PGA Tour’s top-20 at Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship: How will they fare? Part-2
3. Steve Stricker, USA
Steve Stricker started off the season with a blistering victory at Hyundai Tournament of Champions and while he has opted to take a break from mainstream golf for at least for the next three weeks, he has consolidated his position on the official World Golf
Rankings (OWGR) as the top-ranked American in the world.
Currently pitched at number five on the OWGR, Stricker is battling a dreadful neck injury and remained off course for better part of the closing sessions last year. He returned for the President’s Cup in November, to be part of the historic victory at the
Royal Melbourne.
Stricker is currently enjoying winter vacations at his home town in Wisconsin and usually turns up at the golf course in the neighbourhood in his double-wide trailer which provides him with the much-needed warmth and relaxation in chilly weather.
The trailer has been instrumental in Stricker’s upsurge where he managed to regain his lost swing, playing extensively from his trailer.
Stricker has not won a major title in his stellar career and is now drawing comparisons from the Fijian, Vijay Singh who won 22 titles on PGA after the age of 40. Despite of his burgeoning injuries, Stricker’s career is far from over even at the age of 44.
The lanky American is set to return for the Northern Trust Open at Riviera on PGA in three week’s time.
4. Phil Mickelson, USA
The quintessential Phil Mickelson has decided to lay back and relax for the moment, a decision which has more or less bewildered the critics and fans alike.
The four major-winner started off his season at Humana Challenge, formerly known as Bob Hope Classic, finishing for a disappointing 49th.
He later announced afterwards that he will not be part of the field at WGC Accenture Match Play event in Tucson and will be on family vacation-a decision that hardly makes any sense.
“I'm going to end up missing the Match Play this year as we're going to go on a family trip,” Mickelson, said Sunday after. “So as I miss that tournament, it was easier to add this one, too”.
His apparently reckless decision probably finds its roots in the fact that lanky Mickelson never had much success in the 64-man event. He managed to reach the top-16 five times in the event but was only able to walk over to the quarter finals only once in
his career.
He will now be missing the event for the second time in three years and will heading out for vacations along with his wife Amy and kids.
Mickelson has won no fewer than 47 professional titles almost two decades long career. He won the coveted Masters for a staggering three times along with the PGA Championship in 2005. He predominantly plays on the PGA Tour and rarely steps on foreign courses.
To be continued...
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