The Golf Watch

Ernie Els, Anthony Kim, Ryo Ishikawa would be my feature group

With as much hype as this Tiger Woods threesome is getting, you'd think Tiger was grouped with Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer. 

As a golf enthusiast, it's important to take a step back and look closely at some of the other groups that could steal headlines.  Take the Ernie Els, AK, Ryo Ishikawa group.  Now, there's a star-studded lineup.

Els has been on fire this year and AK posted his first win of the season last week in Houston.  The Masters title has alluded the Big Easy, and winning this event might mean more to him than any other title.  And then there's Ishikawa, who proved to us that he was the real deal last year at the President's Cup.

I'll also have my eye on the Tim Clark, Steve Marino, Tom Watson group.  Talk about a clash of personalities.  You have Marino's long-driving ability and aggressive style pitted against the accurate and conservative playing style of Clark.  Then there's Watson, who last played with Marino in the third round of last year's British Open.  I'm sure the emotions will be a little different this time around for the 8-time major champion.

Don't get me wrong, I'm excited to see Tiger.  But I also want to be along for the ride as some of the other story lines play out. 

The Robert Allenby-Anthony Kim rematch will have to wait one more year

I'll be honest--the first thing I looked for when I opened up my bracket was to see how many matches Anthony Kim and Robert Allenby would have to win if they were to play each other again.  The magic number was 4, but with Kim's loss to Matt Kuchar, the rematch will have to wait.

For a day that should be one of the most exciting in golf, Wednesday's matches were overshadowed by Tiger's press conference announcement.  That, coupled with no Phil Mickelson in AZ, must have made Tiger's former sponsor Accenture not too happy. 

At least Golf Channel was able to focus on a few matches that we wouldn't have been able to see otherwise: Michael Sim-Ryo Ishikawa and Robert Karlsson-Rory Sabbatini.

As for the most suprising outcome from Day 1 minus the Stricker upset, Schwartzel defeating Mahan 2 and 1.

Kim says Allenby 'late night' accusation is false

After losing to Anthony Kim 5 and 3 on Sunday, Aussie Robert Allenby told the media that friends saw Kim walking in "sideways" the night before at 4 a.m. at the team hotel.  Here are more quotes from the Golfweek report:

“Maybe we should all take the theory of Anthony Kim,” Allenby said. “Get home at 4 o’clock (in the morning) and then go shoot 6 under.”

Asked if his comments were on the record, Allenby said, “I don’t care. Ask his playing partners. Ask his team. He is the loosest cannon in that team.”

Allenby went on to call the 24-year-old Kim golf’s “current John Daly.”

Kim was told about Allenby's comments and called them "absolutely false."  He had this to say about Allenby:

"If Robert had that to say, he may need to go practice a little bit more."

Kim withdraws, Singh's status still in question

John Strege reports that Anthony Kim has contracted the flu and has withdrawn from Bay Hill.  The 2009 season has been shaky for Kim thus far--he hasn't played in consecutive tournaments yet. 

As for Vijay Singh, Todd Lewis reported that the Fijian withdrew from the pro-am due because of back pain.  He is still scheduled to play at Bay Hill, but with a knee that recently underwent surgery, the injuries for Singh are mounting.

Kim's caddy, Larson, denied entry to Australia

The Sydney Morning Herald leaked the Anthony Kim-Eric Larson story earlier today.  Here's the gist of it:

American Anthony Kim has had to find a last-minute replacement for his caddie in the $2.7 million Johnnie Walker Classic, which starts at The Vines today, courtesy of Australian Immigration authorities.

Kim, the world No.11, played in last week's Malaysian Open with his regular American caddie Eric Larson, and they both arrived in Perth at 4pm on Monday. It is believed Larson was refused entry for an alleged failure to declare a criminal conviction in the United States...

Larson was the long-term caddie for 1989 British Open champion Mark Calcavecchia, but in 1995 he was convicted for his part in a small cocaine ring and served an 11-year jail sentence.

Even though Kim has already found a replacement caddie in Aussie Graeme Heinrich, I thought it would be interesting to see Steve Williams make the short trek from New Zealand to be Kim's looper.

Kim withdraws from Hope

Anthony Kim withdrew from the Bob Hope earlier today, citing discomfort in his left shoulder.  The move seems precautionary, but it is possible that the injury will affect Kim's ability to play on the European Tour as the year progresses.

As usual, the quality of the Bob Hope field continues to decline.

Kim breaks the fence...literally

Although I found some parts of Tiger Woods' Chevron World Challenge mildly captivating, the most entertaining part of the broadcast had to be Anthony Kim's mishap along the fence behind the 10th green.  Kim hit his second shot from the fairway bunker on the seemingly benign 359-yard 10th well over the green and up against the fence line.  While waiting for a ruling, he decided to sit on the wooden fence.  And it collapsed, literally.

He fell down, but took it like a champ, waving the broken piece of wood in the air while tipping his cap to an amused crowd.  Watch the actions unfold below.

"If the PGA Tour were a Broadway show..."

Of the few ledes I read (there weren't many out there) from yesterday's AT&T National, this one from Don Markus of The (Baltimore) Sun stuck out the most:

If the PGA Tour were a Broadway show, Anthony Kim would be considered the perfect understudy for its starring role.

"Thanks bro., I appreciate it"

Kudos to CBS for airing Anthony Kim's impromptu conversation with tournament host Tiger Woods after Kim's win at the AT&T National.  Greg McLaughlin of the Tiger Woods Foundation handed his cell phone over while Kim was signing autographs.  Kim picked up, uncertain as to who it was initially, and said:

What's up man? Thanks bro., I appreciate it.

I appreciated Kim's obvious comfort while speaking with Tiger over the phone.  I'm opening up comments for this one:  What do you think? 

Kim steps up for PGA Tour

On Wednesday, I was sitting on the driving range next to Rex Hoggard of Golfweek as we watched Anthony Kim prepare for the AT&T National.  He seemed fresh, confident, and relaxed.

I followed Kim for five holes during the pro-am, and he hit several superb shots, including one out of the rough on the par-4 3rd that I recorded in the video below.

Kim won the AT&T earlier today by two strokes over Fredrik Jacobson after firing a 5-under 65.  He's the first player since Tiger Woods to win twice in a year before the age of 25.

The PGA Tour needed a young gun to step up in Tiger's absence, and Kim is the first one to do so.