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!

I was not a Bradley fan before yesterday but I now think the guy is one of the most unlikable players I have watched play since Tom Watsons plodding efforts at Turnberry 2009.

For starters he looks a little odd, and in a particularly sinister way. Then we move onto is never ending pre shot routine which involves a million step backs and a few more swings all separated with a spit. All this is bad enough but then we get to his actions on the green where he does this weird demented stare at the ball, either that or he was working a poo out. Oh, and he commits the ultimate sin by using a long putter.

I cannot think of a redeeming feature of his game or his personality, he just seems a real plonker. I take it Bradley is the new 606v2 public enemy number 1?

can tell already that hes gonna be really really annoying in the Ryder Cup if/when he makes the team

The whole Keegan Bradley thing is interesting. He seemed like a breath of fresh air when he came on the scene in Dallas last year - lucky to win, but very composed.
A month later we followed him for the better part of two rounds at Hartford and, although his pre-shot routine was exhaustingly protracted, at least he seemed engaging, wasn't spitting and, to be fair, when he finally steps up to the ball he doesn't hang about.

But yesterday he seemed robotic and, as I said earlier, almost in a trance.

Perhaps Geoff Ogilvy can sort him out this week - still think Ogilvy is as talented as anyone out there, so hope he's in the mood.

Mac, what on earth can you have against Watson?

NedB-H wrote:Mac, what on earth can you have against Watson?

He dares the criticise his idol Ned.

Mac, fully agree with you re. Bradley. What a banjo-player. A hillbilly version of Harrington meets Jim Carry (in "dumb and dumber").

Don't really like Tom Watson either. Seems fake in the American wannabe-gentleman-like-way-but-don't-really-give-a-sh#t.

Having seen Phil and Bradley making bad drives on the 10th in playoff, I think Haas made a mistake by not laying up. But he of course pulled it off anyway. What are your perspectives on that?

Different routine, robotic, or whatever you want to call him ... heck of a start for young Keegan. Nice tournament (not to mention that coveted major) put him above many of the higher ranked players this weekend. My only problem with the guy is that he's a Red Sox fan!

I didnt warm to him when he won the PGA. I forgave him for leaping into the arms of his family, ignoring poor old dufner ( he's young, not been in this position before, heat of the moment etc). But when he finally got around to acknowledging dufner after a tense 3 hole playoff, he barely touched his hand, and certainly never made eye contact. Not very sporting, not to mention the spitting, and his underwear showing when he was lining up his putts. Is Tommy hilfiger one of his sponsors.??

Interesting that spitting seems to bother so many - something I never hear irksome here in the states. Societal difference I suppose.

kwinigolfer wrote:But yesterday he seemed robotic and, as I said earlier, almost in a trance.

I think he must be on something. The spitting (revolting) comes about due to dehydration which is a symptom of drug use and the eyes certainly look weird, to say nothing of his OCD pre-shot routine. Has he been drug tested????

Could his spitting be an alignment aid? I ony saw it once, but it looked like as he stepped forward towards the ball that he spat ahead, where the ball would be, before shuffling back and more mini swing waggles.

Amazing stat put out by CBS over the weekend regarding Riviera's short par 4 10th hole:
Aaron Baddeley over the years has played this hole in 19 under par - no-one else is better than 13 under on the hole.

And they could have added that that's the second time Phil has lost a Play-Off on #10, the first time to Charles Howell five years ago.


PS: Poor Tom Watson! He's about the last golfer I'd've expected to get a slagging off on here. What's wrong Mac? Just because he didn't win an Open at St.Andrews??
Don't approve of his far-right politics but otherwise like him a lot. Though he has a lot to answer for by sponsoring David Feherty through alcoholism rehab.


Plunky,
Bradley was sponsored by Oakley last year; ditched them for TH.

Kwini
I love Watson mark I, as I do most players who play the game to such a level of mastery, and dont mind the current incarnation all that much, but will say I was unaware of his far right thinking!

What I mean was the most unlikeable in terms of watching in a particular event, I really hope that Bradley is not as drugged in his next outing. There was just something about the way Watson plodded round in 2009 with his head tilted forward in this meek little way that really got to me. It my have been irrational on my part but it seems not given the support on hear. His wife is a mess as well if it makes it any better.

I do think the lack of action while watching golf can make us all a little cynical.

Re the spitting lets face it, pretty much every other sport has it and nobody passes the sightest bit of comment. And I know physical exertion plays a part in it but in these other sports some people spit an awful lot more than others and Im sure they could survive without gobbing every 30 seconds.
Clearly people are extremely capable of watching sport and seeing people spit so why do people get so het up about it with golfers. Maybe golfers just want to be seen as athletes and think spitting helps.
The only spitting thats ever bothered me was Garcia into the cup which was pretty disgusting.

On that theme diggers, what is the most digusting thing people know to have been deposited in the cup?

Diggers,
I completely disagree that physical exertion has anything to do with it. It's very rare you see someone from the Athletics field spit, similarly swimming or cycling and they are certainly more "physically demanding" than football or golf.

Unless a seagull deposits one in your mouth or a wasp or something flies into your mouth I really cannot see any reason to spit.

McLaren wrote:On that theme diggers, what is the most digusting thing people know to have been deposited in the cup?

When my other half was working as a greenkeeper he often had to clear holes of s**t which some kind person had decided was a fun thing to do. Luckily the greenstaff were issued with latex gloves ...... Not a pleasant thing to have to do at about 7am.

LP,
Are you entering the fantasy game?? See separate thread . . . .

Distance runner are forever gobbing, especially cross country guys. Same with road cyclists. Not sure how on earth you'd see with a swimmer. Ive certainly gobbed on the football pitch before and when Ive been running because Ive felt like I have a lot more saliva in my mouth which I dont want to swallow down. I dont get that feeling when Im walking around or sitting at my desk.
Clearly not everybodys salivary glands are going to work in exactly the same way.

Super - You're kidding right? I used to be a competitive cyclist, attended 2 TDF's, numerous professional races here in the states and can tell you first hand that a snot rocket was very commonplace.

My suspicion is that it's more a nervous tick than anything else. If it were disallowed (on greens and fairways at least) it would be gone. Basketball players can't do it, but hockey players certainly can and do.

But hockey players spit out blood and teeth don't they ?!

Even if those sports do spit I still don't see why golfers do. They certainly don't need to and is as disgusting as seeing someone spit on the street.
The most they are doing is walking. It would be like Ronnie O Sullivan or Phil Taylor spitting on the snooker table or on the dart board. That would get a response, exactly as spitting in golf should.

The odd one in the rough can be excused but when you start doing it repeatedly on the tee box it becomes disrespectful and inconsiderate, rather than just disgusting.

I played against a young lad once, bit of a ned/pikey and he must have spat at least every 30 seconds. Must have been dying for a drink at the end. Add it all together and it was probably a litre.

I think that is the crux, it's the sort of thing that chav's do to make themselves look hard.

super_realist wrote:It would be like Ronnie O Sullivan or Phil Taylor spitting on the snooker table or on the dart board.

Novel idea. Believe a fully fledged riot would break out or at least a bar brawl. Would make a good youtube video.

super_realist wrote:Even if those sports do spit I still don't see why golfers do. They certainly don't need to and is as disgusting as seeing someone spit on the street.
The most they are doing is walking. It would be like Ronnie O Sullivan or Phil Taylor spitting on the snooker table or on the dart board. That would get a response, exactly as spitting in golf should.

Personally I find people smoking (not just in golf but generally) to be a far more disgusting habit. Especially when they then casually flick the butt to the ground, for some reason smokers dont seem to see this as littering which I fond bizarre. At least a bit of flob washes away in the rain, unlike a fag butt.

Gotta agree with you there Diggers. At Pine Valley smoking is not allowed anywhere on the course at anytime. I've heard more than one person mention those cigarette filters can do a number on the some of the finer mowers.

I'd happily see people have to pay £100 for a packet of cigarettes. Another needless thing to do.

I thought that the spitting thing was pretty ugly. I do get that people spit and had always felt that Tiger gets a bit of a raw deal as he is followed everywhere apart from the bog so it is tough to do it discretely. But to have it as part of his pre-shot routine was pretty unpleasant. I know they hydrate a lot but not nice.

I switched on pretty late and just caught the end of Coultard having a rant about one of the players being slow. They then cut to Jonathan Byrd playing out of a bunker at 16 but I assume that they were referring to Bradley. He was saying they should be fined then realised that was pointless so said a shot penalty. I think it was then pointed out that in the whole of Tim Finchem's reign no one has been called for slow play.

For someone who is evidently doing well at the moment his confidence should be pretty high. Imagine what he would be like if his game starts to fall apart. There are so many tics, false start and so on already.

Anyone deploring Keegan Bradley's pace of play and obsessive expectoration need only read a couple of lines of this week's PGA Tour Confidential:
"Bradley's game is impressive, but all the tics - spitting, stepping in and out, the three mini practice swings - are kind of annoying."
"Get a spittoon kid."

It's not just v2 who's had enough of this nonsense. Just to be devil's advocate, Bradley is certainly slow but I've never seen the manic-ness and flobbing as part of the pre-shot routine until yesterday.

kwini,

Great to hear PGA Tour Confidential have addressed the spitting issue, but the majority of US viewers don't read this article, but instead only see the pictures and listen to the commentators.

The fact the commentators made jokes about his spitting was a disgrace. If they had been ironic then that would have been better, but they were just going for quick laughs.

You would not have seen the sky team back in the studio but they were "spitting feathers" so to speak. Robert Lee and Andrew Coltart were absolutely spot on - disgrace and must be stopped.

The ET fined Tiger recently for spitting but he did it on a green, within a few feet of the hole and it came from the chest rather than the throat (yes, big and green). I hope the ET issue some more fines come the summer when these guys come across for the Open.

I must share a great spittoon joke I heared way back. Two guys in a pub betting on everything. One guy sees the spittoon in the corner of the bar and bets his mate he can't swallow one mouth full. His mate doesn't fancy it so agreed favourable odds / bet before accepting the challange. He picks up the spitton in both hands. Holds it close to his chin and takes one final breath to calm his nerves and starts. Gulp, gupl, gulp........... His mate tells him he has won the bet and he can stop, but gulp, gulp, gulp.... This goes on for a full minute until the spitton is empty. The guys asks his mate why on earth he didn't stop after the first mouthfull. His mate said he tried to stop but it was all joined together.

I did see a tweet from Bradley earlier that Nick Faldo re-tweeted:
"I apologize for my spitting It's a reflex,I don’t even know I’m doing it. It's a longtime habit I’ve got 2 try 2 conquer"

I guess that's a start. He did seem to be in a bit of a trance as mentioned but I've never seen it before like that.

What a pathetic excuse. How can you not know you are doing it?

"I must apologise for getting my wanger out in my pre shot routine, I don't even know I'm doing it, it's just a reflex"

How ridiculous does that sound?

super_,
Are you going to enter the Fantasy Game? Time to get in to your very own pre-shot routine (not Tiger's) and show us how it's done . . . . .

Kwini, I never know how it works, there always seems to be some rules as to what newbies can and cannot pick.

This is an easy one Super. Its like the equivalent of Sun fantasy football. Idiot proof for necessary reasons..

Id prefer watch Bardley(spittin n all) than Hass, who hardly even mustered a smile when he holed the winning putt.................

s_r,
It's pretty difficult to screw up . . . . . send me a pm if any clarification wanted.

John,
I rather thought Bill Haas was in shock and wasn't sure how to react to his bomb. Phil and Keegs were certainly in shock!

JC, also worth remembering that when he holed the putt he hadn't actually won even though you would have put a lot of money on it. I suppose that you could say the same for Phil he birdied the 18th and Bradley still had to play.

Kwini, Shame Shane Lowry isn't in the top 64!!!!.

I thought a foursome of Lowry, Jarrod Lyle, Sjoholm and Lumpy would have suited you just fine. Maybe they'll have their / your chance later in the year?

Fat chance!

Super, if you were in with a chance of winning and hadnt used Woods yet, and lets say he had already won a few times over 2012 including a couple of majors....would you use him in the game to help you win ? Could you bring yourself to do that ?

Never Diggers, i'd sooner pick some Yank bible thumper like Simpson, Johnson or even the increasingly annoying Fowler.

You might not have noticed but I can't even bring myself to write Woods christian name as a point of reference to the man sausage, such is the ridiculousness of that forename. Anyone who willingly calls themselves something so preposterously stupid deserves my derision.

Keegan Bradley must be following 606v2:

http://www.golfchannel.com/news/golftalkcentral/bradley-apologizes-for-spitting/

Kwini

What do you think about Riviera holding another major and what are the chances of this happening? No long rough or 500 yard par 4’s, yet in calm conditions it proved a real test for some very good players. They clearly feared some of the features around the greens, the speed of which seemed to really emphasise the challenge without becoming unfair. The fact Haas came through in such conditions only confirms he could be a good bet for the next American to win one?

Hi Mac,
There was certainly a Major feel to the weekend's play; trouble is that LA hasn't supported its last two Majors well, the Elkington PGA or the Senior Open about ten years ago, both at Riviera.
Would think the PGA is a more likely candidate but still feel as if even that is a bit of a longshot. Temps much higher in June or August will cause the course to play much shorter. Dunno.
Haas? He was pretty impressive (well, so were Phil and Keegan and Dusty); one of these young Americans has got to follow Bradley in breaking through, could be Haas, could be Simpson or Dustin Johnson, but I'm not completely sold yet. Still think Kyle Stanley is the pick of the bunch.

I liked the bunkering around the greens at Riveria. I'm sure Els and some others mentioned them as well. They looked to be more of a hazard than most other courses. There wasnt the usual percentage of sand saves to my untrained eye.

The greens seemed pretty hard to hold so a drier harder course might suit the bill... perhaps.