Top 100 All Time LPGA Players - Se Ri Pak, Maria Hjorth & more

An additional 13 players reached the 10 tournament mark for the year at the U.S. Women's Open. 8 of those players have not yet reached the 100 tournament threshold to be rated - Na-Yeon Choi, Haeji Kang, Mika Miyazato, Anna Nordqvist, Hee Young Park, Hee Kyung Seo, Michelle Wie, and Ji-Yai Shin. Ji-Yai Shin presents the horns of a dilemma. Based on my data, Shin is the only non-member to ever play in 10 tournaments in a year. If I rate her only as an LPGA member then I have to ignore a year that she won 3 times with a major. But my rating system up till now has always considered only play as an LPGA member. Currently I am running the calculations with and without the 2008 year. Either way, if Shin continues to perform as she has, she will make the Top 50 LPGA Players List.

Alena Sharp has reached the 10 tournament mark and is over the 100 tournament threshold but is not in the Top 100. Candie Kung has now reached the 10 year mark and is #75 in the Top 100. Sophie Gustafson is up to 13 years and is rated #81. Maria Hjorth is now up to 14 years and is rated #91. Hjorth at the end of last year before the final tournament was outside the Top 100. When Hjorth won the last tournament of the year she made the Top 100 at #97. It will be interesting to see how high she goes by the end of this year as she won earlier this year.

Se Ri Pak is the other player that reached the 10 tournament mark. There have been a lot of stories about Yani Tseng and her 4 majors and 8 victories in this her 4th year. Se Ri Pak had 4 majors and 18 victories in her first five years. So Yani Tseng has a year and a half to get 10 more victories to get the same hot start that Se Ri Pak had. Se Ri is currently rated at #24. After 7 years Se Ri Pak would have been rated #19 and projected to be in the Top 5 players if she continued her yearly average rating. Then she was injured and had a mental burnout. That is why my crystal ball is always cloudy (injury, illness, surgery, mental burnout are always possible hurdles for a players career).