OWGR - Week #44

The WGC HSBC has been by far the dominant event this week and a couple of very small tournaments that are still to finish today won't affect the top 100 in the world rankings...

Big congratulations to Ian Poulter, winning his 2nd WGC and going through one of the best periods of his carreer, no doubt... He jumps up back inside the top 15 in the world, and what a great recovery for him after many people were wondering not very long ago when will he drop out of the top 50... Lots of big names playing very well this week, with Scott Piercy thrown into the mix as well. He certainly had a great season and is solidifying his top 50 position with another strong finish, moving up to #41. Dufner also keeps it going at the same high level and is moving back up to #7. Not sure how various schedules will turn out for these last two months, but I'd say he's in a good place now to retain a top 10 spot by the end of the year. Another very good showing at the HSBC by Phil Mickelson, he came very close to a third win here, but will have enjoyed the trip nevertheless and is also jumping up a good bit in the rankings to #13. Another great result also for Ernie Els, moving up to #20, but it's another one that slips away from Lee Westwood... He must be sick of these at this stage, but to his credit he still seems to be able to come back and contend again almost every time. At least he does enough to keep his #4 spot safe although he's still more than 2 points behind Luke Donald at #3. Shane Lowry collapsed (relatively speaking) at the weekend and although he moves up one more place to #56, he still has work to do to get into the all important top 50... Talking of which, it's extremely tight near that particular cutline, with Ogilvy, RC Bello, Noren and Laird virtually level... Fujita saved some pride for the Japanese Tour with an excellent T11 finish and moves up to #52, within striking distance from the top 50 line (some big enough tournaments left still on that tour so he could still make it). Ogilvy though will need to play and get something pretty decent out of the Aussie events that follow in the next weeks to stay above the threshold, or he'll be out of there very quick...

And finally, it's welcome to top 100 for Gaganjeet Bhullar after a string of very good results on the Asian Tour over the last few months. I'm not sure about this one, but this might well be the first time since the OWGR were introduced (an probably going even further back, since... Vasco da Gama) when India had two golfers inside the top 100 in the world...

The OWGR table after week #44 should look as follows:

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

pd,
Donaldson and Ramsay, as well as Lowry, should feel this was an opportunity lost - small field, all to gain with nothing to lose.

Donaldson is still inked in to Stage 2 Q-School for next week, but no sign of Ramsay.

McDowell starting to slide, paying the penalty for being a nearly man much of the season.

Lots to play for the next few weeks, but only the Robin Hood show for most of the Americans (Phil, Kuchar and Mahan among the exceptions).

Probably one other event to mention here, even though doesn't have anything to do with owgr (yet), is that the 14-year-old Chinese boy, Guan Tianlang, has won the Asian Amateur Championship and will become the youngest ever to compete in next year's Masters!!!

So far the youngest was Matteo at 17... with such huge, quick leaps towards a younger and younger age, should we expect to get a 10-year old in there in the next few years...?

Thanks PD. Have you got a preliminary OWGR value for the Barclays Singapore yet? And how do they do the Home Tour Points for the Barclays. Players from the Asian Tour?

OK, very early count for next week:

- Singapore @ ~48 pts (up from 46pts last year)
(Hanson said he 'might' join, but not in there yet)
- Disney @ ~24 pts (down from 32pts last year)

For Singapore the Asian Tour takes precedence for the home points...

Top 3 are safe and Scott is the only one who could move to #4 with a win...

Westwood had the WGC HSBC firmly in his control until his inability to pitch let him down again. What a wasted opportunity. From what I saw in the final round his putting was okay as he holed a few long ones, but either the pitching or the putting lets his down either on Sunday or the weekend in general.

Poulter was the complete opposite. His short game, especially holing out, was fantastic. When they missed a green you could see Poulter looking forward to the challange and Westwood getting scared.

Westwood has hd a few attempts to get the short game sorted without a lasting solution. He is very unlikely to ever win a Major until he does. What a shame, but I guess the banak balance is some compensation.

Just perusing the R2D standings there, just shows what a super year Rory has had that he is 800K ahead even after only playing 12 tournaments.

ScottieD18 wrote:Westwood had the WGC HSBC firmly in his control until his inability to pitch let him down again. What a wasted opportunity. From what I saw in the final round his putting was okay as he holed a few long ones, but either the pitching or the putting lets his down either on Sunday or the weekend in general.

Poulter was the complete opposite. His short game, especially holing out, was fantastic. When they missed a green you could see Poulter looking forward to the challange and Westwood getting scared.

Westwood has hd a few attempts to get the short game sorted without a lasting solution. He is very unlikely to ever win a Major until he does. What a shame, but I guess the banak balance is some compensation.

Agree in part, but Westwood has got the ability to chip and putt exceptionally well, he just doesn't do it often enough. Last time I saw him do it was Dubai World Championship 2009, it was a sight to behold, no-one could live with him. If he can re-kindle that kind of short game he will have every chance of a major.

Maybe he needs to get some decent, non-Ping wedges. The only player I can recall seeing chip as badly as some of LW's efforts was Mahan on the 17th at Celtic Manor, and he's another Ping player. Coincidence? Almost certainly but you'd think it worth a try!

Do Hanson/Rose/Poulter deserve some heat for sitting it out this week and allowing Rory to extend his lead in the R2D??

I have just read that Els has been struck off the R2D list for not attending the required amount of tournaments. He has only done 10 and is not playing this week.

A shame considering he is our Open champ and has been a Euro stalwart for years

will that have ramifications for his membership status next year?

I would imagine because of his Open win he will have exempt status for 10(?) years but wont get to the final etc if doesnt do his tournament quota?

The more knowledgeable on here may know better though??

Apparently he is playing in Malaysia next week instead of European Tour which looks like a bit of an up yours to O grady.
in Ernies defence though -he missed out on the Shanghai event thru injury 2weeks ago which has led to him missing out. I guess this is one of the risks of being such a global player.

you would think they would give him a break if he was injured?

Neither wonder the Euro lads are trying the US if thats how they get treat!

I think Ernie has lifetime membership of ET as well, but never understood (or perhaps once did but have since forgotten) how that works alongside minimum event requirement.

Skydriver wrote:I think Ernie has lifetime membership of ET as well, but never understood (or perhaps once did but have since forgotten) how that works alongside minimum event requirement.

It is something the ET gives to British Open winners who flee to the PGA Tour, so the ET can write on their webiste how well their members do around the world.

incontinentia wrote:Just perusing the R2D standings there, just shows what a super year Rory has had that he is 800K ahead even after only playing 12 tournaments.

The WGCs and Majors purses are 3-4 times the purses of the rank/file tournaments.

The player who wins the most in WGCs and Majors has a great chance to be the de facto leading money winner on the EuroT (whether he belongs to the ETour or not).

Brandon Grace has won 4 events on the ET this year and could possibly win two more events and have no chance to win the money list illustrates the disproportion of ET tournaments.

There has been 41 tournaments played on the Euro Tour played thus far this year, for 117.8 Million Euros. Rory has played 12 of those tournaments whose purse totals 60.8 Million Euro. (or a little more than 50%)

There will be approx 131.3 Million Euros in purses when the 2012 finishes. Rory's 15 tournaments (out 45) will be 73.3 Million Euro or 56%.

And Rory skipped one of the moer lucrative tournaments last week, the HSBC.

There is a reason why Woods was the "phantom" money winner on the Euro Tour so often in the 2000's. Whoever does the best in WGC's and Majors has a great chance to be the leading money winner in Euro sanctioned tournaments.

Can't really say that Matteo is safe inside the top 50 until the end of the year, but I think he'll be ok.
He'll almost certainly end up at #46, wth Bjorn at #44...

This is the provisional situation around the top 50 line before Disney is finished:

...
43 David Lynn
44 Thomas Bjorn
45 K.J. Choi
46 Matteo Manassero
47 Fredrik Jacobson
48 Jamie Donaldson
49 Alexander Noren
50 Geoff Ogilvy
-----------------------------
51 Martin Laird
52 Hiroyuki Fujita
53 Rafael Cabrerra-Bello
54 Thorbjorn Olesen
55 Richie Ramsay
56 Marcel Siem
57 Greg Chalmers
58 Bae Sang-Moon
59 Kevin Na
60 Shane Lowry
61 Bud Cauley
62 Padraig Harrington
63 Anders Hansen
64 Bernd Wiesberger
65 Simon Dyson
...

The Louis, Scott, Rose group must be pretty close now also?

Yep, the top 30(ish) is pretty much clear at this point:

1 Rory McIlroy
2 Tiger Woods
3 Luke Donald
4 Lee Westwood
5 Adam Scott
6 Louis Oosthuizen
7 Justin Rose
8 Jason Dufner
9 Brandt Snedeker
10 Webb Simpson
-------------------------------
11 Bubba Watson
12 Steve Stricker
13 Phil Mickelson
14 Keegan Bradley
15 Nick Watney
16 Ian Poulter
17 Matt Kuchar
18 Dustin Johnson
19 Peter Hanson
20 Ernie Els
21 Zach Johnson
22 Sergio Garcia
23 Bo Van Pelt
24 Graeme McDowell
25 Hunter Mahan
26 Jim Furyk
27 Paul Lawrie
28 Francesco Molinari
29 Rickie Fowler
30 Carl Pettersson
...

The separation between #5 and #11 is only around ~0.65 points.
Rory now ~3.9 points clear ahead of Tiger...