OWGR - Week #22

First topic message reminder :

Last week we were all cheering the happy Boooos, this week we are shouting, very unhappily, the same thing to our numero uno and numero due, for their mediocre displays in Jack’s backyard…

But what a great year Matt Kuchar is having! Another fantastic, top notch win for him at the Memorial, following his WGC MP win earlier in the year, plus a string of other top finishes inbetween. And with such a collection of top results, there’s no surprise that his ranking has rocketed now to no. 4 in the world! He (and I) will be disappointed now if he doesn’t add a major to all that this year… Great runner up finish for Kevin Chappell, and a big jump up right behind the top 100 gates (at #102), and a very welcome 3rd spot for Kyle Stanley, coming right on time to push him up into the top 60 (at #59) just before the US Open deadline. Other significant movers from the Memorial field are Stallings moving back inside the top 100 (#99) and Russell Henley, who is returning inside the top 50, at #47.

Congratulations also to the flying Finn, Mikko Ilonen, who’s been in a rich vein of form recently, and his clear win at the Nordea Masters certainly didn’t come as a surprise. He is climbing with that to #69 in the rankings and remains to be seen if he decides to play now in Austria next week to try and make the US Open cut. Same story for Alex Noren, who’s moving to #64 and probably an easier prospect for Bernd Wiesberger, who stops at #61, but with the home advantage next week, I’d fancy him to make it to Merrion. Great runner up result for Jonas Blixt in front of his home fans, and moving up to #94. Matteo ran out of steam a little bit at the weekend, but his overall performance remains pretty impressive, moving up a few more places in the world rankings, now at #26…

Hideki Matsuyama’s very impressive progress in his short professional career, continued this week with yet another win on the Japanese Tour, at the Diamond Cup, which is enough to push him up to #63, becoming now the highest ranked Japanese golfer. In the 5 events he played so far as a pro he finished T10, 1st, 2nd, T2 and 1st, and his next showing will be at Merrion.

Finally, it’s very well done to all the other winners this week:

- Michael Putnam (USA) winner for the 2nd consecutive week on the Web.com Tour and moving up to around #130
- Brooks Koepka (USA), for his 2nd win on the Challenge Tour, this time by 10 shots (!) in La Gomera, and jumping to somewhere around #170
- Merrick Bremner (SAf),  winner on the Sunshine Tour and moving up near #340
- Ryan Blaum (USA), winner on the LatinoAmerica Tour, in the Dominican Republic, who climbs somewhere close to #730
- Lee Soo Min (KOR), still a teenager, and now winner on the Korean Tour, who will move up somewhere near #690

The OWGR table after week #22 should look as follows:

1 Tiger Woods
2 Rory McIlroy
3 Adam Scott
4 Matt Kuchar
5 Justin Rose
6 Brandt Snedeker
7 Luke Donald
8 Graeme McDowell
9 Louis Oosthuizen
10 Phil Mickelson
------------------------------
11 Lee Westwood
12 Steve Stricker
13 Keegan Bradley
14 Sergio Garcia
15 Charl Schwartzel
16 Ian Poulter
17 Bubba Watson
18 Webb Simpson
19 Dustin Johnson
20 Jason Dufner
21 Ernie Els
22 Hunter Mahan
23 Peter Hanson
24 Nick Watney
25 Jason Day
26 Matteo Manassero
27 Bo Van Pelt
28 Jim Furyk
29 Bill Haas
30 Zach Johnson
31 Branden Grace
32 Henrik Stenson
33 Rickie Fowler
34 Martin Kaymer
35 Thorbjorn Olesen
36 Kevin Streelman
37 Scott Piercy
38 Francesco Molinari
39 Carl Pettersson
40 Jamie Donaldson
41 Gonzalo Fdez-Castano
42 Robert Garrigus
43 Paul Lawrie
44 David Lynn
45 Michael Thompson
46 Nicolas Colsaerts
47 Russell Henley
48 Ryan Moore
49 D.A. Points
49 Tim Clark
------------------------------
51 Fredrik Jacobson
52 Thongchai Jaidee
53 Billy Horschel
54 Richard Sterne
55 Boo Weekley
56 George Coetzee
57 Martin Laird
58 Marcel Siem
59 Kyle Stanley
60 Marc Leishman
----------------------------
61 Bernd Wiesberger
62 Angel Cabrera
63 Hideki Matsuyama
64 Alexander Noren
65 Chris Wood
66 John Senden
67 Jimmy Walker
68 Charles Howell-III
69 Mikko Ilonen
70 Hiroyuki Fujita
71 Luke Guthrie
72 Marcus Fraser
73 Padraig Harrington
74 Brendon de Jonge
75 Geoff Ogilvy
76 Bae Sang-moon
77 Miguel A Jimenez
78 Stephen Gallacher
79 Brett Rumford
80 Shane Lowry
81 Chris Kirk
82 Jaco Van Zyl
83 Kiradech Aphibarnrat
84 Richie Ramsay
85 Ryan Palmer
86 Greg Chalmers
87 Thomas Bjorn
88 John Merrick
89 Scott Jamieson
90 Charlie Beljan
91 David Lingmerth
92 John Huh
93 Anders Hansen
94 Jonas Blixt
95 K.J. Choi
96 Rafael Cabrera Bello
97 Thomas Aiken
98 Darren Fichardt
99 Scott Stallings
100 Pablo Larrazabal
-----------------------------
101 David Toms
102 Kevin Chappell
103 Kim Hyung-sung
...

robopz wrote:So I guess something similar will happen to Rory next week in Sagarin? (unless he wins again?)

Unless he wins again? huh?

He is replacing a trunk-slammer at Olympic with a result in Merion. Chances are that Rory will go up in the Sagarin Rankings, even if he finishes T40 something.

robopz wrote:

kwinigolfer wrote:If Bernd keeps burning up the course like this, he'll put his qualification beyond doubt. Impressive so far.

Did that bogey on his last hole cost Bernd a spot in the top-60?

At OWGR level 24, he earned 2.16 points for a 5 way T18.

He would have earned 2.88 points for a 5 way T10.

PD said that he needed a solo 12th or better and that is worth 2.88 points, so I think it did.

That's true, a par would've been enough to get him past Stanley. I saw some people out there on twitter are saying he needed a birdie, but that's not true...

Anyway, if Stallings wins in Memphis, even a birdie wouldn't have been enough for BW...

GPB wrote:

robopz wrote:So I guess something similar will happen to Rory next week in Sagarin? (unless he wins again?)

Unless he wins again? huh?

He is replacing a trunk-slammer at Olympic with a result in Merion. Chances are that Rory will go up in the Sagarin Rankings, even if he finishes T40 something.

OOPS.... guess I lost 2012 somehow... (guess I picked a bad week to stop sniffing glue)

Stallings and Palmer almost with a win and a ticket to Merion! The same with Siem before Augusta. Funny how some guys deliver (well, almost) when they have to.

Regardless of course set-up, vagaries of the greens, Tropical Storm Andrea, etc, etc, 19 of the Top 22 made the Merion cut, and one of those (King Louis) w/d'd. Just McDowell and Bradley goners.
Only Horschel, Fowler, Gonzo and Stenson possibilities to disturb the static Top 30 and they'll each need really good Sundays.