Elling: Major course correction - Tiger's majors mission now becomes improbable

It was, by the length of a nine-course meal, the funniest line of the week.
Maybe a tad prescient, too.
One of Tiger Woods' oldest friends and confidants, a guy who once lived a hundred yards down the same street and served as his professional mentor, was explaining how the fading former world No. 1 seemed to finally be in a happy place emotionally. So much so that Woods did the unthinkable over dinner on the eve of the Players Championship.
He pried open his wallet, reached between the cobwebs, pulled out some plastic and picked up the check.

Tiger Woods probably won't be displacing Jack Nicklaus and Sam Snead atop the majors list after all. (Getty Images)

"It's not often he goes to the hip," Mark O'Meara cracked, drawing huge laughs.
The lone Woods tipping point of the week, it wasn't.
After nine holes, Woods handed a scorecard to his playing partners and withdrew, the numerical tab having grown to 42 strokes. Even with Woods' substantial assets, both physically and financially, it added up to a hugely disappointing sum.
For the first time, after 20 months on the fence as Woods' cataclysmic career trajectory and personal life have morphed into the stuff of morbid curiosity, it's at last become clear that he's too beaten down, too beaten up and just plain too easy to beat.
For many of us on the fence regarding his future, it became jarringly clear last week that Woods is never going to break the decades-old records of Jack Nicklaus or Sam Snead.
By any definition of the word, Woods has pulled up, lame. Fate has wrecked what we once considered a fait accompli.
Some will find an immediate sense of satisfaction and comfort in that sentiment, in that the game's monumental marks for total victories and Grand Slam wins are safe from his pillaging. On this end, it's more akin to gradual resignation. He first lost his moral compass and reputation -- now his golf game and health are both pointed due south. What's left? It didn't sneak up on anybody, really. It's just that the preponderance of evidence hit home as Woods ponderously walked the TPC Sawgrass course last week, trailing 100 yards behind his ambulatory playing partners. How can he run when he can't even walk, or when, in each of his last two starts, he's injured himself hitting mundane golf shots?
He bandages his knee as we bandy about the increasingly reasonable questions about his future, especially after Woods noted on his website Monday that he likely won't play again until the U.S. Open next month. By then, he will have completed 16 stroke-play rounds in 5 1/2 months of PGA Tour play -- or roughly three per month.
Most guys show up for the Open, the toughest test in golf, feeling ready, willing and able. Woods is 1-for-3 and it's clearly time to ask how much that'll change. As one surgeon told the New York Times, when you have had four surgeries in the affected area, there's no such thing as a minor strain. His Achilles injuries are the result of wear and tear, not a particular injury, Woods said. His ankles hurt. He tweaked a calf muscle.
Used to be, Woods didn't say much about his injuries. Now he's as rusty as a '72 Ford Pinto and parts are falling off. Odds are pretty good he's not jaking it, either. His ex-swing coach, Butch Harmon, is a former military man and says Woods is the toughest player he's ever coached.
"Tiger Woods has a higher pain threshold than any player I have ever known," Harmon said two weeks ago in Charlotte, N.C. "He'd have calf injuries, sprains, whatever, and he would never even limp. People would have no idea."
We do now. If he's addressing his maladies publicly, that says plenty about how much he's hurting, not to mention underscores that he no longer can hide the totality of his injuries anymore.
Three years is a long time in any sport, but it seems like only yesterday that the prognosticators weren't just envisioning Nicklaus and Snead getting passed, but eyeballing their extinction dates. It wasn't a matter of whether Woods would break the mark for most major wins, 18, but a question of when.
I predicted that he'd catch Nicklaus by the end of 2010, since majors were played at Pebble Beach and St. Andrews last year, sites where he had piled up multiple Grand Slam titles by whopping margins. It didn't remotely seem like a stretch given his conversion rate at the time.
Then he had knee reconstruction. Then he had marriage deconstruction. He hasn't won a major since the 2008 U.S. Open. In fact, I bet a writer from ESPN a few shillings the other day that the next eight majors will be won by eight different players and probably should have added a side wager that none will be named Eldrick. There are 35 rookies on tour this season and two of them have already won. With every passing week that players finish ahead of Woods, whatever is left of his juju erodes further. Nobody faints at the sight of his shadow anymore and as Woods seemingly gets older by the minute at a creaky 35, the tour keeps getting younger.
It's been like watching a soap opera or Oprah, with each day between the ropes seemingly offering another dizzying development. When Woods wrecked his public persona in the scandal, not a soul envisioned the performance issues it would indirectly create for the player. A year ago, Woods wanted everybody to stop talking about his personal life and concentrate on his golf. Now it's a tossup as to which is in sorrier state.
This isn't just about his execution, either. His image has been sullied to the point where he remains, in the marketing world, practically toxic. No need recapping the damaging personal fare, but now he's not winning, either. When was the last time you spotted him in an advertisement, other than as part of an ensemble cast in a Nike spot? In other words, corporate America quite literally isn't buying the notion that Woods is poised for a comeback, either personally or professionally.
Now, neither am I. By the time Woods next figures to play, it will have been 21 months since he won on the PGA Tour. His best finish in that stretch is T4. That new golf swing and jittery putting stroke aren't getting any better while he's sitting on his sofa eating Froot Loops.
Let's be clear: Woods will still pick off a few victories, and perhaps a couple of majors along the way. But he needs four to tie Nicklaus, which as has been pointed out numerous times, is the exact number amassed over the two-decade career by the game's second-best player in that span, Phil Mickelson.
The tour is wisely positioned to continue without Woods as its major marquee man. Nobody in Ponte Vedra Beach is writing him off and his boon to the TV ratings remains inarguable, but if you've seen the PGA Tour's series of 2011 promotional ads juxtaposing young players against the established guard like Woods, it's pretty clear that the new wave is being tossed on our plate for public consumption.
"The idea of the young guys challenging the established stars, I think, is something that's a positive thing," Commissioner Tim Finchem said Sunday. "The other thing is Tiger has been finishing well in advance of finish time this year, and our television ratings are up virtually across the board."
Translated: Tiger isn't in the afternoon TV window, which means that even when he is playing, he often isn't in contention.
"There's a number of reasons for that [ratings data], but one of them is clearly the fans are engaging with and focusing on these other players, and that's good news for the future," Finchem said.
Maybe you guys figured it out first. Most of us inside the traveling tour circus learned long ago that dismissing Woods usually just made him mad, which led to more than a few dismissive news dispatches being eaten by their authors.
In that regard, if this column turns out to be dead wrong, and Woods somehow catches Nicklaus and Snead, I'll print out the story, douse it in Tabasco, and eat the words.
I'll pay that tab myself.
extracted from cbssports.com

Read more »

Rain opens scoring chances to set up great close at Sawgrass

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- The beady eyes were steely, penetrating.
The mottled complexion was courtesy of too many years spent outdoors.
The obviously hardened, scarred exterior could be viewed as downright advantageous, too.
Naw, that's not a description of some battle-toughed veteran trying to win the fifth-biggest title in golf, not to mention the richest first-place check on the PGA Tour, on Sunday at the Players Championship.
Those are the attributes of a butt-ugly swamp turtle that was captured by television cameras Saturday doing a theatrical dive off of the wooden bulkheads into the murky lake three feet below at TPC Sawgrass.
Perfectly adapted for its environment or not, it might be the only critter on the property with no chance of winning on Sunday.
Thunderstorms and a 4½-hour weather delay in the third round both softened the course and broadened the field, setting the stage for a potentially spectacular finish, where the literal and figurative turtles surely won't be able to keep up.
With most of the top players on the leaderboard still in the midst of their third round because of the weather issues, a whopping 26 players are within five strokes of co-leaders Graeme McDowell and Nick Watney at 11-under, playing on a course that turned into a pin cushion.
The top duo might need track shoes, not golf spikes, to stay ahead.
No sooner did the players get back on the rain-softened course than did birdies begin diving in holes as fast as that turtle flopped into the water. With the weather calling for another chance of showers on Sunday, and overcast skies, it's debatable whether the course will dry out, meaning green-light golf and an outright assault on the record book, in theory.

Graeme McDowell walks to the first tee as the sun begins to set at TPC Sawgrass. (Getty Images)

"I could see someone going and shooting 62, 63 tomorrow," said McDowell, the reigning U.S. Open champion. "It really has opened the field up a little bit, these conditions now."
Even before the rain, players were posting some impressive numbers, including Sweden's Peter Hanson, who shot 66 with a bogey on the 18th. After the delay, Martin Kaymer birdied his first four holes. Veteran Charlie Wi also reeled off a four-birdie streak and said he had never seen the course lie down this easily.
"You could definitely be more aggressive," Wi said. "I mean, after the rain, the ball started backing up and you never see that here."
No backing up will be tolerated atop the board, where the scoring ought to be downright entertaining. The greens were so soft, Kaymer, the world No. 2, birdied his four opening holes from a combined distance of six feet.
Play will resume at 7:45 a.m. ET on Sunday. The top four on the leaderboard had only completed five holes when play was suspended at 8:05 because of darkness, so the guy with the hottest hand will have plenty of opportunities to stomp on the gas pedal.
It's been six years since rains hammered the course to such a degree, and the first time since the tournament was moved back from March to May. Typically, since the event has been moved to warmer May, the weekends have been more of a survival test as the greens turned to the color and consistency of pizza crust on the weekends as the tour stopped watering them and speeds got downright dangerous.
Now it's like somebody took the governor off the motor.
"There was some good scoring this morning even before the delay," McDowell said. "It just shows you what can be done on this golf course. It's not long by modern standards and when you start attacking some pins you can make some scores."
There's some serious firepower behind he and Watney, for sure. Steve Stricker and David Toms are a shot back, while players like Lucas Glover, Luke Donald, Rory Sabbatini and Kaymer are all within three strokes or closer. The last four all have won titles this season already.
In the abstract, if it plays out like some expect, that fateful three-hole stretch on the Sawgrass back nine has never seemed more potentially thrilling.
"It's going to be exciting," McDowell said. "This is probably one of the most exciting finishes in world golf, and to have that many guys within striking distance tomorrow, it's going to be a lot of fun, hopefully, to be part of."

Read more »

Reinvigorated McDowell resurfaces at Sawgrass

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- World No. 5 Graeme McDowell started the year where he left off in 2010, right in the weekend hunt, atop the leaderboards more often than not, mostly hitting the hero shots.

Then just as suddenly, he couldn't find the middle of the clubface if he was hitting a beach ball.

"I've been swinging the club like an idiot," he said.

After another long session last weekend with English swing coach Pete Cowen, McDowell is at last back in his customary position heading into the weekend at the Players Championship, tied for second as the afternon wave played at TPC Sawgrass.

Dressed in black on a stifling day of heat, McDowell shot a 3-under 69 despite a double-bogey and a pair of three three-putts, but was otherwise delirious to be back among the relevant players this week. He had missed three of his last four cuts and finished T61 in his other start.

The Ryder Cup hero admitted that some of his earlier results this year were a bit misleading, too, and that the late flashes of brilliance he showed in 2010 hadn't necessarily carried over as fully as many believed.

"To be honest, I probably backed into most of my good results this year, with a low one in the last round in Abu Dhabi, and I backed in at the Honda Classic as well," he admitted. "So I haven't put myself in contention going into Saturday this year. I said to my caddie walking to the first tee yesterday, I'm missing being in contention. So, really happy to be there.

"I came here with no expectations. After a weekend of grinding, you're never really sure if you're going to go put it on the golf course. I;ve given myself a lot of confidence the last couple of days and whatever happens this weekend, these last two days have been a huge step forward for me after the way I played the last six weeks."

Read more »

Wild finish far from most exciting event at Quail Hollow

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- It's nobody's fault, of course.
For a while now, there's been an odd cloud that has intermittently hovered over the Wells Fargo Championship. One year, Tiger Woods' father died, and another, he was out with a knee injury. This week, Hall of Famer Seve Ballesteros, the most significant figure in European Tour history, passed away in Spain. Much of the week, the disciplinary status of controversial lightning rod Rory Sabbatini was being bandied about at great length.
Huh, there was a tournament here this week? No worry. On Sunday, there was so much going on at the Quail Hollow Club, you needed a swivel for a neck and a DVR to possibly track it all.
After a week in which everything but the golf on the course was dissected, the final round was full of intrigue, plot developments, multiple rules issues -- and then poster-boy problem child Sabbatini almost sneaked in and stole the title. And some folks thought the 10-under 62 in the final round last year by Rory McIlroy was memorable, or that the Masters last month had a schizophrenic ending?
By the time it ended, two former college teammates at Clemson went extra innings, with Lucas Glover finally outlasting longtime friend Jonathan Byrd on the first extra hole to win his first PGA Tour title since the 2009 U.S. Open.
As though the insanely rotating cast on the leaderboard wasn't entertaining enough -- Glover took the lead outright with an eagle on the ninth -- things took a decidedly fast turn for the weird when Padraig Harrington was very nearly disqualified for a rules imbroglio on the 13th tee when a fan claimed he had teed off from inside the markers on the hole.
Harrington has been called onto the carpet for rules issues about as often as Sabbatini has been hauled into the principal's office to explain his behavior. A month ago at the Masters, the USGA and R&A effectively changed a rule because of an issue he had earlier this season on the European Tour, when he was DQ'd after his ball moved on a putting green and he failed to notice. It's almost hilarious, but Harrington has the R&A logo stitched on his left shirtsleeve and is the rulemaking organization's global ambassador.
Gee, and we thought the Irish were popular in the States? Harrington and his caddie, Ronan Flood, and playing partner Phil Mickelson were loaded into a golf cart and hauled into the CBS broadcast trailer to review a videotape of the alleged incident. Because Harrington had already finished the hole, he was facing disqualification -- and he finished in a tie for ninth, his second-best result this year in the States.

Padraig Harrington (middle) sorts out his tee-box confusion with Phil Mickelson and rules offical Ronan Flood. (Getty Images)

Harrington and Mickelson insisted the Irishman had teed off in the proper location -- he even moved the ball back a few inches after initially placing a peg in the ground just to be safe -- and no penalty was assessed. But it took nearly an hour to sort out, and the players and their caddies had to revisit the 13th tee to look for Harrington's old divot.
Glover's caddie, Don Cooper looked over from another hole on the back nine when somebody said, "What's Padraig Harrington doing on the 13th tee?" The conclusion? Can't be Harrington. He was playing 10 groups ahead of Glover.
Harrington has had so many rules issues over the years, including getting disqualified from a tournament he was leading days after he forgot to sign his card, he must be feeling absolutely persecuted by now. Well, anybody but Harrington would, anyway.
"It's not an Irish thing, it's a Harrington thing," he laughed. "[Paul] McGinley said years ago, Harrington's the only guy who can turn a one-shot penalty into a two-shot penalty."
That was mere prelude to the last few minutes, when there was a very real chance that Sabbatini could have won for the second time this year as a lengthy suspension was being considered by tour brass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. If there was a loud whooshing sound heard at your house at around 6 p.m. Sunday night emanating from the Southeast, it was an army of tour VPs exhaling simultaneously when Sabbo finished a shot out of the playoff.
Tuesday and Wednesday, Sabbatini's heated, profane argument with fellow veteran Sean O'Hair had dominated the tournament coverage, especially since it was the feisty South African's second disciplinary issue of the spring. In March, he won the Honda Classic as a suspension was being considered for an incident on the West Coast Swing, though he wasn't ultimately benched.
Given the PGA Tour's laughably outdated policy of declining to comment on any issue involving disciplinary matters -- because tour players never get in trouble -- a victory by Sabbatini would have dragged out the discussion of his almost certain, impending suspension into a second week as the tour prepares for its flagship event this week at the Players Championship.
Think that thermonuclear public-relations disaster wasn't on their small minds? When Sabbatini, who was tied for the lead on the back nine, finished and Glover and Byrd were grinding out their final holes, a tour official cautioned media members that questions would be limited to golf-specific queries only.
Perfect. Instead of giving his side of the story, or announcing the sanctions and getting it over with like virtually every other big-league sports entity, the Sabbo conversation is sure to last into next week, if not well beyond. Instead of yanking Sabbatini's leash and controlling their player, they're going to yank a media credential?
The twists and turns went down to the 72nd hole, when Glover's drive sailed left over trees and a creek before coming to rest on a steep slope, against the posterior of a seated male fan who remained frozen until tour rules official Tony Wallin arrived. When the fan stood, Glover's ball rolled down the slippery slope and they had to replace the ball by hand in its original spot to get it to remain in place.
For a minute, anyway. As Glover addressed the ball, he made sure not to sole the club, and the ball rolled off a clump of grass down the hill into a flatter lie in deeper grass. Since he didn't cause it to move, he played from there. Glover joked that Wallin said, "That's your new lie, have fun."
From the new position, he bombed the ball over the green, made a dicey par putt from seven feet and then edged his former college mate 30 minutes later on the first extra hole. Before the third round, Glover had walked past Byrd on the practice tee and said they should try to jointly play well to ensure a pairing in the final round at around 2 p.m., which is traditionally when the leaders tee off.
"Instead, it was 6 o'clock," Glover cracked, meaning the playoff.
A trio of Clemson coaches hosted a party earlier in the week at a home on the 15th hole, so it was fitting there was another get-together on Sunday night in sudden death. The two played at Clemson for three years and butted heads as teenage juniors. Glover estimated he has played hundreds of rounds with Byrd, in fact, dating back to before they could shave.
Speaking of which, the shag carpet on Glover's face -- he started a full beard in the fall and hasn't shaved since -- is starting to get some serious street cred. Midway through the round, world No. 1 Lee Westwood, watching the tournament on TV overseas, tweeted, "Fear the beard!"
Which is the same phrase that a handful of fraternity kids painted on some T-shirts this week and wore on the course in support of the Greenville, S.C., resident. The shirts were painted at the home where Glover is staying this week, and when he saw them enter the garage with a bucket of orange paint and the blank white shirts, he held his breath.
"I was pleased when they turned out that tame," he laughed.
Might have been the only thing about the day that was.
extracted from cbssports.com

Read more »

Watson, Simpson share lead at Zurich Classic

AVONDALE, La. -- Bubba Watson was asked if his experience was an edge over co-leader Webb Simpson entering the final round of the Zurich Classic.
"There's no advantage. He wants to win. I want to win," said Watson, a two-time PGA Tour champion but winless in the previous three events he has had at least a share of the third-round lead.

Zurich Classic

Leaderboard

"There's always pressure you put on yourself and then the outside pressure that everybody else seems to put on you. You have to get used to that. So for him not winning his first one might be a little tougher for him, but I'm just as nervous as he is. I might have a half a percentage better chance than he does."
Watson made a 4-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th hole for a 2-under 70 and a share of lead.
Simpson, seeking his first tour title, birdied Nos. 3-7, then closed with 11 pars for a 67 to match Watson, who has had at least a share of the lead after all three rounds, at 12-under 204 at TPC Louisiana.
Watson needed to birdie the 588-yard 18th to get into the final group Sunday. After hitting his 250-yard approach into a greenside bunker, he blasted out to 4 feet to set up his birdie putt.
"Knowing that if I stroke this well, I'm tied for the lead and not one back, knowing I'm in the final group," said Watson, the Torrey Pines winner in January. "There was a lot of pressure on that for me. Somehow it went in dead center, and so I'm in the final group."
John Rollins (69) was third at 11 under, and 2002 winner K.J. Choi (67) was 10 under along with Steve Stricker (68), George McNeill (65), Charles Howell III (66), Tommy Gainey (68) and Matt Jones (69). Former LSU star David Toms, the 2001 Zurich winner, topped a group at 8 under after a 67.
Luke Donald, who missed an opportunity to jump from No. 3 to No. 1 in the world a week ago when he lost playoff to Brandt Snedeker at Hilton Head, was 7 under after a 70.
Simpson has a share of the 54-hole lead for the first time in his career.
"I've always slept pretty good going back to college and amateur days holding the lead," said Simpson, who tied for second behind Phil Mickelson on April 3 in Houston. "But this is why we do what we do. This is why we work out, why we practice, to give ourselves a chance to win on the PGA Tour.
"I think that will kind of calm my nerves."
Rollins is a three-time tour winner. "I've felt very comfortable on the golf course this week," Rollins said. "We've got three good ones, hoping for one more."
Watson made a 3-foot birdie putt on the first hole to open a two-shot lead. He appeared to be in position to increase the lead on the par-5 second after a 321-yard drive, but his 3-iron approach from 256 yards rolled over the green and came to rest near a cypress tree. He stubbed his chip and settled for par.
He three-putted the par-3 third hole for bogey from 47 feet and added another bogey on the sixth to fall back to 9 under, at that point two shots behind Simpson, who was playing three groups in front of Watson.
The 32-year-old Watson then birdied the two par-5s on the back nine to tie Simpson.
"It was hard to make a lot of putts, for me," Watson said. "The greens are getting burned out. Hopefully, they don't lose them by Monday. Some of them are getting pretty brown.
"Other guys on the board were making some putts, but for me it was a tough day."
Simpson quickly made up a three-shot deficit, beginning with a 6-foot birdie putt on the third hole. He followed with a 33-footer on the fourth and a 16-footer on the fifth hole to get to 10 under.
A 62-foot chip-in on the sixth gave him the lead at 11 under, and he closed out the streak with a 4-footer on the par-5 seventh hole.
"It just kickstarted the round for me," Simpson said. "I've been playing well I feel like as of late. Today was a little more exciting. "
Simpson brought some unwanted excitement to his final hole when his second shot flirted with the water. He chipped up and two-putted, happy to escape with par.
"I thought it was in the middle of the lake but somehow it stayed left," he said. "Just a poor swing. It was a good break there."
Copyright 2011 by STATS LLC and The Associated Press. Any commercial use or
distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and The
Associated Press is strictly prohibited.

Read more »

Freeman: Tiger is back -

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- There first needs to be a simple, declarative statement to settle something once and for all, an answer to a question that's been asked for days, if not months. The statement is this: Tiger Woods is back.
He is. It's official. He didn't win the Masters, but after a courageous, almost history-making performance, it's impossible not to declare the career of Woods reinvigorated from the waitress-chasing dead.
Everything was present. The charge was there. He made up seven shots in eight holes, including an eagle on eight that led to the loudest roar of the weekend. Check. Some early leaders began to fall apart once Woods closed in. Check. Rory McIlroy had a bit of premature coronation, Jean Van De Velde-ing into people's lawns. Check, check, check.
McIlroy's falter was Woods’ gain. Woods caused McIlroy to panic. No question about it.
The caddy for Woods' playing partner shook Woods' hand at the conclusion of Woods' stunning round of 67 and said to Woods: "You're back."
You're back. Yes, he is. He is.
With all due respect to winner Charl Schwartzel, it was Woods who was the biggest story of the Masters despite finishing tied for fourth and four shots back with a 278.
You had to see it in person to understand. On the course, the gallery was throaty and chaotic. People could barely contain themselves as Woods made his run. Woods was fist-pumping again. His attitude was nasty again. Some of the staff at Augusta -- those who cook the food and empty the trash -- were mesmerized, sneaking a peak at the large television screen in the press room to watch Woods.
It's possible there hasn't been such emotion for a player who didn't win in the history of the Masters. It's very possible I'm totally overstating, and probably am, but this felt as impressive as Jack Nicklaus' back-nine charge in 1986, and in some weird way it was better than any of Woods' wins here.
All of this despite Woods' horrible putting. Woods three-putted six times in this tournament, but it still didn't erase what was another transcending moment for a man who has produced many. He initially went from prodigy kid to champion, from Cablanasian historical figure to eternal one, from cautionary tale to the present: a great comeback story.
Over the course of the Masters, Woods was dead, alive, dead and alive. Sometimes he was the same in the course of playing a single hole. Or sometimes during a single shot.
What Woods did off the course, in destroying his family and nearly atomizing his career, are things some never will forgive nor forget. But make no mistake: Woods doesn't give a damn if he's liked or not. In one of his interviews following the final round, his answers were short and overflowing with jerkiness. When you compare Woods' obnoxious behavior with the graciousness of McIlroy's it's easy to see why, despite Woods' tremendous efforts, he'll never be forgiven in some quarters.
Woods was asked if he felt a corner had been turned, and in typical Woods fashion, he refused to bite. "...we’ll see what happens," he said. Typical Woods. Give 'em nothing.
On the course, what Woods did on Sunday may never be forgotten. On the front, Woods made four birdies and an eagle. One of his better shots was an up-and-down out of the bunker on nine.
The problem for Woods is that he started too far back and even his superhuman efforts couldn't make up the tremendous distance.
Woods has found his distance again, and while his putting needs massive work if he's going to recapture majors, don’t doubt he can do it.
No, Woods isn't the nicest guy. He isn't the cleanest cut. He isn't the most gracious, and he still hasn't won a major in three years.
But Woods is back.
He's back.

Read more »

Pond Scrum: Masters edition - After Masters, words fail -- but they'll give it a go

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Like cherry bombs in July, the roars went off sporadically and without any warning, causing a series of aural jolts and shockwaves that registered all over the Augusta National grounds.
Charl Schwartzel holed out for eagle from the fairway and Tiger Woods made up seven shots in eight holes, capped by an ear-popping eagle on the eighth hole. Adam Scott holed lengthy, rousing, par-saving putts late Sunday to stay in the hunt.
You name it, from Argentine to South African, Korean to Californian, somebody did it.
The 75th Masters was the major-championship equivalent of five-wide through the final turn in auto racing, a herd of thoroughbreds seemingly headed for a photo finish or an old-fashioned, head-butting rugby scrum, when somebody had to emerge with the ball eventually.
Which brings us to our weekly Pond Scrum itself, a post-Masters postmortem of the most memorable, en masse final round at Augusta National in quite a while.
That is, if it were easy to remember in vivid detail.
Eight different players had at least a share of the lead Sunday, and the cacophony of noise was unpredictably erupting all over the game's most famous expanse. Who, what, where, when and how?
Hope you recorded it.
Fittingly, on the 50th anniversary of Gary Player's first Masters victory, the inaugural win at Augusta by an international player, countryman Schwartzel, 26, became the latest foreign-born player to win a major.
That's four internationals in succession at the Grand Slam tournaments, by the way. And yes, many Americans are counting. That said, the global inclusiveness of the Sunday leaderboard was so comprehensive that it was noted in the U.S. broadcast that every continent not covered by sheets of ice was represented.
Not to mention that Woods was in the mix for his 15th major title. Off the air, during a commercial break, CBS analyst Ian Baker-Finch laughed into the headsets of his cohorts, "How do you think the TV ratings are doing?"
Like the incredible number of guys who had a chance to win Sunday, it's going to be a large figure. With that as the backdrop, European Tour correspondent John Huggan and CBSSports.com senior writer Steve Elling take the lay of the most famous land in the game and try to put the indescribable day into some semblance of context.
Good luck, boys. With all that happened, that's nigh on impossible.

---

Well, gents, it might not have been the prettiest Masters ever, but it surely had to rank as one of the most memorable, no? Go ahead, try to describe it.

Elling: Twenty-five years after Jack Nicklaus won the most memorable Masters of them all, we had an almost hilarious run to the wire featuring at least as many cast members. I mean, it was nearly impossible to track. Three different Aussies held a piece of the lead at some point. I pity the folks who had to write lucid play-by-play and reconstruct the timeline. It was complete chaos, utter entropy, out there. At one point, while walking with Rory McIlroy on the second hole, I turned as Charl Schwartzel holed his approach for an eagle on No. 3. A moment later, Tiger Woods made a birdie. There have been days with louder cheers, but never has there been a day with more of them. My head was on a swivel all day. I imagine the global TV ratings will be stratospheric, because every world outpost had somebody in the mix.

Huggan: It was certainly an iconic event. For about two hours there, you couldn't take your eyes off the thing. Everywhere you looked, something extraordinary was happening. And yes, one of the best aspects of the day -- much overlooked, I think -- was the diverse nature of the participants. The future of golf all over the world looks to be in safe hands.

Charl Schwartzel became the third golfer from South Africa to win the Masters. (Getty Images)

 

Elling: It was so entertaining, I was positively riveted. It was like trying to play a game of Whack-A-Mole. All these different critters kept popping up and down and getting drilled. Or drilling themselves. Never before have so many guys walked off the Augusta National property saying, "If only I hadn't three-jacked the fourth hole ... on Thursday." It was that close for so many. I was convinced we were going to have a four-man playoff.
Huggan: A lot of credit must also go to the green jackets in charge of course set up. Gone are the dark days earlier this century when plodding became the norm. This was a proper Masters, one filled with birdies, eagles and extraordinary shots. Now, if we could just get rid of those silly trees between 15 and 17. Saddest pictures of the last day, of course, were those of young Rory McIlroy. For a while there around Amen Corner, he was all but unwatchable. I can't imagine any true golfer took any pleasure from what the Irishman went through. I only hope he isn't scarred for life by the experience.
Elling: It was so unbelievably topsy-turvy, I had intended to make my way around with McIlroy as part of his coronation walk. That lasted about 30 minutes when he blew a four-shot lead in two holes. Tiger Woods made up his seven-shot overnight deficit in eight holes. Incredible. It defied description. But we scribes gave it a go. It might not have produced Nicklaus as a winner, but it produced a litany of plot twists and a deserving champion. Charl Schwartzel was the best player Sunday. Just as his mate Louis Oosthuizen was the best player at St. Andrews last year. The best man won, period.
Huggan: Yes, the course did a great job of identifying the best. You can't really argue when a guy makes birdies at each of the last four holes to win by two. Schwartzel is the real deal. He has a wonderful swing and suddenly it seems like he can putt too. My only doubt is whether he is interesting enough to satisfy the increased press interest in him that will inevitably follow this win. Hell of a player, though.
Elling: I have no idea how fans on the course were able to put what was happening into context. A bazillion TV viewers had trouble doing it, and they watched almost every meaningful shot from every group. Players themselves had no idea what was happening given the mass logjam on the board, really. Eight different players held a share of the lead Sunday? That's just inexplicably good.
Huggan: And you are being a bit harsh to say that Rory "blew" his lead inside two holes. He started bogey-par, hardly disastrous at that point. It all started going wrong a bit later though.
Elling: And I mean inexplicably good, sort of like a Krispy Kreme donut.
Nobody played better in the late fray than did winner Charl Schwartzel. Why did he win when so many others failed?

Huggan: As per usual at this level, the guy with the hot putter at the right time came through. As well as Schwartzel played, he wasn't any better tee-to-green than the two Aussie runners-up, but he made the putts that counted when they really mattered. It's nearly always that simple.
Contrast Schwartzel's work on the greens with that of Tiger Woods and you'll see what I mean.

Elling: Geoff Ogilvy might have outplayed him there for a few holes, reeling off those incredible five birdies in a row, but he was too far back to make it stand up. Schwartzel dropped the hammer at the right moment. Just in time, thankfully, or they might still be there, playing. Charl has all the shots. For 26, he is incredibly poised. But we both knew that. He's not a secret for anybody who has been paying attention. Thankfully, for the peace of mind of the PGA Tour, he joined the tour this year. So endeth that European PGA Tour streak, sort of (he is a dual member) at the Grand Slam events. The putting observation is spot-on. Charl used the second-fewest putts for the week. He can roll it and never looked intimidated on the greens.

Huggan: I had to smile when I heard people saying that this proves the young guys "aren't afraid" of Tiger. Well, they're not afraid of this Tiger, the one who can't make a putt on the back nine. The old Tiger, the one with some putting teeth, was a bit scarier. If he comes back -- and I still have doubts about that -- watch out.
Elling: Every day that passes, more and more players are saying what Rory said on Saturday night -- "I have beaten every guy on that leaderboard before." Be it Tiger or Phil or the other stars who have carried the weight for so long, we are full-bore into a sea change. The next wave is taking over. That's three straight major wins by players in their mid-20s.
Huggan: I think Ogilvy will still look back on this as an opportunity wasted. He was playing great all week and just couldn't get it done for some reason. His 73 on Saturday is actually where he lost it. But I'm confident he will win a Masters -- you heard it here first.
Elling: How about fellow Aussie Jason Day? That was his first trip to the Masters and he finished second. That kid relishes a fight. He never backed down. He even gave mild-mannered playing partner Adam Scott a staredown on the back nine. He might be the one to break the "Ozzie Duck."
Huggan: While it is never wise to overreact to one week, perhaps the biggest concern must be for the immediate future of American golf. While young Rickie Fowler is clearly a player, right now, right this minute, the game in the U.S. looks a little bereft of real stars outside of the aging Woods and Phil.
Huggan: Sad to say, while I was obviously impressed by the play of Scott and Day, they both came with large caveats. I simply cannot root for anyone using a long putter. Not in a major anyway. That thing Adam uses should be for poking fires not holing putts. And Day? My goodness, he is slow.
To wit, what happened to the American contingent? Can you fellas confirm that there were some Yanks entered?

Elling: I saw one on Saturday. It was Ryan Palmer, who finished 10th. He showed up wearing pink pants, so I know for a fact that there were Americans in the field. In some parts of Texas, where Ryan lives, wearing pink pants will get a guy's butt kicked, sort of like the Yanks got booted around all week. Brutally disappointing as a group. Fans won't care -- for now -- because Lord Eldrick was in the mix. So they will forgive the otherwise weak group effort.

Huggan: You know you're in trouble when someone called Bo is your most serious challenger. Pink pants? See Luke Donald on Saturday -- with a green shirt! Or was it the other way round? Doesn't matter. Very dodgy.

Huggan: Yes, Tiger's presence will do much to deflect attention from the absence of his compatriots. It's been that way for a while, of course.
Elling: Bo Van Pelt? He has one career win. That tournament is now defunct and is what the PGA Tour calls an opposite event. That's because it was staged opposite the British Open, where all the varsity players were teeing it up. Yeah, Bo played great, and he led the charge, such as it was. A Charge of a Very Light Brigade.
Huggan: But come on, don't get bogged down on where people come from. Does it really matter? We should be rooting for great golf and that's what we got at the 75th Masters. It was hugely enjoyable.
Elling: Is Tiger Woods a Yank? I heard David Feherty noting that, at one point, every continent was represented on the board but Antarctica. I thought he was counting Woods as a representative of Cablinasia. I believe that's located a short yacht ride from Florida.
Huggan: Exactly. We should be reveling in the international nature of the game at the highest level. With one addition: We need a stronger America.
Elling: I am entirely with you on the hyper-nationalism thing. Luke Donald is about as English as we are. He lives in the States, attended college here, married a Yank and has a baby born in the States. As the years roll past, I forget the nationalities of most of these guys and evaluate based on merit. And, of course, whether they can help me fill up my reporter's notebook.
Huggan: I must admit I was watching most of the action on the BBC feed in the media center. Anything but Sky Sports, where my old mate Monty had people turning off in droves in his analyst role, apparently.
Elling: I saw Monty in the media center Saturday. I was chiding him about whether having the customary lobotomy before joining the media ranks had left a scar. Made him laugh. He was in good-Monty mode. I was told he kept gloating on the air about his Ryder Cup players and calling them "my team." If it fell flat in the U.K., it would have gone over like a lead Titleist here.
Huggan: Monty is still bogged down in Ryder Cup land. When Rory emerged on day one, all Monty could say was how pleased he was that a member of "my team" was atop the leaderboard! Me, me, me ... always the Monty way.
Elling: As for the diminishing Yank factor as the game grows elsewhere, perhaps Schwartzel said it best Saturday: "America is big, but the world is bigger."
How did Augusta National fare as a layout? Did they dial it up properly?

Huggan: Augusta National is gradually edging back to where it should be. The awful Hootie Johnson years will soon be just a bad dream at this rate. But the strategic masterpiece we all love will not be fully restored until those silly trees right of No. 11 and between Nos. 15 and 17 are gone. Every time I look at them, I just shake my head that anyone who supposedly knows anything about golf could be so stupid.

Elling: There seems to be a conceptual setup mindset developing: Fairly benign on Thursday, harder on two middle days, which then sets the stage for Sunday's fireworks. Because if it's easy all four days, Sunday isn't as special, is it? And Sunday was indescribably good. And by indescribable, I mean, impossible to recap in written word, in any semblance of coherence. Like many of your preceding sentences. I bet Tiger would personally pay (and we all know he never pays for anything) to have those trees on 11 yanked out. He seems to hit two or three balls per year in there. If they ever have a Tiger plaque at ANGC, it will be placed on one of the pines trees situated down the right side of the 11th.

Huggan: The sight of Jason Day chipping out -- chipping out at Augusta! -- from behind a particularly mindless example of a Hootie tree right of No. 15 made me shudder.
Elling: Absolutely agreed. The whole idea is to be able to go for the green -- at your own peril. Chop-outs are for the U.S. Open.
Huggan: I don't have a problem with ANGC being longer, I might add. Something has to be done if the ball is not to be fixed by the USGA and the R&A. In fact, we have come full circle in that respect: 14 years ago the so-called "Tiger-proofing" began when Woods was hitting short irons to par-5s. Well, that's what we had again this week from the likes of Woodland and Quiros. If only the blazers on both ends of the Atlantic would knock 50 yards off the ball for these guys. Think of the money that would be saved.
The biggest train wreck in recent Masters lore befell Rory McIlroy, who became the third player to blow a 54-hole lead of four or more strokes at Augusta National. What happened?

Elling: You chided me for saying that Rory "blew" his four-shot lead after two holes. We both thoroughly like the kid. He's got charisma, he's got talent, he's the total package. But he three-jacked the first green from 20 feet and butchered the second hole, nearly leaving a ball in a fairway bunker and scrambling to save par on a hole where almost everybody else made a birdie.

Huggan: Yes, that was perhaps the worst aspect of Rory's blowup. He is such an appealing personality and character, which was underlined by the way he handled himself in the immediate aftermath of what had to have been a total nightmare. Did you see him throw his ball to the little kid as he walked off the 18th green? Now contrast that with the boorish Woods.

Rory McIlroy, who held the lead for three rounds, finished with an 8-over 80. (Getty Images)

 

Elling: I didn't think of this odd factoid until the drive home from the course Sunday night, but Little Mac becomes the latest in a distinguished parade of 54-hole road kill. In the past four majors, we have seen bed wettings by 20-somethings Dustin Johnson, Nick Watney and McIlroy, who all held the lead at a Grand Slam after three rounds and failed to break 80 on Sunday. How bizarre is that?
Huggan: When you say Rory "butchered' the second hole, do you mean the par-5 where he made a par? ... It just underlines how hard it is to win one of these things. Which is as it should be, and only underlines just how great Tiger was in his pomp. It is sad that we may never see that level of play from him again.
Elling: Yeah, the homely second hole where he drove in the sand, hit his second shot into the lip of a fairway bunker, hit his third into a bunker, and made one really good shot -- a sand save to temporarily stop the early bleeding. It was as ugly as Luke Donald's wardrobe color scheme on Saturday and you know it. Just being honest here. Rory winning a major would be the best thing to happen to the global game in many ways. He's deadly with 13 clubs in the bag, average with the putter. By the end, I had to avert my eyes when he was on the green.
Huggan: Ugly? When did they start painting pictures on scorecards? Only one thing matters -- the number in the box. If you want to talk ugly, see Rory's putting on 11 and 12. That was painful to watch. I thought he was never going to hole out on the 12th green.
Elling: Another point about winning a major: The three most recent major winners missed the cut last week. I am not at all sure we will have a dominant player for a while. We have many good ones. Any great ones? We shall see.
Huggan: There have never before been so many good players. But great ones? I'm not so sure. Of course, the modern equipment makes it harder for the truly talented to separate himself from the less gifted. That's the biggest reason why there is so much apparent parity at the top.
Speaking of dominant personalities, what was your impression of the play of former No. 1 Tiger Woods, who blitzed the front nine in 31, then putted like an aching geriatric on the back nine and fell out of the mix?

Huggan: Tiger played like the Tiger of old on the front nine. Then he putted like an old Tiger on the back. It was a strange performance overall. But the worst aspect -- from his point of view -- is that, as he stood over putts he used to make every time, he looked unsure of himself. See Nos. 12 and 15 for perfect examples of that.

Elling: If not imperfect examples. We have both been watching this guy for close to 20 years now. We have heard it all, seen it all and written it all. Until Sunday, when I heard a word never before associated with Woods: Yips. And when you think about it, you have to wonder if the putting will ever get better. I honestly lost track of how many inside five feet that he missed. He had six three-jacks for the week, at last count, which is six more than he had when he was winning these things with regularity. He used to go an entire week without one. He had two on the back nine Sunday.

Huggan: He won't be the first great player to be haunted into middle age by increasing ineptitude on the greens. Hogan and Snead did the same.
Elling: Same with Palmer. For the folks still rooting for the guy, and judging by the cheers, that's a sizeable number, they can take heart in the fact that he was in the lead on the back nine of a legit tournament for the first time in 19 months of PGA Tour play.
Huggan: He's not yipping. He's just putting poorly. Which can often be the first staging post on the road to yipperdom. But he has a ways to go before we can even hint at that.
Elling: A new word has been minted. We just conjugated "yip." There was actually an unconfirmed story making the rounds that Tiger broke his putter after the third round. It was unconfirmed because his publicist declined to respond to an email from a major media outlet asking for confirmation, clarification or denial. Not saying that means anything, but sometimes, silence says plenty. Frankly, I believe putters deserve to be punished at times. Like a bratty kid.
Huggan: His ball-striking was generally better, though. But it was still clear that he is a work in progress. The poor quality of his bad shots was the tip-off. When he hit a bad one, it was really bad. He seems to be getting there though. Maybe coach Foley isn't a phoney after all. I wouldn't blame Tiger for snapping a shaft or two. In private.
Elling: I guess the tell for Tiger will be how he follows this up. He was fourth at Augusta last year, then didn't top that result over the rest of the season.
Huggan: Yes, this course is ideally suited to his game. A bigger test will come within the narrower confines of Congressional in June.
Lastly, with so many guys throwing elbows at the end, was there a storyline you wanted to see materialize that didn't?

Elling: Is that a nice way of asking, "Will Charl Schwartzel be a popular champion?" He's a sweet kid with a sweet swing, but I get the sense that fans wanted a bigger name to win. They almost always do. Golf is the only sport where most people root against the underdog. As for where this goes from here, Schwartzel's victory will grow and grow in Masters lore only if he continues to win. This one could get better with age. Although, without four hours of final-round video to review, I defy anybody to explain how he did it. The Nicklaus win in 1986 was easy to recap in comparison.

Huggan: Just the obvious one. I think a Rory win would have been hugely beneficial for the game worldwide, such is his broad appeal. Plus, the anarchist in me was disappointed to see that Mr. Finchem won't have to go begging to get the Masters champion in the field at next month's Players Championship.

Elling: Personally, and this is no knock on anybody else, but I was pulling just a bit for Adam Scott down the stretch. An Aussie winning would have been a terrific development, and Scotty employs Greg Norman's battle-scarred caddie, Tony Navarro, who saw his old boss blow a few majors over the years. It would have been a terrific victory for the Aussies, and the game down there can sorely use the lift. Scott is such a nice kid and one of my favorites.
Huggan: Schwartzel is a good lad and a nice guy. But he is also a little bit dull. You cannot root for Adam until he gets rid of that putter. I forbid it.
Elling: As it relates to personal color, apparently, Charl is quite the big-game hunter. That's a hobby that won't put him in good stead with many who believe that shooting Tigers should be confined to the golf course.
Huggan: Your point re: Aussie golf is well made. They have some terrific players and wonderful courses -- but no tour to speak of. Yes, can't say killing defenseless animals for sport is appealing to me in any way.
Elling: That broom putter has turned Scott's career around. Yet, as we both know (sing it loud, all together now): No player has ever won a major championship with a long putter. But Tim Clark and Adam Scott have both finished second at the Masters with one. It's going to happen someday. That said, I would love to see it abolished. A major win by a broom putter might do the trick. By the way, Lee Westwood used a belly putter Sunday. He joined the long-stick club. I say let's make the long sticks go long gone.
Huggan: Yes, but I remain confident that the great golfing god in the sky simply won't allow one of those things to win a major.
Elling: After Sunday, more than ever, I believe there actually is a golfing god in the sky (he doesn't carry a 2-iron, either). Annoying watching his children of all makes and models fight it out on Sunday. Somewhere in Antarctica, a child is hitting balls in the snow and saying, "maybe it'll be me, someday." So let it someday come to pass.

Read more »

Elling: New World Order - New World Order: Watney turns up wattage, Martins attack Top 10

Time flies like a Gary Woodland drive. With the same approximate ball speed, too.
The first major championship of 2011 is nine days away. We're already three months and 14 events into the PGA Tour season. The European Tour is back to staging events that nobody cares about, including all the top players.
The Desert, West Coast and Florida Swings have rolled past and spring break has broken. So in terms of measurement or evaluative periods, that's not just a decent sample size, but enough for a second heaping helping.
Listed below is our monthly, single-minded version of the Associated Press college basketball poll, where strength of schedule, W's and L's and recent performance are tossed into a hat along with the Official World Golf Ranking and Sagarin numbers, then spat out like the RPI for hoops.
In other words, there's both sanity and subjectivity involved, not to mention a lot more movement than in the OWGR and Sagarins, which are often incredibly slow to adjust to recent developments. (Sagarin has Martin Laird buried at No. 43?)
When our New World Order ranking was concocted in the offseason by the boss, the idea was to provide a world top-10 list that reflected actual firepower and intuitive sense, resulting in a dominance index that is ultimately more reflective of two things.
The here and now.
Note that for those who thought the only current trends in the professional game related to European dominance and the emergence of several promising younger players, there are two foreign dudes named Martin in the newest CBSSports.com top 10. We're all about the trend-spotting. Speaking of which, has anybody seen Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Steve Stricker, Anthony Kim or Jim Furyk in contention lately?
The latest batch of rankings, a mix of math and personal impressions gleaned over five weeks on the road at consecutive PGA Tour events, are unusually fluid. We're not saying that to make fun of the three balls Woods dunked in the water at Bay Hill last week, either. Not necessarily.
The OWGR's top 10, by the way, has remained completely unchanged for the past three weeks. That surely isn't the case here.
1. Martin Kaymer. OWGR: 1. Sagarin: 9. Previous NWO rank: 1
I'd say the Germans are taking over the world, but that would make several countries in Europe start looking over their shoulders. The Germanics are all over the golf news lately. Last weekend, two-time Masters champ Bernhard Langer, the best player on the Champions Tour, had surgery on a thumb. On Sunday, Sandra Gal won for the first time on the LPGA. If you haven't seen her, and you consider yourself a blue-blooded member of the male gender, then make the time. What does all this have to do with Kaymer, the Dusseldorf Destroyer? Absolutely nothing. But he didn't play all that impressively over the past month. Somebody has to top this chart.
2. Luke Donald. OWGR: 3. Sagarin: 6. Previous NWO rank: 7
Is seems like he cooled off some since winning the Accenture Match play four weeks ago, but that's not exactly true. In fact, he's been firing up his Twitter account and proving to those who believed him to be something of a vanilla guy to be more akin to Neapolitan. His play has been solid, too. He played twice in Florida, finishing T-10 and T6, the latter at the WGC event at Doral. If Donald isn't on your screen for Augusta, then you must not be paying attention.
3. Nick Watney. OWGR: 14. Sagarin: 3. Previous NWO rank: NR
From unranked to No. 3 on the New World Order list might seem like a reach, but not given the way the polite Californian has played this year. In fact, he compiled a streak of five straight top 10s to open the season, including a win at Doral, before hitting rock bottom two weeks ago in Tampa. By rock bottom, that means he finished an appalling T13. While Watney has largely been under the radar of most fans, he surely has been noticed by the bookmakers, who have installed him as No. 3 co-favorite at the Masters behind Woods and Lefty. With their electricity bills, those Vegas Strip guys know what they're doing. Generally, so do we. Watney is the new hot-button pick as best Yank in the game.
4. Graeme McDowell. OWGR: 4. Sagarin: 5. Previous NWO rank: 2
The alarm bells are sounding at the moment for G-Mac and he'd be the first to admit it. He shot 80 in the first round at Bay Hill as the top-ranked player in the field and missed the cut, capping a month of unsatisfactory play. McDowell has a Masters scouting trip set for Tuesday, then will hunker down the rest of this week with his coach, Pete Cowen, for some serious swing massaging before Augusta. McDowell, as hot as any player in the world heading into the spring, has been grinding hard on his game for a month with little to show for it. He's got a week to find and fix his technical issue.
5. Matt Kuchar. OWGR: 9. Sagarin: 2. Previous rank: 6
While Watney was winning at Doral three weeks ago, Kuchar was cruising along, as ever, finishing a solid fifth. Professional to the hilt, Kooch then spent several minutes politely explaining to reporters afterward that he isn't upset that he hasn't won more often during his heady two-year run, which has included an array of top-10 finishes and the 2010 PGA Tour money title. Surprisingly, Kuchar has been repeatedly tinkering with the length of his putter for weeks, though he might be the best pure putter on this list. As much as he has been in contention, it's not hard to envision a couple of wins before season's end.
6. Lee Westwood. OWGR: 2. Sagarin: 1. Previous NWO rank: 3
He's easily off to the slowest start of anybody on this list, but the former world No. 1 hasn't exactly fainted since climbing the mountain to the top slot last fall. He's made six starts in 2011 on several different types of tracks, and has finished 18th or better in three of them. Westwood famously was felled by some Mickelson magic last year at the Masters, and perhaps he's saving his best for April. Let's hope so, or he won't make the cut on this list in May.
7. Bubba Watson. OWGR: 17. Sagarin: 24. Previous NWO rank: 4
It was a disappointing finish for Watson at Bay Hill, where he entered the final day four shots behind two players who had one career victory between them. Watson, on the other hand, has two wins in the past nine months, plus a runner-up finish to Kaymer at the last major. Watson looks as though he has some Mickelson in him, meaning mercurial performances have become a pattern. He shot 78 on Sunday, including a 40 on the back nine. In three starts since winning at Torrey Pines, he has finished T29, T28 and T24.
8. Paul Casey. OWGR: 7. Sagarin: 13. Previous NWO rank: 10
If you think Watson's past few weeks have been schitzo, Casey has been even more unpredictable. He led at Tampa after one round, then lost the plot and faded to T37 with a sloppy weekend. In a move that drew some second-guessing, he declined to play this week at Houston -- where he won his lone PGA Tour title in 2009 -- in order to stay home and work on his game before heading next week to Augusta, where he has only once seriously contended. Since winning on the European Tour earlier this year, Casey has three fairly solid top-18 finishes, plus a missed cut in addition to the Tampa fadeaway. Like with McDowell, it'll be interesting to track the shape of his game when he shows up next week on Magnolia Lane.
9. Martin Laird. OWGR: 21. Sagarin: 43. Previous NOW rank: NR
His victory over a solid field on Sunday at Bay Hill was impressive in at least two ways -- he battled on a brutal course and came back after nearly succumbing to a 5-over start. Laird has been tenacious when it mattered in Orlando before -- on the last hole of the 2008 season at Disney World, he holed a must-have six-footer to finish No. 125 in earnings, keeping his card on the number. It's been onward and upward ever since. Dating to last fall, Laird has seven top-10 finishes. The victory at Bay Hill took some of the sting out of his final-round meltdown at the Bob Hope, where he played in the final group and bombed, finishing T22.
10. Rory McIlroy. OWGR: 8. Sagarin: 11. Previous NWO rank: 5
It was tempting to put scrappy Italian Francesco Molinari in this spot, given that he finished T3 at Doral three weeks ago and has climbed to No. 15 in the OWGR, but McIlroy remains a special talent capable of insanely low scores at any moment. Or, occasionally, an insanely high one, which led to a T70 finish at the windy Honda Classic four weeks ago. Still, that marks the lone time in five starts this year that he has finished worse that T17 on either of the major tours. In a month, the 21-year-old returns to Quail Hollow to defend his title -- every other player on this list has won, some more than once, since McIlroy's victory in Charlotte.

extracted from cbssports.com

Read more »

Elling and Huggan: Pond Scrum - Pond Scrum: Headed to Florida finish with Augusta dead ahead

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The final gate on the Florida Swing is swinging closed.
The Arnold Palmer Invitational is set for this week, the azaleas are already running riot in Florida, the temperatures are up and so are the expectations with the season's first major two weeks away at Augusta National.
The first day of spring was Sunday. Players are taking quick day trips for a gander at the Masters venue between tour stops, and like the astounding pollen count in Florida, anticipation is already high.
Unlike many casual followers of the game, European Tour correspondent John Huggan and CBSSports.com senior writer Steve Elling are hardly just emerging from a long winter's nap. They have been tweeting and bleating at each other for three months in their weekly, across-the-pond pounding, Pond Scrum.
This week, they discuss a newly discovered Woodland creature, a squirrel named Sergio and a squirming TV cat named Tiger, among other musing and meanderings.

---

Absurdly long Gary Woodland, practically a PGA Tour rookie after an abbreviated freshman season in 2009 and eight starts last year, wins on a Tampa course supposedly suited for target-golf specialists. What can we make of this guy?

Elling: He missed much of his first and second seasons after having shoulder surgery. If this is how guys play after that procedure, sign me up for both shoulders and a brain transplant. Woodland certainly has potential that few others can claim at age 26 because he is so incredibly raw. Compared to kids who concentrated on golf for their teen years, he was a college basketball and baseball player who switched priorities far later. He's just now figuring out what finesse means. He quite reasonably could have two wins this year after losing in a playoff to Jhonny Vegas, who had the hotter putter, at the Bob Hope. Tee to green, Woodland outplayed him down the stretch.

Gary Woodland earned his first PGA Tour victory in Tampa on Sunday. (Getty Images)

 

Huggan: Finesse? He hits a 5-iron 220 yards! Of course, maybe he took something off it. Still, as we said last week, it is nice to see some emerging young Americans. Winning this sort of event -- which, let's be honest, no one will remember two weeks from now -- is a good steppingstone toward bigger things.

Elling: Down the stretch, he used a 2-iron off the tee and hit it (gulp) 284 yards. Sort of what I mean by raw. Unlike some mashers, he's starting to figure things out. He was only hitting driver four to five times each day. Impressive that he contended at Hope and Tampa, decidedly different tracks in terms of what is expected from contenders. He could be a popular player. Let's face it -- chicks dig the long ball.
Huggan: That sort of stuff is good to hear. I must say I was happy to see him beat that Webb Simpson fellow. He is so slow it must take him an hour and a half to watch 60 Minutes. It's time something was done about the Simpsons of this world. They are killing the professional game as a spectator sport. I'd give them a time for 18 holes and when that is up they have to walk off -- no matter where they are on the course. Watch them get 'round, then. Let's say 3 hours, 36 minutes for a twosome - that's 12 minutes per hole. And 4:30 for a threesome, 18 minutes per hole. Ample in anyone's language.
Elling: Simpson is 25. It was his first crack at a title. I am not going to excessively bury the kid for being slow in his first rodeo. Although I will concede, Simpson went all J.B. Holmes on Sunday. Grinding over every shot, backing off, changing clubs. He had more pump fakes than the NCAA tournament games. As for Woodland, he lost the Bob Hope because he didn't putt well. Sunday in Tampa, he made 17 of 17 attempts from inside 20 feet, which is deal-with-the-devil stuff. Might have been the best putting round in several years given the margin of error he had. As in zero strokes.
Huggan: Please stop defending that pace-of-play stuff. It is inexcusable under any circumstances and incredibly bad manners apart from anything else. All I know is they'd be thrown off at St. Andrews.
Elling: You mean, St. Andrews, where the British Open had five-hour rounds last July?
Huggan: I'm talking when the St. Andrews isn't being run by the R&A! Of course, the tours don't seem willing or able to do anything about slow play. I'd also post the names of the slowest every week -- name and shame, baby.
Elling: I can absolutely agree on posting and roasting the offenders. Shame and ridicule: The ultimate motivators.
Now that both of you have seen Sergio Garcia play in person this year, what's the heartsick patient's prognosis, doctors?

Huggan: I see some hope for Serge. Most noticeable was a renewed level of enthusiasm. I even saw him get a little hacked off by a bad break or poor shot. That wasn't happening last year. What had not changed much, however, was his work on the greens. You can't win putting like that. So, if this continues, look for a host of T-15s like he had last week.

Elling: You mentioned that during the Desert Swing, Sergio still seemed to be moping, that his body language conveyed his true mood more than his words. Well, I was heartened to see that he was back to his squirrelly self in the first two rounds in Tampa. His 66 on Friday was his best score since the very first round, at the first tournament, of 2010. Long time coming.

Huggan: Amazing. Is Greg Norman's daughter that good looking?
Elling: Google Morgan Leigh Norman and you make the call. You're right on the putting component, too. His good weeks with the short stick will be when he'll truly contend. He missed four putts from inside five feet on Saturday and the world blew past him. It even made me flinch.
Huggan: I tell you one thing that might light a fire under Garcia. At the Ryder Cup last year he was an assistant captain. While commendable in some ways, that can't have been an easy thing for him to do. I say it will make him more determined than ever to get back into the top 10 at least by year end. That would give Ollie a good excuse to pick him for Medinah 2012 if need be.
Elling: I think the "fire" is at medium heat right now, but it's burning hotter than it was a month ago. The telling sign for me was when he got bitten by a bee on Friday, on his ring finger. When I asked him which finger had been stung, he grinned and playfully flipped me the bird. "This one," he said. Just like old times. I was never happier to get flipped off in my life. I loved it, and he knew it, and for a while, all was right with the world.
Huggan: Again, that's good to hear. I approve of anyone and everyone showing you the level of respect you deserve.
Elling: He was merely reinforcing the fact that I am numero uno -- with any digit.
Tiger Woods was making the rounds last week while pimping his latest video game. Did you form any new impressions?

Huggan: Nothing new. But I did laugh at the fixed grin on his face when he appeared on that late night talk show. The host roasted him pretty good and he had to sit there and take it. Not something Tiger is used to, I suspect. As for the interviews themselves, they, as per usual, revealed nothing of any substance. Come to think of it, does he have any substance?

Elling: You're talking about the Jimmy Fallon show on NBC, where Fallon made him squirm for several awkward minutes. It even made me squirm, it was so awful. I guess these are the levels to which Woods will sink to hawk his few remaining wares -- humiliated on TV and forced to sit there and take it. With a smile, no less. He was a good sport, to be sure. And a well-compensated one.

Huggan: More interesting is how the formerly great man will do at Bay Hill. As I recall, there is never a shortage of rough at Arnie's place, so Tiger better be hitting more good shots than we have seen so far this year.
Elling: When Woods' interview with the Golf Channel aired -- access again granted as a result of him hawking the video game -- it was aired in the Tampa press room and nobody asked for the volume to be turned on. Seriously, the only writer comments were about how his hairline is backing up like a balata ball.
Huggan: Let's also hope we've heard all we're going to hear -- at least in the short term -- from Sean Foley, golf's poisoned dwarf. And I never ever comment on hair. I think you know why.
Elling: I won't say he had nothing of interest to offer. His comments to ESPN (culled from another video-game interview) were illuminating when he said he wasn't playing more often now because of his kids, who are his priority. Of course, he said this before: "Family comes first." So, are we to believe him this time? ESPN, of course, didn't pursue that line of reasoning, or question the fact that he is using his children as an excuse not to play or alter his schedule. Hmmmm.
Huggan: You mean the kids whose christenings he missed? Or the ones whose birthdays he routinely skips? If Tiger's lips are moving, etc. The laughable thing is that he claims to be playing less because of his kids. Have you noticed any change in his schedule? I haven't.
Following up on John's comment a moment ago, is this week's Bay Hill event any bigger than usual for Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson?

Elling: It must be more important for Phil, or he wouldn't have added the stop to his schedule in order to get more rounds under his belt. Mickelson said he wanted to win on the West Coast to get his season rolling and he only contended once. He hasn't contended at Bay Hill since early last decade. Then again, he gets a different look in his eyes at the Masters, where his early results don't matter.

Huggan: Bay Hill is a big deal because a fair few Europeans are in the field -- an Orlando home game for most of them -- and so this is a better Masters guide than anything we've seen over the last couple of weeks. How T.W. and P.M. compare to G-Mac and the rest will be interesting. Is there too much rough for Phil at Bay Hill?

Elling: Your earlier reference to the Bay Hill setup is true -- Woods will be tested more this week than he was at Doral, where winners routinely find fewer than half the fairways and get away with it. Don't think that will happen at Arnie's Place. Plus, it's worth noting that while Tiger has six professional wins at Bay Hill, they blew up the greens since he last played in 2009. And as we all know, he "putts by memory."
Huggan: Just a thought, but this might be the last Masters where Tiger and Phil are even considered possible winners. Who would have thought that a year ago?
Elling: Wow, hadn't considered that. By the way, the updated Masters odds as of Monday are Tiger 7-1, Phil 8-1, followed by McIlroy and Westwood at joint 15-1. So Americans are still plunking down early money on Woody and Lefty.
Huggan: Here's a good Masters tip, especially each-way: Martin Laird at 150-1. I may just have a bit of that action.
You guys have both had plenty of fun chiding the LPGA for staging an event last week in Phoenix that had no payout for players and a virtual purse to be applied to the money list. Is it really a bad thing?

Huggan: It certainly isn't a good thing.

Elling: Well-intended or not, playing for nothing is anathema to the entire premise of being a professional, no?

Huggan: Exactly. I'd love to know what most of the ladies really thought. Still, I'm always happy when that awful Christina Kim doesn't win. Which she doesn't with some regularity.
Elling: I bet there were huge sighs of relief at LPGA headquarters when veteran Karrie Webb was the winner -- nice career turnaround for the Aussie with back-to-back wins by the way. She is one of the top players who can afford to win and not receive an actual dollar payout. She has made her fortune already, unlike the rank-and-file outside the top 50 in earnings, who sometimes struggle to make a living traveling on the increasingly global tour. Let's see the men play for nothing. I bet the field that week would be zero.
Huggan: Harsh words, Mr. Elling. I think you may be spending too much time hanging around me. But your point is well made. This sort of tournament will die a swift and painful death and never be heard of again. Good riddance, I say.
Speaking of harshness, you two are clearly on opposite sides of the fence on last week's Tavistock Cup merits. Huggan openly ridiculed it, while Elling has defended it. State your cases.

Elling: This is going to take some deft double-talk. I am going to applaud the Tavistock people for generating millions for charity while I am chiding the LPGA for essentially taking its entire tournament purse and doing likewise? Flip, meet flop.

Huggan: I think the world's best golfers need to be very careful with things like this. There is a thin line between Twittering and Facebooking to the general public in a semi-revealing way and alienating everyone with excess like we witnessed at Isleworth. The financial gap between them and the rest of us has never been larger and doesn't need to be emphasized any more than it is already. Apart from all that, the whole thing was just vulgar. I mean, the helicopters? Give me a break.

Elling: Most people seem to take offense at using helicopters for a 20-mile flight. I can understand that. It's like having your nose rubbed in their success. Not that there is anything wrong with the former, or wrong with a rich man staging a tournament for the exclusive fun of his friends, residents and clients. I don't have any tax returns, but I bet the Tavistock Cup donates more money to charity than the tournaments run by Jack and Arnold.
Huggan: I'm not sure that is anything worth bragging about. If the players were to donate all their "prize money," I might give this distasteful affair a pass. Might.
Elling: Here's a format to ponder: Make the players put up $100,000 apiece. Each. Then play for that bucket of cash. Oh, right, nobody would play.
This week at Bay Hill marks the last chance to crack the Masters field for those who have not qualified. If you could make a personal tweak to the qualifying process, what would it be?

Huggan: To be a true major and not just a big American tournament, the winners of bigger events from around the world need to be invited. The Australian Open, for example. Or the PGA Championship at Wentworth. Things like that.

Elling: First, I would get rid of the laughable FedEx Cup exemption, which gives anybody who finishes in the top 30 in points the previous year a free pass. A guy who finishes second in a FedEx event is almost guaranteed a Masters berth, while guys who win actual tournaments (Fall Series, opposite events) don't get invited. Secondly, I would add at least 10 more spots to the field. With around 95 players, the Masters is, without any question, the easiest major to win. Of the 95 players, a half-dozen are amateurs and another 10 to 12 are senior players with no real chance of competing.

Huggan: Of course, it shouldn't really be a major at all. As five-time Open champion Peter Thomson once said to me, "The Masters is the biggest con job in sports." May god strike me down for saying this, but the Players Championship has a bigger claim than the Masters in this modern world.
Elling: It's interesting that an organization that is tech- and media-savvy and forward-looking in many regards is resistant to changing the numbers in the field. They change the golf course every 15 minutes. Indeed, there are several tournaments with a higher strength-of-field weighting. But nobody talks about these things. Except delusional purists like us.
Huggan: Then again, as for the Players, the last thing golf needs is another major in America.
Elling: By the way, god isn't going to strike you down. Because you aren't wrong. And he's a member of Pine Valley.

Read more »

Woodland comes up clutch to win at Innisbrook

PALM HARBOR, Fla. -- Gary Woodland, a pure athlete who only started serious golf competition eight years ago, figured out quickly that hitting the ball from here to the moon was not going to help him win tournaments.
Perhaps it was only fitting that his biggest shot Sunday at the Transitions Championship came with his putter.
The race to the finish at Innisbrook was so wild that Woodland didn't make a single par on the back nine until the last hole. He made a 10-foot par putt that proved to be the difference in a one-shot victory over Webb Simpson.

Transitions Championship

Final scores and earnings

"I can't come out here and hit the golf ball 900 yards and win," said Woodland, exaggerating only slightly. "I was very conservative this week, laid back almost all day -- all four days -- and just tried to get the ball in the fairway, get it on the green and let the putter do the work. That's what I'm learning."
The final par -- his only par on a back nine that featured five birdies and three bogeys -- gave Woodland a 4-under 67 and his first trip to Augusta National for the Masters.
Simpson also flew long on the 18th green and faced the same scary shot as Woodland in the group ahead. He off the back of the green, chipped 20 feet by the hole and the par putt was the only bad stroke he made all day. The bogey gave him a 69 and a runner-up finish in an otherwise solid performance for his first time in serious contention.
"I just didn't hit a very good second shot," Simpson said.
Woodland took only 23 putts in the final round -- 10 on the back nine. According to the Shotlink data, he didn't miss a single putt inside 20 feet in the final round, with four of those 17 putts outside 10 feet.
Woodland, who played college basketball at Washburn until deciding to transfer to Kansas to play golf, became the first player to earn his inaugural PGA Tour title at Innisbrook.
The win gives Woodland an invitation to Augusta National, where his awesome power and soft putting touch could make for an interesting marriage at the Masters. A late-bloomer, Woodland missed the second half of his rookie season two years ago with shoulder surgery, but began to show his potential when he lost in a playoff at the Bob Hope Classic.
Woodland finished at 15-under 269 and earned $990,000, moving up to No. 3 in the FedEx Cup standings.
"One thing that helped me was putting, and today it saved me," Woodland said. "Luckily, it won me a golf tournament."
Scott Stallings, a PGA Tour rookie who missed every cut on the West Coast Swing to fall to the bottom of the status ladder, kept his poise and stayed in the game until the 16th, the toughest driving hole on the Copperhead course with trees to the left and water to the right. Stallings went right into the lake and made double bogey.
Even so, he shot a 70 and finished alone in third, which gets him in the Houston Open in two weeks.
"A sponsor exemption changed my year, and I can't thank Transitions enough," Stallings said. "Without them giving me an opportunity to play, there's no way I would have been here. One good tournament completely changed my year."
Brandt Snedeker finished fourth.
Justin Rose, a two-time winner last year who started the final round with a one-shot lead, was tied for the lead until making four straight bogeys through the 10th hole to fall out of contention. He wound up five shots behind.
Nick Watney, coming off a World Golf Championship title at Doral last week, played with Woodland and fell out of the mix quickly by failing to make putts. Watney didn't make a birdie and closed with a 72 and tied for 13th, the first time Watney has been out of the top 10 all year. That means his two-month bet with caddie Chad Reynolds is over, and both can now get a hair cut.
Martin Kaymer, the world No. 1, closed with a 69 to tie for 20th.
Woodland played conservatively around the Copperhead course, usually hitting 2-iron off the tee. He hit one shot 337 yards uphill on one of the few holes he used driver, leading to a birdie.
Another driver didn't work out so well. He came out of his swing on the par-5 11th, and the ball went over and through the trees before settling in light rough between the tee and green on the 17th. He could only pitch a wedge to the 17th tee, and he had to scramble for bogey. Woodland followed with three straight birdies, the last one a 12-footer from the fringe on the 14th to take the lead.
Then came a flubbed chip on the 15th, and a bad bunker shot on the 16th, two bogeys to fall one shot behind. Woodland came up with another clutch putt on the 17th for birdie from 15 feet, setting up the biggest putt of them all.
Woodland was No. 153 in the world ranking, making him the ninth PGA Tour winner to be ranked 100th or lower.
He becomes the latest pure athlete to make an impression on the PGA Tour, cut out of the mold of Dustin Johnson. The difference is that Woodland still lacks polish. His only national competition was as a shortstop in baseball and a point guard in basketball. He originally turned down a golf scholarship at Kansas to play basketball at Division II Washburn.
In his first game, he scored three points in Allen Fieldhouse against the Jayhawks, and figured he better try golf.
Midway through his first year on tour in 2009, he had shoulder surgery, which turned out to be the best thing for him.
"I was athletic, but I didn't know what I was doing out here," he said. "I got hurt, and I had to step back and really figure out how to play this game. And I'm starting to figure that out right now."
Divots

• Bubba Watson shot a 68 in the final round, then gave the PGA Tour a check for $50,000 for the Red Cross to help with the relief efforts in Japan.
• Sergio Garcia shot 71 and tied for 15th in this first PGA Tour event since the PGA Championship last August.

Copyright 2011 by STATS LLC and The Associated Press. Any commercial use or
distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and The
Associated Press is strictly prohibited.

Read more »