US Open hopefuls prepare in Memphis
BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2009 St. Jude Classic | Preview | 10 Jun 2009
With just one week to go before the US Open at Bethpage Black, much of the interest in this week’s St Jude Classic at the TPC Southwind in Memphis will be in how the world number two, Phil Mickelson, is shaping up as he prepares to go overcome significant personal issues in his preparation for the second major of the year.
Mickelson will not be alone however in the scrutiny he comes under in that regard with several other potential contenders for next week’s US Open title putting the finishing touches on their game at the Ron Prichard designed layout.
Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson are the two other golfers in this event from the world top ten although the winner of two of the last three of golf’s majors, Padraig Harrington, is also here as he tries to get his game back in shape before he heads north.
TPC Southwind became the venue for this event 20 years ago and two players have stood out in that time in terms of their capacity to perform well around this layout. David Toms and Justin Leonard have both won the event twice in the last six years and despite an arguably stronger field this year they stand a chance.
Leonard is the defending champion after his playoff victory over Trevor Immelman and Robert Allenby last year and has played well enough in recent weeks for him to be a genuine chance to successfully defend.
Toms has not been at his best of late but he has still shown enough in recent weeks for a return to a venue he enjoys to spark the necessary improvement to contend.
Mickelson has played this event just once that being in 2001 when he missed the cut, hardly good credentials for his chances this week. He is in Memphis to ensure he gets tournament golf under his belt having been forced to miss the last four starts on the USPGA Tour and he and his wife confront the trauma of the breast cancer Amy was diagnosed with recently. If Mickelson was to contend this week it would be a herculean effort, given what he is going through at present.
Garcia finished 4th in this event last year, a last round of 66 ensuring he walked away from the TPC Southwind with the sort of memories he needs to do well this year. He has not been in great form lately but he has only missed one cut in his last 29 starts worldwide and so is therefore not too far from where he needs to be.
Harrington also shared 4th last year with Garcia, Alex Cejka and Boo Weekley, the concern with Harrington the fact that his form has dropped away in the last few months.
“Since I won the two majors last year, I got a little bit deeper into it (the swing), trying to figure something out, been very much concentrating on that for the last eight months,” said Harrington this week.
“Obviously, when you see results, the results have been quite lean certainly in the last five months, I’ve got to get back to working on my scoring. I’m comfortable with what I’ve been doing technically.”
“While I haven’t got it in my swing like I would want it, I’m comfortable what it is and what I need to do to sort it out. That kind of can be put a little bit on the back boiler there. I can concentrate back on my scoring, just getting myself ready for these tournaments, making sure my short game, which is my strength, is as sharp as ever.”
Like Garcia, Robert Allenby has been amazingly consistent in the last eighteen months making all but one of his last 42 cuts. His runner up finish in this event twelve months ago suggest he could do well again this week despite his form slipping a little in recent events.
The recent Players Championship winner Henrik Stenson will be keen to get his form back on track after two missed cuts in his last two starts, especially with next week in mind. Stenson is in Memphis for the first time with only one thing in mind namely to have his game peaking for next week where he is a chance to do very well.
Tim Clark’s third round of 64 in 2008 gave him the third round lead before he folded in the final round. He has been playing very well of late including when runner up at the Colonial two weeks ago. Surely his time must come.
Woody Austin is one to consider at longer odds. Austin finished won the event in 2007 after a stunning final round of 62 and his form in recent weeks has been none too bad.
The Australian contingent is 15 strong and other than Allenby includes Aaron Baddeley, Jason Day, John Senden, Greg Chalmers, Nick O’Hern, Nathan Green, Matt Jones, Marc Leishman, and James Nitties, Peter Lonard, Jarrod Lyle, Steve Allan, Stephen Leaney and Aron Price.
Jones, Nitties and Allan will be buoyed by securing a place at the US Open via Final Qualifying on Monday.
