What's More Offensive And Vile: BCS Or OWGR?

No, Tim Finchem didn't vote Tiger to No. 21 in the Official World Golf Ranking the way Nick Saban moved Oklahoma State into the fourth slot of his final BCS ballot to ensure a non-conference winner plays for the all-SEC national title game.

And I won't even lament the Chevron World Challenge counting toward the World Ranking at this point (you can search the archives for my kvetching, assuming your Tuesday is that devoid of meaningful activity).

But the "OWGR" simply cannot move up a player 31 spots for winning an event with a 17-man field and expect credibility, or in an ideal world, to remain in is current form. Yet the world ranking has become hideously powerful and vital in determining who plays where, who stays in the chummy top 50 club and in 2016, who plays the Olympic games. And the OWGR is by IMG.

Too many evils to ponder, so I'll turn it over to Huggan and Elling. Just part of this week's Pond Scrum bickering over the world ranking:

Elling: Except now they are squealing because Tiger jumped too far, too fast. Again, this isn't even an official event. Unofficial money. Doesn't count. The cash enough is enough to get players to show. The points party is unnecessary. In a backward way, while it might legitimize the tournament -- it certainly does in Woods' eyes -- it diminishes the value of the OWGR. The golf Twitterazzi, including tour players like Steve Elkington and Arron Oberholser, were shooting holes in the OWGR almost as soon at the tournament was over.

Huggan: I do agree that it is nonsense for events like Sun City and Chevron to have any ranking points. Any field less than 50 should be ineligible.

Elling: Anything that pays unofficial money too. Oh, and Tim Finchem just sat bolt upright at your last sentence. The vaunted Tour Championship has 30 players.

Huggan: Yes, official events only, please.

Elling: Stay with me here. ... In a perverse way, Woods is the breathing embodiment of why the decision to award mega-points to a short-field event is all wrong. My view is this: There are dozens of players out there capable of winning on tour in a given week and the number has grown by a legion over the past couple of years. Woods was the lowest ranked guy in his own field at No. 52 when he won, which underscores the thesis -- the more players, the harder it is to win. In this era, given the depth, it's harder to win against so-so full fields than so-called elite short fields. I mean, Zach Johnson had not played in six weeks and almost won.

Golfweek Unveils A Best New Course List...Really

Golfweek announces their annual best new courses and amazingly, list 25 as opening in the last year or so.

Old Macdonald landed in the top spot.

Golf Magazine Top 100 Lists Are Out...

And we'll have our quibbles, though I did enjoy Joe Passov's write up and praise for a certain project.

The Top 100 United States

The Top 100 World

Golf Magazine World And U.S. Additions

Golf Magazine's biennial World and U.S. course ranking should be unveiled any day now, but in the meantime golf.com posts a teaser slideshow of the courses added to the U.S. and World list. Great to see Kyle Phillips and team's redo work along with superintendent Thomas Bastis's exquisite attention-to-detail at Cal Club recognized by the panel.

The newcomers:

1. Old Macdonald at Bandon Dunes (#43 US/#74 World)
2. Gozzer Ranch (#70 US)
3. The Alotian (#76 US)
4. Caves Valley (#82 US)
5. California Golf Club of San Francisco (#97 US)
6. Castle Stuart (#56 World)
7. Diamante (Dunes) (#58 World)
8. Barnbougle Dunes - Lost Farm (#82 World)

Luke Donald Ascends To No. 1, Peanut Gallery Weighs In

I've noticed quite a bit of grumbling on Twitter about Luke Donald taking the No. 1 spot without having won a major or for that matter, many tournaments over the last five years. But the Official World Golf Ranking rewards consistency, and Donald has only been out of the top 10 once in his last 15 events.

Alan Shipnuck asks...

How does a 5-foot-9, 160-pound Englishman become the No. 1 player in the world? It starts with a belief that such a thing is possible. Then it takes a relentless quest to improve, a magical short game, plenty of guts … and a big-time win at the BMW PGA Championship. Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer both earned their stays at the top, but something tells me Donald will stick around a bit longer.

Lee Trevino was interviewed by Cameron Morfit and made a comment, long before Donald contended at the Masters and won the BMW Championship.

Q: What do you make of the PGA Tour these days?

A: I don't know any of the players anymore. I'll sit down and I'll watch it when Tiger is playing. Luke Donald, how can he be No. 1? He's won one tournament in the last five years!

Most intriguing of all is Robert Lusetich's look at Donald's rise and the questions he feels it raises about the ranking system.

Even more than the recent brief stays at the top by Martin Kaymer — who has suffered as he has curiously turned from his natural fade shot to a draw — and Westwood — whose resume doesn’t include a major — Donald’s ascension is sure to set tongues wagging about the true value of the rankings.

Not only has Donald not won a major, but he’s won only three stroke-play events in the past five years.

And two of those — the 2006 Honda Classic and last year’s Madrid Masters — were against weak fields.

For Woods at his peak, such a haul would’ve represented a relatively ho-hum month.

Peronally, I find Luke's rise to No. 1 of no concern compared to the protective womb the top 50 has become thanks to the system and the heavy reliance on it for WGC's and majors, as Doug Ferguson touched on last week.

"That's kind of the golden ticket these days."

Doug Ferguson asks a question that needs to be asked frequently of the world golf ranking: "What's the value of being in the top 50?" Apparently, it's worth more than winning.

It didn't take Rickie Fowler long to realize how the better half lives.

He played only 19 tour events as a pro before cracking the top 50 for the first time after a runner-up finish at the Memorial, and the 22-year-old has been there ever since. Even though he hasn't won a tournament yet, there are times it feels like he has.

"In a way, it's like you won a tournament and get status for two years," Fowler said. "If you're in the top 50, you have status."

"No one can say for sure just how far Tiger will fall in the rankings in the coming months due to the complexity of the system."

Kevin Maguire takes an interesting look at the potential for Tiger's world ranking--for the first time out of the top ten--to take a free fall in the coming months now that his 2009 wins are about to start no longer counting.

To put this into perspective, over his first six events of 2009 -- which have already come off Woods' world ranking record -- Tiger's average finish was 7.6 through that year's Players Championship and included one victory at Bay Hill. During that span, he dropped from No. 2 in the world to No. 12.

Over the next four months, though, his world ranking points from 2009 will be nearly impossible to replace. From the 2009 Memorial in early June through the Tour Championship at the end of September, Woods claimed five victories in 10 events and nine top-10s overall for a staggering average finish of 2.8.

That stretch of golf might have been one of his best ever in a career that saw him win back-to-back majors on four separate occasions including the Tiger Slam of 2000-01.

No one can say for sure just how far Tiger will fall in the rankings in the coming months due to the complexity of the system. Outside the top 20? Top 30? A free fall is all within the realm of possibility now.

Tiger Holding Steady In One Meaningless Ranking, Falling In Another Meaningless Ranking

He's #6 on the Forbes celebrity list behind other mononymous giants like Leo, Justin, Oprah and Elton.

And next Monday he'll be out of the Official World Golf Ranking top ten for the first time since April, 1997.

The Donald Lists His Properties Amongst Cypress, Winged Foot's Of World

The best part of Golf Digest's America's Best coverage (other than the incredible iPad edition that lets you see each course from above), is the package of letters from golf dignitaries and well known blowhards listing their top 10 American courses. The Donald's will give you a hearty chuckle, especially when you see our future former almost presidential candidate place Cypress Point and Oakmont on either side of Trump National LA. A course which, incidentally, The Donald is putting out feelers for suggestions on how to fix the mess (he) helped make.?

Augusta (Fittingly) Remains #1 In The Eyes Of The Golf Digest Panel

Longtime readers know I've never been a fan of the Golf Digest panel's architectural intuition, starting back when they debuted Shadow Creek in the top 10 in 1993. And now that I'm a member of the family, well, it's still not a secret that I think the panel needs to be shed of lots of dead weight that is tainting the work of those who take the evaluation of architecture and playability seriously.

The emphasis of the panel continues to focus on hard, expensive and exclusive courses, so fittingly the panel keeps Augusta #1 in America. There are two certified howlers in the top 20, the annual Fazio designed, over-hyped club for the elite that in ten years will be clinging to a second fifty spot (The Alotian Club). And the bloated Whistling Straits, which no one in the right mind wants to play more than once.

A slideshow reveals the top 20, the full list debuts April 5th.

"By clinging to the “home tour” rule officials have unnecessarily narrowed the global playing field and skewed the World Ranking."

Rex Hoggard reminds us why there should be concern about the USGA and other organizations relying so heavily on the Official World Golf Ranking to determine fields for major events. He speaks to currently injured, but always thoughtful PGA Tour player Arron Oberholser, who reels off a solid list of glaring problems with the rankings.

For starters there is the "Home Tour" bonus that increases an event's strength of field, the determining factor for how many points a tournament is awarded come ranking computation time.

The previous year’s money winner is worth eight points, followed by No. 2 (7 points) and so on up to a maximum of 75 points or 75 percent of the total strength-of-field value.

The rule was established during the Nick Faldo-Greg Norman era as a result of skyrocketing purses on the American circuit. It was structured to protect the globe’s other circuits and give marquee players a reason to support the home tour, but has since become pro golf’s version of revenue sharing.

Last October, Bill Haas won the Viking Classic and earned 24 World Ranking points. A world away someone named Michio Matsumura won the Japan Golf Tour’s Tokai Classic and earned 18 points. It’s a snapshot that defies explanation based on the overall strength of the PGA Tour.

By clinging to the “home tour” rule officials have unnecessarily narrowed the global playing field and skewed the World Ranking.

“It’s like spotting a weaker ping-pong player seven points when you’re playing to 21,” Oberholser said.

Hoggard also looks at the decision of Lucas Glover to pass on the AT&T this week in order to get into the WGC Match play. Currently 65th, Glover's priority is preparing for the Masters, not his world ranking, says his agent.

“He does everything with the Masters on his mind. He starts with Houston (Open) the week before and works his way back,” Glover’s manager with Crown Sports Mac Barnhardt said. “But if I was worried about World Ranking points I’d send him overseas, he’d get more points and an appearance fee.”

"We want to continue to give the local folks a great golf course and also want to maintain our rating nationally."

Steve Lynn of New Mexico's The Daily Times looks at the revenue problems of the well-regarded Pinon Hills, the most blatant example yet of water costs impacting the health of a golf operation.

Meanwhile, the golf course is watering less despite spending more on the nonpotable water.

The course spent $42,000 on 134 million gallons of water in 2004.

By contrast, it spent $151,000 on 118 million gallons through October this year while spending about the same last year on $172 million gallons.

At the same time, the course has cut its budget. The city projected a $1.35 million budget that funds the city's golf courses this fiscal year, a decline of almost $90,000 from last fiscal year's budget.

The city expects higher green fees to raise revenue by $100,000, parks department director Jeff Bowman said.

"We want to continue to give the local folks a great golf course and also want to maintain our rating nationally," Bowman said.

"Golfweek" ranked Piñon Hills the No. 4 public golf course in the nation this year.

Naturally those last two sentences provide a nice reminder to those who don't think courses overspend to appease panelists.