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Tiger Woods : The Top 10 Male Golfers in 2008
The rankings of these golfers are determined by the ranking points they have obtained through tournaments such as the PGA Tour, European Tour and the World Golf Championships. This article explores the top 10 male golfers in 2008, and see how they bring the game to a whole new level.
#1: Tiger Woods. If you have not heard of him, you are probably from the planet Mars. Born in 1975, December 30, he is one of the highest-paid professional athlete around, with an estimated worth of 0 million. To date, he has won 14 major golf championships and is also the youngest player to win 50 tournaments on tour. Woods is married to Elin Nordegren, a Swedish model and they are expecting their second child.
#2: Sergio Garcia. He is a Spanish professional golfer and reached his current ranking after winning the HSBC Champions tournament in November 2008. His father taught him how to play golf at the tender age of 3. Sergio turned professional in 1999 and came under the spotlight when he fought Tiger in the 1999 PGA Championship and finished second. Look out for this guy.
#3: Philip Alfred Mickelson. For many years Mickelson was often described as the “best golfer never to win a major.” Born in San Diego, he won his first PGA Tour tournament in 1991. He is the second-highest paid athlete in the world, behind Tiger Woods. He earned million and million in 2006 and 2007 respectively. In 1990, he became the first left-hander to win the U.S. Amateur title.
#4: Padraig Harrington. After a successful amateur career, including winning the Walker Cup with the Great Britain & Ireland team in 1995, Harrington turned professional later that year, joining the European Tour in 1996. Married with 2 sons, Harrington is currently the number one player in Europe.
#5: Vijay Singh. He turned professional in 1982 and won the Malaysian PGA Championship in 1984. He has won three major championships (The Masters in 2000 and the PGA Championship in 1998 and 2004) and was the leading PGA Tour money winner in 2003 and 2004. In 2003, he netted a total of .5 million in winnings, beating Tiger Woods by almost a million dollars. Vijay is married to Ardena Seth and they have a son.
#6: Robert Karlsson. He was born in Katrineholm, Sweden. He turned professional in 1989. What began as a humble start had him darting to the top. Karlsson’s second victory of 2006 at the Deutsche Bank Players Championship of Europe in July helped him reach the top 50 of the Official World Golf Rankings and in 2008 he entered the top 25. His win at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship took him to number 8 in October 2008.
#7: Camilo Villegas. He began playing on the PGA Tour in 2004 and earned his PGA Tour card just prior to the 2006 season. Camilo won his first PGA Tour title in September 2008, winning the BMW Championship by two shots over Dudley Hart. He then beat Sergio García in a playoff in The Tour Championship which took him to his current ranking.
#8: Henrik Stenson. Henrik turned professional in 1999 and the following year topped the money rankings on the second tier golf tour in Europe, the Challenge Tour. In February 2007, he reached number eight in the rankings following his victory at the Dubai Desert Classic and became the highest ranked European golfer for the first time. He is married to Emma Lofgren and they have a daughter.
#9: Ernie Els. He was a former world number 1 and has been one of the top professional players in the world since the mid-1990s. His best year is probably 2002 where he won the Heineken Classic at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club. Then outplayed World Number one Tiger Woods to lift the Genuity Championship title. Els overcame a four man playoff to take home the famed Claret Jug for the first time. He also took home his fourth World Match Play title, along with his third Nedbank Challenge in the last four years dominating a world class field winning by 8 shots. Ernie Els holds the record for most weeks in the World Top 10, with 756.
#10: Lee John Westwood. He won his first professional tournament, the Volvo Scandinavian Masters in 1996, then closely followed by the Sumitomo VISA Taiheiyo Masters in Japan. He is one of the few golfers who has won tournaments on every continent. His best ranking stood at number 4. Married to Laurae Coltart, they have 2 children.
Look out for my other article on “The Top 10 Female Golfers in 2008″ as well. That’s all folks!
