Priority Shuffle Update - WTF?!?

The official Priority List was updated on August 2^nd and apparently posted late on the 3^rd.  IceCat noticed it yesterday and commented about some of the strangeness found within so I thought I would talk about that here.

August 2011 Priority List

Jin Young Pak is listed twice - at #129 and #152 - which is a greater error than the one I made by estimating she would be at #133.  When I wrote my post last week, I was referencing the posted Priority List at LPGA.com and it showed Pak at #138.  Which should have been impossible - she started the year in Category 11, which doesn't get reshuffled.  Not catching that is a mistake on my part but them posting that to begin with is ridiculous.  Also - Pak was shown at #114a and #116a in the year's first couple of lists but now is placed at the bottom of Cat-11 as #129.  I'm inclined to believe that both of her current listings are wrong.  She should still be shown between Louise Stahle and Nicole Hage at #114a (note also that the list jumps from 114 to 116!).

Anna Grzebien is another head-scratcher.  Back in May she was listed at #64a but just recently was being shown at #134, having been inexplicably demoted like Jin Young Pak.  But while Pak was "reinstated" in the latest list, Grzebien shows up right where I expected her to, between Stephanie Louden and Jenny Suh at #140 (I actually placed her at #138 - I'll explain the number difference in a moment).

Pak and Grzebien aren't the only examples where a player who was previously listed with a medical extension no longer has that distinction.  Grace Park has lost her major champion's exemption, being dropped from Cat-3 #84 to Cat-11 #117.  Unless the Tour's bylaws have changed, there is no excuse for these players' medical extensions to expire in the middle of a season.  Based on where they were listed at the beginning of the season, these three are certainly now listed in the wrong place.

They got Mindy Kim, Paige Mackenzie and Julieta Granada exactly right, down to placing Julieta at #121.  Good work guys!

Ryann O'Toole lines up at the top of the Big Shuffle, albeit at #130 instead of #128.  This is because Pak is now in front of O'Toole as she should have been all along and because they skipped #115 in the list (as I mentioned earlier).  Consequently the numbers from here on down are slightly off.  My predicted list follows the order correctly except for Silvia Cavalleri, whom I completely left out.  I'm not going to say this was because she wasn't on the list early last week because I have no proof.  I could have overlooked her because she used to have a winner's exemption (it expired at the end of 2010).  I got the final two flip-flopped because Dina Ammaccapane and Nannette Hill are tied on the money list and I guessed wrong on the tie-breaker.

I wish I had caught the Pak/Grzebien discrepancy last week but things get by this part-time blogger.  Now if I was being paid to get this stuff absolutely correct, THAT would be shameful.  The problems that the Tour continues to have with keeping the Priority List accurate and up-to-date are frankly, bush-league.  Maybe they changed the medical extension rules - did anybody out there see that announcement?  Even so, why did Pak drop from Cat-11 to Cat-14 and then jump back again?  Please - somebody, pay me to do this for you.  I couldn't possibly make it any worse.