Edoardo Molinari wins at Gleneagles

GLENEAGLES, Scotland (AP) — Edoardo Molinari birdied the final three holes at Gleneagles on Sunday to win the Johnnie Walker Championship and secure a place on Europe's Ryder Cup team.

The 29-year-old Italian received a wild card pick from European captain Colin Montgomerie, a few hours after shooting a 1-under 71 during the final round to beat Brett Rumford by a shot.

"I was under a lot of pressure out there because I did not know if second place was going to be good enough to impress Colin Montgomerie with the wild-card situation," Molinari said. "So the win was very important to me."

Molinari finished at 10-under 278. Overnight leader Francesco Molinari - Edoardo's brother - shot 75 to share third with Wales' Jamie Donaldson and Miguel Angel Jimenez of Spain. Jimenez also secured a Ryder Cup spot, as did Sweden's Peter Hanson, who finished tied for 19th.

"My caddy told me on the 16th tee that with a couple of birdies I could still win and I feel fantastic to have been able to do that," said Molinari, who trailed Rumford by two shots at the time, only to birdie the next two holes to draw even.

Rumford did not expect to be in contention for his third European Tour victory but, a pair of closing birdies left him with a 2-under 70 and the clubhouse lead.

"It was never going to be a day of low scoring," he said. "The wind was very strong out on the course and very difficult to read."

The decision by Jimenez to seek a late entry to play at Gleneagles rather than attend his nephew's wedding in Malaga paid off.

He started the tournament in the ninth and last automatic qualifying place to play in the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor. An even-par 72, which left him at 7 under, earned him a share of third place and his fourth match against the United States team.

"It means a lot to me," the 46-year-old Jimenez said. "It means more as you get older and now to be playing alongside the likes of Martin Kaymer and Rory McIlroy will mean I am playing with a third generation.

"My nephew and my family understood about the wedding - they told me I had to what I had to do, and that's what I did."

On a day of high winds and high scoring, Hanson also secured his Ryder Cup debut with a 73 and a 2 under finish. He had recently climbed into automatic qualifying position by winning the Czech Open.

"I was very tired coming here to Scotland and I have been battling not to think about making the team," Hanson said. "But now I am going to celebrate."

Dynamo head coach Kinnear pleased with team's performanceHanson wins Czech Open after 3-way playoff

Tiger tumbles with a triple bogey at Barclays

PARAMUS, N.J. (AP) — One swing cost Tiger Woods any chance of winning The Barclays.

Now he can only hope get gets to keep playing after Sunday.

Four shots out of the lead to start the third round, Woods hit a shocking 3-wood off the first tee - part pop-up, part duck-hook - that sailed over the trees and off the property at Ridgewood Country Club. It led to a triple bogey, and he never got those three shots back.

Woods finished with back-to-back birdies for a 1-over 72 that put him well behind the leaders.

"In the end, it probably cost me a chance to win the tournament," said Woods, who rallied to get to 3-under 210. "But I'm pleased how I sucked it up and got it back the rest of the day, when it easily could have gone the other way. Hitting a ball like that, it can derail you. And it didn't. I got it right back."

It was hard to believe the swing came from someone who had only missed two fairways over the first 36 holes. Woods attributed it to having too many swing thoughts swirling between the ears.

"I got caught between two swings," he said. "And I wasn't committed to what I was doing. I wasn't focused on exactly what I should have been doing, what I've been doing on the range, what I've been doing the last couple of weeks. And it backfired."

The top 100 in the FedEx Cup standings advance to the second round next week in the Deutsche Bank Championship outside Boston. Woods started the playoffs at No. 112, and he seemed safe after opening with a 65 to share the lead.

At one point Saturday, after a bogey from a fairway bunker on the ninth hole, Woods was projected outside the top 100. That was his last big mistake, however.

Woods hit to the front of the green in two on the 616-yard 13th hole for an easy up-and-down for birdie, and his 3-wood on the 587-yard 17th stopped 20 feet from the pin for a two-putt birdie. He finished with a 7-iron to 8 feet for birdie on the 18th.

Equally important were two pars in the middle of his round.

After his atrocious start, Woods hit through the green on the sixth hole and chipped poorly to about 10 feet. He made that putt for par, then escaped with par after getting mud on his ball in the middle of the seventh fairway.

Woods' approach sailed right of the green and bunkers, leaving no room for error. The pitch under tree limbs landed in the rough, trickled onto the green and he made an 8-foot putt.

"I need to make that putt to not let it slide any further," he said.

Woods all but ruled himself out of the tournament, although Sunday looms large.

He most likely will need a round somewhere around par or better to advance to Boston, and the better he plays, the higher he moves up and increases his chances for the third round in Chicago, which is for the top 70.

In the meantime, he's still working on his swing, although there remains a higher priority.

"Posting a score," Woods said. "Always."

Woods plays his best round of the yearEngland squeak past Slovenia and into 2nd round; Slovenia out.

Trio tied for lead after 2nd round at Gleneagles

GLENEAGLES, Scotland (AP) — Gary Boyd and David Lynn of England and Julien Guerrier of France were tied for the lead at the Johnnie Walker Championship on Friday, completing two rounds at 9 under.

Guerrier shot a 5-under 67, while Boyd and Lynn had 68s. Marc Warren of Scotland (70), Mark Foster of England (67) and George Coetzee of South Africa (68) were two shots back.

Simon Dyson of England shot a 70 to grab a share of seventh place at 6-under. He is four places outside of qualifying for the European Ryder Cup team and needs to capture the Johnnie Walker to ensure automatic selection for the event at Celtic Manor.

Also at 6 under were Paul McGinley of Ireland (70), Miguel Angel Jimenez of Spain (68) and Edoardo Molinari of Italy (68).

Jimenez was a late entry as he looks to secure his place on the Ryder Cup team, while Molinari is hoping a good showing will help him earn a captain's pick.

Guerrier, who captured the 2006 British Amateur championship and turned professional right after the 2007 Masters, was inspired by Martin Kaymer's recent run to the PGA Championship title.

"I watched Martin Kaymer, 26 years old, make the fantastic title in the U.S. PGA and I said, 'He's a good player, but I'm a good striker and I can do it,'" Guerrier said. "So I try to do it and don't try too much, just play your golf, play your best and go see the flag and play it. That's all."

European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie missed the cut and will now focus on his Sunday night choice of captain's picks.

"I just think it's super that everyone is performing to the best of their ability," Montgomerie said after shooting 71 and 76 to finish at 3-over.

"I can't please everybody, the only way I could do that was to pick 20 players, but I have to leave out some good players, some winners," the Scott said. "It's a good headache to have."

Hanson wins Czech Open after 3-way playoffWorld Cup Preview: Group A, Final Matchday

Woods plays his best round of the year

PARAMUS, N.J. (AP) — Yes, that really was Tiger Woods' name atop the leaderboard.

In his first tournament since his divorce, Woods finally looked like the No. 1 player in the world Thursday at the Barclays when he opened with a 6-under 65, his lowest score of the year, to share the lead with Vaughn Taylor. It was his first time leading after any round on the PGA Tour since the Tour Championship last September.

"It's exciting to hit the ball flush again," Woods said. "It's something I've been missing all year."

He didn't miss much at Ridgewood Country Club. Woods hit all but one fairway and putted for birdie on all but two holes. And while he hit his driver only twice, they were two of his best shots of the day - including on the 291-yard fifth hole, where his drive landed pin-high and settled 15 feet away.

Was it just a coincidence that his game showed up so soon after his marriage was dissolved?

"I can't really say that's the case," he said. "As far as golf, it was nice to put it together."

Woods and Taylor both played in the morning, when the greens were smooth and the conditions were only breezy. They had a one-shot lead over Adam Scott, Brian Gay and Ryan Palmer. Scott played in the afternoon, where a gust of wind played tricks on him at the final hole and led to bogey.

Scott endured a long day in the pro-am Wednesday and didn't think Ridgewood would serve up a 65 to anyone.

"Seeing some good scores this morning made me change my mind," he said.

That one of those scores belonged to Woods was hardly a surprise.

"For him to piece things together can't be too hard," Scott said. "He's very good."

The last time Woods' was atop the leaderboard after any round of any tournament was when he won the Australian Masters on Nov. 15, less than two weeks before his life caved in on him - the car crash after Thanksgiving night, details of adultery, five months away from the game and a broken marriage, which officially ended Monday.

His golf hasn't been very good either, which is why Woods began the FedEx Cup playoffs 112th out of 125 players who qualified. He was so low down the list that he was first to tee off under a sunny sky at Ridgewood, the first time he's done that in his PGA Tour career.

It worked to his advantage.

"With fresh greens, everybody in our group was making putts on the front nine," Woods said. "You had to get it today."

And he did. The 65 was his lowest score in 46 rounds, dating to a 62 in the BMW Championship last year. Taylor grinned when asked if he was surprised to see Woods' name on the leaderboard.

"Somewhat, you know?" he said. "It's good to see him back up top."

With sunshine and a light breeze, conditions were ripe for scoring. Palmer had a chance to join the leaders until a three-putt bogey on the 18th put him at 66. Even though the greens became bumpy in the afternoon after so much foot traffic, the course was soft enough to allow for good scores. There were 14 players who shot 67, including Davis Love III, defending champion Heath Slocum and Stewart Cink.

Phil Mickelson, with his ninth chance in the last four months to replace Woods at No. 1 in the world, made only one birdie for a 72.

For Woods, the timing could not have been better.

Only the top 100 in the FedEx Cup standings advance to the second round of the playoffs next week in the Deutsche Bank Championship. Woods at least needs to make the cut, then finish in the middle of the pack. He had a better solution.

"I figure if I win, I should be OK," Woods said.

For one of the few times this year, he gave himself ample reason to believe that. Woods opened with a 3-wood down the middle of the fairway, a pitching wedge to 15 feet below the hole and a birdie putt.

More followed, even on the par 5s, which have given Woods fits in recent months.

He mostly used his 3-wood off the tee, figuring that was enough to reach the corners without having to take on the tops of trees that line the fairways. Plus, with saturated conditions from rain earlier in the week, tour officials allowed players to lift, clean and place their golf balls in the fairway.

"With the ball in hand, it's much more important to hit the fairways," Woods said. It was the first time since the 2006 British Open at Royal Liverpool that he hit his 3-wood off the tee on every par 5.

The two times he hit the driver turned out to be two of his best shots of the day.

After the tee shot on the par-4 fifth - only six players hit that green off the tee - Woods used driver into the wind on the 18th, hitting it so well that he had only a 7-iron into the green. He hit a punch shot to just over 6 feet for a final birdie.

"It was just a low, bullet fade right around the corner," he said. "It was just the shape of the shot, because it was different than most of the 3-woods I played all day. I didn't hold a single 3-wood. I was turning them over. Now, the shape of the driver in the complete opposite direction ... and I hadn't hit a driver since the fifth hole."

USGA executive: Woods wrong to criticize greensEngland squeak past Slovenia and into 2nd round; Slovenia out.

Woods looks to stay in playoffs, earn Ryder pick this week at Barclays

The FedEx Cup has never caught on to the extent that the Tour hoped it would, and those ads in which players drone on about its significance are tedious and a classic oversell.

Still, Commissioner Tim Finchem had to do something when his big stars were routinely skipping the Tour Championship, and the end of the season was so woefully lacking in definition.

Thus, the FedEx Cup, now in its fourth year.

The PGA Championship calls itself "Glory's Last Shot," but that slogan is almost as apt for the FedEx, which tries to wrap a tidy bow around the year in golf. Sometimes it even succeeds.

Then again, you could change the marketing to, The FedEx Cup: It's Big-Market Golf.

This week's Barclays at New Jersey's Ridgewood Country Club begins a four-week bake-off in New York (across the Hudson from Ridgewood, but close enough), Boston, Chicago and Atlanta.

A field of 125 players at the Barclays will be pared down to 100 (Deutsche Bank), which will become 70 (BMW), which will finally become 30 for the Tour Championship, Sept. 23-26.

But we may not have to wait that long to answer some of the game's burning questions; tournaments this week may bring clarity to a season that's been hard to reconcile.

Is Tiger finished? Will his long-awaited divorce, announced this week, free his mind and lower his scores? What's with Phil? Does the U.S. Ryder Cup team have a prayer of winning in Wales?

And should we be celebrating the emergence of all of the game's 20-somethings, or just the foreign-born ones?

In Scotland, European captain Colin Montgomerie will keep a keen eye on the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles, as it's the last event for Euro hopefuls to qualify on points.

Then again, he'll have to monitor the Barclays, too, because that field will include as yet unqualified European stars Paul Casey, Luke Donald, Padraig Harrington and Justin Rose.

Although he has an enviable embarrassment of riches, Monty in some ways has a tougher task than U.S. captain Corey Pavin. (This assumes it's harder to leave players off a team when said players are performing well, like, for example, the Molinari brothers.)

As usual, though, most American fans will focus squarely on Woods, who needs to play well at the Barclays not just because it's been almost a year since he won on Tour (at the '09 BMW), but because if he turns in yet another middling showing in a season full of them he won't qualify for the rest of the playoffs.

He's a lowly 112th in FedEx Cup points, which means he will have to move up at least 12 spots this week. At least he won't have third-seeded Jim Furyk to beat. Furyk was disqualified for missing his pro-am time Wednesday morning.

There's also the matter of Woods needing a captain's pick from U.S. Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin, a predicament no one expected to see Woods in for at least another six to eight years.

Phil Mickelson would dearly love to win a tournament whose title sponsor is one of his biggest corporate supporters.

And the Rookie of the Year title is still up for grabs, as is the Player of the Year honor, for that matter.

It's been a trying summer for the golf course, which had to weather the second hottest July on record in New Jersey. A 1929 A.W. Tillinghast design, Ridgewood got raves when it hosted the '08 Barclays. (The '09 event was held at less widely praised Liberty National.) The mostly poa annua greens slope severely, mostly from back to front, and are guarded by deep bunkers.

Mickelson, who played 18 holes at Ridgewood with select Barclays company the week of the PGA, tied for 19th place there in 2008. Given that he tied for 52nd last year, he is likely happy to be back.

Victories in one or more of the FedEx playoff events by any of the five players with two wins on Tour this year (Ernie Els, Furyk, Justin Rose, Steve Stricker, Hunter Mahan) would seem to be good enough to merit election as Player of the Year.

Finchem's four-headed FedEx monster has given us a shining moment or two (Camilo Villegas in 2008 comes to mind), and a bit of narrative to take us into the offseason. Let's hope for more of the same this year. Last year's FedEx result, Tiger winning the $10 million first prize the same day Phil won the Tour Championship, seems like such a long time ago.

Here at home, on the banks of the Puget Sound in Tacoma, Wash., new gem Chambers Bay (2015 U.S. Open) will get its first significant test over five days of match play at the U.S. Amateur.

The sun shines all over the Seattle area, where not only will Chambers be the first muni to host the Amateur, the Champions Tour will drop in for the Boeing Classic at TPC Snoqualmie Ridge.

Nationwide Tour strivers, who will play in the Knoxville News Sentinel Open at Fox Den C.C., are at that point in the season where they have to resist the urge to check the money list hourly. (Not that making the PGA Tour provides a buffer against the game's cruelties. Kevin Johnson, who won in Knoxville last year, has made just four cuts and $63K in 22 starts on Tour in '10.)

The LPGA tour heads north to Winnipeg for the CN Canadian Women's Open at St. Charles Country Club. Suzann Pettersen defends, but her victory last year came at a different venue, Priddis Greens Golf and Country Club.

5 questions for the Fire, including: Playoffs?Corey Pavin says Tiger Woods is ‘high on his list’ for the Ryder Cup

Questions for... Martin Kaymer

As the FedEx Cup playoffs begin outside New York City at the Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, New Jersey, Martin Kaymer is in Manhattan to talk with the media, shop for clothes and enjoy the city's restaurants and nightlife. The PGA Championship winner was not eligible for the FedEx Cup Playoffs because he is not a member of the PGA Tour. On Tuesday afternoon after ringing the opening bell at the NASDAQ, the 25-year old native of Dusseldorf, Germany, dropped by the SI offices with his girlfriend, Allison Michelleti, and his agent, Johan Elliott.

What have you been doing since the PGA Championship?
Not a lot to be honest. I haven't hit a golf ball since Sunday at the PGA. I was just trying to realize what happened. I was in Jamaica last week just relaxing. I was in the pool and on the beach.

Have you swung a club?
Yes. I stand in front of the mirror and make swings. I also need to watch the Golf Channel. I'm addicted to that.

After finishing seventh at the British Open and eighth at the U.S. Open, you must have felt pretty confident going into Whistling Straits?
Right away I felt very comfortable on the golf course. It didn't play like a links course but it looked like one. It has a very European style that I really enjoyed. My short game was really good that week. I could read the greens very well. Sometimes you go on a golf course and you feel very comfortable on the greens.

Before you won the PGA Championship, most American golf fans associated golf in Germany with Bernhard Langer, a two-time Masters champion and presently the top-ranked player on the Champions Tour. Did the two of you have a conversation after the PGA?
He sent me a text message saying congratulations and that hopefully that the PGA is just one of many majors that I will win in my career. I only see him twice a year at the Masters and the BMW International in Germany. He lives in Florida and I live in Germany.

You seemed to have brought some of Langer's reserve and calmness to your golf game.
I'm German. I'm a pretty conservative guy. I learned very early that it doesn't help your game when you're mad. It just hurts you. If you're upset about the golf shot the next two or three holes it doesn't help. I learned this lesson very earlier from my parents who wouldn't allow my brother and I to break any clubs. To this day I have never broken a club, not even accidentally.

You had a very emotional win at the BMW International in 2008. Your mother was battling cancer and she died shortly after the tournament ended. Was that your biggest win until the PGA?
That was obviously a huge win for me. But field-wise the tournament that I won at Loch Lomond last year at the Scottish Open was my biggest win [before the PGA Championship]. It was a world-class field that included a lot of good American players.

What's next for you now that you're over the mountain of winning a major.
I hope that over the next few years that I will play as consistently as I did the last couple of years. One of my biggest goals I have is to win the British Open at St. Andrews. That would be pretty cool. When I turned pro in 2005 my goal was to win a major and play in the Ryder Cup and to be the No. 1 player in Europe. I can accomplish all three of those things this year.

I know that you plan to play more in the States next year, but how important is it for you to support the European Tour?
It's very important that the European Tour and PGA Tour help each other out. Everybody struggles a little bit in these times of financial crisis. If the European Tour players can help out the PGA Tour and the PGA Tour help us out a little bit then I think both tours will be fine.

What do you think you will get out of your game from playing in the States?
I can see that when I play in America, especially in Florida, it's different grass than what I'm accustomed to playing in Europe. So I think I can improve my results over here by playing more tournaments, especially on the different grasses, where you learn different kinds of golf shots. I think I can also learn a lot as a person from my playing on the PGA Tour.

In Florida you will be playing on Bermuda grass. Talk about the differences from that grass and the bent grass you play in Europe.
When the European Tour goes to Spain we play on the Bermuda, but it's not like in Florida. In Europe we don't really play with grain. On the Bermuda greens you have to read the grain sometimes more than you do the break. When you have a putt that's left-to-right, the Bermuda grass might be growing in the opposite direction.

At the end of last season you broke your foot in a go-cart accident. Did you learn a lesson from that experience and are you riding the go-carts less now?
After my surgery I couldn't play golf. And I think four or five months later I was back on the go-cart. But I drove like a little girl.

Does this mean you take it easy on the Autobahn?
I'm German so I like fast cars. I'm sponsored by BMW so I drive a 2010 M3. It's a manual with a Techtronic on the steering wheel with 330 horsepower. It can get up to 170-180 miles per hour in a matter of seconds.

German golf fans could only see the PGA Championship on Sky TV, a pay network. What's the state of golf in the country?
We used to have four European Tour events in Germany, but this year we only had one, the BMW in Munich. It will be huge for us if we were to get the Ryder Cup in 2018. But obviously soccer is the biggest sport that we have.

Does it bother you that many people will remember your PGA Championship more for the two-stroke penalty that was assessed to Dustin Johnson on the 72d hole than the fact that you won the tournament on a tough scoring day in a three-hole playoff?
It was like 1999 when Paul Lawrie won the British Open after Jean Van de Velde made the mistakes on the last hole. I think when a lot of people talk about that British Open they talk about Van de Velde. I have no influence on this kind of thinking. Obviously everybody wished that Dustin wouldn't have made the mistake. He deserved to be in the playoff. It was tough for me and Bubba [Watson] to see that. You never want to see a colleague penalized like this. But for me at the end of the day it didn't matter to me if I played one or two golfers.

It was probably overlooked in the aftermath of Dustin's fiasco, but you had to make a 15-footer for par on the 72nd hole to just get in the playoff.
It took my caddie and I a long time to read that putt. I had made that putt many times in the practice rounds. Because we knew that the pin was going to be there one day. We had putted it from many angles. It was a right-to-left downhill putt that was very fast. But it was difficult to see because it was in the shadow. For 17 holes all the greens had been in the sun until the last hole. I hit a pure stroke and I just waited to hear the roar of the crowd. It was a pretty cool feeling.

On the last playoff hole with Bubba you both are in the right rough. What were you thinking as you got to your ball?
I was very surprised when I saw Bubba pulling out a long club because I had 215 yards to the flag and he was about 15 to 20 yards behind me. So he had about 230 yards over that ditch. I was expecting him to hit it on that right side and if he got a flyer it would roll on the green. I was never expecting him to go for the flag. So once he hit it in the water I think it would have been stupid for me to go for it. I would have needed some luck to get over the water and I didn't want to rely on that. I knew that the best that he could do was a five and by laying up I knew I could give myself a chance to make a par and make no worse than a five.

What do you know about Celtic Manor in Wales, the site of the Ryder Cup in October?
It's a very long golf course. It's not going to be the best weather in Wales. The golf course sits down in a little valley. But it's built for the Ryder Cup.

Do you believe in all the hype about the European team being the favorite?
We have a good team but it's match play. When we play stroke play, you take the players that we have this year and the players that the Americans have and take the average score, I think we would score better. But it's not all about that.

This will be your first Ryder Cup as player but two years ago Nick Faldo let you tag along with the team at Valhalla because he knew you would soon be a star on the European side.
I went to all the team meetings and dinners and functions. But I didn't feel like I belonged there. Now it's my time. It's very exciting for me and my family.

When are you playing next?
I'm playing in Holland at the KLM Open in September. Then I'll go practice in Phoenix for a couple of weeks before the Ryder Cup. I had been playing a lot of golf for the last few months coming into the PGA. Too much. I wanted to make the Ryder Cup so bad.

When do you practice?
I like to go out to the range early in the morning when the sun comes up. You can hear the birds and no one else is there. This is very relaxing for me.

Crew View: Columbus in good shapeHanson wins Czech Open after 3-way playoff

Hanson wins Czech Open after 3-way playoff

CELADNA, Czech Republic (AP) — Peter Hanson won the Czech Open after a three-way playoff Sunday with Gary Boyd and Peter Lawrie, keeping his Ryder Cup hopes alive.

The Swede won the European Tour event with an 18-foot birdie on the second extra hole - the par-4 18th.

Hanson needed a victory to have a chance of making Colin Montgomerie's European team for the Ryder Cup.

"Today was really hard," Hanson said. "I was lucky in the end, after I got off to a bad start. It feels fantastic."

Hanson led by four strokes overnight, but had a disastrous front nine that included three straight bogeys. But birdies on fifth, 10th and 16th kept him in contention and he managed a 2-over 74 to finish at 10-under 278 at the Prosper Golf Resort.

"I put myself in a great position yesterday and I'm feeling absolutely great that I managed to do it," Hanson said.

Irishman Lawrie, who started eight shots behind Hanson, had an eagle on the 10th and finished with a 66, while English rookie Boyd had a 68.

Englishman Simon Dyson - another Ryder Cup hopeful who needed a win to qualify - shot a 70 and dropped from second overnight into a share of fifth.

Miguel Angel Jimenez of Spain, who co-designed the 7,155-yard course at the northeastern Czech town, tied for seventh after a 73.

Jimenez was eighth in the standings before Celadna and close to automatically making the Ryder Cup.

Jimenez won't be playing next week at the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles, Scotland, the final event in the race for the nine automatic Europe Ryder Cup spots.

"It means so much to get in the top nine," Hanson said. "It turned out in the end that both me, Miguel and Simon Dyson, who had so much to play for, didn't play our best in the end. But I managed to scrape it round the back nine and make that birdie on 16 to get into the playoff."

Sweden's Oskar Henningsson won in Celadna in 2009, the European Tour's first year in the Czech Republic since 1997.

World Cup Preview: South Korea vs. Greece, Group BLanger wins his 1st senior major title

Feherty spreads the love to T.O. and the rest of the American football fraternity

Football season is upon us, and I'm an American, so dadgumitt, whatever that means, I'm going to start paying attention! One problem that jumps right out at me is how so many college players make it through college in the first place when, after they've turned pro, they demonstrate clearly that they have IQs similar to the average special-needs squirrel. I saw The Blind Side — isn't there some kind of academic standard that players have to meet?

But we pad these gifted athletes up in imaginary passing grades so that they can go play ball for the school, the alumni, the community, and eventually the American sports fans, all in the hope that they can attain the American dream: To turn pro and be paid millions of dollars for being an utter moron who can catch, jump, hit, or throw.

The first sign of problems pops up when one of our athledemically unbalanced heroes is put in front of a camera and asked to form a partial sentence. That's when the where-the-hell-is-my-agent look suddenly appears, or a name gets changed to a number for no apparent reason, or someone shoots himself in the leg with an unregistered firearm. And these might be a couple of the smarter moves. Hell, we've just had one bible-thumping senior who actually volunteered information that he was still a virgin! I mean, it's bad enough being a 22-year-old guy who's never gotten his bean snapped, or believes that God might care who wins his football game, but actually sharing this information with the general public? At the very least such an unforced error should warrant an F in social sciences. (Personally, I believe I'd rather shoot myself in the leg with an unregistered firearm or stab myself in the sack with a concealed Sharpie.)

But seriously, when these guys get to the pro ranks, many of them are clearly unable to deal with the incredibly difficult tasks that are expected of them, those being, playing ball and shutting the f*#! up. Take Terrell Owens (Buffalo did, and got a paltry 55 catches and 5 TDs for its trouble) as an example. I live in Dallas, and am therefore expected to be a Cowboys fan, but when the oxygen-thief Owens arrived, it was too much for me. And what's worse, the remedy was so simple. All Jerry Jones had to do was take away T.O.'s face mask! With a mouth that size, you know that man could have caught a basketball (let alone a football), held it firmly under his tongue to ward off any strip attempts by one of the league's psychotic outside linebackers, and had his hands free for double-Heisman straight-arms, with the net result being more touchdowns and less noise from his infamous failing-grade pie-hole.

College teams are huge fund-raisers for schools that are at least partly interested in educating our children, who are at this moment being mentally brain-whipped by nerdy little anklebiters from places like China, India and Finland, who are respectfully brilliant at playing the piano, playing cricket, and sliding down icy cliffs without dying. I know, these are not huge crowd-pleasers or money-makers, but dammit, the children who play them are smarter and thinner than ours, and what's more, most of the little bastards speak English better than ours.

Perhaps there is room for a different kind of college in America, and a way for the government to make a fast buck or trillion to help reduce the deficit. That's right, I said government. College sports are too big to fail. It's no coincidence that the schools with the best athletes also have the best-looking women. That's a legacy of evolution, like the big male Dall sheep up on the mountainside, running headfirst into each other until one of them is dazed enough to go back to the Dall dormitory, content to beta his kappa to the latest copy of Sheeptang, or whatever sheep outside of Ireland do these days. To the winners go the spoils, which in this case are the best-looking, most fertile females. For eons, all this has done is ensure that the boys at the top of the hill are good-looking, strong imbeciles with defective short-term memories, and most of them end up over some hillbilly's mantelpiece, looking good, strong, dead, and stuffed. Sounds like a sport to this fan of the sheepskin! But whatever, if we were to call these "Survivy League Schools," and sold the rights to the cable networks not just for the games, but also had their whole campuses covered by cameras, showing classroom and sorority/fraternity action, too, along with parents' day and homecoming etc., I think we'd be onto a winner — created entirely by losers.

Let's see the Chinese make that work.

US and college coaches all over SUM U-17 CupGolf Magazine Interview: Drew Brees

Weibring, Lehman share lead at the Tradition

SUNRIVER, Ore. (AP) — The final two holes at Crosswater Club have historically played as the most difficult during the Jeld-Wen Tradition. Not on Thursday for D.A. Weibring.

Weibring rallied with birdies at Nos. 17 and 18 to shoot a 5-under 67 and share the first-round lead with Tom Lehman at the fourth of five majors on the Champions Tour.

Weibring made his lone bogey of the day at the par-4, 468-yard 14th to slip to 3 under. But Weibring wiped that out and more by making a 12-foot birdie putt at the 244-yard, par-3 17th, and then an 8-footer for birdie at the par-4, 456-yard 18th.

"You don't normally plan on making birdies at 17 and 18," said Weibring, whose last Champions Tour win came in the 2008 Seniors Players Championship.

Weibring, ranked 49th in Champions Tour earnings in 2010, said he's "a day in, day out" proposition in the tournament, depending on whether a bone spur in his left shoulder causes pain. He has had some Tradition success at Crosswater Club, finishing third in 2007.

Like Weibring, Lehman mastered the final hole, which yielded just six birdies Thursday. He made a 30-footer at 18 to pull even with Weibring for the lead. It was typical of Lehman's day, with good putting making up for poor iron play. Five of Lehman's six birdie putts ranged from 15 to 30 feet.

"The irons some days feel like a spatula in your hand. I hit very few good shots," Lehman said. "If I hadn't had a good putting round, it would have a very mediocre day."

Weibring and Lehman by no means separated themselves from others on the leaderboard. Nearly one-third of the 66-man field is within two strokes of the lead. A total of 36 players broke par at the 7,533-yard Crosswater Club.

Lehman said he expected that someone would fire a low score because Crosswater's fairways and greens were soft due to rain from a thunderstorm earlier in the week.

"There are opportunities out there, and the guys out here are good and will take advantage," Lehman said.

Five players shot 68, one stroke behind the co-leaders. Among that group is Corey Pavin, the U.S. Ryder Cup captain, who made an eagle at the par-4 10th by holing a 163-yard 8-iron.

Also at 68 is 2008 Tradition champion Fred Funk, Bob Gilder, Fulton Allem and Gil Morgan. The unlikeliest of that group is Allem, who is ranked 91st in Champions Tour earnings this season.

Allem, who is scheduled to undergo back surgery in December, said he's still a capable player, depending on his health.

"If I wake up and I can touch my toes, I've got a chance," said Allem, who reached 5 under before making a bogey at No. 17.

Funk, who has five Champions Tour wins in five seasons, but none in 2010, seems to come alive at Crosswater. In 13 Tradition rounds at Crosswater, Funk is 39 under par.

"You've got to be careful out here, and I've done a good job at that," Funk said.

Bernhard Langer, the tour's season earnings and Charles Schwab Cup leader, was among 13 players at 69. Aiming to become the second player in Champions Tour history to win three consecutive majors, he made three birdies on the back nine to overcome an even-par front side.

Langer comes into the Tradition having won the Senior British Open and U.S. Senior Open during the past month.

Others at 69 include Hale Irwin, Mark Calcavecchia, Loren Roberts and Bobby Clampett.

Heading a group of five players at 70 is Andy Bean and Bob Tway. Tom Watson and Nick Price were among 11 players to shoot 71.

Defending Tradition champion Mike Reid had an awful day, shooting a 7-over par 79. Only one player scored worse, Phil Blackmar with an 81.

Two prominent players missing from the field are Fred Couples and Paul Azinger. Couples, ranked second in the Schwab Cup standings, opted to play in this week's PGA Tour event, the Wyndham Championship. Azinger was disqualified after failing to show for Tuesday's pro-am.

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Atwal ties Wyndham record with 61 to take two-shot lead

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — If Arjun Atwal keeps this up, he'll have a new PGA Tour card in no time.

Atwal tied a tournament record with a 61 Thursday and took a two-stroke lead at the Wyndham Championship.

Matching Carl Pettersson's 2-year-old mark at the par-70 Sedgefield Country Club course, Atwal was 9 under through the first round of the PGA Tour's final event before the playoffs.

Brandt Snedeker shot a 63. John Rollins, Kevin Streelman, Lucas Glover, Boo Weekley, David Toms and Jeev Milkha Singh were at 64, and six players shot 65s during an occasionally wet day that left Sedgefield's greens soft and its leaderboard crowded.

It was quite the encouraging start for Atwal, who lost his tour card last month and had to play his way into this event in a Monday qualifier across town at Forest Oaks Country Club - where this tournament was held from 1977-2007.

He played that course twice before, finishing sixth in 2004, and wound up shooting a 67 to share first place with three other qualifiers. No Monday qualifier has won a tournament since Fred Wadsworth did it at the 1986 Southern Open.

"You get used to making a lot of birdies in the Monday qualifier - otherwise you won't make it," Atwal said. "I kind of continued that today."

The loss of his card capped a series of events that began when he injured his shoulders last year while lifting weights. He received a minor medical extension, but when he came up short on the money list following the RBC Canadian Open, his card was history.

He isn't eligible for the FedEx Cup playoffs that begin next week in New Jersey, not even if he wins. But he can claim his card for 2011 with a victory - either here or at a fall series tournament - or a climb up the money lists of the PGA or Nationwide tours.

"I prefer to win," Atwal said with a laugh.

Three more days like this, and he'll almost certainly take care of that.

Atwal started his bogey-free round on the back nine, made the turn at 4 under and birdied three of his final four holes, sinking a 7-foot putt on No. 9 to cap things.

His big day also included a rare birdie on the peskiest hole of the day - the 18th.

There were a course-low 10 birdies and a course-high 54 bogeys on the freshly lengthened, 507-yard par 4 that wound up knocking several players down a peg on the leaderboard.

- Jay Williamson, who birdied four of his first five holes to move to 6 under through 17, was on the 18th green in two shots but "just hit a terrible first putt" and ultimately three-putted for his second bogey of the round. He finished at 65.

- John Mallinger, who had vaulted up the leaderboard with three straight birdies midway through his back nine, birdied No. 17 to move to 6 under before finishing his 65 with a three-putt bogey.

- Toms had three straight birdies on Nos. 15-17 to go to 7 under. He recovered after sending his second shot into a greenside bunker, only to roll his par putt past the hole and bogey the hole.

- Snedeker, who was at 8 under through 17, sent his second shot onto the back fringe, chipped well past the pin and left his 35-foot par putt about 3 feet short to close with a bogey and fall off the lead.

That put a slight damper on a brilliant back nine for Snedeker, the 2007 Greensboro winner who had six birdies in a seven-hole stretch, including five in a row on Nos. 13-17.

"I realized that it's going to be a long tournament, a long week," Snedeker said. "A guy that shoots 9 under's not going to shoot 9 under for four straight rounds, so it's going to be kind of, wait until you get hot, and when you get hot, take advantage of it, and when you don't, try to minimize your mistakes."

Day 1 was marked by threatening skies and early off-and-on showers - a "nuisance rain," Williamson called it - that softened up and slowed down the Donald Ross-designed greens. At times, they even might have been too slow for the players who left putts short.

But at least the horn didn't sound, as it did repeatedly during a 2009 tournament memorable for its combined 9 1/2 hours of weather delays.

The greens were "a little slower than we normally play on, but overall, it was pretty much attack mode out there," Rollins said.

DIVOTS: Local favorite Brandan Gielow, who graduated from nearby Wake Forest, had a hole-in-one on the 164-yard, par-3 No. 6. ... Matt Bettencourt (wrist injury) withdrew midway through his round.

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Daily fee golf courses missing from PGA rotation

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. (AP) — Anyone wishing to take on the Whistling Straits course where Martin Kaymer won the PGA Championship and Dustin Johnson was buried by a bunker ruling need only to make a reservation and have $340 handy, along with $100 for the caddie.

That's still not as much as Pebble Beach.

Even so, there is a difference in public play between resort courses, such as Pinehurst or Pebble Beach, and true public courses, such as Bethpage Black and Torrey Pines.

The PGA Championship is lacking in the latter.

This came to mind last week during the PGA of America's annual news conference, in which president Jim Remy shifted the focus to public golf. He noted there are more 9-hole courses than 18-hole courses in America, and that 75 percent of the rounds played in the country are on public courses. He cited the average fee at just under $30.

"There are availability of reasonably priced golf courses, and I think that we need to get the message out that there is a real value to a family to be involved in a sport," Remy said.

So why isn't the PGA Championship going to such a course, which can provide a proper test and have room to stage a big event? It has been more than two decades - 1989 at Kemper Lakes outside Chicago - that the PGA Championship was held on a daily fee course.

"We've had discussions with a number of daily fee facilities, along with traditional clubs," PGA chief executive Joe Steranka said. "We'll step out of the box every now and then and try something. And right now, the USGA is doing a great part in taking it to the Bethpage Blacks and Torrey Pines."

Also on the U.S. Open rotation is Chambers Bay outside Seattle in 2015.

The PGA Championship is booked through 2016, and this would be a good time to look at a public course anyone can play. Steranka said that is a good possibility, although such a public course might first go through a rehearsal at a smaller event, such as the Senior PGA.

"The challenge we have short-term is we are booked out so far in advance," he said. "When looking at adding a new site, we want to be able to predict with a degree of certainty that it will be able to stand the test of the top players."

Steranka said the recession has caused the PGA of America to think anew about the model it uses in finding courses and running a major championship. He noted that going to private clubs gives the PGA access to influential business leaders who might be members of the club, which helps build corporate support. That's not as easy when dealing with state or municipal governments.

"Our investment in government relations is laying the groundwork to show us a model of how to build community support outside of relying on the old model," he said. "This latest recession is making us all look at the old business model. The daily fee course can help us from a marketing perspective of the game."

The USGA has done its part.

PLAYOFFS AWAIT: Michael Letzig is on the bubble this week in North Carolina.

Letzig is at No. 125 in the FedEx Cup standings, with the top 125 after this week advancing to the first round of the PGA Tour Playoffs the following week at The Barclays.

Former Masters champion Mike Weir is at No. 126, followed by Jeff Quinney, George McNeill, Brett Quigley and Tom Pernice Jr.

Everyone from No. 100 to No. 125 in the standings has entered the Wyndham Championship this week except for three players - Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin (No. 107), who is playing a Champions Tour major this week; Tiger Woods (No. 108), and Ben Curtis (No. 109).

BEN THERE, DONE THAT: Twice this year, a player had a three-shot lead going into the final round of a major and watched it vanish before reaching the third hole. Dustin Johnson made a triple bogey on the second hole of the U.S. Open, and Nick Watney took a double bogey on the opening hole at the PGA Championship as Johnson made birdie.

For Johnson, it was surreal to watch Watney take three shots to reach the green with a wedge from the fairway.

"I felt his pain, having just been through it," Johnson said. "It's hard to explain what you're going through. It wasn't like he ever hit a god-awful shot. He got in a terrible lie, and it keeps on multiplying."

More disturbing to Johnson was to hear the shutter of a camera in Watney's swing on the par-3 seventh, where he hit into Lake Michigan and took triple bogey to fall out of the lead for good.

PHONE CALLS: Eleven players who were invited to Corey Pavin's barbecue during the PGA Championship and did not earn an automatic spot on his Ryder Cup team are guaranteed a phone call from him on the night of Sept. 6.

Pavin announces his four captain's picks the next morning in New York.

"Everyone there will get a call," Pavin said. "I was with Tom (Lehman) when he made the calls (in 2006), and I just think it's important to be in touch with everyone."

Pavin invited the top 20 on the point standings to the informal cookout, along with Ryan Palmer when he cracked the top 20 after his runner-up finish at Firestone.

Just as Paul Azinger did a year ago, Pavin has asked the PGA of America to continue a points list through the next three tournaments. Instead of using statistics, however, Pavin said he was more likely to use his instincts for his picks.

"It will not be based on the standings," he said. "A lot will be a gut feeling."

LOOKING AHEAD: The PGA Championship returns to Whistling Straits in 2015, but it's never too early to start planning. Herb Kohler says architect Pete Dye plans to be at the course on Friday to start getting ready.

"He has a date - by his own wish - and he's going to start tinkering," Kohler said Sunday evening after the tournament was over. "I walked the back nine with him. He has a dozen ideas."

Is one of them to change the bunkering? Apparently not.

"We may add a couple," Kohler said.

DIVOTS: Golfweek magazine reported that Matt Every, who was arrested during the John Deere Classic for possession of a controlled substance, has been suspended by the PGA Tour for three months for conduct unbecoming a professional. The PGA Tour does not comment on discipline. Every's management company said he would next be eligible to play at Disney, the final tournament of the year. ... Wyndham has signed up for another two years as title sponsor in Greensboro, putting it through 2012. It will remain the final tournament before the FedEx Cup playoffs. ... Foreign-born players have won the PGA Championship the last three years, the longest streak since the championship began in 1916.

STAT OF THE WEEK: Louis Oosthuizen missed the cut in every major except the British Open, which he won by seven shots.

FINAL WORD: "I was in the final group in two majors on Sunday. Obviously, I'm playing good golf." - Dustin Johnson.

Watson, Johnson make first Ryder Cup teamKreis: Early goal was key to confident RSL performance

Langer would be intriguing captain's pick for European Ryder Cup team

When Fred Couples was playing week after week in the spring, and going low most every time out, there were people saying he'd make a great captain's pick for Corey Pavin's U.S. Ryder Cup team, even at age 50 and with a putting stroke that sputters at times from five feet.

Couples has cooled off this summer, but it still wouldn't be a total shock to see him get picked, especially with such a young U.S. team. You could see Fred hanging out happily in the players' room with Dustin Johnson and Bubba Watson, two players who are about half his age.

But if you really want to see some veteran leadership in the Ryder Cup this year, there's one obvious player to bring back out for an encore performance: Herr Bernhard Langer, winner of the senior British Open and the senior U.S. Open in back-to-back weeks last month. Can you imagine a European team of Langer and Martin Kaymer, the new PGA champion? Two golfers who will drive opponents crazy simply by never making a mental mistake. There are lots of ways to win 18-hole match-play matches. You can win with ridiculous length, as D.J. will bring to Celtic Manor in Wales in the first week of October. You can win with outrageous charisma, as Seve Ballesteros, where opponents feel, "This guy wants it more than I." You can win with out-of-this world putting, as Corey Pavin and Justin Leonard did. And then there are the Ryder Cup plodders and plotters. Europe's had a score of them over the years, like Paul Broadhurst and Philip Walton, who played once, did their jobs, and never came back.

Of coruse, Nick Faldo got himself knighted after playing that way. Langer's the same way. His game isn't much different now than it was in the 1980s and 1990s and early 2000s. In 2004, when Langer was the European captain and the Euros trounced the U.S. team at Oakland Hills in Detroit, he nearly played his way on to his own team. Had he qualified on points, I think he would have taken the spot. That's how his mind works. And now he'd take a spot if he were offered one.

In a telephone interview, Langer told me that he'd "be honored and thrilled if I was selected to the team."

I asked him if he had talked to Colin Montgomerie, the European captain, or any other European Ryder Cup official about whether he is a candidate.

"I know from my own experience it doesn't matter who you talk to unless it is the captain," Langer said. "The captain and only the captain makes the decision. I haven't talked to Colin about it. I played with Colin [before the British senior win] and we talked about Ryder Cup, but not about me playing. But to play on the Ryder Cup team would be very special."

Langer has watched Kaymer's development over the course of his career and is not surprised to see him winning so regularly in Europe, and to see him win a major. "He is a very fine player, plays very intelligent golf, with a beautiful swing," Langer said. "And as good as his golf is, he is even a finer person." The Hall of Famer said, sounding almost like a proud father.

If he's in the team room every day, Langer may also be able to give Montgomerie insight into Pavin's thinking as he fills out his lineup card each day. Langer has been playing golf with Pavin — in Ryder Cup play, at majors and in regular Tour events — for more than 25 years. They have crossed paths at Tour Bible Study over the years. Langer knows the thinking of the three Ryder Cup captains for whom Pavin has played, the three captains who will shape what kind of captain Pavin will be. There's a lot to be said, in Ryder Cup play, when a player can get in his opponent's head and when a captain can think like his opposing captain. For all the emotion Ryder Cup golf brings, it's a chess match, too.

Pavin played for a markedly varied trio: Dave Stockton in 1991, Tom Watson in '93 and Lanny Wadkins in '95. I asked Pavin the other day what he gleaned from each of his captains and how it will inspire him.

"Dave Stockton was highly organized, and the first captain to turn the job into a two-year full-time commitment, going wherever you needed to go in the interest in the Ryder Cup," Pavin said. "I've treated it the same way. I've been thinking about being Ryder Cup captain for years and years and years.

"Waton," Pavin said, "was one of the guys. He had such a competitive nature, but he also said, 'Play hard, have fun, enjoy it.'"

I asked Pavin if, as captain, he could be or would want to be "one of the guys." By reputation, he has long been a lone wolf — except when he had a partner in Ryder Cup play.

"I think so," Pavin said. "I think I have a fairly decent rapport with most of the guys. Early in my career I was more intense and maybe aloof, but in the last 10 years I've mellowed quite a bit."

Before Pavin played for Wadkins as a captain, they were a paired together three times in Ryder Cup play. Wadkins knew of Pavin's extraordinary resolve, which was actually heightened in his Ryder Cup golf.

"Everybody knows how fiery Lanny is, but the thing I remember best from when he was captain is he called me and said, `Be ready to play five — you're gonna play five.'" Five matches is the legal maximum: morning and afternoon the first two days, plus Sunday singles when everybody plays. "That was a great show of confidence in me and really meant a lot to me."

Will Pavin call one of his players and tell him that he'll be playing in all five matches? He might.

Could Langer play five times? Monty would never do that, but in terms of fitness and mental agility, he'd have no problem playing that much golf over three days.

Monty was one of Langer's stars at Oakland Hills, where he won three points and lost one, and the Euros won, 18.5 to 9.5. Thomas Levet, who played on that team, says that Montgomerie, acting almost like a captain, gave the team excellent advice.

"He said, `Make every hole count and every point count,'" Levet said at the PGA. "He said, 'Things can change incredibly fast in Ryder Cup. You can see nothing but American flags on the scoreboard but they might all be one-up matches and if you can win the hole you're playing right then everything might start to change.'"

Well, as Pavin and Monty both well know, if there was ever a Ryder Cup player who lived by that credo — this point counts, this hole counts — it's B. Langer. Bombers are exciting, but bombers are often nonfactors in holes once or twice or three times a round. The thing about Langer is that he'll keep you in the game, hole after hole, probably as well as anybody playing today.

With the possible exception of Martin Kaymer.

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Corey Pavin says Tiger Woods is 'high on his list' for the Ryder Cup

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Tiger Woods remained No. 1 in the world ranking Monday, though not even close to that on two lists - the Ryder Cup and FedEx Cup - that mean much more these days.

Woods failed to qualify for the Ryder Cup for the first time - he had led the standings every other time since 1997 - and now must rely on U.S. captain Corey Pavin spending one of four wild-card picks on him.

In a hotel conference room Monday, Pavin sat at the head table between two poster boards, each showing the final standings for the eight American qualifiers. Woods' name was nowhere to be found between Phil Mickelson at No. 1 and Matt Kuchar at No. 8.

Pavin would only say that Woods is "high on my list" and will be a "big consideration" when he announces his selections Sept. 7.

"I'm looking at him in essence like any other player. He isn't ... but he is," Pavin said. "I'm certainly not going to disrespect other players by considering him different from other players. I have to look at the way he's playing, the way he played, and I have to look at his body of work as well. If anyone can turn it around quickly, it's him."

Woods should have at least one more tournament to make an impression.

While he wound up No. 12 in the Ryder Cup standings, equally troublesome is that Woods is No. 108 in the FedEx Cup standings. The top 125 are eligible for The Barclays next week at Ridgewood Country Club in New Jersey, the start of the PGA Tour playoffs. Only the top 100 in the standings advance to the second round of the playoffs at the Deutsche Bank Championship outside Boston.

Woods is so far down in the FedEx Cup standings he's one spot behind Pavin.

"He's ranked a lot higher on Ryder Cup points," Pavin said with a laugh, "and probably the world ranking, I'm guessing."

Despite the shockingly low numbers next to Woods' name, Pavin came away from the PGA Championship encouraged as much by what he heard from Woods as what he saw from him.

Woods stated plainly at the start of the week that he wants to play in the Ryder Cup and would accept a captain's pick. Even after he closed with a 1-over 73 to tie for 28th at Whistling Straits, he joked that he could still help out in singles. His Ryder Cup record is 10-13-2, including 3-1-2 in singles.

"I feel my game is a lot better than it was obviously last week, and given a little bit more time, it's starting to head in the right direction now, which is good," Woods said. "And I'm looking forward to it. Hopefully, Corey will pick me on the team."

Woods tied for fourth in the Masters and U.S. Open. He missed the cut at Quail Hollow with the highest 36-hole total of his career, and only a week before the final major, he had the worst tournament of his career when he shot 18-over par at Firestone.

Which guy will show up? Is he even worth a pick?

Pavin was asked about the pros and cons of taking Woods, and he could think only of the positives.

"He's the No. 1 player in the world - that's a pretty good 'pro,'" Pavin said. "Obviously, I'm considering him highly, no doubt about it. He's' playing better. I think we have all seen that. And he wants to play - he wants to be part of the team. But it's going to be my judgment whether I pick him or not. I don't think there are any con's."

Mickelson led the points table for the first time followed by Hunter Mahan, PGA runner-up Bubba Watson, Jim Furyk, Steve Stricker, Dustin Johnson, Jeff Overton and Matt Kuchar.

Four of those players - Watson, Johnson, Overton and Kuchar - have never played a Ryder Cup. Stricker and Mahan played the first time two years ago at Valhalla. Overton, meanwhile, became the first American to qualify for the Ryder Cup without having won on the PGA Tour.

"I believe the eight players that have qualified is really going to allow a lot of flexibility for the four picks," Pavin said. "It's not just going to be about a type of player. There's going to be a lot of room for maneuvering."

Also missing from the list is Anthony Kim, the star of the American victory two years ago. Kim had thumb surgery in May, missed three months and has played poorly in the two tournaments since he returned.

Still, it all centers on Woods.

"I'm very encouraged by the way he played last week," Pavin said. "He did a lot of good things. One of them may not have been driving the ball, but he grinded hard, he chipped the ball beautifully and putted better. His improvement from the Bridgestone to the PGA Championship was large. And I think he was encouraged by it."

Pavin is not planning to play in The Barclays, worn out from playing so many big tournaments (Champions Tour and PGA Tour) the last month. Even so, he plans to keep in touch with Woods.

And what Woods says might go a way toward what Pavin decides.

"I have to evaluate how he's playing," Pavin said. "And he has to help me evaluate, just like any other player. If he feels he wants to take himself out of it, then that's fine. If he feels like he wants to play, then it's my decision."

Watson, Johnson make first Ryder Cup teamJeremiah White on trial at Chicago Fire

PGA has bunker mentality on Whistling Straits

MILWAUKEE (AP) — When the PGA Championship returns in five years to Whistling Straits the rules on playing the countless bunkers may still be in place.

The golf world was still reeling Monday over the two-shot penalty given to Dustin Johnson on the final hole. He grounded his 4-iron in the sand to the right of the fairway, not aware he was in a bunker.

Johnson had a one-shot lead when he teed off on the 18th. He missed a 7-foot par putt and seemed to slip into a playoff. But when he learned he had let his club touch the sand during his preshot routine, Johnson added two shots to his score and tied for fifth.

Asked if there was any consideration to change the unusual local bunker rule for 2015, PGA of America president Jim Remy said, "Not at this point."

"Obviously, it's the day after," Remy said. "I'm sure (championship director) Kerry Haigh will do his due diligence. He made the decision not to do it from 2004 to 2010. My guess is that probably the way we're leaning is to leave it that way."

It wasn't the first time someone paid for the bunker rule at Whistling Straits.

When the PGA Championship was first played there in 2004, Stuart Appleby was penalized four shots late in the third round for removing a dead piece of grass (two shots) to the right of the 16th hole and touching the sand on a practice swing (two shots).

That didn't cost him a major championship, though.

What never will be known is how Johnson would have fared in the three-hole playoff, which Martin Kaymer won over Bubba Watson. It was the most shocking finish involving rules at a major since Roberto de Vicenzo signed for a 4 when he had made a 3 on the 17th hole of the final round in the 1968 Masters. He had to accept the higher score and finished one shot behind Bob Goalby.

Johnson said he didn't look at the rules sheet that had been posted all week in the locker room and on the first tee throughout the week, explaining that every bunker was a hazard, even if they were outside the ropes where the gallery had been standing.

"It was unfortunate for Dustin. I feel bad for him. He's a PGA member, just like I am," said Remy, the general manager of Okemo Valley Golf Club in Vermont. "I feel sad for him the way it all unfolded. But that's the rules of golf. Those things happen in sports, and nobody feels good about it."

Remy said he didn't see a a practical solution for 2015, or in 2020 for the Ryder Cup.

"Do you mark 900 of them not as bunkers and 300 as bunkers? How do you ever mark them?" he said. "Clearly, with this happening, players will be more aware of it in the future. And we didn't have any other infractions during the week."

Players continued to weigh in on both sides.

"In light of PGA finish, Augusta just announced new seating for patrons available in right greenside bunker by 18 green," Stewart Cink joked on Twitter.

PGA Tour rookie Kris Blanks, who missed the cut at the PGA, posted a picture of a child's sandbox and suggested that would be considered a bunker at Whistling Straits.

Johnson tied for fifth, still enough for him to easily make the Ryder Cup team. The only way he would have failed to finish among the top eight qualifiers would have been to sign his card for a bogey and learn of the bunker gaffe later. Then, he would have been disqualified for signing an incorrect score.

"The one thing that I will remember from this more than anything is the way Dustin handled himself," Pavin said. "He was very mature. I couldn't imagine a player handling it any better than he did. He played beautiful golf on Sunday, put himself in position to win the tournament. I think it was the proper ruling. It was an unfortunate situation."

Among the questions raised was whether the marshals should have done a better job clearing out the gallery around Johnson, which might have made it clearer to him that he was on the edge of a bunker.

Johnson thought it was grass that had been trampled all week by foot traffic.

The PGA rules official didn't remind Johnson that he was in a bunker - if he even knew - although Paul Goydos pointed out that a rules official's job is not to remind players of the rule, rather to interpret them if a player asks.

Goydos is not sure he would change the bunker rules for 2015.

"You've either got to say they're all bunkers or they're not bunkers," Goydos said. "I don't think you take into account that guys would hit the ball 75 yards off line. Maybe they could have cleared the gallery so he could see the bunker. It's just a weird situation."

Asked if the PGA could make a rule that anything outside the ropes is not a bunker, Goydos shook his head.

"Now you're trying to call foul balls and fair balls," he said.

After Johnson hit his 4-iron to the left of the 18th green into a difficult spot, he sent a magnificent flop shop to 7 feet. That gave him a chance - or so it seemed - to win his first major. Remy was standing behind the 18th green watching it all unfold when he heard radio traffic about a potential problem on the bunker shot.

It was not clear if PGA officials noticed the problem on the telecast or if someone alerted them to it.

Remy wasn't sure what to think.

"I was aware of what was unfolding, but at that time, I didn't know the outcome," he said. "I knew there was a question. I was aware we were going to have to deal with the issue. But I wanted the putt to go in because I didn't know what the ruling would be. I thought it would have been an epic finish to a great championship."

And what if the putt had gone in?

"It didn't," Remy said. "But I sure thought about it."

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Watson, Johnson make first Ryder Cup team

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. (AP) — The disappointment of his playoff loss in the PGA Championship didn't last long for Bubba Watson on Sunday.

He's taking his booming drives to the Ryder Cup.

The question now is whether he will have Tiger Woods as one of his teammates.

Watson, who was 18th in the U.S. standings going into the final qualifying tournament, moved up to No. 3 with his runner-up finish at Whistling Straits to be one of eight Americans qualifying for the team.

"I made the Ryder Cup. So that's all I care about," Watson said.

Dustin Johnson, whose two-stroke penalty on a bizarre bunker ruling knocked him out of the playoff, tied for fifth and also secured a spot on the team.

Phil Mickelson led the standings for the first time in his career, followed by Hunter Mahan, Watson, Jim Furyk, Steve Stricker, Jeff Overton and Matt Kuchar, who nailed down the final spot when he tied for 10th at the PGA Championship.

Turns out Woods needed to finish at least in the top five to make the team. He opened with two birdies, but after a miserable stretch around the turn - he dropped four shots in three holes - he shot 73 and tied for 28th. Woods wound up 12th in the standings and will need to be picked by U.S. captain Corey Pavin to make the team.

Woods has at least one more tournament before Pavin announces his selections on Sept. 7 in New York.

"I feel like my game is a lot better than it was last week, and given a little bit more time, it's starting to head in the right direction now, which is good," Woods said. "And I'm looking forward to it. Hopefully, Corey will pick me on the team."

Watson was one of four Americans who have never played in the Ryder Cup. Neither has Johnson, while Overton became the first American to make the Ryder Cup team without ever having won a PGA Tour event.

Last time, Oliver Wilson of England made the European side without ever having won as a pro. He still hasn't.

Kuchar bumped out Anthony Kim, the star of the U.S. victory at Valhalla two years ago. He looked like a lock until thumb surgery three months ago. Kim only returned to the PGA Tour last week at Firestone. He was sixth in the standings, but with double points available in the final major, was passed by Watson, Johnson and Kuchar.

Lucas Glover, who was No. 8 in the standings before the week began, missed the cut at Whistling Straits.

The focus now shifts to those who did not make the team, starting with Woods.

He has repeated twice this week that he wants to play, which would suggest he would get a pick from Pavin.

Former Masters champion Zach Johnson was one shot out of the lead and couldn't find a birdie over the last two, long holes at Whistling Straits. He wound up 11th in the standings, having started the week at No. 21.

He wasn't sure if his performance helped his chances. Johnson will have The Barclays and the Deutsche Bank Championship, the first two playoff events, to make one more impression.

"I didn't hurt my chances," he said.

Former British Open champion Stewart Cink made a birdie on the last hole Saturday morning to make the cut, and he wound up in a tie for 18th to remain outside the standings.

"I'm proud of myself the way I came back," Cink said. "I played very, very well. I played probably some of the best golf all year the last three rounds. It hasn't been a great year, but this is encouraging for me."

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Mickelson won't be No. 1, but has fun in sharp 67

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. (AP) — Phil Mickelson fell short of winning a second major this year or reaching No. 1 in the rankings. These days, nothing seems to faze Lefty's mood after he announced he has psoriatic arthritis and medication has eased the pain.

"I feel like nothing's wrong right now. I feel normal," Mickelson said Sunday after shooting a 67 to complete the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits at 6-under 282. "I don't want to say it's gone away, but all the symptoms have gone away and I feel great."

It was a wild week for the four-time major champion, who was plagued by inconsistency until Sunday's flourish. He said he'll build off his final round performance at Whistling Straits when he starts the FedEx Cup chase at The Barclays on Aug. 26.

Beside disclosing his arthritic condition that's under control, he also announced he was a vegetarian.

"I've been able to work out and get my strength back and flexibility, so I feel terrific. I've responded quickly," he said. "I don't feel like there's anything wrong right now. I've been fortunate so far. I just hope that I still react as well as I have to the meds."

The 40-year-old Mickelson said earlier this week he woke up just before the U.S. Open with "intense pain" in his tendons and joints.

Stretching and anti-inflammatories eased the pain, and he went ahead and played Pebble Beach, but the condition got progressively worse during the U.S. Open and a family vacation, spreading to his knees, hips and elbows.

After the British Open, Mickelson made a trip to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., where doctors confirmed the diagnosis of psoriatic arthritis, which causes joint pain, stiffness and swelling.

"I feel great after just over two weeks of treatment," he said.

The good feelings come even though Mickelson will remain second in the World Golf Ranking. He needed one of five scenarios to play out - all of them involving a finish of no worse than fourth.

Tiger Woods will keep that spot for a record 271st consecutive week, even though Mickelson doesn't mind the repeated questions of when he'll be No. 1 for the first time in his career.

"If I just can start playing well, I think I can get that done," Mickelson said with a smile. "It just wasn't to be this week."

More sharp rounds like Sunday's will help.

He eagled the par-5 fifth and was just short of a hole in one on the par-3 seventh, which he birdied to move to 4 under. Mickelson then reeled off three consecutive birdies on Nos. 12-14, including sticking his second shot on the 14th inside the shadow of the flagstick to move to 7 under.

"I had some good opportunities, then I made a few putts. It was just a fun day," said Mickelson, who won the 2005 PGA. "I thought the conditions were much more difficult. I thought if I could get to 9 (under) or 10 (under) I was going to delay my flight because you just never know, but 6 under is not going to be enough."

His aggressiveness never wavered, either. On No. 18, he ignored the advice of caddie Jim "Bones" Mackay to be conservative after his tee shot was in the rough.

"I said, 'Look, I'm not thinking consequences of a bad shot.' I was trying to make a three," Mickelson said. "The last thing I was thinking about was anything other than trying to win the tournament."

Mickelson went for the green, ending up in more trouble.

His chip from an awkward lie on his third shot was long, forcing him to two-putt for bogey. After this week, not even the down note could sour his mood.

"Winning a major makes the year special," he said. "I was trying to get a little greedy and see if I could get a second one. Unfortunately, I didn't play good enough golf. Had a fun week, though. I really enjoyed my time here."

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Overton plays final round at PGA in record time

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. (AP) — Jeff Overton pumped his fist Sunday and broke into a wide smile when he finished the PGA Championship.

He is virtually a lock to make his first Ryder Cup team. But that wasn't the cause of his mock celebration.

Playing alone in the first group off when ailing Ian Poulter withdrew, Overton walked 18 holes at Whistling Straits in 2 hours, 9 minutes, to break the PGA Championship record for quickest round.

"Awesome! My first record at a major," Overton said.

It beat the previous mark - by one minute - set by Phil Blackmaar at Crooked Stick in 1991.

The record is not official, of course. But the information came from Kerry Haigh, the championship director for the PGA of America, so somebody is keeping track of this stuff - even if Overton wasn't.

And it's not as if he didn't care, at least at the start of his round.

He was aware Poulter was suffering from a chest infection and that he would be playing by himself. Overton opened with a bogey, took double bogey on the fourth and figured there wasn't much left for him to do but finish.

"I gave it my best, especially early," he said. "I got some bad breaks, and the next thing I know I said, 'Let's go ahead and get this round over with.'"

He finished the front nine in one hour, and made a clutch 7-foot putt for par on the last hole to shoot 79.

In relatively mild conditions Sunday morning, caddie Eric Larson was sweating. Larson has experience with fast play, having worked with Mark Calcavecchia several times.

Who's faster?

"Calc can't run down some of these hills," Larson said.

Overton was playing for the eighth time in 10 weeks and was exhausted. Closing with a 79 most likely will have no bearing on finishing among the top eight in the Ryder Cup standings to earn a spot on his first team. He is at No. 5, with two of the three players directly below him having missed the cut.

It would take a mathematical miracle Sunday for Overton not to finish among the top eight, and the realization began to sink in. Overton studied the list well going into the PGA Championship, doing everything but pushing a pencil.

Still, he wasn't quite ready to celebrate. He conceded that the scenarios to bump him out of the top eight would be the equivalent of someone shooting a 59 in the final round.

"And I've had a 59 shot on me," he said, referring to Stuart Appleby at the Greenbrier.

Overton would be the first American in the Ryder Cup to have never won on the PGA Tour. Oliver Wilson of England has yet to win as a professional and played the last Ryder Cup.

Overton, a 27-year-old from Indiana, played as consistently as anyone this year. After starting out with no top 10s in his first 10 tournaments, he spent two weeks working with his old coaches, hired Larson as his caddie and took off - runner-up in New Orleans and Dallas, third in Colonial, third at the AT&T National.

Then, he added Greenbrier at the last minute because it had a big purse, and finished second to Appleby.

Overton never dreamed he would be in this spot at the start of the year.

"I had no idea what it took, what the requirements were," Overton said. "But that would be awesome. I'm looking forward to getting over there. I feel like I'm playing as good as anyone."

On Sunday, he was playing as quickly as anyone ever has in the PGA Championship.

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Watney grabs three-shot lead at Whistling Straits

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. (AP) — Whistling Straits was there for the taking. So is this PGA Championship.

Nick Watney took over the lead Saturday with two quick birdies and never let up until he had a 6-under 66, giving him a three-shot lead over Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy in a strong showing by golf's next generation.

When three long days along Lake Michigan finally ended, the contenders were short on major experience.

Watney, who had to scramble for a bogey on the 18th hole after an aggressive play, practically seemed like an old man compared with some of the players chasing him.

Johnson is 26, seasoned slightly by his memorable meltdown at Pebble Beach in the U.S. Open. He found enough accuracy to go with his awesome power for a 67 to work his way into the final group in a major for the second time this year. Johnson was tied with McIlroy, the 21-year-old from Northern Ireland who also had a 67 and looks poised to deliver early on his promise of Europe's next big star.

None of the top six on the leaderboard have ever won a major.

The last time the top six contenders were this green in the final major of the year - "Glory's Last Shot" - was in 1992.

As for Tiger Woods? His only hope is to shoot his best round of his strange season on Sunday and try to earn a Ryder Cup berth.

Woods scrambled brilliantly in the morning to finish off the second round with a 70 to get within five shots, then opened the third round by stuffing his first couple of iron shots. He couldn't make a birdie, however, and had to rally for a 72 on a day when the average score was 71 in soft conditions and relative calm.

Woods wound up 10 shots behind. He likely will need to finish at least in seventh place alone to make the Ryder Cup team.

"I just want to play a good round and see where that puts me," Woods said.

Watney was at 13-under 203, in the lead at a major for the first time in his career after any round.

The only player among the top six not in his 20s was the biggest surprise of all - Liang Wenchong, a 32-year-old from China who set the course record at Whistling Straits with a 64. He didn't start playing the game until he was 15.

Some of these guys already were dreaming of winning majors at that age.

Liang was at 207 along with 22-year-old Jason Day of Australia, who had a 66; and 25-year-old Martin Kaymer of Germany, who has top 10s in the last two majors. Kaymer had a 67.

"There's some really good players that haven't won a major," Watney said. "And all the guys that have, at one point they hadn't won, either. So you've got to start somewhere. And hopefully, tomorrow will be my day."

Golf appears to be trending that way.

Five of the last six major champions had never won one before, the exception Phil Mickelson this year at the Masters. To see so much inexperience at the top - not to mention youth - is not nearly as surprising in a year in which 27-year-old Louis Oosthuizen won the British Open at St. Andrews, and 30-year-old Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland won at Pebble Beach.

"I guess you could say the younger guys are starting to play a lot better," Johnson said. "We're starting to contend in majors. We're definitely moving forward, that's for sure."

Major championship experience is lurking.

Former Masters champion Zach Johnson shot a 69 and was in a group at 8-under 208 that included former U.S. Open champion Jim Furyk (70) and former PGA champion Steve Elkington (67).

The course was such a pushover that 19 players shot in the 60s, and the average score was just over 71. But at least everyone could see, ending two days of fog delays that forced some to play 30 holes on Saturday.

Watney has only two PGA Tour victories, the most recent last year at Torrey Pines, and while he has top 10s in two majors this year, he was never a factor in either one.

It sure didn't look that way Saturday, when he came out firing.

He birdied the first two holes with wedges inside 6 feet to jump past 36-hole leader Matt Kuchar, who didn't make a birdie until the 16th hole and shot a 73 to fall six shots behind. Watney then ran off three straight birdies starting on the par-5 fifth, perhaps his best shot a 5-iron to 12 feet on the tricky par-3 seventh.

Watney led by as many as four shots until he offered a sliver of hope at the end, driving into deep rough, hitting into more thick grass on the side of the hill, and hacking to the front of the green for a bogey.

There was a scramble to keep pace, and terrific entertainment in the group that featured Johnson and McIlroy, among the most talented youngsters on either side of the Atlantic. They combined for 11 birdies, with Johnson playing bogey-free.

McIlroy won the Quail Hollow Championship early this year by closing with a 62. He also tied a major championship record at St. Andrews when he opened with a 63. That was lost in the wind a day later when he shot 80, although the kid rallied to tie for third.

A victory Sunday would make McIlroy the youngest major champion since John McDermott won the 1911 U.S. Open at age 20.

"I'll approach it the same way as I've approached the last three days," McIlroy said. "I'm going to go out there and play my game. That's all I feel I have to do. I've just got to go out there and play the way I've been playing the last three days and just let things take care of themselves. If I hit enough good shots and hit enough good putts tomorrow, it might just be my day."

Mickelson continued to hit tee shots all over the course, and it finally caught up with him in a round of 73 that put in a tie for 48th.

Woods almost certainly will end a second straight year without a major.

Even giving himself a chance on Saturday was a minor miracle. He hit only five fairways, putted for birdie on only half of his holes and made every hole an adventure. Standing behind the 17th green, where Woods hit a 4-iron right at the flag on the dangerous left side of the green for birdie, caddie Steve Williams shook his head.

"In my 32 years as a caddie, this is the greatest 70 I've ever seen," Williams said. Before heading to the 18th tee, he added, "And if he bogeys the last hole, it will be the greatest 71 I've ever seen."

Woods made par, but only after hitting a huge cut with a 5-wood from a bunker that was sunken below the fairway, leaving his 60-foot birdie putt inches short. "I'm right back in the ball game," Woods said, who finished his second round at 3-under 141, only five shots back.

As has been the case for so much of the year, however, no one can ever tell who is going to show up.

Two hours after he finished his second round with 25 putts, he missed birdie putts from inside 10 feet on the opening two holes and soon was spiraling down the leaderboard.

"I didn't make any putts early when I stuffed them in there," he said, "and didn't get any momentum."

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Wisconsin looking for another yearly stop

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin is back in the golf spotlight for the first time since losing its annual PGA Tour event last year, when the 42-year-old U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee folded.

Steve Stricker and Jerry Kelly, both from Madison, talked for a time about trying to revive a regular stop, but organizing the event has proven hard.

"It's just a tough time for businesses in our area to stick in a lot of money," Stricker said. "The date that we had opposite the British Open, the fee for a business to put up money for that week is a lot less than, say, a better date that's not opposite a major. That fee is in the $7 to $9 million range, and that's a tough pill to swallow for a lot of companies."

Attendance at Milwaukee's tournament sagged when it was placed opposite the British Open in the final three years of the event. The top players went overseas instead of returning to the tournament Tiger Woods made his pro debut at in 1996.

Wisconsin golf officials instead point to big events like the U.S. Amateur at Erin Hills next year, the 2012 U.S. Women's Open at nearby Blackwolf Run, the 2015 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits, the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills and the 2020 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits.

"I'm not sure our area can handle two of these big sporting events in a year. And it's sad, but I'm happy that we're able to get these majors," Stricker said. "It looks like it's very well attended so far, and I think that people will gravitate toward these every-other-year events a little bit more than (a tournament) opposite the British Open."

Stricker said that maybe a Champions Tour event would come to the area, but for now, fans in Wisconsin will have to be patient.

"We're still hopeful," he said. "We're still working on it."

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MONTY'S MATE: This time, it was Colin Montgomerie's turn to face questions about his personal life. Coming to his aid was Corey Pavin, his opposing captain in the Ryder Cup.

Montgomerie, who is trying to patch up his marriage after reports of a fling with an old girlfriend surfaced in June, was asked about an injunction against a British newspaper to bar information about his personal life.

"I know a lot of you are having a lot of fun right now at my expense," Montgomerie said. "Let me clear this up, though. I can categorically say that there's no injunction ... regarding anything. I'm really not going to discuss this any further. I apologize for this, that you have to bring this up, but at the same time, no further comments."

That wasn't the end of it.

Another reporter asked if there was an injunction in place against a woman.

"Excuse me, I'm here to talk about the Ryder Cup, OK?" Montgomerie said. "So please, no further questions on that or any other subjection regarding my private life."

And that's when Pavin jumped in.

"I agree with Colin, actually," Pavin added. "Let's stick to golf subjects here."

---

RYDER CUP PROJECTIONS: With so much debate over Tiger Woods being a captain's pick, he gets to play at least one more tournament to try to make the team on his own.

The PGA Championship released its prize money on Wednesday - $7.5 million, same as last year. That will give Woods a clear indication of the minimum he needs this week.

Woods is in 10th place in the Ryder Cup standings, leaving him 243.69 points (each point equals $1,000 in PGA Tour earnings) behind Lucas Glover. That means Woods will have to finish at least 15th in the PGA Championship, assuming Glover and Dustin Johnson in ninth place miss the cut and that no one behind Woods passes him.

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WESTWOOD OUTLOOK: Lee Westwood is home in England resting an injured calf that is expected to keep him out until just before the Ryder Cup.

He is the No. 3 player in the world. He has been a runner-up in two majors this year. And his captain, Colin Montgomerie, is not worried.

"Having spoken to Lee, he will be hitting balls in four weeks, which is great news for everybody in Europe," Montgomerie said. "He's our top-ranked player and our Ryder Cup team will be greatly weakened if he didn't make it. So I'm delighted that he is going to hit balls within four weeks, and that gives him still another couple of weeks to prepare."

Montgomerie said Westwood's goal is to play the Vivendi Cup a week before the matches.

"If he doesn't, I'm sure three practice rounds around Celtic Manor will be good enough for Lee," Montgomerie said.

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ROCKSTAR YANG: Y.E. Yang, last year's PGA Championship winner, was surprised when he was assigned six bodyguards upon returning home.

He understood a little better when he saw their clothes in tatters. The South Korean's safety detail failed to keep pace on Jeju-do Island.

"I was kind of trying to figure out what was going on," Yang said through an interpreter. "It turns out all their jackets and suits were all ripped up because there were so many fans that wanted to get my autograph."

Yang said none of his bodyguards were hurt.

"It was kind of funny to see those big bodyguards and their clothes getting ripped up like that," he said.

---

ACTING HIS AGE: Rory McIlroy might be a little jealous of Rickie Fowler and Ryo Ishikawa.

No, not because of Fowler's Justin Bieber-like shag or Ishikawa's flowing curls - though they are perhaps the only players who can rival the mop-topped McIlroy. When pairings for the first two rounds of the PGA Championship came out, Fowler and Ishikawa were in the same group.

McIlroy, Fowler and Ishikawa are leaders in golf's youth movement along with Anthony Kim and Hunter Mahan, and they've become good friends off the course, too.

"Whenever you get paired with one of the guys in the tournament, you're looking forward to it because you can talk about stuff that we like to talk about," said McIlroy, who is 21 like Fowler. "Rather than trying to talk to a 40-year-old."

One of McIlroy's playing partners Thursday and Friday? The 43-year-old Steve Stricker.

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DIVOTS: The 73 international players this week are the most for a PGA Championship. They represent 22 countries. ... Corey Pavin and Colin Montgomerie said they wouldn't put themselves on their Ryder Cup teams even if they won the PGA Championship this week. ... Heavy rains fell twice in the morning, causing giant puddles in many of the nearly 1,000 bunkers at the course. Large bunkers along the first fairway still had visible water late in the afternoon, including some several inches deep, and the course was still soggy. The National Weather Service said a little over an inch of rain fell in Sheboygan. ... It's the third PGA Championship in Wisconsin after Gene Sarazen won in 1933 in Milwaukee and Vijay Singh did it at Whistling Straits in 2004.

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AP Golf Writer Doug Ferguson, AP National Writer Nancy Armour and AP freelance writer Joe Totoraitis contributed to this report.

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