Another First Beckons For Els
Ernie Els will be hoping to regain his form at this weekend's Deutsche Bank Championship.
As the PGA Tour’s lucrative FedEx Cup reaches the business end, there’s even more on the line for Ernie Els.
Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson have a lot in common. Both golfers have at various occasions been described as Tiger Woods’ closest rivals. They are both now in their 40s, with multiple Majors to their name (Mickelson just eased ahead of Els earlier this year with his fourth Major victory at the Masters). Worldwide each golfer has clinched more than 40 titles (Els is further ahead here, with 44 international wins and 18 US PGA Tour titles, although Phil has a mammoth 38 wins on the US PGA Tour) and their worldwide earnings make them two of the richest current pros in the game.
But another thing that unites these two great golfers is that neither has won the prestigious PGA Tour Player of the Year Award.
That’s because since 1997, one man has dominated that awards category. Yip, you guessed it, Tiger Woods has walked away with the Player of the Year honours on 10 different occasions. The only exceptions have been Mark O’Meara (1998), Vijay Singh (2004) and Padraig Harrington (2008).
With Tiger’s poor performances this year, 2010 will also be an exception – and this is good news, particularly for Els.
Els has won twice on the PGA Tour this year, and has led the FedEx Cup standings for 22 consecutive weeks. Last week’s disappointing 71st-place finish at The Barclays unfortunately dropped him back to fifth on the standings, but he has a shot to redeem himself at the Deutsche Bank Championship which tees off today (with a Monday finish).
Should Els win one of the three remaining events in the FedEx Cup playoffs, he would be a shoo-in for the title, but who are his main competitors? Both Justin Rose and Steve Stricker have also won twice on the PGA Tour this season (they finished the regular season FedEx Cup in fifth and second respectively), while Matt Kuchar’s victory in The Barclays last weekend, and subsequent rise to top spot on the standings, has vaulted him into contention.
So plenty to watch this weekend in Boston – Els to attempt to regain the advantage, his competitors out to stake their claim, Tiger hoping to win for the first time in 2010 (and avoid dropping out of the Playoffs entirely)… oh, and the approaching Hurricane Earl. Should be exciting stuff!
IMAGES: The Barclays
A scenic view of the players at the Ridgewood Country Club.
Dustin Johnson watches his second shot from the fairway.
Jason Day of Australia hits his second shot out of the bunker.
Tiger Woods attempts a putt from the green.
Tiger Woods did not have a good day and reacts after he missed a birdie putt.
Winner Matt Kuchar poses with the trophy alongside President of Barclays, Bob Diamond.
Matt Kuchar won his first tournament of the season.
10 Ways To Be No 1
Phil Mickelson can reach the much-coveted world No 1 spot after this weekend's Barclays Championship.
There are 10 mathematical scenarios by which Mickelson could claim the top spot in the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time in his career. But Woods will remain No. 1 as long as he finishes ahead of or tied with Mickelson at Ridgewood Country Club this week.
“I’ve been trying real hard to accomplish that. I just haven’t played well enough yet,” Mickelson said. “But hopefully I’ll be able to put it together this week. I feel like I’m playing much better golf. I’ve been working on my driver again trying to get that thing in play, and I think I’ve kind of come on to something there, adding a little bit more loft and just getting the ball in play. So I expect to drive the ball well and hopefully have a good week.
A win obviously would give Mickelson, who ranks fourth in the FedExCup standings, the top spot. So would solo second if Woods does not win. Here are the other scenarios.
Mickelson could go to No. 1 if:
• he is third alone and Tiger is outside top 4
• he is fourth alone and Tiger is outside top 8
• he is fifth alone and Tiger is outside top 14
• he is sixth alone and Tiger is outside top 21
• he is seventh alone and Tiger is outside top 32
• he is eighth alone and Tiger is outside top 52
• he is ninth alone and Tiger is outside top 58 or misses cut
• he is 10th alone and Tiger is outside top 58 or misses cut
Mickelson, who shot 75 on a rainy Wednesday in the pro-am, won the Masters earlier this year and tied for fourth at the U.S. Open. His best finish since Pebble Beach, though, was a tie for 12th at the PGA on the strength of a closing 67.
Mickelson revealed at the PGA that he has been suffering from psoriatic arthritis, which now appears to be under control with shots and a vegetarian diet. So while the world No. 1 ranking is nice for the resume, Mickelson has had other concerns.
“I haven’t thought about it too much,” he acknowledged. “I’m trying to win. I’m trying to compete in tournaments and I haven’t played that well the last couple of months.
“But, again, I feel like my game’s been coming around. I’ve been able to practice and work hard. I feel great. I’m looking forward to the next five weeks.”
Courtesy www.pgatour.com
Dustin Johnson Has No Regrets
Dustin Johnson misses his par putt on the 18th green
Dustin Johnson said he would dust himself off and try all over again after winning a major amount of sympathy and confidence following his bittersweet PGA Championship this month.
Johnson was poised to join a three-way playoff at Whistling Straits when he walked off the last green until informed he had been handed a two-stroke penalty for grounding his club in a sand hazard on the 72nd hole of the championship.
The long-hitting, 26-year-old from South Carolina had hit his tee shot well beyond the ropes right of the fairway and, with spectators crowded around his ball, he thought his wayward drive had settled on trampled down dirt.
“The PGA was just an unfortunate situation,” Johnson told reporters ahead of this week’s Barclays tournament, the opening event of the US PGA Tour’s FedExCup playoffs.
“It wasn’t hard to get over, because there’s a lot of good things that I can take out of that week. I played really well coming down the stretch, making birdies when I needed to. So there’s nothing bad that I can take from that week.”
Johnson said the shock of missing out on the playoff won by Germany’s Martin Kaymer over American Bubba Watson was eased by the outpouring of sympathy and support he received, and a restful week spent fishing.
“I’ve had a lot of good phone calls and a lot of good text messages from my peers and friends,” he said. “And so I’m very happy the way I’ve handled it and the way it’s been received.”
Lessons Learnt
Johnson also came frustratingly close to notching his first major victory at the US Open at Pebble Beach, where he held a three-stroke lead going into the final round before shooting 82, but he believes a major triumph is just a matter of time.
“There’s nothing that I can really get down on myself about that (PGA) week, because I did everything that I wanted to do,” said Johnson.
“I had a chance to win coming down the stretch on Sunday. I played well coming down the stretch.
“If I keep playing like I’m playing, there’s no doubt that I think that I’m going to be contending in a lot of majors. I think and I believe in myself that I can get it done.”
Johnson chalked up his mistake to a learning experience, like the one at Pebble Beach.
“I was very patient. I need to be patient,” he said about his demeanour at the PGA. “I took things from the US Open and used them during the final round of the PGA.
Courtesy of stuff
Tiger Woods Can Focus On Golf After His Divorce
Elin Nordengren and Tiger Woods.
They may finally have extinguished the flames that were burning out Tiger Woods’s career. The world’s most famous sportsman is now divorced nine months after he crashed his Cadillac in the small hours of a late November morning.
It has been crash and burn ever since, but someone finally got the dented fire hydrant to work again.
It was curious that Woods and his former wife should choose to release the news on Tiger’s website
It was also telling that the “joint statement” was released under the names of “Elin Nordegren and Tiger Woods”. Elin comes first these days. She’s the one who has been wearing the plus fours in that relationship ever since that doomed night.
The statement read: “We are sad that our marriage is over and we wish each other the very best for the future. While we are no longer married, we are the parents of two wonderful children and their happiness has been, and will always be, of paramount importance to both of us.
“The weeks and months ahead will not be easy for them as we adjust to a new family situation, which is why our privacy must be a principal concern.”
The privacy mantra has been oft repeated these past nine months and has been as effective as hitting a cut-up wedge into a force 9 wind. The Americans love to use the word ‘closure’, but we are probably still a fair few months away from that.
It has been previously reported that the divorce will cost Woods £500 million. In return he gets shared parenting of the two children, Sam and Charlie, and Elin’s silence. That should at least bring Woods some peace of mind.
When I asked Woods in June, on the stated basis that our professional lives are inevitably affected by our personal lives, if he had any resolution with Elin, Woods replied with a snarl: “That’s none of your business.”
By posting this news on the website Woods has finally recognised that this is our business. Or as one fan put it: “You made it our business.”
That at least is some sort of progress, but it is unlikely that he has yet matured enough to finally utter Elin’s name in public again. The last time most of us can remember Woods putting that four-letter word together was back at the Masters in April.
Moving Forward
Elin’s name may remain unutterable, but Woods should no longer be ruined by the strain of sorting out his divorce. He is likely to have more time for practice and more space in his head again.
Woods may even win a major next year, although there are some who think that the collapse of Woods’s reputation has broken his supremacy for ever.
In the short term it makes it even easier for Corey Pavin to pick Woods for the forthcoming Ryder Cup.
Woods had initially been reluctant to play but, conscious that a refusal to represent his country would only further damage his reputation, Woods suddenly showed willing. Maybe he had finally ascertained that his divorce was imminent.
There is also the mischievous thought that now Woods is single again, the rest of America’s Ryder Cup wives will be more willing to accept him.
Europe’s captain Colin Montgomerie had anticipated hostility, because many of the wives had previously been friendly with Elin. But this divorce may now allow Woods to find a measure of sympathy.
Many players have spoken of how their form was devastated by personal troubles. Monty himself, Paul Casey and Graeme McDowell have all recently articulated slumps brought on by unhappiness.
But top golfers, by nature and necessity are selfish creatures, and each one managed to recover. Woods is now likely to be able to do the same.
But he may never find the old powers.
In nine months Woods has been ridiculed by images of an avenging wife; he has had his considerable sexual exploits revealed; pole dancers have put on a Tiger show as they follow him from major to major; he has been associated with a doctor accused of supplying illegal drugs and been questioned by the feds.
Perhaps worst of all for a man of Woods’s pride, for a man with his meaning in life, he has shanked it all over the golf course. He may never fully forget that humiliation, but he may now at last be able to move on.
Woods may finally be on the first tee to recovery.
Courtesy of The Telegraph
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