2011 BMW PGA Championship

[Acropo]

Originally Posted by Ryan Williams

except for the factt that he cant close out a win.... he wont win this tournament either

I trust you are putting your money where your mouth is? Where is your cash deposited? Have you made your wager in the light of his performance at the WGC Accenture or has anything else influenced you?

I think we have a fabulous day upcoming tomorrow. Westwood looks menacing; Manassero looks promising; Lara looks mercurial; Jacquelin looks around for anyone who isn't surprised to see him there; and Donald looks like he will walk it - if he spends less time hacking out from the undergrowth...

How did his driving get so squint?

I think the 18th will be just as spectacular as you like come 6pm tomorrow evening...

[Ryan Williams]

well he has one win in seven top tens, thats a pathetic stat coming from the number 2 golfer in the world.... lee westwood or manaserro will win the tournament tomorrow, luke donald wont win a stroke play tournamet because he simply doesn't know how

Originally Posted by Acropo

I trust you are putting your money where your mouth is? Where is your cash deposited? Have you made your wager in the light of his performance at the WGC Accenture or has anything else influenced you?

I think we have a fabulous day upcoming tomorrow. Westwood looks menacing; Manassero looks promising; Lara looks mercurial; Jacquelin looks around for anyone who isn't surprised to see him there; and Donald looks like he will walk it - if he spends less time hacking out from the undergrowth...

How did his driving get so squint?

I think the 18th will be just as spectacular as you like come 6pm tomorrow evening...

[deasy55]

When's the last time the World Number 1 and 2 were in a 2 man playoff? What a tournament!!!

[deasy55]

Unfortunate for Lee there. Great win for the new number 1 though. So much for Ryan Williams saying 'Luke doesn't know how to win stroke play tournaments'

[hjimzaf]

What a way to lose it. Congrats to Luke Donald!

[iacas]

Originally Posted by hjimzaf

What a way to lose it. Congrats to Luke Donald!

To be fair, Donald's putt on the 17th was a slow lipout that could have gone in too.

The shots in the playoff were simply a matter of understanding the green sloped that way and controlling spin. Luke spun the ball but landed it WELL to the right. Lee spun the ball too but chose to fly over the flagstick, so when it spun back, it spun left and into the water.

Luke played the better shot both off the tee (which became irrelevant) and into the green (which mattered).

I'm agreeing - what a way to lose it - by hitting a wedge into the water. Congrats to Luke.

P.S. Now we'll have yet another majorless #1.

[brightonrock]

Quote:

To be fair, Donald's putt on the 17th was a slow lipout that could have gone in too.

The shots in the playoff were simply a matter of understanding the green sloped that way and controlling spin. Luke spun the ball but landed it WELL to the right. Lee spun the ball too but chose to fly over the flagstick, so when it spun back, it spun left and into the water.

Luke played the better shot both off the tee (which became irrelevant) and into the green (which mattered).

I'm agreeing - what a way to lose it - by hitting a wedge into the water. Congrats to Luke.

P.S. Now we'll have yet another majorless #1.

Being remembered and considered a 'great' like Nicklaus, Ballesteros, Watson, Woods etc is surely different from being No.1 though. The No.1 reflects the most consistent and best golfer over a period of time, not over his entire career. Right now I don't think there can be a single golfer in the world more feared than Luke Donald, he is absolutely unstoppable, top 10 after top 10. If he never wins a major he will never be considered 'great' like the multiple-major winners of past and present, but right now he is undisputedly the best player around.

[Stretch]

Originally Posted by iacas

P.S. Now we'll have yet another majorless #1.

Given the higher weighting assigned to the four major events in the OWGR, I guess you could make the case that you actually have to play better overall to become #1 without winning a major.

Anyway, congrats to Luke on a well-deserved victory. He hung in there.

[MEfree]

Looks like Donald is the first #1 to win while #1 in quite a while according to http://www.mattelston.com/?p=18

[Acropo]

Originally Posted by Ryan Williams

except for the factt that he cant close out a win.... he wont win this tournament either

Originally Posted by Acropo

I trust you are putting your money where your mouth is?

Originally Posted by Ryan Williams

luke donald wont win a stroke play tournamet because he simply doesn't know how

You lose.

[MiniBlueDragon]

I really wanted Luke to win today but the way Westwood was playing I couldn't see it happening.

Laid Luke for £10 @ 2.1 about a minute before Westwood put enough spin on the ball to take it back to the tee box.

Nice and consistent though and I'm happy Luke won.

[britzie]

What a finish to a tournament, great to watch. Well done Luke.

[deasy55]

Originally Posted by MEfree

Looks like Donald is the first #1 to win while #1 in quite a while according to http://www.mattelston.com/?p=18

He didn't win while #1............

Edit: My bad, just noticed that that website does an unofficial world rankings using weighted average.

[rossvanwyk]

Donald is so consistent it is frightening. I'm a huge fan of Donald's. I think he has a near perfect swing and he's always there and thereabouts.

I'm sure he's going to win a major in his time but regardless, he deserves the no.1 spot for now as he's been so ridiculously consistent of late.

Very happy for the guy.

[RichF]

Originally Posted by iacas

P.S. Now we'll have yet another majorless #1.

Irrelevant.

Out of the two choices, I'd choose a stint at #1.

You can say that you were officially the best player in the world at a particular point in time and for a particular period in history. As far as golf goes, the official rankings have been around for almost a quarter of a century and only thirteen players have achieved the No. 1 position in all that time. To be, or to have been a No. 1 puts you in illustrious company and singles you out as one of the game's very best players.

You can't necessarily say that with a Major to your name. You may well have won in fine style, and the win may be part of an illustrious career that marks you down as one of the game's greats. Or, you may just have shot the lowest score in the field that particular week whilst achieving not a lot else of any great note in a couple of decades or more of golf.

Look at the players who've been No 1: Seve Ballesteros...Nick Faldo...Greg Norman... Tiger Woods . Giants of the game and household names.

David Duva l was certainly the best player in the world during his time at the top, as were Ian Woosnam, Fred Couples, Vijay Singh and Nick Price .

Now lets look at some of the players who've won Majors: Mark Brooks...Ben Curtis...Shaun Micheel...Paul Lawrie...Rich Beem...Micheal Campbell... Andy North won two!!!

Not anyone can win a Major, but you clearly don't have to be a truly great player to manage it.

Ask people to reel off a list of the names of players who've been No.1 and most will get at least half a dozen of them. Even people who aren't golf fans know that Seve, Greg Norman, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods were No. 1 players. Keen golf fans will get all or nearly all of the 13 names without much trouble.

Ask even a moderately keen golf fan: 'Who won the 1996 PGA Championship? Or the 2002 championship? What about the Open Championship in 2004? Or the U.S. Open in 1987?'

Come on, tell the truth - who's shoes would you rather be in right now ?

Luke Donald's? Or...Louis Oosthuizen's or Charl Schwartzel's???

[Acropo]

Originally Posted by MEfree

Looks like Donald is the first #1 to win while #1 in quite a while according to http://www.mattelston.com/?p=18

Well, he's the first since Lee Westwood won the Ballantine's Championship at the beginning of May this year...all of four weeks!

Lee became No. 1 when he won the Indonesian Open, IIRC.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by RichF

Irrelevant.

No, not irrelevant. It's an interesting point. The majority of players who have ascended to #1 have done so after winning a major. It's an interesting bit of trivia. You'd do well to not assume what I'm trying to say, especially when it's in a little near-throwaway postscript.

Originally Posted by RichF

Out of the two choices, I'd choose a stint at #1.

I suspect that if you polled the professionals, you'd be virtually alone in choosing a stint at #1 over wining a major. Lee has said as much... I understand your point - and remember the 13 or 14 number is small largely because Tiger was #1 for so long - but I still don't think that players would rather be #1 than win a major.

Originally Posted by RichF

Luke Donald's? Or...Louis Oosthuizen's or Charl Schwartzel's???

Uh, the latter two - by far - if we're talking about golf. One is the Champion Golfer of the Year and one won perhaps the coolest major, has access to the Champions Locker Room for the rest of his life, can play in every major for the next 5 years, and has a green jacket. Plus the'll forever be introduced as "2010 Open Championship Winner" or "2011 Masters Champion." People don't announce "World #1 Lee Westwood" on the first tee.

David Duval had years when he didn't qualify for the Masters. Charl won't ever have to worry about that.

[the19thhole]

Originally Posted by iacas

Uh, the latter two - by far - if we're talking about golf. One is the Champion Golfer of the Year and one won perhaps the coolest major, has access to the Champions Locker Room for the rest of his life, can play in every major for the next 5 years, and has a green jacket. Plus the'll forever be introduced as "2010 Open Championship Winner" or "2011 Masters Champion." People don't announce "World #1 Lee Westwood" on the first tee.

Actually they did announce this when he was #1, but anyway. Out of 15 #1's Westwood and Donald are the only 2 not to have won a major. The kudos rightly (or wrongly) I agree is with winning a major, but why should we make being #1 any less of an achievement. It shows consistancy over a longer period of time not just 4 days or in Paul Lawrie's case Van De Velde blowing a 3 shot lead on the final hole. That's how he won. So if I'm correct in what you are saying then it's alright to live of the back of winning a major for the rest of your career, but not to say for xx number of weeks I was the best player in the world and if Donald or Westwood or whoever go on to be #1 for the next year for example, but don't win a major they have achieved less than some 1 hit wonder.

Golf (and tennis I suppose) is one of those sports were we put the winning of a major as the pinnacle of the sport and that is what makes the game magical, but we shouldn't put down what are 2 exceptionally good golfers because the are "another majorless #1".