PGA Tour: Play-Offs Act 2: Deutsche Bank: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).Congratulations to Nick Watney for winning Play-Off Act 1 at The Barclays. Seventeen greens hit in regulation on Sunday, plus a half mile in putts made during the week, did the trick in a compelling weekend's entertainment. I've enjoyed following Watney from his early days (actually even before that) on Tour, he's got a gorgeous swing and seems to have matured a little from his deer-in-the-headlights public persona. This has been a wasted year for him up until now, but a putting lesson or two from long-time New York area Club Pro (and occasional PGA Tour player) Darrell Kestner seems to have done the trick. For one week at least.

2).Watney has now added Bethpage Black to Torrey Pines, Doral, Aronomink and Pete Dye's TPC Louisiana, a handful of the Tour's stronger tests to have prevailed on, most of them emphatic wins just like this one.

3).The final round didn't go quite as Sergio would have wished, but what a week for him! Winner on Monday, 54-hole lead this weekend, Ryder Cup qualification and it seems as if even the US Press is happy to see him back.

4).Sergio extended his lead of modern era (Jacklin onwards) PGA Tour wins in North America for Europeans with Monday's triumph. Top ten:
1).Garcia - 8
2).Ballesteros - 6
2).Faldo - 6
2).Olazabal - 6
5).Lyle - 5
5).Parnevik - 5
5).Donald - 5
5).Pettersson - 5
9).McIlroy - 4
9).Rose - 4

5).Horses for courses note: Of the seven participants at The Barclays who had made the US Open cuts in 2002 and 2009, all seven made the Barclays cut, though only Garcia was in weekend contention.

6).What difference does this result, Watney's win, Sneds in second, Dustin third, make to Davis Love's Captain's conundrum? The Golf Channel have tabulated what the latest US Ryder Cup qualification results would look like if they had been extended by a fortnight:
9th: Mahan
10th: Snedeker
11th: Stricker
12th: Dustin
13th: Fowler
14th: Furyk
15th: Van Pelt
16th: Watney
Love's selection looked straightforward a week ago; not so much now.

7).And so to Act 2 of the FedEx quartet, or the meat in the Libor sandwich, following Barclays and preceding HSBC. We return to TPC Boston, not exactly in Boston, just barely in Massachusetts, to a once unpopular Arnold Palmer course which has been overhauled by Gil Hanse and Brad Faxon among others and is now well thought of by the Pros. The 18th hole is the latest to be tweaked and the course is close to being the finished product. Rain today should facilitate perfect conditions through Sunday. But see Note 10).

8).Last year Dustin Johnson made the record books by leading the tournament in driving distance AND driving accuracy. But he putted like a drain and finished 42nd, tough to do!
My three against the field this week though would be Dufner (his first top two finish was here, in 2009), Ogilvy and Luke Donald both of whom also have previous here. Dufner, of course, took last week off and Sergio is similarly giving "Boston" a miss.
So is David Toms who will thus be eliminated from the Play-Offs - no injury, off to batten down his Louisiana hatches in anticipation of the tropical storm, or to see his beloved LSU Tigers open their College Football season. Or both.

9).Most of the Europeans in action at the Deutsche Bank have safely secured their passage in the top 70 points list to next week's BMW action, but the following are on the bubble:
Jonas Blixt: 97th (needs very approximately at least a top 20 finish).
Greg Owen: 76th (needs a top 30 finish).
Brian Davis: 70th (needs a top 40 finish).
But others are well off the pace for the Tour Championship and could use a top result: Westwood, McDowell, Laird, Harrington and Poulter.

10).If any reminder is needed as to how insignificant top tournament golf is in the U.S. compared to "football", the overnight TV ratings for an exhibition pre-season NFL game (with most top players participating sparingly if at all) were exactly double those for The Barclays.
Perhaps that is why the "Deutsche Bank Championship" starts on this Friday and concludes on Monday, "Labor Day" in the States, so avoiding most of Sunday's NFL exhibition efforts. Then just two days before they tee off in the BMW, almost 1,000 miles to the west, on a Crooked Stick course in Indiana that hardly anyone will have played.
How ironic it would be if Tropical Storm "Isaac" which is making Hay(es) right now in the Gulf of Mexico, but could be in New England by week's end, gave the Tour's best Monday finish intentions the Shaft!

PS: Best wishes to Retief Goosen following his recent back operation . . . . .

Wide disparity in scores this afternoon continues.

Fantastic rounds by Noh Moore Kirk but horror stories out there also. Brian Davis the European most likely to miss out on the jolly to Indiana.

Kwini - Yes, Monday being a weekday ... don't look for Lukey to do damage. Not his MO this year.

What up with GMac?

I'm thinking anything close to a good outing this weekend and long hitting Dustin Johnson will be on the shortest list for Medinah. Brute length won't hurt there.

lukey will do the biz for sure during the rest of the year- the major pressure is off and thats that- so will tiger as well(same reasons), dustbin is allways talked about yet rarely does anything- he flaters to decieve

mysti,
One thing you can say about Dustin is that he wins - 6 wins so far in almost five years on Tour. Only Mickelson and Woods have more since Dustin turned pro.

Apparently, despite the wind yesterday afternoon, all the par-5's played downwing - isn't that a gca no-no? - hence some low numbers. Lovely day in prospect for Round 2, sunny but not so hot, breezy, and from a different direction.

No-one had a higher number than Spencer Levin and he's exitted Stage Right, so 28 (after non-starter Toms and Levin) remain to be eliminated either today or Monday.

Among those outside the cut-line who would be eliminated today with a missed cut are:
Vijay
Brian Davis
Byrd and Crane
Holmes

McRory on a charge?

I'm guessing next week there won't be a cut then...? (I can never remember the FedEx Cup rules...)

No cut next week!
Come on Rors! Nothing better than -2 yet as the early starters make the turn.

Rickie Fowler struggling again and if Davis is Captain Sensible his chances of a pick are looking tenuous.

-3 is even better, with two par 5s comming! Hopefully he'll get an eagle at the 18th as Moore did..

On a side note, a couple of days ago saw a short interview with the Wozzilroy duo during one of his practice rounds, and not only that she is slightly bigger than him (and I mean not just taller), but when she answered herself a qustion I realised that her voice sounds a bit more 'manly' than his as well. But hey, that's all superficial stuff...

Perhaps they can share McRory's eagle on #18.

Come on Rors!

A bit of a waste for Rors afer all that with the two bogeys...

Some less than convincing performances from many of the US RC qualifiers and hopefuls...

That's better Rory! And as they say, could've been even better...

Dufner must be the most consistent top player on the planet at the moment. This would be his 9th top 10 if I counted correctly, with the last MC at the very first tournament of the year (Sony/Hawai)...

Seems Rory means business this week!

Contrast between Rory's play 14 - 18: -4.
And:
Martin Laird's: +7

Which adds up to an early bath for Laird and a couple of extra days in Indiana.

Imagine the cut might go up to +2 if the course continues to dry out, but that won't be enough to rescue Play-off ambitions for Brian Davis, Tringale, Sabbatini, HowellIII, Choi, Barnes, Thompson and Rollins.

South African kings playing a different game this afternoon:
Charl and Louis both +6 coming to the end of their work, no-one else better than -4.

Greg Owen walking the tightrope as a missed cut will eliminate him from advancing further.

Greg Owen fell off that tightrope.
Total fiasco on the reachable par-5 18th as he contrived to take an eight from the fairway. So he has no trip to Indiana to look forward to and no more play-off interest.

McDowell and Harrington play the weekend by the skin of their teeth, but Justin Rose gets an early start as he prepares to defend his Beemer title.

kwinigolfer wrote:mysti,
One thing you can say about Dustin is that he wins - 6 wins so far in almost five years on Tour. Only Mickelson and Woods have more since Dustin turned pro.

Stricker has 8 wins since 2009

Ooooh!
Why didn't I remember that??!!

Certainly most successful of the American under 35's, in wins anyway.

A perfect morning for scoring at TPC Boston as McDowell and O'Hair make their way to the first tee; Harrington due off right behind them.

Getting way ahead of ourselves here but, if Rory were to win tomorrow, I wonder if he'd be tempted to give Crooked Stick a miss? He'd be guaranteed a spot in the Tour Championship top five regardless, probably needs a break more than the money, and could still win the $10M FedEx fortune. (Woods of course might feel the same way.)

Anyway, no-one can be eliminated today, unless they withdraw, and Blixt is the only European remaining who is in danger of not advancing.

Depending on course set-up, we could be looking at a winning score Monday of 20-ish under par.

Was at this yesterday, had a massive post written but it disappeared on me!

Tell us the gist . . . . . !

O'Hair off to a fine start ... maybe that eagle on the last yesterday to make the cut was just the shock to the system needed.

Rory/Tiger (and some notable others) -- this is setting up to be some battle.

kwinigolfer wrote:Ooooh!
Why didn't I remember that??!!

Certainly most successful of the American under 35's, in wins anyway.

Because three of those wins were the Tractor Tussle?

Deere me!!

Not much point in making the cut unless you try in Rounds 3 and 4, and every sign that McDowell and Harrington are going through the motions.
For every place they squander in Boston, they'll have to make up that . . . and more next week or their FedEx foray will have been wasted.

S O'H needs to do much more if he is to punch his ticket to Pete Dye Central.

I would've thought Harri and Bradley would be two of the most popular folks around there. But while Keegan is finaly firing on all cyllinders today, Padraig's playing with fire, risking not to make it into the BMW if he goes on like this... If that happens it cold leave him in a bit of a limbo with his schedule for a while....

I think Harrington's OK for next week, whether he likes it or not. Probably fancies an early tee-time tomorrow, early finish and early flight outathere.

Keegs lucky to be playing at all, just due to the haplessness of others really!

O'Hair will need help that's for sure.

Poulter stumbling out of the blocks.

kwinigolfer wrote:Keegs lucky to be playing at all, just due to the haplessness of others really!

Of the events with cuts, the Deutschebank is the easiest cut to make on the PGAT. guaranteed that 70%+ will make the cut.

I am glad Keegan had a good round today, but even with that round he is still 6 shots behind Rory, and Rory has not hit a shot.

The cut for the DB should be top 50 and 10 shot rule or Top 70 (whichever is less)

Cut was 14 shots out of the lead.

Shotrock wrote:O'Hair will need help that's for sure.

Poulter stumbling out of the blocks.

According to shot tracker Poufter's second shot went into the unknown so he did well to make seven although I'm not sure it says anything about it only being a one shot penalty out of the unknown.

Goo Rorrry!!

argg.. top leaderboard though..

Tiger just can't play a decent 3rd/4th round lately

Shouldn't Tiger be wearing his red shirt on a Sunday?

Poults in trouble again - he says he hates this course and his opinion won't be improving after today's experiences.

kwinigolfer wrote:Shouldn't Tiger be wearing his red shirt on a Sunday?

Poults in trouble again - he says he hates this course and his opinion won't be improving after today's experiences.

Well, he'll probably wear that tomorrow. Final day.

Oosty means business, knocking them in from everywhere...

Looks like Europe's opportunity in this event rest on the broad shoulder of Rory. I like his chances.

Like Poulter, not enamored with this course. A cart path running through the fairway? ... in a professional event never comes into play, but I assure you it does for many an amateur

Oosthuizen can't miss

Suggested earlier that if Rory were to win tomorrow that he might take next week off.
Likewise with Louis.
A win would guarantee a top five position going in to East Lake which is all that is needed.

Wonder if Tiger's looked at the leaderboard??!!

Rory can't buy a putt.

Louis O. has bought all the putts available. None left for the rest

Shotrock wrote:Looks like Europe's opportunity in this event rest on the broad shoulder of Rory. I like his chances.

Like Poulter, not enamored with this course. A cart path running through the fairway? ... in a professional event never comes into play, but I assure you it does for many an amateur

There's a road/track running through the middle of the 18th at St. Andrews.

I really dislike Poulter.

He's realised that people think he's a pratt as opposed to "interesting" just because he wears bad clothes and has taken to being controversial to make him seem more interesting via tw@tter.

Hows about you win some golf tournaments bumflash?

disclaimer - I've never met/never will meet him so my opinion counts for next to nothing.

scary stuff from king louis... 59 watch?

Holy Crap! Oosthuizen -8 thru 10??

Crucial putt here on #11 for Rory - he needs some confidence with that putter.

Louis/Rory better ball thru 12 holes: -11.

Tale of two Kings:
Louis -8 thru 13
Charl +6 thru 16 and needs a decent round tomorrow to ensure his passage to Indiana.

This explains some of that crazy stuff earlier...

http://louis57oosthuizen.com/my-57.html

How d'you like that 4-putt from 3 feet (or less) for Charl, two right-handed, the third left-handed, not sure about the fourth!

kwinigolfer wrote:How d'you like that 4-putt from 3 feet (or less) for Charl, two right-handed, the third left-handed, not sure about the fourth!

This seems to happen to Charl every now and then, typically he is a terrific scrambler and holes out very well... but occasionally he looks he has never seen a putter before and he is having one of those 'mares today.

Graeme McDowell and Padraig Harrington open the batting Monday morning, at 7.40 a.m..

Schwartzel's hockey exhibition on the 18th green earns him a tee time with O'Hair, with Rory and Louis kicking off at 1.50 p.m.

Hibbz - Interesting insight to TOC! I had forgotten that. But, like the NGLA (which is also a fantastic course with a road running through it), that was designed in a far different era.

Poulter? Never met him, but winning would be just what the doctor ordered.

But, on how some opinions are formed on professional golfers ... I met Arnold Palmer and he was a very gracious man. I've also never spoken to anyone who met Arnold and didn't share the same opinion. (Some people I know know him quite well.) I never met Jack Nicklaus, but the vast (and I mean vast) majority of people I know who've met him and shared their encounters found him to be a boorish, self-involved, egomaniac. Beware the hype IMO.

Very well-connected SR!

Can I ask whether you've been able to do a similar straw-poll on the guy I've always taken to be the nicest man in golf, Tom Watson?

Ned - Not that well connected, I can assure you! A friend of mine ran a wounded veteran event and Tom Watson was the feature celebrity golfer for the day. My friend picked him up at the airport, spent the day with him and then took him to his hotel. Said he was a terrific guy. (Watson was not paid for the event, but expenses were paid for him.)