Question of the Month: Annika or Tiger?
We're upping the ante once more: you can win a free dozen golf balls of your choice. That's right, ProV1, Nike One Platinum, ... you name it. Just give us the best answer to September's Question of the Month:
Who had the better or more impressive year, Annika or Tiger, and why?
As of today, here are their victories this year: Annika: 2 Majors, 4 LPGA victories, 1 non-LPGA victory; Tiger: 2 Majors, 3 PGA victories. But you can tell us what should be the most important criteria for The Golfer of the Year thus far in your comment (including whether you think the upcoming play at the Solheim Cup and President's Cup is even relevant). And you've got to pick one, Annika or Tiger -- you can't call it a draw (or fade!).
Rules
1. Only 1 entry per person under the following stipulations: Enter by posting "comment" to this entry. Each commenter who posts before Sept. 25 gets the chance to post a 2nd comment after the conclusion of the President's Cup on Sept. 25, 2005. The 2nd comment is limited to "updating" your earlier post to consider any golf play this month, including Annika's play in the Solheim Cup and Tiger's in the President's Cup. If you post for the 1st time after Sept. 25, 2005, you only get 1 comment.
2. Everyone can post a “comment” to answer this month’s Question, but if you’d like a chance at the prize you must use a username when you comment so we can identify you later on. Selecting a username on Blogger takes a minute, is very easy, and doesn’t have to be your real name.
3. In a tie, a good comment posted earlier in time will beat the same comment posted by someone else later.
13 Comments:
Tiger Woods has 5 total victories out of 17 starts this year, a win percentage of 29%. Annika has 7 total wins out of just 14 starts, a win percentage of 50%.
She won half the tournaments she entered this year. Tiger won less than a third of his.
Considering that Annika has more wins from fewer starts, and that they're tied at two majors, I'd say that this year, at least, Annika has clearly had the better year.
I really wanted to side with Tiger on this one just to provide a answer different than what most people will say, but in this case, there isn't even an argument.
Annika has dominated her tour unlike any other player on any other tour. She has 150% of the earnings of the next player on the LPGA. She has a better winning percentage as stated previously, and it can hardly be argued that the competition on the LPGA is any less fierce than the PGA Tour.
In addition, she has won a tournament outside of her tour (Tiger has not), and has not missed a cut. In fact, she has never finished outside a top 25 in her 13 starts on the LPGA Tour, and has finished in the top 10 in 10 of those tournaments. Tiger has 11 top tens out of his 17 starts, and finished out of the top 25 in the Players Championship.
While both players are ranked first in their respective tours in scoring average, Tiger has shot in the 60s 30 times out of 60, while Annika has shot in the 60s 29 out of 46 times.
Both players have had their bad rounds, shooting 75 or over 3 times, but Annika has shown her strength with the flat stick, ranking first on her tour while Tiger ranks 13th. Annika also sits at first in GIR, while Tiger ranks 5th, and while it doesn't seem to mean much these days on the PGA Tour, Annika also dominates in total driving.
So what clinches the deal as the most impressive year? It can not be majors, since each has two, so you have to go to total wins. Tiger has finished 2nd 3 times, but those were comebacks from poor first rounds, so you have to give the better year to Annika with more wins in fewer starts, despite whatever happens at the Solheim Cup or President's Cup.
I go with Tiger. Both have two wins in Majors, but Tiger also as a 2nd and a T4, both 2 strokes back, while Anika has a T23 9 back and a T5 7 back.
We might overlook Anika's weaker performance in the Majors, if not for an embarassing fact. There is a 15 year old that Anika has had trouble finishing ahead of. She did fine the first 3 times they met, but could only manage a tie at T23 the fourth time, and actually finished behind the 15 year old the next 2 times--including the 4th Major of the year.
But what clinches the argument against Anika is this. In the US Open when Anika wound up tied with a 15 year old and lost her chance for the grand slam--the big news to come out of the tournament was not how badly Anika played to wind up tied with a 15 year old, but rather how badly the 15 year old played to wind up tied with Anika.
Tiger totally dominated 15 year olds the last time he competed against any 15 year olds, and I am sure he would have dominated this particular 15 year old if he had played in any of the tournaments in which she played. If Anika cannot do the same, she is not the golfer of the year.
Annika has had the better year and for one very good reason. She looks better in shorts. I saw Tiger playing in the Tavistock Cup on The Golf Channel and I have to say Annika looks better, just barely, but better.
Of course going by these standards I would have to pick Natalie Gulbis as player of the year on all tours after watching her play in the Solheim Cup. Did you notice the short skirt she was wearing, holy schmoly. But I digress, I give it to Annika over Tiger.
Mattb
golftimes.blogspot.com
One word is the deciding factor for me in my choice of who has had the best year: Excitement!
Tiger's victories were exciting, historic golf to be certain. His dual with Mickelson at Doral: Driving 342 yard greens on the fly. Hitting a 3 wood 300 yards to eagle. His chip on 16 at Augusta will go down as one of the most historic shots in golf. His total domination of the field in the Open Championship. Not to mention his very impressive showings at the other 2 majors. When he missed the cut at the Byron Nelson, we were on the edge of our seat. When it had appeared Tiger's competition had caught up and even surpassed him, he stormed back with a vengence. I am afraid the competition on the PGA is at a higher level.
Annika IS the most dominating golfer in the world for her given tour, but is the brand of golf she plays memorable? It's solid. It's straight down the fairway. But will you remember any of these wins she had even a year or two from now? (Do you remember any of them RIGHT NOW?) She is a fairway-splitting machine, but it unfortunately makes for a dull broadcast. She also has yet to have any rivals truely emerge on the LPGA. Just when the likes of Grace Park, Karrie Webb, or Se Ri Pak appear to be making things interesting, they fall by the wayside. Without a solid rival, unfortunately, Annika's great accomplishments will go largely unnoticed.
Tiger's victories were EXCITING. I will remember them for years to come. As much as I like to watch the LPGA, the level of competition just isn't the same.
Edge: Tiger. (Sorry Annika.)
The question is who has had the most impressive or better year. Its not who has had the most exciting year or who looks better on the course. Both Annika and Tiger have had great years but if you spend the time to go over the statistics and have followed both the PGA and LPGA tours this year, it’s really not that close of a call. As of Sept 23rd, Annika has 5 LPGA wins, 2 majors and 1 Ladies European Tour win, a total of 8 wins. Tiger has 3 PGA Tour wins and 2 majors, a total of 5 wins. Annika had more wins 8 starts into the season than Tiger has had all year. In addition, Annika has had fewer starts, 15 to Tiger’s 18. Annika’s 4 worst finishes of the year are T5, T5, T12 and T23. Only twice this year has she finished outside the top 5. Tiger’s 4 worst finishes are T23, T40, T53 and of course CUT. Tiger has finished outside the top 5 seven times.
When you look at the statistics they both lead their respective tours in scoring average and money earned. But if you look at the numbers by how much of a lead both have as a percentage over the player in 2nd, excluding those players who have played only 1 event, Annika is running away from the field. For scoring average, she leads 2nd place by 1.32 strokes PER ROUND. Tiger leads 2nd place by .29 strokes per round. Let’s think about that for a second…. If every player could somehow shoot their exact scoring average for a 4 round tournament, Annika would win by 5.28 strokes while Tiger would win by 1.16 strokes. Think of it another way, Annika could give the entire field a stroke each and every round and would still win by a larger margin than Tiger. On the money list, Annika is currently 32% ahead of 2nd place while Tiger is 12% ahead of 2nd. Other stats include GIR, Annika 1st, Tiger 5th, sand saves, Annika 3rd, Tiger 23rd, putting Annika 19th, Tiger 18th, driving distance, Annika 3rd, Tiger 2nd, driving accuracy, Annika 16th, Tiger 180th.
Sorenstam has always finished the year strong. Last year after winning the McDonalds LPGA Championship, Annika went through a 4 tourney drought before winning the John Q. Hammons Hotel Classic. That was the start of 4 wins in the last 6 events. This year she was winless in 5 LPGA events after the McDonalds win, a streak that was once again snapped at the Hammons Hotel Classic. She now has a chance to defend 3 more times through the remainder of the year. Tiger on the other hand averages about 1 win a year from late September on. His only defense for the remainder of this year will be at the Target World Challenge, an unofficial event that he hosts.
A serious comparison of the numbers for both players shows that Annika Sorenstam, while maybe not as flashy and dramatic, is clearly having a better, more impressive year than Tiger Woods, just as she has had every year since Tigers amazing run in 2000.
One final suggestion to Mattb who thinks “Annka looks better, just barely”, three words, “corrective lasik surgery”.
It was a pretty tight race there for a while and trying to figure out the right criteria for this epic battle was tough, so I reverted to the basics. In my opinion golf at its basic form is all about consistency. If you are consistent you will play well and win. If you're not, even though you are an amazing player and have all the shots, you will miss opportunities and eventually lose.
The real validation that Annika had a better year than Tiger came this month at the cups (Solheim and President's). While the European team lost, Annika had a 4-1 record for the week. While the US team won, Tiger did not contribute as you would expect from the number 1 player in the world and lost his first Singles match in cup history for a mediocre 2-2-1 week. The last two rounds were the most brutal for Tiger. He should thank Jim Furyk for making about a million birdies on Saturday to win their match. Tiger's scorecard looked like a lover letter to Elin with all those X's on it. Sunday was also a pretty poor effort, especially with the short game. Let's see how that works - Driver (300+ yards) in the fairway (half the time), Wedge over the green, Lose hole.
So Annika is 1 up.
I was going to factor in the majors, but since they both won 2 this year that pretty much cancels them out. Tiger had the slight edge with great play in the 2 he did not win, but we go back to the consistency drawing board when we want to know the reason (was he last in putting at the US Open or second to last?). And the fact that he left the PGA Sunday night is an automatic points deduction.
So they halve the majors and Annika is still 1 up.
Then to add insult to injury, Annika goes out and wins half the tournaments she is entered in on the LPGA Tour. HALF! And she also won the Scandinavian TPC which brings her to 8 wins so far this year. Now I will state the obvious (again) and say that Annika is probably the most under-rated athlete of our time. I can't think of anyone in the modern era (Byron Nelson might have had a better winning percentage when he won all those tournaments (17?) in one season, but that just does not compare) who has had a 50% winning ratio in a year. This in a year when young challengers have been nipping at her heels and Paula Creamer has been creaming the LPGA Tour. If the LPGA had PGA money Annika would actually get paid in accordance to her play. But instead she has to settle for much, much less.
So by my count Annika is now 2 up.
So it all boils down to consistency. Annika is solid in every aspect of the game. Tiger is wild and loose. Annika will put it in the fairway, knock it on and drain the putt. Tiger will hit it a mile in an unknown direction, chop it out of the spinach (usually on the green) but will then miss the putt (and of course he'll get that bewildered look on his face as if to say "how did that not go in???").
Result: Annika wins it 2 up. In my opinion, this was not even a close call.
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