Golf

SportsGrid’s Top Ranked Golfer Is Phil Mickelson. Wait…What?

On the surface, it makes perfect sense: a famous golfer, barely a month removed from winning arguably his sport’s most prestigious tournament and possibly soon to be the world’s top-ranked player, comes in at #1 in a power ranking of golfers. But let’s face it: you weren’t expecting Phil Mickelson to take the top spot in our initial Power Grid golfer rankings. (Neither were we, for the record.) But thanks to a #1 showing in our Rotowire-fueled Performance Value Rating category, and strong ratings across the board, he did just that.

So what about the guy you probably thought you’d see at #1? Well, as you can see, Padraig Harrington still clocked in at #5, so…oh, OK, fine, yes, we all thought Tiger would be #1. And if not for his long time away from the game, he probably would be. But the layoff, and the ensuing rust on his skills, dropped him to #5 in the PVR standings. Tiger did, however, score laughably lopsided wins in all buzz metrics (ex. almost 20 times the blog buzz results of Mickelson, his nearest competitor in the category – Tiger’s Power Grid equivalent of his 15-shot win at the 2000 U.S. Open).

But ultimately, substance won the day (with just enough hype mixed in – Mickelson placed #2 in all of our buzz metrics). Of course, as Tiger rounds back into form, he’ll inevitably move back up the PVR standings and make our list look more predictable. But that’s down the road, so for now, well done, Phil – you’ve earned yourself some Five Guys.