World ranking Archives - Golf Digest Middle East

Brooks Koepka and another major championship fixture are the latest LIV players to hit this sad OWGR milestone

Golf Digest Middle East — Tue, 06 Dec 2022 09:42:19 +0000

Jonathan Ferrey/LIV Golf

By Alex Myers
Adrian Meronk’s win at the 2022 Australian Open vaulted the Polish golfer to No. 52 in the latest Official World Golf Ranking. And if projections from Twitter OWGR guru Mosferatu hold true, Meronk will actually climb inside the top 50 by the final OWGR ranking of 2022, all but locking up his first Masters invite for April (assuming Augusta National continues to invite the top 50 in the year end ranking). It also will help knock out a familiar face from that OWGR status.

Meronk’s victory Down Under means Brooks Koepka is now projected to finish the year above that important threshold. And that it’s the first time Koepka will be out of the top 50 since he first moved in more than eight years ago.

?NEWSFLASH

One collateral damage coming from Adrian Meronk's win at the #AustralianOpen is the fact that Brooks Koepka is now guaranteed to finish the year outside Top 50 in the world for the first time in eight years, since he first moved in (Nov 2014)… #OWGR

— Nosferatu (@VC606) December 4, 2022

Of course, this is nothing new with LIV Golf events still not eligible for world ranking points, and LIV golfers subsequently tumbling down the OWGR ranks. Just last week Sergio Garcia fell out of the top 100 for the first time since 1999. The new tour has been fighting for OWGR status, but has been denied thus far, even after partnering with the existing MENA Tour.

Fortunately for Koepka, this doesn’t mean much beyond personal pride. Thanks to his most recent major win, the 2019 PGA Championship, he is exempt for Open Championship through 2023 and the Masters through 2024. And he has a lifetime exemption for the PGA and a 10-year- exemption (through 2028) for the U.S. Open as a past champ. But another golfer who has been a fixture on major championship leaderboards in recent years isn’t so fortunate.

That would be Louis Oosthuizen, who fell from No. 50 to No. 51 on Monday. The South African has a exemption through age 60 into the Open Championship as the 2010 winner, but now isn’t qualified for any of the other three majors in 2023. He is playing in this week’s Alfred Dunhill Championship, though, so he still has a chance to end the year inside the top 50.

Oosthuizen had a rough year in the majors last year, but finished in the top three in four of five majors starting with the 2020 U.S. Open. He famously poked fun at himself for so many close calls with a lip-syncing video in 2017 after completing the career Grand Slam—of runner-ups.

Other LIV notables to drop in the OWGR include Dustin Johnson, who is down to No. 40, and Kevin Na, down to No. 47. Cameron Smith remained at No. 3 thanks in part to his recent Australian PGA win, but has said not being able to climb to No. 1 (unless he adds more OWGR-sanctioned events to his schedule) “is a bit of a pain in the bum.” On the bright side for the Aussie, he’s into every major through at least 2027 following his Open Championship win in July.

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Phil Mickelson says he hasn’t done enough to warrant a Presidents Cup captain’s pick: ‘I don’t expect one’

Golf Digest Middle East — Thu, 17 Oct 2019 05:23:27 +0000

Phil Mickelson plays during the first round of the 2019 BMW Championship at Medinah Country Club. (Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

By Brian Wacker
Phil Mickelson’s stretch of consecutive weeks in the top 50 of the World Ranking could end this week at the CJ Cup after nearly 26 years. Yet that’s not the only decades-long run that he might see snapped in the near future. If Tiger Woods doesn’t take him with a captain’s pick for the Presidents Cup team set to play in December in Australia, Mickelson’s streak of playing on every U.S. team since the event’s inception in 1994 will come to an end as well.

And if you listen to Mickelson, he sounds resolved to the fact that he won’t be among Woods’ four final selections.

“I have not played well in the last seven, eight months,” the 49-year-old said from the CJ Cup in South Korea on Wednesday. “There are much better options of players that have played consistently at a high level that deserves to be on the team, and I have not.

“Even if I were to win [this week], I have not done enough to warrant a pick. I’m not asking for one, I don’t expect one.”

From a pure numbers standpoint, he isn’t wrong.

Though Mickelson had a runner-up at the Desert Classic in January and won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February, he has struggled since with just one finish in the top 35 and eight missed cuts in his last 18 starts.

When the eight automatic spots on the Presidents Cup team were finalized following the BMW Championship in August, Mickelson finished 16th on the points list. Among those ahead of him vying for the four remaining spots: Tony Finau; U.S. Open champ Gary Woodland; ever-popular Rickie Fowler; the team’s Captain America, Patrick Reed; and Woods, who has not-so-subtly hinted that he might use one of his picks on himself.

The flip side of the argument for Mickelson to be on the team when the U.S. heads to Royal Melbourne Dec. 12-15 is his popularity with fans and relationship with Woods.

Still, it sounds like Mickelson, who has lost weight recently and beefed up his playing schedule this fall, has his sights on other goals.

“I think there’s a lot better options for the U.S. side,” he said. “I would like to add that I am starting to play much better golf and I’m excited about this upcoming season. And I’m excited about making the Ryder Cup team next year, and I plan on doing that.”

Indeed, Mickelson has played on every Ryder Cup team since 1995 and next year’s matches at Whistling Straits would be his 13th straight appearance in that event. Suffice it to say, that’s a streak he’s not ready to end just yet.

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Phil Mickelson just passed a world ranking milestone that’s never been done before

Golf Digest Middle East — Thu, 30 Nov 2017 06:17:56 +0000

JERSEY CITY, NJ – OCTOBER 01: Phil Mickelson of the U.S. Team on the first tee during the Sunday singles matches at the Presidents Cup at Liberty National Golf Club on October 1, 2017, in Jersey City, New Jersey. (Photo by Chris Condon/PGA TOUR)

By Alex Myers
The wins have stopped piling up for Phil Mickelson since his 2013 Open Championship triumph, but the ability to play world-class golf certainly hasn’t left Lefty. Mickelson nearly won another claret jug in 2016, made 10 birdies in a Ryder Cup singles match later that year, and backed up his selection as a captain’s pick at the Presidents Cup this fall. And now, at 47, he’s achieved another milestone that’s a testament to his impressive longevity.

Earlier this week, Mickelson dropped a spot to No. 35 in the Official World Golf Ranking, but he remained comfortably inside the top 50 for the 24th consecutive year. That’s right, 24 YEARS in a row in the top 50. That’s 1,248 consecutive weeks. Amazing.

According to the OWGR, which was introduced in 1986, Mickelson is the first player to ever spend that long consecutively inside the top 50.

The incredible streak started with Mickelson’s runner-up at the 1993 Casio World Open (You remember that one, right?), which moved him up to No. 47.

Today @MickelsonHat has spent 24 years in the World’s Top 50 & the only player to do so!
A second place finish in Japan’s Casio World Open saw Phil enter the Top 50 at World No. 47 – back in Week 48 1993. #OWGR #Worldgolfranking pic.twitter.com/YraUjHXIde

— OWGR (@OWGRltd) November 26, 2017

Of course, when discussing crazy Phil Mickelson-OWGR stats, it’s impossible not to mention the craziest one of all. Despite all of Phil’s time in the top 50, his five major championships and his 42 PGA Tour titles, he’s never been ranked No. 1. Not even for a single week.
But we’re focusing on the positives today. Like the automobile giant Mickelson once represented, Phil is built to last. And considering his T-3 at the 2017-’18 PGA Tour season opener last month, he has no plans on driving off into the sunset anytime soon.

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