The new golf emblem duo
American golf players, US representatives in the next Edition of the Bridgestone America’s Golf, to be celebrated in Mexican territory from October 21 through 25, are a priori, the greatest candidates to win the tournament.
Kuchar the same as Woods are the top figures in this regional championship to settle who is the best couple of the continent; both share a record of 116 victories average along 17 years of career, and 142 million dollars earnings. This will be the second time in which Woods (a professional ever since 1996) and Kuchar (a professional ever since 2000) play as a couple, just as the time of The Presidents Cup, 2013, when they won three out of four commitments.
In their first confrontation, they defeated the couple formed by Australian Marc Leishman and Argentinean Ángel Cabrera; on the second day, they defeated the South African team formed by Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel; on the third, they defeated Australian Adam Scott and Japanese Hideki Matsuyama; finally, on the fourth day, they lost to the South African Ernie Els and Zimbabwean Brendon de Jonge. Before that, even though they had not coincided as a couple, Kuchar and Woods were members of the American team representing the US in the Ryder Cup, 2010 and 2012, both tournaments in which the European team was crowned a champion.
The expectation to see Tiger Woods competing for the first time in Mexico is huge, even if he has won no official tournament since 2013, when he conquered the Farmers Insurance Open title.
Nevertheless, Tiger’s credentials as golf player are unquestionable: 79 victories in the PGA Tour (14 in major tournaments), which means he has the second best record of all times, after the legendary Jack Nicklaus; additionally, he has got 12 international triumphs and 14 different conquests, such as the Gold World Championship together with Mark O’Meara.
Fans attending the Bridgestone America’s Golf tournament will find a much less aggressive Woods than in the past, in terms of his game. His remarkable change of swing and the long periods out of the high ranking competitions have made the former number one in the world into a more calculating golf player than in the past, where his audacity and showmanship took him to the top of the world ranking for years.
This time, the key for Tiger will come from his short game finesse; this way he will be able to accomplish birdies.
His average during this campaign has been 72 strokes; barely a par for the course, which means a short par, especially when it refers to the individual who used to beat the odds in any course in the world. Another relevant datum is the low percentage of his short approach to the green at 31% effectiveness.
On the other side, Matt Kuchar, who during the last 5 years has been featured as one of the candidates to the title at every field he enters, accumulates 7 victories inside the PGA Tour, the top professional golf circuit; his most recent title being the RBC Heritage 2014. For the native from Winter Park, Florida, among his remarkable merits is the WGC Match Play 2013, the same as The Players Championship, conquered in 2012.
For the current number 16 in the world, it is pending the conquest of a Major, even though he has been close to obtaining it; being the Augusta Masters, in the last five years, the greatest and most suitable tournament for him, with three Top 10.
Kuchar is not a long drive player; still, he is very precise and appears among the 10 best players on resolution, and the circuit leader on putts per round; seeing him on the green will be a delight for the fans. He boasts a 287 yard average per driver, to be inside the Tour average; but he is still far from the 316 yards that the leader of that statistics, Dustin Johnson, reaches.
Text: Ze Sergio Garay ± Photo: GettyImages / NABIBIAN SUN / DAILY REPUBLIC / GOLWEEK