# Westwood, Woods or Kaymer - Who is golf's real number one?



## Georgeallwell

Lawrence Donegan, writing about the Dubai Desert Classic, and the hype-fuelled, crowd-pleasing, three-ball of Martin Kaymer, Lee Westwood and Tiger Woods, claims,

…if Thursday’s three-ball will inevitably fall short of expectations it should still provide a fascinating snapshot of where golf’s balance of power lies, particularly in relation to Kaymer, who many people believe is the best player in the world…

Does he have the game, and the fortitude, to withstand the scrutiny? If he does the answer is yes, and if he can go on to win the tournament on Sunday, then not even Martin Kaymer will be able to deny that Martin Kaymer is the best golfer in the world.

Well, Martin Kaymer might not deny it, but I will. Winning the Dubai Desert Classic – even if you do spend the first two rounds with Westwood and Woods, playing in front of a huge golfing galleries, the focus of all the media attention and scrutiny – does not make you the best player in the world.


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## Doug Green

Well, this tournament is a chance for Tiger Woods to redeem himself and do his best to win. He hasn't won any tourney and I think he badly needs this one.


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## Big Hobbit

Georgeallwell said:


> Lawrence Donegan, writing about the Dubai Desert Classic, and the hype-fuelled, crowd-pleasing, three-ball of Martin Kaymer, Lee Westwood and Tiger Woods, claims,
> 
> …if Thursday’s three-ball will inevitably fall short of expectations it should still provide a fascinating snapshot of where golf’s balance of power lies, particularly in relation to Kaymer, who many people believe is the best player in the world…
> 
> Does he have the game, and the fortitude, to withstand the scrutiny? If he does the answer is yes, and if he can go on to win the tournament on Sunday, then not even Martin Kaymer will be able to deny that Martin Kaymer is the best golfer in the world.
> 
> Well, Martin Kaymer might not deny it, but I will. Winning the Dubai Desert Classic – even if you do spend the first two rounds with Westwood and Woods, playing in front of a huge golfing galleries, the focus of all the media attention and scrutiny – does not make you the best player in the world.


So what does make anyone the best player in the world?

I don't think a system that has someone who as world number 1 for almost two years, when he wasn't even playing, is the right measure.

Kaymer is European no.1 because he finished top of the pile last year, on top of which he won a major, the PGA Championship. He achieved that by playing golf. Westwood, the current world no.1, is Mister Consistency, and strangely enough he also achieved that by playing golf.

Tiger is currently a shadow of his former self, and I do hope he gets back to his best but at present he's not the best player in the world. Someone else has earned that position.

I'd like to see the period measured to be a lot shorter so that there isn't the farsical situation of someone being world number 1 for almost 2 years though not playing - might as well say Ben Hogan is still world number 1. And I'd like see a better points distribution between tournaments and tours. The current set up with more points for tournaments in the U.S. than on the other tours does seem a bit unfair/biased - although if Kaymer and Westwood got to the top of the pile playing mainly in Europe under those circumstances its an even bigger achievement.

As for which is the best tour? The US PGA tour has the greater strength in depth but look where the vast majority of Ryder Cups have gone in the last 20 yrs.


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