Left field

Has golf found the right end-of-season format at last?

After two successive years of tweaking the points structure for the lucrative FedExCup playoff events, the PGA Tour’s blockbuster finale appears to be close to finding the ideal recipe.

When the season-long series was first launched in 2007, the points system was too rigid, leaving players with far too much ground to make up on the leaders going into the final stretch.

Last year, there was much more volatility but the last of the four playoff events proved to be anti-climactic with Vijay Singh merely needing to show up for the Tour Championship to clinch the trophy and pocket the $10 million bonus.

What had been dubbed as the PGA Tour’s much-trumpeted new era at the start of 2007 ended limply in 2008 as Fijian Singh simply needed to complete the final round at East Lake Golf Club after winning the first two playoff events

This year, however, has been a very different story with every player in the elite field of 30 at East Lake having a chance to seal FedExCup honours.

The Tour’s bold attempt in 2007 to breathe fresh life into its late-season events with a NASCAR-style finale has finally caught the attention of the fans and especially the players.

“There’s a lot of excitement this year, a lot of anticipation,” said Steve Stricker, who was second behind Tiger Woods in the points standings going into the Tour Championship.

Tiger still the inspiration despite Yang’s major success

Yang Yong-eun’s shock win at the PGA Championship ended an embarrassing drought in major championships for the male of the species in staunchly patriarchal South Korea, where men are men and the women — well, the women play golf.

Since Pak Se-ri’s trailblazing triumphs at the US Women’s Open and LPGA Championship in 1998, South Korean women piled up nine more major titles. Before Yang’s victory on Sunday, Korean men had never come close, KJ Choi giving false hope at the 2004 Masters before finishing third.

But while Pak’s wins sparked a South Korean invasion of the LPGA Tour, don’t expect Yang’s success to open the floodgates to hordes of young Korean guns determined to redress the balance in the battle of the sexes.

Nor will it inspire a generation of young Asians to take up the game, despite what some say in the media.

Harsh though it may sound, Yang’s victory will prove about as inspirational as Lucas Glover’s earlier this year in the US Open.

“Lucas Who?” Exactly.

No Woods, no problem … but for how long?

Tiger Woods hacked and shanked his way to a two-round score of five over par at this year’s British Open, missing just the fifth cut of his professional career and only his second in a major championship.

Facing a Tiger-less weekend must have had television executives and sponsors sweating. The 2008 British Open, which Woods missed recovering from reconstructive knee surgery, saw TV ratings of the final round on ABC plummet 13.3 percent from the previous year.

But the ’09 British Open had a secret weapon, Tom Watson.

The 59 year-old self proclaimed ‘geezer’ was battling not only course, but he was fighting father time. A victory would have made him the oldest major champion on the PGA tour by 11 years.

After 54 holes, Watson looked poised to shatter the record as he led the field heading into Sunday’s final round at Turnberry.

However, Stewart Cink sunk the fairytale ending with his two-foot birdie putt on the fourth playoff hole, cutting short Watson’s chase of immortality.

But Watson provided more than enough compelling drama over the final two days to keep viewers hooked. Watson would drain a lengthy putt, then ABC would pull-up video from the famous ‘Duel in the Sun’.  Watson would bump and run to within five feet of the cup, then viewers were treated to a side-by-side look, comparing his swing from today to his last major championship victory 26 years ago — at Royal Birkdale. Woods’ missed cut quickly became an afterthought.

Daly brightens up Wentworth (and it’s not just down to the trousers)

World number seven Paul Casey may be less than enamoured with John Daly’s dress sense but he remains a big fan of the colourful American’s golfing skills.

Twice major winner Daly is in the middle of a five-week run of tournaments in Europe and while his golf has been largely unspectacular, his multi-coloured trousers have certainly captured everyone’s attention.

“I saw John today and look at his trousers, they were outrageous,” Casey told reporters at the PGA Championship at Wentworth on Thursday. “I hope he’s getting a lot of money (for wearing them).

“But today I saw him hit this four-iron fantastically and he stopped it on the green and it was from about 230 yards. That was something. There are a lot of great players out here but John creates memories. When he’s out on the golf course he brings a smile to people’s faces and that’s the most important thing.”

Daly achieved his best result for nearly four years when the 1991 U.S. PGA champion and 1995 British Open winner tied second in this month’s Italian Open.

He has often been the subject of unsavoury headlines but has worked hard on his game since being banned in November for bringing the U.S. PGA Tour into disrepute after he was accused of being drunk outside a bar.

“I think he is a great guy at heart,” said Ryder Cup player Casey. “Has he possibly made a couple of mistakes (in his time)? Yes, but I think they pale in comparison to what’s going on in the world in general right now.

Tiger, birdie, eagle: it’s like he’s never been away

Almost 14,000 fans swarmed across Dove Mountain’s Ritz-Carlton Golf Club during Wednesday’s opening round of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, most of them with just one golfer in their sights.

Tiger Woods, the greatest player of his generation and arguably of all time, was back on the PGA Tour after an eight-month absence and everyone was eager to see how his reconstructed left knee would stand up to the rigours of tournament golf.

When the American world number one teed off at the par-four first shortly after high noon in the Arizona desert, the two grandstands were crammed full and more were spectators lined up four or five deep around the tee box.

“You could hear them screaming out there,” Davis Love III said after booking his place in the second round with a hard-fought victory over Swede Henrik Stenson at the 21st hole.

“They weren’t screaming on any other matches, but you could hear them screaming out there on Tiger’s match. There was just a lot of buzz, and that’s what we needed. It was great.”

Boosted by an electric birdie-eagle start, Woods went on to beat Australian world number 64 Brendan Jones 3&2.

The much hyped return of Woods from knee injury has significantly boosted media numbers attending this week’s PGA Tour event. More than 500 golf writers, photographers and television personnel have been accredited, compared to just 379 for last year’s event.