Now, here's another quiz - what do these people have in common: Paul Goydos, Charley Hoffman, Aaron Baddeley, Charles Howell III, or Mark Wilson? Answer - they are the only men not named Mickelson or Tiger who have won full-field tour events this year.
If all these names have you rushing for a Nationwide Tour guide to tell the ying from the yang, you are not alone. Some would say such information is just more proof that golf ain't what it used to be when men named Nicklaus, Watson, Trevino and Miller were winning seemingly every third tournament. I say it means something far different: that golf has truly become a democratic sport, with the potential winning field covering about 200 possible names. If Mark Wilson can win a PGA Tour event - and Wilson beat out some pretty good names last week in South Florida - then just about any man on the tour is capable of pulling a victory out of the hat.
After all, the week started with a pretty good group gathered in Palm Beach Gardens - Padraig Harrington, Davis Love, David Toms, Jim Furyk, Luke Donald, Chris DiMarco. And the PGA National course folded, spindled and mutilated every one save the afore-mentioned quartet. And Wilson defeated them all, with total disregard of name, rank and serial number. What is the golfing world coming to, pray tell?
Howell was No. 82 in the world rankings when the season began, the top billing of any of the winning fivesome. Baddeley was No. 87. Checking in at No. 135 was Goydos, the 42-year-old winner of the Sony. Hoffman? He was down at No. 202. And before last week, Wilson was No. 265, a bad position even for a Nationwide Tour winner.
Photo: © Reuters/Wire Images |
| Paul Goydos was a surprise winner at the Sony Open in Hawaii. |
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Goydos was winning for the first time in 11 years, since he shocked the golfing world by winning the 1996 Bay Hill tournament. Since then he had played in 246 events before finally coming though in Hawaii. Goydos was once a substitute teacher, but he chucked it all right before the Yuma Open in 1992 and decided to concentrate of golf. Yes, I said the Yuma Open.
Hoffman, you may be interested to learn, went to the University of Las Vegas, the same school that turned out Chad Campbell, Adam Scott and Chris Riley, among others. Besides his victory at the Hope, Hoffman has missed the cut twice in six tries. Both Howell and Baddeley you may have heard of, though Howell had not won in four years and Baddeley last year missed the cut 11 times despite winning at Hilton Head.
And Wilson? He hadn't broken the top 25 this year before the Honda, and last year he was missing cuts at nearly a one-to-two rate before he rallied to make it to the weekend in the final five tournaments.
That's the negative news surrounding 2007's winners. Now the positives:
Photo: © Chris Condon/WireImage |
| Charley Hoffman was a winner at the Bob Hope. |
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Hoffman is No. 19 in putting this year, which is quite good when you consider there are upwards of 190 players ranked. He still has problems occasionally with his irons, where he is ranked 81st in greens in regulation. But he certainly has enough power, ranking 36th in driving distance.
Goydos is also a superlative putter, ranking No. 21 in that category. He tied for 30th at the AT&T and has not missed a cut this year in four tries.
Baddeley shows signs of becoming a top-tier player, finishing T13 at AT&T and T9 at Nissan. One constant worry - he's only 149th in greens in regulation this year. However, he's 12th on tour in putting, and as proven many times already, anytime you're rolling it that well, you can win on the PGA Tour.
Howell, of course, has been reborn as a bona fide star since he returned to instructor David Leadbetter. He currently leads the tour in FedEx Cup points, owning two seconds to go along with his win at Nissan.
Photo: © Steve Grayson/WireImage |
| Aaron Baddeley was the winner at the FBR Open. |
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The list of those threatening to get into the playoff during the back nine Sunday further illustrates the New Order of the PGA Tour. Weekley, who once cleaned chemical tanks for a living, could have won if he had made a putt from 3 feet on the 72nd hole. He stood No. 196 in the world rankings when the year began. Coceres was 201. Villegas was 101, Charley Wi 182. Tripp Isenhower, who finished one stroke out of the playoff, was way, way down at 313.
This all, of course, makes the case even stronger that the tour is made up of Tiger Woods and a lot of "others." It's getting to be truly a two-tier system - Tiger is all alone on one tier, with everyone else scrambling around on the second tier. Really, folks, everyone on the PGA Tour is capable of winning now, and that's not just false bravado talking. And it makes for very good competition when these guys are fighting it out for tournament titles.
But it also means even less publicity for the guy who is lucky enough to win. The pie is going to potentially be sliced 120 different ways, meaning each one is going to be reduced to a very small crumb. And unless your name is Eldrick (that's Tiger), that means much of the public knows nothing of the crumbs.
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