Tiger turns cat-trick

Tiger Woods won his third PGA Tour title of 2012 Sunday at the AT&T National. It was his second victory at the event, and marks the first time since 2009 that the former #1 has won this many times in a season. Photo courtesy Scott Halleran/Getty Images.

Tiger Woods claimed his third victory of the 2012 PGA Tour season at the AT&T National on Sunday. Although he didn’t climb from his fourth in the world rankings, the win vaulted the former world no. 1 to first in the FedEx Cup standings, 103 points ahead of Jason Dufner. The win at Congressional was the second for Woods, who won the AT&T National, which he hosts, back in 2009.

With the win, Woods also became the first three-time winner on the PGA Tour in 2012, and climbed ahead of legendary Jack Nicklaus for second all-time with his 74th career victory. If Woods is able to capture nine more titles, he will pass Sam Snead for the most PGA Tour victories. I don’t think the question is if Woods can pass Snead, but when. He’s only 36 years old.

But the question of whether or not Woods can tie, or even pass, Nicklaus’ mark of 18 major championship wins is the question golf fans and media members alike will continue to ask and attempt to answer. He has 14 on his resume thus far, but none since he stunned the sports world by winning the 2008 United States Open at Torrey Pines – in a 19-hole playoff over journeyman Rocco Mediate – on one leg. In my mind that performance was the greatest accomplishment in sports history.

His three wins this season marks the first time since 2009 that he has recorded that many victories on the circuit. He won six times that year and had three runner-up finishes. His play this year has, to be fair been inconsistent, but with two of those wins coming in his last three starts, Woods seems to have found something in his mental game that is just working like it did back in his glory years.

Down the stretch on Sunday, Woods went toe-to-toe with Bo Van Pelt. Now Van Pelt only has one PGA Tour title to his credit, but through 15 holes of the final round the two men were tied at nine-under par as they headed to the par-5 16th, which had played as the easiest hole on the course throughout the course of the tournament. After two shots apiece, they were each sitting pretty. Woods had a wedge shot from just inside 100 yards from the right fairway, and Van Pelt had, despite an awkward stance, a chip and run from about 30 yards underneath the hole. Woods unexpectedly sent his approach shot over the green to a mown area about eight feet below the surface of the green, which meant Van Pelt had a clear advantage. It looked for sure like Van Pelt would head to the 17th tee with at least a one-shot lead, but then he mishit his chip shot and ended up making bogey. Woods also made bogey (his first in 41 holes), and they made their way to the 17th tee still tied, but at eight-under par.

Both men missed the fairway off the tee, but Van Pelt’s ball was below his feet and in the heavier rough. He caught a huge flier lie and airmailed the putting surface. He would make bogey as he watched steely-eyed Woods drain a clutch six-foot par putt to collect a one stroke advantage heading to the home hole. Woods was in the zone and piped a 345-yard drive off the 18th tee before throwing a crisp approach shot 12-feet below the hole, which all but sealed the win.

In his first two wins of 2012, Woods relied more on his ball striking to get the job done, but at Congressional, the wily veteran’s short game, especially his putting, earned him the trophy and the winner’s cheque.

He will be teeing it up at this week’s Greenbrier Classic, his first appearance at the famed West Virginia resort spectacle, looking to add to his trophy case in his last start before the season’s third major: the Open Championship at Royal Lytham and St. Annes. Woods finished T-25 in the last Open played there in 2001, and he will be looking to score a 15th major championship win in three weeks time.

Lastly, on the question of whether Tiger Woods is back or not … I think his play the last few weeks tells the tale of what state his game is in right now.

2012 US Open Preview

It’s the toughest test in golf. Who will leave the Olympic Club as the 2012 United States Open champion on Sunday afternoon? Photo courtesy The Observer.

It’s finally here.

No. It’s not the end of the world as the Mayans predicted, but instead it’s the return of the United States Open championship to famed Olympic Club in San Francisco.

Designed by Sam Whiting and Willie Watson back in the 1920s, Olympic Club has previously hosted eight USGA championships, including four US Opens (1955, 1966, 1987, 1998), three US Amateurs (1958, 1981, 2007) and the 2004 US Junior. In those four US Opens, the winning score to par has been -3, -2, E and +7. Thus, the 156 players who will duke it out at Olympic Club for the 2012 US Open will face what has come to be known as the toughest test in golf on a track not known for a multitude of low scores.

So, who is expected to be there on Sunday with a chance to hoist the US Open trophy, and will they actually be there with a major championship on the line?

Defending champion Rory McIlroy comes to Olympic Club fresh off a T-7th finish at last week’s FedEx St. Jude Classic. Going off just that finish alone it would appear that McIlroy is in fine form ahead of his title defense. That, however, is misleading. In his three starts prior to Memphis, the 23-year-old Northern Irishman missed three consecutive cuts worldwide (Players Championship, BMW PGA Championship, Memorial Tournament), before righting the ship a little bit. Despite his recent MCs, McIlroy has confidence because he is the defending champion and he has had other high finishes in majors. Throw in a win, three runner-up finishes and two other top-5 finishes across the globe this season, and McIlroy has played very well in 2012. The biggest knock, however, is that he has recently struggled hitting the fairways, and at the US Open that means many missed greens and a slew of bogeys. Oh, and the last man to win consecutive US Opens was Curtis Strange in 1988 and 1989. I say McIlroy posts a top-20 finish, but isn’t a threat on the weekend.

Three-time US Open Tiger Woods is always a strong favourite at whatever tournament he shows up at, and that favouritism is amped up at major championships. Yes, he’s the current betting favourite, and at 8/1 odds is worth throwing a few dollars bills on, especially since he arrives at Olympic Club after winning his last start at the Memorial Tournament. But Woods has been very up-and-down with his results this season. His T-2nd at the Honda Classic was followed by a WD the following week at Doral. Then after winning in his next start at Bay Hill expectations were high that he’d don a fifth green jacket at the Masters (I actually picked him to win), but he finished T-40th. A missed cut in his next start at the Wells Fargo Championship was followed by another ordinary T-40th at The Players Championship before he won at Jack’s place. And Woods, unlike a number of the great young players in the world, has US Open experience at Olympic Club. He finished T-18th at the 1998 edition. Nonetheless, even though Woods (surprisingly) ranks 1st in total driving on the PGA Tour this season, lately in majors he has struggled finding fairways and I think that will be his demise this week. The world’s no. 4 ranked player should be a factor come Saturday and Sunday, but I don’t see him holding the 54-hole lead which translates into Woods not finishing with the 72-hold lead. Woods nets a top-10 finish this week.

The other big American favourite is five-time US Open runner-up Phil Mickelson. Lefty’s Open record is noteworthy on account of those five second place finishes in this championship (1999, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2009). The one in 2006, however, still resonates with those who doubt Mickelson will ever win the championship he so very much desires to capture. The simple version of that disappointing Sunday was that Mickelson held a one-shot lead standing on the 72nd tee before blocking his tee shot way left, chopping his way up to the green, finishing with a disastrous double-bogey and gift-wrapping the US Open trophy for Geoff Ogilvy. But I’m a Mickelson guy. Always have been. Always will be. And I believe Lefty has a chance to exercise those demons this week, and if not this week, then at future US Opens. His recent WD at the Memorial Tournament isn’t discouraging, nor is the fact that he let a chance to win his fourth green jacket slip away from him in April with a triple-bogey at the par-3 4th hole in the final round. Mickelson makes magic, and his T-10th finish at the 1998 US Open at Olympic Club, despite the numerous changes to the golf course, bodes well for another big US Open week for him. A top-5 finish for Lefty is a certainty this week.

He is considered by many members of the media and golf fans to be the best player in the world without a major championship victory, but world no. 1 Luke Donald, has a great opportunity to get that monkey off his back this week at Olympic Club. Donald has finished 3rd, 6th, 1st and 12th in his last four starts worldwide. That win came at the European Tour’s flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship, which he successfully defended. He also captured the Transitions Championship back in March. But Donald, after struggling early in the 2012 season, has found his game and seems to be running on all cylinders ahead of the year’s second major. But pedigree in US Opens has to count for something. In eight previous starts, the Englishman’s best finish came back in 2006 at Winged Foot where he finished T-12th. Clearly, Donald is due to at least snag his first top-10 finish at a US Open, but I don’t think this is the week and that major drought will be prolong itself at least until next month’s Open Championship at Royal Lytham and St Annes. Donald finishes outside the top-25 in his first trip to Olympic Club.

The two men in this week’s field who are coming off wins this past weekend are steady-as-he-goes Lee Westwood and long-bombing Dustin Johnson. Let’s start with Westwood. He won the Nordea Masters in Sweden on Saturday for his first worldwide win of the season, and has been the best player without a win in a major since the 2008 US Open at Torrey Pines. Since finishing 3rd place, one shot out of the Woods-Rocco Mediate playoff, at Torrey Pines, Westwood has collected six other top-3 finishes in majors (2009 PGA and Open Championships, 2010 Masters and Open Championship, 2011 US Open, 2012 Masters). Needless to say, Westwood is overdue to capture that maiden major championship title. Could this be his week? As for Johnson, his win last week at Memphis was somewhat unexpected in that he was making just his second PGA Tour start after two months off nursing a back injury. But a win is a win, and for a world class player like Johnson who just needs some reps, its got to feel good and give him a ton of confidence heading back to a championship he led by three shots after 54 holes before imploding with a final round 82 to finish T-8th. That came back in 2010 at Pebble Beach, which was won by Graeme McDowell. Johnson didn’t play at Augusta National back in April because of his back injury, so he ought to be eager to be back in a major championship field for the first time since a MC at last year’s PGA Championship. I think Johnson plays okay at Olympic Club, but doesn’t net better than a top-30. As for Westwood, seven top-3 finishes in the last 16 majors counts for a lot, and I see Westy adding another top-3 this week.

Other big-name players, including Masters champion Bubba Watson, Players Champion Matt Kuchar, Wells Fargo Champion Rickie Fowler, Byron Nelson Classic champion Zach Johnson and two-time 2012 PGA tour winners Jason Dufner and Hunter Mahan all have the game to tame Olympic Club. But will any or all of them be in the fray Sunday afternoon? Out of these six players, I would peg Kuchar as the best of the lot to be a factor on Sunday. Not only because he recently won the biggest title of his career, but because he also recently truly contended in a major for the first time, a T-3rd finish at the Masters, to go along with his T-6th finish at the 2010 US Open. Factor in that Kuchar contended in the 1998 US Open, where he sat T-4th after 36 holes en route to a T-14th finish and low amateur honours, and I see Kuchar finishing in the top-10 this week. As for the other five guys, only Watson and Mahan have posted top-10s (one each) at the US Open, so their pedigree in this championship doesn’t blow you away. But I could definitely see Dufner as a dark horse this week.

What do I think will play out this week?

First of all, the golf course is going to play difficult firm and fast, and even more so as the week progresses because no rain is expected to fall during the course of the championship. Second of all, it’s the US Open, so the player that winds up holding the trophy after surviving both the other 155 competitors and the beast of a golf course will have to be “in the zone” mentally all week. Thirdly, I think the winning score will be over par, +1 to be precise. Yes, I know the only over par score to win the US Open in the past 33 years was Geoff Ogilvy’s +5 total in 2006, but I think over par wins this US Open. Fourthly, I love the par-5, par-5, short par-4 finish that will play out. In 1998, the 17th hole, then a par-4, was the hardest hole on the course all week, but this week the 17th hole will play as a reachable par-5 that figures to see a fair number of eagles and a boatload of birdies. Love it, and props to Mike Davis and the USGA for setting up the course with such an exciting finishing stretch. Fifthly, I can’t wait to see how 14-year-old Andy Zhang plays as it relates to the best golfers in the world. Lastly, Lee Westwood will join the likes of Jack Fleck, Billy Casper, Scott Simpson and Lee Janzen as US Opens at Olympic Club.

Predictions:

Winner: Lee Westwood

Runner-up: Matt Kuchar

Dark Horse: Davis Love III

Surprise Good: Scott Langley

Surprise Bad: Bubba Watson

Low Amateur: Patrick Cantlay

2012 Masters Preview: Woods will roar again at Augusta

The Masters is a rite of spring.

This is a phrase that’s been uttered over and over again in years past, and again this year. After all, I just mentioned it myself.

Yes, it’s Masters week, or as I, and many other golf-crazed fans like to call it, “The best week of the year.” And it truly is, especially as the hours prior to Thursday’s 7:50 a.m. ET tee time dwindle down.

So let’s get to it. Who are the favourites this week?

Tiger Woods? Yes. Rory McIlroy? Yes. Phil Mickelson? Yes. Luke Donald? Yes. Hunter Mahan? Yes.

Are there others? Maybe, but this week at a long and soggy Augusta National? No.

I’ve pretty much chopped down a field of 96 – formerly 97 until long-hitting Dustin Johnson withdrew with a back injury on Tuesday – down to five. Are they the Fab Five? No. Could they be? Yes.

How about Woods? He is coming off his first victory in some months after capturing his seventh title at Bay Hill, two weeks ago, with a five-shot victory. He says there is some heat coming off his driver and that those tee balls are splitting the fairways. He’s also a 72-time PGA Tour winner, with 14 of those victories coming in major championships and four of those amid the towering dogwoods and Georgia pines. And despite not winning the Masters since 2005, Woods has posted seven consecutive top-6 finishes.

How about McIlroy? The second ranked player in the world comes into this year’s Masters after taking three weeks off. Will rust play a factor on the reigning United States Open champion? Yes, it definitely could during his opening round, but his game is too good to be bad for too long in a major. And especially in a major he had by the horns through 54 holes a year ago. His four-shot lead heading into last year’s final round withered away until a triple bogey-bogey-double bogey start to his back nine doomed his chances for a first green jacket. But Rory, despite those three weeks off, finished 2nd, 1st and 3rd in his last three PGA Tour starts.

How about Mickelson? Lefty loves Augusta. There’s no doubt about that. A three-time Masters champion, Mickelson also enters this week playing pretty good. He finished T-4th at last week’s Shell Houston Open, on a course that is set up quite similar to the setup at Augusta National – minus all the rain that has fallen on Augusta since overnight Tuesday. Mickelson also posted a dominant win at Pebble Beach thanks to a bogey-free final round 64 (paired with Woods), and followed it up the next week at Riviera with a runner-up finish, losing to Bill Haas in a playoff. He’s in fine form and always has a chance at the Masters.

How about Luke Donald? The world number one is under the radar, at least according to the bookies. But don’t tell the reigning PGA Tour Player of the Year that. Donald, like Woods, is coming off a victory in his last start. He won the Transitions Championship in a four-man playoff before taking two weeks off. He still hasn’t won a major championship, but Donald has way too much game not to scoop one up in the near future. And he says he relishes going under the wire.

How about Hunter Mahan? Well, he’s the only multiple winner on the PGA Tour to this point in the 2012 season. And with his win last week in Houston (also victorious at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship), Mahan climbed to a career-high 4th in the Official World Golf Rankings, and the top ranked American. Mahan hasn’t even sniffed a major. He only has four career top-10s in them, missing the cut in three of the four a year ago, but two of them have come at Augusta National. His current form might just lead him to the biggest win of his career.

So who is going to walk away from the 18th green on Sunday as champion of the 76th Masters, and the coveted green jacket?

I’m a huge Mickelson fan and I believe McIlroy has the potential to be a 10-time major winner. Mahan has been on a roll in 2012 and Donald is the world’s top ranked player. But this week – against what I usually tend to do – I’m picking Tiger Woods to win his fifth green jacket. If he drives the ball as well as he did two weeks ago, and in the days leading up to Round 1, he will put himself in position to attack pins with short irons. And that will be a premium position to be in with everyone expecting Augusta National to play longer than its 7400-plus yards.

I got Tiger winning with a score of 14-under (274) thanks to a back nine 32. And I can’t wait for the back nine on Sunday because that’s when the Masters truly begins.

Woods’ winless drought over in time for Masters run

It took 30 months, but Tiger Woods is once again a winner on the PGA Tour.

A final round 2-under, 70 propelled Woods to a five-shot victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, on a day where his closest pursuers entering the day – Graeme McDowell, Ian Poulter and Ernie Els – backed up and didn’t figure into a late back nine push. It was Tiger’s 72nd career Tour title, and seventh win at Arnie’s place, but his first since the 2009 BMW Championship. The 14-time major champion wasn’t flashy on Sunday, but did what he needed to early in the round – four front nine birdies – to be the one hoisting the trophy on the 18th green Sunday evening.

I have to admit, I saw Woods winning much sooner following the explosion of the major sex scandal and very public divorce he brought on himself. The scandal broke in late November 2009, and while I figured it would be tough on the biggest individual icon in the sports world, I expected him to come back and win at some tournament in the 2010 season. He didn’t. 2011? Nope.

Tiger’s win at his own offseason event at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, CA, last December, likely did something to bring about a change in his suddenly fragile psyche. He felt that winning feeling again, but the question of whether he could carry that momentum in to the 2012 season clouded the golf world.

His decision to bypass the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in favour of starting his season in Abu Dhabi was met with criticism. His record at Torrey Pines includes six regular Tour victories and the 2008 United States Open, yet he chose to accept a hefty appearance fee to play in the Middle East. After 54 holes it looked like that decision might just have been the right one. Woods was tied for the lead with Englishman Robert Rock, a virtual unknown. That was until Rock outplayed Tiger and won. Woods finished tied third.

A pair of top-20 finishes in his first two PGA Tour events of the season – AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship – didn’t appear to be building blocks and Tiger looked to be out of sorts. That was until the Florida Swing began at PGA National. Woods started the final round tied for 18th position, nine shots back of Rory McIlroy, and and with no chance to win.

Did I say this was Tiger Woods?

Tiger roared up the board with a career low final round 62, which he capped off with an eagle on the finishing par-5 18th hole. McIlroy held on to win by two strokes, but with that 62 Tiger served notice to the rest of the golf world that it wouldn’t be long before he pounced on a trophy.

The next week at the WGC-Cadillac Championship, however, Tiger suffered an achilles strain on the driving range prior to his Sunday tee time. He fought through the pain thru 11 holes, but after his tee shot on the Blue Monster’s par-5 12th hole he headed off the golf course after withdrawing.

Apparently the injury wasn’t too severe because he won his next start and is now, according to British bookies, a 4/1 favourite to win The Masters in two week’s time.

Tiger has put his paws back on the map. He smells blood, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him return to his old dominant form at Augusta National. He has four green jackets and would love to add a fifth.

In both 2001 and 2002 Woods won at Bay Hill and followed it up with a win at Augusta. The question of whether Eldrick will do it again is the question everyone in the sport is dying to find out.

Hey Augusta! Get here quick!

The chase for the Green Jacket begins in just over three weeks. Can we really wait that long?

Fresh off his third consecutive top-three PGA Tour finish (2nd – WGC Accenture Match Play; 1st – Honda Classic; 3rd – WGC Cadillac Championship), world number one Rory McIlroy is taking three weeks away from the game to prepare for Augusta National. The young Ulsterman is in the midst of playing the best golf of his career. In his last 12 starts anywhere, McIlroy has only one finish outside the top-5.

Not only will he head to the Masters in fine form, and likely still hanging on to his top ranking, he will head there with even more media attention than recent. And yes, that includes after his record-setting US Open win last June at Congressional. McIlroy is starting to get the attention Tiger Woods got when he first burst on to the scene 15 years ago with his maiden major championship victory. Throw in the fact that Rory pulled a Greg Norman by blowing a sizeable 54-hole lead at last year’s Masters (four shots to be exact) en route to a final round 80, it’s clear to those of us who watch the sport week-in and week-out that the 2012 Masters is extremely hyped up – and rightfully so.

And speaking of Woods. Tiger “mildly” strained his achilles in the final round at Doral on Sunday and withdrew after his tee shot on the 12th hole. His status for next week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill is up in the air, as it is for the season’s first major, but his recent form and rise up the world rankings has fans, players and the media ready for his comeback to be completed with a fifth Masters title.

A Woods vs McIlroy showdown in the final round at Augusta would be magical enough, but throw in Phil Mickelson, too. He’s a three-time Masters champion in his own right and has a first and a second place finish so far this year. Oh, and that win Lefty got at Pebble Beach came in a head-to-head pairing with Woods. Mickelson fired a bogey-free 64 on his way to securing his fourth career title on the Monterrey Peninsula, while Tiger skidded to a concluding round of 75.

So Woods vs McIlroy vs Mickelson would be the ultimate dream back-9 dual on April 9, 2012, right? Throw in defending champion Charl Schwartzel to the mix, he who became the first man in Masters history to birdie the last four holes to win the tournament in its 75-year history, and you’re dream Sunday afternoon keeps evolving. Schwartzel, too, has been playing well of late. He’s finished in the top-5 each of the last two weeks and is a favourite to take the title at this week’s Transitions Championship.

Woods vs McIlroy vs Mickelson vs Schwartzel. It’s just too bad we can’t throw names like Nicklaus, Palmer and Player into this year’s Masters favourite list. In my mind, I’ve already fast forwarded to Masters week amid the azaleas and dogwoods.