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Top 40 Players of the Decade

You knew I wasn't going to let this one slide by before the year was out...

To rank the best players of the 2000s, I used the same method I have used in the past to rank players across multiple years (such as the Sorenstam Era and the Best of the ‘90s).  I took my seasonal rankings for all ten years and awarded points for finishing in the Top 30, from 100 points to the Player of the Year down to one point for 30th place.  After adding them all up, here are the best 40:

1.  Annika Sorenstam

2.  Lorena Ochoa

3.  Karrie Webb

4.  Cristie Kerr

5.  Se Ri Pak

6.  Mi Hyun Kim

7.  Juli Inkster

8.  Paula Creamer

9.  Hee-Won Han

10. Meg Mallon

11. Grace Park

12. Rosie Jones

13. Jeong Jang

14. Suzann Pettersen

15. Lorie Kane

16. Catriona Matthew

17. Jiyai Shin

18. Pat Hurst

19. Seon Hwa Lee

20. Michele Redman

21. Rachel Hetherington

22. Laura Diaz

23. Candie Kung

24. Angela Stanford

25. Yani Tseng

26. Natalie Gulbis

27. Michelle Wie

28. Na Yeon Choi

29. Dottie Pepper

30. Ai Miyazato

31. Morgan Pressel

32. Carin Koch

33. Laura Davies

34. Sophie Gustafson

35. Beth Daniel

36. Karen Stupples

37. Stacy Prammanasudh

38. Janice Moodie

39. Jee Young Lee

40. Anna Nordqvist

 

Keep in mind that only about a third of these players played regularly the entire decade so the ones that didn't had fewer seasons to amass points.  I don't make any adjustments for number of seasons played because I believe the best measurement of a player's career value is the total area under the curve, as opposed to any perceived average value.  Nearly all of the 40 rated as a Top 10 player in at least one of the seasons and most made that list in two or more.

Also - as you're checking out the list, beware of falling into the "so-and-so should be ranked higher because she has more wins than what's-her-name" trap.  My rating system takes a lot more than just victories into account and this list reflects that as well.

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I’m not a stats geek so I can’t even begin to argue about position on the list. Frankly, most look about right. The one issue I have is with number 40, Anna Nordqvist. I have a hard time believing a player with less than a full season, even though she had two victories, would qualify in the player of the decade rankings. Longevity really should be considered when the time frame is ten years.

Truth has a well-known liberal bias.

by dianemarie on Dec 4, 2009 8:00 PM PST reply actions  

I do consider longevity. If I didn’t, Nordqvist’s “average season” would probably have landed her in the Top 10 when compared with the “average season” of everybody else.

Maybe this example will help explain how this ranking is set up – suppose Anna had played the first nine years of the decade, didn’t finish in the Top 30 during any of those years and then had the 2009 she actually had. She would rank #40 for the decade.

by hound dog on Dec 5, 2009 4:16 AM PST up reply actions  

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