Golf: Tiger Woods, despited limited schedule, racks up world ranking points

Along with wins, money and scoring average, another way to measure the strength of a golf season is total world ranking points. Tiger Woods won that category, too, but just barely over Henrik Stenson. A closer look reveals it wasn't really that close.

 

Woods earned 488.75 points this year, only 3.65 ahead of Stenson. Masters champion Adam Scott was third, more than 100 points behind.

 

The difference, though, is Woods played only 19 tournaments that awarded ranking points. Stenson played 31. Woods averaged 25.7 points for every event he played, compared with 15.6 for Stenson.

 

This is nothing new for Woods. He tends to play the toughest courses against the strongest fields. He also helps to make the field strong as the No. 1 player in the world. And while he doesn't play often, he plays well when he does tee it up.

 

"Most of my events I play have been on the more difficult venues and against the better fields," Woods said this month. "And now that we have not just the majors and The Players, but we also have the World Golf Championships ... and also the playoffs at the end of the year, you're getting the top players to play together more often. And I'm very proud of my overall record, especially in the bigger events."

• The PGA Tour already alters the pairings to create marquee groups for the opening two rounds. Now it's letting the fans get involved. In voting that will end Monday, fans can go to the tour's website (pgatour.com) to vote who should be paired with defending champion Dustin Johnson at Kapalua for the Tournament of Champions that starts Jan. 3 in Hawaii. The choices are Scott, Matt Kuchar and Brandt Snedeker.
• Darren Clarke has a three-year deal to be the pro and global ambassador at The Astbury in Shropshire, England. It's the first course designed by KK Downing, founding member of the heavy metal band Judas Priest. 
•  LPGA Tour regular Cristie Kerr became a mother Dec. 8. Kerr and husband Erik Stevens had Mason Kerr Stevens through surrogacy because of what she said were "personal medical complications precluding us from traditional pregnancy. We'd like to send out a special thanks to all the people who helped make this miracle happen."