OWGR - Week #46

This week is proving to be a particularly tough one to conclude from an OWGR point of view. The way I see it after a couple of checks and re-checks, in terms of points allocated to the winners is as follows:
- Singapore @ 42 (very close to 44)
- Australian Open @ 42 (close to 44)
- Mitsui Masters JP @ 26 (close to 24)
(just a note of caution, because all these are happening to be such close calls this week, some changes may still occur...)

The conclusion of the Singapore play-off tomorrow should only affect the rankings from ~#60 and below, so I'll give only a reduced and preliminary owgr table for now and will update it tomorrow morning when everything is finalised.

No matter who is winning in Singapore, it can be said from the start that this week belonged to the underdogs, as all 3 winners have been ranked below #100 (and even below #200 in case Gonzo loses tomorrow)!
First of all, Greg Chalmers' win down under should lift him from #215 somewhere very close to #100. Senden's runner-up place is giving him some nice safety cushion inside the top 50. I'll talk about the 3rd place in Australia a bit later...
In Japan, as in Singapore, we had a reduced 54-hole version of the Mitsui Sumitomo Masters also due to bad weather, won surprisingly (or maybe not) by the very exciting Japanese amateur (and still a teenager) Hideki Matsuyama! He will enjoy a fantastic jump from #541 to just inside top 200!! That also means that, rather unfairly, the runner up, Toru Taniguchi, will get much more money than he would have deserved. Good show from Schwartzel who finished T3 along with Bae Sang-Moon and others.
Will come back tomorrow to the Singapore tournament, but no matter which way it goes, it will represent a huge step forward for both of those involved in the play-off: Gonzo could jump to ~#60 with a win, while the rather unknown Juvic Pagunsan, will be propelled from #492 well into the top 150 in the world!

Finally, as you can see below, I have highlighted the players occupying the key positions #49,#50 and #51. The reason is because this week represents some pretty significant milestones for all of them. Ok, maybe Tiger's return into the top 50 is not such a big deal, and he may well drop back below that line before he plays Chevron. But for Goosen and in particular for Els, this is very relevant for their carreer statistics: Goosen is droping outside the top 50 for the first time (I think) in the past 12 years(!) while Els is leaving the top 50 first time (I'm pretty sure here) after almost..........19 years!!! Looking at Els's record in particular, well... it's simply breathtaking! Quite possibly one of the most consistent players at a very high level in the history of the sport...

Anyway, the provisional OWGR table after week #46 should looke like this:

1 Luke Donald
2 Rory McIlroy
3 Lee Westwood
4 Martin Kaymer
5 Steve Stricker
6 Dustin Johnson
7 Adam Scott
8 Jason Day
9 Webb Simpson
10 Matt Kuchar
11 Nick Watney
12 Phil Mickelson
13 Carl Schwartzel
14 Graeme McDowell
15 K.J. Choi
16 Justin Rose
17 Bubba Watson
18 Sergio Garcia
19 Hunter Mahan
20 David Toms
21 Paul Casey
22 Bill Haas
23 Bo Van Pelt
24 Kim Kyung-Tae
25 Ian Poulter
26 Keegan Bradley
27 Bae Sang-Moon
28 Rickie Fowler
29 Robert Karlsson
30 Brandt Snedeker
31 Simon Dyson
32 Thomas Bjorn
33 Fredrik Jacobson
34 Anders Hansen
35 Darren Clarke
36 Jason Dufner
37 Geoff Ogilvy
38 Louis Oosthuizen
39 Francesco Molinari
40 Miguel Jimenez
41 Jim Furyk
42 Martin Laird
43 Y.E. Yang
44 John Senden
45 Zach Johnson
46 Gary Woodland
47 Aaron Baddeley
48 Alvaro Quiros
49 Ryo Ishikawa
50 Tiger Woods
---------------------------
51 Retief Goosen
52 Ernie Els
53 Ben Crane
54 Matteo Manassero
55 Ryan Moore
56 Peter Hanson
...

Wow,
Had expected Ernie and Retief to drop out but surprised that Tiger's bounced back in. The power of lost points at work!
Despite Tiger's form and Furyk's slide, there's a decided phalanx of Americans between 5th place and 30th.
With a US-dominated Chevron, that group is likely to get even stronger, the chief ringer to look out for now being the four events in South Africa, so important to Els and Goosen who may not yet be eligible for The Masters. Didn't see that coming!

V e r y i n t e r e s t i n g!

Great victory for Gonzo in the end, really happy for him!
As it turns out Singapore was worth 46 points to the winner, as I forgot all the way to add the home points for the Asian Tour as well (had a bad feeling about this one all day). That means that Gonzo moves straight to #58 and now he is probably already thinking about top 50 by the end of the year, and why not!?

Here is the updated owgr table after week #46 (is uploaded on the website at this stage as well):

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

Cheers as always PD...............Tiger up to 50th with 0 wins from 25 counting events. Half decent golf should see him climb steadily although his lack of events is something that will count against him............How many events will Tiger play after Chevron and before the Masters....3 ??

John Cregan wrote:Cheers as always PD...............Tiger up to 50th with 0 wins from 25 counting events. Half decent golf should see him climb steadily although his lack of events is something that will count against him............How many events will Tiger play after Chevron and before the Masters....3 ??

I think he would play 5 or even 6.

wgc
dubai
matchplay
bayhill
Torrey pines

John,
Let's have a go at TW's possible schedule:
Presidents Cup
Chevron
San Diego
WGC MatchPlay
Doral
Bay Hill
Masters

But! I haven't heard anything about him playing in Dubai next year; should he opt to give Dubai a miss, I'd expect him to respond to complaints he plays too few PGA Tour events and add Phoenix, Pebble Beach or, most likely, Riviera.
To win he needs to compete. He knows that so the only puzzle is, Why not add more events?!
I reckon he's likely to win Chevron going away; no tournament will ever set up better for him and this course suits him down to the ground. Everything to gain, hardly anything to lose. Tiger by six strokes!

Are there any indications yet of who else is likely to play the Chevron?

Chevron:
Stricker, D.Johnson, Day, Kuchar, Watney, Simpson, Watson, Choi, Toms, Casey, Mahan, Furyk, Bradley, Laird, Z.Johnson, Haas, Woods and Fowler (deputising for Snedeker).

I'd say he's got his hands full with that crowd. Shame there isn't more Euro representation though (like McDowell defending)

Agree, hard to see Woods playing anything beyond those mentioned above. I'm curious to see what approach Woods Inc. will take next year with regards to playing outside US... All will depend a lot on how his game is progressing, of course, but I haven't heard or seen anything in recent times to suggest that he is as interested as before to visit places like Middle East and Far East. Europe = The Open (plus a visit to see JC in Limerick every 5 years ) and maybe stick to one event down under, and that's about it...?

But coming back to short term predictions, he looks safe enough to retain #50 this week, with the in form Gonzo being the only one who could threaten to push him back under the top 50 line, if he gets another win or a runner up place...

Kwini,

Will Woods need to remain in Top 50 a few weeks before Doral to get in the field?? If so, he will only have possibly 2 events (incl Chevron) before that........it's a bit of the measure of the arrogance of the man that we don't get to see a schedule from him...................

That's basically correct John, top 50 two weeks before Doral, and the week before Doral. Some other methods of entry also but they're the two clearest ones for Tiger.
A win at Chevron or San Diego though (for instance) would get him enough owgr points though to almost certainly qualify as now has relatively few points to defend.

Agreed Kwini. This time 2 years ago, he had his little "accident" so there won't be any points falling off at that end.

His "invite" from Chevron, when he hadn't made it on merit came at a good time so!!

John Cregan wrote:Agreed Kwini. This time 2 years ago, he had his little "accident" so there won't be any points falling off at that end.

His "invite" from Chevron, when he hadn't made it on merit came at a good time so!!

princedracula wrote:...I'm curious to see what approach Woods Inc. will take next year with regards to playing outside US... All will depend a lot on how his game is progressing, of course, but I haven't heard or seen anything in recent times to suggest that he is as interested as before to visit places like Middle East and Far East...?

Tiger is obviously reading this thread... Cheers mate
I see he just made it clear that he will play Abu Dhabi at the start of next year... (with Rory, Kaymer, Luke, Lee, DC, JDay, KJ, etc...)

Or as the cringeworthy Kelly Tilghman just tweeted "Tiger will be joined in Abu Dhabi by Donald, McIlroy, Kaymer, Westwood etc"

The other way around surely?

Didn't Ms Tilghman end up in some serious trouble for once making an arguably racist comment about Mr Woods? Maybe something about lynching and/or Ku Klux Klan related?

I am aware that some people (including the Great Sage of Kwiniaska) have speculated as to whether something else is or was going on there, but I wouldn't be surprised if she errs on the side of caution these days. But over-zealous Tiger-worshipping, like many quarters of the media and public, is also very probable.

Another case of people faking outrage at a turn of phrase.

Sky

Kelly's beginning to look a bit tired and tawdry, looking her age. Still got the dreariest, most uninformative monotone you'll ever hear. The very definition of "white noise".

Interesting that Tiger is not going to Dubai given the fees he's scooped up and the mess his development has left (judging from the photos anyway).

kwini, so does this mean that he won't play Torrey Pines then?

pd,
Apparently.
That'll be a huge blow to the PGA Tour as Farmers Insurance has rescued the San Diego stop from the knackers yard, and they also sponsor the Zurich Insurance event in New Orleans.

Tiger may rightly see himself as a free agent but he shouldn't be biting the hand that used to feed him and has supported him during his enforced absences. Smack in the face to Finchem and the Tour in my book.

All this has only just hit the wires so haven't seen any US reaction yet.

Smack in the face, indeed!
Regarding Dubai, I'm no expert in MiddleEast affairs, but I recall when the whole Dubai World thing got in big financial trouble a year or two ago, it was Abu Dhabi who basically bailed them out. So maybe Tiger is just following where the real big (andsafe) money come from...

But I'm sure he's only going there because the field is strong and there'll be loads of owgr points on offer...

kwinigolfer wrote:That's basically correct John, top 50 two weeks before Doral, and the week before Doral. Some other methods of entry also but they're the two clearest ones for Tiger.
A win at Chevron or San Diego though (for instance) would get him enough owgr points though to almost certainly qualify as now has relatively few points to defend.

As I understand the golf rankings it does not make any difference how many points players are defending from last year's event. Once points are earned they reduce by the same amount every week over two years.

I understand tennis is very different as points do not reduce over time so players are actually defending points from the previous year.

Tiger has a relatively low amount of points and is less than the minimum number of tournaments so he gains more than others would for points earned.

Scottie,
You're spot on, tho points decrement over 91 weeks after remaining at 100% for the first quarter.
Didn't mean that he has individual tournament points to defend, more that he earned very few points in the months after Nov 2009 and the bumper crop he harvested earlier in 2009 have been wiped from his slate.
Now it's almost as if he's a rookie, with low divisor and new points sticking around for 13 weeks.

The Dunlop Phoenix tournament in Japan is the strongest event this week. McDowell, Woodland, Gonzo, Eddi Molinari, Larrazabal, Barnes, Shane Lowry and Olesen giving an added boost to the field and should see it reaching 28-30 owgr points (could have been even better if Ishikawa and KtK would've been there).
Great start from Gonzo and Barnes there today, just two behind the lead, with Shane one shot further back...

The Iskandar Johor Open in Malaysia should be only in the 24-26 points range after A. Hansen chose not to show up in the end... Harri in a hurry to get a big performance this week and had a great start, just one behind Luiten...

Down in South Africa at Leopard Creek, that shouldn't get beyond the limit in terms of owgr points, early days over there...

Gonzo's on fire in Japan, best round of the day there and he's on top of the LB again, always it's great to see such top level consistency!! As I said, Tiger's #50 is in danger again. Lowry and Barnes are still in it, a few shots back, but GMac is not showing any sparks so far...

And talking about the best round of the day, in Malaysia Villegas has that honour so far, but the big surprise is that it's the other one, Manuel, who's outscored his more illustrious brother Camillo by 7 shots today! Chopra again in the lead mid-way through a tournament, 3rd time I see that in the last few weeks, but again, will it last...? Good to see Siddikur in the top 5 and hope Harri can put on another low round today. Play suspended again due to inclement weather...

pd,
Resembling a tale of two halves of the draw in Malaysia . . . . .
King Loius continuing his fine form, best round "on the course" (or would be).

For the 2nd week in a row we have the two tournaments in Asia reduced to 54 holes due to bad weather. Could be a good omen for Gonzo...?

Not sure what's happening in Japan. Rain again?
But Joost Luiten flies into the Top 70; 65-ish?
And good results for E.T. strugglers, Harrington yes, but also Davies, Hansen and Kjeldsen.

Crashed last night before this was over, but a great victory for Luiten, he was knocking at the doors for a while for his 1st win... You're right, he should move to #66.

It's over in Japan as well... Very good result again for Gonzo who came 2nd, with Shane Lowry and R. Barnes T3rd. But a point-less endeavour for Eddi, Garry and GMac...

Will get back with new owgr table after the South African tourney is over, but that result shouldn't bother the top 70 or so...