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DETROIT (Michigan), Aug 6: Two-time defending champ Tiger Woods is missing his second consecutive major after season-ending surgery but there are still plenty of notable names competing in the 90th PGA Championship.
Even with the world number one not in the field, Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk, Padraig Harrington, Vijay Singh, Sergio Garcia and Anthony Kim will have plenty of tough competition.
The final major championship of the season kicks off on Thursday at Oakland Hills Country Club and includes 94 of the top 100 players making it the toughest major field this year.
American Furyk, who consistently plays well in majors, said he tries to focus on his own game and not how Woods? absence will impact the tournament.
?I wish him well,? Furyk said of Woods. ?I hope his recovery is good. We need him out here. He is obviously the best player in the world. He builds a lot of excitement around events.
?But whether he?s here or not, I have a job to do and I don?t really worry about the impact.?Woods, who is just the fourth PGA Champion to not defend his title the following year, told ESPN radio on Tuesday that he finds it difficult to watch golf when he is not playing.
?I probably won?t watch any of this one,? he stated.
?This one?s a little more frustrating for me. I?m two-time defending champ and not being able to get out there and defend something I?ve already defended once and can?t do it twice, it?s a little bit frustrating.?
Asked if it was less gratifying winning a major title without Woods in the field, two-time reigning British Open champion Harrington said on Tuesday: ?Jack Nicklaus didn?t play in the Open Championship either, either did Arnold Palmer or Ben Hogan so we can list a number of players that weren?t there ? the greats of the game. It doesn?t work like that.
?You can only win the tournament you are playing in and you can only beat the field that is there. So it is irrelevant at the end of the day who is in the field. There will always be somebody missing.?
Kim, who has won tournaments this season, said Woods would be missed.
?When Tiger isn?t playing, obviously the TV ratings are going to take a hit,? said Kim who is playing in his fifth major. The guy?s been the face of our Tour and he?s hard to replace.?
Ian Poulter was the runner-up at British Open and says not having Woods to worry about makes it easier on the other players.
?Injuries are injuries and we are sportsmen, not robots,? Poulter said after practice on Tuesday.
?Tiger?s got an injury which is going to keep him out for 10 months. That?s unfortunate. But I think it?s an opportunity for a lot of people to try and take advantage of the world No 1 not being in the golf tournament.?
No European-born player has won a PGA Championship since Scotland?s Tommy Armour 58 years ago. But Europeans have enjoyed success in the past at Oakland Hills.
In the last major competition at Oakland Hills, Europe thrashed the United States 18 1/2 to 9 1/2 at the 2004 Ryder Cup.
?That course certainly gives me a lot of good memories,? says England?s Poulter. ?Obviously those happy memories are here around this golf course and I am very, very looking forward to getting out there.?
The PGA Championship is also considered the one that produces the most first time major winners.
In the past 18 PGA Championships 14 players have gone on to claim their first major title. Vijay Singh captured the 1998 tournament for the first of his two PGA Championship wins.
Ben Hogan referred to Oakland Hills as the ?The Monster? after his US Open win in 1951 and the nickname has stuck ever since. It is just the fourth course to host the PGA Championship at least three times and it was given a makeover recently which included adding length.
?The golf course is as difficult as everybody described,? reigning Masters Champion Trevor Immelman said on Tuesday. ?I thought it was in incredible shape today when I went out there.
?The rough seems pretty dense, pretty thick. Guys who come out here this week and hit the ball really accurately off the tee are going to be the guys who come out on top at the end of the week.
?If you hit it in the rough it is almost impossible to get the ball on to the green from the rough. So the guy who drives the ball the straightest here is definitely going to have a huge advantage.?
Not every PGA Tour player believes Oakland Hills deserves its venerable reputation. One unidentified player, who didn?t want to give his name for obvious reasons, told Sports Illustrated this week, ?The greens are ... straight from Putt-Putt, minus the swinging logs and clowns? mouths.
?I have no idea why Oakland Hills is rated so high.
?What?s the mystique? Because Ben Hogan won the US Open there a million years ago and bragged that he finally tamed the Monster? That?s prehistoric.??AFP
Even with the world number one not in the field, Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk, Padraig Harrington, Vijay Singh, Sergio Garcia and Anthony Kim will have plenty of tough competition.
The final major championship of the season kicks off on Thursday at Oakland Hills Country Club and includes 94 of the top 100 players making it the toughest major field this year.
American Furyk, who consistently plays well in majors, said he tries to focus on his own game and not how Woods? absence will impact the tournament.
?I wish him well,? Furyk said of Woods. ?I hope his recovery is good. We need him out here. He is obviously the best player in the world. He builds a lot of excitement around events.
?But whether he?s here or not, I have a job to do and I don?t really worry about the impact.?Woods, who is just the fourth PGA Champion to not defend his title the following year, told ESPN radio on Tuesday that he finds it difficult to watch golf when he is not playing.
?I probably won?t watch any of this one,? he stated.
?This one?s a little more frustrating for me. I?m two-time defending champ and not being able to get out there and defend something I?ve already defended once and can?t do it twice, it?s a little bit frustrating.?
Asked if it was less gratifying winning a major title without Woods in the field, two-time reigning British Open champion Harrington said on Tuesday: ?Jack Nicklaus didn?t play in the Open Championship either, either did Arnold Palmer or Ben Hogan so we can list a number of players that weren?t there ? the greats of the game. It doesn?t work like that.
?You can only win the tournament you are playing in and you can only beat the field that is there. So it is irrelevant at the end of the day who is in the field. There will always be somebody missing.?
Kim, who has won tournaments this season, said Woods would be missed.
?When Tiger isn?t playing, obviously the TV ratings are going to take a hit,? said Kim who is playing in his fifth major. The guy?s been the face of our Tour and he?s hard to replace.?
Ian Poulter was the runner-up at British Open and says not having Woods to worry about makes it easier on the other players.
?Injuries are injuries and we are sportsmen, not robots,? Poulter said after practice on Tuesday.
?Tiger?s got an injury which is going to keep him out for 10 months. That?s unfortunate. But I think it?s an opportunity for a lot of people to try and take advantage of the world No 1 not being in the golf tournament.?
No European-born player has won a PGA Championship since Scotland?s Tommy Armour 58 years ago. But Europeans have enjoyed success in the past at Oakland Hills.
In the last major competition at Oakland Hills, Europe thrashed the United States 18 1/2 to 9 1/2 at the 2004 Ryder Cup.
?That course certainly gives me a lot of good memories,? says England?s Poulter. ?Obviously those happy memories are here around this golf course and I am very, very looking forward to getting out there.?
The PGA Championship is also considered the one that produces the most first time major winners.
In the past 18 PGA Championships 14 players have gone on to claim their first major title. Vijay Singh captured the 1998 tournament for the first of his two PGA Championship wins.
Ben Hogan referred to Oakland Hills as the ?The Monster? after his US Open win in 1951 and the nickname has stuck ever since. It is just the fourth course to host the PGA Championship at least three times and it was given a makeover recently which included adding length.
?The golf course is as difficult as everybody described,? reigning Masters Champion Trevor Immelman said on Tuesday. ?I thought it was in incredible shape today when I went out there.
?The rough seems pretty dense, pretty thick. Guys who come out here this week and hit the ball really accurately off the tee are going to be the guys who come out on top at the end of the week.
?If you hit it in the rough it is almost impossible to get the ball on to the green from the rough. So the guy who drives the ball the straightest here is definitely going to have a huge advantage.?
Not every PGA Tour player believes Oakland Hills deserves its venerable reputation. One unidentified player, who didn?t want to give his name for obvious reasons, told Sports Illustrated this week, ?The greens are ... straight from Putt-Putt, minus the swinging logs and clowns? mouths.
?I have no idea why Oakland Hills is rated so high.
?What?s the mystique? Because Ben Hogan won the US Open there a million years ago and bragged that he finally tamed the Monster? That?s prehistoric.??AFP
