Posted by Jason Sobel
The most frequently asked question I receive this time of year -- from readers, from friends, from colleagues -- is, "So, what do you do now that golf season is over?" To which I respond, "Over? Actually, it never ends."
That's not an exaggeration. Just four days after the PGA Tour season concluded at East Lake a few weeks ago, the European Tour began its 2007 schedule with a co-sanctioned event (along with the Asian Tour) in China. And though we're still five months away from a major championship, the golf world is hardly lacking for storylines.
This week, for instance, included more intriguing subplots than just about any non-major week during golf's so-called regular season.
There was the LPGA's season-ending ADT Championship, featuring the first-ever $1 million payout in women's golf, which must, by all accounts, be considering a rousing success -- even if many were fooled by the no-carryover-scores format instituted for the final day's play. (Before the Sunday round, ESPN television's bottom line ticker read: "Il Mi Chung (-9) leads after the third round of the LPGA ADT Championship," despite the fact that such information was completely irrelevant.)
Though commissioner Carolyn Bivens didn't quite get her wish -- "I'd love to see a playoff," she said earlier this week -- Julieta Granada disproved the theory that a less deserving player would earn that cool mill; she did, in fact, net the lowest aggregate score during the tournament's four rounds.
If you're like me (and I sincerely hope you're not), you might have found yourself clicking the refresh button on the Dunlop Phoenix leaderboard at 2 a.m. ET Sunday. Sure, I was bleary-eyed from a long day of staring intently at the TV from the comfort of my couch, but it's not every day -- or night -- that Tiger Woods loses a lead in the final round.
The world's top-ranked player led by three strokes with six holes to play, but let Padraig Harrington hang around, as the Irishman eventually tied it up, then beat Woods on the second playoff hole in Japan. Somewhere, Billy Mayfair must have been tossing and turning, as he can no longer stake a claim as the only man to defeat Tiger in a playoff at an official event.
With a birdie on the 72nd hole of the week, John Senden claimed the Australian Open title. And before you excuse that tournament as a bunch of blokes stuck in the outback, consider the prestigious list of competitors who finished just behind Senden, including Geoff Ogilvy, Stuart Appleby, Adam Scott and Aaron Baddeley.
Jose Manuel Lara earned a wire-to-wire victory in Hong Kong and though that in itself was impressive, I was busy keeping an eye on Jyoti Randhawa, who now has two straight top-10 finishes and is primed for a big 2007 season.
Sounds like a pretty full week to me, proving once again that there is no offseason in golf.
