Wales Open heralds start of European Ryder Cup race

(Reuters) - The year-long quest to win a place in Europe's 2014 Ryder Cup team starts at this week's Wales Open and captain Paul McGinley cannot wait for the qualifying process to begin.

"This is another significant milestone in my captaincy and it is going to be an exciting campaign to see who can make the team for Gleneagles next year," McGinley told the tour website (www.europeantour.com) on Monday.

"There are so many talented players who have the potential to make the team and it will be very interesting for me to watch it evolve."

 Irishman McGinley, who was appointed skipper in January, will compete this week as he keeps an eye on the early contenders for a place in his team for the biennial clash against the United States in Scotland.

 Italy's Francesco Molinari is the only member of the triumphant side that won so dramatically in Illinois last September who will tee up at Celtic Manor in Thursday's opening round.

 Celtic Manor was also the venue for Europe's Ryder Cup victory over the U.S. in 2010.

 Among the other title hopefuls competing at the Wales Open are former British Open champion Darren Clarke, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Alvaro Quiros, Ross Fisher, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano and Thomas Bjorn.

 Britain's Tommy Fleetwood, 22, who captured his first victory in the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles on Sunday, will also bid to make it back-to-back tour wins.

(Writing by Tony Jimenez; editing by Toby Davis)

Ko vaults to No. 7 in world rankings

Lydia Ko still can't cash an LPGA paycheck, but there's no doubt the Australian amateur is entrenched as one of the world top golfers.

The 16-year-old officially moved to No. 7 in the Rolex World Rankings on Monday, up 12 spots one day after defending her title at the CN Canadian Open.

The top six golfers in the rankings were unchanged, with Korea's Inbee Park maintaining a healthy lead at the top over American Stacy Lewis, who withdrew after the first round in Canada.

 Yani Tseng, the No. 1-ranked player entering the year, fell another spot to No. 15. 

France's Karine Icher moved into the Top 20 on the strength of her second-place finish in Canada.

Make No Mistake: Tiger Woods Is Still the Player of the Year

COMMENTARY | By winning The Barclays this weekend, some golf fans are suggesting that Adam Scott should be named the PGA Tour Player of the Year when all is said and done. Those people would be wrong. 

With five tournament victories -- including the WGC-Cadillac Championship, WGC-Bridgestone and The Players Championship -- Tiger Woods is still the heavy favorite to win POY honors, and rightfully so. The fact that this is even in question is ridiculous to me.

But is there a case to be made for Scott?

According to Yahoo! Sports' Brian Murphy, apparently so. As Murphy suggests, could it be possible that Scott's Masters green jacket and winning the first leg of the FedExCup Playoffs be weighted higher than the total of all Woods' victories in 2013? He seems to think quality of wins (Scott) is more impressive than quantity (Woods).

I could not disagree more.

Earlier last week, Scott suggested that, while Woods recently called his five-win year "great" prior to The Barclays, Tiger would much rather have the type of year the Aussie was enjoying. He was correct in that assessment; Tiger has always preferred major championships over "regular" tour wins. Then again, that's like saying LeBron James "prefers" NBA rings over division titles. No duh. 

But we are talking about five wins here, people. The last time I checked, five is still more than two, major championship included or not.

Strength of tournament field in each golfer's respective wins is also a wash when compared side-by-side. Three of Tiger's wins -- the two WGC events and his triumph at Sawgrass -- featured a tournament field that would be similar to that of any major championship. His other two wins -- the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Farmers Insurance Open- - included many of the world's top-ranked players (eventual US Open winner Justin Rose finished runner-up to Woods at Bay Hill). That's nothing to shake a stick at, folks.

 Yes, Adam Scott can hang his Player of the Year nomination on winning what many believe to be the crown jewel of majors (sorry, but it's true, everyone loves Augusta no matter how much history the US Open or British Open boast). His win at the talent-heavy Barclays added to his case. That doesn't mean Scott is automatically the frontrunner for the award. Everything Tiger has done this year still happened.

By the way, Tiger finished second to Scott at The Barclays. Let's not forget that.

The question no longer hinges on some arbitrary comparison of quality over quantity. If you take away Tiger's wins at Bay Hill and the Farmers, he still has more wins than Scott. Winning The Masters is a monumental deal. However, just because you won the Super Bowl doesn't make you the MVP of the league.

Adam Fonseca has covered professional golf since 2005. His work can also be found on the Back9Network. Follow Adam on Twitter at @chicagoduffer.