PGA Tour: PGA Championship: Notes from the Ballwasher

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1).Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy!
Has Five Hour Furyk forgotten how to win? He experienced quite a drought in the late 2000's, rediscovered winning ways at the 2010 Transition (despite shanking down the 72nd hole and singeing KJ Choi's eyebrows on the way), and won squeakily at Hilton Head followed by a round full of fortitude to win the Tour Championship (and FedEx Play Offs). Now he's been in the driver's seat three times this year and parked in the wrong place each time.

2).Meanwhile, Keegan Bradley finally wins without a play-off but still due to the haplessness of another. Still not convinced that Keegs is the real thing. And nor is his local newspaper - the biggest paper in Bradley's Vermont had not one word of the golf in Monday's edition, not even the result. But he's secured his Ryder Cup place and it looks increasingly as if Furyk (so brilliant in the Presidents Cup in Melbourne but very dodgy in Ryder Cup play) will be hoping for a Captain's pick.

3).A perennial gripe about these WGC's - what incentive is there for the pros once they slip out of, say, the top twenty? There aren't many bigger admirers of Lee Westwood than me, but his weekend demonstrates that the WGC people have got their prizemoney structure all wrong. +14 was Westwood's weekend "effort" in finishing 70th, but he still took home $42K, only $30K less than two level par rounds would have earned him.
And then there's Jaidee, Crane and the vanishing Taniguchi who handed in sick notes, banked $40K and limped off to South Carolina.
Time for a cut (like The Masters, say, top 44 and those within ten shots) and lower paydays for the bottom trawlers. Spend that money instead on the leaders and create differentials worth playing for.

4).Didn't see much of the Bridgestone but really enjoyed the coverage of the Reno-Tahoe Open. A leaderboard full of characters and a worthy winner in JJ Henry. The four rookies on the USA Ryder Cup Team at the K Club, Zach, Wetterich, Vaughn Taylor and JJ have had mixed fortunes since their drenching in Ireland. Zach Johnson, of course, has gone from strength to strength, injuries have derailed Wetterich's career almost before it really started, Taylor has hit the buffers, but JJ has been like a journeyman freight train, chugging his way through the Tour season, consistently keeping his card for 12 years while supporting minor events, but never returning to the winners' platform. Until now.
Great to see Brazil's Alex Rocha getting in to the mix, four years early?, and pleased to see Romero back in the shake-up. Then there were the Open Champions: Daly tied with Leonard for his first top five since 2005, Hamilton in 8th, Harrington 19th, and Cink (talk about a slump) and Duval squandering chances of a decent payday. Seemed the modified Stableford format was very popular among the pros.

5).Very disappointing performances at the Bridgestone for those hoping for a Ryder Cup qualification. Given that Rose, McIlroy, Westwood, McDowell and Donald have their places secure, the best Bridgestone finish by the next ten contenders was T29 for Cabrera-Bello, Sergio, Kaymer and Poulter. Expect Davis Love to be quaking in his boots.

6).And look at the Europeans' form this year. Of the current owgr top fifty, the following have all lost more points this year than they've gained, indicative of their games being off the boil:
Donald, Westwood, Kaymer, Garcia, Poulter, Bjorn, Jacobson, Dyson, F'dez and Quiros. (While others such as Casey, Karlsson, Hansen, Luiten and The Mechanic have disappeared completely.) Is it too late to have another look at Carl Pettersson's eligibility?

7).But the Americans only have the long-term absentee Dustin Johnson, Watney and Toms from the top 55 with more points lost than gained, the rest (Mickelson possibly excepted) in decent to sparkling form.
There may be a turnround on the Carolina Shore this week, but I doubt it.

8).And so to Kiawah Island, home of the War on the Shore. (For accounts by those who were there, read your August Golf Digest - the most telling part to me was American disbelief at the amount the Europeans were drinking!)
Very few of those in the 156-man field for this week's PGA Championship have competitive form at Pete Dye's "Ocean Course", although some such as Rafa C-Bello, have played Junior competitions there.
But the WGC World Cup was played there twice, in 1997 and 2003, and these guys played well!
1997: 1st: Harrington (won with McGinley)
2003: 1st: Sabbatini and Immelman, with Casey and Rose runners up.

9).No Bernhard Langer or Hale Irwin this week, no Paul Broadhurst and no Steve Pate (come to think of it we didn't see much of him in the Ryder Cup either. Hmmmmm.), and hopefully no camo gear.

10).Weather will play a big part this week though; Pete Dye took a gorgeous ocean-side property, raised much of it above the dunes, and created a seaside target-golf monster, with almost all the course exposed to the elements but very few run-up areas in front of the greens. There has been significant rain these past few days and a steady diet of 10 - 15 mph breezes is forecast. Yorkshireman Kerry Haigh is responsible for setting up the course and he'll need all his skill to strike a fair balance, but he has an impeccable reputation and let's hope he lives up to it!

No idea who might win, but I fancy local-ish boy Dustin Johnson as best of the Americans. Otherwise I expect Ireland (North and South) and South Africa to contest the medals. For a rank outsider, how about Simon Dyson?

But of one thing you may be certain: If the sole survivor from the War of 1991, Jose Maria Olazabal, plays as he did 21 years ago, there'll only be one winner!

Looks like some breeze might pick up this afternoon, must be mosquito heaven/hell right now, hot and muggy, but now's the time to score; Woods going well, but would be nice to think Rory can sustain his fast start.

Very slow going, first groups have been out there for four and a half hours, but still playing their 17th - pathetic, where's the speed-up-play enforcers?

Anyone watching this? Does Westwood seem to have found some better form compared to the Open?

Is this 2011 US open McIlory or 2010 open McIlroy?

McLaren wrote:Is this 2011 US open McIlory or 2010 open McIlroy?

Hopefully 2010

Tiger misses his first short putt of the day for a birdie on his 14th

Is it too soon to bracket Casey with the likes of Duval and Cambo?

Are you not a rory fan benson?

McLaren wrote:Are you not a rory fan benson?

Nope I am not a fan!

Shame on you.

McLaren wrote:Is this 2011 US open McIlory or 2010 open McIlroy?

Are they not one and the same? Just the wind got up in 2010 and he couldn't play target golf any more.

I guess that's true ned, I just wonder if we we see an 67 or an 80 tomorrow?

Juice Newton taking it low today.

I do have a feeling that Sunday will be:

"Its a heartache, nothing but a heartache"

Looking increasingly as if Martin Kaymer will earn zero Ryder Cup points this week; unless he makes a last minute declaration for a tournament next week, he's going to be extremely vulnerable.
Can't see him getting a pick if he doesn't qualify automatically - those points he does have are largely generated from his HSBC Champions win last year.
In light of the Kaymer we saw at Whistling Straits: what a shame . . . . .

If you played a drinking game where you had a shot/drink every time monty mentioned the ryder cup on the TV coverage, in how many hours would you need a liver transplant?

i see tiger has only birdied one of the par fives? Did he not make a similar mess of them at lythm? He used to chew them up.

Apparently not anymore;

http://www.pgatour.com/r/stats/info/xm.html?173

He plays them to conservatively, he would normally alway base his good scores on birdieing all the par fives but even at the Masters i think he was only 1/16, which is incredible considering he can reach them all in two pretty comfortably.

Good first round today though.

This is Joost brilliant!

Did you know that more than 20% of the Dutch population lives below the sea level? That's about the only explanation I find for Luiten 2Gloves's incredible start at Kiawah Island... He was born and raised in one of those areas in NL, so maybe this suits him...

Obviously not as suitable for some of those who spent the last week at 5000 ft... Paddy, Paddy... (Daly didn't seem to be affected though)

Where are all those terrible storms forecasted...?

Storms? Yesterday! Deathly calm this morning which might account for the very low scoring, but windiness picking up a touch this afternoon as temps actually fall a bit.
Good chance for heavy showers thru the rest of the Championship though, and breezier Friday and Saturday.

Plenty of faces not helped much by the benign conditions this morning, Casey, Kaymer, Haas, Westwood, Dufner, Stricker while a 76 will surely end any hope Quiros might have harboured for Medinah.

so this course seems to be favouring the big hitters!!

john daley, woodland(my pick and all), mcilory and others!!

Lueten 3 bogeys on the spin yet still 5 under!!

wow

Jinxed Joost...
So, did Padraig get a bogey at the 1st hole or not? First it appeared as a bogey on the LB, but now he's listed at -2 after that eagle at the 2nd... confused. Great eagle though!

sadly i havent seen a european on the coverage yet- bar joost and his 4 bogeys on the psin- back to 4 under

ok as soon as i say it poddy comes on and rose almost holes out!! Rose under for the day- i think paddy is 1 under par

Ref: Note 6). above:
Is it too late to have another look at Carl Pettersson's (Ryder Cup) eligibility?

Well, is it??


Rotten start for Big Daddy Simpson, Baby Hackett must be taking her toll.

how did donald play thats shot out of the sand-- What an amazing shot, not sure how he manged to take the spin of it- but great control!

Webb having a mare!

If Kaymer makes the team, will he be the 2012 version Miguel Angel Martin in 1997?

donald seems to have sorted out his first round blues- good to see- would still like him to finish 3 under after round 1, come on luke get 2 birds at least

GPB wrote:If Kaymer makes the team, will he be the 2012 version Miguel Angel Martin in 1997?

Hes clearly playing poor but steady on... Boy has shown many times hes a quality player, hopefully can sort it out if he can make the team.

oh dear. This from bernard gallagher on the sky coverage when asked about the war on the shore;

"it was after the gulf war, yes it was like another war"

Whereas all the other players (including americans) make it clear it was only a game of golf, and probably blown out of all proportion by the media as. Gallagher typifies the golfing type i just have no time for. There are several in every club.

Mac - Agree!

A bit of a charge from the Europeans in the afternoon.... Gonzo, MAJ and Donaldson. Not exactly what Jose Maria was hoping for....

Very cosmopolitan leaderboard at the moment, Korea and Australia having good days.

Chips on Gallacher's shoulders to go with the sour grapes after his goose was sadly cooked.

I reakon justin leonard had a hand gun in his golf bag just incase

Justin Leonard was probably still in school, maybe in his first year of College.

They were Ryder Cup longshots, but let's draw a veil over Snedeker's and Stanley's chances. Both +6 so far.


Oh Sergio . . . . . . .

good point- which was the ryder cup wear the american team wore those desert storm caps.. I can picture him in one of them caps.. But i allways thought it was in the infamously tagged war on the shore.

If the players wore those caps in that ryder cup then i think we are being abit to nice to them by saying they didnt think of it as a war!!

I am thinking of corey pavin- soz, not justin leonard

Is sergio's career goose cooked? (and I am basing this on 4 years poor play not just the last few holes)

Where can he go from his current position, if it is not to major contention I would not blame him for loosing the will?

Mysti - You might be thinking of the time the US team ran across the line of Ollie's putt after leonard holed his.

Corey Pavin and Steve Pate, who lost and then controversially sent in a sick note for the singles.

Amazing. Further to Ned's positive note about the Europeans, no Americans in the afternoon wave better than -1. So far.

McLaren wrote:Is sergio's career goose cooked? (and I am basing this on 4 years poor play not just the last few holes)

Where can he go from his current position, if it is not to major contention I would not blame him for loosing the will?

Mysti - You might be thinking of the time the US team ran across the line of Ollie's putt after leonard holed his.

4 years poor play? He won 2 tournaments last year? He had a good season last year especially in the majors. Dont think its anything more than hes just not playing very well. I heard a stat that Sergio is in the 120s for his long game. Unheard of.

The USA are so much favourites just now, Sergio, Kaymer so out of form.

sergio was getting progressively better since late last year all the way through to the wgc that rose won- untill he blew up during that event- since them he has seemed to almost not care and has just given up mentally- his masters perfomance and interviews was/were so random! never seeen anything like it. I dont wanna say he has olther issues- cause it isnt my place but my guess is he cant concentrate on golf

McLaren wrote:Is sergio's career goose cooked?

He's only 32 but if he doesn't get his act together it could well be. Shame considering his talent.

Desperately sad to see Donald & Westwood with NO chance of winning this and yet another year slips by..........................

Great start from RMac , Gmac and Paudie doing nicely too, keep the fingers crossed.

Mcdoo loving the major arena again.

Can we give Adam a bounce back award, or is it a little too early for those sort of accolades for him. Is it more likely he moves on tomorrow or shoots 78?

John - A bit too early to make that call, but Donald again unimpressive on the major stage. No surprise with Lee, given how awful he finished last week.

Rory clearly a world beater IMO.

Shotrock wrote:John - A bit too early to make that call, but Donald again unimpressive on the major stage. No surprise with Lee, given how awful he finished last week.

Rory clearly a world beater IMO.

Not too early im afraid................too much quality ahead of them, wish i was wrong.................

No one who's over par after today will win this tournament, unless a hurricane blows in...