The curious case of the World number one golfer

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

The curious case of the World number one golfer

Rory McIlroy adds the WGC Invitational to the Open Championship, and takes the world number one spot from Adam Scott. Any of the top 5 (McIlroy, Scott, Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson and Justin Rose) could end up number one after the PGA, although the latter three would all need to win it and see McIlroy finish well down the field. The more likely scenario is McIlroy's form continuing into Valhalla, and him earning enough points there to all but wrap up the end-of-season number one spot.

If McIlroy finishes the year number one (as he did in 2012), he will become only the seventh player to do so more than once since the World Rankings and their predecessor the McCormack rankings began in 1967 - Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo, Greg Norman and Tiger Woods being the others. Pretty illustrious company.

[Logan Mountstuart]

The curious case of the World number one golfer

Couldn't find a PGA thread, and too lazy and too occupied to be responsible for one, but:

Wow....Rory, Phil, Ricky Fowler, Stenson + A.N. Other all tied with about 13 to play. Interesting Major.

[Logan Mountstuart]

The curious case of the World number one golfer

And Ernie's lurking too.

At this stage, I'd say Phil or Stenson.

[Logan Mountstuart]

The curious case of the World number one golfer

Would quite like to see Fowler win, really. He's earned it this year.

[Logan Mountstuart]

The curious case of the World number one golfer

Ian Poulter calls clothes Outfits in a 5 Live interview. He is still yet to win a major.

[Cal Alamein]

The curious case of the World number one golfer

It's past 8:30 pm and it ain't over yet. The players are hustling to beat darkness. Mcillroy is up by two ... All four clustered on the 18th.

Would love to see Fowler pull a miracle, but provided he can see, it is mcIllroys to lose.

I'm enjoying Tiger-free golf.

[Toro Toro]

The curious case of the World number one golfer

They're effectively playing the last hole as a fourball, owing to the failling light. Never seen this before, it has to affect their thinking...

[Toro Toro]

The curious case of the World number one golfer

Jebus! Rory in the bunker, and Fowler with an eagle putt...

[Cal Alamein]

The curious case of the World number one golfer

Rory in the sand, Mickelson close to eagle. I'm digging this. They should make all tournaments end close to darkness.

[Toro Toro]

The curious case of the World number one golfer

Three shots to win. Come on...

[Toro Toro]

The curious case of the World number one golfer

Nae bother. Magnificent putt.

[Cal Alamein]

The curious case of the World number one golfer

Beauty. Well done Rory. The kid is frighteningly composed ... The tv networks breathe a sigh of relief.

[Toro Toro]

The curious case of the World number one golfer

Urgh, creepy Butch Harmon is speaking to the camera again. It absolutely makes my skin crawl.

[WOM]

The curious case of the World number one golfer

Anyone know when golfers started to really work out and become 'athletes'? Woods, Rory, Fowler, etc all look like they do a hell of a lot of arm and chest work (makes sense) but when did this really get going? Did Jack and the boys do this thirty (and more) years ago?

[ursus arctos]

The curious case of the World number one golfer

Rogin is yer man here, but I'd say post-Nicklaus, perhaps with the Ballesteros/Watson generation. Gary Player was a fitness nut, but most of the lifting that Arnold Palmer did was of iced teas, Trevino looked like the public course hustler he was, and Jack's (significant) slimming down from the time he broke in always struck me as more about how he looked than core strength. Tiger really started an arms race on that front, though.

[Outside Agent]

The curious case of the World number one golfer

I've always been amazed that the conditioning of golfers, and specifically the bulking-up of their arms, hadn't become the norm sooner. In the 1990's, the use of lighter metals like graphite in clubs had a double effect of allowing players strike the ball with greater speed behind the swing, and also it was making striking of the ball a lot less taxing, so players had more energy as the round dragged on, thus helping drives go longer. There was speculation that the games tacticians around the green would be obsolete, as the guy with the best clubs and the longest drive would win out. In the early part of the last decade, Hank Keuhne epitomised this, as his short-lived spell amongst the games elite was based solely on his gigantic drives. Given the demand from players to find the new designs in clubs that could get them that extra 5%, it's amazing that nobody saw the obvious benefits of great arm strength that could get them that extra 20%. Until Woods came along, that is.

Seeing Woods, McIlroy & Fowler with serious biceps in their twenties is somewhat normal, even for golf. But watching Bernhard Langer, traditionally slender, but having developed a huge set of guns in his fifties, is freaky, I have to say.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

The curious case of the World number one golfer

Yes, Player was the first noted golfer to have what we would now describe as a normal work-out regime for an athlete, and I remember he was considered something of a nutter for doing so. Mind you, Player was also about 5 foot 4 and 8 stone wet through, so he probably needed to be as fit as a fiddle just to compete with guys like Nicklaus and Johnny Miller.

There clearly is no best "shape" for a golfer, though, even today - while a lot of the younger pros being turned out of the US college circuit do fit the 6 foot tall and toned stereotype, you still get guys like Louis Oosthuizen (who's about 5 foot 2) and Miguel Angel Jiminez (who must weigh 16 stone) on top of leaderboards. Darren Clarke, indeed, has never been the same player since he lost weight - he won the Open as a big fat bugger, now he looks like Bradley Wiggins and can't make the cut.

[Borracho]

The curious case of the World number one golfer

Woods has been linked to stories of steroid use for years.

He visited Anthony Galea 14 times and paid 76 grand for the privilege. Galea is a sports medicine doctor who was charged with drug smuggling a few years ago and took a plea bargain.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

The curious case of the World number one golfer

Almost all the top pros are walloping the ball enormous distances off the tee now, I think it's much more to do with equipment improvements (in particular NASA-developed materials as shafts on drivers) and technique than widespread steriod use. Woods himself was causing people to gasp at how far he hit it when he was 21, and as thin as a reed, it's only been later that he's bulked up.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

The curious case of the World number one golfer

Shane Lowry is a big bouncing boy. It looks like he's taking tips from Clara's other famous son b. Cowan.

[Duncan Gardner]

The curious case of the World number one golfer

Is Lowry McIlroy's Da?

[Toro Toro]

The curious case of the World number one golfer

Courtesy of my pro brother-in-law, this is interesting and apposite:

http://online.wsj.com/articles/are-pro-golfers-too-bulked-up-1408147800?mobile=y&mobile=y

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

The curious case of the World number one golfer

I don't know how Rolex concoct the women's world rankings, but Lydia Ko, the 17-year-old wunderkind from New Zealand, has just been declared the world number one. She's had a meteoric rise through the junior and amateur ranks, to be sure, won 3 times last year and finished third in a major, but to elevate her world number one (ahead of Inbee Park, who's won four majors in two years including the one Ko finished third in last year) seems mighty premature.

[San Bernardhinault]

The curious case of the World number one golfer

Just come back from spending the day at Torrey Pines watching the Farmers Insurance Open. A handful of things to note

- there appears to be a Venezuelan player called "Johnny Vegas"!

- Golf is suddenly much more interesting to watch when you actually know all the holes, and the bunkers, and the problems, and how you play the same holes.

- Watching today, it looked like a lot of the players had fairly easy swings, not the massive rotation and speed that Tiger has. Are people moving away from the hyper-aggressive approach because of the compounded injuries we're seeing in players like Tiger? Or does it just look different in person to on the telly?

[Toro Toro]

The curious case of the World number one golfer

- Golf is suddenly much more interesting to watch when you actually know all the holes, and the bunkers, and the problems, and how you play the same holes.

Jesus, yes! Or when your in-laws explain it to you.TV fucks golf up completely, by making everything look flat. I don't ask that they exaggerate enything, but I can't understand how they don't make it at least tolerable to watch on telly by not distorting the contours to invisibility. It literally turns a sport of incredible skill into a giant coint-toss.