Golf International Magazine Online

If it seems outrageous that the No. 9 player in the world would not be part of the Ryder Cup, then consider the European team that first crushed the United States in this popular exhibition.

The highest-ranked player Europe had in 2004 was No. 9 in the world.

That was Padraig Harrington, who six years and three major championships later became a debated captain’s pick Sunday.

Colin Montgomerie called it an “embarrassment of riches” that his three picks did not include Justin Rose and Paul Casey, who was at No. 9 when the choices were made. And that the likes of Henrik Stenson, Robert Karlsson and Sergio Garcia didn’t even qualify.

The real embarrassment will be if Europe doesn’t take home the cup, last seen on Twitter being meticulously polished by former U.S. captain Paul Azinger as a way to needle Ian Poulter.

Europe is a lot like the United States used to be.

It has the highest-ranked players, with all 12 members inside the top 40 based on Monday’s ranking. Europe won more majors this year, with Graeme McDowell and Martin Kaymer trumping Phil Mickelson. And it is favored to win the Ryder Cup, once the domain of the USA.

One thing hasn’t changed.

Winning the Ryder Cup is more meaningful to Europe than the United States, which is not to suggest the Americans don’t care about winning or won’t cover their ears if they have to listen to the singsong cheering of “Ole, Ole, Ole.”

This is not a competition between the best players from Europe and the U.S.

It’s a competition between tours.

What motivated Europe for so many years—and led to so many victories—was the perception of being a second-class golf tour. Even though it is the second-best tour in the world (with deep apologies to the Nationwide Tour), no one likes to hear it.

And that’s why any suggestion to revamp Europe’s qualifying criteria would be a mistake.

The top four players are decided by the world ranking points they accumulate over the last 12 months. The next five come from money earned during the same time from European Tour events. The other three players are up to the captain.

It doesn’t hurt that seven of Europe’s players were not U.S. tour members at the start of the year.

Luke Donald suggested last week that if the No. 10 player—that would be him—were left off the Ryder Cup, something would be seriously flawed with the system. It was not clear if he was talking about the Ryder Cup criteria or how he got to No. 10 in the world.

“The European team has to look harder at the qualification system and whether it’s the correct way to do it, or whether there’s a better way,” Donald said after learning he was a pick. “I think golf really is becoming a world game, and I understand they won’t protect the European Tour. But at the same time, the top guys are going to want to play against the best players in the world, no matter what.

“And they shouldn’t be penalized for that.”

No question golf has become a global game, which is why the major tours lean so much on the world ranking. But to exclusively use the world ranking to determine the team would make the Ryder Cup feel more like the Presidents Cup. The passion of the Ryder Cup is as much about tours as continents and flags.

Sure, there are a few tweaks that can be made.

Europe should consider taking four players from a ranking list, four players from a money list and giving the captain four picks. That’s the same number of picks the Americans get.

Even more peculiar is why Montgomerie had to make his captain’s picks— Harrington, Donald and Edoardo Molinari—on Sunday night. Players don’t begin to arrive in Wales until Sept. 27, which is a month away. Are they really in that much of a rush to stitch names into the back of caps and fit players for tuxedos?

European officials tried to force players’ hands by making them choose between the final European Tour qualifying event (Johnnie Walker Championship) and the start of the FedEx Cup playoffs (The Barclays).

Harrington, Donald, Casey and Rose chose to play The Barclays, even though the ranking points did not count toward Ryder Cup standings because of the five-hour time difference. Make the picks on Monday, and those four could have tried to play their way onto the team. There’s no drama in Europe watching on TV at 11 p.m.

Then again, isn’t the drama supposed to unfold Oct. 1 at Celtic Manor?

Would it have mattered? Not this year. It would have been an embarrassment for Montgomerie to leave off Molinari, who won two big tournaments in Scotland over the last two months to rightly deserve a spot on the team.

Someone was going to be left out. Someone was going to be upset. Someone was going to question the system.

Montgomerie won’t say this, but it did not hurt Donald’s chances when he was among the few who played the Wales Open this summer for a preview of the Celtic Manor course.

Harrington said if he did not make the team, he would have blamed only himself for not setting his schedule property.

No one was more devastated than Casey, who realized he wasn’t on the team when he saw Harrington’s wife give a thumbs-up to his caddie without saying anything to Casey.

Even so, he found perspective in his despair.

“I’m not going to stand here and plead a case for why I should be on the team,” Casey said. “It’s done and dusted. I tried my hardest, and I didn’t make it.”

Elin Nordegren said she never had an inkling.

She said she never hit her famous husband with a golf club.

Elin Nordegren. Picture © Getty Images

She said she’s never felt so sad and devastated, and hopes she never will again.

All this and more from the woman the world has waited to hear from since that Thanksgiving night in November that shattered her marriage and the carefully crafted image of Tiger Woods.

“I’ve been through hell,” Nordegren said in an interview with People magazine released Wednesday, two days after she and Woods were officially divorced. “It’s hard to think you have this life, and then all of a sudden - was it a lie? You’re struggling because it wasn’t real. But I survived. It was hard, but it didn’t kill me.”

She and the couple’s children, 3-year-old daughter Sam and 18-month-old son Charlie, have settled a mile from her ex-husband in a rented, five-bedroom house in a gated community in Windermere, Fla. - where Woods needs her permission to get past the guard. The two are sharing custody of their children.

She credits therapy and long runs with helping her deal with the last nine months, and she also kept a journal of her thoughts and emotions. “I haven’t gone back to read what I wrote in December and January; I’m afraid to,” she said.

She has not watched “one minute of golf.” But she can laugh at things now, calling those “Saturday Night Live” and “South Park” parodies of her “pretty hysterical” (though totally untrue).

“She’s been amazing,” said Mia Parnevik, for whom Nordegren was working as a nanny when she met Woods more than a decade ago. “She has held her head high. To go through a divorce is not easy for anybody. To go through what she’s gone through is not humane.”

She is not, however, without scars. In the days before the divorce was finalized, Nordegren’s long, blonde hair began falling out.

“She’s held her head high. She has not caved in,” said Parnevik, wife of pro golfer Jesper Parnevik. “She’s not said bad things about him, and that’s kind of an easy game to get into.”

The Swedish-born Nordegren has always guarded her privacy as fiercely as Woods, if not more so. Even in happier times she was rarely quoted. She kept to herself at golf tournaments, staying well beyond the ropes and once turning away when she noticed photographers taking her picture.

Years ago, a reporter mentioned that he had never seen her on the 18th green after Woods won a tournament.

“That’s just not my personality,” she said.

But the car crash outside the couple’s Florida home shattered any hopes she had of a normal life for her and her children.

The world knew the tawdry details of Woods’ philandering, and many wondered if Nordegren had a hand in the accident, perhaps going after him in a fit of rage when she caught him.

“This was one of the things I had the hardest time with people thinking,” Nordegren said. “There was never any violence inside or outside our home. The speculation that I would have used a golf club to hit him is just truly ridiculous.”

The interview with People, conducted at her home over four visits lasting a total of 19 hours, will be her only one, she said.

Nordegren approached People, and magazine spokeswoman Claudia DiRomualdo said no one was paid for the story. Nordegren would not disclose the amount of the divorce settlement but did say “money can’t buy happiness or put my family back together.”

Nordegren said she had never suspected Woods of cheating. She hadn’t traveled as much the last few years, busy with the couple’s children and her psychology classes at Rollins College.

“I felt stupid as more things were revealed - how could I not have known anything?” Nordegren said. “The word betrayal isn’t strong enough. I felt like my whole world had fallen apart. It seemed that my world as I thought it was had never existed. I felt embarrassed for having been so deceived. I felt betrayed by many people around me.”

Still, Nordegren said the couple tried for months to reconcile. Woods even spent two months in therapy at a Mississippi clinic in hopes of saving the marriage. The child of divorced parents herself, Nordegren said she wanted her children to have a “core family,” a happily married mother and father.

Nordegren leaned heavily on her family during the turmoil. Twin sister Josefin, a London-based attorney, was part of her legal team, and her mother, Barbro Holmberg, traveled to Florida to be with her daughter.

But even that was not without drama. Holmberg, who has very low blood pressure, collapsed and had to be taken to the hospital during a December visit after the flu swept through Nordegren’s house.

In the end, Nordegren said she decided that a marriage “without trust and love” wasn’t good for anyone.

“I am now going to do my very best to show them that alone and happy is better than being in a relationship where there is no trust,” she said.

Asked about his ex-wife’s interview, Woods said Wednesday, “I wish her the best in everything.”

“You don’t ever go into a marriage looking to get divorced. That’s the thing,” Woods said from The Barclays golf tournament in New Jersey. “That’s why it is sad.”

Nordegren wasn’t even interested in Woods when she was first introduced to him. But she eventually fell in love with him because they had “so much fun, and I felt safe with him.” She called their Oct. 5, 2004, wedding in Barbados “one of the happiest days of my life” and told People she still has her Vera Wang wedding dress.

Now she is on her own, just her and the children.

Woods’ golf game has suffered amid his personal turmoil, and he said Wednesday that his children’s well-being remains his priority. But Nordegren said she still believes he’ll wind up as the “best golfer that ever lived.”

Just don’t expect her to be watching. “Forgiveness takes time,” and she’s still working on it, Nordegren said.

“She should get a lot of credit for how she portrayed herself,” Parnevik said. “The integrity and respect, that’s her - not him.”

Divorced. Single dad. Golf game still to be determined.

And so, after nine months of turmoil over his extramarital affairs, now begins the next chapter in the life and times of Tiger Woods.

In a hearing that lasted no more than 10 minutes in a Florida judge’s chambers, Woods and his Swedish-born wife officially divorced Monday.

“We are sad that our marriage is over and we wish each other the very best for the future,” Woods and Elin Nordegren said in a joint statement released by their lawyers.

The divorce was granted shortly after 2 p.m. in Bay County Circuit Court in Panama City, Fla., about 375 miles from their Isleworth home outside Orlando, where Woods drove his SUV over a fire hydrant and into a tree on Thanksgiving night. That set off shocking revelations that sports’ biggest star had been cheating on his wife through multiple affairs.

Woods’ life and golf game have been in disarray ever since.

He and Nordegren were married Oct. 5, 2004, in Barbados and have a 3-year-old daughter, Sam, and an 18-month-old son, Charlie.

Terms of the divorce—such as how much it will cost Woods—were not disclosed. They said only that they will “share parenting” of their two children.

Nordegren, who for years tried to stay in the background, was captured on video by celebrity websites eating lunch or picking up her daughter from school.

“We love Elin, and we are so proud of the grace and strength she has shown during this difficult time,” her father, Thomas Nordegren, a talk show host at national broadcaster Swedish Radio, told The Associated Press. “We know that she will come out of this even stronger and has a bright future in front of her.”

The divorce was finalized by Bay County Circuit Judge Judy Pittman Biebel during a 10-minute hearing in a conference room in her chambers, according to Biebel’s judicial assistant, Kim Gibson. Woods and Nordegren were present, along with their lawyers, Gibson said.

“I don’t comment on active cases,” Thomas J. Sasser, Woods’ divorce attorney, said. Asked why they chose to file in Panama City, Sasser said it was a joint decision by the lawyers.

Nordegren’s attorneys—including her twin sister, London-based Josefin Lonnborg—referred all questions to the statement.

Woods’ agent, Mark Steinberg, declined to comment when asked if the couple had a prenuptial agreement or terms of the settlement. “We’re not commenting beyond what was in the release,” he said.

Nordegren’s mother, Barbro Holmberg, also declined to comment.

Nordegren, who once worked as a nanny for Swedish golfer Jesper Parnevik, asked to have her maiden name restored as Elin Maria Pernilla Nordegren.

The sordid sex scandal cost Woods three major corporate sponsors— Accenture, AT&T and Gatorade—worth millions of dollars, and he lost his stature the gold standard in sports endorsements. A month after the scandal became public, Woods spent two months in therapy at a Mississippi clinic with hopes of saving his marriage.

“While we are no longer married, we are the parents of two wonderful children and their happiness has been, and will always be, of paramount importance to both of us,” they said in the statement. “The weeks and months ahead will not be easy for them as we adjust to a new family situation, which is why our privacy must be a principal concern.”

Some of the court documents indicated that Woods had to focus on his marital woes as well as his golf this summer.

He completed a four-hour course on “Parent Education and Family Stabilization” on July 10, the day before he left to play the British Open. He had won the previous two times at St. Andrews by a combined 13 shots, but this time finished 13 shots behind in a tie for 23rd.

The couple signed a marital settlement agreement on July 3 and July 4, the weekend of the AT&T National outside Philadelphia, where Woods failed to break par in a PGA Tour event for the first time in 11 years.

Nordegren completed her four-hour program through FloridaParentingClass.com on Aug. 16, the day after Woods tied for 28th in the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits. It was the first time in nearly seven years he had finished out of the top 20 in consecutive majors.

Documents also show that the children lived at their primary home at Isleworth until November 2009—the Woods car crash was Nov. 27—and that Nordegren had moved out to a nearby residence since then.

Woods is to play this week at The Barclays, his first tournament as a single man in nearly six years. He needs a good performance just to get out of the first round of the FedEx Cup playoffs, which he won the previous two times he played, and he also is trying to show he is worth picking for the Ryder Cup, where wives take on a visible role.

Since returning to golf at the Masters, Woods has not come close to winning a tournament. He tied for fourth in the Masters and in the U.S. Open, both times taking himself out of contention early in the final round.

One example of how the impending divorce has affected him came last month when he played in a charity pro-am in Ireland, which ended on Tuesday. Instead of staying overseas to practice on links courses, Woods flew home to Florida for six days to see his children and then returned to Scotland for the British Open.

Woods has won 82 times worldwide—36 times and six majors while married— in his professional career. His last victory came at the Australian Masters on Nov. 15, his last trip before his serial infidelity was uncovered.

Many players came to the Wyndham Championship for a push into the PGA Tour’s playoffs.

Not Arjun Atwal. He was playing for his spot on tour.

Atwal won by a stroke Sunday at Sedgefield Country Club, becoming the first Monday qualifier to win on the tour in 24 years.

After leading or sharing the lead after each of the first three rounds, Atwal shot a 3-under 67 in the final round. He finished at 20-under 260 and earned $918,000—or, more than double the amount he previously earned this year, the reason why his future on tour had been in jeopardy.

“I told my caddie, ‘We’ve got nothing to lose this week. Just go out there and try and win it,”’ Atwal said. “Guys are going to be out there trying to secure their FedEx Cup spots or whatever. We’ve got nothing. I don’t have a card. I don’t have anything. Just go out there and free-wheel it, and that’s what I did this week.”

He’s the first Indian-born player to win on tour and the first to win both the qualifier and the tournament that follows since Fred Wadsworth at the 1986 Southern Open.

David Toms (64) was 19 under. John Mallinger and Michael Sim shot 62s to match John Rollins (65) and Justin Leonard (65) at 18 under.

For a few dizzying moments late in a low-scoring day, seven players shared the lead at 18 under.

Atwal, who carried a three-stroke lead into the final round, was at 19 under for most of the day but bogeyed the par-3 12th a few minutes before Lucas Glover bogeyed 14 and Toms, Rollins and Leonard all birdied No. 16.

“It just kept changing,” Atwal said. “Everybody’s tied for the lead at a certain point.”

Atwal reclaimed the lead with a birdie on No. 14, Leonard birdied No. 17 and Toms birdied No. 18 to join them at 19 under. Leonard dropped back a stroke after running into trouble on 18, while Atwal still had three holes to play— giving him more than enough chances to settle things himself.

Atwal made his move on the par-3 16th, plopping his tee shot 6 feet from the flagstick and sinking his birdie putt to move to 20 under. He followed that with consecutive pars, sinking a 7-foot putt on No. 18 before dropping his putter and extending his arms upward in jubilation after closing out his first tour victory.

“I was thinking about going to the (driving) range, but when he got to 20 under and they said he had a 15-footer on 17, I just went in the clubhouse and tried to cool off,” Toms said. “I was ready to go to the range, if need be, but good for (Atwal). I know it’s tough to get that first victory. … I’m sure that he was battling some nerves, and to pour it in from 6-8 feet on that last hole was pretty impressive.”

Glover (67) finished at 17 under, and Webb Simpson (63), Chris Riley (64), Scott Piercy (68) and second-round co-leader Brandt Snedeker (69) were one stroke behind him.

Atwal, who has won on the European, Asian and Nationwide tours, certainly has been through plenty during the past few years.

The player perhaps best known for his practice rounds with Tiger Woods is ineligible for the playoffs and lost his tour card last month because he was too low on the money list when his minor medical exemption ran out. That came after he said he returned too soon following weightlifting injuries to both shoulders.

Three years ago, a driver trying to race him down an Orlando street died in a crash. Atwal was cleared of any wrongdoing, although the yearlong investigation took an emotional toll.

Glover made five consecutive birdies, sinking four putts from 14 feet or beyond, to catch Atwal, then briefly had the lead all to himself with a birdie on No. 9 that put him at 20 under. That didn’t last long: He sent his drive on No. 10 into the rough and three-putted for bogey, and slipped out of contention after he was 3 over on the back nine.

“I didn’t make anything coming in,” Glover said. “Don’t win doing that.”

The Wyndham marked the last chance for players to pick up points for the playoffs that begin next week in New Jersey.

Michael Letzig, who arrived at Sedgefield at No. 125 on the points list, finished 14 under move to 118th place, solidifying his spot in The Barclays.

“The goal is to give myself another tournament to play,” he said. “I’m in, so (I’ll) see what happens.”

Others weren’t so fortunate. Mallinger started at No. 163 on the points list, but initially figured a final round that included six birdies and an eagle was good enough to propel him into next week. But when others joined him in a tie for third on the leaderboard, he slipped to 132nd place in the standings and finished roughly 40 points out of the playoff picture.

Jeff Quinney, who arrived at No. 127, only moved up one spot on the list and finished about 3 points shy of making the postseason field with his 12 under.

“I could have taken care of my own business today,” Quinney said

Tiger Woods remained No. 1 in the world ranking Monday, though not even close to that on two lists—the Ryder Cup and FedEx Cup—that mean much more these days.

Tiger Woods. Picture © Getty Images

Woods failed to qualify for the Ryder Cup for the first time—he had led the standings every other time since 1997—and now must rely on U.S. captain Corey Pavin spending one of four wild-card picks on him.

In a hotel conference room Monday, Pavin sat at the head table between two poster boards, each showing the final standings for the eight American qualifiers. Woods’ name was nowhere to be found between Phil Mickelson at No. 1 and Matt Kuchar at No. 8.

Pavin would only say that Woods is “high on my list” and will be a “big consideration” when he announces his selections Sept. 7.

“I’m looking at him in essence like any other player. He isn’t … but he is,” Pavin said. “I’m certainly not going to disrespect other players by considering him different from other players. I have to look at the way he’s playing, the way he played, and I have to look at his body of work as well. If anyone can turn it around quickly, it’s him.”

Woods should have at least one more tournament to make an impression.

While he wound up No. 12 in the Ryder Cup standings, equally troublesome is that Woods is No. 108 in the FedEx Cup standings. The top 125 are eligible for The Barclays next week at Ridgewood Country Club in New Jersey, the start of the PGA Tour playoffs. Only the top 100 in the standings advance to the second round of the playoffs at the Deutsche Bank Championship outside Boston.

Woods is so far down in the FedEx Cup standings he’s one spot behind Pavin.

“He’s ranked a lot higher on Ryder Cup points,” Pavin said with a laugh, “and probably the world ranking, I’m guessing.”

Despite the shockingly low numbers next to Woods’ name, Pavin came away from the PGA Championship encouraged as much by what he heard from Woods as what he saw from him.

Woods stated plainly at the start of the week that he wants to play in the Ryder Cup and would accept a captain’s pick. Even after he closed with a 1-over 73 to tie for 28th at Whistling Straits, he joked that he could still help out in singles. His Ryder Cup record is 10-13-2, including 3-1-2 in singles.

“I feel my game is a lot better than it was obviously last week, and given a little bit more time, it’s starting to head in the right direction now, which is good,” Woods said. “And I’m looking forward to it. Hopefully, Corey will pick me on the team.”

Woods tied for fourth in the Masters and U.S. Open. He missed the cut at Quail Hollow with the highest 36-hole total of his career, and only a week before the final major, he had the worst tournament of his career when he shot 18-over par at Firestone.

Which guy will show up? Is he even worth a pick?

Pavin was asked about the pros and cons of taking Woods, and he could think only of the positives.

“He’s the No. 1 player in the world—that’s a pretty good ‘pro,”’ Pavin said. “Obviously, I’m considering him highly, no doubt about it. He’s’ playing better. I think we have all seen that. And he wants to play—he wants to be part of the team. But it’s going to be my judgment whether I pick him or not. I don’t think there are any con’s.”

Mickelson led the points table for the first time followed by Hunter Mahan, PGA runner-up Bubba Watson, Jim Furyk, Steve Stricker, Dustin Johnson, Jeff Overton and Matt Kuchar.

Four of those players—Watson, Johnson, Overton and Kuchar—have never played a Ryder Cup. Stricker and Mahan played the first time two years ago at Valhalla. Overton, meanwhile, became the first American to qualify for the Ryder Cup without having won on the PGA Tour.

“I believe the eight players that have qualified is really going to allow a lot of flexibility for the four picks,” Pavin said. “It’s not just going to be about a type of player. There’s going to be a lot of room for maneuvering.”

Also missing from the list is Anthony Kim, the star of the American victory two years ago. Kim had thumb surgery in May, missed three months and has played poorly in the two tournaments since he returned.

Still, it all centers on Woods.

“I’m very encouraged by the way he played last week,” Pavin said. “He did a lot of good things. One of them may not have been driving the ball, but he grinded hard, he chipped the ball beautifully and putted better. His improvement from the Bridgestone to the PGA Championship was large. And I think he was encouraged by it.”

Pavin is not planning to play in The Barclays, worn out from playing so many big tournaments (Champions Tour and PGA Tour) the last month. Even so, he plans to keep in touch with Woods.

And what Woods says might go a way toward what Pavin decides.

“I have to evaluate how he’s playing,” Pavin said. “And he has to help me evaluate, just like any other player. If he feels he wants to take himself out of it, then that’s fine. If he feels like he wants to play, then it’s my decision.”

Martin Kaymer’s name is etched on the side of the Wanamaker Trophy.

A far more compelling image from this PGA Championship was Dustin Johnson taking one last look at his scorecard Sunday before turning over his pencil to use the eraser on his final hole.

Martin Kaymer. Picture © Getty Images

The 5 turned into a 7.

It kept Johnson out of a playoff, which Kaymer won over Bubba Watson, all because of a tiny patch of sand well right of the 18th fairway where Johnson gently placed his 4-iron behind the ball, unaware that it was part of a bunker.

“It never crossed my mind that I was in a sand trap,” Johnson said.

The resulting two-stroke penalty for grounding his club in a bunker— outside the ropes, where thousands of fans had been walking all week—turned a thrilling final hour into a controversial finish that will be debated for years.

In a strange season of golf, from Tiger Woods’ sex scandal to unlikely winners in the majors, this one topped them all.

Whistling Straits has so many bunkers—more than 1,000—that not even architect Pete Dye can count them all. Perhaps it was only fitting that one of them played such a pivotal role in the season’s final major.

“It was very tough to see what is a bunker and what is not a bunker,” said Kaymer, who won the three-hole playoff with a tap-in bogey. “I think it’s very sad he got two penalty strokes. He played great golf. He’s a very nice guy.”

Kaymer won his first major in a PGA Championship that will be remembered as much for the guy who tied for fifth.

It was the cruelest end to a major since Roberto de Vicenzo signed for a higher score than he actually made in the 1968 Masters, which kept him out of a playoff against Bob Goalby.

Johnson had no excuses. The peculiar rule about every bunker being treated the same had been posted in the locker room all week. And he offered none when a PGA rules official stopped him walking off the green and said, “We’ve got an issue.”

His first reaction when told he might have grounded his club in a bunker: “What bunker?”

Johnson didn’t even bother going to the TV truck to study the replay. He knew he grounded the club. He just didn’t know that he was in the edge of a bunker, figuring it was grass that had been killed under so much foot traffic.

“The only worse thing that could have happened was if I had made the putt on that last hole,” Johnson said.

Thinking he had a chance to win, Johnson missed a 7-foot par putt on the 18th to seemingly slip into a three-man playoff. Instead, the two-shot penalty turned his 71 into a 73, and instead of going to a playoff for redemption from his U.S. Open meltdown, Johnson tied for fifth and headed home.

As Johnson was leaving the course, Kaymer was coming up clutch again.

The 25-year-old German holed a 15-foot par putt on the 18th hole in regulation for a 2-under 70 to join Watson (68) at 11-under 277. One shot behind in the playoff, Kaymer made another 15-foot putt for birdie on the par-3 17th, then watched Watson implode.

Watson went from the right rough into the water, then over the green into a bunker. His bunker shot hit the flag, and he tapped in for double bogey. Kaymer chipped out after seeing Watson go in the water, and he hit 7-iron to 15 feet for a two-putt bogey.

“I don’t realize what happened,” Kaymer said. “I just won my first major. I’ve got goose bumps just talking about it.”

Kaymer earned $1.35 million, went to third in the Ryder Cup standings for Europe and moved to a career-best No. 5 in the world.

Watson was only disappointed for a few minutes until learning he had played his way onto the Ryder Cup team.

For Johnson, this might take far longer to recover from than the U.S. Open, where he had a three-shot lead going into the final round, took triple bogey on the second hole and shot an 82.

The final major of the year proved to be the most thrilling over the final hour, even with Woods long gone before all the excitement began. Woods closed with a 73 and tied for 28th.

Six players had a share of the lead at some point Sunday, and six players were separated by one shot over the final 30 minutes.

That included Rory McIlroy, the 21-year-old from Northern Ireland who was trying to become the youngest major champion in 80 years. He had a 20-foot birdie putt on the final hole to join the clubhouse leaders at 11 under, only for the putt to turn away.

Also one shot behind was former Masters champion Zach Johnson. Both of them needed a birdie on the 500-yard closing hole that only allowed one birdie in the final round.

For all the clutch putts by Kaymer, however, this PGA Championship came down to the bunkers.

Six years ago in the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits, Stuart Appleby was unaware of the rule and was assessed a four-shot penalty. Appleby said Sunday night on Twitter that changes are needed for the PGA Championship that returns in 2015 on a course “that has hundreds of pointless bunkers that patrons have to walk through to view players.”

“I’m very … angered that this is the way the 2010 PGA came to an end,” he said.

Johnson never disputed that he grounded his club, yet he was no less stunned to realize he was in a bunker. Inside the scoring room, he could be seen erasing the 5 on this scorecard and changing it to a 7.

“There’s a lot going on,” Johnson said of the commotion on the 18th. “I’m excited I had a putt to win—or thought I had a putt to win. Walking off … I think I’m going to a playoff, and I’ve got a two-stroke penalty.”

Dressed in street clothes as he spoke to reporters, Johnson had to watch Watson and Kaymer head for the three-hole playoff, the second in as many trips to Whistling Straits.

Watson, who had overpowered the back nine with his booming tee shots, struck first with a massive strike to just short of the par-4 10th green and a pitch to 4 feet for birdie. Kaymer answered with a 15-foot birdie on the 17th, sending them to the 18th hole.

That’s where Watson fell apart, driving into the rough and going after the 18th green from a tough lie. He hit a 6-iron and was posing until it came up woefully short and into the water.

“I made a bad swing. You can’t get mad at a bad swing,” Watson said. “I wouldn’t do anything different. I play to win, not to lay up and finish second.”

Lost in the maddening finish was Watney, who had a three-shot lead going into the final round. He took double bogey on the opening hole, lost the lead for good with a tee shot on No. 7 that bounced off the rocks and into Lake Michigan for a triple bogey and closed with an 81, the highest finish by a 54-hole leader at the PGA Championship since it went to stroke play in 1958.

He tied for 18th and cost himself a chance of earning a spot on the Ryder Cup team. Then, he had to endure watching Johnson, with whom he often plays practice rounds, have a chance at his first major taken away by a peculiar local rule.

“I didn’t see anything on the golf course, and when the official came up, I was totally shocked,” Watney said. “I thought he was coming to me about it, the way my day was going.

“Whether that’s fair? I guess they did write it on the sheet,” Watney said. “Man, that’s a tough call, though.”

About all Johnson can take away is how he finished. Three shots behind with six holes to play, he made a spectacular escape from deep rough below the par-5 16th green to 2 feet for birdie, then hit 6-iron to 12 feet for birdie on the 17th.

His tee shot on the 18th sailed to the right and into the gallery. He had no idea how badly that would end up costing him.

Along the humps and hollows of Whistling Straits, against the magnificent backdrop of Lake Michigan, the stage is set for golf’s final major championship of the year, the PGA.

Tiger Woods & Sean Foley. Picture © Getty Images

This year, that could stand for Players Gone Amok.

Tiger Woods is getting grilled like never before, but not about his marriage, his personal life or that fire hydrant his car ran over last Thanksgiving. It’s about his golf, of all things, and it’s not pretty.

Phil Mickelson revealed he’s recovering from a painful bout of arthritis and has become a vegetarian. Lefty is now eating greens in regulation, along with hitting them.

Meanwhile, U.S. Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin and Golf Channel reporter Jim Gray nearly hit each other.

Woods, the No. 1 player for a record 270 weeks in a row, hasn’t come close to winning a tournament this year and reached a new low last week at Firestone when he posted the worst score of his career (18-over 298) and finished 30 shots behind the winner.

For a guy who has won 14 majors—that’s one more than his next four rivals combined—the drama at the PGA Championship is not whether Woods can win, but whether he can make the cut. And if he doesn’t, whether he will be picked for the U.S. Ryder Cup team.

“Life in general the last nine months has been very difficult,” Woods said. “But just like my dad always said, ‘Just keep living.’ That’s something I’ve taken to heart quite a bit. And there were quite a few times that I’ve definitely said that to myself.”

Then came the shockers from Mickelson.

Before taking questions Tuesday, he revealed that he has been battling a form of arthritis since the week before the U.S. Open in June and made a special trip to the Mayo Clinic but now is taking medication and headed for a recovery.

The other surprise is his diet.

Mickelson, an investor in the popular restaurant chain “Five Guys, Burgers and Fries,” has become a vegetarian. Make that “Five Guys, Bulgar and Fennel.”

“Can you believe that?” he said. “It’s not really me, but it has been.”

Then there’s Sergio Garcia, the talented young Spaniard who was 19 when he nearly beat Woods in the 1999 PGA Championship.

He had his heart broken by Greg Norman’s daughter last year and has been in a funk ever since. It reached a point last week that he said he was taking a two-month break after the final major, even though that means skipping a chance to play in the Ryder Cup.

With all this commotion going on, clouds gathered over the PGA Championship on Wednesday, the final day of practice, and pounded Whistling Straits with rain so hard that Anthony Kim went barefoot on some holes.

And then another black cloud arrived—or maybe it was Gray.

The Golf Channel’s Gray reported Tuesday evening that Pavin told him he was picking Woods for the Ryder Cup if he didn’t make the team on his own. Pavin saw this Wednesday morning while playing a practice round before the rain arrived, and he put on Twitter that he never said that.

Minutes after Pavin’s news conference, Gray walked into the interview room for a heated exchange with Pavin, and pointed a finger at his chest. According to Pavin—his wife taped the argument on her cell phone—Gray called him a liar and said, “You’re going down.”

In the entry way to the media center, reporters were buzzing over the spat. Pavin was in the back of the room with Colin Montgomerie to sign the Ryder Cup captain’s agreement.

In walked Woods’ chief spokesman, Glenn Greenspan, and hardly anyone noticed.

And it was Woods himself who had sparked the Ryder Cup debate.

Even in such strange times, Woods drives just about every topic of discussion. And to think that just one year ago, at the PGA Championship in Hazeltine, the biggest shock was that Woods finished in second place.

The focus should shift to golf when the tournament gets under way Thursday. What’s missing is a clear favorite, and that can be attributed to Woods, too.

Graeme McDowell won his first major in the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, even though the Sunday contenders included Woods, Mickelson and Ernie Els. Louis Oosthuizen won the British Open at St. Andrews with a performance reminiscent of Woods, even though not many knew the 27-year-old South African, and even fewer could pronounce his name.

In some respects, Mickelson was a surprise at the Masters. He had not won a tournament all year, and has not won since. But his wife, Amy, made her first trip to a tournament since being diagnosed with breast cancer a year earlier, and their embrace behind the 18th green at Augusta National remains among the most poignant moments of the year.

What will Whistling Straits deliver? Just about anything.

“The major championship have got a lot more wide open, it seems, in the past couple of years,” said 21-year-old Rory McIlroy, who has as good of a chance as anyone this week.

He mentioned the problems Woods is having on the golf course—Woods has broken par in only four of his last 20 rounds—along with the 78 that Mickelson shot on Sunday when he had a chance to go to No. 1 in the world. The No. 3 player is Lee Westwood, who pulled out of the PGA with a calf injury.

“So there’s going to be a lot of guys here thinking that it’s the right time for them to break though,” McIlroy said. “And I’m definitely one of those guys. You can never write off the likes of Tiger and Phil.”

So who’s the winner?

“Anyone in the field,” Carl Pettersson said. “It’s not like it used to be.”

In many ways.

Hunter Mahan is doing things he never imagined possible, on and off the golf course.

He thought it was “crazy talk” when friends told him he would know immediately when he fell in love, until he met former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader Kandi Harris in December and proposed to her in June.

Hunter Mahan. Picture © Getty Images

How about beating Tiger Woods by 30 shots at Firestone?

“I never, ever thought that would be possible,” Mahan said Sunday, stifling a laugh at the absurdity of it all. “It never crossed my mind. It’s definitely different.”

Some six hours after Woods finished off the worst tournament of his career, Mahan looked better than ever in the Bridgestone Invitational. He ran off five birdies on the front nine to make up a four-shot deficit, delivered three clutch pars down the stretch to protect his lead and closed with a 6-under 64 for a two-shot victory over Ryan Palmer that brought plenty of perks.

Mahan earned $1.4 million to lock up a spot on the U.S. Ryder Cup team, one of his primary goals this year.

He won his first World Golf Championship title and moved to No. 12 in the world ranking, a big step toward joining the elite in golf. And he won for the second time this year, becoming the fifth player this year with multiple victories on the PGA Tour.

“The last couple of weeks, the game has been good,” said Mahan, who won the Phoenix Open in February by shooting 65 in the final round. “I knew it was there. I know I just had to keep going and keep trust it. This weekend, I definitely just kind of let everything go and just had some fun.”

It was anything but that for Woods.

He had won seven times in his last nine starts at Firestone. He had not shot over par since 2006. But in a week that showed just how lost he is amid a personal life in chaos, Woods shot 77 on Sunday to finish at 18-over 298. It was his highest score on the PGA Tour as a professional or an amateur. He tied for 78th in the 80-man field, his worst finish ever.

He wasn’t even sure if he was worthy for the Ryder Cup.

“No one would help the team if they’re shooting 18-over par,” Woods said before flying up to Whistling Straits to sneak in a practice round for the PGA Championship next week.

Phil Mickelson looked just as bad Sunday. With his best chance ever to replace Woods at No. 1 in the world—Mickelson was tied for 10th and needed to finish alone in fourth—the Masters champion sprayed shots all over Firestone on his way to a 78.

It was the first time since the 1998 British Open that Woods and Mickelson both shot 77 or higher in the same round.

“It was a rough day, if you couldn’t tell,” he said.

For Mahan, it was mostly smooth sailing.

His 64 was the lowest final round by a winner since the Bridgestone Invitational became a WGC event in 1999.

“This is one of the bigger tournaments we play all year,” Mahan said. “And it’s definitely the best win of my career.”

The birdies were brilliant. The pars won him the tournament.

“I knew if I didn’t make a bogey I’d be all right,” said Mahan, who finished at 12-under 268.

The 28-year-old still managed to make it interesting, especially on the par-5 16th, which always seems to factor in this tournament. It’s where Woods has delivered so many pivotal shots over the years, where Padraig Harrington took an 8 in the final round last year.

Mahan was in the fairway, 227 yards away on a hole that had been shortened to 602 yards for the final round. He figured the only place he couldn’t miss was short—in the pond. To go long and right into the gallery would still leave him a simple shot to the green.

“I did not count on hitting it right and long, and into a flower bush,” he said.

That’s where he went, over the bleachers, over everything, and into a flower bed. Because it was deemed to be part of the cement cart path complex, he was given a free drop in the walkway to the 17th tee. He played it safe, chipping through the green and into the fairway, then putted to 3 feet to save par.

Before that, he holed a 15-foot par on the 15th. On the next hole, he saved his most intense fist pump for an 8-foot par on the 17th.

Palmer couldn’t catch him.

Two shots behind, he missed a 12-foot birdie on the 16th and a 20-footer on the 17th to end his hopes. Palmer closed with a 69.

“I can’t be disappointed,” Palmer said. “I played good today being under the gun. You’ve got to hand it to Hunter Mahan. He went out and did what I expected somebody to do, and shot a low round. I didn’t lose the golf tournament.”

Retief Goosen, the 36-hole leader until a triple bogey on the opening hole Saturday, closed with a 65 and tied for third with Bo Van Pelt, who shot a 67. Sean O’Hair, who shared the 54-hole lead with Palmer, shot 71 and wound up alone in fifth.

Since winning in Phoenix, Mahan had only one top 10 and missed four straight cuts. Part of that might have been related to proposing to his fiancee at Pebble Beach a week before the U.S. Open, and planning for a wedding in January.

Indeed, this is shaping up to be quite a year.

Scores

268 Hunter Mahan 71 67 66 64

270 Ryan Palmer 70 68 63 69

271 Retief Goosen (Rsa) 67 66 73 65, Bo Van Pelt 67 68 69 67

272 Sean O'Hair 67 70 64 71

273 Jeff Overton 67 70 67 69, Jim Furyk 72 68 69 64

274 Peter Hanson (Swe) 69 66 68 71

275 Steve Stricker 68 71 69 67, Rory McIlroy (NIrl) 68 69 69 69, Adam Scott (Aus) 66 70 72 67, Matt Kuchar 69 67 66 73, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 72 70 68 65, Padraig Harrington (Irl) 69 70 70 66

276 Dustin Johnson 72 65 68 71

277 Nick Watney 68 68 69 72, Martin Laird (Sco) 70 71 68 68, Ryan Moore 70 68 70 69

278 Kenny Perry 66 73 68 71, Justin Rose (Eng) 71 70 70 67, Stewart Cink 72 69 70 67

279 Graeme McDowell (NIrl) 66 73 68 72, Lucas Glover 70 66 70 73, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 70 70 69 70, Bubba Watson 64 71 70 74, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 71 67 68 73, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 72 67 69 71, Jason Day (Aus) 69 70 69 71, Justin Leonard 68 66 69 76, Ernie Els (Rsa) 69 70 64 76, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 69 67 70 73, Paul Casey (Eng) 68 68 73 70

280 Katsumasa Miyamoto (Jpn) 71 72 62 75, Bill Haas 73 66 71 70, Zach Johnson 70 70 71 69, Oliver Wilson (Eng) 71 67 67 75, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 71 68 67 74, Rickie Fowler 68 73 69 70

281 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 70 72 71 68, Ben Curtis 69 70 71 71, Heath Slocum 75 68 67 71, Scott Verplank 75 68 68 70, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 73 66 74 68

282 J.B. Holmes 74 72 69 67, Troy Matteson 72 70 69 71

283 Phil Mickelson 66 68 71 78, Chad Campbell 67 73 73 70, Ross Fisher (Eng) 70 68 74 71, K J Choi (Kor) 70 73 72 68, Boo Weekley 73 72 68 70, Luke Donald (Eng) 70 69 73 71, Y.E. Yang (Kor) 74 68 71 70

284 Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn) 71 73 72 68, Alexander Noren (Swe) 69 69 70 76

285 Mike Weir (Can) 72 69 72 72, Ross McGowan (Eng) 71 69 70 75, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 71 71 70 73

286 Ben Crane 71 70 72 73, Vijay Singh (Fij) 71 73 70 72, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 73 68 68 77, Tim Clark (Rsa) 70 72 75 69, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 72 72 68 74

287 James Kingston (Rsa) 75 65 71 76, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 74 72 70 71

289 Robert Karlsson (Swe) 71 74 73 71, Hennie Otto (Rsa) 73 72 72 72, Ian Poulter (Eng) 72 70 77 70, Jason Bohn 71 68 73 77

290 Yuta Ikeda (Jpn) 72 76 69 73, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 68 72 74 76

291 David Horsey (Eng) 73 71 75 72, Rhys Davies (Wal) 75 69 72 75, Camilo Villegas (Col) 75 73 71 72, Simon Dyson (Eng) 72 73 73 73

295 Soren Hansen (Den) 71 75 72 77

296 Anthony Kim 75 76 69 76, Simon Khan (Eng) 73 71 74 78

298 Tiger Woods 74 72 75 77, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 76 74 76 72

300 Henrik Stenson (Swe) 79 75 71 75

Stuart Appleby hit golf’s magic number Sunday, shooting a 59 to win the Greenbrier Classic and become the fifth PGA Tour player to reach the low-round record.

Stuart Appleby.  Picture © Getty Images

The Australian player birdied the final three holes with putts of 15 feet or less to win the tournament by a stroke and get down to 59. He also broke a four-year winless drought, when third-round leader Jeff Overton narrowly missed a long birdie attempt on the par-3 18th that would have forced a playoff.

“I was quite comfortable,” Appleby said. “It’s not a nerve-racking thing to be involved in. I had a lot of opportunities and I made them. It was great to do that to win the tournament.”

Appleby’s 11-under round on the Old White course put him at 22 under. Overton, playing three groups behind Appleby, shot 67 to finish at 21 under.

“I did the math. I was chasing Jeff, who was heading toward the finish line,” Appleby said. “At the same time I was playing well and I thought if I could keep making birdies … I knew I was going to run out of holes. There was plenty of (birdie chances) coming in.”

Appleby’s round came less than a month after Paul Goydos shot a 59 at the John Deere Classic.

The others to shoot 59 were Al Geiberger at the 1977 Memphis Classic, Chip Beck at the 1991 Las Vegas Invitational and David Duval at the 1999 Bob Hope Classic.

Appleby had nine birdies and an eagle in his round to earn the $1.08 million winner’s prize.

He saw playing partner D.A. Points flirt with a 59 on Saturday before settling for a 61.

On Sunday, it was Appleby’s turn.

“It was nice to be on the receiving end,” Appleby said after his first PGA Tour title since the 2006 Houston Open. His previous career low was 62 in the 2003 Las Vegas Invitational.

Appleby’s achievement was the first 59 on a par-70 course. Goydos’ came on a par 71 and the others on par 72s. Appleby understands there might be some debate as to whether his achievement is right up there with the others.

“I agree,” he said. “I can see both sides of the fence. It is a number. I shot that number. But who says par is supposed to be 72? There’s a lot of great courses that aren’t 72.”

Appleby didn’t have the advantage of lift, clean and place that Goydos and Geiberger enjoyed, even though overnight rains left mud on some balls.

Appleby trailed Overton by seven strokes to start his round, shot 6-under 28 on the front nine and eagled the par-5 12th before settling for three straight pars.

He got his momentum going again just in time with birdies of 15, 10 and 11 feet on the final three holes.

Standing over his putt on 18, “I knew what it was all about,” Appleby said. “I knew I had to make it—I knew I had to make it for the tournament, I knew I had to make it to have a 59. I’m sitting there going ‘How many opportunities are you going to get to do this?

“The cards had been laying out perfectly for me all day. Why wasn’t I going to do one more? I just got a good look at it and just—bang—it felt good.”

Appleby’s feat toppled the course record of 60 set by Sam Snead in 1950 and matched Saturday by J.B. Holmes.

The 39-year-old Appleby has played 11 straight weeks. He’ll tee it up again starting Thursday at the Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio.

Overton had 34 putts in the final round, three-putting three times.

“I got beat by a 59,” said Overton, who had his third runner-up finish of the year and remains winless in five years on the Tour. “What can you say? I played great, hit a lot of great shots. You can’t win golf tournaments when you putt it that bad.”

Brendon de Jonge (65) finished third at 17 under. Tied at 15 under were Points (70), Woody Austin (63), Paul Stankowski (64), Roger Tambellini (65) and Jimmy Walker (67).

Justin Rose could find himself part of a Ryder Cup wild-card lottery which is a fate the former European number one is keen to avoid.

Twice 2010 U.S. PGA Tour winner Rose, 30 on Friday, is struggling to make Colin Montgomerie’s team for Celtic Manor, lying seventh on the world points list, three adrift of qualifying. He is nowhere on the European points list.

Rose could have a better chance than anyone of being handed one of the three wild-cards by Europe’s captain Montgomerie next month because of his U.S. Tour performances this year.

But on the eve of the Irish Open, which starts on Thursday, Rose said just because he had beaten Americans on their own turf does not make him a shoo-in for a pick by Montgomerie.

“There are six or seven guys who are very, very realistic possibilities for wild-cards at the moment,” he told reporters at the Killarney hosting club. “That means there are going to be some very disappointed guys this year.

“Guys who consider themselves to be Ryder Cup players may not play.”

Rose earned three points out of four for Europe’s losing side at Valhalla, Kentucky, in 2008, further enhancing his chances of a wild-card.

He can avoid the lottery if he comes up with the right results over the next four weeks, including a last chance for a 2010 major title at the U.S. PGA Championship.

His final throw of the Ryder Cup dice could come at the end of August when Europe’s team is decided at the Gleneagles Johnnie Walker Championship.

Rose, the 2007 European money-list winner, is determined not to need the nod from Montgomerie.

“I have a great opportunity to qualify by right,” he said. “If all the realistic wild-card options play well in the next few weeks, it will make Monty’s task easier.

“I had a fantastic time on a losing team at Valhalla, so to have an opportunity to win would be incredible.”

Three times major champion Padraig Harrington, who has said he would be “devastated” if he did not make the team, and Britain’s world number nine Paul Casey, are two more high profile players outside the Ryder Cup fold at the moment.

One of the best Ryder Cup performers, Spaniard Sergio Garcia, is also struggling to make the team, as is last year’s World Matchplay champion Ross Fisher of Britain.

Among the others who could be in the wild-card shake-up are Italy’s Edoardo Molinari and Swedes Henrik Stenson and Robert Karlsson.

Darren Clarke’s chances of making the Ryder Cup team instead of assisting Montgomerie got a lift on Wednesday after the Briton was handed an invitation to play in the U.S. PGA Championship.

Clarke lies 21st on Europe’s Cup table but good results in this week’s Irish Open and the final major of the year could yet force Montgomerie to appoint a new vice-captain.

PING pro Louis Oosthuizen’s Open Championship win at St. Andrews came less than a month after switching to PING’s new S56 irons and Tour-S Rustique wedges, the company announced today. Both new clubs will be officially introduced on July 28, 2010 and will be available for golfers in mid-September.
 
“Winning a major championship with new clubs is the ultimate in product validation,” said John Solheim, PING Chairman & CEO. “We’re very proud of Louis exceptional play at St. Andrews. Not only did he dominate the scoreboard, but his statistics for the week were incomparable. From tee to green, his game was nearly flawless. To have him bring PING its third major championship in just over three years is very exciting for our company.”
 
Finishing in second place was PING pro Lee Westwood, who claimed his second runner-up finish this year in a major championship. He completed the four rounds at 9-under-par.
 
The 27-year-old Oosthuizen, a member of PING’s Worldwide staff since joining the European Tour, switched to the new clubs at the U.S. Open. He also used a PING Rapture V2 driver at St. Andrews to lead the field in driving accuracy and finish 4th in distance. Several commentators praised his driving for the week, calling it the “best ever in a major championship.” A specially-designed Redwood Anser putter with an extra long hosel helped him to a tie for third in putting for the week.
 
“I’m very thankful to be part of the PING Tour staff,” said Oosthuizen. “The new irons and wedges gave me the confidence to play some very difficult shots around St. Andrews. I was also able to drive my ball long and straight. My entire game was under control this week and I attribute a lot of that to my PING equipment.”
 
Oosthuizen was joined by several other players who put the new S56 irons and Tour-S wedges in the bag leading up to the third major of the year. For the week, there were five sets of S56 and 15 Tour-S wedges in play.

Coming off the rousing success of the World Cup, the country made another splash in the British Open when Louis Oosthuizen surged to a three-stroke lead in the second round Friday.

The 27-year-old from Mossel Bay—whose given name is Lodewicus Theodorus Oosthuizen—shot a 5-under 67 for a 12-under 132 at the midway point of the tournament. He pulled ahead of Rory McIlroy, the 21-year-old Northern Irishman who tied the major-championship record with a 63 on Thursday.

The youngster teed off on a day that epitomized the wacky weather of St. Andrews. The early starters found blue skies when they arrived at the Old Course, but heavy rains rolled in shortly after the start of the round. The sun peeked through the clouds again, then more showers struck just before noon.

The players, it seemed, spent as much time reaching for their umbrellas and rain gear as they did for their clubs.

“I got up this morning and it wasn’t looking real pretty at 4:30,” said 50-year-old Mark Calcavecchia, who played in the first group and became the latest old-timer to contend at the Open. “It was actually beautiful when we teed off. Then we saw a little bit of everything.”

More ominous for those with the later tee times: The wind, always the best defense at a links course, was starting to whip the flags above the grandstands.

Oosthuizen (WUHST’-hy-zen) didn’t have to worry about that. He was finished by lunchtime.

“I’m very confident with the way I’m playing,” he said. “It’s probably the position anyone wants to be in playing a major on the weekend, and I think it’s what we work to achieve, and I’m just very happy with the two rounds I put together.”

There was nothing to indicate he might contend at golf’s oldest major championship. He missed the cut this year at the Masters and the U.S. Open, and did the same at last week’s Scottish Open.

This is only the second time he’ll make the cut in nine major appearances. The other time, at the 2008 PGA Championship at Oakland Hills, he finished last among those playing on the weekend. But he did claim his first win on the European Tour this year, earning a spot at Augusta National.

With the wind at his back, Oosthuizen went with shorter clubs off the tee to keep the dreaded pot bunkers out of play. He got a bit wild on the back nine, starting out birdie-bogey-birdie-bogey-birdie before he settled down with a couple of pars and a 15-foot birdie at the final hole to leave him with a good feeling going to a weekend that will be like none he’s ever experienced before.

Oosthuizen strung together three birdies in a row beginning at the par-5 fifth, where a driver and a 4-iron left him with a chip that he left 5 feet from the flag. Maybe if he’s walking up the 18th fairway with the claret jug in his grasp come Sunday, someone will break out the vuvuzelas, those South African horns that made the World Cup sound as though it was under attack from swarming bees.

Until then, he said, leave ‘em at home.

“On the golf course? No, not on the golf course,” Oosthuizen said.

Among those giving chase: Calcavecchia, whose 67 left the 1989 Open champion at 137, and England’s Lee Westwood, who was another stroke back at 6 under despite playing with a ruptured muscle in his right calf. The world’s No. 3 player, generally recognized as the best player without a major title, followed an opening 67 with a solid 71.

Another Englishman, Paul Casey, was tied with Westwood at 138, giving the Brits a couple a contenders to end the 11-year drought in their home major.

Casey managed a 69 despite a triple-bogey at No. 17, the famed “Road Hole.” A drive into the thick rough left of the fairway led to big trouble; even aiming sideways, he needed two whacks to get out, then he came up short on the approach and two putted for a 7.

Calcavecchia? Nothing new about a senior holding lofty status at this event.

The American will try to finish what was started by 53-year-old Greg Norman (the 54-hole leader in 2008) and 59-year-old Tom Watson (who had a potential winning putt on the 72nd hole last year). Both came up short of becoming the oldest major champion in golf history, a title that still belongs to Julius Boros, who was 48 when he captured the 1968 PGA.

“You see a guy like Tom Watson last year, almost winning when he was almost 60, and you realize that it doesn’t really matter how old you are,” said Calcavecchia, relishing his best round ever at St. Andrews. “The old guys can hang with the young guys.”

Ricky Barnes, a runner-up at the 2009 U.S. Open, shot 32 on the front nine— including an eagle at the fifth—but he was seven shots worse on the backside for a 71 (139).

The group at 6 under included 1995 Open winner John Daly, who pulled off a stunning 66 in the first round while wearing the flashiest outfit on the course: lavender paisley pants, pink shirt, sky blue sweater and turquoise cap.

Daly didn’t tone it down Friday, teeing off shortly after noon in pink paisley pants, a lime green cap and a neon shirt.

Tiger Woods, trying to win his third straight Open at St. Andrews, opened with a 67 and also was set to play in the afternoon.

Phil Mickelson, who made only one birdie in his opening round of 73, went out with hopes of getting back into the mix—or at least to avoid going home. He didn’t make much of a charge, finishing with a 71

It will be the first time Woods and Rose have been drawn together in the Open since 2002 at Muirfield, although the circumstances were far different eight years ago.

Rose had just won his first tournament as a professional and was starting to turn his career around. Woods was going for the third leg of the calendar Grand Slam.

Woods has not won this year since returning from a five-month hiatus to cope with the chaos in his personal life. Rose, meanwhile, won for the first time in America at the Memorial, had the 54-hole lead in his next tournament, then won two weeks ago at Aronimink in the AT&T National outside Philadelphia.

Camilo Villegas of Colombia is the other player in that group, which tees off at 9:09 a.m. local time.

The 29-year-old Englishman is not the only player coming to St. Andrews in top form. U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell has won his last two tournaments, the Wales Open and U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. McDowell is in the same group with two other U.S. Open champions, Geoff Ogilvy and Jim Furyk.

Masters champion Phil Mickelson might have as much interest in Woods the first two days. He will be playing with Colin Montgomerie, the Ryder Cup captain who was runner-up to Woods at St. Andrews five years ago. Also in that group is Retief Goosen, who denied Mickelson a U.S. Open title at Shinnecock Hills in 2004.

Lee Westwood, at No. 3 in the world the highest-ranked European, will play with Miguel Angel Jimenez and Adam Scott, while defending Open champion Stewart Cink is with Ernie Els and Ian Poulter.

Tom Watson, the runner-up a year ago at Turnberry, at least is playing with someone closer to his own age. A year ago, he played the first two rounds with 15-year-old Matteo Manassero. This year, the 60-year-old Watson is playing with 18-year-old Ryo Ishikawa. Joining them will be two-time Open champion Padraig Harrington.

They will be in the group directly behind Woods.

(1st rd listed first)

0630 & 1141 Thomas Levet (Fra), Paul Lawrie, Steve Marino (USA)

0641 & 1152 Loren Roberts (USA), Mathew Goggin (Aus), Marcel Siem (Ger)

0652 & 1203 Robert Rock, John Senden (Aus), Bill Haas (USA)

0703 & 1214 Jason Dufner (USA), Simon Dyson, Soren Hansen (Den)

0714 & 1225 Todd Hamilton (USA), Ryuichi Oda (Jpn), Alexander Noren (Swe)

0725 & 1236 Andrew Coltart, John Daly (USA), Seung-yul Noh (Kor)

0736 & 1247 Sir Nick Faldo, Martin Laird, Soren Kjeldsen (Den)

0747 & 1258 David Duval (USA), Ross McGowan, Trevor Immelman (Rsa)

0758 & 1309 Ryan Moore (USA), Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa), Charl Schwartzel (Rsa)

0809 & 1320 Robert Allenby (Aus), Nick Watney (USA), Oliver Wilson

0820 & 1331 Lucas Glover (USA), Rory McIlroy, Tim Clark (Rsa)

0831 & 1342 Thomas Bjorn (Den), Hunter Mahan (USA), Shunsuke Sonoda (Jpn)

0842 & 1353 Ian Poulter, Ernie Els (Rsa), Stewart Cink (USA)

0858 & 1409 Yuta Ikeda (Jpn), Sean O'Hair (USA), Ross Fisher

0909 & 1420 Tiger Woods (USA), Justin Rose, Camilo Villegas (Col)

0920 & 1431 Padraig Harrington, Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn), Tom Watson (USA)

0931 & 1442 Jin Jeong (Kor), Henrik Stenson (Swe), Matt Kuchar (USA)

0942 & 1453 Jason Day (Aus), Chris Wood, Kenny Perry (USA)

0953 & 1504 Darren Clarke, Mike Weir (Can), Davis Love III

1004 & 1515 Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe), Thongchai Jaidee (Tha), J.B. Holmes (USA)

1015 & 1526 Mark O'Meara (USA), Byeong-Hun An (Kor), Stephen Gallacher

1026 & 1537 Michael Sim (Aus), Alejandro Canizares (Spa), Gregory Havret (Fra)

1037 & 1548 Zane Scotland, Tom Pernice Jnr. (USA), Jamie Abbott

1048 & 1559 Bo Van Pelt (USA), Phillip Archer, Ewan Porter (Aus)

1059 & 1610 Cameron Percy (Aus), Tano Goya (Arg), Kyung-Tae Kim (Kor)

1110 & 1621 Steven Tiley, Mark F Haastrup (Den), Tom Whitehouse

1141 & 0630 Peter Senior (Aus), Mark Calcavecchia, Anders Hansen (Den)

1152 & 0641 Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa), Jeff Overton (USA), Colm Moriarty

1203 & 0652 Ignacio Garrido (Spa), Hirofumi Miyase (Jpn), Shane Lowry

1214 & 0703 Kevin Na (USA), Tom Lehman (USA), Marc Leishman (Aus)

1225 & 0714 Sandy Lyle, Bradley Dredge, Koumei Oda (Jpn)

1236 & 0725 Vijay Singh (Fij), Simon Khan, Scott Verplank (USA)

1247 & 0736 Y.E. Yang (Kor), Luke Donald, Ricky Barnes (USA)

1258 & 0747 Toru Taniguchi (Jpn), Robert Karlsson (Swe), Dustin Johnson (USA)

1309 & 0758 Jerry Kelly (USA), Alvaro Quiros (Spa), Katsumasa Miyamoto (Jpn)

1320 & 0809 Peter Hanson (Swe), Francesco Molinari (Ita), Ben Curtis (USA)

1331 & 0820 Paul Casey, Angel Cabrera (Arg), Rickie Fowler (USA)

1342 & 0831 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa), Lee Westwood, Adam Scott (Aus)

1353 & 0842 Graeme McDowell, Jim Furyk (USA), Geoff Ogilvy (Aus)

1409 & 0858 Steve Stricker (USA), Hiroyuki Fujita (Jpn), Sergio Garcia (Spa)

1420 & 0909 Colin Montgomerie, Phil Mickelson (USA), Retief Goosen (Rsa)

1431 & 0920 Edoardo Molinari (Ita), Rhys Davies, Justin Leonard (USA)

1442 & 0931 Zach Johnson (USA), Martin Kaymer (Ger), Eric Chun (Kor)

1453 & 0942 K J Choi (Kor), Bubba Watson (USA), Victor Dubuisson (Fra)

1504 & 0953 Ben Crane (USA), Richard S Johnson (Swe), Thomas Aiken (Rsa)

1515 & 1004 Jason Bohn (USA), Kurt Barnes (Aus), Laurie Canter

1526 & 1015 Jose Manuel Lara (Spa), Darren Fichardt (Rsa), Heath Slocum (USA)

1537 & 1026 Paul Streeter, Brian Gay (USA), Gareth Maybin

1548 & 1037 Paul Goydos (USA), Tim Petrovic (USA), Jean Hugo (Rsa)

1559 & 1048 Gary Clark, D.A. Points (USA), Danny Chia (Mal)

1610 & 1059 Glen Day (USA), Josh Cunliffe (Rsa), Tyrrell Hatton

1621 & 1110 Jae-bum Park (Kor), George McNeill (USA), Simon Edwards (USA)

Paula Creamer wondered a few months ago if she would ever play golf again the way her badly injured left thumb was hurting.

What she couldn’t have possibly guessed is she would play like this.

Creamer shed the title of being the best women’s golfer to not win a major, never wavering during a four-shot victory Sunday at the U.S. Women’s Open in which she steadily put away a field that couldn’t match her confidence or consistency.

Creamer started with a three-stroke lead, then never let it go below two shots during a 2-under 69 that gave her a 3-under 281 for the tournament. Na Yeon Choi of South Korea shot a 5-under 66 at a softened-up Oakmont Country Club to tie Suzann Pettersen of Norway for second place at 1-over 285.

“That question always lurked: `How come you never won a major?”’ said Creamer, whose thumb remained heavily bandaged during her post-tournament news conference. “Now we never have to get asked that question again. It’s kind of a big relief off my shoulders.”

Most of all, a big relief off a hyperextended left thumb she estimates is only 60 percent healed.

Limited to 40 practice shots before each round to lessen the pounding on a thumb that was surgically repaired in March, Creamer found the best possible way to limit the discomfort: take as few strokes as possible.

The 23-year-old Creamer, known as the Pink Panther for her all-pink attire, faded badly in the late rounds of the last two Women’s Opens, and she missed the cut at last week’s Jamie Farr Classic won by Choi. But she was as strong at Oakmont as her thumb is weak, with earlier rounds of 72, 70 and 70.

She had to be; after all, she punished that thumb by playing 52 holes during the final two days, 23 on Sunday, because of Friday’s heavy rain that slowed down some of the fastest, trickiest greens in golf and created better scores.

“I was in pain, but I was trying to do everything to not think about it,” Creamer said. “It shows you how much the mental side of golf can really take over.”

With Creamer’s lead briefly down to two strokes, her two biggest confidence-building shots of the day might have been long, par-saving putts on No. 7 and 8—even as Choi was charging with the tournament’s second-best round. Song-Hee Kim had a 65 on Sunday and finished 13th.

Creamer, from Pleasanton, Calif., had four birdies and two bogeys, all but wrapping it up by hitting to within 10 feet out of the thick rough on the par-4 14th and dropping the putt for birdie. Only she didn’t know for sure; she never looked at a leaderboard until the 18th.

She hit another exceptional mid-iron to 4 feet on the 442-yard 15th and made that, too.

Right about then, she sensed a major was finally hers. Two weeks after Cristie Kerr won the LPGA Championship by 12 shots with domination, Creamer won with determination.

“Without a doubt, I’ve matured over the last couple of months,” said Creamer, so bored during her layoff she attended the Masters as a spectator. “It was hard. I’ve prepared for this for the last three months and it makes everything so much better. … It (the adversity) made me more of an adult.”

Creamer played only her fourth tournament since that operation required mechanical changes in her game because her right side is much stronger than her left. Forced to play 29 holes Saturday, she feared unwrapping her throbbing thumb because “it might explode.”

Her game certainly didn’t. Even if she worried in February that the thumb injury that initially occurred last year and worsened during a Thailand tournament might prevent her from regaining the form that allowed her to win eight times as an LPGA golfer by age 21.

“I thought, `Gosh, I might never play again,’ ” she said.

Don’t think she wanted this tournament, this title? She first studied DVDs of Oakmont Country Club a year ago, watching the 2007 U.S. Open won by Angel Cabrera. A valuable lesson it was, as Sunday’s pin placements were exactly the same as three years ago.

“Even when I had a cast on my hand, I was thinking, `Oakmont, Oakmont, Oakmont,’ ” she said.

Creamer stayed poised as most of the contenders around her kept tumbling, a reversal from her most recent U.S. Women’s Opens.

Brittany Lang, the first-round leader with a 69, climbed to within two shots before bogeys on the 15th and 16th dropped her six back at 287. Lang, Yang and former world No. 1 Jiyai Shin tied for fifth at 286, one behind In Kyung Kim of South Korea.

Kerr, the world’s top-ranked player, tried to charge with consecutive birdies on No. 2 and No. 3, but fell back with four bogeys in the next six holes. She tied for 17th.

“I played terrible, and Paula played great,” Kerr said.

Alexis Thompson, the 15-year-old Floridian who is the successor to Michelle Wie as the next potential big star in women’s golf, tied for 10th in her fourth Women’s Open despite some faulty putting.

“She’s the best 15-year-old I ever saw,” Pettersen said.

Choi, seven back before the final round began, couldn’t pull off the biggest comeback in tournament history. No golfer has rallied from more than five down in the final round.

“I didn’t think about trying to win, I tried to focus on my game,” Choi said. “I hit my shots with 100 percent confidence.”

Creamer is the 12th first-time winner among the last 15 majors. Until Kerr won the LPGA and Creamer won the Women’s Open, the United States had won only eight of the previous 39 majors. All nine of Creamer’s LPGA victories came as she led going into the final round.

Phil Mickelson is choosing competition over course conditions as he prepares for the next major.

In a year when several players are skipping the Scottish Open, Mickelson tops the field at Loch Lomond, which also features U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell. A victory by the left-handed American would put him at No. 1 in the world.

The Masters winner is the only player from the top 10 entered for the $4 million event which starts Thursday.

“I always look forward to these two weeks,” Mickelson said. “I really enjoy this tournament and obviously really enjoy next week’s event, too.

“I think the best way to get in playing condition for the Open is to play well, get into contention and compete on Sunday for the title here. Having lost a couple of times in close matches here, I would like to win this tournament. It would mean a lot for me to win here.”

Mickelson insists reaching No. 1 is not his priority this week.

“It would be cool to go to the home of golf as No. 1 but it’s not something I’m thinking about yet,” he said. “I’m just trying to get my game sharp. I always felt like if I play well enough, the results would happen. It would mean a lot to me to break through and finally win.”

A lack of topflight players can be traced to a two-day pro-am in Ireland as well as others deciding the tournament didn’t fit their plans.

Woods and many top European players took part in the two-day JP McManus pro-am in Limerick, Ireland, an event that raises millions for charity.

McDowell of Northern Ireland, who had not played since his win at Pebble Beach, felt rested enough to take on both.

Meanwhile, world No. 3 Lee Westwood is resting while attempting to recover from the calf and ankle injury which severely impeded him at last weekend’s French Open.

Paul Casey of England said the condition of the greens for the Scottish Open would not suit his preparations for St. Andrews.

“The last thing you want to do in the week before the Open is to lose any confidence with your putting stroke,” Casey said