Is Europe the most dominant force in golf?

A look at the stats argues not...

It is hard to take anything away from the wonderful victory secured by the GB&I team in the Curtis Cup this weekend.

To recover as the girls did showed great character and nerve along with an incredible amount of skill, particularly to keep focused heading into the singles on the last day.

For the first time in history, the Ryder Cup, Solheim Cup, Walker Cup and Curtis Cup all sit this side of the Atlantic – the latter having not been won by GB&I since 1996. It represents a remarkable period for European golf at both amateur and professional level, but does it mean that Europe is dominating golf all over the world?

A simple glance at the statistics would say yes.

A more detailed look would argue otherwise.

A simple glance at the statistics would say yes. A more detailed look would argue otherwise.

In the men’s game, although Donald, McIlroy and Westwood sit at 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively in the world rankings, Justin Rose and Martin Kaymer are the only other Europeans in the world top 20. By contrast, 11 of those 20 are from the USA.

With men’s amateurs, the picture is much the same, with 6 Europeans present in the top 20. Interestingly not a single GB&I amateur is present in this list.

The women’s rankings are perhaps even more revealing, showing above all that golf cannot be purely considered as a western sport. Just two Europeans hold down spots in the professional top 20, with four being taken by Americans.

However, unrivalled in this field are golfers from the Far East, with eight Koreans and two Japanese players making the list along with one Chinese player and Yani Tseng (Taiwan), who tops the world rankings by a considerable margin. None of these players are available for the Solheim Cup and therefore perhaps that tournament isn’t completely representative of professional women’s golf.

Finally the women’s amateurs, fresh from their Curtis Cup victory this week, Charley Hull, Leona Maguire, Amy Boulden and Stephanie Meadow are all present in the top 20 players in the world.

The Americans also boast five players in that list, but again it is players from around the world who don’t qualify to play in the Curtis Cup who dominate proceedings.

So while the cups may say that it is Europe who are in complete command of golf at the moment, the stats reveal a much murkier picture.

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