As the LPGA enters its summer stretch of events with this week’s ShopRite LPGA Classic, golf fans all over the world are focused on the continuing excitement over the success of young players and the battle for No. 1 in the Race to the CME Globe.
That run includes three major championships in the next eight tournaments. The PGA Tour enters a similar stretch with two majors in the next nine events.
In honor of this prime time for golf, let’s examine the statistical comparisons between the LPGA and PGA Tour. An overview reveals that the LPGA has an advantage in accuracy while the PGA Tour has a power lead.
PGA Tour Driving Distance leader Dustin Johnson averages 45 yards more than LPGA leader Brittany Lincicome on courses that average more than 600 yards longer. But the accuracy of the LPGA players is just as dominant. Only once since 2000 has a PGA Tour player been more accurate driving than the top LPGA player (Olin Browne’s 80.4 percent in 2008). In Greens in Regulation, you have to go back to 2000 when Tiger Woods hit a PGA Tour-record 75.2 percent to find a season when a PGA Tour player was better.
Here’s a chart that shows various categories, based on the LPGA through 12 events and the PGA Tour through 27 in its wrap-around season:
| Category | LPGA | PGA Tour | Noteworthy |
| Scoring | 69.525 (Stacy Lewis) | 69.50 (Jordan Spieth, Actual) | Spieth also leads PGA Tour’s Adjusted scoring at 69.281, which is stat for Vardon Trophy |
| Low 18 | 63 (Beatriz Recari, Thailand; Alison Lee, JTBC Founders) | 61 (Four times) | All-time low on both tours is 59 |
| Low 9 | 29: -7 (Stacy Lewis, Thailand) | 27: -9 (Ryan Palmer) | LPGA nine-hole record is 27, PGA Tour’s is 26 |
| Avg. Length of Courses | 6,536 | 7,218 | LPGA’s longest course is 6,769 yards (ANA Inspiration); PGA Tour’s shortest is 6,816 (Pebble Beach) |
| Points | 2,090 (Lydia Ko) | 2,326 (Jordan Spieth) | Until his second last week, Ko and Spieth had similar points levels |
| Driving Distance | 271.1 (Brittany Lincicome) | 316.5 (Dustin Johnson) | Lincicome would rank 200th on the PGA Tour |
| Driving Accuracy | 89.9% (Mo Martin) | 76.75% (Francesco Molinari) | Molinari would rank 48th on LPGA |
| Total Driving* | 65: 24D, 41A (Suzann Pettersen) | 48: 7D, 42A (Rory McIlroy) | LPGA has 15 players under 100 points; PGA Tour 8 |
| Greens in Regulation | 78.2% (Lydia Ko) | 72.83 (Jim Herman) | Herman would rank 20th on the LPGA |
| Putting (Per Round) | 27.00 (Julie Yang) | 27.50 (Jordan Spieth) | Spieth would be second on the LPGA |
| *-Total Driving adds Driving Distance (D) and Accuracy (A) ranking for total. | |||
Stacy Lewis defends
Last year, Stacy Lewis had a dominant performance at the ShopRite LPGA Classic, winning by six strokes en route to moving to No. 1 in the Rolex Women’s World Rankings, breaking Inbee Park’s 59-week hold on the top position. In 2012, Lewis won the tournament by four strokes.
So this seems like the perfect place for Lewis to break an 11-month victory drought. Since winning the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship on June 27, 2014, Lewis has recorded five runner-up finishes. Still, her level of play has been stellar – she leads the LPGA in Scoring (69.53 average), has the most rounds in the 60s (20 out of 40) and is second in Putting (28.60 per round) and birdies (178).
Lewis’ affection for this tournament was shown in 2012 when she donated $20,000 to benefit those affected by the devastation for Hurricane Sandy.
Slammin’ Sammy’s First Major
With Memorial Day behind us, it’s ironic that the Stockton Seaview course, this week’s site of the ShopRite Classic, has a distinct military history.
When the 1942 PGA Championship was held at the New Jersey course, the championship match opponents were Sam Snead and Jim Turnesa. Turnesa was a corporal in the U.S. Army and Snead would enter the Navy the day after the match for basic training. It would be the final major championship of the year because of World War II.
Snead beat Turnesa 2 and 1 in the 36-hole championship match for his first of seven major titles. Snead was 3-down at the 18-hole lunch break but surged in the afternoon round, culminated by a 60-foot birdie chip-in on the 17th hole to secure the win.
Part of the original course where Snead won is in use this week for the LPGA event.
Stockton Seaview Bay Course
This week’s venue, the Bay Course at the Stockton Seaview Resort, is one of the shorter courses on the LPGA. At 6,247 yards and playing to par 71, there are ample birdie opportunities. The winner has finished at least 10-under in all but one year since 1996.
The course finishes with a short par 3 (115-yard 17th) and a reachable par 5 (501-yard 18th).
Etc.
Two rookies lead the LPGA in eagles. Two-time winner Sei Young Kim has six and Minjee Lee is tied for second with five. … Speaking of Minjee Lee, her first-week caddie two weeks ago at the Kingsmill Championship was Jeremy Young, a longtime LPGA caddie and the husband of former LPGA player Heather Bowie-Young. … Monday qualifier Birdie Kim, the 2005 U.S. Women’s Open champion, is coming off an emergency appendectomy six weeks ago at her home in Jacksonville, Fla. She has focused on the Epson Tour this year in her comeback, missing the cut in four of five starts. This will be her first LPGA start of 2015. … This week’s event is the first 54-hole tournament of the 2015 season. Golf Channel will televise the tournament from 1-3:30 p.m., EST on Friday and 3-6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
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