Top 70 - July 2009
by hound dog on Jul 14, 2009 3:00 PM PDT
5 comments
It's been five events since I last posted my rankings (two of them major championships) so I'm way overdue. 2009 performance now counts for 75% of the ranking. Rookies are in bold and the player's previous ranking is in parenthesis. Comments after the jump.
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1. Lorena Ochoa (1) 2. Jiyai Shin (3) 3. Cristie Kerr (5) 4. Yani Tseng (4) 5. Paula Creamer (2) 6. Angela Stanford (6) 7. Suzann Pettersen (7) 8. In-Kyung Kim (11) 9. Eun-Hee Ji (14) 10. Song-Hee Kim (10) 11. Na Yeon Choi (9) 12. Karrie Webb (8) 13. Ai Miyazato (22) 14. Michelle Wie (24) 15. Lindsey Wright (21) 16. Seon Hwa Lee (12) 17. Brittany Lang (17) 18. Ji Young Oh (13) 19. Kristy McPherson (30) 20. Anna Nordqvist (NR) 21. Jee Young Lee (20) 22. Katherine Hull (15) 23. Sun Young Yoo (26) 24. Morgan Pressel (29) 25. Helen Alfredsson (18) 26. Brittany Lincicome (45) 27. Hee-Won Han (23) 28. Natalie Gulbis (32) 29. Wendy Ward (28) 30. Hee Young Park (25) ------------------------ 31. Nicole Castrale (41) 32. Candie Kung (36) 33. Juli Inkster (33) 34. Se Ri Pak (53) 35. Amy Yang (54) 36. Momoko Ueda (31) 37. Stacy Lewis (46) 38. Pat Hurst (39) 39. Annika Sorenstam (16) 40. Meaghan Francella (NR) 41. Mi Hyun Kim (34) 42. Mika Miyazato (63) 43. Jane Park (27) 44. Teresa Lu (37) 45. Kyeong Bae (NR) 46. Inbee Park (38) 47. Jimin Kang (42) 48. Angela Park (19) 49. Eunjung Yi (NR) 50. Christina Kim (40) 51. Sandra Gal (48) 52. Vicky Hurst (59) 53. Allison Hanna-Williams (NR) 54. Meena Lee (43) 55. Maria Hjorth (47) 56. Soo-Yun Kang (61) 57. Michele Redman (51) 58. Haeji Kang (NR) 59. Sarah Kemp (NR) 60. Sophie Gustafson (49) 61. Karen Stupples (44) 62. Anna Grzebien (NR) 63. Young Kim (65) 64. Kris Tamulis (NR) 65. Shanshan Feng (57) 66. Janice Moodie (NR) 67. Stacy Prammanasudh (50) 68. Karin Sjodin (NR) 69. Jeong Jang (35) 70. Jimin Jeong (60)
Out: Laura Diaz (52) Giulia Sergas (55) Minea Blomqvist (56) Catriona Matthew (58) Louise Stahle (62) Katie Futcher (64) Alena Sharp (66) Anja Monke (67) Leta Lindley (68) Il Mi Chung (69) Becky Morgan (70) |
Lorena Ochoa had a 31.5 point lead in my system the last time I ranked the players. That lead is down to 11.25. If Jiyai Shin had won the U.S. Open, she would have taken away the top spot. A non-major victory by Shin would not be enough at this point but Lorena had better get her game back in order very soon.
With three rookies in the Top 20 and seven in the Top 60, we are still on track to beating out 2006 as the greatest rookie class of all time. It's been a couple of years since I created that list so I ought to update it during one of the many upcoming off-weeks.
If you're wondering why Candie Kung only moved up four spots after finishing second in the Open, here is her line in the five events leading up to Saucon Valley - MC, MC, T57, MC, T33. Speaking of bad lines, Angela Park's five straight missed cuts (if you count her WD at the LPGA Championship as an MC like the Tour does) dropped her 29 positions.
Brittany Lincicome has missed three cuts in her last five events. In the other two she finished T10 and fifth. The newest Pat Hurst/Karrie Webb?
Other than Anna Nordqvist, the highest debuting player is Meaghan Francella, who jumped into the Top 40. T18 at State Farm, T7 at Wegmans and T17 at the Open with no missed cuts in her last five events (and only one since Phoenix) are the reasons for the jump. Like Nordqvist, Eunjung Yi enters the Top 70 because of a victory but too many missed cuts prevent Yi from going any higher than #49.
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WD counts as MC?
Why do you say that? That isn’t what I see when I compare the performance charts with the bios. For example, Jeong Jang’s bio page says 2008 27 events 26 cuts made. Her 2008 performance chart shows MC at Stanford and WDC after the first round of the British Open. If WD counted as MC, wouldn’t her bio say only 25 cuts made?
#$@%#$%#$#!!!
For a couple of years I didn’t count any WDs as MCs and found my MC numbers not matching the LPGA stats. So I conformed to what I thought was their logic. Now as I look at your JJ example (along with last year’s records of Shi Hyun Ahn and Mi Hyun Kim), I see I’ve been stymied again!
But which picture is the “accurate” one? If a player starts an event and withdraws before completing 36 holes, they did not make the cut. If a player plays 36 holes with a score that would not have made the cut but withdraws before the rest of the players finish Round Two, they did not make the cut. If a player makes the cut and then withdraws, they made the cut.
Since I follow the logic in the above paragraph to denote whether a WD counts as an MC and the LPGA does not, am I making the mistake or is the Tour?
The Tour is making the mistake
The Tour considers a missed cut as completing 36 holes with a score that is too high. Regarding the cuts made number in the bios, the Tour is treating it as if made cuts equaled total events minus missed cuts. There are other possibilities such as WD and DQ. To be accurate, JJ’s bio would need to say either:
27 events, 1 cut missed or
27 events, 26 cuts not missed
Essentially, there is no such statistic as cuts made. Whenever anyone uses a phrase like “consecutive cuts made” they really mean “consecutive cuts not missed.” Jane Blalock’s record of 299 included numerous WDs, so it wasn’t a cuts-made streak but rather a cuts-not-missed streak. Even if you use the correct name “cuts not missed,” that’s a dubious concept too. When a player plays in a limited-field event it gets counted as a “cut not missed” even though there is no cut that could be missed!
If you want to create your own “cuts made” or “tournaments finished” statistics that’s fine, but you won’t be able to use the numbers from the tables in the LPGA bios pages. You’ll have to do it yourself manually for each player from her performance charts for each year.
I believe you are right on the Tour's MC logic
Moving forward, I can apply my own parameters on who missed the cut. Unfortunately my historic rankings are based on the LPGA’s parameters and I don’t think I’ll be taking the time in the near future to re-research all of that.
Unless of course, the Tour wants to hire me for that statistician position they so desperately need to fill!
aaargh!
I’m in the same boat! I think the best solution is to count tournaments finished, but now I’m going t have to go back and recheck everything for 4 years of rookie classes….
Anyway, my list looks a lot like yours (see the fanpost in the sidebar). I swear I wasn’t copying!
by The Constructivist on Jul 15, 2009 8:42 AM PDT reply actions
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