World Golf Rankings - just a thought

[barrybridges]

Ignoring the separate debate about whether you can be number 1 without having won a major, my thought is:

Is it fair that someone can be world number 1 without playing, by virtue of their rivals not playing well?

Congrats to Rory for heading back to #1 again, but he did so without playing. Shouldn't the 'rolling averages' formula be amended so that you can only gain points by playing and can only displace someone above you by currently scoring more points than they do.

 

[bladeplayer]

Ignoring the separate debate about whether you can be number 1 without having won a major, my thought is:

Is it fair that someone can be world number 1 without playing, by virtue of their rivals not playing well?

Congrats to Rory for heading back to #1 again, but he did so without playing. Shouldn't the 'rolling averages' formula be amended so that you can only gain points by playing and can only displace someone above you by currently scoring more points than they do.

I agree its just that it rolls over two years but on a 104 week basis .. so when they drop the points both scored 2years & a week ago , luke looses more ranking points than rory does..

you are right tho its kinda silly to overtake someone in a week you aint even particapting ..

 

[jp5]

Well you can only score points by playing - the idea though is that the points start to drop off after two years (or whatever the time span is). So Donald may have had a tournament win two years ago last weekend which no longer counts, so drops some points.

I think the system is fair and generally reflects who has been top of their game consistently. The only reason that the number one spot keeps jumping around between players is because there are so many players competing at the highest level. It's good to see.

 

[northernshep]

I also think its a fair system.

Its so hard to come up with a system that works for a sport which doesn't use a league format.

The money list is also good, but still a player could win 10 events and still earn less than bubba did in one week at the masters

 

[Ethan]

The system has to work as it currently does. If your average changes as a result of dropping a bad event off the bottom of your list, so be it. The way that players choose their schedules, matched with the relatively low win ratios compared to say, tennis or football, make it so.

The message of the current rankings is not that Rory is a better golfer than Luke this week, compared to the converse last week, but that both are neck and neck and it is a fluid picture.

 

[Scottjd1]

Its no different to the system which has been in place for some time, Tigers points would fluctuate but because he was so far ahead in never changed the number one spot.

As Ethan says its dead close at the moment so its going to be changing a lot this year - which i think is great.

Does it matter that it could change with BOTH players not playing... In my opinion, No.

 

[USER1999]

What the rankings need is one player to step up a gear, and dominate the rankings ala Tiger. Win a load of majors, stacks of cash, and be american. Then there can be no doubt as to the real number one.

 

[Monty_Brown]

It doesn't bother me that players can move up the rankings without playing. It's just a quirk of the rololing performance system which otherwise works well. Most people who follow the game know that it can and does happen that way, so it really isn't an issue for me.

Not worth losing sleep over.

 

[Val]

Of course it's right that Rory is number1, he has a major and Luke doesn't

 

[Imurg]

It happens in football all the time with goal difference. Team A loses 5-0 and their Goal Difference gets worse than the team below them so they swap places...

Points gained gradually lose value after 3 or 4 months so they haves less of an effect on overall points average 1 year/18 months down the line.

 

[BTatHome]

The hard bit to understand for most is how you move up the rankings (and Rory actually gained points this week) by not playing. In Rory's case it was because he didn't play and so his qualifying tournaments were less than last week, as the rankings are average points his points actually went UP.

Tiger always did well in the rankings because he never played a lot of tournaments, and he had a high win rate, so his average points was very high.

It wasn't that long ago that Bubba dropped 2 places even though he came 4th in that week !!