The US PGA Tour: four to watch
By Christopher Gibbons
The world’s finest have been mixing it on the fairways of the US PGA Tour this year. Here’s a look at the in-form swingers likely to catch your eye in forthcoming tournaments, that you can see live and On Demand on Vision Sport...
The man to beat: Tiger Woods
If Tiger Woods were a song, he’d be the Wet Wet Wet cover of the Troggs’ 1967 hit Love is All Around – he’s been number one for so long, people are starting to get a bit bored of him. Woods has been blighted by injury of late, but he’s still managed to record three Tour victories so far this year. Back in January Tiger won his 62nd PGA Tour event at the Buick Invitational – his first tournament of the season – and followed it up with triumphs at the Accenture Match Play Championship and the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Woods was denied victory at the Masters by South Africa’s Trevor Immelman, but he is widely expected to recover from knee surgery in time to feature at the US Open in June.
The wonderkid: Anthony Kim
Anthony Kim secured his first tour victory at the Wachovia Championship at the start of May, netting him a cool $1.15 million – not a bad weekend’s work for a 22 year old. Prior to that, he’d lined his pockets by finishing second at the Verizon Heritage and third in the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. It won’t be long before the American bags his first win in a major.
The old (left) hand: Phil Mickelson
Considering 9 of this season’s 21 Tour events have been won by players in their 20s, 37-year old Phil Mickelson could be forgiven for feeling a bit like a dinosaur. But old Lefty has shown he still has the quality to beat those young upstarts. The world number two has two victories to his name this year after pocketing the first prize at the Northern Trust Open and the Crowne Plaza Invitational. He still remains Tiger Woods’ biggest threat.
The home-grown hero: Luke Donald
Luke Donald is yet to win a Tour event on US soil this year, but his second-placed finish at the Honda Classic back in March suggests it won’t be too long before there’s an Englishman wiping the smirks off the faces of those smug Americans. Donald’s compatriot Justin Rose finished second in the Memorial Tournament in May - his best Tour finish of the season - and that performance in Ohio means he's virtually guaranteed a place in Europe's Ryder Cup team.
Setanta Sports and Total Sports subscribers can catch the action from US PGA Tour events live on Setanta Sports and On Demand from midday the next day for 99p