PGA Tour: Greensboro: Notes from the Ballwasher

1).Congratulations to the seventh straight non-American to win a Major Championship: Keegan Bradley.
His nationality may read USA in the record books, but close observers of the species are well aware that Vermont has so little in common with most of the other 49 States that it might just as well be a whole other country.
The only State without a McDonalds in its Capital City for instance, and not one in its biggest city either. The first State to declare for Obama in 2008 and the only State to elect a self-styled "Socialist" US Senator, a bombastic bastion of common sense. Where maple syrup is the State crop, same-sex marriage legalised, and well on track to the closest thing to universal health care you're likely to find in this country. Not surprisingly the only State not visited by a US President this century!

2).Vermonters by and large don't do golf and it is a sad irony that the last Vermont pro to make it to the PGA Tour, Jeff Julian, was diagnosed almost immediately with ALS and died way too early. But LPGA Hall Of Famer Patty Sheehan grew up here, a ski-racer just like Keegs.

3).I followed Bradley for most of 36 holes earlier this year and he seems a very grounded young man. Auntie Pat Bradley (LPGA Hall Of Famer) told him the Byron Nelson win would change his life, "but don't let it change you", and there's no reason to expect that it will. A lot like Martin Laird, Bradley hits it far and high, sometimes has a shaky short game, but is a much improved putter. And they both take their time, sometimes too slow!

4).Keegan Bradley will join Clan Chubby at the PGA Grand Slam of Golf, in Bermuda this October. $600K will go to Charl, Rory, Darren or Keegan with every participant guaranteed at least $200K. 50% of the field wearing Oakley shirts.

5).Part 2 of this year's Bobby Jones trifecta (the Tour Championship will take place next month at East Lake, just down the road) offered up a thrilling finish despite all the opinions (many of them critical) about the course design. When bombers like Bradley and Scott can co-exist at the top of the same leaderboard as Verplank and Toms, you know the course has something which suits everyone.

6).Charl Schwartzel led the eleven pros who made the cut in all this year's Majors with a total of 1,118 strokes, ten ahead of Garcia and Stricker tied in second place. McIlroy, Yang, Ryan Palmer, Mickelson, Woodland, Bill Haas, Bubba Watson and Eddie Molinari were the others. That's indicative of the quality of Schwartzel's play this year and Sergio's resurgence among other things.

7).This week sees the Tour players drive a couple of hundred miles east to steamy Greensboro, North Carolina, and the Wyndham Championship, the last qualifying tournament for entry into the lucrative FedEx Play-Off season. Ernie Els and Padraig Harrington are two distinguished participants who certainly hadn't planned on spending this week in "Carolina", but they are outside the 125 qualifiers, Casey and Cabrera too. So is Louis Oosthuizen but he won't be here and his PGA Tour season will be on hiatus for six weeks, perhaps longer if he doesn't play the Fall Series. This has been a forgettable debut season for King Louis and he's two tournaments short of the required minimum of 15. That'll likely cost him PGA Tour membership unless he plays at least twice later this "fall". (Casey is in even worse shape as has been documented several times before.)

8).After Atlanta Athletic Club's hybrid course, redone as it was two or three times and looking like it, Greensboro's Sedgefield CC is a Donald Ross original, brought up to date four years ago, a par 70 playing now to 7,100 yards. Birdies will be flying however, and last year's tournament was won by Arjun Atwal at twenty under par. As well as Casey and Harrington, Europe is represented by Poulter, Carl Pettersson (a recent winner here and local resident), Richard Johnson and Stenson.

9).Yet another Senior "Major" awaits the Champions Tour players, the "Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship", held this year at the old PGA Tour site at Westchester CC in the greater New York area. Bernhard Langer is the only European in the field and, just as with the US Senior Open, the title of "Major" for this otherwise excellent Champions Tour event is a nonsense.

10).The Nationwide Tour is in Kansas with the usual quartet of Britons led by Russell Knox who has just about sewn up his Card for the 2012 PGA Tour. Make hay while you can, Nationwiders, as your fields (and hopefully one or two in Europe) will shortly be infiltrated by PGA Tour players not qualified for the FedEx package.

Kwini, I see you managed to upset Iain Carter on his latest blog posting. Maybe it was your plug about sensible debate on 606v2. He didn't even have the courtesy to address by you user ID. I think he probably had to google upcoming tournaments in his rebuttal.

Another great post on the PGA tour and the race to qualify for the FedEx cup. Will you be heading south for the Barclays?

Thanks Grumpy, I don't think Carter has a clue!

Definitely won't be going to the Barclays but hoping to attend a day at the Deutsche Bank. This week will see about half a dozen top names fail to qualify for the FedEx and join Tiger on the sidelines - would think it's a big opportunity for O'Grady and I see that Monty has sent Tiger a cheeky invite to the Scottish PGA!

I see the AP is reporting that Schwartzel will skip the Barclays next week - not sure that's a great idea given Charl's ability to play well on tough courses.
But it will be interesting to see if others follow suit and dodge one of the Play-Off events; if they do, and especially in light of Chandler's rather silly comments about there being no incentive to play all four tournaments, expect some changes in Play-Off structure which will ultimately be detrimental to Chubby's boys.

I tried to make a post on the carter blog but for some reason the upload failed and I lost the post.

It went something like this.

He argued that the majors were no longer won by the games very best, or at least not exclusively.

I don’t see it like that, the last 4 seasons major champions are;

Braddley
Clarke
McIlroy
Schwartzel
Kaymer
Louis
Gmac
Mickelson
Yang
Stewart
Glover
cabrera
Harrington
Woods
Immelman


Of those players you would only pick glover, cabrerra, yang and braddley as unlikely major champions. Then when you consider the future the very best have won a lot of the last two season’s majors. Would it be any surprise to see that the top 5 in 5 and even 10 years time included McIlroy, Kaymer and Schwartzel. A hefty prediction but would it be much more surprising to see Braddley surpass his lack lustre US counterparts (bubba, dustin et al) and be the best American at some point?


Carter seems to be stuck in a mind set where the top players are woods, Els, vijay, goosen etc. Those days have passed and I fear the days of Westwood and Luukkkkkkkkkeeeee may also pass without a major or any sort of impact on the history books. Golf is in a post tiger (at least as we knew it) era where not only he but other household names are on the way down. Consider the future and the best are starting to win the majors on the way to top class careers.

When we look over the next ten years who out of the players on my list would be a surprise to see at the top of another major leaderboard after 72 holes? Clarke, cabrerra and Stewart, and that’s it. That is of course due only to the stage of their careers, these guys were the very best at one point in time.


In fact I will try to paste this onto his thread.

Mac, by 'Stewart' do you mean Cink??

yes Stewart is Cink, no idea why i did that.

Great read, kwini.
In spite of the post-major vacuum feeling this week, I still look forward to watching some of these smaller events.
Curious (more than hopeful) to see how will Padraig perform. Toms did well last year here, so he may well be up there again, come Sunday.

kwinigolfer wrote:4).Keegan Bradley will join Clan Chubby at the PGA Grand Slam of Golf, in Bermuda this October. $600K will go to Charl, Rory, Darren or Keegan with every participant guaranteed at least $200K. 50% of the field wearing Oakley shirts.

Keegan (and maybe Rory and Charl as well) may well have a 'Kaymer moment' of reflection as he'll play the 16th in Bermuda... Kaymer said then:

"I was standing on 16 [looking out onto the Atlantic Ocean] and trying to enjoy the moment. For me, I'm only five years a golf professional. I just thought it's quite stunning to be here already that early in my career. It was one of those moments where you realise you’re a winner. It takes some time to realise. It's not normal what I've done the last few years, especially this year"

Darren can have his own reflections, but from a somewhat opposite perspective...

Good point Mac, and only time will tell if "those days have passed" for Harrington too. Much soul-searching in store if his efforts in Greensboro are unsuccessful and perhaps time to reconsider playing two Tours. Falling between two stools right now.

Cheers pd,
It'll be heady company for Bradley to keep in Bermuda, not because of his age but because the guys he'll be joining have been successful worldwide.

More suggestions by the AP that Dustin Johnson is considering taking up European Tour membership . . . . .

I remember after an iffy 2004, Tiger gave Monty an invite to his Challenge thingy at the end of the year which Monty very nearly won and possibly kick-started his career for a few years. Though, I'm sure Tiger may have regretted it if Monty had beaten him at St. Andrews 6 months later!

Kwin - Great write up. As one who's always willing to take on blanket generalizations, I thank you for highlighting the regional differences that exist in these United States. Vermont is nearly a nation unto itself, as you obviously know first hand.

Speaking of regional differences, I just read they are considering Bethpage Black for a Ryder Cup. This would be a MASSIVE mistake. I love NYC and all that it encompasses. But the "never an unspoken thought" that permeates many a resident would make for one ugly Ryder Cup venue. I hope they come to their senses.

Love the bit about "no McDonalds" - now THAT'S useful trivia to know!

Shotrock

I like the idea of very passionate fans, I would like to see a golf match with as much noise as a football match. With the obligatory unsavoury chants about players WAG's. Ok maybe not the last part, but would the NY’s high spirit’s not add to the atmosphere if they were just a little toned down by the golfing occasion?


Kwini

I was about to ask why more people didn’t live in Vermont. Then I realised.

No Mickey D's Davie, and no billboards either! Thought you'd like to know.


Thanks Shotrock!,
Ryder Cup for Bethpage? What do they want? A blood bath??!!
They're really pushing Bethpage aren't they? It will stage a Barclays in a couple of years, though it seems they've been told not to expect an imminent return of the US Open. Apart from any other consideration, their 18th hole would go down as the worst at any Ryder Cup venue.

(PS: VT could really use a Symeon's. Not sure about the OSq roundabout idea unless it's to open up all the sidestreets, some of which contain architectural gems turned in to delapidation. Perhaps Bremer and Bullock would return?)

PS: Not that I'm against a blood bath for a Ryder Cup venue . . . . .

Re: VT: Not sure how to take that Mac!

Hi Kwini

Great stat on Sergio re the majors (it's this kind of insight/research that make your articles so good IMO). It's a shame consistency doesn't guarantee future success though. Hope he finally bags one next year. Maybe a 3-way playoff between Luuuke, Westy and Sergio, then one of them would have to win!!

Re Iain Carter, I find his blogs like articles on Tiger, I feel compelled to read them but know I'll come away feeling disappointed.....

Plus I know it's a fine balance between increasing membership on here and attracting quality posters, but looking at some the idiotic comments on Carter's blog, I like 606v2 just the way it is!

Here's the link ...

http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-tours-news/blogs/local-knowledge/2011/08/gw-monday-could-a-pga-be-in-bethpages-future.html


Mac - I was in a box for a the Waste Management open (16th hole) a couple years ago and I agree there's room for more spirited cheering in this game. Still not sure about Bethpage however!

Vermont ...

A leaf peeper from NYC and his wife are driving around Vermont on a sunny fall day. They see an elderly farmer at the fence. They pull over and comment just how beautiful the area is. Then, they ask the farmer: "Have you lived here your whole life?"

Farmer, in his deep New England accent, and deadpan: "Don't know yet."

Thanks Tiler,
Just goes to show how close Sergio really was this year - another stroke at each Major and he'd be at least ten places higher in the owgr's. Was interested to see Ryan Palmer up there too; he's turning in to a seriously good player which, having followed him struggling to keep his card a couple of years ago, I'd never have thought.


!!Shotrock!!

So close, and yet light years away as far as some are concerned. Unfortunately consistency at the majors doesn't get enough recognition in my opinion. If you win you're great (future #1), and if you don't you're a choker. Or something like that.

Don't know much about Palmer, except that he fails miserably when in my fantasy team!

kwini

As in, Vermont seems very un-American, I thought it was practically treason to mention universal health care let alone practice it. To be clear Vermont sounds great just not sure if it floats most Americans boat.



Shotrock

Do you know if there is a hole on the red course that the black could borrow as an 18th should a big event return to the black?

Mac - Do not know, but will look into it. The "blue" is thought by many to be more like the black than red.

There's the rub with Americans ... we obviously voted in Obama, most of us want universal health care ... don't let the loud polarizing voices drown out the common sense that exists in Vermont and in many other pockets of the US. Vermont, like much of New England, upstate NY and the Upper midwest is, however, rumored to have only two seasons: "Winter" and "Road Repair".

Sorry Kwin ... couldn't resist!

Anyone here watch True Blood?? Its a HBO show about Vampires living in America and is superb. Anyway my point is that Vampires and Humans can get married but only in Vermont. This article reminded me of that.

beninho wrote:Anyone here watch True Blood?? Its a HBO show about Vampires living in America and is superb. Anyway my point is that Vampires and Humans can get married but only in Vermont. This article reminded me of that.

What a program that is! Still waiting on this season(4) hotting up though.

beninho, Lairdy,
Are you talking about my neighbours by any chance?


More Atlanta-type weather this week in Greensboro, high 80's, low 90's with the chance of a shower every day, nothing serious forecast.

Laidy, im behind the times, and have not shelled out to Murdoch, so only just finished season 2! Now deciding whether to go and get the box set or wait for ch4 to show it. But i understand it just gets crazier. Its a great show.

Confirmation on pgatour.com that Ryo Ishikawa has accepted "Special Temporary Membership" of the PGA Tour for the rest of this year. This means he is eligible to receive unlimited sponsor's invitations for the four Fall Series events during which he apparently has to earn another $250K to earn Full Tour Membership for 2012.

I'm toying with the idea of going to the Barclays again as I've been to the last two. I got a bunch of free tickets last year and I'm debating whether to be cheeky and ask the guy I got them from last year.

The Barclays is moving its venues around, I understand the pros weren't impressed with Liberty National although it was relatively easy to move around clusters of holes as a spectator. Last year the composite nature made it easier to follow the play but not to jump holes to watch groups.

Roll on the FedEx cup.

I know the fedex cup has its flaws but as 1grumpygolfer says bring it on. Without it the golf season could feel likes its all over bar who plays on what tour next year. As crucial as that is for those involved it is not really improving anything for the viewer. At least with the fedex we have four big events left after the PGA.

I am trying to remember what we had before the fedex?

Mac, I believe the season culminated in the Tour Championship. Top 30 on the money list played for a big prize. After that it was all about securing your card and avoiding Q school.

I'm not sure they will ever be able to perfect the system but it's what we have, may as well enjoy it -eh?

Liberty National was partly designed by "player consultant" Tom Kite and that provoked one of the few funnies I've heard from Tiger.
Complaining about the greens Woods was informed of Kite's contribution:
"Was that before or after he had his eyes fixed?"

Plainfield is supposed to be superb, one of Donald Ross's best.

Yes I know we had the top 30 in the tour champ, but can anyone remember if the season felt a little dull after the PGA or did the excitment of who got into the top 30 keep us going?

Mac,
There were some differences. For instance, the Bridgestone (or World Seroiies of Golf as it used to be known) was played immediately AFTER the PGA, and the AMEX (predecessor to the WGC at Doral) was held in mid/late September. (Remember the boys were at Bellerive in St.Louis for the AMEX when the planes hit the Towers etc in 2001?)

Otherwise the Tour used to peter out in places now featuring Fall Series events, Las Vegas, Disney, San Antonio, sometimes Tampa, Viking etc) until the Tour Champo.

Part of the reason for changing the schedule around was so that the galacticos, led by Tiger and Phil, could spend the autumn swanning off around the world picking up million-dollar appearance fees.
(Also of course so that sponsors could gain maximum TV Network time when the NFL was ramping up. Should be the other way round, some would say!)

kwinigolfer wrote:Mac,
There were some differences. For instance, the Bridgestone (or World Seroiies of Golf as it used to be known) was played immediately AFTER the PGA, and the AMEX (predecessor to the WGC at Doral) was held in mid/late September. (Remember the boys were at Bellerive in St.Louis for the AMEX when the planes hit the Towers etc in 2001?)

Otherwise the Tour used to peter out in places now featuring Fall Series events, Las Vegas, Disney, San Antonio, sometimes Tampa, Viking etc) until the Tour Champo.

Part of the reason for changing the schedule around was so that the galacticos, led by Tiger and Phil, could spend the autumn swanning off around the world picking up million-dollar appearance fees.
(Also of course so that sponsors could gain maximum TV Network time when the NFL was ramping up. Should be the other way round, some would say!)

[Ah - was the AMEX the WGC that was for one time only played in England, at The Grove? Had the pleasure of going around that course a few weeks ago at the invitation of a business contact - played terribly, but loved the place (the "Tiger eagle plaques" on the 9th fairway are a nice touch).]

Some people also say that the playoffs were also a deliberate ploy to mess up Ryder Cup scheduling, but I couldn't possibly comment on that...

Spot on Skydriver,
Held at The Grove perhaps in 2006 following the K Club Ryder Cup?

Then the WGC hijacked Doral and resituated the one-time Amex in March. Foolish as it eliminated a staple of the Florida Swing and meant that there are now 2 x WGC's in 3 wks. Presumably Flinchem's justification is that it's better to do that than risk a World GC to actually be held elsewhere in the World . . . .

As for screwing up the Ryder Cup scheduling, suffice it to say that the PGA Tour and PGA Of America are rival organizations!

Just wondering:
How is Rory going to spend the rest of his week now that Sweet Caroline has fallen at her first hurdle in Cincinnati?

kwinigolfer wrote:Just wondering:
How is Rory going to spend the rest of his week now that Sweet Caroline has fallen at her first hurdle in Cincinnati?

Kwini

If you had Caroline to yourself for a week and the money to hole up in a swanky hotel room, what would you be doing?

Well, good luck to them both, they'll need it.

On a less speculative note, good to see that Gonzo F'dez Castano is playing again this week, in the Czech Open. Not quite sure what's caused his absence but he seems to be one of the good guys and it would be great for the Tour to have him back and firing on all cylinders.

Really hope Gonzo was able to work on his short putts during his time away. It was about the only thing stopping him from being a really good player.

From what I've read the consensus seems to be that this week will be a putting contest. No suprise that Toms is the favourite then but who else have we got? Snedeker has history and can putt (think Kwini mentioned his liking for Sneds this week on the OWGR thread?). Dufner tees it up again and, with his new thick grip, putted well last week. With the way his game is plus his attitude I dont think last week will have taken as much out of him as many would think. It was hot though... Crane could bore us all to death. Webb Simpson could make it a back to back week for belly putters. What about Leonard? Needs a good week to make the fedex not that many would be bothered if he didnt make it...

Personally I think Toms and Sneds will be up there and someone similar to last weeks winner like Chappell or Kirk will win. 2011 - year of the rookie.

Good start for the Irish contingent in Moravia, currently holding the top three places. A win for any of them will be good, they all need it...

Gonzo also with a decent start so far... I read that he's been involved in recent weeks with the organisation of the Madrid Masters, so I don't really know how he is organising his time between playing and other business activities. Hope it works out for him...

Have they grouped the big names who are on the bubble together? Looks like it - Casey 148, Harrington 132 and Leonard 144. Then Els 129, Villegas 128 and Beckman (ok maybe not) 127. A bit further out you have Richard S. Johnson 151, Hamilton 160 and Daly 168.

I've just seen that the amateur invites at Greensboro include one Olafur Loftsson - possibly the first Icelander to play a PGA Tour event? Good luck to him.

Morning kwini,

The Irish and the Scots. Who would have known their roots lay in Czechland? Lorenzo Gagli emerging this summer like few others. David Howell back to playing submerging golf as before.

Vermont continued: most red-state Americans have a subconscious reaction to the state because its name is French in origin.

North Carolina: always managed to drive through there as quietly as possible. My father told me a number of stories concerning "speed traps" while taking journeys down to Florida in the "old days."

Looks like The Mechanic suffers from jetlag, just like the rest of us.

Hi Lairdy,
I think you're right with all those grou[ings, that's the way it looks to me.
I like Snedeker in events in this part of the world, he's normally a great putter and has won here before. His caddie is certifiable though! Early bird for Harrington; he must have Czeched out the ET leaderboard.


Interesting chat from Fred Couples about Tiger Woods and his chances of receiving a Captain's Pick for President's Cup play. Fred has always said he'd pick Tiger regardless, but now is back-tracking and says he's got to be playing tournaments. So we could see Woods in the Fall Series, or maybe even in a European event. Such intrigue!

'Morning venice,
Funny that, I always say the best thing about VT is Montreal! Speed traps everywhere, and I should know!!

par-birdie-par-birdie-par-birdie-par... in other words, Podge's card after 7 holes. Not bad... I wonder if he got a chance to have any coaching session with Pete Cowen before this.

Keep the sequence going Padraig!!

Not to hijack this thread, but did anyone see Feherty's show on the golf channel this week? He interviewed Fluff and Bones and asked them both if they could change anything about the game, what would it be. Fluff said he would ban the long putters or anything that one can anchor to the body. Bones said he would like to see them really do something about pace-of-play. Interesting stuff.

You know, I never thought of Vermont as a French name! And never considered that angle. Whatever it's called, it's some beautiful state.

Curiously, UVM is technically "Universitas Verdis Montis", tho' Vermont itself was allegedly named by Sammy Champlain. (Not Sammy Chapman who was involved in the Football League's bribery scandal of the early sixties!)


Will the real Padraig Harrington stand up please?

He is quoted by the AP as saying,
"So, if myself or Ernie or any of the guys actually make it in, and we hit oiur A-games for four weeks, all of a sudden, we can be the FedEx Cup Champion."

But I wonder whether Padraig or Ernie would be good enough any more, how their "A-games" match up against others, especially given the handicap they have already burdened themselves with. Padraig's off to a fine start though.

Shotrock, Haven't seen Feherty, haven't actually seen any of his subjects that would interest me enough to have to put up with him. But Fluff and Bones would be great - have to try to find the transcript. Thanks!

Quick update on FedEx qualifying;
Els, Harrington and Justin Leonard among those who are doing what they have to do, Casey and Villegas among those currently falling short.

kwinigolfer wrote:Quick update on FedEx qualifying;
Els, Harrington and Justin Leonard among those who are doing what they have to do, Casey and Villegas among those currently falling short.

Oh dear, given that Casey looks like he's doing pretty well from the leaderboard - I presume he needs to do something akin to walking on water (and not just avoiding it)...

They're quoting probably from this interview...
http://www.pgatour.com/video/praxis/?y=2011&t=r013&p=20766

Unfortunately Padraig's A-game has been more of a legend than a reality lately... Not sure if he's going to 'hit' his A-game, but if he starts hitting a few more fairways on a regular basis it'll be a great start. Judging by looking at the shottracker stats and trajectories, he's been driving it pretty well today, apart from no. 14, which looks very much like the typical Harrington way to get to the green in recent times...

Looks like McGinley is also trying to join the Irish party today...

Ned,
I'd never heard of Loftsson, and I see pgatour.com doesn't have an Icelandic flag symbol in its repertoire!

Paul McGinley joining the Irish contingent playing well today; hope he keeps up the good form, but seems we just see cameos of what might be these days from him.