OWGR - Week #47

Haven't seen any of it, so I will keep it short, but winning with 5 consecutive birdies sounds just awsome! What a way to conclude an unbelievable season for Rory, and what a way to conclude the European Tour season after a pretty tough year in many ways. Fairplay to Rose who made this finish even more exciting than initially expected and who moves now to #4 in the world for the first time in his career, as Lee Westwood drops to #6, for the first time after more than 3 years...

Congrats also to Jung-Gon Hwang from Korea, winner of the Casio World event in Japan, he will move up somewhere near the #150 spot (KTK finished T3).

As we sadly have to say bye bye top 100 to Retief Goosen (pretty sure he'll be back next year though), it's welcome back for Stephen Gallacher and Thongchai Jaidee!

The OWGR table after week #47 should look as follows:

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

Some curiosities among the Top 100, among which are the twelve Europeans of the 14 golfers ranked 50 thru 63, just on the precipice of a Masters invite come January 1st.
And no Americans ranked between Piercy at #42 and Cauley placed #66, suggesting a divide between the American haves and havenots.

And Oliver Goss's footsteps were quickly filled as 19-y-o amateur Jake Higginbottom took the New Zealand Open.

Disappointed these rankings didn't anticipate Rory's finish or Rose's 62 but if you're sitting on a beach somewhere I suppose it's a pretty decent effort!

Great efort from McIlroy and Rose, shoulders slumped from Luke Donald and I rather imagine he now sees his future in an entirely different light having seen Rory's performance up close and personal.

I see that Shane Lowry was considered in the end 'WD before deadline' in Dubai, which makes a difference to his divisor (50 instead of 51). And that has a big impact on the... Rep. of Ireland rankings , as Lowry remains at #57, while Harrington stays behind him at #59...

Great job PD............looking at the Top 50 in segments of ten, only 4 major winners in the Top 10...........segment 21-30 housing the most with 5.

With my Irish hat on, i think staying in the Top 64 should be a major goal for Lowry and Harrington with February's Matchplay in mind, with of course getting Top 50 the absolute priority (especially for Lowry and Augusta March deadline)...................

Lowry would gorge himself on the cheap "patron" prices available at Augusta so I reckon he'll do enough to get there, miss the cut and then stuff his fat face.

super_realist wrote:Lowry would gorge himself on the cheap "patron" prices available at Augusta so I reckon he'll do enough to get there, miss the cut and then stuff his fat face.

you'll be really sick when he's hosting the champions dinner in a few years

No chance. If he did though he wouldn't let anyone else in.

Probably time for the annual outrage at OWGR points for exhibition events...

Please form an orderly queue to collect your flaming torch and pitchfork.

I think it's time to challenge super_realist's imagination:

If Lowry (I see he's also playing full-back for Millwall) wins The Masters, what does he have on the menu for the following year's Champions Dinner?

A) Anything the chef can get his hands on. Starved of potatoes though, i'm sure they'd feature.

Kwini- abrakebabra all the way!!

no brainer- supermacs

Early count for this week:

- World Challenge@ ~44 pts (same as last year)
- Nedbank@ ~32 pts (down from 38 pts last year)
- Golf Nippon@ ~16 pts (18 pts last year)

Tiger needs at least a 2-way tie for 3rd place to move back to #2.
Only Oosthuizen and Westwood can challenge Rose for #4...

PD,

I got Rory year end OWGR avg at 13.21 and Luke's is at 8.62. Is that correct?

and I got Tiger's avg at 8.27 + (NWWC pts)/40. Which needs to be 14.4 pts (or a two way tie for third or better) for him to be ahead of Luke at year end. Is that correct?

GPB, you've got one of those numbers ~right, but the others not so much...
In any case, the top 3 rankings order at the end of 2012 is already set in stone at this point, regardless of what Tiger does this week...

And that order is................

World "Challenge". I wonder what the challenge is? Avoid being hit by points and money?

Mea culpa GPB, I was talking nonsense there, as I was looking at the wrong data for Luke and Tiger. Been a long and stressful trip back home from the sun today...

You're right, Tiger needs a 2-way tie for 3rd to ensure 2nd spot at the end of the season...

PD, you might be right on the T4 finish next week. But Luke is losing a tournament in his divisor in two weeks so if it is close, Tiger can lose the #2 spot if it is close after this week.

Yes, it should've been a 2-way tie for 3rd all the time, only my brain chose to tell me to write 4th for some reason yesterday.... Cheers GPB.
Also the Golf Nippon should be worth 16 pts rather than 18....

Must've been the depression I felt yesterday when I returned from the +25-26C sunshine to Dublin's near freezing temperatures...

you must be even more depressed this morning! first time ive had the kettle out for the car

Yep, did that myself this morning. Bad practice, I know, but it's quick... one of these days that windscreen will crack...

Final count:

- WorldChallenge @ 44pts
- Nedbank @ 30pts (if G. Mulroy was #200 instead of #201 it would've been worth 32 pts)
- GolfNippon @ 18 pts

Lee and Louis need a solo second to have a chance to pass Rose at #4.
McDowell could move as high as #13 with a win.
Paul Lawrie could jump a massive 2 places if he wins Nedbank (and if he's lucky...)