With Tiger on the shelf due to surgery, I thought it would be a good time to figure out who is the second best player in the WORLD. Now, if you go by the official golf rankings, Phil Mickelson is the one or to be exact, number 2. If anyone can explain just how the rankings are figured, that would help. Having said that, I don’t vote for Phil. He’s lots of things Tiger isn’t-inconsistent, misses big shots, can’t close the deal, poor course management, for starters. This weekend he’s playing in Scotland in a tournament where he absolutely snatched defeat from the jaws of victory last year. He is trying to prepare for The Open next week, but the course is more like an American style course than a links course the boys will be playing next week.
So good luck, Phil. The rest of the bunch includes the streaky Kenny Perry, the next new thing-Anthony Kim, handsome Adam Scott, Geoff Ogilvy, Ernie Els,the flashy Spaniard-Sergio Garcia, the twice comeback player of the year-Steve Stricker, the 40+ Vijay Singh, Stewart Cink, Englishman-Justin Rose, new fan favorite Rocco Mediate and throw in Reteif Goosen to make Ernie Els not be the lone South African. Having listed this group of world class players, I don’t see one that stands out over the others. My conclusion is that the FIELD is number 2 when the MAN is out. It can and does vary from tournament to tournament, at least that’s the way I see it.
Speaking of tournaments, the Wyndham Championship starts August 11-17 at historic Sedgefield Country Club. Who will be number 2 that week? I’ll take the FIELD, which should be considerably better than what we’ve had lately. Stay tuned-more to follow-I’m working on a part time caddie job for yours truly with a tour player-at least for the pro-am on the Wednesday before Thursday’s opening round.
*****from Jim Modlin GREENSBOROSports.com Golf Columnist*****
In a way, with Tiger Woods out, everyone else is now number two.
With Tiger gone, they all at least have a chance, which none of them seemed to have (or had given themselves even).
I’m sure it will be like watching the Diamondbacks leading the division with a losing record, though….