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Henrik Stenson celebrates his PLAYERS Championship victory -- and second PGA TOUR title -- with his daughter, Lisa.
May. 11, 2009
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What are our writers thinking about after THE PLAYERS Championship? Henrik Stenson's victory at THE PLAYERS Championship, the state of Tiger Woods' game and another close call by Ian Poulter.
MAJOR STORYLINE: THE PLAYERS Championship is often referred to as golf's fifth major and it unquestionably played like one, especially on the weekend. A lot of the credit for that should go to course superintendent Tom Vlach, even if he'd rather it went to everyone else.
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In his first full year as the overseer of TPC Sawgrass, Vlach, who came up in the business under the watchful eye of the guy he replaced, Fred Klauk, gets an A-plus for making the course devilishly difficult. And he did it by sticking with the one piece of advice he's always tried to live by: You never want to embarrass the players.
While Vlach came close to losing a couple of the greens, he never did. As a result, you never heard a single complaint about the course. In fact, most players raved how perfect the greens were rolling and, while difficult, how good of shape the course was in.
Those sound like some pretty major compliments to me. -- Brian Wacker
STENSON HITTING STRIDE: I could have told you that Henrik Stenson would win THE PLAYERS Championship. Well, OK, actually I did tell you in last week's expert picks. (Hey, what's the sense of picking the winner if you can't gloat a little?). And there's one other thing I can tell you with a high degree of confidence -- it won't be Stenson's only win at the Stadium Course.
Why? Well, for one, obviously TPC Sawgrass fits his eye and his game. In four starts, he has three top 10s, including Sunday's title. Stenson likes the risk-reward set-up and the fact that 3-wood, not driver, is the key club off the tee, with right-to-left shaping playing into another one of his strengths.
Plus, THE PLAYERS has the best field in golf, and Stenson's two TOUR wins -- PLAYERS and World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play -- have come in blue-blooded events.
Finally, Stenson's just 33 and coming into his own after some self-doubts about his career earlier this decade. There are no doubts now, neither from Stenson nor anyone else. He's got a killer game and several good years left.
So, yes, he'll win another PLAYERS. But sorry, I don't know which year. -- Mike McAllister
TRACKING TIGER: It wasn't the knee. It wasn't playing back-to-back weeks. So why is Tiger Woods hitting those spinners to the right -- and left -- and not figuring out a way to straighten it out?
It's something he and Hank Haney have been working on and it's just not working. Yet.
"We know what it is, it's just a matter of me doing it,'' Tiger said. "I just haven't -- sometimes, as we all know, playing the game is harder to do on the golf course. I just need to do a little better job of it.''
He's got three weeks between now and the Memorial Tournament; six until the U.S. Open at Bethpage Black. But more importantly, he's got a week to finish up the details for his annual Tiger Jam -- his fundraiser for the Tiger Woods Learning Center -- next weekend in Las Vegas.
Tiger said he's got plenty of time to straighten things out. Trust him. -- Melanie Hauser
POULTER'S TURN IS COMING: Ian Poulter is a win in waiting. The colorful Brit is content in life, and his golf game has never been better. Consider this: Poulter is just now getting to the meat of his 2009 season and in his last four starts he's tied for 20th, 13th and fifth -- along with that solo second Sunday at THE PLAYERS.
He got his competitive streak from a father who wants to beat Poulter any time they play pool or snooker or any other game. "It's a very stubborn way of looking at everything," Poulter admitted. "...And I guess I've taken some of that and I'm using it as confidence."
That second-place finish at Royal Birkdale last year only added to that confidence, as did a career-affirming 4-1-0 performance at the Ryder Cup. Not to mention, all three of his runner-up finishes on the PGA TOUR have come in star-studded events, including the 2006 World Golf Championships-American Express Championship.
Forget the clothes and watch the clubs the next time he plays. -- Helen Ross
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Aaron Baddeley: His Sunday 66 didn't come in the heat of the moment the way winner Henrik Stenson's did, but it was every bit as good with a birdie-birdie-birdie finish. It shot Badds from T65 at the start of the day to T9 at the end for his first top 10 of '09.
FedExCup rank: 68 (87 last week) |
Vijay Singh: There's apparently life post-surgery after 40, at least for Singh, who shot a 67 Sunday that included two birdies on the last three holes of his home course. He's not all the way back, but this may be a sign of things starting to turn for Singh, who's finally feeling healthy.
FedExCup rank: 98 (132 last week) |
Sergio Garcia: The 2008 PLAYERS winner isn't sharp on the course -- he's not even close to the same player he was when he finished second in three of his last five events last season -- and he's dealing with some personal issues off it, but he did fire a 69 Sunday to move into the top 25.
FedExCup rank: 117 (136 last week) |
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| Stock down |
Anthony Kim: His confidence is low and he's fallen back into some bad habits by not practicing much and eating poorly, which is why he hired his old strength coach from OU and stuck around THE PLAYERS through the weekend to practice even after missing the cut.
FedExCup rank: 51 (43 last week) |
Padraig Harrington: His three rounds of 72 sandwiched around a 74 were the result more of his world-class talent than anything else, but Harrington knows his swing changes aren't where they need to be and he isn't sure when they will take hold. It might take until next year for the three-time major champ.
FedExCup rank: 77 (78 last week) |
Alex Cejka: His swing coach Chris Gustin flew in overnight from San Diego, but Cejka needed more than just last-minute tips. Cejka looked unnerved from the start when he pulled his tee shot on No. 1. By the time he reached the fifth hole, he'd lost the lead and was en route to a front-nine 42.
FedExCup rank: 89 (119 last week) |
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| A Quick 18 |
| Front Nine | Back Nine |
| Before Alex Cejka teed off Sunday morning, his caddie, Tom Jannis, told me that if Cejka shot even par he would win the golf tournament. As it turns out, he wouldn't have -- he still would have lost to Henrik Stenson. That's how good Stenson's round was. | Cejka planned to wear a red shirt and black pants Sunday -- the same outfit Woods usually wears -- but he didn't have a red shirt packed. "I was looking in my suitcase and believe me, I have a big suitcase," he said. "I have 40 shirts with me because I'm on the road for a couple months." Instead, he went with all black, telling NBC that he had "to suffer a little bit out there." In more ways than one.
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| Kevin Na said late Saturday that, as cooked as the golf course was, a 66 could be out there. Of course, when asked if someone could actually shoot 66, he looked at me like I was the one who was out there. He did say it was possible, but it would take a perfect round and that's what we got from Stenson. | Tiger's early-morning practice rounds drew interest from a few Jacksonville Jaguars, including Rasheen Mathis and Maurice Jones-Drew. It was the first time seeing Woods in person for Mathis, who is a total golf nut and a 10 handicap after just four years. Jones-Drew, meanwhile, took it a step further and got to meet Woods. |
| As difficult as TPC Sawgrass was playing, the cut came at even par, which is right around where it should be, even at a tournament as significant as THE PLAYERS. Here's why it was so great, though: The course played much tougher on the weekend than it did the first two days. | Maybe the John Daly comeback trail is legitimate this time. Daly is noticeably lighter -- and not just because of his bleached out hair or his wacky wardrobe -- and playing some pretty good golf. He finished second in Italy this past week after four rounds in the 60s, including a final-round 66. |
| History is usually a pretty good indicator in golf, and Sunday was another example of that. Since THE PLAYERS moved from Sawgrass Country Club to TPC Sawgrass in 1982, the third-round leader/co-leader has gone on to win just 11 of 28 times with Cejka being the latest victim of that stat.
| The Adam Scott comeback, meanwhile, continues to be a struggle. Scott, who won THE PLAYERS in 2004, missed his fifth straight cut last week with rounds of 71-74. That's the first time in his career that he's missed five straight cuts. Hopefully, a trip to Texas will right the ship.
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| International players have now won five of the last eight titles at THE PLAYERS, including Stenson's victory this year. He joined Sergio Garcia (2008), Stephen Ames (2006), Adam Scott (2004) and Craig Perks (2002), and is the ninth different international player to win the tournament and first from Sweden. | Most interesting shot of last week: Steve Lowery on the par-3 17th during the opening round. His Shot Tracker chart had more red on it than Santa Claus, with his tee shot finding the water, his third airmailing the green and the water behind it and his fifth shot finally finding the putting surface before a three-putt for an 8. |
| Tiger Woods hasn't missed a cut in 12 attempts at THE PLAYERS after finishing eighth Sunday, which was his first top 10 there since his win in 2001. His six consecutive starts at TPC Sawgrass events without a top 10, however, represents the longest streak in his career at any single event without a top 10. | We're halfway through the FedExCup season and Geoff Ogilvy, who tied for 22nd at THE PLAYERS, continues to have a solid hold on the top spot in the standings, which he's now held for the last 11 weeks and 12 weeks overall this season. Zach Johnson and Kenny Perry are the only other players to have led this year.
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| Stephen Ames' tie for 49th last week was amazingly his worst showing in seven made cuts at THE PLAYERS, where he entered the week with a T17 or better in five of the last seven years, including a win in 2006 and a runner-up in 2002. | About Stenson's pre-shot routine in which he takes the opposite end of the club and makes a couple of practice swings? He says it's to "paint the path of the swing, and it's easy to do that without the resistance of a club head." |
| While Stenson and Aaron Baddeley each had the round of the day with matching 66s on Sunday, they were still two shots off the final-round record of 64, shot by Fred Couples in 1996 and Davis Love III in 2003. Both players, not surprisingly, won in those years. | The TOUR's season-opening event in Kapalua will now be called the SBS Championship after last week's announcement that SBC International, a division of the Seoul Broadcasting System, would become the title sponsor from 2010 through 2019. SBS takes over from Mercedes, the previous sponsor. |
| Tiger was testing a few different drivers early in the week, and he changed shafts a couple of times at the Quail Hollow Championship last week before settling on his usual driver on the weekend. He did the same thing at Sawgrass, this time experimenting with different lengths before going back to an old standby. |
One nice development last week -- especially given the current economic climate -- is the TOUR's charity message and the impact it continues to have on local economies. THE PLAYERS is expected to raise close to $3 million and, with the new "Together anything's possible" initiative, will continue to make a big impact each year.
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| The Forward Spin |
The TOUR now heads west for three straight weeks in Texas, starting with the Valero Texas Open in San Antonio, where Zach Johnson is the defending champion.
This is usually about the time we start to see Justin Leonard shine. He's won this event before -- three times actually, including in 2007 -- and always plays well in the Lone Star State. Another guy to watch is Chad Campbell. He played well at the Masters and, like Leonard, is from Texas.
One key factor when playing in Texas: You usually need to be able to hit the ball well in the wind. We've had plenty of wind on TOUR this year so watch for the players who have done well in those conditions to have a good few weeks, starting with this one. |
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PGATOUR.COM's Brian Wacker wrote Stock Up, Stock Down, A Quick 18 and Forward Spin. For more news and insight from him, http://www.twitter.com/pgatour_brianw.
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