ONE LAST CHANCE
Imagine an entire year of major championships in golf without a Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson victory in any of them.
That has a pretty good chance of happening in 2007 unless one of the world’s top two players can capture this week’s PGA Championship in Tulsa, which begins with Thursday’s opening round at Southern Hills. The PGA, of course, is the final major of the year.
You have to trace back to 2003 to find the last year that neither Woods nor Mickelson won a major championship.
For Woods, the last time he failed to win a major was in 2004, when he finished tied for 22nd in the Masters, tied for 17th in the U.S. Open, tied for ninth in the British Open and tied for 24th in the PGA.
For Mickelson, the last time he went an entire year without a win in a major was 2003, when he finished third in the Masters, tied for 55th in the U.S. Open, tied for 59th in the British and tied for 23rd in the PGA.
This year has been a rather lean one for both players with regard to the biggest events – particularly Mickelson, who’s missed the cut in the last two majors, the U.S. Open and the British, marking the first time in his career he’s exited after two rounds in consecutive majors.
Woods is well aware of his empty trophy case.
“You never want to be shut out,” Woods said “You never want to have a year where you don’t win a major championship. This year, I’ve come close in two, and it just didn’t happen. I’ve been in this situation before. The PGA Championship is also one of the toughest championships, especially now at Southern Hills. It’ll be a really fun test.”
Most have analyzed that Southern Hills is a course that doesn’t suit Woods because its large number of dog-leg holes take away some of Woods’ power off the tee.
But to say any golf course is not suited for Woods would be like saying some race tracks didn’t suit Secretariat or some ballparks didn’t suit Henry Aaron.
Just like Secretariat would be the favorite to win on any track and Aaron would be likely to hit a home run in any park, Woods is the favorite on any golf course he plays, in whatever tournament is being played there.
The last time a major was played at Southern Hills, Woods finished in a tie for 12th, but was never truly a factor at the top of the leaderboard.
Retief Goosen, of course, prevailed in that 2001 U.S. Open at Southern Hills, defeating Mark Brooks in a Monday playoff after a calamitous putting display by Stewart Cink, Brooks and him on the 18th green in the fourth round.
Woods, who visited Southern Hills on Tuesday for a quiet and quick practice round, tried to put his recent play in perspective.
“Last year, all the success I had on the golf course, it still felt like a failure of a year because of what happened off the golf course,” Woods said of the death of his father, Earl.
“This year, what’s happening off the golf course has made this year a huge success,” he said, referring to his wife, Elin, giving birth to their first child, Sam Alexis, in June. “It’s a polar 180. No matter what I did on the golf course last year, it just never felt right, and this year, no matter what I do on the golf course, it just feels right.”
Though he’s coming off a Player of the Year 2006 season during which he won eight times, including two majors (the British and PGA), Woods’ 2007 season hardly has been an abject failure.
He’s won three events and earned $5,214,385. But none of those victories was major championships, meaning Woods, chasing Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 majors, remains stuck on 12, seeking lucky No. 13.
Since 1998, Woods has had only three years without a major championship victory. Sensing the slump talk, he recently joked about the litany of analysis he constantly undergoes from fans, fellow players and media.
“First it was getting engaged, and then it was getting married, and now it’s having a child,” he said. “It’s always something.”
Speaking of “always something,” Mickelson, who hasn’t won a major since his 2006 Masters victory and has been somewhat sketchy since his ballyhooed loss of the U.S. Open at Winged Foot two months later, has been back to his roller-coaster mode.
He, of course, is working with Butch Harmon, who’s shortened his swing, and has dealt with a wrist injury suffered the week before the U.S. Open.
Mickelson, who finished tied for seventh at Southern Hills in 2001, tried to downplay any slump he may be in, saying, “It just seems to happen overnight. You just make a couple putts and shoot a good round, and all of a sudden you’re playing well again. It just kind of happens. You kind of go in streaks.”
Asked if he’s bothered by the perception that he hasn’t been the same since his nightmare at Winged Foot, Mickelson said, “I don’t know . . . Winged Foot was a long time ago.”
Next stop, Tulsa
Dates: Thursday-Sunday
Site: Southern Hills
Country Club
Length: 7,131 yards
Par: 35-35-70
Playoff format: Three holes, stroke play
Purse: TBA ($6.8 million
in 2006)
Winner’s share: TBA
($1.224 million in 2006)
Field: 156 professionals
(20 club pros)
Defending champion:
Tiger Woods
Major champions at Southern Hills: Tommy Bolt (1958 U.S. Open), Dave Stockton (1970 PGA Championship), Hubert Green (1977 U.S. Open), Raymond Floyd (1982 PGA Championship), Nick Price (1994 PGA Championship), Retief Goosen (2001 U.S. Open).
Noteworthy: The 36-hole leader has gone on to win all six majors held at Southern Hills.
Quoteworthy: “You never want to have a year where you don’t win a major championship.”
– Tiger Woods
Coming up empty
A look at how Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson have fared in the first three majors of 2007:
WOODSMICKELSON
2nd (tie)Masters24th (tie)
2nd (tie)U.S. OpenMissed cut
12th (tie)British OpenMissed cut
