OWGR Wk 47 and OWGR Demographics 1999-2014

Great wins by Henrik and Hideki!  and a couple MASTERS wins from Nick Cullum in the Aussie Masters and Mardan Mamat in the Manila Masters on the Asian Tour.

And Shane Lowry cracks the Top 50, but I would not reservations for Augusta quite yet.  Some golf yet to play in South Africa, Australia, Japan, and Thailand.

This is what the Top 100 should look like tomorrow.  (The Callaway Invitational does not count towards OWGR rankings, Lee Janzen is leading going into final round)

1 Rory McIlroy 11.974
2 Henrik Stenson 8.264 ===> Winner DP World Championship
3 Adam Scott 8.117
4 Bubba Watson 7.617
5 Sergio Garcia 7.031
6 Jim Furyk 7.022
7 Justin Rose 6.991
8 Jason Day 6.139
9 Rickie Fowler 5.701
10 Matt Kuchar 5.556
11 Phil Mickelson 5.043
12 Martin Kaymer 4.832
13 Billy Horschel 4.686
14 Jordan Spieth 4.644
15 Graeme McDowell 4.455
16 Hideki Matsuyama 4.421 ===> Winner Dunlop Phoenix
17 Victor Dubuisson 4.404
18 Dustin Johnson 4.147
19 Zach Johnson 4.103
20 Chris Kirk 4.001
21 Jimmy Walker 3.962
22 Hunter Mahan 3.891
23 Jamie Donaldson 3.750
24 Tiger Woods 3.603
25 Patrick Reed 3.471
26 Ian Poulter 3.439
27 Kevin Na 3.381
28 Joost Luiten 3.351
29 Ryan Moore 3.319
30 Charl Schwartzel 3.275
31 Keegan Bradley 3.181
32 Thomas Bjorn 3.110
33 Bill Haas 3.107
34 Jason Dufner 3.091
35 Brooks Koepka 3.069
36 Stephen Gallacher 3.053
37 Luke Donald 3.027
38 Steve Stricker 3.020
39 Webb Simpson 3.013
40 Ryan Palmer 2.959
41 Miguel A Jimenez 2.940
42 Lee Westwood 2.833
43 Thongchai Jaidee 2.814
44 Mikko Ilonen 2.813
45 Gary Woodland 2.769
46 Marc Leishman 2.767
47 Shane Lowry 2.713
48 Kevin Streelman 2.701
49 Brandt Snedeker 2.633
50 John Senden 2.578
===========
51 Graham Delaet 2.567
52 Brendon Todd 2.554
53 Alexander Levy 2.492
54 Koumei Oda 2.464
55 Francesco Molinari 2.459
56 Louis Oosthuizen 2.426
57 Ernie Els 2.419
58 Russell Henley 2.418
59 Jonas Blixt 2.374
60 Tommy Fleetwood 2.329
61 Tim Clark 2.250
62 Ben Martin 2.190
63 Hiroshi Iwata 2.188
64 J.B. Holmes 2.158
65 Marcel Siem 2.157
66 Kevin Stadler 2.145
67 Angel Cabrera 2.129
68 Marc Warren 2.123
69 Pablo Larrazabal 2.059
70 Charley Hoffman 2.024
71 Harris English 2.018
72 Matt Every 2.018
73 Bernd Wiesberger 2.018
74 Paul Casey 2.006
75 Matt Jones 1.992
76 Anirban Lahiri 1.925
77 George Coetzee 1.902
78 Thorbjorn Olesen 1.877
79 Cameron Tringale 1.849
80 Bae Sang-moon 1.819
81 Brian Harman 1.790
82 Brendon de Jonge 1.778
83 Danny Willett 1.756
84 Richard Sterne 1.719
85 Hideto Tanihara 1.718
86 Ross Fisher 1.693
87 Rafael Cabrera Bello 1.683
88 Geoff Ogilvy 1.657
89 Robert Streb 1.654
90 Richie Ramsay 1.653
91 Erik Compton 1.649
92 Freddie Jacobson 1.630
93 Chris Stroud 1.620
94 Steven Bowditch 1.618
95 Gonzalo Fdez-Castano 1.616
96 Romain Wattel 1.609
97 Robert Karlsson 1.606
98 Russell Knox 1.603
99 Edoardo Molinari 1.585
100 Kevin Chappell 1.581
=======
101 Tomohiro Kondo 1.580
102 Noh Seung-yul 1.579
103 Ryo Ishikawa 1.565
=====
~250 Nick Cullum 0.747 ===> Winner Aussie Masters
~446 Mardan Mamat 0.394 ===> Winner Manila Masters

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

GPB,
Webb Simpson starting an inexorable slide, Keegan Bradley needs some results soon or he'll join him.

The golfers who could overtake Shane are, for the most part anyway, not likely to be playing much before Dec 31st, possibly Senden an exception. Depends who fills the NEDBank field I suppose, but surely Lowry has a good chance of an invite.

OWGR Demographics of the Top 200 from year end 1999, 2004, 2009 and Current.


'99 '04 '09 '14  Region
======================
 06   08   10   15  Africa
 07   07   07   09  Americas  (all of the Americas except USA
 27   25   33   29  Asia
 19   24   18   10  Australia
 47   50   58   59  Europe
 02   04   03   01  Oceania  (except Australia)
 92   82   71   77  USA

Cheers GPB.
What I find impressive is that a relatively small country like S.Africa continue to produce quality golfers.
(In my prejudice I assume that mainly the white population play golf.)

Kwini, Koumei Oda is playing this week in Japan, and in three weeks in the Thailand Golf Championship.

And I would guess that he is playing the season finale in Japan next week.

Senden is playing the Aussie Open.

The only players I have seen playing Nedbank are all ranked higher than Lowry or out of Top 50 range.  Lowry ought to be angling for an invite as it won't hurt him in the rankings.  

Ernie and Oosty could be playing and they could pass him in the rankings and Ernie is playing Thailand too.

The stars would have to align against Lowry for him to fall out of top 50.

Fortunately for Lowry is that Woods does not allow non top 50 players in his tournament.  

Some players continuing to free fall in the rankings.

Peter Hanson #213
Padraig Harrington #373
Davis Love #404
Darren Clarke #418
Justin Leonard #299
Vijay Singh #247

pedro wrote:Cheers GPB.
What I find impressive is that a relatively small country like S.Africa continue to produce quality golfers.
(In my prejudice I assume that mainly the white population play golf.)

I know womens golf is not discussed much on these boards, but it really surprises me that South Africa has not had a world class elite women golfer in over 30 years. (Sally Little was a successful LPGA and eventually could be in the Hall of Fame)

You would think that a Junior golf program that has developed so many great Men's players would develop a great female player.

lowrys playing in nedbank now i think . he was planning on playing it if he qualified and mcginley said on sky hes playing saf to finish the year.

skiddy wrote:lowrys playing in nedbank now i think .

He's guarateed a fat cheque.

GPB,
We've written before about the decline of Aussies in terms of strength in depth. Graphically illustrated by you!
Also surprised that the successes of Weir and Cabrera, among others, hasn't inspired by Canadians or South Americans to greater heights.

Kwini, Would not be surprised to see one or two more Aussies make the top 200 by year end.  Their flagship event is next week (32 pts in the OWGR) and the Aussie PGA could elevate one of the Aussies to the top 200.

Nick Cullen almost got to the Top 200 (from the 600's) with his win this weekend in the Aussie PGA.

Aussie ...Aussie ...Aussie ...OY... OY ...OY

Nedbank field is in... looks to be a 42 level (46 last year)... possibly going to 44 when the 30th player (winner of Cape Town, or alternate if CT winner is already qualified) is added...   Hero World Challenge looks to have held in to earlier estimates and same as last year at 46 (close to 48 but looks to fall short even with a Spieth win in Aus... GPB check that???)

http://golfatsun.suninternational.com/oosthuizen-coetzee-confirmed-for-nedbank-golf-challenge/

Robo: I got the HWC at 285 right now and the strongest possible level 46. 286 is the level 48 hurdle

A Spieth win or solo 2nd should be enough for him to pass Mickelson to the 11th spot which should offset Horschel falling one spot (because Spieth passed him) and Stricker falling from 10 EVR to 9 EVR.

Stricker is falling one spot from attrition (from #38 to #39) and possibly one more spot because of a first or 2nd from John Senden.

Anything worse than a solo 2nd from Spieth will put the HWC at Level 46.

Interesting that Jason Day health is not good enough for him to go home and play in his National Open but one week later his health is good enough to play in Orlando for a guaranteed $100k+ paycheck and guaranteed OWGR points.

GPB wrote:Robo: I got the HWC at 285 right now and the strongest possible level 46.  286 is the level 48 hurdle

A Spieth win or solo 2nd should be enough for him to pass Mickelson to the 11th spot which should offset Horschel falling one spot (because Spieth passed him) and Stricker falling from 10 EVR to 9 EVR.

Stricker is falling one spot from attrition (from #38 to #39) and possibly one more spot because of a first or 2nd from John Senden.

Anything worse than a solo 2nd from Spieth will put the HWC at Level 46.

Interesting that Jason Day health is not good enough for him to go home and play in his National Open but one week later his health is good enough to play in Orlando for a guaranteed $100k+ paycheck and guaranteed OWGR points.

Thanks for checking....  Looks like Scott could re-pass Stenson for #2 this week as well (roughly a top-3?)... that could cost the WC 5 of Stenson's ERV's

EDIT: PS... I wonder if the date change affected the number of Aussies playing their Open...   11 Australians in the OWGR top-200 this week... but only 6 playing (#3 Scott, #50 Senden, #75 Jones, #88 Ogilvy, #92 Bowdtich, #192 Ormsby)... the 5 not playing are #2 Day, #46 Leishman, #118 Hend, #128 Appleby & #187 Kennedy.  #226 Baddely also a notable absense

Furyk's defection must affect this a little with Reed replacing him?

Robo:  No chance of Level 48 now that Furyk has WDed and Reed replaced him.  No matter what happens.

Yes, I forgot that Scott could regain #2 by finishing solo third or better.  

and to clarify Jason Day is ranked 8th...not #2.

I don't think a date change would affect those players too much.  Jason Day never has been one to travel back to homeland.  He seems to get conveniently injured this time of year (unless there is a World Stage event down under, like the PrezCup and the World Cup).

Matt Jones can crack top 50 with a win in Aus.

Koumei Oda can crack top 50 with a Two way tie 3rd in Japan.


Edited to add:

kwinigolfer wrote:Furyk's defection must affect this a little with Reed replacing him?

Yes, as discussed above. You posted while I was composing my post. I lose those posting gunfights all the time.

GPB wrote:Interesting that Jason Day health is not good enough for him to go home and play in his National Open but one week later his health is good enough to play in Orlando for a guaranteed $100k+ paycheck and guaranteed OWGR points.

Maybe he's flying coach?

Doesn't the ET have requirement that ET members must play their national open? Think it makes good sense, at least for x years.

Don't know if Day is a member of the Aussie Tour but it would make sense if they made a similar rule.

pedro wrote:

Doesn't the ET have requirement that ET members must play their national open? Think it makes good sense, at least for x years.

Don't know if Day is a member of the Aussie Tour but it would make sense if they made a similar rule.

I've never been able to figure out just what constitutes membership on the Aussie Tour... but I see players with as little as 2 events listed on their official OoM for prior years....  Still, as far as I know... Day hasn't had Aus Tour membership, at least since he's been in the states. If I recall correctly, when he played the 2013 Aus Open, that was the first time he had been back to play an event there in years. (and he wasn't listed on the 2013 OoM with just that one start).

Correction: Day Played 2 Aus events in 2011 (PGA, Open), but I don't see anything else on his ledger except from his amateur days in 2005

robopz wrote:

EDIT: PS... I wonder if the date change affected the number of Aussies playing their Open...   11 Australians in the OWGR top-200 this week... but only 6 playing (#3 Scott, #50 Senden, #75 Jones, #88 Ogilvy, #92 Bowdtich, #192 Ormsby)... the 5 not playing are #2 Day, #46 Leishman, #118 Hend, #128 Appleby & #187 Kennedy.  #226 Baddely also a notable absense

Appleby was a late WD.

http://www.ausopengolf.com/news-display/appleby-withdraws-with-back-injury/83927

IIRC, Baddeley usually plays multiple events in Australia during the off season.

McIlroy, Scott and Spieth all in contention . . . . .

GPB wrote:Appleby was a late WD.

http://www.ausopengolf.com/news-display/appleby-withdraws-with-back-injury/83927

IIRC, Baddeley usually plays multiple events in Australia during the off season.

Also... just came across Brad Kennedy's name on this weeks Japan Tour Leaderboard... He's a Japan Tour regular and currently 27th on their money list, with only top-30 to make next week's  JT Cup (Tour Championship)... so I guess not all that surprising he's not playing Aus. Open this week...

kwinigolfer wrote:
McIlroy, Scott and Spieth all in contention . . . . .

Absolutely... ain't it great?   But don't anybody overlook 2nd round leader Greg Chalmers... he's a 2 time Australian Open Champion and had his own shot at the Aus. triple crown in 2011, winning the first two (Aus Open beat TW & most the U.S & Int. Presidents Cup teams & PGA) before finishing T12 in the Masters....  and thus not just some chump that can be discounted....

robo,
It's all down to Snakey's putter, which has to make up for a multitude of tee-to-green sins.

Chalmers is one of the those journeyman players that does just enough to retain his PGATour card.

His FE Ranking going into playoffs the last few years:

2014 132
2013 122
2012 78th
2011 100th
2010 69th
2009 79th

He has conditional status for the 2014-15 season and has played a couple tournaments. And Surprise, Surprise, he is 95th in the FE Standings.

Believe it or not, he is 165th on the all time PGATour money list!! with almost 10 Million dollars.

He is ranked 444th. and started the year inside the Top 200. Best finish of 2014 is a T8 in one of the WTF tournaments. T59-WD-WD were his other finishes in the WTF tournaments.

Snakey's stats last year tell the story:
Ball-Striking: 176th
Putting: 3rd.

kwinigolfer wrote:Snakey's stats last year tell the story:
Ball-Striking: 176th
Putting: 3rd.

Sounds absolutely Faxon-ish....

Great final round by Spieth to win the Aussie Open.

The only significant movement this week in the top 50 was Spieth going to #11 in the OWGR, Mickelson, Kaymer, and Horschel moving down one spot.

Adam Scott needed solo third or better to pass Stenson. Sol 5th was not good enough.

Poulter inched ahead of Top 5 from attrition. Koumei Oda was well off the pace in Japan in what appears to be a feckless attempt at infiltrating the top 50. He plays in Japan's season ending tournament this week, a limited field event of about 24 players. He is also playing in Thailand next week in what should have significant OWGR rating.

Shingo Katayama won the Japanese tournament, and should get to about 80th. Which is about his ranking at the end of 2013! He fell down all the way to about 150th before bouncing back late this year. He went 19 weeks w/o playing a tournament from Week 49 of 2013 to Week 16 of 2014. (a great example of OWGR Calendar bias)

Anirban Lahiri finishes T2 on the Asian Tour to climb to 70th. He has to have a more than reasonable chance to be on the 2015 Prez Cup. No Asian (other than Japanese and Koreans) have played the Prez Cup. No one from Thailand, India, China, Taiwan, Malaysia.

Wiratchant wins the Asian Tour event. Gets to about 170th.

Looks like a playoff on the Sunshine Tour. SAFer Ahlers and Scottish born Ross McGowan (what happened to him?, down to about #700 in the OWGR).

Good win for Jaco Ahlers,
Never taken any notice of him before but now he has a ticket to the NEDBank dance.

GPB wrote:  Koumei Oda was well off the pace in Japan in what appears to be a feckless attempt at infiltrating the top 50.  He plays in Japan's season ending tournament this week, a limited field event of about 24 players.  He is also playing in Thailand next week in what should have significant OWGR rating.  

The JT Cup is 30 player event that is in effect their Tour Championship... and it appears that every eligible player is playing.... that is EXCEPT maybe #22 Japan Tour Money List Hideki Matsuyama.  I seem to recall the Japan Tour had some changes in their membership policies over some of the Ryo flap... but I've never been able to determine exactly what those changes were/are.  Ryo has 9 counting Japan Tour events this year and appears to be in the field of 30... Hideki has only 2 counting JT events, and isn't playing the JT Cup (he's in the World Challenge)... But #31  Sang-Hee LEE is in the JT Cup field.

When I made the post, the JT finale had 23 players listed. I was thinking one more player was going to be in the field.

Prince Dracula just posted the players around Top 50 Bubble if they do not play any more events. 
Players highlighted in GREEN already have a Masters Invite for 2015.

Spoiler:

Brendon Todd replaced Doobie in the Nedbank so he could be a fly in the ointment for Shane Lowry top 50 hopes.

Here are the players that could pass Shane this week, so he is vulnerable

Todd and Levy could pass Lowry with a 4th.
Oosty could pass with a 3rd.
Blixt, Clark, Fleetwood with a 2nd
Warren and Pablo with a win

Any player lower than Larrazabal cannot pass Lowry.

GPB,
Remember, this is all in Shane's very own pudgy hands - he controls his own destiny.

Thanks GPB, hopefully Shane's ointment will remain fly-free.

I'd hope that any catch-ups would be mitigated by a decent showing from him in the Nedbank. Even a poor finish would guarantee some OWGR points right?

Go Shane.

incontinentia wrote:Thanks GPB, hopefully Shane's ointment will remain fly-free.

I'd hope that any catch-ups would be mitigated by a decent showing from him in the Nedbank. Even a poor finish would guarantee some OWGR points right?

Go Shane.

Just had a wee look, here's a quote:-

"Lowry feels that a win is just around the Muller corner, so to do it at the Gary Player Country Club in Sun City, where a world-class field has assembled to contest the US$6.5million prize fund, would certainly make the Christmas turkey taste even sweeter."

Sure he's got enough Cranberry sauce on it already.

Yes, Shane will have no one to blame but himself if he gets passed. 

And yes, every player in the Nedbank will get showup points and I took into account a bottom third finish for Lowry in the hypotheticals above.  (There is not much difference between a 20th and a 30th place finish)

Haha Muller corner, nice one souper.

Still, 7 top 10's in 2014 is a pretty good showing from the Clara man. And he finished as the 10th best player on the European Tour. So perhaps the joke's on you super, my tartan-clad friend

I agree he's a fine player Inco, I just enjoy poking fun in regards to his laughable physique and obvious gluttony, although there's possibly a tinge of envy coupled with annoyance in there that he has lots of talent, which he doesn't care to maximise or realise to the full.

He looks set for a career of high journeyman status instead of regular winner.

With 30+ degrees expected in Sun City I'm sure Shane will produce plenty of ointment for the flies.

3 words guys: Future Open Champion

incontinentia wrote:3 4 words guys: Future Open Champion Gastric Bypass

There. Just fixed it for you.

pedro wrote:

incontinentia wrote:3 words guys: Future Open Champion

I'm fattist and can't bear to see him do well.

Amended for truth!

super_realist wrote:
He looks set for a career of high journeyman status instead of regular winner.

Are there different categories of journeyman now?? Anyone inside the world top-50 can't possibly be described as a journeyman. Your poster-boy Poulter would fit the bill if that were the case, I have no idea how he manages to stay inside the top-50!

Inco, Poulter isn't a journeyman because he's won numerous tournaments (16), Lowry has won ONE tournament as a professional in 5 years. ONE.

That's the very definition of journeyman.

I think he's a good player, but he clearly doesn't win nearly enough to be considered anything other than journeyman.

Apples and oranges- Lowry is in the infancy of his career and is on the rise. And by the way he has won twice on the European tour Poulter is on a steep downward trajectory, but he has been on tour since the late 90's so in that context 16 professional wins is a modest enough figure.

I said he's won ONCE as a PROFESSIONAL. I'm aware of his Amateur win, however 5 years on tour  as a pro yielding just one win, isn't that promising.
I agree he is on an upward trend (insert weight related joke here), but I've seen nothing which suggests he'll be turning that upturn into wins.

Agree Poulter is stuggling at present (although he's risen from 40 odd to 25 in the rankings recently), and his past 3 years probably put him more in a journeyman bracket for that time period, but he's certainly not had a journeyman career. Far from it.
16 wins in 19 years as a pro is still pretty good (0.84 wins per year). It's a far superior ratio to Billy Bunter. (0.4 wins per year if you include his amateur win, 0.2 if you don't).

Is Furyk a journeyman at the moment because he hasnt won in years?

On recent form, perhaps, but on a rankings situation, he's played consistently very well and earned a lot of points. Lowry has had a few decent results in 2014, and a few bad rounds and several missed cuts this year.

I think the difficulty is how you define journeyman, which you'd expect to describe a career, Furyk and Poulter clearly don't have Journeyman careers even although they haven't won recently, Lowry, at least thus far, is currently a journeyman until he gets more wins under his belt.

I assosiate journeymen as players who are just trying to keep their cards every year and anything on top of that is a bonus. I wouldn'd say lowry is a journeyman at all. 10th in r2d, 2 seconds, 7 top10s suggests he is more than a journeyman. I would assosiate the word journey man with players like damien mcgrane, Richard Finch, Anthony Wall etc

Fair enough, It means different things to different people. To me, it's someone who plays golf for a living, but who hasn't and doesn't win often/at all.

Could any players playing the PGAT, Euro tour or even web.com be described as journeymen?

These people are the very pinnacle of international pro golf. Those struggling on national tours while working part time as a club pro would be my idea of a journeymen. Those who are struggling on a weekly basis to continue to play for a living.


As for Lowry, I would imagine he is well ahead of the curve for a players 1st 5 years on tour.