Number-crunching 2011: Thomas Bjorn up; Nick Dougherty, Oliver Wilson down

Number crunching 2011: Bjorn up; Dougherty, Wilson down: On Day 7 of our annual number-crunching series, where...

Ranking/movement: +166 (No. 270 to No. 104) Why the rise? Bjorn’s play this season has taken the European Tour by surprise. Three victories in one season is a first for the Dane in a European Tour career that dates to 1996. Bjorn, 40, had the best of starts to his 2011 campaign when he won the Qatar Masters in early February. He didn’t get much time to celebrate his 11th European Tour win. Soon afterward, his 73-year-old father, Ole, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and later died in May. Many believed Bjorn would not be able to raise his competitive juices enough afterward to carry on from Qatar, but he proved the doubters wrong. Bjorn won back-to-back events at the Johnnie Walker Championship and Omega European Masters. He also finished fourth at the Open Championship. The biggest improvement in Bjorn’s statistics comes in his stroke average, which is below 71 for th...

Full article: http://www.golfweek.com/news/2011/dec/25/number-crunching...