The Case for Lee Westwood

Hawaii looks like such a dump. I'm glad I'm not going.

Happy Holidays from LFTL! I hope all our readers enjoyed some time with their family and friends over the holidays.
Loopin' co-founder, Thomas, left on vacation assignment today to Hawaii. He plans to take in the practice rounds at the season opening Hyundai Tournament of Champions and hopes to somehow have a beer with Graeme McDowell in the process. I'm sure he'll have some stories (and hopefully pictures) when he returns.

Until then it's just you and me.

The Loopin' Number 1 is...

The one and only Graeme McDowell. 2010 US Open Champion and Ryder Cup hero. In a year where many players had break-out seasons he certainly separated himself from the pack with the drama he brought to the game through his clutch putting and enthusiasm.

The 2012 Ryder Cup

DL3 looking really exciting

JMO: look at that haircut!

In our short existence at Loopin', we were getting our highest readership numbers during the Ryder Cup. So you can understand why we might jump all over some news about the Ryder Cup. Although not confirmed yet, sources are saying that golf's biggest underachiever, Davis Love III and two-time Masters Champion Jose Maria Olazabal will captain their respective Ryder Cup Teams in 2012 at Medinah in Chi-town.

You're Fired!

Ok, so that's probably not exactly how it went. In fact, it kind of sounds like he quit, but Mike Weir and his caddie of 12 years Brennan Little have parted ways. Little is going to be caddying full-time for Sean O'Hair. This is a serious promotion for Brennan Little.

I love Weir as much as the next Canadian, but his best days are behind him. He turned 40 this year, he hasn't won since 2007 and because of an injury, Weir finished outside the top 125 on the money list in 2010 ($559,092). O'Hair, meanwhile, had an off year and still made nearly $2 million. In 2009, O'Hair made over $4M. Most importantly, O'Hair is only 28 and has a very bright future.

Given his injured arm, Weir could be playing a reduced schedule in 2010. This most certainly played in Little's decision to hand in his resignation. It is unknown how many events Weir will play and if his arm will allow him to play as many events in a row as he would like.

This is another change we'll see with the Weir camp in 2010. In October he announced that he would be reducing the role of his swing coach, believing that he only needed a "set of eyes" and not an instructor. This seems like a mistake to me. It's like saying a player doesn't need a caddy, just some random person to carry their bag. I imagine we'll see Weir working with a coach again before too long.

Weir's wedge game is still incredible, so he can still score when he gets it going. He's never been the longest hitter on tour and he's only falling further behind the rest of the field. I certainly hope that Weir finds the magic again and can bring home another win, or even a major. But as the years wear on this seems less and less likely.

-A.

Nummer Zwei

Ze KAYMA!!!!

The number two player on our Loopin' 10 List is Martin Kaymer.

It's easy to forget that Kaymer is only 25 years old. Because of this, some seem to overlook how impressive his win at the PGA Championship is. Hardly any first time major champions are as young as Kaymer. And this is hardly a one-off victory. Kaymer also finished in the top 10 at the US Open and The British Open. He also won three other European Tour events in 2010, bringing his total  European Tour wins to eight. This great season also won him The Race to Dubai and the crown of Europe's best player.

It's been mentioned a number of times that if the World Ranking was decided only using the past 12 months, Kaymer would be comfortably the #1 player in the world.

Tiger's statement round wasn't much of a statement

Maybe it was GMac's blue belt
that intimidated Tiger

When the final round of the Chevron World Challenge got under way at Sherwood Country Club, it looked like many golf tournaments from the last 13 years (save for 2010). Tiger Woods had a comfortable 4-shot lead and Sunday was merely a formality. However, this time, it was different for Tiger. It was going to be the week that Tiger made a statement. A statement on the course, not awkwardly from behind a podium. Tiger was supposed to use this as a spring board to launch his comeback for 2011.

And then he 3-putted twice in the opening holes. All of a sudden, we had a golf tournament.

Seriously?

Your 2010 PGA Tour Player of the Year

What a cool guy

Today it was announced that Jim Furyk was the winner of the PGA Tour's player of the year award. We have frequently beat up on Furyk because he's super boring and is a contender for worst looking guy on tour. Furyk did, however, have a great year. For the first time in a while, the POY award wasn't a forgone conclusion. With Furyk, Matt Kuchar, Phil, Dustin Johnson and Ernie all having a legitimate shot at it. Dustin Johnson would get my vote, and I thought he might get the sympathy vote from his fellow players. However, the smooth swinging Furyk claimed the title. The most unfortunate part about it is that in a year with low ratings, golf is seemingly in need of a new idol. They need someone to replace Tiger as the next great American golfer. This player needs to be athletic, cool, likeable and young. Jim Furyk is none of those things. In fact, most non-golf fans probably picture someone like Furyk when they think of a typical golfer. Furyk had a great year but he's not going to sell tickets and drive up TV ratings. Since this award is decided by the players themselves, there isn't really anyone to blame

-A.

Tiger Woods is a terrible host

Nice Goatee

This week Tiger invited some of the world's best to Sherwood Country Club in California for the Chevron World Challenge. Tiger thanked them all for coming by shooting an opening round 65 to lead the 18 man field by a single shot over the coolest two players in the field, Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy. McD and McI played together and both posted 66.

It's ironic that a guy that everyone has been focused on all year finally played a great, but in a tournament nobody cares about. The Chevron is a fun exhibition, which, controversially, will award world ranking points this week. It's controversial because the field is limited and it's likely that hardly anyone is grinding it out this week. With a win, Tiger could take over the World Number 1 ranking again. That is even more ridiculous than Lee Westwood becoming #1 while he was injured. Conveniently Lee Westwood isn't in the field this week. His name likely got taken off the list when he overtook the #1 ranking.

Martin Kaymer WD'd before the event started so that he could caddie for his girlfriend at the Ladies European Tour Q-School. I looked online for scores for about 40 seconds and couldn't find any. Last I saw, however, she wasn't doing very well. Kaymer probably isn't too pleased because he gave up guaranteed money at the Chevron (last place takes home 150 grand) so that he can watch her shoot in the 80s. Sounds like a super sweet time.

Speaking of last place, Anthony Kim shot a mind boggling 79 today.

Let's see if Tiger can finally put together 4 good rounds.

-A.

The Loopin' 10 #3!

The player in the third spot on our list had a bit of a strange year. On one hand he won twice and finished in the top 15 in the last three majors of the year. Quite the year for a 26 year old. On the other hand, his year will be remembered for a major meltdown on Sunday at the US Open and bogus ruling or drastic mental error on Sunday at the PGA Championship.

Obviously, we're talking about Dustin Johnson.