It’s a Big Six Now, but Woods Is Still Biggest

Tiger Woods hasn’t played in nine weeks, since the Masters, but here he was Monday at Winged Foot, getting ready for this week’s U.S. Open and still No. 1, with the numbers to back it up.

Woods, who played an early-afternoon practice round with Jeff Sluman, Charles Howell III and Bo Van Pelt, has 10 major titles, and another will tie him with Walter Hagen for second place, behind Jack Nicklaus’ 18.

Woods is the only player with top-five finishes in his last five majors. He won the 2005 Masters, was second at the U.S. Open at Pinehurst, won the British Open, tied for fourth at the PGA Championship at Baltusrol and tied for third at the Masters in April.

And, among the so-called Big Five, Woods’ 70.67 scoring average at the U.S. Open is the best. He is also the only one of the Big Five with a final-round scoring average as a pro below 72, at 71.11.

As for the rest of his peer group, each has a legitimate shot at the 109th U.S. Open.

No. 2-ranked Phil Mickelson: He’s the first player in four years, since Woods, to win consecutive majors. He’s also the first player since Woods to win a major in three consecutive years.

Mickelson has begun the Open with a round of par or better seven consecutive years.

No. 3-ranked Retief Goosen: He has been in the top 15 in nine of his last 10 majors, including top-11 finishes in his last seven. In his last seven majors, Goosen has shot par or better in 20 of 28 rounds.

The only two times Goosen has finished under par at the U.S. Open, he has won it, in 2001 and 2004.

No. 4-ranked Vijay Singh: He has made the cut in 11 consecutive U.S. Opens and the last 14 majors, going back to the 2002 PGA Championship. He’s on a streak of six straight top 10s in majors, the longest streak of anyone in the Big Five.

He has six top 10s at the U.S. Open, the same as Mickelson and one fewer than Ernie Els, who has the most among the “expanded” Big Five (Els is ranked No. 6). Nicklaus has the record with 18 top 10s.

No. 5-ranked Jim Furyk: He has five top 10s in majors since 2000, but none since he won the 2003 U.S. Open.

No. 6-ranked Els: A two-time U.S. Open champion in 1994 and 1997, he has had four top 10s in majors since 2000, the same as Singh and one behind Mickelson and Woods. His 71.54 scoring average at the U.S. Open as a professional is second only to Woods’ 70.67 among the Big Six.

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Gentlemen, start your complaining. Once they start getting practice rounds in, it probably won’t take long for the players to offer their critiques of the 7,264-yard, par-70 Winged Foot layout.

Most expect the fairways to be some of the narrowest in history -- from 22 to 28 yards wide -- with two cuts of rough. But anyone missing the 22-yard-wide fairway at the 321-yard, par-four No. 6 is going to be in serious trouble. There’s six feet of 1 1/2 -inch rough just off the fairway, but outside of that, the rough is six to eight inches high.

There’s more. The 640-yard 12th is the second-longest hole in U.S. Open history, behind only the 642-yard No. 6 at Southern Hills in 2001. Plus, the 514-yard No. 9 hole is the longest par four in U.S. Open history.

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Weather update: Through Thursday, there’s a chance of showers and thunderstorms, although it’s supposed to be partly sunny to sunny Friday and Saturday. On Sunday, the forecast calls for possible showers or thunderstorms in the afternoon, which could be a problem with the last tee time scheduled for about 2:50 p.m. EDT.

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The last U.S. Open at Winged Foot was in 1984, when Fuzzy Zoeller beat Greg Norman in an 18-hole playoff and won $94,000. Whoever wins this time will make $1.225 million. Zoeller and Norman are the only players to finish under par in any of the four U.S. Opens held at Winged Foot.

Mark Brooks, John Cook, Fred Couples, Jay Haas, Peter Jacobsen and Rocco Mediate played in the 1984 Open and are back again this week.

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Mickelson starts his bid for a third straight major championship at 7:55 a.m. EDT in a group with Tim Clark and Thomas Bjorn.

Other notable groupings feature Singh, Shingo Katayama and David Toms; Els, Chris DiMarco and K.J. Choi; and Goosen, Stewart Cink and Padraig Harrington.

The traditional U.S. Open grouping of the British Open champion, U.S. Open champion and U.S. Amateur champion is anything but traditional this year: The British Open champion (Woods) is from the United States, the U.S. Open champion (Michael Campbell) is from New Zealand, and the U.S. Amateur champion (Edoardo Molinari) is from Italy.

Also, for what it’s worth to Mickelson, only five players have won the Masters and U.S. Open in the same year -- Craig Wood in 1941, Ben Hogan in 1951 and ‘53, Arnold Palmer in 1960, Nicklaus in 1972 and Woods in 2002.