Ryder Cup stars must scrap back into top 50
As if the fluid situation at the top of the world rankings was not intriguing enough, take a look at what is happening right now around the all-important 50th place.
fall outside the top 50 and the invitations to the majors and World Golf Championship events rapidly become a fond memory.
if they dry up, a player can all but forget qualifying automatically to play in the Ryder Cup next year. Between 46th and 66th place lie no fewer than nine Brits representing two different eras.
On one side of the generation gap and desperate to halt their recent decline, we have Lee Westwood, Luke Donald and ian Poulter.
On the other, and eager to continue their pleasing ascent, we have twentysomethings Matt fitzpatrick, Tommy fleetwood, Chris Wood and Andy sullivan, the impressive winner of the Portugal Masters on sunday.
Making up the British contingent are scotland’s Marc Warren and Welshman Jamie Donaldson, both of whom will also be keen to stave off the threat from the young guns.
it is going to be fascinating to see how many of these players — and from which age spectrum — are on the right side of that top-50 divide when the music stops at the end of the year, with so much at stake, including a guaranteed spot at the Masters next April.
Just now, it is England’s next generation making all the noise. sullivan’s victory, following on from fitzpatrick’s success at the British Masters at Woburn the previous week, completed the best fortnight for English golf this year. A distant runner-up to sullivan on sunday was Wood, who seems to be over the multitude of injuries that stunted his progress in recent years.
Contrast this cheer with the trio of established stars, with former world No 1 Donald now the back marker among the seven in 66th place, while Poulter (51st) woke up yesterday and found himself ranked outside the world’s top 50 for the first time since september 17, 2006.
And so we come to the four events comprising the European Tour’s final series that will decide so much. Beginning in Turkey next week, they all offer big money and tons of world ranking points, and provide a fitting stage for this clash of the generations.
Time for one set of players to draw a line in the sand perhaps, and show they have still got plenty to offer; or the other to demonstrate they are ready to step out of their collective shadow. JUSTIN ROSE and Dustin Johnson are the star names lured to play in the Hong Kong Open this week but my attention will be on those players in dire need of a good tournament simply to keep their European Tour cards for next year. I’ve been at this event and witnessed the devastated looks among the unsung and the desperate, when the realisation dawns their privileges have been lost. If you think it’s difficult holing putts to become the world No 1, imagine what it’s like when your livelihood is at stake. So spare a thought for Englishmen Chris Paisley from Hexham and Seve Benson from Wentworth, who are currently clinging to the final two spots and fully aware that another missed cut this week would be the deepest one of all.