AROUND THE GREENS
Tiger watch in full swing as two Grand Slam spots filled
By Bill Kwon
The first two majors of the year — the Masters and the U.S. Open — are now history and there's still no sign of Tiger. The world's No. 1 player, Tiger Woods, is now winless in the past eight of golf's major championships.
It's enough to make the sponsoring PGA of America antsy at the prospect of yet another Tiger-less PGA Grand Slam of Golf Dec. 3-4 at the Po'ipu Bay Golf Course on Kaua'i. The elite event involves only the year's four major winners.
You don't have to tell Michael Castillo, Po'ipu Bay's head golf pro, what an impact Tiger's presence makes by just showing up at a tournament.
"He's definitely a factor. He has a positive effect in any tournament he plays in," said Castillo, who noticed a 35 percent decline in attendance because Woods didn't play in last year's PGA Grand Slam.
Still, Castillo thinks Phil Mickelson, who made the Masters his first major victory, can provide an equally big impact.
"The whole island is excited about him coming over here," Castillo said.
Mickelson is an even rarer sighting than Woods locally.
Like Woods, he has never played in the Sony/Hawaiian Open at the Waialae Country Club. Unlike Woods, who won the PGA Grand Slam five years in a row, this will be Mickelson's first appearance in that event.
While Woods has been a yearly fixture at the Mercedes Championships since it moved to Kapalua's Plantation Course in 1999, Mickelson played there for only the second time three years ago. Going winless the previous year, he didn't qualify for the limited field event in 2000 and 2004.
Despite winning twice in 2001 and 2002, Mickelson skipped the event the following two years. But he will definitely be playing in the 2005 Mercedes Championships, according to tournament director Gary Planos.
"It's great to have Mickelson in the field again, and Retief said he'll need a bigger place to stay next year because his wife, Tracy, is expecting," said Planos, who watched Reteif Goosen's victory at Shinnecock Hills.
Besides having Mickelson as one of the four-star cast, Castillo also thinks Goosen is an attraction for the PGA Grand Slam as well.
This will be Goosen's second appearance at Po'ipu Bay, having played there after winning the 2001 U.S. Open at Southern Hills. He led after the first round, but finished four strokes behind Woods that year.
"He mixed it up with Tiger pretty good," Castillo said.
Of the first two qualifiers for the PGA Grand Slam, Goosen will have a little more course knowledge. But Castillo believes Mickelson will do well.
"The golf course is pretty straight forward. He's good at controlling his distance shots, and he likes Bermuda greens," Castillo said.
With two majors to go — the British Open next month and the PGA Championship in August — Castillo still hopes Woods can find his way back to the Garden Island to resume a winning streak that sits at five after Woods did not qualify for last year's event.
Castillo wouldn't be surprised if an alternate gets in.
"Phil looks like he could win another major," Castillo said.
If there's a multiple winner in the majors, an alternate will be picked based on his showing in this year's majors. The only requirement is that the alternate has to have won a major.
With two top-10 finishes, Ernie Els leads the point standings, according to the PGA of America, with 163.5. He's followed by Nick Price (114.92) and Vijay Singh (111.92), with Woods fourth with 96 points.
Woods is now looking like a mere mortal when it comes to the majors. And he was brought to his knees along with the other leading professionals by Shinnecock Hills.
You never heard such whining about how unfair the USGA made the golf course. Actually, it was fair because everybody played the same golf course and under the same conditions.
A demanding test of golf, but, hey, this is the U.S. Open, not your average PGA event.
Goosen and Mickelson shot final-round 71s, while Robert Allenby navigated through all the pitfalls with an even-par 70 on Sunday when the average score was 78.7.
So, it was refreshing to talk to Hawai'i's Parker McLachlin, who shot solid (as it turned out) rounds of 75 and 74, only to miss the 36-hole cut by four strokes.
"You won't hear a complaint from me," said McLachlin, who will be playing in a Gateway tour event in Arizona next week before rejoining the Hooters Tour next month.
"It's the U.S. Open. It's supposed to be hard," McLachlin said. "I wished I had a chance to play on Sunday. It would have been interesting to see how I would do."
You don't have to tell him how golf is a game of inches.
"I made four double-bogeys, and each of them I was just a foot away from the wrong spot on the green. It was a matter of a few inches this way or that," McLachlin said. "But I had a blast. It was a really cool experience, the greatest golf experience in my life."
Prayers for rego
Clyde Rego, one of four professional golfers in his family, suffered an aneurysm in his brain June 13 and remains in a coma and in intensive care at St. Francis Medical Center.
"Prognosis doesn't look good. He could be paralyzed at best," said his brother, Art Rego Jr., a golf pro at 'Ewa Villages.
Clyde Rego, 46, is one of only 13 golfers from Hawai'i to have played in the U.S. Open, missing the cut in the 1983 championship at Oakmont, Pa.
His local victories include the 1978 Manoa Cup when he beat David Ishii, 2 and 1.
His brother Darrell is a pro at the Ironwood Hills Golf Club on Moloka'i, and sister Brenda is an assistant pro at the Wailea Golf Club on Maui. Their parents are Art and Beatrice Rego.
Bill Kwon can be reached at bkwon@aloha.net.
