If you were seeking to illustrate the changing powerbase in the world of golf, the marquee grouping for the first two rounds of the WGC-Cadillac Championship would provide as good a starting point as any.
With the organisers sending out the first seven groups according to their positions in the world rankings, it makes particularly good reading for the Europeans in the 69-man field, if not the American broadcasters.
Mind you, it is a fair bet that the cameras will be turned in the opposite direction today when Martin Kaymer, Lee Westwood and Luke Donald — the world Nos 1, 2 and 3 — head off in pursuit of the second of the season’s four world championships, over the Blue Monster course at Doral.
The reason is obvious. On the other side of the course, those ranked four to six will be doing battle for bragging rights. Their names? Graeme McDowell, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. If truth be known, however, it is the last two who have caught the imagination of the locals. The US Open champion can go hang.
This will be only the fifth time outside the major championships that Woods and Mickelson have been drawn to play together in the first two rounds. They do not like giving ground to each other — although Mickelson has taken the upper hand in the past two years — and will not wish to do so now. The problem both have, though, is that their respective games are in poor shape.
Advertisement
It is not Mickelson people are talking about, however, but Woods. He is rebuilding his swing (again) under Sean Foley and, despite his protestations, is making little obvious progress. In his previous outing, he was beaten in the first round by Thomas Björn in the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Tucson last month and looks ring-rusty and out of sorts.
Woods does a good job, however, at masking his frustrations. “It’s a work in progress,” he said. But when he was pushed to explain yesterday why he does not simply play more tournaments as a way of getting match-fit, he snapped: “Because I have a family. I’m divorced. If you’ve been divorced with kids, you would understand.”
While Woods, who has won 16 WGC events, is used to such scrutiny, the same cannot be said of Foley, a Canadian, who started working with him at the US PGA Championship in August last year. There has been much criticism of the “rebuild” by Johnny Miller and Brandel Chamblee, the television analysts, and Foley has risen to the bait.
“They don’t know the truth,” Foley said in an interview with Golf Canada. “They don’t even have a clue. Brandel Chamblee made 180 out of 398 cuts on the PGA Tour. Like, when did this become so easy for him? That’s like 43 per cent.
“You’re talking about a guy [Woods] who has missed six cuts in his life. It’s just sensational[ism].”
Advertisement
While Woods and his entourage seek a return to winning ways — his last victory was in Australia 16 months ago — Donald is simply basking in the glory of moving to his highest world ranking after his triumph in Tucson two weeks ago.
Donald beat Kaymer in the 18-hole final at the Accenture event and did not trail in any of his six matches. It led to a host of e-mails and letters congratulating him, including one from Arnold Palmer. “It’s something I’ll frame and keep — something for the grandkids,” he said.
There were many who delighted in Donald’s success, but none more so than Colin, his father, who was unwell before Christmas. “Dad had a bleeding ulcer in December, but he is making a good recovery and the win must have helped,” he said.
“He was very excited. Mum and Dad have always hung around in the background but they’ve always been very supportive, believing that I would make good.”
And on his playing partners for the first two days? “Who are these two chumps?” he joked. “Actually, it’s nice to play with top guys again. Pretty special for Europe.”