TIGER AND PHIL TO HAVE TEE PARTY.Byline: JILL PAINTER GOLF Finally. Tiger vs. Phil. It's not Sunday, but who cares? Woods and Mickelson will play in the same group in the first two rounds of the PGA Championship The PGA Championship (often referred to as the U.S. PGA Championship outside of North America) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers Association of America as part of the PGA Tour. and it should be a doozy doo·zy or doo·zie n. pl. doo·zies Slang Something extraordinary or bizarre: "Among the delicious names taken by, or given to, minor political parties in the United States . . . . One of the beauties of the PGA Championship is that the three major championship winners are paired in the same group. Think anyone will even notice Geoff Ogilvy Geoff Charles Ogilvy (born June 11 1977) is an Australian professional golfer who now resides in Scottsdale, Arizona, in the United States. Ogilvy was born in Adelaide, South Australia. , who won the U.S. Open The term U.S. Open is applied to "open" United States national championships in a particular sport, in which anybody, amateur or professional, American or non-American may compete. These include:
Who? Much has been made of the cool relationship Woods and Mickelson share. We've yearned for a Sunday pairing of the world's best players. You can bet every scowl, sigh or failure to chit-chat as they stroll down the fairways of Medinah Country Club Medinah Country Club is a private country club in Medinah, Illinois with nearly 600 members and 640 acres containing three golf courses, Lake Kadijah, swimming facilities and a Byzantine-style, mosque-evoking clubhouse with Oriental, Louis XIV and Italian architectural aspects. will be dissected on national television. No need to buy US magazine this week. There should be plenty of drama in Illinois. Woods likely won't talk to Mickelson much, if at all. Maybe there will be a forced smile and a handshake for the cameras. But Woods pointed out that he really doesn't talk in majors, even to his caddie and buddy, Steve Williams Steve Williams may refer to:
``Phil and I are competitors,'' Woods said from Medinah Country Club on Tuesday. ``We've gotten to know each other over the years by being on the teams, Ryder Cup Ryder Cup Biennial team golf event first held in 1927. It was originally played between teams of golfers from the U.S. and Britain; since 1979 players opposing the U.S. have been chosen from all of Europe. The trophy was donated by the British seed merchant Samuel Ryder. and Presidents Cup teams, and we're fine. It's a major championship, and I don't really talk a whole lot in major championships. I'm out there trying to put my ball where I need to put it. I stay in my own little world and try and handle my own business. I really don't talk to Stevie very much, but that's just the way it is in majors for me.'' Who knows if Mickelson would even want to chat. But Mickelson already knows that if there's any conversation, it will be between he and Ogilvy. Mickelson alluded to that when asked what the difference between playing with Tiger in a major or Fred Couples Frederick Stephen Couples (born October 3, 1959) is an American professional golfer and former World No. 1 who competes on the PGA Tour. He has won numerous events, and is most famous for winning the 1992 Masters Tournament. . Mickelson quipped: ``Amount of conversation.'' They will have a long time to avoid one another. Medinah Country Club is 7,516 yards, the longest in major championship history. That will be a lot of footsteps in front of galleries. Wonder whether the gallery will be pro-Phil or pro-Tiger? Rick Reilly of Sports Illustrated Sports Illustrated is the largest weekly American sports magazine owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. It has over 3 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men, 19% of the adult males in the country. recently wrote a piece on how you're either a Phil fan or Tiger fan. There's no in-between. Ogilvy is just as interested in the pairing as any fan. ``It will be quite fun, I imagine,'' Ogilvy said. ``I'm sure it'll be a zoo. I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. when the last time, I mean, when the last time they played together in a big spectator market like this. There's going to be a lot of people who turn up when we're on the first tee on Thursday. ``It's going to be fun. It'll be interesting to see how they got along with each other. I've never played together with them both at the same time. I know them both well enough and I've played with them a few times, so it'll be interesting. It'll be quite funny, and the crowd will be quite vocal and right into it.'' Mickelson and Woods played together in the 2004 Ryder Cup and that was nothing short of a disaster. Woods is all about precision on the golf course. Mickelson will throw caution to the wind at every dogleg dog·leg n. 1. a. Something that has a sharp bend, especially a road or route that bends abruptly. b. A sharp bend or turn: Make a dogleg at the fire station and continue south. . Lefty's errant drive on the last hole of the Ryder Cup made the usually stoic Woods morph morph 1 n. An allomorph. [From morpheme.] morph 2 n. into a pouty teenager. Last year, they played together in the final round at Doral and Woods won that battle. So why do we love that these two likely hate one another? ``Their personalities are very different,'' said Arthur Whang, a recreational golfer from Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. . ``Tiger is the consummate technician. He kind of mentally overpowers his opponents. Phil is PHIL IS Philippine Islands guts and bravado and raw talent. Phil says whatever comes to mind. Tiger is much more calculating. ``They're the two best golfers. They're the two richest golfers. It's clear that those two have no love lost for each other.'' We love it. Harrington will donate his winnings Padraig Harrington has a different motivation to win the PGA Championship this week. It's not about the $1 million-plus paycheck or Ryder Cup points. It's about friendship. Whatever Harrington wins this week -- be it $1 million or $50,000 -- he'll donate it to cancer research in memory of Darren Clarke's wife, Heather, who died Sunday at the age of 39 after a battle with breast cancer. ``I'd be delighted to hand whatever over this week,'' Harrington said during Tuesday's news conference at Medinah Country Club. ``Obviously, not being able to attend the funeral, when you go to funerals you can't be much help anyway, but this is at least a practical way of helping. ``Darren has his choice of charity, and I'll donate whatever I win this week. For me, it feels like I'm doing something practical this week.'' Clarke, who's from Ireland, is quite a character on the golf circuit, better known for the loud colors he wears and engaging personality. European friends on tour were ready to rally around him in Ireland. He told them to play. His close friend, Paul McGinley Paul McGinley (born December 16, 1966) is an Irish golfer who plays on the European Tour. He is most famous for holing the winning putt for the European team in the 2002 Ryder Cup. He currently resides in Sunningdale, England. McGinley was born in Dublin. , withdrew from the PGA Championship. Harrington learned of Heather Clarke's death while in an airport on Sunday. She beat cancer once before, but it returned and spread throughout her body. The Clarkes have two children. ``I think both Darren and Heather were exceptionally brave and so dignified about what they've gone through,'' Harrington said. ``It's been terribly hard. Heather never once complained or they haven't got down; they just struggled on. Both Darren on the golf course, and Darren and Heather off the golf course, were an example to everybody that they were getting on with it. She put up a brave struggle.'' Harrington missed the cut at the British Open, but he finished in the top-five in his previous two tournaments. ``Even though we've got a big tournament this week, it's not a situation that I'm trying to let it be,'' Harrington said. ``I'm not going to necessarily try and block it out or I'm not going to try to dwell on to continue long on or in; to remain absorbed with; to stick to; to make much of; as, to dwell upon a subject; a singer dwells on a note s>. - Shak. See also: Dwell it, either. I'm just going to see how it goes. Obviously the situation as it's happened, it's bigger than golf. So it's not a question this week I'll be trying to block it out. It's just a question of carrying on and see how it goes.'' CAPTION(S): 4 photos, 2 boxes Photo: (1) WOODS (2) MICKELSON (3) CLARKE (4) HARRINGTON Box: (1) THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE (2) Etc. |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion