OWGR - Week #40

No changes at the top this week with the first 13 places remaining unchanged, but plenty of movement around the top 50 and top 100 cutlines...

Many congratulations to Branden Grace for his 5th win in less than 10 months! This is mighty impressive by any standard, but the fact that at 'only' 46 points, the Alfred Dunhill Links is by far the strongest of the 5 events he won, coupled with the fact that the vast majority of the star competitors that came here have been either in a state of post-RC hangover or have simply underperformed, plus the fact that his record in the WGC/Major tournaments this year has been average at best, means that some question marks may still remain relative to Grace's potential for 'greatness' until he wins a really big one... For the moment he will be more than happy with his rankings progression, as he jumps to a new carreer high at #37. Some important moves are recorded also by Olesen and Noren after their excellent results in Scotland, moving up also to carreer best, #62 and #51, respectively. Also, we say welcome to the top 100 to Danny Willett as well as bye-bye top 50 for Aaron Baddeley (hopefully we'll see him back very soon).

Congrats also to Ryan Moore for a great win in Las Vegas and climbing to #39. The runner up, B. de Jonge moves back inside the top 100 at #94, and a very good result for J. Blixt of Sweden, moving now even closer to the top 100.

Finally, well done to all the other winners this week:
- KJ Choi, once again a winner of his own event in Korea, beating Bae Sang-moon in 2nd place. KJ climbs to #41, while Bae gets a quick boost that pushes him back inside the top 50.
- Yuta Ikeda, winner of the Canon Open in Japan, moving him back up inside the top 100, at #91.
- David Lingmerth (good week for Sweden) winner on the Web.com tour, moving up to around #225, while the runner up, Casey Wittenberg moves now really close to the elite top 100 mark.
- Chris Doak of Scotland, winner of the CT event in Lyon (interesting trophey he got there!) after a play-off, jumping up somewhere around #160...

The OWGR table after week #40 should look as follows:

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

And bye bye top 100 for Luiten who is having a very mediocre season

Good work Prince, so Grace has 5 wins this year? Thought it was 4.

Expect a big year from Shane Lowry next year as his talents continue to ripen. Top 100 beckons methinks.

Thusfar, every year has been a bit bigger for Shane Lowry. And he has been top 100 for a long time; he is battling it out with Carl Petterson for the #1 spot methinks.

incontinentia wrote:Good work Prince, so Grace has 5 wins this year? Thought it was 4.

Expect a big year from Shane Lowry next year as his talents continue to ripen. Top 100 beckons methinks.

Every year is a big year for the Billy Bunter of the fairways. Lowry can only look ahead to being alive in 2013, let alone targetting top 100.

Very much a definition of the journeyman pro.

Let's not detract from Prince's article with fattist slurs, time will tell and I feel you may be eating your words this time next year. Shane did well at the Dunhill and it's a pity there's not more tourneys played on links courses as he thrives in these conditions.

Anyway, Grace seems to be emerging as another top South African to join Swhartzel and Oosthy. Is SA the greatest golfing nation?

Nothing wrong with being Fattist. Perfectly legitimate target.

Lowry could well break top 100, but he needs to start taking his conditioning more seriously if he wants consistency in the tours more challenging climatic stops.

He's fat,
he's round,
he bounces on the ground,
Shane Lowry Shane Lowry.

inco, Grace has 4 wins on ET-sanctioned events, but he also won a decent event last week at Fancourt in South Africa on the Sunshine Tour, which helped him to climb inside the top 50. Coetzee was in that as well and as it turned out it was great preparation for both of them for the Dunhill Links...

As for Lowry, I guess a lot will depend on how his US Q-school adventure ends up, we'll wait and see. Not sure if going to US will help him lose a few pounds though, I certainly seem to put on a few every time I go there...
And btw, he has been inside the top 100 before for a while, so it won't necessarily be new territory for him....

Is there a plane large enough to get him to America. He'll need an Antonov.

Early count for this week:

- Portugal @ ~32/34pts (34 last year)
- Fry's @ ~24pts (same last year)
- Japan Open @ 32pts
- Turkish Airlines @ 0pts

Els is the only top 30 guy playing this week for owgr points...

Was surprised (understatement) to see that KJ Choi's reward for winning in Korea and earning 14 owgr pts was to slip from 40th to 41st . . . . . . due apparently to being leap-frogged by Grace and Moore!

Good job that wasn't a slip from, say 50th to 51st, the week of a top 50 cut-off for a Major or WGC.

Wonder if this is a first.

One or time long-time top 50-ers will be fighting for their status - Freddie Jac playing at the Fry's and Bjorn in Portugal, but no sign of Martin Laird.

Thanks pd

princedracula wrote:Early count for this week:

- Portugal @ ~32/34pts (up from 30 last year)
- Fry's @ ~24pts (same last year)
- Japan Open @ 32pts
- Turkish Airlines @ 0pts

Els is the only top 30 guy playing this week for owgr points...

Im sure there will be 70 points for Turkey winner next year!!

I see Rory is on track for a US/Euro money list winner double. Plenty of money still to be won though.

He must be a shoe in for player of the year, bar another Webb Simpson like jealous voting outrage.

Just had a gaze at the list of starters for the BMW Masters in Shanghai.

Limited field of 78 - not sure why, but clearly excludes loyal members of the European Tour while free-loaders jet in from around the world.

Not sure how Rafa Jacquelin and Mark Foster feel, for instance, when they sees they are lowly alternates while Hamilton, Beem, Micheel, Campbell and Weir are exempt into the field. Bl00dy stupid, as well as disrespectful.

I like awarding a 10-year exemption for Major Champs but not in fields with such restrictive numbers. The guys I mention above must think it's their birthday.

Not sure why 78, but seems to be a trend, with the new Turkish Open announced today having also a 78-man field... Totally agree about Hamilton, Beem, Micheel, Campbell, etc... getting a bit fed up seeing them in almost every field without any decent results...

- If he wins, Wiesberger will become the first Austrian to climb in the top 50 (could go as high as #44)!
- Ross Fisher could climb as high as #74
- Harrington needs minimum minimorum a solo 5th to have a chance to move inside the top 50
- Mallinger will stop just short of the top 100 if he wins tomorrow
- Casey has only a microscopic chance to reach #100 with a win in Korea
- etc...

Interesting thread this week...

Lowry takes the Fattie dis earlier this week... then Wins in Portugal

Michael Campbell takes the "no decent results" dig on Wednesday... then finishes 3rd this week

And as for Grace's 5th win... OK... a win is a win is a win... I get that. BUT... The Sunshine Vodacom Orgins of Golf events are not all that much above a qualifier for an NGA/Hooters Tour event, if even that. They're 54-hole, limited field pro-ams. Even the OWGR recognizes the "nothingness" of the fields by cutting the series event minimum from the Sunsine's usual 12 to 4. (and 4 or 6 is what it would have been without Grace in the field )

Can somebody PLEASE get on Paul Casey again... Paul could use a win... :-)