DieBruderschaft.com

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 doesnt 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 players 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 hes been critical to the success of the Tiger Woods Foundation and hes 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 dont 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. Larry Johnson Jersey . LOUIS -- Mike Smith is used to facing plenty of shots, so this was nothing new. Glen Rice Jersey . Three came down to the fourth quarter while quarterbacks continued to shine in all four games; so important to the overall quality of the game. https://www.hornetslockerroom.com/Muggsy-Bogues-City-Edition-Jersey/ . -- Jimmy Walkers first PGA Tour trophy came with a special gift tucked inside. Caleb Martin Jersey . But the quarterback hopes to stay involved in football after officially calling it quits Tuesday. "Id love to look at those opportunities as they arise," Pierce said in an interview from his Winnipeg eatery. Devonte Graham Jersey . Defencemen Drew Doughty, Shea Weber and forward Ryan Getzlaf also scored for the Canadians, who started their gold-medal defence 2-0. Goalie Roberto Luongo, getting the call in place of Game 1 starter Carey Price, was solid when needed in making 23 saves for the shutout. Nobody does postseasons better than Madison Bumgarner, but Mets ace Noah Syndergaard is certainly no slouch. With two of the premier pitchers in baseball dueling, Wednesdays NL wild-card showdown (8 p.m. ET on ESPN/Watch ESPN) could be one for the ages.Go inside the numbers and matchups that will decide Wednesday nights game, then vote on which team will win at the bottom of the page.Inside the pitching matchupWhen Bumgarner?is on the mound:?One thing we know about Bumgarner is that hell be unflappable on the mound at Citi Field. He owns a 0.60 ERA on the road in his postseason career while appearing in seven games. Remarkably, the Giants won all seven of those games.Bumgarner is essentially the same pitcher he was back when he dominated the 2014 postseason. He throws his four-seamer up in the zone, usually middle-in to right-handed batters, though it wasnt quite as effective this year as in the past. Back in 2014, batters had a .275 wOBA against it; this year, it was .323, with a swing-and-miss rate that dropped from 27.6 percent in 2014 to 22.4 percent in 2016. Bumgarners average velocity on the pitch dropped from 92.0 mph to 90.8.His cutter/slider -- Bumgarner calls it a cutter -- remains a deadly weapon, as batters hit .221 against it and have trouble elevating it. What makes it so effective in part is that Bumgarner manipulates the speed on it, throwing it from 85 to 89 mph. Bumgarners third pitch is a curveball that he throws about 15 percent of the time, about equally to lefties and righties, often with two strikes, and hell bury it at the knees or below. Batters hit just .130 against it, with a strikeout rate of 51.6 percent.If theres one worry, its that Bumgarner struggled a bit down the stretch, unlike in 2014, when he was red hot. In his final nine starts this season, he posted a 4.66 ERA and allowed eight home runs. -- David SchoenfieldWhen Syndergaard?is on the mound: Syndergaard stormed out of the gate in April, allowing two runs in his first three starts, and his ERA remained under 1.00 as late as mid-June. Terry Collins was pretty conservative in his usage of Syndergaard, who pitched more than seven innings just three times and 43 fewer innings than Bumgarner.Syndergaards game revolves around his high-octane fastball, which averaged 97.9 mph, the highest velocity by any starter in the majors (1.9 mph faster than Yordano Venturas). He throws it about 60 percent of the time with command, on the outer half of the plate to left-handers and the outer half of the plate to righties. The fastball itself isnt all that unhittable -- batters hit .283/.327/.411 against it, and Bumgarner had a higher swing-and-miss rate with his fastball -- but it helps set up Syndergaards slider. That pitch had the third-highest swing-and-miss rate of any starters slider (behind only those of Jose Fernandez and Max Scherzer), and batters hit .167 against it with one home run in 180 at-bats ending with the pitch (Corey Seager was the hitter).Syndergaard throws the slider about 21 percent of the time ((he threw it only 2 percent of the time last year) while also mixing in a curveball and a changeup, which he throws primarily to lefties.dddddddddddd. Syndergaard had a small platoon split, with lefties hitting .262/.324/.389 against him versus .228/.258/.322, and the Giants can roll out a lineup with six left-handed batters. -- SchoenfieldPlayer in the spotlightAsdrubal Cabrera has been one of the hottest hitters in the majors since his return from the DL on Aug. 21, hitting .343/.410/.650 with 10 home runs and 28 RBIs. Almost all of that damage came against right-handed pitchers, however, as the switch-hitter had just 18 PAs against southpaws in that stretch. With much of the Mets power coming from the left side (Curtis Granderson, Jay Bruce, Lucas Duda), Cabrera and Yoenis Cespedes might be relied upon to do the damage.?-- SchoenfieldWhat will decide the game?How the Mets handle MadBums best stuff:?Bumgarner is well known for his nasty fastball/slider combo. He throws those two pitches 81 percent of the time to right-handed hitters. That plays into the hands of two of the Mets most prominent hitters, who had great numbers against those two pitches from lefties -- Asdrubal Cabrera (.375 BA, five doubles, two HR in 80 at-bats ending with those pitches) and Yoenis Cespedes (.370 BA, five doubles, five HR in 54 at-bats). Cespedes had the fourth-highest OPS (1.081) of anyone with at least 100 plate appearances against lefties this season. -- Mark Simon,?ESPN Stats & InfoChoosing sides: Who will win?Sure, the Mets have a challenge facing Bumgarner. But they have a tested answer in Syndergaard, who finished the regular season with a better ERA than Bumgarners (2.60 vs. 2.74) and earned the Mets lone win in last years World Series. And lets not forget the decided advantage the Mets have in their bullpen if they can get Bumgarners pitch count up. Mets closer Jeurys Familia set a franchise record with 51 regular-season saves, while the Giants nearly had that number of blown saves. Whats more, the Mets enter the postseason as one of MLBs hottest teams. Their 27-13 record is the best in the majors since Aug. 20. -- Adam RubinI wont even resort to the even-year argument. Lets stick with the more tangible facts, such as Bumgarners 2.14 ERA in almost 90 postseason innings. The Giants offense is built for contact, which should help against Syndergaard. The Giants bullpen isnt as bad as it appeared. It was left exposed because of a September batting slump. That ends now.?-- Mark SaxonWhere the series standsUnlike last year, the Mets have one ace to ride this postseason, and theyre rolling him out here. You know what Bruce Bochy is hoping for: a complete game, similar to the one Bumgarner delivered in the 2014 wild-card game against the Pirates. After a rough finish for the Giants bullpen, you get the feeling Bochy will live or die with Bumgarner in this one. --?Schoenfield ' ' '