PGA Tour: Phil, L.A., Riviera: Notes from the Ballwasher

1).That breath of fresh air blowing off the Pacific last Sunday was Phil Mickelson brushing away the cobwebs of three weeks' golfing futility and reminding us that he's still on a very short list of the World's most exciting golfers. My short list would be Mickelson, McIlroy, Garcia and Woods, not necessarily in that order. What would your's be?

2).13 wins is a pretty good total for a PGA Tour career. Phil has 13 in California (matching Tiger) alone, plus another 5 in Tucson and Phoenix, and has now reached the milestone of 40 Tour wins, 9th all time as he moves ahead of Middlecoff and Watson. Among the under-36 generation, who would you expect to reach just half of that many wins? I'd guess no-one.

3).Tiger predictably blamed his putter, "I missed a ton of short putts today. I could not get comfortable where I could see my lines. I could not get the putter to swing." Yada, yada, yada.
But even if you give Tiger the four putts inside 6ft that he missed, that's still a 71 and good for fourth, five shots behind Phil. Fact is he only hit nine greens and, coming off his 2-fairway effort in Abu Dhabi, he must surely realise that such "ball striking" is not going to get it done.

4).Yesterday we were told that Tiger will be playing the "Honda", at PGA National. Logical choice as it's just down the road from his mansion. Surprising choice given the winds so prevalent during the tournament's early March date, plus it's a course he hasn't played competitively as a pro. Where's he going to finally get his game together and his name on a trophy then? I reckon his next best chance will be Doral in three weeks. Don't fancy him at Honda or Bay Hill but then he's surely got a great chance at The Masters if he can just putt on Sunday as he does the rest of the week. If he's still winless leaving Augusta, Quail Hollow and The Players would seem long shots, but Memorial always suits him and I can see a shoot-out with Rory and Tiger in Ohio.

5).Meanwhile, Mickelson is smiling all the way to Los Angeles and the "Northern Trust Open", as the Tour leaves its fourth favourite course (Pebble Beach) and drives 325 miles south to its third favourite, the George Thomas design, Riviera CC.
But the Northern Trust can't be trusted to offer any respect to one of its most successful participants this past decade. Only Phil has a better recent record at Riviera than Mike Weir but, in a classic case of what-have-you-done-for-me-lately?, (I've been injured for two years, guv, eh) the tournament twits spurned Weir's request for a tournament slot in favour of such luminaries as Jason Gore (who campaigned for his invitation on Twitter), not to mention some promising amateurs. Canadian (does that have something to do with it?) Weir is due a two year's worth of full exemption on the PGA Tour via the career moneylist. Wonder if he'll play the Northern Trust?

6).On a happier note, the return to the PGA Tour of leading players continues this week with Luke Donald, Jason Day, Adam Scott, Garcia, Goosen and Freddie Jacobson (back from injury) all making their seasonal debut. And welcome back, too, to Tim Clark who's been out for most of the last 13 months.

7).Promising effort last week by Padraig Harrington who also scored a pair of top ten finishes at Riviera before he won three Majors and started to tinker with his swing. Luke Donald enjoyed 5 top 13 results in six years before his eccentric missed cut last year when Justin Rose finished 9th. If they're tournament-ready, you'd have to like the chances of all three.

8).Hopefully not totally lost amid last week's hoopla was a 9th place $153K cheque for Greg Owen, and that earns him a spot in this week's field, alongside other Europeans not previously noted: Davis, Laird, Blixt and Pettersson.
All six PGA Tour events this year have been won by Americans. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Chances of an International win this week though must be 50/50, with KJ Choi another with a fine record here in his 11 visits so far. Eleven made cuts, four top tens and only out of the top 33 twice. Each way investment?

9).Champions Tour in Florida again this week and once again Europe is represented only by Bernhard Langer.
Hope you saw Corey Pavin's miracle left-handed chip last week on his way to his first Champo Tour win. Here's another look:

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/golf-devil-ball-golf/video-corey-pavin-pulls-off-one-craziest-shots-135107799.html

10).Last, and probably least, the final year of the Nationwide Tour as we know it gets underway this week in Columbia. Boo Weekley (now withdrawn) and Aberdeen-Aussie Michael Sim will be trying to resurrect their careers while promising Swede David Lingmerth is travelling in the opposite direction on the career ladder as Swedish playing partner Mathias Gronberg. And I am indebted to 606v2 "NedB-H" for pointing out that Old Colwyn's Ben Briscoe is embarking on his Nationwide career - I wonder if he's the best golfer from North Wales since Errie Ball?
Good Luck Ben Briscoe!

Kwin - Another fantastic effort. USA 6 for 6 so far this year on Tim's tour (unless I missed something, which is quite possible). Will this be the week for an "International or Euro"? Time for World #1 to make a statement?

Too bad for Weir, but fully understand the sponsor's decision to invite who they want. Their coin, their call.

Honda people jumping up and down with TW's decision. Look for record numbers at gate and on TV for that event.

Hi Kwini, nice read!

I think it looks as though Tiger badly needs to sharpen up his short game. His swing has been there or there about for enough of the two strokeplay events he has played so far this year, but has failed to dig himself out of trouble under pressure. He has done the hard work on his long game, it's time to do the same for his short game which looks to have been badly neglected.

Lefty caught me by surprise last week, his form had been modest to say the least but he really turned it on at Pebble on Sunday! I wouldn't be at all surprised if he repeats this week... it wouldn't be a first for him.

Cheers Shotrock,
I think Number One will make a statement soon enough; may be a touch underdone coming into this week though?

Sponsors need to remember that loyalty goes two ways, and hopefully Mike Weir will remember that too. What goes around comes around, and all that.
Looking on from 3,000 miles away it looks like just another dis of an "International" player; not unlike the PGA Tour morons having World #31 sweeping the Thursday dew with Greg Owen and Jarrod Lyle. Can you imagine that happening to an American?

SO'H doing very nicely this season; and a couple of his best events coming up in March. Turning 30 this year I see - how time flies.

For those of you like me who were in the wrong area to watch the Corey Pavin shot, here's another link. It about 35s in:
http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-tours-news/blogs/local-knowledge/2012/02/video-pavins-amazing-lefthanded-par-save-from-cart-path.html

Hi kwini,

We'll never know what goes on in the minds of the PGA Tour decision makers and it's probably best that way. The weather is shaping up beautifully for the players this week. We're expecting rain tonight and then partly cloudy skies and low to mid F60's for the rest of the week. The greens should be ripe for scoring but I hope they don't institute the lift, clean and cheat rule for any of the rounds.

About K.T. Kim's group selection with Lyle and Owen: the officials want to make sure that the gallery is evenly distributed throughout the course as K.T. has a huge following, especially for the early morning L.A. crowds.

Like the following groups:
Luke, Scott, Watney
D.J., Bubba, Badds
Day, Sergio, Freddy
Clark, Sabbatini and Pods should be interesting

Hi Redrage, Thanks!
That's asfine a round as I've ever seen Phil play; it sounds silly but it seems emotional things really lift Phil and focus him. His wife's surgeon at Houston last year, Amy being around to see him win on the course his grandad caddied on. Who knew! Wish he'd offer a clue or two about what's next on his bucket list of things to celebrate.

289, Never thought of that. Thanks!

Hi venice,
Still going Friday? Like you, I actually thought the Tour put some fascinating groups together; also like the come-from-behinders Mickelson, Stanley and Sneds.
But their anti non Americans extends knows no bounds: Apart from K-t, I see they've also planted Ishikawa and Ikeda down among the rookies. No class. Like inviting people to a party and telling them they have to speak to the children all evening. Pathetic.

Great stuff, kwini

kwinigolfer wrote:...My short list would be Mickelson, McIlroy, Garcia and Woods, not necessarily in that order. What would your's be?

Yep, pretty much agree with that at this moment in time...

Riviera is shaping up to be the strongest field (owgr-wise) this year. And it marks the start of a long period of 2 months or so when the overwhelming attention will switch to the PGA Tour (probably the 'weakest' period on the ET all season).

I'd like to back Sergio this week, but being his first US showing in a while, not sure how 'ready' he will be...
I like Podge's chances as well, but it goes without saying thse days when backing him, I won't bet my house on that just yet.

Interesting venice's mention Re: KtK and his huge following... Actually, although obviously in a different league from those 4 mentioned above, he would be one who I'd find pretty exciting to watch when in top form...

I will be going Friday morning kwini, but disappointed that I may have to report back to work for the afternoon, just when Luke and Co. are starting. Best early morning memory at The Riv: one year on a Thursday at 6:45 a.m., we were walking back up the hill along Hole #1 to the clubhouse after watching from down below at Daly and company driving from the above very elevated tee box. We were nursing our hot coffees as the temps were still cool when we passed Daly marching down the path like a steam engine with smoke coming out everywhere. He greeted us with a happy good morning and kept puffing his cigarette and moving down the hill towards his ball like he was playing a weekday practice round.

Hi pd,
Good point about KtK. I was trying to come up with a decent excuse for the officials giving him that preferred grouping. Very interested in what Cantlay will shoot the first 2 days as he's probably played the course more than most on the tour as Riviera is part of the regular practice rotation courses for those on the UCLA golf team.

Cheers pd,
Have just noticed the absence of someone who said he'd be playing this week:
2nd in 2009, 1st in 2010, 29th last year: Steve Stricker. What's the deal there I wonder? 45 next week, the years must be catching up with him!

And I also see that the Chicago Trib report that Conway Farms (Luke Donald's home club in Chicago) will host the 2013 BMW Championship. (Crooked Stick this year.)


venice,
Have fun! The Sergio and Phil groups go off #10 at 7.16 a.m. and 7.27!
(Habs vs Bruins tonight but those boys are making me watch more and more college b'ball.)

Kwin - Jason Duffner at world golf ranking of 34 (not far removed from 31) a dew sweeper too ... so line of discrimination does not seems as direct to me. Point taken though. I would give the same advice to both players -- go low and play late on the weekend.

SOH - off to a much better start than prior years. Are his best years behind him? I hope not.

kwinigolfer wrote:Sergio and Phil groups go off #10 at 7.16 a.m. and 7.27!
(Habs vs Bruins tonight but those boys are making me watch more and more college b'ball.)

That's perfect for Friday as the course layout is very unobstructed for the gallery (except for those huge ugly corporate hospitality tents that are too numerous these days) which allows for shifting back and forth between two groups especially in the morning when the crowds are thin.

Hey, if the Rangers can take out the Bruins, why not your Montreal boys (how did your guys manage to give up 3 goals in the 3rd period and lose a home game against a lousy Carolina team Monday night?!)

Sr, Fair do's, hadn't seen Duffer - course, thing is, K-tK has plenty of wins around the World . . . . SO'H is a player, he just needs to remember that!

venice, The Carolinas are a bit of a bogey team for Montreal - and the Bostons haven't been playing well, not since the brouhaha about Tim Thomas missing the White House do.

Won't be wet enough for lift, clean etc will it? Nice forecast after today.

IIRC, the PGAT assigns the TV Pimp tee times to Recent PGAT winners.

And IIRC PGAT bylaws allow a one player to be elevated to the Pimp Tee-times.

It looks like 12:01 & 12:12 #1 Tee times are the Pimp Slots:

Thursday
12:01 Day, Garcia, Couples
12:12 Mickelson, Stanley, Snedeker

Friday
12:01 Donald, Scott Watney
12:12 Dustin, Bubba, Baddeley

Apparently Couples is the one player that caught promoted to a Pimp slot. His last win is almost 9 yrs ago.

GPB wrote:Apparently Couples is the one player that caught promoted to a Pimp slot. His last win is almost 9 yrs ago.

not quite true... his last win came 3 month ago in oz...
maybe not the most orthodox of wins, but obviously good enough to elevate one in pgat's eyes to 'pimp' status...

Some great notes Kwini!

and terrific stuff by Phil last week! Tiger and Phil head to head on Pebble Beach on a Sunday was a rare treat. Pretty much agree on your most exciting golfers. Phil and Sergio firm favourites of mine. More disappointment from Laird though... Tiger still rusty too - an almost acceptable excuse for most at this point of the season...

Pga tour now shifting up through the gears and of those making season debuts it'll be interesting to see who gets beyond a warm up lap. Sergio and Day wont be running as cold as Donald and Scott. But will they be warm enough to get past red hot Phil with his great track record? Given that Phil is Phil he'll probably push it too hard, crash and hit the Friday cut barrier! Venice? We want/demand your eye-witness account!

Looking forward to this tournament its a good field.

Oh dont really like Pavin but what a shot that was. As he rightly says, shot in a million.

Some great notes once again Kwini!!

Cheers Lairdy, Sand,
Early start at Riviera Thursday and Friday, first tee-times 6.45 a.m. Pacific time.

Weather should be dry this week, but could be a bit windy today, less so through the weekend. Temps 70's today, moderating to the 60's on Sunday.

Strange thing about Adam Scott - he's been telling the press that he suffered various degrees of tonsilitis five times a year in 2010, 2011. Now had his tonsils removed, not by Ana apparently.

These golfers can be delicate types . . . .

Another strange thing about Scott is that he won a rain-disrupted 36-hole LA Open in 2005, but is not credited with an official win, a bit like Mickelson at the WGC HSBC Champions.

Did anyone know about Oliver Wilson's illnesses?? Wilson interview

First I've heard of it, but in retrospect it makes some sense - made lots of cuts but petered out over the weekend as if he had stamina issues.
Interesting he talks about his putting at Doral two years ago - I wrote a 606-gram about British-based players putting on Bermuda greens and he was one of the examples!

Two things tho':
Touring pros playing sick or injured are damaging themselves in two ways. Probably not getting better, perhaps making things worse.
and:
Not making any money and squandering their exemption status when they should be rehabilitating and applying for a Medical exemption.

Mike Weir Exhibit A on both.

But Wilson should put his ego to one side and play some Challenge Tour events.

Interesting insight into Wilson's plight! And how it seems the Tour gossip mongers have left him feeling a somewhat relative outside on a tour where they say the camaraderie is greater than anywhere. Here's hoping he can return to near top of the game and get that win.

Good field this week have never watched this event before but have read good things about it and looking forward to the next 4 evenings viewing.

Interesting reading on Golf Week and the world rankings apparentrly rumblings on tour that many were dumbfounded how Phil got less ranking points for his Pebble win than Tiger for Chevron and also Westwood for NedBank.

Good that at least he finally made it public, in retrospect he may realise that would've been better off talking about it earlier. Good luck to him anyway!

Talking about medical stuff, I see Oberholser is out again, and so is Cejka... (?) All eyes on Tim Clark this week to see how it goes, hopefully all well... (Freddy as well, of course...)

kwini, I was wondering, as far as you can gather, with Riviera included, are there any other top(ish) guys that are still to come out from hibernation this year?

If you ever get the ticket to play Riviera, punch it. I've never met anyone who played there that didn't thoroughly enjoy the course, clubhouse, etc. In the land of fountains and fake waterfalls, it's a George Thomas gem.

Boy, the golf Channel was going on and on about Luke Donald yesterday. Just no weakness in his game, and lethal if he hits fairways like he did in 2011.

pd,
I think all the top 100 except Casey will have played somewhere once K-t Kim, Scott and Jacobson tee off, except perhaps one or two on the Asian tours.

Some haven't played well, of course. Yang, Glover (out injured the past month, back next week), Overton, A.Kim the leading PGA Tour members with no owgr points!

Talking of which, the 3rd man in the Kevin Na / Anthony Kim group has withdrawn (can you blame him?) - not sure who it was yet but someone of prominence clearly.

Luke Donald needs to cool the expectation level . . . . . !

kwinigolfer wrote:Weather should be dry this week, but could be a bit windy today, less so through the weekend. Temps 70's today, moderating to the 60's on Sunday

Just came across some weather advisory somewhere... "Potential for damaging winds this morning at the Northern Trust..." I'm sure venice will enlighten us as to what's going on...

The weather is cooperating with the golf gods. The wind was gusty and brisk at 4:45 a.m. this morning. At 6:15 a.m. the air was dead still and starting to warm up as the sun was rising. A typical morning for the Santa Monica Bay area and should be a great week as far as course conditions go. The scenes will be picture perfect when the broadcast finally begins with the occasional clouds moving through the area. Why can't they show us 8 hours of golf instead of the 3 or so hours they usually feed us? Hell, many of us would go out to the course and operate the t.v. cameras for free.

7:00 a.m. local update: Suddenly the winds have picked up but just a touchy 5 -10 mph breeze heading south. But the location of Riviera is one of the blessings of the course. It's located in Santa Monica Canyon about 1 mile from the beach and is protected by the north and south ridges which engulfs the course and gradually closes up at the eastern end. While on the course, one rarely feels the actual conditions outside the canyon unless the weather is extreme.

Cheers, venice.
I see they're off... and already a bunch of birdies at the 1st/10th...

Much better report from venice than we get from the Weather Channel . . .

Hi pd,

The 'George Thomas gem' as stated by S_r offers great opportunities on both starting holes for the respective nines. Hole #1 (short par 5) is often an eagle chance for the pro's and Hole 10 (very short par 4) can be driven by most but is well protected by huge sand bunkers. Definitely designed for giving those playing the course a welcome feeling. It's the following holes where the traps have been planted.

Example of Hole #10 and Luke's strategy of laying up didn't serve him as well as Watney and Scott with the latter just missing birdie.

Watney:
1. 299yds to Right Green Side Bunker, 12yds to hole
2. 13yds to Green, 6ft 7in to hole
3. in the hole

Donald:
1. 274yds to Left Rough, 45yds to hole
2. 51yds to Left Fairway, 6yds to hole
3. 6yds to Green, 1ft 9in to hole
4. in the hole

Scott:
1. 312yds to Primary Rough, 60yds to hole
2. 58yds to Green, 12ft 7in to hole
3. putt 12ft 6in, 9in to hole
4. in the hole

The Paul Casey statement withdrawing from the Match Play says he hopes to have recovered sufficiently to play in the Cadillac Championship a, Doral in three weeks. Let's hope so.

Casey not playing Match Play? Glad he didn't pull a Henrik Stenson.

I guess that means Luke will either play Coetzee unless Els completely whiffies this week.

Rory is going to be #2? that means he will play Els or Colsearts, and neither is a good draw for him, IMO.

Yep, fair play to Casey for letting people know early his decision!

The only certain positions for next Monday's draw are
1. Luke
2. Rory
3. Lee

Nice write up on World #1 ....

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/16/sports/golf/luke-donald-is-comfortable-with-no-1-status.html?ref=sports

Thanks S_r,

The interesting point in the article is the revelation that not everyone wants the attention or added pressure of being number one. Luke hasn't held the title for long but he's certainly dealt with it in a sane manner. Didn't realize that Couples wasn't fond of the position at the time he was #1.

Luke Donald is getting a ton of good press in the US media. Looks like he's playing nicely today also, but scoring is high.
"Cool and windy" says pgatour.com.
Cabrera (again), Fowler (again) and Anthony Kim (again) among the early starters having shockers.

Meanwhile, in Columbia, Aussie hard man Peter Lonard leads the way. Old Colwyn's Ben Briscoe ticking along nicely at level par and with an American flag against his name.

Freddie Jacobson is playing steady golf, unspectacular golf. After 13 holes, 12 pars and 1 bogey on the par 3, 14th hole.

Looks to be tough scoring conditions with Santa Ana winds.

I wonder how Tim Clark will do?

Good to see that from Freddie Jac, GPB. I guess that suggests his fitness is good to go for Arizona.

Promising start for Sergio - portent for the season?

Kwini,

I have joined the Fantasy Game.
BTW, you never mentioned the prize? How about 10% of the winners $ score.
I'll take it in € euro if you don't mind!!!

Perhaps lira . . . .

No, we're all amateurs; and no doubt we'll show that.

Average score more than +2 today.

How about drachma?? It will be back soon!!!

Phil starting well for a change..............Greg Owen finishing spectacularly badly with +7 for the last 8........................

A few more birdies out there as it warms up this afternoon. But don't tell Ernie Els that.
Solid start for Tim Clark - so far, so good.

Don't like the fact that Kyle Stanley's caddie stays behind him along the putting line and only moves away when Kyle's lined up properly. Cheating in my book.

venice,
Thriller on the ice last night. Timmy T immense in the Bruins net.

And, on a sad note, I see Gary Carter has succumbed. He was a SoCal boy wasn't he?

PS: Agree on Kyle Stanley's caddie - I don't remember him doing that when he worked for Camilo.

Afternoon groups are on a really slow pace. They started 30 minutes later than scheduled and it looks likes Sergio's group will finish in 2 hr 40 minutes.

144 players, no weather delays and it looks like play is going to carry-over until tomorrow.

the last groups are on the 4th hole and sunset is in 2 hrs 40 minutes from now.

Yeah really slow, cant believe the coverage too. Going off with Sergio and Phil etc only through the front 9. Touch wood but like the look of Sergio for this weekend, looked good today.

kwinigolfer wrote:venice,
Thriller on the ice last night. Timmy T immense in the Bruins net.

And, on a sad note, I see Gary Carter has succumbed. He was a SoCal boy wasn't he?

Why does the Golf Channel have to go off the air and with Sergio and Phil still with a half round remaining? What are they going to show us instead? Makes no sense.

Watched the last period and overtime plus the shootout. Thought Montreal had the Bruins on the ropes when they came storming back in the 3rd period. Shows us that they may have been underachieving this year.

Gary Carter dead of brain cancer at age 57. What a great all-around baseball player and delivered countless memories mostly to the fans in Montreal. Was happy he went back to retire with the Expos. I wonder if the Montreal loyal miss the Expos.

As former resident of Northern Vermont, the Expos were one of my favorite teams. I went to many games at Jarry Parc. I really liked "the Kid", but I had moved away by the time he started playing.

RIP Gary Carter. You will be missed.

As far as GC going off the air, those guys running the cameras, the control room guys, and the rest of the production personnel don't work for free.

That said, the 3 hour programming window should have been 4-7 pm et, not 3-6 pm. The Pimp tee times were not going to finish until at least 5 pm local time anyways.

Lefty is still riding high from last week. Maybe he really has found something.

Tim Clark +2 after nine holes, at least he is not stinking up the joint.

Fowler, Cabrera, AK, Stanley - - - Ouch. all look to be trunk slamming.

GPB,
We go up to watch the Rogers Cup tennis every year at Parc Jarry - great tournament and super atmosphere. Miss the Expos though.

Poor stuff from Stanley, but even worse from Martin Laird - he's really lost his proverbial mojo; don't see it returning at the MatchPlay.

I've never myuch cared for JB Holmes, but after what he's been through, one can only wish him the very very best. One of those guys who, for the last few years, has seemingly been a top 75 golfer but not quite a top 50 man. Fine record at Riviera though.

I am also not a JB Holmes, but I am rooting for him. and yes, Holmes seems to be on the proverbial bubble of getting into majors and WGC events. Hovering from the 50-75 spot in the rankings.

Hmmm, Mickelson just birdied 18. Should take overnight lead. the last groups will have about 5 holes to play in the morning. Bet the guys on 17 and 18 are scurrying to get done like they did Phoenix a couple of weeks ago.

Els is going to be on the cutline, will have to rally if it doesn't want play the defending champ in the first round.

If NTO is level 60, I think Mickelson will goto #6 (very close to #5) unless Day or Scott finishes solo 2nd.

Lefty must be thinking this is his big chance to get to world no. 1, Tiger isn't back yet and majorless Luke Donald is the man to beat. If Lefty wins this week and springs another green jacket at Augusta he'll surely be there or there abouts?