FanNation

If nothing else, it's certainly been a compelling season.  We've had our heaping helping of Tiger this year early on (Five wins and a 2nd in six events), and since "the injury;" the wide open field has been filled with unfamiliar names, which are slowly becoming rising stars.  Mickelson has fallen back to the pack a little bit.  Although he's still obviously a great player, and has a couple of wins this year; it's clear that he's not the same player he's been over the last three years, when he was arguably the best in the World at times.  Vijay Singh may be completely done.  He's been in the hunt in a few tournaments this year; but it's been more likely that he misses the cut than competes for a big check in a tournament.  Ditto Ernie Els (save for his one week explosion at the Honda Classic), ditto Retief Goosen and ditto Sergio Garcia (save for The Players); it's been an unfamiliar group filling the "Tiger Void," which is quite possibly the best thing to happen to golf in a long time.  With that, let's take a look at the names you need to be familiar with in the second half of the season.

Kenny Perry - "Duh," you say; and you would be correct.  He will be 48 years old in less than three weeks; and he's put together a run that only a golfer named Tiger could surpass.  Perry has three wins in his last five events, and five top-10s in his last seven.  He's got seven top-10s overall and 12 top-25s in 19 events this season.  He hasn't played a single Major tournament; and yet has still become the most compelling story in all of golf.  He stands 2nd in the FedEx Cup standings (behind only Tiger, so for all intents and purposes he is the leader), and is starting to gather a bit of an intimidation factor, usually only reserved for the elite of the elite on the PGA Tour.  He's also all the way up to 16th on the OWGR, by far his best ever rank, and up from 97th at one point this season.  How has he done it?  He's become one of the best putters on Tour.  He's 32nd in Putting Average and 66th in Putts Per Round, which is good, not great, right?  Well, compare it to his 2007 numbers, where he was 153rd in Putting Average and 132nd in Putts Per Round; and you'll see why I'm a little excited about his putting improvement.  He's also 27th on Tour in Driving Distance, 108th in Putts Per Round (20th in Total Driving).  He's 8th in Greens In Regulation, and 4th in All-Around Ranking; which are all stats which will win you a lot of money on this Tour.  Perry has, and I will continue to ride this horse until I see a reason not to.  Perry's well aware he doesn't have much time left as a competitive golfer; so he is going all out this year to try to leave his permanent mark on the game.  His first half was a rousing start to that.

Anthony Kim - And 1A to Perry's 1 is Anthony Kim, who has excited the "inside" golf World by finally putting together all the flashes he has shown at times in his very young career.  Since he finished in a T-2nd at the Verizon Heritage at Harbour Town in mid-April, Kim has two wins, four top-10s and six top-25s in seven events, including a T-25th at the U.S. Open and a T-7th just last week at The Open Championship.  Kim, who is 25 years Kenny Perry's junior, is truly the future of this sport; and should he continue to gain confidence, will be a force to be reckoned with for years to come.  Tiger's absence couldn't have come at a better time for him; because his chances for being overshadowed are nil, without the Woods effect.  You can almost cut-and-paste Perry's numbers here in Kim's spot.  He's 10th in Driving Distance, and 155th in Driving Accuracy, good for 44th in Total Driving.  He's 34th in Greens In Regulation; and, in Perry-like fashion, has improved his putting numbers dramatically; he's 53rd in Putting Average, and 49th in Putts Per Round.  He's 7th in All-Around Ranking and 4th on the FedEx Cup Standings, just behind a certain Mr. Mickelson.  Kim has evolved from a "wait and see" to a "must start" every week, until he proves me otherwise.

Others "Off the Radar" Who You Should Be Focusing On 

Justin Leonard - In a huge bounce back season, Leonard has played in 18 tournaments.  He's missed just one cut, has nine top-25s, five top-10s and a win this season; matching and surpassing his total from all of last season.  He's all the way back up to 27th in the OWGR (from 89th a year ago).  Leonard's secret is that his putter has returned; he's 21st in Putting Average and 63rd in Putts Per Round, which has been the driving force behind this season's success.

Geoff Ogilvy - Although struggling a bit in the last few weeks, Ogilvy has eight top-25s, six top-10s and a win this season, boosting his OWGR Rank all the way back up to 6th.  Keep an eye on him in the second half.  Although he seems to be having a bit of a struggle lately; don't be shocked if he's back to where he was earlier in the season at some point.

Robert Allenby - All the way up to 29th in the OWGR now (his highest ranking ever), Allenby has surpassed his fellow Australian with a similar name (Stuart Appleby) in results, and has shown no signs of slowing down.  In 18 events this season, Allenby has 13 top-25s, with seven top-10s on the season.  Five of those top-10s have come in his last seven events.  Perry has gotten the attention with his three wins over that span; but his number is identical to Allenby's: five top-10s in his last seven events.  

Those are five bigger names to look out for in the second half this season.  However, these things do change and can change weeks to week; so be sure to stop back at screamingsports.com/pga every day for your updates and news.  Good luck in the second half!