By Michael Arkush
Despite a pretty tight leaderboard, with Phil Mickelson out of action and Tiger Woods out of contention, the Memorial Tournament wasn't very momentous. Except, of course, for K.J. Choi, who played steady down the stretch to capture his fifth tour victory.
Here are this week's rankings, which place a heavy emphasis on performance over the last month.
1. Tiger Woods – After a lackluster three days in Ohio, his final-round 67 served notice that he'll be ready for Oakmont. Did anyone ever doubt it?
2. Phil Mickelson – His wrist injury took some of the drama out of Jack's event, but the real drama begins next week: What will Phil do for an encore?
3 Rory Sabbatini – After his sensational play in recent months, it will be fascinating to see how Sabbatini performs at the Open … and what he says.
4. Vijay Singh – He also shot a 67 on Sunday, and will be looking for his first major since the 2004 PGA.
5. K.J. Choi – A win against a top-notch field at the Memorial gives him an automatic bump even though it was his first Top 10 since April.
6. Zach Johnson – He's the only player in the game with a chance at the Grand Slam this year.
7. Adam Scott – He was in great position at the Memorial until a few errant shots cost him on the back nine.
8. Rod Pampling – Since the Masters, this unheralded Aussie has recorded Top 20s in five of his six starts.
9. Stewart Cink – Soon enough, Cink, with three Top 5s in his last five appearances, will return to the winner's circle.
10. Jim Furyk – Furyk was consistent at Muirfield Village, showing why he's on the short list of Open favorites.
PGA power rankings
Golf stars cash in by designing courses
Tiger Woods marches down fairways fixated on winning. During the last two years, however, the world's No. 1 golfer acknowledges he's had a harder time maintaining his focus on the course.
It's not the overzealous fans or overeager photographers. As a budding golf-course architect, Woods says, his tunnel vision has cracked at the sight of certain water hazards, split fairways and three-tiered greens.
"Every golf course I play, I look at the golf course differently now," Woods says. "'Why would they construct that? Why would they build this? What were they thinking here?' I'm trying to understand it instead of just plotting my way around the golf course. It is kind of fun."
Woods, 31, is part of a new wave of top golfers who have begun moonlighting as course designers in a lucrative, logical extension of their playing careers. Such players -- including Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Annika Sorenstam, Sergio Garcia, Vijay Singh, Fred Couples, Jose Maria Olazabal, Darren Clarke, Davis Love III, Colin Montgomerie and David Toms -- stand to make millions of dollars trading on their fame in such arrangements. And at a time when golf-course construction is slowing in the USA, they are helping to fuel an explosion of new courses abroad.
Woods' initial project is a par-72, 18-hole championship-quality course in oil-rich Dubai. Working from a blank canvas of desert, he envisions stunning water features, elevation changes and five sets of tees to accommodate every golfing ability. A company owned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Dubai, is paying Woods millions to bring his ideas and his name to the project, scheduled for completion in 2009.
"Designing golf courses has always been a dream of mine," Woods says. "I hopefully will create a memorable, everlasting legacy."
For years, big-name golf pros have become course architects before they stopped competing. Icons Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player began building courses in the late 1960s. Twenty years later, Greg Norman, Ben Crenshaw, Tom Weiskopf and Tom Watson got in the field. Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo, Ian Woosnam, Bernhard Langer and Curtis Strange began designing courses within the past decade.
But not since the early 1970s -- when more than 400 golf courses were being built in the USA annually and many touring pros were getting in on the action -- have such a large number of prominent players gotten involved in designing courses. It's partly a reflection of demand: Golf-course construction in this country has dipped to less than 130 a year, according to the American Society of Golf Course Architects, but public, private and resort golf courses are booming elsewhere. The demand for new courses is particularly high in Africa, China, Eastern Europe, Mexico, the Middle East and Russia.
"The world is out there for architects, and it's open for business," says renowned golf-course architect Tom Fazio, 62, who has been involved in more than 200 courses. "With golf growing worldwide, people who want to build golf courses know the big names in golf, and that's who they want."
In the past, the degree to which pros were involved in designing courses varied. Some took part in projects in name only, essentially for an endorsement check.
Today, Palmer, Fazio and others say, golfers who get involved with course projects are expected to be significant contributors and to share their behind-the-scenes knowledge of the game's intricacies. Because the best players must be acutely aware of various factors that can affect a player's shots, they can become well versed in issues such as turf management, landscape engineering and irrigation.
"When I started building golf courses, there were only a few golfers who were architects," says Palmer, 77, whose design company has worked on more than 300 projects around the world since the mid-1960s. "Today just about everybody who plays or plays well has become an architect."
As a result, says Fazio, who was not a tour player, "The players today can't afford to just lend their name to a project and cash a check. ... They know critics will show up and hammer them if the course isn't that great and the player wasn't (actually) involved."
Player-architects say they view their emerging professions as a way to stay involved in golf when they retire from the professional tour.
"I wanted to be young enough to just flip over (to full-time course design) when I'm done playing; I didn't want to start doing this at age 50," says Els, 37, who has designed four courses that are open, seven that are under construction and eight that are in the planning stages. A globe-trotter as a player, he is the same way as a course designer, with projects from Hawaii to South Africa to China.
Nicklaus' design company, which has been involved in more than 400 courses, is working in 29 countries for the first time, adding to the 26 in which it already has worked.
Player, who has built more than 200 courses worldwide, says the game's best players bring a unique perspective to the work.
"I think if you asked me today who's the best golf designer, it's Jack Nicklaus," says Player, 71. "Why? Because he was a hacker, believe it or not, at one stage in his life. Then he became a reasonable player, then a better player, then the best player in the world.
"So he could look at a golf course from all different angles, whereas no other golf architect who's a 15 handicap can ever possibly do that. All of the players who are designing now have that background. I think it's great that they are all getting into it. Golf is the winner here."
World interest fuels demand
One of the busiest places for golf-course construction is Dubai, the booming Middle Eastern emirate where Woods is building his course in Dubailand, the region's largest tourism and leisure project.
Els is designing a links-style course in Dubai Sports City, and Singh designed one of the four courses at Jumeirah Golf Estates. Norman helped create the first two Jumeirah courses. He will team with architect Pete Dye -- who designed the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., home of The Players Championship -- and Garcia for the fourth.
"It's very easy to make a very tough course," says Garcia, 27. "The challenge is to make a course that is challenging for (elite players) and at the same time the amateurs can play and say, 'You know, I want to come back and play here.' I'm brand-new at this, but I love it."
Singh, 44, has his vision, too.
"Over the years of playing so many different courses, some great, some not so great, you learn in your own mind what you would do," he says. "I want to build a limited number of courses and make each of them a modern-day golf course that is playable for everyone and something that I am proud of."
The new architects haven't designed enough courses to develop a signature touch, such as Dye's use of railroad ties around greens, bunkers and tees or Nicklaus' preference for relatively small greens.
"I'm not sure I want to have a signature touch on every golf course I'm involved in," says Sorenstam, 36, whose initial project, the Annika Course at Mission Hills Golf Club in China, opened in 2003. She's also designing a course in South Africa and is doing a redesign of the Patriots Point Links Golf Course in Charleston, S.C. "I want each golf course to stand on its own."
Stars take pride in designs
The player-architects won't divulge their design fees, but Mike Kenny, president of Ernie Els Design, says such fees typically range from $400,000 to $2million a course. The top first prize on the PGA Tour this year is the $1.62million that went to Mickelson for winning The Players Championship.
The golfers usually squeeze in numerous visits to course construction sites and have or share control of topographical maps, landscape engineering, construction drawings and alterations.
"It's only been in the last 30 years or so that people learned that a golf course was actually designed," Fazio says. "Before the golf stars gave it recognition, the general public really wasn't interested in who designed the course. Jack and Arnie changed that, and Tiger and Phil and all the others are doing that now. When Jack or Arnie showed up, the golf course got attention."
Woods, a self-proclaimed control freak, says he will be hands-on with his designs.
"Everything is based on his vision and guidance," says Bryon Bell, Woods' childhood friend and president of Tiger Woods Design, Woods' new course-design firm. "The vision is to create an exclusive selection of amazing courses around the world. It's difficult to speculate how many courses he will design ... but the focus will always be quality over quantity."
It hasn't taken Woods long to realize his new vocation isn't as easy as a tap-in putt.
"It is a lot harder than I thought it would be," Woods says. "I don't know how Jack has designed over 250 golf courses around the world. It's mind-boggling, because my first one is very difficult. But it's stimulating and challenging, and it's been great."
The new architects didn't enter the industry solo. Each is associated with experts who understand how to design, construct and put together courses. Els, for instance, worked with Nicklaus' design team before branching out on his own. Woods hired Beau Welling, who worked with Fazio, to help with the Dubailand project. Welling now has his own company.
Golfers who get involved in design typically must hit the books to learn more about drainage, irrigation and grasses. Such training also includes an education in environmental issues that can emerge when golf courses are built, such as how to preserve and care for plant and animal life. This can range from endangered rosemary in Florida to multiple prairie plants in the Midwest to 300-year-old saguaro cactuses in Arizona.
"These things don't happen overnight," Els says. "At the end of the day, my name is on the course, so you bet I'm going to be involved in every aspect. This is a way I can ... build something that will last long after I'm gone."
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Tim Clark had the perfect remedy
By STEPHEN HAWKINS
Associated Press
FORT WORTH, Texas – Tim Clark had the perfect remedy to overcome a stiff neck and an extended day of golf: anti-inflammatory medicine and a steady dose of fairways and greens.
Clark had to play the back nine of his opening round Friday, then got only a brief break before a bogey-free 6-under 64 in a second round in which he didn’t miss a fairway or a green.
"It certainly makes it easier to get around," said Clark, who at 11 under had a one-stroke lead over Arron Oberholser (66) in the rain-soaked Colonial.
"This could be my last week for a while. I'm going to take some time off to heal up. I want to end on a good note."
The South African was among 57 players – exactly half the 114-player Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial field – who had to finish their first rounds Friday morning and then go right back out for 18 more holes.
The 36-hole cut, projected to be under par for the first time in the 61 years at Colonial, won't be made until the second round is completed Saturday morning. There were 27 players still on the course when play was suspended Friday because of darkness.
Ben Curtis (67), Jim Furyk (66) and Nathan Green (66) were in at 9-under 131, with Alex Cejka (65), Kevin Na (69) and first-round leader Anthony Kim (69) at 8 under.
Clark’s 11-under 129 total was only one shot off the 36-hole tournament record held by Kenny Perry, who opened with rounds of 65 and 63 on way to winning his second Colonial title in 2005.
The first-round scoring average of 69.342 was the lowest at the Colonial in the 25 years since the PGA Tour starting keeping such statistics. There were 63 rounds under par in the first round, and already 53 more in the suspended second round.
"The golf course is just not playing itself right now," said Furyk, who at No. 3 in the world ranking is the only of the top 12 players at Colonial.
Instead of firm and fast as usual, rain Thursday and Friday soften things. Balls aren’t shooting through the fairways or bounding off sun-baked greens at Hogan’s Alley, a traditional tree-lined layout that covers 7,054 yards.
"A little bit slower than they normally are," Curtis said. "A little bit softer and they’re receptive. That is the reason why the scores are the way they are. This place usually is rock hard and firm."
The wet grass did make the heavy rough tougher, which Furyk found at the hard way.
On the 611-yard 11th while finishing his first round Friday, Furyk hit his tee shot into the left rough, then pulled a 5-iron that didn’t get back in the fairway on the course’s longest hole. He then had to hack a shot out of "an awful lie" and three-putted to finish with a double bogey.
But he rebounded with a quick birdie at the 417-yard 12th hole.
"I hit a wedge in there close," Furyk said. "It took a little sting out of it."
Clark has tried to play through the muscular and joint stiffness in his neck that has bothered him on and off since last summer.
This is only his eighth PGA Tour event this year, and the South African's best finish was 13th at the Masters, where he was tied for the 36-hole lead. He was better than 62nd only one other tournament, withdrew from the Wachovia and had a closing 81 at The Players Championship.
"That wasn’t any fun at all," Clark said. "I'm not doing myself any favors, not doing my confidence much good either. ... It's time for me to really get it sorted out"
But it will have to wait until at least after this weekend, though he hasn't completely ruled out playing in the Memorial next week.
Clark felt good Friday after 11 birdies with only one bogey in his 27 holes, and never noticed the neck. After shooting under 70 only once in his first 20 rounds this season, he finished two sub-70 rounds in one day.
"I certainly wasn't expecting it," said Clark, who has never won on tour. “The adrenaline was going at the end, and I almost had to calm myself down a bit.”
After missing the last two cuts, and six of nine this season, Cejka was "a little bit scared" coming to the tight Colonial. But his only two bogeys so far came on the last four holes, to go along with a closing birdie.
"I just somehow managed to play well 36 holes," Cejka said. "Sometimes you don’t expect it."
Masters 2007
Johnson Proves His Medal In Masters Victory
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Vartan Kupelian
Zach Johnson proved Sunday that when he plays his own game, he’s capable of winning at golf’s highest levels.
Johnson, a 31-year-old Iowan, played the round of his life at Augusta National Golf Club.
Challenged by some of the game’s greatest champions, among them four-time winner Tiger Woods and two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen, Johnson relied on his skill, guile and heart to shoot a final round three-under-par 69 for a 289 total, and a two-shot victory in the Masters.
It was a stunning performance by Johnson, whose only other PGA Tour victory came in 2004 at the BellSouth Classic in Atlanta.
In a final day that saw six golfers lead at some point, Johnson took the lead alone for the first time with a birdie at the 13th hole. He laid up his second shot on the par 5 hole, hit an approach in ideal position, and made the 10-foot putt.
"I did not go for any (par-5) green in two this week," Johnson said. "I had limitations on what clubs I had to have in. I had good lay-up numbers. I had a good game plan on how to approach every pin. I don’t have many wedges into many of the holes here, so I was able to take advantage of good numbers."
That's typical of Johnson, a humble young man from America's heartland who doesn't see himself as anything but a normal guy.
"I’m very normal," said Johnson, still moved by his greatest triumph. "I'm as normal as they come."
Johnson benefited by his final round pairing with Augusta native Vaughn Taylor, one of his closest friends.
"Having a buddy next to you certainly doesn’t hurt," Johnson said.
Johnson won the Masters with his performance on the par-5 holes. He was 11-under-par and never was tempted to try the heroic shot. It’s not his style. This is a young golfer who is substance first, style second.
"I didn't look at the board," said Johnson, who was a member of the 2006 U. S. Ryder Cup team. "I really didn't know what was going on. I did what I was doing – staying in the present. My caddie, Damon Green, was keeping an eye on the lead. I guess ignorance is bliss sometimes."
"I could tell from the fans what was going on. At the 14th hole, (Green) said we’ve got a 2-shot lead."
A birdie at the 14th was Johnson's second straight.
Johnson didn't flinch in the face of the challenges by Woods and Goosen.
"Zach has been a good player for a long time," Goosen said. "He hits the ball very solid, very straight, and he's a very good putter. That's what you need to do around Augusta."
Sabbatini said of Johnson's round, "That's phenomenal … under the circumstances, that's just great golf."
"It just goes to prove that if you focus on what you're doing and you don't think ahead, you're going to be fine," Sabbatini said. "Zach's just proof of that. He's a very levelheaded golfer. He's very consistent. He's also tenacious, and that's what you need to win."
Johnson accepted the accolades humbly. He said the victory was "surreal, very surreal."
"My goal is to maintain my focus," Johnson said. "Maintain an even keel. I played my own game. I never got down. I felt comfortable with the putter and confident with what I was doing."
"I love to play this game."
Bobby Jones would have loved to hear that.
Zach Johnson
Birthdate: February 24, 1976
Country: United States
Best Masters Finish: T32 (2006)
(14) Winner of the 2007 Masters. A pair of runner-up finishes in 2006 at the BellSouth Classic and the Memorial and was third at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. Also earned his first Ryder Cup berth. Winner of the 2004 BellSouth Classic in his rookie season. Made 24 of 30 cuts that year and picked up his first PGA TOUR win in his 13th career tournament. 2003 Nationwide Tour Player of the Year making 19 of 20 cuts, including the last 17, and finishing first on the money list. Third Masters appearance.
Mids Finish 19th at Lacrosse Homes Golf Invitational
GRASONVILLE, Md. - Navy shaved 13 strokes off its opening-round score with an 18-over par 306 to finish 19th out of 21 teams at the Lacrosse Homes Collegiate Invitational held at the par-72 Prospect Bay Country Club in Grasonville, Md. The Mids turned in a two-day score of 625 (319-306, +49), just a stroke behind 18th-place Binghamton (314-310).
St. John's claimed the team title with a 4-over par 580 (293-287), 12 strokes ahead of Longwood (297-295), while Keegan Bradley of St. John's took home the individual title with a 2-under 142 (72-70), a stroke ahead of four other players, including teammate George Zolotas.
Junior Chris Renninger (Darnestown, Md.) led the Midshipmen with an 8-over par 152 to tie for 34th. Renninger produced a 6-over par 78 in the opening round, but came back to post a 2-over par 74, the team's best final day score, to push up the leader board. Second-year standout Eric Stinson (Spotsylvania, Va.) turned in a pair of 77's to finish in 49th with a 10-over par 154. Team captain Jeremy Garner (Fayetteville, Ga.) struggled on the first day where he was 10-over, but came back to post a 5-over par 77 in the final round to tie for 75th. Sophomore Chip Hardie (Arnold, Md.) placed 84th with a 17-over par 161 (83-78), while Ryan Wielgus (Bethesda, Md.) finished 92nd with a 19-over par 163 (82-81).
The Midshipmen will be back in action next Friday and Saturday when they play host to the annual Navy Spring Invitational at the USNA Golf Club.
Hit List
