South African Distraction

Well, with the Nedbank Golf Challenge diverting 11 of the top 20 golfers to South Africa this week, and another 6 taking the week off, only 3 top tier golfers are playing for OWGR points this week. Michael Campbell steps up to headline at the Australian PGA in Adam Scott's absence. Meanwhile, Padraig Harrington and Colin Montgomerie return to China this week to play in the UBS Hong Kong Open. This brings to my attention that I omitted Monty from my rivalry discussion yesterday. Perhaps he'll win this week and give us a fourth "second best European" in as many weeks.

Golfer to watch this week: Colin Montgomerie

Just your typical off-week shifting

Not much Tier movement this week -- just DL3 dropping to Tier V and McGinley, Couples, and Bryant falling off the list. I have left the Tiger Rule in effect although, due to a weird technicality, removing it would only have 32 players in the top 5 tiers this week. Since the gap between Tiger and Vijay is still 7.41, I suspect this is a mere anomaly and the Tiger Rule would be needed again next week anyway.

Weekend notes:

• What is it with Opens? The U.S. Open so often seems to be a fire-breathing dragon that will slay anyone that dare attempt to defeat it. Its cousin was alive and kicking this week on the Moonah Links in Australia this week with only seven players finishing under par.
• We could get a nice little rivalry going for "best golfer in Great Britain and Ireland" or "second best golfer in Europe." Two weeks ago, Luke Donald filled this slot with OWGR #11. Last week, David Howell jumped ahead of Donald into that spot. This week, Padraig Harrington returned to the helm, so that the numbers 11, 12, and 13 players in the world are Harrington, Donald, and Howell respectively.

And then there was one

Well, with the Silly Season in full swing the only golfer in the top 23 playing in an official event this week is Adam Scott down at the Australian Open. You don't have to look too far down the list to find other good contenders in Nick O'Hern, Mark Hensby, and Stuart Appleby at 29, 30, and 32 respectively, but it doesn't look like a win would push any of them into the top 5 tiers.

Golfer to watch this week: Hmm... Let me think... Adam Scott.

Minor number shifting

With little activity last week, the only changes are due to minor number shifts that caused Paul McGinley to slide back to Tier V and allowed Fred Couples and Bart Bryant to slip back into Tier V. The Tiger Rule remains in place as without it the top 5 tiers would extend all the way down to Charles Howell III, world number 52.

Weekend highlights:

• It was certainly interesting to see Duval's name back on the leaderboard in Japan this week despite his weak showing Sunday.
• It's great to get a chance to watch the European Tour regulars play golf to get to know some new faces. The expressions on Henrik Stenson's face at times this week were particularly priceless. His name has been on my radar for the past few months, but I didn't really know who he was until this week. In fact, I think I had him mixed up with Niclas Fasth for a while there. I'm not sure how I missed him at the WGC-AmEx, but I'm guessing ABC didn't show him much. (They were too enraptured by the Woods/Daly driving contest.) At the end of 2004, I picked Nick O'Hern as my European Tour player to follow for 2005 and while he did have some interesting highlights for the year he was certainly less than sensational. This time around I'm picking Henrik Stenson to follow in 2006. He hasn't showed up in the top 5 tiers much yet, but if next year goes as well as this year has it won't be too long before he is a regular in the top tiers.

Around the World

We've only got 5 of the top 21 golfers eligible for OWGR points this week what with the World Cup in Portugal and the PGA Tour's off-season. Tiger Woods returns to Japan to defend his title from such challengers as Jim Furyk, Colin Montgomerie, and Michael Campbell although even with a win Tiger's points average stands to decrease. Across the globe, Retief Goosen has headed home to headline the Limpopo Classic in South Africa.

The more interesting tournament this week has no affect on world rankings, but it's still worth commenting on. On paper, England has the strongest team in David Howell, hot off his HSBC victory, and Luke Donald. Next comes Ireland with the historically sound pairing of Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley. Then we have Sergio Garcia teaming up with Miguel Angel Jimenez for Spain. Tim Clark and Trevor Immelman form the South African team and Angel Cabrera teams up with fellow Argentinan Ricardo Gonzalez, winner of the 2004 Open de Sevilla.

Golfer(s) to watch this week: Well, since there will be little activity on the OWGR board and those events will be rather difficult to watch this week anyways, I give the look to the Englishmen in Portugal, David Howell and Luke Donald.

The Tiger Rule

I am officially invoking the Tiger Rule in my determination of the top 5 tiers because 48 players is just too many. Until someone steps up again to challenge Tiger like Vijay did last year, Tiger is in a league of his own and will not factor into calculations for the time being.

Currently, Vijay stays in Tier II by himself, but his putting will certainly have to improve to maintain his lead.

Mickelson, Goosen, Els, and Garcia make a solid representation for Tier III.

With the next 14 golfers now in Tier IV, the only change of note is that David Howell passed Luke Donald to hold bragging rights to top English golfer in the world at present.

Tim Clark rounds out the top tiers as the lone golfer in Tier V.

And the Game Goes On

China gets to see some good golf this week as several top golfers head across the Pacific for a week now the the regular PGA Tour season is over for the year. The HSBC Champions Tournament on the Asian Tour is headlined this week by Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh, Padraig Harrington, Colin Montgomerie, Michael Campbell, Paul McGinley, David Howell, Thomas Bjorn, Miguel Angel Jimenez, and Henrik Stenson.

The key is once again the comparison between Tiger's and Vijay's performances this week. As I indicated on Monday, I'm hoping Vijay's got his putting problems worked out. Jimenez and Stenson have there work cut out for them but there is a chance they could play themselves up a tier.

Golfer to watch this week: Well, since I've listed Vijay recently and since I don't seem to be listing a golfer that performs well in that week so far, let go with Tiger Woods.

In a Year

Most Improved: Bart Bryant was ranked 136th at this point last year and is now 24th. That is essentially a jump from being a Tier 55 player to a Tier 2 player. The way he played last week solidified where his game stands.

Honorable Mention: Jose Maria Olazabal (132 - 27), Henrik Stenson (135 - 33), Ben Crane (121 - 34).

Most Consistent: Retief Goosen is not only in the same tier he was one year ago. He is also in the exact same place he was in the OWGR at that time. It's not been an easy year for the Goose but he's managed not to slide, nonetheless.

Honorable Mention: Sergio Garcia, Jim Furyk, Adam Scott, Chris DiMarco, Kenny Perry, Padraig Harrington, Darren Clarke, Stewart Cink, Stuart Appleby.

Biggest Slide: Todd Hamilton was one of only three players (with Weir and Ames) to fall off the list from last year. Currently at World 97, Hamilton has performed the worst of those three.

Tier I	Tier I
Tiger Woods	Vijay Singh
	Tiger Woods
	Ernie Els
Tier II	Tier II
Vijay Singh	Retief Goosen
Phil Mickelson	Phil Mickelson
Retief Goosen	Mike Weir
Ernie Els	Padraig Harrington
Sergio Garcia	Davis Love III
Jim Furyk	Sergio Garcia
Adam Scott	Stewart Cink
Chris DiMarco	Adam Scott
Kenny Perry	Darren Clarke
Angel Cabrera	Kenny Perry
David Toms	Chris DiMarco
Luke Donald	Miguel Angel Jimenez
Padraig Harrington	Jim Furyk
Colin Montgomerie
Michael Campbell
Davis Love III
Paul McGinley
David Howell
Darren Clarke
Tim Clark
Thomas Bjorn
Fred Couples
Bart Bryant
Stewart Cink
Scott Verplank
Tier III	Tier III
Jose Maria Olazabal	Chad Campbell
John Daly
Tier IV	Tier IV
Justin Leonard	Stuart Appleby
Stuart Appleby	David Toms
Miguel Angel Jimenez	Todd Hamilton
Chad Campbell
Henrik Stenson
Tier V	Tier V
Ben Crane	Stephen Ames
Mark Hensby

Come on, Vijay!

I'm officially cheering for Vijay Singh to find his putting stroke before Tiger Woods separates himself from the pack any more. With 25 golfers in Tier II this week things are getting stretched a little far. All these men are certainly excellent golfers, and Vijay's clearly not at the top of his game right now, so I'm not complaining too much at this point.

Bart Bryant was spot on this week and played himself into his position in Tier II as did Scott Verplank. Other golfers who managed to sneak into Tier II this week were Paul McGinley, David Howell, Darren Clarke, Tim Clark, Thomas Bjorn, Fred Couples, and Stewart Cink. Jose Maria Olazabal and John Daly did make it back into the list as I suggested but all the way up to Tier III. Justin Leonard, Stuart Appleby, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Chad Campbell, and Henrik Stenson enter the list at Tier IV this week and Ben Crane and Mark Hensby round out the top players in Tier V.

Tomorrow: A comparison between the Top 5 Tiers right now and at this point last year.

Grand Finale

I wouldn't be surprised if the gap between Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh increases once again this week. Vijay stands to lose more points, and he is not in good form entering the week.

Retief Goosen should stay comfortably where he is in Tier II. As for Sergio Garcia, also comfortably in Tier II, a top three finish this week should pull him ahead of Ernie Els in the OWGR. Of this field of 29, Sergio's performance is among the top in the weeks preceding the Tour Championship.

Furyk, Scott, DiMarco, Perry, Donald, Harrington, and Love should all be able to remain in Tier II thanks to the Woods-Singh gap. Being at the bottom of the list, Love would be iffy but he really doesn't stand to lose any points at present unless he WDs or DQs. Besides, he hasn't played terribly in his last few starts.

The final player in both the top tiers and the Tour Championship is Tim Clark. He has the chance to move up to Tier III which in turn should slide Couples, Bjorn, and Cink up to Tier IV and allow Jose Maria Olazabal and John Daly to sneak back into the list in Tier V.

Player to watch this week: Sergio Garcia

Tier II Growth

Vijay lost some points for 4 wins this week, and obviously gained none missing his second cut in a row, allowing Tiger's lead in the OWGR to increase. As the gap between Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh continues to grow so does the size of Tier II.

Davis Love III played well enough last week to sneak in the door opened to Tier II along with the 7 other players (K. Perry, Cabrera, Toms, Donald, Harrington, Montgomerie, and M. Campbell) benefitting from the opening.

Paul McGinley's win at Valderrama this week allowed him to go straight to Tier III as he shows back up on the list this week. David Howell and Darren Clarke join McGinley in Tier III for the week. Rounding out the list, Tim Clark moves up to Tier IV and Fred Couples, Thomas Bjorn, and Stewart Cink show back up in Tier V.

Auto Sponsorship Week

Well, we've got the Chrysler Championship on the PGA Tour this week featuring Vijay Singh, Retief Goosen, Adam Scott, David Toms, Davis Love III, and Tim Clark. On the other side of the Atlantic, Spain is hosting the European season ending Volvo Masters featuring Sergio Garcia, Angel Cabrera, Padraig Harrington, Luke Donald, Michael Campbell, Colin Montgomerie, David Howell, and Darren Clarke.

With Tiger not playing this week, Vijay has the chance to narrow the gap between the two if he can manage to wake up from the nap he seems to be taking. Should the champion Vijay show up this week. Should that happen it may be possible for Dimarco, Scott, and even Furyk to slide back into Tier III. On the flip side, if Vijay's performance continues to lag Toms and/or Cabrera could play themselves into Tier II. Love could potentially play well enough to move up to Tier IV.

Golfer to watch this week: Let's take a ride on the David Toms roller coaster.

Not much sense

This is one of those weeks where the Official World Golf Rankings doesn't make much sense. Of the top 20 players in the world only a few played last week and of those only Sergio Garcia and Tim Clark played well. Yet, neither Garcia's nor Clark's performances had any effect on the tiers. Garcia is already comfortably a Tier II golfer. Adam Scott and Chris DiMarco sneaked into Tier II without playing last weekend. This enabled Kenny Perry and Angel Cabrera to get back into Tier III and Padraig Harrington, Luke Donald, Colin Montgomerie, and Michael Campbell to move up to Tier IV without any of them playing either. Clark's top 10 performance merely maintained his position at 19 in the OWGR as he joins Davis Love III, David Howell, and Darren Clarke as they return to my list in Tier V.

Disney Fun

Only four of the top 16 players are entered in the Funai Classic at Disney this week -- Woods, Singh, Goosen, and DiMarco. With Furyk not playing this week, if Vijay outperforms Tiger and narrows their gap again, we could see another big Tier III again next week with Furyk falling back to that tier. To complicate matters, Sergio Garcia is the defending champ in the Mallorca Classic in Spain this week providing plenty of opportunity to widen the gap between himself and Furyk.

Not very original, but golfer to watch this week: Vijay Singh.

Back to normal

The gap I expected to see between Tiger and Vijay last week showed up this week instead, and it wasn't Adam Scott who benefited but Jim Furyk after his typically strong showing in Vegas. With Furyk's move into Tier II, the top five tiers leveled back out into smaller groups like they had been prior to last week. With the exception of Colin Montgomerie, all the new adds from last week were knocked out of my tier list. Kenny Perry and Angel Cabrera are now in Tier IV and Luke Donald, Padraig Harrington, Michael Campbell, and Colin Montgomerie are back in Tier V.

On to Vegas

Seven Top Tier members are entered in the Michelin Championship at Las Vegas. A good week for Phil Mickelson won't affect his tier rank, but it would be his best finish this fall. I don't believe good or bad play will affect whether Jim Furyk, Padraig Harrington, Davis Love III, Fred Couples, and John Daly stay in Tier III. Justin Leonard may need to have a good week to stay in that tier. If Scott Verplank performs well this week, there is a chance that he could move into Tier III. That gives McGinley and Jimenez the chance to move to Tier IV without playing and subsequently opens the door to the likes of Henrik Stenson, Mark Hensby, and Stuart Appleby as potential Tier V members. Hensby and Appleby have the chance to play into the top tiers this week as well.

Golfer to watch this week: Scott Verplank

Large growth in Tier III

My first guess as to how the tiers might change with Tiger's win was a bit off. I thought the widened gap between Tiger and Vijay might open the door for Adam Scott to sneak into Tier II. That was before it registered in my mind that Adam Scott shot a 74 on Sunday. The end result was that the gap between Sergio Garcia and Adam Scott was widened enough for 14 players (Toms, Harrington, Montgomerie, M. Campbell, Donald, Love, Clarke, Clark, D. Howell, Couples, Bjorn, Daly, Cink, and Leonard) to join Scott and the others already in Tier III. This also enabled Scott Verplank to come into the Tiers at level IV and Paul McGinley and Miguel Jimenez at level V.

With one final glance over the top finishers at the American Express Championship, it seems that only two golfers, David Toms and Colin Montgomerie, earned their movement up the tiers without the aid of Garcia's improvement over Scott. If Garcia continues to improve his putting, who knows what's next.

Tiers 10/3/05

Tier I
Tiger Woods

Tier II
Vijay Singh
Phil Mickelson
Ernie Els
Retief Goosen
Sergio Garcia

Tier III
Adam Scott
Chris DiMarco
Angel Cabrera
Kenny Perry
Jim Furyk

Tier IV
David Toms
Padraig Harrington

Tier V
Michael Campbell
Luke Donald

When I introduced my tier system, I don't think I mentioned I'm just doing this on an experimental level to see where it goes. Perry proved the flexibility of the tiers by moving up a tier without playing. Harrington's move up a tier was less surprising since he placed 3rd in Scotland last week. Colin Montgomerie's move to 16th in world rankings wasn't quite enough to meet the requirements for my list.

On Being Impressionable

I must be more impressionable than I thought. I just caught myself making a rather DiMarco-like fist pump as I rallied against the spreadsheet I'm currently challenging at work. I remarked in my first golf post in my Soliloquies blog that when Phil won the PGA Championship I made a jump rather like his on the 18th green at the 2004 Masters. I suppose it's a good thing I took up golf as my sport of interest rather than something like wrestling. I can see it now. My boss comes in to ask for a document, and I've got my computer in a headlock. Yep, that would definitely reveal I'm crazy faster than if I ever slip and let her catch me in a conversation with myself. Now, as long as Sergio doesn't throw any more shoes, I should be okay.

Looking to Greensboro

The top four players in this tournament are Sergio Garcia, Adam Scott, Stewart Cink, and Tim Clark. Cink hasn't done much this year, and I don't see any indications that this is the week he'll turn things around. The course seems to fit Garcia's and Clark's games quite well and should suit Adam Scott well also now that his game is back on track. Despite the weaker field, a win by Garcia would validate the position I have him in as a Tier II player. I don't think a win by Scott will vault him up to Tier II, but it would most certainly push him closer.

The Tiers

I've recently started using the official world golf rankings to break the top golfers into tiers. This basically separates them based on spread of average points. (Disclaimer: Since these tiers are solely based on OWGR, they are only as good as the rankings.)

Tier I
Tiger Woods

Tier II
Vijay Singh
Phil Mickelson
Ernie Els
Retief Goosen
Sergio Garcia

Tier III
Adam Scott
Chris DiMarco
Jim Furyk
Angel Cabrera

Tier IV
Kenny Perry
David Toms

Tier V
Padraig Harrington
Luke Donald
Michael Campbell

In the Beginning...

Well, I've just set this up to separate my golf views from my everyday blog. Previous golf thoughts, including the President's Cup, can be found at ssarah5.blogspot.com.