Columnist Adam Candee: Most preseason predictions wound up hit into bunkers

Adam Candee

Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2005 | 9:34 a.m.

Adam Candee covers golf for the Sun. Reach him at (702) 259-4085 or by e-mail at candee@lasvegassun.com.

Don't expect to see me reading palms or poring over tarot cards anytime soon.

Looking back on my prognostications from early January for the golf season that is rapidly winding to a close, there appears to be only one fulfilled guess. A few are close, a few look funkier than Jim Furyk's swing ... all were made with love.

Here's a closer look at why even those who follow the golf world with regularity are plenty fallible:

Thanks to Paula Creamer for being the one player to make me look slightly more intelligent than your doorknob.

Creamer won twice on the LPGA circuit and spearheaded the U.S. team to a Solheim Cup victory. She ranks third on the money list with more than $1.2 million in earnings, placing behind only Annika Sorenstam and Cristie Kerr.

Creamer is unquestionably, along with Michelle Wie, the future of American women's golf. What will be their rivalry within two years is destined to make even casual fans tune into the LPGA.

So score one on the invisible chalkboard for me. And for those in the business of playing the market, the advice here is to sell high before reading any farther.

On the evening of June 18, this looked to be an ironclad guarantee. Goosen went to sleep that Saturday evening holding a three-shot lead in his quest for a third U.S. Open championship.

Try finding a safer bet in that situation than the supposedly unflappable Goosen. Ice water in the veins and all, right?

Not so much. Goosen fired a stunning round of 81, sinking from the lead to a T-11 finish well behind champion Michael Campbell. It didn't exactly ruin a year in which he won The International and carded three other top five efforts, but Goosen's reputation as cool and steady took a serious hit at Pinehurst.

And that focus on the Big Four? Woods and Mickelson won the other three majors this year.

Why not? Probably because this was my biggest swing and miss.

The optimism came from Riley's T-4 finish at the 2004 PGA Championship and a decent showing in the matches he did play at the Ryder Cup. How horribly wrong that was.

Struggling to adjust to life as a new father traveling with his family, Riley is suffering through the most disappointing year of his career. His best finish is T-18 and he has missed as many cuts (nine) as he has made.

It's a good thing his Ryder Cup spot gave Riley a two-year tour exemption because otherwise, his earnings of less than $250,000 would have him scrambling to avoid Q-school down the stretch. Remember, this is a guy who finished in the top 30 on the money list in 2002 and 2003, and posted three top-10 showings last year.

Riley said at the Masters that traveling with his wife and baby daughter proved more challenging than he expected. He seemed depressed about his play back then and it's a shame for such a good guy to be scraping like this.

Oh my. Another contender for Whiff of the Year. At least one of the nation's biggest golf magazines joins me in the outhouse.

This prediction looked pretty good in January, when Els went T-3, 2, T-6 in his first three events. The breakout in which Els finally became the best player in the world appeared plausible.

Not so fast, of course, as Els finished 47th at Augusta. He looked to be back on track with a pair of top-10 efforts going into Pinehurst, then finished T-15 at the U.S. Open. Not bad, not great.

Then Els injured his knee playing with his children on his yacht, ending his season.

(I thought that idea deserved its own parapgraph.)

Well ... ummm ... it still could happen, right?

Scott sits 13th on the money list, a year after finishing seventh. He grabbed an unofficial win at the rain-shortened Nissan Open early in the season, but otherwise is still a really good player ... just not a great one.

The story remains the same for the former UNLV standout, who drives the heck out of the ball and hits accurate irons. He isn't putting well. Scott ranks 110th in putting average and 155th in putts per round. Even the slightest improvement with the flat stick could vault Scott forward, as soon as the next month or two.