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

First topic message reminder :

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!

Just over an hour to go before the day's first tee shot; dry and fair in Pacific Palisades by the looks of it, perhaps a touch parky though.

Amazing that the Round 1 leader was at -5 and we're only at -7 after three rounds. But the vultures are gathering behind Phil and Keegs and the 19 golfers at -2 or better at least must feel they're in with a shout.

Signs of short game rust from Number One - a three putt or two and 71st and 74th in two key putting stats. Out of 76 golfers! Not what we expect and won't get Lukey very far next week as he defends.

Had an each way(top 4) bet on Jonathan Byrd at 20/1 before Round 3. Feeling like he has a chance.....................

Looks good value from here John. Or is it time to lay it off?
Especially if he takes the same number of putts today as he did yesterday. 21! After only hitting six greens.

I definitely won't lay him if he has 21 putts again!!
Id settle for 27 putts and 14 GIR..............................................

John Cregan wrote:Had an each way(top 4) bet on Jonathan Byrd at 20/1 before Round 3. Feeling like he has a chance.....................

Can you explain that in simple language so a Yank who is not familiar with betting lingo can understand?

No prob GPB,

The bet cost me € 4. €2 on the win and € 2 on him finishing top 4.

If he wins i get 20/1 for the win and 1/4 of the odds (5/1) for the place...........

Can someone explain to me how they decide the tee times?

Kevin Na still not out at +10 over and players at E par are out?

Sand,
They are playing off the 10th tee as well as the 1st tee.

As a result they peel the field into two starting in the middle with the leading half going off in reverse order so that the leaders go last, the bottom half going off positionally so that the last groups finishing on the 9th hole are not contesting the lead.

That sounds as clear as mud, but hope you see what I'm getting at.

Ok knew they were playing off both tees but get what your saying. Thanks.

Sand wrote:Can someone explain to me how they decide the tee times?

Kevin Na still not out at +10 over and players at E par are out?

Hi sand, this is my understanding:

The groups are simultaneously going off from both Hole #1 and Hole #10. Those with the worse scores are given the latest tee times starting with the back nine. Perhaps they are considered insignificant in the race for the trophy so it matters little that they are finishing up on Holes 8 and 9 while at the same time the tournament leaders are hopefully coming home on 18 with guns ablazin'.

John Cregan wrote:No prob GPB,

The bet cost me € 4. €2 on the win and € 2 on him finishing top 4.

If he wins i get 20/1 for the win and 1/4 of the odds (5/1) for the place...........

do you win both bets if he wins? or just the win bet?

Damn kwini,
You beat me to the punch. To make matters worse, my Queens lost last night failing to score again. I see you've got the Devils tonight.

I see Canada's own Graham DeLaet is skating nicely through five.


Oops... jinxed him.

Hi venice,
Yup, trying to juggle Liverpool, the Orange, JLin and Riviera right now. Tough duty.

kwinigolfer wrote:Hi venice,
Yup, trying to juggle Liverpool, the Orange, JLin and Riviera right now. Tough duty.

Big disappointment if 'Cuse doesn't take it all this March.

I don't think they will venice, not enough leadership on the floor - I think they're vulnerable to a well-coached team with some Butler-type leadership and a 3-point artist.

Ho-hum birds for the leaders, now the tournament begins.

And a triple on his first hole for Kevin Na, steam coming out the ears no doubt; wouldn't like to be his partner Matt Bettencourt who's one of the fastest players out there. And Na is one of the slowest. And they're playing as a twosome.

Two eagles for Sergio today.. Come on the charge

Is that really an eagle for Sergio from 200 yards? If so, that's two eagles on his card already. A couple more and he could be tough to beat.

Snap Sand!!!!

He missed a 6fter on 10 too. Just birdied 16....

Birdie for Sergio! -5 after 7.

kwinigolfer wrote:Birdie for Sergio! -5 after 7.

Like how the shotracker shows his 2 at 15.. Holed a 620ft 10 incher for his eagle

Another birdie and the 1st to play... Come on Sergio!!

This is vintage Sergio, brilliant stuff! Forget about the leaders...

Freddie Jac is also on the move, great to see.
And surprising form from Furyk.

BUT:

COME ON SERGIO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Byrd And Furyk are playing as if they do not want to face a top 10 player next week.

Ernie is playing as if wants to face Luke Donald and not Rory McIlroy.

Sergio is playing out of his mind! In the fairway on hole #1. Potentially another Eagle!

Meanwhile, Luke Donald is playing today like he did in Round 2 last year.

Two shot lead for Phil.

Sergio plyed the front nine in -1 overall in the first 3 rounds and in +3 for the back nine... so prospects look good for these last 9 holes...

Birdie! Up to 8th, going like me in the fast lane, passing cars like they're standing still.

Sounds like a genius par from Sergio, up to 5th.
Wouldn't it be nice if they showed him?

Great play from sergio but do you not think that phil has got off to a pretty confident start?

Phil absolutely tracking. His to lose.

Nice run by Sergio, but I've backed that horse too many times (mostly in majors).

World #1 going Tiger on Sunday. What's up with that?

McLaren wrote:Great play from sergio but do you not think that phil has got off to a pretty confident start?

Certainly better than fri and sat when he was playing army golf. Shows how good he is is tho that he can post - 1 both days.

Kwini, Serg on and probably his worst shot of the day!

Sergiomania!

WOW!!!

One problem for Sergio is there are no more par 5s left...

But hey... who needs par 5s?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GPB wrote:

John Cregan wrote:No prob GPB,

The bet cost me € 4. €2 on the win and € 2 on him finishing top 4.

If he wins i get 20/1 for the win and 1/4 of the odds (5/1) for the place...........

do you win both bets if he wins? or just the win bet?

Yip.................

EAGLE for Harri. -4 on the par 5's today!!

Sergio just two back now, but genius required once again. Hope we can see it.

Phil one back, looks like a poor tee shot from Sergio... can only see him on shottracker

...loks like a great recovery on Shot Tracker, 3 1/2 feet putt...

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH... Sergio

That's now his worst hole all week... 3 bogeys

It is a brute of a par 3 but frustrating how well he was doing and how good his chip shot was.

Anyone else liking Haas right now?

Or DJ i think.

Sergio looks like has a 60-footer - just his length.

Doubt if he'll win, but thrilled to see Jarrod Lyle having such a fine start to the season - hope he holds his position after all the hard work he's done so far.

I remember Lyle showed some good form as early as the Aussie swing at the end of last year, but didn't expect to see him playing so well so soon on the PGA Tour.

Good par for Sergio, c'mon, a birdie now on the next par 3 and you'll be flying!

Another bomb from Sergio!

Brilliant, this is still very much ON for Sergio!!!!!

Bill

He just made that 60-footer, 30 feet should be cake . . . . .