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Written by Bryan Spitzer
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Thursday, 19 June 2008 |
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 As Tiger is now out for the remainder of the 2008 season what and Who will drive the PGA Tour and 2nd Annual FedEx Cup. It is no secret that Woods drives revenues, ratings, and a whole lot more. This past week NBC had 13.8 millions viewers for Sunday's primetime final round, more than double any other single program. How will the PGA tour and Tim Finchem (Commissioner) repackage the sport for the next 6+ months and how will they fill the void Woods occupies. The rest of the elite talent on the PGA tour will have to step up and not one at a time then to fall away from the leaderboard the next several weeks, the way Trevor (Immelman) and Sergio (Garcia) have after their respective wins (Masters and TPC).
Will Phil provide any answers, perhaps, he has amassed 2 wins and five
top 10's but still cannot get it together when it comes to Majors,
finishing a disappointing 5th as he was +3 on the weekend at Augusta
and then took a 9 on Saturday in last week's US open where he tried to
play the same pitch shot 4 times before carding a 4 over, 9 at the par
5 13th. All but destroying his best chance of winning the US Open.
Phil cannot and will not play it safe when he knows he has the ability
to pull off the improbable.
Sergio, arguably the best ball striker on tour and consequently the
worst putter on tour as he is tied for 178th on tour. His lone win of
the season coming at the 5th major, The Players Championship was his
best putting performance since Carnoustie before he came to the 17th
hole on Sunday, the first time. Since that time he has been up and down and not in contention in any of the events he has played except for the one in which he was victorious. Sergio, while still in his 20's has plenty of career left, but if he can't right the ship with his putter now, its only going to be that much tougher as he ages.
Ernie Els, who is far from making good on his three year goal of being
Tiger's week/in week out contender had glimpses of greatness at Torrey
Pines, but in the end could not pull off the shots and putts he needed
to stay in contention. His lone victory was the Honda classic at PGA
National where Tiger, Phil, Vijay and Adam were not even in the field,
so naturally the worlds best player won amongst a weak field. Each
time Ernie has had the opportunity to step up and push Tiger he has
fallen short. In his own admission, "he makes you do things you don't
want to do,"... like forcing eagle at the last in Dubai earlier this
season. Ernie just isn't up for the challenge and most speculate its
the knee which has never quite healed as it should have. Still Ernie
has all of the tools and perhaps with Tiger's absence he will get the
motivation and opportunity needed to at least beat everybody else week
in/week out.
Who might have been off the radar but certainly moved his own stock
last week was Geoff Ogilvy, once again finding himself near the top of
the leaderboard come Sunday at the US Open. Ogilvy currently sits at
#4 in the OWGR and 5th in FedEx Cup points. Since the PODS
Championship he has finished inside the top 25 in 8 of 10 events, most
recently a T9 at the US Open where his worst round was 74 on Sunday and
additionally, he only carded one double bogey all week at the 14th
which ranked as the 8th hardest hole at 4.25. He unlike the host of
others mentioned here has staved off Tiger and the worlds best this year at the
WGC CA at Doral, in fact, his win derailed Tigers consecutive win streak
at 5, shortly before the Masters. Ogilvy, while he is not the most
outspoken player does possess the skills, talent and model of
consistency, the tour could only hope for in Tigers absence. Look for
him to play well and contend at Birkdale, Oakland Hills and into the
heart of the FedEx Cup Playoffs. Who's knows maybe with enough good
finishes and potential wins he will become the everyday contender golf
fans have hoped for.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 20 June 2008 )
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