PGA Tour: Final Stage Qualifying School etc: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).The haves and the have nots of the PGA Tour golf world compete in California this week, in contrasting events reflecting the contrasting fortunes and futility of their respective PGA Tour seasons. They'll play 150 miles apart in Southern California, on Jack Nicklaus designs, but there any similarities begin to fade.

2).Let's start with the "have nots" who are assembled in the Palm Desert area, at PGA West, and will contest 108 holes over six days, three each at, respectively, the "Tournament" course and the "Stadium" course. The leading 25 golfers plus ties will join "The 25" who graduated via the Nationwide Tour (including Europeans Blixt, Chopra, Christian and Knox). Europeans teeing it up at PGA West include Swedes Gronberg, Johnson, Lingmerth and, yup, Daniel Chopra as he strives to improve his status position for January tournaments. Greg Owen and Ben Briscoe join them.

3).Other "notables" include Messrs;
Sang-moon Bae
Beem
Duval
Estes
Flesch
Franco
Gamez
Nathan Green
Janzen
Maggert
McCarron
Micheel
Noh
Petrovic
Oscar Serna
Vaughn Taylor
Weekley
Wetterich
not to mention son of Wadkins, grandson of Palmer.

There'll be "live" scoring on pgatour.com. (Eight hours time difference Cal / GB&I.)

4).On the subject of Sweden's Richard S.Johnson, I notice that recent Nationwide Player Of The Year, Wales's Richard Johnson, has surfaced as Golf Coach at the University of Central Arkansas. Not exactly known as a golfing powerhouse, but he has on his "roster" students from Cardiff, Barcelona, Alberta, Columbia and Birkenhead! Good luck to him, one of very few to register a hole-in-one on a par 4 in a professional tournament, the 2009 New Zealand Open.

5).Unless I've missed something, Commish Finchem enters 2012 with as secure a collection of tournament sponsors as he's had for a long time, and McGladreys have just confirmed an extension for their contract thru 2015. The "Transitions" final year is 2012, but it is unlikely the Tour will allow the fine Copperhead course at Innisbrook Resort to slip from its schedule.

6).Lots in the press and on the rumour mill about Westwood's decision to join McIlroy on the PGA Tour for 2012. If they both manage their schedules well, and enjoy expected success, this will be a good move for both. But, if form or fitness goes south, and they don't qualify for at least a couple of FedEx Play-Off events, they'll find themselves handcuffed by the 15-tournament rule and need to play a Fall Series event or two when they'd expect to be in Europe. Not many have managed their year well, especially in a Ryder Cup season, so fingers crossed they find form early.

7).For twenty or thirty years, this part of the golf year was known as the Silly Season. Fred Couples was the poster child as he won more money in Shoot-Outs, Skins Games, Diners Club Matches, World Cups, Three-Tour tournaments and the rest than he ever did in Major Championships. Didn't fancy The Open, no worries, just say my back hurts, see you in November.
But now it's the Very Silly Season, Rory McIlroy being an early beneficiary in China and thirty golfers lined up to line their pockets this week, in South Africa and Southern California.

8)."Very Silly" is compounded by the Official World Golf Ranking people who decided that these exhibitions should warrant owgr points. This "Very Stupid" policy famously helped McDowell two years ago, and it will doubtless help a golfer or two retrieve a sorry season this week. Furyk and Woods are exhibits one and two. Frankly, I'll be astonished if Woods fails to win his "Chevron World Challenge" at the very photogenic Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks. Apart from the obvious fact that he's playing with house money, it sets up ideally for him: Opening with a driveable par-4, and continuing with 5 x par-5's. Who cares? A "W" is a "W" to Tiger, even if it's a "w" to everyone else.

9).With Brandt Snedeker having dropped out a month ago, the news arrives today that Dustin Johnson responded to trouncings alongside Tiger Woods and a singles meltdown against Schwartzel, by undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his knee. Don't expect to see him at Kapalua either, and it is likely that the Tournament Of Champions will be devoid of its biggest names. Bad news.

10).Luke Donald is scheduled to play Nedbank, which is a reminder that PGA Tour POTY ballots have to be at Tour HQ by December 9th. Imagine most have already been filled in but no reason not to hope a win might restore his name to the consciousness of "undecideds". But, there again, if Tiger wins his Chevron, perhaps there'll be write-in votes for him.

Kwini

Did colt knost not already qualify through the nationwide? If so does a T27 at q school get you a better status than he already had?

Mac,
Colt Knost's story is that he played on the PGA Tour (just 3 events on the Nationwide) in 2011, but failed to achieve top 125 status. He qualified in 27th position as Anderson and Castro who finished ahead of him HAD already qualified on the N'wide.

Hi kwini,

Are you going to pen a Franklin-Templeton Shootout column this week? How do you like the new NHL division alignments for next season? Curious that they have one of the four conferences composed without a Canadian team represented. They could have easily have put your Montreal boys in Conference D to even things out.

Venice/Kwin -- Love the game, but did you see the two-part article in the NYT's this week about Derek Boogaard? Just chilling stuff.

Kwini

I was thinking of Russell Knox, I knew there was a knox that you had kept us updated on this season. I also see that danny lee has secured a place on the pga tour through nationwide form.


I seem to remember we wondered if ditching q school in favour of the nationwide as a route to the pga tour would bias qualification towards americans.


The nationwide money list does not provide nationality but I think the following foreigners will be promoted;

goggin
blixt
danny lee
Gary Christian
Miguel Angel Carballo
Russell Knox
Gavin Coles
Daniel Chopra
Garth Mulroy

Of course they all had to give up a year compared to a week or two at q school.

Hi venice,
First things first!
I'm pretty happy with the NHL re-org, would just have suggested switching Colorado and Winnipeg, give the Jets some National rivalries and you'd think Colorado would prefer the "Norris" also.

Haven't been to the Ballwasher yet, got somewhat immersed in "global announcementgate". Don't ask.

As for Q-School, I wonder whether Finchem will feel the results this week strengthen or weaken his plans for binning Qualifying School?
He got a couple of good young ones such as English and the two Koreans through.
But also has a number of old lags like Dawson, Dunlap and Owen to name but three back on the stage where they've proved they can't perform.

I believe the next Players Meeting on this will be at the end of January, in San Diego, so we'll have to wait and see.

Are you at the "Owners Meeting" in Dallas, looking to pick up a bat and an arm for Don Mattingly?


Blimey, it's not raining, it's pouring!

Mac,
Snap. Think you have the grads about right.


Shotrock,
I DID read that about Boogaard - not sure how one apportions blame for something like that. Of course, he was hardly the only "enforcer" to die this past summer.
The players pay a very heavy price for the NHL's tolerance of mindless bloodbaths. I can quite see it's part of the game, but equally penalties for fighting should be a lot more severe than the slap on the wrist we have now.
Sr, Makes me wonder how some of the thugs from the Erie Golden Blades and the Comets, etc, might be faring. Certainly didn't have Boogaard's 1.6M reasons for dropping their gloves either.

Thanks Shotrock. I'm guessing this is the article you're referring to: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/05/sports/hockey/derek-boogaard-blood-on-the-ice.html
Will have to read it during lunchtime which is coming up shortly. Brutal just by glancing at it. One thing that pro golf has over pro hockey is the lack of violence. (In most cases unless you consider the attire that some guys wear on the links. i.e. Like the orange prison jumpsuit that can be considered violence against one's eyesight.)

Kwin - I think we may be in total agreement. Bottom line: the NHL permits the gloves to fall, give the fights a "mini-ring" and then steps in and hand slaps with penalty minutes. It's not tolerated at the Collegiate level, which is pretty entertaining stuff IMO. I certainly understand the tradition of it, but think it should be gone or they should go full in like "professional" wrestling -- turn down the main lights and spotlight the fights when they happen, provide the players with breakaway chairs, etc. I love going to Flyers' games, but groan when the gloves drop.

Can't imagine the scrambled brains of some former Clinton Comets.

Venice. Fowler just the latest offender. Poulter and others plenty egregious over the years!

Poulter is only well tailored and relatively sombre these days. He hasn't worn anything truly ghastly in a very long time.
Fowler on the other hand looks like Justin Bieber in Guantanamo Bay.

To those who have asked about the plans for a revidsed Qualifying criteria for PGA Tour and Nationwide Tour eligibility, the attached article by the AP's estimable Doug Ferguson offers some insight as to the direction the Tour is looking. Plus a couple of items for pause offered by Furyk and Stricker:

http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/pga/news?slug=ap-onthefringe-120611

It sounds as if some earlier question marks have been answered, in the case of "fake" earnings for amateurs in an imaginative way. There's sure to be more water under the bridge or over the dam and these notes will try to offer updates.

venice1 wrote:Thanks Shotrock. I'm guessing this is the article you're referring to: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/05/sports/hockey/derek-boogaard-blood-on-the-ice.html
Will have to read it during lunchtime which is coming up shortly. Brutal just by glancing at it. One thing that pro golf has over pro hockey is the lack of violence. (In most cases unless you consider the attire that some guys wear on the links. i.e. Like the orange prison jumpsuit that can be considered violence against one's eyesight.)

Wow

Thanks for posting this though. Shocking and interesting (or shockingly interesting?!) insight to a sport I pretty much know nothing about.

Kwini, thanks. That was a great article about new q school.


So I think it will work like this

Top 75 from the nationwide and those from 76 to 150 in the fedex rankings make up a 150 strong field that will play in three events. The top 50 from the mini series will get on the pga tour and the other 100 will go into a nationwide q school.

Although that seems odd as where are the missing 25 for the pga tour?

There also seems to be a seeding system to ensure those higher up the nationwide ranking and fedex start the series with more points than those below them.

They have also introduced a system to let college players (amateurs) qualify through invitations to play on the pga tour. Any money the earn counts on the money list but they don’t actually get the money in their pocket. I do wonder why normal qualification is based on fedex and the ams on money list?

Do I have this right?

super_realist wrote:Poulter is only well tailored and relatively sombre these days. He hasn't worn anything truly ghastly in a very long time.
Fowler on the other hand looks like Justin Bieber in Guantanamo Bay.

Mac,
I may have got the wrong end of the stick, but one quibble with your interpretation would be the 75 from the PGA Tour.
Actually think the Top 125 are set in stone for "playing privileges" for the following year, and it will be 126 - 200 on the money list/FedEx going to three three-tournament finales.

In reality, I'm prettty sure that will subsequently be modified to read 125 - 200 PLUS full members from that year, as they have to provide a landing place for members who had a horror year, can't send them direct to the mini-tours without a Nationwide/Q-School lifeboat.

Would also think your penultimate sentence scenario needs a re-think.

What this all misses also, is that some Majors don't necessarily recognize the FedEx points system, what with The Masters taking the Top 30 from the money list, and the PGA having its own qualifying money list.

I will have to re read the article later, just had a quick skim at work.

as to my penultimate sentence do you mean i need to rethink my interpretation or that the system needs a rethink?

Mac,
"I do wonder . . . . " etc.
You're right, they will be in trouble if they mix-and-match FedEx points "currency" with cash-money earnings.

kwinigolfer wrote:
What this all misses also, is that some Majors don't necessarily recognize the FedEx points system, what with The Masters taking the Top 30 from the money list, and the PGA having its own qualifying money list.

Kwini,

The Masters might pretend to disapprove of the FedEx system with its money list category (luckily for Martin Laird), but it also has a category of "all players at previous year's Tour Championship", which is basically just endorsing FedEx by another name.

I think the comments on the Ferguson article have it right, the more I read about this system the worse I think the idea is. It sounds needlessly complicated (I know we said that about FedEx, but still), with the potential to alienate a lot of players, and replacing a system that to most non-Finchem eyes works more than well enough as it is. "In search of a problem to fit their solution" as the most recent comment says... I couldn't have put it better myself.

Ned,
You're right, I didn't word that particularly well.
But Finchem would be perfectly happy to dispense with sany recognition of the moneylist entirely. Not sure why, unless it's to ensure every possible mention in print and on the air of FedEx.

Completely agree with you; I mentioned in an exchange with puligny that Ferguson has the knack of being able to use other peoples' comments to express his opinions!

Perhaps it's a sign that right-minded people read his stuff Kwini!

Don't doubt that Finchem would be happy to do away with earnings lists entirely, but the majors won't ignore them until the tour does itself. Bizarre the way attention switches post-FedEx, just ask William McGirt whether they'd be better to stick solely with points...

" Tour with the 75 players from the PGA Tour who failed to qualify for the FedEx Cup playoffs"

I read the above from ferguson's article and became confused as I thought it was the top 75 that qualified for the play offs, it is of course the top 125.

So places 126-200 would end up in the mini series.

I dont think the system would be too complicated but it does seem like it might become a little bit tiresome after a packed season.

pgatour.com is offering the welcome news that Arron Oberholser is scheduled to make his comeback on Tour next month at the Humana event, formerly known as the Bob Hope.
After some near misses, Oberholser broke through at the 2006 AT&T at Pebble Beach but has subsequently undergone hand (four surgeries) and hip operations, and missed most of the past three years.
He's 36 now and in any other sport his brilliant future would be well behind him, but hopefully he'll be back to the his form of four and five years ago when he was one of America's top pros.

Kwini

Just watching a documentary about John Muir, he of national park fame.

The shots from inside Yosemite are just spectacular, just wondering if you have ever visited?

He just seems like a remarkable man.

Hi Mac,
From everything I've read and viewed, he was quite the guy! There was an Ansel Adams (mostly Western, especially Yosemite, photography) exhibit at our local museum a year or so ago, and that aroused quite a bit of interest about Muir that I hadn't previously known.
Short answer: Yes, I've been to Yosemite, once about 33 years ago! Stayed in one of the spartan cabins they have there; extraordinary landscape, my two-day visit did it scant justice and we didn't do any serious hiking to get off the beaten track.
Don't remember too many details, would love to go back. Strongly recommend it though, from everything I know.

I think I skipped Yosemite to play golf in Monterey. I actually think I made the wrong choice.

Mac,
Not a bit of it. Never travel thinking you won't be back. Except when you reach my age, you might think twice about that.
I seriously doubt California has seen the last of you.

PGA website has posted names of 27 qualifiers for the 2012 season. I didn't quite understand the process by which 5 others (among these is Daniel Chopra) won their cards.

Disappointed to see winners of majors (Duval, Beem, Janzen, Micheel) not making the list.

Believe the firm of Duval, Beem, Janzen and Micheel have seen the last of any hope for victory fade away. If they were a law firm, they'd be specializing in ambulance chasing. Of the four, Duval has to be the biggest disappointment: while he was at the top of the world tried to follow in the footsteps of Tiger. Nike endorsement, working out like a bodybuilder and perhaps adhered to too much corporate counsel.

On his own, he physically destroyed himself on the mountain slopes and acted like a moper during the rounds he played. Personally followed his play a good half dozen rounds in SoCal during his heyday and not once did he acknowledge the galleries and not once did I ever see him smile. A number of us felt genuine sorrow for the guy and he looked worse than our feelings towards him. His demise is not a happy ending, golf-wise.

'Morning Leff,
Chopra was one of 25 golfers who won their PGA Tour cards via the Nationwide Tour. The Top 25 moneywinners earned membership for 2012, and Chopra was 19th on that list.
Not sure who your other question marks include, but in total 50 golfers "graduated" to the 2012 PGA Tour, 25 via the N'wide, 25 from Q-School.
Chopra actually tried to improve his exempt status by playing Q-School, but failed; two others, M.Anderson and Castro went that same route. It's all a bit arcane, but there's a priority system for "graduates" to gain entry to Tour events. Nationwide Tour leader gets full exemption, the other 49 places alternate between Q-School and N'wide players.


Hi venice,
Crashed early last night with Habs up by two; but woke to another loss. Can't win a shoot-out to save our lives. Any money left in SoCal after the Halos emptied their wallets?

Agree Duval is a sorry tale, but at least nowadays he's doing things the right way and he'll get 10 or 15 starts this year, no doubt. The others need help!

Thanks, Kwini. I didn't realise we now have about 50 new cards.

Is Notah Begay fully retired now?

Not sure about Notah Begay; he contested Stage 2 Q-School and failed to advance.
Still does a ton of work for the American Indian community, including his Foundation's tournament every year at Turning Stone.
I've a feeling his name will continue to crop up here and there, too much talent to go totally to waste.

Kwini

All the talent in the world cannot overcome back injury, just look at seve. Even he couldn't perform after the back injuries started to become more common.

As there is no ballwasher this week can I ask what the major taking points of US golf will be over the coming weeks?

Mac,
Just not sure how bad NB's fitness issues are. He certainly tries to play . . . .

There may be some belated Ballwasher Notes this weekend; events elsewhere seemed to have overtaken things earlier this week. Normal service to be returned asap.

Talking points in US golf this week? Christmas mainly, not much else happening though am looking forward to Greg Norman's event this weekend.

Another injury update:
Following the good news about Oberholser, Mike Weir is hoping to return (from elbow surgery) at Pebble Beach in early February.
He also suggests that he might play some European Tour events when he doesn't make the field in the U.S. More good news for the E.T. I should think - I'd have every confidence that Weirsy will be back, that short game won't desert him like his full swing has and good health should see him hit fairways and greens once again.