Notes and Quotes from the PGA:
How do you say Marksaeng? – PGA Championship
BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. - The big question that induces hand-wringing and whimpers among American television executives is, what if they throw a golf tournament and Tiger Woods doesn't come --will anybody be watching? Pity they don't have the luxury of the TV folks in Asia. It's a lock that just about everyone in Asia remotely interested in golf is be stuck in front of the tube for this PGA Championship.Does the name Prayad Marksaeng mean anything to you?
Probably not. But in Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Macau and other spots east, the name means a big piece of the world, and especially in Thailand.
Marksaeng, a slight 5-foot-5 and 135 pounds, is from Thailand, but it's practically an intercontinental celebration when any golfer from the burgeoning Asian Tour and makes any kind of mark in the outside world. It's one more mark of validation, of respect. The Asian Tour is probably on the level of the Nationwide Tour, if that, but it's growing and it's loaded with ambition. And when names such as Ruangkit, Randahawa, Nirat and others hit the international news, there is rejoicing.
As for Marksaeng here, the big question is, how do you say that name?
He's in this PGA Championship, as he was at the Masters, which was where he withdrew in the middle of the second round with a bad back. “I would have like to finish the two rounds but I'm hurt,” he said. “Right now, I need to get home and see a doctor.”
He was hardly noticed when he shot 76 in the first round. Just one of the guys getting bounced around by Oakland Hills. Then he came back with a 70 in the second, and that got him safely inside the cut. Then came the spurt that lit up Asia. In the third round Saturday, he birdied the second and fourth, bogeyed the eighth, then birdied three straight from No. 9.
The storms hit when he had one hole left to play, and he retired for the day at just 3 over par and four off the lead. When play resumes Sunday, about half the world will be watching for one guy.
THE BIG RESTART - The third round, battered by heavy thunderstorms, was to resume Sunday morning at 7:15 AM. All players currently on the course will return to their spots and complete the third round. The final three pairings, which did not start play on Saturday, will play at the following times:
7:20 David Toms, Henrik Stenson
7:30 Ben Curtis, Justin Rose
7:40 J.B. Holmes, Charlie Wi
This meant, of course, that the final six players with the best chance at the title will have to play 36 holes. Weather permitting, of course.
TIMING IS EVERYTHING - Play was suspended at 2:16 p.m. Saturday because of threatening weather. A few minutes later, the weather was no longer threatening. It became the real thing, a ferocious downpour that lasted for about 20 minutes, accompanied by lightning and thunder. The storm ended about as abruptly as it began, but another rolled through at nearly 4 p.m. Finally, PGA officials got the all clear from their meteorologist. Golfers were sent to the practice range to warm up, and play was to resume at 5 p.m.
Ooops. Apparently the meteorologist hadn't looked up from his instruments in time to spot the gathering ominous clouds. Then another cloudburst hit about 4:50. Officials finally had to give up and suspend play for the day.
MONDAY FINISHES - There have been three Monday finishes in PGA Championship stroke-play history:
Dave Stockton won at Congressional Country Club in 1976, Bob Tway in 1986 at Inverness (when he holed out a bunker shot at the final hole to beat Greg Norman), and Phil Mickelson at Baltusrol in 2005.
GOOD COMPANY - Argentina's Andres Romero joined some good company with that 5-under 65 he shot Saturday before rain stalled play. He'd taken a share of the Oakland Hills course record, held by eight others: George Archer, first round of the 1964 Carling World Open; Alan Tapie, second round of the 1979 PGA Championship; David Graham, final round of the 1979 PGA; Jack Nicklaus, 1991 U.S. Senior Open playoff with Chi Chi Rodriguez; Chen Tze-Chung, first round of the 1985 U.S. Open; Andy North, second round of the 1985 U.S. Open; Denis Watson, second round of the 1985 U.S. Open; Tom Lehman, third round of the 1996 U.S. Open
QUICK, FIND A YANK - In the first three major championships of 2008, the winners have been from three different countries, and the only American was Tiger Woods, in the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. If an American-born player doesn't win the PGA, it will be the first time since 1994 that at least two of the four major championships have not been won by American players. Americans were shut out in 1994. Spain's Jose Maria Olazabal won the Masters, South Africa's Ernie Els won the U.S. Open, and Zimbabwe's Nick Price took both the British Open and the PGA.
MICKELSON STILL LOOKING -- Phil Mickelson has only one top-10 finish in his last nine starts in major championships, that a tie for fifth in the Masters last April. This is his longest stretch of major championships played without at least two top-10s since he turned professional in 1992.
THE MONEY MAN -- Ernie Els, with career PGA Championship earnings of $1,366,815, has the most winnings at this event of any player who hasn't won it. Els has made the cut 13 times in 16 starts at the PGA and has four top-10s and eight top-25s. He finished in the top 5 in three of the last four years, including a solo-third in 2007.
TALE OF THE PAR-3S - Oakland Hills' par-3s were readjusted again for the third round. No. 3 was set at 203 yards, No. 9 at 220, No. 13 at 186 and No. 17 at 218.
No. 6, the driveable par-4, was set at 285 yards to the front of the green, 318 to the pin.
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