St Jude the calm before the storm
BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2008 Stanford St. Jude Classic | Preview | 04 Jun 2008
With just one week remaining before the US Open gets underway at Torrey Pines in California, this week’s Stanford St Jude Championship in Memphis fields an interesting mix of players, some playing to give their game one last tweak before the second major of the year and others to take advantage of a field where only one of the world’s top ten is represented.
Vijay Singh is that player but two recent winners, Kenny Perry and Sergio Garcia, are also in the field. Perry is not playing next week’s US Open, preferring instead to target events where he can accumulate Ryder Cup points although his effort last week with his win at the Memorial should all but ensure him of a place on Paul Azinger’s team.
Surely Perry must run out of steam soon however. He has been in contention on several occasions of late including his impressive victory last week but the mental strain of being in contention for so long must soon take its strain. Having missed the cut in each of his last four visits to Southwind does not exactly install confidence in his admirers either.
Garcia had a rather ordinary week at the Memorial after a win at the Players Championship in his previous start. He has played this tournament on only one occasion, that being last year when he made the cut but finished well back. His game is a little hard to pick at the moment.
Singh played this event for just the second time last year and finished 30th. He was playing solidly prior to his withdrawal from the recent BMW PGA in Europe due to a muscle injury but it would not surprise me to see him head to Torrey Pines with a good week behind him.
David Toms boasts a superb record at this event having won twice here plus a runner up and a third place last year. There have been signs of improvement for Toms of late after a struggle in the previous ten or so months and a visit to what must rate as his favourite golf course might be enough to get him on track again.
Stephen Ames has been on top of his game of late and has put enough good rounds together on this layout for him to be a consideration. His 5th place at the Players Championship and 4th at the Colonial are a clear indication that he could do well.
Steve Lowery won earlier in the season at Pebble Beach and although he has, in the main, struggled since, his 6th place at the Memorial last week was impressive. He might not necessarily be one of the favourites this week but has a rather good record on this golf course including when third in 2005.
Australians in the field are Robert Allenby, Stuart Appleby, Nathan Green, Gavin Coles, Andrew Buckle, Stephen Leaney, Tim Wilkinson, Brett Rumford, Matt Jones, David Lutterus and Steve Allan.
