Mickelson out, Woods favourite at BMW Championship
BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2007 BMW Championship | Preview | 05 Sep 2007
The withdrawal of Phil Mickelson from this week’s BMW Championship in Chicago has definitely put a dampener on the event but that aside there are many stories within stories still to be told.
Mickelson’s stance is supposedly to remind PGA Tour Commissioner, Tim Finchem, that he had failed to respond to the issues that were bothering Mickelson in relation to the congested nature of the big events on the PGA Tour at this time. The decision Mickelson has taken has robbed the tournament of a potential duel between Mickelson and Woods and for the second time in the three FedEx Cup events to date, the series points leader will not be playing.
Mickelson has the lead in the FedEx Cup Series points race but Tiger Woods is looking to win at Cog Hill for the fourth time and take back the lead prior to next week’s Tour Championship. Ernie Els is back after a week attending to domestic duties and looking to take up where he left off despite the fact that he is playing this venue for the first time and both Jim Furyk and Vijay Singh are looking to reverse some ordinary recent form.
The Dubsdread layout forms one of the four courses at the multi golf course, public access, Cog Hill Golf and Country Club, just south of Chicago. The course was opened in 1964 and designed by Dick Wilson and Joe Lee. Wilson also received recognition for such courses as the Blue Monster at Doral, Laurel Valley, La Costa and Bay Hill. He died just a year after the opening of this, the fourth course at Cog Hill.
The course measures 7320 yards and features bent greens and as you would expect with a course of this age, fairways lined by tall mature vegetation. It is heavily bunkered and possesses large undulating greens and tight landing areas.
The layout has been the home of the Western Open since 1991, that event being played for the final time last year after having first been held in 1899. To some extent it was sad to break the great tradition of one of the oldest events in the game but the commerical nature of tournament golf finally caught up with an event that has included some of the greatest players of all time as its winners.
Woods is the likely winner if there is such a thing in tournament golf at this level. He won this event in 1997,1999 and 2003 and has been runner up in each of the last two years. It is hard to imagine that Woods will not be in the last couple of groups late on Sunday throwing down the gauntlet to anyone who dares to challenge him.
Ernie Els returns after a week back in London where he attended to domestc duties including taking his children to school. Els has not played this venue previously, typically playing European Tour events in his lead in to the Open Championship which had traditionally followed this tournament. Els has, however, been in very good form in recent starts and might offer Woods as much as he can handle.
Vijay Singh and Jim Furyk have both played well at Cog Hill, Furyk winning in 2005 but both have been surprisngly out of sorts in recent weeks. They will need to be at their best to contend for the title and their recent form suggests that is not the case.
Steve Stricker won at Cog Hill in 1996, his last strokeplay victory on the USPGA Tour prior to his recent win at Westchester. He is back to the sort of form he displayed in 1996 when he was such a star on the PGA Tour. He seems to be in contention in most events of late and this week should be no exception.
K.J. Choi returns after withdrawing from last week’s event with a back injury but was in very good form prior while Rory Sabbatini seems to be close to contention nearly ever week at present. Sabbatini finished 5th at Cog Hill in 2001 in one of his few starts.
The Australian contingent is strong both numerically and in terms of their chances. Geoff Ogilvy finishd 5th at Cog Hill in 2005 and he has played beuatifully in recent weeks.
Adam Scott has played at Cog Hill just once that being last year when he finished 21st. He has been inside the top 20 at his last two starts this year and might improve further. Aaron Baddeley finished 5th last week in Boston but his record at Cog Hill is not good and if there is a concern about his chances this week that is it.
Robert Allenby has played well at Cog Hill in the past and he appeared to be returning to the sort of form he dispalyed earlier in the year.
Stuart Appleby, Rod Pampling, Nathan Green, John Senden and Nick O’Hern make up the balance of the Australian contingent.
