New Number One
“Tiger Woods will finally lose his world number one ranking
on Monday – to Lee Westwood whose ascent to golf’s No. 1 ranking will be
realised without winning, or indeed playing, for some time”: 31 October 2010.
“Tiger Woods will finally lose his world number one ranking
on Monday – to Adam Scott whose ascent to golf’s No. 1 ranking will be realised
without winning, or indeed playing, for some time”: 18 May 2014.
How the Ranking System works:
Official events from the leading professional tours are
eligible for Ranking Points. These are awarded according to the tournament’s
strength of field and the players finishing position. A player coming, say,
fifth on a PGA Tour event featuring most of the world’s top-ranked players, is
going to score more Ranking Points than a player finishing fifth in an Asian or
Australasian Tour event. In short, if a player wins an event that includes Tiger
(now Adam) and his peers, he will score ranking points mak mak.
World Ranking Points for each player are accumulated over a
two year rolling period, with points awarded for each event maintained for a
13-week period, thus placing additional emphasis on recent performances.
Ranking Points are then reduced in equal decrements for the
remaining 91 weeks of the two-year ranking period. Each player is then ranked
according to their average points per tournament, which is determined by
dividing his total number of points by the tournaments played over that two-year
period.
With Adam Scott not having performed well of late, and Tiger
not able to play at all, Adam’s ascension has a lot to do with Tiger losing
ranking points as they fall out of the two-year rolling period.
Woods has been top of the rankings for a record 683 weeks.
Scott becomes the 17th player to reach
world number one since its inception in 1986, and second Australian behind
former No. 1 Greg Norman who ruled for 331 weeks.
When asked his feelings about this new status, Scott put the
importance of the rankings into perspective. “I think it’s probably a nice
feather in the cap. If I was never world number one when I’m this close, I would
be disappointed, but I would also much rather win the US Open and not be number
one at all this year. That’s what it comes down to.”
Is there anything more important to these guys than winning
majors? Other than perhaps the Ryder Cup, I think not.
What would you do?
You and your four-ball are one of six groups belonging to the
Shankers Golfing Society, playing out of Shankers Bar on Soi Choke. On this day
you are playing Bangpra.
During play on the ninth hole, your caddie, who you have
booked regularly for the past three years, suffers a massive heart attack. She
collapses and dies, right there on the fairway, before your very eyes.
You look to your playing partners, all of whom have their
regular caddies on their bag. They are understandably distraught.
Do you:
1. Arrange for the caddie master to replace your caddie
forthwith, in the hope you are able to play on quickly and thus not forced to
invite the following group to play through?
2. Propose that the tournament organiser arrange for all
playing groups to observe a moment of silence before resuming play? This ploy
should allow you to keep your place in the field, as well as give the caddie
master time to find you a replacement willing to accept half the normal
caddie-tip.
3. Advise your group organiser that you and your four-ball
are withdrawing from the day’s golf, and suggest to him that he may consider
calling a halt to that day’s tournament out of respect to a caddie whose
association with you has been longstanding?
The European Tour was faced with this very situation during
the final day of the Madeira Islands Open on Sunday, 11th May 2014. Incredibly,
they chose option 2, above.
The European Tour, a collective owned by the players, is run
by chief executive George O’Grady. O’Grady and his fellow officials often talk
up the European Tour as one big family. If what happened to caddie Iain
MacGregor had befallen a player, there would have been abandonment, without
doubt. This decision seems to say that a caddie’s life has less standing than
that of a player.
Some family!
The golfer at the centre of all this, Scotsman Alasdair
Forsyth, was quoted on the official tour website as saying, “We met tournament
officials and spoke to George O’Grady on the phone before taking the decision to
play on, because we felt that was what Mac would have wanted.”
But two days later Forsyth contradicted that statement,
telling the Daily Record: “I honestly didn’t know what was the right
thing to do ... but George O’Grady’s opinion was we should complete it. We
didn’t argue – it was the Tour’s decision.”
Whilst not admitting they were wrong not to abandon play, the
European Tour has since come out and publicly apologised for the “hurt and
upset” caused by the decision.
Dane Thomas Bjorn, Chairman of the Player’s Committee, and
Gerry Byrne, the caddie’s equivalent, are reportedly furious at the decision
taken by the Tour. They are due to meet with tour officials to discuss future
protocols within the next few weeks. Heads may roll.
Golf is a game built on respect. The European Tour showed
very little of it in their decision to carry on playing.
Reprehensible.
Golfnutter
