Brian Gay faces a long week with the driver at Bethpage Black.
Jun. 15, 2009
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What are our writers thinking about after the St. Jude Classic presented by FedEx? Another big victory for short-hitting Brian Gay, Phil Mickelson gets ready for New York, Bethpage Black set to play even longer and some surprising stats on accurate players in 2009.
GAY HAS ANOTHER BIG DAY: Brian Gay is a man of few words, but his clubs certainly have been doing a lot of talking for him this year. First there was that dominating 10-stroke victory at the Verizon Heritage. Then on Sunday, Gay won the St. Jude Classic presented by FedEx by five strokes to play his way into the U.S. Open.
Gay, who ranks second on the PGA TOUR in final-round scoring average and fourth in FedExCup points, closed with his third straight 66 at TPC Southwind to win for the third time in just over 15 months. He's certainly paid his dues -- the three-time All-America at Florida played on the mini tours and took five cracks at q-school before making his way onto the TOUR.
But the man who ranks 189th in driving distance didn't sound very confident about his chances at Bethpage Black. Driving accuracy is his forte, though -- Gay ranks third on TOUR -- and he said Sunday he's used to hitting first to the green. That's how he got tough, telling himself "that I can beat them, even though they're hitting three, four clubs less into the green." That mindset will serve him well at Bethpage. -- Helen Ross
GETTING THEIR PHIL: The support for Phil Mickelson, and his wife Amy, who will undergo surgery for breast cancer in the next few weeks, has been nothing short of staggering. And it's easy to see why.
Amy is the poster-wife of TOUR wives and, much like Phil's personality resonates well beyond the ropes, hers does, too. Phil is a modern-day Arnold Palmer -- Tiger Woods is the No. 1 player in the world, but Mickelson might be the game's most popular player, or certainly one of them. And Amy is always right there with him.
So what's to make of Mickelson's chances at this week's U.S. Open at Bethpage Black? Much like Woods, you can never count Mickelson out. In terms of golf, though, we just simply don't know what we're going to get after a quick 48 hours at home before he arrives at Bethpage Black.
Here's what we do know, though: The golf course is the one place where Mickelson can escape reality, make magic happen and whip a New York crowd into a frenzy. It's just unfortunate that Amy won't be there to smile her way into the fans' hearts. New York will miss her, and no doubt she'll miss New York. Come back soon, Amy. -- Brian Wacker
THE WET STUFF: Rain. It makes a long course even longer, and Bethpage Black is long enough to begin with at 7,426 yards. The preliminary weather forecast is calling for rain during the first three rounds.
Does the combination of rain and sheer length take the shorter hitters out of the equation? We won't know until Thursday, but when Geoff Ogilvy -- one of the longest hitters on the PGA TOUR -- marvels at the length, you know that the Zach Johnsons and Brian Gays of the world will be facing a significant challenge.
"It's going to be historically long," Ogilvy said. "I mean, it's a really long course from the back tees. I mean, it's incredible."
Compounding the length of the course is the fact that most of the greens are either crowned or guarded with a bunker in the front (sometimes both). This requires players to carry their approaches all the way to the flag, so it's no wonder why high-ball hitters like Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson finished 1-2 in 2002. -- Ryan Smithson
LET'S GET ACCURATE: Want to be one of the biggest hitters on the PGA TOUR? You might want to rethink that approach, especially given how well the most accurate players have fared this season.
Consider: The top 15 players on TOUR in driving accuracy collectively have 38 top-10 finishes, including four wins -- the latest, of course, being Brian Gay's dominant wire-to-wire victory at the St. Jude Classic. More to the point, each of those top 15 guys has at least one top-10 finish.
Meanwhile, the top 15 players in driving distance have combined for two wins and just 23 top-10 finishes, with five failing to produce any top-10s this year.
With Bethpage Black being the second-longest course in U.S. Open history, naturally you'd assume the advantage this week will go to the big hitters off the tee. But maybe we shouldn't dismiss the accurate guys so quickly. -- Mike McAllister
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| Stock up |
David Toms: His Sunday 65 wasn't good enough to win, but it did give him his sixth top-10 of the year -- nearly as many as Toms had in the last two years combined (eight). If he didn't feel all the way back in New Orleans, he sure looked like he was in Memphis.
FedExCup rank: 12 (22 last week) |
Paul Goydos: Given all Goydos has gone through on and off the course and how nice of a guy he is, you can't help but root for him. Forgetting all that, he's playing some really good golf right now with top-5s in two of his last three starts with a 63, two 64s and a 65 in his last 10 rounds.
FedExCup rank: 65 (91 last week) |
Phil Mickelson: This week wasn't about the numbers. The final-round 75 means nothing other than Mickelson had some rust to flake off. The fact that he had 18 birdies for the week does mean something, and he's proven that when he says he's "close," he usually is. He'll be ready at Bethpage.
FedExCup rank: 7 (6 last week) |
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| Stock down |
Sergio Garcia: It was another disappointing week for Garcia, who missed his second cut in his last three starts on TOUR. Clearly Garcia is not the same player he was late last season. He has a lot going on in his head right now and, according to Garcia himself, it's affecting his game.
FedExCup rank: 141 (137 last week) |
Padraig Harrington: The European version of Vijay Singh isn't struggling for lack of practice, but it's clear the work he's doing on his swing changes hasn't taken hold yet. That's three missed cuts in his last four starts on TOUR. And it might be four missed cuts after this week.
FedExCup rank: 108 (100 last week) |
Justin Leonard: Making six straight bogeys is not exactly the way to open up your title defense. Leonard was 6 over in the first round in Memphis, but it could have been worse. For a guy who has owned TPC Southwind, it was odd to see him hit just 39 percent of his greens in regulation.
FedExCup rank: 37 (36 last week) |
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| A Quick 18 |
| Front Nine | Back Nine |
| Not sure what Brian Gay's second victory in five starts means in regards to this week's U.S. Open, other than it got him in the field, but he joined a pretty impressive list of players -- Zach Johnson, Geoff Ogilvy, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson -- to win twice on TOUR this year. | As we head to the "People's Open," it was nice to see the "People's champion" back on TOUR. Only good things appear to be in John Daly's future. He told David Feherty that he's close to playing well and that he's just waiting "for something good to happen." |
| Gay also proved he can get it done on Sundays. He now ranks second on TOUR in final-round scoring average and has gone 170 holes without a three-putt after finishing last week with just 100 putts. For years, players have talked about how much talent he has. Now, we're seeing it. | Given how long and straight players will likely have to hit the ball to succeed at Bethpage Black, Kenny Perry should be one of the favorites. He and caddie Fred Sanders went to New York early to prepare. We're talking Mickelson-esque preparation, charting every possible shot. |
| How exactly did Gay get to be this good? Hard work, pure and simple. Since 2000, Gay has more starts than any other player on TOUR with 307. When you put in that much time grinding it out, eventually it pays off. Gay has now won three of the four times he's held the 54-hole lead. | Larry Giebelhausen just missed breaking 100 in the Golf Digest U.S. Open Challenge, but it was hard to top his foursome of Michael Jordan, Justin Timberlake and Ben Roethlisberger when the group played at Bethpage Black last week. Roethlisberger had the best score, by the way, with an 81. |
| The lowest score of the final round in Memphis belonged to Graeme McDowell with a 7-under 63, which is a career low for him. It also resulted in a tie for seventh, which means that McDowell, who now has four top-10s in 53 events on TOUR, is eligible for next week's Travelers Championship.
| Speaking of Bethpage Black, if you've ever wondered what goes into the food preparation for a tournament the size of a U.S. Open, and one in New York no less, Newsday had an excellent article about it last week. Warning: You might get hungry. Click here for the story.
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| I'm not entirely sure, but Jimmy Walker might have set some sort of TOUR record when he had a 17-shot swing between his first-round 65 and his third-round 82. In between was a 72. Walker had zero bogeys in Round 1, and 12 bogeys, one double, one triple bogey and just three birdies in Rounds 2 and 3. |
Speaking of good stories out of New York, the New York Post's Mark Cannizaro had one on Billy Schwafel. He's the guy who caddied for Woods during his early practice round at Bethpage Black. It's a nice peek into the world of Woods, and Schwafel's world for the day. Click here. |
| With the threat of severe weather Sunday, officials at the St. Jude Classic moved up the start times and sent everyone off both sets of tees in threesomes. There ended up being a delay anyway, but it was a smart decision because more weather was on its way and there ended up being no tape delay after all.
| Pack your rain gear for the U.S. Open. It's already been raining for much of the past week in the area and the forecast for the tournament is calling for rain every day with possible thunderstorms, too. Though there's no sub-air system under the greens there, the sand-based soil does drain well.
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| Ian Poulter has also been Twittering on everything from the NBA Finals (he's a Magic fan and has been tweeting from the games) to his outfits for the U.S. Open. "It's so funny to post something and you get some hilarious comments, he said. It's a great advertising engine, social engine." | The new Tiger Woods 10 video game hit stores last week. It's incredibly realistic and much more detailed than the previous version. We'll have a review shortly, but the coolest thing has to be the tournament challenge in which you can replay some of golf's biggest moments.
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| Interesting concept, interviewing players at the turn during a round. GOLF CHANNEL has experimented with it in two LPGA events now and it's something the NBA and other sports do well at various breaks in play. Even if much isn't said, it's another way to bring fans closer to the action.
| University of Connecticut men's basketball coach Jim Calhoun, who is a big golfer and a regular in the pro-am at the Travelers Championship, collapsed following a 50-mile charity bike ride during which he fell and broke five ribs over the weekend. Calhoun, 67, actually finished the race, though, and was listed in good condition. |
| The story broke over the weekend and Monday morning the USGA made it official by announcing that the 2014 U.S. Men's and Women's Opens will be held in back-to-back weeks at Pinehurst No. 2. Great idea, though it'll be interesting to see what the greens look like for the ladies. |
The U.S. Open has followed the Masters lead and is offering iPhone users a free app that includes course tours of Bethpage Black (with flyover and walkthrough videos), as well as coverage from a marquee group each day. Be sure to check out PGATOUR.com's iPhone app when it's launched later this summer. |
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| The Forward Spin |
The last time the U.S. Open was at Bethpage Black, Tiger Woods won by two, but it wasn't that close. A lot has happened since 2002, both to Woods and The Black, but on the eve of the year's second major things appear to have come full circle and Woods is once again the favorite.
Nearly every other player immediately behind Woods has one issue or another. Phil Mickelson: Hasn't played much golf since his wife's breast cancer diagnosis. Paul Casey: Never won a major championship. Sergio Garcia: See Stock Down, above. Geoff Ogilvy: Plays well in big events, but is inconsistent. Henrik Stenson: Beat Woods at THE PLAYERS Championship, but has played just once since, missing the cut in Memphis. Kenny Perry: See, this year's Masters. Steve Stricker: He finally won a few weeks ago, but we don't know if that was enough to get him over the hump. Vijay Singh: His 46-year-old body proved that it's human. Jim Furyk: He won a U.S. Open, but that was six years ago.
What's all that mean? We'll find out in a few days, but given the way Woods dissected Muirfield Village a couple of weeks ago, if he hits it anything close to that at Bethpage, it'll be another big victory in the Big Apple for Tiger. |
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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, follow him on Twitter at Twitter.com/pgatour_brianw.
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