OWGR - End of Year 2015, The Race to the Masters

Justin Thomas and Victor Dubuisson jumped well into the Top 50 with their wins.  In addition, K.T. Kim won his FIFTH tournament since June, and is up to #61 in the rankings.

This is what the ~Top 100 of the OWGR rankings should like tomorrow morning.  Players with an asterisk are already Qualified for the Masters.  Sergio is the highest ranked player, not yet qualified for the Masters.  Most of the players already qualified for the Masters have either won a regular PGATournament or finished in the FEX Top 30.  A few exceptions like IJP's 6th place at the 2015 Masters.

1 Jason Day 12.184 *
2 Jordan Spieth 12.093 *
3 Rory McIlroy 10.910 *
4 Bubba Watson 8.190 *
5 Rickie Fowler 7.585 *
6 Justin Rose 7.579 *
7 Henrik Stenson 7.282 *
8 Dustin Johnson 6.479 *
9 Jim Furyk 6.451 *
10 Zach Johnson 4.880 *
11 Sergio Garcia 4.763
12 Adam Scott 4.541 *
13 Louis Oosthuizen 4.393 *
14 Brooks Koepka 4.346 *
15 Hideki Matsuyama 4.320 *
16 Matt Kuchar 4.212 *
17 Shane Lowry 3.991 *
18 Patrick Reed 3.914 *
19 Kevin Na 3.900 *
20 Jimmy Walker 3.876 *
21 J.B. Holmes 3.728 *
22 Branden Grace 3.577 *
23 Martin Kaymer 3.464 *
24 Paul Casey 3.438 *
25 Phil Mickelson 3.390 *
26 Danny Willett 3.347
27 Billy Horschel 3.124
28 Bernd Wiesberger 3.069
29 Chris Kirk 3.007 *
30 Justin Thomas 3.003 *
31 Brandt Snedeker 2.967 *
32 Bill Haas 2.912 *
33 Thongchai Jaidee 2.910
34 Kevin Kisner 2.870 *
35 Victor Dubuisson 2.844
36 Robert Streb 2.805 *
37 Emiliano Grillo 2.771 *
38 Charley Hoffman 2.764 *
39 Anirban Lahiri 2.754
40 Danny Lee 2.746 *
41 Kiradech Aphibarnrat 2.729
42 Marc Leishman 2.708 *
43 Scott Piercy 2.680 *
44 Ryan Palmer 2.622
45 David Lingmerth 2.552 *
46 Soren Kjeldsen 2.513
47 Byeong Hun An 2.503
48 Lee Westwood 2.493
49 Daniel Berger 2.491 *
50 Charl Schwartzel 2.452 *
51 Gary Woodland 2.431
52 Andy Sullivan 2.412
53 Ian Poulter 2.405 *
54 Ryan Moore 2.405 *
55 Russell Henley 2.346
56 Chris Wood 2.339
57 Hunter Mahan 2.335 *
58 Jamie Donaldson 2.319
59 Matthew Fitzpatrick 2.317
60 Cameron Tringale 2.230
61 K.T. Kim 2.194
62 Brendon Todd 2.190
63 Keegan Bradley 2.184 *
64 Marc Warren 2.172
65 Webb Simpson 2.141 *
66 Francesco Molinari 2.129
67 Jason Bohn 2.123
68 Steven Bowditch 2.085 *
69 Ben Martin 2.076
70 Tommy Fleetwood 2.075
71 Brendan Steele 2.061
72 Luke Donald 2.014
73 Matt Jones 2.000
74 John Senden 1.999
75 Smylie Kaufman 1.922 *
76 George Coetzee 1.905
77 Joost Luiten 1.903
78 Thorbjorn Olesen 1.894
79 Patton Kizzire 1.891
80 Tony Finau 1.881
81 Graeme McDowell 1.856
82 Miguel A Jimenez 1.846
83 Russell Knox 1.791
84 Brian Harman 1.786
85 Alexander Levy 1.780
86 Daniel Summerhays 1.724
87 Harris English 1.720 *
88 James Morrison 1.703
89 Yuta Ikeda 1.682
90 James Hahn 1.674
91 Richie Ramsay 1.652
92 Prayad Marksaeng 1.647
93 Alexander Noren 1.644
94 Hiroshi Iwata 1.638
95 Patrick Rodgers 1.618
96 Eddie Pepperell 1.614
97 Thomas Pieters 1.612
98 David Howell 1.605
99 Matt Every 1.600
100 Cameron Smith 1.589
======
101 Tyrrell Hatton 1.588
102 Sangmoon Bae 1.585
103 Troy Merritt 1.584
104 Rafael Cabrera Bello 1.566

Good stuff GPB
A timely reminder, if any were needed, that it's going to be a long way back for the likes of Donald, McDowell, Poulter, Westwood etc, and Charl, Bradley, Mahan, Simpson, Senden and others. Top 15's might be good enough to tread water if you play every week, but not if you're a part-timer.
Get on yer bike!

Looks like the HSBC event will be OWGR 68. But a weak 68. If anymore notable players WD, it will probably fall to a 66.

Spieth needs a Solo 13th or better to reclaim #1.
Rory cannot reclaim the #1 spot but he is safe at #3.

Hi guys, what does Andy Sullivan need to do to get into the Masters? Sorry, not being so close to the golf scene these days I've lost track of the qualification criteria

Hi gw,
Most important thing is for Sullivan to make sure he's in the year-end owgr Top 50.
His dismal effort in Turkey saw him drop out so a couple of Top Tens in the next three weeks would probably see him back in time for year-end. I assume there's a Nedbank this year and imagine his South Africa success would encourage him to play there.

The Top 50 - between #40 and #60 is very turbulent right now, very competitive, so important for English guys on the edge like Westy, Poults, Fitz, even Fleetwood to play well in top-rated events. Like this week!

Good result for your Wolves; haven't seen our protege Wallace in the game-day squad recently, is he injured? Regardless, hope it's the start of a good run; some great crowds in the Championship these days.

And good luck to GB in Oman this week . . . . . . .

Hi Kwini.. The qualification criteria on the Masters website:

Masters Tournament Champions (Lifetime)
Blah blah blah....
The 50 leaders on the Final Official World Golf Ranking for the previous calendar year
The 50 leaders on the Official World Golf Ranking published during the week prior to the current Masters Tournament

So if you make it into the top 50 the week before the Masters you also get a (last minute) entry - so that would also be a route in for Sullivan?

For those interested, the entire list is HERE

Agreed Bob,
But all the guys I mentioned (except Poulter as he's already in) would be very happy to confirm the BillyPayne-o-gram by playing well the next month and not have to sweat bullets on their form early next year when they could have fallen further adrift.

I was checking I was right in my interpretation - it seems very lastminute.com for the normally slow moving Masters.

Thanks Kwini / Bob.

Yep, 3 points at St Andrews was most unexpected, played well, unlike the previous 3 gamed when we looked kike a team destined for relegation. I don't think Wallace is injured Kwini, just not getting in the squad. Problem us we're top heavy with midfielders and down to the bare bones in defence, I was expecting a couple of defenders in the summer but we actually sold one, our Captain, instead!!

Since the Top 50 bubble is so congested, I think Sullivan probably needs to earn 6-7 Gross Points per tournament played.

For the HSBC this week, that means a Top 15 showing.

For the BMW Masters and RTD, that means a top 10 finish.

Not sure if he is playing anything after the RtD.

Billy Horschel flew from Florida to Shanghai China only to Withdraw. Replaced by Cameron Smith. Eddie Pepperill is the next alternate.

HSBC SoF falls to 66 as a result

Looks like Rory is out of the #1 race at the end of the year.

Jason Day is scheduled to play one more OWGR tournament, the Hero World Challenge*.

Besides HSBC, Spieth is scheduled to play Australian Open in two weeks and the HWC in four weeks.

Should J-Day win the HWC, Spieth needs to earn about 73 total OWGR pts in the HWBC, OZ Open and HWC to have the #1 Year End ranking


*Projecting the HWC at OWGR Level 48. Lets not not get into a discussion about the OWGR giving points to the HWC (and Nedbank). It is what it is.

Should they win HSBC:

Kisner could get as high as #17
DJohnson Could get to #4
Li will get inside the Top 70
Knox could get inside the Top 30
Spieth will become #1
Reed could get as high as #10
Fisher could get inside the Top 50.

Ricardo Gouveia from Portugal won the season ending Challenge Tour event in Oman and is now ranked ahead of GMac. (somewhere around 82nd) depending on other results.

There are Couple of OWGR streaks in jeopardy:

Its almost a 100% certainty that Mickelson falls out of the OWGR Top 25 for the first time since September 1995, 1048 weeks. That may be a record that could stand a long time.

Not quite a certainty, but Lee Westwood could fall out of the Top 50 for the first time since Sept 2007.

GPB wrote: have the #1 Year End ranking

Does the Number 1 ranking at the year end get you anything more than the number 2? (Thinking about any exemptions etc)

Nothing official. Maybe some financial incentive from a players sponsor.

The ranking sheet always the year end rank from the previous year.

http://www.owgr.com/ranking

Thanks GPB

Great win for Russell Knox, climbs to #31 in the OWGR. And if was a EuroT member, well inside the EuroTour Ryder Cup bubble.

According to my projections, Spieth's T7 was just enough to guarantee the #1 ranking for the next three weeks, going into the Hero Challenge, even if Spieth Whiffies the Australian Open

Projected ranking on 11/30

J-Day 11.607
Spieth 11.611 (if he whiffies Australia)

If Jason Day wins the HWC, he will be the #1 golfer at Year end, even if Spieth wins in Australia (assuming OWGR Minimum of 32 for the Aus Open) and finishes solo 2nd at HWC.

Mickelson falls to the #27 spot

Westwood clings to the #50 spot, unless Jason Bohn wins Sanderson farms.

Willett rises to #22, Grace goes to #20,

50 x OWGR points to this week's Shanghai winner, more than double the Mayakoba reward of 24 pts.
Can't imagine the last time the European winner earned more than twice the PGA Tour champ's pts.

Highest Possible Projected rankings should these contenders win:

Jaidee: 17th
Bjerregaard: 74th
Garcia: 10th (Actually 3rd or better gets him to 10th)
Ben An: 25th

Fathauer: 154th
Bohn: 47th
Knox: 25th
Leonard: 232nd (He is about 600th right now )
Varner: 224th
GMac: 61st

For Andy Sullivan and his Top 50 chances for year end, its getting less and less likely. Almost a certainty that Westy falls out of Top 50 this week with Poulter and Fitzpatrick in contention.

Jason Day is not playing Hero World Challenge. Almost guaranteed that Spieth will be the #1 ranked player at year end.

GPB,
I saw that about Day/Watson but can't find the field, even on the tournament website.

kwinigolfer wrote:GPB,
I saw that about Day/Watson but can't find the field, even on the tournament website.

Announcement from about 10 days ago.

http://espn.go.com/golf/story/_/id/14053745/jordan-spieth-jason-day-zach-johnson-highlight-field-tiger-woods-hero-world-challenge-next-month

Thanks!
Surprised to see Adam Scott's name but suppose it's a home game for him.

Kwini

Even you must be a little excited by that field?

Rory's win today will secure the #2 spot at year end. (assuming neither J-Day or Rory plays again this year)

Projected Year end OWGR Avg

Rory 10.963
J-Day 10.939
Spieth 10.936 + (Pts earned at Aussie Open & HWC)/52

Spieth is guaranteed 2.4 pts at HWC so his avg will be at least 10.982

Andy Sullivan is practically guaranteed a Top 50 Year end ranking and a Masters invite. He could be ranked as high as #36 depending on RSM results.

Mac,
Sorry, You could have Hogan, Sarazen, Snead, Cotton, Wayne Levi, Uncle Tom Morris and all, and I still wouldn't like the "World" Challenge event.


Yup, GPB, The Sullivans, Matty Fitzes, etc are taking the place of the Donald, Poulter, Westwood generation. Six months ago one would have expected Fleetwood to be up there, but he's regressed. Would be interested in theories as to why . . . . . .

I was off on my projections.

Rory is going to be #3 at year end. He won't pass Day.

As much as I don't like Top 5 and found his hissy fit on the 8th today amusing, looking at the bigger picture I'm thinking all credit to him for coming to the ET and playing the big events, I hope he starts a trend of high ranked Yanks following suit, kind of puts Casey's decision in a slightly different light.

kwinigolfer wrote:Mac,
Sorry, You could have Hogan, Sarazen, Snead, Cotton, Wayne Levi, Uncle Tom Morris and all, and I still wouldn't like the "World" Challenge event.


Yup, GPB, The Sullivans, Matty Fitzes, etc are taking the place of the Donald, Poulter, Westwood generation. Six months ago one would have expected Fleetwood to be up there, but he's regressed. Would be interested in theories as to why . . . . . .

Yup don't disagree with that, definite changing of the guard taking place, Donald, Westwood, Poulter etc will have their work cut out to make Hazeltine. Sullivan,Willet, Matty Fitz, Lowry, Wood etc are taking places that they won't give up easily, Fleetwood hasn't had a great few months but I'm sure he will come again too.

The only other thing is the OWGR's McCormack Award... that goes to the player who held #1 for the most weeks in the calendar year... that will be  Rory with 34 weeks at #1 in 2015, with Jordan at 14 weeks, and Jason Day at 4 weeks.

Kwini

I don't understand. What about the event do you dislike so much that even a very good field can't overcome? If it comes down to a Spieth and Day finale will you not be watching with glee like the rest of us?

Mac:

Re: Hero World Challenge

The only I have against the HWC is that it gets OWGR Points for playing.

Even DFL gets 2.4 points which in the case of Jordan Spieth will GUARANTEE that he is the #1 ranked player at the end of 2015.

Its been proven that those point give a competitive advantage to the player that play it. GMAC got exempt into the 2010 US Open because he was a last minute replacement for a dude that had to withdraw because of fat lip because he hit a fire hydrant.

The guaranteed six figure paycheck should be more than enough incentive for a player to play the HWC (or what used to be the Nedbank). It shouldn't need OWGR recognition. If the players are good enough to get exempt into the HWC then they should be good enough to not need the OWGR boost.

And BTW, it won't come down to Spieth vs Day because J-Day is not playing.

I thought he was playing, but it seems he has withdrawn and been replaced by Gerry.

I get that it shouldn't get an OWGR boost but that is hardly a reason to not enjoy watching some of the worlds best players. The BMW PGA gets just as an unworthy boost and we all seem happy to watch that, Rory gets a by into the DP world final and we happily watch that, Poulter buys a place in a field.... and so on.

It seems this event is singled out as more unjust then the rest of the manufactured fields in golf just because of the Tiger connection.

Not everyone in the BMW PGA gets OWGR points, just for playing.

And everyone does at the HWC.

And FWIW, everyone that plays the PGAT Tour Championship and Tournament of Champions also get OWGR points as does (did?) Nedbank.

And I don't like that either. But they do have bigger fields (30 players or more) and I think that only the top half of the field should get OWGR points.

Free OWGR points, Rory getting special treatment etc. leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Still I can enjoy watching the events.

Peter Senior, 56, and quite senior, wins the Aussie Masters, in front of the likes of Adam Scott and Senden. Is that Aussie golf?

Peter Senior has been playing the US Champions Tour for 6 years, playing about 130 events.

No wins.

That either says something for the high Quality of play from the Viagra Crew or the low quality of play from the chaps down under.

GPB

I get that it is not ideal for OWGR points to be handed out for free but my point was that quite a few other events have "injustices" and will still manage to enjoy watching them. The HWC has a pretty interesting field this year and will probably have the most top 10 players in a field outside the majors and WGC's. That alone seems like reason enough to watch a golf tournament.

What is the field, Mac, I wasn't able to find it last time I looked? GPB pointed me in the ESPN direction but even that only shows 2/3 of the field. Perhaps the other third aren't as compelling?

the HWC field was announced a couple weeks ago

Spieth
Fowler
DJohnson
Kuchar

Watson
Rose
Lahiri
Casey

Koepka
ZJohnson
Haas
Walker

Holmes
Kirk
Scott
Reed

Matsuyama
Horschel

http://www.golfchannel.com/news/golf-central-blog/spieth-day-headline-hero-world-challenge-field/

OK, Thanks.

It obviously pays to be on the US Presidents Cup team.

kwinigolfer wrote:OK, Thanks.

It obviously pays to be on the US Presidents Cup team.

There is a procedure for the invites.

Winners of the four majors
The next 12 highest ranked players
2 Sponsors invites

Rory, Stenson, Garcia were invited. Decided not to play.

Garcia is playing a Asian Tour event in Vietnam that week. Presumably for Big Money.
I think Stenson originally planned to play.

Kwini

Last week someone (possible Sobel) tweeted that the HWC was looking like having 7 of the worlds top 10 (incl day and spieth which we now know isn't the case).

surprised Nike/TW didnt convince Rory to play.

GPB,
There must be at least four sponsor invitees: Haas, Horschel, Kirk, Lahiri . . . . . or at least others who turned down Woods's kind invitation. Just surprised not to see Arjun Atwal gracing his field.

kwinigolfer wrote:GPB,
There must be at least four sponsor invitees: Haas, Horschel, Kirk, Lahiri . . . . . or at least others who turned down Woods's kind invitation. Just surprised not to see Arjun Atwal gracing his field.

Not everyone invited accepts their invite.

I was off slightly on the exemptions

The Hero World Challenge's 18-man field is composed of the year's major champions, the top 11 available players in the OWGR, two sponsor exemptions and the defending champion.

http://www.foxsports.com/golf/story/tiger-woods-pga-tour-exemption-for-hero-world-challenge-080315

Maybe since Spieth won two majors, it opened up another Sponsor's Invite.

That's disgusting GPB.

Imagine this headline: “FIFA gives Qatar a sponsors invite to host the World Cup since they’ve already put so much money into it.”

How much will 9C's inclusion demerit the ranking points on offer?

Super

The article is from August, clearly Tiger won't by playing now that he has had further back surgery.