PGA Tour: Q-School Finals, Here and There: Notes from the Ballwasher

1).Only exhibitions to keep the bank accounts of our Tour favourites ticking over this week, not to mention the ridiculous practice of rewarding players with world ranking points for finishing last. The rich get richer and screw the rest of you.

2).But many of "the rest of you" are contesting Q-School Finals, both for the PGA Tour and the European Tour, presumably with all sorts of putters, long and short, some anchored, most not.
(Typical bl00dy holier-than-thou reaction from Golf's ruling bodies; to paraphrase the great Geoffrey Green writing about Billy Wright's hapless efforts against Puskas and his great Hungarian Team:
"Like a fire engine going to the wrong fire".
More elsewhere no doubt.)

3).Unlike the highly paid circle jerks being conducted in Sun City and California, Q-School is the ultimate raw competition, with even more spice being added to this week's PGA Tour Finals in that 2012 is the last year Tour wannabes can earn cards via Q-School. Hence an invasion of golfers from around the World, anxious to take this last chance at Golf's Powerball (or should that be Rocketballz?) Lottery.
So, alongside Camilo Villegas and Robert Karlsson - who saw them enduring the indignity of Q-School nine months ago? - we'll have a motley crew of players with World Rankings high enough to make this competition stronger than some "opposite field" events.

4).Ross Fisher, Marcus Fraser, Alex Noren, Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Gonzo, Wattel etc, etc, are all trying their luck alongside old lags such as:
Aussies O'Hern, Pampling, Matt Jones, Goggin, Coles
Europeans Chopra, Johnson, Cejka, Lemke
Americans Vaughn Taylor, Chez Reavie, Pernice, Mayfair, Slocum, Trahan, Blanks, Hamilton, Micheel

5).Russell Knox will be there, as will Gary Christian as well as misfiring can't-miss prospects such as Danny Lee, Macpherson, Cantlay, Kraft, Horschel, Swafford and Oliver Fisher. Jamie Lovemark, Trevor Murphy and John Peterson didn't even get this far, having been gonged at Stage 2.
Apart from purely jingoistic interests, the player I'll be pulling for is Patrick Reed, veteran of having Monday-qualified for six PGA Tournaments this year - that's tough to do, and he more than almost anyone deserves his place in the sun.

6).In Europe, of course, a few years ago we'd've been expecting guys like Nick Dougherty, Rhys Davies and Ross McGowan to be competing for Ryder Cup places. But here they are, all likely to come up short in their quest for an ET card - Dougherty (and hot-shot American Peter Uihlein) way short. Oliver Wilson another with work to do.

7).And it's been a lousy few weeks for Europeans who tried to earn a PGA Tour card as well as contest European Tour Q-School - all these will have tenuous status if any for 2013: Mathias Gronberg, Andrew Marshall, Tim Sluiter, Pablo Martin, Wallace Booth, Chris Devlin, Sam Walker and Rikard Karlberg.

8).I read an interesting NYT piece on Ginger Baker ("once voted the rock star least likely to survive the sixties") yesterday with a nice turn of phrase: "Mr.Baker says that life is a two-way street in which he has the right of way".
Couldn't help feeling that Tiger Woods is just like that - can you imagine him turning up for anyone else's "World Challenge"?
It is a sign of the times that Tiger's event doesn't have the allure of days gone by, with the purse being reduced by $1M from $5M to $4M; the poor sucker who trails in last will only bank $120,000 instead of last year's $140,000 money for nothing. No reduction in owgr points though, apparently.

9).With the annual complaint by Rory that he really must cut down on his late-season schedule next year, his provisional 2013 schedule actually removes at least one event from the heart of his programme, Jack Nicklaus's Memorial Tournament. No favourites then as he also continues to exclude Arnold Palmer's Bay Hill from his calendar, despite Arnie's threats of gbh to Rors.
He'll certainly be missing Kapalua and so apparently will Woods, Mickelson, Els, Donald and Garcia. Hopefully Rose and Poulter will be there, but this tournament is really struggling with the stars staying away in droves, and 2013 being the final year of title sponsor Hyundai's contract.

10).Let's conclude with a thought about European Tour members playing on the PGA Tour:
Is it possible that this autumn will actually be the low point for the ET and it will be re-energised by those who actually play the Tour regularly in 2013?
Donaldson, Lowry and Ramsay all flirted with PGA Tour Q-School and opted to stay home, while some at least of the ET veterans playing this week will disappoint at Q-School and return to Europe. One imagines they'll join Paul Casey, for one, while at least one or two of Colsaerts, Hanson, Kaymer and Lynn will struggle.
Last time I checked, the Walker Cup and Ryder Cup were both in Europe and one feels the future is brighter than even O'Grady likes to paint it.
(And with this week's Powerball at $500M, I'll have cash left over to sponsor a couple of events. After having acquired Pompey of course.)

Interesting to see the practical implications (in this transitional period anyway) of the changes to PGA qual criteria.

Noticed that a lot of the Ryder Cup players are in action in the wheelbarrow events this week, which is another reminder to me of the ancillary rewards of making it into the teams.

Just to add a little shout out to Melissa Reid for final stage LPGA qual - like Lee Westwood, she may be from the wrong side of the Midlands but I like her anyway (and know she's had a traumatic year too). We could benefit from a bit more Brit representation on the LPGA, if nothing else than to spy on the Koreans to work out why they're so good (and Americans in preparation for the Solheim).

Sky,
Hear, hear to that!

Jodi Ewart's had a decent year though.

Very, very difficult for all but the top 30 or 40 players to make a decent living on the LPGA Tour though, there are so, so many limited field events.

Cheers kwini
Looking forward to this last edition of US/QS... Good thing about all those Euros taking part is that even if they don't make it, it means they'll be back full time on the ET, so I wouldn't end up too disappointed...

It's all rather academic, I know, but there is a reduction (of sorts) in the owgr points for those silly events this week, in that this year they don't add the home value points... It would've brought the tally to 48 pts instead of 44 for Tiger's event if that was still happening (no difference for Nedbank though). Still, shouldn't be given more than half that if you ask me...

kwinigolfer wrote: And with this week's Powerball at $500M, I'll have cash left over to sponsor a couple of events. After having acquired Pompey of course.

Are you sure that'll be money well spent...?

Birdies and Eagles flying in at Q-School and how refreshing it is to see Rob Karlsson get his fair share.
Only 37 players over par with just a few holes to be played and no Europeans amongst them. But among the veteran players Johnson and Cejka need to do much better, and Gonzo is off to a slow start too.

pd,
When you get to be my age, there's scarcely any such thing as money not "well spent"!

Did you win?

Please remember all your friends and how they've supported you etc. I said a nice thing to you that one time, yes?

Don't think so Sky, Another day at the computer, instead of the Bank.

Poor opener for Sweet Melissa yesterday . . . .

But much better from Robbie Karlsson and an interesting little piece here from pgatour.com about whatever it was that ailed him:

http://www.pgatour.com/2012/qschool/11/28/finals.rd1/index.html

Karlsson, Norlander, Wattel, Chopra and Wiedergruen seem to be the Europeans in qualifying position after Round 1, tho' Oli Fisher doubled his last hole to be one shot away, and Russell Knox bogeyed his final three to be two shots off.
All Europeans at level par or better, though, so no-one's wildly adrift; situation will become clearer after two rounds.

Looks like Oli Wilson comes up short in Spain unfortunately; would think he needs to stay away from Iain Carter.

Decent start for the Europeans, I guess the cut is after 4 rounds like in Europe?
Love that guy's name, Ryan Yip... is he using a long putter?

It's bye bye ET for Gary Boyd as well in Girona... Great to see Watterville's David Higgins in position to make it through once again (for the 4th time if I remember correctly) to the main tour...

Great effort by Bristolian Chris Lloyd. Thought he had blown it after an 8 on his final hole in round 4 had him in 56th place. A solid round of 69 yesterday got him up to 39th & a stunning 67 today with all that pressure has him T16th currently & looking good. Has a lot of game this boy. Has had two solid seasons on the CT just missing out on the top 20 both times. Has shown a lot of guts over the last 2 days. Watch out for the name.

Scoring not particularly low in Sun City today...

Oh sorry, we don't care, do we.

Calum MacAulay birdied the 108th hole at Q-School which should be just enough to get his Tour Card for next season. Nervous wait for him now I imagine.

Sky,
The weather might just be a bit iffy for the other event "we don't care" about also, with a "Pineapple Express" blowing heavy rain into the Pacific Northwest and perhaps halfway down California.

"Only exhibitions to keep the bank accounts of our Tour favourites ticking over this week"

Kwini your article is normally bang up to date, but the Ryder cup was several months ago.


Kwini

It would be optimistic to think the European tour is healthier than it seems, next season you will be lucky to see any top 50 players in an event and only a handful in the top 100. Try persuading people to waste a weekend afternoon watching that??

Well one thing you can say for the Fisher's... (Ross and Oliver)... at least they're consistent.

R Fisher - 69-69 = 138
O Fisher - 69-69 = 138

They're T32 with those scores after round 2... but I'm pretty certain if they can cobble together 8 more 69's between them... they'll be safely inside the number.

The Four Euros that played in the RTD in PGAT Q-school are all off to horrible start.

Going into the third round

Gonzo T110 OWGR #33
Noren T110 OWGR #51
RCB T127 OWGR #53
Wattel T127 OWGR #164

The OWGR rankings of Gonzo, Noren, and RCB suggest that they should be a little more competitive than what they are showing.

And yes, I am sure Jet lag is a contributing factor.

Eight chins making good progress in the Chevron, if he wins this, Torrey in January, and/or abu dhabi, then he should cut a nice bit off Rory's lead in the owgr!

It's Nine Chins Inco, but nice to see someone use the name.

Hopefully the Fat-Mac can win this and Nine Chins' airplane crashes on the way to Abu Dhabi.

He ain't gonna close no ranking point gap chipping like an 18 handicapper...Strewth, those last 2 would have been routine up & downs not so long ago.

JAS wrote:He ain't gonna close no ranking point gap chipping like an 18 handicapper...Strewth, those last 2 would have been routine up & downs not so long ago.

Should have used a belly-chipper

Ah crap, i just switched over to see he is now 4 back aaargh

dont know where u got that nickname super, he hasnt even a hint of a double chin, let alone nine of them.

Back at Q-School, sublime and ridiculous from the better Europeans during the first three rounds:

Karlsson in second place and going like a train - minus 3 the rest of the way and he'll have earned his card.

Ross Fisher also playing well, tied with Camilo and Slocum in 9th place.

Oli Fisher in 31st but in good position and Russell Knox bogeyed his last two holes for a 66 which leaves him in 44th, tied with Marcus Fraser.
Knox bogeyed his final three holes Wednesday, his last hole Thursday and his last two today. Way to shoot yourself in the foot Russell.

Norlander and Echenique are tied for 53rd, one shot ahead of Chopra, but it'll take a miracle for the rest to qualify. Players with the number of shots in arrears after 3 rounds:
Cejka 7
Christian, Gonzo (and Danny Lee) 8
Mikkelson, Cabrera-Bello and Lemke 9
Noren 10
The rest of 'em, including Richard S and Wattel are so far adrift they might as well pack their bags.


Mac,
My contention is that the European Tour will be considerably stronger in 2013 than the worst-case scenario a fortnight ago, and will build from there assuming decent stewardship from O'Grady.
I think the next nine months will be very difficult for many of the Europeans planning to play the PGA Tour in 2013 - they'll mostly get in to fewer events than they might imagine, especially if the spectre of current members playing more events transpires (which robo and I might disagree on!).
A good start is crucial and time off avoiding the West Coast swing will be difficult to make up later.
I can see half a dozen Europeans coming a cropper, although some may web.com it. Meanwhile, other players are establishing themselves in Europe.

incontinentia wrote:
dont know where u got that nickname super, he hasnt even a hint of a double chin, let alone nine of them.

Tiger has more Chins than a Chinese Phonebook.

He's got a great big fat chin inco. Pretty soon I reckon he'll blow up his old man and then this fragile knees are really going to take a pounding.

Super would be a great ambassador for the Nazi dream of the perfect human specimen. If you are super-fit like Tiger Woods, you get rejected because of a slight double chin and a receding hairline. If you are a bit over weight like Shane Lowry, you get rejected because you are not super-fit. It doesn't matter that both excel at their chosen profession.

Woods isn't super-fit, he's just a gym bufty who does lots of weights. That doesn't make you fit, just makes you muscle bound which is just as bad as being a big fat gutlord like Lowry.
Instead of being a narcisist in order to make himself more attractive to vacuous slags, it might have been better for him to build up strength where it matters, which for him would be around his straw like knees.

6:30 a.m. - One hour of cardio. Choice between endurance runs, sprints or biking.

7:30 a.m. - One hour of lower weight training. 60-70 percent of normal lifting weight, high reps and multiple sets.

8:30 a.m. - High protein/low-fat breakfast. Typically includes egg-white omelet with vegetables.

9:00 a.m. - Two hours on the golf course. Hit on the range and work on swing.

11:00 a.m. - Practice putting for 30 minutes to an hour.

Noon - Play nine holes.

1:30 p.m. - High protein/low-fat lunch. Typically includes grilled chicken or fish, salad and vegetables.

2:00 p.m. - Three-to-four hours on the golf course. Work on swing, short game and occasionally play another nine holes.

6:30 p.m. - 30 minutes of upper weight training. High reps.

7:00 p.m. - Dinner and rest.

This is Tiger Woods' fitness routine. I think that would lead to having a pretty fit body to play golf.

You state that as if it is something extra-ordinary. He's a professional sportsman, not as if he's got to do a 9-5 job, makes you wonder though what the likes of Lowry do with all that spare time when he's not working on fitness

All good stuff, but I'm sorry, it doesn't make him super-fit.

Looking at Woods's upper body and arms yesterday made one think he's back into heavy weights, or something more sinister; his arms looked distorted, almost back to his Michelin-Man days.

I see pgatour.com are reporting that AT&T are taking over sponsorship of Dallas's Byron Nelson event in a year or two, with speculation that they might drop the Congressional tournament. Watch this space on that.

Nice to see Karlsoon leading, it's been a while. And Ross Fisher moving right up there behind him. Big moves in the right direction today from Noren and RCB, just 6 shots behind the top 25 line at the moment, should be a surmountable difference for the last two days. But Camillo needs to be careful...

Shockingly bad for Gonzo today - can only assume his request for complimentary first-class flights, hotel suite and Ferrari were turned down. Not that O'Grady will mind.

Scoring nowhere near as good as Friday, not bad by Noren and Rafa though with 66's, but they need more of the same Sunday and Monday.

Even par for the Fisher boys have them treading water, and even a decent round today from Wattel will not be enough unless he has his sights on the web.com. Knox and Chopra sliding backwards, Johnson sliding into irrelevance and Gary Christian presumably sliding home.

And Karlsson beginning to feel the heat. That's not good.

Seems that I spooked Karlsson and R. Fisher yesterday...

I see that Gonzo, Marcus Fraser and Gary Christian all WD after yesterday...

Gary Christian will still have "conditional" status on Tour, and Gonzo and Fraser will make it eventually if they're good enough.

Trahan also gone and there's a one-time promising career at the crossroads.

It's tough out there, and getting tougher, hence my optimism for the European Tour which, the top twenty apart, is not better or worse, just different.

Kwin - Congressional, I'm told, does NOT want the AT&T National anymore, so no surprise there. They did their duty, got their US Open, and now I'm sure want some time off.

Karlsson 3 under thru 3. Sometimes it is difficult to keep the momentum going for one round, let alone six. These guys are human & have bad days at the office. It doesn't necessarily mean that they are "feeling the heat". It is how you react that shows whether you have the inner strength & belief to succeed. Hopefully Karlsson will kick on & prove that he has still got it.

Hi Faldo,
I'm a big Karlsson fan, but he hasn't been able to sustain good form at all this year, in the States at any rate. Hopefully these three birds erase the three-over memories of yesterday and he can push on.

Only him and the Fishers anywhere close to a Tour Card at present, about ten under needed the rest of the way for guys like Knox, Cejka, Chopra, R C-B and Noren, web.com at best for the rest. Villegas in increasing peril after good opening rounds.


Sr,
Yup, I understand that about Congressional - thought they were trying to extricate themselves early . . . . .
An unnecessary tournament when it was introduced, at a lousy time of the schedule, and played when conditions were more suited to a sauna than golf. Compounded by the "invitational" nature which restricted size of field and took playing opportunities away from the "other ranks".
Symbolism at a price!

Hi Kwini

I'm a big fan too. Just think that he has always had a problem with consistency to some extent. I think his nerve is pretty good so hopefully he can grit it out. Good rounds in progress by the Fishers.

Fine first nine holes for Noren, still needs to keep his foot on the gas . . . .

Camilo throwing a brilliant career away.

Back to the World Challenge... Tiger now going Furyk-style with his hat. What's that about?

Looking good for Gfat though...

Nine Chins way too far behind now.

Kwini, I never really believed the Villegas myth/hype, like Wie, Fowler, Kim and a few other "poster" players who have promised much but delivered very little, I always thought Villegas fitted into that same envelope of mediocrity.

Glad to see the grotesque Jeff Overton slipping down the rankings. A man so ordinary and unimpressive he makes Shane Lowry look world class.

super_,
Camilo has just gone from a below average putter to a terrible putter - he'll struggle until he can find a way to turn that around.

Karlsson and Ross Fisher looking better and better, Oli with work to do Monday, the rest will need something very special.

Would think -18 will be" the number".

I hate when I invite my mates to my place to play FIFA on the Xbox and they beat me. Wonder how Tiger feels about people being better than him at his own event....

Has anyone else noticed Keegan has gotten extra fidgety? He has a whole repertoire of things he has to do before taking a shot, fascinating.

Phoney event, but nothing bogus about Graeme McDowell's win.
Pleased to see it.

Stunning shot into 18. He loves that hole.

incontinentia wrote:Has anyone else noticed Keegan has gotten extra fidgety? He has a whole repertoire of things he has to do before taking a shot, fascinating.

He was really annoying me yesterday. I wonder, if he has a slump in form at any stage, whether he'll be able to hit the ball at all.

SmithersJones wrote:

incontinentia wrote:Has anyone else noticed Keegan has gotten extra fidgety? He has a whole repertoire of things he has to do before taking a shot, fascinating.

He was really annoying me yesterday. I wonder, if he has a slump in form at any stage, whether he'll be able to hit the ball at all.

I wonder how much it really has changed as at a normal event you don't get to see it as there is plenty of other players to cut to so you just see the shot. I noticed it a lot when he was spitting everywhere as he was in a playoff so you see much more. The same in the Grand Slam of golf a year or so ago.

I assume so long as he keeps to the same routine he will be OK. Personally I like the Dufner waggle where he doesn't have a set number, just feels right and smack it. Are there any players (top end) who have very quick pre shot routines? Sabatini?

Plenty of quick players out there, Cabrera, Perez, Dustin Johnson etc; John Huston, Woosie and Lanny Wadkins of years gone by almost too fast on the trigger for TV cameras.

Some of the young guys are pretty rapid, but Keegan, Na and some others are just brutal.

Fair's fair!

I'll knock Tiger if it seems appropriate. But one must also congratulate him when he does something good. As described in Doug Ferguson's recent piece, and this extract from GolfWorld:

http://www.golfworldmonday.com/golfworldmonday/20121203?sub_id=m6YFz2X7vbcH#pg13

It may be just petty cash to Tiger, and it might be just a glorified Member/Guest, but it's important to him and his cronies and good for him for bellying (not in a Lowry way) up to this particular bar.

Final round of the "Fall Classic" due to get underway in an hour - it looks like the top 25 golfers will all be at -18 or better after 108 holes so this is what the leading Europeans would have to shoot to gain Tour "playing privileges" for 2013:

Karlsson: 72, level par for the day.
Ross Fisher: 72, level par
Oli Fisher: 67, 5 under
Norlander: 66, 6 under
Russell Knox: 65, 7 under
Cabrera-Bello, Noren, Chopra: 64, 8 under
Cejka; 63, 9 under

The rest, Mikkelson, Lemke, Wattel etc require at least a 12 under par 60 and that ain't gonna happen.

Other "faces" on schedule to qualify include:
Aussies Bowditch, Goggin and Matt Jones,
2006 Ryder Cupper Vaughn Taylor,
Kris Blanks
Champions Tour player Tom Pernice
Hotshot Billy Horschel
Heartman (and we're not talking Ann and Nancy Wilson) Compton
Heath Slocum and Chez Reavie

Those missing out unless they have a super round today will include;
Camilo
Danny Lee
Echenique
Rocha
Patrick Reed
Macpherson
Aussies O'Hern, Pampling, Coles (and Fraser who's already taken a hike)
Billy Mayfair
etc, etc.

kwinigolfer wrote:
Russell Knox: 65, 7 under
Cabrera-Bello, Noren, Chopra: 64, 8 under

Is RCBello still around? Can't find him on the LB. Went after Gonzo probably...