Westwood Affirms #1 Ranking With Runner-Up Finish
Jason Sobel on the HSBC results and Westwood solidifying his spot at the top:
For now, though, all accolades and celebration should be heaped upon Westwood, who emerged from his first week atop the world ranking by putting greater distance between himself and the competition. That he failed to triumph at the HSBC should only serve as a symbol for his career: He might not always be good enough to win, but he is indeed good enough to be the best.
Sure, it sounds like a bizarre conundrum, but in a week that began with the world's best players brandishing swords in one another's company, bizarre might very well now be the norm anyway.
The SI guys weren't so kind.
Morfit: It is a bit odd that Westwood is winning so infrequently. On the other hand, he's played golf pretty infrequently, so maybe finishing second this week isn't so bad. I'm a lot more worried about a few other players who got a lot of publicity coming into the week.
Shipnuck: I'm way past the point of getting excited about Lee Westwood racking up another lucrative top-5 finish. To paraphrase "Glengarry Glen Ross," he needs to put down the coffee. Coffee is for closers.
Hack: Second place, a set of steak knives.
Shipnuck: Third place, you're fired. That means you, Luke Donald.
Sunday, November 7, 2010 at 10:04 PM
Reader Comments (29)
And at HSBC only one US player in the top 20- Mr Woods.
You bitter US sports writers better get used to Westwood at no. 1 - the US players got hosed at the HSBC, none could mount a credible challenge. Woods and Mickelson will only falll further behind in the race for no. 1, so who (apart from Kaymer) is going to challenge Westwood's hegemony?
Tiger slapped it all over the golf course had 13 bogies,kicked his driver and swore like a trooper all week yet his performance was somehow more laudable?
Good grief!
Stick to writing with some impartiality please.
Stricker, Furyk, Kuchar, Dustin and Zach Johnson, Bubba Watson--i.e. half of the US Ryder Cup team-- stayed home.
Yes, must agree.
Has there ever been a number 1 without a major on his resume?
nos. 1,2,3 and 4 in the world did bother to show up though.
I guess changing his ways and being less of an a-hole on the golf course got paid off at the same time as Elin.
Context matters. If Westwood hits a bunch of uncharacteristically bad shots in the fourth round to fumble away a major, then go ahead and question his ability to close out a tournament. But when he annihilates almost everyone in a strong field by nine shots, shooting the lowest final round score only to lose to an inspired Ryder Cup teammate, then you congratulate him on a fine first performance as the number one player in the world. This performance doesn't call the rankings into question -- it adds credibility to them.
Before Tiger Woods, number ones didn't win every other tournament. People forget how things used to be.
"Has there ever been a number 1 without a major on his resume?"
David Duval was #1 in 1999, 2 years before he won his sole major in 2001. I believe all of the other #1s each already had won a major prior to being ranked #1.
By the way, there have now been 100 majors played during the history of IMG's World Golf Rankings. 14 of those majors were won by Tiger and 23 of those majors were won by the other 12 who have reached #1. (Seve, Faldo, Norman, Langer, Woosnam, Couples, Price, Lehman, Els, Duval, Singh & Westwood) (Seve won 4 majors prior to 1986. Langer won one major prior to 1986.)
There are 10 golfers who had multiple major wins during that time period without ever being ranked #1. (Strange, Stewart, Harrington, Daly, Olazabal, Janzen, Goosen, O'Meara, Mickelson & Cabrera) Those 10 won 24 of those 100 majors.
6 of the prior 100 majors were won by golfers who already won other majors prior to 1986 (Nicklaus, Floyd, Irwin, Nelson, Crenshaw & Lyle)
That leaves 33 other of the prior 100 majors being the single major won by a golfer, who also was never ranked #1. Quite a few of those may be "one hit wonders", although scattered among those 32 includes golfers such as Tom Kite, Corey Pavin, Davis Love III & Justin Leonard.
I did watch all 4 rounds from China (so you don't have to) and I must say it continues to be shocking how consistently inaccurate both Tiger and Phil are. Hitting fairways and greens seems to represent unreachable goals? Since their short games are only OK right now, they present no threat to the good players. . . Since "Frankie" Molinari won the event (Luke Donald and Richie Ramsey tied 3rd) it seems obvious Tiger and Phil could tee off with 20 degree hybrids and be side by side with those 3 off the tee. Maybe they should consider it? (Tiger would need to have a hybrid first.)
Guys, I would rather win once a year and miss cuts ,than have a buch of top tens. One is for prestige and the other to put a lot of money in the bank. Fans remember wins and players remember bank accounts
Hybrid are for wusses!
Norman was a world wide FORCE for many years. He could/should have won 6+ majors. He was always there.
Westwood is not in that class. Westwood has won two tournaments in 12 years on the PGA tour. One was handed to him.
Sorry, but it is true.
p.s. Totally agree that one win and a bunch of missed cuts is better than zero wins and consistency.
I'm also sure Westwood would (sic) rather win more often - he's definitely not playing for top 5's or top 10's.
I remmember in the early 00's, Harrington was "criticised" for the number of second place finishes he was racking up. And we all know what happened next.
To address another point above - I feel Westwood does merit his no. 1 ranking, but I'm not against an increased weighting in the OWGR for tournament wins. It is a fair point that, ultimately, that is how sportsmen & women are measured.
Hey, just wondering you take on the over the top pull of the announcers for LW... I mean Moli is Euro.
I hate to say it , but the mush was as bad as it can be for TW
As to LW, I thought he played well, acted honorably, and got beat by one guy who was a touch hotter.
congrats to the 'bro'.
My take on the commentary was that they felt LW had been unfairly vilified as world no.1 and they were willing him to justify it.
No need.He's a big boy and a fine player.He'll be a good no.1-however long he stays there.
Thanks for asking-play well this weekend.
TW would probably catch a shit storm form NIke if he abandoned the driver (plummeting sales), but he has done this in the past, most notable of course in the British Opens.
I think if Tiiger keeps struggling he will do for his image what a billion dollar ad campaign failed to do: make him seem human.
If his winless streak continues for another 6 mos to a year, he will become the underdog and everyone will start pulling for him to win...sentimentality will kick in and he will get back a lot of fans that were disgusted with him.
Was tiger's air of invincibility, his aura of superiority a lot like the 4 minute barrier in Track?
I.E., once Bannister broke the barrier, many followed suit in a remarkably short period of time...the record lowered 5 seconds in 4 years!!!!
Once this mythological barrier was broken, the daunting impossibility of the 4 minute limit was busted forever.
Similarly, with TW, the aura is gone, perhaps never to appear again.