Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Next generation taking over women's golf


With Annika Sorenstam heading for retirement and Lorena Ochoa already making hints about how long she wants to play, women's golf will need new stars.

How about Inbee Park? The 19-year-old became the youngest winner of the U.S. Open. This follows the LPGA win of Yani Tseng, who had been the first rookie to win a women's major since Se Ri Pak 10 years ago.

Of course, American fans will bemoan the fact that the U.S. stars continue to come up short. Angela Park and Stacy Lewis were right there and didn't get it done. Michelle Wie was not a factor and Paula Creamer wasn't really a contender.

These players are going to get better. When they do they'll have some talented stars to overcome.

With neither Sorenstam or Ochoa in the top 10, there wasn't much movement in my 54 best women's golfers:

Rank, player, years, points
1. Mickey Wright, 1958-1973, 150.19
2. Annika Sorenstam, 1995-2008, 143.42
3. Karrie Webb, 1996-2007, 128.43
4. Pat Bradley, 1977-1996, 118.66
5. Kathy Whitworth, 1963-1984, 117.39
6. Patty Berg, 1937-1965, 112.83
7. Julie Inkster, 1984-2006, 107.39
8. Patty Sheehan, 1981-1997, 99.77
9. Louise Suggs, 1946-1969, 97.69
10. Amy Alcott, 1976-1994, 94.56
11. Sandra Haynie, 1963-1983, 92.15
12. Babe Didrikson Zaharias, 1940-1954, 91.11
13. Meg Mallon, 1990-2004, 86.76
14. Betsy Rawls, 1951-1969, 83.66
15. Laura Davies, 1987-2005, 81.77
16. Se Ri Pak, 1998-2008, 81.28
17. JoAnne Carner, 1970-1992, 80.33
18. Nancy Lopez, 1975-1997, 79.58
19. Donna Caponi, 1969-1982, 69.94
20. Beth Daniel, 1980-2006, 68.88
21. Susan Maxwell Berning, 1965-1979, 67.02
22. Lorena Ochoa, 2002-2008, 65.36
23. Mary Mills, 1963-1974, 65.27
24. Sandra Palmer, 1967-1986, 61.52
25. Dottie Pepper, 1988-2001, 60.04
26. Carol Mann, 1963-1975, 59.63
27. Marilyn Smith, 1963-1972, 59.60
28. Jan Stephenson, 1976-2000, 59.47
29. Hollis Stacy, 1976-1996, 56.85
30. Sally Little, 1975-1988, 56.17
31. Ayako Okamoto, 1983-1993, 56.00
32. Liselotte Neumann, 1988-2005, 52.38
33. Rosie Jones, 1983-2005, 50.75
34. Jane Geddes, 1985-1996, 50.01
35. Tammie Green, 1989-1998, 48.13
36. Clifford-Ann Creed, 1963-1976, 43.90
37. Kelly Robbins, 1994-2004, 43.85
38. Brandie Burton, 1991-2001, 42.54
39. Cristie Kerr, 1999-2008, 40.98
40. Jane Blalock, 1971-1980, 39.45
41. Beverly Hanson, 1955-1958, 39.33
41. Betty Jameson, 1942-1954, 39.33
43. Marlene Hagge, 1956-1972, 39.17
44. Sherri Steinhauer, 1992-2006, 38.63
45. Judy Kimball-Simon, 1962-1967, 38.56
46. Grace Park, 1999-2005, 38.55
47. Helen Alfreddson, 1992-2008, 35.87
48. Shirley Englehorn, 1963-1970, 35.14
49. Donna Andrews, 1992-1998, 35.02
50. Judy Rankin, 1964-1979, 34.07
51. Colleen Walker, 1987-1997, 33.23
52. Pat Hurst, 1996-2006, 32.84
53. Chris Johnson, 1983-2000, 32.79
54. Nancy Scranton, 1986-2000, 32.67

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You must get comments like this every day but OSCAR ROBERTSON AT NUMBER 10? ARE YOU NUTS?

Alex Gary said...

He's the No. 1 point guard. If you look at his career, he was top shelf from 1961 to 1967 and then his numbers dip a bit. Also, his team missed out on the playoffs four times. That hurt his totals and in the playoffs he only really excelled -- compared to his season statistics -- in 1962-1963, 1972-1973 and 1973-1974. That's why he didn't finish higher.