Jun. 18, 2008
By PGATOUR.com staff
Let's face it -- any event that Tiger Woods enters, he's the overwhelming favorite. But now that Woods will miss the rest of the 2008 PGA TOUR season, who will step up to become the favorite in his absence? Here are the events he may have played this year, along with our choice(s) as the new favorites for each tournament:
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| Buick Open (June 26-29) |
| Woods has won the tournament twice, been runner-up two other times, place third once and never finished lower than 11th in eight starts. Last year, as the defending champ, he skipped the event due to the birth of his daughter. Brian Bateman will be the defending champ this year. |
| Vijay Singh has won three times at Warwick Hills; Jim Furyk has more top-10 finishes (8) than any other player in tournament history and will enter with a streak of 37 consecutive below-par rounds at the event.
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| AT&T National (July 3-6) |
| Missing his own event -- it benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation -- will be tough for Woods, especially since the tournament is still in its infacy going into its second year. Last year, Woods never recovered from a 3-over 73 in the first round at Congressional and went on to tie for sixth, six strokes behind K.J. Choi. |
| Choi, Steve Stricker (second last year), perhaps even Woods' U.S. Open playoff foe Rocco Mediate, who finished tied for eighth last year and obviously has his game in high gear.
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| British Open (July 17-20) |
| Woods had won the world's oldest major championship three times. He's also had seven top 10s and never finished lower than 28th in 11 starts as a pro. Royal Birkdale could have played right into his hands, too -- he was one stroke out of a playoff in 1998 when his good buddy Mark OMeara beat Brian Watts. He opened with a 65, too, that tied John Houston for the low round of the tournament. |
| Since it has been 10 years since Royal Birkdale hosted the Open, it's tough to judge players on their history here. Maybe Sergio Garcia, who feels like the British Open owes him one after last year, will finally break through with his first major win.
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| WGC-Bridgestone Invitational (July 31-Aug. 3) |
| Woods' mastery of Firestone Country Club is unparalleled. He has won the Bridgestone Invitational six times in nine starts, including the last three straight, and has never finished lower than fifth at the course, even counting the two times he played in the NEC World Series of Golf. |
| Of the three other players besides Woods who have won at Firestone since 1999, only Stewart Cink is a legitimate threat. Also look for Rory Sabbatini, who has twice tied for second in the past four years.
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| PGA Championship (Aug. 7-10) |
| Of all the major championships, this one would have been the biggest question mark for Woods. Granted, he's the two-time defending champion and has won four PGAs overall. He had only played Oakland Hills twice, though -- tying for 82nd as an amateur in the 1996 U.S. Open and absorbing, with his teammates, another American Ryder Cup defeat in 2004. |
| You've got to think Phil Mickelson, who won the PGA Championship at Baltusrol in 2005, is going to be there on the back nine Sunday.
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| The Barclays (Aug. 21-24) |
| Woods didn't play last year at Westchester, and no one would've been surprised to see him skip Ridgewood Country Club in New Jersey this year. It's anybody's guess who'll play well at the course; it has never hosted a PGA TOUR event in its 118-year history. |
| Might be a good time for Geoff Ogilvy to exert himself down the stretch.
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| Deutsche Bank Championship (Aug. 7-10) |
| Woods came within a shot of making it two-in-a-row at the TPC Boston last year, losing to Mickelson in one of the most spine-tingling battles of 2008. He had four top-10s in five starts at the course. |
| Will Mickelson successful defending his title? Why not. If not, Adam Scott has a win and a tie for second since 2003.
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| BMW Championship (Aug. 7-10) |
| If the tournament were returning to Cog Hill Golf & Country Club, Woods would have been the overwhelming favorite since he had won four times at the public layout in Dubsdread, Ill. This year's BMW Championship, though, is being played at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis, which was scheduled to host the World Golf Championships-CA Championship in 2001 that was canceled in the aftermath of Sept. 11. |
| Trevor Immelman won at Cog Hill in 2006; despite the switch to Bellerive, maybe he makes his big push for Player of the Year honors right here.
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| THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola (Sept. 25-28) |
| Woods captured the inaugural FedExCup when he shot all four rounds in the 60s and beat Mark Calcavecchia and Zach Johnson by a whopping eight strokes. The victory was his second at venerable East Lake Golf Club where another legendary golfer, Bobby Jones, used to hone his game. |
| Johnson, the 2007 Masters champion, loves playing in Georgia, so you have to watch out for him. He set the course record last year with a 10-under 60 in the third round.
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Tiger Woods
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