End-of-season dash for cash undermines world rankings

JUST about everybody by now has had their fling at picking their various sporting stars of 2011.

For golfers, the biggest surprise was the choice of cyclist Mark Cavendish as the BBC’s personality of the year considering that Luke Donald had made history by becoming the first player ever to win the orders of merit on both sides of the Atlantic and end the year as the game’s number one player.

Then you had Ireland’s two Major championship winners, Rory McIlroy and Darren Clarke, who in turn were passed over for Donald by both the European and US PGA Tours. Here at home, it was a straight call between McIlroy and Clarke, with the former getting the nod from RTÉ television and the Irish Golf Writers’ Association award shared after they were unable to separate the two Ulstermen.

Issues of this nature arouse animated debate at 19th holes over the festive period and are a welcome diversion from the seemingly never-ending tournaments on the now infamous “wheelbarrow tour” that brings the game’s elite players to places as diverse as California and Thailand, South Africa and China in search of riches they hardly need.

The politically incorrect “wheelbarrow” epithet was coined a few years ago by Ernie Els to illustrate the kind of money on offer in events which frequently carry a purse that even golf’s Major championships are unable to match, not to mention the massive appearance fees that go hand in hand.

It will be recalled how McIlroy picked up a first prize cheque for a staggering €2million for winning an event in Beijing that wasn’t recognised on any of the game’s tours. As a result, he didn’t gain any ranking points.

As against that, the Chevron World Challenge, the tournament that carries the imprimatur of Tiger Woods, is endowed with the world points that are just as important, if not more so, to the stars than actual cash. As it happened, Woods ended his long run in the wilderness with victory at the Sherwood Country Club. Golfers everywhere rejoiced because the game simply hasn’t been the same since Tiger’s slump began.

What grated with many, however, is how it also resulted in Tiger’s jump of 32 places from 53 to 21 in the world rankings. Not a single member of the world’s leading four at the time, Donald, McIlroy, Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer, participated and the entry of 18 was largely confined to Americans.

On the same week, McIlroy had to withstand the efforts of many of Europe’s and Asia’s best to capture the Hong Kong Open and so cling on to second place in the world. Had he not done so, Westwood would have usurped him as number two by winning the Nedbank Challenge at Sun City, in which a mere 12 players took part.

However, they did swap places when the youngster withdrew from the Thailand Championship and opened the door for Westwood to finally leapfrog him as he also benefited from victory in another field short of real quality. To be fair, Westwood shot 60 and 64 in the first two rounds, magnificent golf by any standards, and went on to win by seven but that is not quite the point.

The system used to determine golf’s finest has come in for a deal of criticism since its institution in 1987 and has been tweaked several times over the years. As a result of recent developments, it is again coming under scrutiny, all the more so because the number one spot has been held for the last 54 weeks by non-Major championship winners. Westwood (22 weeks) and Donald (32) have enjoyed the honour in that time, while it is also remarkable that currently there are only three Major champions in the top 10, McIlroy (third), Martin Kaymer (fourth) and Charl Schwartz (ninth). Even they have only one Major each to their credit.

The others in the top 10 are Donald (first), Westwood (second), Adam Scott (fifth), Steve Stricker (sixth), Dustin Johnson (seventh), Jason Day (eighth) and Webb Simpson (10th).

Perhaps it is time to top load further the points on offer in the Major and world championships while considerably reducing the number available in those late season events which only help to make the rich richer still.