Is Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson or Vijay Singh Biggest Story to Kickstart Golf Season?

Although the 2013 golf season has just begun, several stories are already making headlines, from Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson wins to Vijay Singh's steroid use. Which story do golf fans really want to hear about?

Unable to dial into the Golf Channel Media Conference Call yesterday, I was sent the transcript which started off with a very interesting question, namely, "what has been the most significant thing to kickstart the golf season and why?" Three experts that appear on Morning Drive were at hand to answer questions.

Unfortunately for golf...and for Vijay Singh, the World Golf Hall of Famer was on the tip of the tongues of all three respondents;  Gary Williams, John Cook and Brandel Chamblee, but it was Williams who mentioned that, with Singh's admission, that this is now a PGA Tour issue which means this could lead to suspension...not very good for Vijay who turns fifty this year.

As for recent victories by Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, yes they are significant but, with the season just beginning, there's plenty of golf left to be played with fresh faces like Bill Haas and Nick Watney popping up each week near the top of the leaderboard or in the winners circle.

"The fact that we've got them both (Woods, Mickelson) winning in the first five weeks of the year makes really the next several weeks leading into Match Play and beyond very exciting for all of us," mentioned Williams.

John Cook stated that, in addition to the stories of the tried and true golfers, younger U.S. players winning early in the golf season is reason to rejoice but Chamblee was quick to disagree commenting that "as long as Tiger Woods is playing golf, he'll hold our interest far above anything else."

Do you agree that, as long as Tiger Woods is in the field and once again a winner that he will be the most talked about news item this year on the PGA Tour? Will fans stay tuned to golf if Woods falters and his season becomes a non-event?

Voice your opinion on Twitter @Golf4Beginners and friend on Facebook.

photo credit: ESPN

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Great Masters Moments from Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh

Being that Masters week is in full swing, I selected a few great moments in golf to get viewers ready for the first major event of the season.

The first video is a Tiger Woods classic chip shot at Augusta National and remains one of the most recognizable shots in golf. The second video is of Phil Mickelson and an amateur skipping golf balls across the water at the 16th hole, a tradition before the Masters.

Finally, Vijay Singh shows us how to get a hole-in-one in a most exciting fashion.

Enjoy!













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Sergio Garcia salivates for one Masters jacket while Woods and Mickelson look to add more green to their wardrobe. Play aerated greens/beat the block

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Will Tiger Woods have any identifiable adversaries at this years Masters Tournament? Gazing into the PGA Tour crystal ball and deciding which golfers could make a move against Woods lead one to believe that Tiger is on par to win his fifth green jacket at Augusta!

In all fairness, any one golfer could disrupt Tiger's equilibrium long enough to gain ground. In 2007 relative unknown Zach Johnson "just tried to maintain my focus, maintain my game plan" in order to effectively tame Tiger at the Masters.

Trevor Immelman emerged victorious in 2008, leaving Tiger in a second place finish at the Masters for the second year in a row. Immelman and Johnson each had a solo PGA Tour victory prior to their Masters victories.

At this year's Shell Houston Open "tune-up" to the Masters, it was interesting to see who was in top form, which player could use more work and if the winner lurked somewhere in the field.

Fred Couples ate a heaping serving of Humble Pie at the SHO as cheers followed him from his own collegiate turf. After the 72nd hole Fred muttered tiredly that he was "finished", running out of gas and coming in third once again this season.

Although Phil Mickelson has twice been a winner in 2009, this week he missed the cut by ten strokes, finishing fourth from last place! Does this portend disaster for Phil or will he think back to his two glorious wins at Augusta and use that memory to fuel his appetite?

Sergio Garcia could be found at the bottom of the leaderboard this week, right above the names of players who missed the cut. He has never won a major and hasn't made it to the weekend in the last two Masters events. Enough said.

What excuses can be made for Vijay Singh? He may have three previous SHO wins and have a green jacket in the closet from a 2000 Masters win but with his physical ailments, Vijay is an unknown. An M/C this week certainly didn't help his confidence and, as Singh recently stated about Augusta, "I think it's the toughest golf course day in and day out in the world that we play."

Padraig Harrington has a chance to win a third major tournament in a row and set up for a "Paddy-Slam". This could be a positive or negative, depending on how Padraig sees it.

He played solidly through three rounds at the SHO but erupted in the end. Tiger Woods voted for Padraig to win the Player of the Year award but, on the flip side, Harrington won his two majors without Tiger in the field. Harrington looks to "peak at the majors". I place him contention at the Masters because Padraig stated, "I'm totally focused on my mental game at the moment. I'm not trying to fix anything. I'm totally focused on getting my head in the right place."

Finally, what about Tiger Woods? To ask if he has a "shot" at victory this week would be like asking if a man could win the U.S. Open with a bum leg. After nearly a year's layoff, it took Woods only three events to shake off his 'vacation' and fire back with gusto. For obvious reasons he is the favorite and although Woods mentions that it "was nice to take that break", Sergio Garcia said it best. "You always compare to one guy, and it's kind of unfair for the rest because he's extraordinary."

This week we discuss the Masters Tournament, some of our picks and pans and "how-to's" on playing aerated greens and fixing the dreaded blocked shot.




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Vijay Singh follows in Tiger Woods' footsteps. Sorenstam returns and how to practice the aloha shot at home

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With the feature golf story of 2008 being knee surgery for Tiger Woods, it seems almost ironic that, just after winning the Chevron World Challenge, Vijay Singh would be in a similar predicament. Singh claims that he was hurt during the event but obviously didn't know the extent of his injury.

Waiting for Tiger to arrive at the podium, Vijay cajoled, "Tiger, take your time. Don't come back too early. In fact, take a year off." Isn't Singh aware of the saying, "be careful what you wish for?"

It is said that Singh is looking at a recovery time of about five weeks which puts a comeback a bit closer to the Masters Tournament than should be attempted. I know that it took much longer for my husband, who underwent similar surgery, to be 100% so I doubt that Vijay, even with his ménage of sports trainers, will be in tip-top form.

Following in Tiger Woods' footsteps, in this case, is not necessarily a good thing for Singh as the past several years of developments have kept Singh on Tiger's tail. In 2003 it was Vijay who took the money spot on the PGA Tour away from Woods by almost a million dollars (of course Singh played a third more tournaments than Tiger in order to accomplish this feat.) In 2004 Singh dethroned Woods at the top of the World Rankings, if only for the single year when Tiger battled back.

More recently Tiger won the inaugural FedEx Cup, Singh rallied to take the second cup, both accomplishing their respective goals in similar gung-ho fashion.

Also, did you know that Vijay Singh's name means "Victorious Lion"? Quite a coincidence to Tiger Woods' moniker!. However, in the battle of tiger versus lion, it is theorized that the tiger would be victorious under most conditions.

This week we not only discuss the departure of Vijay Singh but the return of both Tiger Woods and Annika Sorenstam-McGee. Wait a minute, didn't the LPGA superstar recently retire?

Also, in honor of the return of the PGA Tour to Hawaii, we offer a drill to help with the "aloha shot".





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Will Palmer lash out at Tiger Woods for dethroning him? Also, easy golf tips from Haney, Woods

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When Tiger Woods first tied, then surpassed, Arnold "the King" Palmer's PGA Tour win record, the press was quick to gobble it all up and regurgitate it incessantly. Buzz regarding when Woods will gain ground on Jack Nicklaus' record and finally achieve top-dog status by pushing past Sam Snead's long held eighty-two win feat are now mentioned in almost every golf fanatics conversation.

As Tiger and company head over to Bay Hill this week to try to conquer this tough course once again (Woods is seeking his fifth victory), another record is in fear of being trounced, but with much less fanfare.

Defending champion Vijay Singh will be looking to climb to the very top of another "most wins" column, that is, the all-time win list internationally. Currently tied with Harry Cooper (31), success at Bay Hill would secure Singh his own bragging rights.

But we all know how Singh is about bragging. When Vijay was told he beat Sam Snead's record, he snubbed it complaining, "there’s no trophies for doing it." Conquest for Singh this week would bring his "over-forty" streak to twenty possibly agitating him as the press recognizes this achievement in tandem with the more influential international one.

This week on our Golf for Beginners podcast we discuss Tiger's winning streak at Bay Hill and Palmer's needling Woods with an "earful" after his slip of position on the PGA Tour's all-time win list.

We also offer up a few easy-to-picture golf tips from both Hank Haney and Tiger Woods regarding proper pre-shot routine and hitting the ball straighter.


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Mickelson and Singh pursuits fall short of Tiger Woods perfection. Getting out of a divot and onto the green, sweet spot myth and when balls collide

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Where an eleven on a hole is a mishap which any golfer would prefer to forget, Phil Mickelson will be reminded of his m/c at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am for weeks, even months to come. He wasn't even in the list of golfers on the cut line who got paid for their efforts and went home...nope, not Lefty. He made sure that this collapse would be one for the history books. Recall the 2006 U.S. Open? I'm sure talk of that previous loss will now be regurgitated along with this mishap throughout the golf season until Mickelson returns to form, does something spectacular and/or wins a major tournament.

And what about Vijay Singh who easily had the edge on Sunday but fell apart when his solid play needed to carry him to victory? Singh held a three-stroke lead with only five holes remaining...the deck was stacked in his favor! Defeated by Steve Lowery, a player who was 305th in the world rankings prior to this weekend and had a seven-year gap in the "win" column of his PGA Tour resume, this loss looks strangely familiar to last week's playoff defeat of Mickelson to relative unknown J.B. Holmes.

Singh stated, "One bad shot after another, three holes in succession." Phil's statement? He's says striking the ball well but he "never felt good on the greens".

Those words could have been echoed by either Vijay or Phil, take your pick. Playing aggressively instead of safely, choosing the wrong clubs, problems with the putter...these errors happen to even the greatest golfers. Well...almost all of the top golfers...all except Tiger Woods.

Tiger Woods has the mental game needed to rebound from a slight lapse in judgment. He doesn't dwell on his mishaps but uses quick thinking to adjust to his surroundings and overcome obstacles. Both Mickelson and Singh made errant shots which caused their following efforts to careen into a downward spiral in which they could not mentally recover.

This could be the difference between winning the Grand Slam this season and simply accepting loss as a part of the game. As Phil remarked, "Well, it's just the way it sometimes goes. Sometimes I just don't score well, and I try not to weigh too much into that because I hit a lot of good shots this week." Would Woods have taken an eleven in such a matter-of-fact manner?

This week's Golf for Beginners podcast is loaded with tips from the fairway to the green. What happens when your beautifully hit tee shot woefully lands in a divot? How do you recover? We also discuss the sweet spot myth with the assistance of LPGA Teaching Professional Lana Ortega and the Rules of Golf that pertain to hitting another golf ball either when chipping up, or, from on the green.


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