PGA Tour Golf

This week’s event, played on the par-70 South course at Firestone, will
feel like a stroll in the park after Whistling Straits last week. Tiger
Woods heads a competitive field, and will go off favourite on the back
of his outstanding record here (3rd, 5th, 1st, 1st, 1st, 4th), but he was
playing less badly last year and still got beat by six shots. It is
surely only a question of time before he snaps out of his current dearth of
victories, but the man who looked most likely to come on for last
week’s run is Phil Mickelson. Winner of the 1996 World Series of Golf at
Firestone, Lefty has finished solo second, tied for fourth, tied for
eighth, tied for ninth and tied for 23rd in his five NEC Invitational
starts since. After taking a month off before the USPGA he will be a
lot sharper this week.

Next month’s Ryder Cup holds the key to the final two picks this week.
Stewart Cink will be on a massive high after getting the call-up from
Captain Hal Sutton this week, and he is highly likely to raise his game
as a result of the pressure being lifted. His form at this venue is not
bad either – two results within the top-13 places – while his 17th place
last week brought his current tournament run of top-20’s to six, three of
which were top-6 finishes. He may not be the most accurate of drivers but
lapses off the tee are not overly punished here, a remark that also applies to
this week’s final pick, Fredrik Jacobson. The Swede needs a good showing
this week, or in next week’s BMW International Open, to climb the one
place on the world points list to earn an automatic spot in the European
Ryder Cup team. Last week’s performance from Chris DiMarco showed how this
can be a powerful motivational tool for any player, and this could be just the
incentive that Jacobson needs. What’s more his putting (7th in putts
per round stats) will be a major asset this week on greens that have a
reputation for being super slick.