Power Rankings: QBE Shootout

Golf’s global growth has countless benefits. But it can also present challenges, especially if you’re trying to compare players competing on all corners of the globe. Three years ago, the Official World Golf Ranking began an analysis to answer one question: What is the best way to compare performances from players who compete around the world but may never face each other? That was an easier task when the OWGR was unveiled in 1986 and included just six tours. More than 20 tours are now included in the ranking. This growth was one reason for the changes to the world ranking that were announced Wednesday. This new system was created to provide a more accurate ranking, one that eliminates biases that existed because of arbitrary values that had been used in the ranking’s calculation. Here’s 5 Things to Know about the new world ranking: 1. WHAT’S NEW: This isn’t the first update to the Official World Golf Ranking. In its 35 years, the system has been adjusted at least 17 times, according to Peter Dawson, the chairman of the OWGR’s Governing Board. Under the new world ranking, a field will be evaluated based on the skill of all players in the field. The old system focused primarily on players ranked in the top 200 of the world, with little regard for the skill level of the remainder of the field. Each player will now have a Strokes Gained World Rating based on his scores in stroke-play events over the past two years. A player’s SG World Rating will determine how many Performance Points he contributes to the field. The sum of Performance Points determines the tournament’s Field Rating, which determines the number of Ranking Points that will be distributed. Ranking points will be awarded to all players who make the cut in a similar distribution to the prize purse, i.e. 18% to the winner, 11% to second place, etc. The old system did not guarantee points to all players who made the cut, but the new one does. Other features of the world ranking, such as its two-year weighted average, and minimum and maximum divisors for individual players remain intact. 2. OUT WITH THE OLD: The Field Rating replaces the Strength of Field measurement, which focused primarily on the number of top-200 players in a field. Also gone are the arbitrary values that are used in the current iteration of the world ranking, like the minimum values that tournaments on each tour can award. The new world ranking is agnostic to tour affiliations and concerned only with the skill of the players in the field. “We’re using all players coming into a field to determine the strength of an event rather than a smaller subset,” said Steve Otto, the R&A’s Technical Director and member of the OWGR Technical Committee. “This … will eliminate the requirement to have artificial constraints on the field rating with a more transparent and robust system.” For example, events on the PGA TOUR and European Tour can award no fewer than 24 points to the winner, regardless of the quality of the field. Those minimum values are not part of the new system. There are no longer flagship events – a designation given to the highest profile event on a specific tour — which also had a floor on the minimum number of points they could award. The only exceptions are the four majors, which will continue to award 100 points to their winners, and THE PLAYERS Championship, whose champion will earn 80 points. 3. GAINING ON THEM: So, what is a player’s Strokes Gained World Rating? If it sounds like something Mark Broadie would create, it should, as he was instrumental in its development. Described most simply, a player’s SG World Rating is based on his actual scores in stroke-play events, which are then adjusted for the strength of field. Things get a little more complex when you consider it’s a statistical modelling calculation known as fixed effects regression that enables the scores to be standardized. With either description, SG World Rating allows for comparison of players across a myriad of tours, enabling a 67 shot in the first round of THE PLAYERS to be compared to a 64 shot on the final day of a Challenge Tour event in Kazakhstan. Each player’s SG World Rating will fluctuate according to his two-year record, with more recent scores receiving more emphasis. SG World Ratings are an excellent evaluator of skill and would have strong predictive ability, said Billy Schroder, the PGA TOUR’s Vice President, International Relations and member of the OWGR Technical Committee, but the world ranking believes a ranking should reflect “established golfing norms,” including recognizing the majors as the pinnacle of the sport, putting a premium on winning and awarding points to all players who make the cut. 4. WHEN: The new system will not take effect for another year, beginning with the ranking for the week that ends August 14, 2022. From that date forward, tournaments will award points based on the new system (no retroactive changes will be made to past points awarded). Because the Official World Golf Ranking is calculated over a two-year window, the OWGR will not entirely reflect the new system until August 2024. 5. THE IMPACT: The OWGR predicts that the top 10 in the world ranking will likely remain the same under this new system and the top 50, which fluctuates weekly, would feature just 2-5 new players. The fact that these players compete regularly against each other is the reason for the minimal impact.

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Day 3 of the Ryder Cup takes place Sunday at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin. Stars from the United States and Europe will battle it out in one of golf’s most treasured and historic competitions. Here’s everything you need to know to follow the action. NOTE: The PGA of America, which owns and operates the Ryder Cup, controls all digital streaming and broadcast rights to this event. For more information on how to watch this week, please visit The Ryder Cup website. PGA TOUR LIVE coverage will resume on Thursday, Sept. 30 at the Sanderson Farms Championship. HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Friday: 8 a.m.-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday: 8 a.m.-9 a.m. (Golf Channel), 9 a.m.-7 p.m. (NBC). Sunday: 12 p.m.-6 p.m. (NBC) Streaming: Featured Matches (TBD): on Peacock, RyderCup.com, and the Ryder Cup app. Radio: Friday-Saturday, 8 a.m.-7 p.m. ET. Sunday, noon-6 p.m. (SiriusXM 92) MUST READS U.S. on verge of historic win Preview Sunday Singles Day 2 Recap Five Things to Know: Whistling Straits How the Ryder Cup format works Writers’ Roundtable: Burning questions Will Viktor Hovland be Europe’s secret weapon?

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OVERVIEW What stands between Tommy Fleetwood winning for the first time on the PGA TOUR and becoming a bona fide star in 2019? Not much, and he seems to know it. There was Fleetwood, all by himself on the practice putting green, before the other 29 players had even shown their faces at the TOUR Championship at East Lake last season. There was Fleetwood, going 4-0 with partner Francesco Molinari at the Ryder Cup in France just a week later, leading the European rout. Oh, and don’t forget Fleetwood coming within a dimple or two of making birdie at the 18th hole at Shinnecock Hills, a birdie that would have given him a U.S. Open record 62 and tied him with eventual winner Brooks Koepka. (Fleetwood finished second.) Fleetwood, 27, stands on the precipice of stardom. He’s a four-time winner on the European Tour, has all the physical tools from driving to putting, and is fearless. Birdies? He makes a ton. In addition to his final-round 63 at the U.S. Open, he shot a third-round 62 at the BMW Championship at Aronimink. He had six top-10s in 19 starts and finished 19th in the FedExCup. Whether or not his terrific Ryder Cup performance fuels a bigger career leap remains to be seen; he finished T7 at the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions in his only TOUR start of the fall. — By Cameron Morfit Click here to see who else made the Top 30 list. BY THE NUMBERS FEDEXCUP UPDATE Current 2018-19 position: 82nd Playoff appearances: 1 TOUR Championship appearances: 1 Best FedExCup result: 19th in the 2017-18 season SHOTLINK FUN FACT Tommy Fleetwood led the PGA TOUR in Par 5 Birdie or Better Percentage last season at 56.32 percent (107 of 190). INSIDER INSIGHTS PGATOUR.COM’s Insiders offer their expert views on what to expect from Tommy Fleetwood in 2019. TOUR INSIDER: Fleetwood is one of those players who seems to be good at everything. His strength is probably driving, where he was 17th in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee last season, but it’s a hard call because he was inside the top 50 in every major Strokes Gained category. A rare disappointment was his final-round 73 and T12 at The Open Championship, his national Open. If Fleetwood can come up with the big shot in the big moment in 2019, the way he did alongside Molinari at the Ryder Cup, it won’t be long before he’s raising his first TOUR trophy. — By Cameron Morfit        FANTASY INSIDER: It’s rare when an international non-member transitions seamlessly onto the PGA TOUR and generates as much value as he did in just 19 starts in 2017-18. It’s rarer still that he’s done nothing to deter us from investing confidently in every format despite his relative inexperience in the United States. Yet, gamers must continue to respect the Englishman’s curtailed schedule due to obligations on his home circuit, but he’s the strongest talent with a TOUR card and without a TOUR victory. Go with the flow. — By Rob Bolton EQUIPMENT INSIDER: Fleetwood’s irons were the topic of arguably the most interesting equipment story of 2018. Former Nike staffer Fleetwood uses VR Pro Blade irons, but the issue is, it’s the last set of the irons he has. That’s obviously a problem, in case something happens to one of the irons. That being the case, he offered to buy fellow ex-Nike staffer Paul Casey’s VR Pro Blade irons … but Casey wouldn’t give them up. Fleetwood’s irons are still going strong, however. While Fleetwood uses a new TaylorMade M3 driver and a Titleist 917F2 3 wood, he still games a Nike Vapor Fly 5 wood (the one with the blue crown). He fills out his bag with Callaway Mack Daddy wedges and an Odyssey White Hot Pro #3 putter. — By Andrew Tursky STYLE INSIDER: Fleetwood is one of the players who is bringing a modern streetwear vibe to the course. Nike’s Roshe shoe is one of the brand’s most iconic streetwear models, and Fleetwood has fully embraced the golf-specific version of the shoe. Expect the Ryder Cup star to lace up the 2019 version of the Roshe G Tour with a cleated outsole and waterproof upper next year. — By Greg Monteforte

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