Thursday, May 5, 2011

Depth, drama highlight PGA Tour's season so far

Thursday, May 5, 2011








CHARLOTTE ? Last week's Zurich Classic marked the just-past-the-halfway point of the PGA Tour's regular season, a 33-week trek from sea to shining sea that culminates at the Wyndham Championship in August.





  • Luke Donald of England has a victory this year and he is one of the Europeans challenging at the top of the world rankings.

    By Hunter Martin, Getty Images


    Luke Donald of England has a victory this year and he is one of the Europeans challenging at the top of the world rankings.



By Hunter Martin, Getty Images


Luke Donald of England has a victory this year and he is one of the Europeans challenging at the top of the world rankings.






One can look to the past to gauge the future, so here's a short list of key moments that occurred in the first half of the season.


Tiger Woods:


He still hasn't won since November 2009. His putting is in disarray. He's lost more world ranking points (129.44) than anyone this year. And now his left knee and left Achilles have forced the former world No. 1 to miss this week's Wells Fargo Championship and possibly next week's Players Championship.


Woods, sitting on 71 Tour victories and 14 majors for 19 months now, hasn't strung four solid rounds together since rejoining the Tour in 2010. He was in the hunt at Torrey Pines before fading on the weekend. He was in the hunt at the Masters before fading Sunday on the back nine.


His history shows he can make a comeback. His words say he is in tune with new swing coach Sean Foley and his new swing.


But will his body cooperate?


Next Great American:


How about Bubba Watson? With his win in the Zurich Classic, Watson joined Mark Wilson as the only multiple winners on Tour this season. It also was Watson's third win in his last 20 Tour starts. And he earned his way onto the Ryder Cup team, lost a playoff at the PGA Championship, and taken the lead in the FedExCup race during this time.


"The media's going to say I'm a better player. The media's going to say I'm higher ranked. I should be playing great in this tournament or that tournament," Watson said last week. "But if I play the way Bubba should play, the way I know I can play, then I know I should be somewhere around at least the cut. That's the way I see it."


Pairings:


Turns out Tour officials have a sense for theater. This season the Tour decided to manipulate pairings to create story lines in the first two rounds to appeal to fans and TV viewers. In the Farmers Insurance Open, for instance, Tiger Woods played with his 2008 U.S. Open rival Rocco Mediate and Anthony Kim. At the WGC-Cadillac Championship, world Nos. 1-3 and 4-6 were grouped together, with Woods playing with Mickelson. Woods again was part of a grouping of athletes and bombers in the Arnold Palmer Invitational, joined by Dustin Johnson and Gary Woodland.


"I really like what they're doing," Mickelson said. "Hopefully it will drive a little bit more interest, get some people to maybe come out and watch certain pairings on Thursday and Friday and maybe even watch on TV."


Depth:


In 19 Tour events (there have been two opposite field events), 17 players have wins. In 18 stroke-play events, two-thirds have ended in a margin of victory of one shot (five times) or in a playoff (seven). And there is a game of musical chairs playing atop the world rankings, with Europe's dominance currently in place —Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer, Luke Donald, Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy hold five of the top six spots.


"It's tough to win out here," Kim said. "There are a bunch of good players from around the world. There's just no clear favorite anymore."


What to expect in the second half?


More of the same, unless Woods returns healthy and becomes the Tiger of old again. There is no clear favorite for the U.S. Open at Congressional, the British Open at Royal St. George's or the PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club.


And go ahead, pick a winner of the FedExCup right now.





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