Rory and Tiger out on their own
Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy on the range at Crooked Stick last week. Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods stand head and shoulders above the rest of the world this year.
With seven wins betweem them - four for McIlroy and three for Woods - they are the top-two points earners in the world rankings this term.
McIlroy’s US PGA win plus three PGA Tour wins - the Honda Classic and those back-to-back FedEx Cup play-off victories at the Deutsche Bank Championship and the BMW Championship - mean he has won 478.748 Official World Golf Ranking points in 2012
Considering a major win is worth 100 points, McIlroy’s lead of 93.412 over Woods is an indication of how he has dominated the sport this year.
Masters runner-up Louis Oosthuizen is third on the list of hot golfers this year, nearly 200 points behind McIlroy, with Graeme McDowell 14th and Padraig Harrington 42nd despite his rise from 85th to 57th in the world so far this season.
Of the top 300 players in the world, 2011 Open champion Darren Clarke has had one of the most disappointing years and is 274th after earning just 13.441 points, fewer than Peter Lawrie, Michael Hoey, Shane Lowry or Paul McGinley
Hottest players in 2012
This year (Actual rank) Points won
1 (1) Rory McIlroy 478.748
2 (2) Tiger Woods 385.336
3 (10) Louis Oosthuizen 298.797
4 (8) Bubba Watson 248.011
5 (3) Luke Donald 244.570
6 (9) Justin Rose 241.178
7 (4) Lee Westwood 238.233
8 (22) Ernie Els 221.667
9 (7) Jason Dufner 219.064
10 (16) Zach Johnson 209.771
—-
14 (14) Graeme McDowell 195.161
42 (57) Padraig Harrington 98.688
167 (172) Peter Lawrie 33.178
171 (120) Michael Hoey 33.020
175 (132) Shane Lowry 31.746
225 (274) Paul McGinley 24.011
274 (104) Darren Clarke 13.441