OWGR - Week #5

Very impressive victories this week by Paul Lawrie in Qatar and by Kyle Stanley in Phoenix!
Many of us have been very impressed with Stanley's performance last week and felt sorry for him as he lost that one at the last moment, in such dramatic fashion, but I never thougt he'll be able to come back so strong, so quickly! Quite ironic that somone else (Levin) had to suffer a very similar fate this week in the process. But maybe it'll be his turn now to win next week, who knows...

As a result, Paul Lawrie jumps up 31 places to #47 and now has high hopes also for a ticket to the Masters. Stanley climbs 35 places 'only' to #52, but has the Masters ticket guarranteed... That's life, but we won't go into that debate here. Among other movers this week: Levin moves to #72 while Jason Day, runner up in Qatar, moves back to #7 in the world. And I also want to mention two other interesting movers: JM Olazabal has been playing very well over the last few weeks and this week he manages a nice jump up somewhere around #350, while John Daly had his best result in many, many years and jumps up around 230 spots somewhere not too far of the top 300. Tiger goes down one spot to #18, Padraig drops further to #93, while Ernie is now at #62 and he's in serious danger of missing one of the last qualifying spots for the MatchPlay...

Finally, congratulations also to the Aussie Kieran Pratt who won (after a play-off) the first tournament of the season on the Asian Tour (in Myanmar/Burma). Following that he climbs almost 230 places, somewhere around #270 in the world.

The OWGR table after week #5 should look like this:

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

Cheers pd,

Important move up by Hanson in amongst everything there, always thought he was hard done by to be eternally battling the 50+ trapdoor. Speaking of which, I see Anders HanSEN has posted a couple of tidy finishes the past two weeks, completely unnoticed by me. On the other hand, MAJ is still looking competitive at his age, but perhaps no longer top 50 material. Though we've said that many times before.

Feeling a bit daft to have followed the Asian q-school round-by-round last month and then failed to notice this week's event at all. But a glance at the leaderboard shows a decent Euro turnout, though none higher than 15th... keep a lookout for Kennegard and Nils Floren, two of the hottest Swedish guys out of college last year alongside Henrik Norlander. Shame to see James Byrne having a trying start to his pro career though. And a great performance from ex-College star Vongvanij, now apparently re-committed to his Thai heritage after seeming to dabble with US status last year. One to watch either way.

Would think Dubai holds the trumps this coming week, pd. Not a particularly strong field for Pebble, but maybe depth will prevail.

Furyk, Na, Moore, Sabbatini, Levin, O'Hair, Singh, Reavie and Palmer among the "65" bubble boys playing in California.

One small correction, had a small mistyped score for Crane, which means he's actually ahead of Lawrie by one thousand of a point, so Paul Lawrie is at #47 not #46. Another reason not to like Ben Crane too much...

pd,

A quick question regarding the OWGR calculation each week if that's ok? With regards to the Home Tour event ranking values, on the OWGR website it states that this figure is worked out using "year ending rank of player". Does that mean top 30 from last years Race to Dubai in Europe and last years Fed Ex Cup rankings in America, or is it the money lists?

Thanks in advance.

princedracula wrote:One small correction, had a small mistyped score for Crane, which means he's actually ahead of Lawrie by one thousand of a point, so Paul Lawrie is at #47 not #46. Another reason not to like Ben Crane too much...

Is one of the other reasons that he's as slow as a very slow thing on a particularly slow day in Slowville?

Decent move from Sergio moving above Phil Mickelson and Tiger in one week...

Speaking of slow players, how slow is Jason Day?!

I didn't find Crane half as painful to watch as Jason Day. The way he deliberated over every shot then still took an age to execute what he'd decided on had me literally nodding off.

Fader wrote:I didn't find Crane half as painful to watch as Jason Day. The way he deliberated over every shot then still took an age to execute what he'd decided on had me literally nodding off.

Sky+ is your friend. I recorded for an hour and then began watching the recording. By the end I'd just about caught up so saved myself an hour of watching Jason Day walk up behind the ball.. then walk away again.. endlessly.

An early 'early count' would suggest for this week:

- AT&T should be worth ~40-42pts (42 last year)
- Dubai should be worth ~46-48 pts (50 last year)

I agree, both Crane and Day are slow, but for me Day gets at least a plus for being quite exciting as a player, whereas Crane gets an extra big minus for being pretty annoying when he's trying to be funny (or to sing/rap). Can't find him funny or entertaining in the slightest, but that's probably just me...

Prince

I agree with you on cranes attempts at comedy. Really very bad.

Agree with pd about both Crane and Day.
Unfortunately, stupid and unfunny is often seen as hilarious in America, especially if it comes from a godthanker.

Day and Colin Swatton are becoming something of a tired act, in my eyes at least. So deliberate, almost boorish; was more exciting early in his career I think, seemed to have a little more spontaneity about him. Clearly not on Casey's Christmas card list after last year's MatchPlay.
Never has so much fuss been made by one who's won so little since, oh well, one of Crane's unfunny bunnies, Rickie Fowler.

If the WGC cut off was this week instead of next (and assuming only Phil is out) we would have a Portrush clash of McDowell v Clarke and an El Clasico between Garcia and Jiminez at the WGC Matchplay...................

Hope at least one of these games survives................

... or, for those old enough to remember it, the 'Nightingales and Bombers' encounter between Byrd and Dustin Johnson...

Unfortunately, the Portrush derby doesn't survive after applying the weekly points amortization, but the El Clasico is still there. And the N&B tie degenerates in a totally unromantic clash of the bombers: Gary Woodland vs Dustin Johnson...

pd,
I've just realised that the WGC Cadillac Championship allows the top ten in the Race 2 Dubai, as at Feb 26th, into its field.
That would currently be Grace, Rock, Lawrie, Goosen, McIlroy, Oosthuizen, Hanson, Els, Colsaerts, Bjorn.

But Dubai and the WGC MatchPlay will change this list and Els and Colsaerts are the two golfers currently not in the Cadillac who look most vulnerable. So Els's absence this week looks likely to kill two birds (top 50 and R2D) with one stone unless he reaches the Top 50 via good showings in LA and Honda.

Whatever actuarial expertise Ernie's engaged looks to have got its sums wrong. At least Colsaerts is playing Dubai, to give himself a chance.

princedracula wrote:... or, for those old enough to remember it, the 'Nightingales and Bombers' encounter between Byrd and Dustin Johnson...

Unfortunately, the Portrush derby doesn't survive after applying the weekly points amortization, but the El Clasico is still there. And the N&B tie degenerates in a totally unromantic clash of the bombers: Gary Woodland vs Dustin Johnson...

You going to Portrush in June??

Costinha Caesar wrote:pd,

A quick question regarding the OWGR calculation each week if that's ok? With regards to the Home Tour event ranking values, on the OWGR website it states that this figure is worked out using "year ending rank of player". Does that mean top 30 from last years Race to Dubai in Europe and last years Fed Ex Cup rankings in America, or is it the money lists?

Thanks in advance.

That must also be based on the world ranking I guess? pd, correct me if I'm wrong.

kwinigolfer wrote:pd,
I've just realised that the WGC Cadillac Championship allows the top ten in the Race 2 Dubai, as at Feb 26th, into its field.

kwini, that's a pretty strange qualification criterium considering the very short period it covers, i.e. not even two full month of one season. South Africans will be always somewhat at an advantage based on that...

Costinha (welcome to the board!), pedro - Although I haven't got an official confirmation of that, based on my own 'experience', home points are based on what they call (or used to call it) the Order of Merit on each tour. And that's fundamentally based on money earnings (certainly not on OWGR points).

JC, in my mind the plan is to try and go, but it's too early to know for sure (it's end of school week and usually it's a busy time... we'll see)

Based on those early counts, here are some projections for this week:

- Tiger can only get to the last spot in the top 10 with a win, but DJ will have to finish somewhere below the top 17-18
- DJ can climb to 6th with a win
- Lee and Rory can again switch places depending on how they finish in Dubai, but the more interesting thing is that a win for one of them this week, followed by another one at the Match Play, could bring either of them to #1 (that's if Luke stumbles in the first round at the WGC, of course)

...and Padraig can still hope for a last moment ticket to the Match Play, but he'll need to win, a solo second will be really on the edge...
Just dreaming, I know...

Prince/kwini (anyone who knows their stuff)

Do you know the status of Padraigs exemptions for winning his majors? I know he will get into the open for longer than 5 years and I am unsure of the PGA championship exemptions.

I also assume he got a 5 year pga tour exemption, the latest being august 2008, and also some sort of European tour exemption. But is it possible that by around the 2013 season he will need to have gained a place on a major tour through current form?

It is sad to say but given his slide I don’t see him managing to gain a card on merit by that point.

I don't think it would be that much of a shame Mac, in Ryder Cup year, we don't want the likes of him being granted a wild card on account of his 3 majors during a time he over-performed.

Not sure I'd find it a shame anyone losing their tour cards. At the end of the day there should be no place in top level sport for Nostalgia and people taking up places in the field on former glories.

A 5 year exemption is plenty of time to play yourself back into a semblance of form in order at the end of that period to retain a place in tour on merit alone.

It's not a personal thing against Padraig as I have no dislike for him or any player, can't say i;m a fan of Woods interview technique but then I don't watch him for his rhetoric. I just think if your form is not good enough to end the season inside the cut off for a tour card and you have no current exemptions via a major victory or regular tour victory then there is no place for sentiment and you should have to regain your place as others do.

You'd be absolutely delighted to know that Podge is a Honorary European Tour Life Member, so expect to enjoy his presence for many years to come...
He does have a 5 year exemption on the PGA Tour so that as you've said would expire next year...

As for Ryder Cup, I sincerely hope he doesn't jump the cue and get picked again for whatever strange reason, it was unfair enough to have him selected last time around... But don't dispair, you can be sure you'll see him involved sometimes in the future in that event again. When asked by Gary Murphy the other night in the Setanta interview if he'd like to be one day RC captain, he sighed deeply and said... ooooh, without a shadow of a doubt!

So he is basically finished ability wise but has been saved by sentiment, oh well, thats golf for you.

Bit harsh Mac, just think he's got streaky form and he's currently in a bit of a trough.

Decent player, and has had a very good career, may yet come good again as he's a great putter.

Mac,
Harrington has also earned a lifetime exemption into the PGA Championship.

He plays this week at Pebble Beach.

Since I mentioned that interview on Saturday, it was indeed Harri at his best, in terms of talking anyway... Gary Murphy hardly got a word in all evening it was almost as Pod was asking the questions and then giving the answers in lots of details, and I mean LOTS of details...

Here's an example of that sort of detail:

"When I’ve had six weeks off and I start practising, I go nuts. I start pulling everything apart and looking at every little nuance.
“I’ll tell you how bad it is – I changed the position of my tongue in my mouth.
“To relax my jaw, I put the tongue at the top of my mouth. I used to bite it"

Beat that!!!

Don't recall saying he was finished, I simply said 5 years is enough time to regain form in order to qualify on merit and not sentiment!

I actually think he's a decent player and would be nice to see him come back but not get a place at the cost of someone who is worthy on form

He should keep his tongue firmly in his cheek.

Prince

I have said many times that Harrington does not look right, his interviews tend to back up this theory.

Mac, he does have a simple look to him, but then a lot of Irish people have that. Craig Doyle for example.

super_realist wrote:Mac, he does have a simple look to him, but then a lot of Irish people have that. Craig Doyle for example.

And Shane Lowry?

Talking about exemptions, I always become a bit sad when I see the entry lists to the tournaments, and players like Curtis, Micheel, Hamilton (and Campbell) keep appearing. Glad their time is soon over. Hope we also get rid of Daly soon.

Harrington is a bit of a mystery - in many ways. Was clearly a wrong RC pick last time, and I doubt he'll get picked this time around unless he starts showing some consistent form. With hat being said I also suspect he doesn't get along so well with many of the backbone RC players. Not that they don't like hime, just that he might not "click" so well with the, and in fact might actually irritate some. For that reason alone I would be very cautious picking him again, regardless of his form. Only thing speaking in his favour, is the fact that we play in the US and that he might be able to contribute with something in that respect.

If it makes anyone feel better I have decided to pick harrington for my yahoo fantasy team this week based on this thread.

Ah ha!
pd,
I've found the mia's:
Snedeker
Baird
Tomasulo
Quinn
Don't imagine those last two would be on the owgr radar . . . . .

Thanks kwini. Looks right on the edge between 38 and 40, will have to double check once again to be sure, to be sure...

Alex Noren has scuttled any dreams he might have had of playing MatchPlay in Arizona, and Luiten will need a couple of 64's at the weekend - would bet against that.
A crumb of comfort for Els I suppose?

Well... certainly Ernie looks to be a lucky boy so far, things could've been much worse. But there are still plenty about who can undermine him...
Colsaerts (dissapointing round today) is certainly still there, and with the current position he would be right at#65, Pushing CHIII and Moore out (assuming Casey will be in). A bit like Luiten, Moore not setting the place on fire in Monterey. But I'll be keeping an eye on three others, Coetzee in Dubai and VJ and Levin in CA. Practically all these needing top 8 finishes or thereabouts...

Final count:
- Dubai @48 pts.
- AT&T @38 pts.

Here's an update on the final qualification spots for the Match Play...
Curent table, with weekly amortisation accounted for looks like this:
(I'm considering that only Phil will be missing from above these)

-----------------------------------------
60 Greg Chalmers
61 Matteo Manassero
62 Ernie Els
63 Kevin Na
64 Robert Allenby
65 Charles Howell-III
-------------------------------------------
66 Ryan Moore
67 Joost Luiten
68 Nicolas Colsaerts
69 Rory Sabbatini
70 Alexander Noren
71 Toru Taniguchi
72 Johnson Wagner
73 Spencer Levin
74 Vijay Singh
75 George Coetzee
------------------------------------------

So CHIII is the last man in at the moment, but his chances to stay there are minimal... Mind you with the current status in the two tournaments, only Colsaerts would move above him (only just)... Can't believe CHIII decided not to play this week and same goes for Allenby and Els...

From the top of the current Dubai LB, both Cabrerra-Bello and Bourdy could still hope for one of these last places if they win. And not to leave the Scottish fans disappointed, Gallacher still has a chance to get in: if he wins in Dubai, if Casey doesn't show up in Tucson and if none of those under the #65 line will be able to score sufficient points. Unfortunately, the chances of all those things to happen simultaneously are probably < 1%...

Still waiting for confirmation that Jacobson will play the MatchPlay - Riviera field published in 6 hours so we may know more than.

With only 38 pts for the AT&T winner, Tiger can only get to #10 if he wins and DJ doesn't score any points (i.e. outside top 43)... and Watney doesn't finish solo 2nd...

Longtime lurker here. Appreciate all the OWGR info from PD

How many points does Ryan Moore need to stay ahead Charles Howell? As he is 0.03 points ahead right now, I would guess all he has to do is finish "In the money"( T43 or better).

I am shocked that Els, Allenby, and Howell skipped this week. All three players 2 yrs resume is fully populated with 52 events, so there was not much risk. If they had played, Howell would have risked ~0.024 pts, Els @ .06 pts and Allenby would have lost a missed cut.

I kind of hope all of them get bumped, it would serve them right for not playing.

Looks like Moore, Colsearts, Singh, and Coetzee has the best chance to move into the Match play.

Welcome to the board GPB.

Indeed, Moore would just need to score for that, but of course he would need something better than that as there will be, I'm sure a few others who will move up those last places come Sunday. At the moment he seems to have got the message and he started very well (-3 today so far).

As I said a while ago about Els, their risk would have been virtually zero if they chose to play this week... Luiten and Noren may also regret the fact they didn't play in Qatar last week...

Thanks PD:

I am reading the Matchplay will use Feb 19th rankings and not Feb 12th rankings.

If Els squeaks into MatchPlay, he still has a chance to jockey out the #16 seeds with a good finish at Riviera. I suspect Luke, Lee or Rory will not relish playing a former #1 player in round 1 of the match play. But I bet TV will like it.

And unless Furyk finds some lightning in a bottle, it looks like he will be playing a highly ranked player as well. Probably Webb Simpson or Stricker.

by the way, at the northerntrustopen dot com website, they do have the players that have committed.

GPB,
WGC MatchPlay:
I think there are two dates:
Feb 13th: The owgr's rankings Feb 13th will determine the field.
Feb 20th: The owgr's rankings Feb 20th determine the seeding.

If those LA commitments are accurate, Freddie Jac will be there, but no Casey or Clark.

Kwini:

(Former Vermonter here, Franklin County )

I think both Freddie Jac and Casey will play Matchplay. Mostly for Ryder Cup reasons.

Even they do a Henrik Stenson and hit a tee shot and then concede the match.

Free OWGR Points and Money which both count toward Ryder Cup. Longterm, the T33rd place will hurt their OWGR average, but since the RC standings are cumulative, anything earned helps them towards making the RC team on merit.

GPB,
I'm in Burlington so you were just north of me! (Always consider the best thing about Burlington is its proximity to Montreal - of course, we have to go through FCty to get there.)

The OWGR table after Rd3 in Dubai and Rd2 in California:
(if you're an Ernie Els fan, look away now!)

60 Matteo Manassero
61 Greg Chalmers
62 Kevin Na
63 Vijay Singh
64 Nicolas Colsaerts
65 Ernie Els
------------------------------------
66 Ryan Moore
67 Robert Allenby
68 Charles Howell III
69 Joost Luiten
70 George Coetzee
71 Rory Sabbatini
72 Spencer Levin
73 Alexander Noren
74 Toru Taniguchi
75 Johnson Wagner
76 Chez Reavie
77 Hiroyuki Fujita
78 Sean O'Hair
79 Lucas Glover
80 Padraig Harrington
...

The difference between Moore and Els is infinitesimal and at the first birdie from Moore, Else would go out! (remember we assume that only Phil will be missing in Tucson).

I will not feel sorry for Ernie if he falls out. He had a chance to control his destiny and he chose to roll the dice.

and if Els does drop out of the Match Play, it almost guaranteed that he will not be in the top 10 of the RtD standings and therefore not get in the WGC either Cadillac. Westwood, Colsearts, Bjorn are in good position to pass him this week. and chances are another couple of Euros will probably pass him in the lucrative Match Play.

Of course, Els can still get into the Cadillac by playing well at NTO or Honda. (he normally plays Honda)

He could also play Mayakoba, supposed to be a very good course ("best kept secret on Tour" say the pros) , he wouldn't be slumming too much!