In this week’s edition, we question the mathematics of the new world rankings, Tom Hogg’s travel choices, and the legally toxic tone that has swept across pro golf.
Made cut
Rambo. Nine shots behind leader Colin Morikawa by one point Sunday in Maui, Jun Ram closed out with a 63 to win the Sentry Tournament of Champions and jump from No. 5 in the world rankings to No. 5 in the world rankings.
If the new ranking calculations are a bit too big for the casual fan, consider what Ram must have felt like since he took two victories in Spain and at the conclusion of the DP World Tour yet still sank into fifth place in the world.
“Since August I feel like the best player in the world, I feel that way, and I think a lot of us should feel like we’re the best more often than not. Earlier in the year it was clear Scotty [Scheffler] It was that player, then Rory [McIlroy] Ram said in Maui.
There has always been a lag in the rankings formula because of how points expire at a gradual rate, but Ram’s point is correct. He is the best player in golf right now no matter what the ranking accounts say.
More feeling, less combination. If the best racquet of his generation is all about fighting mechanics, what chance do the rest of us have?
Jordan Spieth admitted Thursday at the Sony Open, where he opened with a 64 for a share of the lead, that he has struggled in the past few years and is confident in his stroke.
“I think it’s more like some issues with the hand path so what I’m hoping for in the great time slots I feel like I’m doing 50 percent feel, I have to do 250 percent feel and sometimes it’s hard to fully trust it once you’re actually playing.” “.
Spieth is sixth in hits earned: He has a 3 ½ shot advantage in the field Thursday. Not bad for someone fight it.
Making unfinished pieces (mdf)
Doug days. Tom Hoge traveled nearly 5,000 miles to watch Monday’s CFB title game between his alma mater California State University and Georgia, or roughly 80 miles for every point the Bulldogs put on the Horned Frogs on a historic 65-7 run.
Hogg flew to Los Angeles on Sunday after the final round of the Sentry Tournament of Champions and returned to Honolulu on Tuesday to prepare for the Sony Open.
Asked by Associated Press golf writer Doug Ferguson if he had at least good seats, Hogg said, “He’s seen a lot of touchdowns in Georgia.”
However, there is an upside to Hugh. At least Georgia fan Kevin Kisner wasn’t on Sony’s open field, shortening his victory on Twitter.
“Go damn dogs!” Kisner tweeted Monday night.
Full field scores from the Sony Open in Hawaii
Exit polling. This may be nothing more than a testament to a great season and a dominant week at the Augusta National, but it feels like a statement.
Scottie Scheffler was voted Player of the Year by the Golf Writers Association of America with 49.2 percent of the vote. Scheffler won his first event on tour at the WM Phoenix Open and added two more (WGC-Match Play and the Arnold Palmer Invitational) before winning the Masters. An excellent season, no doubt, but it’s also the easiest choice for golf writers.
Scheffler beat Rory McIlroy, who won three times in 2022 and took home the FedExCup, and Cam Smith, winner of The Open and Players Championship before joining LIV Golf.
In the burning world of golf McIlroy and Smith represent the extremes of both sides which is why Scheffler might not have been the easiest choice but it was certainly the safest.
Missing pieces
gridlock. For those few hopefuls who aspire to some kind of détente between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, consider the legal bargaining that has already unfolded just two weeks into the new year.
In a discovery dispute in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, lawyers for LIV claimed that the 9/11 groups “engaged in the Astrotuf campaign against the Kingdom and the LIV” while attorneys for the public relations firm representing the tour responded that the maneuver was intended to identify those critical of Saudi Arabia and the LIV.
In a Northern California court, the Tour is embroiled in an equally heated discovery dispute with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia and its ruler, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, and a UK hearing for self-determination is fast approaching for LIV players who have defied the sanctions imposed by the DP World Tour.
Perhaps there is some sort of dialogue between the two factions at the bottom of the legal meltdown, but it’s hard to see a way out of this.
The judge rejects LIV Golf’s request to adjourn the hearing
Tweet of the week:
After all, it was Poulter’s birthday on Tuesday, the same day he replied to a tweet sent by Ryder Cup Europe. Perhaps a social media birthday celebration is a bit of an afterthought to Ryder Cup Europe, but given the contentious and divisive nature of professional golf, what can Poulter expect?