Rough Putting: Five Things To Watch In 2009

Golf season starts tomorrow, which means it is time to actually start thinking of the best game with dimples. While the giants take a nap, others will play at the Mercedes Championship, and golf will be around the rest of the year. FanHouse spent a couple of minutes thinking what is to come in 2009. Here is what transpired.

Which golfer will be the first to break through in the Majors?
A lot of the time this is overlooked, but look back a few years ago to Tiger's first full year on tour. The guy won his first-ever start in a major as a professional. With Tiger, the monkey never even had a chance to find a nice place to rest on his back. How long did it take for Tiger to win number two? Eleven major championships. Yeah, it isn't nearly as easy as he makes it seem now.

What I'm trying to say with all of this is that winning a major championship is really, really, really tough and as Sergio Garcia (and Phil Mickelson a few years back) can tell you, if you don't get one early, then the questions about "When will it happen?" start to stir around.

Garcia has gone 38 majors as a professional without a victory. That might seem like a tremendously long time until you think of some of the talented guys that took a while to win their first big one. Vijay Singh didn't get his until his 27th major. Fred Couples went 34 until he took the 1992 Masters. Tom Kite played in 67 majors before taking his 1992 U.S. Open crown.

Garcia is in panic mode but he's still young (in golf terms) and has enough talent to open the floodgates in the major championship sense.

Along with him, Anthony Kim is due to take one of these as a youngster, as well as Hunter Mahan, Adam Scott, Aaron Baddeley and Camilo Villegas.

Interesting stat to close all this up and make it apparent how hard it is to win a major: Out of the top 10 in the Official World Rankings, five have won majors, five have not.

Can we remember South Africa?
Remember a few years back when Ernie Els and Retief Goosen had basically put South Africa back on the golf map? They were two of the "Big Five" that could win U.S. Opens in bushels.

Now? Els has one win on the PGA Tour since October of 2004 and Retief hasn't picked up any trophies in the U.S. since "The International" in '05. Sure, Trevor Immelman took home the Green Jacket last year, but he isn't the "four wins a year" kind of guy these two resembled for moments in their career.

Will either bring the noise this year? I believe so. They both turn 40 in 2009 and both need to pick up their games to make people remember that it isn't just the Tiger-Phil show anymore. Ernie is due for a decent year and we could see Retief do something at one of his favorite spots, Augusta, with You Know Who not in absolute top form.

Look for South Africa to have a big year.

How will John Daly's absence affect the economic problems on Tour?
Sure, it might seem a little insignificant, until you really look into it. Daly carries the smaller golf tournaments. No, he isn't winning the tournaments (or even making the cut in most of them) but he brings crowds and is still probably in the top four (Tiger, Phil, Sergio) on the list of the most recognizable names in golf. With Tim Finchem already asking other top golfers to add another tournament to their picky resume, Daly being gone could really hurt the smaller tournaments that are treading water at this point financially.

What trophy will Phil hold next?
Since Mickelson's last major championship victory, the 2006 Masters, a nasty drought has set in. When he heads to Augusta this year, it will be his 12th major since his victory, and 11th since "The Winged Foot Experience." We all know that Phil can get a little "headsy" for most people's liking, and the more he goes without winning the big ones, the more he will be jabbed about it by the media, the media and ... the media.

Augusta is always a threat for Phil to win at, since he has two green jackets. Bethpage, site of the U.S. Open, is one of those venues that is so tough and mentally rattling that only about 10 guys have an actual shot at winning (and Phil finished second there in '02). The last time the British was at Turnberry, Mickelson shot 78-74 to miss the cut but, like Lee Trevino at Augusta, Phil's game just isn't set up for a British Open. The PGA Championship is at Hazeltine, where Phil finished in a t-34 with two good rounds (72-68 in second and fourth rounds) and two horrible rounds (76-78 in first and third).

I think Mickelson breaks out in one of the first two majors this year. If not, the head wizard could be in some serious trouble.

Tiger's return?
This is the story, right? Tiger Woods comes back on the sports scene and we get to see the guy, gulp, as somewhat vulnerable. I'm telling you what I think about it: If Tiger comes back and wins three tournaments next season, I call it a success. Bottom line. Three wins = success. I know we have come to see Tiger as a player that can produce victories like a pottery produces plant homes, but this is a different beast. Tiger is now a real boy. I don't think he wins the Masters. Or the U.S. Open at Woods' backyard in Bethpage. I'm scared to say I think Turnberry (where I've played) is too vulnerable to low scores for Woods to produce one of those 70-69-68-72 Open score wins. I also don't know about the PGA, where Woods was downed by Rich Beem in 2002. I think Tiger can still win, and will win the majority of majors from 2010 on, but I don't see it this year. Too much on his mind. Too much with his knee. Too much time off. And too much of a word that might creep into his vocabulary: Doubt.