They – most notably, Jim Nantz and his crew at CBS – like to say the Masters doesn’t begin until the back nine on Sunday. However, most PGA Tour players would say the same thing about most of the tournaments on their schedule.
“I’m always watching the leaderboard, but really, Thursday, Friday and Saturday don’t matter. It’s just the last nine holes of the last round that mean something,” Arron Oberholser said.
While you don’t have to have updates popping into your cellphone every hole, players say, it is important to pay attention, to be aware of what may be going on around you.
“If you’re one or two shots ahead, you might look every other hole or so, just because you’d like to know who’s doing what,” Oberholser said. “Or you may be behind and having what you think is a very mediocre round, but you look up and you see the leaders are coming back to you. That’s going to influence your play. You may start to make some very different decisions.”
Last week at the AT&T National, some were still wondering about the choices made by Jim Furyk two weeks earlier at the U.S. Open. During Sunday’s final round, Furyk made a par on the 16th hole. At almost the same time, playing one hole ahead, eventual winner Angel Cabrera bogeyed, meaning they were tied for the lead.
Instead of playing it safe on the 313-yard 17th, Furyk, not considered a long hitter, tried to drive the green. He eventually made bogey and lost to Cabrera by a stroke.
At the time, Furyk said going with a driver was the play he had to make, a decision he reiterated last week at the AT&T National.
“What got me, when I went back and looked at the tape, is I was told the ball flew back where it was (in heavy rough left of the green). It did not. It took a huge, huge hop,” Furyk said. “It must have went 10 yards on that first hop, which you wouldn’t expect in that heavy rough.
“There are never any leaderboards on the tee boxes. I was on the tee and I saw he had missed a putt because I heard the reaction, but I had no idea if it was for 3 or 4. But it was a moot point anyway. It didn’t matter whether I was one shot back or even, I was hitting the same shot. It was the right shot to play.”
Power play
While the first year of Tiger Woods’ event was considered a big success, some interesting decisions will have to be made in the near future. The AT&T is set for Congressional Country Club next year, but in 2009 the historic club will host the U.S. Amateur; two years later, the U.S. Open will be played there.
Members already are saying there’s no way the Amateur and the AT&T could be played there in 2009, and ideally, the PGA Tour wouldn’t be there at all in the following two years either.
Tour officials have brought up the idea of moving the event to the TPC Avenel, which is where the local tour stop was played for many years. However, the players hated the course, and although it’s undergoing a renovation, there wasn’t much support among the rank- and-file for returning.
Woods expressed understanding about the situation ahead, but also said he wanted the event to remain at Congressional. That, according to some, may be the only thing that matters.
“He’s gonna have this event wherever he wants,” fellow pro Rocco Mediate said. “He’s not gonna move it because someone tells him to.”
Changing times
Many players last week expressed regret over the folding of The International and the unique position it held on the schedule.
“I’ll miss it,” Englishman Justin Rose said. “For one week, playing at altitude, with the Stableford scoring system, it was a nice change that I always enjoyed.”
However, PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said the end of the local stop also probably meant the end of the quirky format.
“It has died a death. I mean it’s not on the tour right now, so it would have to be resuscitated for it to come back.
“I suppose it could be. It seemed like that concept, at first, the first few years, it was bit of a struggle for the fans to get their arms around it. Then it generated some interest for a few years, and then it kind of lost its appeal. I don’t know exactly why that was.”
Staff writer Anthony Cottoncan be reached at 303-954-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com.
THIS WEEK:
PGA Tour
John Deere Classic, TPC Deere Run, Silvis, Ill.
What’s up: For the first time in three years, Michelle Wie isn’t playing; tournament organizers replaced her with John Daly. At this point, it’s hard to tell who is the bigger train wreck.
LPGA Tour
Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic, Highland Meadows Golf Club, Sylvania, Ohio.
What’s up: Fresh off her victory in the U.S. Women’s Open, Cristie Kerr heads the field in the only professional sporting event to honor Cpl. Klinger.
Champions Tour
Dick’s Sporting Goods Open, En-Joie Golf Course, Endicott, N.Y.
What’s up: A new event for the senior circuit, played on the same course that previously housed the PGA Tour’s B.C. Open – the only professional sporting event that honored a prehistoric comic strip.
Going (Down) Under
Speaking of the Masters, one of the players Johnson bested during the Sunday finale at Augusta was Stuart Appleby, the third-round leader. That loss was one part of what has become a strange statistic for Australian players on tour: Six times this season Aussies have held the 54-hole lead only to lose in the end.
Event 54-hole leader Final round Finish
The Masters Stuart Appleby 75 7th
U.S. Open Aaron Baddeley* 80 13th
AT&T National Stuart Appleby 76 3rd
Stanford St. Jude Adam Scott* 75 7th
The Memorial Rod Pampling 72 3rd
Buick Invitational Andrew Buckle 72 4th
*Baddeley and Scott have won tournaments in 2007
We like it, too
“I was sad to leave Colorado. That’s one of my favorite places to be.”
Zach Johnson, on ending a family vacation to return to the PGA Tour
SPOTLIGHT: ZACH JOHNSON
Local hero finds life heating up
How big is Masters champion Zach Johnson these days? He can play golf in Colorado, even when there’s no PGA Tour event going on. Johnson’s outing was the only time he’s touched a club in nearly two weeks, he said, a break that is about to come to an abrupt halt. Beginning today, Johnson, the pride of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is back at work at the John Deere Classic in the Quad Cities, which is about as close to a home game as he can get.
Johnson calls the event, which is normally devoid of any sort of star power, his “fifth major.” A year ago, he finished in a tie for 33rd. Life has changed a great deal since then.
“Some friends and peers of mine out here have asked me, ‘Have things calmed down?”‘ Johnson said at a pretournament news conference. “Honestly, no, they haven’t. They haven’t at all. Maybe at times there’s some breaks, but there hasn’t really been much of a calming effect. That’s just the way it’s going to be for a while.”
