Presidential candidate

Encouraged Kelly runs on his Match Play platform

Ever since the Presidents Cup matches were scheduled for South Africa, there have been rumblings that at least one, or maybe more, top American players, would take a Pasadena and stay home, instead. Earl Woods was quoted recently as saying that his son, Tiger, would definitely go. And U.S. captain Jack Nicklaus might find it refreshing to know that at least one tour player, Jerry Kelly, is dying to make the team.

Kelly made the final eight in last week's World Match Play Championship and was probably the only guy there with PC (Presidents Cup) on his mind already. Probably? Yeah, he was definitely the only one. Kelly, a Wisconsin native who was also a high school hockey star, actually felt that his performance might have a bearing on his chances of making the team as a wild-card pick, in case he's not among the top 10 point-leaders later this year.

"There was no question in my mind, from when I first showed up," Kelly said of playing well at La Costa in an effort to boost his PC chances. "I almost wanted to call Mr. Nicklaus and say, 'Please watch how I do this week.' I want to be on the Presidents Cup team so bad. I knew after losing in the first round here last year that if I lost in the first round again this year, he couldn't take me (as a wild-card selection). I know I can play match play, head-to-head, against anybody out there."

Kelly beat Thomas Bjorn, Mike Weir and Phil Mickelson en route to making the elite eight, before he fell to David Toms in the quarterfinal round.

"To me, this was a lot more than just another week," Kelly said. "I'd love to make that team. I could get those guys fired up, trust me. I can get them foaming at the mouth. I can get so fired up myself, I come to tears. I know how much I want to go after it. I want to be on that team more than anything right now. I'm going to be politicking myself and I hope this week goes a long way toward that. I'm glad I finally got Jerry Kelly's game back. It felt really good to repeat that swing. It's been three weeks, and it felt a lot longer than that. It was a hard stretch I had to go through and I wasn't enjoying it."

The short game

Marco Dawson was the talk of the range last weekend at the Chrysler Classic of Tucson, the other PGA Tour event held last week, and he wasn't earning favorable reviews. A number of players questioned his actions during an incident that led to the disqualification of Brandel Chamblee. Five minutes after signing Chamblee's second-round scorecard (a 65 that had Chamblee tied for third), a card Dawson kept and therefore vouched was correct, Dawson phoned an official from the Nationwide tour to confirm the rules on taking a drop -- that a ball must be redropped if it rolls more than two club lengths away from the spot where it was dropped. On the 16th hole of his round, Chamblee took a drop from an embedded lie on a mound. The ball rolled away the first time, he redropped, and the ball rolled at least one club length -- but possibly not as far as two club lengths -- away the second time. Chamblee, believing the rule to be one club length, placed it in the rough, chipped up and played on. The Nationwide official called a tour official at Tucson, who checked with Chamblee and confirmed a violation. It meant a two-shot penalty, and because Chamblee had already turned in his card he was disqualified for signing for a wrong score. Other players wondered why Dawson didn't say anything about the drop at the time, or when he signed Chamblee's card, but within minutes suddenly remembered the rules and then curiously called an official on a different tour. ... Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke, who beat Tiger Woods in the final at La Costa two years ago, on that famous finish: "I got lucky a couple of years ago. I had a good day, he had a bad day. What can I say? The course has been good to me. I wonder if I could get as lucky again. I'm a little fitter now than I was at that stage, so I don't think I'll look as bad on television." Clarke was ousted by Peter Lonard before he could get a rematch. ... Jay Haas, 49, the oldest man in the Match Play field, on losing to Adam Scott, 22, tied for the youngest: "When I won my first tournament out here, Adam wasn't even born yet." As for potentially being the guy to watch out for next year on the Senior tour, Haas said, "I don't know about that. I'm sure all the seniors out there look at me and say, 'Bring it on.' I don't think they're worried." ... More Haas, on Woods at La Costa: "Tiger looked bulletproof. If we were playing stroke play, we could've just phoned it in this week." ... It's different when the game is on. Tiger talked up his relationship with Scott after a Saturday morning round, mentioning how they often cross paths since they both have worked with Butch Harmon, and how they often played practice rounds together during last year's majors. But Woods froze Scott out on the first tee when they played each other in a Saturday afternoon match. "Hey, Tiger," Scott said when they arrived on the tee. Woods nodded in acknowledgment, then simply flashed him the logo and number on his ball, and walked past him.

Hey, I've got mail. Checking the Mailbag ...

I just read your article written/contributed by Brandel Chamblee regarding his charity event. Although the story was based on such a tragic event (the passing of his son, Braeden), I found his article fun and heartwarming. Please pass on my warmest regards and best wishes to him and his family. With such a positive attitude I can't see how he could fail. I will be an avid fan and supporter of his on the tour.
—Clive Allen, Toronto

You'll be even happier later this year when Chamblee joins ABC's golf broadcast team and does commentating at a few tournaments.

I saw another mini-tirade from Tiger Woods recently, including profanity. If he expects galleries to be on their best behavior while he is playing, do we not have the right to expect some decorum from him?
—Pat Fogg, Calgary

Profanity, while unfortunate, does not interfere with anyone else, Fogghat. Which is what large numbers of incredibly ignorant golf fans do by leaving their cell phones on, talking on them and clicking pocket cameras during players' swings. Tiger doesn't expect galleries to be on their best behavior, just to exhibit some small shred of common sense. Turn off your cell phone on the golf course.

With Kevin Sutherland winning the Match Play Championships last year and having beat Sergio Garcia and Justin Rose in the first two rounds of this year's Championship, should he be under strong consideration for a captain's pick for this year's President's Cup? I would think that just as there are certain players made for certain courses, maybe there are certain players made for certain types of tournament formats. Sutherland appears to be a match play buzzsaw.
—David Bly, Denver

Not so fast, Bly (and say hi to the Family Stone for me). Sutherland's got to do more than play well at one course to warrant consideration. Since he's somewhere in the 60s in the world rankings at the moment, he'll need to play a lot better to even get a sniff from Captain Nicklaus. In this case, maybe Sutherland just happens to play well at La Costa.

Gary, I've got a question about this Match Play thing. I can understand when a player wins a hole and even when he wins the match, but I don't understand the final score that they put up -- Tiger wins 2 and 1. Please explain how they get that final number.
—Hyung Lee, Sacramento

The final score indicates how many holes Tiger was ahead by and how many holes were left to play. If Tiger wins 2 and 1, that means he was 2 holes ahead with one hole left to play (and thus the match was over because his opponent would be unable to wipe out a two-hole deficit). A score of 2 up means that Tiger was 2 holes ahead when they finished the 18th.

In a skins game with three players, two 9 handicappers and an 18 handicap, how should this be played?
—John, San Jose, Calif.

The 9s play as zeros -- no strokes for them. The 18 plays as a 9 (18 minus 9, the others' handicaps), and thus gets nine strokes, which come on the holes handicapped 1 through 9. And if all three players have lots of cash, ahem, I'm available to be the fourth. My handicap? Uh, let's just round it off. I'll play as a 27. How does $1,000 a hole sound? Too low?

Sports Illustrated senior writer Gary Van Sickle writes for the magazine's Golf Plus section and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com. Click here to send him a question or comment.

 

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