Fact or Fiction: Is anyone hotter than Els?
Originally Published: March 17, 2005
ESPN.com/Golf Digest
FACT: With a win at this week's Bay Hill Invitational, Ernie Els can once again take the No. 1 ranking.
FICTION: With two wins in his last two starts, Els is the favorite at Bay Hill.
That honor goes, once again, to Tiger Woods. The current No. 1 has won Arnie's event four times in the past five years. He might need to do so again in order to keep the top spot. With that in mind, it's time to play Fact or Fiction.
Els
• Ernie Els is enjoying a better season than Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson.
Bob Harig, contributor, ESPN.com: FICTION. Els is having a great year, with no finishes outside of the top six in six worldwide appearances. But his victories in Dubai and Qatar on the European Tour are not of the same quality as Woods' wins at the Buick Invitational and Ford Championship at Doral. Nor are they as impressive as Mickelson's wins at the FBR Open and Pebble Beach. The strength of the fields on the PGA Tour is simply too great to put Els' feats ahead.
Ron Sirak, executive editor, Golf World magazine: FICTION. The Dubai Desert Classic and the Qatar Masters are not Torrey Pines, Phoenix, Pebble Beach and Doral, where Tiger and Lefty have won. Sorry, Ernie, all you are proving over there is that you have a great sand game.
Jason Sobel, golf editor, ESPN.com: FACT. Sure, he won against inferior fields in Dubai and Qatar, but the point is, he won. It's hard to stay at the top of your game for so long -- especially playing an international schedule as Els does -- but he has played in six tournaments this season and finished sixth or better in each of them. Neither Tiger nor Phil can make that claim.
Woods
• The current streak of top-20 players winning tournaments will continue through the Masters.
Sobel: FACT. Let's see ... we'll go with Tiger at Bay Hill ... maybeVijay Singh at The Players ... Stewart Cink at the BellSouth ... and either Woods, Els or Mickelson at the Masters ... yup, they're all top-20 players; guess the trend will continue.
Harig: FICTION. The law of averages says it simply can't last. The run of winners we have seen so far in 2005 has been great for golf but is not normal. At the very least, you would expect someone out of the norm to emerge at the BellSouth Classic outside of Atlanta, as Zach Johnson did last year.
Sirak: FACT. Bay Hill is a difficult course that will produce a good winner and TPC at Sawgrass is an awesome venue and the Players Championship always has one of the best fields all year. There is the matter of the BellSouth stuck in before the Masters, but enough of the foreign players trying to get ready for Augusta National will be there to assure another top-20 winner.
Ogilvie
• Joe Ogilvie has more potential than Geoff Ogilvy.
Harig: FICTION. Ogilvie, who lost in a playoff at the Honda Classic on Sunday, has yet to win on the PGA Tour, while Ogilvy, of Australia, captured his first title three weeks ago in Tucson. While Ogilvie, an American, does have four Nationwide Tour victories, including two in 2003, Ogilvy has been inside the top 100 on the PGA Tour money list for the past four years and is headed there again.
Sobel: FICTION. Ogilvie's been putting out of his mind lately, but we'll take the guy with Scottish royalty in his ancestry (Ogilvy) over the one with Warren Buffett on speed dial (Ogilvie). A noted stock-watcher, Ogilvie might have a portfolio with more potential, but Ogilvy led the tour in its All-Around statistical category last year. You don't do that without having some game.
Sirak: FICTION. Actually, neither of them can turn on a fastball as well as Ben Oglivie, who played outfield for the Milwaukee Brewers and the Detroit Tigers. Nor can they carry the pigskin the way Major Ogilvie did for Alabama's 1978 national championship team. Joe probably does know the stock market better than the other "v-i-e" guys, but Geoff probably understands why Australian Rules football referees dress so well.
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