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Azinger Faces Tough Task With Ryder Picks Slam Sub

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 28, 2008

If nothing else, Paul Azinger deserves credit for making sure the United States fields its best team in the Ryder Cup.

The revamped criteria identifies the best Americans in a Ryder Cup year. Six of the eight qualifiers - Phil Mickelson, Stewart Cink, Kenny Perry, Anthony Kim, Justin Leonard and Boo Weekley - have combined to win 10 tournaments this year.

The other two are Jim Furyk, steady as ever, and Ben Curtis, perhaps the hottest player at the moment.

"If we win, I'll go down as having the lowest IQ of any genius who ever lived," Azinger said last month.

Real genius, though, is figuring out what to do with his four captain's picks for the Sept. 19-21 competition at Valhalla in Louisville, Ky.

Azinger believed his team would be even stronger if he could double the number of his picks to get the hottest players. But with one tournament remaining before he has to choose, he might as well put on a blindfold and throw darts.

"I'm really happy that I don't have to pick four players this morning, I can tell you that," Azinger said the morning after the PGA Championship, the old deadline for his captain's picks. "It would have been very difficult to know what to do."

Like it's any easier now?

Of the next 25 players in the standings, only one of them - rookie Chez Reavie - has won in the past six months.

The best American last week at The Barclays was Kevin Sutherland, whose only PGA Tour victory came six years ago at the Accenture Match Play Championship.

And if Azinger is looking for experience, only four of the next 40 in the standings have played in a Ryder Cup.

Good luck, Paul.

Jim Furyk will play in the PGA Grand Slam of Golf for the third straight year, even though it has been five years since he won his only major in the 2003 U.S. Open.

Furyk and Retief Goosen have agreed to compete as alternates Oct. 14-15 at the Mid Ocean Club in Bermuda alongside Masters champion Trevor Immelman and British Open and PGA champion Padraig Harrington. Tiger Woods (U.S. Open) is out for the rest of the year, and Harrington created the other alternate spot by winning two majors.

This is the second time in three years that two alternates were required. Phil Mickelson declined to go in 2006 after winning the Masters, and Woods won two majors that year.

Alternates, who must be major champions, are determined by a points list from how they fared in the majors. Mickelson was the first alternate, but declined his invitation.

Say What?

Sergio Garcia was second in total putts last week at The Barclays, giving him a platform to challenge his critics.

"Obviously, I'm putting much better," he said. "Whoever doesn't think that is obviously blind."

Before anyone reaches for the white cane, it would be prudent to consider a year of putting, and not just one week. According to PGA Tour statistics, Garcia is ranked No. 167 in total putts, compared with No. 17 a year ago.

Or maybe he was referring to 2006, when he was 176th in total putts.

Eyes On Augusta

The volatility in the PGA Tour playoffs has the attention of the Masters, which last year updated its criteria to invite the top 30 from the FedEx Cup standings and the top 30 from the PGA Tour money list. The Masters prefers to keep its field small, and that wasn't affected by the FedEx Cup. Former Gator Camilo Villegas was the only player who qualified for the Masters by reaching the final 30 at the Tour Championship.

It's early, but among those moving into the top 30 after one playoff event were Kevin Sutherland (3), Nicholas Thompson (20), Mathew Goggin (26), Ken Duke (28) and Bubba Watson (30).

"That's a lot of movement as it relates to us and our field size," said Buzzy Johnson, senior tournament director of the Masters. "We've got our eye on it, believe me."

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