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It Still is Tiger's Tour
Pre-season PGA Tour rankings: Golf World's top 30 for 2009
- #25 Ben Curtis
Age: 31 Joined PGA Tour: 2003
2008 PGA earnings: $2,615,798 (17)
World Rank: 24 PGA Tour wins: 3
Majors: 2003 British Open
Defining moment of '08: The PGA Championship. Five years after his British Open win Curtis contended at another major, taking the third-round lead at Oakland Hills before finishing T-2 behind Padraig Harrington.
Why he should rank higher: He has an outstanding disposition and knows how to stay in contention once he gets on the leader board. As with the other Ryder Cup rookies, the U.S. victory should give him a confidence boost.
Why he should rank lower: He doesn't shoot enough low scores to contend on a weekly basis. He's not a birdie guy (a birdie-conversion percentage of 26.21 percent, T-149 on tour) so he won't be a factor in many events where the winning score gets to around 15 under, which he'll need to climb much higher on the money list.
Top 2008 finishes: Wachovia Championship 2, PGA Championship T-2, Barclays T-4, Tour Championship 5, British Open T-7
- #26 Steve Stricker
Age: 41 Joined PGA Tour: 1994
2008 PGA earnings: $2,438,304 (23)
World Rank: 14 PGA Tour wins: 4
Majors: None
Defining moment of '08: His 18th-hole birdie in the Saturday afternoon four-ball match at the Ryder Cup, which some teammates called a decisive half-point in the U.S. victory.
Why he should rank higher: He won't win his third-straight comeback award, but he rebounded noticeably during the year. After missing four straight cuts before the U.S. Open, Stricker made every cut the rest of 2008, qualified for the Ryder Cup and finished 23rd on tour in earnings. It shows that predictions of his demise are premature.
Why he should rank lower: Or are they? His accuracy rank dropped from 49th to 97th to 178th since 2006 and his GIR rank went from 24th to T-55 to 127th. He needs to rely on his putting, but he fell to 84th in that stat after being in the top 10 for three straight years.
Top 2008 finishes: Mercedes-Benz Championship 2, Sony Open T-4, WGC-CA Championship T-6, British Open T-7, WGC-Accenture Match Play T-9
- #27 Sean O'Hair
Age: 26 Joined PGA Tour: 2005
2008 PGA earnings: $2,089,857 (35)
World Rank: 57 PGA Tour wins: 2
Majors: None
Defining moment of '08: Taking advantage of Stewart Cink's miscues in the final round at the PODS and winning his first tournament since 2005.
Why he should rank higher: He will take advantage of the absence of European players at rank-and-file events in 2009. A year ago many had him pegged in the same class as Camilo Villegas. If Camilo can close out tournaments, O'Hair has a chance to do the same.
Why he should rank lower: He seems fragile and comes unglued at crunch time as if he's not ready to win -- remember Cink lost the PODS as much as O'Hair won it. His final-round scoring was higher than the tour average, and he has yet to record a top-10 finish at any Big Eight event, squandering an opportunity at the Masters with a final-round 75 in 2008.
Top 2008 finishes: PODS Championship 1, Arnold Palmer Invitational T-3, RBC Canadian Open T-3, WGC-Bridgestone Invitational T-12, Masters T-14
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