The 2012 PGA Tour will get under way in a couple of weeks' time and its members will experience a change to their normal schedule.
The season-opening Tournament of Champions is now teeing off on Friday, January 6 to avoid a clash with the NFL play-offs, and two weeks later the Humana Challenge, formerly the Bob Hope Classic, will feature several changes. The tournament will take place over four rounds (previously five) and three courses will be used (Silver Rock excluded).
But the changes to the schedule don’t end there. The RBC Heritage (formerly Verizon Heritage) is under new sponsorship until 2016 and will now follow the Masters in mid-April – a week earlier than last season. Another tournament to switch weeks is The Greenbrier Classic which moves from the end of July to the beginning of the month while the season-ending Children’s Miracle Network Classic switches from late October to mid-November.
Perhaps the biggest change of all is the PGA Tour’s proposal to introduce a new three-tournament series that will pitch the top 75 players who failed to qualify for the Fed-Ex Cup play-offs with the top 75 players from the Nationwide Tour, effectively ending the 50-year history of the Q-school. 150 golfers will compete for 50 PGA Tour cards.
One golfer who won’t be involved in this scenario is the 14-time major winner Tiger Woods (3/1), who returned to the winners circle for the first time in over two years following victory at the recent Chevron World Challenge. Success does make anguish that much calmer, however, just because Woods won a tournament doesn’t mean he’s back. We all know how relentless Tiger is on a golf course but in his eyes he won’t complete a comeback until he wins another major championship, which will be his primary mission for the coming season. If you fancy Tiger to win the Grand Slam you’ll get rewarded with odds of 125/1.
The PGA Tour is full on endeavour and there’s a long list of golfers capable of winning the PGA Tour Money List including Webb Simpson (12/1), Dustin Johnson (12/1), Phil Mickelson (14/1), Nick Watney (16/1) and Steve Stricker (20/1).
Last year’s winner and current world number one Luke Donald (11/1) is equipped with the golf game to tackle any course, as is the US Open champion Rory McIlroy (8/1) whose awesome display at Congressional last summer received plaudits from golfing legends. Surprisingly though, McIlroy won’t return to the scene of his illustrious victory as the Ulsterman has pledged his allegiance to the Irish Open which takes place at the same time as the AT&T National. Despite his patriotism, McIlroy in my eyes is an overwhelming favourite to win this year’s US money list.
Two of the tournaments in next seasons Fed-Ex Cup play-offs are being held at two of the most difficult courses in the US – Bethpage Black and Crooked Stick. Fortunately for McIlroy, both courses use bent-grass – a surface that McIlroy excels on.
If you’re looking for a decent priced alternative to the 22-year-old then look no further than the duo of Sean O’Hair and Anthony Kim (50/1). I expect both golfers to shine in 2012.
Players to follow in 2012
Sean O’Hair, Geoff Ogilvy, Anthony Kim & Zach Johnson
