Advantage: McIroy

So Team A-Game kinda went down in flames over the weekend at Kiawah Island. I'm not sure Secretariat could have kept pace with the blossoming thoroughbred named Rory McIlroy.

It was another command performance by the 23-year-old Northern Irishman, who added an 8-shot PGA Championship victory to his 2011 U.S. Open win of the same margin and, hopefully, ended titillating speculation that his girlfriend, tennis star Caroline Wozniacki, is bad for his game. For now, I'm holding off on the obvious Tiger Woods comparisons. But they're certainly worth exploring.

As for Woods himself, it was deja vu all over again at the Ocean Course. Two solid rounds and a spot at or near the top of the leaderboard, followed by a weekend of mediocrity. In a rare and welcome bit of candor, Tiger admitted to pressing in the majors this year -- exactly as I and many others suspected. Granted, it was pretty obvious...

The majors are over, the Ryder Cup coming up. And we may soon hear from the USGA and R&A on the future legality of anchored putters. How long can Webb Simpson, Ernie Els, Adam Scott and Keegan Bradley hold their collective breath?

If long wands are banned, McIlroy gains further advantage over his peers. Just what the young fella needs.

Team A-Game Dominating at Kiawah

Is it too early to gloat about picking Vijay Singh as one of my five pre-tourney favorites at the PGA Championship? I think not.

On Friday, Singh posted a 3-under-par 69 that looked better and better as scores went higher and higher on Kiawah Island's brutal, wind-raked Ocean Course. By day's end, Singh's was the only round in the 60s on a day when two golfers, both club pros, failed to break 90. The average score was 78.11.

Vijay's tied for the lead at 4-under with Tiger Woods, another of my picks (admittedly, not exactly a wild card). I've also got Graeme McDowell (T11 at even par) and Louis Oosthuizen (T56 at +5). My No. 1 choice, Matt Kuchar, is gone with the wind after an 82 -- crushing my preseason prediction of a major victory for Kooch this year.

Can Vijay pull it off? Sure he can. But I don't think he will. Tiger's putting brilliantly and if he sharpens up his irons just a touch, that long-awaited 15th major is in the bag.

Enjoy the weekend.

Open Championship: Tiger vs. Guy Who Won a Ham

The Open Championship gets underway in less than 24 hours at Royal Lytham & St. Anne's, which sounds more like a brand of English tea than a golf course. But I digress.

My 5 faves to win:

Tiger Woods: It's time
Padraig Harrington: Back on form
Ernie Els: Slow-ish greens will help
Matt Kuchar: Because I picked him to win a major this year
Martin Kaymer: Looking more like his 2010 self

And because the Open never fails to produce a leader or two from out of left field, my picks to fill that role:

Sandy Lyle: Better than you realize at age 53
David Duval: Won here in 2001, type who thrives on good vibes
Elliott Saltman: Because I need an excuse to link to this

Enjoy!

All These Guys are Good

Further proof of the fine line separating golf's very best from the rest: Ted Potter Jr.'s playoff victory over Troy Kelly at the Greenbrier Classic.

Potter entered the event at No. 218 in the World Golf Ranking. Kelly was 464th. Meanwhile, the No. 4-ranked player, Tiger Woods, missed the cut, as did No. 16 Phil Mickelson. Webb Simpson, ranked fifth after his U.S. Open triumph, faltered down the stretch to finish T7 at the Greenbrier. Steve Stricker and Dustin Johnson were non-factors.

Meanwhile, someone named Charlie Beljan (pronounced "Belgian") nearly stole the show with a pair of spectacular Sunday pitch shots. He finished T3 -- not bad for a guy without enough points to even register on the world rankings.

There's a lot to be drawn from the results, but my bottom line is this: Any 2-handicapper who thinks he's even remotely close to being Tour caliber is fooling himself. Badly. Start playing every round from 7,300 yards and knock another eight shots off your handicap, and you might have a chance to break through in a Monday qualifier.

Seriously, they're that much better than you.

Greenbrier Classic: Closeup on Woods, Macdonald

I admit, I've only caught small portions of the PGA Tour's Greenbrier Classic the past two years. I'll probably be a little more engaged this go-round thanks to the presence of one E.T. Woods, making his West Virginia debut and fresh off his third victory of the season.

Aside from further scrutinizing Tiger as he preps for the Open Championship, I'm eager to get a better look at the golf course. Now called the Old White TPC, it was designed by Charles Blair Macdonald and Seth Raynor back in 1914. If you're not familiar with Macdonald, he essentially invented the role of professional golf course architect in the United States. Raynor was his prize pupil and went on to design scores of classics under his own name.

BTW, if Woods wins this weekend it'll be career victory number 75. To put that in perspective, go to your memory bank and withdraw what you saved from his very first win, the 1997 Masters. Doesn't seem like very long ago, does it?

About That Tiger Prediction...

I was looking and feeling pretty good after two rounds of the U.S. Open. In fact, I was all but certain my pre-tourney pick, Tiger Woods, was headed for major win No. 15 given his surgical dissection of the Olympic Club on Thursday and Friday.

But a funny thing happened on the way to victory lane. Tiger lost his mojo. I'm now more convinced than ever that his issues are strictly mental/emotional, not swing-related. Through two rounds, Woods simply looked too in-command of his action, in control of all the old shots and trajectories, to suddenly go south with his technique.

No, I contend he's still battling self-doubt, a foe he never wrestled before the world found out what a rotten person he'd been off the course. In golf -- and in life -- opponents don't come any bigger or badder.

Quick Q&A: The Players Championship

Who do you like to win? Lee Westwood

How about a darkhorse? Does Ben Crane count? How about Mark Wilson? If not, give me Charles Howell III.

How will Tiger Woods do? Make the cut by a shot, struggle on Saturday, surge up the leaderboard with a solid Sunday and get everyone’s hopes up heading to the U.S. Open.

Will the Players ever become a major? No idea. How’s that for a cop-out? It would be much easier to say yes or no if there were an official path to major-hood. (In which case I’d vote yes.) Since there’s not, I expect we’ll be asking this question forever. So I guess that’s a no.

Have you ever played TPC Sawgrass? Why yes, thanks for asking.

How did you do on 17? I remember it like it was yesterday. Pin in the front, decent wind from the left and slightly into. Distance: 126. Club: 8-iron. Shot: Perfectly executed (if I do say so myself) knockdown landing on the slope past the flag, trickling back down to 8 feet, hole high. The putt: Lipped out on the low side. Score: par.

Which Path Will Fowler Follow?

OK, so my man Ryan Moore (see previous post) couldn't pull out a win at the Wells Fargo. A final-round 74, on a day when Quail Hollow finally toughened up, did him in.

There was good news, though, if you've been jonesing to see a few young American golfers rise to the global challenge. Rickie Fowler not only won his first PGA Tour event, he beat Rory McIlroy (and D.A. Points) in a playoff to do it. AND he grabbed this win outright with a sensational, bloodless birdie on the first playoff hole, Quail Hollow's insanely difficult 18th.

Fowler's not the first wunderkind to make this event his maiden Tour victory. There was Anthony Kim in 2008, then McIlroy two years ago. Which begs the question: Whose path is Fowler more likely to follow? The one that Kim has traveled to near-oblivion (he WD'd from the Wells Fargo after an opening 74), or that of McIlroy, now back atop the world rankings at age 23 (same as Fowler)?

The latter, or at least something similar, seems more likely.

Rooting for Ryan

While the hometown crowd will be strongly in Webb Simpson's corner, with plenty of others pulling for Rory McIlroy, I'll be rooting for Ryan Moore to win today at the Wells Fargo.

I had the good fortune to cover Moore's incredible 2004 sweep of golf's major amateur championships -- the NCAA, U.S. Publinx, Western Am and U.S. Amateur, plus the Sahalee Players for good measure -- as editor of Golf Washington Magazine. I interviewed Ryan on several occasions and got to know his parents a little too. Great folks.

I like to think I'd be a fan of Moore's even without that experience. He's a little different from most tour pros, in a good way. For one thing, he dresses differently, right down to his TRUE Linkswear shoes (which are fantastic, I can tell you), and generally gives off a more laid-back vibe than his peers.

Bring it home, Ryan.

Random Thoughts on the Zurich Classic

I really like Jason Dufner, who won his first PGA Tour event Sunday in a playoff with Ernie Els. But I swear, poor Jason looks like a deer in headlights in every picture.

I was torn between rooting for Dufner, a player -- as stated previously -- I really like, and pulling for Els to end his two-year drought. Loss aside, Els is consistently contending again. Those 40-something nerves aren't doing him any favors in the clutch, though.

By the way, one knock against the belly putter is that it takes nerves out of the equation. You sure about that?

Bubba the Bender

I was as awed as anybody by Bubba Watson's hook from the woods on Augusta National's 10th hole in his Masters playoff victory. I do wonder, though: If Bubba were right-handed, could he have pulled it off? It's tough to make a slice curve as much as a hook, and the ball certainly would have stopped more abruptly on the green. Just thinking out loud...