The other day we discussed the fact that the PGA Tour needs its stars to play well to keep spectators interested in watching golf week after week. No spectator wants to see "Oost-Who" come out of obscurity to beat all the tour's stars, and then disappear, only to have another "Oost-Who" win the next week.
I mentioned that maybe, just maybe Tiger Woods would come back to life at the Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone this week since he has won the tournament seven times in the last ten years. If he did, it would do the tour a world of good. Unfortunately, it is not to be.
After three rounds at Firestone. Tiger is ahead of just two players. If there had been a cut after two rounds, Tiger would not have been playing on Saturday. Fortunately, there was only one player on the leaderboard after two rounds who is not readily recognized, and that is Peter Hansen. So the odds that some name player will win the tournament are pretty good, and that is what the tour needs right now.
A Justin Leonard, Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker or even an Adam Scott winning this week is what the tour needs to bring some reality back to professional golf, and all four are on the front page of the leaderboard after two rounds. The leader by one shot, Retief Goosen, is a name player who has won two United States Opens.
With the year's final major, the PGA, just one week away, spectators need to get excited again about watching professional golf. Ernie Els is also near the top after a 64 on Saturday, and he still leads the tour this year in the chase for the Fed Ex Cup.
Unless another nobody comes out of nowhere tomorrow to capture the title, this week should go a long way to bring some semblance of normalcy back to the tour, and the Tour needs that more than ever right now.
There is also the very good chance that Phil Mickelson will become the Number One golfer in the world after this week. He has to finish at least fourth this week and Tiger has to finish around 34th or worse for that to happen. Tiger is doing his part in that equation, since he is around 78th out of 80 players after three of the four rounds. Phil is tied for tenth after three rounds, so he has his job cut out for himself on Sunday.
But if he does not become Number One after this week, it will probably happen next week. I am confident Tiger will not play well at next week's PGA, and Phil should play well enough to gain the points he needs to finally break into the Number One position.
Tiger has been asked by a multitude of reporters if he will accept a captain's pick for the
Ryder Cup if it is offered to him by U.S. Captain Corey Pavin. Tiger's reply has been the same week after week, "I plan to play my way onto the team."
That might have been believable up until this past Wednesday, but not any longer. His play this week at Firestone leaves one to wonder if he will even be offered such a spot. I for one think it would be a major mistake by Pavin to take up a spot on the team with Tiger.
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