1. Tiger Woods, United States — Woods has one more week to fix whatever is wrong with his swing before playing in the Memorial, which he won three consecutive times through 2001. He has finished in the top 10 in all five of his stroke-play events this season but has had to do it with his brilliant scrambling ability because he has been inconsistent off the tee and on the greens. While Woods has struggled to find his groove in the first half of the season, people have been watching more of the PGA Tour on television after ratings slipped in the second half of 2008, which he missed after undergoing left knee surgery. Street and Smith's Sports Business Journal reported that ratings for the CA Championship and Bay Hill Invitational, the only two non-majors in which Woods contended both years, were up 23% from last year. Out of 14 events through the Players Championship, excluding the Masters, Woods contended in four of the six that saw average year-over-year weekend ratings increases. The only non-Woods events that saw year-over-year ratings increases were the Northern Trust Open and the Shell Houston Open. It was announced on Woods' website last week that Tiger Jam XII again raised more than $1 million for the Tiger Woods Foundation, running the total to more than $12 million since the event's inception in 1998. Among those in attendance at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas were Ben Roethlisberger of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat, music mogul P. Diddy and golfers John Cook, Fred Couples, Mark O'Meara and Nick Watney.
2. Phil Mickelson, United States — Lefty was planning to play the last two weeks of the Texas Swing but announced last week that he has taken a leave of absence from the PGA Tour because his wife, Amy, has been diagnosed with breast cancer. More tests are expected, but Amy is expected to have major surgery sometime in the next few weeks. Phil withdrew from the HP Byron Nelson Championship last week and will not defend his title in the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, which begins Thursday. Mickelson flew home to California from Texas to be with his wife and their three children, Amanda, 9; Sophia, 7; and Evan, 6. The schedule page on Mickelson's website listed the St. Jude Classic in two weeks as his next event, but that also would be in question along with the U.S. Open on June 18-21 at Bethpage Black, where he was runner-up to Tiger Woods in 2002. Amy Mickelson often follows her husband's play outside the ropes and interacts with the fans at tournaments, as she did most recently at the Players Championship three weeks ago. The couple met while attending Arizona State, and they were married in 1996. Amy Mickelson is a former dance instructor and cheerleader for the Phoenix Suns and appeared with Phil in Sports Illustrated's 2003 Swimsuit issue. She has been heavily involved in the operation of charity commitments with Phil, most notably the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, Homes for Our Troops and Birdies for the Brave.
3. Kenny Perry, United States — Perry tries to forget his Masters collapse and claims that he cheated while winning the FBR Open earlier this year when he plays this week in the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, which he won in 2003 and 2005. He posted four rounds in the 60s and coasted to a seven-stroke victory over Billy Mayfair at Colonial four years ago, shooting 63-64 in the middle rounds and tying his tournament-record score of 261. It was almost as easy six years ago, when he also was in the 60s all four days, including a course record-tying 61 on Saturday en route to a six-shot victory over Justin Leonard. Perry, who will be playing in the tournament for the 20th time, has posted only two other finishes in the top 10, including a tie for second in 2002, when he wound up five strokes behind Nick Price. He has not cracked the top 30 in his last three trips to Colonial, where he missed the cut for only the second time two years ago. A video has surfaced on the Internet that seems to show Perry improving his lie by tapping down a tuft of grass in the rough during his playoff victory over Charley Hoffman in the FBR Open. However, he has been cleared of any wrongdoing by rules officials on the PGA Tour and the European Tour. Even Hoffman said Perry did nothing different than what other pros do all the time while addressing the ball in the rough.
4. Geoff Ogilvy, Australia — Trying to become the third Australian to win the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, Ogilvy will play in the tournament for the seventh time this week. The other Aussies who have won there: Bruce Crampton in 1965 and Ian Baker-Finch in 1989. Ogilvy did not finish in the top 35 the first five times he played in the event, missing the cut twice, but he seemed to figure out the course last year when he finished 64-69-68 to wind up in a tie for seventh. Actually, he seemed to start getting a feel for Colonial two years ago when he shot 67-64 in the middle rounds, only to post a 75 on Sunday and slide into a tie for 38th. After winning the Mercedes-Benz Championship and the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship earlier this season, Ogilvy still was reluctant to say he ranked with the best golfers in the world. He said he would leave that for others to decide, but a look at the numbers leaves no doubt that he belongs right near the top. Ogilvy is ranked fifth in the World Golf Rankings, and for several weeks he led both the FedEx Cup point standings and the European Tour's Race to Dubai, which has replaced the Order of Merit. He has fallen to second in both, behind Paul Casey in Europe and Zach Johnson in the U.S., and also is second to Phil Mickelson on the PGA Tour money list with $3,155,529.
5. Zach Johnson, United States — Johnson is taking only a week off after his second victory of the season and third in seven months before playing this week in the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. He will be playing in the event for the fourth time; his best finish was a tie for 14th in 2004, when he shot 65-68 in the middle rounds. Johnson got off to a strong start last year at 65-69 but did not break 70 on the weekend and wound up in a tie for 30th. Two weeks after letting a three-stroke lead slip away in the final round of the Quail Hollow Championship by shooting 76 and sliding to a tie for 11th, he showed how clutch he can be with his playoff victory over James Driscoll to repeat in the Valero Texas Open. Johnson is not one to make excuses, but he had a splitting headache caused by allergies on Sunday at Quail Hollow, or he might be the only player on the PGA Tour to win three times this season. He also won the Sony Open in Hawaii and came close when he finished third in the Arnold Palmer Invitational. The 2007 Masters champion has five victories in the last three years and six in his career on the PGA Tour. He leads the FedEx Cup standings, is third on the money list with $3,130,921 and is almost a lock to make the U.S. team for the Presidents Cup in October at Harding Park in San Francisco — he sits fifth in the point standings.
6. Jim Furyk, United States — Following two weeks off at home in Florida, Furyk is back this week for the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. He is playing in the final leg of the Texas Swing for the 14th time since 1995, and while he has not won at Colonial, he has come close twice. Two years ago, he posted four rounds of 68 or better but lost in a playoff, along with Bernhard Langer, when Rory Sabbatini made a birdie on the first extra hole. Furyk also posted four rounds of 68 or better in 1998 only to lose by two strokes to Tom Watson, who claimed the last of his 39 victories on the PGA Tour. Furyk has three other finishes in the top 10 and five more in the top 25 in the event, but he missed the cut for the third time last year at 71-74—145. He is coming off a tie for fifth in his hometown event, the Players Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., his third top-five finish in the last five years at TPC Sawgrass. He has four finishes in the top 10 on the PGA Tour this season after leading the circuit with nine last year, but he still is looking for his first victory since the 2007 Canadian Open. Furyk, who has won 13 times in his career on the PGA Tour, including the 2003 U.S. Open at Olympia Fields, has finished in the top five on eight occasions since last winning.
7. Camilo Villegas, Colombia — Villegas is in the final days of a three-week break and will return to the PGA Tour next week for the Memorial, and also has committed to play in the tournament's skins game against host Jack Nicklaus and several others in the field on Wednesday. The 27-year-old rising star was at Cog Hill Golf and Country Club last week on media day for the BMW Championship. Villegas won the tournament last year at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis, but the event will be played this September on the refurbished Dubsdread Course at Cog Hill in Lemont, Ill. The Colombian did not play the course, which was reworked by noted architect Rees Jones, but said, "It looks unbelievable, a lot more defined," than when he tied for seventh there in the 2007 BMW. Villegas said he will make a trip back to the Chicago area to play the course, which reopened to the public last Friday, before his title defense. He enjoyed winning for the first time on the PGA Tour at Bellerive so much that he followed by winning the Tour Championship in his next start three weeks later. Even though he has yet to follow up that finish with another victory this year, he has had a solid season to this point with three finishes in the top 10 and seven in the top 25. Villegas started heating up at this point last year and recorded five top-10 finishes in the second half of the season.
8. Steve Stricker, United States — Before heading to Texas for the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial this week, Stricker was feted at "Steve Stricker Day" at Towne Country Club in Edgerton, Wis., right down the street from his boyhood home on Jenson Street. He is about as low-key as you can get but agreed to the event because it will raise money for the club, which was closed for a while last summer because of the flooding that hit the Midwest. The emotional 42-year-old Cheesehead was moved to tears by all four of his PGA Tour victories and his inductions into the Wisconsin Sports Hall of Fame and the Edgerton Hall of Fame a few weeks ago, so it was inevitable that he couldn't get through this one without shedding a few more. Stricker played a round of golf with several residents, including several junior golfers who held the winning tickets in a raffle or bought the right in an auction, which raised several thousand dollars. He also conducted a junior clinic and signed autographs for anyone who wanted one. Stricker, who has five finishes in the top 10 this season on the PGA Tour, will be playing at Colonial for the seventh time; his best result was a tie for 13th in 2005, when he opened with three rounds of 68 before slipping to a 72 on Sunday. He missed the cut for the second time in the tournament last year at 74-73—147, the fourth consecutive event in which he failed to make it to the weekend during a midseason slump.
9. Padraig Harrington, Ireland — Paddy will have two more full weeks at home in Dublin to iron out the remaining ragged edges of his swing changes before playing next week in the Memorial. Harrington said he was shocked when he missed the cut two weeks ago at the Irish Open, which he won in 2007. His score (3 under par) was solid and he left the course Friday feeling certain that he had made it through to the weekend, but the wet, windy weather in which he played in the morning improved dramatically in the afternoon. Harrington turned on the radio to learn that players were going very low in the afternoon and was surprised that he was in danger of failing to play on the weekend. He said he watched the rest of the tournament on television and was delighted with the outcome at County Louth Golf Club in Baltray, where 22-year-old local amateur Shane Lowry won in a playoff before turning pro the following week. Harrington has been guided through his latest swing tweaks by his longtime instructor Bob Torrance, brother of former Ryder Cup captain Sam Torrance. He has the ultimate confidence in Torrance, who has transformed the Irishman over the years from a mediocre amateur who did not hit the ball very far or very straight off the tee into a three-time major champion. Harrington said he knew going into the Irish Open that he was a couple of weeks away from having his new and improved swing feel natural, and he hopes that will come when he gets to Muirfield Village.
10. Vijay Singh, Fiji — The Big Fijian finally has some momentum after a tie for 16th in the HP Byron Nelson Championship, and he will try to build on it this week in the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. Singh is playing in the event for the seventh time, although he has not teed it up in Fort Worth since 2002. That's because he withdrew in 2003 after voicing his opposition to the participation of Annika Sorenstam, who received a sponsor's exemption and became the first woman in 58 years to compete in a PGA Tour event. Singh received a lot of criticism for his comments and decided to stay away from Colonial. He's going back this year, he says, simply because the tournament fits into his schedule. He tied for ninth in the Players Championship, his first top-10 finish of the season, and finished 67-67-66 last week at TPC Las Colinas, where only his putter held him back. That's always been the biggest problem in his game, and Singh averaged 32.0 putts per round for the first three days last week, with 35 on Saturday, before taking only 27 in the final round. He was very sharp over the last 15 holes on Sunday, playing that stretch in 5-under-par without a bogey. Singh would have been in the 60s all four days if not for a double-bogey 5 on the 13th hole on Thursday, which left him with an opening round of even-par 70. He has to feel good that his game is finally rounding into form with the U.S. Open only three weeks away.
11. Anthony Kim, United States — Kim was sailing along nicely in the second round of the HP Byron Nelson Championship when one untimely shot sent him careening off course, and he eventually missed the cut by one stroke at 69-71—140. That was unfortunate because everyone who made it to the weekend at TPC Las Colinas was within six strokes of the lead and still in the hunt. Mired in a slump since tying for second in the Mercedes-Benz Championship in the first week of the season, the 23-year-old who owns a home in the Dallas area missed the cut for the second time in three events and has failed to back up his tie for 20th in the Masters. He is trying to make up for missing tournaments earlier this season because of illness and injury, so Kim will tee it up this week in the Crowne Plaza at Colonial for the third time. He tied for 18th two years ago when he opened with a 63 but took himself out of contention with a Saturday 73, and he tied for 40th last year. Kim was playing solid golf last week until his drive on the 12th hole sailed into the trees and out of bounds, leading to a triple-bogey 7. That dropped him two strokes off the cut-line, but he rebounded with two birdies in the next three holes before missing the green on the par-3 17th on his way to a bogey. Needing a birdie on No. 18 to make the cut, he hit a 342-yard drive but could not hit the green from 82 yards and missed a 22-foot par putt from the fringe.
12. Sergio Garcia, Spain — Hoping to snap out of his season-long funk, Garcia is playing this week in the European Open at the London Club in Kent, England. He will be playing in the tournament for only the third time; he finished second last year when he closed with a 6-under-par 66 to wind up seven strokes behind runaway winner Ross Fisher of England. El Nino was playing catch-up from the first round, which he finished seven strokes behind Fisher's 63, and he lost even more ground with a 74 on Saturday. The Spaniard tied for eighth in the Abu Dhabi Championship and tied for seventh in the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters in January, when he started the season on the PGA European Tour with a chance to replace Tiger Woods atop the World Golf Rankings. However, he has not placed in the top 10 in eight tournaments since, seven of them on the PGA Tour. His best results were a tie for 11th in the Dubai Desert Classic and a tie for 13th in the Honda Classic. Garcia closed with an 81 to wind up in a tie for 77th in the Shell Houston Open, and he shot 78 to miss the cut in the Quail Hollow Championship. Not only has he been indecisive on the greens, switching back and forth between a conventional putter and a belly model, his remarkable ball-striking ability has not been what we are used to seeing. Garcia is expected to play next week in the St. Jude Classic, in which he tied for fourth last year.
13. Ernie Els, South Africa — Typical of Els' recent play, his best golf did not come out until Sunday, when he closed with a solid 3-under-par 69 last week to climb into a tie for 21st in the BMW PGA Championship, playing the weekend in 5-under. However, even though he knows the famed West Course like the back of his hand because he owns a home at Wentworth and was involved in the reworking of the layout a few years ago, he could manage only 73-73 the first two days in the flagship event on the PGA European Tour. That's the type of inconsistent play that has dogged the Big Easy in recent seasons, dating to surgery on his left knee in 2005. He will play again this week in the European Open at the London Club, appearing in the event for the fourth time but the first since 1994 — when he tied for 14th at East Sussex National Golf Club in Uckfield, England. Els struggled again with the putter last week, taking at least 30 strokes on the greens all four days to wind up with an average of 32.3 putts per round. He gave himself plenty of chances by hitting 55 of 72 greens in regulation, and the chilly putter allowed him to save par only 8 of 17 times when he missed the green. Even though he played a good round on Sunday, when he made a single bogey, that could have been better because he started with three birdies in the first four holes but could make only one more the rest of the way. He will return to the PGA Tour next week for the Memorial.
14. Nick Watney, United States — Watney, one of several PGA Tour pros on hand for Tiger Jam XII in Las Vegas during his two-week break, is back for the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. This will be his third appearance in the final leg of the Texas Swing, and he will be trying to make the cut for the first time. However, it was not all bad news at Colonial for the 27-year-old from Fresno State. He shot 74-68—142 in 2005 and missed the weekend by one stroke, and he posted a score of 71-69—140 last year to again miss out by a single shot. Watney is coming off his first two missed cuts this season in his last three tournaments, having posted his worst score of the year by four shots when he shot 78 in the second round of the Players Championship. Still, he is enjoying what is shaping up as a career year, with three finishes in the top five and nine in the top 25, including his second PGA Tour victory in the Buick Invitational. Watney leads the circuit in three statistical categories — total eagles (10), par-5 performance (a 4.45 average or 89 under par) and in bouncing back from a bogey with a birdie (33.62 percent). He is a big hitter, averaging 302.6 yards off the tee to rank fifth, who has put himself in contention often this year by improving his putting by well over a stroke per round.
15. Sean O'Hair, United States — A native Texan, having been born in Buddy Holly's hometown of Lubbock, O'Hair would have liked to have played on all three legs of the Texas Swing. However, he needed a two-week break after missing the cut in the Players Championship and will tee it up this week in the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. O'Hair will be playing in the tournament for the second time; he tied for 26th last year when he came on strong by shooting 66-69 on the weekend. He was hit by allergy problems at TPC Sawgrass in addition to being a bit worn down by playing 11 times so far this season and having come through a rewarding yet draining stretch in which he finished in the top 10 in three consecutive events. O'Hair blew a five-stroke lead in the final round before finishing second to Tiger Woods in the Arnold Palmer Invitational, bounced back to tie for 10th in the Masters and then claimed the third PGA Tour victory of his career in the Quail Hollow Championship. He leads the circuit in the all-around category, a compilation of eight major statistical categories, and with a scoring average of 69.73 and is seventh in greens in regulation at 70.16%. Those numbers have helped him to stand fourth in both the FedEx Cup point standings and on the PGA Tour money list with $2,963,842. O'Hair ranks fourth in the U.S. standings for the Presidents Cup and is a good bet to make the team for the matches at Harding Park in October.
16. Angel Cabrera, Argentina — When Cabrera got to Wentworth in Surrey, England, for the BMW PGA Championship, he was presented with an engraved Alms Dish and a magnum of Moet champagne as the PGA European Tour's Player of the Month for April thanks to his playoff victory over Kenny Perry and Chad Campbell in the Masters. Then he promptly shot 74-75—149 and missed the cut by three strokes in one of that tour's biggest events of the year, which he won in 2005. El Pato is staying on the other side of the Atlantic this week to play in the European Open at the London Golf Club in Kent, England, for the 13th time. He skipped the tournament last year, when it was moved back to England. Cabrera never missed the event after his first appearance in 1996, when it was played at the K Club in Straffan, Ireland, and finished in the top 10 on six occasions. His best result was second in 2000, when he held the 54-hole lead and shot 68 in the final round, only to lose by one stroke to Lee Westwood, who closed with a 66. Last week, Cabrera was within one stroke of making it through to the weekend after 10 holes in round two, but instead of making the birdie he needed, the Argentine carded two bogeys down the stretch. He struggled with all facets of his game, hitting only 6 of 28 fairways and 19 of 36 greens in regulation in addition to averaging 31 putts per round.
17. Dustin Johnson, United States — Playing his best golf in three months, Johnson recorded four rounds of 68 or better last week and finished in a tie for fourth in the HP Byron Nelson Championship. It was his first top-10 result since he tied for 10th in the Northern Trust Open in February a week after capturing the rain-shortened AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am for his second victory in a span of nine events on the PGA Tour. He is taking this week off at home in Myrtle Beach and is expected to play next week in the Memorial Tournament. Johnson wound up four strokes behind winner Rory Sabbatini last week at TPC Las Colinas and would have had a better shot at his third victory if not for three bogeys on his last six holes Saturday to turn a very low round into a 66. He started that round with birdies on six of the first eight holes and played a stretch of 26 holes in the middle rounds in a sizzling 11-under-par. Johnson was only two strokes behind Sabbatini starting the final round but fell back with two bogeys on the front nine and rallied by playing the last 10 holes in 5-under. He finished the tournament with a total of 22 birdies, second in the field behind the winner. The 24-year-old bomber led the field with a driving average of 333.3 yards but also hit 52 of 72 greens in regulation and averaged 28.0 putts per round, taking only 26 on Saturday.
18. Trevor Immelman, South Africa — The 2008 Masters champion hopes to get his game turned around this week in the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, which he will be playing for only the second time. He can't have much confidence from his first appearance — he shot 69-71—140 to miss the cut by one stroke when he played the event two years ago. Immelman has finished in the top 25 three times this year, highlighted by a promising tie for 20th in defense of his Masters title, but that is his highest finish in 10 events on the PGA Tour. He has not cracked the top 10 since finishing in a tie for 10th in the South African Open last December, and the last time he did it on the PGA Tour came in another tie for 10th in the Tour Championship in September. It appeared Immelman was heading for a big season a year ago when he lost out to Justin Leonard in a playoff at the Stanford St. Jude Championship eight weeks after winning at Augusta, but he hardly was heard from in the second half. Ball-striking usually is the strength of his game, but the South African ranks outside the top 130 this season on the PGA Tour in driving accuracy and greens in regulation. Earlier this season, it was easy for Immleman to say that he normally is a slow starter and that he was not on form before walking off with the Green Jacket last year, but his continued poor play has to be a bit alarming. He received a pep talk from Gary Player in the form of a voicemail the night before winning the Masters, and maybe it's time for another.
19. Rory Sabbatini, South Africa — Playing in a pink shirt Sunday in a show of support for cancer-stricken Amy Mickelson, Sabo blistered TPC Las Colinas for his second 6-under-par 64 of the week to defeat Brian Davis by two strokes and claim his first victory since the 2007 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. It was especially sweet for the transplanted South African, who had finished second three times since last winning, because he has adopted the Dallas area as his home. This week, he will play at Colonial right down the street from his home in Fort Worth for the 10th consecutive year after missing the cut as defending champion in 2008. Sabbatini won the tournament two years ago by holing a 15-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to turn back Jim Furyk and Bernhard Langer after putting himself in position by shooting 8-under-par 62 in the third round.
He saved his first round last week with three birdies in the last four holes to shoot 68, his worst score of the week en route to breaking the tournament record of 18-under 262, set by Loren Roberts and Steve Pate, who lost in a playoff, in 1999. Sabbatini was tied for the lead with John Mallinger after 54 holes and withstood several challenges by reeling off five birdies in a span of seven holes on the back nine, so he could afford to make a bogey on No. 18. He led the field with an average of 25.8 putts per round while finishing in the top 10 for the fourth time this season, including a tie for second at New Orleans.
20t. Mike Weir, Canada— Weir posted consecutive top-20 finishes for the first time this season when he tied for 16th last week in the HP Byron Nelson Championship, and he will try to keep it going in the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. He will be playing in the Fort Worth event for the ninth time and wound up in the top 10 only when he tied for eighth in 2000. Last year, he shot 69-66 in the middle rounds at Colonial and tied for 15th. Coming off his tie for 14th in the Players Championship, Weir had only one real rough patch last week at TPC Las Colinas, when he went bogey-bogey-double bogey beginning on the second hole of round two, but he saved a round of 1-over-par 71 by making three birdies in four holes on the back nine. He posted rounds of 69 or better in the other three rounds, including 66s in rounds one and three, getting a second consecutive solid result after going back to longtime instructor Mike Wilson. His ball-striking was good enough, but he really got it done with the putter, averaging 27.3 putts per round. Weir prepared for the tournament by going on a five-day whitewater rafting trip with seven pals and battling 25-foot swells in the Green River, which merges with the Colorado, through Cataract Canyon in Southern Utah. He kept his swing sharp during breaks onshore by hitting plastic golf balls with the two left-handed clubs he brought on the trip.
20t. Justin Leonard, United States— The native Texan has two top-20 finishes on the Texas Swing heading into the final leg this week in the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. Leonard has played in the tournament not far from his home in Dallas 15 times previously without missing the cut but also without winning even though he has had five finishes in the top 10. The closest he came to taking the trophy came in 2003, when he finished with a course-record tying 9-under-par 61 but still wound up six strokes behind winner Kenny Perry in second place. Leonard's best finish in the last five years at Colonial was a tie for 14th in 2004. He played about as well as anybody over the last 54 holes last week at TPC Las Colinas, posting three rounds of 68 or better, but he opened with a 75 and wound up in a tie for 16th. Leonard played his best golf of the week when he shot 7-under-par 63 in round two despite making consecutive bogeys on Nos. 4 and 5 to put himself in jeopardy of missing the cut. But he made only three bogeys over the last 33 holes, which he played in 14-under-par. Leonard is not a long hitter, so he relies on precision. Despite his first-round struggles, he hit in the neighborhood of 70% of the fairways and greens for the week in addition to averaging 28.3 putts per round. He birdied his first hole Thursday, No. 10, but then made three bogeys in the next four holes and shot a 3-over 38 on the front side.
