Tiger Woods: Where He Stands Among the Top 10 Players Right Now

Where in the top 10?  The better question may be is Woods really IN the top the any more?  Is he in the second 10?  The third?

Sports Illustrated Golf Plus, for instance, now does a poll of their golf writers every week, and Woods is not in their top 10 players.  

Why did the SI golf guys decide to make their own ranking?  It was painfully obvious to them, as it is to others, that the current World Golf Rankings do not reflect the state of Tiger Woods’ game or that of anyone else.

Other than using victories that are two years old, there is no way for Woods to be anywhere near the top, based on his recent performance or even based on his performance in the last year.     

Currently Woods is ranked No. 3, behind Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer and ahead of Phil Mickelson. We all know the rankings two-year time span is ludicrous for identifying the best player now. 

Ask yourself, should Woods be ahead of Graeme McDowell?  McDowell, US Open champ with multiples victories in 2010, should have changed his middle name to “Winner” last year?  Woods won last in 2009, but is ranked ahead of McDowell.  On what planet does that make sense? 

In Woods’ one PGA Tour start, the Farmers Insurance Open, he was tied for 44th. Not auspicious. 

In his one European Tour event, The Omega Dubai Desert Classic he was tied for 20th.

Nobody ranked ahead or below him wants to make a comment other than that they expect him to be back winning in the future.  Everyone knows he’s just too good a player to go quietly into the night.

Vijay Singh had a resurgence at the Northern Trust Open.  The ailing Fred Couples made a valiant effort, bad back and all.  If Singh at 48, coming back from bad habits as a result of knee surgery, and Couples at 51, with a back so tender he can’t practice or warm up, can scratch out scores to threaten on Sunday, Tiger Woods will find the winner’s circle again.   

But how Woods compares to everyone who shows up right now for a full field regular event and how he compares one-on-one, as at the Accenture Match Play are two different things. 

Woods is one of the all-time best US Amateur players with three consecutive titles. He actually has a winning record in Ryder Cup singles matches.  The beauty of match play is that Woods can waste shots here and there and still come out on top in a match. 

He makes an 11 and loses a hole?  So what.  It doesn’t matter as long as he wins the next one and stays one up in a match.  He just has to stay one hole ahead of the competition, and as he once said, he can win without his A game.

It’s important to point out that Woods’ results this week may not be indicative of his level of play in a regular four-day event.   

What’s interesting is that, initially, he’s facing people who have defeated him, starting with Thomas Bjorn.  Bjorn even beat Woods while wearing a red shirt, which just shows what a twisted sense of humor Bjorn must have.  Can’t you just see the headlines if Bjorn wins:  Bjorn Ultimatum. Bjorn Conspiracy.

If Woods beats Bjorn, his reward is either Padraig Harrington or Geoff Ogilvy, both of whom have won majors with Woods in the field. After that, Woods faces Dustin Johnson or Mark Wilson or Bubba Watson or Bill Haas.  The last three have done something in 2011 that Woods hasn’t: won.  Johnson, of course, won the BMW in 2010.

Should Woods emerge victorious from the top of the Snead bracket, he would face one of eight golfers, two or three of whom have beaten him before or won with him in the field and would like nothing better to do it again: Paul Casey, Ernie Els and Tim Clark.

Based on what we have seen this year, Woods is not really in the top 10, no matter what the Official World Golf Rankings say. Woods is not even in the top 20. He is perhaps somewhere in the top 30 or 35. 

That doesn’t mean he won’t win this week, although it’s not likely based on his recent performances.  It doesn’t mean he won’t win a major this year.  It does mean that right now, this week, he is not playing like a top 10 player.  He will have to post some top 10s to get there.