The best putter in the LPGA? I don't think it's Lydia.

[natureboy]

So I notice the commentators all rave about Lyida Ko's putting. But looking through her stats, she hits a ton of greens - especially considering her driving distance.

So in a sense, if she's that good with her approach shots, she's likely hitting more than her share close and having tighter average proximity for her first putts. So you'd expect her to have a low PPGIR. And she is number one in that stat, probably because she's a good ballstriker and putter.

Who you wouldn't expect to have a really low PPGIR is Julie Yang. Now I don't know who she is, but for the past two years she has had the highest PPGiR when you take her GIR into account. In other words she has a really below average GIR, but a surprisingly above average PPGIR. So it seems like she might be the best pure putter in the LPGA.

Now it's possible that in Lydia's case she is taking very little risk with her approach shots and hitting to a safe target in the middle of the green most of the time in which case the correlation between her GIR and proximity to the hole may not be as strong. Conversely, Amy Yang may be taking extremely aggressive lines to pins relying on her short game to bail her out so when she does hit the green she has a close first putt. I tend not to think this is the case for either of them, but what do you see watching on TV or what you know of these two players?

[JonMA1]

It's hard for me to judge good putting in professional golf. I don't have any reference to how the greens compare to those I've played, but they seem to miss a lot of makable putts.

The year Inbee Park was number one, she made long putt after long putt in her major wins. But those were highlights and possibly left a false impression of her being "lights out". I think the stats would be a better source.

As far as the LPGA is concerned, is there any reason why women shouldn't be as good as the men in this area?

[acerimusdux]

I guess they don't have strokes gained stats for LPGA?

I would agree that Lydia's greatest strength seems to be her amazing accuracy on approach shots. I'm not basing that on stats, but just watching her play, she just seems to be so consistently good with approach shots.

 

[rkim291968]

Without having the strokes gained stat, it is difficult to tell how good Lydia is compare to others.  But whenever she's within 10 feet, I feel like she is going to make the putt and she often does.   I think she is one of the top 5 putters in LPGA.

As for Julie Yang, her GIR stat is one of the worst in LPGA and she may be hitting a lot of 3rd shot (on par 4) into green, close to the hole.   I don't know much more than that about her game as she rarely makes cut.