World Rankings Anti-LET?

Check out Rebecca Hudson's WBO pre-tournament interview where she complained about the Rolex Rankings slighting top LET players, not just compared to the LPGA but also to the JLPGA. While it's true that the RR has 10 JLPGA players ranked in its top 50 and the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index only has 5, I think that's more attributable to differences in their formulas than any anti-Europe bias. With so much parity among the top JLPGA players this season, it's hard for any to stand out over the 52 weeks the GSPI analyzes, while you have more players with at least several wins over the 104 weeks the RR covers. Amy Yang is the only LET regular in the GSPI top 50 and there are only a handful in their top 100 (including Hudson herself). Why is that? Are these rankings basically fair? Or do their strength of field calculations bring in a bias against top players on tours they evaluate as weaker? (The GSPI ranks the Futures Tour's Vicky Hurst a bit behind Yang and right ahead of Gwladys Nocera, despite having more wins than the former and less than the latter). On statistical grounds, Hound Dog isn't satisfied with any world ranking system. What about you?

about 1 year ago The Constructivist 7 comments 0 recs |

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she's missing something...

...THE best European women are not playing on the LET – they are playing on the LPGA. The LET doesn’t even keep a lot of their second tier players who come to the US for the Futures Tour. That further dilutes the LET’s status.

The JLPGA is weakened because the Koreans are in the US for the LPGA, but most of the better Japanese players stay there…for whatever reason. (TC – you guessed at the language and culture differences in another discussion)

I do think that the LET has and develops more good players than the JLPGA (Korea aside). It does seem that the LET would have a few more players in the top 150 than the JLPGA.

The Rolex rankings have been bogus since day one when their release was timed to place Michelle Wie at #3—for one week, Of course, she was gone the next week because of the time frame of the rankings.

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Jul 31, 2008 9:50 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Hudson said she wasn't planning to go to the LPGA

So her comments were on behalf of other Euros who have to or choose to stay on their side of the pond. She just shot a 67 at the WBO, so if she keeps this up she’ll be charging up the RR in no time.

There are 7 very good Koreans in my JLPGA top 25, so not all go to the U.S. Watch out for Ji-Hee Lee this week—she’s been the most consistent performer on that tour this season and is used to being in contention. She opened with a 68…and Yuri Fudoh shot a 66!

The fact is, the LPGA is the top tour by far and anyone who isn’t regularly competing there or winning often on other tours will find their world rankings suffering. It’ll be interesting to see what happens to Ji-Yai Shin (66 today, 8 birdies) assuming she gets an LPGA win or gets through Q-School as smoothly as she ought to. Ai Miyazato and Momoko Ueda (66 today, 2 eagles) have seen their rankings drop as they’ve struggled on the LPGA, while Na Yeon Choi has moved way up thanks to her great rookie year.

I wouldn’t go so far as to call the Rolex Rankings bogus-if so, the men’s rankings on which they’re modelled are just as bad-but they do have their problems. I’m just not sure an anti-LET bias is one of them.

by The Constructivist on Jul 31, 2008 10:25 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

OH !

Well – since she said THAT…of COURSE they should change the rankings – SHE isn’t going to the LPGA. (Sheesh) I’m guessing she didn’t do very well in her statistics or logic classes in school. And how many of those 7 Koreans would be as successful on the LPGA taking on not only the top women from other countries, but their own ?

Nobody said that the PGA rankig system was great – but those Rolex rankings are awful.

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Jul 31, 2008 11:05 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

The Rankings ...

... SHOULD have an anti-LET bias, the LET is only the fourth-best women’s tour in the world. It’s much closer to the Futures Tour’s level than to the LPGA’s. When the LET’s best full-time player of the past half-dozen years, Gwladys Nocera, can finally get through Q-School, then maybe Rebecca can ask for a recount.

by Mulligan Stu on Jul 31, 2008 11:31 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs