Golf Capsules: On The Fringe - Woods still gets everyone's attention
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — So many people surrounded the first tee that it was hard to see who was playing. The gallery stretched down the entire length of the 461-yard opening hole and wrapped around the back of the green on a sun-baked Sunday at Bay Hill.
Now on the tee, Tiger Woods. He was in a tie for 29th. He was 10 shots out of the lead, no serious threat to win. About four hours later, the final group of Martin Laird and Spencer Levin approached the fifth green with under 100 fans tagging along.
This is nothing new. A few weeks earlier at Doral, the PGA Tour decided to group players based on their world ranking. Someone estimated the gallery at 85 people for the "Big Three" of Martin Kaymer, Lee Westwood and Luke Donald. On the other side of the course, there were too many fans to count in the group of players ranked 4-5-6 — Graeme McDowell, Woods and Phil Mickelson.
During the FedEx Cup playoffs last year at Ridgewood, thousands of fans crammed behind the ropes on both sides of the fairway at Ridgewood Country Club to watch Woods, who was in 20th place and going nowhere.
One reporter was thinking too hard as he searched for the meaning of it all.
"I get it ... but I don't get it," he said as his eyes scanned the size of the crowd. "The guy is in 20th place. Why wouldn't you go watch someone who is actually playing well?"
The answer: They were there to see Babe Ruth.
Even at his worst — and there are plenty of numbers and statistics to back that up — Woods remains the most compelling figure in golf. It was like that at Bay Hill. It will be that way next week at the Masters, even as Mickelson tries to join him with four green jackets, or Kaymer goes after a second straight major, or Westwood tries to regain the No. 1 ranking, this time without having to explain why.
Never mind that Woods is meandering through mediocrity at the moment. Wednesday will mark 500 days since his last victory at the Australian Masters, his last tournament before the car crash outside his Florida home and the revelations of affairs that followed and broke up his marriage.
He has played 20 tournaments since, not including the Ryder Cup. In his only chance to win, at the Chevron World Challenge, Woods coughed up a four-shot lead in the final round to McDowell, the first time in his career that Woods was leading by more than three shots going into the last day and didn't win.
Woods has earned $265,465 in five tournaments this year. He earned more in his first five tournaments as a 20-year-old pro. In 16 starts on the PGA Tour since he returned last year, Woods has three top 10s.
One longtime British golf journalists might have summed it up best last year at The Players Championship. He wandered onto the TPC Sawgrass to watch Woods for a couple of holes, then walked back in. "It's nothing special," he said.
So why the special treatment? Because Woods is approaching an important anniversary.
It's not the one-year anniversary of his return to competition at the Masters, where he played off memory and somehow tied for fourth at Augusta National with a performance that raised false hopes. It's the 10-year anniversary of his greatest feat.
Woods won the Masters in 2001 to become the only player to hold all four major championships at the same time. It took him 294 days to achieve something that might never be done again. There was no one close to him in the game back then.
There remains no one close to him in interest level now. That's why he draws the biggest crowds. That's why television can't resist showing him.
A few years ago, Sean O'Hair was in rough on the 14th hole of the North Course at Torrey Pines, and Woods was on the adjacent hole. Spotting a reporter, O'Hair playfully asked why he was always watching Woods. Then came a question to O'Hair: "If you had this job, who would you be watching on Thursday?"
"Tiger," O'Hair said with a laugh.
Woods was more interesting to watch when he was winning 40 percent of his tournaments, when he looked like a special player. Now he is interesting in a nostaglic sense. They remember how he once performed and wonder if he will ever play that way again.
Will be reach, let alone surpass, the benchmark of 18 professional majors won by Jack Nicklaus? Can he be golf's best player again? Not even Woods knows the answer.
All anyone has at the moment are memories of how he once played, and they are strong enough to hold the interest.
In times of parity — which is what Woods' demise has brought — come reminders how hard it is to win, and how often Woods won. Consider this: Before turning 30, Woods already had 46 wins on the PGA Tour and 10 majors.
Until someone else comes along — and it probably won't be in Woods' lifetime — everyone will want to know about Woods, good or bad. Some watch because they are eager to see him dominate again. Some watch because they delight in his failure. Others are just curious.
But they're watching. At the 1999 Masters, when Woods was rebuilding his swing and was no longer No. 1 in the world, he was in the middle of the pack and headed for Amen Corner on Saturday with a dozen or so media close behind. A radio technician looked at the approaching mass with disdain, shook his head and said, "Why are you guys following Tiger? He's not even the story."
That's when someone posed a question. If Nicklaus had called Augusta National that day, he probably would have asked who was leading the tournament.
What would his next question be?
Doug Ferguson covers golf for The Associated Press.
Shell renews contract with Houston Open
HUMBLE (AP) — Shell Oil Co. has agreed to a five-year extension as the title sponsor of the Houston Open. The oil giant has been the tournament's title sponsor since 1992, the third-longest tenure on the PGA Tour. The event dates to 1946, and is the 10th oldest tournament on the tour.
"To me, this is much more than a golf tournament," Shell president Marvin Odum said. "It is an opportunity for us to give back to the city and citizens of Houston through charitable contributions."
Since Shell became the lead sponsor, the tournament has raised more than $50 million for the Houston Golf Association to contribute to regional, youth-based charities. Last year, the tournament generated about $2.1 million for charities.
"Shell Oil Company has given our event great stability and its support has enabled our organization to continue to positively impact the lives of young people every year," HGA president and CEO Steve Timms said.
The Houston Open begins Thursday at Redstone Golf Club, its host site since 2003. It moved from the Members Course to the adjacent Tournament Course in 2006.
Anthony Kim is the defending champion this year. Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Padraig Harrington and Lee Westwood are also here, using the event to tune up for next week's Masters.
Notebook: A tale from PGA Tour qualifying school
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The PGA Tour is contemplating the radical change of handing out only Nationwide Tour cards at Q-school, in part to make sure promising young players are properly prepared for the big leagues.
Neale Smith can understand that thinking better than most.
Smith, an Australian living in Southern California, works as a mental coach for the likes of Hunter Mahan and Jason Day and as a swing coach for other players. In a previous life, he was one of the biggest surprises to make it through Q-school.
As a graduate assistant at Cal State-Fullerton, he taught golf among other activities. When he finished his master's degree, Smith was good enough to break par and idealistic enough to chase his dream. An exceptional athlete — he competed at the 1984 Olympic trials in the high jump until getting injured — Smith dabbled in a couple of mini-tour event before trying Q-school.
He barely made it through the first two stages, and it all came together in the final stage at the TPC Woodlands, where he shared medalist honors with Brett Ogle, Skip Kendall, Massy Kuramoto and Percy Moss. Before he knew it, he was a PGA Tour member.
"I seriously thought I was going to be up there for 20 years," Smith said. "But I had so little experience in tournament golf."
He laughs now at his routine. Smith said he would stretch and work out for two hours, then go through a regular warmup on the range and play his round. He would be the last one on the range that night. He also fiddled with new equipment.
"If there are eight rookie errors, I made at least six of them," he said. "All the stupid stuff you shouldn't do, I did it. And it's a huge gap from Q-school success to success on tour."
That much was obvious by his results. He made only six cuts in 22 tournaments in 1993. His best finish was his last tournament of the year, a tie for 64th in the Texas Open. He wound up making $11,413 and was 234th on the money list.
He never made it back. Smith's amazing rags-to-riches tale got enough attention to earn sponsor exemptions in Australia, and he spent the next several years playing the Canadian Tour. He tried Q-school eight more times without getting through.
"One of my only regrets is that after being a touring pro for four or five years, I didn't get another shot," he said. "I was more prepared. I really knew what I was doing. There were so many other things I didn't know how to do after I got my card. I learned over time. If I had ever gotten through Q-school again, I would have had a much more legitimate chance."
The tour's proposal is for PGA Tour players who failed to finish in the top 125 to compete in a three-event "playoff" with top Nationwide Tour players to determine who gets PGA cards the next year. The only cards available at Q-school would be for the Nationwide Tour.
The concern is losing out on stories like Smith.
"It takes some of the romanticism out of Q-school. Some of the stories seem compelling," Smith said. "But I also think the Nationwide Tour is a much fairer test to see if you can survive. Some guys can get up there, but they're not good enough to stay up there."
MASTERS ON HIS MIND: It's become a tired phrase that players have the Masters on their mind this time of the year. For Phil Mickelson, it has never been more true.
Mickelson is playing the Houston Open this week because he prefers to compete the week before a major. But given his disdain for the works of Rees Jones, who designed Redstone Golf Club, he said he will play shots that might not make a lot of sense, all to get ready for Augusta National.
"Houston is not going to set up well for me," Mickelson said last week.
His biggest complaint is that the fairways narrow after about 285 yards off the tee, which tends to limit power players to a 3-wood off the tee. Mickelson plans to hit driver, anyway.
"It's not going to be a course where I'm going to play the most strategic and expect to really score well," he said. "I'm just not going to hit 3-woods off the tee and play that course strategically the week before Augusta. And then when it gets windy and I'm trying to hit high balls for Augusta, and it requires a low, knockdown shot ... it's not going to work."
This is a week where he's not interested in results.
Mickelson doesn't believe he has to win before he gets to the Masters — last year was proof of that — as long as he feels good about his game. He recalls starting to feel confident at Houston a year ago.
He also could put two drivers in play at Augusta. Mickelson said he has a similar driver to when he won the Masters in 2006, with 5.9 degrees of loft and a 46-inch shaft.
"And it goes," he said with a smile. "Yeah, it really goes."
TOP 100 COURSES: Augusta National again is No. 1 in Golf Digest's biennial ranking of "America's 100 Greatest Golf Courses," beating out Pine Valley Golf Club by a fraction of a point.
The most peculiar change about this year's list is the title. Because of a tie for 100th place between two South Carolina resorts (Harbour Town and Ocean Forest) there actually are 101 courses on the list.
Augusta National has been No. 1 on the last two lists. The only other time in the last decade that Pine Valley didn't top the list was in 2001, when Pebble Beach beat out the private New Jersey club.
The full top 10: Augusta National, Pine Valley, Shinnecock Hills, Oakmont, Cypress Point, Pebble Beach, Merion, Winged Foot, Sand Hills and National Golf Links.
Of the nine courses not in the previous ranking, the highest-rated was The Alotian Club in Arkansas at No. 14.
Golf Digest has produced "America's 100 Greatest" list since 1966. The package, which also includes the 100 best public courses and a ranking for each state, appears in the May issue of the magazine, which will be available April 5.
DIVOTS: During the induction ceremony for the National Black Golf Hall of Fame, keynote speaker Steve Mona of the World Golf Foundation said plans were under way for a special exhibit at the World Golf Hall of Fame that would tell the story of blacks' journey in golf. He said the exhibit would open in 2012. The inductees were Joe Louis Barrow, Jr., CEO of The First Tee; golf entrepreneur Rose Harper and Calvin Sinnette, author of "Forbidden Fairways." ... Martin Laird's win at Bay Hill was the 300th by a Nationwide Tour alumni. ... Nick Watney has earned the most ranking points this year, slightly more than Martin Kaymer and Mark Wilson.
STAT OF THE WEEK: Only three players among the top 50 in the world ranking were not there at the start of the year.
FINAL WORD: "I still have yet to play a great par 5 that's over 600 yards." — Jim Furyk.
-- Doug Ferguson
Golf Glance
All Times EDT
LPGA TOUR
Kraft Nabisco Championship
Site: Rancho Mirage, Calif.
Schedule: Thursday-Sunday.
Course: Mission Hills Country Club, Dinah Shore Tournament Course (6,738 yards, par 72).
Purse: $2 million. Winner's share: $300,000.
Television: Golf Channel (Thursday, noon-3 p.m., 6:30-9:30 p.m.; Friday, 1-4 a.m., noon-3 p.m., 6:30-9:30 p.m.; Saturday, 6-9 a.m., 4:30-8:30 p.m., 11 p.m.-3 a.m.; Sunday, 4:30-8:30 p.m., 11 p.m.-3 a.m.).
Last year: Yani Tseng won the major championship for the first of her three 2010 tour titles, beating Suzann Pettersen by a stroke. Tseng also won the Women's British Open and NW Arkansas Championship.
Last week: Sandra Gal won the Kia Classic to become the second German winner in LPGA Tour history, birdieing the final hole to beat Jiyai Shin by a stroke.
Notes: Tseng, ranked No. 1 in the world, won the season-opening LPGA Thailand and has three other worldwide victories this year. She tied for fifth in the Kia Classic. ... Karrie Webb tied for 62nd last week after winning consecutive events in Singapore and Phoenix. In 2006, the Australian holed a 116-yard shot for eagle on No. 18, then beat Lorena Ochoa in a playoff with a birdie on the hole. Webb won in 2000 by a record 10 strokes. ... The event, first played in 1972 as the Colgate Dinah Shore, became a major in 1983. ... Michelle Wie tied for seventh last week. ... Morgan Pressel won in 2007 to become the youngest major champion in LPGA Tour history at 18 years, 10 months, 9 days. ... The tour is off the next three weeks and five of the next six.
Online: http://www.lpga.com
PGA TOUR
Houston Open
Site: Humble.
Schedule: Thursday-Sunday.
Course: Redstone Golf Club, Tournament Course (7,457 yards, par 72).
Purse: $5.9 million. Winner's share: $1,062,000.
Television: Golf Channel (Thursday-Friday, 3-6 p.m., 9:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 1-3 p.m.) and NBC (Saturday-Sunday, 3-6 p.m.).
Last year: Anthony Kim beat Vaughn Taylor with a par on the first hole of a playoff.
Last week: Scotland's Martin Laird won the Arnold Palmer Invitational, overcoming a three-shot deficit with four holes to play with two birdies and two remarkable pars. He closed with a 3-over 75 to beat Steve Marino by a stroke and become the first European winner at Bay Hill in its 33-year history.
Notes: The Masters is next week. The winner, if not already exempt, will earn a spot at Augusta National. ... Phil Mickelson is in the field along with Kim, Lee Westwood, Ernie Els, Paidraig Harrington, Steve Stricker, Matt Kuchar, Retief Goosen, Hunter Mahan, Angel Cabrera, Louis Oosthuizen ... Fred Couples, the 2003 winner on the adjacent Members Course, is making his third PGA Tour start of the season.
Online: http://www.pgatour.com
CHAMPIONS TOUR
Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic
Site: Saucier, Miss.
Schedule: Friday-Sunday.
Course: Fallen Oak Country Club (7,054 yards, par 72).
Purse: $1.6 million. Winner's share: $240,000.
Television: Golf Channel (Saturday, 12:30-2:30 a.m., 3-5 a.m., 9-11 a.m., 9-11 p.m.; Sunday, 3:30-5:30 a.m., 9-11 p.m.; Monday, 3:30-5:30 a.m.).
Last year: David Eger won the inaugural tournament for his first Champions Tour title since 2005, beating Tommy Armour III by a stroke.
Last event: Nick Price won the Toshiba Classic on March 13 in Newport Beach, Calif., for his fourth Champions Tour title, holding off Mark Wiebe by a stroke. The 54-year-old Price matched the Champions Tour record with a career-best 11-under 60 in the first round and closed with consecutive 68s.
Notes: Two-time Masters champion Bernhard Langer had surgery on his left thumb last week and will miss the next two months, ending his streak of 27 consecutive appearances at Augusta National. He won the ACE Group Classic in February for his 14th Champions Tour title. ... Mark Brooks and Jim Gallagher Jr. are making their Champions Tour debuts. ... The tour is off next week. Play will resume with the Outback Steakhouse Open on April 15-17 at TPC Tampa Bay.
Online: http://www.pgatour.com
PGA EUROPEAN TOUR
Hassan II Trophy
Site: Agadir, Morocco.
Schedule: Thursday-Sunday.
Courses: Golf du Palais Royal (6,844 yards, par 72) and Golf de L'Ocean (6,798 yards, par 71).
Purse: $2.11 million. Winner's share: $351,400.
Television: Golf Channel (Thursday-Friday, 11 a.m.-noon; Saturday, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.; Sunday, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.).
Last year: Wales' Rhys Davies won his first European Tour title, beating Louis Oosthuizen by two strokes at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam in Rabat.
Last week: Scotland's Paul Lawrie won the Andalucia Open for his first tour victory since 2002 and sixth overall. Johan Edfors was second, a stroke back.
Notes: Davies, Darren Clarke and Thomas Bjorn are in the field. ... The tournament, first played in 1971, is in its second season as a European Tour event. ... The final two rounds will be played at Robert Trent Jones Sr.-designed Palais Royal.
Online: http://www.europeantour.com
NATIONWIDE TOUR
Next event: Fresh Express Classic, April 14-17, TPC Stonebrae, Hayward, Calif.
Last week: PGA Tour winner Brett Wetterich won the Louisiana Open for the second time, beating University of Florida senior Andres Echavarria by a stroke.
Online: http://www.pgatour.com
OTHER TOURNAMENTS
Men
eGOLF PROFESSIONAL TOUR: Irish Creek Classic, Wednesday-Saturday, The Club at Irish Creek, Cabarrus Country Club, Kannapolis, N.C. Online: http://www.egolfprofessionaltour.com
NGA HOOTERS TOUR: Terry Moore Ford Open, Thursday-Sunday, Rock Barn Golf & Spa, Conover, N.C. Online: http://www.ngahooterstour.com
PGA EUROPEAN CHALLENGE TOUR: Kenya Open, Thursday-Sunday, Muthaiga Golf Club, Nairobi, Kenya. Online: http://www.europeantour.com
Women
DURAMED FUTURES TOUR: Daytona Beach Invitational, Friday-Sunday, LPGA International, Champions Course, Daytona Beach, Fla. Online: http://www.duramedfuturestour.com
LADIES EUROPEAN TOUR: Lalla Meryem Cup, Thursday-Sunday, Soleil Golf Course, Agadir, Morocco. Online: http://www.ladieseuropeantour.com
Elsewhere
Uihlein wins amateur champs matchup in Georgia Cup
ALPHARETTA, Ga. (AP) — U.S. Amateur champion Peter Uihlein won the Georgia Cup on Tuesday, building a 4-up lead at the turn and holding on to beat British Amateur champion Jin Jeong on the 16th hole.
It was the 14th year of the Georgia Cup, which matches the U.S. Amateur and British Amateur champion at The Golf Club of Georgia in the week before the Masters.
Uihlein, a junior at Oklahoma State, flew back to school after his 4-and-2 victory. He plans to return to Augusta National this weekend to compete in the Masters for the first time.
Jeong, a 21-year-old Korean who lives in Australia, tried to fight back from the big deficit at the turn. Uihlein, however, closed him out with a shot into 3 feet for birdie.
U.S. Amateur champions now hold an 8-6 lead in the competition.
