PGA Tour: Acts of Congressional: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

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

McLaren wrote:When I was about 14/15 my mate hit a shot on the practice range when i was about 1m in front of him and slightly to the right - i have no idea what he thought would happen - and hit me in the thigh. I could not walk for several days.

It's not really funny but that reminds me of an incident that happened when I was learning the game. My school offered lessons at the local muni through the Golf Foundation scheme, something ridiculous like £5 for a term of Wednesday afternoon sessions. Lots of us took it up and one day we were being taught chipping using 7 irons. The pro had us encircle the practice green, and encouraged us to chip towards the hole. One of my mates got bored, and being a bit of a knob (he's now a multi-millionaire banker) decided to hit a full shot. Would have been ok if he'd flushed it, but he thinned it and it flew straight at the kid on the opposite side of the green. We were about 15 at the time, in the full grip of puberty, so when this ball hit him just below the waist it was an even more sensitive area than it might otherwise have been. Whether that explains the way he went down or not I don't know, but I'll never forget the way his legs shot backwards so that the impact area went straight down, causing a vicious face plant/belly flop. Poor kid took ages to recover, and never pursued the game, funnily enough!

I got hit in the left (ahem) cleavage area. I had a massive bruise that I couldn't show off to the guys at work.

I bet they offered to rub it better for you though Plunky.

Wouldn't dare -- the HR police are everywhere !

i wonder is there some sort of waiver in the Ts and Cs when you buy a ticket? otherwise there is a serious claim to be had sooner rather than later

McLaren wrote:If the ball is flying towards someone and they can see it they will get out of the way.

but If they cant see it then they have no idea where it will land. If you shout fore they still have no idea where it will land. So unless they run further than the your error of judgement for where the ball will land they are just as likely to get hit.

So really it makes no difference if you shout 4. It all depends on whether the person as seen the ball coming.

Of course it won't stop them getting hit () but they'll protect their vitals as Plunky suggested. Better to catch on on the arm/leg/back than full in the face/head/knackers/whatever.

face/head/knackers/knockers

Got to be politically correct on this board nbs . . . . .

So true!

Typically this stuff is in the Ts & Cs of the tickets and entry.

Basically it's you come in, you run the risk of being hit by a ball and by coming in you also absolve the liability of the world and their dog.