PGA Tour: Deutsche Bank: Notes from the Ballwasher

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1).The weather clearly made a mess of The Barclays last week. Apart from turning classic Plainfield CC in to a dartboard, the Tour ruined any remaining integrity to the event by declaring that, if the 54 holes couldn't be completed by all, the truncated event would be further abbreviated to the 36 hole result. Good Lord! What ever would they have done if the leaders had finished but some slowcoaches at the back of the field got washed out?!!

2).Next thing you know they'll be selecting Captain's picks for the Presidents Cup before qualification is complete. They wouldn't do that now. Would they?

3).Let's not take anything away from Dustin Johnson however, now 4th in the World and the best of the Young Americans. Coincidentally, that's his second 54-hole win and at least one of his other three wins was weather-disrupted. Now he's got his second Play-Off tournament win and he has to be favourite for the FedEx Cup.

4).While everyone's eyes were on the Hurricane last week, a Viking was slinking off the PGA Tour, exit stage right. Mississippi's Viking Classic, site of Luke Donald's first win, has lost its sponsor and, unless a replacement is found, another long-standing event is history. Perhaps not many casual golf fans will miss this particular stop but, once again, it's a small event that has been a staple on the PGA Tour, most recently in the Fall Series. But some scheduling knucklehead decided to put it up this year against the Open Championship, in the middle of July when temps nudged 100F degrees. Brilliant.

5).The Players and PGA Tour met this week regarding notions that qualifying for the PGA Tour should be almost exclusively via the Nationwide Tour (or whatever it will be called when N'wide bow out). Q-School would offer access to the Nationwide only, and not to the PGA Tour. That'll help shut overseas veterans out of the Q-School route to the Tour - who is going to want to spend a year serving a minor-league apprenticeship on the offchance things go well and a Tour card materialises? The mooted idea includes a series of two or three mega-Nationwide events concluding their season with leading Nationwiders and PGA Tour moneylist finishers 126-200-ish competing from which the leading 50-odd would earn Tour cards for the following year. Some work on the drawing board still necessary I would think.

6).Meanwhile, one golfer who won't be concerned with all this, 15 years removed from his "Hello World" announcement, has delivered a "Hello Fall Series" pronouncement, Tiger Woods entering the Fry's.com tournament in California this October. Presumably any suggestion that the Presidents Cup pick is a quid pro quo for Fry's participation is purely cynical. Good deal for the Fry's though.

7).And so to TPC Boston, not exactly in Boston and almost not in Massachusetts, right by the Rhode Island border. But, wherever it is, it emerged relatively unscathed from last week's storms and, with the blessing of five days sun, should be in great condition for the 99 Deutsche Bankers, JB Holmes the only absentee. pgatour.com reckons the top 55 players are safely destined for the BMW but that leaves some notables vulnerable. Once the cut is made we'll offer estimates of what surviviors have to do on Sunday and Monday but these guys are among those on thin ice:
Allenby
Furyk
Kim
Poulter (17 out of 18 greens in regulation on Saturday, one miss cost him two strokes - great effort by Poulter)
Immelman
Harrington
Overton
McDowell
Ogilvy (I'm hoping good memories - four top tens - of TPC Boston will snap Ogilvy out of his season-long siesta. And in to the BMW at least, and Greg Norman's Pres Cup Team.)
Love
Els

Europeans were 11 for 11 in making the Barclays cut. More of that please.

8).The Champions Tour takes a hiatus from US competition but I enjoyed seeing Calcavecchia winning his first Senior title in Washington State last week. And on another note, those of us who follow sport would scarcely be human if we didn't have favourites and those we like a little less.
Chip Beck has been one of the latter category for me, deathly slow on the course, relentlessly upbeat and positive, nauseatingly so, and of course guilty of the chicken-spit lay up at Langer's second Masters win. Things spiralled downhill for Beck after that, he lost his game and struggled badly for many years, first in losing his PGA Tour card, and then plugging away on the Nationwide circuit, followed by poor play on the Champo Tour. But this year he's turning it round and Sunday's third place finish will get him very close to securing full exemption for 2012. Good for him!

9).The Nationwiders are in the Pittsburgh area this week, Gary Christian and Matt Richardson the only GB competitors. Decent field again with lots of PGA Tour vets hoping to emulate Kirk Triplett's success last week.

10).And it is often overlooked when a golfer officially announces retirement. Sherri Steinhauer did exactly that last week, in Canada. Steinhauer has been one of the most understated successful golfers on any circuit these past 25 years, with three British Women's Opens among her eight successes, plus another Major-at-the-time, the Du Maurier Classic in Canada. A four-time Solheim Cupper, she will be a Vice Captain on Rosie Jones Team in Ireland in a couple of weeks. Good luck to her!

PS: Thanks to all expressing their concern following last Sunday's weather. Thankfully no damage or serious flooding here, but some communities, especially in the mountains here and in nearby Northern New York were devastated.

Ref: Ben Crane: He's outathere and good riddance - he can go home to his videos. So bloody slow, he's playing with Justin Rose who moves along and they're still two holes behind at the end. Harrington in the group behind and Crane makes Padraig look like an express.

Meanwhile, Rose and Laird have wasted good opportunities to establish their positions for the Tour Champo, Brian Davis probably in the same boat.

Rollins and JJ Henry going home.
Survival for Els and McDowell will narrow down to the scores of a very few golfers, Romero and Stroud among them.

Adam Scott into first place.
Where's GJ?

(Badds last however.)

Luuuuuuuuuuuuke!

Lunde hitting the bricks, McGirt eating dirt.
McDowell needs to go one under for his last three holes and Els needs be at least one under on his final eight holes to be sure of being safe. Ogilvy can't afford to drop any more shots.

McDowell bogeys 17 so it looks like an eagle required at the last or he is on holidays............................................

McDo effectively finished bogey, bogey. Hope O'Grady's on the Percy Thrower . . . .

Meanwhile: Luuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuke!

I love the way PGA Tour.com predicts all 3 joint leaders to get 2,500 points EACH on their Live Fedex Cup points link..........

Shocking finish for McDowell.....................

Can we have another LUUUUUUUUKE?

Arithmetic is not a forte of the average American, including anyone to do with golf.
Should be a prerequisite of every school "graduate" to be able to score a darts game properly! Amazing what you can learn in a decent pub!

Luuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuke! Good par.

Fantastic Luuuuuke!!
But can anybody say what happened to Watney at the 2nd hole? Been out a couple of hours and last time I looked he was close to the top!????

Watney? Not sure exactly but, whatever else happened, he took a frustrated whack at the ground after a shot from the hazard right of the green and got penalised an extra two shots for grounding his club in the hazard!

Looking at the replay, not sure but I think Watney shanked the ball in the hazard straight right, then in frustration banged his club on the ground inside the hazard line as kwini said 2 shot penalty

oldpar
Reachable par 5 so I'd think he was in the hazard at least twice! Watney racks up some terrible rounds for as good a golfer he is.

Ernie and Ogilvy on the bubble now!

Cheers kwin, oldpar. That's gonna hurt for a while...
Pitty for Luke, not so much chances left now for him.
Chez Reavie?!? A win will be tasting really sweet, after
a pretty strange year for him...

Very important putt to make for Ogilvy. Is he going to make it now...?

Who is chez Reavie? Cant say ive ever heard of him and I watch the PGA tour a lot.

Good clutch putt for Ogilvy to get in at 70 for the playoffs.

Sand,
Chez Reavie won a tournament in 2008 then was injured and played most of this year on a Medical Exemption. But he's had a decent year so far, but not this decent!

I followed him a few years ago and he was slight, almost a Luke Donald-like figure. And now they've both bulked up a bit, he still looks Donald-like, a bit porkier perhaps!!

Ok thanks Kwini..

God that was a choke.

I remember watching Reavie win the Canadian Open, and being impressed with his game. He sort of kept things together, whilst the chasers imploded. Not too dissimilar to the way Darren Clarke won the Open.

I was quite surprised to see him seemingly vanish the way he did, but he's had a fair season. Although, it looks like he's had a mini-implosion of his own here!

WELCOME RODDERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That's right, he pretty much stared Anthony Kim.
No excuse for that power yank on 18 though.

Thank you kwini!

Yep, he did well to beat Kim. Wasn't that the year Kim won a few titles himself, and he was being hailed as the "next Tiger"? Seems like decades ago!

I was waiting on JD for quite a few quid this evening, glad he sunk the birdie on the last there, it landed me a clear place on the e/w part of my bet. I've been on him the last couple of weeks, his scoring has been fantastic when you consider how poor his stats have been... -13 this week is impressive with only 35% of fairways and 61% of greens. He's rolled in some clutch putts, but left quite a few birdie/eagle chances go begging too. Last week was much the same. His season deserves a win in a decent event too.

Rodders,
2 good wins for Sideways Kim that year.

Redrage,
Jason Day is becoming something of a nearly man, lots of good places and owgr points; one weak-field win. Good bet again for Chicago I'd think.

Nice win for Webb! It sure helped that Chez nuked his approach in regulation on 18 and that Luke made a double when, at worst, a bogey was all he should have made. But still, Webb hung around.

Imagine how so many would be up in arms if Tiger planted his iron mid fairway like Jason Day did?

After watching Fowler stay in contention and then go away a couple times this year, I'm beginning to think his quick transition from the top might be the thing that gets in his way when the pressure mounts on Sunday. Lots of raw talent there, however.

Is there a better looking swing on tour than Luke Donald's? Not to me.

Terrific win for Webbo, I'm a fan, but am I the only one who thinks he was favoured by having a 15 footer rather than a six footer?

I couldn't tell whether Day actually damaged his club! Probably not, but it was one helluva tomahawk!!
On the other hand, he doesn't big himself up to be the marketing Messiah or the head of a Children's Foundation . . . . . . .

The Tour keeps on playing Rickie Fowler up as the leader of the new generation. Sure that's OK with the European Tour.

Didn't watch the final, round, Mondays are a golf free zone in chez de mav, that plus the pre school prep for Mavetter going to secondary school for first time today, mini mavette's first day at infants and Mav Juniors return to infants.

But from what i've read on here seems like an exciting end to the days play.

As for Rickyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.... Verdicts still out for me don;t seem him anywhere consistent enough to challenge for honours at the monent it may come with age but theres only so long you can be a promising talent

Still cant believe Revie's 3rd shot to the last. Then again ive thrown away many a great round in a medal on the last few holes, so who am I to criticise someone throwning away a win in a PGA tour event

kwinigolfer wrote:
Redrage,
Jason Day is becoming something of a nearly man, lots of good places and owgr points; one weak-field win. Good bet again for Chicago I'd think.

He really needs to improve his FIR & GIR stats, his holing out from 10 feet and in has to rescue him all too often. Recovering the one or two dropped shots a round will make the difference between winning and losing.

Say what you like about the Play Offs but they certainly produce compelling finishes more often than not.

Mav,
Since you missed it, Sand's two notes about Reavie says it all: Middle of the fairway in two on the par 5 18th, just needing a par to win. 116 yards from the pin he pull-nukes whatever wedge he used about 125 yards and way left of target. Bogey. Simpson made about a 20-footer to be in the play-off in the first place, a 15 footer to stay alive, and then a nice birdie to win. The long putter strikes again. He's on a roll right now.

Agree with comments about Rickie Fowler and Jason Day. The PGA Tour is promoting it's "Young Ones": McDowell(!), Kuchar, Fowler and Dustin. Only one win between them this year and McDo and Kooch are well into their thirties, Fowler of course with no wins at all. Dear Oh Dear!

To me, the new genaration of yanks are spearheaded by DJ and Bubba. Fowler plays the role of the French clown entertaining kids before the show.

Fowler's in the top 30 in money (over $2 million) and has proven that he can indeed play and compete on this tour ... don't let his "look" deceive you. Rory he ain't, but I suspect he'll be a winner on tour within 12 months.

For some reason, I keep thinking that someone is going to slap him and shout "Oranges!" in his face.

Perhaps there is an endorsement deal with Tango to be made.

Shotrock wrote:Fowler's in the top 30 in money (over $2 million) and has proven that he can indeed play and compete on this tour ... don't let his "look" deceive you. Rory he ain't, but I suspect he'll be a winner on tour within 12 months.

Nothing against you personally, Shotrock, but we've been hearing that for, oh, about 12 months now.

SmithersJones wrote:

Shotrock wrote:Fowler's in the top 30 in money (over $2 million) and has proven that he can indeed play and compete on this tour ... don't let his "look" deceive you. Rory he ain't, but I suspect he'll be a winner on tour within 12 months.

Nothing against you personally, Shotrock, but we've been hearing that for, oh, about 12 months now.

We've also been hearing on here for the past 3 years that Westwood is too good not to win a major..........predictions are dangerous things.
Fowler plays on the toughest tour in the world and he is doing pretty well, its not like anyone is winning stacks of events these days, McIlroy has only won once this year. Id say time is on Fowlers side.

Fowler may play on a 'tough' tour but as yet he hasn't won a professional tournament and seems incapable of putting four good rounds together. He may well do in time,but he's not convinced me of anything yet except that he knows how to look like an idiot. Which he does with great aplomb. At present he's just another Michelle Wie who's had hot air blown up his backside by a desperate American media.

He's put 4 good rounds together plenty of times, just not better on the week than anyone else. He's already had good finishes in majors and made a very favourable impression on his RC debut.
He's been a pro 2 years and has 13 top 10's and 4 second places. Nobody can predict the future but I think only someone who was influenced by external factors, ie his nationality or clothing attire maybe......, would not see anything other than a very good young player with a bright (orange) future in front of him.

Mmm, who else is constantly judged on his image/clothing and also constantly derided? At least that other person has won plenty of tournaments to justify looking like an idiot.

I realise that Fowler is a pretty good player and he impressed me at the Ryder Cup, despite me willing him to man sausage it up, but in Football parlance he hasn't really trained on and is patchy and inconsistent in his form, he's certainly not in the same league as Mannaserro or McIlroy and the longer that it takes him to win a tournament the more difficult it is going to be for him. (Ditto Fatty Overton).
Good player as he is, he's the archetypal over-rated and over hyped player.

super_realist wrote:Mmm, who else is constantly judged on his image/clothing and also constantly derided? At least that other person has won plenty of tournaments to justify looking like an idiot.
.

You mean the same person who can barely make a cut ? Personally I think if you are 22 you should walk around looking a bit daft, I know I certainly did, do we really want 22 year old golfers to walk around dressed like Tom Watson ? Now on the other hand when a man in his mid 30's dresses with an expanding waist line dresses himself up to get noticed, he really just looks like a prat.
Fowler is overhyped, though certainly not by himself (refer back to said pratlike mid 30 year old), he seems like a great kid when I have seen him interviewed.
By the way last week you said that most golfers are streaky and inconsitent over the course of the year, so why single Fowler out for being exactly that ?
There is far more reason to believe he will go on to win events than think he wont, former amateur no 1 and 2 very solid seasons as a pro. But there are of course no guarantees.

Why should your age dictate that you look like an idiot. I'd rather dress crisply like Mannaserro with a couple of wins under my belt, rather than be seen as a clown who dresses like he's just escaped from Guantanamo Bay or a second rate "rap" video and who's won nothing in his entire career. All style no substance.
Fowler is being made out to be the next big superstar, but he's just as streaky and inconsistent as everyone else, except that he doesn't ever win tournaments.
I'm sure he will win tournaments eventually as like I said he seems a good player, but lets leave all the discussion until he actually does. I suspect he'll win nothing for a few years when he grows out of trying to look differently, although perhaps his "faith in god" will reward him with a win.

This may sound harsh, but I'm bored of Fowler, bored of his hype, bored of americans saying he is the best thing since sliced, and he has it in him in 12months time.

I'm sorry but there's only so long potential can be built up before it becomes annoying, nothing against the way the kid dresses if he want to look like he's been tangoed then thats his choice, but serioulsy the fawning over him and his "potential" is no at the point where I want to

Not even won an insignificant pro event that is an exhibition let alone a tour event. He can at most put 3 rounds together, in fact the only time i've seen anything of his so called potential was in the Ryder Cup singles and then he wasn't playing one of the stronger members of the team.

Nothing wrong with discussing the merits...or cons...of the players you might think will turn out to be good or not. You may not like his style but there is plenty of substance, just not wins yet.

Fowler's terrific to follow, much better on the course than on the screen, but my point was: Why build your ad campaign around someone who has shown promise but so little actual success so far?
Fowler could probably benefit from everyone cooling their jets about his success, especially as Presidents Cup selection in ten days' time is likely to confirm he's not among America's ten best players, (currently 14th in the qualifying standings).

As for Bubba, and Kuchar for that matter, they're almost golfing middle age right now, 32 and 33 respectively, with six wins between them. Good to see them bigging up McDowell, but he's about the same age and hasn't had a Top 30 in a regular Tour event for six months!

Think the tour would be better off bigging up players like DJ & Watney, multiple wins in their 20's isn't DJ the player with the most wins in his 20's currently playing.

Also if they are bigging up players that aren't from the US shouldn't they look at guys like Day top 10 OGWR and PGA Tour player. Or likewise World No1 Luke Donald Perhaps, done far more in the US than McDowell

I agree Diggers, I think he's a top 50 player for sure, but i've seen nothing to suggest he is likely to live up to the hype that surrounds him.
Golf is full of people who have been successful in the Amateur game but have struggled in the pro ranks. Fowler is sailing along on a sea of hype but his ship is beginning to take on water and he could potentially sink without trace unless he wins soon. He's no better than Overton, but because Overton is fat and wears normal clothes no one mentions him.
On a purely golfing basis I quite like the fact that such an ugly swing can get him that far, but he's one of those ghastly hypocritical Americans who "fear god" , which makes him extremely hard to like.

Re Fowler & Predictions....

It's not foolish to say that Fowler has the ability and game to win on the tour - I think he's probably shown enough to date to prove that.

It is foolish to say he will win on the tour within 12 months..or even ever. Luck, weather conditions, health, other players hitting a hot streak etc etc can all add up or play a part and aren't really under any player's control.

SR, Overon is 28 and has been a pro for 6 years, bit of a difference to being 22 and a pro for 2 years. How many events did Rory play before he won, quite a few. To suggest that Fowler is struggling in the pro ranks after 13 top tens in 58 events and with a ranking of 32 is nothing short of an idiotic statement Im afraid, if you really think that it is you who is failing to see past the hype and have some perspective to see that he is actually going along very nicely really.
Kim is 26 and has 3 wins but he still gets plenty of stick on here so its not just about the wins clearly.

Diggers, I'm not saying he's struggling, but perhaps he isn't this precocious talent that people are making him out to be. He might be the great white hope for America, but we've got better players over here than him, of a similar or younger age.
Once again, I'll reiterate that until he wins then the hype cannot be justified. Both Mannaserro and McIlroy had won on tour long before the number of events that Fowler has played.
I suppose I just dislike him in the same way you dislike Poulter.

Well, there's no denying Folwer's unique look polarizes many a fan. There's also no denying his appeal -- I saw it first hand at Aronimink when he was in contention and just after he finished in round 3. Largest crowds following him and merchandise tent did the largest hour all week post his finish. I will still speculate he'll win within 12 months.

Great white hope for America??? He's a "ghastly hypocritical American" S_R, I do wonder how you form these points of view. My observation and personal experience with him is that he's plenty humble and a hard working professional. But, hey, maybe you know more.

I will also predict Rory will win another major in the next two years and will be World #1 within that same time. What he did at Congressional was the most impressive tournament I witnessed all year.

SR, anyone who is a religious zealot instantly becomes a ghastly hypocritial person in my view. I think it's the biggest indication of a weak character and feeble mind (in my opinion). With the exception of Bernhard Langer they tend to be almost exclusively American.

Fowler does look to me like he's got the game, but when the likes of Simpson come along and win 2 events in a year, especially after narrowly missing out by calling a penalty on himself earlier on in the year, it does beg the question why Rickie hasn't yet got over the finish line. He is still young but as has been pointed out, others have won younger.

I hope he does win soon, I have no concerns what he wears or believes but I do wonder whether players with unorthodox swings or elements thereof sometimes have to work that little bit harder to maintain their games right through to the end of a tournament?