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| Yani Tseng |
Yani Tseng finished first in a majority of the 2011 statistical categories, including Earnings, Scoring, Victories, Rounds Under Par, Top-10 finishes, Birdies, Driving Distance and Rounds in the 60s. Leading these categories showed how dominant the 22-year-old was in 2011.
Here is a look at some categories she led and the close battle in others:
- Earnings: Tseng's $2,921,713 was nearly double that of second-place Cristie Kerr ($1,470,979). Lorena Ochoa set the record earnings mark of $4,314,994 in 2007, but Tseng is now second all-time, supplanting Annika Sorenstam's $2,863,914 in 2005.
- Wins: Tseng had seven victories, five more than three other multiple winners (Brittany Lincicome, Suzann Pettersen and Karrie Webb, with two apiece).
- Greens in Regulation: Entering last week's final event, the CME Titleholders, Tseng held a slight lead in this category. She had hit .751 greens in regulation, compared to second-place Suzann Pettersen and Paula Creamer (.750). However, Petterson hit 49 of 72 greens in regulation in the final tournament to move to first for the season (.745). Tseng and Creamer each hit 46 of 72 greens in regulation to fall into a second-place tie at .743. Tseng was hurt by a final round at Grand Cypress where she hit only nine greens in regulation.
- Scoring: Tseng's 69.66 scoring average was the lowest to lead the LPGA Tour since Lorena Ochoa had a 69.24 average in 2006. Tseng had close to a one-stroke lead on second-place Na Yeon Choi (70.53), who led the LPGA in Scoring in 2010.
- Driving Distance: Tseng's first-place finish in this category pulled off a rare double of Driving Distance and Earnings. Tseng averaged 269.2 yards and Maria Hjorth was second at 267.8. Laura Davies in 1994, Annika Sorenstam in 2003, Lorena Ochoa in 2008 and Tseng in 2011 led both.
- Rounds Under Par: Tseng recorded under-par rounds 70 percent of the time (54 of 77 rounds) to outdistance second-place Stacy Lewis (61 percent, 49 of 81).
- With a tie for fourth at last week's CME Titleholders, Tseng finished the season with 14 top-10s, two more than three other players (Choi, Kerr and Lewis).
- Tseng recorded 358 birdies, an average of 4.65 per round. Lewis was second with 300 birdies and an average of 3.70 per round.
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| Karen Stupples |
- England's Karen Stupples had 12 Eagles to lead the LPGA Tour. Brittany Lincicome was second with nine.
- Paola Moreno hit 269 of 321 fairways in 2011 (.838) to lead the Driving Accuracy category. Christine Song and Leta Lindley finished tied for second at .823.
- Cristie Kerr led in Putting, with 1.75 putts per greens in regulation. Ai Miyazato, Jiyai Shin and I.K. Kim were tied for second at 1.76.
- There were 10 holes in one in 2011 by the following players: Heather Bowie Young, Na Yeon Choi, Vicky Hurst, Juli Inkster, Sarah Kemp, Pernilla Lindberg, Jessica Shepley, Jiyai Shin, Jenny Suh and Jaclyn Sweeney.
- Azahara Munoz, Stacy Lewis and Beatriz Recari played in all 23 official-money tournaments in 2011, the most on the LPGA. None of them played in the unofficial money HSBC Brasil Cup 2011.
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| Catriona Matthew |
Mixing age with experience
Catriona Matthew's victory at the Lorena Ocho Invitational made her the oldest winner on the LPGA Tour this season. Matthew, 42, was the only 40-year-old to win this year. She is also the first player in the 40s to win a title since Helen Alfredsson won twice at age 43 during the 2008 season.
The average winner's age was 26 years. This included the oldest winner (Matthew) and the youngest (Alexis Thompson, Navistar, age 16). Only three winners were in their 30s (Karrie Webb, age 36, a two-time winner; Suzann Pettersen, 30, a two-time winner; and Maria Hjorth, 37, at Avnet). The rest were in their 20s or teens. Yani Tseng, 22, had the most wins, seven, including two major championships. The other two major championship winners were age 26 (Stacy Lewis, Kraft Nabisco) and age 21 (So Yeon Ryu, U.S. Women's Open).
The winners were from…
Winners this season hailed from Taiwan (7 wins for Yani Tseng), the United States (4 total - Stacy Lewis, 2 for Brittany Lincicome, Lexi Thompson), South Korea (3 total - So Yeon Ryu, Na Yeon Choi and Hee Young Park), Australia (2 for Karrie Webb), Norway (2 for Suzann Pettersen), Japan (2 total - Ai Miyazato and Momoko Ueda), Germany (Sandra Gal), Sweden (Maria Hjorth), Colombia (Mariajo Uribe) and Scotland (Catriona Matthew).
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| Suzann Pettersen |
Record international winners' pace
International players set a record winning percentage this year. There were 20 international winners in 24 tournaments (83 percent). The previous record was 81.4 percent in 2010 (22 international winners in 27 tournaments), closely followed by 81.3 percent (26 of 32) in 2002.
A look at the international winners' percentage since 2000:
| Year | International winners |
Tournaments | Percent |
| 2000 | 23 | 36 | 63.9 |
| 2001 | 26 | 36 | 72.2 |
| 2002 | 26 | 32 | 81.3 |
| 2003 | 23 | 31 | 74.2 |
| 2004 | 21 | 32 | 65.6 |
| 2005 | 22 | 31 | 67.6 |
| 2006 | 26 | 33 | 78.8 |
| 2007 | 20 | 31 | 64.5 |
| 2008 | 25 | 34 | 73.5 |
| 2009 | 21 | 29 | 72.6 |
| 2010 | 22 | 27 | 81.4 |
| 2011 | 20 | 24 | 83.3 |
Stacy to add to World Golf Hall list
With last week's announcement that Hollis Stacy will be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame next year, there will be 27 former LPGA players enshrined. In addition to Stacy, they include Amy Alcott, Patty Berg, Pat Bradley, Donna Caponi, JoAnne Carner, Beth Daniel, Marlene Hagge, Sandra Haynie, Chako Higuchi, Juli Inkster, Betty Jameson, Betsy King, Nancy Lopez, Carol Mann, Ayako Okamoto, Se Ri Pak, Judy Rankin, Betsy Rawls, Patty Sheehan, Marilynn Smith, Annika Sorenstam, Louise Suggs, Karrie Webb, Kathy Whitworth, Mickey Wright and Babe Zaharias.
Opening in 2012
Golf fans got a look at Royal Melbourne during last week's Presidents Cup competition. They will get another look in early 2012 when the LPGA Tour opens its season with the co-sanctioning of the Women's Australian Open Feb. 9-12 at the Alister Mackenzie design. Yani Tseng won the 2011 event, which was played at Commonwealth Golf Club in Melbourne and was not a LPGA event.
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