Golf Power Rankings
The Official World Golf Ranking crunches a variety of numbers for a 24-month period, tallying a player's results and measuring them against the strength of field. The effect is a dizzying array of divisors and decimal points, figures and fractions that place the world's best professionals in a list that ranks their current aptitude.
Meanwhile, my ESPN.com Power Ranking doesn't use any numbers I can't count on my fingers. Instead, it's based more on the eyeball test. To wit: Which players look like they are playing the best golf right now?
And you know what? The scientific method of the OWGR and unsystematic machinations of the Power Ranking have achieved the same results at the top -- for this week, at least.
Consider it a sign that either all is right in the golf world or nothing ever changes, as Tiger Woods checks in at No. 1 and Phil Mickelson follows at No. 2 in this edition of the Power Rankings.
-- Jason Sobel
| 2009 Power Rankings: April | |||||
| RK | PLAYER | COMMENT | |||
 | 1 | He looked great off the tee at the Match Play, looked great with his irons at Doral (on the weekend, at least) and looked great with the wedge and putter at Bay Hill. If he can put it all together at Augusta, it could be a runaway for his fifth green jacket. | |||
 | 2 | Poor Lefty. All he's done this year is win two tourneys -- including one with Tiger in the field -- and still can't hold the top spot on the list. But he's very close ... | |||
 | 3 | The thinking man's golfer tends to play his best golf against the best fields, as evidenced by victories at the Mercedes-Benz Championship and Match Play already this year. | |||
 | 4 | Consistency, thy name is Watney. After four years of truly inconsistent golf, the Buick Invitational winner has become a weekly presence on leaderboards. | |||
 | 5 | Is anyone still referring to the self-proclaimed ''normal guy from Iowa'' as a one-hit wonder? Three wins since the 2007 Masters should negate such a claim. | |||
 | 6 | At 48, all the old-timer has done this year is claim a victory at the FBR Open and lead the PGA Tour with five top-10 finishes so far. | |||
 | 7 | Nice to see the Goose back among the world's prominent players. On the heels of his Transitions Championship win, expect him to once again contend at the Masters. | |||
 | 8 | The final-round loss at the hands of TW might sting for a while, but with a solo second and three other top-10s this year, he's still playing some quality golf. | |||
 | 9 | Based on the strength of a win in Abu Dhabi and a runner-up at the Match Play, he's currently No. 2 behind Ogilvy on the European Tour money list. | |||
 | 10 | It's been all or nothing for Spiderman. In six starts, he has four finishes of 12th or better and two MCs. | |||
 | 11 | Here's guessing he wished Arnie hosted more events. After winning the Bob Hope Classic, PP took a share of fourth at Bay Hill. | |||
 | 12 | How's the wrist? Good question. After failing to play an event post-U.S. Open last year, he bowed out in a third-round match against Ernie Els in Tucson, only to come back with a T-20 result two weeks later at Doral. | |||
 | 13 | The 19-year-old has top-20 finishes in each of his first three U.S. events at the age of 19. And did I mention he's just 19 years old? | |||
 | 14 | Move over, Anthony Kim. The Pebble Beach champ has been the most consistent under-25 PGA Tour member so far this season. | |||
 | 15 | The good news? He's put himself into position to win three times this year. The bad news? He hasn't prevailed on any of those occasions. | |||
 | 16 | He's going to win. It's bound to happen. Can't get much closer than the two runner-up finishes Quigley pulled in a recent three-week span. | |||
 | 17 | After missing 10 cuts and finishing 110th on the money list a year ago, the Hoff is now 7-for-7 in made cuts this time around. | |||
 | 18 | Nobody is driving the ball better this season. It's only a matter of time until it translates into a first career win for this Aussie. | |||
 | 19 | No one has made more birdies than his 146 this season. He was 8-for-8 in cuts made before failing to reach the weekend at Bay Hill. | |||
 | 20 | Non-PGA Tour member stayed in the U.S. to play Bay Hill in hopes of reaching the Masters; the gamble paid off, as he barely snuck into the top 50 in the OWGR. | |||
