, but far from my worst (I'll get into that in due time).  Jelly started slow, finished second at the Safeway International, and grabbed a couple more Top 10s at SemGroup and Michelob.  She then went 13 straight events without a Top 10 but made that streak a truly odd one by finishing Top 20 in eight of them (only four of those 13 were worse than T22).  Lee closed strong with five straight Top 10s, giving her eight on the year.  I doubt I'll pick her as a Top 10 player for 2009 but she still impresses me as one who has the talent to contend for the win on a weekly basis.

#23  Ji Young Oh  (NR-NR-17)

Of all the Koreans in my Top 30, who would you say is the least-known (or least-mentioned in the press) in America?  I would have to say it is Ji Young Oh, although Eun-Hee Ji would be a close second.  Shin has gotten lots of press lately and Song-Hee Kim is at least known from her Futures Tour record.  In-Kyung Kim is a candidate too but it seems like I've seen Inky a bit more than the other two.  Eun-Hee got some exposure during ADT.  Aside from the week she won State Farm, Oh has been non-existent.

Ji Young only collected four Top 10s all year but also only missed three cuts.  Over her last 12 events she finished T22 or better ten times but only once did she crack the Top 10 after winning at State Farm in July.

#24  Laura Diaz  (29-NR-19)

Laura only finished in the Top 10 six times in 27 starts but five of those were Top 5s.  She tied for second to start the year at SBS, came in fourth at the HSBC, fifth at the LPGA Championship, and racked up back-to-back thirds at Kapalua and in China.  She is a player with no major strengths in her game but other than perhaps accuracy off the tee, no major weaknesses either.  Gets the most out of her game, year-in year-out, of any player on Tour.

#25  Angela Park  (9-16-11)

The numbers I've been listing after each player's name denote their final 2007 ranking, their 2008 pre-season ranking and their highest ranking reached.  Yes, Angela ranked #11 in March - she finished T5 at SBS and her ROY 2007 season still weighed heavily in her favor.  By June she was gone from the Top 30 - a Top 10 at Stanford couldn't compensate for two missed cuts and three other finishes of 70 or worse.  Top Five performances at the U.S. Open, Arkansas and Evian pushed her back into the Top 20 but she slid to this point by the end of the season.  There is no doubt in my mind that Angela is a Top 20 player but her results don't always back that up.