KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. — Tiger Woods said he has had a “pretty good” year, winning three tournaments. But he also admitted the lack of a major championship on his 2012 resume “doesn’t feel very good.”
Woods will try to change that this weekend at the 94th PGA Championship on the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island. A four-time PGA champion, Woods hasn’t won a major since the 2008 U.S. Open. He has been in contention at various points during the previous three majors, but couldn’t close with a victory. The PGA presents that final chance to win a major this year, and put an exclamation point on his comeback season.
“I’m very pleased with what I’ve done, being healthy and being able to play and practice properly and implement the things that [swing coach] Sean [Foley] wants me to do,” Woods said. “This is the way I can hit the golf ball. This is the way I can play. It’s nice to be able to do the things that I know I can do.”
Woods, who has collected 14 major championships, said he still has plenty of time to catch Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18. In repeating his common response to such questions, Woods said: “Jack didn’t finish his until he was 46, so if you go by that timetable, I’ve got 10 more years. Forty majors is a lot. I’ve got plenty of time.”
*
* Matt Dobyns, the head pro at Fresh Meadow Country Club in Lake Success, N.Y., is playing in his first PGA Championship after winning the 2012 PGA Professional National Championship earlier this year. He credited his mentor Darrell Kestner, the head pro at Deepdale Golf Club in Manhasset, N.Y., who will be the oldest player among the 20 PGA Club Professionals competing at Kiawah Island.
Kestner, who turns 59 on Aug. 15, will be playing in a major championship for the fifth decade, having competed in the 1979 U.S. Open and nine previous PGA Championships.
“He’s meant more to my career than anyone has in this business,” Dobyns said. “He’s taught me more about how to help members. He’s taught me how to run a business in my own golf shop. But more importantly he’s taught me the right way to take care of my members and their guests and that’s the key to success in our business.”
*
* Masters champion Bubba Watson will have one fewer thing on his mind this week after the adoption of his son Caleb was finalized on Monday. “We got that done,” Watson announced yesterday. “And now we’re on to trying to win this tournament, trying to play good golf, trying to get better in the game of golf.”
Watson and his wife Angie brought Caleb home just before his victory at the Masters and have been in the process of finalizing the adoption. “Somehow it all worked out and now we’re parents,” Watson said.
*
* There is plenty of sand on the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, but there are no “bunkers” on the course. All sandy areas whether natural, prepared sand or enclosed with the grass are deemed to be “through the green.” A player will be allowed to move loose impediments, take practice swings and ground his club lightly in all of the sandy areas.
* This will avoid the confusion that occurred at the 2010 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits where Dustin Johnson incurred a two-stroke penalty on the 72nd hole for grounding his club in what was deemed a bunker even though it had been trampled on during the week by the gallery. The penalty knocked Johnson out of a playoff eventually won by Martin Kaymer.
