Tiger Woods suffered through a 33-putt final day at Hazeltine National.
Aug. 17, 2009
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What are our writers thinking about after the PGA Championship? A stunning loss by Tiger Woods, a gritty performance by Y.E. Yang and the shaping of the teams for the 2009 Presidents Cup matches.
WAS BOUND TO HAPPEN: Sergio Garcia knew this day was coming. In 2006, Garcia told me that this was going to happen, that Tiger Woods "wasn't going to be 68 years old and in the final round of a major and tied for the lead and he wins."
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Turns out, Woods wasn't even 34 when it happened. Garcia's prediction was sort of half-serious at the time, but the inevitable was bound to happen -- though you would have been hard-pressed to find anyone not named Y.E. Yang or Brian Mogg who thought Woods wasn't going to win on Sunday.
This isn't quite Buster Douglas beating Mike Tyson -- remember, Yang had already won The Honda Classic earlier this year -- but it wasn't far from it, either. And that's the thing about golf, these things happen. Woods was certainly not happy afterward, but he reminded us no one had ever gone 15-for-15, or even 14-for-14 for that matter, when leading after 54 holes of a major.
Chalk it up to Woods once again not playing his best, this time with his putter. Usually he can get away with something not working in his game, but not this time. So there's no need to overanalyze this or start the Hank Haney rumors or any sort of slump talk. Woods was majorless this year, yes, but he was and still is the best player on the planet. Bad day for Woods, good day for Yang. -- Brian Wacker
THE LOSING SIDE: Many years ago when I was a member of the press covering the Dallas Cowboys, someone made the astute observation that America's Team was infinitely more interesting when it lost than when it won. How players dealt with adversity, the doubts, the biting questions from a disappointed fan base -- those angles always made for juicy stories.
And as CBS reminded us Sunday, this year's majors will be known as much for the players who didn't win as for those who did. From Kenny Perry at Augusta to Phil Mickelson/David Duval at Bethpage to Tom Watson at Turnberry and now Tiger Woods at Hazeltine, it's been a fascinating season.
Considering that Woods is America's Golfer, his weekend failure to seize the PGA Championship and avoid a major O-fer in 2009 will make the next few weeks very interesting. For the first time in his life, Tiger must deal with the emotional scar of losing the 54-hole lead in a major. How will he respond?
Hmmm, would anybody be surprised if he swept all four events in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup? -- Mike McAllister
YANG'S PREPARATION: For those who follow the PGA TOUR closely, it wasn't really all that surprising to witness Y.E. Yang's stunning display of calm on Sunday at Hazeltine National.
Yang surprised everyone back in March when he held the 54-hole lead at The Honda Classic -- and then proceeded to birdie three of the first five holes Sunday to essentially put the tournament on ice. Players who hold the lead for the first time after 54 holes are not supposed to hang onto that lead on Sunday, but Yang made it look easy.
Also, Yang, like fellow South Korean K.J. Choi, was subjected to mandatory military service in his homeland. He was tough enough to endure that, not to mention a trip to PGA TOUR q-school. When it came time to collect on Sunday, Yang was more than ready, having already paid his dues here and elsewhere. -- Ryan Smithson
PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION?: Lucas Glover was on the outside looking in when he came to the PGA Championship last week, hoping to qualify for the U.S. Presidents Cup team with a high finish. Just before he hit the range to practice on Wednesday, he talked about how much he wanted to play for Fred Couples at Harding Park and acknowledged that he may have hurt himself in the standings by taking the Fall Series off last year. The dollars he could have earned in those events would have morphed into much-needed points in the standings.
In reality, though, the extended break Glover took last year refreshed and relaxed him, turning the Clemson grad into the player who was able to win the U.S. Open at Bethpage Black two months ago. And the one who tied for second at the Quail Hollow Championship, third at the Buick Invitational and fifth at the PGA -- three of the hardest courses on TOUR this year. That's why Couples is likely to make Glover one of his two Captain's Picks on Sept. 8. So it looks like everything will work out OK. -- Helen Ross
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| Stock up |
Lee Westwood: On one hand, Westwood is still searching for his first major championship. On the other, he finished in the top three at the PGA and British Open with a ninth-place finish at Firestone sandwiched in between. Few have been better than Westwood the last month.
FedExCup rank: N/A |
Lucas Glover: This has been a breakout year for Glover, who is finally producing on the promise he showed early in his career. Since winning his first major, Glover has barely taken a week off much less finished outside the top 20 with two fifth-place finishes, a T11 and a T19 his last six events.
FedExCup rank: 5 (7 last week) |
Rory McIlroy: At the start of the year, you heard players saying McIlroy would be No. 2 in the world as soon as next year. That might've been an overstatement, but the talent is there. McIlroy's T3 at the PGA was his best finish in a major and already his third top-20 with a T10 at the U.S. Open and a T20 at the Masters.
FedExCup rank: N/A |
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| Stock down |
Adam Scott: This is one of those years that will be a low point that sparks something for the future or the beginning of a downward spiral. Scott took 70 putts in two rounds at the PGA, including 38 on Friday, on his way to shooting 82-79. Only five players were worse, and they were all club pros.
FedExCup rank: 111 (110 last week) |
Sergio Garcia: Like his pal Scott, this has been a forgettable year for the Spaniard, who has just one top-10 all year. He turned things on in the Playoffs last year, but another missed cut this week and Garcia, 115th in the standings, could possibly miss the postseason altogether. Not likely, but possible.
FedExCup rank: 115 (114 last week) |
Padraig Harrington: The good news is that Harrington's swing changes, for the most part, seem to have finally taken hold. The bad news is each of the last two weeks he had two of the most shocking holes you'll ever see a player of Harrington's caliber have with his triple-bogey snowman on No. 16 at Firestone and his quintuple-bogey snowman on No. 8 Sunday.
FedExCup rank: 62 (70 last week) |
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| A Quick 18 |
| Front Nine | Back Nine |
| How good was Yang's hybrid club approach shot from the rough on the 18th Sunday? Well, it set up one of only three birdies there on what was the second-hardest hole on the golf course. For the week, the 18th yielded just 29 birdies. It also applied the type of pressure to Woods that he's used to applying to others. | Take nothing away from any of the four major champions, but this was one of those weird years with all four majors being won by players outside the top 30 in the OWGR for the first time since 1986 -- Angel Cabrera (69), Lucas Glover (71), Stewart Cink (33) and Y.E. Yang (110). Prior to this year, players outside the top 30 had never won three straight majors. |
| Forgetting how he played this week, Yang isn't exactly a slouch. As mentioned, he won The Honda Classic in impressive fashion and in 62 career TOUR events, he has five top-10s and 13 top-25s. Coming into the PGA, Yang's final-round scoring average was a very respectable 70.54 and his 70 on Sunday tied for the low round of the day. | Phil Mickelson's 73rd-place finish after a second-straight 76 on Sunday was one of the worst of his career -- he tied for 94th at the '96 U.S. Open, was 79th at the '98 British Open and tied for 73rd at the '91 British. "I haven't putted the best for a little while now," he said. "It's going to take a little more than overnight." |
| That said, Yang's resume wasn't exactly one that jumped off that page, especially with you-know-who holding the lead Sunday. Outside of his Honda win, Yang's next best finish on TOUR was a fifth-place finish at this year's Buick Open. Coming into the week, he'd also recorded just 2 of 18 rounds at par or better in majors. | How frustrated was Mickelson with his flat stick? After his opening round at Hazeltine, he did something he almost never does and went straight to the practice green, putting until dark. The problem for Mickelson is that he just can't get the putter head to release and that's causing a lot of missed short putts. |
| Of his 43 career over-par final rounds, Woods has only won six times. His final-round 75 Sunday was also his worst final round since a 76 at Bay Hill in 2007 and his worst final round in a major since a 75 at the 2003 Masters.
| Geoff Ogilvy, who finished in a tie for 43rd at 6 over, had some choice words before departing Hazeltine, according to the Herald Sun (Australia) newspaper, in which he said, "It was a frustrating year in the majors, but [in] 2010, we play on real golf courses." Not exactly an endorsement for Hazeltine by Ogilvy, who went on to praise Whistling Straits and say a few other things.
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| Also, last week, associate producer Ceri Mobley wondered when putting together our weekly Heat Index how Yang could be ranked ahead of Woods in average finish for each of their last four starts. After all, Tiger had won three times. But that missed cut at Turnberry and Yang's consistently high finishes proved out the numbers. | I'll say it again: Alvaro Quiros is going to be a star. He has the game to match his engaging personality and when you can get the attention of the world's best player by reaching the 600-plus yard 11th in two, uphill and into the wind, with a driver off the deck, that's saying something. |
| Yang's celebration might have been the best of the year when he bench pressed his golf bag over his head with his arms extended high and an ear-to-ear grin on his face. If I had to guess, I'd say the advertising folks at TaylorMade are already busy turning that moment into a commercial to be shown around the world. | John Daly looks like a shell of his former self, literally and figuratively. He pulled out of the PGA with a back injury after shooting a 78 in the first round and put bluntly, doesn't look healthy after losing 80 or 90 pounds following lap band surgery. Thankfully for Daly, the end of the season is near so he can get healthy.
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| Give Padraig Harrington a par on the par-3 eighth hole -- instead of his second 8 in as many weeks -- and who knows what happens at the end of this tournament. Who knows how Yang or Woods would have played. Guess we'll never know. For Harrington, his 78 ties for his worst final round in a major. | Anyone else notice that Vijay Singh was looking at the hole when he was putting on Sunday? It seemed to be working with Singh opening birdie-birdie before he stumbled with a bogey and never challenged again. It's amazing to think how many more titles Singh would have if he wasn't plagued by putting so much. |
| Harrington is never short on words, saying that he "did the classic amateur thing" on his tee shot at No. 8. "It just didn't carry up," he said. "I thought I had room on the right-hand side and it was probably two or three yards from being safe. It wasn't anybody else. It's all me."
| You have to wonder what sort of effect Paul Casey's rib injury is going to have on the rest of his season. He pulled out of the PGA and will take this week off in hopes of it healing for the Playoffs. |
| All sorts of goodies came with Yang's win at Hazeltine. In addition to the Wanamaker trophy, he picked up 600 FedExCup points; a 5-year exemption on TOUR and for THE PLAYERS, Masters, U.S. and British Opens; a trip to the 2010 SBS Championship and the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions and a spot on the Presidents Cup team. |
FedExCup Mover of the Week: No question it was Yang, who jumped all the way up to seventh from 21st with his second victory of the season and first career major. One thing's for sure, Yang isn't going to surprise anyone in the Playoffs like he did last week. |
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| The Forward Spin |
The Wyndham Championship is the last stop before the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup begin. As such, that resulted in Adam Scott and Sergio Garcia entering the field this week with each of them hoping to right the ship before the postseason begins.
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It's been a less-than-stellar year for both, especially for Scott, whose season has spiraled out of control and left him what his wrong with his swing, putting stroke and the rest of his game. Both should make the Playoffs barring disaster in Greensboro, but given how their year has gone who knows.
It's also an opportunity for any potential captains picks to impress (or un-impress) U.S. Presidents Cup Captain Fred Couples.
Mostly, though, it will be an opportunity for guys in the 115-135 range on the FedExCup points list to play themselves in -- or out -- of the Playoffs. |
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PGATOUR.COM'S Brian Wacker wrote Stock Up, Stock Down, the Quick 18 and Forward Spin.
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