OWGR Week 30.....

HIGHLIGHTS
David Lynn moves up to #50 and gains a spot in the WGC-Bridgestone.  Paul Lawrie drops to #51, but was already qualified for Bridgestone.

Assuming the PGA invites OWGR top-100 which has been their recent practice (at least 4 years now, maybe more), Charlie Hoffman and Paul Casey move into the top-100 and have gained entry.  (#96 and #98 respectively)

Prior #97 Danny Willett held on to #100, while prior #98 Pablo Larrazabal and #99 Brendan Jones fall out of the top-100 at #101 and #102 respectively.

This weeks events and winners... Edited Final after completion of Web.com Tour event.


PGA Tour - RBC Canadian Open
Brandt Snedeker earns 46 points for his win in the RBC Canadian Open but remains at #7 as #6 Matt Kuchar finished 2nd to retain his spot. Despite neither playing this week, #4 Justin Rose inches ahead of #5 Adam Scott. There were no other changes in the top-10.  


European Tour - M2M Russian Open
24 points to the winner Michael Hoey moves him up to OWGR #174 from #303  and 81st in the R2D rankings. With a tournament rating value of 9, the M2M Russia winner does not gain entry into the WGC Bridgestone (115 required). I was surprised to hear on Morning Drive today this was his 6th ET win, but  checking myself after reading a Kwini post this morning... it turns out to be his 5th... but still pretty solid. His most impressive win of the 5 appears to be the 2011 Dunhill Links.


Web.com Tour - Albertsons Boise Open Presented by Kraft
Kevin Tway prevails in a playoff over Spencer Levin to earn 14 points and move to #309 from #570.  Michael Putnam had a chance to gain entry into the top-100 and the PGA Championship with a win, but was passed late and finished T-3 at -22, one stroke out of the playoff. But Putnam does move from #122 to #112.


Challenge Tour - Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge
12 Points to the winner Brinson Paolini moves him up to #397 from #745 (pending outcome of the Web.com event). I "thought" I knew of most of the decent American college  players but this Duke University player (Class of 2013) had completely escaped my attention prior to today.  Doing a little research I find this Virginia Beach, VA, USA  native was a 3 time All-East Region and ACC-Academic team selection.  In his Sophomore year he was  honorable mention All America and upon completion of his 4 years of eligibility he ranked 2nd on the Duke all time career scoring average list (72.6).  This is only his 3rd OWGR start... finishing T2 in his first Challenge Tour start 2 weeks ago (Swiss Challenge), and T25 last week in the Mugello Tuscany Open. He's already #11 on the Challenge Tour rankings. Pretty solid three-quarters of a month.


Asian Development Tour - Aboitiz Invitational
6 points to the winner Elmer Salvador moves him up to #469 from #637. Don't know much about about this Filipino other than he's apparently the first player to successfully defend a title on the Asian Development Tour (founded in 2010).   

Final ranking...  (last week)

1 - ( 1 ) - 12.464 - Tiger Woods
2 - ( 2 ) - 8.556 - Phil Mickelson
3 - ( 3 ) - 8.431 - Rory McIlroy
4 - ( 5 ) - 7.592 - Justin Rose
5 - ( 4 ) - 7.582 - Adam Scott
6 - ( 6 ) - 6.796 - Matt Kuchar
7 - ( 7 ) - 6.763 - Brandt Snedeker
8 - ( 8 ) - 5.977 - Graeme McDowell
9 - ( 9 ) - 5.427 - Luke Donald
10 - ( 10 ) - 5.121 - Lee Westwood
11 - ( 11 ) - 4.793 - Steve Stricker
12 - ( 12 ) - 4.745 - Louis Oosthuizen
13 - ( 13 ) - 4.713 - Charl Schwartzel
14 - ( 15 ) - 4.686 - Ernie Els
15 - ( 14 ) - 4.669 - Ian Poulter
16 - ( 16 ) - 4.620 - Sergio Garcia
17 - ( 17 ) - 4.439 - Keegan Bradley
18 - ( 18 ) - 4.416 - Bubba Watson
19 - ( 20 ) - 4.398 - Henrik Stenson
20 - ( 19 ) - 4.384 - Jason Day
21 - ( 25 ) - 4.169 - Dustin Johnson
22 - ( 22 ) - 4.080 - Hunter Mahan
23 - ( 21 ) - 4.061 - Webb Simpson
24 - ( 23 ) - 3.986 - Jason Dufner
25 - ( 24 ) - 3.881 - Bill Haas
26 - ( 26 ) - 3.609 - Zach Johnson
27 - ( 28 ) - 3.349 - Matteo Manassero
28 - ( 27 ) - 3.340 - Branden Grace
29 - ( 32 ) - 3.281 - Jim Furyk
30 - ( 29 ) - 3.276 - Nick Watney
31 - ( 30 ) - 3.261 - Peter Hanson
32 - ( 31 ) - 3.201 - Bo Van Pelt
33 - ( 34 ) - 3.051 - Hideki Matsuyama
34 - ( 33 ) - 2.985 - Richard Sterne
35 - ( 35 ) - 2.963 - Rickie Fowler
36 - ( 36 ) - 2.848 - Martin Kaymer
37 - ( 38 ) - 2.832 - Billy Horschel
38 - ( 39 ) - 2.827 - Jamie Donaldson
39 - ( 37 ) - 2.823 - Francesco Molinari
40 - ( 40 ) - 2.779 - Kevin Streelman
41 - ( 41 ) - 2.649 - Thorbjorn Olesen
42 - ( 42 ) - 2.644 - Nicolas Colsaerts
43 - ( 43 ) - 2.613 - Angel Cabrera
44 - ( 45 ) - 2.590 - Ryan Moore
45 - ( 44 ) - 2.588 - Gonzalo Fdez-Castano
46 - ( 46 ) - 2.516 - Scott Piercy
47 - ( 47 ) - 2.462 - Carl Pettersson
48 - ( 49 ) - 2.435 - Jonas Blixt
49 - ( 48 ) - 2.424 - Martin Laird
50 - ( 51 ) - 2.400 - David Lynn
- - - - - -
51 - ( 50 ) - 2.384 - Paul Lawrie
52 - ( 53 ) - 2.363 - Jordan Spieth
53 - ( 52 ) - 2.362 - Robert Garrigus
54 - ( 54 ) - 2.335 - Tim Clark
55 - ( 56 ) - 2.316 - D.A. Points
56 - ( 55 ) - 2.310 - Michael Thompson
57 - ( 57 ) - 2.295 - Thomas Bjorn
58 - ( 58 ) - 2.293 - Thongchai Jaidee
59 - ( 59 ) - 2.292 - Bernd Wiesberger
60 - ( 60 ) - 2.276 - Russell Henley
61 - ( 61 ) - 2.233 - Boo Weekley
62 - ( 62 ) - 2.223 - Marcel Siem
63 - ( 63 ) - 2.196 - Jimmy Walker
64 - ( 65 ) - 2.147 - Mikko Ilonen
65 - ( 64 ) - 2.119 - Fredrik Jacobson
66 - ( 70 ) - 2.113 - Kyle Stanley
67 - ( 69 ) - 2.102 - Alexander Noren
68 - ( 66 ) - 2.090 - George Coetzee
69 - ( 68 ) - 2.069 - Marc Leishman
70 - ( 67 ) - 2.042 - Graham Delaet
71 - ( 72 ) - 1.993 - Chris Wood
72 - ( 71 ) - 1.992 - Stephen Gallacher
73 - ( 73 ) - 1.978 - Miguel A Jimenez
74 - ( 74 ) - 1.968 - Luke Guthrie
75 - ( 75 ) - 1.958 - Padraig Harrington
76 - ( 86 ) - 1.952 - David Lingmerth
77 - ( 76 ) - 1.929 - Ken Duke
78 - ( 77 ) - 1.915 - Scott Stallings
79 - ( 79 ) - 1.909 - Harris English
80 - ( 78 ) - 1.900 - Charles Howell-III
81 - ( 82 ) - 1.889 - Joost Luiten
82 - ( 81 ) - 1.887 - Shane Lowry
83 - ( 83 ) - 1.869 - Geoff Ogilvy
84 - ( 80 ) - 1.867 - John Senden
85 - ( 85 ) - 1.862 - Brett Rumford
86 - ( 84 ) - 1.851 - Hiroyuki Fujita
87 - ( 87 ) - 1.834 - Ryan Palmer
88 - ( 88 ) - 1.824 - Marcus Fraser
89 - ( 89 ) - 1.823 - Brendon de Jonge
90 - ( 90 ) - 1.821 - Kiradech Aphibarnrat
91 - ( 100 ) - 1.781 - John Merrick
92 - ( 91 ) - 1.740 - Bae Sang-moon
93 - ( 92 ) - 1.704 - John Huh
94 - ( 94 ) - 1.692 - Chris Kirk
95 - ( 93 ) - 1.688 - Rafael Cabrera Bello
96 - ( 103 ) - 1.667 - Charley Hoffman
97 - ( 95 ) - 1.664 - Kevin Chappell
98 - ( 101 ) - 1.649 - Paul Casey
99 - ( 96 ) - 1.647 - K.J. Choi
100 - ( 97 ) - 1.639 - Danny Willett
- - - - - - -
101 - ( 98 ) - 1.629 - Pablo Larrazabal
102 - ( 99 ) - 1.620 - Brendan Jones
103 - ( 102 ) - 1.594 - Richie Ramsay

What have you done with Prince Dracula? Did the new royal Prince drive a stake in his heart?

#2 and #3 close together
#4 and #5 close together
#6 and #7 close together.

7 months into the year, and still no real volatility inside the top 25.

Jason Day and Henrik Stenson are the only one the really has crashed the top 25 and they haven't won anything this year.

GPB wrote:What have you done with Prince Dracula?  Did the new royal Prince drive a stake in his heart?

PD's been working his butt off... I offered to give him a hand this week and he accepted...

Good work robo,
Despite protestations to the contrary, this lot has lost their Top 30 status since last December:
Hanson
Lawrie
Molinari
Van Pelt
Kaymer
with several others disappearing from the Top 50.
Like Toms
Garrigus
Senden
Fujita
Bjorn
Choi
Coetzee
(and possibly some others)

what do people make of Michael Hoey? really seems to get the job done when hes in contention.
showed absolutely no form for ages but then looks v convincing getting across the line.
5 tour wins for someone that is far from a household name

Estimated Ratings for WGC-Bridestone & Reno-Tahoe.

24 - Reno-Tahoe - Barring WD's, the event has a pretty decent field for an alternate event (32 of top-200)... but estimated mid-30's ERV will still be well short of the 106 event rating needed to elevate it beyond the 24 minimum.  

76 - WGC Bridgestone - Field appears set at 74 players and barring further WD's and assuming new #50 David Lynn accepts his invite, the event is well inside the 76 range. And that 76 holds with or without #22 Mahan.   If both Lynn and Mahan didn't play the event drops to a 74. Pending Mahan, the only top-50 player officially out of the field is the injured #12 Oosthuizen.

Note on David Lynn:  It worked out in the end, but he took "just a bit" of chance by not playing the RBC Canadian Open, at least as far as Bridgestone qualification is concerned.  Since he was already at the max divisor, and his oldest event was a zero, he would have passed last week's #50 Paul Lawrie regardless if he played the RBC Canadian or not.  There were at least 15 players in the RBC field who could have passed Lynn with a win, but his biggest threat was Marcel Siem who needed at least a 3-way tie for 3rd to pass.  Siem finished T16.

Justin Spieth's refusing the BS invite tells me how over-rated these WGCs tournaments are.

It is nothing but a glorified exhibition with guaranteed money and no cut.

I don't care that the players get de facto appearance money, but the money should not be official, nor should the bottom half of the field get any FE Points.

If a EuroTour player wins this tournament, it is guaranteed that he will move in the top 10 o the RTD.

Phil Mickelson would be leading the RTD by nearly a million Euro if he were a ET member.

GPB wrote:Justin Spieth's refusing the BS invite tells me how over-rated these WGCs tournaments are.
It is nothing but a glorified exhibition with guaranteed money and no cut.

Well... to each his own I guess.  But I feel quite differently.

I like the fact the golf world has figured out a way to get most of the best of the world together a few more times a year. And I'm realistic enough to understand that since they ain't majors, the only way to do that is to format the WGC's in a way that actually incentivises most the top players to participate.  

So to me... it comes down to this... WHICH are "generally" more enjoyable events to watch... An event loaded with Chalk and names from top to bottom...  or another Memphis?     And I make that comparison on purpose, because if you enlarge WGC's to full field with cuts, no guarantees... in a matter of years they morph right back down to a "regular" events. Nothing against Memphis and the other regular events intended... we  have 30 to 40 regular events a year on both the worlds major tours...  which IMO make the addition of few more "chalk" events a definite solid.

IMO the next step... either move or create one or two new ones that gets WGC's to other parts of the world... and do them in a way they can STILL attract most the worlds best players.  IMO the HSBC will improve it's field as more top American are likely to play because now it's fully official on the PGAT.  Possibly move one of the American WGC's to Europe the week before or after the OPEN...  and maybe another one added to the Pacific rim area... maybe Australia and timed in a short span so the worlds best can play 2 of them in 3 week like they do now with the Match Play and Cadillac.  But IMO getting more than 5 or 6... and participation will start to wane...

When it comes to Golf, I think Less is More.

When more and more events become special, then it cheapens everything.

There is essentially no difference between the Cadillac and Bridgestone. They don't have any identity to it.

As much as I do not like Match play as tournament format, at least it is differentiated from any other tournament by the format.

All the Cadillac and Bridgestone is a "Masters-Lite" less filling and less taste. BS and Cad are without Past Champs and amateurs and without a cut.

And guaranteed 50K payday.

Saturation makes everything less special. Does that mean I won't be watching. No, because I like golf. But I'll be watching Reno too. I would have like to have see the Russian tournament this last weekend/.

Kind of agree with GPB on this, looking forward much more to Reno than boring old Bridgestone, where only the Top dozen or so are really trying, or even incented to try. Time for restructuring of both Caddy and Tiring Bridgestone.

Presumably Oosthuizen will get paid, unofficially, but wonder if they'll pay Spieth - presumably not Peter Senior.

kwinigolfer wrote:Kind of agree with GPB on this, looking forward much more to Reno than boring old Bridgestone, where only the Top dozen or so are really trying, or even incented to try. Time for restructuring of both Caddy and Tiring Bridgestone.

Presumably Oosthuizen will get paid, unofficially, but wonder if they'll pay Spieth - presumably not Peter Senior.

My understanding is Oosty would get paid... Speith and Senior would not. I can double check that later in the week.

As for the WGC's... I think you WAY underestimate the value of these events to the players. IMO there's a big misconception that these guys are showing up for the guaranteed bottom end... when the truth of the matter is they're showing up for the opportunity at the fantastic TOP end... I mean do you really think the Cadillac and BS gets these guys for $46k and maybe an easy 1 or 2 OWGR points?

I've been to maybe 15 of these things over the years, and my impression is these guys are giving it everything they got... at least as long as they still have a chance for a decent finish or the win. Granted... there's no Friday pressure cooker around a cut, but these guys realize the the abundance of points and official money by improving just a few places. IMO the anomaly that happens in these is there are guys who have basically shot themselves out of it by the weekend... but they don't get to go home... they have to stay and play... so in that respect, sure... you have some guys with the early weekend starting times "mailing it in" starting Saturday instead of Sunday. But who's really paying attention to the bottom of the field anyway?

And the ET might not think it's a benefit... but for the Euro's with designs on dual touring on the PGAT... a win is a 3 year exemption... a 2nd or 3rd is probably enough for Special Temporary... and a few top-10's in these and/or majors gets the job done too...

Bottom line.... I'm split on my opinions on WGC's.

Good.... More chances to see all the top guys playing together...

Bad... The good causes a bad as well... These add to the problem of "bunching" the top players in fewer events. That leaves all the other "regular" events with less talent to go around. I didn't think it was too much of a problem until the Playoffs came on line, but now you basically have 12 events all but dictated to the players assuming they make all 4 of the playoffs.

Improvement... Get some out to the rest of the world in a way where the top players will still participate.... even if that means moving 1 or 2 out of the U.S. Don't know if that's practical or just a pipe dream though... And other than the MP... tighten up the fields in the others a little by maybe going 60 deep in the OWGR and eliminating the few "fluff" spots given out.

I think they'd improve Cadillac and Bridgestone by introducing a cut, top 44 a la Augusta of old, or top 50 now.
Those missing the cut can go home with their $40K but no FedEx points and no owgr points.
The upper-level prizemoney can then be increased a little and there's more money available to create meaningful margins among the middle-of-the-pack placings. Last year, for instance, T16's won $90K, T40th's $59K, nowhere near the disparity for normal Tour events where dropped shots are rightly more harshly penalized.

I would like to see a top 40 cut (approx 50% of the starting field)

Mahan withdraws from the Bridgestone; who will be next?

Hanson possibly, or will he just continue entering tournaments, playing a few holes and then calling it a day?
I thought Peter Hanson might have a good year, but it's turned in to a nightmare for him. 140th in FedEx points and, if he can't get fit in a hurry, it'll be the web.com Tour Finals for him.
Or next year's European Tour. If he can't arrest his slide soon, owgr top 50 will be in jeopardy with all that that portends.

I agree with Robo on Wgc's, they are strong fields where success means a lot due to those you have beaten and the big money and points on offfer.

Like a major and the Players, a decent WGC showing can turn a season around.


if tiger were more popular his 17 WGC wins would be hailed as one of the greatest achievements in golf.

Wonder which Hunner Daddy-han we will see for the PGA? Pre-baby, I could've seen him on the short list.