Sage Advice

As the Ryder Cup returns to the U.S. and Tiger Woods seeks another stellar year, our man on the scene sorts out what to expect in 2008

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By Tim Rosaforte

Photo By Andy Lyons/Getty Images

December 28, 2007

This is a Ryder Cup year. We started hearing that from European players at the end of 2007. Miguel Angel Jim�nez and Ian Poulter recorded victories in November; Lee Westwood showed up at Tiger Woods' Target World Challenge looking trimmer; and Darren Clarke, down to No. 256 in the World Ranking after the death of his wife, said he was ready to make a comeback. They are all focused on next September's biennial matches at Valhalla GC. On this side of the Atlantic Ocean, American golf has the three best players in the world, a Presidents Cup in the trophy case and a Ryder Cup mindset that differs from that of the Euros: We'll start to worry about the showdown when it's time. More important to the golf fan on this continent are the exploits of Woods, Phil Mickelson and the rest of the boys. We know Woods won the Target by seven strokes, and reports from Southern California in late December have Mickelson spending more time in the workout room with strength coach Sean Cochran than the hitting bay at Butch Harmon's golf school. We'll see Lefty and Tiger together for the first time at next month's Buick Invitational. Remember how the season used to "start" at Doral? Now it begins at Torrey Pines. Regarding the big questions for 2008, they begin here...

Should the tour still open its season in Hawaii with a winners-only event that Tiger and Phil skip and that Ernie Els and Sergio Garcia, among �others, didn't qualify for?
Although it would be nice to start the season with all the big names in the field, the reality is the Mercedes-Benz Championship format doesn't need to be changed, and neither does the venue, Kapalua Resort's Plantation Course. In this case it's all about fitting the tournament into Woods' schedule. He used to open the season in Hawaii before the PGA Tour moved the Target World Challenge deep into December, after the Father-Son tournament and the Merrill Lynch Shootout. That didn't give him enough time for the holidays, or his birthday (Dec. 30), before preparing for his first tour appearance of the year. One alternative being discussed is to shrink the FedEx Cup schedule by weeding out some weaker events so the Mercedes could start in mid-January, giving Woods enough of a break. As for Mickelson, he simply doesn't like going to Kapalua. There's a better chance of getting him to play on a ski slope, which is where he is usually based in early January. He is doubtful at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, too, because of the venue change to the Classic Club.

Photo: Scott Halleran/Getty Images

Will we see the return of Aquaman at the Ryder Cup?
Woody Austin's spirit was contagious at the Presidents Cup -- even before the face plant in that cold pond at Royal Montreal. Paul Azinger's team needs the same type of looseness -- a guy to take all the abuse -- but behind the snorkel mask lies one of the best clutch ball-strikers on the PGA Tour. Austin makes a good partner, as Mark Calcavecchia found out in the Merrill Lynch Shootout. Mickelson, who went 1-0-2 with Austin at Royal Montreal, will tell you the same thing. So yes, even though he didn't make the Golf World Top 30, Austin will make the team at Valhalla and once again be a factor for the U.S. in team competition -- perhaps even a controversial one with too many fist pumps against the thinner-skinned Europeans.

Who is going to be the breakout player of the year?
There were no can't-miss Americans coming out of PGA Tour Qualifying School where Colt Knost, the U.S. Amateur and Public Links champion, bombed in the final, and Dustin Johnson was the only Walker Cup star to earn his card. That noted, there is someone to keep an eye on among the Nationwide Tour graduates. With due respect to Aussie Nick Flanagan, who earned a three-win promotion, countryman Jason Day generated more buzz than any graduate in the developmental tour's recent history. The 20-year-old Queenslander is talking about challenging Tiger Woods -- which makes him sound like, well, a 20-year-old. Day, however, has a nagging wrist injury that has sidelined him for most of the last two months.