PGA Tour: "Houston, We have a problem": Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).Actually two problems:
For most of the participants at this week's "Shell Houston Open", Job One is to win the tournament and thereby take the final qualifying spot for The Masters.
And for all players who DO qualify, the problem will be the NIKE poster child who looked very close to top form in demolishing last week's Bay Hill field.

2).Tiger first:
That was reminiscent of Woods of the last decade: Solid round 1, superb Round 2 with a slice (actually hook) of good fortune as an out-of-bounds-bound ball hit the perimeter fence and stayed in play. Routine par! Otherwise he kept his foot on the gas and cruised to a Friday 65. The field was stretched out and, unless Tiger suddenly lost his form, the weekend would be a formality. And so it proved. Some thoughts about that:

~It sure looked as if at least some of the old intimidation factor kicked in at the weekend. Competitors who have enjoyed his absence these past 30 months need to acquire some testicular fortitude if the same scenario repeats itself in the great tournaments this spring and summer.
~Woods is nowhere near as bulked up in his upper body as he was by 2008/2009, as if part of the new coaching regime depends on a slimmer physique.
~He's getting his "fortitude" back - gorgeous long iron into the par-5 6th hole (followed superbly by McDowell) underlined his superiority on Bay Hill's par-5's. Twelve under par on the par-5's for the week - he's 3rd in par-5 scoring for the year.
~And Tiger's 1st in "Total Driving" now for the year, 1st in "Ball Striking", 10th in Putting and 1st in the Tour's "All Round" stat.
~But does Tiger still need to swing so hard given his body's apparent fragility? His drive on #15 on Sunday which forced him to lay up in advance of a superb up-and-down par, was violent, his followthrough contorted and way off balance. Crisis averted once his par was secured, and the most beautifully smooth, relaxed swing you ever saw off the 16th tee.

3).Congrat's to Graeme McDowell who gave it his best last weekend, commiserations to Ernie Els, and it looks like the rest got out of Bay Hill what they put into it - a finish, high or low, with no sign of aggression (Bubba perhaps excepted) in going after either Tiger or the course on Sunday. Well done to Poulter and Brian Davis with high finishes but they were never really in the hunt.

4).Lots to admire about Arnold Palmer but some of his utterances over the course of last week suggested it's not just his heart that's playing up.
And how nauseating was it to see Annika Sorenstam turning up on the NBC set with babe in arms? It was as if NBC called Annika and said, "We'd like you to come and endorse Arnie's hospital," and she called all her sponsors and asked, "How much will you pay me for five minutes guaranteed on-screen exposure?"
So, there you have Annika decked all out like any other mother, right? Golf shirt emblazoned with every logo under the sun, just what any young mother wears when she takes the nipper out for a stroll.

5).Arnie lamented that Lukey and Rory were absent but Bay Hill always looks a one dimensional course to me, ranked 33rd by the pros, and complete with more than half a mile of par-3's. Designed by an alcoholic who went to University on an American Football scholarship and, boy, does it ever look like it.

6).And so to Houston and the other problem. The final invitation from Billy Payne is at stake and, just as a point of reference, these are the top-five-ranked golfers in the field not yet destined for Augusta:
#58: Els
#67: Allenby
#68: Moore
#72: Levin
#81: Overton (who would presumably rather be playing in Sicily)

7).Phil Mickelson won last year's Shell Houston Open with a win which was as emotional as it was electrifying. This Rees Jones design (yes, Phil won on a Rees Jones course) is in its 7th year hosting the tournament and, so far, it's been a bomber's paradise. Anthony Kim won in 2010 whilst hitting just 23 of 56 fairways, Phil not much better last year hitting just 30 - real never-mind-the-quality, feel-the-width stuff. Appleby, Scott, Wagner and Casey have been the other winners here. Casey beat JB Holmes in a 2009 play-off and it would be no surprise to see Holmes lighting it up again this week.

8).Lee Westwood leads the European contingent, with McDowell, Casey, Hanson and Hansen, Bjorn and Harrington all competing. Russell Knox is first alternate and heartbreak for a couple of Nationwide players, Wales's Ben Briscoe and Sweden's David Lingmerth, who lost in a play-off for one of the four Monday qualifying places.

9).Anders Forsbrand and Ian Woosnam played in last week's Champions Tour event in Mississippi, but neither finished in the top fifty and highlighted the futility Europeans will continue to endure if they want to contend Senior tournaments over here without making a year-long commitment. Barry Lane rather flubbed his lines when in a strong Q-School position last year and who knows what Monty might do if he gives the Champions Tour a whirl? Meanwhile, Langer is the only European to have made a decent showing in the past five years.

10).Back to that "Problem" that next week's Masters field will encounter:
Tiger ticks all the media boxes over here (and there?), his gnashers grinning from every US media outlet these past couple of days, attention for a golfer that we haven't seen since he completed his sex addiction therapy.
Viewership of "Bay Hill" was up almost 40% and Billy Payne and CBS TV must be rubbing their hands in glee as they anticipate another Tiger-driven ratings bonanza. All watching Luke, Rory and Lee battling it out in the final round?

Not getting offeneded just feel as though you are trying to provoke a reaction out of me.

Furyks stregth was allways the mental side to his game. He can seem dry on the golf course and will never win millions of fans by playing that way- however that could also be his biggest plus. Not sure how anyone can disagree with that in fairness.

To me H English seems to have that same type of quality, He will never be a media draw, he will never be in adverts promoting gatorade or whatever, but I have a feeling he will do very well out of playing golf!

Exactly dry on the course...a good game face. I admire that as he clearly isn't the most talented guy but gets the job done which to me is admirable. And as we know a bit about the players we also know off the course he is a really good guy which to me is again admirable so I like him.
I don't know anything about the personality of English so can't comment on that but I just view Furyk as a whole package of what I know of him so he is one of my favourite yanks and always like to see him do well.

Only one missed fairway for Brian Davis in Rounds 1 and 2, almost Furykian of days gone by.

Hope we see Casey, McDowell and Westwood keep it on the short grass for the remainder of their Rounds 2's.

wersty birdied his first hole back!!

Not too sure what to make of Schwartzel's form going into the Masters... Started the year with a MC and a top 5 and now he's on the brink of his 2nd consecutive MC after other two top 5s at Honda and Doral...

Backed Stenson again this week and I'm glad to see him playing well again.
Hope to see a charge up the LB soon from Lee. Only the 3rd best Englishman in that field...

As 8:50 am Houston time, there is about 2.5-3 hrs left in Round 2, looks like Round 3 will start about Noon Houston Time.

Right now they are looking at a huge field after cut. 89 players at 2 under or better, 66 at 3 under or better.

PGAT will be hoping for a more manageable number, split tees an 80+ players makes for a long day on the golf course.

And hopefully the thunder/lightning will stay away.

Maybe they will put em out in 3 balls after the cut

westy 7 under


jeff magert 7 under for round 2 leading on -13!!!!!

Maggert has already runnered-up at the SHO three times! Perhaps he'll make it four?
He also lives just down the road from the course.

Meanwhile, C'mon Lee!

mystiroakey wrote:Maybe they will put em out in 3 balls after the cut

They will definitely go out in 3 balls after the cut, on split tees. The problem is, (w/80+ golfers), the early starters on #1, #10 will be finishing their first nines before the last starters tee off on #1, #10, creating a bottle neck on the first and tenth tee.

right now 68 players are -2 or better, PGAT would like 3 of 8 players still on the golf course at -2 to birdie to move the cutline to 70. If they are 70-72 players, they will probably complete round 3 today, (assuming no sparkies from the sky). If they are 84-86 players, very unlikely they complete Round 3 today.

Of the ten players in the top 10, only 3 of them are playing in Augusta next week. (Oosty, PMick, Bradley).

Good chance that the Masters field is going to increase by one this week.

No suprise to see Mickleson gearing it up again, seems to peak at the right time these days. I really expect him to contend at the Masters. They were saying how great his putting has been all year on tour last night, well he knows how to get the ball round Augusta so if the putter stays hot he will have a great chance.

Good to see all the top players are in form- gonna be a screaming masters- could be the best for yonks!!

mickleson, donald,westy, rors, stricker and woods!!

but no kaymer- but then hardly surprising- he is never on form at this time!

Looking increasingly as if the cut might be at -2 with 90-odd players getting paid.

Wonder if they'll MDF the guys at 69th or whatever it will be, and just play the top 68-odd, given they want to fold the tents by 5.00 p.m.-ish Sunday to allow the Masters-bound guys plenty of time to head north, by north-east?

Wouldn't be the first time, but it hasn't happened for a very long time.

kwinigolfer wrote:Looking increasingly as if the cut might be at -2 with 90-odd players getting paid.

Wonder if they'll MDF the guys at 69th or whatever it will be, and just play the top 68-odd, given they want to fold the tents by 5.00 p.m.-ish Sunday to allow the Masters-bound guys plenty of time to head north, by north-east?

Wouldn't be the first time, but it hasn't happened for a very long time.

I think the by-laws only allow this in very specific situations and this is not one of them.

IIRC, it is allowed is when they are going into Monday or Tuesday of the following week.

Assuming no weather delays this weekend, they should easily get done by 5 pm tomorrow. They just won't complete round 3 today with a very large after cut field.



Edit: East-North-East, I think Augusta is in a more Easterly direction than Northerly direction from Houston

Lots of strong performances from rookies so far this week

Did any see the times article today featuring Rory? Was pretty awful, they'd almost have you believe that Rory and Woods were the only two players of any relevance going into the masters; Donald and Westwood got a couple of brief mentions, but apart from that basically nothing - no mention of Rose at all afaict, Donald was only described as being under the radar (not sure if the author was aware he'd just won a tournament).

I read it, was definitely way too much about those two, be funny if they both missed the cut after all the hype really.

I see Lee blaming the mosquitos few minutes ago. He'll need a better excuse than that next week if he continues with 'average' (by his standards) scores like today.
And Peter Hanson's bubble seems to have burst after those top 5 finishes in the WGCs (only T55 in Tampa and a MC this week)...

westy is still in for a good finish this event, i doubt he would be blaming mosquitoies for shooting high!! well id hope not anyway!

Charley Hull is -4 after 11 Holes at the Kraft!

So: They're heading out off both tees, in threesomes, in Houston, all NINETY of them. After Round 3 there'll be another cut, of Top 70 and ties! At least a dozen MDF's by the looks of things.

Westwood off with Fowler and Stricker which should be a friendly enough group. McDowell has the excrutiating task of playing with Ben Crane and Wagner's Johnson.

I think this is the biggest cut number I've ever seen except at a Major where the ten-shot-from-the-lead rule comes in.

If Maggert finishes in the top 5, he keeps his card for this year; am I right?

90 players final 2 rounds , and in europe we have only 5 shots seperating field!!

strange cuts this week!

Leff,
Well, Maggert already has his card from Q-School, but you're right, a top five would mean he's "graduated" from the Medical Exemption category which will give him a higher ranking, and he'll essentially thereby qualify for all regular Tour events except Invitationals.

Round 3 will be MDF'd before sunday.
Any idea what the cut line is coz PGATour.com are not recognising it???

Anyone know why the caddies are not wearing the bibs today? I believe I saw them on yesterday.

just realised cabrerra is playing well!!

good timing for him!

GPB,
We noticed that also!
Just think they must not have had timre to match the colours up with the players' names. Otherwise no idea.

Good start for Lee and McDo.


John,
For some reason they seldom seem to show the MDF cut, not sure why.

strange tee offs- westy is off and 1 under through 1- however others havent gone out yet who are furthar bacvk- i find that strange considering westy was one of the last to finish! or is that not the case

Lee's putter a little warmer this afters than in the morning, that was a very nice read.
Lee and Lee now tied . . . .

That's a good round for Charley Hull, but Anna Norqvist even hotter!

At this time, they can't show an MDF line because the worst score after the cut is still T66th. Inside the MDF line.

go westy!!

Good tournament for the red necks,
Two Gloves, Boo and Swede all playing well - and the first two need all the help they can get.

Mysti - Can you explain the "stock yanks"? Who are they? Similarly, is there a "stock Euro" or "stock Aussie"? If so, how do they differ?

I'd be very surprised if I haven't met more American professionals than you (perhaps I'm wrong there, but a hunch) and I'm having trouble with this generalization. Some I know better than others and like better than others (O'Hair), some I don't much care for (Marino). Really not trying to be argumentative, just trying to understand.

I think we'll get Round 3 in, just! Hope it's televised but I'm thinking the GC's contract with the LPGA may take precedence.

Anyone got any favourite for a winner who's not qualified for Augusta?

PS: Portsmouth FC still in dire financial straits, which is another way of saying I didn't win the MegaMillions.

SR. Please understand the context of using the term first and foremost.

I used the term stock yank , because there are so many americans in the fields of the pga tour. In a way its a compliment to the production of american golfers to use that term. I think it would be easier to tell you who 'I personally' feel is out of the ordinary- also bear in mind i am talking about who i find interesting to watch rather than just ability. The golfers that have 'BROKEN THE MOULD' for me would be golfers like pmick,daley,fowler,bubba,weekly,woods to list a few of the top of my head.

I dont think we could use stock euros in the same breath, because we are so varied culture wise, and i dont think we could use the term stock aussie because there are to few at the highest level.

i dont understand what meeting players has got to do with this discussion either

If "limeyatthebeach"'s comments on 606 about Brian Davis were anywhere close to valid, I hope BD is not a "stock" Englishman.
"He was a tool when I used to play with him, he's grown up to be a tool, and he's still a tool", or words to that effect.
But nice start for him and only Baird and Quigley have won more money without a win than Brian Davis.

Certainly wouldn't begrudge him a win and a flight to Augusta.

GPB wrote:At this time, they can't show an MDF line because the worst score after the cut is still T66th. Inside the MDF line.

Is the MDF Cut the same as the 2nd rnd cup...top 70&ties??

THEY NEVER SHOW THE MDF CUT !!

I suppose a stock Englishman is a golfer that is very good but can't win a major.

Diggers wrote:I suppose a stock Englishman is a golfer that is very good but can't win a major.

yep id go along with that- however things gonna change next week

Whether they show the MDF cut line or don't you can figure it out without the assistance from PGATour dot com. it is the low 70 and ties. As of 2:50 local time, 71 players are -3 or better.

Cheers GPB

Mysti - Thanks for your response. I interpreted "stock yank" as having some overriding similarities, not just more significant numbers of them.

My having met a number of them has made it difficult for me to comprehend any overriding similarities, other than being able to flush the ball at impact. But, by that token, it includes just about every professional golfer.

Englishman to win a major next week? I have a hunch about Westwood spoiling the Rory/Tiger showdown.

Wouldn't it be ironic if more than 78 golfers were at T70 or better??!!

Ten of the top 13 are not yet qualified for next week. And then comes Ernie.

Kwini, actually now that I think about, there might be another clause for the MDF cut. If there are more than 78 players, they might go one stroke better. Quick googling does not give me that info.

Harrington up to his par 5 tricks again, bogeyed both on the back nine and he's in MDF territory.

Ryan Moore has dropped 68 places in nine holes. Not a good start.

This tournament is waiting for someone to take it by the scruff of the neck.
But no-one seems to want to do it.

Harrington just inside the MDF line.
Ryan Moore sinking faster than the Titanic: +10 after 11 holes.

Mahybe Mahan's the Mahn?

3rd scores appear really high, and I thought the conditions were supposed to be perfect today.

Glover shot 80. Leonard, Moore are going to shoot 80+. One 79 and a couple of 78s are already posted.

and no one is taking really deep. Three 6 under pars rounds (one posted two in process).

Looks like the Tour staff did not set up the course for fast play. Davis, Oosty, Maggert are going to finish around 7:40 local time. right at sunset. 5 hr 50 minutes after their tee time.

Harrington the master of brinkmanship, even on the MDF cut-line.

A 65 from Mahan and a 66 or two, and with the daunting threat of mudballs. Scoring not bad really, but the leaders have started to stretch their gap, at least of the top four.

Mahan and Oosty are playing next week; Davis and Pettersson just don't know!