Musings and Mulligans

Roy Lang III is The Times Assistant Sports Editor. He played golf at Centenary College. He has covered six major golf championships and also covered last year’s Ryder Cup. As an added bonus, both Hal Sutton and David Toms are on his speed-dial.

Thursday, July 20, 2006

US GOLF NEEDS DEPTH .. NOW

If you didn't believe the recent results in the Ryder Cup, take a look at the world rankings and the leaderboard at the British Open to see how the Americans have been engulfed at the top of the golf world. Tiger Woods is the lone American in the top six at Royal Liverpool. There are just four red, white and blue representatives in the top 19 (Woods, Jim Furyk, Ben Crane and Tom Lehman). Clearly, golfers from all over the world are finding success in men's golf.
A look at the World Rankings:
Members in top 20
Europe 8 (Garcia, Howell, Donald, Montgomerie, Olazabal, Stenson, Harrington, Clarke)
USA 5 (Woods, Mickelson, Furyk, Toms, Cambell)
South Africa 4 (Goosen, Els, Immelman, Clark)
Austraila 2 (Scott, Ogilvy)
Australia's Stuart Appleby and Nick O'Hern rank 21 and 22. The Americans have the top-notch superstars, but need several golfers to step up for some depth if the Ryder Cup will even be competitive.