Capelle On Golf

I’ve knew I was a golf junkie, but my affliction got really bad on Sunday night. While channel surfing, I landed on the Golf Channel where I discovered a replay of the Johnny Walker Classic in New Delhi, India. I became fascinated watching pros from far off lands on a course that looked to be carved from a jungle, complete with a chorus of exotic birds. In fact, their squawks and cries may have been the highlight of the telecast.

The winner, as you likely may not know (unless you’re a junkie too or read my post on Sunday) was New Zealand’s Mark Brown. Who’s he? Well, he’s a 33-year-old journeyman pro who’s been plying his trade on the Asian Tour the last 16 months while attempting a comeback from a three year layoff.

Brown has been quietly accumulating World Golf Rankings (WGR) points on the Asian Tour. Then he scored a breakout victory of sorts two weeks ago at the Sail Open, also in New Delhi. That one was worth only 14 points, or 10 less than Brian Gay won for winning the Mayakoba Golf Classic, which was played opposite the Accenture Match Play. Brown’s WGR soared from 181 to 64 after his win at the Johnny Walker, which rewarded him with a super generous 38 points considering that the average WGR was 256 for the 65 players who made the cut.

At any rate, two weeks ago Brown was laboring in obscurity. Now Operation Augusta must be his new battle cry. So how is this unknown going to end up on the hallowed grounds of Augusta National with the game’s best in six weeks? He can certainly afford the trip because he won nearly half a million US$ at the Johnny Walker. Now he’s just got to ascend to the top 50 in the WGR by the end of play on April 6. No problemo.

He’s played in only 28 events, which means that his divisor will remain at the minimum of 40. Furthermore, 56.4 of his 76.12 WGR points will retain their full value until the Masters. His remaining 19.72 points will lose only about 1.3 points of their value prior to the Masters.

Miguel Angel Jimenez is five below the cutoff in 45th with a WGR of 2.32 per event. All Mr. Brown need do to reach that average is to earn 18 points in the next five weeks in some cushy European or Asian tour events and he’s home free with room to spare. This is very doable considering that he’s won 52 points in the last two weeks and is obviously on his game.

Brown just might break into the top 50 and qualify for Augusta without having tested his game in a single event with the big boys on the PGA Tour. If so, would he really deserve to play in the Masters? That’s a question fans will be asking themselves should he appear on their big screens come early April.