Wednesday, October 31, 2001
Is Woods on his game? Tour Championship
will tell
By Joe Logan
Knight Ridder Newspapers
(KRT)
It is once again time for the Tour Championship, the last
official money event of the year, the exciting annual dogfight
to
determine who will lead the money list, right?
Fat chance.
Before the first tee is stuck in the ground in the Tour's
$5 million grand finale for its top 30 players, the No. 1 spot
has already
been decided, as it seemingly will be so long as Tiger Woods is
able to sit upright, take fluids, and wrap his fingers around
a golf club.
Even if the event's defending champion, Phil Mickelson, No.
2 on the money list with $4.4 million, were to snare the $900,000
winner's check Sunday at the Champions Club in Houston and Woods
were to finish dead last, Woods still would come out on top for
the year.
That scenario will not unfold anyway, because Mickelson is
not going to be in Houston. He is at home in Scottsdale, Ariz.,
this
week with his wife, Amy, their daughter Amanda and the latest
addition to their family, Sophia Isabel, who arrived Tuesday.
"I'd love to play," said Mickelson, who clipped
Woods last year at East Lake in Atlanta to win by 2 shots, ending
a streak of 20
wins for Woods when he had the lead or was tied for the lead after
54 holes.
"It's a very special tournament, and having won last
year, it's a tournament I'd love to defend. But right now, the
time I'm spending
with my family is the most important thing to me."
Woods, for crying out loud, has played in only 18 events this
year and has still managed to drive away with a robber baron's
share
of the year's prize money. His take so far is $5,568,777, thanks
to five victories, including his sixth major at the Masters, plus
four
more top-10 finishes and six more top 20s. His only true off-week
occurred at the PGA Championship in Atlanta, where he flamed out
and finished tied for 29th.
Officially, when counting the loot, we do not concern ourselves
with Woods' obscene bounty from victories on foreign soil, his
$1
million appearance fees for tournaments abroad, his gazillions
in endorsement deals, or the beer money he takes off Mark O'Meara
in
their friendly matches back home in Isleworth, Fla.
Despite the foregone conclusion of the money title, there
are a few intriguing story lines for the tournament.
For starters, there is some question about whether Woods is
really on his game. He has not won since August at the World Golf
Championship NEC Invitational.
In the weeks since, he posted a tie for 23d in the Bell Canadian
Open early in September before taking six weeks off in the
aftermath of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11. When he returned
to action a week ago at the National Car Rental Classic at Disney
World, he never mounted a serious challenge and finished tied
for 16th, despite four rounds in the 60s that put him at 16 under
par.
Will he be back to form by Thursday?
Meanwhile, with Mickelson at home changing diapers, all eyes
will turn to at least two other potential threats to yet another
Woods victory.
First and foremost, there is David Duval, who finally broke
through with his first win in a major this summer at the British
Open.
Since then, Duval has played in only four tournaments and showed
little.
Except for his 10th-place finish at the PGA Championship,
Duval has yet make it into the top 20 in any event since the British,
most recently sleepwalking through the Michelob Championship at
Kingsmill with two over-par rounds that left him treading water,
tied
for 41st. Duval, like Woods, has played in only 18 events this
year and stands an uncharacteristically low 11th on the money
list.
"I will say what I have said all along: If I play good,
I'll beat him," Duval said of Woods in a conference call
last week. "I am very
comfortable with my ability, my skills."
The other name to watch for is David Toms. For years an easygoing,
underperforming player who was hardly a marquee player,
Toms has come into his own this year, trailing only Woods and
Mickelson on the money list.
Toms has won three times, including a clutch performance at
the PGA Championship, where he won his first major. Unlike Duval,
who has cooled off since winning his first major, Toms has remained
hot. Just last month, he won again at the Michelob Championship
at Kingsmill.
___
© 2001, The Philadelphia Inquirer.
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Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
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