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!

The final day of the 2012 PGA Championship.

Or will it be the final day?

Play resumes this morning @ 7.45 EDT and Round 4 is scheduled to get under way at 11.44 a.m., with the final group (McIlroy, McDowell and Poulter?) departing at 1.45 p.m.. But if play in threesomes is as slow as it was for Rounds 1 and 2, and 72 holes is not enough to identify the winner, it is most unlikely the resultant play-off can be completed before darkness,


Let's hope it doesn't get to that.
Forecast is fair for Sunday: "Partly cloudy (or sunny I suppose), 30% chance of showers - most probable late morning - and a 10 mph breeze."

But the course took on well over an inch of rain yesterday, so you'd think there'll need to be some creative course set-up to get the guys round in time. We'll see.

US TV coverage begins at 8.00 a.m. EDT.

David Lynn quietly goes about earning money doesn't he? €6.6m in career earnings isn't to shabby.

Looking forward to today's day of sport. Hibs v Hearts, Charity Shield, USPGA and Closing Ceremony at Olympics and a fridge full of beer

lynn has been good really good this last calender year.. I expect some good things from him- possibly more the dyson and rock

Par for Vijay on the 8th hole, bogey for Tiger.
So: How far back is too far back for Mr.Woods? Currently in 18th place and 36 holes of good work flushed out to sea.

Dodgy start for Poults, bogey on the 9th.
Triple for Badds, pretty much knocks him out of contention. Too bad.

McIllroy has 20+ holes to play doesn't he? That could be decisive although he isn't the only one, hoping Pádraig and GMAC can go up the field a bit but a charge is probably not on, T-25, T-30 finishes for all the Irish lads would be a good day/weekend.

Ireland 1st, 7th and 9th right now (plus DC); would think 25 or 30 would be grave disappointments, except for DC of course.

I thought, Harrington and GMac were around the 20 odd mark. Top 10 so all conceivable. Mon Ireland.

Dig deep poultry.

Double for McDowell. Not good.

Is it tough out they Kwini?

Sorry for being a dumb ass kwini, but what time will the leaders tee off for round 4 UK time?

Tiger still well in this, come on Rory

I just had to delete a half written post praising the come back of Scott after I had written him off after the open.

mysti,
Conditions look pretty straightforward, light wind, very comfortable.
Tiger going sideways when they get hauled in yesterday, now looking very smooth.

Mac, Expect the leading groups to be on the move by 6.00 p.m., final threesome (ugh) at 6.46 p.m.

Come on Rory!

Tiger gets a thorn in his paw, ouch!

Can Rory hold it together??

Woods chasing a five shot deficit = capitulation and lots of wayward shots.

Round 4 tee times:

http://www.pga.com/pgachampionship/scoring/teetimes

Rory should win with a 70. A 70 should be easy for him but nothing is ever easy especially as the pack should have closed a little by the time he tees off................

John Cregan wrote:Rory should win with a 70. A 70 should be easy for him but nothing is ever easy especially as the pack should have closed a little by the time he tees off................

I don't know if ANYTHING is easy in the final round of a major, especially when he knows he's now "expected" to win. But perhaps not having to sleep on the lead is a help. Rory was playing a little like he had "slept" on it early this morning... but nice comeback to re-take the advantage late in his 3rd round.

If Rory shoots anything higher than level par, he brings the -2's in to play, otherwise there's just the five of them in contention.
Important thing for Rory, any of them but especially Rory, is to jump on holes 1, 2 and 3. Hopefully no ballsstuckuptrees today.

Would say that Round 3 took Martin Laird off any short list for Olazabal to pick.

I'm going to go out at 11.44 with Lawrie, Henry and Senden and then wait beside the par-5 second green until Phil, Badds and Timmy Clark come through. Stick with them until 16 then hang around to watch the leaders come through and hopscotch to 18 for the final denouement, hopefully a Holywood finish.

PS: Looking for omens?
Caroline Wozniacki is thru to the semis just up the road from me, in Montreal. Looked good in beating Wozniak last night.
Let's hope for a double for Carory . . . . .

Go and get it Padraig! 6 behind going into the final round of Carnoustie........and 6 behind here......

Are you at the event Kwini?

Nooooooooooo!
Just bought my tickets for next year's though. Can't wait!

oh, but you said you were going out to watch some of the groups?

Still, great news that you will be at Rochester next year. How many of the days will you be attending?

I went out just after tigers birdie on 16 so surprised to see he dropped a shot, he just throws them away at the moment like we have never seen before.

Mac,
I'll just go Thursday and Friday, really enjoy the early rounds and not so many getintheholers.

Tiger was a little unlucky on 317, pulled his tee shot on the par 3 but had a tricky rake-affected lie in the bunker. Played 18 well, striped his drive 60+ yards past Veej. If he can drive like that, he'll be in the mix this afternoon.

"¡Ándele! ¡Ándele! ¡Arriba! ¡Arriba! ¡Epa! ¡Epa! ¡Epa! Yeehaw!"
Oleeeeeee!!!

So we are getting 3 balls final round!!

Going of soon is Gmac, poults and Donaldson. The super group. I reakon we will see about 2 shots all day

Rose is 3 under through 3!!

Rory wearing RED today - way to make a statement!

The golfers who teed off #1 are about two shots ahead of those who started on #10. Ben Curtis the best on the back nine at -2, but most of the rest are over par.

Yep, saw that...! Gooo Roorryyy!!!

Meanwhile,
waggle... waggle... waggle...

Rory straight down the middle of the fairway from the first tee. Confident start from the young man

POULTS 2 under through 2

Poulter about to move to -4, he's on the charge

Poulter does indeed move to -4, great start for him.

Rory safely on the green, but a bit further away than he'd have liked.

Yeah lovely start by the poults.. Hit a nice shot at 4 as well- a 20 foot birdie chance.

rose just misses eagle as well/ but another birdie

POULTS 4 UNDER THROUGH 4

make that 5 under through 5 for Poults, spectacular stuff from the Englishman!

what a shot from Rory at the second! Plays himself into all sorts of bother with a second into the trees but stiffs it to within a few feet for a very makeable birdie chance.

Why is there debate over Petterson touching something on his backswing in the Hazard?

It is so clear he touched both the ground and a loose impediment on his backswing. So expect him to move a shot back pretty soon.

It is actually a shame he failed to call this most basic of penalty on himself as soon as it happened. Whoever is marking his card must not know the rules or was not watching him play the shot.

Rory duly makes his birdie at the second, but Poulter is absolutely flying out there: chance for a 6th successive birdie coming up.

Petterson is lucky you dont get two for grounding the club and another two for hitting a loose impediment.

s_r would add another two for his poundage . . . . .

It is hard to like the guy given his clear bone idleness in terms of him being a professional sportsperson with no care for his physical fitness. But failing to do the honorable thing and own up to both grounding the club and hitting a loose impediment makes it even harder.

Did he really think all the cameras would miss it?

WOW come on poults!

Harrington with two birds in a row - good Championship for Europe. Fingers crossed that it ends up being GREAT for Europe.

Make that three!! Go Padraiggggggg!

This has been a brilliant major sa far!

loving it- Comeon poults, and if he cant manage it then i am sure it will be due to rory - so not a bad second prize!

McLaren wrote:Petterson is lucky you dont get two for grounding the club and another two for hitting a loose impediment.

Just stupid from Peterson and not at all comparable to Brian Davis at Harbour Town................Peterson played the shot as if NOT in the hazard.................did he not see the bright RED line. I wathced it live and immediately thought he had a problem.............although saw Peter Hanson get away with something very similar in the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor................maybe its a Swedish thing!!