Mount Juliet promises magical sub-60

TIGER WOODS has laid it on the line.

The Jack Nicklaus designed course at Mount Juliet is there for the taking. There’s hardly a puff of wind and there’s none forecast. Even more significantly in the mind of the runaway world number one, “because the greens are so pure, I think the guys are going to shoot some really low numbers this week”.

Given just how good these players are, the benign nature of the weather and the truly immaculate condition of the layout, it is difficult to quibble with Woods’s view. Don’t be surprised if somebody gets a sub-60 round in their sights some time through the four days although it might be stretching things to suggest that achieving the magical 59 is really on the cards. But red figures are certain to abound and it all adds up to a thrilling four days for the fans, who like nothing better than seeing the stars shoot spates of birdies and eagles.

Woods starts a red hot favourite at 9/4 even though 49 of the top 50 in the world are in the field, including the brilliant Phil Mickelson, Open champion Ernie Els, top European Sergio Garcia, Retief Goosen, Davis Love III, Vijay Singh and Padraig Harrington and Darren Clarke. Never in the history of Irish golf has such an assortment of talent lined up in the same tournament and the great news is that the event will be returning to Ireland in 2004 although not necessarily at Mount Juliet.

The odds against Woods capturing his second American Express title aren’t all that prohibitive given his magnificent level of consistency and his ability to pull everything out for the big occasion. Nevertheless, just about anybody in the elite 65-strong field can win this week and it hasn’t gone unnoticed that the two previous WGC events this year went to players who hadn’t previously won on the US Tour, Kevin Sutherland in the Accenture Match Play and Craig Parry in the NEC Invitational.

Obviously, crowds of around 25,000 over the next four days are hoping for a home win. Darren Clarke was the first tournament professional at Mount Juliet, a position now filled by Padraig Harrington, and both are really fired up for the occasion. It’s an especially big deal for Clarke who hasn’t finished any better than 19th since winning the English Open last June and consequently has slipped to 18th in the world rankings. For his part, it would be a huge boost to Harrington to win in front of his home fans and he may well represent very good value at 25/1. Sergio Garcia is on offer at 16/1 and believes Ireland is his lucky country for it was at Druids Glen in the 1999 Murphys Irish Open that he captured his first tournament as a professional.

“I’ve done well here and that’s maybe because it’s a country that I like”, he said. “The people are very nice, they know a lot about golf and they have a lot of very beautiful golf courses. I’m always looking forward to coming back and it really was a pleasure being Irish Open champion.

“I felt very good with my game when winning in Korea last time out. Everything seems to be clicking and, if anything, the wedges were what I liked least. I’m looking forward to this week, the course is a very nice one and it’s in great shape. I’ve made top ten finishes in all four majors, so it’s been pretty consistent. I hung in well in a number of tournaments but unfortunately didn’t win as many as I should have”.

Considering that the brilliant ladies tennis player Martina Hingis is his girl friend and he is pretty famous in his own right, it was both amusing and interesting to see how excited Garcia became when describing the highlight of his recent free week. He is an avid follower of Real Madrid and he met their recent 30 million signing and Brazil’s World Cup winning hero Ronaldo and they have arranged a game of golf together.

The Spaniard, of course, is the bubbly type and his enthusiasm for this week and for the Ryder Cup is delightful to behold. No cynicism, here. “Others may not be but I’m really excited about it”, he declared. “It’s a little different because of what happened last September but there’s no doubt that we all want to win. Nobody wants to lose the Ryder Cup. It will be a little different but it’s still going to be exciting. We’re going to try as hard as we can and I’m sure they will be doing likewise.

“There are guys in the team more experienced than me, like Colin [Montgomerie] and Darren [Clarke] so, of course, we’re going to be looking at them and maybe they’ll be looking at me. But I’m just going to try my best. I’m going to help as much as I can but I think the European team makes a good package and we’ll be alright, that’s the most important thing”.

Garcia hasn’t always been the shrewdest when it comes to outrageous predictions, like early this year when he claimed his ambition for 2002 was to lead the money lists in both Europe and the US. While he accepts that that is now unlikely, it seems the precocious 22-year-old Spaniard hasn’t entirely given up hope.

“If I win here and then a few more coming in, I might have a chance and especially in Europe because Ernie [Els] isn’t playing here after this week”, he observed. “I’ll give it my best shot, I’ll try as hard as I can. It will be a continuing ambition, my goal for next year if you like”.

A lot is being made here of the fact that Tiger Woods is using brand new irons and that they may reduce his chances of victory. He dismisses the notion and certainly he is entitled to his favouritism.

Woods isn’t afraid to win on foreign soil and isn’t unaccustomed to that pleasure, but the opposition is tough this week.

A European victory would strike a great blow for Ryder Cup confidence and if neither of the Irishman is to snare the Tiger, then Sergio Garcia could very well be the man to do it.