LPGA Total Putting

[Argonne69]

It's mid-April, and it's snowing here in Chicago. No golf today, so I thought I'd do a little more screen scraping to calculate the total putting stat. Now, I'm not sure it has any real value as a putting stat. Total driving rewards accuracy and length. The rub of course is that the driving distance is only measured on two holes each round, so it's leaving a heck of a lot of data on the table. Still, it's what they have.

 

The problem with total putting is that neither the putting average or putts per GIR are completely telling of putting quality. A player than misses a lot of greens due to poor ballstriking can have a very low putting average if their short game is great. Likewise a player can have a high putts-per-GIR average due to poor approach shots, never giving themselves decent looks at one-putts. What's really needed is Shotlink to determine proximity to the hole, allowing the calculation of strokes gained putting.

 

Anyway, here are the total putting rankings for the 2021 season through the Lotte.

 

1    Inbee Park    2
2    Morgan Pressel    8
3    Lydia Ko    10
4    Hannah Green    11
5    Danielle Kang    12
6    In Gee Chun    17
7    Sarah Kemp    22
8    Nelly Korda    23
9    Leona Maguire    25
10    Kelly Tan    29
11    Esther Henseleit    33
12    Hyo Joo Kim    34
13    Jeongeun Lee6    38
14    Mi Jung Hur    39
15    A Lim Kim    41
16    Patty Tavatanakit    42
17    Yu Liu    47
18    Nicole Broch Larsen    48
18    Sarah Burnham    48
20    Jenny Shin    50
20    Lindsey Weaver    50
22    So Yeon Ryu    51
23    Jessica Korda    54
23    Sei Young Kim    54
25    Megan Khang    56
26    Marissa Steen    60
27    Su Oh    61
28    Cristie Kerr    64
29    Sung Hyun Park    66
30    Austin Ernst    69
31    Brittany Altomare    70
31    Linnea Strom    70
33    Madelene Sagstrom    71
33    Stacy Lewis    71
35    Cheyenne Knight    83
35    Lexi Thompson    83
37    Haeji Kang    84
38    Mi Hyang Lee    86
39    Annie Park    90
40    Angela Stanford    94
41    Na Yeon Choi    95
42    Andrea Lee    97
42    Angel Yin    97
44    Wei-Ling Hsu    99
45    Laura Davies    101
45    Mind Muangkhumsakul    101
45    Nasa Hataoka    101
48    Haru Nomura    103
49    Azahara Munoz    104
50    Gaby Lopez    105
51    Aditi Ashok    108
51    Dani Holmqvist    108
53    Bianca Pagdanganan    109
54    Pernilla Lindberg    112
54    Yui Kawamoto    112
56    Ryann O'Toole    113
57    Kristen Gillman    114
57    Ssu-Chia Cheng    114
59    Jin Young Ko    115
60    Georgia Hall    119
61    Stephanie Meadow    122
62    Anne van Dam    126
62    Carlota Ciganda    126
62    Charley Hull    126
62    Eun-Hee Ji    126
62    Sarah Schmelzel    126
62    Sophia Popov    126
62    Yani Tseng    126
69    Elizabeth Szokol    127
70    Nanna Koerstz Madsen    128
71    Amy Yang    129
72    Jennifer Kupcho    133
73    Mina Harigae    135
73    Xiyu Lin    135
75    Ashleigh Buhai    136
76    Christina Kim    138
77    Jennifer Song    140
78    Paula Reto    142
79    Amy Olson    159
80    Mirim Lee    160
81    Jennifer Chang    161
82    Ally Ewing    163
83    Giulia Molinaro    166
83    Jing Yan    166
85    Chella Choi    167
85    Lizette Salas    167
87    Caroline Masson    171
88    Ariya Jutanugarn    173
88    Brooke M. Henderson    173
88    Sandra Gal    173
88    Yealimi Noh    173
92    Jillian Hollis    174
93    Albane Valenzuela    176
94    Moriya Jutanugarn    180
95    Mel Reid    181
96    Minjee Lee    186
97    Caroline Inglis    193
98    Dana Finkelstein    194
99    Matilda Castren    195
100    Maria Fernanda Torres    196
100    Michelle Wie West    196
102    Caroline Hedwall    197
103    Haley Moore    198
104    Brittany Lincicome    200
105    Cydney Clanton    204
106    Katherine Kirk    209
107    Jenny Coleman    210
108    Esther Lee    216
109    Perrine Delacour    217
110    Celine Boutier    219
111    Ayako Uehara    220
111    Jiwon Jeon    220
111    Yujeong Son    220
114    Tiffany Chan    222
115    Hee Young Park    223
116    Anna Nordqvist    224
117    Lindy Duncan    228
118    Marina Alex    229
118    Pajaree Anannarukarn    229
120    Bronte Law    232
121    Lauren Stephenson    233
122    Wichanee Meechai    234
123    Sarah Jane Smith    235
123    Tiffany Joh    235
125    Jasmine Suwannapura    237
126    Jaclyn Lee    239
127    Gerina Piller    241
128    Jeongeun Lee    242
129    Daniela Darquea    244
130    Jaye Marie Green    246
131    Liz Nagel    248
132    Maria Fassi    250
133    Suzuka Yamaguchi    255
134    Pornanong Phatlum    261
135    Jackie Stoelting    263
136    Alena Sharp    267
136    Mariah Stackhouse    267
138    Maia Schechter    268
139    Min Seo Kwak    273
140    Emma Talley    274
141    Katherine Perry-Hamski    279
142    Brittany Lang    280
143    Robynn Ree    282
144    Jane Park    284
145    Alana Uriell    285
146    In Kyung Kim    292
147    Muni He    293
148    Lauren Kim    296
149    Mo Martin    298

 

Edited April 20, 2021 by Argonne69

[Stooch]

One of my favorite stats for putting is shots lost/gained putting the math gets complicated but what I do like is fact they take players (PGA) field average of putts made at that distance and it's incorporated in how you are actually putting on the day.  For example Brooke who I follow close to notice the subtleties, I'm betting she's near the bottom LPGA in make % of putts 6-15 feet, where I suspect the field average is probably around 30%, I'm betting Brooke's closer to 20%, which will end up costing you too many shots versus the leaders week in and week out.

[Argonne69]

Nelly is currently #8 in total putting. Based on her performance last Saturday, she looked more like #88. She leads the tour in total birdies, so again is it due to excellent putting, or sticking irons/wedges to within tap-in range? Without ShotLink we'll likely never know the real story.

 

Jin Young is currently 59th. My first instinct is to say that's a mistake, but she's actually struggled this season with the putter (by her normal standards), even though she has 3 top 10s.

 

[Stooch]

6 minutes ago, Argonne69 said:

Nelly is currently #8 in total putting. Based on her performance last Saturday, she looked more like #88. She leads the tour in total birdies, so again is it due to excellent putting, or sticking irons/wedges to within tap-in range? Without ShotLink we'll likely never know the real story.

 

Jin Young is currently 59th. My first instinct is to say that's a mistake, but she's actually struggled this season with the putter (by her normal standards), even though she has 3 top 10s.

 

Nelly is very inconsistent IMO, one round I watch her make three 15 feet+ putts then watch her miss three 4 foot putts the next round. lol  JYK while struggling with putter by her standards as long as the other parts of her game are firing on all cylinders, she can still get around a bad putting round at -2 or -3 and than she finds one good putting round during the week she scores well and jumps up the leaderboard.  Again Brooke who I follow close enough to notice these things is similar, if her ballstriking is on she still get around in -2 or -3 type score even with the worse putting drought of her career, if she putts good on the day she'll go really low but if it's day with bad ballstriking and an off putter she shoot a +2 like the opening round of the ANA.  I'm betting the same applies for JYK but Brooke better hope her ballstriking shows up this week, cause of 6 rounds played here, 1 round matched the current stated of her putting and it was coupled with a bad ballstriking day and resulted in a +8 (79) round, she managed to avoid missing cuts even with her putting woes but that could be in danger this week.

[18majors]

@Stooch

 

Did you notice the two 3-putt queens, Brooke and Yealimi, are both #88!  Should we start a bet on who will finish as a better putter at the end of the season?

 

Brooke has to be a good putter; otherwise, she wouldn't have won nine times already at LPGA.  it's a matter of time before she straightens it out. 

 

My hunch is she'll contend pretty well this week.  Hopefully, so is Yealimi Noh.

 

 

[Stooch]

4 minutes ago, 18majors said:

@Stooch

 

Did you notice the two 3-putt queens, Brooke and Yealimi, are both #88!  Should we start a bet on who will finish as a better putter at the end of the season?

 

Brooke has to be a good putter; otherwise, she wouldn't have won nine times already at LPGA.  it's a matter of time before she straightens it out. 

 

My hunch is she'll contend pretty well this week.  Hopefully, so is Yealimi Noh.

 

 

 

I honestly think in probably both of them, the 3-putting is most likely mental at this point, I imagine every time either is standing over a 5 footer for par very negative things are going through their heads and both will have to figure out how to play through it.

 

Yeah it's a very important 4 events for Brooke and her season, if she doesn't snap out of it with these events it could be a long year.  She's never won any of them but has been pretty dominant in them recently and this event would be the weakest but she still has 4 out of 6 under par rounds here.

 

I think something we lose track of in players specifically Yealimi and Brooke is how not being able to score affects players like them.  Add a player like Sei Young Kim, they are player who don't care about bogeys being aggressive is what matters, if they make 2 bogeys they aren't upset cause they expect to make 6-8 birdies that round.  If any of these players struggles with the putter and aren't making birdies their scorecards look much uglier

 

Again it's long season and we are now starting to get some repetition with a long schedule and we'll see how things play out, great thing about ballstrikers though they are only ever a hot putter away for contending for a win.

[Bad9]

However it gets calculated Brooke at T88 seems right and highlights her biggest flaw.

[Bad9]

tee to green is my favourite LPGAer to watch, hits it well reasonably long off the tee and just wild enough at times to make it exciting. But on the greens she's been painful to watch this year. You can tell its in her head this year too.

[18majors]

42 minutes ago, Stooch said:

I think something we lose track of in players specifically Yealimi and Brooke is how not being able to score affects players like them.  Add a player like Sei Young Kim, they are player who don't care about bogeys being aggressive is what matters, if they make 2 bogeys they aren't upset cause they expect to make 6-8 birdies that round.  If any of these players struggles with the putter and aren't making birdies their scorecards look much uglier

 

 

 

Can't agree more!

 

Yealimi paled in comparison with either Brooke or Sei Young in career achievement; but is out of the same mold.  In her real rookie season last year, she was #2 in total birdies.

 

Yealimi is currently #39 in total birdies, like a locomotive that's struggled out of the gate.  However, I've no doubt both Brooke and Yealimi will be OK in the end.

[Golf Dino]

When it comes to Yealimi, lets talk about the elephant in the room ... how her slow play penalties have affected her this season.  It would be very reasonable to conclude that it is playing on her somewhat ... perhaps when she is lining up her putts, standing over the ball, etc.   Just that little bit of an extra rush to get it done quickly and next thing she knows she's missing it poorly  (for a professional).  

[North Texas]

22 hours ago, Golf Dino said:

When it comes to Yealimi, lets talk about the elephant in the room ... how her slow play penalties have affected her this season.  It would be very reasonable to conclude that it is playing on her somewhat ... perhaps when she is lining up her putts, standing over the ball, etc.   Just that little bit of an extra rush to get it done quickly and next thing she knows she's missing it poorly  (for a professional).  

 

Even though I like her, I can't say that I have any sympathy for her.