My rating system now has 458 players rated. The top 100 are listed below. Currently there are 51 players that have 9 wins or more. Six of those players are not ranked in the top 50, but all are in top 100. Most of those players were from the 1950's and early 1960's when there were less players and it was easier to win due to a lot less competition. Currently there are 100 players who have 4 wins or more. There are 13 players with 4 or more wins that are not rated in the top 100. Alice Miller won 8 times with 1 major and is rated #138, because she had 3 years where she played very well and won 7 times, but otherwise her record is very poor. Jiyai Shin also has 8 wins with 1 major and is not currently rated. Jiyai Shin has 5 wins as an LPGA player but only played in 61 tournaments as an LPGA member and should be rated by the end of 2013. Yani Tseng has 12 wins with 5 majors, but only has 94 tournaments as an LPGA member. However Tseng is rated at #45 even with the penalty for not enough tournaments. My equations calculate a rating with less than 100 tournaments, but normally players do not rate very high until they have enough tournaments. Jiyai Shin's rating would not put her in the Top 100. Na Yeon Choi has 5 wins with 97 tournaments played so I included her rating in the list and she is #71. Tseng and NYC will both go over the 100 tournament threshold when they play 10 tournaments this year. Laura Baugh is the highest rated player without a win at #98. Laura Baugh was second 10 times and she had seven (7) children while she was competing on the LPGA.

1) Annika Sorenstam - 2) Mickey Wright - 3) Kathy Whitworth - 4) Nancy Lopez - 5) Pat Bradley - 6) Karrie Webb - 7) Sandra Haynie - 8) JoAnne Carner - 9) Patty Sheehan - 10) Lorena Ochoa

11) Louise Suggs - 12) Beth Daniel - 13) Betsy King - 14) Betsy Rawls - 15) Julie Inkster - 16) Carol Mann - 17) Patty Berg - 18) Amy Alcott - 19) Judy Rankin - 20) Donna Caponi

21) Jane Blalock - 22) Meg Mallon - 23) Dottie Pepper - 24) Se Ri Pak - 25) Sandra Palmer - 26) Ayako Okamoto - 27) Marilynn Smith - 28) Laura Davies - 29) Jan Stephenson - 30) Rosie Jones

31) Paula Creamer - 32) Marlene Hagge - 33) Cristie Kerr - 34) Hollis Stacy - 35) Babe Zaharias - 36) Shirley Englehorn - 37) Beverly Hanson - 38) Suzann Pettersen - 39) Jane Geddes - 40) Sally Little

41) Clifford Ann Creed - 42) Mi Hyun Kim - 43) Liselotte Neumann - 44) Kelly Robbins - 45) Yani Tseng - 46) Tammy Green - 47) Jo Ann Prentice - 48) Mary B Mills - 49) Betty Jameson - 50) Brandie Burton

51) Sherri Steinhauer - 52) Sandra Post - 53) Christa Johnson - 54) Hee-Won Han - 55) Pat Hurst - 56) Colleen Walker - 57) Catriona Matthew - 58) Lorie Kane - 59) Helen Alfredsson - 60) Susie Maxwell Berning

61) Fay Crocker - 62) Ruth Jessen - 63) Rachel Hetherington - 64) Sandra Spuzich - 65) Mary Lena Faulk - 66) Morgan Pressel - 67) Ai Miyazato - 68) Jeong Jang - 69) Donna Andrews - 70) Judy Dickenson

71) Na Yeon Choi - 72) Grace Park - 73) Kathy Cornelius - 74) Michele Redman - 75) Danielle Ammaccapane - 76) Angela Stanford - 77) Seon Hwa Lee - 78) Dawn Coe-Jones - 79) Debbie Austin - 80) Candie Kung

81) Deb Richard - 82) Sophie Gustafson - 83) Debbie Massey - 84) Kathy Postlewait - 85) Michelle McGann - 86) Val Skinner - 87) Barb Mucha - 88) Murle Breer - 89) Brittany Lincicome - 90) Maria Hjorth

91) Emilee Klein - 92) Donna White -93) Margaret Smith - 94) Wendy Ward - 95) In-Kyung Kim - 96) Laura Diaz - 97) Hiromi Kobayashi - 98) Laura Baugh - 99) Stacy Prammanasudh - 100) Christina Kim

102) Patty Rizzo / 4 wins - 109) Cindy Rarick / 5 wins - 115) Jackie Pung / 5 wins - 116) Joyce Ziske / 5 wins - 130) Alison Nicholas / 4 wins - 138) Alice Miller / 8 wins - 147) Dorothy Delasin / 4 wins - 166) Carol Jo Callison Whitted / 4 wins - 169) Penny Hammel - 171) Betty Burfeindt / 4 wins - 205) Mary Beth Zimmerman / 4 wins - 291) Sue Roberts / 4 wins

362) Hilary Lunke / lowest rated player with a major win - 343) Birdie Kim / second lowest rating for a player with a major win - 445) Mary Bea Porter-King / lowest rated player with a win

Active players in Top 50 - 6) Karrie Webb / stayed at #6, good shot at moving to #5 if she continues to perform - 15) Julie Inkster / stayed at #15 and unlikely to move / just had surgery - 24) Se Ri Pak / dropped one spot from #23 / this year should establish minimum career rating with 10 tournaments as this will be 15 years / lower rating than expected based on wins due to injuries and burnout - 28) Laura Davies / moved up one spot from #29 due to correction in calculation - 31) Paula Creamer / moved up from #35 / moved into top 10 on career money list - 33) Cristie Kerr / stayed at #33 and set a minimum career rating / will probably move up this year - 38) Suzann Pettersen / moved up from #41 - 42) Mi Hyun Kim / dropped from #39 / could fall further unless she returns to previous form - 45) Yani Tseng was not rated - 54) Hee-Won Han dropped out of the top 50 / she was #50

New to Top 100 - 45) Yani Tseng / not rated - 71) Na Yeon Choi / not rated - 89) Brittany Lincicome / moved up from #132 - 95) In-Kyung Kim / not rated - 98) - Laura Baugh / moved up from 102

Dropped out of Top 100 - 102) Patti Rizzo / dropped from #98 - 103) Tina Barrett / dropped from #99 - 104) Jee Young Lee / dropped from #95 - 105) Natalie Gulbis / dropped from #96 - 108) Janice Moodie / dropped from 100

Morgan Pressel is #66 with 2 wins one a major and Ai Miyazato is #67 with 7 wins. Both players were rookies in 2006. Pressel has played on average 2 more tournaments per year for the last six years and rates higher than Ai Miyazato mostly because of lower penalties for too few tournaments. Both players should pass the 150 tournament mark on the LPGA this year. At that time Miyazato will pass Pressel as she has played at a higher level. With a good year and a victory Ai Miyazato has a good shot at moving into my Top 50 by the end of the year.

Before Round 1 at the 2012 RACV Australian Ladies Masters, most bookmakers have Lexi Thompson and Stacy Lewis as #1 or #2 favorite to win at between 9-1 to 11-1. Skybet has Hedwall as co-favorite with Lexi. After Hedwall are Hee-Kyung Seo and So-Yeon Ryu. After last week's win, 14 year-old amateur Lydia Ko is anywhere from 20-1 to 28-1.

Of course, the bookmakers odds are not a precise estimate of the actual probability of each player winning. The odds reflect the bettors' psychology, as estimated by bookmakers. Nonetheless, it will be interesting to see how well Lexi does with increased expectations. Screen shot of odds shown below

The following list is my top 100 LPGA players of 2011 based on their play in LPGA sponsored and co-sponsored events. So Yeon Ryu and Alexis Thompson were not members of the LPGA in 2011 but with their victories on the LPGA won the right to become members and therefore are included. Chie Arimura would have been at #63 and Miki Saiki would have been at #68 based on their performance but are not LPGA members. My data shows 319 professional players played at least one tournament during the year.

1) Yani Tseng - 2) Suzann Pettersen - 3) Stacy Lewis - 4) Na-Yeon Choi - 5) Brittany Lincicome - 6) Karrie Webb - 7) Cristie Kerr - 8) Paula Creamer - 9) Catriona Matthew - 10) Maria Hjorth

11) Angela Stanford - 12) Ji-Yai Shin -13) Ai Miyazato - 14) In-Kyung Kim - 15) Amy Yang - 16) Sandra Gal -17) Hee Young Park - 18) Morgan Pressel - 19) Anna Nordqvist - 20) Mika Miyazato

21) Brittany Lang - 22) Michelle Wie - 23) So Yeon Ryu - 24) Shanshan Feng - 25) Azahara Munoz - 26) Momoko Ueda - 27) Hee Kyung Seo - 28) Inbee Park - 29) Meena Lee - 30) Sun Young Yoo

31) Karen Stupples - 32) Se Ri Pak - 33) Sophia Gustafson - 34) Chelle Choi - 35) Song-Hee Kim - 36) Jimin Kang - 37) Christel Boeljon -38) Tiffany Joh - 39) Katie Futcher - 40) Candie Kung

41) Mindy Kim - 42) Juli Inkster - 43) Beatriz Recari - 44) Alexis Thompson - 45) Pornanong Phatlum - 46) Eun- Hee Ji - 47) Jennifer Johnson - 48) Mi Hyun Kim - 49) Natalie Gulbis - 50) Mina Harigae

51) Kristy McPherson - 52) Amy Hung - 53) Wendy Ward - 54) Vicky Hurst - 55) Paige Mackenzie - 56) Lorie Kane - 57) Caroline Hedwall - 58) Jenny Shin - 59) Stacy Prammansudh - 60) Ryann O'Toole

61) Hee-Won Han - 62) Amanda Blumenherst - 63) Katherine Hull - 64) Christina Kim - 65) Dewi Claire Schreefel - 66) Karine Icher - 67) Pat Hurst - 68) Gerina Piller - 69) Lindsey Wright - 70) Cindy LaCrosse

71) Jennifer Song - 72) Marcy Hart - 73) Jin Young Pak - 74) Haeji Kang - 75) Leta Lindley - 76) Kyeong Bae - 77) Kris Tamulis - 78) Becky Morgan - 79) Heather Bowie Young - 80) Seon Hwa Lee

81) Belen Mozo - 82) Amelia Lewis - 83) Stephanie Lewis - 84) Julieta Granada - 85) Karin Sjodin - 86) Harukyo Nomura - 87) M J Hur - 88) Jessica Shepley - 89) Grace Park - 90) Silvia Cavalleri

91) Ashli Bunch - 92) Taylor Leon - 93) Aree Song - 94) Reilley Rankin - 95) Sarah Jane Smith - 96) Moira Dunn - 97) Alison Walshe - 98) Jessica Korda - 99) Anna Grzebien -100) Meaghan Francella

When the LPGA announced the change of format for their year-ending event one of the biggest questions was, who exactly would be qualifying at the end of the year. With limited field events closing out the 2011 LPGA schedule, it was an easy question to ask. With the end of the Mizuno Classic, we now also know the representatives for the Lorena Ochoa Invitational.

Of all the LPGA members in the field next week only Juli Inkster, Natalie Gulbis, and Beatriz Recari are the only ones not already qualified for the year ending event. The only way one of these three will not qualify for the event would be if one of the non-LPGA members (and sponsor exemptions) manage to win the event, and with the field being as elite as it is, I can't see any of that happening. Of the 9 alternate listed only Eun-Hee Ji (5), and Kristy McPhereson (9) are not qualified.

This is sweet vindication for Juli who had two top 10s earlier this year and missed out, when Grace Park qualified last week via her T24 finish in Korea. Interestingly enough Gulbis and Recari are both sponsor exemptions, and can thank them for two tournament exemptions.

Side note, unless I missed someone Momoko Ueda, Pornanong Phatlum, and Christina Kim all earned entry into the CME Titleholders from Mizuno.

After Yani Tseng's 6th win of the season, I'm interested in speculating what she'll end up with.  She's entered in the Sime Darby this week. She certainly won't miss Taiwan or the CME Titleholders, and she'll be highly motivated to win both. I have no idea if she will play in Japan.  I also think that 4 round tournaments help her, which is why she does well in majors. Also, the smaller fields play to her advantage.

The CBSSports.com writer whines about the LPGA Tour again

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The scheduling of these LPGA-sanctioned events continues to baffle one and all. Why have this event the same week as the PGA Tour's bazillion-dollar finale? With the choice between watching the Solheim or the East Lake event, most Americans will, of course, choose ... football. Hey, at least I am honest.

Steve, you're not being honest. You're being a total imbecile. When does this weekend's Solheim Cup go up against any form of football? The Solheim's television schedule-

# Friday: 2:30 am - 1:00 pm (replay 10:00 pm - 12:30 am) # Saturday: 2:30 am - 1:00 pm (replay 7:00 - 10:00 pm) # Sunday: 5:00 am-11:30 am, plus Closing Ceremony (replay 8:00 - 10:00 pm)

The only time Football goes up against the Solheim is Saturday afternoon for an hour(or two. The matches are known for running late) On Sunday the television coverage ends 90 minutes before the NFL begins playing. There is no football vs. Solheim Cup choosing to be done.

Elling has been showing signs of carrying a grudge against the LPGA ever since he wrote this column which took to a shredder here. If he picks up the courtesy phone, I will recommend he see a good proctologist. So to get his head out of his ass.

Hat tip- Geoff Shackelford

Michelle Wie, Ai Miyazato, and Tiffany Joh are tied for the lead going into the final round of the CN Canadian Women’s Open. Wie is going for her third LPGA win. A few days ago, I planned the dinners I'd be cooking and tomorrow I'll be serving Chicken Parmesan with Penne. Exactly the food we ate the two other Sundays on which Wie won. Will it be 3 for 3?

This isn't a meal I prepare that often. I've made it once or twice since Wie's last win.

NOTE:  This is Tatkins' Top 100.  The HD Top 70 will be posted within the next couple of days.

As of the end of the Women's British Open my rating system has 260 professional players rated. Amateurs are not rated. There are 67 players that have played at least 10 tournaments and 76 that have played from 5 to 9 tournaments. The other 117 have played between 1 and 4 tournaments. Players get full ratings for victories and money won. All other factors gain 10% for each tournament played and 10 or more tournaments results in full ratings points.

1) Yani Tseng - 2) Karrie Webb - 3) Suzann Pettersen - 4) Stacy Lewis - 5) Cristie Kerr - 6) In-Kyung Kim - 7) Brittany Lincicome - 8) Maria Hjorth - 9) Angela Stanford - 10) Paula Creamer

11) Ji-Yai Shin - 12) Morgan Pressel - 13) Na-Yeon Choi - 14) Amy Yang - 15) Sandra Gal - 16) Ai Miyazato - 17) Mika Miyazato - 18) Catriona Matthew - 19) Sun Young Yoo - 20) So Yeon Ryu

21) Mindy Kim - 22) Inbee Park - 23) Michelle Wie - 24) Hee Young Seo - 25) Anna Nordqvist - 26) Se Ri Pak - 27) Shanshan Feng - 28) Brittany Lang - 29) Sophie Gustafson - 30) Karen Stupples

31) Meena Lee - 32) Candie Kung - 33) Song-Hee Kim - 34) Katie Futcher - 35) Azahara Munoz - 36) Chella Choi - 37) Hee Young Park - 38) Eun-Hee Ji - 39) Pornanong Phatlum - 40) Natalie Gulbis

41) Julie Inkster - 42) Jimin Kang - 43) Katherine Hull - 44) Paige Mackenzie - 45) Beatrice Recari - 46) Stacy Prammansudh - 47) Wendy Ward - 48) Momoko Ueda - 49) Marcy Hart - 50) Kristy McPherson

51) Vicky Hurst - 52) Amy Hung - 53) Karine Icher - 54) Lorie Kane - 55) Cindy LaCrosse - 56) Mi Hyun Kim - 57) Ryann O'Toole - 58) Mina Harigae - 59) Jennifer Johnson - 60) Chie Arimura

61) M.J. Hur - 62) Leta Lindley - 63) Lindsey Wright - 64) Haeji Kang - 65) Miki Saiki - 66) Pat Hurst - 67) Heather Bowie Young - 68) Christina Kim - 69) Amanda Blumenherst - 70) Kyeong Bae

71) Jin Young Pak - 72) Julieta Granada - 73) Seon Hwa Lee - 74) Tiffany Joh - 75) Meaghan Francella - 76) Christel Boeljon - 77) Sarah Jane Smith - 78) Gerina Piller - 79) Melissa Reid - 80) Jennifer Song

81) Michele Redman - 82) Caroline Hedwall - 83) Becky Morgan - 84) Aree Song - 85) Shin-Ae Ahn - 86) Ran Hong - 87) Caroline Masson - 88) Harukyo Nomura - 89) Silvia Cavalleri - 90) Dewi Claire Schreefel

91) Kris Tamulis - 92) Jane Park - 93) Lee-Anne Pace - 94) Virginie Lagoutte-Clement - 95) Jessica Korda - 96) Jenny Suh - 97) Gwladys Nocera - 98) Karin Sjodin - 99) Ayako Uehara - 100) Dana Ford Bordner

An additional 14 players have reached the 10 tournament minimum for my rating system. Five of those players (Sandra Gal, Chella Choi, Eun-Hee Ji, Gwladys Nocera, and Mariajo Uribe) do not have the minimum 100 tournaments to be rated. In-Kyung Kim has gone over the 100 tournament mark and and shows to be rated in the Top 100 at #93. Jee Young Lee has not played well this year and has now dropped out of the Top 100 and will have to play much better the rest of the year to get back in the Top 100. Brittany Lincicome is now in the #100 spot but already had the minimum 10 tournaments.

Suzann Pettersen reached the 10 tournament minimum and has gone over the 150 tournament mark so her rating no longer has the built-in penalty for too few tournaments. Pettersen has moved from #41 into the #38 spot. Pat Hurst and Catriona Matthew now have 17 rated years. Pat Hurst is #53 and Matthew has moved from #68 up to #58. Lindsay Wright now has 7 years and is not in the Top100. Katie Futcher now has 6 years but is not in the Top 100. Meena Lee now has 7 years and is at the #106 spot in the list. If she continues to play well she could move into the Top 100 by the end of the Year, but I would not bet on it.

Ai Miyazato won in her tenth tournament of the year and has moved from #81 to #73 in the Top 100. Morgan Pressel is ranked at #72, just ahead of Miyazato. Ai Miyazato has won 7 times without a major and Pressel has won 2 times with 1 major. There are two reasons why Pressel is currently ranked above Ai Miyazato. The biggest reason is that Pressel has played 133 tournament and Ai has played just 122 tournaments. The penalty for too few tournaments is greater for Ai than for Pressel. The second reason has to do with consistancy of play. Pressel has made 89.5 percent of the cuts in her tournaments and Ai has only made 84.4 percent of the cuts in her tournaments. If Ai had made the cut in 2 more tournaments she would currently rate above Pressel. With my cloudy crystal ball I don't do predictions. However, if I extrapolate the data to when both players reach the 150 tournaments played mark late next year, Ai Miyazato will be in the Top 50 and Morgan Pressel will not be. Bottom line is that Ai Miyazato is playing at a higher level than Morgan Pressel, but has not played as often.  

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).