With the Masters quickly approaching, LPGA legend Amy Alcott and recent Kraft Nabisco champion Brittany Lincicome offered their prediction on who would win the tournament.
It's Masters week, and, as usual, there are story lines galore: Padraig Harrington trying to become the only golfer other than Tiger Woods and Ben Hogan to win three straight majors in the modern era, Phil Mickelson trying to become a three-time winner of the tournament; Gary Player teeing it up a record 52nd -- and final -- time.
But the reality is, there is only one story line. Will Tiger win? The answer: yes.
He's certainly the favorite, 7-4 according to bodoglife.com. Mickelson is No. 2 at 7-1 and Harrington third at 16-1. But those are merely betting odds. It says here he'll win because this is the tournament he has been pointing toward since undergoing knee surgery after winning the U.S. Open in June.
Woods is coming off a win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, where for the second year in a row he needed and drained a long birdie putt on the 72nd hole to finish first. He is No. 1 on the tour this year in average number of putts per round and No. 1 in scoring average. And he's Tiger Woods.
Mickelson had won twice this year before missing the cut last week in Texas, but those first two rounds in Houston were played in a wind tunnel, conditions that aren't suited to Mickelson's stratospheric moonshots. He should be among the leaders this week at Augusta, where he won in 2004 and '06 and has had nine top-10 finishes in the last 10 years.
Harrington ended last season with wins in the last two majors -- the British Open and PGA Championship -- without Woods in the field. But he's finished fifth and seventh the last two years at Augusta.
Australian Geoff Ogilvy? He's got two wins this year and is coming off a sixth-place finish last week. He might contend; he's a popular choice because of his consistency and grit. Sergio Garcia? Can't see his putting game holding up for four rounds at Augusta. Vijay Singh? Hasn't come close this year.
There are a handful of players who could win this tournament. The prediction here is that Tiger Woods will make sure he's the one who will. Yeah, it's not exactly going out on a limb, but sometimes you just have to go with the favorite.
-- Mike James
Photo: Tiger Woods, and his caddie Steve Williams, have been pointing toward Augusta since last June. Photo credit: Kim Klement / US Presswire.
Barack Obama, a southpaw, will be the 15th U.S. president to play golf, but Obama's game is nowhere close to being an amateur version of lefty Phil Mickelson's.
Of course, Obama's first sporting love is basketball, but he's been playing golf since 1997 and often shoots in the mid-90s and, when he plays really well, in the low-90s.
Golf Digest recently showed a video of Obama playing golf in Hawaii last year to three celebrated golf instructors, Butch Harmon (Tiger Woods' former coach), David Leadbetter and Jim Flick, and asked them to analyze his swing and offer some tips.
"He moves well and doesn't look tense or stiff," Leadbetter said.
However, a golf swing is a complicated mix of grace, concentration, fluid motion and controlled fury. A lot of things can go wrong in a golf swing, and for a player of Obama's caliber, it usually does.
"The problem is he's got no body turn at all," Harmon said. "It's a hands-and-arms swing. He lunges at impact. His head lifts, his spine angle pops straight up and he pulls the club across the ball. I wouldn't think he has much consistency."
So what should Obama do to fix his swing? "I'd have him make a better turn going back with his hips and shoulders, so that when he comes down, everything doesn't unwind so early. He needs more windup," Harmon suggested.
-- Barry Stavro
Photo: President-elect Barack Obama jokes with friends Dr. Eric Whitaker, center, and Eugene Kang, right, on the 18th green during a round of golf with friends last week in Kailua, Hawaii. Credit: Tim Sloan / AFP/Getty Images
Tiger Woods said today that the issue created by his caddie's disparaging comments about Phil Mickelson has been dealt with and is over.
"I communicated with Phil, and we discussed it," Woods said on the eve of the Chevron World Challenge at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks. "I talked to Stevie about it. He feels bad about what happened.
"It's over and done with, and we put it to bed.'
Steve Williams was quoted in New Zealand newspaper accounts last week referring to Mickelson with an expletive and telling an apocryphal story from the U.S. Open that painted Mickelson in a poor light.
Woods, appearing relaxed and fit (he's 2 pounds lighter than when he won the Open), said that when he does resume competition, Williams will still be his caddie.
When Woods will return, however, is unclear. He said his left knee, which was operated on after he won the U.S. Open in June, feels better than it has in 10 years. But because he has not hit full shots with all of his clubs and has not been able to practice the way he normally would, he's not sure when he'll get back into competitive golf.
"I've been hitting full shots the last couple of weeks," he told a group of reporters. "But it's not going very far, so I know how you guys feel."
Woods acknowledged that he's a bit ahead of his original schedule, in which he had planned to start hitting full shots in January, but made it clear he wouldn't start competing again until he could play at least at his accustomed level.
"Do I miss being out there? No doubt," he said.
"... I don't want to be the same," he added, referring to his level of play before surgery. "I want to become better than I was."
Considering that in 2008, Woods won four of the six events he played despite a left knee that should have kept him off the course, the thought of his coming back better than he was isn't something the rest of the tour can be too excited about.
For expanded stories on Woods and the tournament, check Bill Plaschke's column and Jim Peltz's story at latimes.com/sports later today.
-- Mike James
Photo: Tiger Woods talks to reporters as he prepares to host, but not play in, the Chevron World Challenge golf tournament at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks. Credit: Reed Saxon / Associated Press
*Updated with Steve Williams' comments
In the wake of his caddie's disparaging comments about Phil Mickelson over the weekend in New Zealand newspapers, Tiger Woods issued a statement today expressing disappointment over the remarks.
"I was disappointed to read the comments attributed to Steve Williams about Phil Mickelson, a player I respect," Woods said in the statement. "It was inappropriate. The matter has been discussed and dealt with."
Williams later said he should not have said what he did. “I don’t deny that him and I don’t get along,” Williams told the Associated Press, referring to Mickelson. “I shouldn’t have said it, but no harm was meant. I was just having some fun.”
There was no indication in the statement of whether the professional relationship between Williams and Woods would be jeopardized. Williams has been Woods' caddie since the spring of 1999.
In one New Zealand paper, Williams said, "I wouldn't call Mickelson a great player, 'cause I hate the ...," using an expletive to describe him.
Williams also told an apocryphal version of a story at the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines in which a fan supposedly mocked Mickelson with an off-color comment related to his physique. That story actually did not involve Mickelson at the 2008 Open but is widely believed to have involved Colin Montgomerie at the 2002 Open at Bethpage in New York.
Williams told the AP he had spoken to Woods but declined to discuss their conversation. He said he has not spoken to Mickelson, but would if he had his phone number.
Woods, recovering from knee surgery shortly after his Open victory at Torrey Pines, is expected to speak at Sherwood Country Club on Wednesday. He is the host of the Chevron World Challenge, which features a field of 16 who will play Thursday through Sunday. Mickelson is not playing in the event.
Woods isn't expected to get back on the PGA Tour until perhaps March.
-- Mike James
Photo: Tiger Woods and Steve Williams celebrate Woods' U.S. Open victory at Torrey Pines in June. Credit: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times
They've never been the closest of friends, on or off the course, but now the relationship between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson threatens to deteriorate further.
Steve Williams, Woods' caddie, was back in his home in New Zealand and had some off-color things to say in news reports over the weekend that were strong enough to bring a response from Mickelson's camp ... something that is far from common in a sport that likes to promote itself as one based in sportsmanship and tradition.
Williams was quoted as saying, "I wouldn't call Mickelson a great player, 'cause I hate the ...," using a term not suitable for general consumption. He also talked about an incident at the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines in June in which Mickelson, playing with Woods, was supposedly heckled by a fan with an off-color remark on the 17th hole and played poorly thereafter.
Sunday, Mickelson's representatives sent a brusquely worded statement to media outlets that included this comment from Mickelson, "After seeing Steve Williams' comments all I could think of was how lucky I am to have a class act like Bones on my bag and representing me." Bones is the nickname for Mickelson's caddie, Jim MacKay.
Mickelson's statement also said the Williams anecdote was an "absolute fabrication" and that his comments were "grossly inaccurate and irresponsible."
In addition, the statement also rebutted the heckling anecdote, saying that it was an often-told story about the 2002 U.S. Open at Bethpage in New York, not the 2008 Open at Torrey Pines, and that the story involved a European Tour player, not Mickelson.
Approached by the Sunday Star Times the day after the first interview ran, Williams acknowledged that the heckling story, in fact, might have been at Bethpage. He also said of Mickelson, "I don't particularly like the guy myself. He pays me no respect at all and hence I don't pay him any respect. It's no secret we don't get along either."
No word yet from Woods. Just don't expect Mickelson and the world's No. 1 player to be pairing up in any lighthearted practice rounds once Woods begins playing again.
--Mike James
Photo: Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson during the opening round of the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines in June. Credit: Richard Hartog / Los Angeles Times.
There was a time when golfers on the European PGA Tour did all they could to get to the PGA Tour in the U.S. Those days are changing.
Anthony Kim, the 23-year-old who has won twice on the U.S. tour this year and is No. 8 in the world, is joining the European tour next year. And Phil Mickelson today said he is leaning that way, adding that U.S. golf is "stagnant."
Part of the attraction is the increased prize money in Europe, with $20 million on the line in a season-ending Race to Dubai. Actually, money's a very big part. The year-end millions are available only to Euro tour members, who need to play at least 12 events to maintain their eligibility. Joining the tour overseas wouldn't mean leaving the U.S. tour though, because six U.S. events count as European tour events: the three major championships here and three World Golf Championship events.
Mickelson told Agence France-Presse: "Certainly the dollar weakening over the past few years has made foreign currencies much stronger, which makes the purses much larger, so there's been a lot of international wealth being created. The U.S. golf industry has been stagnant for quite some time, so all of our growth has been occurring on a global basis."
If Mickelson joins, nine of the top 10 players in the world will be members of the European tour. The only exception: Tiger Woods, who says his schedule won't allow the additional events necessary for membership.
-- Mike James
Photo: Phil Mickelson, right, may join Sergio Garcia, left, on the European tour. Credit: Streeter Lecka / Getty Images
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