Is everyone OKAY? Anything new? Has hell frozen over? Planets all aligned correctly? Aliens landed?
Lee Westwood has taken over the world #1 spot over Tiger Woods as of yesterday. That may only last for one week though as Tiger, Phil Mickelson and Martin Kaymer are all playing in the HSBC Champions event. With a win in the HSBC, any of those three could take over the world #1 spot.
Are the world golf rankings a joke?
The world rankings have become a bit of a joke in my opinion. They haven’t really reflected who the #1 golfer in the world is for at least a year. My pal Armchair Golf Blog points out that Jack Nicklaus doesn’t care much for the world golf rankings either.
Who has played the best golf over the last year?
And yes, I too wonder how someone who hasn’t won a major can be world #1, though there was a time over the middle of this season when there was nobody on the planet playing better overall golf than Lee Westwood. You could have given Jim Furyk a few votes though.
Who does it really matter to the most?
Who would care about the rankings? I’d say the media, because they need something to talk about. Writers (and bloggers) need something to write about. I just typed four paragraphs about it.
I doubt Tiger Woods cares a bunch, except for the fact that he’ll have to endure the agony of fielding hundreds of dumb questions from the media about it.
Equipment manufacturers would really eat it up if their staff player was #1. So for now, PING (Westwood) has to be riding high. Nike, not so much.
World Golf Rankings Below
If you want to see who is in the top 50 world golf rankings, read below. I’ve read it twice now and I’m not happy. My name wasn’t in there. It is also interesting to note that only four of the top 10 players in the world are from the USA.
| Rank |
|
Player |
Pt.s
Avg. |
Tot.
Pts. |
|
| 1 |
|
Lee Westwood, Eng |
8.29 |
381.20 |
| 2 |
|
Tiger Woods, USA |
8.13 |
325.28 |
| 3 |
|
Martin Kaymer, Deu |
7.98 |
383.14 |
| 4 |
|
Phil Mickelson, USA |
7.83 |
336.53 |
| 5 |
|
Steve Stricker, USA |
7.20 |
302.43 |
| 6 |
|
Jim Furyk, USA |
7.09 |
318.93 |
| 7 |
|
Paul Casey, Eng |
6.14 |
264.04 |
| 8 |
|
Luke Donald, Eng |
5.70 |
302.27 |
| 9 |
|
Rory McIlroy, Nir |
5.44 |
298.98 |
| 10 |
|
Graeme McDowell, Nir |
5.43 |
276.93 |
| 11 |
|
Matt Kuchar, USA |
5.33 |
271.75 |
| 12 |
|
Ernie Els, Zaf |
5.13 |
297.44 |
| 13 |
|
Dustin Johnson, USA |
4.99 |
249.65 |
| 14 |
|
Ian Poulter, Eng |
4.49 |
206.51 |
| 15 |
|
Hunter Mahan, USA |
4.48 |
228.49 |
| 16 |
|
Edoardo Molinari, Ita |
4.48 |
232.72 |
| 17 |
|
Retief Goosen, Zaf |
4.25 |
246.59 |
| 18 |
|
Zach Johnson, USA |
4.06 |
214.98 |
| 19 |
|
Padraig Harrington, Irl |
4.00 |
215.79 |
| 20 |
|
Louis Oosthuizen, Zaf |
3.91 |
203.30 |
| 21 |
|
Robert Allenby, Aus |
3.91 |
222.69 |
| 22 |
|
Anthony Kim, USA |
3.83 |
172.17 |
| 23 |
|
Justin Rose, Eng |
3.71 |
200.55 |
| 24 |
|
Miguel A Jimenez, Esp |
3.67 |
201.66 |
| 25 |
|
Bubba Watson, USA |
3.66 |
172.16 |
| 26 |
|
Nick Watney, USA |
3.53 |
183.64 |
| 27 |
|
Ross Fisher, Eng |
3.53 |
172.80 |
| 28 |
|
Rickie Fowler, USA |
3.53 |
141.04 |
| 29 |
|
Camilo Villegas, Col |
3.47 |
177.15 |
| 30 |
|
Francesco Molinari, Ita |
3.43 |
182.00 |
| 31 |
|
Sean O’Hair, USA |
3.43 |
168.04 |
| 32 |
|
Tim Clark, Zaf |
3.39 |
186.30 |
| 33 |
|
Ben Crane, USA |
3.31 |
175.30 |
| 34 |
|
Charl Schwartzel, Zaf |
3.30 |
178.00 |
| 35 |
|
Jason Day, Aus |
3.29 |
141.67 |
| 36 |
|
Robert Karlsson, Swe |
3.27 |
134.00 |
| 37 |
|
Y.E. Yang, Kor |
3.20 |
172.80 |
| 38 |
|
Geoff Ogilvy, Aus |
3.16 |
161.28 |
| 39 |
|
Kim Kyung-Tae, Kor |
3.08 |
163.30 |
| 40 |
|
Bo Van Pelt, USA |
3.05 |
176.95 |
| 41 |
|
Ryan Moore, USA |
3.03 |
163.51 |
| 42 |
|
Adam Scott, Aus |
3.02 |
151.14 |
| 43 |
|
Stewart Cink, USA |
2.99 |
140.66 |
| 44 |
|
Peter Hanson, Swe |
2.94 |
140.94 |
| 45 |
|
Ryo Ishikawa, Jpn |
2.86 |
165.78 |
| 46 |
|
K.J. Choi, Kor |
2.84 |
153.61 |
| 47 |
|
Lucas Glover, USA |
2.80 |
142.92 |
| 48 |
|
Angel Cabrera, Arg |
2.77 |
124.48 |
| 49 |
|
Martin Laird, Sco |
2.76 |
154.43 |
| 50 |
|
Charley Hoffman, USA |
2.74 |
139.67 |
HOGWire – Golf Industry News
#2 is a gift for Woods. In my humble opinion, he hasn’t played well enough at all to be #2. #4 seems a tad high for Phil too.
I’m sure Tiger cares. He likes the label of being #1. Had he been injured in 2010, losing the top spot might not be as big of a deal to him, but he was outplayed in 2010 and the rankings now reflect what everyone’s known for the past six months… Tiger’s is currently not the best player on the planet. Let’s just hope that along with losing the top spot, Tiger’s also lost his self-appointed right to create idiotic nicknames like ‘Westy’.
The #1 position should be reserved for the player who wins the most tournaments each year. I don’t understand the rankings. How can a player be #1 and not win a tournament.
Westwood has won tournaments, on both the PGA Tour and the European Tour. I like that the world rankings consider more than a year’s worth of tournament results, and that it is not a “who’s hot right now” ranking. I’d say it was pretty accurate with having Tiger number one for the last decade. I think Westwood is deserving of the title.
@ Matt ~ so if the Lakers win the most games over a 2-3 year period, but not the championship, they should be the number 1 team? If brains were dynamite, you would not be able to blow your nose! The only thing Westwood ‘deserves’ is honorable mention.
The reality is Tiger lost the #1 spot by not playing enough. In the rankings TW only played 31 events in the last 2 years. The minimum divisor on the rankings is 40 events. If the math is based on the 31 events he actually played his average would be 10.49 making him #1. If he had played 9 more events and scored 1 point in each (just making the cut) he would still be number 1.
Lee Westwood had a very good year but I am having a hard time seeing him as having a #1 in the world type year. In the last year he has had 1 wins and 2nds at the Masters & The Open. A good year no doubt but lacking any real breakout performance.
Martin Kaymer with 6 wins in the last 2 years including this years PGA Championship has a much more compelling argument to be number 1 than Lee Westwood.
@~itskvm Harsh. So based on your argument, Jim Furyk is the best golfer on the PGA Tour because he won the Tour Championship? Comparing golf to basketball doesn’t necessarily work for me because it is a completely different format. Golf has majors that are more important with tougher fields. Basketball has a playoff system where teams face off against each other for multiple games.
All I am saying is that I like that the rankings calculate over a period of time and not just the last handful of tournaments. I understand arguments that Kaymer should possibly be number one. But in my personal opinion I think Westwood is very deserving of the ranking. If that makes me unable to blow my nose, then so be it.
I’m sure glad my brains aren’t dynamite… 🙂
College football rankings are a joke. Golf rankings? Not so much. Just because Tiger is no longer #1? He hasn’t been the best in a year. Far from it. There’s far more to golf than Tiger!