How My 30 Predictiuons Fared

[Tontj5]

The LPGA talent is unquestionably at its highest level ever. With so many great players, it seemed we had a different winner every week. In fact the 27 tournaments played, brought us seventeen different winners. We had winners from eight different countries. The LPGA has truly become the international tour, that Commissioner Michael Whan predicted it would be when he took the commissioners job a few year's back.
The number of tournaments has grown from 23, when Mr. Whan took the reigns, to 27 this year. In about 6 weeks the 2013 schedule will be released, and rumour has it that we could have 30 tournaments. In theses troubled times for our economy, the LPGA is heading in the right direction.

Back in January, I released my top 30 predictions for the 2012 Rolex Player of the Year. It was a very strange year with the "sure shot" Yani Tseng crumbling the second half of the season, and players like Inbee Park and So Yeon Ryu reaching levels we didn't think were possible. On the down side Morgan Pressel, Michelle Wie, and Song-Hee Kim, forgot what it was like to be on the leader board.

Let's take a look at how well my predictions went:

1- Yani Tseng - Everyone predicted this, and everyone was wrong. After a winning 3 of the first 5 tournaments of the year, Yani failed to win again the rest of the season. With the exception of a brief period during the Asian swing, she wasn't even competitive the final two thirds of the season. Not many will be predicting her to be #1 in 2013.

2- Suzann Pettersen - After playing poorly most of the season, Suzann won twice to finished 10th and make my prediction look a little better.

3- Paula Creamer - Losing a nine hole playoff at the Kingsmill Classic was her high point of the year. Seven top tens would be a great season for most players, but not up to Paula's standards. Finishing 17th, made me look bad.

4- Stacy Lewis - I picked her higher than anyone I know. It just wasn't high enough. Four wins, 12 top fives, and 16 top tens, resulted in Stacy becoming the first American Player of the Year since 1994.

5- Na Yeon Choi - I was right on with this pick as Na Yeon finished 3rd.

6- Cristie Kerr - Even with her late win at the Lorena Ochoa Classic, she only finished 14th.

7- Brittany Lincicome - After winning twice in 2011, Brittany was shut out this year. She finished 19th.

8- I.K. Kim - If she could only have sunk that 18 inch putt, my prediction would have looked a whole lot better. As it turned out she missed it and never seemed to recover. She finished 21st in the Player of the Year race.

9- Ai Miyazato - Ai made me look good by finishing seventh.

10- Jiyai Shin - Not a bad prediction here, Jiyai finished 6th.

For more on this subject and other News:

http://mlyhlss.blogspot.com/2012/11/how-my-top-30-predictions-turned-out.html

[boogielicious]

Yani was the big surprise.  I think we underestimate the effect of injury on performance and confidence in golf.

[mchepp]

I was very interested in IK Kim's reaction to the miss at their first major. I do think she picked up an injury shortly after and maybe that affected her season, but the overall recovery is not going all that well. Now one has to worry if she will ever recover to win again.