Golf Capsules: Woods embracing a new swing
LEMONT, Ill. (AP) — His swing was a mess, and so was his marriage.
Tiger Woods figured he could only deal with one problem at a time. In this case, golf had to wait its turn.
"Let's just say I've been through a lot lately, and I didn't want to have any more information," Woods said Wednesday at the BMW Championship. "I was trying to get adjusted to my new life and what that entailed, and it was enough as it was. I didn't have time to work on my game. I was dealing with a lot of other things."
In what turned out to be a lost summer in the majors, Woods tried to patch together what he could with his golf swing. His only teacher was a video camera and his memory, and that wasn't nearly enough to get him through four rounds at Pebble Beach and St. Andrews, or the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits.
The do-it-yourself approach gave way to working with Sean Foley, the Canadian-born swing coach who again was with Woods for an hour during his pro-am at Cog Hill for the BMW Championship.
Foley first took video of Woods a month ago at the PGA Championship. Woods already is seeing results. He opened with a season-best 65 at The Barclays and wound up with a tie for 12th. Last week at the Deutsche Bank Championship, Woods had three rounds in the 60s for the first time this year and tied for 11th.
A top 10 for Woods used to be called a slump. Now it's progress.
He needed both results just to keep playing in the FedEx Cup playoffs, which have reached the third round and perhaps the most critical. Woods went from 112th to 65th after the first round, and to 51st after the second round.
That at least got him to Cog Hill with the rest of the top 70 in the FedEx Cup standings.
Woods is the defending champion and a five-time winner at this public course in the Chicago suburbs, winning last year with a 62-68 weekend to finish eight shots ahead of the field.
"It's good to be back," Woods said, pausing to smile before adding, "It's even better to be in the event."
He thrives on this kind of course, although he already has shown this year that past performance is meaningless without a swing he can trust and a good putting stroke. A two-time winner at St. Andrews, he tied for 23rd. A seven-time winner at Firestone, he had the worst tournament of his career and finished at 18-over par.
Now that Woods appears to be on an upward trend, this week could be interesting.
"I'm headed in the right direction," Woods said when asked what a victory would mean at this stage in his season. "It obviously would be a good step in the right direction, but we've got four days, and I've just got to keep plodding along."
Matt Kuchar remains atop the FedEx Cup standings with a win and a tie for 11th in the two playoff events. Kuchar also has fond memories and one big victory at Cog Hill, even if he didn't earn a dime. He won the 1997 U.S. Amateur here.
"The people in the locker room still remember me, still get big smiles on their face," Kuchar said. "It's kind of a fun homecoming for me to see those old faces."
It's also a homecoming of sorts for Steve Stricker, who grew up a few hours away from Cog Hill. But this is no time to wave to the gallery. Stricker not only is No. 3 in the FedEx Cup standings, he is tied with Kuchar for the lowest adjusted scoring average on the PGA Tour, and the next two weeks could decide the Vardon Trophy.
The top 30 after the BMW Championship advance to the Tour Championship and a shot at the $10 million bonus, which Woods has won twice in two attempts.
His goal is to get to Atlanta. Woods has missed the Tour Championship before, but not because he wasn't eligible. Even so, his primary goal has never changed. He was asked if he would play differently down the stretch if he were a long shot to win the tournament, when playing safe meant finishing high enough to get to the Tour Championship.
"Win," Woods said. "Did I answer that too fast?"
Not so fast were answers pertaining to Foley. Woods has been saying that previous swing changes with Butch Harmon and Hank Haney took some 18 months to register. He is pleased with the instant feedback he has received from Foley, although he stopped short of saying he would dive in and revamp his swing.
"I understand what he's trying to teach, so that's the biggest thing," Woods said. "And then when you're out on the golf course playing, it's understanding how to fix it. that's the hardest part."
So is Foley his coach?
"He's coaching me," Woods said with a smile, showing that his two years at Stanford were enough to master semantics.
Someone asked he were paying Foley?
"That's none of your business," Woods said.
He smiled at that answer, too, recalling the same words — far more terse — that he used at the U.S. Open when a reporter asked if there had been any resolution to his marriage.
The divorce became official on Aug. 23, and Woods is trying to move on. How quickly he adjusts to his swing could depend whether he gets to play one more tournament before the Ryder Cup.
Gillis takes the long way to the BMW Championship
LEMONT, Ill. (AP) — Living off fast food and pocket change as you chase a dream from one small tour stop to another is easy — romantic, even — when you're young and have no responsibilities.
At 39, with one small child and another on the way, Tom Gillis wasn't sure he had it in him again.
"We went back to Michigan and spoke with a few people about work, and times were tough there. There wasn't a lot of opportunities," he said Wednesday. "Snow and three months in the cold weather, I found this isn't so bad."
Good thing.
Three years after nearly quitting, the 42-year-old Gillis is enjoying a resurgence that seems more suited for Hollywood than the PGA Tour. The guy who couldn't keep his card still has a shot at a $10 million payoff along with Tiger, Phil and the rest of the game's biggest names.
Gillis is at this week's BMW Championship thanks to a fifth-place finish at the Deutsche Bank Championship, his third top 10 of the season. He has earned $1.07 million this year — more than his career earnings on the PGA Tour coming into the season.
"I thought I was going to make a comeback," he said, "but do you really know how far you're going to get? Are you going to get this far?"
Gillis turned pro after college, working his way up on the satellite and European tours before earning his card in 2003. He missed the 2004 season because of a broken wrist, but opened 2005 with a tie for 11th at the Buick Invitational. His play the next few months wasn't spectacular, but it was steady enough.
Then he and his wife found out they were expecting their first child.
"It froze me up a little bit," Gillis said.
After tying for 17th at the Zurich Classic the first week of May, he made just five cuts the rest of the year. Playing on the Nationwide Tour the next season, his heart wasn't in his game. He made only six cuts; three years after earning more than $400,000, he made less than $45,000.
The next year wasn't any better.
"I guess I never really welcomed the opportunity to get back out here," Gillis said. "I never really accepted that I was there after playing five years in Europe. It felt like a step down to me, and I lost my status."
After that winter of shivering — and soul searching — in Michigan, Gillis decided to give golf one more try. He moved to Florida full-time, began working with a new coach and changed his technique so he was no longer digging so deep into the dirt, which had caused repeated hand injuries. He also rethought the way he approached the game mentally.
By last year, Gillis was playing better than ever. He finished in the top 10 in eight of his 15 starts on the Nationwide Tour (he missed just two cuts all year), and got his first career victory at the Nationwide Tour Players Cup.
Best of all, he finished fifth on the money list, earning his way back onto the PGA Tour.
Gillis showed flashes of what he could do at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, shooting 69 or better in all four rounds on his way to a tie for eighth. He was in line for a strong finish at Quail Hollow until the last two holes (he still tied for 17th) and followed it with a top 10 at the Texas Open.
A missed cut at The Barclays put his spot in the FedEx Cup race in jeopardy, but a 65-65 finish in Boston bumped him up to 48th in the standings, more than enough to get him to Chicago.
The top 30 after the BMW advance to the Tour Championship, which will be played in two weeks in Atlanta.
It's a great story, but one Gillis hopes isn't finished just yet.
"I still feel like I've got further to go," he said. "I know for a fact and I believe in my heart I can win out here."
-- Nancy Armour
Notebook: Fowler relives getting his Ryder pick
LEMONT, Ill. (AP) — Rickie Fowler stands out on the Ryder Cup for a couple of reasons.
The 21-year-old is the first captain's pick without a PGA Tour victory. And he is the first PGA Tour rookie to play for the U.S. team. But upon hearing how he was chosen, Fowler certainly doesn't feel as though he stands out.
Fowler revealed Wednesday that in the final hours of the decision, captain Corey Pavin was taking the pulse of every assistant captain and every player. Whatever the process, Fowler was chosen.
"What was cool about the whole situation is that Corey brought in all the assistants and all the team members to basically help him pick the last four guys," Fowler said. "Which I thought was pretty cool because it makes the player ... well, the players basically pick their own team in a way. Obviously, Corey makes the final decision."
Oddly enough, Fowler was having dinner with Bubba Watson when Pavin was making the rounds through text message. Fowler didn't realize until later that Watson was punching away on his keys in text messages to the captain.
"They were basically voting and spending that time picking the final guys on the team," Fowler said. "So he's sitting across the table from me while the whole team is deciding what's going on."
Fowler later showed his youth.
Instead of pacing the floor in his room waiting for the phone to ring, he was playing video games of dirt bikes with his father.
"It's a great way to kill time on the road," Fowler said.
No doubt, the kid is relieved to have made the team, although he figured there would have been more chances. How to celebrate?
"I am going to get a little haircut," Fowler said. "It's getting a bit long for me right now."
COG HILL GREENS: Rees Jones renovated Cog Hill two years ago with hopes the public course could land a U.S. Open. The changes didn't stop Tiger Woods from a fifth victory last year, just like Jones' work at Torrey Pines hasn't stopped Woods from winning in San Diego.
"It's more cosmetic than anything else, especially off the tees," Woods said. "I'm still playing to the same areas. Going into the greens is definitely much more difficult than it used to be."
Steve Stricker also noticed a change in the greens, although he didn't offer much in the way of a compliment.
"I think the greens are the biggest adjustment," he said. "I think visually, it looks great from the tee. The greens, on the other hand, are somewhat different, to put it nicely. He's got a characteristic about them that I don't really care for. But that's just my personal feeling. The green complexes are pretty difficult."
The putting surfaces themselves are also getting the players' attention. Woods referred to them as "spotty," which he would attribute to the strain of grass (bent), the time of year (summer) and recent rains.
"It does affect the putts, no doubt," Woods said. "We're all going to have to deal with it. It's been a pretty hot summer, and with a hot summer, bentgrass greens get a little bit stressed."
VERPLANK'S EFFORT: Stephen Ames had to play in a twosome the opening two rounds of The Players Championship because of a 145-man field. He finds out Thursday whether he plays by himself.
Ames is paired with Scott Verplank, who was on his way to Chicago on Wednesday night with hopes of playing.
Verplank's left wrist hurts so much that he withdrew from the second round of the Deutsche Bank Championship when he no longer could grip the club through his swing. "If I can't hit it straight, I'm not any good," he said.
The plan was to take time off to let it heal — but that was before a late sequence of events enabled Verplank to fall only to No. 70 in the FedEx Cup standings and qualify for the BMW Championship.
He took a cortisone shot about an hour after the Boston event ended, then had the MRI on Tuesday.
"No bad structural damage," Verplank said in a text message. "Not in any immediate danger. This week is totally up to me and how much I can put up with it."
There are no alternates in the playoffs, so even if he can't make it, Verplank won't be depriving someone a spot in the field. And he'll still collect his $110,000 bonus for reaching the top 60 in the FedEx Cup.
DIVOTS: Slightly more than half of the players at Cog Hill — 36 out of 70 — are Americans. ... Andres Romero missed a birdie putt on the final hole at the TPC Boston and figured his playoff run was over. Instead, the Argentine who began the playoffs at No. 115 managed to crack the top 70 (68th) and gets another shot at reaching the Tour Championship. The only other players who started outside the top 100 and made it to the BMW Championship are Kevin Streelman (No. 102 to No. 26) and Tiger Woods (No. 112 to No. 51). ... Steve Stricker and Matt Kuchar are tied in the race for the Vardon Trophy with an adjusted scoring average of 69.61.
-- Doug Ferguson
Champions
Champions Tour comes to Asia with event in SKorea
INCHEON, South Korea (AP) — The Champions Tour has come to Asia, and golf greats Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson predict the sport has a bright future in the region.
Watson is one of 57 players set to tee off in the Posco E&C Songdo Championship beginning Friday at a course designed by Nicklaus.
The tournament is the first Champions Tour event to be played in Asia and will take place on the 7,087-yard, par-72 course at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea in the port city of Incheon, west of Seoul.
The event has a purse of $3 million with a winner's share of $455,000.
Golf is hugely popular in Asia and players from the region have made their mark in the sport in recent years, most notably female players from South Korea and Japan and male golfers from Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.
In a highlight for Asian golf, Y.E. Yang of South Korea outdueled Tiger Woods to win the 2009 PGA Championship.
"This is a wonderful golf market," Watson said. "I think it fits with the work ethic and the culture of the eastern countries."
Watson, who has won the British Open, Masters and U.S. Open, also said he expects China to become a market for international pro golf within his lifetime, following the lead of Japan and South Korea.
Nicklaus said he is impressed with the quality of the Asian game.
"We have many players from this part of the world that are actually starting to play very, very well on the world circuit," Nicklaus said. "Were going to see the growth of the game and I think the Olympics have a lot to do with that. We'll have a tremendous growth of the game (throughout Asia)."
Golf is set to become an Olympic sport at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janiero.
As for the Champions Tour event itself, Nicklaus said that the greens will be a challenge.
"The greens here have a little bit of movement in them, a little bit of spice," he said. "And that will be the difficulty. But I still expect to see the scores to be very good here."
Champions Tour money leader Bernhard Langer and Mark O'Meara are also in the field. Langer, a two-time Masters winner, has won five Champions Tour events this season, the first golfer to accomplish the feat since Craig Stadler in 2004.
Nicklaus is not playing in the tournament.
O'Meara, who won both the Masters and British Open in 1998, declared himself ready for the event.
"It's always good to come to an exciting new country that's thrilled about having golf," he said. "(I) played the golf course yesterday. It's a nice layout and Jack's done a nice job."
-- Kelly Olson
PGA European
Kaymer looks to extend money lead at Dutch Open
HILVERSUM, Netherlands (AP) — PGA champion Martin Kaymer has a chance to move further ahead in the European money list when the Dutch Open starts on Thursday.
Main rivals Graeme McDowell and Lee Westwood are skipping the tournament.
Kaymer will be playing for the first time since going to the top of the Race to Dubai by winning his first major last month.
He is $255,000 in front of McDowell, the U.S. Open champion, and $548,000 ahead of Westwood.
McDowell is taking an extended break ahead of the Ryder Cup next month. Westwood is still recovering from the calf and ankle injuries that forced him to withdraw from the Bridgestone Invitational.
Ryder Cup
Harrington adds Paris event to schedule
WENTWORTH, England (AP) — Three-time major winner Padraig Harrington will play in Paris later this month as he attempts to prepare for the Ryder Cup next month.
The European Tour announced Wednesday that Harrington, who won the British Open in 2007 and 2008 and the 2008 PGA Championship, has added the Vivendi Trophy from Sept. 23-26 to his schedule.
The Irishman hasn't won on the U.S. or European Tours for two years. He needed a wild card from captain Colin Montgomerie to be picked for his sixth Ryder Cup, which starts Sept. 27 at Celtic Manor in Wales.
Harrington has failed to qualify for the last two Fedex Cup playoffs in the United States.
