Mickelson looks poised to successfully defend his title

It’s all about your agenda. Do you want to win a golf tournament or just prepare for one? No question there’s heavy highlighter -- green, probably -- on everyone’s calendar for the first full week of April. That’s Masters Week, the first major of the season, the annual rite of Spring that makes Spring so right in the golf world. But PGA TOUR players look ahead at their own peril. The $5.3 million BellSouth Classic begins Thursday at TPC Sugarloaf in Duluth, Ga., a couple of miles west of Augusta. First prize is $954,000 -- a lot of green that can buy any color jacket you want. If anyone doubts that this Atlanta area stop, in its 38th year, isn’t special, just check the roll of champions, which includes Jack Nicklaus, Hale Irwin, Tom Watson, Larry Nelson and Tom Kite among the old guard. More recent title holders: John Daly, Tiger Woods, David Duval, Retief Goosen and defending champion Phil Mickelson. Sure, the majors club is nice, but reputations are nothing but enhanced in this fraternity, too. No sense preparing for the next big thing when living large will pay off in the present. It’s all about your agenda. Last year: Phil Mickelson won his second BellSouth Classic title by surviving a five-man playoff, the first in nine years, as the PGA TOUR completed its second straight tournament on a Monday -- with regulation ending after 54 holes because of inclement weather. Mickelson poured in a 20-foot birdie putt on the fourth extra hole to defeat Rich Beem. Brandt Jobe, Arjun Atwal, and Jose Maria Olazabal were eliminated earlier in the playoff after the five men completed 54 holes in 8-under-par 208. How he did it: Mickelson’s all-around game wasn’t particularly sharp, but he took advantage of his birdie chances, converting 16, third most in the field, and posting the fifth best putting average after hitting the green in regulation. He also got a little lucky as Olazabal missed short birdie chances on the final hole of regulation and in the playoff. Strange but true: Three of the last five winners of the BellSouth Classic – Scott McCarron, Ben Crane and Zach Johnson – didn’t ride that victorious momentum into Augusta National Golf Club the following week. Fact is, they couldn’t, having not qualified for the Masters Tournament. True but not so strange: Mickelson is the only player in PGA TOUR history to win twice in a calendar year in Atlanta, the 2000 BellSouth Classic and THE TOUR Championship at East Lake Golf Club. If the course could talk: “Chipping and putting impress me more than anything else. And that could be good preparation for that older cousin of mine down the street the following week.” Worth knowing: • Davis Love III decided he wasn’t going to sleep on that second-round 83 at THE PLAYERS Championship until he gets to Augusta National Golf Club. Love was a late addition to the field for this week’s BellSouth Classic, where he hasn’t played since missing the cut in 2002. His record at TPC Sugarloaf also includes ties for seventh and 11th. • Count a refocused and recommitted Joe Durant among the latest to enlist the teaching services of Bryan Mogg, who recently took on Charles Howell III as a client. • Hale Irwin remains the only back-to-back winner of the BellSouth Classic winning in 1975 and ’77 (the ’76 event was pre-empted for the U.S. Open at nearby Atlanta Athletic Club), but Mickelson might be a good bet to join him with his two wins and third place finish in ’02. • Duluth resident Stewart Cink has six top-10 finishes and has made the cut in eight of 10 starts near his home course. • Since New Zealander Bob Charles won the first Atlanta stop in 1967, only two foreign-born players have won in the 36-year tournament history: Goosen, from South Africa, and Canada’s Dave Barr in 1987. Internationals have won six of 13 events this year, including four of the last five. TOUR Insider’s strength of field index: Some guys know an opportunity when the see it. 7.6. TI’s power ranking for the BellSouth Classic: 1. Phil Mickelson, 2. Ben Crane, 3. Stewart Cink, 4. Retief Goosen, 5. Scott McCarron. Parting shot: “Bloody hell, are you wearing green underwear?” -- Nick Faldo to a reporter after fielding a question about Augusta National Golf Club just minutes after the Englishman and three-time Masters champion missed the cut in THE PLAYERS Championship.

Golf Hall voting not a popularity contest

Getting into the World Golf Hall of Fame isn’t that easy.
Tiger Woods has won 47 times on the PGA Tour including 10 majors and he’s not even eligible. But, golfers like Denny Shute, Craig Wood and Graham Marsh are on the 2006 induction ballot.
There are 32 names in this year’s ballot and many are recognizable to even the casual golf fan. Domestically, the list includes Fred Couples, Davis Love III, Fuzzy Zoeller, Curtis Strange, fan-favorite John Daly and 16 others. The international ballot features Jose Maria Olazabal, Sandy Lyle, Ian Woosnam, Colin Montgomerie and seven more that only avid golf fans may know.
The issue isn’t who’s on the ballot, but who will get in this year and why some prominent names are missing. If Couples, Love and Daly are up for induction, then where’s Woods, Phil Mickelson and Justin Leonard? Between them, they’ve got 84 wins on the PGA Tour, including 13 majors and two Players Championship titles (Leonard in 1998 and Woods in 2001). And, where is Ernie Els, who has 15 Tour wins, another 42 international titles and two majors?
Despite impressive resumes, those guys aren’t in because they don’t meet one of the basic requirements for eligibility.
“In order to get on the ballot, a player must have 10 official PGA Tour wins or two majors and a Players Championship and they must be at least 40 years old,” explained Jack Peter, CEO of the World Golf Hall of Fame. “That’s why John Daly is on the ballot this year and Tiger isn’t.”
The qualifications for international players is a little different. Hall consideration is based on a win matrix involving the four majors — The Masters, the U.S. Open, the British Open and the PGA Championship — and The Players. They, too, must be 40 years old and have 10 years on the PGA Tour.
“You earn your way onto the ballot,” said Peter, explaining why active golfers are in the golf hall whereas the other major sports require their players be retired for several years. (The National Hockey League made an exception when it retired Wayne Gretzky’s No. 99 jersey league-wide and inducted him into the hockey hall in Toronto immediately following Gretzky’s retirement after the 1999 season.) “There’s no waiting period because golfers don’t really ever retire. Gary Player (who turned 70 last year) is still competing regularly.
“Knowing that, when this institution was put together in 1998, we knew we needed an alternative way to induct players while they continue to play.”
Peter said it’s good for all of golf to have members of the Golf Hall of Fame competing on a regular basis in tournaments all over the world.
“It’s an anomaly that’s unique to the sport,” he said.
Once on the ballot, though, golfers are at the mercy of about 225 golf writers, golf historians and living Hall members. That group got their ballots about three weeks ago and have until the Sunday of The Players Championship to return them. Every player that receives at least 65 percent of the vote is in, with an exception. Provided that at least 50 percent of the ballots are returned, the PGA and international player that receives the most votes is in. Last year, no one received 65 percent of the vote. However, Vijay Singh got 56 percent and Ayako Okamoto got 52 percent. Okamoto was inducted last fall while Singh, who deferred his induction, will be part of this year’s ceremony.
“Two weeks after The Players, our board of directors will meet at the Masters in Augusta to review the ballots and ratify the vote,” said Peter. “Following the Masters, we put out a series of press releases announcing the 2006 class.”
Peter said he doesn’t believe a golfer’s popularity is given more merit than their playing credentials. Daly has won two majors, but he only has three other PGA Tour wins and a handful of international titles. Daly’s career has also been plagued by off-the-course issues including divorces, alcohol problems, a musical career and his infamous trashing of a room at the Sawgrass Marriott several years ago during The Players.
“We spend a lot of time educating the writers on the process,” said Peter. “It’s not a popularity contest. People that deserve to be in are getting in. Hall of Fame caliber individuals will get in. I think the voters take it seriously and look at the merits of the player. I don’t think anyone that’s in the Hall, doesn’t deserve to be in.”
The PGA Tour ballot includes: Miller Barber, Bob Charles, Couples, Daly, Doug Ford, Hubert Green, Don January, Tony Lema, Love, Harold McSpaden, Larry Nelson (who was edged by Singh last year by 1 percentage point), Mark O’Meara, Henry Picard, Shute, Macdonald Smith, Dave Stockton, Strange, Ken Venturi, Lanny Wadkins, Wood and Zoeller.
The international ballot includes: Peter Alliss, Max Faulkner, Lyle, Montgomerie, Kel Nagle, Christy O’Connor, Olazabal, Masahi “Jumbo” Ozaki, Norman Von Nida and Woosnam.
Once nominated, players remain on the ballot until they receive enough votes for induction or 15 years. After 10 years, a player may be considered for the veteran’s category.