Park stacks up well against modern-day peers

To more fully put in perspective the magnitude of Inbee Park’s accomplishments at the young age of 26, I thought it would be interesting to compare her to some of the LPGA’s other dominant players from the modern era.

I could have complicated the comparison by including a dozen categories and just as many players, but I thought it would be simpler to keep it to a handful of top stars and limit the categories to wins, majors and career money. So, I have tallied numbers for Hall of Famers Annika Sorenstam, Karrie Webb, Se Ri Pak and Lorena Ochoa, as well as two-time Rolex Player of the Year Yani Tseng and compared those to Park’s stellar stats.

Park turns 27 on July 12, so she still has two more events where she could potentially add to her totals, and Tseng has the rest of the season to pile up more since she does not celebrate her 27^th until Jan. 23. Here is how Park stacks up against those players’ totals heading into next week’s Walmart NW Arkansas Championship Presented by P&G.

Park leads the way with six majors, with Webb and Tseng following along with five, and Tseng has three more chances to tie Park later this season. Ochoa had the biggest career money haul before the age of 27 at $13,188,876, but Park is close with $11,373,484.

The win total mark goes to Webb with 26, while Ochoa had 24 and Pak 22, and Park could theoretically get to 17 before her 27^th birthday. Sorenstam surprisingly ranked last in each category, but the super Swede earned most of her 72 career tournament titles in her 30s and dominated her era like no one before or since.

This comparison points out a number of things, including the excellence Webb portrayed even while squaring off against Sorenstam and Pak, as well as each players’ prowess at such a young age. They all put up head-shaking numbers against top competition, and Park is the latest to do so on a grand stage.

It is exciting to think what Park could accomplish before the age of 30 and even what her final career totals will look like in another 15 or 20 years. Considering that Park has won five of the last 12 major championships and is only 26, Hall of Famer Patty Berg’s record of 15 could be in considerable danger of being eclipsed.

Park still lacks RICOH Women’s British Open and Evian Championship titles on her resume, and her fans can rest assured those two events will be big targets on her radar screen this year and for the rest of her career. At the very least, there’s no doubt people will be able to use Park in comparisons like these for quite some time.