PGA Tour: Oh Canada, The Hamilton Academical: Notes from the Ballwasher

1).This week's PGA Tour test is the "RBC Canadian Open", in Ontario, at the Hamilton Golf and Country Club, staging the event for the fifth time. Many of the more notable participants will have arrived in the Toronto area via charter from last week's Open Championship, so let's look back before we look forward.

2)."I am happy for Ernie, but I feel sick right now."
Sure a milder version of Geoff Ogilvy's Twittered sentiment is how many golf fans felt last Sunday afternoon. As an unabashed fan of Adam Scott as a player to follow on Tour, but an equally unabashed fan of Ernie too, I can only imagine how Ogilvy feels - it was Scott after all who disembarked from his flight about to leave New York when he realised his good mate Ogilvy was in the Winged Foot shake-up six years ago, and the two celebrated deep into the night, flight departures be damned.

3).So where did it all go wrong? My theory is that Team Adam let their guard down and their focus slip following his birdie on #14. Steve Williams's sh1t-eating grin filled the screen and he was doubtless wondering just precisely when he would remove his cap to acknowledge his adoring gallery as the two made their triumphant stroll towards the 18th green, Adam following politely behind. Whatever, things went downhill from then on and they revealed their two-hands-on-the-wheel strategy by laying up on the fateful short par-4 16th when even most of the shoter hitters were going for it. A poorly played wedge and three putts ensured that the writing was on the wall.

4).Lots of speculation as to what has turned Els's career around, long putter, Billy Payne's two-finger rejection of claims for a Masters invite, coaches here and gurus there, but I reckon Greg Norman had a hand in it, handing Ernie a leadership role at last year's Presidents Cup as he chaperoned Ishikawa around Royal Melbourne. Els played pretty good golf that week, but then poor play in South Africa left him outside the qualifying criteria for Augusta, at which time Ernie's resolve seemed to stiffen and results steadily improved. Els played aggressively at Lytham and it paid off - in comparison to Woods for example, Els hit only 35 fairways compared to Tiger's 46, but hit 57 greens (incl Par-3's obviously) compared to just 46.

5).Lytham was criticised as a venue on this board, but I thought it stood up pretty well and looked good. Certainly had a very strong leaderboard each and every day.

6).One or two interesting pieces from the unctuous Peter Dawson during the past week or so:
~Royal Portrush: Without actually saying The Open wouldn't go there, he had this to say:
"A huge amount of money would need to be spent, in my estimation, to make Royal Portrush a sensible choice."
"The commercial aspects of it are quite onerous."
"The practice ground would need a lot of work."
"We don't feel short of Open venues right now. We're not rushing to look for more."
Sounds like the sort of pompous British attitude to anything in Northern Ireland that has caused quite a bit of trouble over the years.

~Troon in 2016. The Open might have to find a new date, with Wimbledon shifting a week further into July and Olympics starting August 5th. "Back to the drawing board" was his comment. The PGA Of America has a similar problem as their Championship was originally scheduled August 9th - 12th, 2016.

7).Which leads us seamlessly to Canada and the raw deal for the Canadian Open this week. Golfers committed for Hamilton, Jim Furyk, Mahan, Els, Kuchar etc, will be going directly to the Bridgestone followed by Kiawah's PGA Championship. A one week break (Greensboro for the hardy and desperate) then three weeks of FedEx Play Offs for the cream of the Tour. RBC's "ambassadors" have helped offer the field some substance but the overall turnout is disappointing.

8).But some participants this week have still to secure a place in the PGA field: Sean O'Hair (3rd here in 2006), Overton, Allenby, Villegas and Tim Clark just some of the more familiar names, while Thomas Aiken qualifies for "Canada" by virtue of his Lytham finish and another good week would likely see him squeak into the Kiawah field.

9).Hamilton G&CC is a hybrid of 27 holes, 18 of which are an original Harry Colt design, and has staged the Canadian Open just twice in recent years. Those in the field with some success here include:

2003: Won by Boring Bob Tway: Vijay (6th), Estes (14th), Ames (23rd), Goggin (23rd), Sheehan (23rd). A young Hunter Mahan also made the cut.

2006: Furyk (Champion), O'Hair (last year's winner in B.C., and 3rd in 2006), Sabbatini (6th), Villegas (6th), Immelman (6th), and, tied for 20th: Curtis, Van Pelt, Points, Hearn, Imada and Nathan Green. Brian Davis was 29th, Vijay 35th, Estes 53rd, and Greg Owen and Mahan tied for 60th.

Of these I fancy O'Hair, Estes, Davis and even Greg Owen to have decent weeks (10p e.w.?).

10).Scott Stallings re-emerged from a dismal injury-ridden season to win last week's "True South Classic" and Bud Cauley put weeks of poor results behind him to finish fourth.
But I was most interested in third-place finisher Billy Horschel whose career hasn't exactly gone as he doubtless planned when he was trying to wind up McIlroy as Rickie Fowler's partner in the RCD Walker Cup. But the man is a talent and actually kept some measure of composure in the heat of Mississippi to save third place. He's only got into the field at 11 PGA Tour stops so far this year (this week will be #12), but has survived 9 cuts. Horschel threw away his card in a tempestuous display of shanks and bad temper at last year's McGladreys but he'll be back and is too talented not to win. Soon.

I don't think there was anyone on the course who didn't think Scott had the Claret Jug sown up after his birdie on 14.

The whole day for Scott seemed like a procession. When he holed the putt on 14 it was almost like the crowd deflated a little as they knew it was going to be a boring last 4 holes.

For me personally the clincher was the quick turnaround of missed putt on 16 and Els holing on 18.

Scott was walking past the media centre/ huge beer garden which runs parrallel to the 17th fairway when Els made his putt and the cheer must have been deafening and would have seemed to have come from all corners of the course.

To have gone from thinking he has a nice 4 holes to close out his first major it then changed in 5 mins to him thinking most of the course wanted to see a collapse and play off. For me it MUST have entered his mind quite a bit especially as he said in his own words the shot on 17 was the one that killed him the most. That was the first shot he took after Els holed his putt and the course sensed there was a chance for an upset.

I know a lot has also been made about Steve Williams but after watching him for 4 days he didn't seem to behave any differently from any other caddies bar Harringtons who seemed to be under instructions to shout at the galleries at every opportunity. A few have mentioned the 3 wood on 18 as well but Scott hit it well all tournament and I think it was the right club as he split the fairway with it on 17.

5).Lytham was criticised as a venue on this board, but I thought it stood up pretty well and looked good. Certainly had a very strong leaderboard each and every day.

I wasn't aware of this but thought the course was great. The par 3 opener was quirky but enjoyable. It was a true test of golf but not a silly set up. I thought the pin positions were more difficult on the Saturday than on the Sunday which was strange and i thought it was great that going in a bunker meant you were punished and it normally took 2 great shots to save par.

On another side note the return of mobile phone didn't seem to cause a problem. Yes, there were quite a lot of people snapping pictures on tournament days but I didn't see any player complain (bar Harrington). Most groups had a marshall and there were plenty of stewards around. People were being caught with a camera probably every minute or so which seems a lot but it was always a polite and friendly "no cameras please" and I never saw an incident that would have got the R and A worked up.

Great write up Kwini.

Interestingly, Els joins that small list of major winners that never held a lead at anytime they were on the course. Also, 4 majors over 18 years is no small feat. I know of another golfer who is very eager to win a major in his third decade of competition.

Meanwhile said golfer moves to #2 in the World Rankings.

Hamilton Academical. I see what you did there

Have you considered a script writing role for Ronnie Corbett?

Pretty much agree with all that, just felt Williams was celebrating a bit early when so many years with Tiger etc should have informed him that it's never over 'til it's over. Even tho it usually was in Tiger's case.

Then they butchered the 16th and momentum shifted into reverse.

Great Open as it seemed from my armchair . . . . .


Slowride

Shotrock,
I think Ernie was the first for five weeks . . . . . (and I know you're talking about Vijay).

At least Williams didn't drop his caddie vest prematurely (as he did a few years ago at the Chevron...)

pedro,
Justice served that day.
He does take still it off as soon as his man's final putt is holed though, as he did on Sunday - must be his deal with Valvoline!

I was also v impressed with Royal Lytham & St Annes as a course.

BBC commentators were calling Adam's poor approach shots down the stretch - said he has a tendency to pull short-to-mid irons when under pressure, and he then did so a couple of times. Still, consistent with what Mr Scott was saying afterwards, he looked calm throughout to me and had no problem whacking a great drive down 17 as the pressure really bore down. It didn't feel like a total collapse to this particular observer whilst watching events unfold, but in hindsight, it is a matter of fact that he made several mistakes over the crucial last few holes (cf. Ernie who played a blinder down the stretch) - those irons, one or two short-ish putts, strange club selection off 18th tee. I hope the experience makes him stronger though. Well, after at least one of the English guys bags a major anyway...

Conehead, the only thing i would say about the shot selecton on 18 is that regardless of how well he was hitting it why bring the sand into play by using that club when the hole was reachable no problem with 2 irons. i accept he may still have messed up using 2 irons but less chance in my mind.i felt Stevie 13 majors should have stopped him.

I guess he hit 3 wood as he was confident. He striped it down the middle of 17 and i guess there was no reason for him to believe it wouldn't be the same result on 18.

I can appreciate the thought that 3 wood brought bunker into play but then he could have took an iron and then pulled it again and people would have said why did he hit iron when he spilt the fairway with a 3 wood on 17 and especially after he'd just hit an awful iron on 17.

As for Stevie, i think it would take balls of steel for any caddie to start questioning his boss' club selection on the final hole of a major. I can understand the criticism McIlroy's caddie got at Augusta as he could have stepped in to calm him down or change his mind on shots but that was mid way through the round.

I'm no Bob Rotella but I think most players wouldn't want someone questioning a club selection at such an important stage. It would have been just as bad to say "watch out for the bunkers". Scott knew they were there he was just obviosuly not thinking about going in them which shows he was staying positive.

yep i guess when you lose a major like that you are going to be second guessed on a lot of stuff.

He was leaking oil and his brain was probably a bit frazzled.

Rotella would call for conservative strategy with aggressive swings,

Williams is meant to be a strong caddy. As such could have given him the option of another club. His job would then be to make sure Scott was back in the zone mentally for hitting the club that had been decided.

53 Americans teeing it up in the Senior Open.
Four British golfers teed it up at the US Senior Open.

Something not right here.

PS: If Shotrock is reading this, I see Wayne Westner is playing at Turnberry. A decent player in his day, a friend of mine played with him the year he won the old Genny Open, at Higby Hills (as was!).

Kwin - Great story! -- Higby Hills now Stonebridge, I think?

Heading up to the Adirondacks this weekend, hope to add Teugega into the rota along with Newport, Thendara and Inlet!

I'll be drinking local beer, but as a former WEBCO employee it won't be Genny (Cream Ale a decent value however).

Stonebridge now, yup, just up the road from where we lived.

First time for Teugega? Here's your appetiser:

http://www.teugega.com/course.asp

Only time I ever went there the heavens opened and we spent four hours in the clubhouse, playing cards and, very possibly, drinking Genny Cream! (Would like to know why I can never get Adirondack Amber on draft any more. Speak to WEBCO about that, would you? )

Conehead,

How was JP Fitzgerald going to "change" McIlroys "mind on shots" at Augusta in 2011??................the only one i can think of was the fairway bunker on 2, but he did get out of the bunker after all and par that hole............we don't know whether JP tried to "calm him down" or not or even if he needed calming down!!

I agree with you on Williams......it wasn't his call on the Iron, especially the way Scott had been hitting 3 wood all week....

Adirondack Lager on tap at this place ... I recommend it without reservation:

http://reddogtavern.com/

If I run into Fred Matt (likely), I'll mention your dilemma!

John Cregan wrote:Conehead,

How was JP Fitzgerald going to "change" McIlroys "mind on shots" at Augusta in 2011??................the only one i can think of was the fairway bunker on 2, but he did get out of the bunker after all and par that hole............we don't know whether JP tried to "calm him down" or not or even if he needed calming down!!

I agree with you on Williams......it wasn't his call on the Iron, especially the way Scott had been hitting 3 wood all week....

Maybe change his mind was a bad choice of words. With McIlroy's meldown at The Masters what struck me the most was that during his run of 4 or 5 horror holes it seemed like JP froze. He didn't seem to be talking to McIlroy at all or giving his advice on shots. When Rory hit that horrible hook and leaned on his driver close to tears JP did nothing. I just thought that was the ideal time for him to maybe put his arm around him or talk to him on the fairway to calm him down. Rory seemed very alone during that round. He was walking ahead quickly on his own to shots and didn't seem to be discussing options or yardages very much.

I think he actually came out and defended JP after the Masters and the tree root incident at the PGA Championship but for what it's worth I thought his caddie could have been a bit more helpful to him.

If it had of been on the 18th though like the Scott 3 wood incident I would think most caddie would stay out of the way. I do remember Bones once talking Mickleson out of a shot on the 18th once but not sure if it was a major or not but i remember Bones getting the call correct.

Accies Accies

Thought someone would like that headline

I think Williams has been getting hard press here. If his man asks for a 3 wood and has been using it all week he may well have thought that it better for him to make definite decisions rather than starting to put doubts in his mind. Always easy in hindsight...

I was at Lytham on Friday and was really surprised that more players didn't really attack it. Yes the rough was penal, as were the bunkers but the fairways didn't look ridiculously narrow and the greens having had so much water were taking shots. Not saying that it was easy and the greens were still slick but I almost got the feeling that the players were showing a lot of respect. Look what Snedeker did and no one else was even close.

Loved being there though. Even if it was to see Luke thin a wedge like I would!!

That thinned wedge was incredible. I saw Donald's drive and then went to get some food , caught back up with him on the green and saw him with his driver out. Couldn't believe it when a guy said he'd thinned his approach!

I agree about the players maybe showing too much respect for the course especially the par 5's. Off the top of my head i can only remember seeing 2 eagle putts all week, Scott Day 3 on the 11th and GMac on the Sunday on the 7th.

Both par 5's were reachable in 2 by most of the players and they were both quite wide fairway wise yet everyone seemed to lay up and/or take iron off the tee. I saw the most drivers hit on 6 and that seemed to have quite a narrow landing space?

Yeah, there didn't seem to be many eagle putts made at all - there might have been as many if not more holed approach shots! [Poulter and Owen spring to mind]

I watched the 7th in the afternoon on Friday and to be fair to them the only player I saw get with ten yards in two was Dustin Johnson with driver, 3 wood so it was a mighty hole. The 11th didn't look much easier for length easier. Perhaps they just went too far and it meant that will all the rubbish around the greens you were almost looking at two drivers so the risk was too high. Still they ranked 15 and 14th in difficultly so not that tough.

Forgot to add in no wind either.

Cone, shame you missed Donald. The gasp in the crowd was something.

I've still not seen it on replays yet either. Might try and dig it out tonight on youtube.

Just an update on some injured warriors;

Graham DeLaet has satisfied the requirements of his Major Medical Exemption and is back full-time on Tour. Don't be surprised if he plays well in his native Canada this week.

But Jamie Lovemark has failed to meet his requirements and is off the Tour, presumably back to the web.com and destined for Q-School.

Steve Marino seems to be experiencing problems in his return to fitness and is a serial withdrawer from tournaments he's committed to.

Paul Goydos is scheduled to be back from surgery by Fall Series time.

But Steve Flesch will be having surgery within the fortnight and won't be back until well into next year - not even sure what status he will have, can't remember whether or not he has a Top 50 career money-winning mulligan remaining. Academic if this year's anything to go by - annus horribilis with no cuts made.

Conehead wrote:I've still not seen it on replays yet either. Might try and dig it out tonight on youtube.

The good ol' BBC decided to highlight the incident through one of their mini-vid clips:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/golf/18922606

Not a great forecast for the Toronto area tomorrow - good chance play will be disrupted, either Thursday or early Friday. Or both.
Fine for the weekend though, almost Lytham-like.

kwini

16 withdrawals in the end in Canada! Not sure I've seen quite as many anywhere else before...

And surprise, surprise! Another dreadful start by Paul Casey...!?

Meanwhile a great start by Langer at Turnberry, but not so good for Chapman and Norman (Watson still showing them the way in that group)...

Continuation of a dreadful start by Casey, tied for last after 15 holes.

But also a continuation of surprising improved form by Troy Matteson, Appleby and Schwartzel (fit again?) enjoying decent starts also.

Is Casey still carrying an injury which is resulting in his miserable form or is it deeper seated mentally. Certainly does look more like the weight of the world is on his injured shoulder at the moment.

P.s.

Is it true that the PGA have announced there are officially no bunkers at Kiawah, and that all sandy areas are going to be classed as wasteland. Thus allowing grounding of the club etc.

I believe that IS true, Fader.

Paul Casey in with a Round 1 +5 (75), but Brian Davis cards a 69.

Ironic that the unlucky "first alternate" who so far hasn't got in to the Canadian Open in Hamilton is:
Hamilton. Todd.

This week the web.com Tour is in Columbus, Ohio, playing Ohio State University's highly regarded Scarlet Course.

The early leader is our very own local lad, Trevor Murphy, no longer an exempt web.com player, 171st in the money-list, but with an invite into this week's show.

Perhaps he was invited because, two years ago, ski-racer Trev shot a 56 (FIFTY SIX!) in the Pro-Am for this event, albeit on the facility's much shorter "Grey" Course. Still, a 56 is a 56!! Good luck Trevor . . . . . . .

Kuchar also going for a 56: 5 under par after five holes.
Grinning every step of the way, no doubt.

This is probably the sort of nonsense that we were accusing the media of focusing on when it comes to tiger but I will share anyway. The last time tiger played a full ish schedule was 2009 where he topped the regular season fedex rankings having played 13 qualifying events, racking up 5 wins and 11 top tens.

According to the current fedex rankings tiger has played 13 qualifying events, 3 wins and 5 top tens.

I guess the key is that he was leading the standings in both examples.

Not sure where these players will play between now and the barclays but some notable players and how many points they are away from the top 125;

Gary Christian 10
Gary Woodland 18
Stewart Cink 18
Brendan Steele 22
Tim Clark 25
Camilo Villegas 52
Y.E. Yang 57
Robert Karlsson 73
Danny Lee 93
Stuart Appleby 94
Retief Goosen 107
Arjun Atwal 178
Russell Knox 204
Lucas Glover 265
Paul Casey 293


For a feel for how likely they are to make it the player in position 125 currently averages 15 points per event and the player in 50th averages 33 points per event.

Yes, remember Mac, that many of them will be at Reno next week, opposite Bridgestone (which is where Goose will be; he and one or two others, Yang, Glover, Karlsson if he wants to be, Cink, Woodland, Casey and Yang will also be at Kiawah).
Hopefully O'Grady is keeping in touch with some of this lot.

(Read the other day that Danny Lee had been fired by his caddie . . . . !)

Does anyone know if there's a reason why Luke Donald isn't playing? Thought it would have been a condition of his sponsorship contract!

Skydriver wrote:Does anyone know if there's a reason why Luke Donald isn't playing? Thought it would have been a condition of his sponsorship contract!

Yeah, I was wondering about that as well if anyone knows the reason?

Not sure about Lukey, Ernie played in an RBC outing Wednesday and no idea whether Luke played as well.

Woods missed many/most of Buick & AT&T events when he was sponsored by them; imagine these "ambassadors" might have a minimum requirement of events to participate it: Luke certainly played (well) at the last three Canadian Opens and all relevant Heritage events.

Fader wrote:P.s.

Is it true that the PGA have announced there are officially no bunkers at Kiawah, and that all sandy areas are going to be classed as wasteland. Thus allowing grounding of the club etc.

bit late for Dustin Johnson!

Just had a quick scan of the ruder cup qualification and assuming they don’t suffer a complete collapse in form the following are pretty much there;

Euro list
Rory MCILROY
Graeme MCDOWELL
Justin ROSE
Paul LAWRIE
Francesco MOLINARI

World list
Luke DONALD
Lee WESTWOOD
Peter HANSON

The two looking a little shaky are Sergio and Kaymer on the world list.

Here is a list of those just behind them and the number of points behind they are;


  first column to sergiosecond column to kaymer

Nicolas COLSAERTS		4.78	18.19
Ian POULTER		15.71	29.12
Rafa CABRERA-BELLO		18.4	31.81
Gonzalo FDEZ-CASTA�O		23.52	36.93
Tromas BJ�RN		35.02	48.43
Marcel SIEM		36.28	49.69
Simon DYSON		49.2	62.61
Fredrik JACOBSON		53.9	67.31
Robert ROCK		55.72	69.13
Padraig HARRINGTON		57.42	70.83
Martin LAIRD		60.29	73.7
Michael HOEY		63.65	77.06
Alvaro QUIROS		63.7	77.11

I am not sure the euro list is an option for any of these players as they are at least EU 300,000 behind the fifth placed man Molinari.

Nicolas COLSAERTS 310,660 (Behind Molinari (Euro’s))
Gonzalo FDEZ-CASTA�O 437,867
Sergio GARCIA 555,230
Rafa CABRERA-BELLO 595,106
Alvaro QUIROS 670,817
Marcel SIEM 710,231


If we assume Molinari places well a few times it would be hard for other players to win EU300,000(and much more) more than him over the next month.

So realistically given current form it is likely only Colsaerts or poulter will pass one of Sergio or kaymer on the world list.

A pga or wgc win by someone outside the euro top 5 may shake that list up a little, but short of that it probably wont change.

Poulter and Harrington for wild cards if it stays like that then I imagine.

Quite a formidable Ryder Cup team when Kaymer is probably the weakest player on current form.

Conehead wrote:Poulter and Harrington for wild cards if it stays like that then I imagine.

Quite a formidable Ryder Cup team when Kaymer is probably the weakest player on current form.

Poulter I can agree. But not Paddy. He was a scandal last time, and he doesn't seem to "fit in" with the other players.

I was speculating on who I thought would be picked. For me I'd take Poulter and Colsaerts - was very impressed with the latter at lytham bar his Friday round.

I thought Harrington was popular with the players? I know he basically carried Fisher and read all his putts for him when he was struggling in the last Ryder Cup so thought that may have gone down well with the team?

Either way it's an incredibly strong team but then the American team looks pretty stellar as well. I would prefer the euro captain to have more than 2 wildcards as I think that helps but it's gonna be an epic tussle this year I think.

Good analysis Mac.
Can't imagine Jose Maria captaining a Ryder Cup Team which doesn't include Sergio; he'll probably be disappointed no other Spanish player is making a decent run at qualification.

Would think the current top ten plus Colsaerts and Poults is the likeliest squad, unless Harrington comes up with something compelling at Kiawah (where he does have previous!).

Terrific round from Owen yesterday. -7 including a double and a single! I was reading up how this course rewards those with high GIR given the small greens. Owen 9th in GIR this season and 100/1 he was... so I couldnt help myself. He's obviously doomed now tho!

Knox lining himself up for a timely cut. Fingers crossed. Also for Gary Christian who needs a good round to make the cut - its that time of year when we start looking at these guy's fedex points.

Obligatory first-hole bogey for Owen this morning, but Mansfield Man has righted the ship. The flag-bearer for my yahoo team this week!
He's been playing well all season - seven Top Twenty finishes and destined for The Barclays at least, almost certainly the Deutsche Bank also.
He actually gave a nice interview following his round yesterday, looks much more relaxed then the deer-in-the-headlights figure he cut earlier in his PGA Tour career.

Christian and Knox missed good opportunities to accumulate much-needed cash and FedEx points last week, but they have this week (Christian needs a really good round today though), next week in Reno and then Greensboro in any bid to qualify for the Barclays.


Was reminded yesterday that the Reno tournament next week is being played in a "modified Stableford" format; wonder if anyone told St.Padraig? Crucial week for Team GB and Ireland!