OWGR - Week#40

Don't have too much time tonight, so just very briefly...
Congrats to this week's winners: M. Hoey (ET), K. Na (PGA), P. Casey (Korean Tour) and Bae Sang-Moon (Japan Tour).
Michael Hoey with the most impressive move from #271 straight into the top 100!
Bae Sang-Moon also with a healthy jump into the top 60 after his 2nd win in Japan in just over a month.
And as already mentioned, Tiger is finally moving outside the top 50!!!
But Padraig and Casey see their first moves up the ranks in quite a long time...

This is how the OWGR table should look after week #40:

1 Luke Donald
2 Lee Westwood
3 Rory McIlroy
4 Steve Stricker
5 Dustin Johnson
6 Martin Kaymer
7 Jason Day
8 Adam Scott
9 Matt Kuchar
10 Phil Mickelson
11 Nick Watney
12 Carl Schwartzel
13 Webb Simpson
14 Graeme McDowell
15 K.J. Choi
16 Bubba Watson
17 Justin Rose
18 David Toms
19 Hunter Mahan
20 Paul Casey
21 Bill Haas
22 Kim Kyung-Tae
23 Ian Poulter
24 Robert Karlsson
25 Brandt Snedeker
26 Keegan Bradley
27 Jim Furyk
28 Simon Dyson
29 Anders Hansen
30 Thomas Bjorn
31 Jason Dufner
32 Francesco Molinari
33 Zach Johnson
34 Martin Laird
35 Geoff Ogilvy
36 Rickie Fowler
37 Bo Van Pelt
38 Darren Clarke
39 Matteo Manassero
40 Retief Goosen
41 Alvaro Quiros
42 Gary Woodland
43 Y.E. Yang
44 Miguel Jimenez
45 Ernie Els
46 Ryo Ishikawa
47 Sergio Garcia
48 Ryan Moore
49 Louis Oosthuizen
50 Aaron Baddeley
----------------------------
51 Tiger Woods
52 Jonathan Byrd
53 Peter Hanson
54 Vijay Singh
55 Edoardo Molinari
56 Fredrik Jacobsen
57 Bae Sang-Moon
58 Mark Wilson
59 Robert Allenby
60 John Senden
61 Tim Clark
62 Kevin Na
63 Lucas Glover
64 Rory Sabbatini
65 Ryan Palmer
66 Charley Hoffman
67 Yuta Ikeda
68 Charles Howell III
69 Sean O'Hair
70 Chez Reavie
71 Ben Crane
72 Alexander Noren
73 Scot Verplank
74 Nicolas Colsaerts
75 Richard Green
76 Camilo Villegas
77 Tetsuji Hiratsuka
78 Padraig Harrington
79 Ross Fisher
80 J.B. Holmes
81 Chris Kirk
82 Anthony Kim
83 Hiroyuki Fujita
84 Stephen Marino
85 Jeff Overton
86 Tommy Gainey
87 Spencer Levin
88 Brian Davis
89 Jamie Donaldson
90 Robert Garrigus
91 Fredrik A. Hed
92 Raphael Jacquelin
93 Brendan Jones
94 Pablo Larazabal
95 Carl Petersson
96 Joost Luiten
97 Davis Love III
98 Michael Hoey
99 David Lynn
100 D.A. Points
----------------------------
101 George Coetzee
102 Stewart Cink
103 David Horsey
...

pd,
Surprising stuff there, Hanson and Watney especially are treading water with good-ish results!

Thanks kwini. The gap between Watney and #10 was pretty large and all his points yesterday were not enough to make up for that. Now the gap has narrowed down though, as did the gap between Rory and Lee as well. And Rory now has a great chance this week to push for #2 position...

With all the talk about Tiger and his comeback, people have overlooked another event that will take place this week, once again, far away in Korea!
Korean golf is enjoying a few high profile weeks and it's no surprise really considering the strength and depth they have these days in the sport. Last week's tournament won by Casey turned out to be one of the richest (owgr-wise) in their tour history (not sure of the whole history, but I'm pretty sure it is the case). Casey received 20 points in the end for that win while the competing event over in Japan was worth only 18! (and was won by a Korean) The Japanese are probably getting quite nervous about this development... And as I said, that was only last week, but this week they will have the Korean Open, which is going to be an even bigger event. Apart from the same local stars (they're joined also by YE Yang, but can't see KJ on the list yet), they will have again a couple of the western young 'superstars': Rory McIlroy & Rickie Fowler (and even Danny Lee coming after his Nationwide win last week)! So if you wondered what was Rory talking about when he said he started a 12 week 'on the road' adventure, there's the answer...

That already sounds like a field worth at least 24 owgr points (quite possible also to reach 26!) which will make it not only to overshadow once again the otherwise strong Canon Open in Japan, but even the much hyped Frys.com tourney which will very likely stay at the minimum of 24 points.

But expect Japan to recover some pride the following week when the Japan Open will take place (among the richest on the JP Tour in prize money). Will see if/who they have up their sleeve in that field... For those who thought the rise of Asian golf is just a rumour or a distant dream, think again... these may well be signs of things to come much more often in the future...

Danny Lee is now a dead cert to qualify for the 2012 PGA Tour, another loss to Europe I would think although not sure "Europe" was ever in his plans.

One can be sure that the current top ten on the Nationwide money list will be on the full Tour next year, one Aussie then, one Swede, one NZ'er, a Scot and an Englishman. The N'wide has become quite diverse!

I see Danny Lee is also now an exponent of th ebelly putter...

But a lad with great promise providing he does not get himself bogged down being too technical as I think he did a year or two ago

Mav,
A couple of years ago he was only a couple of temperamental meltdowns from earning Special Membership of the PGA Tour; then it all seemed to go haywire for a year or so.

There are a few Koreans with temperament issues (Anthony Kim, Na of course, Danny Lee; all in stark contrast to the stoic nature of KJ Choi and Charlie Wie. And Se Ri Pak. Perhaps YE Yang falls somewhere in between? Haven't seen enough of the other young Koreans to see how the characteristic applies!

Great start by the 'superstars' in Korea... Fowler and YE are leading with Rory just one shot back.
And a correction to what I've said earlier - a win for Rory here won't actually be sufficient to overtake Lee at #2, yet...

Good to see Alvaro Quiros off to a good start; he's one of the golfers who need to start looking over their shoulder as they fall ever closer to the top 50 trapdoor - dismal run of form this past summer.

Some big names committed for next week's affairs:
Portugal: Kaymer, Harrington, F.Molinari, M-A J, Quiros, Fishers, Hanson, Bjorn, Dyson etc.

Sea Island: Kuchar, Furyk, Toms, Sneds, Z.Johnson, CHIII, DLIII, Glover, Byrd, hopefully Haas and Simpson, etc.

Although I'm always a big fan when he plays, I'm afraid I'd have to say that I've been a bit concerned about Alvaro's future ... I've heard so far of ankle, shoulder and now wrist injuries that have been bothering him over the last year or two. Perhaps someting to do with his swing and the force he is putting in all those shots....? Would be a great pitty as he is certanly great to watch and great for the game...

The youngsters on top in Asia...
Rory& Rickie in the lead in Korea after Rd.2
Ryo leading in Japan...

Rory doing better than Wozzer then.

Good to see Franny M back in the thick of things, only Uncle Ernie and King Louis have earned fewer points this year of those in the Top 50.

Didn't watch any golf today
But very happy to see Chico back in shape and he could jump back up ~10 places or so with a win in Madrid... remember last year around this time he really was in top form. Hopefully he can go and defend his HSBC title in a few weeks time... A bit shocked though to see Lee Slattery leading, doesn't happen very often. I just remembered that I followed him once about 6-7 years ago and he wasn't playing too badly then... There he is:

Spoiler:

To be honest, the plan then was to follow his more famous partner, but he ended up playing the better golf that day...
Trivia Q: Guess what course is that...?

Course looks a lot like Slaley Hall, though thats probably miles off the mark.
Slattery is one of those guys who flits about a lot like footy teams such as birmingham too good for the championship in general but not good enough for the premiership.

He always does superbly on the Challenge Tour but struggles to make the money on the European tour

Mav,
I see a few of them, on both Tours. Always wonder whether it's their game, lifestyle, whatever. Shows up more this time of year, of course! Dinwiddie's another one, and Pelle Edberg.

Paul Casey would likely be close to leapfrogging Justin Rose with a win, pd?
Early days, I know.

Pathetic in Podgorica . . . . . .

Dinwiddies an odd one for me, he can clearly play but always seems to screw his schedule up thus meaning he need big results at the wrong times,

Good try Mav, but as you say, it's quite a few miles off...
It is in Ireland, so I guess that's a first clue...

kwini, Casey WILL overtake Rosey with another win this week, but will end up probably just a bit short of catching Bubba... Sorry about Podgorica...

Two birdies at the last two holes could only change a disastrous 3rd round into a bad one (+2) for Rors today in Korea... Rickie on the other hand went out and blitzed the course in 63! YE also with a very good 68... LB looks like this:

1. R. Fowler -13
2. YE Yang -9
...
T4. Rory -3
.......

So, when Wozzer is a loser, nothing's hunky-dory for our Rory!?

.... nothing hunky-dory for the boyz in green either down under
Well played, Wales!

Rickie's hungry...

"Felt good today...looking forward to tomorrow's round...I want my first win!!"

Could be a big win for Fowler if he can keep his head in the game tomorrow; after all, look what a good weekend in Korea has done for Casey - so far of course!
Rickie in the McGladrey field, more details on my thread.

Disappointing field for the Castello Masters in a fortnight's time.
Matteo, Sergio, Hanson, Noren, Rafa, Romero and Larrazabal and not much more.
Very poor and an indictment on the European Tour and its players, I would suggest, not least the GB&I crew who are doubtless stuffing their wallets elsewhere. Shame on them.

Agreed... It's also a bit odd considering that Madrid has a prize fund of 1million, while Castello has 2million!? Schedules and stuff maybe part of it, but still...

Good to see Richard Green coming back from next week...
Also Jeev Milkha Singh is returning to Europe at Castello after spending a few weeks on the JP and Asian tours with mixed results... But he'll very probably make a stop home next week, on his way to Europe, for the Hero Indian Open in Delhi...

The official websites from Korea are not updated or working, but this twitter message from @KOLONKOREAOPEN seems to confirm that Fowler got his first win!

@RickieFowlerPGA win the Kolon Korea Open! Huge congrats for Rickie and his fans! :-)

Emphatic win by 6 shots from Fowler (could've been more but he obviously took his foot off the pedal at the end finishing with 2 bogeys). Rory at least gave it a good go in the last round and finished with a great 64.

1. Fowler -16
2. McIlroy -10
3. Kim Meen Whee -7
4. YE Yang -5
5. Noh Seung-Yul -3
....
T42. Danny Lee +11

Didn't do the owgr updating, but this should bring Fowler somewhere around #25...

lw1 needs to start looking over his shoulder . . . .

PS: Goosen the next big name to drop out of the top fifty unless he's got something up his sleeve.

Dissapointed that Lee has decided to skip the Portugal Masters after he confirmed his participation just one month ago... Instead of a real battle with Rory for #2 spot, now they're both chosing to do this silly challenge stuff around China with Poults... I've no problem with doing things like that at all to promote the sport in China or other places, on the contrary, but it's becoming a bit of a trend recently among the big pros to confirm participation in tournaments early and then they suddenly dissappear from the entry list 1-2 weeks before the event...

There should be 28 points for the Madrid Masters in the end, with Korea @24...

Particularly disappointing about Portugal and lw1 as it was that tournament two years ago that confirmed his renaissance and propelled him to the R2D swag.
And, yes, I was looking at the Valencia event as having twice the money and half the field as this week's Madrid affair.
24 points this week in the Bay Area? (Probably subsidised?)

Yep - Frys.com is @24 points and subsidised by 2 points...

I said it before that I'm not so sure about that orange on Sundays, and I'm certainly not sure about combining that with green, but having said that, this picture looks pretty good...

http://yfrog.com/z/klyulznj

...although I have to add that after seeing Lee last week in those horrible orange pyjamas, makes Rickie's orange gear look like haut couture...