What to Watch for: Friday at the Players Championship

I can’t wait for the B-flight to end and the real tournament to begin. I mean, is this the would-be fifth major or a Fall Series scrum? Of the top 20 guys on the leaderboard only four have won major championships, and none in nearly five years. John Mallinger? Richard S. Johnson? Brad Adamonis? Seriously? If you’ve heard of any of these guys then you watch way, way too much Golf Channel.

There are a few intriguing names near the top of the leaderboard, and I’m anxious to see how they back-up those promising opening rounds. Bubba Watson shook off his final-round disappointment of a few days ago and fired a 67 to put himself back in the thick of another tournament. He’s a momentum player so he may be able to ride this hot-streak for a while longer. Also, watch out for Retief Goosen. He shot a clean 67, building on what has quietly been a very successful season so far. Goose is probably the best in the world on super-fast greens, and the Stadium’s putting surfaces are only going to get more baked-out as the week goes on, so I expect him to be there 'til the bitter end.

The real story of the second round will be tougher scoring conditions. There are 57 guys under par after the first round, aided by rain-softened greens and some surprisingly accessible pins. The Ponte Vedra pooh-bahs don’t like to see their golf course razed like that, so expect some suffering on Friday. I’m looking forward to it.

What to Watch for: Saturday at Quail Hollow Championship

While much of Charlotte, NC, will be watching the swings of Tiger Woods -- OK, I will, too -- I'm most interested in watching Bubba Watson take on one of the best courses on the PGA Tour. At first glance, Bubba's explosive and occasionally wild game wouldn't be an ideal fit for Quail Hollow. There's lots of trouble here -- trees, pine needles, water all over.

But the lowered rough (it's only a couple inches in spots) can give Watson a measure of comfort. He doesn't have to be perfect while whaling away from the tee.

In shooting a 65 on Friday to share the lead with Retief Goosen, Watson shrunk the course. He made eight birdies and an eagle against just three bogeys. He's ranked first in driving distance (337.5) and greens in regulation (80.6). Those are the kinds of numbers that lead to victories, especially when you add a hot putter (Watson is ranked 16th at 1.69 putts per green).

Watson's mighty swats have made him a cult figure on the PGA Tour, but he still hasn't won. It's one thing to make the crowd ooh and aah over a 380-yard bomb. It's quite another to turn back one of the strongest fields in golf and hoist a trophy. We'll learn a little bit about Watson's stomach for the fight this weekend. Tiger, Phil, Furyk, Goosen -- this isn't your weekend foursome at the local muni.

Watson will need his best stuff Saturday.

Be sure to follow Watson, Tiger and more at www.twitter.com/SI_DamonHack

Woods plays with usual practice pal: Bubba Watson

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Perennial Masters favorite Tiger Woods, who will go for his fifth green jacket this week, played nine holes in warmer weather Wednesday morning with his usual practice round partner, long-hitting lefty Bubba Watson, and Robert Karlsson of Sweden.

While Karlsson was missing both ways and Woods was playing his usual miss to the right on holes 8 and 9, Watson seemed to be swinging the best by the end of their abbreviated practice round.

Watson, wearing a camouflage bucket hat that elicited mostly unimaginative commentary from the gallery ("Hey, Bubba, you get a free bowl of soup with that hat?"), hit a 301-yard drive on the uphill, par-5 eighth hole, and smoked another drive down the center of the ninth fairway.

The LPGA's Juli Inkster was among the large gallery watching the Woods group as it walked off the eighth green and onto the ninth tee. Inkster is in town to receive the Golf Writers Association of America's Jim Murray Award, for her exemplary cooperation with the press, on Wednesday night.

"This is my first time here," said Inkster, a Northern Californian who has practiced at Stanford Golf Course for years and knows Woods. "I'm just getting the lay of the land."

Woods missed right on the downhill, par-4 ninth hole, and a fan yelled, "Hit a mulligan!"

The 14-time major winner, who once again will forgo the Par-3 Contest, laughed but declined.

Phil Mickelson, meanwhile, stopped what he was doing on the practice putting green to congratulate Paul Casey on his victory in Houston last weekend. As always, Mickelson will play in the Par-3 Contest.   

Bubba Watson's road to the Ryder Cup?

If winless Bubba Watson is a captain’s pick for the Ryder Cup team, you’ll know why:

On Sunday evening I was hanging out in the locker room at Oakland Hills. It was by far the best place to watch the telecast of the PGA Championship. There was only one TV in the cavernous room, and various players and caddies kept stopping by to check out, and comment upon, the back-nine action. Angel Cabrera was nursing a series of Miller Lites and barking at Sergio in Spanish. Niclas Fasth, in his too-tight Euro jeans and shiny, pointy-toed loafers, offered a non-stop monologue of how every shot was playing and every putt would break. Paul Casey stopped long enough to show off a t-shirt emblazoned with ANARCHY ON THE FAIRWAY.

One of the most animated observers was Paul Azinger, who offered a much more profane version of his usual TV commentary. I was standing with Zinger when Bubba rolled in. The U.S. Ryder Cup captain lit up.

“Hey, what year is your Lambo?” Azinger asked.

“’08.”

“I just drove an ’09,” said Zing. “When you downshift, that sucker roars. I gotta get one.”

“You can drive mine sometime,” said Watson. Then a thought occurred to him, and he broke into a cheesy grin. “Hey, maybe we can work a deal!”       

Bubba Can't Coast at Augusta

“You don’t have time to daydream, which I usually do on golf courses.”

That’s Bubba Watson’s take on Augusta National. Watson, a Masters rookie, has played the course a couple of times over the years, but never under tournament conditions. “It’s totally different,” he said yesterday afternoon. “In the old days I was hitting pitching wedge into 17. Today it was an 8-iron. I used to hit pitching wedge or lob wedge into No. 7. Now it’s a 7-iron from 185.”

And Bubba, if you need reminding, led the PGA Tour in driving distance in 2007 with an average of 315.2 yards.

“On 18,” he continued, “a lot of the guys aren’t getting it up the hill and around the dogleg. They’re having a dogleg on their SECOND shot. That’s kind of different.”

“The course hasn’t dried out yet,” Watson added. “It will firm up.”

Bubba’s take on the televising of today’s par-3 tournament: “It’s a good idea because it’s something the fans love to watch. It shows that the players are having fun, even though we sometimes look serious and mad when we’re playing.”

Watson planned to play the par-3 with Aaron Baddeley and Woody Austin, a couple of daydream believers. (Update: He played the par-3 round with Baddeley, J.B. Holmes and Padraig Harrington)

(Photo: Robert Beck/SI)