PGA Tour: Acts of Congressional: Notes from the Ballwasher

1).Hartford's "Travelers Championship" certainly threw up some thrills and spills last Sunday, but in the end it was a tournament lost by half a dozen golfers rather than a tournament won by Marc Leishman. Charley Hoffman especially will rue finishing up Double Bogey, Bogey to lose by one, just 100 miles away from TPC Boston, site of his biggest (Deutsche Bank Championship) win so far.

2).Leishman is a reminder of the slim margin between success and less success in the world of professional golf. Three years ago he made eagle at, yes, the 72nd hole of the Deutsche Bank to qualify for the next round of the FedEx Play-Offs, the BMW Championship, where he proceeded to finish second, thus qualifying for the Tour Championship and the following year's Majors and earn 2009 Rookie Of The Year, from a feller called Simpson. (Wonder what ever became of him?)

3).Marc Leishman now takes the lead 60% through the duration of the Open Championship exemption money list, just this week's AT&T event and next week's action at the Greenbrier to go. Michael Thompson blew up in Hartford and slips to 2nd.

4).There's been 606v2 chat about the fate of hot-shot amateurs and how their Pro careers develop, Patrick Cantlay and Dylan Frittelli this past week's pro debutants.
There have obviously been sustained successes on both sides of the lake, Tiger and Phil to the west, Luke and Padraig to the east, among many. But others have come out with fanfare and fizzled, while others take a proverbial step back before taking the two steps forward.
Fanfare and fizzled? David Gossett won almost immediately and now seems to have disappeared completely. And: What about Gary Hallberg?? Won everything bar a national trophy as an amateur, won early as a pro, won twice more five years apart in smallish tournaments, but never realised his alleged potential. Time may tell us that Ryan Moore is taking the exact same route.

5).David Duval and Stewart Cink were also highly decorated amateurs who failed to earn their PGA Tour card via Q-School, slummed it on what we now know as the Nationwide, and went on to earn Major success. Both now struggling of course. Kuchar delayed turning pro after his initial amateur successes, then won the Honda early in his pro career only to lose his form AND his card before Nationwide success and breaking through to win again in a Turning Stone hailstorm.
Jose Maria Olazabal's achievements are legendary but what more could he have achieved without the myriad of injuries?
And Justin Leonard won his US Amateur, raced onto the PGA Tour by finishing strongly in his few pro starts and almost immediately won big tournaments. But now he's just turned 40 and seems physically diminshed as he languishes in 141st place on the money list, is hitting it short and not very straight and that gorgeous free-flowing putting stroke is only "good" enough for 176th (of 186) on the Tour's favourite putting stat. Oh, and it's four years since his last win.

6).But some guys just seemed to need time to mature, Richie Ramsay and Eddie Molinari may be two such players. And Ricky Barnes is an American who beat Hunter Mahan in the final of the US Amateur, outscored a certain Mr.Woods 69-76 in his first round at The Masters, disappeared from sight only to re-emerge on the Bethpage leaderboard in 2009, finishing 2nd in the US Open. Bryce Molder played 2 x Walker Cups, turned pro and disappeared for six years before getting into the 2009 Memphis event and finishing 2nd. 4th three weeks later at Congressional - coincidentally, of course - and now a 33-y-o winner on Tour.

7).All of which is foreplay to Casey Wittenberg's sudden run of long overdue success. He's 28 now, but finished 13th in the 2004 Masters, best by an amateur since 1962. Then he struggled on the Nationwide before winning and losing his PGA Tour card for 2009. But he won on the Nationwide in March, qualified for the US Open and finished 10th, washed away his Olympic hangover in time to win again last week on the Nationwide, and will be back in "the show" for 2013.

8).At the other end of the experience spectrum, candidates for election to the World Golf Hall Of Fame were announced Monday. Duval, Harrington and Stricker were newbies on the ballot, but I wouldn't vote for any of them at this stage. My votes for 2013 "induction" would be (PGA Tour section) Couples and Venturi, and (International) Montgomerie and Norman von Nida. Having said all of which, any Hall of Fame ballot with Loren Roberts' name on it (which it is for the second year running) loses credibility for me.

9).Decent, not great, field for Congressional for the "AT&T National", many doubtless put off by the inevitable heat and humidity of late June Washington where the temps will be high 90's every day, nearly as much hot air as in Congress itself. Justin Rose won this event at Aronomink two years ago but he's avoiding it this year, with only Brian Davis, Martin Laird and Greg Owen representing Europe. I can't fancy another Aussie win, but Saffer Sabbatini is in good form, has some previous at Congressional as Ben Crane would attest, and would be my e.w. pick. (Followed Roary last week and he was actually great with the crowd, almost entertaining.)
I reckon this will be a resumption of normal service though, with an American leading the way, hopefully Dustin Johnson.

10).And, in the golden oldie department, Greg Norman and Tony Jacklin are both teeing it up at the Champions Tour's latest "Major", the "Constellation Senior Players Championship" in the Pittsburgh suburbs. No idea why Tony Jacklin is in the field, but fortunately he's playing with Roger Chapman who's about the only player in the field who'd recognise him. (pgatour.com strangely lists Jacklin as American - not wot you'd normally call a bloke from Scunners.)
Sandy Lyle is also on hand but these Senior Majors are becoming a bi-weekly mockery, two more to come before July is over.

PS: You've heard about the flooding rains in Florida? Here's Bobby Gates's pic of TPC Sawgrass's 17th hole:
http://lockerz.com/s/220255801

Thanks kwini... great info (and insight) as usual...

A little more on the AT&T National...

The AT&T National is one of five 120 man field invitationals (like the Arnold Palmer, Heritage, Colonial and Memorial). Each of the five have different entry criteria than regular tour events and then different criteria from each other. Below is the specific criteria for the AT&T.

Eligible players are:
• Winners of the AT&T National for a period of five years following their win (2007-2011).
• Winners of Masters Tournament (2008-2012), THE PLAYERS Championship (2008-2012), U.S. Open (2008-2012), British Open (2007-2011) and PGA Championship (2007-2011) in the last five years.
• Winners of the TOUR Championship in the last three years (2009-2011).
• Winners of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship and WGC-Cadillac Championship in the last three years (2010-2012).
• Winners of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in the last three years (2009-2011).
• Starting with the 2010 winner, if he was a PGA TOUR member at the time of his victory, winners of the WGC-HSBC Champions in the last three years (2010-2011).
• Winners of PGA TOUR cosponsored or approved tournaments, whose victories are considered official, in the twelve months preceding the tournament.
• Winner of the previous year’s U.S. Amateur (2011). (Note: Such player may turn professional and still be eligible for the exemption.)
• Current PGA TOUR members who were playing members of the last named U.S. and European Ryder Cup teams (2010) and the U.S. and International Presidents Cup teams (2011).
• The top 30 players from the 2011 FedExCup Points List.
• The top 125 players from the 2011 Official PGA TOUR Money List.
• The top 10 players from the 2012 FedExCup Points List through the U.S. Open.
• 8 sponsor exemptions, restricted as follows:
— Two from among the 2011 PGA TOUR Qualifying Tournament’s top 25 finishers and ties, and the first through 25th finishers on the 2011 Official Nationwide Tour Money List.
— Two from among the current year’s PGA TOUR membership.
— Four “unrestricted”.
• If necessary to complete a field of 120 players, those players below 10th position from the 2012 FedExCup Points List through the U.S. Open, in order of their positions on such list.

Again... while each invitational has differing exemption criteria, one key difference is the AT&T and Heritage receive the standard 8 sponsor exemptions, compared to 18 for the Palmer, 12 for the Colonial and 14 for the Memorial. This year the AT&T used it's 8 Sponsor Exemptions on Cameron Beckman, Patrick Cantlay, Beau Hossler, Billy Hurley III, K.T. Kim, Danny Lee and Jordan Spieth.

I have recently sold my soul to Murdoch. Well brought a house, and talked the wife into letting me have Sky Sports.

I quite enjoy watching the golf coverage. Never having it before, and only being reliant on what the Beeb was showing, which was getting less and less. Its a bit of a luxury.

Not much to this post, just wanted to say keep up the good work kwini!

Thanks guys,

Finchem just announced that web.com are the new umbrella sponsor of the erstwhile Nationwide Tour. (Finchem's already called "web.com" "Buy.com" at least one - definitely a touch of the Bushies about Finchem!)

And he confirmed yesterday that all Fall Series tournaments will earn full FedEx points starting next autumn. But no word yet on whether the Fall Series tournament winners will receive invitations to The Masters - suspect a dash of friction there given the reluctance of The Masters Committee to allow their field to reach 100 golfers.

Things very quiet here... Ball-washing par-excellence kwini, thank you!

Hate to be the Tiger's advocate again but will be interested to see how he does after the US Open let-down.

Is the man sausage actually playing? Is there a more part time player than that chump?

Great article kwini

With a slight cringe, I also backed Sabba as one of my fantasy picks for this week at the AT&T...

Was just listening to Finchy's presser there...
So, from now on are we going to call the NW Tour, the WC Tour...?!

Tiger's had a pretty solid track record here, I expect him to do well. Win? Anyone's guess.

I'm not sure how long this tournament is for Congressional. Rumblings about hosting it heard as far up here in Philly. TPC Avenel the most logical choice if they want to keep in the the DC area.

So Tim is hoping his fall series winner will get the Master's invitation. I'm not sure the green jackets will go for it ... but if there's anyone that can convince them, it's Tim. Through very difficult economic times, he's been able to keep sponsorship, built the Fed Ex Cup into something that gets solid ratings and done an excellent job overall, IMO.

He's still a complete t1t though Shotrock.

Finchem reminds me of Ann Richards' compliment on Dubya:
You have to admire the way he keeps on message; it may be the wrong message but he keeps to it!

Thanks incont, pd,
Sabbatini did a very good job of engaging with the fans at Hartford, imagine everyone who heard him went away with a more positive impression of him.

super_realist wrote:Is the man sausage actually playing?

Yep - teeing it up with K J Choi and Nick Watney.

Super - We'll agree to disagree on that!

TW with the former champs group -- should be a scorcher this weekend.

Can't think of many who will agree with you SR, FInchem seems as much of a man sausage as you know who.

Just had a look at the Hall of Fame criterion. I love the way that as the PGA have set it up that they count the Players in the same bracket as a Major. They are determined that it is worthy of being a major. Not sure many players would look back on a career and think the same. Personally I don't rank it much different to any other big PGA Tour event.

Look at Kwini's comment about the Senior Major to see that just calling an event a major doesn't make it a major.

I suppose generally I am fairly ambivalent about the whole Hall of Fame thing. I think it is a very American thing but I can understand how it is an honour to be elected by your peers.

Regarding the Hall Of Fame, I'm still waiting for a poster to submit an endorsement of Loren Roberts' presence on the ballot - for the second time.

Finchem does a fantastic job in making the rich richer, that's the American way.

S_R - As a Democrat in a golf world full of Republicans I'm used to being in the minority!

Shotrock wrote:Super - We'll agree to disagree on that!

TW with the former champs group -- should be a scorcher this weekend.

Hopefully a damp squib and missed cut for the d1ck smoking Woods.

Kwin - Finchem doing exactly what he was hired to do. If not thrilled, he's at least smirking with Westwood's plans to move stateside next year.

It's been discussed before, but a worldwide tour is simply inevitable. Don't expect Tim, however, to do anything to help move that along more quickly (regardless of the PR spin that comes from his office).

But back to golf ... (and with the Bush reference) ... a kinder and gentler Congressional this year than last?

World Tour. I can see it now. All in the USA apart from the Open, maybe the PGA and a few events in Asia....

Of course two, how else could they cater for the lack of passport holders.

Make the purse big enough and you can be sure everyone will get their passport. They hold allegiance to no one.

Now, time to get off your wallet boys!

Great article as usual Kwini. Particularly like the picture of the 17th at TPC Sawgrass . Serious water!

I can't think of a reason why Mr. Roberts is being proposed for Hall of Fame recognition. Good enough player I guess but hardly Hall of Fame...unless of course they don't mind devaluing that title.

Tiger Woods pretty much lived a lot of lads dreams, he got "friendly" with p*rn stars and plays golf for a living...who would not want that.

Unless he is hated for his morals, then everyone is allowed an opinion on morals.

Still would rather see him win then pretty much any other golfer.

I actually don't dislike Woods for his shagging, I'd probably do it aswell, although not if I was married. It's more the fact he's the worlds most boring, unpleasant, graceless and unpleasant man-child that irks me, that and the way he plays golf.

yeah but he is clearly not boring, you cant be a boring person with everything he was up to...thats not dull.

Its hard to judge any golfer whether they are unpleasant or whatever, because unless you personally know them, you dont know. Obviously you can form an opinion, but you cannot judge someones persona on how they are interviewed or how they play golf. Thats just crazy.

beninho wrote:yeah but he is clearly not boring, you cant be a boring person with everything he was up to...thats not dull.

Its hard to judge any golfer whether they are unpleasant or whatever, because unless you personally know them, you dont know. Obviously you can form an opinion, but you cannot judge someones persona on how they are interviewed or how they play golf. Thats just crazy.

Ha ha, you think a treble chinned, slack jawed baldie dullard like him pulled all those women due to his devastating charisma and fantastic looks?

Someone as famous as him just needs to walk in the room and he's got a hundred vacuous slags frothing at the gash desperate to be another notch on his bedpost.

It doesn't make him interesting or charismatic, it just makes him a man, and a man naive and stupid enough to think he can get away with it.

There are also plenty of people on record with stories of his unpleasantness. HIs lack of humility, grace, humour, class etc also mark him out as someone I'm not going to support.

I also stated the way he plays golf as a reason why I don't like him. You can't argue with that.

Anyway, this isn't a post about the c0ck, so lets leave it at that.

TW is definitely not boring. Unpleasant and Graceless agreed. Also Arrogant.

I sort of agree with shotrock that finchem must be doing something right given the continued strength of the PGA tour. And even if he has not done a great job would those wishing to get rid of him like to see what would happened should someone have created an even stronger pga tour? The european tour would be ruined if this theoretical "super competent finchem" was in charge.

I have no doubt I disagree with every political point of view the man has and would probably run things differently but lets not forget golf probably cant offer much more than some decent sports viewing. It is not like a "socialist" commissioner would make any difference to anyone's life.

I also suspect the rather conservative nature of corporate america makes finchem a good fit for bringing in the sponsor cheques.


PS We must remember I am the sandal knitting sort, and in reality would have him booted for no other reason than ticking the george bush box on his ballot paper.

Confirmation from Davis Love that he's selected Fred Couples and Mike Hulbert as his first two (of four) Vice Captains for Ryder Cup duty at Medinah.

Imagine half the team will have a tough time figuring out who the hell Mike Hulbert is, but he's done this gig on a losing team before (in 2002 under Curtis Strange) and is up for a reprise. Must be an Upstate New York thing as Jeff Sluman Vice Captained for a couple of Jack Nicklaus's Presidents Cup teams.


Sad to see Steve Fatty Marino withdrawing again this week, still having great difficulty in shaking off the after-effects of knee surgery last autumn. Matt Every's serial withdrawals are more of a puzzle, but he's w/d'd from his last three commitments without explanation. His prerogative obviously but hope there's nothing sinister in his continued absences.

Isn't such intolerance against the agenda of the sandal knitting bolinger bolshevik Mac?

Interesting story brewing regarding last week's winner Marc Leishman.

With his winner's spoils in terms of loot, he also found himself on top of the Open Championshipexemption money list.

Trouble is, he's five months into a six month period where, in application for US Permanent Residency (Green Card) he is forbidden to leave the country. He won't be playing at Lytham, therefore, unless he can gain special "parole" to allow him to travel.

I've suffered personally from this situation and it's not a nice spot to be stuck in - to the average stiff, e.g. me, the US Immigration people are utterly intransigent, but hopefully Leishman will be granted a get-out-of-jail-free card.

Perhaps the Blatteresque Finchem can get involved, make him an American and thus take some reflected glory for his recent tournament win.

Summer swelter in Washington, DC, today for the AT&T National tournament; the early groups should have perfect scoring conditions, but wisdom from Congressional is that the course will play firm and fast.

High expectations in the US Media for Martin Laird this week - long hitter with a high ball-flight thought to be a good fit. This will be his last US event before the Scottish Open and he could use a high finish.

I still like Dustin Johnson's chances however, and look forward to seeing him continue a purple patch of form following his win in Memphis.

One curiosity: No players in the field from Continental Europe - wonder when that last happened?

If these scoring conditions are favourable, gawd knows what happens when the going gets tough.

All 60 players from the morning wave at Congressional are now out on the course, no-one having played more than nine holes.

-1 (eight golfers) is the leading score, yet TWELVE golfers are already at +3 or worse.

VJ, DLIII, Cink... some extra experience seems to be at a premium at the moment here.
Is the 120 player field normal for this event?
And wasn't Nick O'Hern flirting with the lead at some point just a week ago at the Travelers...? His fellow Aussie Leishman looks much more consistent...

Carnage at Congressional, and not just from the Supreme Court.

More golfers five over than there are under par, and worse to come no doubt.

Very sketchy decision from O'Hern to be teeing it up on a course like this - he can be competitive on a track like Hartford (self-destructed to an MDF by tripling his 54th hole) but not here.

Greg Owen off to a good start though, and Aussies Shark and Senior doing well early at the Senior Players.

Hi Kwini, appreciate the notes as always. I've seen a few pics of TPC Sawgrass' floods... It was so warm and dry in May it's hard to believe that possible!

Quite like Mahan's chances this week and Garrigus is a fella who played well here in the US Open, hits it long too obviously. What about BVP? Was reading about his stats on the pgatour site and how has he not contended more this season?? Anyway, time Laird was back on the leaderboards.

PD, ATT is an invitational, like Memorial and Bay Hill and Colonial. 120 players.

There was some controversy from the rank/file about this tournament being another Invitational when it was first conceived. that it give the higher ranked players a chance to play while denying the journeyman a chance to play

Now so many of the top pros are snubbing the event that most of the players that want to play, can play.

Cheers Lairdy,
BVP seems to have top tweny five-itis, twenty top tens since his only win, in Milwaukee three years ago, but never really in contention to actually win.
He has terrific stats for everything except sand play and scrambling so it's all a bit of a mystery.


Regarding the comments from GPB, pd and Shotrock on this week's event, I'm actually surprised it returned to Congressional and there are complaints by Fluff Cowan (Furyk's caddie who is a Congressional member) about the mess that the Tour leaves his course in. (Shotrock no doubt also can relate vis-a-vis his experiences at Aronomink.)
Would be no surprise to see the event go to the much-maligned TPC Avenal and take an earlier (or much later) date - one gets the impression very few of the top players would be here if not for Tiger's influence.

Despite AT&T's commitment to this event, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see it fall by the wayside.

Kwini: IMO, players are staying away because of Woods's influence. At least some of them.

Congressional is booked for a couple more years, but probably gone after that. Apparently the membership was divided almost 50/50 when it came to a vote a couple of years ago.

I can't see them moving the event to another week in the schedule. Where it would it go and who would replace it?

No chance that the Tour would want to go to Texas or Memphis in late June. Jack's tournament has got squatting rights in its position.

I wonder if the RTJ course in Manasses Va would be interested/ Where they played the Prez cup three different times. (Players hate TPC Avenel).

Two Singhs on top of leaderboard in Northern Ireland and Washington DC suburb.

Thanx gpb, kwini - I forgot this was an invitational...
Don't know if it's going to last, but it's great to see Vijay leading a tournament again.
Beau Hossler seems to like playing tough courses...

GPB,
This event kicked off with some symbolism, Tiger, Fourth Of July, Military Appreciation, etc, etc, etc, . . . . . . . !

I understand the Congressional contract but there was speculation even last year that it might not return. RTJ could be a good call - to be fair to TPC Avenel, I'm not sure most of the players will have played it since its extensive rework.

Meanwhile, Lt. Billy Hurley(ret'd) is doing a fine job of upholding the US Navy's part of the Military Appreciation.

PS: pd, You remind me: What the hell kind of name is "Beau" anyway? wrote kwini, paraphrasing Joseph Heller.

I can tell you this much ... there was serious discussion about every other year in Philly/DC ... but one particular course they wanted in Philly would not commit (hint, hint), so I think it's DC for as long as sponsorship holds up. I can't imagine the Congressional membership would tolerate it much longer.

Two Singhs may have been atop the leaderboard, but one was wearing 3 layers, the other sweltering in one.

Kwini, Remember Laura Baugh on the LPGA Tour?

She had brother who played the PGATour (albeit not very well). Her brother's name was Beau.

Beau Baugh. Who does that to their kid? That is a recipe for a 7th grade beat down.

GPB,
I saw Beau Baugh play - too many years ago. Troubled girl that Laura, terrific player though.

Scoring less tricky this afternoon, not sure why, but it's very toasty there; Martin Laird struggling in the early going.

GPB wrote:Kwini, Remember Laura Baugh on the LPGA Tour?

She had brother who played the PGATour (albeit not very well). Her brother's name was Beau.

Beau Baugh. Who does that to their kid? That is a recipe for a 7th grade beat down.

Compared to the fantastically stupidly named Webb, Bubba, Tiger, Keegan, etc its comparatively normal

Forecast for Washington, DC, and Congressional today is for a high temp of 104F, 40C.

A day for patience and survival and some advantage, presumably, for this morning's early starters including overnight leader Bo Van Pelt. Trouble is he bogeyed his first two holes.

Imagine the cut will be at about +4, even possibly +5 if the heat gets to the afternoon "wave", but so far Team GB is inside the cut-line, especially Greg Owen who is in the form of his life!

Laird sitting not too bad at +1. Needs to cut out the bogeys though. Played first 9 in level par with only one par. Bogey at a par 5 doesnt help.

You know who fairing better on the par 5s so far...

and time Cabrera did something. What's been up with him?

Agree Lairdy,
Eccentric from Martin Laird, started off with three bogeys straight out of the traps, five under the rest of the way, including that dropped shot on the par 5.
Currently second in the field in gir and that's what it will ultimately take this week for him to have a top finish.

Epidemic of dropped shots in the past hour suggests the +5's may have a chance of making the cut.

Temp in DC has just hit the 100F mark and still rising.