Numbers game
World Golf Ranking playing major force
Posted: Monday December 07, 1998 10:18 AM
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Figuring out the figures: Nick Faldo might not know the formula behind the Official World Golf Ranking, but he knows what it means to be in the top 64 AP |
NEW YORK (AP) -- Every Monday morning, Tony Greer arrives at his London office and spends the next two hours crunching numbers for a ranking
system that can be even more baffling than the Bowl Championship
Series.
Not everyone agrees with the Official World Golf Ranking. A safe
bet is that even fewer understand it.
"It is complicated," Greer said Tuesday. "But it really
isn't, once you know how it works."
It may be time for players to take a crash course.
Because as golf becomes more global, and as more major
tournaments start relying on the rankings to issue invitations or
exemptions, the OWGR will become as meaningful to them as the BCS
has become to Kansas State.
For the first time this year, the U.S. Golf Association created
a new exemption for the U.S. Open by taking the top 20 in the world
rankings. That's how Tom Watson made it back to The Olympic Club,
even if he didn't make it to the weekend.
On Monday, Augusta National gave the rankings even more
credibility when it announced the top 50 in the world at the end of
the year would be invited to the Masters.
"Excellent idea," said Greer.
Greg Norman (No. 15) couldn't agree more.
The Masters was the final piece to Greer's own Grand Slam. The
British Open has exempted the top 50 in the rankings for years, and
Greer suspects the PGA Championship has been using the rankings to
invite international players for the past five years.
"It's amazing how many use them at the moment," Greer said.
It probably is no coincidence, either, considering that
representatives of all major championships and the five PGA tours
endorsed the Official World Golf Ranking at a meeting in Turnberry,
Scotland in the summer of 1997.
When the World Golf Championships start next year, the ranking
will largely determine which players get a crack at the $1 million
winner's check in the three world events.
That series starts in February with the Andersen Consulting
Match Play Championship at La Costa Resort in Carlsbad, California,
where the field of 64 will be based solely on the world ranking.
"I'm already having queries from players who are around the 64
mark, wanting to know what they've got to do," Greer said.
One call came from Andrew Coltart of Scotland, who wanted to
take the winter off because he's getting married. Because he's No.
63 by the slimmest of margins, a less elaborate honeymoon may be in
order if he wants to be at La Costa.
Twice this year, Greer has explained to Nick Faldo's manager
exactly what the three-time Masters and British Open champion has
to do to get back into the top 64. Faldo is currently No. 66,
although he can improve by the end of the year even without playing
another event.
Greer is the manager of the Official World Golf Ranking for
International Management Group, which developed the formula in
1968, went public in 1986 with Sony as the sponsor, then sold the
golfing powers on it during the Turnberry meeting.
It has been tweaked over the years -- the biggest change was
rating performance over two years instead of three -- but is no less
complicated.
Points count in a rolling, 52-week cycle and count double for
the current year.
The four majors are worth 50 points for the winner, 30 for
second place, 20 for third, on down to one point for 43rd place and
everyone who makes the cut.
Points for other tournaments are decided by how many of the top
100 players are in the field. So a tournament like the Bay Hill
Invitational, traditionally one of the stronger fields on the
strongest tour in golf, will be worth substantially more than the
Portuguese Open.
And if a field is particularly weak, points may only be awarded
to the top 10 finishers.
Bonus points are awarded to a tournament that has the top 30
money-winners on its respective tour in the field. Also, each tour
has its own flagship event worth a minimum amount of points: The
Players Championship (40), the Volvo Masters (32), the Australian
and Japan Open (16).
Those are simply the guidelines. Leave the calculations to
Greer. He can explain why Jumbo Ozaki (No. 13), who rarely plays
outside of Japan, is still ranked higher than Justin Leonard (No.
16), and why Norman is still in the top 15 without having played
golf for seven months.
No matter. The Masters invitation will be in the mail.
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