New World Order: New No. 10 in player rankings the center of attention
ORLANDO, Fla. -- It didn't exactly seem inevitable, did it?
Last year, he hurt himself twice while making fairly routine golf swings, including a mundane 3-wood poke off the first tee at TPC Sawgrass that sent him to the disabled list for three months.
His shaky putting stroke, not to mention the actual putter style and the grip that cradled it, changed so often, people lost track of the turnover.
He missed playing in two majors, missed the cut at another, finished outside the top 125 in PGA Tour earnings for the first time, dropped from No. 2 in the world to outside the top 50 and continued to overhaul his swing for an incredible fourth time. He even changed home courses and relocated to a new abode.
It's like his mission was transition.
Whether fans in various camps believe that Tiger Woods was heaved from the throne or merely abdicated it while cleaning up the incalculable loose ends in his personal or professional life, the past three months clearly indicate the best of the worst, if you will, is behind him.
Woods this week tools into Pebble Beach, a venue where he has won both majors and regular PGA Tour events, having amassed top-three finishes in a series of global events, admittedly of various field sizes and repute.
Yes, he wasted another 54-hole lead along the way, as he did in December 2010. But somehow, it all seems different now. Storm sirens have not yet sounded, but the clouds are gathering and grumbling.
Kicked to the curb by our monthly New World Order top 10 far earlier than his real plummet began through the official world ranking, Woods has reared his head again, and for those who might think his position is premature given that he has not played an official PGA Tour event in three months, ask yourself this before flinging Molotovs around the chat rooms:
Setting aside whatever personal issue fans might have with the guy, are there 10 players in the world performing better than Woods, already installed as the Masters favorite, at the moment? Darned likely not.
As a reminder, the New World Order is a subjective and interpretative look at the best players in the game at the moment, vs. the two-year and one-year evaluation windows used by the pedantic official and Sagarin rankings. It's a domination index, with more weight assigned to the here and now, which is why Aussie star Adam Scott has been dropped, because he hasn't played anywhere, period, in 2012 and won't for another week.
Right here, right now, Woods looks like he again means business. The more relevant question is, how much higher can he ascend?
As an aside for those who think this list represents the ramblings of the clueless and unenlightened, well, the Sagarins currently have Steve Stricker ranked No. 1 in the world. So there.
1. Luke Donald
England
OWGR: 1
Sagarin: 2
Final 2011 New World Order: 1
Donald made what amounts to a cameo appearance two weeks ago in the Middle East, finishing a distant T48 in Abu Dhabi, and isn't expected to play until his U.S. debut next week at Riviera, where he missed the cut in his opener last year. Based on his unerring consistency throughout 2011, when he was Player of the Year on two tours after topping both money lists, one pedestrian finish in the UAE isn't going to displace him here. He's currently honing his game in South Florida and is raring to prove that he can fend off Tiger, Rory and everybody else on this list for a second consecutive year. No reason to assume he can't, either.
2. Rory McIlroy
Northern Ireland
OWGR: 2
Sagarin: 3
Final 2011 New World Order: 2
It still seems preordained McIlroy will supplant Donald atop this list at some point, and it was reinforced last week in Abu Dhabi, when the Ulsterman seemingly played at about 80 percent effectiveness, whacked it all over the yard, and finished second to Robert Rock. McIlroy is playing this week in Dubai alongside Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer, two players who were ranked No. 1 at times last year. If I were a betting man, of that trio, I'd wager that McIlroy is next to assume the top spot.
3. Steve Stricker
USA
OWGR: 5
Sagarin: 1
Final 2011 New World Order: 8
Let's be clear here. In no earthly fashion should Stricker be ranked No. 1 in the Sagarin index, which evaluates play based on a one-year scale and head-to-head performances vs. other top guns. But of the guys on this list, he's the only player other than Kyle Stanley who has won in 2012, so he's clearly not slowing down despite a bad neck and the fact that he turns 45 on Feb, 23. When you get down to it, Stricker is still a supremely accomplished putter, and all other things being relatively equal, that's the biggest difference-maker in the bag.
4. Lee Westwood
England
OWGR: 3
Sagarin: 4
Final 2011 New World Order: 4
Westwood won a couple of small and unassuming events in Sun City and Thailand in the fall, briefly moving back to second in the OWGR, and is playing this week in Dubai, his third leg in the Middle East Swing. Westy has been OK, though hardly a factor, with top-20 finishes at the first two stops. Now a PGA Tour member, look for the Englishmen to hit the U.S. tour, hard, with a series of events starting at Match Play and into the Florida Swing.
5. Martin Kaymer
Germany
OWGR: 4
Sagarin: 20
Final 2011 New World Order: 3
No top player had a more uneven 2011 season than did the Germanator, who won in Abu Dhabi, then mostly went into a sustained lull before winning the World Golf Championships event in China as the season wore down. It's a bit unnerving that Kaymer blew up in Abu Dhabi two weeks ago and missed the cut, but as Sergio Garcia says about a dozen times a day, "these things happen." Well, not to a guy with multiple wins at the Abu Dhabi venue, they shouldn't.
6. Webb Simpson
USA
OWGR: 6
Sagarin: 5
Final 2011 New World Order: 5
Finally, a consensus in the rankings. The North Carolinian, who started the 2011 season ranked outside the top 200 and pieced together a fantastic fall, looks very much like the same player in his early play this year. In fact, he had chances to win at the Kapalua (T3) and Phoenix (T8) stops. Simpson has top-10 finishes in eight of his past 10 official starts and seems destined to secure his first slot on a Ryder Cup team. He seems capable of adapting to any venue too.
7. Sergio Garcia
Spain
OWGR: 16
Sagarin: 6
Final 2011 New World Order: 9
He won two consecutive mid-tier events, in Spain, to get back in the mix among the global big boys, much to New World Order's glee. For us, the game is a lot more interesting when Garcia is properly engaged and not going through the motions, as he was for parts of two years. Remember, this guy was good enough to be ranked No. 2 in the world three years ago, and at 32, he's just entering his presumed prime. While others found a fix with the belly putter, the claw putting grip seems to have helped him immeasurably. Bienvenidos, brother.
8. Charl Schwartzel
South Africa
OWGR: 9
Sagarin: 7
Final 2011 New World Order: 7
Like Westwood, the silky South African is off to a so-so start, missing the cut in his season opener before finishing fifth and T17 in his next two European Tour appearances. But even those results can't diminish his play over the longer haul -- he's finished T9 or better in seven of his past nine global starts on three different tours. The reigning Masters champion will be cramming in several U.S. appearances during the Masters run-up but isn't playing this week in Dubai.
9. Kyle Stanley
USA
OWGR: 52
Sagarin: 38
Final 2011 New World Order: Not ranked
The kid makes the list for myriad reasons, but mostly based on moxie. Has anybody experienced consecutive Sundays like Stanley, who blew a six-shot 54-hole lead to lose at Torrey Pines, then came back from an eight-shot 54-hole deficit in Phoenix to win? The bottom line here is that in consecutive PGA Tour events, the 24-year-old posted the low 72-hole score, quickly putting him on the radar of everybody in the global game who hadn't noticed his solid 2011 rookie season (55th on money list). He was not one of the five rookies to amass at least one victory in PGA Tour play last year, but based on his surge over the past fortnight, he might be the best of the lot.
10. Tiger Woods
USA
OWGR: 18
Sagarin: 13
Final 2011 New World Order: Not ranked
Poised for his first official win in over two years, Woods instead helped turn Robert Rock into something of a household name. So from Rock to Pebble he goes, making his U.S. debut this week at a venue where he's recorded multiple victories, including the hallmark 2000 U.S. Open, roundly considered the most dominant performance at a Grand Slam event in the modern era. He hasn't played the Pebble Pro-Am in 11 years, and the five-hour rounds won't make him dance, but making some noise this week against deeper PGA Tour fields would send the proverbial message to his peers. Somewhat remarkably, this week marks his third appearance in a regular PGA Tour event since last May, when he injured himself at Sawgrass. He no longer is out of sight, and after two years as a punch line, he's no longer out of mind, either.
