What's behind the rash of unexpected winners in 2011?
By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM Chief of Correspondents
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Mark Wilson was seamlessly multi-tasking, chatting with a reporter as he woofed down the last bite of a sandwich while hustling from the range to the first tee for his pro-am round at Bay Hill on this steamy Wednesday afternoon.
The first 11 weeks of the 2011 PGA TOUR season have brought an abundance of interesting new storylines, and Wilson -- the only two-time champion thus far -- just might be this year's poster boy.
But poster boy for what, exactly?
"For the unexpected?" the FedExCup points leader said, breaking out into a big grin. "Is that what you're trying to say?"
Well ... yes.
Wilson is one of 12 different winners on the PGA TOUR this year, and the lineup of champions has gone every way but according to chalk.
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Jonathan Byrd set the tone in the first week. He was ranked 121st in the Official World Golf Ranking prior to winning the season-opening Hyundai Tournament of Champions.
An unexpected win.
Wilson followed the next week with the first of his two wins, ranking 237th prior to claiming the Sony Open in Hawaii. Unexpected. Then Jhonattan Vegas followed by winning the Bob Hope Classic; the TOUR rookie was 187th in the world. Unexpected.
Extremely unexpected.
The trend continued last week when big-hitting Gary Woodland won the Transitions Championship; he was ranked 153rd going into the event. Raise your hand if you saw that one coming.
No doubt it leaves you wondering -- just which triple-digit ranked player will win this week's Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard?
Consider this: Thirteen tournament winners have been crowned -- and just three were ranked inside the top 90 in the world the week before their wins. Meanwhile, four were ranked outside the top 200 (click for chart).
Only one tournament winner thus far -- Luke Donald -- was ranked inside the top 30. Even then, Donald, ranked ninth when he won the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship, was ending a five-year victory drought. So the Englishman wasn't exactly top of mind among the favorites at that star-studded event.
The players you expect to claim the titles and the big checks have yet to surface. Tiger Woods' PGA TOUR victory drought has now stretched to 18 months as he works through his swing changes. Phil Mickelson is coming up on a year's anniversary since his last TOUR win at the Masters.
The top 13 players in the world right now has combined to make 62 TOUR starts this season, and have just one win to show for it (to be fair, they do have four wins in 46 starts on the European Tour).
Meanwhile, the names at the top of the FedExCup standings -- which reflect not only tournament wins but consistently high finishes -- are ones you're not used to seeing. Especially the guy at the top.
"It's like, OK, here's a guy who's been playing (the TOUR for a few years) ... but yeah, not the guy you expect to be leading the FedExCup points," Wilson said, smiling again. "(But) it gives other people hope. I think it's good for golf."
Last year's FedExCup winner, Jim Furyk, has yet to produce a top-10 finish in a full-field event this year. But for every Furyk, though, there is a Vegas, the Nationwide Tour grad who was waiting for his big break that came suddenly at the Bob Hope Classic. For every Woods, there is an Aaron Baddeley or Johnson Wagner waiting to resurrect his career.
"It's a hard sport," acknowledged D.A Points, who picked up his first win in a Cinderfella story while paired with Bill Murray at Pebble Beach in January. "And we are all good, but there's so many things that go into winning a golf tournament.
"To be honest, when I won Pebble, I didn't know that it was my time. I was out there grinding and doing my very best. I had some great things happen, I would hole a great wedge shot or holed a long putt and to win those things have to happen. I certainly did not hit every shot right where I was looking and perfect all week.
"I think now the reason why some guys are breaking through is just because we have put in our time and we have stayed with it and we have worked hard to try to get better and understand our game and our abilities. ... I feel like it's translated into better golf."
"It gives other people hope. I think it's good for golf."
-- Mark Wilson
And every time one of those players added his name to 2011's roster of champions, another one gained the confidence that he could also contend.
"It's like, 'Oh, if he can do it I can do better than that,'" Wilson said. "... We had Tiger's absence last year and what's the TOUR going to do? And I just hope this shows that there are other great golfers out here to follow, especially some of the young players. ... I think it's good for golf and good for the state of the game to show that there's always going to be other good players coming up."
Zach Johnson thinks there's simply more depth on TOUR than there's been in the past. And guys like Woodland, who played two sports in college, and Dustin Johnson bring an athleticism to the game.
"Rather than playing the typical high school sports and following up those paths, they're following golf and they're studs," Zach Johnson said. "There's more knowledge about the game, better fitness pertaining to the game. ... And they're just hungry."
Webb Simpson, who went to Wake Forest on an Arnold Palmer Scholarship, is one of those players who wants to keep up with the "Joneses" -- guys like Rickie Fowler and Dustin Johnson, his teammates on the 2007 Walker Cup team. And Simpson came ohsoclose last week but a bogey on the 72nd hole relegated the new dad to second.
"I think you look at each week and there are more and more young guys contending," Simpson said. "... I still think the dominating generation we've seen for the last 15 years, they're still playing well. But it's exciting to see some guys in their young 20s contend for some of these big tournaments."
What's it all mean, not only for this week at Bay Hill but for the rest of the 2011 season?
That's easy -- expect the unexpected.
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