Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Futures Tour Rankings

A couple of times a year I like to take a look at who is playing well on the Duramed Futures Tour. Through seven events, six different players have won so while no one player is dominating, there are several who look promising. The Top 10 of 2008 so far are:

1. Mindy Kim
2. Leah Wigger
3. Vicky Hurst
4. M.J. Hur
5. Song Yi Choi
6. Onnarin Sattayabaphot
7. Jin Young Pak
8. Kim Welch
9. Ashley Prange
10. Chella Choi

Mindy Kim is the only two-time winner and as you might expect is also atop the money list. Vicky Hurst is slightly ahead of Leah Wigger in scoring average, both averaging better than 71 which often translates to good success on the Big Tour. Leah, Vicky and M.J. Hur have all won once as have Kristina Tucker and Sunny Oh, whose other numbers leave them short of my Top 10. Hurst became the youngest professional (17 years, 10 months) to ever win a Futures Tour event when she won the Jalapeno Golf Classic in April. Sattayabanphot – who has played a couple of LPGA events this year and is nicknamed “Moo” – has only played three Futures events but finished Top 10 in all of them. Tucker, Kim Welch and Ashley Prange are all Big Break alumni.

On a related note (while I’m talking about “the future”) – Stacy Lewis, the Arkansas all-American, turned pro Monday and promptly qualified for the U.S. Open. Others who qualified include Amy Yang (the LET money leader), Michelle Wie and TC favorite Moira Dunn. Unfortunately, Vicky Hurst is only in as an alternate. The full list of qualifiers
can be found at Waggle Room.

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