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?

Agree about the personalities of the LPGA Golfers, dj, Karen Sjodin was a breath of fresh air out there.

Lexi Thompson looked thoroughly miserable - her brother came onto the PGA Tour full of promise but has proved rather one-dimensional and now struggles on the Nationwide Tour. Lexi needs to lighten up and learn to putt. Otherwise she'll similarly fail to live up to her early promise - course, she's got plenty of time!


Looking forward to the Masters groupings; apart from Rory playing with the US Amateur winner, they don't have predictable groupings like other the US Open and PGA, or quite the contrivances favoured by the PGA Tour.

Except the closer Billy Payne wants to usher a past Champion to the exit door, the earlier they're likely to play. Stads, Woosie, Sandy: Watch out!

Kwini,

What's your feeling on Past Champs being only eligable if in the Top(say) 500 on the World Rankings ? Surely it's wrong that these guys pony up to a tournament once a year....................and then recvert back to retirement or seniors while players such as Els watch on TV...................

I would consider the following players not worthy(with all due respect to them) of teeing it up this week .... Mize, Ollie, Stadler, Langer, Lyle, Woosnam, T.Watson, O'Meara, Crenshaw. If any of these players are in the worlds Top 500 i stand corrected.................

its eccentric, the masters is a law onto itself. which i suppose is its choice. However other majors do it as well, just to not the same extent

Past Champions?
It's really only the US Open that restricts appearances by past champs even if they have become uncompetitive.

Except in extreme cases, Stadler this year would be one, I don't really have a problem with it, tho' perhaps for the over-55's there should be some sort of Champions Tour or European Seniors Tour criteria (which Watson would assuredly satisfy, but Crenshaw and Stadler certainly wouldn't).

Breaking news from Doug Ferguson's twitter is that Dustin has withdrawn. No details yet...

Out with a sore back apparently.