2024 - WEEK 51 Dec 16 - Dec 22
WORLDWIDE LEADERBOARDS
PGA TOUR EUROPEAN TOUR JAPAN TOUR SUNSHINE TOUR
ASIAN TOUR AUSTRALASIAN TOUR CHAMPIONS TOUR
LPGA TOUR LET JLPGA TOUR EPSON
KORN FERRY CHALLENGE AMERICAS
Notables
Overcoming a disappointing third-round 74, homestanding Louis Oosthuizen closed with a sparkling six-under-par 66 to edge Scotland’s Scott Jamieson by one at the Volvo Golf Champions. Oosthuizen began the final round five back of Jamieson, who was aiming for his second straight E Tour victory, having claimed the Nelson Championship in December. But while Jamieson worked his way around the famed Durban Country Club layout in 72, Oosthuizen went out in 32, then took the lead, never to be relinquished, with his sixth birdie of the day at number 11. Jamieson had a chance to force a playoff at the driveable par-4 18th but narrowly missed a chip for eagle. First-round leader Thongchai Jaidee finished third, two shots back, while Padraig Harrington claimed solo fourth……………Rookie Russell Henley became the rare player to win his first start as a PGA Tour member, riding a red-hot putter to birdies on the final five holes at the Waialae Country Club to pull away to a three-shot victory in the Sony Open in Hawaii. Henley, a two-time winner on the 2012 Web.com Tour, recorded three 63s (plus a Saturday 67) en route to a 256 aggregate, the second lowest in Tour history after Tommy Armour III’s epic 254 at the 2003 Texas Open. Having previously appeared in two U.S. Opens (tying for 16th as an amateur in 2010), the ex-University of Georgia Bulldog began the final round tied with fellow rookie Scott Langley before making birdie at the first hole, then eventually opening up a close battle with his red-hot finish. South African Tim Clark matched Henley’s Sunday 63 to take solo second (three shots back), while perennial Waialae favorite Charles Howell III and Langley shared third.
Week 2 Results
Week 1 Results
PGA Tour - Hyundai Tournament of Champions - Dustin Johnson (203)
Monty? Seriously?
It's not as though one takes the membership roster of a resort/tourism-oriented World Golf Hall of Fame as the definitive verdict on the game's history, but the announcement of Colin Montgomerie's addition to the class of 2013 still comes as a shocker. Perhaps I was wrong to previously believe that a player needed to win at least two Major championships to merit membership strictly on playing record (as opposed to, say, Chi Chi Rodriguez, whose ambassadorial skills clearly carried the day); obviously the selection of Fred Couples earlier this year laid waste to that. But given that Monty's ambassadorial skills are not quite the equal of Chi Chi's (though they might challenge Charlie Sifford's...), we are left to examine a playing record which is....interesting.
Yes, Monty won eight E Tour Orders of Merit, including a remarkable seven straight from 1993-1999. This would be a highly significant accomplishment on any tour, so doing it in Europe is quite something indeed. Further, his 31 career E Tour wins ranks fourth all-time - and we really might consider it third, since Tiger Woods officially ranks ahead of him despite 13 of his official E Tour wins actually being WGC events contested in the United States. So some pretty impressive numbers there, but....
First and most obviously, Monty never won a Major. And while he lost playoffs at the 1994 U.S. Open and the 1995 PGA, and finished second on three additional occasions, the statistical reality is that his 10 career top 10s in 71 Major starts (14%) is a good, solid number - but nothing spectacular. (As a frame of reference, non-Hall-of-Famer Davis Love III has 20 top 10s in 94 Major starts - including a win - for 21% batting average).
Second - and quite damning in my view - Monty was winless on U.S. soil in 138 career PGA Tour starts. And while in our modern game the PGA Tour is not the be-all and end-all in international golf, it is worth noting that period E Tour stars like Ballesteros (9), Faldo (9), Lyle (6) and Langer (3) all managed to win in America - and modern British players like Donald, Poulter, Rose, Westwood, etc. manage to do so with regularity.
Third, while one can surely only beat the competition that's put in front of them, a quick glance inside Monty's halcyon 1993-1999 run indicates that in winning his seven straight Orders of Merit, he averaged exactly 20 official E Tour starts per season. And what of his primary competition? Jose Maria Olazabal was next with an average of 18 annual starts - but that's not including the 1995 and '96 campaigns which he missed entirely due to injury. Seve Ballesteros averaged 17.2 E Tour starts during these years, but was clearly well beyond his elite form before Monty's run even began. Ian Woosnam also averaged 17.2 starts in this period, while Bernhard Langer weighed in at 16.7. And then there was Sir Nick Faldo, who was also somewhat on the down side by the time Monty got rolling, but had already largely packed it off to America anyway, averaging only nine annual E Tour starts from 1993-1999.
So while seven consecutive Order of Merit titles is indeed impressive, Monty did manage to time them perfectly (peaking just when much of the competition was somewhat on the wane) and was aided in earning the most money simply by making the most starts.
Hall of Fame worthy? I just can't see it.
And I'll ask again: If a player like Monty is judged worthy, where the heck are Sid Brews and Norman von Nida?
Notables
Has anybody ever won back-to-back major tour events with double-digit victory margins? Perhaps, but as of Sunday evening I’m not aware of anyone dredging up whom or when it might have been. Until now, of course, as Charl Schwartzel completed part two of his overseas demolition job by winning the European Tour’s Alfred Dunhill Championship (née the South African PGA, and still co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Tour) by a resounding 12 shots over touted Swedish rookie Kristoffer Broberg. Second and third-round 64s separated the 2011 Masters champion from the field, allowing a rain-interrupted closing 69 to set the final eye-popping margin of victory. Just seven days earlier, Schwartzel ran away with the Asian Tour’s Thailand Golf Championship by a remarkable 11 shots – and that was a field which included Lee Westwood, Bubba Watson, Sergio Garcia, Nicolas Colsaerts and Hunter Mahan, among others. Nick Faldo’s ancient line about being “So hot he should be wearing asbestos pants” comes to mind here, and with three of the E Tour’s first six 2013 events being played in South Africa, one might well expect a big start to the new year for Schwartzel………Another former Masters champion enjoyed a big (if less-covered) weekend as Angel Cabrera claimed his first triumph worldwide since winning the 2009 Green Jacket, closing with a 64 to win his native Argentine Open for a third time. Cabrera entered play ranked 301st in the world (his lowest point since initially ascending to international prominence) and given the Open’s relatively light field, likely won’t receive a massive bump from the victory. He might, however, receive a massive boost in confidence which, at age 43, might be just enough to help him make one more run towards the top in 2013.
Week 50 Results
European Tour - Alfred Dunhill Championship - Charl Schwartzel (264)
Asian Tour - Iskandar Johor Open - Sergio Garcia (198)
Sunshine Tour - See European Tour (Above)
OneAsia - See Australasian Tour (Below)
Australasian Tour - Australian PGA Championship - Daniel Popovic (272)
LatinoAmerica - Open de Argentina - Angel Cabrera (270)
Week 49 Results
European Tour - Nelson Mandela Championship - Scott Jamieson (123)*
Asian Tour - Thailand Golf Championship - Charl Schwartzel (263)
Australasian Tour - Emirates Australian Open - Peter Senior (284)
LatinoAmerica - Olivos Golf Classic - Ariel Canete (275)
LET - Omega Dubai Ladies Masters - Shanshan Feng (267)
European Sr Tour - MCB Tour Championship - David Frost (205)
* Rain-shortened to 36 holes, par 130
Ageless Wonders
I can recall attending the 1998 U.S. Senior Open, an event won by Hale Irwin but which was for me more memorable for an indelible lesson I learned about Jack Nicklaus. Jack was playing on an arthritis-plagued hip which would eventually require replacement, and was visibly in pain from Wednesday's practice round onward. On a Riviera Country Club layout playing U.S. Open tough due to some frightening Kikuyu rough, he hobbled around on Thursday and Friday, somehow reaching the halfway point only six shots behind frontrunning Raymond Floyd. It seemed unlikely he could make a sustained weekend run given the injury, and indeed a Saturday 79 ended Jack's hopes with a vengeance. I can recall thinking that he would likely withdraw at that point, there now being little purpose to putting himself through another day's pain. Instead, Jack came out and carded a flawless 67 - the tournament's low round - and demonstrated comprehensively why he was such a uniquely great champion.
This story comes to mind because this past Wednesday night, I looked forward to watching round one of the Australian Open, partially because it was being played at the Lakes Golf Club (a facility stunningly renovated by Mike Clayton) but also because 63-year-old Tom Watson was playing - and how many more times will get to see Watson compete against the under-50s? Unfortunately, Watson arrived Down Under with a touch of the flu and, wearing a windbreaker when most others were in shirtsleeves, struggled to an opening 78. Once again, I thought, withdrawal seemed a reasonable option. But instead, Watson chose to give a clinic on his own brand of competitive greatness by coming out in tough, windy conditions on Friday and firing a cool little 68 - which happened to tie with three other men for the low round of the day. And while it is clearly re-stating the obvious......we're talking about a 63-year-old man here.
Remarkable.
And one other memorable tidbit: The field included nearly 30 men who have recorded major tour victories worldwide - but at the start of play, Watson had more career PGA Tour and Major championship wins then the entire rest of the field combined!
It's been quite a career.
UPDATE: For those who might have considered Watson's Friday 68 a fluke..... After another disappointing 78 on Saturday, he closed with a 69 on Sunday - nothing eye-popping at a glance, until one realizes that with conditions once again very cold and windy, he was the only player in the field to break 70! More late-career ammunition for those who consider Watson the greatest bad weather player the game has ever seen.
It must be noted, however, that it was great week for seniors overall in Australia, as 53-year-old Peter Senior actually won the title, closing with a fine 72 to claim his national open (by one over Brendan Jones) for the second time - some 23 years after his maiden victory.
And The Rest Of The Exempt Are...
The final PGA Tour Q School ended on Monday in Palm Springs, and while there are plenty of familiar faces among the 26 players earning their cards, few people likely wagered on Korea's Dong-hwan Lee being the medalist. A 25-year-old whose only previous U.S. starts were MCs at the 2008 Puerto Rico Open and this year's U.S. Open, Lee is a veteran of the Japan Tour, where he has won twice (in 2007 and 2011) and finished 6th in earnings in 2007. European Ryder Cup veterans Ross Fisher ansd Robert Karlsson clearly carry the biggest résumés among the qualifiers, though perhaps more notable is another Korean, Si Woo Kim, who at age 17 became the youngest-ever Q School graduate. Kim won't be eligible to enjoy full member status until he turns 18 next June, but he is eligible to play via sponsor/foreign exemptions or Monday qualifiers prior to that point. Perhaps the predicted rise of Korean male golfers (a good decade behind the ascendence of its female stars) is finally upon us...
1 Dong-hwan Lee -25 407
T2 Ross Fisher -24 408
T2 Steve LeBrun -24 408
T4 Richard H. Lee -23 409
T4 Billy Horschel -23 409
T4 Kris Blanks -23 409
T7 Erik Compton -22 410
T7 Brad Fritsch -22 410
T7 Jin Park -22 410
T10 Fabian Gomez -21 411
T10 Michael Letzig -21 411
T10 Jeff Gove -21 411
T10 Steven Bowditch -21 411
T14 Matt Jones -20 412
T14 Robert Karlsson -20 412
T14 Eric Meierdierks -20 412
T17 Scott Langley -19 413
T17 Aaron Watkins -19 413
T17 Derek Ernst -19 413
T20 Si Woo Kim -18 414
T20 Tag Ridings -18 414
T22 Donald Constable -17 415
T22 Bobby Gates -17 415
T22 Patrick Reed -17 415
T22 Henrik Norlander -17 415
T22 Chez Reavie -17 415
Notables, etc.
Hiroyuki Fujita won the Japan Tour’s season-ending Golf Nippon Series JT Cup on Sunday, a notable accomplishment for several reasons. To begin with, the 43-year-old veteran claimed the event for the third consecutive year, and the victory was his 15th career J Tour title – both impressive (and uncommon) milestones. But the victory was also Fujita’s fourth of the year (following April’s Tsuruya Open, May’s Diamond Cup and September’s ANA Open) and clinched his first J Tour money title. Fujita was Japan’s top-ranked player in 2010’s season-ending OWR, so his success has not exactly a new thing. But in a nation focused largely on young stars Ryo Ishikawa and Yuta Ikeda, or veterans Toru Taniguchi and Shingo Katayama, Fujita’s rise to the top has not, it seems, gotten all of its just do.
2012 Japan Tour Order of Merit
1 Hiroyuki Fujita ¥173,154,307
2 Toru Taniguchi ¥101,467,268
3 Brendan Jones ¥90,688,284
4 Yuta Ikeda ¥88,948,069
5 Yoshinori Fujimoto ¥87,049,274
6 Jung-Gon Hwang ¥84,348,350
7 Ryo Ishikawa ¥76,881,934
8 Hyung-Sung Kim ¥76,660,630
9 Kyung-Tae Kim ¥73,832,149
10 Kyoung-Hoon Lee ¥73,411,694
Martin Kaymer’s form was cited here last week as being on upswing, and the former World Number One illustrated that point Sunday by closing with a 69 to claim the Nedbank Golf Challenge in Sun City, South Africa. With a select 18-man field, the event is not co-sanctioned by the European Tour, but with South African stars Charl Schwartzel and Louis Oosthuizen hot on his heels, Kaymer’s confidence figures to be boosted substantially by the victory …………….While the Nedbank was not co-sanctioned by the European Tour, next week’s inaugural Nelson Mandela Championship is, officially kicking off the E Tour’s 2013 campaign. With a purse of only €1,000,000, this will be the lightest of the six (!) E Tour events being played in South Africa between now and the end of February (schedule below). Particularly noteworthy about this one, however, is its venue, the Royal Durban Golf Club – which should not be confused with the vastly more famous Durban Country Club, which lays along the coastal road just over a mile to the north (and will host the E Tour’s Volvo Golf Champions in January). Royal Durban, on the other hand, not only lays slightly inland but is actually built within the Greyville Racetrack – and dates rather impressively to 1892. The present layout (visible here) was built by Golden Age South African designer Robert Grimsdell in 1932 and has twice hosted the South African Open (1970 and ’85). It is widely rated among Africa’s stronger (and most unique) classic designs but has, alas, always been overshadowed by its much higher-profile neighbor (course tour here).
2013 EUROPEAN TOUR SCHEDULE (Dec-Feb)
12/6 – 12/9 The Nelson Mandela Championship - Durban, South Africa
12/13 – 12/16 Alfred Dunhill Championship - Malelane, South Africa
1/10 – 1/13 Volvo Golf Champions - Durban, South Africa
1/17 – 1/20 Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship - Abu Dhabi, UAE
1/23 – 126 Commercialbank Qatar Masters - Doha, Qatar
1/31 – 2/3 Omega Dubai Desert Classic – Dubai, UAE
2/7 – 2/10 Joburg Open - Johannesburg, South Africa
2/14 – 2/17 Africa Open - East London, South Africa
2/20 – 2/24 WGC - Accenture Match Play Championship - Marana, Arizona, USA
2/28 – 3/3 Tshwane Open - Centurion, South Africa