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Augusta Chronicle

So, what do you make of the composition of the field this week at the AT&T National outside Philly?

ELLING: Lets start with the positives. The field has Tiger Woods, which for the masses in a city like Philly that hasnt had a PGA Tour event in years and doesnt much know the players to begin with, is all that matters. After that, it goes downhill fast. Its one of the weakest fields of the year, with only Woods, Jim Furyk and Rob Allenby from among the world top 20. Everybody knows that Woods has done plenty to raise the levels of awareness for tour golf, but consider what the PGA Tour has done for Woods. His charity benefits directly from three sanctioned tournaments each year, including on key Labor Day and July 4 weekends, and now it turns out that the latter is somehow working against him because players are staying home in droves in advance of the British Open in two weeks. No question, it probably didnt help the National field this year that the tournament is being moved for two years from Washington, D.C. and Congressional Country Club, site of the 2011 U.S. Open, to a course in Philly that nobody on tour has played, Aronimink. In terms of firepower, the field is weaker t for the title and got to give the winners trophy to himself. Not sure who would handle those duties this year if Woods repeats as the winner, since he was ousted as the host by sponsor AT&T in an offseason coup relating to his sexcapades, which also cost him an endorsement deal with the communications giant. Add it all up and its a decidedly weird concoction, and not necessarily in a good way, like with a Philly cheesesteak. If Woods runs into an AT&T exec, who blinks first? Awkward.

MICHAUX: If a field includes Tiger Woods, does anybody care who else is there? That already makes it a headliner event even if its padded with a bunch of B-listers. The Philly fans will have plenty to watch with the likes of Furyk and Vijay Singh joining Woods. And theres a good chunk of the hottest young (or youngish) talent out there such as Rickie Fowler, Dustin Johnson, Jason Day and Justin Rose. Mix that with a few notable oldies like Davis Love III, Justin Leonard and David Toms and it seems to me the fans will be getting their moneys worth. It really is a representative field of what the PGA Tour has to offer. Its not a major. Its not going to get a major field. And the time slot on the schedule is going to prevent it from ever drawing the bulk of the biggest talent from Europe, which skews the ranking argument since so many of the worlds top 50 come from the other side of the pond. But hey, its Fourth of July weekend. Whats wrong with a good All-American (or mostly American) event to celebrate it. Give me Tiger, a hot dog, beer and a unique golf course to look at and Im set.

Theres a new world No. 1 in our midst and it isnt Phil Mickelson. Veteran Cristie Kerr became the first American to claim the top spot in the womens game after winning her second start in succession. Can she stay there for long?

ELLING: Hey, sh Japans Ai Miyazato climbed to No. 1 and lasted a week. Its becoming fairly clear that with the retirement of Lorena Ochoa, its wide open at the top and even a player like Miyazato, even with four wins in four months already this year, likely isnt going to pile up enough points to run off and hide like Ochoa and former No. 1 Annika Sorenstam. The talent pool is too balanced and nobody seems like a breakaway threat. Kerr, even though she is not the most embraceable personality in the womens game, might be able to stand her ground for at least a short while, since the next womens major is the U.S. Open, at brutal Oakmont starting July 8, a tournament she won in 2007. The only other player with two majors in that same three-year span is Yani Tseng. Maybe the balance up top is a good thing, because Mickelson has generated plenty of news in his attempts to supplant Tiger Woods as world No. 1, which Lefty could have done in any of his past three starts this spring. Woods has been No. 1 for five years, plus a couple of weeks. Its gotten sort of monotonous.

MICHAUX: American women still play golf? Good to know. Kerr is obviously a huge talent (though a little less huge than she used to be). She has never been the warmest of personalities and doesnt engage the American crowds like Michelle Wie, Paula Creamer or Natalie Gulbis, but she has proven more capable of maintaining her competitiveness over time. On the plus side for sustainability, she looked pretty dominant in the LPGA by lapping the field. But there are just so many contenders trying to assume the throne vacated by Ochoa that the chances of Kerr locking down that No. 1 ranking for long isnt high. I do disagree, however, that this balance of power is a good thing on the womens side of the ledger. The LPGA is suffering from not having that dominant star attraction to invigorate the fans and build a buzz the way Nancy Lopez, Sorenstam and Ochoa and Wie have in the past. Kerr simply doesnt have the same “it” quality that Wie possesses. If an American is going to lead the LPGA out of this malaise, someone like Wie needs to step up and take over.

Now that mega-hyped Bubba Watson has finally won a tournament on a major circuit, can we expect more?

ELLING: Thats an impressively impossible question, because Watson is without question the most outrageously unpredictable lefty on the PGA Tour, which is saying something in the era of lead-foot Phil. Sure, he hits his driver farther than anybody else, but its his course management that makes fans cringe. Sunday, he tried to play smartly by hitting an iron off the tee late in the round, yet he shoved it into a fairway bunker, cold-topped his next ball into a water hazard situated 50 yards in front of him and almost blew the tournament with a double-bogey. A few years back, faced with another Sunday chance to win, he hit an iron off the tee directly into a tree located perhaps 100 yards from the tee box. Winning might loosen him up, make him exhale and turn him into a free-swinging, John Daly-style cult hero. It might also cause him to place even more expectations onto those angular, square shoulders. However it turns out, knowing Watson, it will be alternately inspiring and grimace-inducing to watch. Hes good enough, long enough and possesses enough tools to contend more often than he has in the past. Maybe his occasionally brittle confidence level has finally risen to match.

MICHAUX: We can certainly expect to see and hear from him more. Bubba is the most self-promotional guy on tour. His recent web-video longing to get invited to be on the was a hysterical display of his desperation to be noticed. Its not a bad thing at all. Its just the way his seemingly ADHD mind works and a product of the difficult environment he grew up in. He can get under peoples skin (ask Steve Elkington) but he also has a good heart. He is committed to trying to help kids in his Florida panhandle hometown and his quietly going back to Georgia to get his college degree to further his business interests is commendable. His long-awaited victory will attract more fans who can relate to his edge-of-trainwreck nerves and style. He might finally become as popular with the masses as fellow Milton High product Boo Weekley, whose redneck trappings hang more naturally (and genuinely) on his shoulders. One thing this win does do for Watson -– it finally earns him the honorary status at Pensacola Country Club that is bestowed only on the regions PGA Tour winners. Watson insisted once he didnt care about that, but his body language betrayed how much it bothered him that school mates Weekley and Heath Slocum and Panhandlers Joe Durant and Jerry Pate all possessed a luxury he didnt have. Hell relish playing on equal footing from now on.