PGA Tour: The Humana League: Notes from the Ballwasher

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1).So much for the Hawaiian Swing on the PGA Tour. An orthodox-enough win for Steve Stricker (not my pick but certainly no big surprise), but I was as taken aback by Johnson Wagner's win as I was by his Freddie Mercury moustache. I followed Wagner eighteen months ago for a forgettable round which culminated in him missing the cut. He appeared a bit overweight and a lot out of love with the game.
Fast forward via a fine end to his 2010 season, a win in Mexico last year, plenty of time in the gym and some Movember bristle which he vows will last through The Masters. Good for Montford Johnson Wagner. (Where do they get these names? Wish they'd pronounce him "Vahgner".)

2).And now he has three Tour wins, the same number as Kuchar and Kim, Bubba Watson and Mahan, one more than runner-up (for the 13th time) Charles Howell, and three more than Rickie Fowler. Lots of chat here about Howell - is he destined to be one of life's nearly men or does he have the desire, and putting stroke, to finally move on from his 20 career 2nd's and 3rd's and into the winner's enclosure? I'd say emphatically YES!, but he's 33 years old this year and that brilliant future is dimming.

3).Carl Pettersson shared second place in his first event as an American citizen but I don't see him in the USA Ryder Cup points list. Difficult to believe his first win was so long ago he beat David Gilford in a play-off. He'll never be a prolific winner on Tour - let's face it, who is? List of two. Or three? - but there'll be a Harbour Town success or a Transitions, a Greenbrier, something like that in his near future.

4).Another month, another dose of speculation on Q-School / Nationwide graduation etc, etc. But the chat is getting louder as some building blocks are apparently now in place. First, PGA Tour Commissioner Finchem has earned himself an extra $60M by signing up for another four years, and the Players Advisory Council has been elected for 2012. Comparitively rare to have many overseas players among its 16-player membership, but this year Justin Rose and Jason Day are on board.

5).The next Players Meeting is due for next week, in San Diego, and the destiny of qualification for the PGA Tour is sure to be up for discussion, if not determination. Some possibilities being bandied about include:

~An end of season 3-tournament series to determine PGA Tour cards for the following year. This could include the top 75 players who didn't make it to the FedEx Play-Offs and the top 75 from the Nationwide.

~A separate Q-School to determine composition of membership for the following year's Nationwide Tour.

~Whether to start the 2014 Tour season in 2013, similar to what the European Tour has done in the past. So some Fall Series events could morph into 2014 tournaments, perhaps some into qualifying super-series events.

~Got that? And apparently Hyundai has expressed an interest in becoming title sponsor of the Nationwide Tour!

6).As we said, it's all speculation. Meanwhile, Luke Donald was among those exercised in Twitterland about slow play during the Hyundai tournament at Kapalua. Don't expect any change this year as Ben Crane will be a Players representative on the Tour's Policy Board.

7).Matt Every made news last week for all the wrong reasons including an early candidate for the year's most bizarre putter. But that shouldn't obscure the fact that he's a fine young player, or the fact the Tour's policy in not disclosing disciplinary sanctions is open to abuse, as the Press showed in questioning Every.
Yes, they've every right to ask what the hell they like within reason.
No, it's a double standard asking a player about something they've been sworn to "omerta" on by the Tour.

8).This week marks the first event of the Champions Tour year with their "Mitsubishi Electric Championship" for Tour winners plus handpicked invitees like Crenshaw and Wadkins, Strange and Zoeller etc. Suffice it to say (sometime Tour member) Steve Thomas is not in the field, apparently destined for some time in the slammer if convicted of charges related to his arrest by Florida police in "Operation Red Cheeks", an Internet child sex sting. (No, I didn't make this up!)

9).The Tour's first week in California has recently been reserved for a trip to Palm Springs and the five-round Bob Hope pro-am marathon. Player support has steadily declined and Humana (Official Health Benefits Company of the PGA Tour) have stepped in to the breach and are now title sponsor for the four-round Humana Challenge, in conjunction with the (Bill) Clinton Foundation. President Bill will play with Greg Norman in Round 3 apparently, with the first three rounds being played on 3 courses with an amateur partner, Round 4 pro's only at the Palmer Course at PGA West.

10).But who else is there? Pretty much a Rag, Tag, Bobtail of the PGA Tour with some Champo guys double-dipping. Phil Mickelson returns from hibernation and some notables are back from long-ish term injury: Dustin Johnson, Brandt Snedeker and Kevin Sutherland among them. GB&I are represented by Christian, Davis, Knox and Laird with Greg Owen an "alternate". Bill Haas won here two years ago and should have repeated, losing in a play-off. He played poorly at Kapalua but must have a decent shout this week.
Regardless, birdies and eagles will fly, scores will be low at three of the Tour's more user-friendly tracks.

I think Warnock whines a bit too much but he seems like a good manager and good bloke.

Barton on the other hand, is a good player.

Russell Knox gets it to -6, hopefully he can take that to the house.

Brian Davis having a very poor couple of days, will need a 50-something the way he's going.

kwinigolfer wrote:
Don't know why Barton should feel he has to say anything though; his sending off, whether justified or not, was certainly confrontational and not what Warnock needed of the guy he'd acquired to offer some leadership.

Great admirer of Barton's play, but he needs to learn when to shut up. Sure Mark Hughes was thrilled.

I would agree with that, he has so much to say you hope he channels it all the right way like he did at Newcastle before he found twitter infamy. I am sure Hughes won't take any nonsense, but I fully expect he'll have plenty of it to contend with.

Must say im enjoying seeing Lauren on the course for the golf channel..

Looks a good addition to the team

David Toms is an interesting study. Just turned 45 and I thought several times during the past few years that he was ready for the Senior pasture. His basic PGA Tour career stats:

Wins - 13
2nds - 14
3rds - 9
Top 10s - 100
Top 25s - 212
Events played - 518
Cuts made - 353
Career Earnings - $37,271,296

Given what most of us probably expect from someone like him with his subtle talents, what's impressive are his career wins, top 10's and top 25's. His cuts made appear average and while I no longer can differentiate money earnings, if he invested his $37 million wisely, he's sitting pretty. But take his top 10 and 25 totals and apply them to his cuts made and that implies that the guy knows how to finish tourneys. I don't know what the other pro's averages are, but:

100/353 = 28.3% of top 10's to cuts made and
212/353 = 60.1% of top 25's to cuts made...

$37,271,296 / 353 cuts made = $105,584.41 earned per cut

Well, it ain't chopped liver no matter which way one cuts it.

venice,
Admire your maths thesis.
But what the PGA Tour don't tell you is how their pension fund works. And with that number of cuts and so many high finishes, plus a Champions Tour millions to come, he'll be sitting pretty on, I'm guestimating, at least $2M a year as long as he lives.
Which, of course, doesn't include his off-course earnings: $3.4M last year alone.

Justin Rose gets his season going next week, in San Diego. Other Europeans include Blixt, Christian, Freddie Jacobson, Knox, Owen.

Bradley, Els, D.Johnson, Mahan, Mickelson, Ogilvy, Watney, Watson.

Pretty decent field.

Given my long-held opinion of Neil Warnock, I'm more than happy to go along with what Barton has to say....

Will be interested to see whether Freddie Jac makes it next week, pretty sure he was in the Humana field this time last week before changing his mind, presumably not up to match fitness in time.

Yup, Freddie ducked out of the Humana after committing.

Thing is with Warnock though Ned, he signed Barton and presumably facilitated him making a few mil, and now Barton slags him off.
I watched War Horse last night and the hero horse is called "Joey". With a lot more sense than Barton.

venice1 wrote:David Toms is an interesting study. Just turned 45 and I thought several times during the past few years that he was ready for the Senior pasture.

That is an interesting study, Venice. It can be interpreted a number of ways. All those missed cuts suggest there are some courses/layouts that just aren't meant for him or he is a very specialised kind of player, but on the right tracks highly effective. He was never the same after that heart scare, I also thought he was winding up for the Champions Tour although last year looked like he regained his mojo somewhat.

Toms has had a ton of niggling injuries which have sapped his confidence as well as his playing time.

With no obvious successor to DLIII in line to Captain the US Ryder Cup Team at Gleneagles, Toms is probably first in line. But will he want that distraction if his form continues?

If not Toms, you'd think they'd go to a 50+ candidate (who else is there?), with Couples a very popular choice among the players, but probably not for the PGA of America.

Redrage wrote:All those missed cuts suggest there are some courses/layouts that just aren't meant for him or he is a very specialised kind of player, but on the right tracks highly effective.

Never thought about why he missed the cuts but your suggestion makes perfect sense and perhaps the main reason why most established pro's also miss the cut. Would be interesting to see such a study breaking down the percentages for reasons why they miss the cut and wonder what the numbers would be for non-golf related reasons: i.e. marital relationships, alcohol and drug problems, family disruptions, business distractions. As far as golf related reasons not including shot execution: caddie mistakes, incompatible playing partners, uncomfortable but obligatory playing equipment. I'm sure I've missed plenty. I have a feeling the caddies know most and then some. Would love to hear the incredulous ones.

You missed out chocolate puddings.

venice,
You're up and about way too early. Les Canadiens once again snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, tho' sure they'd've taken one point 24 hrs ago.

Not such good weather for President Bill today? A bit breezy and chance of showers in the desert by the looks of things?

kwinigolfer wrote:

Thing is with Warnock though Ned, he signed Barton and presumably facilitated him making a few mil, and now Barton slags him off.
I watched War Horse last night and the hero horse is called "Joey". With a lot more sense than Barton.

But, potentially at least, this is no different from any of us taking up a new job and then realising a few months later that the boss who hired us is a buffoon. I'll happily admit I'm biased though, I can't stand Neil Warnock, comes across as a horrible person.

The DLIII-successor is an interesting one. Would think it comes just too soon for some - Furyk, Leonard, perhaps Cink - and a little too late for the 50+s you mention, notably Couples and Calc. Would they fancy Verplank?

I thought Barton vs Warnock was something akin to Joey blaming McDonalds for his affray a few years ago. Not defending Warnock's record, with which I agree to your opinion, at Prem level at least.

But more important things: Yup, you've left Phil out but he'll definitely want to take his turn. One of the crucial boxes to tick is being a Major Champion, which Scott Verplank won't be. They go from having a dearth of candidates for 2014 to oversupply in 2016 for a few years!

Toms in Scotland for me.

Good Sunday in prospect at Fancourt.

NedB-H wrote:

The DLIII-successor is an interesting one. Would think it comes just too soon for some - Furyk, Leonard, perhaps Cink - and a little too late for the 50+s you mention, notably Couples and Calc. Would they fancy Verplank?

I think a lot will depend on how they do this year. If they lose, I reckon they will want Azinger back in. Cink and Couples are reasonable candidates too but perhaps they will favour being a home captain (or maybe they don't worry about such things).

Rr,
Cink way too young, still only about 38.
Mark against Azinger is that he's been completely out of the Tour mix now since Valhalla, not even playing any Champions Tour events. He had a bad smash on his motor bike but perhaps there's another problem as well? Lots of twittering, even criticising Obama, but not much else.

Verplank rather a forgotten man, but a fine Ryder Cup record when he's had the chance.

I read that Toms said a couple of days ago that the drive for the Hall of Fame keeps him going (!?). He thinks that he needs at least 1 more major or 2 regular titles for that... Not sure how realistic his calculations are there, but if that's the case, RC captaincy may not be one of his priorities in the near future...

kwinigolfer wrote:You missed out chocolate puddings.

venice,
You're up and about way too early. Les Canadiens once again snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, tho' sure they'd've taken one point 24 hrs ago.

Not such good weather for President Bill today? A bit breezy and chance of showers in the desert by the looks of things?

Darn, Chief. The ol' chocolate pudding in the head cover trick as Maxwell Smart would have said. Had to get out to the gym before the crowds get there on Saturday. And it's raining here but now starting to move out of the area. They shouldn't have any problems in La Quinta and perhaps sunny skies during the afternoon. Ideal conditions for the guys to go even lower unless the winds don't die down. Tomorrow should produce a pristine desert setting with the mountain backdrops and clear blue skies.

Yep. Your Canadiens had a 2 goal lead going into the 3rd period and physically imposing themselves on the Penguins. That losing fever is a tough one to break. The Maple Leafs must be drooling waiting for tonights matchup. Sacré bleu!

venice,

pd,
Toms not much chance of HOF as his career currently stands. He needs much more than 15 bog standard wins and a PGA to do it. Another Major might attract attention but Lee Janzen with his 2 x US Opens plus a Players doesn't even get him on the ballot.

venice1 wrote:...Tomorrow should produce a pristine desert setting with the mountain backdrops and clear blue skies.

venice, looks to me that every golf course in that desert area benefits from those amazing "mountain backdrops and clear blue skies" views. Here's a picture I took in Indian Wells about 6-7 years ago... looks pretty similar with what I see these days on TV. An absolutely gorgeous setting, I remember it very well...

Spoiler:

kwini, that's what I thought as well, I found it a bit strange that statement from Toms...

Cloudy in the desert with showers "in the area". Winds due to pick up later but otherwise should still be decent scoring conditions.

Would think the cut will see the -9's definitely make it, possibly the -8's.

But no complacency for Christian, Knox and Laird, a miracle required for Brian Davis.

Only Camilo in the top 13 among all the "International" contingent.

Thanks for sharing the photo, pd. Were you playing the course at the time and if so what did you think about it and how well did you play? What time of year were you there as it looks pretty much the same way year round? It gets brutally hot during the summer months but a good thing is that one doesn't have to wait for the group ahead because there aren't too many out on the course then.

venice, if I remember correctly, I believe it was sometime in October-November (2004 or 2005?), but very hot indeed. I did play it and I think I played pretty ok, until I got to the last hole and found the drink, etc. You can see the culprit last hole here...

Spoiler:

That 'diluted' somewhat the joy of a great day but as I said, a really spectacular place... Course was great and in very good condition. I read later that the course (Celebrity Course it's called) has been somewhat redesigned 1-2 years after I played it and that it hosted twice the PGA Tour's skins game... Relatively speaking, perhaps not among the most difficult courses I've seen and maybe slightly 'over designed' compared to what we're used over here, but having said that, I'd love to go back in that area sometimes and play again...

'Explosive' start by Mark Wilson, almost forgot about him in the last 6-7-8-9 months...

princedracula wrote:I I'd love to go back in that area sometimes and play again...

Yes. There are very few courses in the Palm Springs area that aren't either a pleasure to play, relaxing or an opportunity to "air out" the drivers and irons with abandon for quite a few shots during the course of a round. Definitely a place to spoil oneself.

Anyone know what time the coverage is meant to start?

Garrigus made six consecutive birdies with -8 after 11 holes. Howell is on fire too. Is this one of the lollypop courses, or made easy by an unusual weather?

Coverage should begin at 9.00 p.m. GMT I should think.

Not necessarily easy courses, Leff, but usually very straightforward pin-placements for pro-ams.
They'll be more difficult tomorrow when the amateurs go back to doing whatever it is they do best.

Brian Davis and Russell Knox struggling, Gary Christian making life difficult for himself, Martin Laird going nicely.

Would think the cut has one more stroke to go, the -8's should be OK.

Pro-Ams bring out the absolute worst in golf coverage, all the commentators sound like a bunch of sycophantic creeps.
Much more of this and it's on to College Basketball for moi.

Coincidence that the excessive wind applies to the golfcourse as well as to the commentators . . . . .

This wind is going to create a logistical problem for the organisers if they can't finish Round 3 tonight.

Be interesting to see how many amateurs postpone lift-off for their private jets most of which will be scheduled for evening wheels up.

Regardless of them, distributing the pros round three courses Sunday morning and rounding them all up to see who's playing 18 more holes will certainly delay things more than somewhat tomorrow.

Short shrift for the amateurs then, they're done. Pros only from 7.30 in tomorrow's a.m.
The pros who stick around will have up to 11 holes still to play. So Round 4 tee times won't start much before 11.00 a.m.
Too bad for the people who have re-energised a dying tournament.

So did play not resume, I started watching MOTD and gave up on the golf?

Bottom line, Mac, is that the pros will miss tomorrow's Man U / Arsenal game.
No surprise then that Poulter's sitting at home (or in the hospital, I suppose).

Play has started in the Californian desert.

Three of the boys from Down Under have downed tools and doubtless the organisers wish others had followed their lead.

Difficult to believe Round 4 will start at the hoped-for 10.00 a.m. local time; closer to 11.00 a.m. one would think which will make completing play today extremely questionable.

Plus there's a 59 watch going on with pot-head Garrigus 10 under par after 14 holes and a par-5 still to play.

Eagle 2 for Laird.
Looks like scoring's returned to normal after being blown away for an hour yesterday.

Another birdie for Garrigus, -11 with a par 5 and a par 4 to go.

and another birdie for lairdy...

Two weeks in a row the folks have given up on Laird and he's rebounded well in both tourneys. Guaranteed fireworks for the last round and 'Hope'fully they'll get to the finish line before dark though odd are against them.

kwini,
How about your Montreal boys also rebounding last night with Price in the nets against the Leafs? Is this the game that'll get them to schedule a printing of the playoff tickets?

Hi pd,

What's your quick guess on Branden Grace's remarkable back-to-back victories? How many places will he have jumped within 2 weeks time?

Grace should move now up to #91 at best, so he picked~165 places in the last 2 weeks... Ah, and ~€556,000 on top of that!

61 then for Garrigus, the second 61 this week after Ryan Morre's on Friday.

Still looks like -7 for the cut.

Quel surprise venice for Les Habs, not sure if they're turning a page in their season; just no consistency there.

Thanks pd, that's a heck of a leap especially for a 23 year old. And what kind of mineral water are those Saffers drinking?! Think I'll invest in a case of the stuff. But who knows, maybe something in their wine?

kwinigolfer wrote:Quel surprise venice for Les Habs, not sure if they're turning a page in their season; just no consistency there.

Think they have a game against the Red Wings and then the All-Star break. Should be able to heal the bones and be ready for the 2nd half. Their defensive talent is too good for them to miss the playoffs.

Laird's eagle grounded into a birdie, but still a nice 67. Will be in the top ten or close to it when Round 4 gets underway.

Can't watch this on tv, but if shottracker is correct, that looks like a lucky/clever par save for Phil at the 16th after going in the drink from the tee. Drop shot on the other side of the river to gain some distance...? Can he make it?

Round 3 concluding but guys like Michael Thompson will need to travel to reach the Palmer Course. Allegedly they'll be going off two tees starting at 10.10 a.m. local time, 6.10 p.m. GMT. We'll see.

First PGA Tour payday for Gary Christian, and Martin Laird on the very outer fringes of contention if Mark Wilson should stumble. Disappointment for Russell Knox though, and missed cut too for Davis.

Laird hasn't made the most of his length on these pretty easy par 5s these past couple of days. He would be right in the mix otherwise.