Bedlam golf, PGA style
Tiger Woods ruined what could have been an interesting Bedlam duel Sunday in the AT&T National at Congressional. Of course, few are complaining. Tiger in contention in the final round makes for all eyes on a golf tournament.
But Tiger was playing with ex-Sooner Anthony Kim; they started the final round tied for the lead. And Tiger had to overcome ex-OSU Cowboy Hunter Mahan, who fired a course-record tying 62 (Kim set the record Thursday) and posted a 12-under score while Tiger still had most of the back nine to play. Tiger’s 16th-hole birdie lifted him one shot ahead of Mahan, to 13-under, and that’s how they finished.
But the tournament brought up a great discussion about Mahan and Kim. Who is the better golfer andwho has the brighter future? This looks to be a great PGA rivalry, since both are young, Kim 24 and Mahan 27.
Kim has two PGA Tour wins, Mahan one. Bothhave three second-place finishes, but Kim also has five third-place finishes. Mahan has 20 top-10′s, Kim has 15. Mahan has won more money on tour, $9.83 million to Kim’s $8.02M. Mahan leads Kim in the FedEx Cup standings; Mahan is 14th to Kim’s 32nd, but Kim was fourth in 2008 (Mahan was 18th). In 2007, Mahan was 15th and Kim was 43rd.
But golf status always comes down to the majors. Neither has won a major, but both have made noise. Mahan was 10th (Masters) and sixth (U.S. Open) in 2009′s two majors and was sixth in the 2007 British Open. Kim was 20th (Masters) and 16th (U.S. Open) in 2009′s majors and was seventh in the 2008 British.
Both have tremendous potential. Kim made history last year, becoming the first player since Tiger himself to win two PGA Tour titles in the same year while under the age of 25. Mahan has become known as one of the tour’s great hot golfers, with the ability to go not just low, but really low.
Kim and Mahan are going to be around a long time, challenging for golf championships. This is going to be a fun rivalry.
-------------Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel. Visit Berry's website here.
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