OWGR - Week #6

Well, last week's runners up are this week's winners!!

Congratulations to Brandt Snedeker, a much deserving winner of the AT&T at Pebble Beach after two consecutive runner ups! With such an impressive run of form, there's no surprise to see him climbing at #4 in the world and almost half a point ahead of Rose and Oosty! Chris Kirk, Kevin Stadler anf Jimmy Walker were three of the guys who had a chance to make it into the match play with a win here, and fair play to them, they gave it a good shot! Came just short in the end but some nice climbs up the rankings for them, moving to #71, #78 and #98, respectively. And what can I say, I guess it's commiserations to Freddie Jacobson, who needed a solo 7th at least to get through to Tucson but finished in an agonising tie for 7th after an amazing birdie at the 18th by Paddy Reed! That birdie had basically ensured that Shane Lowry stayed ahead of Jacobson by a mere 0.0002 points and booked the very last ticket to Tucson in two weeks time!! And that ticket comes with another bonus, he will now face for sure his old mate Rory McIlroy in the first round of the WGC-MP! You couldn't script all these any better at the begining of the week...

And many congratulations also to Richard Sterne, the imperious winner, by 7 shots, of the Joburg Open in South Africa, which moves him all the way up to #55 and that ensures him of a last moment ticket to Arizona for the Match Play. King Charl is back playing with little sign that he has lost any of the form he had in December last year, finishing 2nd in Johannesburg and that moves him up to #16 in the world.

Don't forget that next week's rankings will decide who is playing who in the first round of the WGC match play, so that should be certainly interesting to follow...

Thr OWGR table after week #6 should look as follows:

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

Fingers crossed then for a (most unfortunate!) withdrawal so that Freddie can Jac his way to the MatchPlay - can't imagine that anyone would much fancy playing him.

Hope Sterne plays this week but, unfortunately, there's now no owgr reason to do so except to raise his ranking for Augusta consideration.

Jason Day starting to arrest his slide, and the Goose can't be far away from the Top 100 - sure he'll still fancy his chances of a visit to the Georgia/S.Carolina border.

Anyway, all in all a good few weeks for European Tour golfers. Cheers pd

PD,

CH-III is playing in Northern Trust. I guess there is no way he can fall behind Lowry, even with a missed cut?

I doubt if Tiger wants to face his buddy, who has been playing pretty well in opening round. That would be upset alert time. It probably won't take much for CH-III to edge higher.

It looks like Adam Scott can get one of the top 4 seeds if he wins L.A.

GPB,
The people I've met from Isleworth tell me what a really good guy CH111 is.
Followed him for 18 holes once with Adam Scott and Allenby and never seen three blokes apparently have such a good time on a golf course - except when I'm playing of course.

I have always like CH-III. I remember how skinny he was when he first turned pro. He looked like Olive Oyl. He has filled out so he now looks like a normal "flat-belly" these days.

Huge under-achiever though. A tech geek and really pays close attention to the OWGR rankings and the Golfweek rankings (which I think are a joke). Rory #13??

More good news for Goosen... He needed abt $79K in 5 starts this year to earn his full Major Medical Extention... earned $175K today... so he's now exempt for the balance of the year.

robo,
I'd say he's the only Medical exemption guy anywhere close to securing full status - a podium finish would help anyone, but realistically everyone else is a mile away. Shocked at Fatty Marino's poor effort this week.

One or two events coming up which might suit Goosen, just a shame the WGC's will come too soon.

Big win for Mediate today - he came in for a lot of stick on here from someone who knows him and the regard, or lack of it, in which he's held in the PVB area. Any opinions on Rocco?

interesting stuff as always pd

ps, shouldn't these threads be titled U-OWGR ?! (unofficial-official...)

Thanks gents!

GPB, no, Lowry will remain the last of the qualified pack no matter what's happening at Riviera next week. I should've said there that McIlroy vs Lowry is the only certain fixture at this point, IF there won't be any further WDs, of course...

should be a good tie. reckon lowry will fancy his chances!

Outstanding PD..................i notice a tie for 17th??

barragan wrote:should be a good tie. reckon lowry will fancy his chances!

Of what? Eating him in one sitting?

John Cregan wrote:Outstanding PD..................i notice a tie for 17th??

Cheers, JC. Yep, that's a real tie between DJ and Webb, every now and then you get this sort of things happening. Looking at last night's Freddie vs Shane drama and how close they came in the end, made me wonder what would've happened if those two were to end up in a tie!? I'm pretty sure there is no provision at the moment as to how to deal with such a situation if it ever happens...

Surely they could put in a "tie" rule eg...........most points from last event

As the Matchplay draw is based on next week's rankings, I know it's pointless speculating at this stage. But if the draw was decided today, as well as McIlroy v Lowry we would also have Harrington v McDowell (once Phil Mickelson was removed from the list).

I see that Sky is announcing that Sterne has WD from the Africa Open this week to concentrate in Match Play preparations... Wood was also in but vanished recently. Not a trace of any top 65s in that field now...

Sterne assured of a WGC Cadillac spot also. Great to see.

Early count for this week:

- Riviera @ ~58pts (down from 62 last year)
- Africa Open @ ~ 20pts (same as last year)

- The top 3 are safe again
- Scott could move to #4 with a win
- Westwood to #5 with a win
- Bubba,Phil or anyone else from DJ&Webb up could move as high as #7...
- As I said, Shane Lowry will remain the last of the 64 Match Play qualifiers ensuring a duel with Rory if there are no other WDs...

Players outside the top 65 at the beginning of the year who played their way into the Match Play:

Richard Sterne (154 at Year end), Russell Henley (131), Thongchai Jaidee (80), Tim Clark (91), Stephen Gallacher (98), Charles Howell III (117).

Players falling out of the top 65 and their 2012 Year end Rank: Ogilvy (51), Jacobson (62) Weisberger (65) Jimenez (54) Hansen (61) and Chalmers (64)

Jimenez has not played due to injury.

Ogilvy? inexplicable. he is down to #75 and lost 24 spots in 6 weeks.

Interesting that 5 players ranked lower than #90 played their way into the top 65 while no players from #66 to #79 played their way into the top 65.

This are the projected Match Play fixtures after all the weekly amortization was factored in. Obviously, many of these will change after Riviera...

1 Rory McIlroy vs Shane Lowry
2 Tiger Woods vs Charles Howell III
3 Luke Donald vs Marcel Siem
4 Brandt Snedeker vs K.J. Choi
5 Louis Oosthuizen vs Richie Ramsay
6 Justin Rose vs Tim Clark
7 Adam Scott vs Rafael Cabrerra-Bello
8 Lee Westwood vs Chris Wood
9 Bubba Watson vs Russell Henley
10 Jason Dufner vs Richard Sterne
11 Ian Poulter vs Stephen Gallacher
12 Steve Stricker vs Thongchai Jaidee
13 Sergio Garcia vs Marcus Fraser
14 Keegan Bradley vs David Lynn
15 Charl Schwartzel vs Henrik Stenson
16 Dustin Johnson vs Alexander Noren
17 Webb Simpson vs Padraig Harrington
18 Graeme McDowell vs Thomas Bjorn
19 Peter Hanson vs David Toms
20 Nick Watney vs Hiroyuki Fujita
21 Matt Kuchar vs John Senden
22 Ernie Els vs Matteo Manassero
23 Bo Van Pelt vs Jason Day
24 Zach Johnson vs Ryan Moore
25 Hunter Mahan vs George Coetzee
26 Martin Kaymer vs Thorbjorn Olesen
27 Jim Furyk vs Nicolas Colsaerts
28 Jamie Donaldson vs Robert Garrigus
29 Branden Grace vs Scott Piercy
30 Paul Lawrie vs Bill Haas
31 Gonzalo Fdez-C. vs Francesco Molinari
32 Rickie Fowler vs Carl Pettersson

Come one Charles Howell III

Hope Rory brings Caro with him, they could make a holiday out of it, give him something to do after the first round.

It's in the desert isn't it? Too hot for fat lowry.

Well it was freezing there a few years ago, remember Kaymer and the hailstones? If that happens Lowry's insulating layer will come in handy

Was expecting there could be some further WDs, but didn't expect it from Snedeker... Delighted for Freddie anyway, and what a tie in store (maybe!) for Shane Lowry! It'll be super's favorite match, for sure...
So here is the updated match projection:

1 Rory McIlroy vs Fredrik Jacobson
2 Tiger Woods vs Shane Lowry
3 Luke Donald vs Charles Howell III
4 Louis Oosthuizen vs Marcel Siem
5 Justin Rose vs K.J. Choi
6 Adam Scott vs Richie Ramsay
7 Lee Westwood vs Tim Clark
8 Bubba Watson vs Rafael Cabrerra-Bello
9 Jason Dufner vs Chris Wood
10 Ian Poulter vs Russell Henley
11 Steve Stricker vs Richard Sterne
12 Sergio Garcia vs Stephen Gallacher
13 Keegan Bradley vs Thongchai Jaidee
14 Charl Schwartzel vs Marcus Fraser
15 Dustin Johnson vs David Lynn
16 Webb Simpson vs Henrik Stenson
17 Graeme McDowell vs Alexander Noren
18 Peter Hanson vs Padraig Harrington
19 Nick Watney vs Thomas Bjorn
20 Matt Kuchar vs David Toms
21 Ernie Els vs Hiroyuki Fujita
22 Bo Van Pelt vs John Senden
23 Zach Johnson vs Matteo Manassero
24 Hunter Mahan vs Jason Day
25 Martin Kaymer vs Ryan Moore
26 Jim Furyk vs George Coetzee
27 Jamie Donaldson vs Thorbjorn Olesen
28 Branden Grace vs Nicolas Colsaerts
29 Paul Lawrie vs Robert Garrigus
30 Gonzalo Fdez-C. vs Scott Piercy
31 Rickie Fowler vs Bill Haas
32 Carl Pettersson vs Francesco Molinari

In fact things are getting a bit more complicated now. Jacobson plays Riviera this week, so technically he could move up ahead of Shane when the brackets are drawn, so we'll be back to Rory vs Shane then...

Will Lowry survive a transatlantic crossing? They'll need an Antonov to supply his food requirement.

The report I read said that Snedeker was worried he'd be matched up against Paul Lawrie . . . . . .

Wonder will the Yanks bottle it again Kwini?

Just been looking at the WGC website. Never really noticed what a staggeringly ugly man Hunter Mahan is, those caps he wears look ridiculous, plus he's got teeth like Shergar.

Lowry will eat Tiger alive.

s_r,
Those wisps of facial hair don't help.
But he did do a very amusing skit last year on the lot of a caddy and the necessary training.
He dressed his "man" John Wood up in a rain suit, loaded up his golf bag so that it weighed a couple of hundred weight, switched on a windy fan, stuck him on a treadmill varying the pace all the time, and jetted a hosepipe at him to simulate rain to go with the wind. Bedraggled and beleagured isn't in it!

Not sure how they kept a straight face.

But, yes, he is ugly, doesn't say much for Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders that one of them married him.
And whoever nicked Shergar (Findus?) would send "Hunner" back.

I hope Lowry walks over Nine Chins line on the green.

Take care what you wish for. He might risk flattening those heavy ondulations.

So you think a marriage should be based on looks kwini?

Hav to say its hard to decide who to root for twixt Lowry and Tiger, but Shane defo has what it takes to tame the big cat.

Inco, mutual attraction is usually based upon similar levels of attractiveness.

However, throw a bit of money and fame into the mix and you get some very strange combinations.

Rod Stewart, Peter Crouch, Nine Chins Woods, Shane Lowry etc etc.

Mahan should be married to Bella Emburg.

Do you find wit or confidence attractive traits in a person super?

I'm sure it does, but if you look like the inside of a horse hair cushion like Mahan does he'd have to have an awful lot of charm.

Vacuous bimbo's like many sportsmen choose as wives are all too willing to froth their gashes at a bit of cash and fame, even something as uncool as professional golf.

And judging someone purely on looks isnt vacuous at all?

Inco, All I said was that Mahan was unfeasibly ugly. It was Kwini who said he married above his league, which in the looks department, he certainly did.

Who knows, maybe she fluffs up her performance at crucial times too so despite the looks disparity they share a common practice of choking at crucial moments

Each year one of the golf magazines (SI Golf, I think) publishes a survey of Tour players, one of the annual questions being, "Who married well", or words to that effect - Ames and Furyk usually near the top of the charts, but Hunner would surely be a likely candidate too.
And no marks to him for those ghastly videos with the God Squad.

Is he one of them too Kwini? I hadn't realised.

She deserves double points for unparalleled levels of gold digging then.

Beauty comes from the inside. Otherwise Tiger couldn't pull those hot ladies.

kwinigolfer wrote:robo,
I'd say he's the only Medical exemption guy anywhere close to securing full status - a podium finish would help anyone, but realistically everyone else is a mile away. Shocked at Fatty Marino's poor effort this week.

One or two events coming up which might suit Goosen, just a shame the WGC's will come too soon.

Big win for Mediate today - he came in for a lot of stick on here from someone who knows him and the regard, or lack of it, in which he's held in the PVB area. Any opinions on Rocco?

Yeah "Rock Star" is a solid. Know him "decently" well actually. He's worked off and on with a friend of mine since at least the mid-90's, Randy Sonnier out of Kingwood.

He IS what you see... maybe/maybe not diagnosed, but about as ADHD as they come. And I'm NOT talking out of school on that one... He'd tell you the same thing, but a lot more "colorfully" than I would. He's one of the guys that really concerns me on this anchored putter deal. When I first met him he was already using it and was clear even then there was no way he would be where he was without it. NOT so much because of the anchoring... but because of his already way bad back. His full shot practice was already somewhat limited by that back, but bending over to practice putting was darn near impossible for more than a few minutes at a time.

I think he could have been a LOT more if not for the back issues... People know the back was bad, but trust me... it was even worse than they know. Don't get me wrong... I'm not saying the guy would have been "the next coming" or anything, but that guy can channel nervous energy about as positively as anyone I've seen in a long time. (kinda like Trevino did and from which Furyk should take note)

My take... as long as he can stay standing... he's absolutely good enough to make a significant impact on the Champions Tour for a few years... not saying he will... we never know... but he's got mad skills. Now if he can only stay married to this next one for more than six minutes... that could help too... :-)


As for major meds... Yeah... I kinda agree with you everyone is miles away and I'm not all that optimistic about the others.... with the exception of Goydos.... and maybe Oberholser...

robo
Yup, I've flipped through his book - seems he's moved on with his "friendships" since then!
Interesting comments by Zinger about his ball-striking - watched him play a few holes at Hartford last year, seemed to hit the ball OK, but lose focus around the greens.

I enjoy the Champions Tour - just can't abide the "Holier than thou" mentoring commercials, can't see Rocco doing one.

Final count:

- Riviera just about reaches 60 pts (on the number) after those last movements before the start of the tournament
- Africa Open @ 20 pts and highly subsidised, obviously..

A bit ironic that Riviera just squeezed to 60 pts (I'm probably cynical here, but could be that they included deliberately guys like Fisher just to get to the 60 pts limit) only to get then 6 guys withdrawing (so far)...

I'm thinking you'll be providing the world's first glimpse of the match-ups for next week, pd!
A massive reshuffle in prospect this afternoon, though not so much if Luuuuke wins.

Yep, will try... This is the way the matches would look after Round 3:

1 Rory McIlroy vs Shane Lowry
2 Tiger Woods vs Charles Howell III
3 Luke Donald vs Marcel Siem
4 Louis Oosthuizen vs K.J. Choi
5 Justin Rose vs Richie Ramsay
6 Adam Scott vs Tim Clark
7 Lee Westwood vs Rafael Cabrerra-Bello
8 Charl Schwartzel vs Chris Wood
9 Bubba Watson vs Russell Henley
10 Webb Simpson vs Richard Sterne
11 Jason Dufner vs Stephen Gallacher
12 Ian Poulter vs Thongchai Jaidee
13 Sergio Garcia vs Marcus Fraser
14 Keegan Bradley vs Fredrik Jacobson
15 Steve Stricker vs Henrik Stenson
16 Dustin Johnson vs David Lynn
17 Graeme McDowell vs Alexander Noren
18 Peter Hanson vs Padraig Harrington
19 Nick Watney vs Thomas Bjorn
20 Bill Haas vs David Toms
21 Matt Kuchar vs Hiroyuki Fujita
22 Ernie Els vs John Senden
23 Bo Van Pelt vs Matteo Manassero
24 Hunter Mahan vs Jason Day
25 Zach Johnson vs George Coetzee
26 Jim Furyk vs Ryan Moore
27 Martin Kaymer vs Thorbjorn Olesen
28 Jamie Donaldson vs Nicolas Colsaerts
29 Branden Grace vs Robert Garrigus
30 Paul Lawrie vs Scott Piercy
31 Gonzalo Fdez-C. vs Francesco Molinari
32 Rickie Fowler vs Carl Pettersson

Looks like at least the first three matches are more or less certain, unless Freddie collapses suddenly. But some things will change for sure...