8:04AM
Newsday (N.Y.): PGA Championship is filled with question marks
8:04 AM
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also played poorly in the Bridgestone; Lee Westwood, third in the world rankings behind Woods and Mickelson, has withdrawn because of a calf injury; and as far as McDowell, the U.S Open winner, and Oosthuizen, British Open champ, it's rare to win two majors in a calendar year,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.''
- - - - - -
http://www.newsday.com/sports/golf/pga-championship-is-filled-with-question-marks-1.2201440
Copyright © 2010 Newsday. All rights reserved.
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.''
- - - - - -
http://www.newsday.com/sports/golf/pga-championship-is-filled-with-question-marks-1.2201440
Copyright © 2010 Newsday. All rights reserved.