PGA Tour: 123 Barclays Cards: Notes from the Ballwasher

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1).Well done Sergio, a second emphatic European win on Tour in eight days after a season spent mostly in the doldrums. It's not often that the "horses for courses" and/or "home advantage" maxims manifest themselves so comprehensively as they did this week, with eight of the top 13 having very strong ties to the Carolinas and adjacent States. Throw in a couple of Texans, a Californian, and a Spaniard whose first effort on the Sedgefield course was a third place as an 18-year-old amateur!

2).All of which makes Nicolas Colsaerts' 7th place finish all the more noteworthy. A good finish this week in Scotland, and Europe's Ryder Cup chances will seem a lot brighter than they did just a fortnight ago.

3).Before we move on to the play-offs, let's add a couple of post-scripts from Kiawah.
Firstly, Lee Westwood (first in greens in regulation over 36 holes) firing Pete Cowen and engaging Tony Johnstone. If Johnstone can battle (if not cure) Westwood's short game woes half as well as he's battled MS these past eight years then Westwood will be back at the top of his game in short order. Johnstone told GolfWorld that Westwood has been driving him "a bit doolally not winning Majors because of his short game". We'll see.

4).And the Nearly Man Major Champion of 2012 is Adam Scott, with a final total of 1,130 strokes at the season's Four Grand Slammers. The full leaderboard of those who made all four cuts is:
1).Scott: 1,130
2).McDowell: 1,132
3).Poulter: 1,138
4).Harrington: 1,139
5).Woods: 1,143
6).Dufner and Furyk: 1,144
8).Stricker: 1,148
9).Jacobson: 1,149
10).Molinari and Bradley: 1,156
12).Z.Johnson: 1,162

5).The US Media have been making clear their dissatisfaction with Kiawah as a Major Championship venue.
One thing is for sure: Bellerive C.C. in St.Louis will take the next open US Major date having signed up for the 2018 PGA Championship. Player won the 1965 US Open here, Nick Price won the 1992 PGA and Bellerive was due to host the WGC American Express Championship during the week beginning Sept 10th 2001. We know how that went, but the Tour finally returned for the BMW Championship in 2008, won by Camilo Villegas.

6).Sergio Garcia was not the only golfer to enjoy an emotional win last weekend; the Champions Tour's Dick's Sporting Goods Open, in Endicott, NY, was won by once-can't-miss-prospect Willie Wood. For a variety of reasons, including the tragic illness and eventual death of his wife, the now-51-year-old Wood's career didn't materialise quite as expected and he had to "open qualify" last week as he had no exemptions. But, as they say, class is permanent, and great to see the 1983 Walker Cupper come out on top.
A comeback of sorts also for the En-Joie course which had been ravaged by floods during last autumn's hurricanes, just a few years after being devastated by floods which led to its removal as host of the Tour's BC Open.

7).And so to Bethpage Black and "The Barclays".
The Tillinghast classic, on New York City's Long Island, has only seen the Tour's best twice before, at the US Opens of 2002 and 2009. Unlike Upstate New York, which produces a steady supply of top golfers, the immediate New York area seldom yields a top player so the only homefield advantage will be enjoyed by adopted son Phil Mickelson. Bethpage is a BIG golfcourse with relatively small greens, likely to play firm and fast in ideal weather and the only horses for courses clues date back to those Opens. The seven golfers to make both cuts then who are in this week's field are: Woods, Mickelson, Garcia, Mayfair, Stricker, Choi and Singh.

8).This being the first leg of the FedEx play-offs, 125 golfers qualified (Dufner and Levin are absent) and the top 100 in FedEx points after this week will advance to the Boston area and the Deutsche Bank. Europeans in most danger of failing to move on include:
95th: Jacobson
111th: Christian
117th: Stenson
while among other "notables" in trouble are: Schwartzel, LoveIII, Allenby, Day and Immelman.
Likely winner? No idea, but difficult not to fancy Garcia (4th in 2002, 10th in 2009), Harrington (8th in 2002) and McIlroy (10th in 2009) among Europeans.

9).Next year's Wyndham Championship at Greensboro will be the final tournament of the "regular" 2013 season. The Top 125 in FedEx points will move on to the Play Offs, 126-200 will go the yet-to-be-fully-defined three event series with the web.com's best, and anyone languishing below 200th will have to wait until Q-School to play again.
Crucial point of all this is that dollars won no longer will be the official currency of the PGA Tour, FedEx points will be.
As a general guide, the players who earn the most money will be the same as those who garner the highest FedEx points total, but there will be differences.
This year for instance, Jhonny Vegas has won $744K (105th on Tour) but, because he is 126th on the FedEx points list, he sits at home this week while Heath Slocum plays at Bethpage having won just $424K (142nd on Tour), but harvested more FedEx points. There are plenty more such discrepancies, but that's what the Tour wants. owgr points will still be important of course for the Majors and one assumes the PGA of America will continue to use dollars for their qualifying lists, both for its Championship and Ryder Cup selection. Not sure about the Pres.Cup which, after all, is run by the PGA Tour.

10).Big news in golf this week has been the admission of Condoleeza Rice and Darla Moore as Members at Augusta National. Always thought Condi Rice had the makings of a good person despite the sordid work colleagues she had for a while.
But I DO know that Darla Moore has been a powerful force for good at the University of South Carolina where she has for many years made generous endowments to its Business School which now bears her name, the International Programs being especially highly regarded (#1 in the nation according to US News and World Report). She's most certainly not just a figurehead and hopefully her character will prove a strong influence among the good ol' boys up the road in Augusta. About time.

kwinigolfer wrote:Cheers pd,
Actually thought Harrington was a touch unlucky in 2006, didn't seem to play poorly, just kept running in to good form, and a hole in one!

As for Owen and Christian, and I had little hope for either of them in January!, haven't they done well!! Meanwhile, two of our most consistent players all year, Davis and McDowell, are struggling early on here.

Four birds on the bounce for Padraig, anything Sergio can do, Harri can try to do better . . . . .

Whereas he didn't seem to play that well two years ago, but came away with a decent haul of points...


Anyway, Sergio and Padraig must both be reading, could soon see both of them tied for the lead. And GOOO Gary!

Paddy picking up more birdies than an Irishman picking up spuds at a potato scramble.

super_realist wrote:Paddy picking up more birdies than an Irishman picking up spuds at a potato scramble.

Haha "a potato scramble"? Never heard of one of those. Any chance that's just something you invented to make your quip work?

super_realist wrote:Paddy picking up more birdies than an Irishman picking up spuds at a potato scramble.

SR,

You would approve of a "Mashed Potato" Chant after a Harri drive surely...............

Paddy doing his very slim chances no harm today.

7 birdies so far!

Make that 8!

20 foot putt for a back nine 28!

Good starts from Donald and Westwood too, with Nine Chins not lurking far behind.

Hard to see anyone catching Padraig today, now leading the FedEx chase! God love him, he could do with another 10-12 millions... Loong way to go though...

From Steve Elling twitter:

Think Paddy Harrington might be a bit Americanized? Asked about Ryder chances, he said, "I'm pleading the Fifth Amendment on that one."

Meanwhile, at the other end of the golfing spectrum, old hands Frazar and Kelly going through the motions, receiving their $70K bonus money and heading off for a month's holiday each. Allenby will need something special tomorrow to prolong his miserable season.

Only Davis (+1) and McDowell (+4) among the Europeans have completed their round over par.

Course playing more difficult this afternoon; certainly looks like it.
Commentators saying greens are slightly firmer, breeze slightly stronger.

Let's see how they set the course up for Friday and the weekend. Little or no rain forecast so you'd think that 64 is as low as anyone will go.

kwinigolfer wrote:Meanwhile, at the other end of the golfing spectrum, old hands Frazar and Kelly going through the motions, receiving their $70K bonus money and heading off for a month's holiday each. Allenby will need something special tomorrow to prolong his miserable season.

What's the $70k for??

John,
That's their share of the FedEx bonus pool for finishing 101 - 125 in the points race. It's not $10M but a tasty little piece of change to reward a poor season.
126 - 150 take $32K.

(These are last year's figures, not yet seen this year's confirmed.)

A few comments to above.

RE: FedEx points for events - the PLAYERS Championship is treated same as the majors = 600 points.

RE: Padraig Harrington - IMO if Paddy somehow manages to win Barclay's this week and Ollie doesn't pick him... the respect many have for Ollie will be GREATLY diminished... mine included.

RE: Ryder Cup team strength... Agree with Kwini. American's may have "seemed" to hold an edge a month ago... not so much if any now... REGARDLESS of the captain's picks by either captain.

RE: Gary Christian... Why do Euro's care about Christian as if he's one of their own. He's pretty much an Americanized Alabaman now... isn't he?

Hi robo,
Yup, Mac included The Players.

Come on, if we stopped rooting for all the Europeans who have gone native we'd scarcely have anyone to cheer for. He certainly has British wit, enjoyed he and Gavin Coles "commentating" on a Nationwider last year, quite amusing. Would imagine Czechs still take pride in Lendl and Martina, Sweden in Sorenstam.

Would hope people regard me as English, my family certainly does!

Early days yet on Harrington . . . . . .

From what I know of Christian via interviews, twitter feed etc, and with the back story he's got, 40yo rookie etc... he's worth cheering on regardless of what nationality we think he is!

I think nationality switches have to be taken case by case to be honest... two examples - Stephen Ames is fairly universally considered Canadian now, but played the tour for a good few years as Trinidadian before switching. And Mark McNulty appears on Champions Tour leaderboards as Irish, and I think identifies as such (by dint of not wanting to be Zimbabwean!), but I doubt any Irish fans think of him as one of theirs, whereas Zim golf followers probably still do.
And those are guys who officially announced they were switching! More than Pettersson, Christian, Laird etc have ever done...

Hunter Mahan RC hopes are diminishing with each tournament. He was leading the US RC standings going into Augusta and after a 73 today and T87, it looks to be on the fast track to his living room couch that week.


EDIT: Lucas Glover is having surgery on the knee he injured in Hawaii.

So Laird has dual citizenship as well?

GPB,
Interesting news about Glover, as he was complaining about his other knee when he withdrew from Greensboro last week.
He always seems a good guy though, despite himself!

In contrast to Mahan, Fowler was quite impressive this afternoon; let's see how he goes the rest of the week but so far, so good.

pedro,
I doubt Laird has dual citizenship, would think he just has a green card, a resident alien like moi!

Shame about Glover, I would assume he hasn't been fully fit all season and he wanted to put the surgery off to when his season was complete major wise/fedex cup wise

If you were captain Couples Kwini, who would you pick?

If I were Capt.Love I'd pick Mahan, Stricker, Furyk, Fowler.
Good mix of experience and youth.

Though I might be tempted to pick Couples . . . . . .

kwinigolfer wrote:If I were Capt.Love I'd pick Mahan, Stricker, Furyk, Fowler.
Good mix of experience and youth.

Though I might be tempted to pick Couples . . . . . .

I have been off the Fowler train since he decided to only play "Big Boy" tournaments this summer. But if he continues to perform like he did today, he will go near the top of my short list.

Fowler skipped Memphis, Hartford, ATT, Greenbrier, John Deere, Canada, and Wyndham.

Only play USOpen, OpenChamp, Bridgestone and PGA when he was no where near a lock for the Ryder Cup.

But he DID play a lot early in the season - breaks are under-rated!

Don't feel as if this is quite Rickie's course tho' so fascinated to see how his weekend goes.

Great to see The Barclays at a succession of great courses, pity it has to go to Liberty National next year, tho' sure the cruise ship industry will be thrilled.

Harrington seems to get a lot of critical review here. But, oww and aww all you want about the beautiful swings and rankings of Lukey and Lee, yet Paddy is the one who actually drove home with major trophies in his trunk. Hats off and I hope he keeps it going through the weekend!

History Sr, history!

Nice to see Craig Currier is still the Bethpage Super - he comes from, yes, Currier Corners, just outside Cedar Lake . . . . . . Herkimer/Oneida County is truly the land of opportunity!

pedro wrote:So Laird has dual citizenship as well?

No, don't think so - but didn't think Christian did either?

I don't think so either.
Just Pettersson as far as I know.

Strangely, pgatour.com list Tony Jacklin as American. Didn't know he'd taken the citizenship route either.

kwinigolfer wrote:History Sr, history!

Nice to see Craig Currier is still the Bethpage Super - he comes from, yes, Currier Corners, just outside Cedar Lake . . . . . . Herkimer/Oneida County is truly the land of opportunity!

I told you when I first joined that I was a former Vermonter, but Oneida County also is close to home. I went to High School in Oneonta NY.

GPB,
Hope you were there when John Elway and Don Mattingly were playing for the Oneonta Yankees!

Regardless, hope like me you pay homage at Cooperstown from time to time. Lovely place, love the Baseball HOF.

kwinigolfer wrote:I don't think so either.
Just Pettersson as far as I know.

Strangely, pgatour.com list Tony Jacklin as American. Didn't know he'd taken the citizenship route either.

Not sure about that, but I know his son played a Challenge Tour event this summer under the Stars and Stripes

Harri has been in this position quite a few times on the PGA Tour over the last 2/3 years and dropped like a stone......................hope he can get to -10 after today.............

I actually hope he can too John, I actually quite like Harrington, I just feel he's not cut out for matchplay the way others are.

Steady from most of the Ryder Cup guys too, running into form at just the right time I think.

How was the course playing? It looks like lower scoring than I had expected. I was not predicting us open style scores but a lot of people seem to have gone under par.

I thought so too Mac, I have heard from people who have played it that it's a monster of a course.

Hi Kwini! Thanks for the notes as always.

Great couple of weeks from Rory and SERGIO! A little pep talk from JMO seems to be behind Sergio's recent surge. More of that at Medinah.

Laird should and will do well this week I feel. Totally agree he's being a tad overlooked for the RC. His Americanized game could be an asset. No matter what else happens this week Colsearts should be given a pick even if he falls short this week.

As for the US picks - its seems like Furyk is one of the favourites. Given his inability to finish things off recently I'm not sure he should be a favourite. That frailty could be hidden in a team event but it could also be horribly exposed. The rest are less experienced but Sneds is a better putter plus he and DJ have won this season. DJ might be a risky pick but when you look at the strength of their team then its a risk worth taking IMO.

PS Tony Jacklin now abides in Florida. So wouldnt be surprised about his dual citizenship.

Ive always thought Euro RC Capts have been biased against PGA Tour players (obviously not the 2 tour players like Poulter, Donald etc) but guys like Freddie Jac, Laird are NOT in JMO's thoughts.........given that the RC is in the US, it is inexplicable.................

Cheers Lairdy,
Not sure of "bias" between Europe-based players and those primarily on the PGA Tour; case could probably be made that Faldo veered the other way. But Laird and Freddie Jac should at least be in the conversation.


As for the reputation of Bethpage Black:
Round 1 scoring:
Morning: 70.48
Afternoon: 72.04

That's a big difference, breezier in the p.m. and course was firmer - would expect to see similar characteristics today.

PS: Jason Bohn w/d. As he was last in the field on FedEx points, doubt if anyone cares.

Kwini,
Great stuff as always. Interesting to see that on the list of top ten scorers in the majors that not one of the winners is in there. And who will be remembered for their performances in 2012's majors?

I wonder how often this happens? I would guess since Tiger's dominating period quite a lot. Probably adds some more to the RC arguments that have been on here. Its all about having that one week where you play well. All the stats that have been trotted out about RC performers show that good players can have bad weeks. I guess that is what makes it so tough to call plus matchplay allows the odd stinker so another layer to add to the madness.

Freddie Jac hasn't done a huge amount at all since his injury at the start of the year. On the outside of the Deutsche Bank looking in at the moment, and that's without the excuse of playing a lot of golf in Europe. No reason why he should be particularly high in the considerations.
Agree Laird is a little hard done by though.

Kwini- are you going to the Deutsche bank next week? Got my tickets, can't wait!!

Cheers 289,
Schwartzel had the best cumulative score in last year's Majors but I think it was part of the genius of Woods that he would likely have had the best score for at least half of the 11 years he was at the top.
Always interesting to see who's consistent in the Majors though.

incontinentia,
Doesn't look likely unfortunately.
For a variety of reasons (one being the Friday start) it's not a good weekend for me. Would love to go sometime, but sadly not this year. Should have got my act together though and heckled Plunky at Bethpage this week - missed opportunity there.
Have a great time . . . . .

I briefly considered holding up a sign that said "I 606. V2" for the tv cameras.
but you're not allowed to take in signs of any kind or coolers or firearms or pets or bags larger than 6"by 6" by 6" or stepladders. So I changed my mind.
Crowds sure to be larger at the weekend but noticed that they're not expecting as many as at the open when it was held here. The grandstands are much smaller this time around.

GPB/Kwin - Travelling down Route 8 a few weeks back (after two weeks in Old Forge) and you should see the Chobani factory just north of Oneonta. It's massive. I can't imagine how surprised all those old dairy farmers must be, and how delighted to truck their milk to same.

No stepladders? Shame!

Meanwhile, the cut-line looks as if it's just about to slip from even par to one over par.

A reminder that everyone within the FedEx Top 125 makes $70K from the FedEx bonus pool, however dismally they play this week, while all those moving on to TPC Boston will "earn" a minimum of $75K from the bonus pool.
Those surviving for the BMW Championship in Indiana will take at least $110K.

Not "official" money, but their bank managers won't care.


Sr,
Massive is right. And: Don't FAGE have a place outside Glove City?
Did you see my note on Craig Currier . . . . .?

The coverage on sky last night was a waste of time as all the interesting players are playing early / late, but it should be good viewing tonight.

I hope Harrington can keep it together and say get a top 5 (a big ask), but even then I think his only chance of getting into the Ryder Cup is if Kaymer drops out of the top 10.

Ha... I heard that Ollie said yesterday that Harrington has to "at least" win the Barclays to get consideration for a RC pick...

At Least? Like what else in addition to winning the Barclays can he do?

EDIT: I've not ever been a big Harrington fan... never had anything against him... but other than a few years there when he was winning majors, he wasn't one of my "favorites" either. But I've got to admit... I'm really pulling for him in the Barclay's now. Everything I've been able to read... Ollie's the one that's been petty in fostering this "grudge" between he and Harrington ever since 2003. Harrington, Seve, Monty have all apparently tried get to Ollie and get him to see it for what it was... a situation that Ollie took the wrong way. If I'm wrong... someone chime in here and correct me... otherwise... GO PADDY... I hope you stick it up that Spaniard's.... OOPS... better not say that (don't wanna sound too much like Stevie Williams... :-)

robopz wrote:Ha... I heard that Ollie said yesterday that Harrington has to "at least" win the Barclays to get consideration for a RC pick...

At Least? Like what else in addition to winning the Barclays can he do?

Win by 5 shots..with only 3 clubs in bag for the last round.. blindfold. Even then I suspect he'd not get a pick

Kwin - Good call on Fage.

Also forgot to mention Currier. I always thought he was from Chadwicks, but I learned something today! Great stuff.

In the small world department, a friend of mine was a walking scorer for O'Hair and Baddeley yesterday. He said O'Hair was quite friendly, Baddeley all business.

Listen, with all the Irish descent in the US, can we have Paddy if you guys don't want him?