The golf season can officially start: Tiger Woods is playing. With the PGA bully active for the first time this season, everyone else will be playing for second. Woods has been able to win this event three consecutive years and four out of the past five times at Torrey Pines -- just give him the trophy now.
The Buick Invitational is played in La Jolla, California and marks the first event in which the top two players in the world are participating. Or does it? Woods will be defending his title, but will Phil Mickelson tee up?
Mickelson canceled a news conference this morning and one of his reps issued a statement that said Mickelson was told by his doctor yesterday to stay in bed through the day today. Mickelson has battled a respiratory illness since October, but is hoping to be well enough by tomorrow, when he is scheduled to play in the Buick's required Pro-Am. Mickelson's 17 consecutive Buick Invitational start streak is in jeopardy because players are required to participate in the Pro-Am or they are not allowed to play in the event, although exceptions could be made. In 2001, Mickelson was excused from the Pro-Am due to a bad case of food poisoning that caused him to lose 10 pounds before his first round. Mickelson was able to overcome illness and shot a 64 in the tournaments second round on his way to winning.
What does this all mean? Phil's faking. No, I doubt that, but some columnists and PGA players have criticized Mickelson in the past for missing pre-tournament qualifiers. I imagine that Phil is doing his best to get out of playing in the Pro-Am and I imagine that the sponsors will want him to play. And I imagine he will.
The field is lacking a few of the big names like Steve Stricker, Zach Johnson, Sergio Garcia, Justin Rose and Adam Scott. But when Tiger Woods is playing, there are sure to be large galleries. Rory Sabbatini, Woody Austin, Jim Furyk, Geoff Ogilvy, Justin Leonard, Anthony Kim and Mike Weir are all good enough to consider, but just missed my list for this weekend. Here are my Tuesday morning thoughts for the upcoming Buick Invitational.
Players to Consider:
1. Tiger Woods -- There is really no reason to bet against Tiger, ever. The only thing this three-time defending champion has to try to accomplish this weekend is setting the course record. Woods shot a four round total of 266 in 1999 which was good enough to tie for the record, anything worse than 23 under par will be a disappointment for Woods.
2. K. J. Choi -- Choi has already added to his trophy case this season with a win at the Sony Open in Hawaii. Choi didn't participate in this event last year, but isn't scared to have to de-thrown Tiger in order to capture consecutive wins. Choi has an early lead in the FedExCup standings -- a lead that he will have to compete against Tiger for all year.
3. Hunter Mahan -- Hunter has been a sniper so far in 2008, he leads the tour in Driving Accuracy percentage and is second in Greens in Regulation percentage. Granted the stats are from the 72 holes he played at the Mercedes-Benz earlier this month where he finished T5, but its a good sign that he's ready to continue dominating at this level. The 27-year-old from Orange, California finished T56 here last year, but it wasn't until later in the year when he broke out onto the scene. Mahan had one stretch from June 7 to August 23 that included one victory, four top 10's and all nine events he finished T22 or better.
4. Brandt Snedeker -- A top 10 finish at the Mercedes-Benz Championship looked to be a promising start for last season's rookie of the year. But his hiccup (missed the cut, finished T69) at the Sony Open won't give him the greatest confidence heading into this weekend's Buick Invitational. Snedeker didn't let his T60 at the Bob Hope last year stop him from going on to finishing 3rd here in La Jolla. Other than his victory at the Wyndham Championship in August, the Buick was Snedeker's best finish during the '07 season.
5. Aaron Baddeley -- A missed cut at the Sony Open may prompt you to avoid Baddeley for this weekend, but I advise otherwise. After starting the year T12 at the Mercedes-Benz, I liked the chances of Baddeley making his name on the tour this year. But a blunder at the Sony Open (MC, finished 100) gave me reason to be concerned about Badds. Hopefully the hottest Australian golfer since Greg Norman can show what he's capable of doing at the Buick.
Players to Avoid:
1. Phil Mickelson -- Regardless of his status for Thursday, I'm avoiding Lefty. Mickelson is the drama queen of the PGA tour. Not only does his game require a lot of finger nails (for plenty of biting), but his off the course drama is starting to remind me of the NFL's between games storylines. In a 100% individual sport that requires a lot of concentration, Mickelson hasn't exactly put himself in a state of peace. Although Mickelson has been able to win despite adversity, there are better, less risky options to choose this weekend.
2. Chris DiMarco -- A second round 67 wasn't good enough to put DiMarco under the cut line last weekend and in his first event of 2008, DiMarco finished T97. DiMarco is getting out on the course earlier this year than last year; he didn't make his first appearance until the first week in February. DiMarco is a slow starter, so don't expect him to post good rounds yet. His first top 10 finish came in the first week of August in '07.
3. Camilo Villegas -- The Buick will be Villegas' first event of the new season. In 2007, he started the year with the Buick and a first round of 67. But his second round 75 forced him to miss out on playing during the weekend. Villegas will need a good start in '08 to help him carry over the three straight top 10 finishes that he so gracefully ended '07 with.
4. Steve Marino -- I know how well Marino has started (T4 at the Sony Open, T29 at the Bob Hope), but I'm feeling a blow-up round coming. Marino seems to follow great scores with mediocre ones. In 2007, Marino finished 8th at the Mayakoba Classic and T20 at the Honda Classic, but then had a string of events where he finished: 131, 62, T69 and 100. Use caution, he followed his T10 and T34 with a 140th, his T10 with an 82, his T15 with a T76.
5. Charley Hoffman -- The pumpkin-pie-haircutted golfer has started great so far this season finishing T20 at the Mercedes and capturing a top 10 finish (T8) at the Bob Hope last weekend. Last year at the Buick, Hoffman played four solid rounds of golf on his way to a T3. I'm avoiding the hot San Diego native Hoffman on account that I feel like he's due for his over-par slide. After winning at the Bob Hope in 2007, Hoffman finished 10 out of his next 14 events above par.
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