Capelle On Golf

Back in 2004 Tiger Woods spent the year learning his new Hank Haney swing and his game suffered as he won only the match play event early in the year. While Woods was languishing in dry dock, Vijay Singh stepped up and won nine tour events, six in which Woods was not in the field. Now he’s at it again.

His latest win at the Deutsche Bank is his third of the season, and his third since Woods retired for the year after winning the US Open. Singh’s win was aided by a five birdie surge on the back nine that carried him to a five shot win, and was similar to the charges Padraig Harrington pulled off in winning the British Open and the PGA.

Padraig Harrington’s Costly Mini Slump
Two weeks ago Harrington was the consensus choice for Player of the Year, drawing 66% of the vote from one web site’s poll. Now, two missed cuts later, just a bit of his aura has worn off, and he’s hurt his chances of winning the award. Yes, those majors loom large in the minds of the players who will be voting, but those missed cuts are very much unlike Woods, who’s current streak is up to 29 straight.

Phil’s Follies
After the announcement that Woods would be out for the season following the US Open, the stat guys went to work figuring out what it would take for Phil Mickelson to overtake him by the end of the year. Turns out they could have spared themselves the effort.

After the Open Woods’ World Golf Ranking stood at 21.54. Thanks to attrition, it’s down to 17.33. After the Open Mickelson’s average was 10.21, but primed for a big surge in the point rich events to follow. However, he’s averaged only 8.17 points in his six starts since Torrey Pines, and his WGR has dropped to 9.53

Singh Soars in the WGR
If Singh had missed his do or die putt to tie Sergio Garcia last week, Garcia would have led Singh 7.40 to 6.06. But Singh made the putt to end the week .03 points behind Garcia in the number five position. Then, with his win at the Deutsche Bank, Singh soared past both Garcia and Harrington into the number 3 position. If Mickelson remains in his funk and Singh stays hot, the 45 year old native of Fiji could soon become the number 1 ranked active player in the world.

Survivors to Week 3 of the FedExCup
Last Week I made a list of prominent players who needed a good week to survive to the 70 player field for the third round of the FedExCup. Here’s how their rankings changed after the Deutsche Bank.
Ernie Els (52 to 19)
Camilo Villegas (68 to 25)
Woody Austin (59 to 52)
Aaron Baddeley (73 to 64)
Angel Cabrera (93 to 70 – barely survived)
Rocco Mediate (86 to 78 – gone)
Retief Goosen (82 to 108 - gone)
Ian Poulter (89 to 112 – Ryder Cupper gone)