Lee Westwood retakes the top spot in world rankings
As you’ve probably heard, Lee Westwood, who celebrated his 38th birthday with a victory at the Indonesian Masters, recaptured the number-one spot in the official world rankings after Luke Donald lost in a playoff to Brandt Snedeker on the other side of the world at The Heritage. With both Donald and Westwood in contention going into the weekend, it was clear one of them would replace Martin Kaymer, who didn’t compete last week, as No. 1 (if Donald had also won, he would have surpassed Westwood).
“I’m delighted to be coming to the Ballantine’s Championship as World Number One,” Westwood told EuropeanTour.com. “Being top of the Official World Golf Ranking makes me feel very proud and I’m sure Korea’s knowledgeable and passionate golf fans are aware of the hard work and dedication it takes to reach that position.
“I’m very much looking forward to the tournament and hopefully I’ll give the galleries plenty to cheer about in the coming days.”
Westwood returns to the top spot after ending Tiger Woods’ record-breaking 281-week reign last October. Defending PGA champion Martin Kaymer booted Westwood from No. 1 eight weeks ago.
With all the volatility in the world rankings, it’s become a regular talking point. We got used to one guy dominating — which hasn’t been the norm in the 25-year history of OWGR — for the majority of a decade.
In PGA Tour Confidential last night, we discussed who we’d vote as No. 1. I went with Donald because he’s played the most consistently (five top-tens in six starts) in 2011, including a big victory (WGC Match Play Championship). If it were up to you, who do you think should occupy the throne? Is it Westwood? Donald? Kaymer? Tiger? None of the below?
Here are the top-ten players in the world as of this week:
1. Lee Westwood
2. Martin Kaymer
3. Luke Donald
4. Phil Mickelson
5. Graeme McDowell
6. Tiger Woods
7. Rory McIlroy
8. Paul Casey
9. Steve Stricker
10. Matt Kuchar
The most consistent man at the majors for the past two years is Westwood. He backs that up with sterling performances around the world. He’s a worthy number 1.
@the anymore — good point there.
@Gannon — Phil is a really talented guy!
(I’ve fixed it.)
Huh? How-can Mickelson be 4 and 10 simultaneously? Congrats to Lee!!
What’s speaks to me is that on any given Sunday, a mid-tier American golfer (Brandt Snedeker) can step up his game and beat a European blue-chipper; vice versa for European players. European or American ‘dominance’ is overblown post-Woods.
Interestingly, other than :Luke, none of the other top 10 player’ve won anything of substance this year.
My current assessment….
1. Donald
2. Westwood
3. McDowell
4. Casey
5. McIlroy
Kaymer, Mickelson or Woods will need to steal a victory or runner up finish at the US Open, Open Championship or PGA Championship without winning a regular tour stop to change my top 5.
Phil did win in Houston. Sure everyone points to his AND Tiger’s demise, but out of the top ten, he has had the second best season up until this point-kind of shocking.
it’s Donald, by default
Sticking to the top 10:
The best player in 2011 in terms of winning and consistency is Luke, and he has only won 1 stroke play event on a major tour in 2 years (+matchplay), and he missed 2 cuts at majors last year
The most consistent guy in the majors recently is Westwood (though he missed 1 for injury), 2nd best is Tiger, 3rd is Phil.
The problem is on points average in 2011 Westwood is the worst.
Kaymer btw for a supposedly consistent player is actually wildly inconsistent. He has a bunch of high finishes and converts them to wins, and a bunch of MC or close to last place finishes.
If forced to pick a #1 right now I’d say Donald, and under the current formula it’s Westwood (and that’s fair), but right now I don’t know that anyone is really #1.
I don’t need Tiger type dominance, but a typical Norman/Faldo season would be nice out of someone.
@Devon. Thanks for the correction.
LUUUUUUKE.
But only because I had large wagers on him against Kuchar and Kaymer in the Match Play and thus ended both days smiling. Otherwise, no one stands out.
I believe the OWGR rankings are as good as any, certainly better than the Saragrin. But IMO it could use some tweeks, perhaps more of a premium for winning.
But in times a parity like today IMO you can look at most anybody within a point or two of #1 and make a case for them. But compared to the past leaders of the rankings, I almost see it as there isn’t any real #1 right now. Kinda like a whole bunch of “players in waiting”, a case could be made for each of them. But until one or two manage to separate themselves from the crowd a little bit… here’s my rankings:
1. ——
T2 Kaymer
T2 Donald
T2 Westwood
T2 Mickelson
T2 etc
T2 etc
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@Shoshana – Kaymer is wildly inconsistent with a bunch of MCs and high finishes? Huh? He missed the cut in both the ’10 and ’11 Masters, where he admittedly can’t get it together. Other than that, he had two MCs in the other 24 events he entered over the last year…and never finished worse than 34th. Over the same time span, he’s won 4 times, with another 6 Top Tens. I’d say the good finishes outnumber the forgettable ones by a vast, vast margin…
what about the only two time winner on the PGA tour this year…Mark Wilson? He hits in straight and DEEP! And one heck of a short game. Numero Uno!
Mark Wilson hits it – on average – 278.3 yds deep for 148th on tour…There’s 20 guys on the Champions Tour who hit it further than that (no joke, look it up). That’s hardly deep with capital letters…nice player, though.
How far do you hit it Alex? Exactly what I thought. 278.3 is DEEP.
@Alex go count the number of times Kaymer has finished between 10-20, heck even 5-20. He doesn’t miss a ton of cuts true, but he seems to either have it and record a really high finish or finish 20th or below. His starts this year: 1, 28, 31, 2, 24, 20, MC, t9 (in a not deep field).
I dunno maybe its just that I think of him as a fairly consistent very good player so I didn’t expect to see that many middle of the pack finishes.
Mark Wilson is the new Corey Pavin!
Barry! I don’t think Mark Wilson hits butter cut 4 woods from a 165 yds like the Bunter does
Luke Donald is having the best year, but it’s hard for me to reconcile calling him #1 when his results in recent majors aren’t on the level of Westwood/Woods/Phil.
Westwood in the last 9 majors: 43, 23, 3, 3, 2, 16, 2, DNP, 11
Tiger: 6, 6, CUT, 2, 2, 4, 23, 28, 4
Phil: 5, 2, DNP, 73, 1, 4, 48, 12, 27
Donald: 38, CUT, 5, 43, CUT, 47, 11, CUT, 4
I give McDowell/Kaymer a bump for closing out majors and Phil the nod over Tiger for the same reason.
1. Westwood
2. McDowell
3. Kaymer
4. Phil
5. Tiger
6. Donald
Why isnt Tommy 2 Gloves getting any consideration?
I would probably go with Donald as well given he has won a big tournament like the match play. Or though I would prefer him to have won a major or a big stroke play tournament.
The thing that stills concerns me with the rankings is that neither player has one a major in the last 12 months. I think ranking points in majors should count for a lot more.
really, it depends on how we define it.
the rankings look at the last 2 years or something, right? if so, I still think it’s Kaymer. he has LOTS of wins and a major in the 2 years. (don’t think anyone has more wins in that time-span.)
but if we’re just looking at 2011, here’s the 2-time winners worldwide: Mark Wilson and Charl Schwartzel. (someone correct me if i’m forgetting someone somewhere. if someone’s won like 5 times already in Asia or something, I’d include him on this list.)
2011 rankings to me right now:
1. Charl Schwartzel
2. Luke Donald
3. Mark Wilson
4. Nick Watney
5. Bubba Watson
6. Phil Mickelson
do i think Charl is #1 in the world? no, but he’s having the best year.
(if we take wins out of the equation, I’d lean to Luke Donald as #1 right now. too consistently competitive and in the big events.)
Reading this thread made as much sense as reading threads on the NFL draft. Which I also did tonight. I need to get a life…