Consider this a disclaimer: My crystal ball was made in China. Do not touch it, break it, spill it, drink its contents or taunt it.
Now that the corporate lawyers are satisfied, let's move on to eight things to watch for in '08.
1. Tiger Woods. Thanks for pretending to be surprised. Tiger has been the one player you can't stop watching for more than a decade, and the end is still not in sight. Despite a shaky driver and an evolving swing, he marched into 2007 with a winning streak that he pushed to seven tournaments before falling to Nick O'Hern in the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. Not only that, he was a runner-up at the Masters and the U.S. Open. Just how off his game he felt was epitomized by the eighth hole Sunday at Augusta. He wasn't confident enough to hit driver off the tee on a par-5 that he, among only a few, had the length to reach in two. Ultimately, he scrambled to save par, looking very un-Tiger-like.
Woods found his swing in late summer, and he finished the year by winning the PGA Championship and the FedEx Cup. His golf swing may not be quite as beautiful as his 2001 textbook model, but it may, in fact, be better. Woods has never looked more unstoppable, if that's possible, and it seems likely that he'll run the tables again in '08.
2. The Grand Slam. (Or Tiger, Part II.) Woods hasn't had a major lineup this promising since the 2000 menu of Pebble Beach, St. Andrews and Valhalla. The '08 lineup features the first U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, where he has won five PGA Tour events and has had four other top-five finishes; Royal Birkdale, where he made a run at buddy Mark O'Meara in the '98 British Open and settled for third; and Oakland Hills, where, as an amateur, he was leading the '96 Open in the first round before fading at the finish thanks to a quadruple bogey at No. 16.
Tiger has already proven that winning four majors in a row is possible. He'd make it five in a row if he pulled it off, on the heels of his PGA win in Tulsa last August. The Masters has become more difficult to win since the Hootie Johnson tree-planting and lengthening campaign, as shown by the firm and fast conditions of '07. Still, Woods nearly won despite playing at less than his best. On the other hand, don't concede the U.S. Open to him just because of his Buick Invitational dominance at Torrey Pines. The Buick has never had anything close to U.S. Open rough. It'll be a different course with the USGA in charge. Plus, Tiger won't get that automatic low round at Torrey's North Course, which is used for one round in the PGA Tour event. Oh, I'd still pick him for the Open — it just isn't a gimme. Can he get the Slam? Yes. Will he? I'll go conservative and say he wins three out of four.
3. Annika Sorenstam. The most compelling storyline of '08 may be the comeback attempt by Annika, who was sidelined by neck and back problems in '07 and lost her crown as the queen of women's golf to Lorena Ochoa. Can Annika climb back to No. 1? I don't think so. Can she win another major? Maybe. I was ready to write her off as finished until she bounced back to win a late-year event on the European women's tour. OK, it was no LPGA field she beat, but a win is a win. She's got the drive and the determination to do anything. Ochoa is too young and too good — Annika isn't going to catch her. But she's going to win something, maybe something big.
4. Drug tests. The PGA Tour will begin drug testing during the summer. Here's a thought — maybe testing should extend to pro-am participants, even celebrities such as, oh, I don't know, say, Roger Clemens. With months of warning, it seems unlikely that any tour pro will be caught with traces of performance-enhancing drugs. It won't happen. But pot, cocaine, recreational drugs? Oh, yeah. I guarantee somebody will get nabbed for one of those.
1. Tiger Woods. Thanks for pretending to be surprised. Tiger has been the one player you can't stop watching for more than a decade, and the end is still not in sight. Despite a shaky driver and an evolving swing, he marched into 2007 with a winning streak that he pushed to seven tournaments before falling to Nick O'Hern in the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. Not only that, he was a runner-up at the Masters and the U.S. Open. Just how off his game he felt was epitomized by the eighth hole Sunday at Augusta. He wasn't confident enough to hit driver off the tee on a par-5 that he, among only a few, had the length to reach in two. Ultimately, he scrambled to save par, looking very un-Tiger-like.
Woods found his swing in late summer, and he finished the year by winning the PGA Championship and the FedEx Cup. His golf swing may not be quite as beautiful as his 2001 textbook model, but it may, in fact, be better. Woods has never looked more unstoppable, if that's possible, and it seems likely that he'll run the tables again in '08.
2. The Grand Slam. (Or Tiger, Part II.) Woods hasn't had a major lineup this promising since the 2000 menu of Pebble Beach, St. Andrews and Valhalla. The '08 lineup features the first U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, where he has won five PGA Tour events and has had four other top-five finishes; Royal Birkdale, where he made a run at buddy Mark O'Meara in the '98 British Open and settled for third; and Oakland Hills, where, as an amateur, he was leading the '96 Open in the first round before fading at the finish thanks to a quadruple bogey at No. 16.
Tiger has already proven that winning four majors in a row is possible. He'd make it five in a row if he pulled it off, on the heels of his PGA win in Tulsa last August. The Masters has become more difficult to win since the Hootie Johnson tree-planting and lengthening campaign, as shown by the firm and fast conditions of '07. Still, Woods nearly won despite playing at less than his best. On the other hand, don't concede the U.S. Open to him just because of his Buick Invitational dominance at Torrey Pines. The Buick has never had anything close to U.S. Open rough. It'll be a different course with the USGA in charge. Plus, Tiger won't get that automatic low round at Torrey's North Course, which is used for one round in the PGA Tour event. Oh, I'd still pick him for the Open — it just isn't a gimme. Can he get the Slam? Yes. Will he? I'll go conservative and say he wins three out of four.
3. Annika Sorenstam. The most compelling storyline of '08 may be the comeback attempt by Annika, who was sidelined by neck and back problems in '07 and lost her crown as the queen of women's golf to Lorena Ochoa. Can Annika climb back to No. 1? I don't think so. Can she win another major? Maybe. I was ready to write her off as finished until she bounced back to win a late-year event on the European women's tour. OK, it was no LPGA field she beat, but a win is a win. She's got the drive and the determination to do anything. Ochoa is too young and too good — Annika isn't going to catch her. But she's going to win something, maybe something big.
4. Drug tests. The PGA Tour will begin drug testing during the summer. Here's a thought — maybe testing should extend to pro-am participants, even celebrities such as, oh, I don't know, say, Roger Clemens. With months of warning, it seems unlikely that any tour pro will be caught with traces of performance-enhancing drugs. It won't happen. But pot, cocaine, recreational drugs? Oh, yeah. I guarantee somebody will get nabbed for one of those.
