PGA Tour: Notes from the Ballwasher: PGA Championship

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1).Great Scott! If Adam Scott is as genuine (and dryly funny) a guy as he seems with his interaction with galleries following him, then his wonderful win at Firestone couldn't have happened to a better man. Pity his sherpa violated one of the cardinal rules of caddying: Turn up, Keep up, Shut up. And let that be a lesson to CBS!

2).Is that the first important golf tournament in which FIVE of the leading eight finishers were 25 years old or less? I certainly can't think of any Tour event with such great performances by the young ones. Ryo Ishikawa has now earned enough money in PGA Tour events this year to qualify for 2012 PGA Tour Membership; signs are he'll take up his option, and good for him; I'd pretty much written him off!

3).And on that subject, sort of, Tim Rosaforte (leading American Golf Writer much infatuated with himself) reported in my just-received September Golf Digest a recent radio call-in conversation in which Rory McIlroy had said he's sticking with the European Tour:
"It's tough to play both Tours. I'd like to play a little more in the States, but it's just tough with everything else that's going on around the world." He's a fickle lad, that Rory; I think we're going to have to get used to it.

4).The other side of the coin is Dustin Johnson's suggestion that he's thinking about European Tour membership as his arithmetic tells him he just has thre more events to play to qualify. Not sure he's got that quite right, but interesting nevertheless.

5).Tiger Woods played at Firestone, finished 37th looking good with some aspects of his game (decent irons, putting not too bad compared to his recent-ish efforts) but dead last in driving accuracy and close to last in sand saves (one up and down out of six). He needs to improve both if he's to make the cut at the PGA Championship, let alone contend.
Tiger probably needs to finish inside the Top 20 to qualify for the 125-strong field for the first FedEx Play-Offs event, Ernie Els too, as they've both said they won't be playing Greensboro, the final tournament for earning points towards Play-Off eligibility. (Harrington, Casey, Cabrera, Oosthuizen and others also currently outside the top 125.)

6).Fair to say, I think, that Adam Scott is now clearly the leading Australian despite Jason Day's promise. And watching Steve Elkington playing at Reno makes one think of the other Aussies. The post-Elk generation of Allenby, Appleby, Green, Hensby, O'Hern, Pampling, Senden seems to have peaked and it wouldn't be surprising if none won again on Tour.
Adam Scott and Aaron Baddeley are both having fine seasons, Jason Day seems to contend in every big tournament and Geoff Ogilvy continues to be an uber-talented wildcard. Goggin will be back on Tour next year (as in all likelihood Nathan Green is relegated to the Nationwide), Leishman plugs along but Michael Sim has disappeared. And what of any young Aussies coming up behind Jason Day? Not seen nuffink yet, guv.

7).On to Hotlanta, and the second leg of the Georgia Majors, another Bobby Jones inspired venue, Atlanta Athletic Club's Highland Course. The original design was nine holes by Robert Trent Jones and nine by Joe Finger. Then Rees Jones was called in to upgrade it. And then Rees Jones was called in to upgrade it again. "Longer is better" is the Jones mantra, so we have a par 70, 7,467 yard course with a 260 yard par three and two 500+ yard par 4's. That includes the 507 yard 18th, scene of one of the more famous lay-ups in PGA Championship history when David Toms laid up from the rough and got up and down from 120 yards to beat Phil in 2001.

8).It's going to be hot and probably steamy in Atlanta with temps around 90F and a good chance of thundershowers during the week. Bermuda greens were introduced by Jones and they're expected to be receptive to shots from the fairway, but certainly not the rough (we'll see about that). And they're advertised as fast, but not especially grainy which will be good news to those from Europe.

9).One would think guys from the south-east will prosper here, Kuchar, 2xJohnsons, Love, Simpson, Snedeker, Toms, Cink, Bubba, Haas, Glover, HowellIII etc, but it looks wide open to me. Home-course advantage will not help 1981 Champion Larry Nelson or, indeed, 1976 US Open Champion, Jerry Pate.

10).And while all this is going on, our Nationwide friends will be in Missouri, Russell Knox easing closer by the week to a 2012 Tour card.

10A).In the interests of a well-balanced sporting life, I shall be hoping to watch Andy Murray on Thursday at the Montreal Masters so will be awol for a couple of days.

10B).What's that? Murray beaten already?? He must have thought tennis was like WGC Golf where the likes of Stuart Appleby can sleepwalk to $35K just for coming last. Regardless, I'm sure Plan B will be enjoyable.

We've seen quite a lot of Luke's round today in fairness, and saw most of Lee's yesterday too, hence my Kaymer comment, who we saw all of two shots of. Take it the American networks aren't being so generous then? Either way, the shot-by-shot of a guy missing the cut by a mile is ridiculous, except for those who watch motor racing for the crashes.

Funny looking leaderboard, very American heavy but relatively few of those are guys you can see winning it. Furyk - has he turned it round that suddenly? Stricker - can he cope with the tension? Verplank, Bradley, Dufner, Points, Jobe - surely not...
Sounds a funny thing to say with so many ahead of him, but I fancy Westwood this weekend...

That'll buy a lot of pasta and vino for the weekend, kwini.

TW's last splash shot was an appropriate way to end the 2 day affair. Too many doubles will not sit well with him.

Bjorn and Casey playing the cliffhanger game.

Apart from Stricker I can't see any of the top ten winning. Reckon the -2's and worse are in business.

Brilliant shot into 18 from the bunker by Paul Casey. Good for him.

And excellent 68 from Poulter, nice 69 from the Fish.

Sky are doing all European viewers a series of very big favours because coverage this afternoon in the States of European players has been a disgrace. All very well the US press saying Donald and Westwood don't attract viewers but they never will if they receive no coverage. Pathetic.

Couldn't agree more about the coverage. This is supposed to be a major championship and the balance of time for the main players and those near the top should reflect that. Lord knows they have dozens of cameras around to provide us with coverage of the groups or players no matter where they are on the course. Jingoism at its finest.

Too busy enjoying the outdoors to watch golf today, but what a tumultuous day.

Tiger's missed cut not a surprise, but Kaymer and McDowell surprised me.

As I've mentioned before, you'll have more luck yelling at a billboard to change its message than getting the US networks to change the way they cover a tournament that Woods is in these days. It's a profit thing ... this shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. I would certainly not call it jingoism, rather finance.

Westwood or Donald were my picks on Wednesday. Lee obviously better positioned as I type this but, can he take the pressure and finally finish the job?
My hunch goes to Donald.

So Woods confirms he won't be playing again on the PGA Tour this year with his next event likely to be in Australia. Fred Couples has assured him of a Presidents Cup pick which seems an insult to more worthy candidates. Not sure, for instance, how Couples would handle his Vice Captain if Bill Haas finishes 11th in qualifying and doesn't get selected.

Meanwhile, it's too bad he doesn't at least play Las Vegas and Disney as he won both early in his career, Vegas his first ever win. Time to give back to some of these tournaments Tiger.

And I have a bone to pick with all the nonsense about Woods missing out because he's not been fit. He's missing out because he didn't play earlier in the season when he was healthy, hoist by his own petard.

I am sure when a European wins 14 majors and still has a glimmer of hope in catching ing Jack (or maybe tigers) record the US networks will show us them missing the cut.

Hi Shotrock,
Would actually think anyone who made the cut has some sort of a chance; one of the early starters, Casey perhaps?, comes in with a Stricker-like 63 and they'll be in the shake-up come Sunday.

Hope the Adirondack air and water, if not the fairways and greens, are treating you well.

Kwini

He has missed out because his swing is a mess and he cant hit a cows backside with a banjo. If he had half his former skills he would have scrapped in one way or another. I am still a huge fan but seeing him this week has me very worried about his future.

Mac,
I get, somewhat, showing Tiger, but some of the other coverage, or lack of it, has been a disgrace.

And, he's missing out because he's not getting competition, just unable to take his swing from the range to the course. And he compounds it by trying to hit vintage Tiger shots from positions where the new Tiger should be laying up, playing a little more percentage golf. He's turning pars into bogeys, bogeys into doubles. And it adds up, almost like compound interest!

Mac - If a European or Chilean were to help that network improve ratings, you can bet they would show them missing the cut!

Kwin - Just fantastic vacation here in the ADK Park. 18 at Thendara this morning, 9 at Inlet in the afternoon. 81 at Thendara, which is a personal best for me!

Paul Casey opening the batting for Round 3 at 8.20 a.m. and he'll surely have the best of conditions as the day will get hot, mid-nineties, and likely humid, chance of afternoon showers.

Playing in twosomes with some very attractive pairs (not talking about the LPGA) in the middle of the round such as Poulter / Bubba, Schwartzel / Kuchar, Romero / Matteo. Later Westwood plays with Jerry Kelly which should be a good draw.

"And I have a bone to pick with all the nonsense about Woods missing out because he's not been fit. He's missing out because he didn't play earlier in the season when he was healthy, hoist by his own petard. ."

Excellent point kwini. Health issues aside, he needs to mothball the old tour schedule and learn to compete again by playing in a greater number of tournaments. Whether he likes it or not, this is a brave new world for Tiger and his swing problems are perhaps now not necessarily mechanical but mental.

Yes, two things have happened don't you think gael?
Tiger has got worse.
The overall level of the other players has improved.
And they're are in the crucible of tournament play week in, week out.

He cpould take a leaf out of Lee Westwood's book, Lee who went back to basics and played a full schedule to restore his form to competitive excellence. And now he can pick and choose.

Best thing Woods could do now is to practice as much as he deems necessary, then commit himself to some Fall Series tournaments; there may only be four of them, but his presence would be a boon to each and every one, the players would love to see him, and he might actually find form on some more forgiving venues.

A healthy dose of humility is an essential ingredient for his first-aid kit.

Great round from Harrington yesterday! Another round today under par and who knows.

Indeed, although after the first round I said I would rather watch another group in Rd2, as it turned out Padraig's game was not bad at all yesterday, and it actually got better towards the end, especially after that great tee shot and birdie at the 15th! He said after that that it could well be one of those shots that could hopefully turn around his season... It made him decide last night to change his schedule and play next week's Greensboro event and hopefully get into the playoffs. Let's hope he'll shoot a good score today...

Good decision by Harrington, and one would normally think it's a course he'd play well on.

Beyond the Dufners, Bradleys and Furyks of this world, a bunch of other guys as well as Harrington played themselves into the tournament on Friday, Westwood and Hansen of course, but also Sergio, Fisher, Poulter etc. Europe quite well represented this weekend, hopefully to Montgomerie's satisfaction.

pd,
You'd have to think Tiger will be somewhere round about #45 in the owgr's after all the Play-Off points have been earned, out of the top fifty, perhaps even top sixty, if he refuses to play before Australia. Then perhaps his own tournament might bail him out.

Casey finished off well last night so who knows maybe he has turned a corner....Par Birdie start.

I did notice Harrington said he had entered however I looked at the entry list this morning and he wasn't on it!?

Kwini just a question you know the way they give hole locations for the day on the PGA SITE do they give what yardages they are playing on every hole for the day ie which tees are all the way back and which have been moved forward etc!

kwini, I had a bit of a look at Tiger's prospects this morning and assumed (for the sake of the argument) that he may return to play again the WGC-HSBC tourney in China, first week of November... And based on how things stand now, I would predict that before he would go there, he would be almost certainly already out of the top 50 (probably into the high 50's). But a more accurate long term prediction like that is better done after this week's last major, which normally has a larger impact on the overall OWGR landscape... So I'll have another look again at this next week...

sirbenson, I think it takes a bit of time for them to update that site... I see that they have Goosen in as well as he comitted some days ago, but considering that he W'D from PGA yesterday with injury, that particular entry for Greensboro may need updating as well soon, we'll see...

Hi benson,
pgatour.com confirmed Harrington had "declared" for Greensboro following completion of his round yesterday; apparently there is a provision which allows exempt players to "declare" for an event they hadn't previously entered up to thirty minutes following their Friday round.

As for specific daily distances, hole placements, etc I'm not sure; don't keep up with that hole-by-hole unless I read it somewhere. Interestingly, last week the players came to certain holes and weren't aware that tees had been moved up, so perhaps the answer might be No! Seems a bit strange though.

Cheers dudes for the reply

Regarding Woods ranking I saw this tweet from

JasonSobelGC Jason Sobel
Just a projection, but if Tiger Woods doesn't play again this season, will drop to 46th in OWGR after Tour Championship and 58th after HSBC.
15 hours ago

Never thought I would see Tiger drop outside the top 3 let alone the top 50.

benson,
Curious thing from all this is the inference that Tiger won't play the HSBC Champions . . . .
Perhaps he's not qualified but that's a very strange omission from his schedule.


Play underway at the Nationwider, Knox, Owen and Richardson all had decent early rounds, now time to capitalise with good finishes. Knox already with one foot on the 2012 PGA Tour.

He may as well write off this season and get ready for next season imo!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2011/aug/13/tiger-woods-uspga-misses-cut-golf

This shows he hasn't qualified for Shanghai.

It's not the first time when Sobel comes up with very precise numbers for this kind of predictions. He's been lucky once as I recall, but othertimes not. The reality is that it is never a sure thing what exact position a player like that will be in until that date will come, as it all depends upon how loads of other players will perform in the mean time. However, predicting the general range of places where a player who doesn't play will be is quite possible...

Tiger will hardly play HSBC Champions since he's not a champion and won't be inside top 25 on the owgr at that time. Am I correct?

http://www.hsbcgolf.com/who-is-qualifying

pedro, benson,
That appears pretty definitive then. Thanks! Had somehow thought he might qualify via top ten last year or some other such contrivance.
Their loss, and his, but it also raises the spectre of failure to qualify for other big events, quite conceivably (and this is looking way too far ahead) next year's WGC MatchPlay.
These omissions are what Tiger deserves but, let's face facts, are a mega-loss for sponsors.

No-one under par among Saturday's first half dozen or so groups. And one would expect the course to get more difficult as we go through the day.

Casey just had a quad on the 8th.

The field +23 already, John Rollins three shots today better than anyone else!

Early bird count:

Birdies: 13
Bogeys: 21
Doubles: 6
Snowmen: 1

kwini,
One would think that Dustin has be the biggest surprise and disappointment of those that didn't make the cut. Which ones do you consider to be the underachievers for those not making the cut?

'Morning venice, Dustin and Johnson.
Big disappointment, but surprised that Jason Day, Van Pelt, Sneds and Kaymer missed out as well.

Double bogeys for McIlroy and Poulter as they left the traps.

So, venice, I wouldn't characterise any of that lot as underachievers, but you wouldn't think Sean Foley would be too thrilled with the efforts of his proteges:
Ames, not qualified.
Woods: Missed cut
Rose: Missed cut
Mahan: made cut, but just squandered a good Saturday start.
Old boy O'Hair: +7 for Round 3.

Yes, strange about Kaymer as he emerged as the best in the world at the beginning of the year and has subsequently become a passing thought.

Francesco and Ben Crane showing the way.

Off topic, sorry Davie.
But early GOTS candidate by Seb Larsson!

(PS: Crane also slowing the way.)

Forgot to ask, has any golfer from Vermont ever lead or was tied for the lead in a major after any round? I wonder if it has anything to do with Vermont being the first State to offer single payer health care? BTW, your Senator Bernie is going to be on C-SPAN's "Newsmaker" show tomorrow morning. Look forward to it even though most of the country could care less.

venice,
I think Patty Sheehan would be the most recent . . . .

Amazing how accessible Bernie is, we see him around all the time, even Leahy to a lesser extent. Strong feeling here that the State has its arms around Health Care, hopefully will be a good lure to bring other companies here.

Won't make any difference to Messrs Casey, McIlroy or Poulter though; all struggling, but Davis off and running with an early bird.

How low can Francesco go?
-4 after ten; if he can hold on he'll be right in it this time tomorrow.

Time for the first Luuuuuuuuuuuke of the day . . . . . . .

Some scores to be had today after all, even by Foley alums, O'Hair birdieing 17 and 18, (not many did that the first two days) and Mahan four under, seemingly destined to be the first golfer signing for a sub-par score today.

Francesco is very welcome to go as low as possible have him in my team. Just hope his wrist is going to sustain the pressure today and tomorrow... 5-under after 14. But a pretty bad day so far for a big bunch of the Europeans who are currently occupying the bottom part of the LB...

So much for the expectations and hopes I had this morning for Harrington...

Quite a few eagles already on #12.
Steady Eddies Crane, Donald, Franny and Toms leaders on the course.

Here goes 'careless' Westy! C'mon Lee!!! I have a feeling...

Luuuke moving up and up and up...

Top dozen just about to start out. How many will be in the top twelve when the day is done? Scott? Stricker?? Dufner?? Not many I'd be prepared to bet.

Cream seems to be rising slowly to the top.

=4 not too bad for McIlroy all things considered, surprised to see Hanson capitulate though.

Superb comeback from Poulter. Easy to take pot-shots at him but he retrieved his round after being +5 for his first four holes - seven birdies and two bogeys later and he posted an even par 70. He won't contend but still has the chance for a decent finish.

There's usually though at least one of the unheralded names that sticks around the leaderboard on the Saturday, even if the rest fall away. Picking which one is the difficult part though.

My 3 remaining picks would be -8 for the day if Yang had completely made a hash of the 17th.

Luuuuuuuuuuuuke!