Stricker moving ahead of Mickelson isn't just an artifact of the ranking system's math, either. Stricker has earned it. Mickelson finished 2009 hot, but Stricker outplayed him over the course of the year.
In 2009, Stricker and Mickelson both had three PGA Tour wins. Mickelson later won the WGC HSBC Champions, a big win albeit one that didn't count as an official PGA Tour victory. Advantage to Mickelson.
But Stricker had more than twice as many Top 25 finishes as Phil (16 to 7), more Top 10s (11 to 7), won nearly $1 million more, and posted an actual scoring average more than one full stroke better than Mickelson's (69.51 to 70.83). In adjusted scoring - which takes into account course difficulty and strength of field - Stricker still easily bested Mickelson, ranking second to Phil's 28th.
And now Stricker has started 2010 with a 10th, a third and a win. While Mickelson opened the year with two indifferent showings on courses where he usually plays great.
Stricker is a couple weeks away from turning 43, and during the television broadcast one of the NBC announcers suggested Stricker might turn into another Vijay Singh - a victory machine in his 40s. Sure, that might happen, but let's not get carried away just yet.
It's more likely Stricker could turn into another Kenny Perry, who has 11 wins in his 40s. Stricker's Northern Trust Open victory was his fifth in his 40s. Vijay? He has 22.
Of course, Singh had a headstart on Stricker - he's four years and one day older than Stricker. But by the time Singh was the age Stricker is now, Vijay had already won 17 times in his 40s. It's asking a lot of any golfer - it will be asking a lot of Mickelson and of Tiger someday - to match Vijay's post-40 performance.
But any way you look at Stricker's play over the past 14 months, he deserves the No. 2 world ranking that he seized on Sunday.
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Comments
It a shame Stricker almost has to be defended for being 2nd in the world, when it was recently thrust upon Mickelson. The Golf Channel, “what if” rating is a bunch crap, pure whim and fiction. They about had people drinking the kool-aid, I hope it fades away now that it’s blatantly obvious who’s playing the best golf.