William K. Wolfrum: Michelle Wie's PR team tops Lorena Ochoa in final 2006 rankings

We here at the Golfer Supremacy Rankings are thrilled to bring you our first year-end ranking of the most supreme women golfers of 2006.

For more or less all of 2005 and 2006, we here at the GSR's have been hearing about the amazing potential of women's golf, as fans have talked about Michelle Wie, Paula Creamer, Morgan Pressel and Natalie Gulbis as stars who are ready to take the LPGA to the next level.

Doing a little math, however, we came up with these stats, which shows that the while the game may be changing, it really isn't changing in a very exciting way as of yet.

Total 2006 victories

Ochoa, Webb, Sorenstam: 13

South Korean Golfer: 11

Sherri Steinhauer: 1

Julieta Granada: 1

Wie, Creamer, Pressel, Gulbis: 0

So, while we are readily willing to accept that players like Wie and Gulbis are the future of the LPGA, at this point, it appears the future will consist of a lot of crappy golf. Nonetheless, results aren't everything.

Golfer Supremacy Rankings - 2006 Final Female rankings

1. Michelle Wie

Comments: If George W. Bush were a teenage, Korean-American female golfer, he'd be Michelle Wie -- and he'd likely look fabulous in short skirts. But let's face it, the similarities are striking - both have a penchant for saying goofy things while being interviewed; both are willing to risk it all getting involved in conflicts they don't really understand and are unprepared for; both stubbornly forge ahead, even as it becomes increasingly clear they are on the road to failure and humiliation; and both have fans that will root them on no matter what.

But let there be no doubt - all other female golfers combined don't approach the type of press that Wie gets. Annika Sorenstam has 69 victories in her career, Wie has zero, yet, it's not even close as to who's more popular. Wie made a fortune this year as she narrowly missed winning several times in LPGA events, while consistently humiliating herself in men's tournaments throughout the globe.

As 2006 wound down, it started becoming horrifyingly apparent that Wie's battles against the men were destroying her overall game. The teen sensation is now breaking par as often as Bush, and is now getting on the wrong side of 80 against the men. Has Wie destroyed a beautiful swing? We'll find out more in 2007, as she goes against the advice of the majority and plays wherever she wants to play, regardless of the consequences.

So while many fans of golf would love to see Wie focus on playing and beating the world's best women as opposed to letting he PR flacks focus on her paychecks while sending out press releases every time she makes a charitable donation, don't expect anything to change in 2007, but expect to see press coverage and fan interest in her to start dropping if she can't start showing some improvement.

2. Lorena Ochoa

Comments: The Mexican sensation won six times in 2006 and knocked Annika Sorenstam off the top of the women's game. No woman makes more birdies, or more impressive shots, and it's likely Ochoa, at just 24, will be at or near the top for years to come.

Now go ask your mom who Lorena Ochoa is. She'll likely guess that Ochoa co-starred with Salma Hayek in some flick about a Spanish poet. Such is the dilemma for the LPGA - they managed to trade a boring, classy dominant golfer in Annika Sorenstam, for a boring, classy golfer in Ochoa.

Luckily for Ochoa, it should make no difference. Let Natalie Gulbis show off her abs, let Wie garner the headlines and Ochoa will just keep winning golf tournaments. The Arizona State star deserves nothing but praise for a brilliant 2007 campaign, and expect more of the same in 2007, when she'll win just as much, and take home her first - and maybe second and third - major victories.

3. Annika Sorenstam

Comments: Talk all you like about the great collapse of Sorenstam in 2006, but the fact is this - the only thing that happened to Sorenstam was Ochoa and Webb. Annika's scoring average went up just slightly from 69.33 to 69.82 and she finished behind both Ochoa and Webb on the money list but played less than each of them, also. She won three times, including the U.S. Women's Open. Hysterically shriek that she "muddled through the season" all you want, but the fact is simple - she didn't descend as much as some of her competition caught up to her.

4. Karrie Webb

Comments: It may seem like Webb has been around forever, but the comeback queen of the LPGA in 2006 will be turning 32 next week. Webb was the best in the world in 2000 and 2001, then sunk to mediocrity, winning just once combined in 2003 and 2004. This year, it all came back for Webb, as she won five times, including the shot of the year - holing a remarkable 118-yard pitch on 18 to put herself into a playoff at the Kraft Nabisco Championship and deny Ochoa her first major in the ensuing playoff. A great comeback year for the soft-spoken Aussie.

5. South Korean Golfer

Comments: Rarely a fan favorite but always a great competitor, South Korean Golfer again showed she is a force to be reckoned with in 2006. Joo Mi Kim, Meena Lee, Sung Ah Yim, Mi Hyun Kim, He-Won Han, Seon Hwa Lee, Se Ri Pak, Jeong Jang, Jin Joo Hong were all winners in 2006. Expect more in 2007, as Choi Hye-jeong and Kim In-Kyeong were LPGA Q-School champs, and a total of 35 quality Korean golfers will be prowling the course during LPGA tournaments next year.

Random Factoid: The most popular location for LPGA Tournaments in 2007, according to the tour's schedule, is TBA.

--WKW

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