NASSAU, Bahamas -- Tiger Woods has steadily fallen in the Official World Golf Ranking since last playing a tournament in August of 2015, but he is set to pass about 150 players this week at the Hero World Challenge -- even if he doesn't beat anyone.
Such are the oddities of the ranking system that Woods, ranked 898th in the world, will move to roughly 750th even if he finishes last in the 18-player field at Albany Golf Club.
The tournament that began in 1999 and benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation is considered unofficial by the PGA Tour. That means a victory does not count on a player's record, nor is prize money added to an official total. There are also no FedEx Cup points distributed.
But in 2009, the tournament sought and received standing with the Official World Golf Ranking, which is administered by the European Tour and was founded by all the major organizations of the game.
In order to comply, however, the tournament had to agree to go from 16 players to 18 players and could not invite anyone not ranked in the top 50 in the world.
The event invites its defending champion, the four major winners and then goes in order of the World Ranking list to fill the field, with two sponsor exemptions. Woods' ranking created an issue in 2011 when for a time he slipped out of the top 50 but managed to stay within before the tournament deadline.
But last year it became clear as he played less and dealt with injuries that his ranking would fall outside of the top 50. It would be a bit odd if Woods were unable to play in his own tournament, so basically Woods sought and received an exemption.
"Given the fact that the Tiger Woods Foundation owns and runs the event, that Tiger hosts the event, that he's been critical to the success of the Tiger Woods Foundation and he's won the tournament five times, we felt the request was reasonable," said Ty Votaw, executive vice president of the PGA Tour, at the time. "After consulting with the Official World Golf Ranking people, we approved it."
Woods' agent, Mark Steinberg, said it would be detrimental to the tournament to not allow world ranking points and "for all the things Tiger means to the tour and what he means to his own foundation, I would think this was an easy request to accommodate. I don't think there is one player on the entire tour who would remotely have an issue with it."
Woods, who has been ranked No. 1 in the world longer than any other player, was 257th after his last start at the Wyndham Championship in 2015.
If he completes four rounds, he will likely get to about 750th, according to Ian Barker, a European Tour official who helps manage the world ranking. A 10th-place finish would mean around 550th, a fifth around 450th and a win 150th.
Last-place points are actually capped for a limited-field event such as the Hero, Barker said. The winner is projected to get 48 points based on a strong field that has no other player ranked worse than 38th.
For comparison, the 30-player Tour Championship awarded 58 points to winner Rory McIlroy. Defending champion Bubba Watson got 49 points here last year and 60 when he won the Northern Trust Open in February. Winners of major championships get 100 points.
"An improvement in average of 0.06 [ranking points] would have minimal impact in the higher reaches of the ranking, so the fact that Tiger would climb from 898 to around 750 is simply a measure of how low in the ranking he currently sits," Barker said.
Click here to view original web page at www.espn.com
