Ryder Cup Rankings after Accenture
The Top 25 Golfers after the Match Play Championship
The only certainty about the American Ryder Cup team at this point is that Tiger Woods will occupy the top spot in the standings. He certainly has his A-game.
By now, everyone has heard about Tiger Woods’ Match Play Championship victory over Stewart Cink. Winning 8 &7, even in a 36-hole match, is an amazing feat. Given that Cink is a fantastic player, and the fact that he played well despite the crushing defeat, lends even more credence to the supposition that Tiger is in complete command of his game. Tiger aside, the WGC Accenture Match play provided some good insight into other players who could make Azinger’s Ryder Cup team.
FBR Open champion, J.B. Holmes gave Woods what was possibly his toughest match of the week. Striking about Holmes play was the fact that he didn’t fold after Tiger started making putts from wherever his ball lay. Holmes played well throughout and, despite his relative lack of experience being paired with Tigers, gave the best player in the world well more than he’d asked for. If Holmes continues that level of play, he should be given a prime spot on the Ryder Cup team.
Justin Leonard has resurfaced from the depths of his sub-100 world ranking. He lost his third-place match to Henrik Stenson, last year’s match play champion. He defeated Geoff Ogilvy, Lee Westwood and Stuart Appleby before falling to runner-up Cink and eventually Stenson. Leonard should compete for a spot on the American Ryder Cup team. To be sure, Captain Paul Azinger is glad to see the resurgence of a Ryder Cup veteran like Leonard.
Stensons’ play, along with that of Angel Cabrera and Paul Casey, bodes well for the European team. Several others, though, went down to defeat a bit earlier; Garcia, Poulter, Westwood, Donald, Montgomery, to name but a few.
At the PGA Tour’s full-field event, the Mayakoba Classic in Cancun, Mexico, veteran Brian Gay notched his first win, after nearly ten years of trying.
Here are this week's Top-25 in the Ryder Cup Points Standings:
- Tiger Woods (4,366.627)
- Phil Mickelson (2,043.250)
- Jim Furyk (1,861.273)
- Zach Johnson (1,541.603)
- Steve Stricker (1,454.369)
- J.B. Holmes (1,375.975)
- Steve Lowery (1,181.947)
- D.J. Trahan (1,128.389)
- Justin Leonard (972.320)
- Stewart Cink (971.105)
- Joe Durant (928.423)
- Jerry Kelly (885.631)
- Woody Austin (880.396)
- Jeff Quinney (849.269)
- Hunter Mahan (822.121)
- Scott Verplank (802.475)
- Boo Weekley (708.772)
- Troy Matteson (686.453)
- Charles Howell, III (574.713)
- David Toms (571.217)
- Kevin Sutherland (570.188)
- Tom Pernice, Jr. (528.125)
- Steve Marino (519.615)
- Brandt Snedeker (487.630)
- Brian Gay (484.190)
The only changes from the prior week were Brian Gay’s jump from 77th to 25th, Brandt Snedeker’s drop from 23rd to 24th, and Steve Marino’s move from 45th to 23rd.
This week, the PGA Tour begins it’s Florida swing at the Honda Classic at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. The defending champion of the event is Mark Wilson. Given Wilson’s near invisibility so far this year, there may be a different champion crowned.
For more standings, rankings and fantasy golf stats, visit the Weekly PGA Tour Standings Index or the Suite 101 Golf home.
Source: PGATOUR.com.
