This weekend's PGA Championship should be an interesting one. Whistling Straights in Wisconsin is the youngest course used in a major (only 5 years old), is owned by billionaire Herb Kohler (of Kohler kitchen and bathroom fixtures), is almost 7,600 yards, is a Links-style course on the shores of Lake Michigan, and is considered extreamely difficult.

Watch out for Tiger...his swing is on the mend. This'll be his best chance for a major in a long time.

Tiger started the day at -3, 9 strokes behind the leader Vijay Singh. He's +2 today so now 11 storkes out. I think the best thing that could have happened would have been if he had missed the cut on Friday instead of barely squeaking in. Sure his streak of making cuts is really impressive, but a guy like Tiger can't be satisfied with making cuts. Missing the cut might have made him realize he needs to make some changes.

Justin Leonard, who I'm rooting for, is one behind Singh. Mickelson and Els are among a group that is 4 strokes off the lead.

So much for that prediction!

Leonard's looking good (golfwise)...I hope he wins.

Tiger just finished at -2 for the tournament, good for 30th place (so far). Outsports' Jocktalk prognostication on Friday the 13th that Tiger was "done--toast--finished--kaput--as the dominating force on the men's golf tour" seems to be coming true. When will Woods lose his #1 world ranking though?

My brother (who lives in Milwaukee) managed to finagle a free ticket to Whistling Straights on Saturday.

Been having trouble watching the tournament this afternoon myself, what with the Olympics on CBC, NBC and the Blue Jays game (why did I waste any of my time on that?) all on this afternoon. Justin Leonard still nursing a 2 stroke lead on Vijay....

What a CHOKE

So Vijay "cheater" Singh has Player of the Year locked up, I guess. Oh well.

Goodness. I had stopped watching midway through, thinking that Justin Leonard had it wrapped up (Vijay seemed to be the one choking). But then I turn the tv on and it's a playoff with Leonard, Singh and Chris DiMarco... and Vijay wins! With Vijay currently ranked #3 in the world (Tiger is #1 and Ernie is #2), will this win and Tiger's poor performance vault Vijay to #1?

for vijay to vault to number 1, tiger would have had to miss the cut. tiger is still number 1.

but a question -- vijay has 5 victories this year. no one else has more than 2. why, oh why, is tiger still number 1? are the bcs folks in charge of the rankings?

The playoff was tremendous--and like canmark, I'm surprised Justin Leonard had difficulties (I'll be kind,) letting Singh and the cute Chris DeMarco back into contention. Favorite scenes from the tournament were people sliding down the hills and bunker walls. Greatly amusing to watch. By the way, Tiger Woods again complained in press conferences about photographers distracting him. Is it really any worse for him than for any other top golfer, none of whom I can recall making this big an issue about photographers?

~Adam

Els and Singh are definitely the #1 and #2 players in the world right now, but that's not what the world ranking measures. It tallies up everything you have done in the last two years. He was the player of the year last year, so that explains half of it. As for the second half, for all this talk of Tiger sucking, he is NOT SUCKING. He is not performing as well as he has in the past, but these stats are very, very, very good by non-Tiger standards:

- six top 5 finishes, ten top 10 finishes, and thirteen top 25 finishes in fourteen tournaments. By contrast, Vijay has four wins, eight top 5 finishes, eleven top 10 finishes, and seventeen top 25 finishes in twenty-one tournaments.
- hasn't missed a cut
- won a WGC event
- 4th on the money list
- 2nd in birdies, 2nd in putting, 4th in scoring average

Additionally, Tiger only plays good tournaments. Before this weekend, he only played in ONE of the four that Singh had won: the Buick Open, in which he played well (-21) and finished 3rd.

Regardless, Tiger should be passing the #1 torch to Els or Singh by the end of the year if their levels of play stay constant. Just be patient.

thanks for the info!

also, i hadn't realized tiger was having as good a year as he is. i guess he's suffering from his own recent dominance.

ESPN asks why isn't Vijay#1?

Another article on Tiger's slim lead.



[ August 17, 2004, 04:44 PM: Message edited by: canmark ]

Tiger kept his #1 ranking with a t-2nd finish today. His swing looked awful but he can get the ball in the hole better than anyone. Vijay Singh finished t-32nd at +3. The story of the week was Stewart Cink, though, who validated his choice as a Ryder Cup captain's pick.


As a side note, I used to play junior golf with Luke List, the guy who lost to Ryan Moore in the final of the US Am today. We played in the same group a couple times (naturally, he kicked my ass), although I do remember giving him and a few other people a total beatdown in a post-round putting contest. Squandering a 2-up lead by losing the last four holes is definitely NOT the best way to go, but he'll enjoy his trip to the Masters regardless.