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It's Harrington's turn to chase Tiger
by Tom LaMarre, Sports Xchange
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| Padraig Harrington has won the two most recent majors. (Ian Walton / Getty Images) |
At the beginning of the following season, perhaps the most anticipated in recent memory, there was all this talk about the possibility of golf's "Big Five" trading the No. 1 ranking all season.
In addition to Singh, there were Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els and Retief Goosen challenging Woods to be recognized as the best golfer in the world.
We know how that turned out.
Woods captured the Masters and the British Open that year, added two more major titles in 2006 and has won a total six major championships in the last four years to prove once and for all that he is the best golfer of this generation.
End of discussion.
Still, after Woods missed the second half of 2008 because of left knee surgery following his impossible U.S. Open victory last June, Sergio Garcia and Phil Mickelson are again nipping at his heels in the World Golf Rankings. Tiger's lead has shrunk from more than 11 points to less than four.
Not only that, veterans Singh and Kenny Perry had resurgent seasons last year well into their 40s, and young guns Anthony Kim and Camilo Villegas showed that they might have the firepower to someday unseat Woods.
Despite the presence of all these contenders, when the Masters looms in April golf's focus will narrow to two players who have elevated themselves above the rest -- Woods and Padraig Harrington.
While Woods might only then be getting back in competition, Harrington will be pursuing history after winning the last two major championships of 2008, the Open Championship and the PGA Championship.
Should he capture the Masters and the U.S. Open at Bethpage Black, the Paddy Slam would be the equal of the celebrated Tiger Slam of 2000-01, when Woods became the only player to win all four legs of the modern Grand Slam in succession.
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| Tiger Woods' lead in the rankings was cut by more than half while he recovered from knee surgery. (AFP / Karim Sahib / Getty Images) |
"Expectations for next year are going to be higher than ever, and that is something I have to manage," the Irishman said as the new season approached. "In the past, I never believed the expectations people had for me, and my way of managing that was to underplay them.
"Yet when you become a major champion, you put yourself under pressure to play to a higher standard. It was something I struggled with in the first half of (2008, after winning the 2007 British Open).
"Next year there is going to be even more attention at the Masters and with the Paddy Slam."
Neither Woods nor Harrington will be at Kapalua on Jan. 8-11 for the season-opening Mercedes-Benz Championship, and there is the possibility that Tiger will not play until Augusta.
But he has almost always been competitive right after a long layoff, and he had some ominous words for his would-be challengers last month when he was host to the Chevron World Challenge.
"I don't want to be the same, I want to become better," said Woods, who is four short of Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 major titles. "I want to become better than I was, and this leg will help me in that process.
"The strength (in the knee) has come back better than ever. It's better than it's been in over a decade. Long term, this is the greatest thing that could have happened."
Harrington must be wary of the fall Mickelson has taken since being in a similar position at the 2005 U.S. Open. After winning the PGA Championship and the Masters in succession, he stood on the 18th tee at Winged Foot on Sunday with the lead and a third consecutive major title within his grasp.
However, Lefty sliced his drive off a hospitality tent en route to a double bogey and really has not been a factor in a major since.
Paddy's peers were so impressed with his feat that they selected in 2008 PGA Tour Player of the Year over Woods, who admitted that he cast his vote for Harrington.
"That's Tiger-like," Ben Curtis said, referring to Harrington winning three of the last six majors.
Added Woods: "Once Paddy won a major, and especially the way he did it at Carnoustie (in 2007), it was only a matter of time before he'd do it again.
"The confidence you get from winning one is huge, and the two just proves it to you that the first wasn't a fluke. It gives you all the confidence in the world."
Which brings us to Garcia, who might be the wild card in this equation if he can overcome devastating losses to Harrington in the PGA last August and the year before at Carnoustie.
The Spaniard claimed the biggest title of his career last season when he won the Players Championship at Sawgrass, and then in November he overtook Mickelson to become No. 2 in the World Golf Rankings by capturing the HSBC Champions Tournament in Shanghai.
After winning it China, he chose his words carefully, not wanting to join Rory Sabbatini, Stephen Ames and Ian Poulter on Woods' hit list.
"If I play the way I'm playing, I probably can become No. 1," Garcia said. "But you've got to realize that when we talk about Tiger, we're looking at the kind of player that you don't see very often in history. There are very few like him, if there has ever been one like him.
"It's possible (to take over at No. 1), mainly because he has been injured. But we know that as soon as he comes out, he's going to play well and it's going to become quite tough."
Sort of like 2005.
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Daly also was disqualified from the Arnold Palmer Invitational because he missed his tee time for the pro-am, blaming it on bad information from a volunteer, and was criticized for having coach John Gruden of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers carry his bag after a rain delay in the PODS Championship.
During the 2½-hour rain delay, Daly met Gruden at the Hooters Owl's Nest, and even though Daly missed the cut, the two-time major champion returned to the hospitality tent on Saturday to sign autographs and drink with fans. After an unflattering article about Daly's day appeared in the Tampa Tribune and made it onto the newswires, golf instructor Butch Harmon dropped Daly as a client.
Hooters is one of Daly's sponsors, and he often makes appearances for the restaurant chain.
Daly said his suspension is "not fair in reality, but it's probably fair in perception."
The North Carolina incident came 10 days after Daly missed the cut in the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas, his final event of the year on the PGA Tour. He played 17 times on the circuit in 2008, missed the cut 10 times and withdrew twice.
Daly has said he might play on the PGA European Tour this season because he is getting fewer and fewer sponsor exemptions on the PGA Tour.
"This is the lowest I've ever been," Daly said. "There's always light with me. Right now, my home tour is probably Europe. And I love the European tour. I always have. But my home is the United States. That's where I would rather play."
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| Richard Sterne has earned a return trip to The Masters. (Warren Little / Getty Images) |
The top 50 players in the rankings as of Dec. 31 qualified to play at Augusta, and Sterne was one of three players who made it based on their play in the final official events of 2008.
"The Masters was the most fun tournament I've ever played in my life, so I'm looking forward to getting back there," said Sterne, who tied for 25th last year in his Augusta debut and made it back at No. 43 in the rankings by winning the Alfred Dunhill Championship and the South African Open on consecutive weeks.
"I was ranked (No. 109) in the world two weeks ago and I had no chance. I knew I had to win two in a row and it's happened, so I'm just looking forward to being back there."
Rory McIlroy, the 19-year-old star of the future from Northern Ireland, closed with an 8-under-par 64 to tie for third in the South African Open and climbed to No. 39 in the rankings, qualifying for his first Masters.
Lin Wen-Tang of Taiwan tied for sixth in the Volvo Masters, the last event of the season on the Asian Tour, and punched his ticket to his first Masters by ending the year at No. 49.
"It's been an absolutely great year and to get to play in Augusta in my second season, making the top 50 in the world and staying there, I had to go out this week and play pretty well and I did that," McIlroy said.
"I'm over the moon. It's obviously a great way to end the year and looking forward to all of the things that are coming my way next year."
Also making the field for the first major of the year, based on the rankings, were No. 19 Justin Rose of England, No. 25 Martin Kaymer of Germany, No. 29 Ross Fisher of England, No. 31 Luke Donald of England, No. 32 Shingo Kayatama of Japan, No. 33 Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland, No. 34 Rory Sabbatini of South Africa, No. 35 Jeev Milkha Singh of India, No. 36 Aaron Baddeley of Australia, No. 40 Oliver Wilson of England, No. 47 Soren Hansen of Denmark and No. 50 Soren Kjeldsen of Denmark.
The Ginn Co., which also sponsors tournaments on the Champions Tour and the LPGA Tour, has been hit by several class-action lawsuits, and the value of its properties has suffered with the crisis in the housing market.
"We don't have any comment on Ginn as we are still in discussions with its representatives," said Ty Votaw, PGA Tour communications director.
It is believed that Ginn bought its way out of the contract, although company officials would not confirm that.
The company last fall bought out its multi-year contract with the LPGA Tour to sponsor the Ginn Tribute hosted by Annika Sorenstam in Mt. Pleasant, S.C., but it still will sponsor that tour's Ginn Open at Reunion Resort in Kissimmee, Fla., in April.
The Ginn sur Mer Classic was part of the Fall Series, which is played after the regular-season finale, the Tour Championship, which is scheduled this season for the last week of September.
The Fall Series has been shortened from seven to five events with the loss of the Ginn tournament and the move of the Valero Texas Open from the second week of October to the middle of May.
However, the PGA Tour has been involved in negotiations for several months with officials of a tournament that would be held in the Sea Island, Ga., area. That event would fill the vacancy left by the Ginn sur Mer Classic on Nov. 5-8.
"We are working on a couple of options for the week of Nov. 2-8 and will announce that week as soon as it is finalized," said commissioner Tim Finchem of the PGA Tour.
There are 46 official tournaments on the 2009 PGA Tour schedule, including three that will be held on the same weeks as the limited-field World Golf Championship events and another opposite the British Open.
If the Nov. 5-8 slot is not filled, there will be three open weeks. An open week is scheduled for Sept. 17-20, the week before the Tour Championship, and there will not be a full-field event held opposite the Presidents Cup, scheduled for Oct. 8-11 at Harding Park in San Francisco.
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| Fred Couples won't be jumping right into the Champions Tour after turning 50 this fall. (Hunter Martin / Getty Images) |
Couples' birthday is Oct. 3, but don't look for him in the Constellation Energy Senior Championship that week even though it is a major on the senior circuit.
That's because he will be preparing to captain the United States team in the Presidents Cup matches a few days later at Harding Park Golf Course in San Francisco.
But there will be two events left on the Champions Tour regular-season schedule after that -- the Administaff Small Business Classic at the Woodlands, Texas, and the AT&T Championship in San Antonio -- and expect Couples to be there.
There's no place he's more popular than in Texas, since he played college golf at Houston, and the last of his 15 victories on the PGA Tour came in the 2003 Shell Houston Open.
"I'm really looking forward to it," said Couples, the 1992 Masters champion. "I've talked with Mark O'Meara and Jay Haas about it, and my goal is to be healthy once I turn 50.
"The great thing is I'll be able to play in some Champions Tour events right after I serve as the captain of the U.S. team at the 2009 Presidents Cup."
Couples has been plagued by physical ailments in recent years, particularly a nagging back injury, and he managed to play in only 18 tournaments on the PGA Tour in 2008.
Still, he performed well enough to earn $949,281 and finished 109th on the money list, maintaining his exempt status on the regular tour for what might be his final full season.
"I'm exempt and I'm going to play five in a row on the West Coast, including in Los Angeles," said Couples, who won the L.A. event at Riviera Country Club in 1990 and 1992. "I feel like if there's a tournament where I will do well, it's there.
" ... (But) I'm 49 years old. I wouldn't consider myself a threat too much anymore."
Not until October, when he'll be a rookie again.
The 36-hole, unofficial money event will offer a purse of $500,000 and will be the first LPGA Tour event ever held in Brazil.
"HSBC LPGA Brasil Cup 2009 provides the LPGA a wonderful opportunity to showcase our great players to fans in Brazil," said Mike Nichols, vice president of tournament business affairs for the LPGA Tour.
"Angela Park and Candy Hannemann have proudly and successfully represented Brazil on the LPGA Tour, and we are eager to visit their home and bring the best of women's golf to South America, thanks to the support of premier event producer Brasil 1 and sponsors like HSBC."
The tournament will feature a 15-player field, including 14 LPGA Tour professionals. Park and Hannemann have committed to play, and they will be joined by 12 of their peers based on their rankings on the 2008 LPGA Tour money list.
A leading Brazilian amateur also will have the chance to compete. The full field will be announced in the next few weeks.
"I'm very excited to have the best players in the world to come and compete in the HSBC LPGA Brasil Cup 2009 at Itanhanga Golf Club in Brazil," said Park, the LPGA Tour's 2007 Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year.
"It will be a great event, and I'm sure the players will agree. This will also be a great opportunity for people in Brazil to get to know more about golf and see the best female professionals compete."
Itanhanga Golf Club was host to the 2000 Brazil Rio de Janeiro 500 Years Open on the PGA European Tour.
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