Fantasy Golf: Hot Topics

June 17, 2008 1:00pm CDT

- Open Reprise
Another major has passed, another trophy is mounted on Tiger's mantle, and another amazing week of golf is in the books. The culmination of a fantastic playoff round of 18 concluded in sudden death with the David-vs.-Goliath scenario that nearly came to fruition gave us all a wild ride and puts the golf world back in perspective.

I let the negatives distract my vision as much as any. He hadn't walked one round of 18 holes, much less five +1, and he hadn't played a competitive round in so long, there was reason to believe he was vulnerable. I listed Phil as the top guy to start for the week as a result.

Phil exploded into a mess of errant emotions and decisions. Tiger emerged despite the laundry list of concerns. We are reminded he is the best for a reason, and now he is just four majors away from supporting that assertion with trophies.

Jack sits at 18. Tiger just wrapped 14, and he did it in as fashionable and dramatic of settings as he has ever seen. He had to sink birdie putts, both sitting at lengths that are far from automatic, on Hole 18, TWICE, just to save the opportunity to win.

There are two more majors left to play this season, and if he keeps putting like this, he could take both.

One thing is without question: His supremacy over this game at this time is astounding. Check the numbers below and consider the true picture they provide.

Phil would have to win the next three tour starts, with nothing done by Woods, just to catch him in the race for FedEx Cup points.

Tiger owns nearly three times the Ryder Cup points as the #2 man.

He is nearly $2 million dollars over the bank of Mickelson at #2 on the PGA Money Leaders list… and he hasn't played even half as many tourneys as Lefty.

All of that gets us back in perspective, right?


~ Hot Hands ~

- Carl Pettersson
You may have noticed, though they never discussed it on the telecast, but Pettersson posted an amazing 68 at Torrey Pines on Sunday to make the top ranks of the final US Open Leaderboard. That finish is highly representative of the production this Swede has enjoyed this season.

Pettersson has laced up the cleats for 17 PGA events this season (a rather high number for a native Euro, having dedicated his efforts to bash with the big boys rather than enjoy the Tour closer to home), and he's failed to make the cut in just three of those starts.

He's missed just one since mid-February.

Pettersson's finishes have been all over the map in that span, but don't let the T75 finishe at the Northern Trust and the T71 at the Shell Houston Open scare you, for Big Carl has been on fire in recent weeks. It started with an 8th-place finish at the Arnold Palmer, and a 4th-place finish at the Byron Nelson. From there, Pettersson found struggles at the Wachovia and THE PLAYERS (understandable) with finishes outside of the top 50. From there, Pettersson finished T33 at the Crowne Plaza Invitational, followed by a strong T10 at the Memorial, followed by his 6th-place finish at the major (the US Open).

This guy wasn't eligible for The Masters this season, but if he keeps winning money at this rate, that won't be a concern next season.

~ Cold Feet ~

- Zach Johnson
Not that Johnson isn't a reliable golfer, missing just three cuts through 15 PGA starts. His failure to rank among the top money winners gives good indication of what has gone wrong with his season.

In three of his last six starts, Johnson has missed the cut with a T25 at the Wachovia marked as his best finish during that span. The next week Johnson missed the cut at THE PLAYERS, followed by a T34 at the AT&T Classic. He hit the links at Memorial, a spot he has enjoyed in the past, and finished T46. That led to the horrific missed cut at the Open, shooting 76 on Thursday and 74 on Friday to come up short.

In fact, Johnson hasn't registered a sub-70 round since Thursday at the AT&T Classic. In the span of six games with three missed cuts, Johnson has registered a score under 70 just twice overall. Nine of those rounds in that span were over par with six registered with scores over 75.

Johnson is having a rough go, and now might be a good time to seek better candidates.


- FedEx Cup Standings
RANK PLAYER POINTS
1 Tiger Woods 22,695
2 Phil Mickelson 15,940
3 Justin Leonard 11,902
4 Ryuji Imada 10,854
5 Geoff Ogilvy 10,660
6 Kenny Perry 10,623
7 Stewart Cink 10,539
8 Vijay Singh 9,309
9 Boo Weekley 9,280
10 Anthony Kim 9,080

- US Ryder Cup Point Standings
RANK PLAYER POINTS
1 Tiger Woods 11,365.627
2 Phil Mickelson 4,419.030
3 Stewart Cink 3,826.065
4 Jim Furyk 3,188.804
5 Justin Leonard 3,053.666
6 Boo Weekley 2,591.546
7 Kenny Perry 2,532.100
8 Anthony Kim 2,339.310
9 Brandt Snedeker 2,088.287
10 Steve Stricker 2,088.084


- PGA Money Leaders
PLAYER EVENTS EARNINGS
Tiger Woods 6 $5,775,000
Phil Mickelson 14 $3,959,500
Justin Leonard 16 $2,933,657
Geoff Ogilvy 14 $2,745,454
Stewart Cink 14 $2,638,671
Kenny Perry 16 $2,481,100
Ryuji Imada 15 $2,423,877
Sergio Garcia 12 $2,397,170
Vijay Singh 14 $2,342,531
Boo Weekley 17 $2,177,282


- Official World Golf Rankings
PLAYER EVENTS AVG PTS
Tiger Woods 40 21.54
Phil Mickelson 44 10.21
Adam Scott 48 5.86
Geoff Ogilvy 46 5.82
Ernie Els 56 5.76
Sergio Garcia 52 5.26
Justin Rose 47 5.24
Steve Stricker 47 5.21
Vijay Singh 59 5.08
Jim Furyk 51 5.04