One advantage to being a golf fan is there no real offseason to speak of, although December can be sort of slow if you don't care for charity exhibitions.
So I'm thrilled that the 2005 season is up and running, and to ring in the New Year, it's time to present the Slant Pattern World Golf Top 10. Consider this list as you would a college football preseason poll. No one would argue that Kevin Na has the sort of resume that makes him a top-10 golfer right now, but I think he's due for a big year ... and not just because of his namesake. In other words, this poll speaks towards the kind of year I think said golfer will have, not what kind of career they have had thus far.
1. Retief Goosen
Here is a golfer that is almost impossible to criticize. Last year, he won a major, another PGA tour event, a European Tour event, a silly-season event ... sixth on the PGA money list, second on the European Tour money list ... he's just rock steady and more than ready to be mentioned in the same breath as [Ernie] Els and [Vijay] Singh.
2. Tiger Woods
Guess what? He's hitting greens again! This spells doom, DOOM, for the rest of the PGA. He's now won two events int he last two months (one in Japan, and his own TargetWorld Challenge tourney) and finished third in the Mercedes Championship last week in spite of taking 112 putts on a surface he hates. He will spend most of the year on the bentgrass greens he likes. Doom!
3. Vijay Singh
I don't think a man of his age can follow up on his historic nine-win season he had a year ago. But then, I can't put him any lower than this because of that season. The Mercedes Championship was the first tournament out of the last 12 that he led after three rounds and didn't close the deal.
4. Ernie Els
I would really, really like to put him higher than this, but he has quietly become a bit of a choker. He was in the final pairing of the U.S. Open last year only to shoot an 80, he got stared down by lightly-regarded Todd Hamilton in the British Open playoff, and last week he needed a birdie on the par-5 18th to force a playoff with Stuart Appleby, and instead lost his tee shot out of bounds and made bogey. I do think he's the best golfer on the planet, nerves aside.
5. Adam Scott
This is the one young player I feel absolutely certain is headed for legendary status, even more than Sergio Garcia. He also has a bigger victory than Garcia has had, last year's Tournament Players Championship (the so-called fifth major), and seems more even-tempered.
6. Thomas Bjorn
Just beats out Miguel Angel Jimenezas the best player who primarily sticks with the European Tour. Mostly famous for losing the 2003 British Open in heartbreaking fashion, he nearly quit the game in frustration last year, but took some time off to get his head together and recovered by almost knocking off Els at the million-dollar superstar American Express Championship, finishing second. He's also finished in the top five in both tournaments he has entered this year. An inspiring story.
7. Stewart Cink
He sort of flies under the radar because he's rather nondescript, but the best move Hal Sutton made as captain of the Ryder Cup — he didn't make many — was taking Cink as an at-large pick. Cink rewarded him by winning the NEC Invitational the week he was picked, and finishing fifth on the year-end money list. He has stayed in form, finishing tied for fifth at the Mercedes.
8. Miguel Angel Jimenez
He won four times in Europe last year and won the only tournament he has entered in this season. Jimenez would have run away with the European Order of Merit (i.e. money list) last year, but all the majors and the four American Express tournaments (which are sanctioned by both the U.S. and European Tour) count, and they dwarf the regular European events in terms of prize money. Accordingly, he finished an undeserved fourth. Then again, he played in all of those high level tournaments, so that seems to be his Achilles heel — he doesn't seem to be at his best in big events.
9. Phil Mickelson
I'm not going to reward players who don't always bring their "A" game, and he seems to bring his "A" game in majors, and the odd event here and there where he somehow finds motivation. He finished in the top five of all the majors last year, but there were six times where he finished outside the top 30, got cut, or withdrew. How many times did his contemporaries get cut/withdraw/finish out of the top 30? Els and Woods twice apiece, and Singh four times ... and Singh plays in far more events. More distressingly, the majority of those clunkers were in the second half of the season. Everyone above him on this list has won more recently than Mickelson except Bjorn. Focus, Phil, and rise on my list.
10. Kevin Na
My darkhorse pick of the year. He only just turned 21, but he had seven top 25s last year, and stayed warm in the offseason, finishing tied for second along with Miguel Angel Jimenez in November's Korea Golf Championship.
Honorable Mention
Sergio Garcia, Padraig Harrington, Darren Clarke, Stephen Ames, Daniel Chopra.
Slant Pattern Picks the 2005 Majors
MASTERS: Tiger Woods
U.S. OPEN: Retief Goosen
BRITISH OPEN: Retief Goosen
PGA CHAMPIONSHIP: Daniel Chopra
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