Page 18 - AT SEPT 10

A18

SPORTSThursday 10 September

In golf, being No. 1 does not mean being No. 1 that week

DOUG FERGUSON Rory McIlroy, from Northern Ireland, hits his tee shot on the 12th hole during the first round of the Deutsche Bank Championship golf
AP Golf Writer tournament in Norton, Mass., Friday, Sept. 4, 2015.
NORTON, Mass. (AP) —
Good news for the PGA Associated Press
Tour. The battle for No. 1
in the Official World Golf do (twice), Greg Norman middle of the 16th fairway. a half-century of stroke over. And it would be rash
Ranking is so confounding and Ian Woosnam. Per- Woods won, 2 and 1. play. He recalls crossing to suggest that golf should
that no one is complain- haps the greatest episode Both players took that week the third-base line to throw be measured by one year
ing about all the points of musical chairs was the off from the tour and Duval out the first pitch at a Texas instead of the current two-
and projections of the Fe- summer of 1997 when Tiger went back to No. 1. Rangers game when he year formula.
dEx Cup. Give it time. The Woods, Ernie Els and Greg Duval’s recollection of his heard over the loudspeak- Getting to No. 1 is no small
FedEx Cup still has two Norman were each No. 1 return to No. 1 without play- er being introduced public- achievement, and argu-
tournaments left before over three weeks. That was ing is worth noting because ly for the first time as No. 1 in ably more difficult than win-
it awards $10 million to a easier to stomach because for the longest time he had the world. It was a big deal. ning a major. Otherwise, it’s
player who might not have Els (Buick Classic) and Nor- no recollection at all. McIlroy got there for the first little more than a conversa-
had the best year. Or might man (St. Jude Classic) won “The only way I can answer time by holding off a late tion piece.
not win at all. tournaments to get there. that is that it wasn’t until a charge by Woods to win McIlroy has won seven
The world ranking? It doesn’t always work out couple of years ago that I the Honda Classic in 2012. times in the last two years
That will be cleared up that way. Woods and Da- remember I went to No. 1 “The first time is always with two majors in 2014. Spi-
soon enough. For the mo- vid Duval traded time at in August that year,” Duval sweeter,” he said. eth has won six times over
ment, this is as bizarre as it the top of the ranking in said Monday. “Just get- Trying to measure golfers the last two years with two
has ever been. the summer of 1999 when ting there and being there from tours on all six conti- majors in 2015. Over two
Jordan Spieth made his- they met in the infamous awhile ... you know, I didn’t nents where the game is years, it’s a push. Over the
tory Tuesday, just not the “Showdown at Sherwood,” much pay attention to it af- played is impossible. The last year, it’s Spieth. Over
variety he would have an 18-hole match that was ter that.” world ranking does a rea- the last three months, not
wanted. There have been billed as Monday Night Spieth knows the feeling. sonable job making it plau- many would argue against
61 changes at the top in Golf. Woods, who had re- He got to No. 1 for the first sible. Jason Day.
the 30 years of the world turned to No. 1 a month time with a runner-up finish The fact a player can miss “We all know who the best
ranking, and Spieth is the earlier, pulled away when to Jason Day at the PGA the cut — two in a row, in player is,” McIlroy said,
only one who got to No. 1 Duval hit the straightest Championship with a score Spieth’s case — and go to pausing to smile. “And it’s
by missing the cut. drive of his career, right into that would have won all No. 1 is no reason to blow not me.”
It gets better. the rock formation in the but two PGAs in more than up the system and start Until next week, anyway.q
Rory McIlroy, who closed
with a 66 at the Deutsche
Bank Championship and
tied for 29th, will return to
No. 1 next Monday even
though this is the one week
of the season that the PGA
Tour has no tournament.
That gives McIlroy his own
slice of world ranking his-
tory — a record third time
he goes to No. 1 by sitting
out the previous week.
Thankfully, McIlroy man-
aged to provide a little
clarity.
“It is what it is,” he said.
Minus a tweak or two over
the years, it is what it has al-
ways been. The world rank-
ing is easy to mock at the
moment because of the
changes that are related
more to when points are
incrementally deducted
over a two-year period.
It’s still based on results, just
not the most recent.
Asked if he understood
the math involved, McIlroy
said, “I left school when I
was 15, but I understand it
to a certain degree.”
Forget the math and con-
sider the history.
During an eight-month
stretch starting in Septem-
ber 1990, four players went
to No. 1 by not playing the
previous week — Nick Fal-