Monday Backspin: Woods pleased with driver, not putter

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Jul. 5, 2010
By Brian Wacker, PGATOUR.COM Site Producer

If Tiger Woods had his druthers, all four major championships would be played at St. Andrews. On the bright side, at least the next one will be.

While Woods failed to break par in all four rounds of a tournament for just the fourth time in his career at last week's AT&T National, he left Philadelphia on Sunday afternoon excited.

"I've driven the ball better this week than I have in a very long time," said Woods, who finished 4 over and in a tie for 46th. "It's fun to hit the driver that way. I just wanted to keep hitting it. That hasn't been the case lately."

Woods liked hitting the driver so much, in fact, that his caddie Steve Williams had to talk him out of it a couple of times.

Champion's Replay

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Woods might have driven it "on a string" all week at Aronimink, but his putting was another story.

Three times Woods took 30 putts or more in a round. He also missed 15 putts inside of 10 feet for the week, which included going 12-for-18 from 4-8 feet. From 10-15 feet, Woods was just 2-for-11. A trip to St. Andrews, where Williams said Woods played the best golf he's ever seen in winning there in 2005, will be an elixir to those problems, Woods hopes.

"I can't wait to get over there," said Woods, who got his introduction to links golf there in 1995 as an amateur. "I'm looking forward to getting my lines, my feel, my numbers over there. I love playing the golf course.

"It doesn't get any better than that. I fell in love with the golf course the first time I played it."

As Woods noted, though, he'll need to get his putting in order because a good shot there sometimes leaves a 50-foot putt.

At some point, Woods is going to win again. Will it be at St. Andrews? It certainly seems like his best chance.

Stock up

Justin Rose: The numbers speak for themselves: Two wins and a tie for ninth in his last three starts. That has Rose second in the FedExCup standings, the highest he's ever been. He also now has as many wins on TOUR as fellow Englishman Lee Westwood and more than Ian Poulter. FedExCup rank: 2 (14 last week)

Jeff Overton: The Indiana University product now has four top-3 finishes in the last two-plus months after a solo third Sunday at the AT&T National. The biggest difference for Overton between this year and last? He says he's "95 percent" more mature. FedExCup rank: 13 (18 last week)

Vijay Singh: The big Fijian has finished in the top 15 in three of his last four starts after missing three straight cuts and four of five at one point (along with a WD). Singh has a lot of mileage on his 47-year-old body, but he finally seems to be healthy. FedExCup rank: 58 (69 last week)

Stock down

Y.E. Yang: Last year's PGA champion hasn't had a top-10 since the Masters and missed the cut in three of his last four starts, including at the AT&T National. Yang is also a combined 18 over during that stretch and has broken 70 just twice. FedExCup rank: 44 (39 last week)

Boo Weekley: Weekley hasn't finished inside the top 50 since the end of May when he was ninth at the HP Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. Weekley has missed two cuts, including one in Philadelphia, a T51 and a T53 in his last four starts. FedExCup rank: 89 (86 last week)

Jerry Kelly: Since the Masters, Kelly has finished in the top 50 just twice in a span of eight starts. He missed the cut in Philadelphia and has broken 70 just twice in his last 15 rounds. Kelly, who won in New Orleans a year ago, has yet to finish in the top 10 this season. FedExCup rank: 83 (82 last week)

THE BACK NINE: 9 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

1. Justin Rose talked about feeling like a "spare part" the last time the Open Championship was at St. Andrews in 2005 when he was an alternate. He won't have to worry about that maybe ever again and he owes it to his mental toughness. Part of that was also finally letting go of whatever everyone else seemed to expect of him. "I've worried about where I fit in, how I stack up, what people think, where do they rate me, do they or don't they, and I've got to tell you I'm less worried about that now," Rose said. "It's great to be No. 2 in the FedExCup and probably climbing back to No. 20 in the World Rankings. That's all nice, but that's not what's driving me. It's how good can I get at this game? That's a personal challenge and a personal quest. That's really all I'm focused on."

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"It felt like every time I had a chance to make a cut, cameras would appear out of the trees and suddenly I would feel the heat. Playing under that pressure to make cuts when you're not playing well, that was hard." -- Justin Rose on the struggles he had early in his career when he missed 21 straight cuts at one point.

Some guys would never recover from something like that and even Rose admitted that he feels like he's already live three careers -- the young kid, the journeyman and the player he wanted to be all along. How he got to the latter is testament to his mental resolve.

FACEBOOK COMMENT / TWEET OF THE WEEK

"Hope y'all had a good 4th. Yessiree I made it to the British Open!! Flying out to John Deere now!" -- @bubbawatson

Translation: Think this is a pretty good couple of weeks for Bubba Watson? First, he gets his first career win at the Travelers Championship, then Justin Rose's win at the AT&T National locks Watson up for an exemption into the field at St. Andrews via a mini-money list of six events.

To visit the PGA TOUR's Facebook page, click here. To follow the PGA TOUR on Twitter, click here.

2. That mental toughness Rose clearly seems to have now? It will come in handy at the Ryder Cup this fall. It's a long way off and a lot can happen between now and then, but I just don't see how the U.S. can beat Europe. Heck, England alone could put out a pretty formidable team.

3. A month ago, Ryan Moore figured he had zero chance of playing in the British Open after failing to qualify. He even planned to take the next four weeks off. That all changed when he finished second at the AT&T National -- the top player among the top 5 last week and this not already exempt gets in. Now he just has to find his passport.

4. Moore finished second by making eight straight one-putts to close out his final round Sunday at Aronimink. That's pretty awesome, as Moore put it, especially when you consider that he was using a new putter -- a center-shafted Machine putter he picked up on the practice green earlier in the week. As much of a tinkerer as he is, though, it's not like he changed on a whim. Moore led the field in putting at the Masters, where he also used a center-shafted putter he'd bought from a golf store the week before.

5. Tiger Woods made an interesting but perhaps not surprising switch last week to a slightly harder golf ball that spins less. The result? After ranking 78th in driving distance coming into the AT&T National, Woods was second in the field at just under 325 yards. A ball that spins less will also help him in the wind at St. Andrews.

6. Aronimink is a major venue. That was the sentiment among every player I talked to and even the ones I didn't. The winning score might have been 10 under, but Joe Ogilvie said he was glad the USGA wasn't setting the course up last week because they could easily set it up so that players couldn't break par.

7. I'm not sure the members at Aronimink would go for having an event every year, but it would be great to see the TOUR play in golf-crazed Philly on a regular basis. The fans were tremendously into it last week and don't think the Commissioner didn't notice. If all the stars can align, they'd take a serious look at it and you could not find a better fill-in for Congressional than Aronimink.

8. Has anyone seen Hunter Mahan lately? He's gone MIA with four straight missed cuts and last week withdrew before the start of the AT&T National. Of course, he also recently got engaged so he might be a little distracted.

9. I'm not sure there's such a thing as the cheesesteak Grand Slam, but if there is it should be comprised of Pat's, Geno's, Jim's and Tony Luke's.

This week's Kodak Challenge hole

HOLE: The par-5, 557-yard 17th at TPC Deere Run
THIS WEEK: It's reachable in two for big hitters, but they will have to perfectly place a tee ball on this slight dogleg left to do it. The fairway is tight, tree-lined and canted in the landing area. The green is guarded in front by bunkers, some quite short of the green to throw off your perspective. The green is elevated slightly with Pinehurst No. 2-style bentgrass collection areas all around. Miss the green, and you will have a very tough up-and-down. Click here to tour the Kodak Challenge holes | Current Kodak Challenge standings

The Forward Spin

The John Deere Classic is the last chance for those players not already eligible for the Open Championship to qualify and the formula is simple: Finish in the top 5 and you're in. If someone not already in the field at St. Andrews does that, they'll get what amounts to the last spot. This tournament could also act as a springboard. Last year, Steve Stricker won following a 36-hole marathon on Sunday. It was his second win in what would become a three-win season.