NEWS


10/03/2006

Tiger Tops Top Ten Golfer List
By: Carmen Diode

Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods reclaimed the top spot in the Carmen Diode (CD) World Top Ten Golfer rankings after his run-away victory at the American Express Championship. Woods finished eight shots ahead of Adam Scott and Ian Poulter who tied for second place. Tiger finished at 23-under 261, his second-lowest score over 72 holes in his PGA Tour career.

ABC broadcast the final round of American Express Championship several hours after the tournament was completed and the few people who viewed the telecast were rewarded with 92 showings of the same Tiger Woods American Express commercial (there are apparently no rainy days for Tiger). Jim Furyk and Stewart Cink were the next highest US finishers placing fourth and eleventh respectively, but they continued their trend of losing hair at an alarming rate.

The Golf Channel is trying to promote the notion that Tiger's win streak is still in tact discounting his loss in the World Match Play Championship two weeks ago. At their web site (http://www.thegolfchannel.com) "Woods has now claimed 12 individual WGC titles, including five at this event, and earned his sixth straight PGA TOUR title. Of those six straight wins, two were major titles (British Open and PGA Championship) and two were WGC events (Bridgestone Invitational and American Express)."

Closer to home D.J. Trahan finally fulfilled the promise that so many have seen in him by winning the Southern Farm Bureau Classic in a playoff over Joe Durant. Trahan's win vaulted him to number 2 on the current US Ryder Cup team standings and he immediately requested not to be paired with Phil Mickelson for any of the team matches should Trahan manage to somehow maintain a spot on the 2008 Ryder Cup team. Alex Cejka continued his string of good performances finishing in sixty-seventh place. Alex's web site (http://www.alex-cejka.com) had this to say about his latest outing: "In der Fianlrunde der Southern Farm Bureau Classic hat sich Alex zwar nach dem Doppel-Bogey an Loch 1 tapfer zurückgekämpft und brachte eine 69 ins Clubhaus, jedoch in der Moneylist fiel er von Rang 137 auf 138. "

Phil Mickelson announced that he would not compete in any more tournaments for the rest of this year. Canadian pro Mike Weir was selected to take Phil's spot in the 2006 PGA Grand Slam of Golf event. Weir's selection is puzzling since his best showing in 2006 was a third place finish at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and one can only assume that the selection committee was hard-up to find another left-handed player. On his web site (http://www.mikeweir.com) Mike had this to say about his selection: "I'm thrilled about the chance to return to Hawaii and the PGA Grand Slam of Golf. It’s a chance to compete against the very best players in the world, and I would love to improve on my second place finish the last time around." The CD Top Ten has also replaced Phil with Mike - but at last glance there was no comment on that at the web site. No word yet on which pro will be taking Phil's place with wife Amy, but nearly all are said to be interested.

Andy Bean won the Greater Hickory Classic for his first Champions Tour title Sunday, defeating someone named R.W. Eaks on the first hole of a playoff. Eaks missed a putt of about 5 inches that would have sent continued the playoff had he made it. Watching Bean contend for a win means that you will be reminded eight thousand times by the announcers that he once wrestled alligators for a living. It should be noted that Bean used to put the gators in a pool of cheap but strong gin for at least an hour before going in the ring with them so that legend is not as astounding as one might think. Bean's first win is good enough to earn him a spot on this weeks top ten. Andy Bean and R.W. Eaks do not have web sites.

The official and current PGA world top ten rankings:
  1. Tiger Woods
  2. Phil Mickelson
  3. Jim Furyk
  4. Vijay Singh
  5. Adam Scott
  6. Retief Goosen
  7. Ernie Els
  8. Luke Donald
  9. Sergio Garcia
  10. Geoff Ogilvy


The CD World Top Ten Golfer rankings:
  1. Tiger Woods
  2. Mike Weir (named as Phil Mickelson's replacement at PGA Grand Slam of Golf tourney)
  3. Jim Furyk
  4. Luke Donald
  5. Ernie Els
  6. Adam Scott
  7. D.J. Trahan (wins Southern Farm Bureau Classic in only 66th start as a PGA pro)
  8. Andy Bean (also ranked in top 10 world rankings for alligator wrestling)
  9. Scarlett Johansson (Esquire magazine's recently crowned "Sexiest Woman Alive" is avid golfer) Photo
  10. Ian Baker Finch *
* Ian Baker Finch does not compete much in sanctioned tournaments, these days, but he merits a spot on the weekly top ten world ranking list for his work as an announcer on ABC TV's coverage of the American Express Championship. In an effort to manufacture drama and interest in the pre-recorded telecast, Finch noted that Adam Scott needed to drain a putt of about 30 feet if Scott were to have any hope of catching leader (and ultimate winner) Tiger Woods. If Scott had made the putt (he did not) it would have pulled him to within six shots, at the time, with less than nine holes to play.

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