MIAMI — While Tiger Woods has been away on his self-imposed exile from golf, some of the PGA Tour’s young cubs have been tasting success in his absence, creating a sense that some of them might step forward and challenge his throne going forward.
Camilo Villegas, the 28-year-old Colombian, enters this week’s WGC-CA Championship at Doral as the tour’s most recent winner, having captured the Honda Classic on Sunday.
A few years ago, Villegas was somewhat of a novelty, with many Colombian fans from south Florida following him around waving Colombian flags and cheering him on. Now, with the way he’s been playing this season, Villegas has gone from novelty to favorite.
“Obviously I’ve had a good start for the year,” Villegas said yesterday. “I had a crazy week last week, and to win obviously was very special.”
Ian Poulter, the colorful Brit and a late-bloomer at 34, has been projected by many to start winning majors, particularly since last month’s victory at the Accenture Match Play. That tourney also was a World Golf Championships event and it was Poulter’s first win on U.S. soil.
Rory McIlroy, a bright-eyed 20-year-old from Northern Ireland, already is ranked ninth in the world and he has familiarity with Doral. He has played here since he was 9 years old when he competed in world-class junior events.
Hunter Mahan, the winner of the Phoenix Open two weeks ago, is another young player who’s excelled in Ryder Cup play and has aspirations of winning big on tour.
Amidst these young up-and-comers trying to strengthen their names in the game this week will be defending champion Phil Mickelson. He arrived here last night after spending time at home with his wife, Amy, who has been battling breast cancer.
His West Coast swing wasn’t very productive, so Mickelson will be highly motivated to get his year going with a repeat at Doral, something that could fuel him entering the Masters, where he’s won twice.
“I think Phil really wants to win bad,” Mahan said. “He’s had great success here. I think he’s definitely the man to beat this week.”
In what is one of the best threesome pairings of the week, Mickelson will play with McIlroy and Retief Goosen for the first two days.
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McIlroy was still buzzing this week about a recent lunch he had with Jack Nicklaus.
“I felt very privileged to be able to have lunch with him and just to pick his brain,” McIlroy said. “He’s won 18 major championships and just to get some of that knowledge and to just learn from it, it was incredible.
“I think one of the biggest things that I took from it was patience, and just to learn to wait and learn to bide your time and know that if you believe in yourself that it will happen. That was one of the big things I got from him.”
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Padraig Harrington has accepted an invitation from President Obama to attend a St. Patrick’s Day celebration at the White House.
“Obviously, President Obama is one of the most charismatic people in the world, one of the most powerful people in the world,” Harrington said. “You want to meet those people and see what they’re like and get your own judgment on things. I’ve got over a week to come up with something interesting [to ask].”
In an uncharacteristic show of irritablity, Harrington was put off by a questioner asking him if he were to win this week if it would be “a triumph for Ireland or the British people.”
“Obviously, by asking that question you haven’t shown very much insight into anything, so I’ll let you do your homework on it,” Harrington said. “That would be like if a Canadian won here, would it be a triumph for the Americans or the Canadians? “I’m not from Britain. I’m Irish.”