Despite what my colorful PGA Tour desk calendar tells me, we’ve reached the turn of the 2007 season. While the FedEx Cup lineup hit the halfway house a few weeks back, a golf season is defined by the major championships.
Before we begin packing for Carnoustie, let’s review the front nine of 2007:
• No. 1. Jury is still out on how the FedEx Cup reshuffle will impact the Tour, although it has taken the circuit some time to understand the simple truth that you don’t talk pennant races before the All-Star break, the new and improved lineup has had plenty of peaks – including a solid Florida Swing and memorable Players. Golf Channel also has added to an eventful front nine with its all-inclusive content if not its perceived limited audience.
• No. 2. It’s generally understood that the Golf Gods enjoy a good joke more than most, particularly if it involves a corporate tent or chilly Scottish burn, but it seems the Almightys also dig a good story. The feel-good tale of ’07 is Texas-native Scott Verplank’s victory at the Byron Nelson Championship, followed shortly by Johnson’s everyman Masters triumph.
• No. 3. Hard to bury this one so early in the round, but Woods’ march to Nelson’s seemingly untouchable Tour record of 11 consecutive victories in 1945 fell four crystal keepsakes short. Woods won his seventh consecutive at the Buick Invitational, but finished tied for 22nd a month later at Bay Hill (the WGC-Match Play’s capricious format earns Woods a freebie for third-round loss). Lost amid a cacophony of calendar-year nitpicking was how impressive his 7-for-7 run was.
• No. 4. Although the complaints have subsided, for now, 2007 featured the spring of discontent. It was a class clash on Tour that was deftly couched by Tour brass as a showdown between the circuit’s haves and have nots when the full-field International was replaced on the schedule with a limited-field AT&T National. Although the Tour’s rank-and-file bent, the core issue of dwindling playing opportunities is still a concern for many.
• No. 5. Thankfully, this is no longer a Tour issue, but the thought of an ailing, both physically and mentally, Michelle Wie teeing it up at the John Deere Classic was a common topic on Tour ranges. The Wie Camp made a rare good decision when she withdrew from next month’s event. Let’s hope it’s the first of many prudent choices.
• No. 6. Tour commissioner Tim Finchem poked his head out of the sand long enough last week to confirm the circuit is formulating a performance-enhancing drug policy. While most concede there’s no reason to think steroids have infected golf, ask Bud Selig what happens when you ignore holes in the dam however unlikely they may seem. Finchem’s announcement earlier this week also livened up the proceedings in Hartford. “Shoot! Will you take the test for me,” one rail-thin, 5-foot-9 Tour player joked. While another chaffed: “I drove it on a par 4 and three-putted. That’s steroids for you.”
• No. 7. The season’s first two Grand Grab bags were won by a Duck (Angel Cabrera) and a Drake grad (Zach Johnson). If you follow trends, and we do, smart money is on a cat (Tiger Woods at the British Open) and a Clemson grad (Lucas Glover at the PGA Championship) to close the major season.
• No. 8. Hard to believe that Sam Alexis Woods’ first words to her father could be, “What do you mean you came in
second at the U.S. Open.” It’s even harder to believe that the arrival of a newborn to the Woods’ domicile is going to slow the world No. 1’s pursuit of perfection. The guy only needs a few hours sleep each night, he married an au pair and can probably afford one of those new, self-cleaning Diaper Genies.
• No. 9. Phil Mickelson found the best way to put his Winged Foot pileup behind him was to give the hounding scribes something else to write about. Lefty mixed things up when he dumped long-time swing coach Rick Smith for Butch Harmon and promptly won the Players with a ballstriking clinic. Phil’s saga continued when he misplaced his U.S. Open chances somewhere in Oakmont Country Club’s deep rough . . . two weeks
before this year’s championship. Give the guy credit, he missed the cut by one shot playing with one hand tied behind his back.
We also need to hope for a speedy recovery by Lefty. The back nine promises to be much more exciting with him swinging with two hands.
Posted: 6/22/2007
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