Spieth has two missed cuts, but moved back to #1? How do you interpret the OWGR?

[turtleback]

As a relatively new golfer and golf fan, I am finding that the OWGR doesn't make a lot of sense at first, second, and third glance.

How is it that Jordan Spieth can miss two consecutive cuts but somehow get back into first place.    Especially when, after the second MC, the former #1 (McIlroy) played on the weekend?

Does the OWGR reward winning more than it penalizes losing?

It is a lagging indicator.  It isn't just the points coming on, it involves the phasing down and elimination of events.  If you want to understand why Jordan moved up to #1 despite missing 2 cuts you have to look at what event were dropping off for he and Rory.  In all likelihood the events dropping off for McIlroy overrode the events dropping off for Spieth, and McIlroy's skipping the Barclay's and finishing middle of the pack in the Deutschebank didn't give him much more than Spieth's 0 pts., averaged over the # of events int he average.  Now we have a week where NEITHER played and Rory goes back on top.  It is noise at this point and for all practical purposes they are essentially co-#1s.

The other thing is that they are so very close, separated by hundredths of a point in their averages, that blipping back and forth between the #1 ad #2 spots is largely an artifact of noise.

Think of 2 hitters on the last day of the baseball season with almost the same batting average.  The player trailing by thousandths of a point goes 0 for 3 and the leader goes 0 for 4.  If the averages were close enough going in, then it is not impossible that the guy who was behind could end up in front despite the 0 for 3.

[Phil McGleno]

GD: An Outside The Box Proposal Two Ivy League profs say it's time to bring a little science to the Official World Golf Ranking [URL=http://www.golfdigest.com/story/gwar-stachura-world-golf-ranking]http://www.golfdigest.com/story/gwar-stachura-world-golf-ranking[/URL]

Do not tell @Nosevi or he will have a hissy fit.

[Nosevi]

[quote name="nevets88" url="/t/84331/spieth-has-two-missed-cuts-but-moved-back-to-1-how-do-you-interpret-the-owgr#post_1199897"]GD: An Outside The Box Proposal Two Ivy League profs say it's time to bring a little science to the Official World Golf Ranking [URL=http://www.golfdigest.com/story/gwar-stachura-world-golf-ranking]http://www.golfdigest.com/story/gwar-stachura-world-golf-ranking[/URL]

Do not tell @Nosevi or he will have a hissy fit.[/quote] Lol, hardly :-) Mainly because: A. It's an argument made by Broadie some time ago that was soundly ignored by the rest of the world because, B. It's clearly written almost entirely for a domestic audience. The Rory/Jordan situation is all about the way points drop off after 2 years and how they 'lose value' over time. Broadie's point was about events being awarded minimum values based on how they were viewed by others outside the States. The 2010 WGC-HSBC Champions event may be seen as inconsequential in the States but it isn't in the far east. Similarly The Japan Open, Australian Open and South African Open are considered important events by many golfers in those parts of the world and are awarded a status in the OWGR as a result. Question is, is it important what the event is or not? And by that I mean in world golf not just domestically in the States. If it's not important where you're playing why not just go to an entirely skill based system. Unlike other sports that's easier to do in golf as you're 'playing the course'. If you want to use skill alone why not use stroke average vs CR shot in an official competition...... any official competition? Some kid in Japan could be world number 1 based solely on his scoring average that year. But then you could argue doing it in front of the crowds at a big event and maybe in a national Open and with the pressure that goes with it is more impressive than on some third tier tour tucked away somewhere. It's far from a perfect system but at least it attempts to keep it as a World ranking system.

[Nosevi]

Reading that back it looks like I'm in some way saying the best players in the world aren't on the PGA Tour - I'm not. I think all the best players are and only some of those players are on both the PGA Tour and European Tour. But I do think you have to come up with some way of awarding points for success elsewhere in the world or eventually it'd stop being a world ranking system with guys on say the Asian Tour with basically no way of getting into the mix other than going overseas to the Web.com.

[iacas]

A. It's an argument made by Broadie some time ago that was soundly ignored by the rest of the world because,

B. It's clearly written almost entirely for a domestic audience.

It's an argument he's backed up, while you disregard it because for awhile Jim Furyk was ranked ahead of Rory McIlroy.

IIRC.

To say that it's "written almost entirely for a domestic audience" makes no sense. It's written in English, but you speak that language too, and he's writing about the global world and game of golf, and the rankings of the Official World Golf Ranking.

If it's not important where you're playing why not just go to an entirely skill based system. Unlike other sports that's easier to do in golf as you're 'playing the course'. If you want to use skill alone why not use stroke average vs CR shot in an official competition...... any official competition? Some kid in Japan could be world number 1 based solely on his scoring average that year.

I still think you're way off on how you assess his statistics, research, etc. in this area, but at the risk of setting you off again, am leaving it at that.

This thread is about Jordan Spieth, not the OWGR over-valuing foreign players. That thread is at http://thesandtrap.com/t/56702/owgr-biased-against-pga-tour-players .