Golf Power Rankings
For most PGA Tour pros, two victories and two other runner-up finishes make for a pretty nice career. For Tiger Woods, such results make for a pretty nice month.
Fact is, there are those who maintain that Tiger's 1-1-2-2 record in August was actually an underachievement, that considering his chances in the last two of those four tournaments, he should have swept 'em all.
It's unfair -- both to Woods and his talented group of fellow competitors -- to expect the game's No. 1-ranked player to triumph on every single occasion in which he tees it up. As any pro will contend, claiming a "W" is the most important thing, but you can't win if you're not in contention. Consider it a testament to Tiger's ability that without his A-game for much of the past month -- especially on the greens -- he's still been able to compile such lofty results.
And so it's no surprise that Woods tops this current edition of the Power Rankings in runaway fashion.
Before we get to the top 20, let's remember: This list is neither a rehash of the Official World Golf Ranking nor a reiteration of last week's final leaderboard. Instead, the Power Ranking serves to showcase the PGA Tour's best performers during recent events.
-- Jason Sobel
| 2009 Power Rankings: August | |||||
| RK | PLAYER | COMMENT | |||
 | 1 | No other player in the world could fare so well when putting so poorly. In what has become a disturbing trend throughout the season, Woods finished 45th in putts per round and 54th in putting average at Liberty National. | |||
 | 2 | It's nearing the end of Year 3 in Els' three-year plan to become the world's No. 1 player and while that won't happen, don't be surprised if the Big Easy -- who's finished eighth or better in four of his past six starts -- finds the winner's circle before the playoffs are over. | |||
 | 3 | Despite that final-hole missed putt to force extra holes on Sunday, he's a bulldog in the playoffs, having never finished worse than T-24 in nine all-time events. | |||
 | 4 | After a 50-week slump following last year's PGA Championship victory, Harrington has recently regained both his swing and his confidence, with two T-2 results in his past three starts. | |||
 | 5 | In his first start since shocking the world by coming from behind to defeat Woods at Hazeltine National, Yang posted a respectable T-20 finish at Liberty National and is a near lock to reach the Tour Championship. | |||
 | 6 | The 124th-ranked player in the FedEx Cup standings entering the playoffs, he was also an afterthought in the Power Ranking before proving to be a giant-killer at The Barclays. | |||
 | 7 | After suffering through a rib injury for the first six months of the season, Snedeker has heated up recently, with four top-five finishes in his past eight starts. | |||
 | 8 | With top-20 results in seven of his past eight starts, it's only a matter of time before the ultratalented Mahan earns his second PGA Tour victory. | |||
 | 9 | Technically, he's eligible for this list, as the Aussie earned his third Nationwide Tour victory of the year recently for an instant in-season promotion to the big leagues. In two starts at PGA Tour-sanctioned events -- the U.S. Open and PGA Championship -- he's 2-for-2 in making cuts. | |||
 | 10 | That win in Greensboro may have been overdue for the former amateur phenom, but it won't take another half-decade for Mr. No-Logo to claim his next win. | |||
 | 11 | He's now competed in an incredible 208 PGA Tour events without a win -- incredible, at least, for someone of his talent level -- but Allenby keeps plugging along with strong results each week. | |||
 | 12 | The good news: He's now played in the final pairing on the weekend in two big-time events in the past two months. The bad news: On each occasion, he was an afterthought upon the completion of the tournament. | |||
 | 13 | Is the endless summer coming to completion for the U.S. Open champion? Playing for a fourth straight week, he followed an opening-round 75 with a 10-over 81 to miss the cut by a mile at The Barclays. | |||
 | 14 | One of the PGA Tour's most consistent players, this two-time 2009 winner is fresh off playing four straight rounds with Woods in which they matched scores in the first three of 'em. | |||
 | 15 | Yes, the final leaderboard will forever list him in a share of 15th place at The Barclays, but without a 4-shot penalty for having an extra club in his bag in Round 3 -- 2 strokes for the two holes before he realized the error -- Furyk would have finished just a pair of shots off the pace. | |||
 | 16 | He followed his victory at Turnberry with a T-6 result at Firestone, but has looked purely pedestrian ever since, failing to post a sub-70 score in his last eight rounds. | |||
 | 17 | On the verge of missing the playoffs two weeks ago, he finished solo fourth in Greensboro, then raced to a share of the lead with an opening 65 at Liberty National before closing with underwhelming scores of 76-74-70. | |||
 | 18 | Don't look now, but the captain of the United States Presidents Cup team is making a late bid for consideration as one of his own extra picks. Freddie won't make such a controversial call, but he could do a lot worse than naming himself to the squad. | |||
 | 19 | One of the hottest players over the season's first three months, Watney posted a solid 4-under 67 on Sunday that vaulted him into a share of sixth place. | |||
 | 20 | Prior to taking his first of two extended absences for personal reasons in May, it was conceivable that Mickelson was the player of the year to that point. He hasn't shown the same level recently, but it's difficult to maintain this list without the game's No. 2 player. | |||
