PGA Tour: WGC Bridgestone / Reno-Tahoe: Notes from the Ballwasher

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1).Scott Stallings, Who'd've thunk it? Nine months ago he was a struggling Nationwide Tour pro, 53rd on their moneylist and with nothing more than an exemption to the 2011 Nationwide Tour to look forward to. But an 11th place Q-School finish earned him a 2011 PGA Tour card where he promptly missed his first five cuts and was destined for a bottom placing in the Tour "reshuffle". But his Tour "mentor", Kenny Perry, secured him an invite into the Transitions Championship where he finished third, and the rest is history.

2).And what about Bob Estes, RoboPro of the 1990's, one of the slowest players on Tour and, even in the eyes of an otherwise complimentary pgatour.com article, a Tour "plodder"? A four-time Tour winner but with ZERO FedEx Cup points earned so far this season, Estes was in danger of losing his card. His 2012 remains uncertain, but at least he now has a lifeline.

3).While Bill Haas can look at another opportunity lost as he misses out in his second play-off this year. (Liked the fact that Estes's caddie come up to Haas at the play-off and told Billy he had caddied for his Dad!) Consolation for Haas is that he leap-frogged over Furyk, Toms and Van Pelt into 8th place in the Presidents Cup qualifying rankings, the top ten qualifying and Messrs Fowler and Woods well adrift.

4).Two events this week on the PGA Tour headlined by the "WGC Bridgestone Invitational", not that it's an invitational at all. Ross Fisher has sadly withdrawn due to an untimely family sickness but he'll hopefully be back for the PGA Championship. And Charlie Hoffman has a stomach problem (it's size?) and has yet to travel to Akron and Firestone Country Club.

5).The Firestone South Course has been stretched to 7,400 yards with Bert Way and Robert Trent Jones responsible for one of the Tour's most boring looking venues. Tiger Woods famously has won here seven times and he'll be trying (presumably) for number eight with childhood chum Bryon Bell on his bag. Bell is widely assumed to be one of the Tiger insiders facilitating the supply of waitresses to his mate's door, so suffice it to say he would not be caddying if Elin was still around. Rumours abound that Woods's new full-time caddie may be Brett Waldman, Camilo's caddie of years gone by and now most of his way through a disappointing Nationwide season; he's played 13 events so far, but with only $1,600+ in earnings you know he needs a proper job.

6).On the subject of golfing caddies, kudos here to Damon Green, Zach Johnson's bagman. After qualifying for the British Senior Open and making the 36-hole cut, Green outdid himself by finishing 13th and pocketing $52K at last week's US Senior Open; god knows he'll be working for Zach this week and next however.

7).And on the subject of the US Senior Open, winner Olin Browne became the fifth golfer to win on all three PGA Tour-sponsored Tours: Nationwide, PGA and Champions Tours, following Fergus, Hallberg, Lehman and Streck.

8).Dear George O'Grady,
If you want some good ideas for filling out your European Tour fields during late August and early September during FedEx Play-Off season, here are 15 ideas:
Messrs: Curtis, Cejka, Harrington, Clark, Els, Ames, Woods, Leonard, Cabrera, Oosthuizen, Casey, Weekley, Duval, Stenson and Daly.
Unless these guys have great results the next three tournaments, they'll be unemployed for five weeks as all are in positions lower than 125th in FedEx points, the threshhold necessary to qualify for event number one, The Barclays.

9).While the golfing galacticos are at Firestone, there's a perfectly good "opposite field" event in Nevada, at Jack Nicklaus's Montreux G&CC, as visually gorgeous as Firestone is unappealing. Brian Davis is the only Briton on hand but this has been a happy hunting ground for him, two top tens and $350K in three appearances, as he prepares for PGA Championship. (He's officially been added to the field, Jamie Donaldson too, but no Robert Rock, which is unfortunate.)

10).Lastly, the Nationwide Tour will be in Nebraska and Team GB's gang of four, Christian, Knox, Owen and Richardson will be hoping for a good result with one of the richer purses up for grabs. Especially as they were shut out last week in Utah (Knox and Owen didn't play) where Swedes Blixt and Lingmerth both enjoyed good results and paydays.

LAIRD -5 now!!!!

Come on The Laird, 16th last year, so let's hope for better this.


pd,
Turf toe is the US term for an injury usually experienced by sportspeople who play a lot on astro-turf and its successors. Not sure why Casey would have it unless he's got plastic carpets.

Even the most ardent anti tiger types on here must have loved the last shot tiger just hit. Those are what nights watching golf are all about, being entertained by a great player.


Kwini

Dont tell me about astro turf injury, I could barely walk after about 10 mins on the stuff earlier.

Thanks kwini, didn't heard that term before. Can he get something like that from mountain biking? I know he does a lot of that...

Come on GJ, where are you... #1 and #2, what more do you want!?

...didn't hear...

Mac,
Been hoovering again?

Classic Tiger birdie; should have been fifty yards right of fairway, miracle recovery, terrible wedge, miracle putt. Situation normal!

Darren looks like he wishes there was a cut.

Not great from Clarke but we might have to get used to the idea that his open win was potentially an apparition in the later stages of his career. Although I would have thought he would be happy to be back on a course where he has won before.

On a different note, my 1st football coupon win of the season in my 1st coupon of the new season. Great start, £75 return!!

I've really enjoyed Woods' round. Happy to see I was completely wrong in my suspicion he was finished. Plenty of ground for him to make up yet, though.

A pretty good round by Tiger all things considered... specially impressed with his putting today and his general confidence level after such a long break.

But having said that, looks like it's 1 up to Stevie Williams after today. Scott has been relentless... 8-under!!!

The golf has been terrific tonight, I've really enjoyed the coverage. Great to see Scott go so low. There's a lot still to come the next three days, could prove to be a great event this one.

Was nice to see most of Harrington's round althought why I am not quite sure...but from tee to green was shockingly poor.

Great to see Tiger play well on return.

Hi kwini,

It seems like just yesterday that you were spelling the woes of Oz golf in your earlier weekly columns.

COME ONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

what a day

There you are!! Very well done

GJ,
Who rattled your cage? Impressive effort from your boys.
I think Adam Scott and Stevie will make a good team; or, if Adam doesn't meet Stevie's expectations the player will be dumped.


Indeed venice, spot on! But I DID pick Mr.Scott this week!

What did everyone think of Tiger's physique?
He looked a little slimmer to me, not the bulging biceps that have concerned Johnny Miller (and Bill Plaschke!), slimmer in the body too. You'd think that would help him with his legs and ankles.
But what about those brothel-creeping shoes? Not sure about them.

[I think Adam Scott and Stevie will make a good team; or, if Adam doesn't meet Stevie's expectations the player will be dumped.]

One has to wonder if Stevie is that good. Adam's -8 doesn't register as a coincidence. Would be good for the game if those 2 can string along at least a 5 year run with a minimum of 2 victories per year and 2 majors.

Watching the golf from Reno Tahoe. So good to watch Olazabal - for as much as there are players in their 20's and 30's who are great to follow, Olazabal beats most of them, perhaps all.

In the Nebraska Nationwide, Russell Knox enjoyed another fine round. Seven under par with a 64, and tied for 4th going into Round 2.
Mixed bag from Richardson (-2 after 16 holes), Owen (Even) and Christian (+1). All need to improve or they'll be toast for the weekend.

Kwin- Thanks for the write up once again. Great stuff.

Adirondack weather off the charts good. Inlet twice, Thendara once; what is it with the narrow back 9's on these ADK gems? ... good chance I'll be at Newport sometime next week, but it may be Seven Oaks. (Rumor mill tells me that Pete is working on a new tee box on #12 ... why I'm not sure!)

One round does not a tournament make (as I witnessed from Mr. Scott at Aronimink), but still a fine start.

Also a MUCH better start from Tiger than I envisioned. Long layoff, hardly tournament tough, but he put in a good day's work.

Very strange coverage from Sky last night - Woods and Clarke (was to be expected) but why concentrate on Harrington and Rose???? They appeared to be playing with no spectators around them so no-one else was interested! Not surprised, they were playing c**p but we still had to watch them.

Amazing to see such a change in Steve Williams - he and Adam seemed really animated and Stevie was actually smiling and chatting. Seems the Tiger snarl was catching.

'Morning Shotrock,
Thanks.
Yup, we get pretty much the same weather in the CV, another beauty today! Pete's been fiddling around with a tee box round to the left, and forward, of the traditional 12th tee for a couple of years. Pity he doesn't bite the bullet and blow up 11 and make 12 a par five. Either way I don't want him to fiddle with the cemetary - my family have strict instructions!

Golf yesterday was the usual Tiger-centric stuff from the Golf Channel, but compelling none the less. Tiger looked fit to me, perhaps not super tournament-fit but, as I speculated above, perhaps a little slimmer than the bulked-up model we've seen for the past few years.
Some good chips and putts suggest he's been working on his short game regardless of whatever else he has or hasn't done. A good round early today will put the heebie-jeebies up many in the field, but Day won't care and Williams will keep Scott focussed.

Warmer in Akron today, chance of afternoon showers; let's hope the course firms up a bit, everyone was saying Thursday how soft it was.

And time for Europe to make a statement, the firm of Bjorn, Laird and Larrazabal a very improbable advance team for our assault on Firestone.


Hi LP,
The coverage of Harrington and Rose was all Sky's work, Golf Channel never showed a shot from either as I remember. A single putt from Martin Laird and Casey, a pitch from Fredie Jac and Darren Clarke's routine was all we got from Europe, nothing of the Pablo tableux, even though he was putting together a super score.

Kwini, we never got much of Laird or Pablo either... Know what you mean about Day. Love his confidence! Hopefully get to see loads of him and Phil tonight along with some Sergio. Your guy Bobby Karlsson, under the radar yet again, going nicely too.

Tiger definetly not as big as he was. 2 things can slow down his progress this week - his putter or his tempo. He said he is compressing the ball much better and he's not even hitting it hard yet. Well, he risks ruining the rhythm he's found if he wants to hit it harder, which you can bet he does.

The cameras were on Harrington because of his split/break with Bob Torrance plus it wasnt that long ago Woods and Harrington were mano-a-mano on the Sunday back 9 at Firestone. I thought it was good to see someone hit it all over the place yet scramble in just over par. Same for Rose. Harrington could just do with forgetting all mechanics. Its all very obvious but I'm sure if he just guaranteed himself a shot to the green from the tee his scrambling and putting is good enough to make life more comfortable. I'm sure he must have some sort of safety shot he could use from the tee. I was interested in strapping he had around his right elbow... protecting an injury or some swing biomechanic nonsense??

I think Padraig is 'enjoying' already the freedom of not naving Bob around when he's practicing. According to these photos from last night at Firestone, it's been almost like a competition between Podge and DC, who will be last man standing practicing on the range...

http://irishgolfdesk.tumblr.com/post/8490927987/who-do-you-think-won-last-man-standing-padraig-or

And the winner was...
http://irishgolfdesk.tumblr.com/post/8491332367/yes-it-was-padraig-taken-with-instagram-at

It would be interesting (or painful) to see the result of that in today's round...

Do we know if Harrington actually has a diagnosed mental illness? The commentators talk of him being troubled, complex, complicated and no doubt many more clichés. He seems a very odd character but this should not be ignored if he is actually mental. The walk and tongue dangle do not help dispel the myths.

Whatever else he does this week, Tiger has given the PGA Tour some reason for optimism that he will qualify for the FedEx Cup Play-Offs. A top ten finish this week, and a made cut at the PGA, would probably be enough to squeeze Tiger in, at least for The Barclays. After that, he'll need top finishes every week to progress.
But other "bubble boys" like Casey, Oosthuizen and Els still have ground to make up, while Harrington, Goosen, Appleby and even Poulter are still by no means certain of qualification.

pd,
I was going to make a comment on Harrington's mental health but thought better of it, then clicked send instead of golf! Perhaps I'm the one who needs help!

kwinigolfer wrote:

Agreed kwini

Afternoon (or Morning to you) kwini / guys

Was actually good to see Woods back on the course, and he played pretty nicely considering his lack of match fitness. Although Ewan Murray's constant drooling over him was annoying!

Interesting to see Adam Scott leading, a wry smile on the face of Monsier Williams no doubt!

kwinigolfer wrote: I was going to make a comment on Harrington's mental health but thought better of it, then clicked send instead of golf! Perhaps I'm the one who needs help!

That second picture could well provide an answer to Mac's querry...
http://instagr.am/p/JWtQQ/

Perhaps we can have a mini caption competion for this...

Ronan kneeling beside Podge:
"For the 25,398th time, I'm begging you Paddy, let this be the last one, I'm dying for some sleep...!"

Afternoon gw,
Yup, Woods certainly energises the TV coverage, though the constant analysis of every shot is more than extremely annoying. General tone of the US commentators (and Faldo) seemed to be, "So far so good. Let's see what Tiger does under real competitive pressure, especially his putting". But I thought his short game looked very solid yesterday.


Elsewhere, a Champions Tour event in Minnesota starts today, Brad Faxon batting lead-off in his first Champo Tournament. No cuts on the PGA Tour this year, but his putting will save him with the older guys.

And Russell Knox (5th) and Matt Richardson (56th) start Round 2 of their Nationwide event inside the cut-line, Christian and Owen a few shots adrift.

Here's the leaderboard for the euro qualfier for the World Cup if anyone's interested...

leaderboard

Top 3 qualify and would think the Dutch, Austrians and the Chileans are the favourites.

Thanks Lairdy, Aguilar and Tullo need to get going though. Good to see Luiten playing, hope they win it, as well they should.

When did Chile become part of europe?

Damn, I am very sad to have missed some of guard comments from Kwini. I wonder what he said about the poc?

Mac,
"guard comments"? "poc"??

Ignore, tried to type inbetween some real work and it made no sense.


I was just curious what you had said about Pod and why you would not have said it. Must have been very cruel or something, which of course I like.

Mac,
I just decided that my attempt at being funny was inappropriately unfunny instead. Even though I am not working "it made no sense".

Fair enough, my attempts at humour on here often sink without trace or ever worse they seem to attract we some enmity.

Anyhow what time does tiger tee off today? Would it be worth changing a dinner date to take away should I wish to see some of his round? Hell if SR see's that comment he will think I have gone utterly mad.

I agree that it would be good to see the course fast and firm but with the rough the way it is, ie very long and thick, it could ruin the spectacle. It seems some events just cannot ditch the idea that we need hellish rough and target golf. Some of the majors are starting to explore what fast and firm, width and sensible green speeds can offer but sadly this is not translating to bog standard events.

Early birds for Hanson and Woodland...
Europeans need to make amends today for the rather poor showing yesterday. Not one of the best starts from team Europe on the PGA Tour in the last period...

Mac,
Tiger off in half an hour, 9.50 a.m. Akron time. Haven't seen s_r recently, perhaps he's in Ohio, following Mr.Woods?

As for rough on golfcourses, it is an interesting hypotheseis by some US commentators that the European run of success at Augusta National was halted when the Masters Committee decided to grow rough; the theory was that American golfers control their ball better from the rough whereas European golfers are more adept at playing the ball along the ground! (But, of course, that doesn't account for Masters wins by Weir, Cabrera, Trev and Louis etc!!)

Regardless, Peter Hanson setting 'em alight this morning and good start also from Freddie Jac.

The US players are better at controlling chips etc. from greenside rough if not the full shots from fairway rough as well. We've discussed this before but its probably worth mentioning again this week given the course.

My course has recently grew the greenside rough and its caught a lot of people out. I've since been practicing these shots and about half the battle is reading the lie.

Or indeed for the run of US success at the open where those more proficient at the ground game should prosper. So either the Americans used to be good at both or generalizing playing characteristics by nations is flawed. For example mcilroy should be good on links because he grew up in NI whereas Rickie Fowler should like target golf because he grew up in the US.

Although players who could control it out the rough must have had the advantage of that skill diminished as club and groove technology developed. Although rained in a little most players can still stop the ball on the green out the thick stuff these days.

Should be able to watch some tiger after work then, good stuff.

Lairdy,
I agree with that although I feel the suggestion that the lack of fairway rough gave Europe an advantage was pretty far-fetched.

But I DO hope Firestone shows some teeth today, guys were able to stop the ball on a sixpence from most lies in the rough yesterday and that makes for no incentive to drive the ball atraight.

The Laird misses a couple of good birdie chances today, then holes a 30-footer! Solid start all round for Europe.

Mac,
Agreed, thoroughly bogus.

I see that Colsaerts has withdrawn from the PGA Championship leaving Trahan as first alternate.

That scooter accident in Sandwich must have been worse than originally publicised? He's now missed a WGC and two Majors as a result. Which is a shame.

Morning kwini,

Very early in the day but the guys are eating the course up as an appetizer so far. Of course led by the Swedes, Freddy Jac and Peter Hanson. Heath Slocum also currently -3 but his name doesn't sound Swedish to me. If they do get some rain later in the day, Firestone will be a sitting duck.

In a quieter corner of the golf world, the Dutch team of Joost Luiten and Robert-Jan Derksen are tied for the lead with the world renowned Austrian team of Roland Steiner and Florian Praegant after 2 rounds of the Omega Mission Hills World Cup European Qualifier in Estonia as reported by the Challenge Tour site.
"...the top three finishers in Estonia qualifying for the Omega Mission Hills World Cup in China in November..."

1. Netherlands (Joost LUITEN/Robert-Jan DERKSEN) - 62, 74 (-8)

1. Austria (Roland STEINER/Florian PRAEGANT) - 63, 73 (-8)

3. Slovenia (Sebastjan AJSTER/Gregor SLABE) - 64, 74 (-6)

The rest of the chasers:
Switzerland, Chile, Greece, Portugal, Finland, Poland, Croatia and Estonia.

On the range until hours last night hasn't done the trick one over on two of the easiest holes. Being a Harrington fan is difficult atm!

ralphjohn69 wrote:When did Chile become part of europe?

Anyone found/got the answer to this? Is it purely to do with what tour the chosen representitives for said country play their golf?

Nicolas Colsaerts and Tam Levet must be kicking themselves at the lost money and the lost ranking points they could have got from both the Open and this week. Self inflicted injuries from moments of madness.

Woods off to a poor start this is the Woods that is becoming too familiar (I know his first tournament in three months)!

Harrington hits a fairway,followed by a gir,followed by a putt....Miracles do happen!

Hi rj69 and Lairdy,

Research shows that Diego de Almagro, the conquistador from Spain, first visited Chile in the 1530's. I suppose he and his soldiers, slaves and native South American servants planted a few flags in the ground believing there was gold aplenty in "dem hills."

This from the wiki folk:
"Without wasting time and dismayed, Almagro initiated his plans of return to Peru on September of 1536. He never officially founded a city in the territory of what is now present Chile.
The withdrawal of the Spanish from valleys of Chile was violent: Almagro authorized his soldiers to ransack the natives' properties, leaving their soil desolate; there was not one Spaniard that did not spare a native for his service. The locals were captured, tied and forced to carry the belongings of the conquistadors without compassion."

It is a stretch of the imagination from here, but perhaps this was the genus of the seed the Chileans planted to one day seek revenge on the European devils by one day infusing themselves in the thick of European golf as the Brazilians and Argentinians had already secured and declared their anger by promising to apply themselves in the world of football.

The rest, they say, is history.

EmmDee,
Your Hanson interest looking pretty good right now . . . . (Don't think Levet was qualified for next week, hopefully he'll be back playing again soon.)

Hi venice,
Yanks at Fenway tonight, hopefully they'll have won ten in a row come Sunday night.


Some surprising names doing poorly, none more so to me than KJ Choi. Equally surprising is Slocum playing well after a season full of futility, only three top 25's in 21 efforts.
Sorry to see Kaymer in reverse.

But Russell Knox going like a train, four under for his first nine Nationwide holes and tied for the lead.