Three Up, Three Down: Singhs, Ryder Cup hopefuls make the list

Originally Published: August 7, 2008

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By Jason Sobel
ESPN.com
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BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. -- Every other year, without fail, it's the underlying subplot of the year's fourth major championship.

Once again, this week's 90th PGA Championship at Oakland Hills will help to put the muddled Ryder Cup picture into focus, as eight players will receive automatic qualification status onto the team at week's end.

Some of the players on the outside looking in helped their cause in the opening round. Others? Not exactly.

Let's break down which players got a leg up on wearing the red, white and blue and which were simply blue in this edition of Three Up, Three Down.

Three Up
1. U.S. Ryder Cup candidates		Of the players currently on the outside looking in, nobody helped himself more than Sean O'Hair, who posted a 1-under 69 on Thursday. "Yeah, it's in the back of my mind," O'Hair, who is 13th on the points list, said of the possibility of making the Ryder Cup team. "I really want to play on the team, but thinking about it would get in my way. It almost would make me try too hard to get on the team. So I think if I just focus on what gets me to play well, it will help me get on the team, and if I do get on the team, it will help me play well in the Ryder Cup." O'Hair wasn't alone, though. J.B. Holmes (16th on the points list) shot a 71, as did Brandt Snedeker (15th). Right behind them were D.J. Trahan (11th) with a 72 and Rocco Mediate (12th) with a 73. A strong final 54 could be enough to vault any of those players into an automatic berth come Sunday evening.
2. Jeev Milkha Singh		Suffering from a tendon issue in his right ankle that was first injured before the French Open in late June, Singh has been wearing a brace for the past four weeks -- all while defying doctor's orders. "The doctor said I need four weeks off," Singh said. "The caution I put up to him was, 'Well, does two weeks help?' And he said no. And he said there's a lot of fluid and that means a lot of inflammation in there. Then I decided if I'm going to play the PGA Championship, I'm going to push myself through to this week and next week." Hmmm … a player pushing himself through injury to compete in a major championship. Sound familiar? Tiger Woods received most of the headlines for playing through pain at the U.S. Open, but Masters champ Trevor Immelman and British Open winner Padraig Harrington also were recovering from illness and injury, respectively, when they claimed major hardware. Could Singh become another wounded winner? He's on the right track. A 2-under 68 that included an eagle and three birdies has him in great position entering Round 2.
3. Young guns		The talented 20-something trio of Sergio Garcia, Anthony Kim and Camilo Villegas played together on Thursday and got around in a combined 3 over par. (Garcia shot 69; Kim shot 70; Villegas shot 74.) "It was great," Garcia said of the grouping. "Anthony is a great guy. Obviously, I'm good friends with Camilo. It was very enjoyable. I think this is the first round I played tournament round with Anthony, and it's very impressive." The threesome was, in fact, in red numbers overall -- until Villegas finished his final five holes in 5-over.

Three Down
1. U.S. Ryder Cup candidates		Well, let's just say there were far more players who hurt their cause than helped it on Thursday. Leading the charge, so to speak, were Hunter Mahan (10th on the points list) and Jeff Quinney (17th), who made like Randy Moss and Terrell Owens with a pair of matching 81s. Misery loves company, though, and they had some in the form of some potential teammates. Woody Austin (ninth on the points list) shot 79. Zach Johnson (14th) shot 76. Bart Bryant (18th) shot 77. Making matters even worse? U.S. captain Paul Azinger beat all of 'em by at least a few strokes, shooting a 2-over 72.
2. Vijay Singh		Coming off his first victory of the year at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational on Sunday, Singh sank to a 6-over 76 that included a double-bogey and six bogeys. His ball striking -- prolific at Firestone -- was well below average, based on the statistics. Singh hit only six of 14 fairways and 10 of 18 greens in regulation. But as we've seen so often in the past (including in last week's victory), putting continues to be his bugaboo. He took 31 total putts for the round -- and that included a chip-in for birdie.
3. Elder statesmen		Forget about shooting your age. Some guys were lucky they didn't double up. Colin Montgomerie is 45. He shot 76. Fred Couples is 48. He shot 76. Davis Love III is 44. He shot 77. Kenny Perry is 47 (for a few more days). He shot 79, then withdrew after the round with an injury to his cornea. Those are ugly numbers for a quartet of players with some pretty strong pedigrees.