Golf Capsules: Kuchar, Johnson turn from Ryder Cup to PGA Tour
ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. (AP) — After being on the losing side at the Ryder Cup, Matt Kuchar and Zach Johnson returned from Wales this week wanting more out of the match-play event.
They'll have to settle for a strong start to the PGA Tour Fall Series.
Kuchar and Johnson are the only two U.S. Ryder Cup players in the field for this week's McGladrey Classic at the Sea Island Club's Seaside Course. The two relative newcomers in the Ryder Cup went 3-2-2 for the U.S., which lost by one point to Europe at Celtic Manor.
The two are playing this week mainly because they are residents of St. Simons Island.
Rain pushed the singles matches in the Ryder Cup to Monday, so Kuchar and Johnson didn't arrive home until Tuesday night. The two were on the course Wednesday to play in the McGladrey pro-am, and were candid about their experiences in one of the most dramatic Ryder Cup finishes ever, the first since 1991 that came down to the final singles match.
"I knew it was a big stage," said Kuchar, a Ryder Cup rookie. "I knew there would be tons of people. I had no idea the intensity and the passion that came with the Ryder Cup."
Johnson, who was playing in his second Ryder Cup, won the 11th of the 12 singles matches against Padraig Harrington to give Hunter Mahan and the U.S. a fighting chance.
Mahan eventually lost to Graeme McDowell on the 17th hole.
"It was great sport," Johnson said. "We hung in there and fought hard and came up a half-point short (of tying and retaining the Ryder Cup). Unfortunately for us, the Europeans played just a little bit better."
Also in the McGladrey field is tournament host and nearby resident Davis Love III, who has played in six Ryder Cups and was one of four assistant captains to Corey Pavin in Wales. Love is considered the favorite to be the U.S. captain at Medinah, near Chicago, in 2012.
"I definitely want to be a captain, if they (PGA of America) talk to me about it," Love said. "I'll be excited about it. I'd love to do it."
Based on past practices, the PGA of America will pick the 2012 captain sometime this fall, possibly coinciding with its annual meeting in Boston during the first week of November.
Despite the loss, Johnson, Kuchar and Love were grateful to have been a part of the week.
"The drama coming down and the way it unfolded and seeing the board change so much during the day was unbelievable," Johnson said. "It was blue (for Europe), and then it was kind of red (for the U.S.), and really blue, then really, really red. We hung in there and fought hard."
Kuchar said making his first Ryder Cup team in Europe whetted his desire to make another team to play at Medinah in 2012.
"I really enjoyed playing overseas for my first one," said the Tour's current leading money-winner and the runner-up to Ryder Cup teammate Jim Furyk for the FedEx Cup. "All the chants and singing songs that they do was really a lot of fun. The first tee, every day, even if it was pouring rain ... the fans were really into it."
Love said watching Kuchar, Johnson and the other U.S. players left him torn with wanting to qualify for the team on his own and being the next captain.
He said the conflicting emotions were even stronger when mingling with past European Ryder Cup players like Darren Clarke, Jose Maria Olazabal and Sergio Garcia.
"We all talked about how much we want to play again and not on the sidelines," Love said. "Standing beside the players as they play makes us want to work hard and play again."
Love said he would have to work on his motivational speeches if he were to be named captain.
"Watching Bubba (Watson) and Hunter and several guys tearing up and getting emotional every night, I'm worried about the speeches," he said. "I'm good at crying when something's special. I think it would be hard for me to handle the standing up in front of people part."
Westwood not playing on U.S. Tour in 2011
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland (AP) — Lee Westwood says he will not take up PGA Tour membership next year, only coming to America for the majors, World Golf Championships and occasional tournaments around them.
The 37-year-old Englishman said Wednesday that he will put his family first in 2011, remaining based in Europe despite a chance to compete for the FedEx Cup and the $10 million bonus.
"Why would you take up membership in the States when you've been the most successful player in the world this year?" Westwood said. "When you've come in second in two major championships, you must be doing something right. Why not stick to the same schedule?"
U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell, the Europe's hero in the Ryder Cup, took his U.S. card for the second half of the season and says he will play the PGA Tour next year as a member, though not as much as some other Europeans.
Westwood has a chance to end Woods' 278-week run atop the world ranking by finishing in a three-way tie for second or better at the Dunhill Links Championship, which starts Thursday on three coastline courses with St. Andrews as the host course.
Westwood, a runner-up at the Masters and British Open, could become only the third player to reach No. 1 without having won a major. The others were Fred Couples, who won the Masters a month after reaching No. 1, and David Duval, who was No. 1 in 1999 and captured the British Open two years later.
"I don't want to get into a situation where I have to play events in America just to make up 15 needed for tour membership," he said. "The FedEx Cup sits right in the middle of the kids' summer holidays, and I like going on holiday with them for a couple of weeks."
Westwood says he has been asked by American officials to join their tour, but after another successful Ryder Cup for Europe, he turned his focus to personal goals.
"As of Monday evening in Wales I became an individual again, and I do what's right for Lee Westwood now," he said.
Westwood could reach No. 1 in the world on Nov. 1 if he finishes inside the top 20 at the Dunhill Links Championship and the Portugal Masters next week.
Then comes the HSBC Champions in Shanghai, featuring Westwood, Woods and Phil Mickelson. Even though Westwood is poised to move to No. 1, the question is how long he stays there.
The longest Woods has vacated the No. 1 ranking was 26 weeks in 2004 and 2005 to Vijay Singh.
Choosing to play more in Europe than America in 2011 will make it more difficult for Westwood to remain No. 1 because for most weeks of the year the PGA Tour events carry more ranking points.
The Dunhill Links has a strength-of-field comparable to the AT&T National — 48 points to the winner — with eight other members of the European Ryder Cup team taking part. That includes McDowell, McIlroy, Martin Kaymer, Padraig Harrington, Ross Fisher, Peter Hanson, Edoardo Molinari and captain Colin Montgomerie.
-- Graham Otway
Tiger Woods to play in Thailand
BANGKOK (AP) — Tiger Woods will play in a one-day skins tournament in Thailand next month.
Organizers announced Thursday that Woods will return to his mother's home country for the first time in 10 years to compete in an event that was part of celebrations to mark King Bhumibol Adulyadej's 60th year on the Thai throne.
The sssskins tournament will be played on Nov. 8, at the Amata Spring Country Club in Chonburi, a seaside province southeast of Bangkok.
England's Paul Casey, Colombia's Camilo Villegas and Thailand's top player Thongchai Jaidee are also competing in the event.
The event will be held the day after the HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai.
Donald, McIlroy to play HSBC Champions in Shanghai
SHANGHAI (AP) — Asia Tour organizers say Paul Casey, Luke Donald and Rory McIlroy will join Tiger Woods at next month's HSBC Champions event in Shanghai.
A statement from the Asia Tour on Thursday also said three-time major winner Padraig Harrington will compete.
With defending champion Phil Mickelson confirmed as well, seven of the world's top 10 golfers are set to be in Shanghai when play begins Nov. 4.
The HSBC Champions is the final World Golf Championships event of the season.
LPGA
Creamer returns for LPGA Navistar Classic
PRATTVILLE, Ala. (AP) — Paula Creamer is greeted by a comforting sight every time she walks into her kitchen: the U.S. Women's Open trophy.
It reminds her of her first major win and the biggest highlight from a tough year. Now, Creamer and her still-healing thumb are ready to play in the $1.3 million LPGA Navistar Classic for the first time, starting Thursday at the 6,607-yard, par-72 Senator Course on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at Capitol Hill.
Creamer was sidelined four months after reconstructive surgery on her left thumb March 30 — coincidentally an hour away in Birmingham — and still sports a bandage as a constant reminder.
The trophy sitting in her home is a more pleasant reminder — of July's four-stroke U.S. Open win at Oakmont that eased the burden of a top player seeking her first win at a major.
"I can walk into my house and see the U.S. Open trophy on my kitchen table," Creamer, who has nine LPGA wins and has played on three winning Solheim Cup teams, said Wednesday. "It's kind of nice, it's different. I've never been a trophy person, but that one's beautiful. I can look at it all day."
She's coming off a five-week break that included several weeks off the course, skipping the Northwest Arkansas Championship nearly a month ago. Her best finish since the U.S. Open was a tie for 15th at the Canadian Women's Open.
"As long as I give myself a chance on Sunday, that's all I can really ask for," Creamer said. "Coming down the stretch, the last nine holes, if I'm in contention I will be happy. It's been a difficult year. But we've got a couple of more events left that I can fight through and 2010 will be done with."
It's her first time playing in the Classic in suburban Montgomery, but one aspect of the course caught her attention quickly.
"The greens are huge, probably the biggest greens I've ever played besides somewhere in the British Open," Creamer said. "It's a good track. They don't look as pretty right now, but they're rolling pretty nicely, quick. It always comes down to putting the ball in the right place. You can't have 45-footers all over."
The Classic field includes half of the top 10-ranked players, led by No. 1 Ai Miyazato and No. 3 Cristie Kerr, who missed Wednesday's pro-am.
Michelle Wie and No. 2 Yani Tseng are among those sitting out the first of six consecutive events. Tseng took her third win of the year in Arkansas with a one-stroke victory over Wie. She had matched the Classic's tournament record by shooting 63 in the second round last year.
Fifteen-year-old Alexis Thompson returns after sharing the second-round lead a year ago and finishing tied for 27th. Her best LPGA finish was a second-place tie at the Evian Masters.
The Classic is her last exemption of the year.
The event is assured of a new winner because Lorena Ochoa, who retired in May, won on the last two trips to Prattville.
In-Kyung Kim comes in as one of the hottest players, with seven top 10s in the last eight tournaments, while Miyazato is seeking her sixth victory of the year.
"Right now, it's a little bit tough to control myself as situations are constantly changing," Miyazato said. "The top 5 players are very close and in contention all the time."
-- John Zenor
Champions
Weary Pavin back on course after Ryder Cup thrills
POTOMAC, Md. (AP) — It was a long flight back to the United States for Corey Pavin, giving the Ryder Cup captain plenty of time to wonder "What if?" after his team's narrow loss to Europe.
A slow start, nasty weather, wardrobe malfunctions and questionable pairings gave way to a rousing finish that nearly saw the U.S. team pull off an unprecedented comeback Monday.
But Pavin didn't stew about missed opportunities on the way home from Wales.
"I'm not one of those guys. I did the best I could with everything, all my decisions," Pavin said Wednesday. "The Ryder Cup is over. It was great, but it's time to move on."
He now has the difficult task of trying to regroup from one emotionally draining experience by stepping into another — a major championship.
Despite his Ryder Cup commitment, which included an extra day overseas, Pavin stayed in the field for the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship, the final major of the Champions Tour season.
From his perspective, the tournament, held at the recently renovated TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm outside of Washington, offers him a chance to decompress from Ryder hysteria and get back to the place where he is most comfortable — on the course.
"It's probably good I have a tournament to play this weekend," Pavin said. "It keeps my mind occupied on something else rather than having nothing to do and thinking about last week so much. It was a hard week, it was a great week and it was an emotional week."
Fred Couples, who has served as President's Cup captain and will return to the role in 2011, said that Pavin will have to make a mental and physical shift to get back into the swing of things.
"To be honest, I'm sure it's ... I don't know what the word would be, not a letdown, because even if they won, he'd be coming here with a high — but he probably hasn't played golf in a week," Couples said.
Indeed, Pavin said that because of his preparations for the Ryder Cup, he hadn't swung a club for six weeks before Wednesday's Pro-Am round.
"There was a lot that happened — there were a lot of hours of the day that were filled with things to do," he said. "It was fun, it was a challenge and that part of my life is over now. It's time to move on and get back to playing golf."
Pavin enters the Senior Players at No. 13 on the Charles Schwab Cup points list and No. 19 on the money list. But several players said now that Pavin's duties as Ryder Cup captain are over, he will become more of a factor in the Champions Tour's homestretch.
"Now he can shift his focus strictly to his own play and being as much of a bulldog as he is, a tough competitor, he'll be focused on the Champions Tour and playing well right here," Fred Funk said. "He'll be a force to be reckoned with, especially at a lot of the venues we play here."
Avenel, which hosted PGA Tour events from 1987-2004 and again in 2006, might be a familiar location for many of the players in the field but the course, which was completely rebuilt at a cost of $25 million, remains a tournament unknown.
"I'm real curious to see what we're going to shoot out there," said Funk, a Maryland native. "It's going to beat a lot of people up. It's a tough par-70. I'll take even par right now."
Points leader Bernhard Langer thought the field was going to be in for a long weekend, especially if the cool and wet weather continued.
"It's really, really tough. It's a difficult test of golf," Langer said. "The ball's not rolling whatsoever. You've got to drive the ball, you've got to hit some good iron shots. It's going to take a complete player to win here. You can't have a weakness and expect to win."
Ryder Cup
Montgomerie wants Ryder Cup selection overhaul
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland (AP) — Colin Montgomerie plans to recommend that Europe's Ryder Cup selection process be changed for the 2012 event after having to leave English pair Paul Casey and Justin Rose off his team.
Montgomerie captained Europe to victory over the United States at Celtic Manor in Wales last weekend to regain the trophy. But even though he was given three wild card choices at his own request when previous captains had only two, the Scot wants further modifications.
"Having to leave out two players ... was the worst day of my professional career," he said Wednesday. "I don't want any future captain to have to go through what I went through on that awful evening in Gleneagles. We have to devise a system of getting top players like that into the European team."
Casey is ranked seventh in the world and has finished in the top 10 in seven of the 17 tournaments he has played this year. Rose has won two PGA Tour events in 2010 and won three out of four matches at the 2008 Ryder Cup in Valhalla.
Montgomerie is a member of the European Tour tournament committee, which will appoint the captain for Medinah in 2012 and decide how the team should be assembled. The committee will meet next month to review the 2010 Ryder Cup.
Before the Ryder Cup at Oakland Hills in 2004, the European team automatically selected 10 players based on earnings and then added two wild cards.
That was changed to bring in world ranking points so that U.S.-based players like Casey and Rose could make the team without having to play in Europe. But with so many Europeans playing full-time on the PGA Tour, there is still a chance that some top players will miss out.
Speaking at the Alfred Dunhill Links in Scotland, Montgomerie confirmed he will not seek the captaincy for Medinah and would instead try to make the team again as a player.
He acknowledged he has a mountain to climb to make his 10th Ryder Cup appearance, currently being ranked 425th in the world.
"I have to refocus on my game after two years of focusing on the way other people are playing," Montgomerie said. "But I would have to take my game to a new level to make the team again. Even higher than it was in 1997-98, when I was playing my best golf — because since then the standard of golf being played on tour has improved so much."
-- Graham Otway
Hall of Fame
Ozaki elected to Hall of Fame
TOYKO (AP) — Jumbo Ozaki finally gets to celebrate in America when he is inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Ozaki, who won more than 100 tournaments and led the Japan Golf Tour money list 12 times, was elected Wednesday through the international ballot by receiving 50 percent of the vote from a panel of journalists, golf dignitaries and Hall of Fame members.
He will be inducted May 9 at the World Golf Village in St. Augustine, Fla., along with Ernie Els, Doug Ford, the late Jock Hutchison and former President George H.W. Bush.
Ozaki had 111 victories, all in Japan except for the New Zealand PGA Championship in 1972. The knock on Ozaki was that he never won in the United States, although he had top 10s in the Masters and U.S. Open.
He joins Isao Aoki as the only Japanese men in the Hall of Fame.
Players on the international ballot must receive 65 percent of the vote. If no one gets that percentage, the top vote-getter is elected provided he has at least 50 percent. Two-time major winner Sandy Lyle received 45 percent, while Colin Montgomerie had 29 percent.
"I am very happy, very honored and appreciate everyone who has supported me since I turned pro in 1970," Ozaki said. "My only regret is not playing more outside of Japan, but I dedicated my life to Japanese golf and am extremely grateful the voters thought I was worthy of this honor."
Among his victories, Ozaki won the Japan PGA Championship six times and the Japan Open five times.
Amateur
Tallent, Simson advance to Senior Am final
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Qualifying medallist Pat Tallent and Paul Simson advanced to the final of the USGA Senior Amateur Championship on Wednesday at Lake Nona Golf & Country Club.
The 57-year-old Tallent, from Vienna, Va., beat Frank Ford III of Charleston, S.C., 2 and 1 in the quarterfinals, and topped Chip Lutz of Reading, Pa., 2-up in semifinals.
The 59-year-old Simson, from Raleigh, N.C., beat Tim Miller of Kokomo, Ind., 3 and 2, and edged Jeff Burda of Modesto, Calif., 4 and 3, in the semifinals.
Tallent is attempting to become the first medalist to win the title since John Richardson in 1987. Only seven medalists have won the event for players 55 and older.
