Looking at the Gi Money Leaders List

GolfInvestors has a lot of compiled figures based upon the raw tournament results which get lost in the web site. This is true regarding the topic which I talked about last week, the Golf CLi. In keeping with the same theme this week and in the effort of providing an another glimpse into different facets of GolfInvestors, let's look at the Gi Money Leaders List. This list can be found at the following link on the GolfInvestors web site:

GolfInvestors > Players > Money Leaders

This list of money leaders is a little different than the money leader lists you will find on individual PGA tour web sites. One of the reasons is that the compiled earnings figure looks at the earnings from players based upon which tour sancationed the tournament. It does not consider if the player is a member of that tour or not.

As well, you will see a discrepancy in the earnings figure based upon different exchange rates used as we store results from tournaments played around the world and have a pay out in currencies other than the US dollar. We use the exchange rate as of the date of the last round of the tournament, and usually use the rates which are posted on the oanda.com web site.

Basically what you are seeing in the Gi Money Leaders List is a compilation of all of the earnings for a player based upon all of their worldwide earnings, but all in US dollars.

Below I have put together some interesting information which this list can show you.

Who has won the most money this year worldwide?

Tiger Woods has a commanding lead in the money list with having won $8.61 million worldwide. He has played in 18 events this year and is averaging $478,000 per tournament. On top of that he has won 5 events. This means he wins 28% of the time -- he would probably think this should be 100% of the time, as he thinks he can win every tournament he plays in, or he would not play in the event. As for top tens, he has placed in the top ten 11 times, which is 61% of the time he plays.

Coming in 2nd is Vijay Singh with $7.46 million earned from 25 events. Singh averages $298,000 each time he plays and has won 4 times this year, which is 16% of the time. However, what is impressive is that Singh has placed in the top ten 16 times of the 25 times he has played. As a percentage, that is 64% of the time he plays. That percentage is similar to Woods, however, Woods plays a lot less than Singh.

I would say Singh's efforts in the "top ten" category is worth more since the more times you play, the more chances you have to not place in the top ten. Singh and Woods probably do not think that way, as they are saying the more chances they have to play, the more chances they have to place in the top ten.

Phil Mickelson rounds out the top 3 in the money list with having won $5.63 million this year. He averages $296,000 each time he plays in a tournament. He has won 4 times, which is 21% of the time he plays. He has placed in he top ten 9 times this year, which is 47% of the time.

[ You can see this information by sorting by 'Earnings' in descending order ]

Who has won the most tournaments this year?

Interesting enough it is not Tiger Woods. Rather it is Annika Sorenstam, having won 7 times compared to Woods' 5 tournament wins. That is right, the Gi Money Leaders List includes female golfers.

Sorenstam' winning percentage is 50% compared to Woods 28%. That means Sorenstam wins ever other tournament which she plays (as it relates to an average). That, might I say, is a wonderful percentage.

Sorenstam is ranked 16th in overall earnings, having won over $1.9 million this year.

Then you have Mickelson and Singh who have both won 4 times this year, with Jason Gore, Hale Irwin, Retief Goosen, Adam Scott, and the injured Ernie Els each bagging 3 wins this year. The 3 wins for Gore got him promoted from the Nationwide Tour to the US PGA Tour.

[ You can see this information by sorting by 'Wins' in descending order ]

Who has placed in the top ten the most this year?

Singh has the distinction of having 16 top tens in the 25 tournaments he has played in. As mentioned above, he places in the top ten 64% of the time.

Mark McNulty and Kyeong Bae have placed in the top ten 12 times. McNulty plays on the Champions Tour and Bae plays on the Women's Futures Tour. With having played 16 tournaments, being in the top ten 12 times means Bae places in the top ten 75% of the time.

[ You can see this information by sorting by 'Top Tens' in descending order ]

Who has played the most tournaments this year?

John Elliott has played in 30 tournaments, is ranked 144 in the Gi Money Leaders list, and has earned $63,625.

Ted Purdy is next with having played 29 tournaments, is ranked 8th in the Gi Money Leaders list, and has earned $1.78 million. He averages $61,298 per tournament, has won once (EDS Byron Nelson Classic back in May), and has placed in the top ten 2 times (6.9% of the total events he has played in).

[ You can find this information by sorting by 'Events Played' in descending order ]

Also of note, for this year alone over $380 million has been distributed in earnings to players for tournaments finished to date.