Capelle On Golf

I knew the field at the Buick Open was weak. A check of the World Golf Rankings confirmed that when it showed that Tiger Woods “earned” only 36 points for his win compared to the 60+ that go at well attended events. And, of course, that total was boosted by his appearance, so the field was even weaker then this stat showed.

Still, after a couple of days of wondering just how bad the field really was, I took matters into my own hands. Step one was to go to the World Golf Rankings and look into their archives. Step two was to print out a list of the WGR Top 50 going into the Buick Open.

Step three was to bring up the alphabetized leader board for the Buick Open. And finally, step four was to cross off the names of those who didn’t play.

WGR #1 Tiger Woods remained. Off went #2-8. Number 9 Jim Furyk played, but did not contend, finishing 25t.

I continued on. No Cink, Singh, Kaymer, Villegas, or Westwood. Where was everybody? A no show for messieurs O’Hair, Kim, Harrington, Karlsson, Poulter, and US Open champ Lucas Glover. And so it went until I arrived at WGR 33rd ranked Justin Leonard. Also “competing” was Nick Watney(#34), Brian Gay (#36), and Rory Sabbatini (#38).

But then the well ran dry as #39-50 also took the week off. So, in sum, we had Tiger and exactly five other members of the WGR Top 50, and only one other member of the Top 32. In short, ex-Tiger, this field was about as “strong” as a Nationwide Tour event.
So what was Tiger doing here anyway? I asked that question the other day, and I’m still not sure. Yes, he picked up 918 grand for winning. But heck, he could have done an outing or two and been paid more money. And sure, he loves those Ws, but this one is an embarrassment, especially considering the way his unseasoned competitors crumbled at his feet on Sunday.

So, to right this wrong, I suggest the W be followed by an asterisk, and that this one not count in his chase to surpass Sam Snead’s 82. He’ll surely beat the mark anyway, and he doesn’t need this one to do it.