OWGR Week 36 Week of Tour Championship

This is what tomorrow rankings should look like and all the main tour winners for the week.  Those players with an asterisk are not yet qualified for the Masters.

1 Rory McIlroy 11.37
2 Adam Scott 9.24
3 Sergio Garcia 7.88
4 Henrik Stenson 7.82
5 Justin Rose 7.28
6 Bubba Watson 7.24
7 Jim Furyk 7.22
8 Jason Day 6.79
9 Matt Kuchar 6.61
10 Phil Mickelson 5.88
11 Rickie Fowler 5.81
12 Martin Kaymer 5.37
13 Jordan Spieth 5.22
14 Tiger Woods 5.13
15 Zach Johnson 4.88
16 Dustin Johnson 4.81
17 Graeme McDowell 4.78
18 Jimmy Walker 4.37
19 Hideki Matsuyama 4.35
20 Hunter Mahan 4.16
21 Charl Schwartzel 4.10
22 Victor Dubuisson 4.08 *
23 Billy Horschel 4.07
24 Chris Kirk 3.92
25 Steve Stricker 3.87 *
26 Keegan Bradley 3.85
27 Jamie Donaldson 3.80 *
28 Patrick Reed 3.73
29 Thomas Bjorn 3.68
30 Jason Dufner 3.58
31 Bill Haas 3.56
32 Luke Donald 3.53 *
33 Webb Simpson 3.44
34 Stephen Gallacher 3.37*
35 Miguel A Jimenez 3.35
36 Kevin Na 3.30
37 Ian Poulter 3.26 *
38 Brandt Snedeker 3.17 *
39 Graham Delaet 3.14 *
40 Lee Westwood 3.04
41 Thongchai Jaidee 3.01 *
42 Ryan Moore 2.99 *
43 Marc Leishman 2.97 *
44 Ryan Palmer 2.89
45 Kevin Streelman 2.80 *
46 Brendon Todd 2.80
47 Francesco Molinari 2.71 *
48 Ernie Els 2.68
49 Gary Woodland 2.66
50 John Senden 2.64
============== Masters Bubble Point 12/31/2014
51 Joost Luiten 2.62 *
52 Mikko Ilonen 2.59 *
53 Russell Henley 2.55
54 Kevin Stadler 2.54 *
55 Jonas Blixt 2.47
56 Angel  Cabrera 2.45
57 Harris English 2.40 *
58 Matt Every 2.39 *
59 Matt Jones 2.39 *
60 J.B. Holmes 2.34 *
61 Louis Oosthuizen 2.30
62 Shane Lowry 2.20 *
63 Koumei Oda 2.12 *
64 Bernd Wiesberger 2.08 *
65 Brian  Harman 2.04
66 Gonzalo Fdez-Castano 2.04 *
67 Marc Warren 2.03 *
68 Brooks Koepka 2.01
69 Charley Hoffman 2.01 *
70 Pablo  Larrazabal 1.98 *
71 Freddie Jacobson 1.95 *
72 Cameron Tringale 1.94
73 Erik Compton 1.90
74 Geoff  Ogilvy 1.88
75 Tim Clark 1.82
76 Chris Stroud 1.81 *
77 K.J. Choi 1.79 *
78 George McNeill 1.78 *
79 Rafael Cabrera Bello 1.77 *
80 Ryo Ishikawa 1.75 *
81 Richard Sterne 1.74 *
82 Nick Watney 1.73 *
83 Ben Martin 1.73 *
84 George Coetzee 1.72 *
85 Matteo Manassero 1.72 *
86 Kevin  Chappell 1.72 *
87 Chesson Hadley 1.71 *
88 Paul Casey 1.68 *
89 Tommy Fleetwood 1.65 *
90 Danny Willett 1.63 *
91 Noh Seung-yul 1.61 *
92 Charles Howell-III 1.60 *
93 Brendon de Jonge 1.59 *
94 Fabrizio Zanotti 1.59 *
95 Kim Hyung-sung 1.59 *
96 Daniel Summerhays 1.59 *
97 Russell Knox 1.55 *
98 Anirban Lahiri 1.54 *
99 Ben Crane 1.51
100 Hennie Otto 1.51 *
==========
101 Morgan Hoffmann 1.51
102 Boo Weekley 1.49 *
103 Thorbjorn Olesen 1.49 *

~126  Hiroshi Iwata 1.27 * Winner in Japan
~152  David Lipsky 1.15 * Winner in Switzerland
~197  Adam Hadwin 0.92 * Winner on Web-com Tour
~200  Benjamin Hebert 0.89 * Winner on Challenge Tour
~750  Mark Silvers 0.15 * Winner on Canadian Tour


I think I got all the Masters qualifiers, either though a former champ, or a win on Tour since the Masters, or a Top 4 finish in the USOpen, Open Champ, or PGA or a top 12 finish in the 2014 Masters or a place in the the Tour Championship (Hello Henley, Tringale, Ogilvy, and Hoffmann)

Doobie, Stricker, and Donaldson have probably accumulated enough OWGR points to be in the top 50 by year end, but they are not yet qualified.  Poulter and Donald have some work to do!  Westwood is in via T7 at the Masters.

Shocking that the Top Five are non-Americans.

Lots to play for during the next three months.
Next week will be a big week but so will the Dunhill and the big events of the European Tour season including the WGC-Champions. If Americans don't show up, they will only have themselves to blame if guys like Poulter (who assuredly will) take their places in the quest for Augusta.

Incredible to think that Ryan Palmer's steady diet of fine finishes won't get him any higher than #44.

Thanks GPB . . . .

leaving Billy Horschel and Ryan Palmer out of the ryder cup seems a bit stupid now

Billy Horschel and his wife are expecting their first child on Saturday of Ryder Cup Weekend.

Priorities though GPB...........

kwinigolfer wrote:Shocking that the Top Five are non-Americans.  

When was the last time that happened (excluding recent weeks)?

Tour Championship SoF is OWGR 56 [Edit: check that OWGR SOF 58].  Rory is safe at #1 and Adam is safe at #2.

Justin, Bubba, Furyk, and J-Day can get to #3.

Mickelson is getting passed by Fowler, no matter how Fowler finishes, so PMick is going to fall out of Top 10. Fowler is not guaranteed to be in the top 10 (for the first time in his career) though as he could be passed by Kaymer and Zach.

Lowest ranked player in the TC is Morgan Hoffman and he could get close to the top 50 should he win.

Projected OWGR rating for the KLM Dutch Open is 28.

Bjorn could get to about 20th in the rankings and Jimenez could get to 25th.  Seven Euros and Brooks Koepka ranked from #51-#70 are in the Dutch Open field, looking to increase their chances of getting a Masters invite.  Blixt already has secured an invite.

===============


Some year end projections of Americans players who will not be playing golf for awhile.  These are the same projections I posted in the previous thread.

PMick 4.47 --- 19th
Dustin 3.79 ---24th
Woods 2.93 ---36th
Dufner 2.74 ---39th
Strick 2.64 ---41st 

Presumably, both Woods and Stricker will be playing the World Challenge in early December and every player in WC is guaranteed OWGR points.  I did not include any points for these two players.

Apparently Dufner has signed up for the tournament in Perth later this autumn, think King Charl is signed up for that also.

Update on the Duf:
He'll be playing four tournaments in a row:
Perth International
CIMB
WGC-HSBC Champions
Chiangmai Classic

Horschel gets to #13 should he win (passes Tiger).
Kirk gets to #14 should he win (fractionally behind Tiger).

Depending on how Adam finishes, Rory could have 3+ pt lead on Adam.

J-Day could get to #3 should he win.

It seems Uncle Tom should have listened to 606 and picked Billy Ho.

Watson was never going to pick Horschel.  

Watson missed the 1979 Ryder Cup because his wife was due to give birth.

He wasn't picking Horschel for the same reason.  Or Brendon Todd either.  Horschel's wife is due on the 27th and Todd's wife is due on the 30th.

Its a distraction that no Captain would want.

And besides, Horschel had not won this year until after the picks.  Horschel was still about 30th in the standings even if points accrued through  D-Bank.  There is no way any Captain would go that deep into the standings on a Ryder Cup rookie.

The Monday Morning QBing I am seeing the most is Chris Kirk should have been picked over Webb Simpson.  I somewhat agree with that, but Webb is someone that doesn't mind playing with Bubba.  One of the most vocal Kirk advocates is in a yahoo fantasy league with me.  He didn't like it when I pointed out that he didn't pick Kirk either last week or this week in fantasy.

Paul Casey should get #62 with his win at the Dutch Open.

Luiten cracks the top 50 with his T5 finish.

Prom Meesawat cracks the Top 200 with his win on the Asian Tour in Taipei.

Harrington down to 314, his lowest ranking in 18 years.

Rory's lead on Scott is 2.6 points.

Sergio passed Stenson to the #3 spot

Furyk to #5, passing Rose and Bubba

Day and Kuchar flip flopped

Horschel passed Tiger to #13

Casey is #62

Not that it is much better, but I think Harrington is going to be 305th.

So american legislation doesn't stop workplaces discriminating against expectant parents?

McLaren wrote:So american legislation doesn't stop workplaces discriminating against expectant parents?

one of your better comments mac!

Seen projections that Wales is a Level 30.

With Wins:

Gallacher can get close to top 20.
Westy can get inside top 30.
Lowry and Casey inside the Top 50.

Through attrition, Furyk is going to pass Stenson for the #3 spot.

Rest of top 20 will be unchanged.

GPB wrote:Lowry and Casey inside the Top 50.

With wins:

Luiten can get to #36
Lowry can get to #48 (probably #49, with Luiten doing well)
Jaidee can get to #32
Havret to inside the Top 125.
Dodo to #64.

Derek Fathauer and Zac Blair are first and second in the WTF finale.  Both can get inside the top 200 if either should win.

A Luiten or Jaidee win (probably a second too for Thongchai) would wrap up a trip to Augusta.

Katsumasa Miyamoto won the Ana Open on the Japan Tour. Should move him to around #250 (from #450).

Chapchai Nirat won the  Selangor Masters today. Should move him up to around #175 (from #320)


Sam Hutsby won the Kazakhstan Open. Should move him up to around #230. (from #353)

where will lowry be ranked after today

Just guessing, but would think;
Luiten to approx #38
Lowry to approx #54
Fleetwood to approx #72
Westwood to fall out of the top 100 (or he soon will on this form)

cheers its a pity luitens good form didnt begin a few weeks ago or hed be on the team as opposed to two out of form picks(3 now)

Agree about Luiten, but suppose that could be said every year, probably for every Team.
One of the great RC wins was Sam Torrance's Europe Team in 2002, which was selected just prior to 9/11 (and the subsequent RC postponement). Both Captains agreed to retain the same 12 men, even though three or four on each side were there on the merits of achievements a year or more previously.
Forgotten now, but Messrs Fasth and Fulke, Price and Westwood, Duval, Azinger, Strange etc were beneficiaries.
But still an exciting RC.

Don't have the time plug in everything.  However...

Joost should go to #36.
Jaidee goes to #42
Lowry goes to #55

Westwood falls three spots to #44 as Luiten and Jaidee pass him with points and Ryan Moore passes him from attrition.


Curtis Strange was not on the 2001-02 RC Team.  Maybe you are thinking of Sutton?  or Calc?

Nah,
Was thinking of 1995 when he was a Friends-of-Lanny Captain's pick. My mistake; EDIT: in 2002 he was Captain Curtis! So he was there, albeit in a losing capacity.

Westwood could fall rather quickly now - I wonder if he'll honour his Frys commitment?

Westwood (along with Woods, Kuchar, Rose, Schwartz, Webb, Rory, Mahan) are obligated to play Frys either this year or next.

It looks Westwood & Mahan is the only player that is playing this year.  

Frys will have to be played a week later (or earlier) if it doesn't want to conflict with the Prez Cup which is Oct 5-11th.


Chances are good that Charl, Tiger, and Kuchar are going to be on the Prez Cup Teams.

Tiger is a longshot to make the team on merit.

Surprised that Charl has not committed for this year.

Incidentally, Westwood has committed to the CIMB Malaysia Classic.  The first 60 entries are from the FEDEX list. with 10 from Asian Tour and 8 sponsors invites.  Not sure how he qualified for CIMB, unless it is connected with the Maybank Malaysia Open.   Tianlang Guan got a sponsors invite. 

Westwood does like those tournaments in SE Asia and Oceania.

skiddy wrote:where will lowry be ranked after today

he's having a hard time getting inside the top 50. This has been his best year since turning pro though, so improving all the time.

His ranking his like his waist size, up and down.

There should be decent points available in Europe for the next month, then more opportunities when the E.T. goes on its Asian safari.

super_realist wrote:His ranking his like his waist size, up and down.

Westwoods?

GPB wrote:

super_realist wrote:His ranking his like his waist size, up and down.

Westwoods?

Lowry, the man who has to put his belt on with a boomerang.

GPB wrote:

super_realist wrote:His ranking his like his waist size, up and down.

Westwoods?

Westwood lost 20 or 25 lbs in the last month or so. Hopefully that will make him "hungry" for RC success. But I doubt it.

If Westwood kept the weight off everytime he lost 20 or more pounds he would look like Chesson Hadley.

. Imagine taping 25lbs round your waist and attempting to play golf.

super_realist wrote:. Imagine taping 25lbs round your waist and attempting to play golf.

WOW! So you are actually impressed by Shane Lowry?

I actually am in some ways, however, I am also amused by how someone continually fails to realise that carrying around such repulsive sums of weight can possibly be thought of as being anything other than detrimental.

I doubt if its detrimental at all super, he wouldn't be an elite golfer if it was

he could be, although he'll never know just how good he could be without it. Think how much more energy is required to move 3 surplus stone around, not to mention how it draws on his mental edge.
Maybe if he was in the shaped of Stenson or Rose he might be the worlds best player.
He can't even be arsed to find out, which is deplorable, happy to be a journeyman, which I suppose is ok, but if I had his talent, i'd be looking to maximise it.

I think it's an exciting time for the younger generation of GB&I golfers.
Lowry and Warren (reminds me of Matt Every, physically and temperamentally) have the game to take it to the next level - do they have the desire or mental strength, and Tommy Fleetwood looks as if he could be a special player.
Who knows about Pepperell, Sullivan (when he returns from space) and Hatton, but their future looks bright too, and then we still have to see what Matty Fitz and Johnston do on the "big tour"(!).
More promising players coming through than it looked a couple of years ago.

Duval was a much better player when he was 30-40 lbs overweight as opposed when he was RIPPED.

yes he won the Open Championship when he was Ripped....but that is about all he won when he was Ripped.

GPB wrote:Duval was a much better player when he was 30-40 lbs overweight as opposed when he was RIPPED.

yes he won the Open Championship when he was Ripped....but that is about all he won when he was Ripped.

I would refute that he was ever ripped, but at least he had a go at it to see. I would also say that Duval might have had a few mental or rather psychological  issues too, not to mention his post Open injuries.

Lowry looks like the only thing he's ever run for is the ice cream van. When was the last time a top 10 player had Lowry's physique? Probably back in the very unprofessional days of professional golf.

Have you looked at Phil Mickelson lately?

Lee Westwood was in the top 10 a year and half ago.

You don't have to have an optimal BMI to be a elite golfer.  You don't have to be able to run a 6 minute mile.

I really don't see the point of obsessing over a golfers body.   Its like someone is the stereo-typical Mother-in-Law.

I'm not saying you do, I've also said being super muscular won't do you much good either, but when was it ever good for any activity in any sport to be a lard arse? (Sumo obviously)

Westwood and Mickelson are not exactly slim, but they've tried hard over the years to be in shape, not always beating it, but at least they've tried and at times been successful

Lowry is grotesque in comparison, and it's an awful waste of talent and ludicrously unambitious to not even give it a go.
He's mid twenties for goodness sake, but he's got the physique of a 45 year old lorry driver, there is no way that can be good for a prolonged career.

Lowry's won practically nothing, but knocked on the door a lot, winning comes down to small percentages, and talent can't come through all the time and he routinely struggles in hot weather something a person in better shape wouldn't find quite as gruelling.

Knowing Super_Realist's opinions on out of shape golfers, I'm surprised he gives Hefty Lefty a relatively free pass - he's as bad as most of them!

He is still what I'll call portly, but best golf came when he was at his least fat.

Westwood and Mickelson are fat for sure, but they aren't the sort of "newspaper in the back pocket, packet of Lambert and Butler, staffy dog and an appearance on Jeremy Kyle" physique that Lowry has.

This picture of Shane taken last month shows that he is no bigger than Phil Mickelson.  And no bigger than Westwood has been in the last 6 months.



Its funny, once a player gets a reputation on this board, they cannot shake it, no matter how hard they try.  If they are SLOW once....then they get a slow play reputation, no matter what they do.  Unless it is board favorites like Lee Westwood.

Mickelson, Westwood have been perennial top 10 players who have fought the Battle of the Bulge for their entire careers.  Nicklaus is the best (IMO) golfer in history and he fought the battle of the bulge for his entire career.

Yeah, and he doesn't have half the talent of either of them, more practice, less eating.

I'd be ashamed to be in shape like that at 50, let alone 27 like he is, and for the record I wouldn't want Westwoods or Mickelsons shape either. None of them have an excuse to be in that shape either though, that's the real enigma.

Nicklaus played at a time when virtually no one was in shape.