Tiger a no show at star-studded Barclays

BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2007 The Barclays | Preview | 22 Aug 2007

The first event in the playoffs of the FedEx Cup Series, The Barclays, begins on Thursday, with the eyes of the golfing world focused on the success or otherwise of this newly introduced concept.

While now under the umbrella of the FedEx Cup series, the Barclays event is essentially the tournament we previously knew as the Buick Classic and by other names in its thirty year history at the famed Westchester Country Club in Westchester County north of New York City. In 2007 however the event moves back some two months later than in more recent years.

Westchester Country Club is a Walter Travis designed layout built in 1922 although several architects have played their part in redesign work over the years including the latest, Rees Jones. Australian born and multiple US Amateur Championship winner, Travis, actually designed two courses at Westchester, the West and South courses but PGA Tour events at Westchester have been played over the superb West Course.

The course is not overly long at 6840 yards but is considered one of the better and more respected courses on tour because of the demands it places on all aspects of the game. The lack of actual length is balanced by the considerable elevation changes making the course play longer than the yardage suggests. There is a demand on keeping the ball in play, tall vegetation creating the need for strategic placement from the tee, four inch rough and small and contoured, Bent/Poa annua greens

The field is made up of the top 144 players from a FedEx Cup points table established via the first 36 events on the PGA Tour in 2007. To the disappointment of all, Tiger Woods will not play this week, preferring instead to take one further week to recover from the rigours of contention and victories in the heat in Akron and Tulsa. While promoters of the concept might be at a loss to explain his decision to those supplying the huge tournament and potential bonus purses, the 143 other players in this week’s field will feel they have an opportunity to steal a break on the world number one as there is little doubt he will be back bigger and stronger in the remaining three events of the finals.

Vijay Singh is defending the title he won in 2006 by two shots over Adam Scott, having had previous success in the event in 1993 and 1995. Sergio Garcia and Ernie Els are the only other players in this week’s field who have won at Westchester Country Club on more than one occasion, Els winning in 1996 and 1997 while Garcia won in 2001 and 2004.

Els has been close on several occasions in recent weeks with four top tens in his last five starts. He was third at the PGA and 4th at the Open Championship which, when combined with his comfort zone at Westchester and the absence of Woods, appears a good formula for success.

Garcia may yet have a little scar tissue from Carnoustie and his disqualification at the PGA certainly didn’t help his cause but Westchester clearly fits his eye and he might be back in winning form this week.

Singh’s form has been a little hard to follow of late but he was runner up at the Canadian Open and his missed cut at the PGA was his first such slip-up in twelve months. He should be a factor in an event he is the only player to have won three times

The other player in good form who has had success at Westchester is Padraig Harrington who won in 2005, a year after finishing runner up to Garcia.

Jim Furyk has been runner up on two occasions at Westchester and although, like Singh, he missed the cut at the PGA Championship, his form prior to that was first class including a victory in Canada. This is the style of golf course that Furyk would normally excel on and this week may be no exception.

Mickelson is clearly one of the leading players in the field but his most recent form gives little confidence in his chances.

With so much at stake and so many form players in the field it is hard to determine who might be a bolter in the field but Hunter Mahan has made the cut on both occasions he has played here and in recent weeks he has become one of the inform players on the PGA Tour. The man who finished joint 18th with him at the PGA, Brandt Snedeker, won last week and it would not surprise if Mahan follows up his PGA effort with a win this week.

16 Australians have made the field, with Adam Scott, who finished joint runner up last year, the leading world ranked player amongst them. His latest results have hardly been encouraging for those keen on backing Scott to win this week however.

Geoff Ogilvy, Stuart Appleby, Rod Pampling, John Senden, Aaron Baddeley, Robert Allenby, Nathan Green, Peter Lonard, Nick O’Hern, Mathew Goggin, Stephen Leaney, Steve Allan, Steve Elkington, Andrew Buckle and Gavin Coles complete what is a numerically strong Australian challenge.