KIAWAH ISLAND, South Carolina: Unpredictability has been the predominant theme going into all the majors in recent years and this week’s PGA Championship on the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island Golf Resort is no exception.
Sixteen different players have claimed the last 16 major titles and that trend could continue as players such as British world No. 1 Luke Donald and fourth-ranked Lee Westwood aim for their first grand slam crowns.
The dominant era of 14-times major winner Tiger Woods ended four years ago, his aura of invincibility swiftly disappearing as he battled injuries and tried to rebuild his golf swing and private life following the breakup of his marriage.
Though Woods has produced good form in fits and starts this year, winning a season-high three times on the PGA Tour, he has always judged the true success of his golfing campaigns by the number of majors won.
“Winning golf tournaments makes it successful, but winning a major makes it a great year,” four-times PGA champion Woods said while preparing for the final major of 2012.
“You can go from having a ‘so-so’ year to all of a sudden winning one major and ... it’s a great year because you’re part of history when you do something like that.
“Ernie has been consistent this year ... but then all of a sudden it just jumps you into a different category,” he said of South African Ernie Els who ended a 10-year victory drought at the majors by winning last month’s British Open at Royal Lytham.
Woods was in contention going into the weekend at the last two majors before fading, finishing joint 21st at the US Open and tying for third at the British Open.
However, he gave himself a timely confidence boost for Kiawah Island by firing a four-under-par 66 in the final round of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational on Sunday to climb into a tie for eighth place.
“I feel very good about where I’m at. I’m excited about it,” Woods said. “I putted well the last two days, which was good. My tee-to-green game was, I thought, pretty dialed in.”
While Woods seeks a 15th major crown on the wind-swept Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, Englishman Donald will be hunting his first, the single glaring hole in an otherwise glittering career resume.
“Since I first turned pro, the goal was always to win majors and that hasn’t changed,” said Donald, who has been world number one for a total of 56 weeks.
“I’ve been able to win tournaments without playing my best golf, and I think majors can be a similar deal. No matter what kind of game I come with to any of the tournaments, including the majors, I’m going to have a chance to win.”
Donald and company face a brutal test this week on the par-72 7,676-yard Ocean Course, the longest layout ever to stage a major championship.
“The front nine is a really nice, playable golf course, and then the back nine is not,” smiled Australian Adam Scott, who finished second to Els in last month’s British Open after squandering a four-shot lead with four holes to play.
“If the wind blows, it’s just going to be very difficult, even if they move tees forward and stuff like that. The green complexes are very severe on some holes, and there is extreme penalty for a miss.”
Of all the majors in recent times, the PGA attracts the strongest field — this week the world’s top 108 players are all scheduled to compete — and yet it has often been the most likely to throw up a surprise winner.
The championship was won in consecutive years from 2002 by unheralded Americans Rich Beem and Shaun Micheel, underlining that any player is capable of victory.
Keegan Bradley, in his rookie season on the PGA Tour, clinched last year’s title in a playoff with fellow American Jason Dufner after starting the week ranked 108th in the world.
Other likely contenders this week are Masters champion Bubba Watson, 2011 US Open winner Rory McIlroy, British duo Westwood and Justin Rose, Americans Steve Stricker, Hunter Mahan and Dufner, and South Africans Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel.
Whoever ends up lifting the prized Wanamaker Trophy on Sunday will have coped best with one of golf’s toughest challenges.
Year’s final major wide open for the taking
Year’s final major wide open for the taking
Proud dad Zinedine Zidane watches Algeria beat Sudan 3-0
- Former Real Madrid legend Zidane watches his son Luca keep a clean sheet in the Algeria goal during the Africa Cup of Nations match in Rabat
- Riyad Mahrez scores twice for Algeria, one of the tournament favorites, who move top of Group E
RABAT, Morocco: France great Zinedine Zidane watched his goalkeeper son’s safe hands as Algeria started its Africa Cup of Nations campaign with a 3-0 win over 10-man Sudan on Wednesday.
Riyad Mahrez scored twice and the 20-year-old Ibrahim Maza scored his first international goal for Algeria, one of the tournament favorites, to move top of Group E.
“The most important thing was to start with a win,” Mahrez said. “The last two AFCONs, we didn’t start good. Today, we really wanted to make it happen and we did.”
Zidane, who was at the sweet-smelling Moulay El Hassan Stadium in Rabat to see his son Luca Zidane playing in the Algeria goal, was feted by the crowd every time he was shown on the big screens.
Luca Zidane opted to represent his grandfather’s country after getting the Fennec Foxes’ invitation and he’s been given his chance to shine because of an injury to Alexandre Oukidja, who might have been expected to start otherwise.
Algeria wasted little time Wednesday with Mahrez sweeping in the opener in the second minute after unselfish play from Hicham Boudaoui to set him up.
Zidane was called into action shortly afterward to deny Yaser Awad on a break.
Sudan had to play all its qualification games away from home because of the near 1,000-day old civil war ravaging the country.
Though the Algerians looked confident and played with intensity, the big chances fell at the other end, with Zidane saving again from Awad before Abdel Raouf fired over.
Salah Adil was sent off just as the rain began to fall shortly before the break with his second yellow card for a foul on Rayan Aït-Nouri, who would have been through otherwise.
But the Algerian fans, who were in a majority, needed to be patient.
Mohammed Amoura produced a brilliant cross with the outside of his boot for Mahrez to score in the 61st, and Baghdad Bounedjah headed the ball into Maza’s path for the substitute to complete the scoring in the 85th.
Drama in Casablanca
Edmond Tapsoba completed a remarkable turnaround as Burkina Faso scored two goals in stoppage time to beat 10-man Equatorial Guinea 2-1 in the early Group E game.
Tapsoba’s team had pushed hard for the opening goal after Basilio Ndong was sent off early in the second half for a bad challenge on Bertrand Traoré’s ankle.
Marvin Anieboh then stunned the Stallions when he launched himself at Carlos Akapo’s cross to score with a looping header in the 85th minute.
Georgi Minoungou equalized in the fifth minute of stoppage time and Tapsoba headed the winner three minutes after that.
Later Wednesday in Group F, defending champion Ivory Coast began its title defense against Mozambique in Marrakech and five-time champion Cameroon opened against Gabon in the coastal city of Agadir.
