Rookie Troy Matteson Stalks Tiger on CD World Top Ten Golfer rankings

NEWS

10/24/2006

Rookie Troy Matteson Stalks Tiger on CD World Top Ten Golfer rankings
By: Carmen Diode

Joe Durant ended a five-year winless streak on the PGA tour by winning the Funai Disney Classic in Orlando, Fla.. Durant's winning score was 25 under par and four shots better than Rookie Troy Matteson and Frank Lickliter IIIII who finished tied for second place. Justin Rose, who led after the first and second rounds looked like a fly in the attire that he wore in Sunday's final round and finished in fourth place (Rose's fly imitation may have been his way of keeping the mosquitoes at bay - Disney's Magnolia course being a playground for mosquitoes as those of us who have played the course can attest to). The 42-year-old Durant won for the first time since March 2001 and the victory earned him $828,000 — enough to vault him to 29th on the money list, and a potential spot in the Tour Championship in Atlanta next month (only the top 30 money winners are invited to play).

Rookie Troy Matteson (his actual name) and Davis Love IIIIIIII, winners of the two prior PGA tour events continued to play impressively in fields where none of the world's better players compete (unless you want to count Vijay Singh). Love IIIIIII and Singh finished tied for fifth. Rookie Troy Matteson caps a fine month that has seen him finish eighth, sixth, first and second.

Fred Funk finally got the when-is-Fred Funk-going-to-win-a-Champions Tour-event monkey off of his back winning the AT&T Championship Champions Tour event contested at the Oak Hills Country Club in San Antonio, Texas, on Sunday. The 50-year-old Funk became eligible for the old stogies tour this past July and finished tied for 11th in his two previous starts at the U.S. Senior Open and Senior Players Championship. Funk's winning total of 201 was 12 under par and one stroke better than Chip Beck who still has the when-is-Chip Beck-going-to-win-a-Champions Tour-event monkey on his back. Scott Simpson finished third, two strokes off of the winning score. Simpson has nothing on his back but his midsection is considerably larger than it was when he competed on the PGA Tour. The Champions Tour wraps up the 2006 season with the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Sonoma, Ca., Oct. 26 - 29. Jay Haas enters the season-ending event, where Schwab points are triple their usual value, with a 126 point lead over Loren Roberts. Should Haas maintain his Schwab Cup points lead at the completion the Schwab Cup Championship he will earn a $1 million bonus and rid himself of the when-is-Jay Haas-going-to-win-a-Charles Schwab Cup-Championship monkey that he has been carrying on his back since joining the Champions Tour in 2004. Similarly if Loren Roberts finds a way to leap-frog over Haas then he will earn the $ 1 million bonus and fling the when-is-Loren Roberts-going-to-win-a-Charles Schwab Cup-Championship monkey from his back.

Niclas Fasth won the Mallorca Classic in Son Servera, Mallorca with a three-stroke win over Sergio Garcia. Garcia had announced that he would not be playing in any more tournaments for the remainder of 2006 several weeks ago, but apparently this was just a joke or the young Spaniard was intoxicated at the time that he made his claim. Garcia's play earns him the spot on the CD world top ten list that he lost when he claimed he would not play tournament golf again until 2007. Fasth's win, while impressive, is not enough to earn him a spot on any world top ten list.

South Korea's Hee-Won Han won her sixth career LPGA Tour title Sunday in the inaugural Honda LPGA Thailand. Han's win was her second in 2006 and good for $195,000, but not good enough for a spot on the CD world top ten list.

The LPGA spot on the CD world top ten list goes, instead, to Natalie Gulbis. Gulbis lost an embarrassing event called the Manhattan Golf Classic, contrived by Donald Trump, to Trump and his playing partner Tom Watson. The course was strange, to say the least, built around historic Fort Jay on the small island just off the southern tip of Manhattan. The playing area was roughly the size of three holes on a regulation course and featured six small greens that can be played from numerous tees, with one tee inside the red brick fort. The tournament was billed as a charity event but it was really just another Donal Trump self-promotion vehicle. Gulbis was paired with Annika Sorenstam in the skins format.

In news off the course this past week, Arnold Palmer remained good to his word and did not compete in any event this week, and Michelle Wie found a new agent. Wie's former agent, Ross Berlin, left the William Morris Agency to take an undisclosed management position with the PGA Tour. He will be replaced by Greg Nared, the Nike manager who recruited Wie to Nike. Nared's first assignment for Wie is to see if he can get her a spot in one of next year's Championship Tour events. The ease with which Fred Funk defeated the best of the Champions Tour in spite of holding down 72nd spot on the PGA money list was not lost on Wie who is still anxious to win a men's tour event. Wie is said to have great interest in the Super-Senior tour - open to golfers 60 or older.

The official and current PGA world top ten rankings:

Tiger Woods
Jim Furyk
Phil Mickelson
Adam Scott
Vijay Singh
Retief Goosen
Ernie Els
Luke Donald
Geoff Ogilvy
Sergio Garcia

The CD World Top Ten Golfer rankings:

Tiger Woods
Rookie Troy Matteson (his actual name)
Jim Furyk (actual name)
Joe Durant
Sergio Garcia
Donald Trump/Tom Watson
Fred Funk
Natalie Gulbis
Davis Love III plus Art Lickliter I equals IV
Arnold Palmer (still retired)

CD world top ten gratuitous picture of Natalie Gulbis

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