Yesterday, I spelled out the special considerations I had to make in order to properly generate a list of the Greatest Rookie Seasons.  Each season is evaluated on its own merits with no factors outside of that season involved (especially a player's career value).  There should be no surprise with who is #1.

1.  Nancy Lopez  1978

Lopez earned her Tour card in July 1977 and under the rules of the time was eligible for the Rookie of the Year Award in 1978.  All she did in ‘78 was win nine times (five of them consecutive) including the LPGA Championship, finish first on the money list, earn both ROY and Player of the Year honors and win the Vare Trophy for having the lowest scoring average.  Nancy is the only player ever to sweep all four of the Tour's major honors in the same season.

As you read the synopses of these other great rookies, you'll notice that no other rookie won more than four times while Lopez won nine.  She lost twice in three playoff appearances that year so she just missed winning eleven.  In 26 starts she finished in the Top 10 19 times and only missed a cut when she withdrew from one event.  When I get around to rating the greatest individual seasons ever Lopez '78 should be among the best but when it comes to rookies, nobody else is even close.

2.  Karrie Webb  1996

By winning four times and finishing atop the money list in 1996, Karrie had the second best rookie season ever.  She also finished second five times with 15 total Top 10s in 25 starts while missing the cut only once.  In my retro-rankings for 1996, she finished a close third behind Laura Davies and Annika Sorenstam.  The previous summer, Webb had won the British Open as a non-member to begin a streak of ten consecutive seasons with at least one victory.  She later accumulated enough points to qualify for the LPGA Hall Of Fame in 2000 at the youngest age in history (25 years, 7 months).

3.  Se Ri Pak  1998

Many people point to Pak's U.S. Open victory as the day the Korean Invasion was born but that was the second major championship she won in her rookie season.  Seven weeks earlier she had won the LPGA Championship.  The week after the Open Se Ri won the first of her five Jamie Farr titles and two weeks after that, she won the Giant Eagle LPGA Classic.  During that two-month stretch she probably was the best player in the world (Annika Sorenstam won three times during that same span).  For the season Pak finished second on the money list, collected eight Top 10s in 27 starts and missed only one cut.

You probably noticed that Webb and Pak both won four times as rookies, and Pak won two majors while Webb didn't win any.  A couple of years ago I got into a spirited debate over at Seoulsisters.com on which player had the best season so if any of you saw that discussion I'm going to repeat myself here.

If you believe that winning major championships is the absolute indicator of golfing ability, then I'm never going to convince you that Karrie Webb was a better player in 1996 than Se Ri Pak was in 1998.  Even if I point out that Webb earned just over a million dollars two years before Pak earned $872,170, or that Webb finished second five times (one of them at duMaurier, a major at the time) to Pak's zero, or that Webb finished with 15 Top 10s to Pak's eight, or that Webb averaged more than half a stroke better (70.87) per round than Pak (71.41).  Over the entire season, Karrie was the better player.  For similar reasons, I also picked Sorenstam over Pak for 1998 Player of the Year and the Rolex award agreed.

4.  Jiyai Shin  2009

Shin won three times in her rookie season after winning three times (including the British Open) as a non-member in 2008.  She finished in the Top 5 five other times with 12 total Top 10s in 25 starts with one missed cut and one WD.  Jiyai finished the year atop the money list, second in scoring average and remained in the Player of the Year race down to the season's final hole before finishing second.  Oh yeah, she finished second in the HD rankings too.

5.  Paula Creamer  2005

Creamer won twice in 2005, finished second four times and third twice.  She was second on the money list, collected 11 Top 10s in 25 starts and missed only one cut.  Her third-place finish at the LPGA Championship that year is still (unfortunately) her best career performance in a major.  Paula was a distant second to you-know-who in the Player of the Year race but considering she was still a senior in high school the first four months of the season, she did alright.

6.  Juli Inkster  1984

Juli won twice in 1984, both times in major championships - the Nabisco Dinah Shore and the du Maurier Classic - becoming the first rookie ever to win two majors.  She finished sixth on the money list with ten Top 10 finishes in 26 starts and two missed cuts.

7.  Yani Tseng  2008

Yani's one win as a rookie was the LPGA Championship but she also finished second five times and third two other times.  She was third on the money list with 10 Top 10 finishes in 27 starts and one missed cut.

8.  Anna Nordqvist  2009

Nordqvist won twice as a rookie, at the LPGA Championship and the season-ending Tour Championship.  She earned five Top 10 finishes in only 17 starts with no missed cuts.  Despite only ranking 15^th on the money list, Anna finished 2009 as my seventh-ranked player and had the greatest rookie season by any player who did not win the Rookie of the Year Award.

9.  Mi Hyun Kim  1999

Peanut won twice in her rookie season (once with Larry Smich on her bag), finished third once and collected 12 Top 10s in 30 starts.  She missed three cuts but finished eighth on the money list and in my 1999 retro-rankings.

10.  Patty Sheehan  1981

Patty won the Mazda Japan Classic - the final event of the year - to secure the 1981 Rookie of the Year Award.  It was probably a big relief for Sheehan as she had come close to winning on several occasions that year before breaking through.  She registered two second-place finishes, three thirds, 15 total Top 10s in 25 starts with only one missed cut.  She ranked 11^th in both the money list standings and my 1981 retro-rankings.

11.  Beth Daniel  1979

Daniel won the Patty Berg Classic, finished second twice and third four times, and collected an amazing 16 Top 10s in 25 starts (the best percentage of any of these players other than Lopez).  She missed two cuts and wound up tenth on the money list - with less than $100,000 earned.  My how times have changed!

12.  Michelle Wie  2009

Michelle won the Ochoa Invitational along with two second-place finishes and two thirds.  She was 10^th in my season-ending rankings and 14^th on the money list with eight total Top 10s and two missed cuts in 19 starts.  With three of the top 12 rookie seasons of all time, 2009 seems to be a shoo-in to beat out 2006 for the Greatest Rookie Class ever.

13.  Lorena Ochoa  2003

Although she didn't win as a rookie, Ochoa did finish ninth on the money list with eight Top 10s in 24 starts.  Two of them were second-place finishes and three were thirds while she only missed one cut.  2003 remains the only season of her career that Lorena went without a victory.

14.  Sandra Post  1968

One of Sandra's pages at LPGA.com says she was a rookie in 1964 but her more detailed page says 1968 and Golfobserver.com shows her with only three career starts prior to ‘68, so 1968 it is.  Post won the LPGA Championship that year with eight other Top 10 finishes.  She failed to finish in the money only once in her 26 starts (the at-the-time equivalent of an MC) and finished 13^th on the money list and 12^th in my retro-rankings.

15.  Na Yeon Choi  2008

So it was true - Na Yeon Choi did have the greatest rookie season ever for a player who did not win Rookie of the Year, until Anna Nordqvist and Michelle Wie both beat her out for that distinction the very next season.  With no victories, Choi built her resume with nine Top 10s, two seconds, five total Top 5s, 11^th place on the money list and zero missed cuts.

16.  Amy Alcott  1975

Alcott won the Orange Blossom Classic in only her third professional event and went on to collect six more Top 10s in 20 starts that season, including one second when she lost in a playoff to Sandra Haynie.  She missed the cut once and finished 14^th on the HD chart and 15^th on the money list.

17.  Debbie Massey  1977

This is the player who won Rookie of the Year the year that Nancy Lopez was officially a rookie.  Massey won the Mizuno Classic, collected seven Top 10 finishes, missed one cut and wound up 15^th on the money list and 15^th in my retro-rankings.  Debbie later won two other LPGA tournaments and twice won the Women's British Open (in 1980 and '81, before it was an LPGA event).

18.  Seon Hwa Lee  2006

Seon Hwa won ShopRite and finished second three times en route to the 2006 ROY Award.  In 28 events she missed no cuts and finished in the Top 10 a total of seven times.  Lee was my 10^th-ranked player overall that year as she finished 12^th on the money list.

19.  Julieta Granada  2006

Won the million-dollar first prize at the ADT Championship - which propelled her to a fourth-place finish on the money list - and collected six other Top 10 finishes.  I ranked her at #15 for that season (and behind Seon Hwa Lee) because she missed four cuts in 30 starts.  She did finish second twice that year so the margin between them is thin, indeed.

20.  Angela Park  2007

Park did not win as a rookie but she did finish second at the U.S. Open and third three times.  She collected eight total Top 10s in 28 starts, missing one cut while finishing eighth on the money list and ninth in my rankings.

The rest of the Top 30 Greatest Rookies are:

21.  JoAnne Carner  1970

22.  Marta Figueras-Dotti  1984

23.  Liselotte Neumann  1988

24.  Laura Baugh  1973

25.  Lori Garbacz  1980

26.  Brandie Burton  1991

27.  Lisa Hall (Hackney)  1997

28.  Ai Miyazato  2006

29.  Helen Alfredsson  1992

30.  Meena Lee  2005

Honorable Mention:

Morgan Pressel  2006

Jee Young Lee  2006

Suzann Pettersen  2003

Betsy King  1978

Shi Hyun Ahn  2004

Jocelyne Bourassa  1972