World Number One

The World Golf Rankings were a great idea with the game continuing to break international boundaries and players schedules including stops in East Asia, Australia, the Middle East, South Africa, Europe, and the US. However, the extremely complex rankings system can prove to out think itself at times. Experts predict that this Fall will serve as an excellent example of one of those times. With Lee Westwood's announcement yesterday that he plans to not play until late November, experts predict he will overtake Tiger Woods, who is not playing until early next month, as the world number one on October 31. How can Westwood improve in the rankings by not playing? And how can a player with merely one mediocre win worldwide in the past year suddenly be called the best? There is no arguing that Westwood has played magnificent, outstanding golf in the past two years. He has four top three finishes in his last five major championships, and he won the European Tour's Race to Dubai in 2009. However, do these fine accomplishments make him the hottest, most dominating player in the world? I would say if anyone is to push Woods off his perch in the next month it would have to be Martin Kaymer. Now, I believe the current rankings system takes into account players' performances worldwide over the past two years. Germany's Kaymer has six victories since October 2008 including the most recent major and three events (four if you count his solid showing on the winning European Ryder Cup team) in a row since mid-August. Some of those trophies on his mantle are from European Tour events, but most of those tournaments boasted strong fields even with Tiger and Phil. Considering Westwood's strong showing in major championships, Kaymer has not been as consistent on the biggest stages. However, Martin has proven he has what it takes to hoist the Wannamaker Trophy, and he has multiple top five finishes in majors over the past three years as well. Tiger did not win in 2010. Lee Westwood won one time, back in June. Martin Kaymer won the PGA Championship, Ryder Cup, and two other events in the past two months to top off his solid play over the last two years. If I had to pick a winner of a golf tournament right now, I would choose Kaymer over Woods or Westwood.

Ugly Win

I do not understand how the Chicago Bears pulled that win out against the Detroit Lions today, but I guess the most important thing is that they did get the W. The Bears offense certainly did not appear to want this game at all. The way the Lions stripped the ball and the way our boys dropped the ball made this game extremely frustrating to watch. Especially towards the end of the second quarter, I got sick the two times we turned the ball over as we were getting into the red zone with some momentum. I also disagreed with Martz's decision to go for it on 4th and goal in the fourth quarter after Lance Briggs took the ball from Shaun Hill inside the Lions' one yard line. How embarrassing was that series! The Bears could not move the ball two feet in four tries against Detroit's defense. That is pathetic, but I would take the much higher percentage play of a field goal attempt in order to take the lead during the final quarter of the game. Instead we were stuffed again and remained down by one point with six minutes left on the clock. We will get stomped next week in Dallas if we put on that level of poor quality performance again. Lovie's staff have a lot to work on in the next seven days, and I hope they can get it together.

American Team

Earlier this week American Ryder Cup Captain Corey Pavin selected his four Ryder Cup captain’s picks. The wild cards for this edition’s team from the U.S. are Tiger Woods, Zach Johnson, Stewart Cink, and Rickie Fowler. These men will join the eight who qualified by points following the PGA Championship who are Phil Mickelson, Hunter Mahan, Bubba Watson, Jim Furyk, Steve Stricker, Dustin Johnson, Jeff Overton, and Matt Kuchar.

Golf in Illinois: PrairieView Golf Club

Byron, Illinois will not register in the minds of many golfers. However, once you play PrairieView, Byron becomes a place you want to visit often. Situated about 20 minutes southwest of Rockford, the course meanders through both its namesake as well as a forest preserve on the bluffs overlooking the Rock River. I have wanted to play PrairieView since I first read about them ten years ago. I had yet to meet anyone who had played there, but the website and course reviews attracted me. I finally took the opportunity to play two weeks ago, and I do not regret it. When first arriving, the club seems to be virtually in the middle of nowhere, and I was skeptical as to how a public course in this vicinity could afford to keep their course in as nice of shape as I had seen in the pictures. However, the final comments of the starter in the pro shop rang true throughout my round, “This is the best kept secret in the state.”

This Week in Golf

Front Nine

Hole #1 – Hunter Mahan come roaring to the front of the pack last weekend to take the WGC Bridgestone Invitational by two strokes over Ryan Palmer. He shot 64 on Sunday and 66 on Saturday at Firestone Country Club to shoot twelve under par for the week. Many big names including Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson were near the top of the leaderboard heading into the final round. However, no one could keep pace with Hunter’s outstanding putting.