The OVS Golf League Sector 1

A couple of months ago, I wrote this, lamenting that the PGA refused to implement the one thing LIV got right, a complete distain for human rights team golf, but arguing that you could piece one together using, basically, sponsors.

My fear for this idea was that it might seem arbitrary, but since then Sports Illustrated gave the world the completely pointless SI World Golf Rankings (a true “Nobody: Nothing, Sports Illustrated: Here you go!” situation) and while OVS is SI’s equal in that we are both beacons of sports journalism, I’ve never released a swimsuit addition (yet) so I’ll give them the slight edge in prestige and say that if they aren’t above a pointless and unasked for ranking of professional golfers, neither am I.

After a bit of reflection, I have a few follow up notes to the introduction:

1. I would have liked something more sophisticated, but I’m going with FedEx Cup Points (from designated events only). SG, finishing position etc doesn’t properly reflect the binary nature of a missed cut, and while you could use money, cup points are just simpler.
2. While guys aren’t going to play in each designated event, that’s okay. Over the long term, skips should just about even out, and if guys can’t get in (lots of players weren’t in the Sentry, for instance), play better. No different than an MC from a tournament participant.
3. Insofar as this has a practical implication, it’s probably as a fantasy league. Find a group of 4 or 8 (if you don’t have 3 friends, make more friends) and everyone take a team or two.

With that out of the way, we are now 4 events into the Designated Event era, let’s check in on how the teams are doing:

First up we have Nike.

Team Nike
Player:Tournament	Sentry	WM	Genesis	API	Total:
Rory McIlroy	0	21	30	257	308
Scottie Scheffler	86	500	67	113	766
Tony Finau	86	52	46	36	220
Jason Day	0	110	78	71	259
				Team Total:	1553

After a slow start (Rory and J-Day didn’t play Kapa), Nike got a win from Scottie at the Waste Management, and a T2 at Bay Hill (which is neither on a bay nor contains any hills – it’s in Florida) from Rory (along with steadiness from Jason Day) for a total of 1556.606, a little less than 100 points per potential start, which seems good, but maybe isn’t because like any sane golf fan and/or person, I’ve never given one moment’s thought to how many FedEx Cup points per potential start is good. I guess we’ll find out.

Team Callaway
Player:Tournament	Sentry	WM	Genesis	API	Total:
Joh Rahm	550	190	550	13	1303
Xander Schauffele	0	67	22	13	102
Kevin Kisner	0	0	0	0	0
Sam Burns	28	88	0	0	116
				Team Total:	1521

Next up we have Team Callaway. They have Jon Rahm, who might be on the best run, non-Tiger division, that any of us can remember, who checked in with wins at the Sentry and Genesis, and a strong showing at WM. That’s great. Unfortunately for the Calabasas based squad, Kevin Kisner has made the same number of Designated Event cuts as I have, and they’ve gotten middle of the road showings from X and Burns, leaving them slightly below team Nike in the constructors championship, even with Rahm-god in their corner.

Team Titleist
Player:Tournament	Sentry	WM	Genesis	API	Total:
Justin Thomas	38	135	42	46	261
Will Zalatoris	71	0	140	6	217
Max Homa	170	16	315	55	556
Cameron Young	62	4	42	71	179
				Team Total:	1213

Okay at this point we can definitively say that the Nike number was quite good. Titleist is the third of the real power players here (Assign Merc, Ferari and Red Bull as you like – Callaway included only because Rahm is a nuclear weapon), and Nike is on top. Titleist was always going to be a power player, and that’s before Max Homa went from likable guy who goes on your favorite podcast to one of the best players in the world. Zalatoris missed the WM, and Cam Young got a number of FedEx Cup points I didn’t realize was possible while making the cut, though, so Titleist finds themselves in third thus far (okay I thought about it they’re definitely Merc.

Team Ping
Player:Tournament	Sentry	WM	Genesis	API	Total:
Viktor Hovland	52	11	42	71	176
Tyrrell Hatton	0	88	92	113	293
Keegan Bradley	25	43	0	71	139
Corey Conners	52	7	5	46	110
				Team Total:	718

Next up, Team Ping. Ping’s a great brand, I play a lot of Ping stuff and their clubs are prominent on tour. Unfortunately a lot of those Ping players have a different primary sponsor, and they lag well behind the top clubs. Hatton has gotten off to a pretty good start, but Hovland has struggled, and frankly they need big things from the Norwegian in order to compete.

Team Srixon
Player:Tournament	Sentry	WM	Genesis	API	Total:
Hideki Matsuyama	45	28	0	0	73
Shane Lowry	0	0	130	4	134
Sepp Straka	45	0	11	0	56
Andrew Putnam	0	0	0	22	22
				Team Total:	285

It’s been a tough scene for Srixon. Hideki and Shane are the hitters that they need to perform to have any chance to compete, and neither has gotten off to a great start. Sepp missing a couple cuts hasn’t helped, and the Putnam/Knox/NeSmith rota hasn’t done much (Putnam’s score was the one who was the most helpful).

Team Taylor Made
Player:Tournament	Sentry	WM	Genesis	API	Total:
Colin Morikawa	315	0	100	0	415
Tommy Fleetwood	0	0	42	5	47
Rick Fowler	0	67	42	28	137
Jordan Spieth	62	88	0	113	263
				Team Total:	862

The last of the equipment brands: Taylor Made, has had a strong midfield showing thus far, lagging a little bit behind the big 3 thanks to Morikawa’s very hot/very cold start, and the ringer they were allowed to take in Spieth. Richard Fowler has also gotten off to a promising start. If Fleetwood can find his game and Morikawa can find consistency, Team TM can compete.

Team MegaCorp
Player:Tournament	Sentry	WM	Genesis	API	Total:
Matt Fitzpatrick	86	28	0	55	169
Billy Horschel	30	21	0	0	51
Patrick Cantlay	56	0	200	113	369
Adam Scott	33	4	28	0	65
				Team Total:	654

Moving away from the manufacturer’s teams and into the silly portion, team MegaCorp has a strong roster that has struggled to find form. Fitzpatrick has been okay, but not quite playing up to what you would like from one of the top players in the world and Patrick Cantlay has actually been quite good, but Billy Ho has been lamenting a weak showing from both the Florida Gators and West Ham, and has possibly let that seep into his golf. Adam Scott was good in Severance but hasn’t really contributed a ton in designated events.

Team Korean MegaCorp
Player:Tournament	Sentry	WM	Genesis	API	Total:
Si Woo Kim	0	34	0	13	47
Sungjae Im	62	88	6	46	202
KH Lee	86	11	0	6	103
Tom Kim	110	7	11	22	150
				Team Total:	502

Lastly, we have Team CJ – AKA Korean MegaCorp. Well they’re actually not in last thanks to Srixon and I probably should have done this in order but I literally did the write up at the same time as the calculations and this is free so you get what you get. Tom Kim was the hottest golfer in the world last fall. He will need to get some of that back for the Koreans. Otherwise just a lot of mid.

So all in all, Nike and team Rahm have a healthy lead, with Titleist in striking distance and Taylor Made lurking at the top of the midfield. Srixon is gonna have to do a lot of digging not to get relegated (if there is relegation idk).

	Team	Points	Points Behind
1	Nike	1553
2	Callaway	1521	32
3	Titleist	1213	308
4	Taylor Made	862	351
5	Ping	718	144
6	MegaCorp	654	64
7	CJ	502	152
8	Srixon	285	217

And if you’re interested, the players:

Player	Points	R
Joh Rahm	1303	1
Scottie Scheffler	766	2
Max Homa	556	3
Colin Morikawa	415	4
Patrick Cantlay	369	5
Rory McIlroy	308	6
Tyrrell Hatton	293	7
Jordan Spieth	263	8
Justin Thomas	261	9
Jason Day	259	10
Tony Finau	220	11
Will Zalatoris	217	12
Sungjae Im	202	13
Cameron Young	179	14
Viktor Hovland	176	15
Matt Fitzpatrick	169	16
Tom Kim	150	17
Keegan Bradley	139	18
Rick Fowler	137	19
Shane Lowry	134	20
Sam Burns	116	21
Corey Conners	110	22
KH Lee	103	23
Xander Schauffele	102	24
Hideki Matsuyama	73	25
Adam Scott	65	26
Sepp Straka	56	27
Billy Horschel	51	28
Si Woo Kim	47	29
Tommy Fleetwood	47	30
Andrew Putnam	22	31
Kevin Kisner	0	32

It’s basically been a hobby for Kis at the DEs

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