OWGR - Week #27

As the best American golfers of the past 15 years have been busy this week missing the cut, the winner of the Greenbrier trophy has been decided in the end in a play-off between two players ranked #218 and #464 in the world! So, it's congratulations to Ted Potter Jr. for this pretty unexpected win, jumping up 135 places all the way to #83, while the runner up, Troy Kelly, will be more than happy with a leap of around 300 places to somewhere around #165. Great news also for the two Charlie's sharing the 3rd spot. Firstly, it's a massive leap of around 700 places for the rather unknown Charlie Beljan, who will be catapulted somewhere around #375. And secondly, we can finally say welcome back to the top 100 to Charlie Wi, it's been a long time coming... up to #90.

It was only a matter of time until the highly talented and in form Marcel Siem from Germany was going to win again after eight years... Many congratulations to him for this fantastische victory at the Open de France in Paris, after overcoming at the end a meraviglioso charge made by the brilliantissimo Francesco Molinari. Marcel is moving up 62 places to a carreer best #58 in the world, while Francesco jumps back inside the top 30, at #28.

And finally, well done to the Korean Kyoung-Hoon Lee, winner on the Japanese Tour, moving up as a result inside the top 200, somewhere around #190. A T3 for Ryo Ishikawa should do just enough to put at least a temporary stop to his recent slump, lifting him back up a bit to #61, just behind Padraig...

The OWGR table after week #27 should look as follows:

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

Missed the weekend's golf as good friends kept on plying me with

Surfaced just long enough to see a web.com event break out in West Virginia.

Marcel Siem kept the demons at bay I see. What a year he's having. Will he now disappear or go from strength to strength?
And Franny should just about creep into the Ryder Cup qualifying places with his finish - hope he keeps it up.

Casey's parachute hasn't opened yet, I see, but, as others have mentioned elsewhere, great to see David Howell return to form.

Thanks pd

Probably been mentioned elsewhere, but I see Mickelson has scrounged a late entry into the "Scottish". Looks like Kaymer is a late entry also.

Paul Casey drops 13 spots in one week?

After shooting 80-80 this week, I guess it should be expected. He might fall out the top 100 by the PGA.

kwinigolfer wrote:Probably been mentioned elsewhere, but I see Mickelson has scrounged a late entry into the "Scottish".

Presumably continuing his annual trip to Scotland, seeing as he's enjoyed the country and the friendliness etc so much in the past (or so he used to say when Barclays sponsored the event)...

Maybe he's playing with Bob Diamond at the pro-am again?!? That would be funny.

Not sure I rate his chances of "defending" his joint runner up finish at The Open, but you never know with this fellow.

Indeed, a couple of late additions to the Scottish Open...Both Kaymer and Phil are a complete mistery to me at the moment in terms of their golfing form and focus...

Early count for this week seems to suggest:

- Scottish Open @ ~48 pts (down from 52 pts last year)
- John Deere @ ~34-36 pts (up from 30 pts last year)

Interesting to see that King Louis is trading in his JD tractors for the Scottish hills this year...

kwinigolfer wrote:Probably been mentioned elsewhere, but I see Mickelson has scrounged a late entry into the "Scottish". Looks like Kaymer is a late entry also.

Speaking of Kaymer. What's happening to him?? His game was inconsistent when he was Top 3, now it's consistently disappointing.........................

Been wondering the same thing about Kaymer John, winning machine a few years ago and now absent. Perhaps he got worse trying to get better?

Some quick OWGR projections for this week and next:

- top 8 won't change after this week
- if Luke wins this week, only Rory has a chance to overtake him at #1 with a win at the Open
- if Luke doesn't win in Scotland, any of the current top 4 will have a chance to get to #1 next week at the Open...

From Doug Ferguson's twittering...

- Jason Day became father... no Open for him next week
- Leishman making good progress with his green card stuff and should be ok to travel to the Open next week
- Webb Simpson still not officially W/D from Open...

"Jason Day became father" . . . . to baby Dash Day.
Where do they find these names. Still hope Webb and Dowd call their child Clattenburg . . . . .

Kwini, I'm guessing as a golfer Hackett isn't one they'd consider!

Hibbz,

kwinigolfer wrote:"Jason Day became father" . . . . to baby Dash Day.
Where do they find these names. Still hope Webb and Dowd call their child Clattenburg . . . . .

Sounds like he is spending too much time in the states.

Is there a sport which as as high a percentage of stupid names than golf? Webb, Boo, chip, Davis, Keegan, tiger, Bubba.It's ridiculous.

This discussion reminded me of what Jonathan Byrd said after the birth of his daughter a few months ago... i.e. that he and wife Amanda considered names of Augusta National holes while choosing one for their baby girl...

princedracula wrote:This discussion reminded me of what Jonathan Byrd said after the birth of his daughter a few months ago... i.e. that he and wife Amanda considered names of Augusta National holes while choosing one for their baby girl...

Holly would be fine, or (Yellow) Jasmine, or even Camellia... least they didn't go for Redbud.

On the topic of Open dropouts, Wikipedia (which is pretty good for these things) is suggesting David Toms is giving it a miss for reasons unspecified. Anyone with more info?

ned

The open entry list agree's with wiki

http://www.theopen.com/en/Players/EntryList.aspx

Toms often misses The Open, sometimes alleging injury, others he just misses it.
Imagine he'll tee it up in Mississippi instead!
(Don't tell Paul Lawrie.)

The more I think about guys missing majors, ala Perry and Lawrie - fair enough if you've just had a baby, the more I think they are spoiled tosspots. Fair enough the guys do all the charity work and tutoring juniors, lets face it they have a lot of spare time and its all golf related anyway, but to dismiss a Major is just being spoiled. Guys scrape together their last pennies to try and qualify for these things, practice until their wives want to leave them etc. Yet these guys cant find time in their schedule to be ready for the biggest tests in their sport - if that's the case then I'm afraid you've lost your desire. If you've lost your desire to play in one of the four biggest events in golf but continue your normal schedule outwith then you have it too easy.

Lairdy,
Unfortunately, I think the R&A compounds this by taking its alternates from the World Ranking instead of the guys you talk about, who "have scraped their last pennies to try and qualify". US Open takes alternates from the qualifiers which seems much more, well, "open".

anders Hansen did something similar to Lawrie last year as far as i remember

The Open seems to be getting less open. Sadly it was the openess that provided most of the romance that made these two tournaments into Majors. To be remembered.

Final count confirming:

- Scottish @ 48 pts
- J Deere @ 36 pts

And a few more projections:

- Kaymer could climb as high as #9 with win
- Noren as high as #46

And a crazy one for the Tiger followers... if Luke finishes solo 2nd this week, Woods will move back to #1 with a win at the Open, if Luke will finish worse than in a 2-way tie for 13th at Royal Lytham...

I sincerely hope that doesn't happen. Simba/Max will be back in a flash.

Sky's James Haddock tweeted:

"If Donald doesn't win in Scotland, I'm told it's possible for McIlroy, Westwood or Woods to go world number 1 by winning The Open "

Now, time to come out, which one of yous out there works for Sky...?

Seems a bit fishy?

Ross Fisher off round about now - big week for him as he strives (perhaps) to reach the Top 100 in the owgr's by July 30th and a guaranteed place in the PGA Championship. (Jeff Overton in a similar situation in the States.)
Overton trying to protect his 96th spot, Fish trying to reach the Top 100 from #113.

(Let's see if Haddock plaices this on Twitter . . . . )

Ross would need a top 5 or so to get back into top 100 this week. I'd be pretty confident he can make it before the end of July. Can't say the same about Overton's chances to stay top 100 though...

I see that Simpson has made it official, no Open for him this year...