2019 LPGA Year in Review

[Argonne69]

 

Another year flies by. 32 tournaments. 23 different winners from 10 different countries. 8 first time winners. I'd say the tour is in good shape.

Thoughts on the year?

[Argonne69]

Jin Young had an amazing year. It would have been great to see her break the scoring record, but her late season injury put a damper on that. There doesn't seem to be any weaknesses in her game. More than half of her rounds played were in the 60's. Like a lot of top players, it seems to boil down to the putter working on any given weekend. The big question is whether she can follow up with the same level of play next year.

Nelly and Danielle both stepped it up this year. For Danielle it was a long time coming. With Ollie acting as mental coach, she is having more fun on the course, and it's showing in her results.

Nelly had an excellent year, but it could have been a little better. In her last two events she was -1 on Sunday combined. She shot -33 combined in the first 3 rounds. Gotta work on the finishes, as well as improve her play in the majors.

Minjee had an up and down year. When she was hot, she was hot. However, she had a lot of lackluster performances, especially in the majors (no top tens). Gotta get that putter fired up, and avoid the mistakes that take her out of it late on Sunday.

More than solid rookie season for 6ix. Ten Top 10's, a major win, and 2nd on the money list. With a year's worth of knowledge under her belt, she could be dangerous next season. (See Jin Young).

Is Brooke an enigma? 12 top tens, two victories, 4th on the money list, and yet it feels like a down year. Like Nelly, she appeared to struggle this season on Sundays when in contention. However, when she's back in the back, and the pressure is off, she's capable of really going low.

I didn't expect to see Ariya go winless this season. I think most agree that her weight loss is effecting her swing, and I'm sure she'll sort it out. Haven't looked at the putting stats, but I'm guessing they're not as good as last year. Funny how a player who struggles with ballstriking often struggles with the putter.

 

[18majors]

As good as Jin Young and 6ix are; they haven't rocked the social media and share of mind like Hinako Shibuno. Hinako shoots up to 287,000 Instagram followers, and tournaments are guaranteed sold out when she's in the field.

By the way, 6ix finished third on money list.

LPGA needs to have rookies like Hinako; a rookie who won a LPGA major and four JLPGA titles. That'd be the savior Beth Ann Nichols has been searching for.

 

[Argonne69]

Another lost season for Lydia. She continues to struggle with her driver, and the tour seems to be passing her by.

So Yeon also had a rough year. #1 two years ago, her driver went south as well. She was in a funk a few years ago, but turned it around. I think she can do it again.

Curious how long Sung Hyun has been battling injury. A very solid first half of the season, and then she faded. She had five consecutive top 10s through the WBO, then no better than a 15th. I expect her to come back strong next year.

What more can be said about Sei Young. I agree with Judy that she can be streaky, but when she's on she's really on. Always an underrated threat.

Curious when Hyo Joo will break through for another win. Her driving length is cert a liability, but short hitters can still win on tour. If it wasn't for MJ, she'd get my vote for come back player of the year. Her 2018 was pretty bad.

Speaking of MJ, wow. Solid season. Her putter is a weapon. Didn't think I'd see a better putter than Inbee, but she gives her a run for her money.

Seemed like an off year for Lexi, even though she picked up another win, and finished 6th on the money list. She had a rough latter part of the season after fib 2nd at the Marathon in mid July. A nice finish at the CME should give her a boost heading into next season.

Yu remains the best player on tour without a win. She needs to get her putter working, as she's an excellent ball striker.

Breakout season for Hannah. As I mentioned before, she would not have been my pick for the Australian golfer with multiple wins, including a major. That said, she only had four top 10s this season. Will she be a factor more frequently next year?

Lizette finished 13th on the money list, but her season was really driven by two excellent weeks at the WBO and CWO.

[Tailgater]

I was impressed by the Danielle Kang, the Korda sisters, and Brooke Henderson all season.

Lexi needs to stay healthy in 2020.

I thought it was a pretty mundane year for the LPGA on the whole though.

[Argonne69]

Lots of memorable moments this season. The one that probably stands out the most was Hinako's winning putt at the WBO. I was expecting the putt to race 20 ft past the hole, with the possibility of her missing the comeback to toss away a playoff chance. Boom. In the hole for the win. A very unlikely winner, but one that will be remembered.

 

[ChronicSlicer]

That was favorite moment this year, her final round. So cool to see her care-free style and fan interaction. I might just watch it again after bloating myself with turkey today.

[ChronicSlicer]

@Argonne69 said "Nelly and Danielle both stepped it up this year. For Danielle it was a long time coming. With Ollie acting as mental coach, she is having more fun on the course, and it's showing in her results."
You don't suppose working with Butch Harmon had any effect on DK's game?

[Argonne69]

For sure working with Butch has been another key aspect of her improvement. He seems to promote one's natural swing, rather than a constant tinkering.

[ChronicSlicer]

I can't help to also notice she hasn't been posting many pics with her old pal Michelle. It appears she has seen her potential and is focused on golf now.

[ptjn1201]

Well, Michelle is married now, and nursing injuries, so maybe not given a pass to party

[Argonne69]

Another memorable moment for me was when Jin Young asked Brooke to walk with her up the 18th fairway at the CWO. It was a wonderful display of sportsmanship in front of Brooke's adoring fans. Pure class.

 

[ChronicSlicer]

Lizettes final round at WBO was pretty darn impressive, clearly a heartbreaker for her when she was told it's over.

[ChronicSlicer]

Suzann's winning putt at Solheim, then her retirement announcement.

[Argonne69]

There were 10 players with a scoring average below 70.0. Last season there were 4. Ten years ago there were none. The median was 71.6. Last season it was 72.0. Ten years ago it was 72.7.

Seven players averaged over 275 yds off the tee this year. Last year it was only one player. Ten years ago there were none. The median this year was 257.5. Last year it was 252.2. A decade ago it was 249.9.

No doubt the players are getting longer. The GIR percentage has increased 5% in the past decade. Combination of technology, fitness, and training? We often gripe about easy course setups, but driving distance is not really effected by the setup. Two drives each, one into the wind, and one downwind, averages across a season.

[ChronicSlicer]

Bigger, better, faster, stronger, as they say in other sports. Not a fan how they justify the driving distance. 8 shots per tourney, assuming players make the cut. It is what it is, but kinda inaccurate in reality.

[Argonne69]

Agreed. Earlier this year they mentioned that they were going to introduce a shotlink type technology on tour. I haven't heard a peep since. I'd love to see the driving distances measured on every hole, or at least 6 to 8 holes per event. There always seems to be a few holes where the longer players are hitting fairway woods or irons off the tee to avoid hazards.

More importantly, having shotlink would finally allow them to publish proximity to the hole, allow us to differentiate between the players who are mediocre putters, and those that simply don't give themselves legitimate birdie chances.

[ChronicSlicer]

@Argonne69 said "There always seems to be a few holes where the longer players are hitting fairway woods or irons off the tee to avoid hazards."Speaking of this, I was enjoying the first two rounds of the Andalucia Costa del Sol Open de Espana ( until Golf Channel stopped me from streaming it), but Anne Van Dam was playing driverless for the first three rounds . She's in third place btw.

[MountainGoat]

I don't understand why people are saying that this tour is in good shape. Most revenue comes from broadcast partners, and TV viewership is down to the point that the CME Group Tour Championship was watched by essentially nobody. LPGA events appear to little more than private entertainment parties for sponsors. The biggest event of the year was the ANWA, which isn't even an LPGA event. Were it not for foreign money, this tour would be out of business in 10 seconds.

[18majors]

2019 JLPGA year is finally over; Hinako Shibuno won Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year, second on money list and fourth on scoring average.

And of course, she won 2019 Women's British Open on top of that.

She's more than a breeze of fresh air, she's that friendly typhoon that has swept through the island nation all year long.

 

 

 

[Newinup]

And her top 15 ranking seems to be secure heading into the Tokyo Olympics, especially with her first place finish last week and strong finish this week... ROY for the JLPGA was a no brainer a la JLEE6 for the LPGA this year.....

[Argonne69]

It's a global tour, so one can't ignore the foreign money. Nearly 2/3rds of the players are not American. Nearly 40% of the tournaments are played outside the U.S. Can it be better? Of course. However, for a niche sport it's doing fine, especially when compared to 10 years ago. How does the tour attract the best talent? Increase purses. That's happened.

Why did the PGA revamp its schedule? To avoid direct competition with the NFL. The PGA's TV ratings are junk as well.

 

[Mellow]

 

It was a pretty exciting year!

The majors were mixed in surprises. Jin Young was not a surprise. Six wasn't either; even though rookie win is super impressive, you knew to expect big things of her. But Hannah and Shibuno were wild surprises.

The major winners made 2019 look like a transitional year, of newer players taking over. So I looked at the 2019 winners more to see if that was true, and I don't think it is. Sorted by rookie year, it still looks like a good mix of established and newer players had wins. It distributes about how you'd expect.

Jin Young's season changes the landscape. She started 2019 as a notable player, but just one of many. She ended 2019 as the player. Two majors, two other wins, Player of the Year, Vare, money list, and #1. She's the story of the year in big bold numbers. She's totally won me over with her play and demeanor. How'd she become such an amazing player this year, and what will happen next?

The end of last year, the player most like that was Ariya. She's one of the bigger changes in 2019, with some good top 10's but no wins. An adjustment year for her with her body, we'll have to see what happens in 2020. Driving power was always a big dramatic part of Ariya's game, but I don't think it was ever the only part. Even with less driving I think she'll come back next year. Or at least you sure hope she will, don't want her penalized for making good smart changes.

The other big change to me was So Yeon. This was going to be the year of readjusting her life balance ... and I guess that does has to mean less golf results. She can't be the super consistent top-10 machine still. She went from #6 on the money list in 2018 to # 23 in 2019. She still played 20 events, but it just felt like you saw her on screen much less this year. Crushing. So Yeon has been the face of the LPGA in a lot of ways, the best ambassador. I'm glad she still came in this high, but it was changing year for her.

 

In general, as usual I agree with Argonne's points player-by-player. Well, except one: I didn't feel like this was a down year for Brooke? The figures you list for her, 12 top tens, two victories, 4th on the money list are awesome. The only thing you could want more is a major. We saw her lots, felt like she was often an important factor. I didn't end the year with any worries for her.

I'll just add my faves:

IK - She still pulls of the part-time schedule the best. Her money per event is great. I'd looked at those once in the middle of the season, and she had like the second highest of the whole tour (Fassi had the highest then). And she contended at a major. Always still excited to see her play, and we got to see her a bit this year. Gripe: I wanted her to play the new Dow event to see who she'd pair with! Whoooo

So Yeon - already mentioned ... just hope she is feeling good with the work balance thing, and maybe gets more screen time next year. Just can't face life with no So Yeon. I'd still like her to check in with Inky on how to pull off pulling back and fitting in other parts of life.

In Gee - Just want her to be ok and to see her play some too. Felt like there were splashes of hope this year?

Hee Young - barely avoided Q in 2018, didn't quite this year ... BUT had such a great success there, has to be feeling great going into 2020. It's a victory of its own, seeing that was one of the happiest things of the year.

Su - Created lots of opportunities for herself this year. Each season keeps looking up for her, and this one did too.

MJ - the shining beacon of joy in my leaderboard this year ... Hope she's super happy from this season. She has it all.

 

There's a lot of great stories and it'll be pretty riveting to see what 2020 brings.