Luke Donald defeated Lee Westwood on the first hole of a playoff at the BMW PGA Championship yesterday in Wentworth, England.  With his victory, Donald claimed the #1 world ranking from Westwood.  No, Donald hasn’t won a major (so I guess now he’s the best player in the world to have never won a major – AKA TBPITWTHNWAM), but he’s been playing incredible golf this year.

I also have to give him credit for the fact that earlier this week he told everybody he was the best player in the world and then went out and straight up beat the current #1 to prove it.

Donald is obviously excited about his new ranking:

“I’ve been runner-up a few times in my career, but to come through in these circumstances in one of the biggest tournaments in the world, going head-to-head with Lee for the No. 1 ranking was pretty special,” Donald said. “Not sure that will happen again. Unique history has been made. It will be great to tell the grandchildren one day that I was the best player in the world.

Congrats to Luke Donald, but you have to wonder how long he’ll stay on top.  The OWGR is a bit of a merry-go-round at the moment (the #1 ranking has changed hands 4 times since the Fall) and with so many good players near the top, whenever anybody gets hot, they have an opportunity to vault to the top of the rankings.

I don’t like the idea of a world #1 that doesn’t have a major to his name.  It just doesn’t feel right to me.  But with the way the points work, you obviously don’t need a major to be #1.

But I do think that in order for Donald (or whomever) to really establish themselves as a dominant #1 in the public’s perception, they need to go out and win a major.   I think that has always been true and will continue to be true for the foreseeable future.

Personally, I’m doing my best to just sit back and enjoy the ride, because it doesn’t look like the merry-go-round is stopping anytime soon.

Golf.com

[Image Flickr/photojenni]

Lee Westwood regained the world #1 ranking on Sunday by defeating a power-packed field at the Indonesian Masters after Luke Donald lost to Brandt Snedeker in a playoff at the Heritage.  OK… OK… I’m sorry for the sarcasm. I just couldn’t help myself.

Westwood beat the second place finisher, Thongchai Jaidee (ranked 75th in the world), by 3 strokes. The rest of the leaderboard included such international heavyweights as Hyun-bin Park and Thitiphun Chuayprakong (both ranked outside the top 300), Siddikur (just one name like Madonna – ranked 120th), and Marcus Both (ranked 233rd) and a bunch of other guys who’s names even hard-core golf fans have never heard of (and couldn’t pronounce).

I wasn’t exactly the biggest fan of Lee Westwood’s ascent to #1 last time, and I can’t say that I’m more enthused this go-round.  The math is what it is, but it just doesn’t seem like you should be able to step into the #1 ranking by defeating a field that for the most part wouldn’t qualify for a Nationwide Tour event.

The problem is that the OWGR gives too many points for winning an Asian Tour event.  Asian Tour and Nationwide Tour events are guaranteed the same minimum points for the even winner, basically placing them on equal footing in the eyes of the OWGR.

I don’t think anybody else actually believes that the tours are equal in reality.  And even if they were, should you be able to earn the top spot in the world of golf by winning on the Nationwide tour?

But regardless, Westwood is still the only player to be ranked #1 without a major win, although to be fair the same  could be said of Donald if he had won.  For those of you keeping score, Westwood has now stepped into the top spot by not playing, and by defeating a less-than-impressive field in Indonesia.

If he loses and regains the #1 ranking again, my bet is that he’ll show up at a Canadian Tour event to try to reclaim the title.

I know there are some people out there that are saying, “You just want an American to be #1.”  Not true.  I don’t care about the nationality of the #1 player.  I just want him to be the #1 player.

I was perfectly happy for Martin Kaymer to be #1 after the year he had in 2010.  As for Luke Donald, at least he would have earned the ranking by defeating a solid field at the Heritage.

Regardless, Westwood is #1 again, but nobody knows for how long.  My guess is that we’re going to see a game of musical chairs atop the OWGR for the near future.  Who knows, maybe Westwood will pick up his 3rd win over the past 13 years on the PGA Tour and really cement himself as #1.  Or not.

[Image Flickr/zrim]

With Martin Kaymer missing the cut 78-72, the #1 world ranking is officially up for grabs this weekend at the Masters.  Lee Westwood (#2), Phil Mickelson (#3), Luke Donald (#4), and Tiger (#7) could all take over the number 1 spot depending on how the other contenders finish.  Graeme McDowell (#5)  missed the cut and because of the math, Paul Casey (#6) can’t move to #1 even if he wins.

You’d have to be a statistician to figure out all of the possible scenarios, but thankfully the Golf Channel’s Randal Mell has laid out the possibilities for the rest of us:

No. 2 Westwood and No. 3 Mickelson can become No. 1 with a Masters’ victory regardless what anyone else does.

No. 4 Donald becomes No. 1 if he wins and Westwood finishes worse than solo second.

No. 7 Woods becomes No. 1 if he wins and Mickelson finishes worse than solo second and Westwood finishes outside the top three.

No. 5 Graeme McDowell missed the cut. No. 6 Paul Casey by virtue of divisors and OWGR rolling two-year math has no shot to become No. 1 this week.

My head hurts now.

[Image Flickr/Keith Allison]

In the latest Masters odds from Bodog.com, Phil Mickelson remains the favorite at 6-1.  Tiger is 8-1 (again, wtf?). Both Lee Westwood and Nick Watney are 14-1, with nobody else under 20-1.

The odds on my dark horse picks?  Justin Rose is 30-1.  Anthony Kim is 33-1.   Ben Crane is 100-1.  And Gary Woodland and Ryu Ishikawa are sitting at 150-1.

Interestingly Tom Watson is sitting at 400-1.  That might be a good long shot bet.  He came damn close to winning the British Open 2 years ago and was on the leaderboard going into Friday at the 2010 Masters after firing a first round 67.  Yes, at 61, he’s probably too old to realistically contend at the Masters.  But at 400-1 it might be worth a little fun money.

Phil Mickelson – 6/1
Tiger Woods – 8/1
Lee Westwood – 14/1
Nick Watney – 16/1
Martin Kaymer – 20/1
Luke Donald – 25/1
Paul Casey – 25/1
Rory McIlroy – 25/1
Dustin Johnson – 20/1
Padraig Harrington – 28/1
Hunter Mahan – 28/1
Justin Rose – 30/1
Graeme McDowell – 33/1
Bubba Watson – 33/1
Matt Kuchar – 28/1
Steve Stricker – 33/1
Rickie Fowler – 33/1
Aaron Baddeley – 33/1
Ian Poulter – 33/1
Ernie Els – 33/1
Anthony Kim – 33/1
Retief Goosen – 40/1
Jim Furyk – 40/1
Geoff Ogilvy – 40/1
Sergio Garcia – 40/1
Vijay Singh – 50/1
Francesco Molinari – 50/1
Martin Laird – 50/1
Charl Schwartzel – 50/1
K.J. Choi – 50/1

[Image Flickr/Keith Allison]

Last year, Bubba Watson was all that stood between Martin Kaymer and his first major.  Kaymer defeated Watson in a 3-hole playoff to claim the PGA Championship.  Yesterday, Watson was all that was standing between Kaymer and the #1 world ranking.

It took just a little bit longer (a full 18 holes), but after Kaymer won the 16th hole to go dormie, he seemed destined to displace Lee Westwood on top of the world golf rankings, a spot that Westwood has held since Oct 31st.

I’ve stated a number of times that I think Martin Kaymer is currently the best player in the world.  Nobody else has matched his performance over the past year and now the rankings have finally caught up to reality.

Kaymer will now face Luke Donald in the final match of the WGC-Accenture.  The number 1 spot is secure, but I’m sure that Kaymer would love to put an exclamation point on it with a win.  That’s going to be a tough task, as Donald has birdied 13 of his last 27 holes.  But he can’t stay that hot forever can he?

Not only did Ben Crane give Rory McIlroy a serious beatdown today, he also played the fastest round of his life.  Looks like his workout and pre-round rituals are legit.

OK, so I don’t actually know how long it took for Crane and McIlroy to play their match, but since Crane won 8 and 7, that means they only played 11 holes.  So it couldn’t have possibly taken more than… I don’t know… 4 hours?

For Ben Crane, that’s like playing speed golf.

The win hasn’t exactly done wonders for his confidence though:

I’m just as shocked as anybody else.  I figured 2 and 1 would be unbelievable. Or 1 up.

So I don’t think that anyone is going, ‘Wow, Ben Crane is really coming through this bracket (laughter) look out. Gosh, sorry you’ve got to play Ben Crane, (laughter) boy, tough draw there.’

That’s the attitude!  Go get ‘em!  Seriously though it’s good to see him playing well and not getting ahead of himself.

In other news, if Phil Mickelson had beaten Rickie Fowler today, he would have moved ahead of Tiger in the world rankings for the first time since 1997.  That should have been a clue that the smart money was on Fowler.

And after Nick Watney took out Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer is now the only #1 bracket seed remaining in the tournament.  If he reaches the finals, he will take over the world #1 spot from Westwood.

The title kind of says it all.  How unusual is it that any given week’s PGA Tour event the 3rd most interesting golf tournament taking place?  Yes, “Johnny Vegas” is doing his thing at the Bob Hope Classic this week and could grab his first PGA Tour victory in just his fifth start.  But despite that, I honestly think both the European Tour and Champions Tour events are more exciting.

On the Champions Tour, we have Tom Watson shooting a 65 on Saturday to make it into the final pairing for Sunday.  I generally don’t follow the Champions Tour, but if Watson is in contention, I’m probably going to tune in.

And in Abu Dhabi, we’ve got the best player in the world showing his stuff. No, not world #1, Lee Westwood.  I’m talking about the best golfer in the world right now, Martin Kaymer.  When you look at his swing, you wonder why he doesn’t win every single event he enters.  He’s only made 1 bogey this week and is 3 clear of the field.  And if he wins, I believe that he will move past Woods into the #2 world ranking spot on Monday.  If that happens, the #1 ranking seems like just a matter of time.

So what do you guys think?  Am I way out in left field on this one?

[Image Flickr/Keith Allison]

Padraig Harrington, currently 26th in the world rankings,  recently told the Irish Golf Desk that he believes he can become the #1 player in the world.

I think Tiger has opened it up to everybody else. In fact, I am closer to being world No 1 now than I was when I was world No 3.

Technically, that is true.  He’s currently less than 6 points behind Lee Westwood compared to almost 11 points behind Tiger in 2008 when he was ranked 3rd.  But does anybody besides Harrington think that he’s got a legitimate shot at becoming the world #1?

An unwavering belief in yourself is a part of what lets somebody compete at the highest levels of sport, but in this case Harrington is borderline delusional.  He’s 39 years old, hasn’t won since 2008 and would literally have to play the best golf of his life over the next 2 years, while hoping that Tiger doesn’t return to form and that guys like Lee Westwood, Graeme McDowell, Phil Mickelson, and Jim Furyk forget how to swing a golf club.

Harrington isn’t even on top of the list of Irish golfers who could become the next world #1.  If I had to pick an Irish golfer who could become the next #1, Harrington would be a distant 3rd on my list behind Graeme McDowell (#4) and Rory McIlroy (#12).

I do have to say though, that if Harrington does manage to grab the #1 spot, at least we’d have a world #1 that has won a major (or 3).  Oh no he didn’t!  Oh yes I did.

Irish Golf Desk (via Waggleroom)

[Image Flickr/James Marvin Phelps]

Surprise Surprise, even without a win for the first time in his career, Tiger still tops the list of top earners in golf in 2010.  It’s not all roses however.  Even though he earned an estimated $74.2m this year, it was his lowest earnings total over the past decade, and represented a $48m drop from 2009.  Between the divorce settlement, rumored payoffs and the lost income, Tiger was engaged in some very expensive extra-curricular activities.

But he was still $32m ahead of the #2 earner of 2010 Phil Mickelson.  And interestingly enough, the rest of the top 5 don’t even play competitive golf anymore.  Arnold Palmer came in 3rd with $36m, Greg Norman was 4th with $30m, and Jack Nicklaus was 5th with $25m.

And the new world #1 still has some catching up to do in bank account department (and the wins and majors department but that’s another article).  Lee Westwood came in 9th with just under $15m.

I’m sure that there’s some witty insight to be gleaned from all of this.  The best I can come up with is that Tiger and most of the other players in the top 10 earn most of their money off of the course.  Generally speaking, the younger guys and players outside of the top 10 earn their money on the course.  They would be well advised to take a page from the guys at the top of the list and start taking steps to develop income streams that can continue to grow long after their competitive playing careers have ended.

Golf Digest

[Image Rob Hayashida/Sandbox8.com]

Proving that Twitter really is the best place to keep up to date on the latest drama in professional golf (especially for the Europeans), Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood took some time to share their thoughts on Johnny Miller.

Westwood asked Poulter if he had already sent Johnny Miller his X-mas card yet.  Poulter replied by asking if Westwood had sent one himself, given that Miller had recently called Westwood and Paul Casey chokers.  He then threw in a slam about Miller’s putting.  Westwood then (half-jokingly?) stated that he was beginning to think that Miller was just anti-English.

This isn’t the first time that Miller and Poulter have had their differences.  But this go-round is interesting because in the same interview that Poulter was referencing, Miller specifically said that he thought Poulter was a good ballstriker and that he was just surprised to see that it didn’t show up statistically – although he did more or less name Paul Casey and Dustin Johnson as the biggest chokers in golf.  He didn’t exactly say that Westwood was a choker though as Poulter alleged.

WUP: What about someone like Lee Westwood, who some say has trouble closing out majors?

JM: Thing is about Lee — the way he plays in the Ryder Cup, he doesn’t appear to be a choker, but maybe for majors. Everybody has their choking point. The only thing that Tiger in his prime would choke is maybe winning the Grand Slam in the calendar year, but to be honest, he did win a non-[calendar] year Slam.

Say what you want about Johnny Miller, you can’t say that he doesn’t speak his mind.  And it seems like a pretty fair assessment to me.

At the end of all of this, I’m just left thinking about how boring golf would be without Twitter and characters like Ian Poulter and Johnny Miller.  It (Twitter) has basically become the Peyton Place of professional golf.