Newsday (N.Y.): PGA Championship is filled with question marks

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. -- So golf faces the famous cliché used when people in sports don't have a clue what may happen next, to wit, "Now what?''

The 92nd PGA Championship starts today at Whistling Straits, along the western shore of Lake Michigan, an hour's drive from Milwaukee, and at a huge 7,514 yards a place where big drives are needed from the tees.

It's a major championship, the final one every year, but this year with the decline of Tiger Woods and rise of internationals such as Graeme McDowell, Louis Oosthuizen and Rory McIlroy, it is shadowed by that question, "Now what?''

Is the game in trouble because television ratings, negatively affected by Tiger's troubles and victories by previously unheralded players, have plummeted?

Is there an American capable of winning, or as in three of the last four majors, starting with Y.E. Yang stunning Woods the final day of the 2009 PGA, does the trophy end up in the hands of someone from Korea, Northern Ireland, South Africa or another country?

Is U.S. Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin being candid when he says, as he did Wednesday, there was no certainty Woods would be on the team. The Golf Channel's Jim Gray, who reported Pavin told him "of course'' Woods be selected, challenged Pavin, stuck a finger in his chest, called him a liar and growled, "You're going down.''

For sure, this is the first time in 13 years a major is being held with Woods in the field and he is not the prohibitive favorite.

After the worst four-round event of his pro career -- the WGC-Bridgestone that ended Sunday with Woods tied for 78th among 80 players -- Tiger is second behind Phil Mickelson in the odds.

Yet Mickelson, who said he is recovering from psoriatic arthritis, also played poorly in the Bridgestone; Lee Westwood, third in the world rankings behind Woods and Mickelson, has withdrawn because of a calf injury; and as far as McDowell, the U.S Open winner, and Oosthuizen, British Open champ, it's rare to win two majors in a calendar year, unless you're Woods or Padraig Harrington.

Steve Stricker, a Wisconsin native, is No. 4 in the world, and said: "You always think you can win a tournament, going into a tournament.'' But he never has won a major.

Pavin won the 1995 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills. He went to UCLA and was called, in a nickname borrowed from one of the school's Rose Bowl teams, "The Gutty Little Bruin.'' After a contentious news conference involving him and European Ryder captain Colin Montgomerie, he needed the courage.

Gray, emboldened by a Golf Channel statement supporting his report, approached Pavin and wife Lisa, who claims she recorded the exchange on her cell phone.

At one point Gray, who years ago had a memorable faceoff with Pete Rose about Rose's gambling, raised his hand to keep Lisa from intervening. Pavin pushed it away.

After the exchange, Pavin again insisted he never told Gray that Woods was assured of a spot on the team for the Oct. 1-3 matches in Wales. Gray defended his report and said Pavin was being "disingenuous.''

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Copyright © 2010 Newsday. All rights reserved.

RealClearSports: Humbled Tiger Still Able to Laugh

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. -- The man still can laugh. And make us laugh. In a season which surely has had its tears and most likely some fears -- finishing next-to-last in a tournament he won seven times previously would make even the strongest among us cringe -- Tiger Woods hadn't lose his sense of humor.

Or, he wants us to believe, his ability to be a champion once again.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010

Newsday (N.Y.): Mickelson receiving treatment for form of arthritis

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. -- Phil Mickelson has been receiving treatment for psoriatic arthritis, a form of the disease in which the person also has psoriasis of the skin.

Mickelson, ranked No. 2 in the World Golf Rankings, revealed his ailment Tuesday after a practice round for the 92nd PGA Championship.

"It's probably going to get out,'' said Mickelson, "so I want to clear it up. About five days before the U.S. Open [in early June] I woke up, and I had some intense pain in some areas of my body, some joints and tendons and so forth; so much so, that I couldn't walk. And it progressively got worse.''

Mickelson, 40, visited a doctor and then after last month's British Open went to the Mayo Clinic. He began treatment and said "things have been great the last couple of weeks, and I've been able to practice full-bore, I guess, starting last Monday. It's been only about a week now.''

He had a chance to overtake Tiger Woods at No. 1 in the rankings last weekend at the WGC-Bridgestone, but Mickelson shot a final-round 78 and tied for 46th.

"I hadn't able to work out the last seven weeks,'' said Mickelson of his physical routine. "Last week I was able to start working out. I'm about 80 percent of the weight I was before, so things look good. And I've been able to put in some longer workdays practicing here this week.''

Mickelson won the Masters in April, his fourth major, then was erratic in both the U.S. and British Opens, although he tied Woods for fourth in the U.S. at Pebble Beach.

"I didn't play well at the British,'' said Mickelson, "or last week, but I believe the game's coming around."

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Copyright © 2010 Newsday. All rights reserved.

Newsday (N.Y.): Tiger tries to find his old game

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. -- The goatee is gone. Quite possibly the confidence is, too. But for Tiger Woods, the questions remain.

What's happened to his game? What's happened to his life? And when does one or both return to what might be judged normal?

The 92nd PGA Championship, the final major golf tournament of the year, starts Thursday at Whistling Straits, a faux-links course created along the shores of Lake Michigan some 60 miles north of Milwaukee.

Hunter Mahan, who won the WGC-Bridgestone last weekend -- and who Tuesday played a practice round with Woods -- is the hot golfer. Phil Mickelson, Graeme McDowell and Louis Oosthuizen are winners, respectively, of the year's Masters, U.S. Open and British Open.

Yet all anyone seems to care about is Tiger, who at the Bridgestone Invitational last week had his worst-ever four-round finish as a pro, a tie for 78th, next to last.

Woods, without a swing coach since the departure of Hank Haney in May, asked Mahan's coach, Sean Foley, to video his swing during their practice round here and conceded it was a "possibility'' the Orlando-based Foley might begin to work with him.

Woods also said he would play in the Ryder Cup the beginning of October, if he makes the team as a qualifier or a Captain's pick.

Woods implied it wasn't only what happened with his clubs that has made his game a mess, that fallout from his self-admitted sexual infidelities and subsequent estrangement from wife Elin Nordegren have had considerable effect.

" . . . With all that's going on, on and off the golf course, I feel I have to look at the positives and keep pushing myself to go forward and keep trying to get better,'' Woods said. "And that just doesn't mean hitting good golf balls.

"Life in general the last nine months has been very difficult. But my dad always said, 'Just keep living.' That's something I have taken to heart quite a bit. And there were quite a few times that I definitely have said that to myself.''

Woods had hair on his chin during the Bridgestone. Not Tuesday. "Well,'' he offered, "I just didn't have any clippers, and I was too lazy. So I decided to shave it.''

The failing confidence? "I've been through periods where I've hit it bad,'' he said. "And yeah, is your confidence not where it needs to be? Of course, I've been there . . . and that's one of the things I am excited about, the last few days I've made some good progress.''

Woods said he had been moving his head off the ball, a problem during his career, which caused the club to go off line on the downswing. He believes that has been corrected. His putting speed has been bad all year.

"I've learned a lot,'' said Woods of his life, "more so as a person than a golfer. I think that's a private matter on how I'm going to look back at it.''

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http://www.newsday.com/sports/golf/tiger-tries-to-find-his-old-game-1.2197239
Copyright © 2010 Newsday. All rights reserved.

SF Examiner: Tiger shows he’s human at PGA

By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

SAN FRANCISCO — Rocky Marciano was the exception. A heavyweight champ who never never lost a fight. Retired without a blemish. For a while there, we thought Tiger Woods was similarly perfect. We should have known better.

That’s the thing about sports, no matter what sort of competition. The favorites — the 49ers of the 1980s, the Yankees of the 1960s, the Lakers of the 2000s — usually win. But not always. And sometimes when they lose, we’re in disbelief.

As when Mike Tyson fell to Buster Douglas. Or when Dennis Eckersley gave up that home run in the bottom of the ninth in the first game of the ’88 World Series to a limping Kirk Gibson. Or when Ben Hogan was beaten by a driving range pro named Jack Fleck in the 1955 U.S. Open at San Francisco’s Olympic Club.

Or when Tiger Woods was stunned on Sunday by a Korean named Y.E. (for Yong-Eun) Yang in the PGA Championship back in Minnesota.

We love the underdog, except in golf and tennis. The world was right when Arnie and Jack were champions, when McEnroe and Connors were winners. Nor was it so bad around here when the Niners were picking up Super Bowl trophies.

But change is inevitable. Surprise is inevitable. No way 37-year-old Y.E. Yang could beat Tiger. Until he beat him. Then golf became just that much more intriguing.

There’s something called the Presidents Cup coming to Harding Park in October. It’s like the Ryder Cup, except instead of facing a European-British squad, the Americans meet an international team, players from Australia and South Africa and South America and, yes, Korea.

It isn’t the PGA or the Masters, it isn’t a major, but the Presidents Cup will give us Tiger-Yang, redux. We can only hope they play at least one match against each other, singles preferably.

You know this by now, Yang, who didn’t start playing golf until 19, just smacking balls on one of those multideck driving ranges in Seoul, is the first Asian male to win a major. Korea’s going mad, as well it should.

Now it has its own entry in the game’s pantheon. Hagen, Hogan, Y.E. Yang. Great play is not the exclusive possession of any nation.

A tough year for the Stanford guys. Tom Watson, at age 59, comes within a shot of winning the British Open. Tiger Woods, at age 33, holds or shares the lead for four days of the season’s last major and gets beat.

It was stunning. Yet it was overdue. If not this tournament, then some major. The gods of sport eventually make their presence known.

Nobody’s won three Super Bowls in succession, and yes in the mind’s eye we still cringe as Roger Craig fumbles Steve Young’s handoff in the 1990 NFC playoffs.

Something goes wrong. Or for the other side goes right. Favorites lose, underdogs win. Y.E. Yang was as big an underdog as we might imagine, which made the win all the more unbelievable. And captivating.

It may never happen again, but once was enough. We thought that like death and taxes, Tiger Woods with a lead in the final round of a major was a sure thing. We should have known better.

Art Spander has been covering Bay Area sports since 1965 and also writes on www.artspander.com and www.realclearsports.com. E-mail him at typoes@aol.com.

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http://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/Spander-Tiger-shows-hes-human-at-PGA-53632862.html
Copyright 2009 SF Newspaper Company