When Anthony Kim was but a puppy, which wasn't all that long ago when you think about it, he never stopped yapping. Never, a darned absolute term, is not an overstatement.
If oxygen was breathed in, words were coming out.
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| An ongoing storyline until it actually happens: When will 'he' return? (Getty Images) |
"I talked in my sleep," Kim said with laugh this week. "I don't know where I talked more, but I talked to anybody. I talked trash every minute I was awake; even sleeping."
This week at the PGA Tour's season opener, the Mercedes-Benz Championship in Hawaii, he was paired with age-group running mate Camilo Villegas, the other 2009 cover boy expected to eventually take a run at Tiger Woods' decade-plus of dominance. Kim and Villegas, 20-something friends and products of the programs at Oklahoma and Florida, were certain to be dishing dumptruck loads of garbage on one another Thursday, when the football teams from their schools played for the national championship.
Yet no matter how much smack is exchanged, it won't approach the levels of chatter from those stationed outside the ropes, where the two have been marked as the next generation's newest heirs apparent after breakthrough seasons in 2008. In a sport dying for fresh faces capable of playing at the highest level -- the older guard hasn't had much luck derailing Woods -- the charismatic pair appears ready, willing and, most important, able to take the next step.
"I feel like I've come a long way with my game and my attitude," said Kim, who starred on the U.S. Ryder Cup team and won twice last year. "And hopefully, if I can just stay on this roll, I feel like I've turned a corner, and if I can just keep my head down and stay focused, I'm going to be in good shape for this year."
Villegas, the testosterone-fired Colombian chick magnet, won twice in the fall and nearly claimed the FedEx Cup's $10 million bonus, even outdueling Kim to win the BMW Championship. He made tremendous strides with his putter, which was the final piece to the puzzle, assuming he keeps it up.
"It's weird, man," said Villegas, who turned 27 this week. "Sometimes with that putting, the harder you try, the harder it is."
That's an area where Kim, 23, has few concerns. Fearless on the greens, he won notable events against strong fields in Charlotte and Washington, D.C., which really opened eyes to his potential upside. He hardly minds the talk and burgeoning expectations.
"It's hard not to notice, but at the same time, it doesn't affect me in the least bit," he said. "The reason is, because in my mind, I've always thought that I was able to achieve some pretty high, lofty goals. I never thought it would be any other way."
Same for many others, it seems.
"You knew that was coming, their talent," Tiger said of the dynamic duo. "That was just a matter of time before they broke through and won events."
Guess we'll find out if their noggins are easily swiveled. The pair are featured on the cover of the 2009 season preview of GolfWorld magazine, which glossed over a couple of crucial points -- namely, that three of their four victories were accrued while Woods was on the disabled list, and none with Woods playing.
Moreover, winning with Woods in the field is one thing. Finishing ahead of him at any point is another. The latter would be a positive step for either player.
In the 33 tournaments Villegas has entered in which Woods was also in the field, he has finished ahead of the world No. 1 exactly twice. In his two years on tour, Kim is 0-11 against Woods in common events, a fact that was pointed out this week in Hawaii.
"I didn't know that," Kim said. "But good to know."
They are already thinking like world-beaters, which will be interesting to monitor. Both made the decision to also take up membership on the European Tour, where they will be required to play in 12 events to be eligible to compete for the inaugural Race to Dubai bonus prize. Kim, for one, is still piecing together his schedule for the rest of the winter, much less the remainder of the year, so we'll see how this plays out.
But will these two get played out as a result. It's a seemingly ambitious plan for two players whose potential outstrips their pedigrees at this point. In terms the glib Kim can surely understand, he has bitten off a mouthful.
"My goal is to become a global player," Kim said. "And being that my parents are from Korea, it's important for me to go back. But at the same time, I don't know what I'm doing. This is more of a trial and error."
If that's Kim's biggest uncertainty in 2009, he's way ahead of the game. Plenty of big names face potentially pivotal points in their careers, from the top tour brass on down. A look at the key faces and their circumstances heading into what should be an unusually tumultuous season:
Short in stature, casts long shadow
Woods is the lead dog on the PGA Tour sled, the show pony, the alpha male. That much was obvious by the slumping TV ratings when he was idle. But make no mistake, while everybody breathlessly awaits his return from a lengthy layoff, PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem will be under incredibly close scrutiny.
Thanks to the wondrous luxury of ironclad, multiyear contracts, most tournament sponsors are signed through 2012, but that hasn't stopped the economy from killing off a few tour stops already, or precipitating some cost-cutting measures at others. Given the tour's heavy dependency on the auto and financial sectors for sponsorship, Finchem has already implored players to go the extra yard to press the flesh in pro-am rounds, not to mention add more events to support the title sponsors -- to show some additional appreciation for the guys paying the bills, to put it bluntly.
Message received? This week, the top four players in the world rankings elected to skip the Mercedes season opener. The tone of the economic updates emanating from Finchem, a notorious weaver of silver linings, has grown increasingly less upbeat over the past two months. Since each tournament is a free-standing entity to some degree, financial solvency is going to be a common storyline.
Pregnant pause
One U.K. gambling site has gone so far as to establish a betting line on Woods' projected return date, picking the Arnold Palmer Invitational in late March as the likely target. Others are guessing that he might play two weeks earlier at the World Golf Championships event in Miami, where he has won multiple times in the past. For once, Woods is listening to his doctors and taking his time, although members of his home club in Orlando say he is already hitting long irons and drivers in practice.
"That's the most frustrating thing is the uncertainty," Woods said three weeks ago. "How is the leg going to respond to more hours of practicing, more playing, more holes of play, playing at home? How is it going to recover from day to day to day? All this is unknown. Everyone heals at different rates. I couldn't tell you and my surgeon can't tell you, trainers can't tell you."
Another wild card is that his wife is due to deliver the couple's second child sometime in February -- Woods declined to be more specific. The new arrival will surely spend time being bounced on daddy's surgically repaired knee before he starts treating the tour like his personal playground sometime in the spring.
Villegas was asked this week in Hawaii whether he thinks Woods has taken note of the emergence of him and Kim during Woods' time on the shelf.
"I don't think he cares," Villegas said, drawing laughs. "He's got his own goals. He knows exactly what he needs to do. He's going to come back healthy. He's going to keep winning golf tournaments."
Quite possibly more of them than ever.
El Niño is el segundo
The latter is a city in Southern California, that, translated from Spanish, means the second. Perhaps even more impressive than Padraig Harrington's bust-out season as Player of the Year on the European and PGA circuits was Sergio Garcia's climb to No. 2 in the world rankings behind Woods.
If Woods waits until the Masters to return, and Garcia picks up where he left off last year -- he had eight top five finishes in his last nine international starts -- he could supplant Woods as world No. 1. Garcia makes his 2009 debut next week in Abu Dhabi on the European Tour.
Harrington won the top-player votes because of his two major titles -- even Woods voted for him -- but Garcia was the steadiest player in golf over the second half of last year.
"Sergio had a great year," Geoff Ogilvy said in Hawaii this week. "He had a few flat years and went bang last year. He's easily the best player in the world since [winning] the Players Championship.
"Sergio has been there every week."
Jumping on the Paddy bandwagon
Is he bigger in Dublin than Bono? If he wins the Masters in April, he ought to be.
The workaholic Harrington has long been celebrated for his honesty, tenacity and sheer ability to maximize what many thought was a limited tool set. Having won three of the last six majors, including two in succession, he enters Augusta National with as many Grand Slam titles as Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh or Ernie Els.
Who said the Irishman was longer on grit than he was on game? We all got lepre-conned. While he flatlined in the fall, mostly because of burnout, he has become a name that other players are loathe to see on Sunday leaderboards at majors. By the way, he has finished seventh and fifth in his past two Masters appearances.
Remember me?
It's never a good sign when the biggest headline a guy generates over the second half of a season comes when another player's caddie calls him a crude term relating to male genitalia. But for Phil Mickelson, that was his personal reality in late 2008.
With his nemesis Woods on the shelf by mid-June, the door was open -- and Mickelson didn't win after May. Moreover, he hasn't truly been in contention at a major since blowing up at the U.S. Open in 2006. Eighteen months from his 40th birthday, Lefty stands at the fore of a growing list of aging stars who need to recapture the magic, lest Woods (age 33) make a complete mockery of the majors.
Speaking of Eldrick's elders ...
Years back, the composition of the so-called Big Five was always subject to interpretation. Beyond Woods, it typically included Vijay Singh, Retief Goosen, Ernie Els and Mickelson. Occasionally, Jim Furyk was mentioned.
The last five names on that list, combined, won six times in the U.S. in 2008. Goosen and Furyk didn't win at all, while Els won against one of the weakest fields of the season at the Honda Classic. Els and Goosen turn 40 this year, with Furyk and Mickelson set to hit the threshold in mid-2010. Singh turns 46 next month and played through various injuries in 2008.
For a decade, these have been the guys who have pushed and prodded Woods most consistently. Now a transition seems to be taking place. Woods says he expects his surgically repaired left knee to be stronger than ever, so, coupled with the seemingly diminishing skills of the aforementioned five, that creates an even bigger imbalance atop the charts if young bucks like Kim and Villegas can't fill the void.
But at least her timing was good
If the PGA Tour is antsy about its economic future, imagine how the LPGA feels. But the women's tour picked up its most marketable new commodity in years just as its best player of the past decade, Annika Sorenstam, was bowing out.
After years of disinterest about becoming a member, Michelle Wie cruised through LPGA Qualifying School in December to earn her card and expects to play a full schedule this year for the first time. Nobody gave her a handout -- she earned it with her own sweat.
Nearly as important will be the addition of two other American players to the LPGA roster: feisty former college star Stacy Lewis, who played in the final group at the U.S. Women's Open last summer, and 2008 Duramed Futures Tour money-list leader Vicky Hurst, 18. But be it good or bad, Wie is the player who attracts global attention. This time, the LPGA relationship will be mutually beneficial -- the tour needs her at least as badly as she needs a place to play.
Rock and a hardcover
Publishers spew out dozens of golf books every year, mostly because folks who play the game have disposable income, like to read more than most and have an avid interest in the game. But not many golf-themed tomes make a mark. Rocco Mediate's forthcoming book will almost certainly be different.
Mediate, the chatty everyman who last summer took Woods to the mat in one of the greatest U.S. Open showdowns in history, is scheduled to release a book this summer detailing the particulars of his duel with Woods. But that won't be the best part.
Mediate is expected to delve into some revealing personal details, including his relationship with his female trainer and his money-burning predilection with poker. Given Mediate's gift for gab, it will be entertaining prose, too. Beyond the book, will his celebrity stick on the golf course?
Surf's down, mate
Rather than drag this out, we'll just keep the list short and punchy. During a 2008 season that was a personal and professional mess, Adam Scott dislocated his knee while playing in the surf, contracted a nasty throat ailment that dogged him for months and created sores in the back of his mouth, got dumped by his Swedish girlfriend and broke his right hand by slamming it in a car door.
Consequently, we didn't hear much from the gifted Aussie star -- and not just because he could hardly talk above a whisper for a few weeks in May. He just wanted the year to end.
"At the end of last year, I was a little complacent, because, to be honest," he said, "my head was not in the game. I didn't really want to be out here, and I was just playing because that's what I do.
"Looking back on it, I should have gone home around the U.S. PGA Championship, gotten my head together and gotten everything straightened out. I was sick, I was not happy and I needed a break. My results were pitiful."
Singh a swan song (part XIV)
Admit it. You thought Vijay Singh's career was toast. Again.
He badly botched a chance to win early last year at Pebble Beach, butchering a showdown with chubby journeyman Steve Lowery, and didn't make much noise elsewhere over the first two-thirds of the year. Then Singh psyched himself back into the winner's circle by repeatedly telling himself, "I am the greatest putter in the world."
Dude was like Bernie Madoff. We all believed him for a while as the money rolled in and Singh became the oldest player to win the PGA Tour money title, once again. Singh turns 46 in February and won Woods' unofficial tournament last month in suburban Los Angeles.
"Right now, I'm the leader, and I'm not quitting yet," Singh said after the Chevron World Challenge. "I'm not going to slow down."
Well, maybe a little. After the Mercedes, he'll have surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his knee, an injury he says occurred while he was winning Woods' event. He hopes to return to play with his son Qass at Pebble Beach beginning Feb. 12.
Shark in the water again
After seven years away, Greg Norman's return to Augusta National in April will be front-page fare, given the Shark's travails at that venue over the years. But it might not be the best Norman plotline of the season.
Next fall, Norman will captain the International team during the Presidents Cup matches in San Francisco, which means he has struck an uneasy détente with Finchem, a guy he mostly has lambasted publicly. Even after he was named captain, the Shark continued to lob occasional barbs at the commissioner, with whom he has had a testy relationship. Given the Presidents Cup's second-citizen status behind the Ryder, the more ink-slinging from Norman the better as far as generating publicity.
Shy and unretiring?
Annika Sorenstam made great strides in the self-confidence department during her 15-year career, moving from reluctant star to giving the commencement address at University of Arizona a few weeks ago.
When she next appears before the public, either as an active player or mere celebrity, remains to be seen. Sorenstam stepped away from the game, at least temporarily, in December to concentrate on her family and business affairs. But since then, the economy has continued to tank at a staggering pace, which could make her various new projects, like hawking signature wine and perfume, a harder sell.
"I don't think I could have timed it any worse," she said.
Tick, tock, tick, tock
Let's see, even before it became known that John Daly had been suspended for six months by the PGA Tour for conduct unbecoming a professional, he angrily destroyed a fan's camera at an event in Australia.
With limited options as far as playing in the States, Daly plans to play extensively on the European Tour this year. Geez, like the global reputation of Americans hasn't suffered enough already. How long before he blows? At least for now, he's somebody else's problem.
Wishing many happy returns
No question, it was a story that should have resonated with far more people, well beyond the borders of the golf community.
Last fall, five months removed from his second heart transplant, journeyman professional Erik Compton came within a stroke of advancing to the finals of PGA Tour Qualifying School and earning at least partial status on a major tour for 2009. Instead, Compton, whose newlywed wife is expecting the couple's first child in February, will be seeking sponsor exemptions or playing on mini-tours. He made the cut while playing on an exemption at Disney World two months ago.
A few days later, while watching Compton play in the second stage of Q-School, his friend and longtime swing coach, Jim McLean, noted that during the most recent transplant, the heart the physically smallish Compton received was a tad too large for him. It had come from a former college volleyball player who had been killed in a motorcycle accident.
"But they squeezed it in there," McLean noted.
That the guy had ample willpower pulsing under his breastplate was self-evident. Hopefully, some early PGA Tour events with underwhelming fields (Bob Hope, Tampa, Honda) will see fit to offer the incomprehensively gritty Compton some access.
Compton played in tournaments five months after undergoing a 14-hour heart transplant in which his donated ticker was brought into the Miami Jackson Hospital O.R. packed in an ice chest. Six months later, Woods is still out after undergoing knee surgery. You tell me, which is the more heroic comeback?
