OWGR - Week #41

Very late finish last night! But better late than never is what could be said for three of the main winners from week#41:
Lee Slattery in Madrid, Rickie Fowler in Korea and Bryce Molder in California, all recording their first wins, so well done to them!
It was also a week with rather small owgr point rewards, which means that there haven't been any significant jumps up inside the top 100 rankings. Except maybe for Fowler who has the most noticeable jump from #36 to #24.
Tiger's return to play hasn't been a disaster, but there are no points to show for it, which means he is now droping one more position to #52.
But there are significant jumps for Slattery (up around 150 places into the top ~170) and Molder (up somewhere around #110).
Not quite a first win in Japan at the Canon Open for Kenichi Kuboya, but it is his first win in almost 10 years...

The OWGR rankings after week #41 should look like this:

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 Webb Simpson
13 Carl Schwartzel
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 Rickie Fowler
25 Robert Karlsson
26 Keegan Bradley
27 Brandt Snedeker
28 Simon Dyson
29 Jim Furyk
30 Thomas Bjorn
31 Francesco Molinari
32 Anders Hansen
33 Jason Dufner
34 Darren Clarke
35 Zach Johnson
36 Martin Laird
37 Geoff Ogilvy
38 Y.E. Yang
39 Bo Van Pelt
40 Retief Goosen
41 Gary Woodland
42 Alvaro Quiros
43 Matteo Manassero
44 Ernie Els
45 Miguel Jimenez
46 Ryo Ishikawa
47 Sergio Garcia
48 Ryan Moore
49 Aaron Baddeley
50 Louis Oosthuizen
---------------------------
51 Peter Hanson
52 Tiger Woods
53 Jonathan Byrd
54 Vijay Singh
55 Edoardo Molinari
56 Bae Sang-Moon
57 Fredrik Jacobsen
58 Mark Wilson
59 John Senden
60 Robert Allenby
61 Kevin Na
62 Lucas Glover
63 Tim Clark
64 Rory Sabbatini
65 Ryan Palmer
66 Yuta Ikeda
67 Charley Hoffman
68 Charles Howell III
69 Nicolas Colsaerts
70 Sean O'Hair
71 Chez Reavie
72 Alexander Noren
73 Scot Verplank
74 Richard Green
75 Camilo Villegas
76 Tetsuji Hiratsuka
77 Ben Crane
78 Padraig Harrington
79 Chris Kirk
80 Ross Fisher
81 J.B. Holmes
82 Spencer Levin
83 Hiroyuki Fujita
84 Stephen Marino
85 Anthony Kim
86 Tommy Gainey
87 Jeff Overton
88 Jamie Donaldson
89 Brian Davis
90 Fredrik A. Hed
91 Robert Garrigus
92 Brendan Jones
93 Raphael Jacquelin
94 Pablo Larazabal
95 Carl Petersson
96 Joost Luiten
97 Michael Hoey
98 Davis Love III
99 Thomas Aiken
100 Noh Seung-Yul
------------------------------
101 David Lynn
102 D.A. Points
103 George Coetzee
...

BTW, the Korean Open was worth 26 points to the winner in the end, a record for them I guess (if we exclude the Ballentines, of course, which is sanctioned by the ET as well)...

Great stuff pd.
Every week it's interesting to see guys beginning a trend, whether up or down. Goosen on the plunge the past couple of weeks, now Poulter among others.
Unless they're pot-hunting in the Far East as well as barnstorming Poulter, and even Westwood, are going to start dropping.

Opportunities missed to arrest their rankings fall by Casey, Els and Molinaris - even Matteo sliding.

Matteo's gears seem to be stuck in neutral for a few weeks now, hopefully the memories of Castello will recharge his batteries and he'll flourish again over the next few weeks.
Quiros would be another one on that list of missed opportunities for last week...
Look forward to Sergio's return to playing pretty soon...

PD,

Have you noticed the error in the OGWR when you gio into a players individual events that they are dividing by the total no. played rather than the "maximum" divisor of 54.

For example, Padraig is 1.91 average for 57 events, but his correct average is 2.01 using the minimum. Surprised this error has persisted..........

John, I know, it's now an old problem on the individual palyer pages...
The thing is that it is even more confusing than that... If you look at different players (those with higher no. of tournaments played than the max. divisor) the rule by which that average no. of points is calculated varies!
If you look for ex. at Ikeda and Ishihawa, the divisor used on their pages is 64 and 66 respectively... I think they may well be aware of that problem, but it may be quite difficult to change... and as very few people look at the average no. of points on the individual pages, it probably doesn't get a high priority to get fixed...
And BTW, I have a small list of outstanding issues that need to be fixed on the OWGR web pages... But having said that, the official overall list on the website and the pdf files issued every week with the rankings are all correct...

Cheers PD.............given TW's paltry no. of events No 52 isin't all that bad!!

John, pd,
The thing with the "40" divisor is that, if Woods starts to put together the results he clearly assumes he can, he'll start rocketing back up the rankings rather like a new player on the scene - most of the baggage of results from yesteryear will have gone overboard and new points will go directly towards his balance without there being corresponding decrements.

Trouble is, he needs to start accumulating the results first, because he's going to slip further before he gets another chance to climb back up again. I reckon the trampoline at the bottom of the lift-shaft will be his own personal Chevron fiefdom!

As yes, Chevron, where Tiger can "invite" himself and others to a bucket load of undeserved World Ranking points..........

Seriously though, now that they have OWGR points for the Chevron, i think there is a qualification process but not sure how the "host" treated!!

Yes they do John. To criteria stipulated by the owgr people.
Doesn't alter the fact that it's a benefit without risk to the partici[pants, just like Nedbank and the E.T. MatchPlay.

But Tiger undoubtedly has a significant advantage at that particular event. Just the way he planned it!

Still think that all such limited field events that are doled out owgr points should have a cut such that no points are awarded for playing badly, the top 50% of finishers can get their points, none awarded to those struggling in the bottom half. Including the WGC Match Play - where even first round losers earn points, in Stenson's case last year just for playing one hole. Ludicrous.

Kwini,

couldn't agree more..........why are there no players/media making an issue out of this??

I completely agree that events like the Chevron shouldnt get OWGR points, mind you Im sure there are many on here glad they do otherwise McDowells 2010 may have been quite different.
However the Chevron has been going for a good few years, Im sure that Tiger seeking to earn easy OWGR points was the last thing on his mind when the tournament was conceived. Sure, I bet he will happily take advantage now if he can but again the idea that tehre is some kind of grand plan behind this is to me just nonsense Im afraid.

kwini, JC,
there's no doubt that Chevron and other gatherings of that kind should be reassessed in terms of owgr points earnings
(and even money earnings of course)... Personally, I think that an even fairer rule that could be implemented by the OWGR people is to
set a mimnimum limit for the field size (e.g. 50-60 or more) for which they would award same owgr point quotas as for regular fields, and if that minimum field size is not met, than the point allocation would be (carefully) weighted downwards. As it is now, if some genius organizes a tournament with only the top 12 players in the world, such minimal field could easily amount to a 50 owgr point to the winner tournament, which would be just ridiculous... And even if you say that the bottom half won't receive any points, that doesn't justify the winner of something like that receiving 50 points...

Regarding Tiger, it's true that he could shoot back up the ranks if he'll start to accumulate big points again, although we've been waiting for that to happen for quite a while now... Just a word of caution in case somebody expects really dramatic jumps in case he suddenly wins a big tournament... That's of course quite true, but it shouldn't be expected that such moves will be much more dramatic than in the case when other players (around same ranking positions as Tiger) would win big points. Just as an example, Hanson was #53 and Tiger #51 before last week, with pretty different divisors (50 and 40, respectively). If both would have won tournaments worth, let's say, 50 owgr points last week, then Tiger would have jumped from #51 to #20, while Hanson would've moved up from #53 to #25. So there is a difference, but not that obvious for just one win. But a succession of 4-5 rich owgr earnings like that would certainly pile up quickly and bring him back into the top 5, and then he can relax for another year without playing until he drops back again outside top 50 and annoy most of us once more in the process...

Of course the problem with that pd is that he won't be playing in anything that high-tariff for a while! I don't think he's signed up (or even eligible) for the HSBC Champions, as far as I know the only tournament on his radar before about February is the Aussie Masters, which won't be worth bucketloads even with the Pres Cup guys in attendance. What's your best guess for his position by the time of his next big event, if he either wins or flunks Australia?

Ned, I've actually started to look at that sort of estimate for the reminder of the year, but give me a bit of time to finish... BTW, while I'm looking at that, do we know of any other tournament (for owgr points) that he may play till the end of the year apart from Melbourne and Chevron? I can't remember hearing of anything else...

Aussie Open, and I think that's in Sydney, not Aussie Masters.
Not sure whether he's found a tournament in the Far East . . . . . .


Diggers,
I didn't intend to say he planned to get points for nothing, clearly he wants to win this event, probably more than any other, Majors excepted.
But it was clearly their (and Nedbank, can't really separate the two)intention to be awarded owgr points so that they could attract a better field. That came with entry criteria, but it does mean that pros are compensated with plenty of points for having a thoroughly modest week - I don't care about the money because that's unofficial, but because of the points which are the primary currency in World Golf.

PS: McDowell's 5-year exemption for US Open victory will apply long after owgr points have disappeared.

You're dead right kwini, it's in Sydney... Mixed it up with Pres Cup...

Kwini,
I think Diggers meant the points earned by Mcdowell at the 2009 Chevron put him into the Top 50 at end of 2009 and hence, he had major exemptions for 2010............................

Aaah,
In that case apologies Diggers, dead right with that. Shameful at the time, but think he'd've just about made it by the time the 2010 Majors came around, maybe not quite.

Yes that was my point, but to be fair everything else he did was well merited. Still a tool though.

About the Chevron World Challenge

The Chevron World Challenge celebrates its 13th year by once again bringing golf's finest stars to Southern California. This year's tournament will be played at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, Calif., on a course designed by famed architect and professional golfer Jack Nicklaus.

A field of 18 elite PGA Tour players: the current four major winners, the top 11 available from the Official World Golf Rankings, the defending champion and two special-exemption players compete for a $5 million-prize purse. The winner receives $1.2 million, and the 18th-place finisher received $140,000.

Above is the criteria for the Chevron. I wonder will TW be one of the 2 "special-exemption" players!!!!!

Preliminary counts for this week:
- McGladrey @ 42-44 points,
- Portugal @ 32-34 points.

Tiger will drop (at least) to #53 behind Byrd...

PD,

Do you mean these are the points for the winners??
McGladrey must have a strong field...............

Yep... McGladrey has a pretty strong field for a PGA event this time of the year. Last year's event was worth only 30 points...

Isin't it just baffling that Woods would not want to continue his return at this event............

John Cregan wrote:Cheers PD.............given TW's paltry no. of events No 52 isin't all that bad!!

If there wasn't a minimum tournament divisor, I guess Tiger would have been #20 in stead of #52.

pedro wrote:If there wasn't a minimum tournament divisor, I guess Tiger would have been #20 in stead of #52.

In theory maybe, but practically I don't think he would be #20 these days... If there was no minimum divisor rule, many of the other 'in form' players may choose to play only a few tournaments with very good scores, so Tiger would have no chance in a 'like with like' comparison considering his current form...

...contrary to what people may think, the minimum divisor rule plays in Tiger's advantage these days. Imagine if we would consider for a moment a general divisor of 27 (forget the 2 year rule), just to fit TW's current situation, and take into consideration only the last 27 events for each of the other players... In such a ranking Tiger would fare much, much worse than the current owgr #52! Most certainly he wouldn't make the top 100 then...

princedracula wrote:...contrary to what people may think, the minimum divisor rule plays in Tiger's advantage these days. Imagine if we would consider for a moment a general divisor of 27 (forget the 2 year rule), just to fit TW's current situation, and take into consideration only the last 27 events for each of the other players... In such a ranking Tiger would fare much, much worse than the current owgr #52! Most certainly he wouldn't make the top 100 then...

If only.

Prince I know you do a great job but any chance we could get the points next to the players names? man it feels bad asking for more after what you already do.


I cant help but think that vijay may never return to the top 25 or even more sadly the top 50. He must be nearing 50 and maybe champions tour domination.

Mac, you can always look up the OWGR website.

I am about to start reading this thread. Before I commence, I predict there will be at least one comment from super realist delighting in Tiger continuing to remain outside the top 50.

Back later to confirm or apologise

super_realist wrote:

princedracula wrote:...contrary to what people may think, the minimum divisor rule plays in Tiger's advantage these days. Imagine if we would consider for a moment a general divisor of 27 (forget the 2 year rule), just to fit TW's current situation, and take into consideration only the last 27 events for each of the other players... In such a ranking Tiger would fare much, much worse than the current owgr #52! Most certainly he wouldn't make the top 100 then...

If only.

BINGO

Hardly going out on a limb there Ray.

Its a bingo.

super_realist wrote:Hardly going out on a limb there Ray.

Sorry but it was just so predictable (and un-necessary). Anyway, am currently enjoying your comments on the state of English / Scottish football on the other thread. A lot of truth there.

Well, you can't polish a turd Ray. It's safe to say both nations are currently pretty poor when it comes to Football.

NedB-H wrote:What's your best guess for his position by the time of his next big event, if he either wins or flunks Australia?

Some guesstimates for Tiger's owgr position changes before Chevron (assumed he only plays Ausie Open before that):
- before the Ausie Open: droping to ~#56-61
- before Chevron: dropping to ~#63-68 (if he flunks Australia, as Ned put it), or climbing to ~#39-44 if he wins it (assumed same owgr points for Ausie as last year)
And for all those Tiger fans out there who never seem to stop dreaming ( )...two wins in these two tournaments could propel him back into the top 15-20 after Chevron (again, assuming same owgr points for Ausie Open and Chevron as last year...

Cheers pd!

We often talk on here about how easy it is for someone to have a bad run of form and plummet down the rankings. Case study 1: I just saw Soren Hansen near the top of the Portugal leaderboard, and wondered where his ranking was, a top 50 player not too long ago... 253!!!

True Ned...I can give you an even more dramatic one:
Case study 2: Oliver Wilson, as we've been talking about him recently, he was #36 in the world just about one and a half years ago, and went as low as #292 last month! But he seems to show signs of life again in the last couple of weeks...

But probably the most dramatic one (almost sad at this point) is
Case study 3: Nick Dougherty, was top 100 just 2 years ago (and top 50 a couple of years further back), now #808!! ...and very likely to drop further after yet another horrible week in Portugal...

Stenson trying to make sure that miserable fate doesn't apply to him also!

But The Most Interesting Man In The World could miss another cut in Portugal and he's dicing with imminent relegation from the top fifty, not good at this time of year, not much chance to retrieve the situation before the end-of-year Masters cut-off.

princedracula wrote:Case study 3: Nick Dougherty, was top 100 just 2 years ago (and top 50 a couple of years further back), now #808!! ...and very likely to drop further after yet another horrible week in Portugal...

That's what married life with Di Stewart does for you

LadyPutt wrote:

princedracula wrote:Case study 3: Nick Dougherty, was top 100 just 2 years ago (and top 50 a couple of years further back), now #808!! ...and very likely to drop further after yet another horrible week in Portugal...

That's what married life with Di Stewart does for you

Such a small price to pay!...

Final count:
McGladrey - 42 points
Portugal - 34 points
...and there should be of course a whooping one-off 32 points for the Japan Open - subsidised by ~10 points. The Koreans may have something to say about that...

Top 3 owgr are untouchable this week, with Kaymer only aspiring to #4 with a win or solo 2nd.

And a win for Simpson this week, will not just give him the upper hand in the money list race, but will provide him with another carreer highlight: he'll break into the top 10 for the first time. He can actually move as high as #8, knocking Phil out of the top 10, after a very, very long time spent up there...

And talking about SAf-ers, not sure if Ernie gave King Louis a good bollocking to get him back on track, but if he did, he may have mixed feelings about that next week, as Oosty can now pass Els in the rankings if he finishes in the top 3 at McGladrey...

In a few weeks we'll be on top fifty watch - Hanson could do himself a big favour by maximising his brilliant start. Quiros needs to get going too. Bad cut to miss by the Mechanic.

Good round for Harrington, but needs to go really low tomorrow.

Yep, Hanson can advance nicely, but only with a win (could get close to #30)... a 3-way tie for 2nd for example would only lift him 4-5 places. The Mechanic's plot thickens...

All of a sudden my FT picks not looking too shabby with Hanson and Gagli at the top. We keep saying this, but what an amazing run of good form Gagli is having...

Potentially tasty field for "Andalucia":
Kaymer
McDowell
Rose
Quiros
DC
Mechanic
2 x Molinaris
Bjorn
Colsaerts
Matteo
2 x Fishers
Hanson
Larrazabal
Jacquelin

Sounds very good, certaily should be stronger than Portugal, maybe in the 38-40 points range, but will have to check properly... But pretty much holding the owgr strength from last year (when we had Portugal -34, Andalucia -38)

Only just had my first real look at who's where on the OGWR. Its amazing to see how far Els and Ooshuizen have dropped after a distinctly average year, yet Mahan hanging in the top 20 without doing much either. Good to see sergio is back in Top 50 really don't think a win is to far away for him