There’s still some golf to be played
With the PGA Tour’s major championships concluded for 2004, we look for other story lines to sustain the golf season. The back nine:
1. Formidable foreigners
The dominance of international players on the PGA Tour has to end sometime, doesn’t it? They’ve won 10 of the last 12 tournaments, dating to David Toms’ victory in May at the FedEx St. Jude Classic. The only American victories came on the same weekend in July when Todd Hamilton won the British Open and Jonathan Byrd won the B.C. Open.
Indeed, the beat might go on this week: Northern Ireland’s Darren Clarke is the defending champion at the NEC Invitational, a World Golf Championship event in which all the top international players are in the field. Clarke has played well recently, finishing 11th at the British Open and 13th at the PGA Championship.
2. Player of the year
At 41, Vijay Singh turned a great season into a brilliant one with his victory at the PGA Championship. Look for him to win one or perhaps two more times, capture his second consecutive money title and be voted player of the year by his peers. For the last five years, Tiger Woods has won player of the year.
Singh’s third major title came “at a stage of my life where I worked really hard, and it’s paying off,” Singh said. “I’m not stopping here. I don’t have that many years to contend — I don’t think so, anyway, probably another five, six years. I’d like to win a few more of these before I finish.”
3. Who’s No. 1?
Until recently, Singh and Ernie Els figured they would have to wait until perhaps next year to take down Woods as the world’s No. 1-ranked player. Now look for them to drop Woods from the spot he’s held for a record 332 weeks as early as Monday. Woods (11.93) is one-tenth of a point ahead of Singh (11.83) and sixth-tenths up on Els (11.38).
Don’t expect Woods to mourn, though; he considers his record cut streak (129) more important than the world rankings. “I’m very proud of it,” Woods said. “I think maybe people do take it for granted because it’s not very easy to do and it’s lasted a few years.”
4. Ryder Cup
U.S. Ryder Cup captain Hal Sutton warned that he wouldn’t play favorites when it comes to his match pairings when the biennial match play event with Europe begins Sept. 17-19 near Detroit. Still, would he sit Davis Love III or Jim Furyk, Phil Mickelson or Tiger Woods, in favor of Chris Riley, Jay Haas, Fred Funk and Stewart Cink? Apparently so.
“In the past, the U.S. has played to be politically correct,” Sutton said. “They played everything how they felt they needed to play in order for everybody to feel good. We are going to do it differently. I’m going to play the guys that I think can win it. If that means that Jay and Stewart (his captain’s picks) play five matches, that means they play five matches. If that means they play two matches, that means they play two matches.”
How Sutton handles team chemistry should prove more interesting. Five players have no Ryder Cup experience, and Chad Campbell and Riley are true rookies, having never competed in a Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup. Among the eight with Ryder Cup history, only Mickelson (8-5-3 in four appearances) and David Toms (4-1-1 in 2002) have winning records.
5. Age is just a number
Look for Haas, who has had another steady year on the PGA Tour at age 50, to keep playing the PGA Tour this season and on into next season, although he could be a dominant player right now on the Champions Tour.
For one thing the money is better on the PGA Tour, but he has a couple of personal reasons for staying on what he calls “the regular tour.” He wants to play some events with his son Bill, a rookie, and he’s 11th in the Presidents Cup standings. He could make that team, which plays the Internationals next September in Virginia.
6. U.S. future
A couple of college golfers, Ryan Moore of UNLV and Spencer Levin of New Mexico, have had sensational amateur campaigns this summer.
Moore has won the NCAA, U.S. Amateur Public Links, Western Amateur and Sahalee Players this summer. He was the medalist in stroke play earlier this week at the U.S. Amateur, which concludes this weekend. The Puyallup, Wash., native has accumulated 39 of 41 under-par rounds in competition since October.
Levin was low amateur in the U.S. Open and won the California Amateur and Porter Cup.
7. Skins Game
Annika Sorenstam, who stole the show last year in becoming the first woman to play the Skins Game, returns on Thanksgiving weekend, but this time she’ll have to share center stage with Woods. Rounding out the foursome are Adam Scott and defending champion Fred Couples.
Sorenstam isn’t expected to play but four more LPGA events this year, which means Meg Mallon, a three-time winner, could overtake her for the money title. Sorenstam has earned $1.665 million to Mallon’s $1.245 million. Sorenstam has been the leading money winner on the LPGA tour three years running, and she or Karrie Webb has won the title in each of the last nine years.
8. Wie watching
Popular teenager Michelle Wie plays the last of her six LPGA events, beginning with the Wendy’s Championship this week and ending with the Samsung World Championship in October. Wie, 14, is eligible for six sponsor’s exemptions, but she will have played in seven events because the U.S. Women’s Open is run by the U.S. Golf Association.
Wie and Paula Creamer tied for 13th to share low amateur at the U.S. Women’s Open. Wie’s best finish in four LPGA events is a fourth at the Kraft Nabisco. In other USGA events, she lost in the second round at the Women’s Amateur and in the final of the Women’s Amateur Public Links. She did lead the USA to victory against Great Britain and Ireland in the Curtis Cup.
Speaking of young women, the LPGA’s Rookie of the Year award will most assuredly be won by a player younger than 21. Shi Hyn Ahn is 19 now but will turn 20 before the award is decided. She leads Aree Song, 18, by just 18 points.
9. Other tours
The lone major championship still on the schedule is on the Champions Tour.
The Jeld-Wen Tradition returns Tom Watson as the defending champion, but Craig Stadler is sure to challenge.
And speaking of Stadler, his son Kevin is one of five players who have two victories on the Nationwide Tour and are one victory away from qualifying for the PGA Tour. Any player with three wins gets a pass to the big Tour for the remainder of this year and next.
The others with a chance at three: D.A. Points, Jimmy Walker, Charles Warren and Daniel Chopra. There are 10 more events, including this week at Calgary. Last year Tom Carter won the Alberta Classic to earn a spot on the PGA Tour with his third win.