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.

Leff wrote:Defending champ is missing!

Does anyone know the actual reason why GMac is not defending besides the fact that he is elsewhere? Seems strange.

Met Boo Weekly this summer ... had a 5 minute or so chat with him. Really a pleasant guy and I hope he gets some form back.

Looking at all these players trying to play their way into the PGA tour, I can't help but think just how mental this game is. They all pretty much have the shots, but who will be back on the PGA and who will be looking to sell insurance next year?

Venice - I was thinking the same thing. He took down Tiger and looked headed for bigger and better things, which never really materialized in 2011. Handsy, snappy swing like Sergio, Fowler and a few others ... so I'm not surprised at his inconsistent form, but again a golfer I would like to see have a better year in 2012.

Shotrock

Sergio is a little handsy but is it not thought to be his putting that is the isue and not his ability to hit shots.

I do agree that Fowler looks to have little control over his swing, and therefore, the ball most of the time. But you have to give him credit for how he managed the conditions at this years open long after Rory had thrown in the towel.

maybe it was considered such poor form what gmac did to the host last year that he will never be invited back? He may as well have shat in the cup on 18 rather than hole that putt, at least then he might have had a chance of coming back.

McLaren wrote:Shotrock

Sergio is a little handsy but is it not thought to be his putting that is the isue and not his ability to hit shots.

I do agree that Fowler looks to have little control over his swing, and therefore, the ball most of the time. But you have to give him credit for how he managed the conditions at this years open long after Rory had thrown in the towel.

maybe it was considered such poor form what gmac did to the host last year that he will never be invited back? He may as well have shat in the cup on 18 rather than hole that putt, at least then he might have had a chance of coming back.

I'd have done that, but before Woods sank his putt.

McLaren wrote:maybe it was considered such poor form what gmac did to the host last year that he will never be invited back?

Mac,
Initially I was jokingly thinking along the same lines but then imagined that something might have happened between the parties that left some emotional abrasions. Would think that the hosts would do everything within reason to secure their event's defending champion for the following year. Haven't heard or read a single thing about it here in local papers or clubhouses.

Shotrock,
Think the same could be said for a good part of the European top shelf golfers. Thought Westwood, Kaymer, GMac, Molinaris, etc. seemed to be like the huge foam after the big wave has come crashing down on the shoreline. Too many hangovers and accolades to recover from more than likely. On the other side of the coin, the Tiger collapse is beyond description. He can reason all he wants to but the scorecard never lies. Nice to hear that about Boo. He seems to be sad more often than not.

If I had to go to watch the guys at Sherwood, hands down would follow Jason Day who I think is the most intriguing golfer in the field.

Venice

I was joking, but just thought it would be funny to compare it to the country club style pat on the back for senior members of an event that it is. You can imagine them lined up on the first "joking" that Mr Woods should not be beaten as he has been kind enough to host them and dish out some OWGR points.

McDowell has stated that he didn't want to play China/Chevron/Dubai with all the inherent jetlag prospect and sought to mitigate that by having himself some Nedbank largesse. Who really knows??!!

venice,
Have you been affected by the winds? Sounds like LAX was a mess last night.

Venice - Jason Day would be a lot of fun to watch. Of all the Aussies, seems to have the most "Killer" instinct out there.

I saw Edoardo Molinari at the 2005 US Amateur in Merion and I seem to recall he went 7 under on the last 12 or so holes! He's got plenty of game ... and you can be sure a few blue blazered types weren't too happy that he decimated that course. (Fairways are already being moved and narrowed for the 2013 US Open.)

Who knows what will happen next year ... but I can certainly envision the trio Woods/Donald/McIlroy winning at least 2 of the 4 majors. Did I just curse them?

I understand, Mac. But there just might be something. One never knows when the big egos clash. Happens in the film industry often. Wouldn't surprise me if the same occurs in the sport production world. It is entertainment after all.

kwini,
The winds were big last night but have died down considerably. The weather is almost mild but breezy right now. Think the guys in the desert and those at Sherwood dodged the worse. How 'bout dem Canadiens? As you know, lost to the Ducks 4-1 last night. The Ducks then fired their coach (and a number of his staff) immediately following the game and hired Bruce Boudreau who had been fired by the Washington Capitols on Monday!? Don't know if egos were involved in this one.

Glad all's quiet there venice; looked like gusts there last night were almost as windy and full of eagerly inhaled hot air as Tiger's press conferences.
A coaching carousel to be sure!

Scoring early on significantly over par at Q-School, especially compared to yesterday's shoot-out.

So much for my 'good feeling' for Casey this week...

Sky Sports coverage has just started. At least DiDo is there to put a smile on faces but it seems Mark Roe is also in the studion to be the Tiger fan

Haven't even looked at the scoreboard yet so not sure what people are doing but the Tiger trouser-fest has started already

Does anyone get the feeling a few of these players have given up for the season and were just happy to pick up the mulla, OWGR points and then go do some chrimbo shopping in LA?

Spot on Mac. Tho' why anyone would go to LA for Xmas shopping is beyond me.
Casey +5 on the five par fives - most will be minus 2 or 3 at least. Double bogey, double bogey on 16, 17 for JDay.
Still not as windy as forecast.

Expect some overnight withdrawals from Q-School - some guys shooting in the eighties - nothing worse than 78 Wednesday.

... of things to come: Harris English (2011) and Daniel Summerhays (2007) are 2 of the 3 golfers that won on the Nationwide Tour as amateurs. They are currently 3rd and 5th on the leaderboard. The other amateur winner, Russell Henley (2011), failed to qualify for the finals of Q School in the previous stage but has recently been signed by Nike Golf.

Other trivial trivia: there are 9 former University of Georgia Bulldogs golfers who qualified for the final stage of Q School this year: Brendon Todd, Brian Harman, Harris English, Hudson Swafford, Kevin Kisner, Matt McQuillan, Paul Claxton, Richard Scott, and Scott Parel. And you guessed it, Russell Henley also played golf at the U of GA. Not even my beloved UCLA can touch that claim.

Looks like Jason Day threw a 7 on the par 5 16th hole. He is prone to tossing big numbers at the board. Needs lots of room to mature to attain top status and stay there.

Hi Davie,
What do you mean by "Tiger trouser-fest"? Unfamiliar with that term.

kwini,
If you ever bring your wife to L.A. and let her do X-Mas shopping on Rodeo Drive, you will add a new dimension to your statement.
Thankfully, I'm still a bachelor.

Dont know, never been to LA and know nothing about shopping. My idea of good shopping is the local home brew shop.


They should set a par for the field that if not met there are no points handed out.

venice,
When we go to Rodeo Drive, we'll be using Mrs kwini's card.

Intrigued by the Q-School name "Gator" Todd - a Richard Todd, not Brendon.

Think Bubba, Chris Kirk and Ryuji also went to Georgia (who go into the SEC Title game under false pretences as far as us Gamecock fans are concerned).

Venice, a Tiger Trouser Fest, would be the friskiness in the gentlemans area which seems to occur every time Woods appears on screen by the likes of the wretched Roe and intolerable Torrance

super_ / Mac:
How do you describe Kelly Tilghman's orgasmic drooling over Tiger's "gentleman's area" as I'm sure she imagines friskiness there every time she feasts her eyes on him? Probably just waiting to feast something else on him.

I presume that she has a frothing gash instead Kwini.

Kwini, perhaps you 've noticed this too?
Why is it that American TV , presenters (especially sport) look like they are about 10 years behind the rest of the world in haircuts and clothing?

It's like watching Ron Burgundy sometimes.

I guess she just fancies him. Who can blame her.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

American TV presenters are at least ten years behind the rest of the world in haircuts and clothing, as is much of mainstream America. Huge difference in the fashions and style we see in Montreal, which is only 90 miles north of here. Wouldn't exactly say "cutting edge" in Montreal, more like "biting edge", very edgy indeed.

McLaren wrote:I guess she just fancies him. Who can blame her.

Mac, you're a lucky man. The brew shop shopping sounds good. Don't think the liquor stores here live up to the 'brew shop' billing. Usually have to tour the micro breweries for that action.

S_R, that now makes perfect sense. Have more than a couple of buddies that do the same thing when Tiger's on the tube and they don't even play golf. Incredible.

kwini,
Are there any notable University of South Carolina golfers on tour and why aren't they at the level of Georgia golf considering that SC maybe the golf course capitol of the U.S.?

Casey only 13 strokes behing KJ after round 1. Would boxing judges be allowed to score it 10-1 presuming Casey receives at least one point for being in the ring?

Kwini, it's almost as if they come out of a mould, and that the hair gets put on like a lego mans before they go live along with a smile less sincere than an airhostess or checkout girl

Very unnatural and quite uncomfortable to watch as the presenting style lacks edge, flow or spontaneity either. Most contrived.

Checking your personality at the door is a prerequisite for most broadcasters over here, in whatever field.
Presumably the advertisers want to project a Peoria image, rather than, say, Pimlico.
And of course they're all contrived. And highly paid for it.

Big change in the forecast for Friday, "High Wind" warnings withdrawn and should be relatively balmy. We'll see about that.

Shocker of a day for Europeans in the US, collectively +12 at the Chevron exhibition, and +17 at Q-school. Wouldn't rule anyone at E out of getting their cards yet though.

Good to see Matt Jones doing well, try to follow him a bit, seems to just miss out on his card year after year after year.

On reflection that is not the first time in his last few events (including the pga?) where tiger has made a fast start and failed to maintain low scoring.

Did anyone notice his total duff early on, seems it can happen to anyone? If not, he was in the second cut of rough and scuffed it about 10 yards.

The commentator seemed to excuse him due to a poor lie but I think he just duffed it.

I remember a while back (maybe Gooses first us open?) Furyk just hit a total shocker from the tee like an 18 handicapper. It came out of the heel and skittered about 120 yards up the left rough. Can anyone think of any other really duff shots from the pro’s. Maybe something other than a poulter shank as they seem to happen every other week.

I do remember early this year (perhaps one of the Hawaii tournaments?) when Jason Day completely topped a drive off the tee and moved it about 50 yards. He took it very well and seemed to be in fits of giggles - hit a driver again off the deck almost into some bushes - played a miraculous shot frmo the bushes onto the green and sank the putt for a very unlikely par!

Mac, You'd be surprised how often Professional Golfers actually hit bad shots, really bad shots. The thing is you only usually see the best shots on TV as the director cherry picks them. Coverage is only quasi-live as he flicks from one live shot to other recently recorded ones. He'll discard the bad ones (unless it's a high profile bad shot)

I've seen some truly shocking shots at tournaments. Which is what makes it funny when you see an 18 handicapper losing his temper.

Every sport has huge amounts of errors by the players. In football, tennis, snooker etc you see them all, in golf, unless you follow a group you simply don't see them, but they happen all the same.

Hi Kwini, thanks for the notes!

Anyone see the interview with Steve Stricker last night?
"Steve, what's it like being out there paired with Tiger?"
"Its good. Over the years we've became good friends."
"Thanks. That's it!"
or something along those lines. Disgusting really. And Steve had just holed an beast of a putt on the last...

Hi Lairdy,
Missed last night's coverage, but followed it sporadically via the leaderboard; that interview with Stricker not quite as bad as with Scott and Choi at the Pres Cup when they skipped away from asking KJ anything so that they could hear words of wisdom from Stricker and TW.
But Golf Channel ratings have been at record levels throughout November, inspired by you know who, so they'd say that're getting it right, no matter how rude and disrespectful they may be.


I see someone else has joined Marc Turnesa in w/d'ing from Q-School, Pappas I think following yesterday's 86!
Ned,
I have also followed Matt Jones, what avely swing he has, must be something going on upstairs as he had a pattern this year of following fine rounds with stinkers.


Because of yesterday's weather blowing scores all over the place, it's a little tricky trying to discern who's out of it at Q-School, but some well-known names clearly need miracles:
Petrovic, Gamez (of course), Carlos Franco, Nathan Green all one more bad round from an early trip home.

Bad day at the office for the Molinaris, Northern Ireland setting 'em alight at the Nedbank!

Franny seems to have settled quite comfortably in that last spot of the guy who's happy enough with the appearence fees (plus the big fat gold watch)... bit of a shame for him. But I'm delighted with DC's attitude and performance so far today, he really seemed determined NOT to be seen as the guy in that position... GMac may well decide to come back to Sun City next year rather than going to CA if he keeps going like this... It's a pitty his good pal Rory doesn't have some more of his grit as he threw away again today a valuable 2-shot lead in the last couple of holes...

Anyone else noticed there's a Seniors event running in parallel at Sun City? Bernhard Langer's in the lead at -7.

LP, Nice work from Bernhard who just seems to be recovering his form after his thumb surgery; this could jump start another good year for him.

Yep, that SunCity TV feed seems to be covering both... Yesterday I saw Lehman giving away the lead at the last hole with a bad double bogey... Is it just me or Nick Price has lost weight...? He was always a fit guy, but now he seems to me to be really thin. Woosie on the other hand.......

Not a bad day from Tiger and what a ratings boom for the Golf Channel. Given the events of the past couple years I'm surprised Tiger's endorsements didn't dry up more. Just read he's still pushing $60 million. Now that's folding money.

In a tournament, I saw Davis Love hit a drive about 40 yards and never higher than his knee.

Venice -I suppose you could make a case for SC being the golfing capital -- in quantity of courses if not quality and variety!

LadyPutt wrote:Anyone else noticed there's a Seniors event running in parallel at Sun City? Bernhard Langer's in the lead at -7.

Stupid question but does anyone know if the Seniors are playing off the same course and tees? Was just looking for justification of difference in prize money etc.

Especially as Langer would be winning the whole tournament (or would have been last time I checked).

Shotrock wrote:In a tournament, I saw Davis Love hit a drive about 40 yards and never higher than his knee.

Not really suprising to see duff golf shots. Ive seen plenty of tennis players hit shocking serves or completely duff dolly volleys. Footballers fluffing penalties, corners or miss controlling simple traps, happens all the time. They are only human after all.

If Tigger doesn't win Chevron this year, they need to reduce the field surely from 18 players. Seeing as they made that beautiful trophy of a Tiger, it can't go on that he would fail to win it again..................

Wonder how his "hosting" of ther event is going. All the meeting & greeting must be tiring for him!!

A top 5 showing would be good for Tiger IMO.

Elsewhere, no surprise to see Rory near the top, but a bit surprised to see the likes of Jason Duffner playing so well and world #1 (who may be a bit worn out) more middle than top of the pack.

Sr,
You are becoming a master of dimming expectations for #52 and bigging them up for others!

Let's face it, anything other than a Tiger win this week will be a step backwards in the big scheme of things for him, most likely signalling a regression from last year.

Duffner's doing well, isn't he? If he'd've stayed at home he'd've got himself a place at the Chevron as an alternate when Major Toms decided he'd rather watch LSU than Tiger.

(Looks like pgatour.com won't be cranking up their leaderboard until Woods tees off, pretty much like Thursday.)

Super start by Casey, glad to get away from Jason Day's and Swatton's company, no doubt.

Kwin - Can't agree with you there ... if Donald doesn't win is that a step backwards? Top 5 for Tiger would be about where I expect him to finish. World #1 hardly held to the same level of "critical development" as world #52. Comes with the territory when you've been so dominant for so long I suppose.

Great start indeed for the Casey/Haas group... and for Tiger as well.

Is Brady Stockton from Q-school any relation to the putting guru?

SRock,

Would like to see an in-depth comparison of golf courses for the leading dozen or so U.S. states. South Carolina certainly has taken golf promotion to another dimension so maybe their reputation precedes itself. The Northeastern states should make a strong case for having the top quality courses available. The courses in the desert Southwest are somewhat limited in variety and scope due to the physical environment. Texas can boast a number of fine courses but the too many poor municipal tracks knocks it down the list. Can't comment on other parts of the country, having not golfed there.

Southern California offers much but many of the better courses are a couple of decades from maturing. Locally, the older established courses are still my preference but there are some surprises in the tracks built within the past 20 years. Unfortunately for this state, dozens of fine courses that had been around for a good half century took a back seat to housing and commercial developments during the 1960's to the early '80's.

Hopefully the Chevron doesn't turn into a 2 man race.

Bob May hanging in there at La Quinta but can't believe he's only 43 years old. Thought he was ready for the Senior events.

Luke has tw@ted that he is happy to be where he is after a 6 week layoff and not being at his best but still in touch. Watch out for a surge Saturday/Sunday

Chalk and cheese, Shotrock:
Tiger has been playing competitively two of the past three weeks, "reps", looking for the "W", whereas Lukey's been home changing nappies. I'd think Woods'd be bitterly disappointed, perhaps even embarrassed, if he didn't win this week. Even though the golf world would see it as a hollow victory, he certainly would see himself back on his pedestal.


I've never golfed in Michigan, venice, but would think the sheer variety of courses and terrain matches it up with almost anywhere except perhaps California and NYS. SC depends for most of its quality along the coast, so little variety there and not much inland, a hidden gem or two (Aiken Golf Club is said to be a beauty) but reportedly not much else of note.


pd,
I don't think Brady Stockton is related to Dave or his sons. He's been playing the mini-tours and in Canada, in his thirties now and I've never heard his name mentioned in a Stockton family context.