2008 Buick Open Preview

The Golf Channel is hyping Rocco Mediate in its promo spots for this weekend’s Buick Open. That tells me two things: one, Rocco won a lot of hearts by going toe-to-toe with Tiger Woods at the U.S. Open; and two, this week’s field ain’t all that strong. A glance at the list of participants tells me I’m right on the second count. Only two players in the Buick field — 2003 U.S. Open champion Jim Furyk and 2004 British Open champion Todd Hamilton — have won major championships this century.

Of course, the most notable absentee made headlines of his own this week. Tiger Woods had successful reconstructive knee surgery — great news for next year’s tournament, since Tiger has shown remarkable loyalty to the Buick brand and rewarded Buick’s sponsorship by appearing in eight of the last 10 Buick Opens.

So, a tournament that has struggled for an identity is without its top drawing card, as it was a year ago. But that doesn’t mean there are no compelling storylines heading into the weekend. A win-starved Furyk, who has eight career top-10 finishes at the Buick Open, is still looking for his first victory of a solid but somewhat disappointing 2008 season. The resurgent Justin Leonard, fourth in the current FedExCup point standings, will try to solidify his position among Ryder Cup hopefuls. Red-hot Kenny Perry, who has a runner-up, a win and a T6 among his last six outings, will look to continue playing the best golf of his outstanding career.

The slightly weaker-than-normal field opens the door for a young talent to earn that coveted, career-making first win, like Brian Bateman posted here a year ago. Budding superstars like Brandt Snedeker, who finished tied for 10th at Warwick Hills in 2007, are also likely to lurk near the top of the leaderboard.

Profile in Courage

Tiger’s not the only guy who can play through pain. Bateman, the defending champion, is postponing surgery on his injured left shoulder so he can defend his title. Like Tiger at the U.S. Open, Bateman will face pain on every swing. “It hurts on every shot,” Bateman told PGATour.com. “It's more at the top of my swing when I extend my left arm. If you're a right-handed golfer, you know when the hands get to the top of the swing, your whole left side of your shoulder and your rotator and your left bicep is fully extended, and that's where it grabs.
“It's caused me to shorten my swing, which has taken me out of my natural golf swing, so my mechanics have changed. Because of that, my ball-striking has not been very good. The part that's scary for me the most is any time you have an injury and a surgery to follow and the rehab process, it's just the unknown. I thought in the last maybe few weeks that it was time just to have the surgery and then call it a year, but I really wanted to play here.”

Bateman feels like he owes it to this tournament to appear. “You don't have many opportunities out here to defend your title, and I thought I owed it to Buick and to the people here at Warwick to at least come back and try.”

Casper, the Friendly Host

Billy Casper, the winner of the inaugural Buick Open in 1958, will be on hand to help commemorate the tournament’s 50th anniversary. The event was the Tour’s richest that season, and Casper’s $9,000 share was more money than Tommy Bolt earned for winning the 1958 U.S. Open.

The 1958 event made history in other ways as well. Buick became the first title sponsor of a tournament in PGA Tour history. GM used the event to celebrate its 50th anniversary.

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