He’s Not The Best Player In The World!
When you consider the best golfer in the world, who do you really think of? Is it immediately who is ranked #1 according to the Sony World Rankings? Are there other factors you feel is mandatory to determine the best golfer in the world?
There are various perspectives from differing governing bodies, sports writers, talking heads, and golfers generally. Irrespective of what criteria you feel are the most vital I will categorically state that there’s one thing that rises above any and all viewpoints. I’ll get to that in a moment…
Sony rankings rate a player’s rankings higher if they win or finish high in a tournament that has more of the “best” players in the field. But what’s funny (and virtually arbitrary) about that is it is the Sony rankings that decides who the quality players are who are in a given field. Ok, now let’s keep going with this a little further
Sony decrees what a players ranking is. Players with high Sony rankings enter a tournament and make it a “quality field”. “Big” events like the World Golf Championships developed on the golf scene to put a spotlight on top players. To get into these events you must have a high, you guessed it, Sony World Ranking. The ranking points placed on these events are higher than regular events.
Do the Sony World Golf Rankings Actually Identify Who’s Best?
So those that had high Sony Rankings, and are one of the selected ones, get into these bigger events and are assured of even higher placement in the official world rankings. Hmmm, seems a little incestuous don’t you think? Is a guy who is 1 single point behind the players who are able to enter these big events truly that much worse than the guy one point ahead of him? And now that player who was one measly point ahead will get a boost in rankings because he’s in the field.
I look at these big events kind of like a boys club. It’s like the “in crowd”, the exclusive insiders club on the tour. In effect this creates 2 pga tours. – The regular tour and the world golf championships. Everybody is allowed in the lower tier events but only a chosen few are authorized n the top events. And obviously, all based on the Sony World Rankings.
Some individuals feel you are not the best player in the world, even if you are ranked #1, till you have won a major. Again I will challenge this logic everyday of the week. If we’re to use this equally arbitrary idea on deciding the legitimacy of a #1 ranking then let’s take a peek at several of the one-time victors of majors and see how valid having won a major actually is
Rich Beem
Paul Lawrie
Shaun Micheel
Stuart Cink
Andy North
Michael Campbell
Bob Tway
Larry Mize
What In truth Makes A Player The #1 Golfer In The World?
Ok, I’m hoping you get the point. Some of these players never won again and most of them only won 1 or 2 events in their entire careers. But they all won a major. So what. Now if a guy is ranked #1 in the world (according to those self appointed gurus of ranking – sony) and has won 4 tournaments in a year but no majors, that speaks of waaaaaay more than a guy who has finished in the top 10 only 3 times but won 1 major that year. I don’t care if you are playing in Asia, Europe or in a regular PGA tour event, a win is a win and it is NEVER a walk in the park to win, anywhere.
In my humbly biased opinion a player who plays at an exceedingly high level, plays all around the globe (which demonstrates significant mental and physical toughness), has many wins every year from all around the world, finishes in the top 10 more than any other player in golf: now that’s a real #1 player.
In 2011 Luke Donald became and remained the number one golfer in the world and did so in a way unprecedented in the history of golf. He won Player of the Year on both the European Tour AND the PGA Tour. He won BOTH money titles and the race to Dubai, the European version of the Fedex Cup. He finished in the top 10 an incredible 14 times in only 19 starts on the PGA Tour! And get this, since he became a member of the European Tour he has NEVER missed a cut. Those numbers and that level of consistency are impossible to overlook.
But in the final analysis there is one ingredient that the best player in the world ALWAYS has. An incredible mental game. This one quality is important and livesin the heart of all excellence. Luke exudes a superb quietness and a praiseworthy modesty that’s a deserving of the golfing world’s respect.
Whole Mind Golf is an incredible new approach to unlocking the mind and utilizing its full power in your golf game in a way you can experience and measure. Increased focus, mental stamina, developing a winner’s attitude, chanelling feelings and numerous processes for playing courageous, confident golf.
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