Sybase Match Play Championship - Epilogue
by hound dog on May 23, 2011 8:00 AM PDT
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I mentioned in my tournament preview that neither Cristie Kerr nor Suzann Pettersen had stellar records in singles match play. How ironic that those two would then reach the final match! If that's not a reverse Hound Dog jinx, I don't know what would be... Pettersen now has eight Hall of Fame points but at the age of thirty is still climbing a steep slope to reach the magic number of 27.
Since her last victory at the 2009 Canadian Open, Suzann Pettersen had finished second six times and in the Top 5 six other times in 29 starts. Very few players put themselves into a position to win more often than Suzann - without researching it maybe Yani Tseng, Na Yeon Choi and Kerr?
My tournament preview contained a couple of mistakes, none bigger than my statement that the seedings would be determined by Rolex Ranking. I was positive that the preview post at LPGA.com had reported that (the version now available makes me out a liar), and last year's tournament used Rolex. Imagine my surprise to find that Na Yeon Choi was the #1 seed and Yani Tseng was #4. I didn't realize why until the Golf Channel crowd informed us Thursday that the 2010 money list was used instead. The 1-4 switcheroo wasn't the only strangeness generated by this method. Stacy Lewis and Karrie Webb were saddled with the 21st and 23rd seeds and Jee Young Lee was honored as #19 despite her terrible 2011 record. Seedings in a golf tournament don't have that great an influence on the outcome but if you're going to do it, at least make them sensible. I'm still not convinced that I mis-read the original post but I don't have any evidence to prove it.
Pettersen and company bucked a trend which had been fairly solid in recent history. In the four LPGA match play events since the beginning of the 2005 season, the highest seed to emerge victorious had been Seon Hwa Lee in the 2007 HSBC Match Play - she was seeded #22. Last year's champ Sun Young Yoo was seeded 28th, Brittany Lincicome was #39 in 2006 and Marisa Baena was #60 in 2005. Lee's record was destined to be broken the moment Sophie Gustafson lost to Choi in Saturday's quarterfinals.
I wound up with 54 points in the Golfweek challenge, a far cry from the winning total of 143(!) by a fellow named J.Dolan. Check out his bracket - he had Pettersen defeating Kerr in the final and Choi playing in the semis. Brittany Lincicome was his only mistake among the Final Four and he also had Tseng and Ai Miyazato in the quarterfinals. Talk about a crystal ball!
Julieta Granada defeated Morgan Pressel and Seon Hwa Lee (no match-play slouches there) before falling in Round Three in Yani Tseng. For this, the #62 seed earns this week's Big Surprise Award. As the highest seed to fall on Thursday, Jiyai Shin takes home the Big Disappointment.
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Sybase
Ken you are 100% correct, I am the one that called the LPGA and told them that they were wrong in posting that the Rolex rankings would be used for determining the top 48 players. They took it off soon after.
I think too many people are making a fuss about the seedings. Kariie Webb was very vocal about having to play Paula in the second round. I can see your point but just for a second here, let me play the devils advocate. If we went by this years list than someone like Ai Miazato who earned her 6 seed last year in a full 24 event schedule, would have been outside the top 32 this year because of a poor start.. 6 tournaments in 2011 is such a small example and should not be used.
Rolex
Then they should have used the Rolex rankings to ensure relevance. Six events is too few and last year’s records didn’t guarantee good pairings.
"(I)f you think you've got an inside track to absolute truth, you become doctrinaire, humorless and intellectually constipated." Saul Alinsky
The Rolex Ranking would provide a more "international" field than the LPGA money list.
I agree that the Rolex Rankings would provide better match-ups. Using the LPGA money list for the past 12 months might make sense but involve two different money lists. The Sybase had it’s reasons for using the LPGA money list instead. The use of the LPGA money list takes the play on the LET, JLPGA, and KLPGA out of the equation. This helped the positioning of the American players whose earning generally all come in LPGA events. There are at least 5 players who play an occasional LPGA event but are ranked in the top 20 in the Rolex based primarily on their play in JLPGA events. (#9 Ahn, #17 Fudoh, #18 Arimura, #19 Yokomine and #20 Saiki) These 5 would have been seeded in the top half based on the Rolex ranking the week prior to the Sybase. You would also add Jeon (#21) and Baba (#29) to the top half of the seed. I know that the media coverage for the Sybase were promoting the American players like crazy. Pettersen was a 5 seed and Rolex #3 and didn’t get any coverage until the Championship match and look at the players she went through to get there. Choi was the top seeded golfer and was off the radar screen all week as well. Emily Kay gave the Pettersen – Choi match a small paragraph to at least a dozen for the Kerr – Stanford semifinal match. This is not so much a problem for the PGA because they will have multiple articles every day while the LPGA generally gets only one story a day.
They should have used the Rolex Ranking to determine the seeds
The players can be determined by one set of criteria (2010 money list, top 10 in previous tournament, sponsor execmptions, etc) and then seeded by Rolex Rankings (RR). That way the Rolex Ranking does not provide a more “international field”as it does not change who is in the tournament at all. If the #9 RR player is not in the field the #10 becomes the #9 seed,etc. That way the best players do not play until later in the tournament.
People were confused enough this week with just one ranking criteria.....
Using one ranking system (2010 LPGA money list) to shape the field and another (Rolex Ranking) to seed the field would probably be even more confusing. What about when one player is higher for entry and then is lower for seeding? Pick one criteria and stick with it. No one is going to be 100% happy with whatever you do.
I’m not a huge fan of the draw for the bottom half of the bracket. Yani Tseng made it to the quarterfinals playing the 63, 64, and 62 seeds. Bunching the 3 lowest seeds in one half of the Kathy Whitworth bracket does not make for great golf even if it is by random chance. The Rolex Ranking #1 player and 4th seeded should expect a little bit easier ride but that’s a bit much. Their Rolex rankings were #257, #448, and #132. That’s a pretty easy route to a 5th place finish. To me that was worse than Creamer – Webb (Rolex #12 v #8) playing in the second round. Neither player, reporter, or fan complained about In Bee Park playing Ai Miyazato in the second round yet they were higher ranked players (Rolex #11 v #7).
Jan Stephenson
Jan Stephenson suggests inviting and seeding player according to LPGA golfers who have the most syllables in their full name,
And based on that news.......
Virada Nirapathpongporn un-retires from competitive golf.
by sports medic on May 25, 2011 6:31 AM PDT up reply actions
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