ESPN Golf

This used to be the week when the PGA Tour would pump up the volume -- literally. But thanks to some changes to the configuration of the stands at the TPC of Scottsdale's par-3 16th -- and who occupies them (it has become more corporate) -- the raucous crowds aren't quite as raucous anymore. Nonetheless, that hole, along with the rest of the course, usually still provides drama at the FBR Open. Steve Jones finished at 26-under here in 1997, and Mark Calcavecchia was two shots better in 2001.

I'll stay away from Phil Mickelson for now (even though he is the defending champion). That's because as good as Mickelson has played in his two starts, Australia's Nathan Green has been better ... than everybody.

Green leads the tour with a scoring average of 67.86 and is coming off a pair of top-five finishes, including an excruciating playoff loss to Tiger Woods at the Buick Invitational this past week.

Who exactly is Green? One of the reasons you probably never heard of him before last week was because the 30-year-old rookie spent a couple of seasons toiling on the Nationwide Tour before finishing 18th on the money list last year.

Green had shown flashes before then, however. In 2003, he was 26-under in a runner-up finish at the Henrico County Open; in 2001, he finished second to Colin Montgomerie at the Ericsson Masters and second to Peter Lonard at the ANZ on the Australasian Tour before ending the year fifth on the Order of Merit. In 2000, Green posted wins at the Queensland PGA Championship and won the Canadian Tour's Benefit Partners/NRCS Classic.

Not that any of that could have prepared him for last week with Mickelson in front, Tiger behind. "My head was racing," Green said.

That said, Green handled himself well enough to earn $448,000 and all but secured a tour card for next season. Now he can afford the plasma television he wanted for his new home in Dallas, too.

While we're on the topic of Dallas, Rory Sabbatini isn't far behind Green in scoring average (69.04), and that has helped pave the way for a couple of top-10s this season. Sabbatini -- who lives in Southlake, a suburb of Dallas -- has just one career top-10 in Phoenix, in 2002, but you have to like his chances a little more when he's not playing with or behind Ben Crane, who is out this week with a back injury.

One other player to keep an eye on: Jesper Parnevik. The swashbuckling Swede already has as many top-10s this year as he did in all of 2005, when he took two months off -- including the British Open -- to find the swing that had abandoned him.

"It's been a few years [since it felt that comfortable], especially with the irons," Parnevik said. "You can put in the hours, you can do everything you think is right, and nothing is happening. Last year, I just said heck with it, I'm going to surrender, and I gave in. The game got me. I was trying so hard but didn't win. I decided I was going to take a break and see what happens."

Last but not least: Jonathan Kaye and Arjun Atwal have had strong early starts to their seasons. Keep an eye on both this week -- and down the road -- especially Atwal.

Kaye, who tied for fourth at the Buick using the "claw" putting grip for the first time, closed with five straight birdies en route to a 68, the lowest score of the day. He also won the FBR two years ago, beating Chris DiMarco (who makes his '06 PGA Tour debut this week) by two strokes.

And although Atwal missed a 5½-footer for birdie on the 18th that would have earned him a spot in the Buick playoff, he has one of the best short games on tour (he led the tour in putting average in '05) and is coming off a year in which he had four top-10s. The days of missing 18 of 30 cuts, the way he did in '04, are long gone.

The last we saw of Aaron Baddeley, or so it seems, was in 2003, when he lost in a playoff to Ernie Els at the Sony Open. Although Baddeley came up just short against Els, it looked as though he and countryman Adam Scott would be the ones to return Australia to prominence in the golf world.

Two years later, Scott has reached the cusp of superstardom, but it has been others -- from Green to Mark Hensby -- who have emerged from Down Under while Baddeley has more or less gone under. Baddeley did have five top-10s in '05, but he also endured six consecutive missed cuts and hasn't yet seen the work of a change in swing and change in coach pay off yet in '06 with his best finish a T-53 at the Sony Open.

"I wasn't getting any consistency, and when you're not finding the fairway, it's hard to be consistent," Baddeley told me. "[Right now,] I'm comfortable and I'm not so comfortable, if that makes sense."

It does, especially when you consider that for three years Baddeley worked with David Leadbetter before going coach-less in '05. "There were definitely times I was pressing," admits Baddeley, who now works with Andy Palmer and Mike Bennett.

That kind of pressing led to the following frightening statistics: 194th in driving accuracy, 191st in greens in regulation, 115th in scoring average. If there has been an upside, it's that Baddeley has remained one of the game's best putters and short-game players, even if that Sony Open does seem like a distant memory. "I do remember it, but it does seem like a long time ago."

John Daly's final-round 77 at last week's Buick was a far cry from his memorable playoff victory there two years ago. Making matters worse for Daly was the fact that after he arrived in California, his wife, Sherri, reported to prison for a five-month sentence on a federal charge involving a drug ring and an illegal gambling operation. And, if that still wasn't bad enough, Daly's merchandise trailer was stolen from the parking lot of a Hooters restaurant two days after he arrived in town for the FBR.

The good news for Daly in all of this? Police found the trailer nearby, and unharmed, earlier this week.

Among Green's jobs growing up in Australia: working in a crematorium his parents managed. "My mom worked in the office there, and I mowed the lawns," Green said. "I never saw a body or anything like that, but I had a pretty good idea of what went on there."

The third time has to be a charm, right? Mickelson didn't win at the Buick or the Bob Hope, but more than half the wins in his career have come out west. Plus, he shot a second-round 60 at last year's FBR. It certainly wouldn't be a surprise if he had another round like that on his way to a repeat.