Jan 26

Big Dogs Woods, Els, Singh & Mickelson positioning for Majors

Now, the golf season really starts! Tiger is coming out of hibernation and, to hear him tell it at his first Q&A of the year, he’s loaded for bear. He said that, basically, he’s waaaaay ahead of where he was at the same time last year, so there is only fine tuning left to do to be ready for Augusta. These must be ominous words indeed for the rest of the golfing world. If memory serves, in 2005 Tiger had the 2nd best year of his already legendary career and he figures 2006 to be better …. as in much better.

But from the other side of the pond - to those who are paying attention - we’re hearing the rumblings of another creature awakening from a long slumber. Ernie Els is coming back from a half year off due to injury. He is focused and already playing very well, despite the knee not being 100% yet. After a warm-up event, The Big Easy finished 1st & 2nd in a couple of South African tournaments several weeks ago. Had Retief Goosen not finished birdie-birdie, it would’ve been 2 wins. Now, Els is taking on the Euro Tour and will head over to the PGA Tour in a few weeks.

Vijay is Vijay … the man never seems to take off so he’s never really “warming up.” I swear this guy never finishes outside the top ten no matter where or when he plays.

Phil Mickelson finally got back on the course last week after several months of inactivity, playing well to finish in 5th at the Hope. Lefty and Tiger will lock horns this week at Torrey Pines and it’s a fair bet that one if not both of them will be in the final pairing on Sunday. Yessssss!!

Welcome back, fellas, we missed ye.

« Loren Roberts, Henrik Stenson: New studs emerging to challenge golf's status quo

Loren Roberts will dominate the Senior, er ah, Champions Tour in 2006 »

27 comments

Comment from: Norman [Visitor]

Predictions for both events:

Paul McGinley and Phil Mickelson to be the winners.

01/26/06 @ 13:34

Comment from: David Meyers [Member]

Couldn't agree more, bring on the Buick. Maybe it's because of my youth, but I can't remember such a top-heavy exciting lineup.

01/26/06 @ 14:29

Comment from: Norman [Visitor]

David,
The Buick is a bit lacking, when you think that Vijay and Ernie are not there.

01/26/06 @ 14:43

Comment from: Shanks [Member]

I would say that my Buick glass is half-full, as is my Qatar-glass. It's all part of a work in progress. Can't have a Major every week. Besides Tiger & Lefty, there is Chad Campbell, the hottest golfer on the planet. Then there's Sergio & Appleby. And Big Bubba Watson.

Norman, you would be excited if Michelle Wie were playing against the Little Sisters of the Poor. So don't rain on our parade when the best golfers in the world are starting to converge, if slowly, one week at a time.

01/26/06 @ 15:36

Comment from: Norman [Visitor]

Shanks,
Perhaps you should check out Tim McDonald's thread about Bubba where I have showed his credentials.

Here is a summary:
Nationwide 62 played, no wins.

Don't get me wrong, I think the guy is a big draw for crowds with his long driving.
Also, he has been improving gradually, year on year, and getting better finishes on the nationwide tour.

I think he is a perfect example of how it takes time to get your game there, and in that respect, if he makes it big, he would be a massive inspiration for many of us.

But mentioning those other guys who are all multiple pga winners, and including Bubba who didn't win once on the Nationwide Tour in 3 full seasons is pushing up Bubba a bit much.

But, I do recognise that the fields are getting stronger, but I do have a bias of trying to push up the European Tour. Loyalty and all that.

01/26/06 @ 15:55

Comment from: Shanks [Member]

Agreed on Bubba. But conversely, by your logic, the Qatar field is also lacking. Personally. I think both tournaments have terrific fields for regular events, and I'm willing to be excited about that.

01/26/06 @ 16:04

Comment from: David Meyers [Member]

You say tomato, I say tomoto.
Hey, Go Seahawks?

01/26/06 @ 17:12

Comment from: Shanks [Member]

I'm not a Seahawks fan by any stretch of the imagination, but I think they will win. Should be a terrific game.

01/27/06 @ 07:20

Comment from: Shanks [Member]

Tiger is going to have to shoot something pretty good to make the cut today. Out of his half of the field that played the much easier North Course yesterday, he finished T47th (out of 78) with 10 others. Today they play the South Course which held 59 of the other half of the field to par or higher. We'll get a decent guage of how solid his game is today.

01/27/06 @ 10:52

Comment from: Norman [Visitor]

I think Tiger will muddle his way through alright. He is just about the best at scraping the cut when the going gets tough.

Funny how Tiger birdied each of the 4 par 5 holes yesterday. Just as well he did that or he'd be in serious trouble. Tiger to make the cut with 2 shots to spare.

01/27/06 @ 12:41

Comment from: Shanks [Member]

Tiger is off to a good start on the South Course, birdieing 3 of his first 6 holes, while Mickelson is lighting up the North Course with 6 birdies in his first 11 holes. What a bonus if these two get in a showdown by Sunday. Appleby, Garcia and Couples, amongst others, are moving up the leaderboard. Parnevik is still playing extremely well and near the top.

Over in Qatar, Els is in decent shape heading into the weekend in 28th place but he needs to make a serious move on Saturday if he's going to have a chance to win. Some tough hombres are ahead of him, like the super-hot Stenson, Bjorn & McGinley (nice prediction, Norman).

All in all, it bodes well for an exciting weekend. Thank God for VCRs or I'd never get anything done!

01/27/06 @ 15:01

Comment from: Norman [Visitor]

Shanks,

First the pga event:
A couple of bogey's for Tiger, either side of his eagle have made a bit of a dent in his back 9. Still looking like a very good round though, with Tiger in the hunt for the weekend.
I'm glad too that Mickelson is up there. A Tiger/Phil showdown, would do the trick very nicely.

European Tour:
A mole in the European Tour told me that Els was feeling very poor today. He had to sit down quite a bit, because his knee was troubling him.
McGinley is doing pretty well alright, but needs to make a move on moving day.
Stenson is on a pretty hot streak after finishing a narrow 2nd to Di Marco last week.

Both events could be very exciting coming down the stretch.

01/27/06 @ 17:08

Comment from: Norman [Visitor]

Starting hole 17, Tiger has leaked 3 bogey's in 5 holes.

But the last hole is a par 5.

Round 1: on par 5's, he had 4 birdies.
Round 2: par 5's: birdie, birdie, eagle, so the last hole of his round surely is a good birdie bet, with Tiger in contention for the weekend.

01/27/06 @ 17:26

Comment from: Norman [Visitor]

Paul McGinley has moved up to a tie for 6th, but is 5 shots off the lead. Not bad for his first tournament back I guess.

Ernie has moved up from T28 to T12.
Well done Ernie. I think Ernie could run away with the European Order of Merit this year, well clear of 2nd place.

01/28/06 @ 08:12

Comment from: Norman [Visitor]

Shanks,
I'm surprised you haven't posted your thoughts. I thought the 3rd round leaderboard would be enough to get you going.

Sergio -11
Tiger -10
Phil -9

The pga is probably going to win this weekends excitement award.

If Sergio were to close this tournament out confidently it could help him at the majors in a big way.

01/28/06 @ 18:16

Comment from: John [Visitor]

If this week proves anything, it is that both the PGA and European tours have lots of middle-sized dogs that can rise up and bite the big dogs if they don't watch out.

Here's to every dog that has his day!

01/29/06 @ 12:43

Comment from: Norman [Visitor]

It has also shown the strength of Scandanavian golf.

Stenson won on Euro Tour.

For pga tour, midway through 4th round:
Henrik Bjornstad of Norway leads -10
Jesper Parnevik of Swedan in 5th, 2 shots back.

If a Scandanavian wins, that would be some feat, wins on both tours in the one weekend.

01/29/06 @ 15:15

Comment from: Norman [Visitor]

I'm still backing Phil though.

01/29/06 @ 15:19

Comment from: John [Visitor]

Never count the Tiger out.

But what a great show!

Jose still has some punch left.

And major kudos to Nathan Green masterful performance for a (PGA Tour) rookie.

01/29/06 @ 19:25

Comment from: Paul W [Visitor]

Great show is right, though not great play. The Tiger mystic strikes again. What's he won, something like 9 out of 10 play-offs?

01/29/06 @ 19:38

Comment from: John [Visitor]

Great play is a relative thing. Granted some really big names in golf made some really poor shots; but Torrie Pines South Course will do that to the best of them. It's the kind of course that will make a prayer warrior out of an athiest. Or at least have him frequently speaking the name of God aloud.

One definition of great play is not makeing mistakes; but the one I prefer is pulling it out despite mistakes. At that Tiger is truly the champion.

01/29/06 @ 21:48

Comment from: Shanks [Member]

I'm not sure what I think about this tournament. They played a very difficult track and the greens were horrible because of the 1/2 bent, 1/2 poa situation. Just doesn't seem fair to judge anybody's performance by the awful putting.

01/30/06 @ 09:15

Comment from: Spence [Visitor]

There is only one big dog, and as much as people hate to admit it his name is Tiger. The others mentioned above are wonderful players who may have had the chance to be considered among the greatest ever to play the game, but they have had the misfortune of playing in the era of Tiger.

01/30/06 @ 14:30

Comment from: Shanks [Member]

I would state that a little differently. There are other big dogs but Tiger is the lead dog. And of course, if you aren't the lead dog, your view is the same as everybody else's.

01/30/06 @ 15:05

Comment from: Vincent Vega [Visitor]

Els looks ready to go based on his Dubai performance.

02/04/06 @ 10:23

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11/25/10 @ 22:08

Comment from: Mathew Marcheski [Visitor]

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01/07/11 @ 14:08

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