Wide-Open Race for No. 1

Who's going to be the No. 1 player in golf at the end of 2010? For the first time, there is no sure answer to that question in men's and women's golf. Tiger Woods is about to be replaced by Lee Westwood in the men's rankings, although several other players, including Martin Kaymer, could surge past them both by the end of the year.

On the LPGA tour, the top spot has turned into a game of musical chairs ever since Lorena Ochoa's retirement. Cristie Kerr, Jiyai Shin and Japan's Ai Miyazato have all been No. 1 at some point this year. Before that, Ochoa and Annika Sorenstam had Tiger-esque strangleholds on the position.

The best thing about the women's battle for No. 1 is that the title is truly coveted. The top players, like Kerr, embrace the spot for the honor that comes with it and openly admit they want it. In men's golf, the chase for No. 1 is mostly met with an if-it-happens-it-happens attitude, a recipe for buzzkill.

With this week's CVS Pharmacy LPGA Challenge in Northern California, the chase for No. 1 resumes. Kerr could have reclaimed the top spot last week but blew a lead and stumbled on Sunday at the Navistar Classic, finishing third when a victory would have bumped her to No. 1. Instead, she inched past Shin into second behind Miyazato. Kerr is the only top-five player teeing it up this week, so she has another shot. She told the Associated Press that she's excited about the pursuit of No. 1.

"It's been crazy and it's been fun," Kerr said Wednesday. "It's been kind of like a roller-coaster ride. It's a good time for us."

Miyazato, who has held the No. 1 ranking for eight straight weeks, is skipping this week's Northern California stop on the tour. That means Kerr can regain the No. 1 ranking for third time this year with a win. Even a top-five finish will likely push her past Miyazato. That would give Kerr — owner of 14 LPGA career titles — a shot at becoming the first American to end the season No. 1 since the rankings began in 2006. Beth Daniel (1994) is the last American to earn player of the year honors on the tour.

"The more we can get the word out that the LPGA is exciting and it's something to watch and there is an American, me, now up there in the mix to be No. 1 in the world, I think we'll get a lot more fans, a lot more people interested," said Kerr, who celebrated her 33rd birthday Tuesday.

"It's been a long time since Americans had the ability to end the year No. 1, so I think that you've just got to go for it. We need to grow our fan base in the United States again, so that we can grow and have more tournaments and more sponsors here. When I first came on tour we had over 40 tournaments. Now we have 26. It's quite a change in 10 years."

LPGA Struggles for Attention

The LPGA's battle at the top hasn't gotten big media play, and Golf Channel.com's Tom Abbott wonders why the LPGA hasn't drawn more attention.

This would seem like a sponsor and media dream. So why the lack of tournaments and why the lack of coverage in the mainstream golf media?

The stop-start schedule plays a big-role. This season, the tour began in the Far East, then halted for a few weeks before re-starting in March with a couple of great tournaments in California. The tour disappeared in April, stopping briefly for an event in Jamaica buried on CBS and Lorena’s swansong in Mexico, which wasn’t even televised in the U.S., before reappearing for two events in May, one in Mobile, Ala., the other in New Jersey... but bottom line, the tour must play when and where sponsors want them to and sometimes that simply doesn’t fit into making the tour flow. This doesn’t look likely to change next season.

A second factor surely has to do with Tiger Woods. For most of 2010, the golf media was all Tiger all the time and other stories simply got forgotten. At the Kraft Nabisco Championship,  the first major of the season, a large number of golf writers departed on the eve of the final round; they had to be at Augusta National Golf Club in time for Tiger’s big comeback press conference. After a really close finish, where Pettersen barely missed a chip-in for a playoff with Tseng, an earthquake ensued, literally, during the champion’s press conference, but it barely registered on the media Richter scale.

Playing second fiddle is nothing new for the Nabisco, which used to be played opposite the PGA Tour's Players Championship until the Players moved to a new date in May. And Woods has dwarfed all things in golf that he's not a part of--the women's tour, the senior tour and even the PGA Tour events he doesn't play.

There's also the issue of foreign players, he said, with whom U.S. fans struggle to identify. A bigger issue: because of the foreign influence, more events are being played in other countries. Barely half of the LPGA schedule is in the U.S., and American media doesn't cover those events. Even if the event is televised to the States, it doesn't have an American flavor.

I’m obviously a little biased in this view, but Golf Channel is a good partner for the tour. It’s a permanent home for the broadcasts with resources worldwide and a team of people who really enjoy the tour and care for the product. The problem is, not all the events are branded by Golf Channel. When the tour goes to Asia, Golf Channel simply airs a world feed without familiar commentators or the look of what you might expect from one of our broadcasts. A consistent look throughout the season breeds familiarity with the viewers. Sponsors are sometimes more concerned by hospitality rather than visibility. That’s great, but not for the long-term health of the overall product and certainly not for people like you and me who enjoy watching quality golf broadcasts on television.

Golf Channel is an obvious home for the LPGA. The problem is, it's also home for telecasts of the European tour, Nationwide tour, Champions tour and PGA Tour. That's too many tours and not enough hours in the day to televise them all when they all conclude at about the same time on the same weekend days.

It's surprising that one of the smaller tours hasn't experimented with Saturday finishes or something really radical like a Saturday-to-Tuesday schedule. A Monday or Tuesday final round could be the focus of attention at Golf Channel, which has no live golf to televise the first three days each week. Of course, that would also be an admission of what we already know--they aren't golf tournaments anymore, they're television shows.

The Guardian's Lawrence Donegan lays out the pros and cons of coaching Tiger Woods. The upside, of course, is the money. Sure, there's scrutiny, but the prestige of coaching the best player in the world leads to numerous earning opportunities, although not directly from the boss, who, Donegan notes, reportedly paid former coach Butch Harmon $35,000.

Donegan lists hotshot coach Sean Foley as the leading candidate to replace Hank Haney, along with more unlikely picks like his former coach Butch Harmon and legendary Scottish coach Bob Torrence.

Stephanie Wei of WeiUnderPar.com wrote last week that the hot rumor between players and caddies at TPC Sawgrass was that Haney was out and Foley was in. Foley coaches Sean O'Hair and Hunter Mahan, and Foley walked with O'Hair, Mahan and Woods during a practice round at the Players.

After Wei's story, Foley responded in The Globe and Mail that he had not had any talks with Woods about coaching. However, Foley did add that, “Who knows what will happen? I’d like to work with Tiger if I got a chance, sure. Is there an interest? Absolutely there is. But again, there’s been no discussion at all at this point.”

That's a door open wide enough to drive a Cadillac Escalade through.

Over at the Golf365 web site, Dave Tindall lists some more candidates. The favorite, he says, is David Leadbetter. Tindall also says Todd Anderson and Pat Perez's coach Mike Abbott are strong possibilities.

Anderson, who teaches Davis Love III, Brandt Snedeker and Charles Howell III, is a solid dark-horse pick.  Other names being tossed around are Y.E. Yang's coach Brian Mogg and Zach Johnson's coach Mike Bender. Foley is definitely the hottest coach on Tour, but he might have trouble observing Team Tiger's Rule No. 1: Never outshine the master.

Glory days, yeah, they'll pass you by

The Washington Post's Thomas Boswell, one of the most insightful observers on the Tiger beat, wonders if Woods will ever regain his dominance over the golf world. Boswell looks at the historical record, which is not encouraging for Woods.

Will the Tiger Era, from the 1997 Masters to the 2008 Open, go into eclipse? That's about the same number of years that Nicklaus stayed No. 1 in the world rankings system of his time: '65 to '77.

Don't say it can't happen. It's one of golf's oldest themes, just one that we despise. At 34, Woods's age, Arnold Palmer won his fourth Masters. But the next season, Nicklaus took over as the top ranking from him, and Palmer never won another major.

After Nicklaus lost the No. 1 ranking to Watson in '78, he won "just" four more major championships. That's a lot. But if Woods's career follows a similar arc, it may be nip-and-tuck whether he passes Nicklaus's record of 18 majors.

Watson himself fell from the No. 1 perch when he was 33, after a five-year run. Few thought it meaningful at the time. But he won only one more major title. Soon enough, Tom's yips were a match for Jack's bad back. What does golf wear out -- neck, back, knees or nerves? Take your pick.

Paddy Downer

Padraig Harrington has played a lot of uneven golf since winning his third major at the PGA Championship in 2008. The Irish Independent's Karl MacGinty has some advice for the pensive Irishman: Cheer up!

Harrington was maddeningly inconsistent in the first two rounds, putting badly on Thursday (for a 73) and then failing too often to hit his ball close to the target from mid-fairway on Friday. The resulting 72 led to a second missed cut in three tournaments, including the Masters.

His swing looked good and Harrington has rarely driven the ball better, but it helps if the course offers enough of a challenge to stop the Dubliner getting in his own way.

Harrington hasn't won on Tour since Oakland Hills and, as the pressure mounts, it might serve him well to heed the sound advice he offered McIlroy after the Masters -- simply ease up on himself, go out there and have fun.

Stray observations

Just a few items we noticed while wondering whether Rickie Fowler is going to audition for the new Smurfs movie.

A Notre Dame golfer disqualified from an NCAA tournament says she reported false scores as a joke. "I was just out goofing around," said ND senior Annie Brophy. (Via AP.)

Former Atlanta Braves hurler John Smoltz missed qualifying for the U.S. Open after shooting a 6-over 76 at the Hideout Golf Club in Naples, Fla. Smoltz is a frequent playing partner of Tiger Woods, who once reportedly said that Smoltz was the best golfer he knows who isn't on the PGA Tour. (Via Atlanta Journal-Constitution) BTW, make sure to catch Smoltz and Bob Costas on the MLB Network. They are the best announcing team in baseball, and one of the best in sports.

Finally, golf balls in the water that we can all be a happy about. The Miami Herald said that golf balls might be able to help stop the Gulf of Mexico oil leak. "The next tactic is going to be something they call a junk shot,'' U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen said on Face the Nation. "They're actually going to take a bunch of debris, shredded up tires, golf balls and things like that and under very high pressure shoot it into the preventer itself and see if they can clog it up and stop the leak." 

Guess we know where Tiger stands on the "Is it OK to break up via text message?" question.

Monday was the end of a too-brief era when Lorena Ochoa was official removed from the women's world golf rankings. Just last week, Ochoa had dropped to No. 2 behind Jiyai Shin after 158 weeks at No. 1. Ochoa asked to be removed from the rankings following her retirement. (Via UPI)

Tiger cards a 121
Tiger Woods shot a sloppy first-round 74 at Quail Hollow, but a far more damming number surfaced yesterday: 121. That’s how many women Woods allegedly confessed to bedding while married to Elin Nordegren, a source told the National Enquirer. (Move over, Ladies of Tiger Woods Wall Calendar -- here come the Ladies of Tiger Woods Playing Cards!) The complete story is in the print edition only, but the NY Daily News has the dish:

Woods handed a four-page list of conquests to his wife while undergoing sex-addiction therapy at a Mississippi clinic, the Enquirer reported.

At the time, Woods was trying to prevent Nordegren from walking out on him—and taking their two kids and a big chunk of his fortune with her.

Divorce, according to the story (and many others), is imminent, which would be just about the only predictable turn in this sad and sordid saga.

Forget Goldman. It's all about 'Golf, man!'
Golf is more than just a game—so says the PGA of America and a slew of other golf associations, country clubs and equipment companies that have banded together under the moniker “We Are Golf” to lobby Washington for a little respect. The Washington Post reports:

Represented by the Podesta Group lobbying powerhouse, We Are Golf kicked off its formation Wednesday with a whirlwind visit to Capitol Hill. PGA chief Joe Steranka and other industry leaders met with several dozen members of Congress, including such avowed golfing proponents as Reps. James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.) and Greg Walden (R-Ohio).

With a fancy Web site and a $15,000-a-month lobbying budget, the coalition says it hopes to bring the game up to par with other businesses in the realm of Washington politics, although it is still working on its agenda. Citing industry studies, We Are Golf says the game is a $76 billion industry that directly or indirectly supports 2 million jobs.

"This is the first time our industry has come together like this," Steranka said in an interview after his Capitol Hill meetings. "We're not looking for an unfair advantage; our message is that we want to put golf on a level playing field with other small businesses, because that's what we are."

President Obama could not be reached for comment. He was playing golf.

Why Ochoa might retire as No. 2 
You don’t need to be an LPGA junkie to appreciate the story lines coming out of the Tres Marias Championship—Lorena Ochoa’s last stop before ducking off to The Villages. Ochoa has said she would love to conclude her career as the No. 1 player in the world, but her good friend and World No. 5 Ai Miyazoto—whom Ochoa requested to play with this week—is in position to hijack the fairytale finish after blitzing the course with a first-round 10-under 62, four better than Ochoa.

The rub: a Miyazoto win could bump Ochoa from the top spot. Beth Ann Baldry of Golfweek reports:

LPGA officials will outline all the various scenarios once Round 1 is in the books and they can determine strength of field. World No. 2 Jiyai Shin is playing this week in Japan, so her results will factor into the equation. Suzann Pettersen, No. 4, also has a chance to take over, but she’ll have to play hard the next several days to catch up after a 73.

In typical Ochoa fashion, she's taking it all in stride and enjoying the time with her gal pals. “We never pay attention to how we hit the ball or how many birdies we make,” she said. “It’s more about quality time with your friends.”

Didn't Rory Sabbatini say that once?

Tiger's facial hair 
Tiger’s goatee is back, and according to a Huffington Post poll, the public is torn over whether it’s “handsome” (48 percent) or “hideous” (52 percent). Frankly, I’d like to see Tiger go all NHL and grow out his facial hair until he bags another major. With the way he’s swinging it, he might look like Billy Gibbons before he slips on another green jacket. Any thoughts on the best facial hair the game has ever seen? Gary McCord? Sam Torrance? Fluff McCowan? My vote goes to a true pioneer.

LPGA puts all its eggs in a fragile basket (or something like that)
While a relatively apathetic sports media might not take much notice of Lorena Ochoa's departure, you can be sure that the LPGA is taking the situation much more seriously. Kevin Baxter of The Sydney Morning Herald looks at what effect Ochoa's decision to hang up her spikes will have on the women's tour

Lorena Ochoa has always insisted she'll be just fine without golf. "I prefer to be remembered for other things," she has said. "It's not about golf. It's not about the game." But will golf be fine without Lorena Ochoa?

We may soon find out, given Ochoa's surprise announcement on Tuesday that she is retiring from the LPGA Tour, the latest in a series of recent blows that has left women's golf reeling...

"Obviously when you lose your No.1 player it certainly is not good news," said Charlie Rymer, an analyst for LPGA broadcasts on the Golf Channel. "It's a tough pill to swallow. You provide a stage for your larger-than-life stars and that's what pushes the needle in golf. There's some negatives to that. When you put your eggs in one basket, sometimes the basket gets a little fragile and the eggs roll out."

Ochoa's decision to step down now, at 28, makes her the second LPGA star, after Annika Sorenstam, to walk away from the game in less than two years. Couple that with a steep decline in sponsorship, plunging TV ratings and a surviving tour roster with few well-known personalities and commissioner Michael Whan finds himself battling to keep the LPGA relevant six months after taking the job.

I guess Tim Finchem has finally found an executive he wouldn't trade places with. I don't envy Whan with the lean times that the LPGA is likely facing (as Baxter mentions, the economy of the LPGA is already in tatters). Right now the commissioner's only real hope is a shocking return by Annika Sorrenstam (not going to happen this year), or a similarly surprising charge by Michelle Wie. If Wie takes advantage of the sudden power vacuum in women's golf, Ochoa's retirement might be a footnote in the LPGA's turnaround, rather than the last line on its tombstone.

Golf is the new arugula
I have no interest in talking politics on a golf blog, but the stories about President Barack Obama's golf habits are spinning out of control to the point that they themselves are actual news. While it was an article from The Washington Times that kicked off the latest Obama golf firestorm (as mentioned by my colleague Mike Walker on Monday), it was yesterday's post from The Telegraph's Toby Harnden that has stoked the fire on this ridiculous non-story:

President Barack Obama has played golf 32 times since he took office, eight more than his predecessor George W. Bush -- who was mocked by the Left for his fondness for the game -- did in his entire presidency.

Mr Obama's latest outing on the links came on Sunday, when an opportunity opened up on his schedule after flying bans over most of northern and central Europe forced him to cancel his trip to Krakow to attend the funeral of Lech Kaczynski, the Polish president.

Mr Bush was shown in the Michael Moore film Fahrenheit 9/11 condemning "terrorist killers" in the Middle East when asked a question on the golf course in 2002. Barely pausing for breath, he added: "Thank you. Now watch this drive."...

Mr Obama's Sunday golf game prompted anger in Poland, where the Warsaw Business Post carried a headline reading: "Obama goes golfing instead of attending Kaczynskis' funeral".

Again, I'm not looking to dip my feet in the political swamp, but are you kidding me? The President of the United States decides not to fly through a dangerous ash cloud to attend the memorial service of a president who died in a plane crash on his way to attend a memorial service? And you're against that? The real story (as it pertains to this website), is how golf seems to be used (by both sides of the political spectrum...or at least which ever side is out of power) as a sort of symbol for elitism and how out of touch the president is with the American public. The National Golf Foundation estimates that there are about 26.2 million Americans who like to unwind with a round of golf, and I think it's safe to assume that very few of those people have as much on their minds as the POTUS.

Twice bitten, not shy
Greg Norman is either a true romantic or a glutton for punishment. Ryan Ballengee of Waggleroom gives us the scoop, via The Palm Beach Post and The Daily Mail.

Divorce is a tough thing. Greg Norman has gone through it twice in the last five years. After ending things with his first wife, Laura, he found himself in the arms of tennis great Chris Evert. Just before the end of 2009, Evert and Norman quietly parted ways.

I don't know about Chrissy Evert, but Greg Norman is a man that can move on quickly. The Palm Beach Post reports that Norman is dating a new, younger woman. Her name is Kirsten Kutner, and she is a 41-year-old Sydney-based interior designer. Norman and Kutner have known each other for years, according to the Aussie tabloids, but are just now getting together after both got back on the market following each's divorce from their prior spouse.

Hopefully things will work out better for Norman this time around. It's been reported that his first divorce cost him upwards of $100 million, and his split with Evert was sad and confusing for everyone who saw not only the genuine connection they seemed to share, but the uptick in Norman's game that accompanied it. Here's hoping it's all blue skies and open water for the Shark in his newest romantic endeavor.

The game's two biggest guns aren't playing the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Tucson this week. But the biggest names in women's golf will be at this week's LPGA lid-lifter, the Honda PTT LPGA Thailand. So it was time for USA Today's Steve DiMeglio to catch up with Lorena Ochoa and Jiyai Shin, the LPGA's best players. Shin missed a birdie chip on the final hole of last year's finale that would've given her the Player of the Year award along with the Rookie of the Year award. Instead, Ochoa picked up her usual honor.

That sets up 2010 as a potential changing of the guard. Shin, 21, is on the rise while Ochoa hit a plateau last year. Neither was satisfied with her play. Shin won three times and led the tour's money list.

"Last year was a great year for me, but I would not give myself a 100 on a self-evaluation," Shin wrote last week in an e-mail to USA TODAY. "If we are talking about the results, to other people it may be 100. When I review my performance throughout the year, I would say it was more like 70. I had many ups and downs last year. In 2010, I want to be more consistent."

Ochoa got married in December to Aeromexico head Andres Conesa, who has three children from a previous marriage. She said she is committed to golf in 2010.

"I've been taking the time like I always do to practice six, seven hours and go to the gym a couple hours every day," Ochoa said last week from her new home in Mexico City. "My coach is coming here to watch me play and help me a little bit with technique, like we always do."

Ochoa, who has 27 career titles, including two major championships, won her fourth consecutive Vare Trophy last year when she nudged Shin by decimal points for the season's lowest scoring average. "The competition is getting tougher and tougher," Ochoa said. "Believe me, I have enough motivation."

Few players in the morning groups were under par today at the Kraft Nabisco, a day after strong winds sent scores soaring. No one did worse than Michelle Wie, who shot her second straight 81. If leaders Christina Kim and Kristy McPherson can't go low, it will bring a lot more players into the tournament. Check back later for a complete wrap-up and photos from today's action.

In progress: Round 3 scores | Recap | Photos

Kristy McPherson, Christina Kim, Paula Creamer and Cristie Kerr have put themselves in contention heading into the weekend at the Kraft Nabisco Championship. Lorena Ochoa is making a move today, while Michelle Wie and Natalie Gulbis have some work to do. Check back later for a complete wrap-up, photos and a preview of Saturday's action from SI's Alan Shipnuck.

In progress: Round 2 scores | Recap | Round 2 Preview | Photos

Of course the woman to watch at the Dinah Shore is defending champ Lorena Ochoa. I followed her a bit last week in Phoenix – she controlled her ball beautifully but couldn’t score on the bumpy greens. Expect her to find her touch at Mission Hills, a course she has been going low at since she was an amateur. Ochoa is off this morning in a blockbuster pairing with Jiyai Shin, the relentless “rookie” who has already established herself as the second-best player on the LPGA. If Shin wins this week her stated goal of reaching No. 1 will get a huge boost.

As always, it’s impossible to ignore Michelle Wie, especially since she played in the final group on Sunday at the Dinah as an awkward 13 year old. She has the power to exploit the demanding par-5s here and lots of good memories to draw on. I’ll be interested to see if she can get herself back in contention. Based on her ragged play last week, I’m not sure her game is ready.

The Masters is still a week away, but the LPGA Tour's first major of the year kicks off today at the Kraft Nabisco Championship. World No. 1 Lorena Ochoa is the defending champion against a field that includes Michelle Wie and Paula Creamer, both trying to win their first major. Check back later for a complete wrap-up and photos from today's action.

In progress: Round 1 Scores | Preview | Michelle Wie Homepage

Recap | Scores | Photos: Round 1 | Photos: Papago Golf Course

6:38 p.m. Wie may want to hold off packing her bags. The cutline has moved to 5-over par, so Wie is in on the number. However there are still plenty of golfers on the course.

2:44 p.m. Wie finishes with a par for a 4-over 76. She is at 5-over par, two shots off the projected cutline. Wie is likely heading home.

2:32 p.m. With a par on 7 and a bogey on 8, Wie is now at 5-over par, two shots off the cutline.

2:01 p.m. Wie couldn't take advantage of the par-5 fifth hole. She made a par and has three holes left.

1:40 p.m. Wie makes a par on No. 5. No. 6 is a par 5, and Wie could really use a birdie if she wants to make the cut.

1:29 p.m. A bogey on No. 4 drops Wie below the project cutline again.

1:07 p.m. Wie makes a birdie on the par-4 third hole. She's now inside the projected cutline at 3-over par.

12:56 p.m. Wie makes par on the par-3 second hole.

12:54 p.m. Add Natalie Gulbis to the list of players who have withdrawn.

12:48 p.m. Looks like Alan Shipnuck was right: Suzann Pettersen is 2-under par after three holes and in the lead.

12:44 p.m. EST Phew! Wie makes a birdie on No. 1, a par 5, to move to 4-over par. She's now one shot below the projected cutline.