Hope for a New Season: Five Burning Questions

By Jared Trexler

I'd be cheating if I picked a winner this week, especially since Phil Mickelson has yet to make a par through five holes at LaQuinta Country Club. (Mickelson's Live Scoring) You can check out live total scoring as it happens at PGATour.com, the official scores and statistics provider for Phanatic Golf 2007.

We at The Phanatic plan to provide in-depth analysis of each major sport, hopefully in the coming months, with particular emphasis on your hometown teams. Our full-scale golf coverage is starting a little earlier than other sports because, well, I said so, and I'm the one manning the golf cart on this drive through what should be an intriguing 2007 season.

Everything found on these pages will transfer over to our WWW web home when the programming gods allow it. For now, you can receive comprehensive PGA Tour coverage comparable to any other Internet home.

Now, without further adieu, we pull up to the first tee on our inaugural voyage. I think we are playing Bermuda Dunes today, shortish and relatively straight, should be a perfect opportunity to get off to a blistering start.

1. What will I be able to find on Phanatic Golf 2007?

I'm glad you asked, because the basic answer is everything you need with the help from our fine friends at PGATour.com. Each Tuesday, a feature about a particular pro player, tour course, pressing issue or the like will be found in this very space. Each Wednesday, our weekly preview on the next stop on Tour takes shape in this very format -- five burning questions capped by a chosen champion. You will also be afforded the basic essentials of the tournament venue and recent tournament history. Each (Wednesday) Thursday-Sunday, check back here for a brief synopsis of the round that was, relevant news and notes and our "Top 10 scoreboard," which will not only include the generic first crop of leaders, but also list their position on the Money List and each player's correlating spot on Tour commissioner Tim Finchem's new baby -- the FedEx Cup. And when the World Golf Championships and Majors hit, we tee it high and let it fly!

2. I read the article on Lefty. What kind of season do you think he'll have?

I differ from the many skeptics, reasoning that a rededicated Mickelson will have a fantastic 2007. Tiger's win streak, the late-blooming career of Jim Furyk and the on and off course gawking directed toward Adam Scott will only serve as extra motivation. Mickelson is a family man above all else, but he looks fitter than every before and the look in his eyes yells DEDICATION. I wouldn't be surprised if he won more than twice this season, including a strong title defense at Augusta and a better than 50-50 chance at Oakmont.

3. Oakmont, that course outside Pittsburgh?

Yeah, and it's a beast. I've played in from the whites and I finished the day dehydrated, angry and about a dozen strokes over my handicap from the blues. I played the par-3 eighth from 209 yards, while the professionals will walk approximately a full sand wedge back, stretching the hole to 288 yards. Yes, a 288-yard par-3. "Skip Kendall...He's laying up with a driver, Johnny." Oakmont is a classic Bear, tree-lined, narrow and extremely penal if a green is missed to the short side. It will also play very, very, very long. It's months away, but the course has already provoked massive discussion.

4. Awards Time: Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Tournament of the Year?

People will call me foolish, but I put plenty of stock in Tiger Woods' first trip toward fatherhood. When he is playing the Tour, his focus will be squarely on the task at hand. However, Elin's pregnancy could place the family squarely between a pair of major championships, and the joy of creating a new life could -- and obviously should -- take precedent over pot bunkers and knee-high rough. Vigay Singh has jumped out of the gate with a win already, but last year may have been the first sign that the Fijian is wearing down from years constantly spent hitting golf balls. I like Mickelson, thinking he will win four times plus one major (repeat at Augusta). Woods will be a close second and capture another British Open, while we say here that both Luke Donald and Adam Scott will breakthrough and capture their first major championships at the United States Open and PGA Championship, respectively.

I reserve the right to change this pick midseason and before any of the majors.

The Rookie of the Year will be an interesting battle, one ultimately won by 5'10", 160-pound Anthony Kim, the youngest rookie on tour and one of eight players to slide through all three stages of Q-School. He burst on to the scene with a T-2 at the Valero Texas Open last year, and the three-time NCAA All-American at Oklahoma was part of the victorious 2005 Walker Cup Team. We say here he gets his first PGA Tour victory this season, mixes in a few top-10s and finishes in the mid 40s-mid 60s on the money list.

The Tournament of the Year will not be a major -- at least not in this space -- but rather the Mayakoba Golf Classic at El Camaleon Golf Club in Mexico, an event played opposite the March Madness Version of Golf. The Greg Norman design will play host to the first official PGA Tour event held in Mexico and very well could sport a solid field including former major champions Norman, Jeff Sluman and Steve Elkington among others. If nothing else, the tournament will showcase a breathtaking piece of golf real estate and display the game's global outreach, quickly spanning to all sectors of the world.

Any more Bob Hope Classic information?

Charlie Hoffman is four-under through nine holes at Bermuda Dunes to hold the early lead. Eight of the first 15 names on the leaderboard are playing Bermuda Dunes, giving early support to the "Do It at the Dunes" theory. Also, who said the PGA Tour doesn't sell sex appeal to white, affluent males (the large demographic of the sport)?

I end the inaugural "Five Burning Questions" with Classic Girls!

**Jared Trexler is The Phanatic Golf Writer. He can be reached at jtt128@comcast.net***

Click here for copyright permissions!
Copyright 2007
The Phanatic