McDowell 50-50: Graeme McDowell has lost all interest in fast cars. Three Sundays ago, having returned from the TPC of Europe in Germany, he was the back-seat passenger in a Porsche that spun at a roundabout in Manchester and hit a tree, leaving the 25-year-old with a spinal whiplash injury that puts a question mark over his participation here.
"My short-term goal is to tee it up this week in the PGA and next week in the NEC," said McDowell, who has been having physiotherapy and taking anti-inflammatory tablets since the accident.
Since he arrived in New Jersey, McDowell has been treated by Dale Richardson, the physical therapist to Padraig Harrington, and he estimates his chances of playing are "50-50".
McDowell hasn't played in two-and-a-half weeks since the accident and has limited himself to hitting some shots on the range, some putting on the practice greens and walking a few holes on the course.
"I didn't realise how badly I damaged myself," he admitted yesterday after a further session with Richardson, "and I thought it was something that would clear up.
"It makes you appreciate your health. It's a case of fingers crossed. I'd been having physio for the past couple of weeks, but he'd been going down the wrong lines. I've been with Dale this week and he seems very tuned in to what is going on. It's all affecting my lower diaphragm, but it is all coming from my spine."
McDowell will have further treatment ahead of his scheduled start - he is due to play alongside Rory Sabbatini and Brad Faxon, teeing off at 6.20pm, Irish time - before making a final decision on his participation.
Cashing in on Ashes
Lee Westwood and Darren Clarke were so keen to keep an eye on the Ashes Test match between England (with their friend, Freddie Flintoff) and Australia that they offered to set up a satellite dish on the house they're renting near the course. Not surprisingly, their offer of installing a free dish for the owner was accepted.
Superstitious talk
Not all golfers are superstitious, but a lot of them are. Tiger Woods, for one, wears a red shirt on the final day of a tournament. Others, though, have less obvious quirks. Chris DiMarco insists on putting five tees into his pocket before he starts a round. "If one breaks, I just put another one in," he explained, while Stewart Cink religiously uses one of the old plastic ball-markers - "You know the ones, with the little nub on them," he said - and Fredrik Jacobson uses the same coin as a ball marker all the time.
Hal Sutton and David Toms have the same superstition, which is not to use a number two ball.
"It seemed like, when things went wrong, I always had a number two," said Sutton, while Toms remarked: "I've no idea how it came about. Bad luck starting with a two, I guess."
Kiwi spotting
Mistaken identity? Michael Campbell's new familiarity here after his US Open win at least spares him the embarrassment of being confused with a host of other players. "People know me now. In the past, I've been called Vijay Singh, Chad Campbell, Stephen Ames and Omar Uresti," said the New Zealander.
Minding Monty
During practice ahead of the main event, Colin Montgomerie has been erring on the side of caution so as not to aggravate the hand injury that threatened his participation here. The Scot sustained the ligament damage on the middle finger of his right hand in last week's Johnnie Walker Classic at Gleneagles, when he attempted to play a driver "off the deck", as he put it. The ball flew into heavy rough and he then suffered further pain playing the recovery shot.
"My doctor advised me to rest, which is the only treatment for it, but you can't tell a sportsman to rest," said Monty, who nevertheless has avoided playing shots from the rough in the build-up to the season's final major. Whenever he has hit an errant ball into the rough, he has simply asked a marshal to throw it back out to him.
