Love Can Feel for Woods

It has been nine years since Davis Love III won the PGA Championship with a birdie on the last hole at Winged Foot and that huge rainbow appeared as he stood on the 18th green. It made Love think about his father, who was also his teacher, who died in a plane crash in 1988.

Love will be back at Winged Foot next month, the site of his only major championship and also where the rainbow lighted the way in 1997. Love said that Tiger Woods, who lost his father three weeks ago, is probably going to have father memories too, if the Open is indeed where he returns to the golf course.

“Obviously, Tiger is going to be in the same boat as me,” Love said. “Every time he goes to play golf, he’ll think of his father. That’s not going to change. It’s going to be hard for a while, but it’ll also be a positive down the road.

“I miss my dad when my son plays a round of golf and plays well, and I miss my dad when my daughter decides she’s going to play high school golf and he’s not there to teach her.

“I miss him not for the PGA Championship or the Masters, I miss him for day-to-day life and day-to-day golf, but I’m always happy to enjoy those memories and I’m happy to share them, especially this year, leading up to Winged Foot, that I can go back and tell people how lucky I was. It reminds me of the job I need to do with my kids at the same time.”

Woods has not decided about playing the Memorial next week, and if he doesn’t play, his break since the Masters will be nine weeks, the longest of his career. And, while nobody’s really talking about it, his participation in the U.S. Open in mid-June can’t be assumed.

Despite his inactivity on the golf course since his father’s death May 3, Woods spent his 392nd week at the No. 1 ranking in the world. His lead over second-ranked Phil Mickelson is 7.98 points -- the same margin that Mickelson holds over Charl Schwartzel, who is 98th.

*

With the exception of whoever wins it, this week’s Fed Ex St. Jude Classic is strictly no contest compared to the European Tour’s $5.43-million BMW Championship, the tour’s version of the Players Championship.

The field at Wentworth is loaded -- Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Adam Scott, Luke Donald, Darren Clarke, Lee Westwood, Jose Maria Olazabal, among others -- and the field at Memphis is, well, not. David Toms is the only player in the top 10 playing and Chris DiMarco and Love are the only others from the top 20 who are there.

The quality of the field in Memphis is going to get a big boost next year because the tournament is moving to early June in the week before the U.S. Open.

*

It didn’t get a lot of notice, but it should have. Clarke probably packed a few more fans in his corner because of what he did on the last day at the Irish Open. He led by two shots and started the rain-delayed last day at the ninth hole in the rough, where he was the day before when play was halted.

Because marshals had trampled the grass to look for his ball, Clarke had an improved lie when the ball was repositioned, with a clear shot to the green. Although the rules allow Clarke to play the ball in its new position, he chose to chip it back out to the fairway, which is the only play he would have had the day before.

Clarke wound up with a bogey and finished third, two shots behind Thomas Bjorn.

*

This isn’t the start that Annika Sorenstam is used to having -- her first missed cut in 68 tournaments two weeks ago, then a closing 74 that dropped her to a tie for sixth last week at the Sybase Classic. And if that isn’t hurtful enough, she’s getting talked about. Lorena Ochoa, 24, who has either won or been second in her last six tournaments, was asked how much she and a select group of other young players are closing the gap on Sorenstam, 36 in October.

“I think a lot,” Ochoa said. “I think things are going to change.”

Said 19-year-old Paula Creamer: “I’m not saying Annika’s not talented by any means -- she is the No. 1 player. But I think we’re just getting better and the gap is getting smaller.”