Mercedes-Benz opens 2007 PGA season
IN: News | US PGA | Mercedes-Benz Championship (2007) | Preview | by Bruce Young | 02 Jan 2007
The golfing year is no sooner over than it starts again. For the USPGA Tour it will be the Mercedes-Benz Championship while for the European Tour it will be the Joburg Open in Johannesburg starting next week.
The Mercedes Championship will again be played at the Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw designed Plantation Course at Kapalua in Hawaii and while the event has been robbed of some of its appeal by Tiger Woods' decision not to play, there are other factors to retain the interest of the purest golf fan.
Stuart Appleby will look to join the only other golfer, Tiger Woods, of the modern era to win an event on four consecutive occasions when he tees it up on a golf course which he must feel he owns. Others in earlier times had accomplished the feat including the likes of Gene Sarazen and Walter Hagen, the latter of whom won four consecutive PGA Championships in the 1920's. Since 1930, however, only Tiger Woods has been able to achieve that significant milestone when he dominated the Bay Hill Invitational for four years from 2000.
Appleby defeated Vijay Singh by one shot in 2004, Jonathan Kaye by one shot in 2005 and in 2006 he edged out Singh again, although he was forced into a playoff to do so. On a demanding final day last year, Singh was the only player to break 70 and did so by four shots to make up a five shot deficit on Appleby before losing at the first extra hole after Appleby had saved par from the back trap and Singh had been unable to get up and down from short of the green.
Appleby arrives in Hawaii with reasonable form in his most recent starts. He finished 8th at the Australian PGA Championship which interestingly was the placing he finished in his last event prior to teeing it up here twelve months ago. Appleby plays Bermuda greens well as can be seen by his record here, in Australia (both his wins there have been in Queensland) and with wins also in Houston and Florida he clearly has a leaning towards warm season grasses for whatever reason.
34 players will line up this week, the most noticeable absentees of those eligible, being Woods and Phil Mickelson although Mickelson has not played the event since 2001 preferring to return from his annual hibernation either in Phoenix or at the Bob Hope Classic. Woods is skiing and has announced that he and Elin are expecting their first child so perhaps he sees things in a slightly different light in 2007. Mind you he is one player who can afford to give every other player on the PGA Tour a start and yet still be a long way ahead of them by year's end.
The much vaunted arrival of the Fed Ex Cup series takes place this week and the winner this week will receive 4500 points out of a total of 25,000 provided to this particular event. In August, the top 144 players on the Fed Ex points list will get the chance to play off for a cool US$35 million with the winner at the end of a four week playoff series earning another US$10 million. Just what Tiger Woods needs - another US$10 million! It will be interesting to see and assess in October whether throwing even more money at the rich will be all that appealing to golf fans.
The number two golfer in the world, Jim Furyk, is perhaps the favourite, just ahead of the course specialist, Appleby, with Furyk in simply stunning form of late. His win at the Sun City event followed a 9th place at the HSBC Championship in China and his runner up placing to Adam Scott at the Tour Championship in Atlanta. A winner of this event in 2001 and third last year he probably deserves his pre tournament favouritism and it would surprise if he is not close to winning contention on Sunday.
Vijay Singh has had quite a break by his standards, his last event at the Tour Championship. It is hard to imagine however that the man who has played as well as anyone apart from Appleby at Kapalua in recent years will not be ready to regain some of the status in world golf that he lost in 2006. Twelve months ago he was the number two golfer in the world but he enters this week at number seven.
South Africa has been well represented at this event in previously years but for the first time in several seasons neither Els nor Goosen are in the field. This time it will be Trevor Immelman and Rory Sabbatini who will fly the green and gold flag of South Africa. Immleman took giant steps in 2006 and finished the season off well by chasing Els home at the South African Airways Open. His win at last year's Western Open confirmed what many had predicted would happen for some time earlier namely that he would become a force on the PGA Tour.
Sabbatini was runner up to Jim Furyk in 2001 and is not without a chance although his recent form has not been all that impressive.
Another green and gold flag that will be flown this week and in great numbers will be the Australian flag. In 2007 six Australians will play the event equalling the record set in January of 2005.
Adam Scott is the number four player in the world and now appears set to play the standard of golf that got him to that lofty height on a more regular basis. He has played well at Kapaula on occasions, more especially in 2005 when he put together a brilliant last round of 65 to finish 5th. As the Tour Championship winner and as a golfer who seems to be getting better with age, Scott deserves respect but he will need to improve on what was a less than impressive week at the Australian PGA Championship a month ago. He followed that up with a very ordinary week at Tiger's Target Challenge event in California although not too much can be read into that.
Geoff Ogilvy finished 13th in this event last year, albeit 14 shots behind the playoff pair. Since then has gone on to win the Accenture Match Play and the US Open and generally has a good record on Bermuda greens. The conditions won't bother him and just three weeks ago finished runner up to Woods at Target Championship in California.
Rod Pampling is in Kapalua for the second time having first played the tournament in 2005 when he finished 19th while John Senden and Aaron Baddeley are both playing the event for the first time with both having been first time USPGA Tour winners in 2006.
Irrespective of where they finish this week all players are guaranteed a minimum of US$70,000 just for having made it to what is effectively the Tournament of Champions. The winner receives US$1.080 million.
Photo - Anthony Powter
