PGA Tour: PGA Championship: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

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!

sorry it was a 61 in the transitions

Tiger is looking very good... sadly.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/golf/uspga/9468245/US-PGA-Championship-2012-Padraig-Harrington-accepts-he-will-not-be-a-wild-card-for-the-Ryder-Cup.html

They may not admit it but there does definetly seem to be a rift between these two.

poulter v woods final round????

Yes, Poulter said in an interview earlier today: "hopefully I will get myself into contention Sunday and then it will just be me and Tiger".

Blimey,
The +6's getting closer by the minute; think they'll fall just short though.
DC plodding around nicely, and some of the less herealded Europeans doing well: Luiten, Weisberger and the always eccentric Marcel Siem.i

Top 13 by country just now:
USA: 2
Sweden: 2
South Africa: 2
Australia: 2
Nor'n Ireland: 1
England: 1
Wales: 1
Fiji: 1
Holland: 1

Hey USA: Is Tiger the only one who realises this is a home game?

Checking Wyndham field

Garcia: YES
Westwood: NO
Poulter: NO

I think they have 30 minutes after they complete their round to commit.

You have thrown me- what ???

3 more need to fall out from plus 5 and its 6 over..

Need cut to stay at +5... Lots of people picked Donald in US PGA Competition

mystiroakey wrote:3 more need to fall out from plus 5 and its 6 over..

+6 in +7 has a chance!!

Carnage!!

It is carnage john, and that fact has saved mcilroy, who despite being +3 is well within touch. The coverage seems to be covering it as if he is fading but he must be about "par" for today's conditions.

Donalds in.. lucky boy!

mystiroakey wrote:You have thrown me- what ???

PGA Tour publishes the field for the next week's event on a Friday night mysti, anyone who hasn't entered is allowed a lee-way after they finish their Friday round in case they change their mind. Garcia down to play next week in the US (Greensboro I think?), but not Lee or Poults.

Still only Vijay round in the 60s, two guys already round in the 90s, no idea when the last time that happened was for any Major, never mind this one, usually the lowest-scoring.

Only 26 scores of +2 and better at the moment

mystiroakey wrote:Donalds in.. lucky boy!

That might just keep him at #1 also unless Tiger wins

Ta Ned..

Is there much reason for Donald to play next week?

I hope the weather stays up. Poults is a true grinder. Just so concerned about the tiger!! such an unknown quantity these days. could win by 12- or lose by 12- I have no idea whats gonna happen.

he is 8/5 to win this thing- the market is going nuts.

has poults gone to 4 under!! his odds just dropped to 9/1! my delay is ridiculas

Did tiger just hit it into the stands on purpose?

lucky tiger

Could just as easily have flown over the stands and then we might've had a Firestone moment!

mystiroakey wrote:I hope the weather stays up. Poults is a true grinder. Just so concerned about the tiger!! such an unknown quantity these days. could win by 12- or lose by 12- I have no idea whats gonna happen.

he is 8/5 to win this thing- the market is going nuts.

has poults gone to 4 under!! his odds just dropped to 9/1! my delay is ridiculas

Interesting, the quid I stuck on Poults on Wednesday night was at 80/1. I have a horrible feeling I'll massively regret not making it e/w!

One thing I hate even more than greenside runoffs - grandstands and hospitality buildings turning bad shots into decent ones. Least he had the good grace to shout Fore, unlike Hanson nearly taking Cabrera's head off earlier.

What happened at firestone, i missed it?

good bet Ned,

A few years ago or more, when he blasted it over the clubhouse and got a drop.
This almost as egregious. Completely agree, Ned, just like the 18th fairway at RStG last year. Ridiculous. Remember Nathan Green doing that deliberately a couple of times to cook the Goose at Glen Abbey?

Ahh, think I do remember that. I thought something happened last week. I guess you cant make players play from behind them.

woods is having an adreneline issue, he better get his black book out later

Justice done for Woods I was surprised nothing was done after the Nathan Green fiasco, the first time I can remember this rearing its head and still the most ridiculous.

Luiten's gonna have trouble finishing his round in daylight here, on a sunny day with no delays, two-tee starts... and not a single group put on the clock.

Great interviews by Vince Cellini on TNT today, but it seemed both he and Woods were having a tough time not laughing when Tiger kept on going on about getting blown on the greens.

Pettersson teed off twenty minutes after Woods yet finished at the same time. Not because of Woods, but I don't understand how that can happen.

V.disappointed about IJP missing that tiddler on 18.

ARRGGG, ul poults

kwinigolfer wrote:
Pettersson teed off twenty minutes after Woods yet finished at the same time. Not because of Woods, but I don't understand how that can happen.

At the start of the round there was a huge holdup on the 2nd tee... Tiger's group were still waiting to tee off while the next group got to the tee also

AlciG wrote:

kwinigolfer wrote:
Pettersson teed off twenty minutes after Woods yet finished at the same time. Not because of Woods, but I don't understand how that can happen.

At the start of the round there was a huge holdup on the 2nd tee... Tiger's group were still waiting to tee off while the next group got to the tee also

Think that was the alligator thing... but it was straight in front of Woods' group, they were the ones who should've been able to make back a bit of that time. Woods seemed slower than normal, on the greens in particular, and Bradley was back to the old backing-away routine on the back nine, taking forever over shots.

Kwini

I heard tiger reads the ballwasher and thought he would play extra slow just for you. ;)

Alci: I saw that, but someone must be responsible. 5 1/2 hour rounds are not acceptable.

Wonder if Luke Donald will fly back to Kiawah tonight or get up crack of sparrows tomorrow? Lucky man!

Awesome test of golf, awesome course. I know everyone won't like it and enjoy this type of golf but I do!!!

kwini

In trying to work out what you meant in your donald comment above i found this;

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/golf/uspga/9468167/US-PGA-Championship-Luke-Donalds-major-ambitions-blown-off-course-in-Hawaii.html#

We have a dig at the bbc but at least they dont confuse south Carolina for Hawaii!

Mac,
What are you doing reading the Telegraph? Don't let s_r know . . . .

Nice one, more like Corrigan got blown off course.

Telegragh earlierr this week also called Irish olympic hero boxer Katie Taylor "British"..................

Not a Torygraph fan myself, but in fairness to Corrigan the columnists don't usually write the headlines, and he never mentions Hawaii in the bulk of the text, just a couple of "Atlantics". Suspect he will be making an angry phone call or two to the sports desk when he finds out.

Play officially suspended apparently, though the leaderboard says there's only Luiten, club pro Morin and Aiken (needing birdie to play the weekend) left out there. That's pretty disgraceful when there's been no official delays.

John Cregan wrote:Telegragh earlierr this week also called Irish olympic hero boxer Katie Taylor "British"..................

An absolute disgrace, before the Open there was an article on a betting site recommending Harrington as top British for the Open....Disgraceful. +

NedB-H wrote:Play officially suspended apparently, though the leaderboard says there's only Luiten, club pro Morin and Aiken (needing birdie to play the weekend) left out there. That's pretty disgraceful when there's been no official delays.

Morin and Aiken finished the last....and Luiten hasn't!

Expect Luiten will hole out in due course then! Presumably when the official website announced "play suspended at 8:16", they meant that everyone had just finished their rounds....


Ugly finishes for a couple of Europeans, Karlsson ending double-par-bogey-double to miss by two, and Wiesberger closing with 6 (!) straight bogeys from 4 thru 9 to miss by 1. Ouch....

Dont worry I dont read the telegraph, the headline just came up on a google news search.

Halfway through and Tiger looking very good - stay the course! It's worked well thus far this year. Vijay winning a major at this stage and age, however, would be a heck of a story. Anyone within 6 shots of the lead certainly has a chance.

Strange Scoreboard. Lucky Seven

T7 Four Players
T37 Ten Players
T47 Ten Players
T57 Ten Players
T67 Seven Players

Too bad it was not 77 players who made the cut.

Ned,
Not to mention they could have got going earlier than 7.20 a.m.
But according to the leaderboard, Aiken and Morin completed their round, perhaps just Joost deciding he wants to delay publication of the tee times.


Not a bad field for Greensboro, most of the Carolina boys are there and would think it scores quite deep when princedracula figures the owgr rating.
Casey fourth alternate - oh, the indignity!

Highlights include:
Christian, Davis, Knox, Owen,
Colsaerts (thought he'd committed to Gleneagles?), Garcia,
Chopra, Jacobson, Karlsson, Pettersson, Stenson
Dufner, Haas, Simpson, Snedeker, Toms, Watney
Clark, Day, Immelman, Schwartzel
Cabrera, Ishikawa, Romero, Yang


Shotrock,
Tiger back in love with his putter - four par putts holed of ten feet or more. Looked good, but has to putt that well with that gameplan; he just leaves himself too much to do laying so far back off the tee.

Ok, playing slowly enough to leave one group to come back in the morning would be poor... but having only one player in the final group to come back? That would be totally inexplicable. Would Morin and Aiken be required to head back to wrap up formalities, when they'll probably want out tonight? Surely it's just a delay on the leaderboard... surely...

Speaking of tee-times, I'm assuming Tiger beat fatty Carl in the sprint to the scorer's hut, and got himself the spot alongside Vijay in the final pairing?