OB Sports Golf & Leisure

l TOUR REPORT OB SPORTS GOLF & LEISURE x SUMMER 2015 x obsports.com rious fashion why Tiger Woods is Tiger Woods. Underestimate him at your peril. Like Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali, he plays with a chip on his shoulder and loves proving people wrong. For three rounds at the Masters he shocked his critics and thrilled his supporters. Round 4, however, yielded more of the same woes from previous years. His chipping yips had vanished, yet inconsistent driving and poor clutch putting dropped him to a tie for 17th. Very respectable, but hardly Tiger-worthy. Let's give him his reps, let's let him heal – again. The old Tiger, however, is a distant memory. GOLF HAS A NEW BIG THREE The original "Big Three," as coined that way, was Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and Jack Nick- laus – in no particular order – that dominated golf in the 1960s. Before that trio, however, came Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson and Sam Snead and a half-century earlier was the Great Triumvirate, Harry Vardon, J.H. Taylor and James Braid, who snagged 16 British Opens between them. For the past 20 years, golf has been ruled by Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and take your pick, whether it's been Ernie Els, Vijay Singh or any other strong number 3. Right now, we've learned that we're on the verge of another Big Three. In 2015, we have Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth as the twin towers. While Dustin Johnson, Adam Scott, and Bubba Watson have each made a case for Big Three honors in the past 12 months, it's Rickie Fowler that completes the list. In part, Fowler's the choice due to his four top-5 finishes in the 2014 majors and in part it's due to his playoff win at May's Players Championship, the most exciting non-major event contested in years. The final element in Fowler's ascension, however, is his incredible popularity with golf fans, especially youngsters, with whom he's taken Tiger's place as American idol of choice. Rory remains the man, for now, thanks to back-to-back major wins in 2014 and back-to-back PGA Tour wins in May, at the Match Play and at Quail Hollow, while Spieth is ever-so-close, with his dominating Masters triumph, a win at Innis- brook and a slew of top-5s. Hail the new Big Three. If their reign continues, golf will have compelling rival- ries for years. THE CHAMPIONS TOUR IS ACTING ITS AGE As buoyant as the PGA Tour and LPGA Tours appear to be, the Champions Tour is losing steam. Joe Durant, Olin Browne and Bart Bryant are all wonderful players, but lack the superstar aura that gave the Champions Tour its credibility in the first place. That group, along with Kevin Sutherland and Tom Pernice Jr., occupy five spots in the top 15 of the Charles Schwab Cup standings as of late May. Jeff Maggert is Number 2. These are folks who didn't win much on the Colin Montgomerie defended his title at the Senior PGA Championship, but the lack of drama was a buzzkill.

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