OWGR - Week #26

Wow, we're only half way through this year and Tiger Woods is already winning his third event of the season (and overtaking now Jack with 74 PGAT wins)! I have to say, I wouldn't have predicted this at the begining of the year... So, well done to him for winning (his own) AT&T National and although this is not quite enough to move him anywhere in the rankings, he is certainly getting pretty close to the European trio at the top of the list (less than 0.4 pts from #3). Bo Van Pelt, the runner up at Congressional, is moving up close to his carreer best at #24, while Adam Scott is climbing within reach of the top 10, at #12. Also a quick mention for the young and very talented Korean Noh Seung-Yul who is returning to the top 100 in the world following his excellent T4 finish here.

Congratulations to the Welshman Jamie Donaldson for his very impressive first ever win, in Portrush at the Irish Open! Jamie will jump up to a carreer best #63 as a result. And a great achievement for one of the runners up in Portrush, Raphael Cabrerra-Bello, who is finally making a move up inside the top 50 in the world rankings, at #45! How can a guy born and raised in the Canaries, right beside Africa, beat a bunch of top Northern Irishmen on a course like that and in such weather conditions, is a bit hard to comprehend right now... And despite feeling probably bitterly disappointed for not winning the Irish Open, Padraig Harrington continues his steady climb up the ranks, reaching now the dizzy hights of #60...

Well done also to Raymond Russell from Scotland, winner of the CT event in Italy, and to Peter Tomasulo from US, winner (after a play-off) on the newly baptised Web.com Tour in Indiana, who should move up somewhere around #380 and #395, respectively...

The OWGR table after week #26 (mid-way through the 2012 season) should look as follows:

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

In the end Thongchai Jaidee and Richard Sterne have topped the ET mini-money list and are now qualified for the Open...

Early count for this week's main events:

- Greenbrier @ ~46-48 pts (huge jump from 32 pts last year)
- Alstom Open de France @ ~46 pts (up from 40 pts last year)

Martin Laird and Freddy Jacobson used to figure on the provisional entry list in France, but have now vanished (still in the Scottish field though)...

6 US players and 4 Euros in Top 10...........surely time for Schwartzel, Oosthuizen & Scott to break into that Top 10...........all 3 riddled with inconsistiency.............

Keep waiting for Poultry to drop like a stone but its amazing how you can maintain your position in the rankings by really doing nothing much at all.

'Morning pd,
Thanks for the Jaidee / Sterne update - Sterne looked a little knackered this week, but fantastic rise from the ashes of his career. Must be one of the owgr's biggest jumps this year.

Incredible that Casey's fingernails are so long, Keegan Bradley's too come to think of it.

Not sure what's behind the rise in quality of the Greenbrier field, but good to see whatever the reason. The entrepreneur (dirty word these days in my book) is a guy called Justice and he has brought considerable influence to bear within the PGA Tour - you'd think this would be a "dead" week, but not a bit of it. Appearance fees by another name going on??

Thanks for the update


PS: John, Schwartzel bothered by an injury, Scott not bothered by relentless inactivity; imagine he caught an overnight flight to Wimbledon.

Thanks, kwini. Indeed, rather unexpected rise in profile for this week's events...

John, none of those RoW chaps are playing this week, so maybe next week...

A few projections for this week:
- Tiger needs solo 4th to have a chance to pass Lee and will pass Rory with a win
(so he could move to #2 with a win)
- Lee needs to win to pass Rory
- the untouchable top 3 have become top 4 now... no one else can reach them this week.

And here's a list with the top owgr earners this year:

1 Tiger Woods
2 Rory McIlroy
3 Bubba Watson
4 Luke Donald
5 Justin Rose
6 Hunter Mahan
7 Jason Dufner
8 Lee Westwood
9 Matt Kuchar
10 Webb Simpson
11 Louis Oosthuizen
12 Graeme McDowell
13 Zach Johnson
14 Rickie Fowler
15 Phil Mickelson
16 Paul Lawrie
17 Carl Pettersson
18 Branden Grace
19 Jim Furyk
20 Peter Hanson
21 Ernie Els
22 Nicolas Colsaerts
23 Bo Van Pelt
24 Rafael Cabrerra-Bello
25 Johnson Wagner
26 Bill Haas
27 Kyle Stanley
28 Keegan Bradley
29 Brandt Snedeker
30 Martin Laird
...

princedracula wrote:Thanks, kwini. Indeed, rather unexpected rise in profile for this week's events...

John, none of those RoW chaps are playing this week, so maybe next week...

A few projections for this week:
- Tiger needs solo 4th to have a chance to pass Lee and will pass Rory with a win
(so he could move to #2 with a win)
- Lee needs to win to pass Rory
- the untouchable top 3 have become top 4 now... no one else can reach them this week.

And here's a list with the top owgr earners this year:

1 Tiger Woods
2 Rory McIlroy
3 Bubba Watson
4 Luke Donald
5 Justin Rose
6 Hunter Mahan
7 Jason Dufner
8 Lee Westwood
9 Matt Kuchar
10 Webb Simpson
11 Louis Oosthuizen
12 Graeme McDowell
13 Zach Johnson
14 Rickie Fowler
15 Phil Mickelson
16 Paul Lawrie
17 Carl Pettersson
18 Branden Grace
19 Jim Furyk
20 Peter Hanson
21 Ernie Els
22 Nicolas Colsaerts
23 Bo Van Pelt
24 Rafael Cabrerra-Bello
25 Johnson Wagner
26 Bill Haas
27 Kyle Stanley
28 Keegan Bradley
29 Brandt Snedeker
30 Martin Laird
...

He's "back" so and we can stop asking that question!!

Whether he's "back" in terms of Majors, we'll wait & see..................

Harrington on the rise!!!!!!!!!!!! Where is he regarding points up this year surprised he isn't in the top 30 tbh!

Harri's #44 on that list, sirb....

kwinigolfer wrote:
Not sure what's behind the rise in quality of the Greenbrier field, but good to see whatever the reason. The entrepreneur (dirty word these days in my book) is a guy called Justice and he has brought considerable influence to bear within the PGA Tour - you'd think this would be a "dead" week, but not a bit of it. Appearance fees by another name going on??

Kwini... IMO the key to Greenbriar's increased strength is it's new date. The first two years it was the lead in "shoulder" spot to the WGC-Bridgestone/PGA duo of events... and your not gonna find a lot of top players who'll play the week before Bridgestone because many of them will be playing a brutal stretch of 7 of the next 9 weeks if you include the Ryder Cup.

But with the addition of a 4th week between the U.S. and British Opens... now there are TWO spots that aren't butting right up to a major... the AT&T and now the Greenbriar.


PD... thanks for your efforts as always...

robo,
I hear what you say, correct about the date, but it's not as if half the best Americans all of a sudden decide to descend on West Virginia unless there's an ulterior motive.

It might be improvements in the course, it might be the overall excellence of the resort, but it just looks a trifle odd to moi. But we'll be the beneficiaries, should be a good event.

I also see they just signed a contract extension through 2021 - a good couple of days for Finchem with Las Vegas extending thru 2017.

No significant w/d's so far, let's hope that continues.

Whatever anyone might think about the merits/failings of the OWGRs, its certainly a better system than the FIFA world rankings - latest results, after an average Euro 2012, England move UP two places to FOURTH!

What a joke!

kwinigolfer wrote:robo,
I hear what you say, correct about the date, but it's not as if half the best Americans all of a sudden decide to descend on West Virginia unless there's an ulterior motive.

It might be improvements in the course, it might be the overall excellence of the resort, but it just looks a trifle odd to moi. But we'll be the beneficiaries, should be a good event.

ODD? What's odd? It's appearance fees paid the PGA Tour way (the RBC model)... through Greenbriar "ambassadors" and broader sponsorships with Justice. Tiger's reportedly getting $1.5 mil, Phil $1 mil.

Not sure what Sergio was supposed to get as the ambassador responsible for getting some Euro Tour guys in the fold... I noticed he's not even in the field... neither are any significant Euro's... so maybe that deal is dead?

But still... the date does have a lot to do with the generally deeper field even beyond the Phil and Tiger.

Ah, you're ahead of me there, robo.
I guessed something was up but didn't know what!

Not sure about Mr.Justice, distinct similarities with the Ginn and Stanford experiences of recent years past, perhaps Fry also.

I also imagine DLIII has started reminding guys they're adrift in the Ryder Cup standings - I know that's Stricker's story, perhaps Bradley and others too.

RE: Appearance fees... I wasn't expecting this article out until the RBC... but apparently Elling released this last night...

http://www.cbssports.com/golf/story/19489181/greenbrier-is-example-of-hosting-a-tourney-the-american-way-throw-cash-at-players

Great link robo, took some of my script from the post on my thread!!!!

Ray Halbritter is a classic example of someone whose ego (at Turning Stone) got the better of him; he sold the PGA Tour on what was a fine event, but took his ball home with him when the Tour wouldn't give him a Tiger-friendly date - possibly gazumped in that by Justice(sic!). Now Woods plays the NB3 Foundation event at Turning Stone and everyone's happy, except the touring pros who are steadily seeing their potential tee-times erode.

Kwini... I understand what you are saying.

I've never had a problem with the situation when one of a player's key sponsors is also a title sponsor... and that player showing up at the sponsors event. We know it's been happening... like forever.

But I am having a bit of an issue with this relatively new expansion of events in effect buying stables of players to populate their fields. RBC, Zurich and McGladrey have been doing it big time through "ambassador" programs in the last few years. IMO a quick cure is to make some sort of contractual rule that Title sponsors of events can have no more than one active player under contract to the company at any given time... or have a player rule that they can have sponsorship agreements with only one Title sponsor at a time... maybe both.

No limits are needed for secondary sponsors who don't title sponsor events (like Titleist, Ping... etc)

John Cregan wrote:

princedracula wrote:Thanks, kwini. Indeed, rather unexpected rise in profile for this week's events...

John, none of those RoW chaps are playing this week, so maybe next week...

A few projections for this week:
- Tiger needs solo 4th to have a chance to pass Lee and will pass Rory with a win
(so he could move to #2 with a win)
- Lee needs to win to pass Rory
- the untouchable top 3 have become top 4 now... no one else can reach them this week.

And here's a list with the top owgr earners this year:

1 Tiger Woods
2 Rory McIlroy
3 Bubba Watson
4 Luke Donald
5 Justin Rose
6 Hunter Mahan
7 Jason Dufner
8 Lee Westwood
9 Matt Kuchar
10 Webb Simpson
11 Louis Oosthuizen
12 Graeme McDowell
13 Zach Johnson
14 Rickie Fowler
15 Phil Mickelson
16 Paul Lawrie
17 Carl Pettersson
18 Branden Grace
19 Jim Furyk
20 Peter Hanson
21 Ernie Els
22 Nicolas Colsaerts
23 Bo Van Pelt
24 Rafael Cabrerra-Bello
25 Johnson Wagner
26 Bill Haas
27 Kyle Stanley
28 Keegan Bradley
29 Brandt Snedeker
30 Martin Laird
...

He's "back" so and we can stop asking that question!!

Whether he's "back" in terms of Majors, we'll wait & see..................

Who's back ? Has someone gone & comeback ?

If he was back, he would be winning majors, so he's no back yet...

As everyone says it takes more effort & good play to win a major. Ask Lee Westwood.

I think the jury is still out in this one......

If the jury sat in Scotland, it would surely come back with a "Not Proven" verdict.

Modest field for next week's PGA Tour stop at the "John Deere". Top fifty players in the field include:
Stricker
Zach
Choi
Pettersson
Watney
Senden
Mark Wilson
Byrd

Christian, Davis and Knox from GB.

Well, missed all the golf today so far... so a quick confirmation here that the final count for this week is:

- Greenbrier @ 48 pts
- Alstom Open de France @ 46 pts