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

First topic message reminder :

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 Ross Fisher has sadly withdrawn due to an untimely family sickness but he'll hopefully be back for the PGA Championship.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.

Really, maybe you only read the posts about Aussies then because plenty of the cheat stick users get grief, Laird for one for a start. Westwood another when he used one for a while.

kwin critiscised westy

do me a favour

great iron adam

i suppose that was down to the long putter as well

lol

ADAM SCOTT RULES!

All your guys in the top dozen GJ. Nice going!!

Are they gonna make a habit of it or is this just a cameo?

kwin

your guess is as good as mine lol

seriously adam looks a different man

jason needs to tighten up abit

badds did good as well for a change

does adam get in top 10 in rankings now ?

COME ONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

ADAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

GJ,
Don't want to step on princedrac's toes, but I think he'd say about 8th!

Very pleased for Scott. Said last year that he's the most fun golfer I've followed and you could see why today.

Should be exciting in Reno, but Brian Davis off to a slow start. Time to change the channel!

kwin

cheers mate

night

What on earth was Stevie thinking in that interview seriously.

Just wanting to make sure that any bridges are not just burned, but blown up.
A bridge too far?
Only time (or Tiger) will tell.
I get the feeling is in it for one last hurrah with Adam, ride the wave as long as he can, then go home and race his cars.

How will Padraig fare in next week's Tiger circus?

Who knows regarding Harrington hsi driving is probably far too wayward but you never know!

SB,
That'll make it both players whose "driving is probably far too wayward but you never know!"

Full transcript of Stevie's post round interview:
http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-tours-news/blogs/local-knowledge/2011/08/steve-williams-its-the-greatest-week-of-my-life.html

Sounds like semantics as to when and how he was fired. I'd have to lean slightly to Williams' perspective. "... needed to take a break" does actually mean that he was fired over the phone. Tiger and his agent feel that when they met and discussed the details is when the actual firing took place. Sounds like lawyer talk to me. Anyway, happy for both sides that they split up as they were becoming a stale team who'd played one too many. Both will benefit though TW has a tougher climb.

Come on venice,
Time you switched over to ESPN.

I wonder will Tiger answer back at all!? Tiger seems to have been dropped by Tag Heuer!

I am making a call Tiger will win next week I dunno why just a feeling I get!

The inference I get from reports of the rough in Atlanta is that the course may be less forgining of wayward tee shots than Firestone was.
Woods was plum last in driving accuracy this week in 76th place.
Harrington was 70th in driving accuracy.

Of one thing we can be sure: The marshalls will be busy.

Hi kwini,

You got it. I'm glued to the NY/Bos rubber match. It might be a 'must' win for the Skanks if they want to take the division. Bases loaded, no outs... already too much pressure.

Luke and Lee have to be please that their game is peaking at the right moment. Expect much from them this coming week. Yet, wouldn't be surprised if Rors, Jason or Adam were more favored.

I like Adam Scott but due to Steve Wiliiams interview(who ever heard of a caddy being interviewed before the player) I cannot raise a smile at this win. Scotts game has been back on the up since the putter change and a guy I always wanted see win a major. But seriously Stevie needs to go walkabout talking about the win as tho he did all the work and adam just idly wandered around hitting the odd shot has made himself look even more arrogant than we already knew!

Impressed with Fowler this week had a couple good big events lately. Good to see Donald starting to hone in on the pins even though his putting was unusually off. Good last round from LW. Next week though got to fancy someone like J Day superb in this years majors or an outside punt on Badds

Methinks Stevie boy has been around 'group Tiger' for toooo long.

Well said steve he was told to be silent in hsi days with woods

now he can say what he wants as adam wont silence him unlke woods

steve

adam

oh dear,steve williams comfirmed last night what a total plank he is

what a embarassing and cringeworthy interview

the best bit "this is my best win ever"well along them lines

think he should go racing full time so we never have to listen to him again

I didn't see the interview but I've read the transcript above - thanks for that.

Obviously there are some transcription errors (spelling etc) but the actual words used by Williams are beyond belief at times - and it seems he struggles to put more than one word together!

Take the first question and answer...

Q. What does it mean to you?


STEVE WILLIAMS: I think it's always when you go to caddie for another player, it's no different to when you start with a new player. The very most important thing is when you get the first opportunity to have a win is to try and show them that you know what you're doing. It's easier said than done.

Easier said than done? He can't even say it in literate English!

Its hard to like Williams thats for sure, but as a guy who is used to being a "winner"he has had a tough last month so its pretty obvious that he was emotional last night in the interview.
For once I'd be inclined to cut him some slack, though by and large Id be quite happy never to hear an interview with any caddy ever again, its bad enough having to listen to what the players have to say.

Great victory for Adam and well done to him. I hope when he comes back down to earth he has a word with his employee and reminds him who is boss! Williams would have came off a lot better if he just said how well his guy played, how pleased he was for him and left it at that.

Disappointed for Laird. He was one of the few who scored consistently good over the first 3 rounds and I was expecting the same again on Sunday. He was only (only!) married last week so it was a good performance and a great warm up for next week. Good jump from 17th to 14th in the FedEx too. And Knox staying at 7th on the Nationwide Money list. Do the top 25 receive a PGA tour card or is it entry to the Q School finals?

Adam Scott was brilliant this week and hopefully nothing his subordinate might say will take the gloss of a great win. One would trust that his caddie's outburst will not reflect negatively on Scott but perhaps unwanted attention will now be coming his way. Too bad.

As well as Donald, McIlroy and Westwood, Martin Kaymer also played well, on Sunday at least, good to see the best Europeans in good nick going in to Atlanta.

Lairdy,
Russell Knox is in pretty good shape; yes, top 25 receive their card, and you'd think all he has to be concerned about now is his ranking position going in to next year's early tournaments. Another good week for The Laird (shame about Sunday though), he's pretty close to assuring himself of qualifying for all the FedEx events.

Much more interesting this year than usual to see who'll qualify for the FedEx Play-Offs, and especially who won't.
With just two qualifying tournaments to play, and the Top 125 making it to The Barclays, these guys are on the bubble, or way outside:
125: Villegas
126: Els
129: Woods (He's already said he won't play Greensboro in ten days)
130: Harrington
135: Clark
136: Ames
142: Leonard
145: Oosthuizen
147: Casey
150: Cabrera

I'm sure FedEx would have expected most of this lot to be playing but injury (Clark), disinterest (Woods, Casey, Oosthuizen) and stunning loss of form potentially denies them some big box-office attractions.

Why would Woods not play Greensboro?? Mind-boggling...............
And will he be exempt for his own tournament - Chevron, if things don't improve fast??

Would playing Greensboro make it three weeks in a row for him, that wouldn't be very clever considering he is just coming back from a major injury time out.
I'd imagine the only thing he cares about for the rest of 2011 is the final major and playing select events to get ready for next year. Im sure he will still pick up plenty of invites.

John,
He's said "family commitments" prevent him playing Greensboro. Perhaps he'a agreed a schedule with Elin to conform to child custody requirements and he never thought it would come down to this.

I think he'll receive a sponsor's invite to the Chevron!!

Digs,
Apparently he very nearly came back at The Greenbrier but was dissuaded by his doctor.
He's only ever played "select events". He's selected them though! Hoist by his own petard one would think now though.

A normal Woods "schedule" was approx 16 events a year compared to a "normal" players's 27/28. Surely that will have to change of he will find himself out of the top 50 in the world very quickly.................

I honestly cant believe for one senond he is overly worried about where or how often he plays right now. Main thing is obviously to get healthy and playing well. If that happens and the form he will expect to have to want to continue playing comes back then everything else will take care of itself.

That may be Diggers, but there has been lots of speculation recently that Tiger is not quite so flush with readies as we might imagine and that he's been advised to ratchet up his golf career (and hence his marketing profile) as quickly as physically possible.

Obviously golf winnings are petty cash but the motherlode of sponsorship ducats is dwindling; as sirbenson reported a few comments back, Tag Hueur is just the latest to ditch him as a spokesman.

Just my reading between the lines, but perhaps his apparent willingness to add The Greenbrier to his playing schedule is indicative of that?

Regardless, there's nothing that a few wins can't fix but there's every possibilty that it'll be his Chevron tournament before he's favourite for any event he plays, probably about 50/50 whether he even reaches the FedEx Play-Offs, longer odds as to his chances of reaching the Deutsche Bank.

If he needs to prolong his career then Id imagine playing less rather than more right now is a sensible move, depending of course on just how fit he is. Would any other players scheduling be under this kind of scrutiny if he was coming back from a serious lay off? I doubt it somehow.
If Woods wants the sponsors back then he needs redemption, at least sporting redemption and that will only come if he starts winning majors again. You get forgiven an awful lot when you are winning especially if you are deemed to have overcome significant hurdles to get back to the top.
Woods wins a major and the sponsors will come back, playing 4 events in a row averagely and then breaking down wont help him in any way shape of form.

Christ Kwini...if Tiger is not quite so flush with readies they must have been well expensive hookers!...

BlueCoverman wrote:Christ Kwini...if Tiger is not quite so flush with readies they must have been well expensive hookers!...

Yep! He's top of PGA Tour career earnings with the modest sum of $95million, which doesn't include everything he's won in non-tour events. And as Kwini says, the real cash is in sponsorship rather than prizemoney. No doubt Elin found a good lawyer for the divorce settlement, but even then I'd take that story with a pinch of salt...

Good stats for anyone on Nationwide-watch, Knox finishing the week top of both fairways hit and greens in regulation, at 85.7% and 91.7% respectively. That's not bad going... and he only needs $15k more in earnings this season to pass the mark of last year's 25th grad, Justin Hicks, with 11 tournaments still to go.

Just read that Harrington seems to have made some sort of agreement with Pete Cowen for coaching, but will start only after the USPGA... Means those following Padraig&Tiger group on Thu&Fri are still advised to wear helmets...

Ned,
The real fortune for Tiger is in the PGA Tour's pension fund which was once speculated to make him a $billionaire, assuming average (for him) Tour earnings. The miracle of compounding and all that.
I think he can start tapping that fund sometime in his forties, but he evidently has a ton of debt right now and cashflow is apparently not what he might have hoped for.
(Didn't stop him sculpting that practice facility at his mansion however, but assume there's no smoke without some flames, if not a full-blown fire.)

In the meantime, how's he going to pay the baby-sitter?

Imagiane how hard it would be to coach Harrington!!
I think we may see him play left handed soon!!............

Kwini

I get that tigers cash flow for 2011 may be a little down and he may have lost a chink to Elin, but come on. He could probably access a $500 million minimum tommorow if he wanted to.

Mac,
This all stemmed from an article in one of the financial magazines, Forbes, Fortune, one of them, and there's speculation that he has a lot of creditors, and that Elin and the Cubs have a larger share coming to them than we might have assumed. Normal rules perhaps not applying.

I'd assume you're right but I also don't doubt the quicker he starts re-establishing himself as a marketing force the better.

Well it would not surprise to hear he had not invested as wisely as he should of done but I cannot imagine he is anywhere near struggling. He does not seem to do for the extravagant and seems to have entered little if no business ventures, very much reducing his risk of loss. We know he bought a rather large bought and house but even they wouldn't dent his wallet.

He might not be as rich as he should have been but he could quit tomorrow and still probably make it to a billion dollars over the rest of his life. We are yet to see the blockbuster, book, TV show, Architecture Company (proper), punditry, club brand, second book etc.

There is a lot of money to be made from the Tiger brand yet.

princedracula wrote:Just read that Harrington seems to have made some sort of agreement with Pete Cowen for coaching, but will start only after the USPGA... Means those following Padraig&Tiger group on Thu&Fri are still advised to wear helmets...

With the crowds that follow Tiger Woods - driving for him is like going to the bowling alley and using the 'bumpers'.

I see GC says that Rory made it official today on their channel that he'll join the PGA Tour in 2012. Good luck to him, hopefully it will all work out well. I wonder how much Chubby got from Tim for this...?

A good day for Rory to announce it, what with the caddie shack and Tiger topics overshadowing anything but cursory scrutiny of Rory's motivations.

But the Tour will build him up, and the press will take him down the first opportunity they get. I hope Rory's ready for it, but I'm not sure he's shown he is (which would be quite understandable).