Green Reading

FedEx flop

This FedEx Cup thing just isn’t working out for the PGA Tour. Vijay Singh has taken all the drama out of the PGA Tour’s attempt at a playoff just two weeks into what was supposed to be a competition that remained captivating for six weeks. It’s like the Major League Baseball playoffs being decided after the opening division series. No need for the league championships and World Series. The FedEx Cup playoffs got off to a mediocre start last year when Tiger Woods had a huge lead entering the playoffs, both Woods and Phil Mickelson skipped one of the four playoff events, there was a pension plan as a reward rather than a pile of money, and Woods wouldn’t kiss the Cup after winning it. A $9 million stack of Benjamins and new more volatile points system that put more emphasis on playoff events was supposed to create more drama. But with wins in each of the first two events, Singh has all but clinched the Cup before this week’s BMW Championship and the Tour Championship in three weeks following an off week and the Ryder Cup.
Only Sergio Garcia, Mike Weir and the winner of the BMW are not already mathematically eliminated from contention. Singh could easily win the Cup by watching the final two events at home. Looks like there may be more tweaking to the process next year.

Wyndham reaching for relevance

This past week's Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, N.C. _ formerly the Greater Greensboro Open _ has been floundering for years in its attempts to attract a top field and, to a lesser degree, significant crowds. A group from Greensboro that I ran into at the Verizon Heritage in Hilton Head Island a few years ago summed it up when they said they'd rather drive to Hilton Head because of the setting, atmosphere and competition than attend the GGO in their backyard.
The tournament overcame one issue this year, when it sold out over the weekend for the first time in at least 58 years. During the 1950 GGO, tournament organizers ran out of tickets but printed more, so a sellout is debatable. This year 25,000 tickets were allotted daily, including all hospitality passes, weekly badges and general-admission tickets. The fact that Sweden native Carl Pettersson, a Raleigh, N.C., resident who spent part of his childhood in Greensboro and attended N.C. State, contended and eventually won probably helped the local cause. But the fact that Pettersson outlasted runner-up Scott McCarron, who hasn't finished inside the top 50 on the PGA Tour Money list in six years, is symptomatic of the tournament's larger issue. There weren't a lot of stars entered in the event, and there aren't likely to be many in coming years. The moved to Sedgefield this year from Forest Oaks won't do much considering this year's birdie-fest _ amateur Danny Lee shot no worse than a 68 _ and the position of the tournament between the PGA Championship and first FedEx Cup Playoff event makes it attractive to none of the PGA Tour's stars and a limited number who are already in the top 170 in FedEx Cup points. The old GGO still has its work cut out for it in the future.

Cut finger forces Johnson WD

A cut on a finger is the reason given for PGA Tour rookie and Myrtle Beach resident Dustin Johnson's withdrawal from this week's Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, N.C., after shooting a 73 in the first round. Johnson is still eligible for the first FedEx Cup playoff event, the $7 million Barclays in New Jersey, this upcoming week but may need to make the cut in order to continue in the playoffs. Johnson entered the Wyndham 111th on tour in FedEx Cup points and the top 120 advance to the Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston from Aug. 29-Sept. 1. It's not clear if the cut will keep Johnson sidelined longer than this week.

There's hope for the Ryder Cup

The U.S. Ryder Cup team is going to have some new blood, and thank God for that. Now it's up to captain Paul Azinger to keep the losing attitude that has languished from three consecutive hapless defeats from permeating the team on Sept. 2 when he makes his four captain's picks. The Europeans have walked away with the Cup in five of the past six and eight of the past 11 matches.
The Ryder Cup rookies who have qualified are Anthony Kim, a two-time winner this year and brash, confident player; Ben Curtis, who moved all the way up from 20th to seventh on the points list with a tie for second at the PGA Championship; and Boo Weekley, winner of the past two Verizon Heritage titles who will bring some humor to the tense proceedings. The other five are Phil Mickelson, Stewart Cink, Kenny Perry, Jim Furyk and Justin Leonard. None has a personal winning Ryder Cup record and they are collectively an abysmal 18-34-15 in the matches.
Scott Verplank, who is 4-1-0 in his two previous Ryder Cups, wouldn't be a bad selection among Ryder Cup veterans, but other than that, I'd go with new blood that hasn't made losing to Europe a rite of passage every two years. Azinger wanted four captain's picks rather than the two previous captains have had, wanted another few weeks to name his picks, and said he'd even consider Nationwide Tour players who were on top of their game leading into the matches. Let's hope he wasn't kidding. I'd take Nationwide Tour money leader Jarrod Lyle before I have to stomach watching Davis Love III add onto his 9-12-5 Ryder Cup record, or David Toms, Chad Campbell, Mark Calcavecchia or Chris DiMarco add onto their losing legacies. Give me the long-hitting J.B. Holmes, Steve Stricker, Sean O'Hair and Woody Austin, who showed his mettle in international play by taking a dive in the Presidents Cup before toweling off and making birdies on the last three holes to halve a match. C'mon Paul, let us at least win or lose with the intrigue of a new script rather than a tired story with the same tragic ending.

Perry out, Kim in at PGA

If you’re in a pool that selects players for the PGA Championship, I’d advise against selecting one of the hottest players in the world. Kenny Perry, who has won three of his last seven starts and was among the pre-tournament favorites, scratched his cornea while removing a contact lens from his eye late Tuesday and is questionable to even tee off in the tournament. Doctors have prescribed a steroid medication. His opening tee time is 2:05 p.m. Perry told the Golf Channel he has had two Lasik eye surgeries and feels he needs contacts to play well. He can’t wear glasses because of depth perception issues, and doesn’t see well without contacts. If Perry doesn’t play this week, he’ll have missed all four majors this year. He didn’t qualify for the Masters and chose to skip both the U.S. Open and British Open.

Though Perry had to be considered one of the favorites before the injury, my pick this week is Anthony Kim. He has won on two of the toughest golf courses on the PGA Tour this year _ Congressional in D.C. and Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte _ and tied for 26th in the U.S. Open and tied for seventh in the British Open, where he was in contention early on Sunday. You figure he'll be there on the weekend, anyway, considering he hasn't come close to missing a cut in his last 10 tournaments dating back to March.

The benevolent PGA Tour

One of the primary reasons to like the PGA Tour is the breadth of its humanitarianism, and the tour and its members are stepping up to help the multitude of Midwesterners devastated by severe flooding with the creation of the PGA Tour Flood Relief Fund to assist in relief efforts. A number of players have made personal contributions to the flood relief efforts in recent weeks, and to further the endeavor, the Tour's fund will channel raised funds to PGA Tour Charities, and those funds will then be subsequently re-directed to deserving relief organizations.
2007 Masters champion Zach Johnson, an Iowa native, acts as the spokesman for a call-to-action public service announcement that was scheduled to begin airing today (July 3) during tour broadcasts. In addition to a financial donation of his own, two-time winner and Wisconsin native Jerry Kelly recently toured parts of the devastated area and has encouraged public support.
As part of the fund-raising efforts, the PGA TOUR has created www.pgatour.com/foodrelief, a Web site where individuals and organizations can make donations. Tour members will also be provided the opportunity to donate any portion of their pro-am monies, which will be matched by the PGA Tour beginning with this week's AT&T National and lasting through the BMW Championship at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis the first week in September. The Tour is also poised to match a percentage of all prize money donated by players.

Rocco on display, other good guys on tour

Because I have covered at least a handful of PGA Tour events for the past nine years, I frequently get asked about my favorite golfers on the PGA Tour. The answer I usually give is that most of my favorites are somewhat obscure players, guys that are great to talk to, are humble, speak to you as if you're just one of the guys and they're just one of the guys, and are always accommodating to fans. One of the first names I mention is Rocco Mediate. He's not quite as obscure today, but the golf world got to see why I'll seek him out for a quote whenever I get the chance. He's always fun to have a conversation with, often says something outragious and funny, and is just about without exception willing to stop and talk. It's one of his favorite activities. I'll give you one of many examples. He was tied for the lead through eight holes in the final round of the 2006 Masters, but his chronically bad back gave out on the ninth hole and he hit three balls in the water on the par-3 12th en route to a 10. His comment after the round: ``It was amazing. It's the best 71 holes of golf I've ever played.'' Mediate also downplays his ability. He's won five times on tour, which is no slight accomplishment.
While I'm at it, I'll mention some of my other favorite players. You might be surprised, but I love Colin Montgomerie. I know, he seems like a sourpuss curmudgeon who is overly sensitive on the course _ especially in the U.S., where he's never won _ and often glares at spectators and plays with a frown. But hands down he's the funniest player in the world. And as long as you can get him to talk to you, you'll find yourself laughing at something he says.
Among the top players, Ernie Els has to be the nicest guy. The Big Easy is also easy to talk to and is always pleasant, even after his many disappointments in majors and the Verizon Heritage in Hilton Head, where he's come close on several occasions but never won. Tiger Woods often jokes with the media and fulfills all of his burdensome responsibilities gracefully, but he'll give the party line a lot more often than Phil Mickelson. Though it was tough to feel affection for Mickelson for many of his years on tour _ you always got the feeling you were seeing the facade of a person _ Phil has become a lot more enjoyable to speak to in recent years. Mainly because he says some outlandish stuff. For example, he said in May at the Wachovia Championship that he added an inch to the length of his putter because he has grown an inch through stretching exercises. How crazy is that. The man just turned 38 and claims he has grown an inch. You've got to love stuff like that. He's still accused of being fake by many, but I can tell you that he looks directly at spectators during tournaments, and no one on tour spends more time signing autographs. He signed for 30 minutes near the locker room at the Wachovia, writing his signature until there were no more spectators to sign for. If it is a front, at least he's putting the time in and giving people a legitimate reason to like him.

All U.S. Open, all the time

All eyes of the golf world are on Torrey Pines and the U.S. Open this week. Most of the pre-tournament attention has focused on both the U.S. Open being played on primetime television, and the Tiger-Phil pairing in the first two rounds. Considering I'm not there and won't be writing on deadline _ the lack of time would definitely affect creativity and the types of stories I could work on _ I like the later television coverage. Ratings will tell whether or not others are with me. I'm thinking they will be. One of the cool things about it is the final round is on Father's Day. So fathers and sons can go play a round of golf in the afternoon, then watch the final round of the Open afterward.
The Woods-Mickelson early pairing I'm not so enamored with. The USGA's idea to pair the top three players in the world in the same group _ along with other members in the top 12 in descending order in threesomes _ seems to me to be contrived and anticlimactic. To the best of my recollection, it's the first time Phil and Tiger are paired together in a major since the 2006 PGA Championship, and just second time in a U.S. Open. The PGA Tour could do it every time Phil and Tiger play together but choose not to. They have a more random selection process. The Masters could do it but chooses not to. The PGA traditionally pairs the winners of the year's first three majors together, which could lead to a pairing if they both earn the pairing that season. To me it waters down the pairing, and I'd hate to see other tournaments resort to doing the same thing. I'd much rather see them paired together on the weekend after earning a pairing together near the top of the leaderboard, when the pressure and importance will be elevated.

Blanks' check impressive, other Monday musings

Former Grand Strand resident Kris Blanks is well on his way to finally achieving his nearly life-long goal at the age of 35. Blanks won the Nationwide Tour's $750,000 Bank of America Open in Glenview, Ill., to earn $135,000 and leap from No. 31 to No. 5 on the Nationwide money list with $205,505. He's now in great shape to earn one of the Nationwide's 25 PGA Tour cards for the 2009 season. Blanks, now of Warner Robbins, Ga., has made seven consecutive cuts and has four consecutive top-25 finishes. He posted a 16-under-par 65-70-69-68_272 to defeat 2000 PGA Championship runner-up Bob May by a shot and Casey Wittenberg and Brendon de Jonge by three each. He entered the final round in a three-way tie for the lead with Skip Kendall and David McKenzie.
"This is pretty special," Blanks told PGA Tour Web page staff writer John Bush. "Thirty-four years of work to get here today."
Blanks is a three-time winner on the NGA Hooters Tour, which is based in North Myrtle Beach. He tried to launch a playing career while working as a bag drop attendant and bartender at Wild Wing Plantation in Conway from 1996-2002. ``I've got the same story of guys in golf shops all over the country . . . people who couldn't find a sponsor,'' Blanks said. ``If you're not playing in tournaments, it doesn't matter if you're shooting 64.'' You can't help but feel happy for Kris, who is all but a sure bet to be playing on the PGA Tour next year.
Kenny Perry won a week late for my liking. After I picked him to win the Colonial, a tournament he has won twice, he captured the Memorial Tournament for the third time. But you have to wonder about his decision to bypass a 36-hole U.S. Open qualifier today. I understand it's important to him to play in the Ryder Cup in his home state of Kentucky, but can you imagine being on top of your game a week before the U.S. Open _ your national championship and one of the four most important tournaments in the world _ and passing on a chance to compete in it? These guys sure have gotten comfortable with all the money they're playing for these days.
Much has been made of all the Asian players _ particularly Koreans _ on the LPGA Tour over the past few years. But the tour is still ruled by players from other countries. Asian players are making the tour but they're not winning much. The top players on the LPGA Tour are from Sweden, Mexico and the U.S. Seon Hwa Lee, perhaps the best Korean player in the world at the moment, recorded the first win of the year by a Korean on Sunday at the Ginn Tribute Hosted by Annika.

Blanks' check impressive, other Monday musings

Former Grand Strand resident Kris Blanks is well on his way to finally achieving his nearly life-long goal at the age of 35. Blanks won the Nationwide Tour's $750,000 Bank of America Open in Glenview, Ill., to earn $135,000 and leap from No. 31 to No. 5 on the Nationwide money list with $205,505. He's now in great shape to earn one of the Nationwide's 25 PGA Tour cards for the 2009 season. Blanks, now of Warner Robbins, Ga., has made seven consecutive cuts and has four consecutive top-25 finishes. He posted a 16-under-par 65-70-69-68_272 to defeat 2000 PGA Championship runner-up Bob May by a shot and Casey Wittenberg and Brendon de Jonge by three each. He entered the final round in a three-way tie for the lead with Skip Kendall and David McKenzie.
"This is pretty special," Blanks told PGA Tour Web page staff writer John Bush. "Thirty-four years of work to get here today."
Blanks is a three-time winner on the NGA Hooters Tour, which is based in North Myrtle Beach. He tried to launch a playing career while working as a bag drop attendant and bartender at Wild Wing Plantation in Conway from 1996-2002. ``I've got the same story of guys in golf shops all over the country . . . people who couldn't find a sponsor,'' Blanks said. ``If you're not playing in tournaments, it doesn't matter if you're shooting 64.'' You can't help but feel happy for Kris, who is all but a sure bet to be playing on the PGA Tour next year.
Kenny Perry won a week late for my liking. After I picked him to win the Colonial, a tournament he has won twice, he captured the Memorial Tournament for the third time. But you have to wonder about his decision to bypass a 36-hole U.S. Open qualifier today. I understand it's important to him to play in the Ryder Cup in his home state of Kentucky, but can you imagine being on top of your game a week before the U.S. Open _ your national championship and one of the four most important tournaments in the world _ and passing on a chance to compete in it? These guys sure have gotten comfortable with all the money they're playing for these days.
Much has been made of all the Asian players _ particularly Koreans _ on the LPGA Tour over the past few years. But the tour is still ruled by players from other countries. Asian players are making the tour but they're not winning much. The top players on the LPGA Tour are from Sweden, Mexico and the U.S. Seon Hwa Lee, perhaps the best Korean player in the world at the moment, recorded the first win of the year by a Korean on Sunday at the Ginn Tribute Hosted by Annika.