There has been a seismic shift at the summit of world golf of late. The European Tour players have come to the fore, resulting in the US Open victories of Graeme Mcdowell and Rory Mcilroy, the US PGA victory of Martin Kaymer and the the world number 1 rankings recently earned by Lee Westwood and Luke Donald. The American presence at the top, has been weakened by the dips in form of Tiger Woods but Phil Mickelson and Steve Stricker are still flying the US flag in the top 10. The improvement of the European contingent is demonstrated by the fact that the top four players all hail from the shores of the current Ryder Cup holders.
The 10 players that have a shot at consistent world dominance are:
Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer, Rory Mcilroy, Phil Mickelson, Charl Schwartzel, Matteo Manaserro, Rickie Fowler, Jason Day, Luke Donald and Tiger Woods. Who would have thought that Tiger would be found at the tail end of this list, having amassed 14 major titles in record time? The 2008 US Open Champion is having some health problems with his knee but only a fool would rule him out of returning to his best, such is the mental strength of the man. In whittling the shortlist down to 5 one has to consider the player's:
1) Major winning potential.
2) Age and Experience.
3) Performance over the last 12 months.
4) Past Major winning record including bis USPGA and European Tour championship such as the Players' and PGA Championship at Wentworth.
5) Consistency of swing mechanics and injury history.
My final 5 would be: Martin Kaymer, Rory Mcilroy, Matteo Manaserro, Jason Day and Tiger Woods.
The rationale between excluding Mickelson and Westwood is that they have reached their peak at the ages of 41 and 38 respectively and are unlikely to go any better after circa 2012. There would be a case for placing Tiger in this same bracket but he is an exception ,on the grounds that he is arguably the best player of all time and that he has Jack Nicklaus' all time Major record in sight, which will keep him motivated. Luke Donald has been omitted on the grounds that his Major record so far is weak relative to his his ability (best finish is tied 3rd at The Masters 5 years ago) and that his game is lacking in power, he can only depend on his unerring accuracy so far, on occasion it will dessert him. Rickie Fowler is promising but poor Major performance thus far (his best is tied 14th in the Masters) rules him out. Charl Schwartzel is a great player as he showed at the Masters but I am not convinced he will sustain a high enough level to challenge the top 5 in years to come. Jason Day has finished second in both The Masters and The US Open this year, major winning pedigree by anybody's standard. I have included Rory Mcilroy and Matteo Mannasero on the grounds that they are the hottest properties in golf at the minute. Mannasero has won 2 tour titles at the tender age of 18, while Mcilroy destroyed the field at the US Open with as good a swing as you will see in the game today.
It is hard to predict the future in such a variable filled sport but these are my thoughts. What are yours?
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