Capelle On Golf

British Open Coverage

The WGR Top 10 (at the start of play)
Tiger Woods’ absence was supposed to be a boon to the long suffering members of the top 10 who have been toiling in his shadow for so long. It didn’t work out that way as three of the group missed the cut and the others failed to contend over the weekend. The group’s poor play shows that their problems run deeper than their lack of success in dealing with Woods’ name on the leaderboard.

1 Woods—DNP
2 Mickelson—19t—continues a tradition of poor play in the Open
3 Ogilvy—MC—missed cut by two shots was a surprise
4 Scott—16t—Harmon’s prize pupil is still looking for the majors magic
5 Els—7t—sneaks into 7t with closing 69
6 Cink—MC—no surprise, he’s not a major player
7 Garcia—51t—what a difference a year makes – closed weakly with a 78
8 Stricker—7t—was 9 over after 16, 3 over for last 56 holes once pressure lifted
9 Rose—70t—from 4t as a 17 year old to this
10 Singh—MC—sadly exits the top 10 – now #15

The New Top 10
1 Woods—No change
2 Mickelson—no change
3 Padraig Harrington—rockets from 14th to third with victory
4 Scott—16t—no change
5 Els—7t—no change
6 Ogilvy—MC leads to a drop from third
7 Garcia—no change
8 Cink—MC leads to a drop from sixth
9 Stricker—drops a notch despite 7t
10 Jim Furyk – enters the top 10 on strength of 5t

Leaving the Top 10
12 Rose—70t causes drop from number nine
15 Singh—MC and he tumbles from tenth position

K.J. Choi, number 13, would have been the ninth ranked player in the world if he’s just parred the 72nd hole. A bogey would have put him in the tenth position ahead of Furyk.

Greg Norman is now the 168th ranked player in the world! He was about 650th before the Open!

The Top 10 Slam
Richard Karlsson is the hottest golfer on the planet, which is golf’s best kept secret. His 7t at the Open makes him the sole remaining candidate this year for a top 10 slam in the majors. His line for his last 10 starts (majors in bold):
8t, 3, 3t, 3t, 2, 4t, 13t, 6t, 7t

Henrik Stenson’s First Top 10
Stenson was scarcely seen on Sunday as ABC concentrated its attention on the last group and a few favorites. But at the end of the day the 32 year old Swede scored his first top 10 in a major, tying for third with Greg Norman. His previous best was a tie for 14th at the 2006 PGA. Stenson, 32, who had missed the cut in four of his last five majors, moved him into the top 15 in the WGR. Anthony Kim also recorded his first top 10 (7t) in his first British Open.

15 Players Make the Top 10!
A list of the top 10 shows on TV has – well it has 10 shows. Golf works a bit differently. Ties are the rule rather than the exception in golf and they effectively elevate a player’s stature. For example, at this year’s Open nine players have bragging rights to seventh place, and 15 players made the top 10 in golf’s new math. Solo seventh is worth 9 WGR points while a nine way tie is worth 6.58 points to each player.

Ernie Els Sneaks into the Top 10
Ernie Els made the cut with a shot to spare, then parlayed his good fortune into a 7t with closing rounds of 74-69. In his battle for second best player of the Woods Era the 7t moved him two top 10s ahead of Mickelson at 28-26. Mickelson closed with at 71, but missed the top 10 by two shots. He finished 19t.

Steady Jim Furyk’s Costly Wait
Jim Furyk shot rounds of 71-71-77-71. The 77 might have been a 71 as well if not for the bad patch Saturday on holes 10-14. Furyk played those holes in even par (in aggregate) for rounds 1, 2, and 4. But in round 3 he was six over (24) after suffering through a 30 minute wait on the 10th tee. This disastrous stretch could have easily cost him his second major.

P.-44343—18
1—44342—17
2—45253—19
3—65445—24
4—44343—18