Golf World - April 30, 2012

he;won;the;Barclays;Singapore;Open;last;November,;a;tour- nament;that;started;billing;itself;as;“Asia’s;Major”;in;2006 after;Barclays;signed;on;as;a;sponsor;following;the;tourna-ment;not;being;played;in;the;previous;three;years.;The;win moved;him;up;70;places;in;the;OWGR;and;was;worth;more than;a;third-place;finish;at;the;U.S.;Open,;which;has;been;a major;since;the;term;was;invented.

n;The;field;for;the;2010;Greenbrier;Classic;had;19;top-

100;players,;while;the;2010;Japan;Open;only;had;seven
such;players.;The;world;ranking;value;of;the;participat-
ing;players;was;146;for;the;Greenbrier;but;only;36;for;the
Japan;Open.;Yet,;because;the;Japan;Open;is;character-
ized;as;a;flagship;event,;both;tournament;winners;were
awarded;32;ranking;points,;or;60;percent;more;points
than;what;a;field;like;that;of;the;Japan;Open;otherwise
would;have;earned.
n;With;just;one;player;in;the;top;200;in;the;world,;the
2010;Madeira;Islands;Open;winner;(because;of;an;OWGR
“tour minimum” points stipulation) earned the same
amount of points as the fifth-place finisher in a major
championship.
Broadie assures you he did
not;set;out;to;attack;the;Official
World Golf Ranking. Like oth-
ers, though, he had heard the
stories of bias. So he decided
to;do;the;math.;He;and;his;co-
author presented their idea in
March at the World Scientific
Congress;of;Golf;Conference;in
Arizona, and although the ac-
tual;presentation;was;brief,;the
language scored a direct hit.
Broadie;is;not;condemnatory.
“We’re trying to add to the
dialogue some evidence-based
analysis,”;he;said.;“The;powers
that;be;may;have;their;reasons
for;adding;bias,;but;it;would;be
nice;to;know;[that];if;it’s;biased,
how;much;is;the;bias.;They;may
decide;they;want;that.;You;can
make;an;argument;that;if;you’re
designing a ranking system, it
should;have;higher;weights.;But
we;are;not.;We’re;trying;to;figure
out;if;there;is;bias;and;if;there
is,;how;much;is;there.;What;we
found was a huge bias against
PGA;Tour;players.”
Representatives;of;the;OWGR
dismiss;the;idea;that;the;rankings
are;biased.;Greer;and;Barker;de-
fend;the;point-allocation;system
this;way:;“The;OWGR;is;better
and;more;accurate;today;than;it
was;10;years;ago;due;to;the;con-
stant;review;of;the;system;by;the
technical;committee,;which;has
enabled the Board to improve
and;refine;the;system;to;account
for;the;ever;changing;structure
of;world;golf.

nAme, rAnk And numBer

Professors Mark Broadie of Columbia and Richard J. Rendleman of Dartmouth have created an alternative to the World Ranking, using a tabulation that factors common opponents and common venues. The Broadie-Rendleman skill rank rates players based on their scores in each tournament while eliminating the subjective pre-weight tournament points assigned by the World Ranking. PGA Tour players generally rank higher on the Broadie-Rendleman list than they would on the World Ranking. The following list shows the top 100 players on the World Ranking at the end of 2010, and where they would fall on the Broadie-Rendleman list.

1 Lee Westwood 3 - 2 2;Tiger Woods;1;1 3 Martin Kaymer 6 - 3 4;Phil Mickelson;7;- 3 5 Graeme Mc Dowell 20 - 15 6;Jim Furyk;4;2 7;Steve Stricker;2;5 8;Paul Casey;5;3 9;Luke Donald;9;0 10;Rory McIlroy;12;- 2 11;Ian Poulter;18;- 7 12;Ernie Els;13;- 1 13 Matt Kuchar 8 5 14 Retief Goosen 10 4 15;Dustin Johnson;15;0 16;Francesco Molinari;21;- 5 17;Robert Karlsson;50;- 33 18;Edoardo Molinari;40;- 22 19 Hunter Mahan 16 3 20;Robert Allenby;22;- 2 21 Louis Oosthuizen 45 - 24 22;Miguel A. Jiménez;48;- 26 23 Adam Scott 51 - 28 24;Zach Johnson;14;10 25 PadraigHarrington19 6 26;Tim Clark;17;9 27 Geoff Ogilvy 25 2 28;Rickie Fowler;52;- 24 29;K. T. Kim;66;- 37 30;Justin Rose;31;- 1 31;Anthony Kim;54;- 23 32;Bubba Watson;33;- 1 33;Ross Fisher;34;- 1 34 Charl Schwartzel 28 6 35;Ryo Ishikawa;96;-61 36;Nick Watney;11;25 37;Camilo Villegas;24;13 38;Jason Day;29;9 39;Ben Crane;38;1 40;Yuta Ikeda;95;-55 41;Peter Hanson;35;6 42;Y. E. Yang;55;- 13 43;Sean O’Hair;23;20 44;Bo Van Pelt;30;14 45;Ryan Moore;59;- 14 46;K. J. Choi;32;14 47;Stewart Cink;37;10 48;Hiroyuki Fujita;103;-55 49 Alvaro Quiros 60 - 11 50;Martin Laird;141;-91