Saturday, August 26, 2006

Greatest golf seasons ever

Although Tiger Woods still has a ways to go to catch Jack Nicklaus' career records, he has already proven he is the greatest golfer ever at his peak. He dominates the list of greatest single seasons in major championship history, according to my scoring system, which I'll explain below.

Rank, Player, Year, Points
1. Tiger Woods, 2000, 91.00
2. Ben Hogan, 1953, 76.00
3. Bobby Jones, 1930, 65.00
4. Tiger Woods, 2005, 60.50
5. Jack Nicklaus, 1980, 56.50
5. Arnold Palmer, 1962, 56.50
7. Arnold Palmer, 1960, 55.50
8. Jack Nicklaus, 1972, 55.00
8. Tiger Woods, 2002, 55.00
10. Ben Hogan, 1948, 54.50
10. Sam Snead, 1949, 54.50
12. Tiger Woods, 2006, 53.50
12. Jack Nicklaus, 1975, 53.50
13. Nick Faldo, 1990, 53.00
14. Gary Player, 1974, 52.50
15. Jack Nicklaus, 1963, 51.00
16. Bobby Jones, 1926, 50.00
17. Gene Sarazen, 1932, 50.00
18. Tom Watson, 1977, 49.50
19. Tom Watson, 1982, 49.25
20. Jack Nicklaus, 1966, 49.00
21. Walter Hagen, 1924, 49.00
22. Nick Price, 1994, 47.50
23. Jack Nicklaus, 1971, 45.50

How my scoring works, let's look at Tiger's 2006 major championship season.

* This year, he finished in a five-way tie for third at the Masters. On a scale of 20 for first, 9 for second, 8 for third, 7 for fourth, etc., he earned six points for the t-3.
* He missed the cut at the U.S. Open so, of course, he earned 0.
* He won the British Open by two strokes so he earned 20 points plus 2 bonus points for margin of victory. That put him up to 28 for the year.
* At the PGA, he won by five shots to score 25 (20+5 bonus points), plus a 0.5 bonus point for tying the record for lowest under par total in PGA history -- a record he already held. So for the PGA, he earned 25.5 points, giving him a total of 53.5 points for the year.

The NBA's all-time teams -- just updated

Who would play on the team of players made up of the 10th, 9th, 8th, etc. players at each of their positions? Here's the list, updated with 2005-2006 point totals. One new players entered the list for the first time.

On the 10th team:
C -- Pat Ewing, 1985-2002, 16609.2
PF -- Chris Webber, 1993-2006, 14344.0
SF -- Dominique Wilkins, 1982-1999, 14542.8
SG -- Sydney Moncrief, 1979-1991, 12982.5
PG -- Tim Hardaway, 1989-2003, 13990.9
(Lots of scoring and one shutdown defender)

On the 9th team:
C -- Artis Gilmore, 1971-1988, 17375.7
PF -- Dirk Nowitzki, 1998-2006, 14610.8
SF -- Billy Cunningham, 1965-1976, 14869.1
SG -- Walter Davis, 1977-1992, 13313.6
PG -- Walt Frazier, 1967-1980, 15210.5
(Power in Artis, shooting in Dirk, who's new to the list, and a balanced backcourt)

On the 8th team:
C -- George Mikan, 1948-1956, 18123.1
PF -- George McGinnis, 1971-1982, 15661.4
SF -- Paul Arizin, 1950-1962, 14906.3
SG -- Dennis Johnson, 1976-1990, 13731.9
PG -- Allen Iverson, 1996-2006, 15825.1
(Two old-timers would have to learn how to play with Iverson)

On the 7th team:
C -- Moses Malone, 1974-1995, 18246.1
PF -- Charles Barkley, 1984-2000, 17139.1
SF -- Connie Hawkins, 1967-1976, 14956.0
SG -- Hal Greer, 1958-1973, 13769.2
PG -- Isiah Thomas, 1981-1993, 15847.2
(Barkley and Malone would be tough inside and Isiah would take the tough shots)

On the 6th team:
C -- David Robinson, 1989-2003, 18490.3
PF -- Elvin Hayes, 1968-1984, 17347.0
SF -- John Havlicek, 1962-1978, 16248.4
SG -- Bill Sharman, 1950-1961, 13802.7
PG -- Jason Kidd, 1994-2006, 16096.0
(A team of runners and passers and one black-hole in Hayes)

On the 5th team:
C -- Shaquille O'Neal, 1992-2006, 18854.3
PF -- Dolph Schayes, 1949-1964, 17694.8
SF -- Scottie Pippen, 1987-2004, 16536.3
SG -- Clyde Drexler, 1983-1998, 15594.0
PG -- Gary Payton, 1990-2005, 16878.0
(Shaq's power, defense in Pippen and Payton, but no great outside shooter)

On the 4th team:
C -- Bill Russell, 1956-1969, 19765.2
PF -- Bob Pettit, 1954-1965, 18297.2
SF -- Rick Barry, 1965-1980, 16677.6
SG -- Kobe Bryant, 1996-2006, 16032.8
PG -- John Stockton, 1984-2003, 17006.1
(Maybe best team based on balance. Three scorers, one pure passer and one pure defender)

On the 3rd team:
C -- Hakeem Olajuwon, 1984-2002, 19935.7
PF -- Kevin Garnett, 1996-2006, 18354.6
SF -- Elgin Baylor, 1958-1972, 17552.2
SG -- George Gervin, 1972-1986, 16304.3
PG -- Bob Cousy, 1950-1970, 18554.9
(Crosses all generations, from Cousy to Garnett)

On the 2nd team:
C -- Wilt Chamberlain, 1959-1973, 21697.2
PF -- Tim Duncan, 1997-2006, 18769.3
SF -- Larry Bird, 1979-1992, 19386.9
SG -- Jerry West, 1960-1974, 17946.0
PG -- Magic Johnson, 1979-1996, 18692.0
(Wilt, West and Bird can beat anyone and Magic is there to run the show)

The all-time starting five:
C -- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 1969-1989, 22721.5
PF -- Karl Malone, 1985-2004, 19407.7
SF -- Julius Erving, 1971-1987, 20247.8
SG -- Michael Jordan, 1984-2003, 20809.7
PG -- Oscar Robertson, 1960-1974, 18753.0
(MJ, Dr. J, The Big O, the Mailman and the Sky Hook, at least the all-time nickname team)

Saturday, August 19, 2006

Steinhauer enters women's ultimate playday

Madison, Wis.'s Sherri Steinhauer overcame the LPGA's somewhat wacky history with a third British Open victory that catapulted her into the top 54 players in women's professional golf history.

Steinhauer's first two British wins were before the tournament was considered a major. So the three-shot win is classified as her second major -- she won the defunct DuMaurier in 1992.

No matter. The big names (Sorenstam, Webb and Pak) didn't contend. Neither did the youngsters (Creamer, Wie). Still, an impressive result. With the men's PGA going on, I figured I better update this listing.

Here are the 54 greatest women professional golfers:

1. Mickey Wright, 1958-1973, 575.40
2. Annika Sorenstam, 1995-2006, 541.42
3. Karrie Webb, 1996-2006, 469.50
4. Pat Bradley, 1977-1996, 460.93
5. Julie Inkster, 1984-2006, 458.05 (passed Whitworth with 4th in British)
6. Kathy Whitworth, 1963-1984, 453.10
7. Patty Berg, 1937-1965, 441.50
8. Patty Sheehan, 1981-1997, 400.62
9. Louise Suggs, 1946-1969, 377.64
10. Amy Alcott, 1976-1994, 358.22
11. Sandra Haynie, 1963-1983, 353.00
12. Babe Didrikson Zaharias, 1940-1954, 350.00
13. Betsy Rawls, 1951-1969, 329.09
14. JoAnne Carner, 1970-1992, 321.85
15. Meg Mallon, 1990-2004, 321.63
16. Laura Davies, 1987-2005, 303.42
17. Nancy Lopez, 1975-1997, 298.88
18. Se Ri Pak, 1998-2006, 284.70
19. Donna Caponi, 1969-1982, 266.85
20. Beth Daniel, 1980-2006, 266.30
21. Susan Maxwell Berning, 1965-1979, 242.50
22. Mary Mills, 1963-1974, 232.45
23. Clifford-Ann Creed, 1963-1976, 230.20
24. Carol Mann, 1963-1975, 226.50
25. Dottie Pepper, 1988-2001, 221.25
26. Sandra Palmer, 1967-1986, 220.00
27. Jan Stephenson, 1976-2000, 216.25
28. Marilyn Smith, 1963-1972, 211.45
29. Hollis Stacy, 1976-1996, 207.51
30. Sally Little, 1975-1988, 205.47
31. Ayako Okamoto, 1983-1993, 204.93
32. Rosie Jones, 1983-2005, 200.53
33. Liselotte Neumann, 1988-2005, 198.45
34. Jane Geddes, 1985-1996, 178.30
35. Tammie Green, 1989-1998, 173.10
36. Kelly Robbins, 1994-2004, 158.80
37. Brandie Burton, 1991-2001, 151.00
38. Grace Park, 1999-2005, 136.60
39. Sherri Steinhauer, 1992-2006, 134.08
40. Jane Blalock, 1971-1980, 132.00
41. Judy Rankin, 1964-1979, 130.58
42. Judy Kimball-Simon, 1962-1967, 130.38
43. Beverly Hanson, 1955-1958, 130.00
43. Betty Jameson, 1942-1954, 130.00
45. Shirley Englehorn, 1963-1970, 124.25
46. Chris Johnson, 1983-2000, 122.50
47. Marlene Hagge, 1956-1972, 122.00
48. Nancy Scranton, 1986-2000, 120.50
49. Donna Andrews, 1992-1998, 116.93
50. Pat Hurst, 1996-2006, 116.90
51. Helen Alfreddson, 1992-2006, 116.83
52. Colleen Walker, 1987-1997, 116.80
53. Ruth Jessen, 1963-1974, 113.25
54. Sheri Turner, 1986-1999, 111.97

Alice Miller was knocked out of the top 54, dropping to 56. Christie Kerr is on the verge. She's up to No. 55.