PGA Tour: This ain't no Disco, This Is LA: Notes from the Ballwasher

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1).Sheryl's right, and All I Wanna Do is turn on the TV and watch golf at Riviera Country Club, site this week of the "Northern Trust Open".
This week's field is stacked. Only Luke Donald of the owgr top six will be on hand, but after that the field is rammed; according to the Tour, three top-ten players from last week not gaining entry via their status level into the following week's tournament is "very rare". Withdrawals mean they're all in now, but this is just another manifestation of the short season, more guys uncertain of their status playing more often.
And probably not risking "a good beer buzz early in the morning", "while the sun comes up over Santa Monica Boulevard".

2).More of that later while we acknowledge the fabulous three weeks Brandt Snedeker has enjoyed, 2nd at Torrey Pines, 2nd at Phoenix, winner at Pebble Beach. How things change; despite winning the Tour Championship and FedEx jackpot, Brandt was a bit-part player in the Ryder Cup and took a right thumping from Paul Lawrie in the singles.
He's a very pleasing guy to follow, is a brilliant putter, but those who applaud him for his speedy pace of play have clearly not been paying attention to the interminable pre-shot debates between him and caddie Scott Vail. Sure he then steps right up and whacks it straight away, but that dawdle at Immelman's Masters was no mirage - Sneds can be slow! And now he's taking three weeks off with sore ribs.

3).Only McIlroy won more money on-course than Snedeker last year, but I was intrigued by Golf Digest's recent listing of golfers' earnings "off course". Those making $10M from sponsorship and other off-course pursuits were:
$77M: Woods
40M: Mickelson
36M: Palmer
28M: Nicklaus
17M: Norman
14M: Els
14M: Player
10M: Garcia
Ishikawa, Donald and Westwood close behind.

4).Golf Digest has been publishing their "Golf Digest 50" top eaners for ten years now and these guys have made it every year:
Couples, Els, Furyk, Garcia, Goosen, Harrington, Love,
Mickelson, Montgomerie, Nicklaus, Norman, Palmer, Player, Woods (Tiger's total earnings over his career estimated at $1,233,179,092.)
Figure that each of those 14 earned an average of at least $10M each of those ten years, and you don't have to be Phil Mickelson's accountant to realise they're well over the $100M mark, PLUS the biggest bonus of all, the PGA Tour pension scheme (sorry Colin, but you can start earning when you make your Champions Tour debut).

5).Vijay Singh plays again this week; pity he won't be paired with Greg Owen, the well-known Mansfield Stag. But he has the woefully out-of-form Geoff Ogilvy instead and perhaps they can find something amusing in each other's plight.
A commentator last night talking about the political circle jerk that's going on in Washington right now suggested President Obama take heed of an old Chinese saying (and I paraphrase as I can't find the full quote ):
Chinese generals would build an elegant bridge across which their adversary could retreat with dignity.
Vijay and Commish Finchie are going round in circles of their own and each needs to find a way to move on, backwards or forwards, with dignity.
Seems a long way off right now and the continued silence and speculation does nothing to help the Tour.

6).Regardless, Singh (that one anyway) and Ogilvy look Presidents Cup long shots, as indeed does Nick Price's prospective team. Current qualifying positions held by:
Oosthuizen, Scott, Schwartzel, Els, Grace, Coetzee, Day, Senden, Fujita, Fraser.
Followed by potential wildcards: Jaidee, Sterne, Clark, Choi, de Jonge, Wiratchant.
Compared to Melbourne fifteen months ago Allenby, Baddeley, Goosen, Ishikawa, Kim, Ogilvy and Yang are all awol (as to be fair, most of them were at Royal Melbourne).

7).George Thomas's gem at Riviera is rated by Tour Pros ahead of Pebble Beach and in 3rd place overall among the courses the Tour visits annually. Not for nothing do Donald, Els, Garcia, McDowell, Schwartzel, Scott etc choose to start their Tour season here and us lucky TV viewers (wonder if our mate "venice" will be going?) will enjoy terrific golf on a classic lay-out. Watching the strategy unfold on the short par-4 10th is always a highlight of the golfing year. Par 71 and, if fog can stay away, a fine week in prospect, warming up every day.

8).Europe is strongly represented. Still not sure how Ross Fisher squeezed in to the event, but Karlsson is just one of a number of web.com/Q-School grads not to make the field. Given McDowell's successes at the Tiger benefit and US Open at Pebble Beach, I'm intrigued to see how he plays here.
Luke Donald has a fine Riviera record, Harrington (so disappointing last week) has some decent finishes, and Phil has two wins and two second places here in the past six years. California guys will once again have an edge (Stadler and Tringale decent long-shots?), but I like the e.w. chances of two past winners here both showing signs of return to form: HowellIII and Baddeley.

9).Rocco Mediate won his Champions Tour debut last week, putting brilliantly. Surprised to hear Azinger say that Mediate (no sponsor but wearing a TRUMP! cap) is right up there with the best "ball strikers" he's played with, on a par with Couples, Toms and Watson. With Vijay turning 50 next week, but no other Tour players of note hitting the big 5-0 until an avalanche next year, now is the time for Mediate, Elkington etc to make some hay. More action this week in Naples, Florida.

10).Bernhard Langer finished second last week and has accumulated $10M in five Champions Tour years. He's secure on the Champions Tour for as long as he wants to keep getting richer, but life promises to be a real grind for the British Champions Tour members, Chapman, Mouland and Lyle.
The exemption process for the Champions Tour is so obtuse that I can't find whether Chapman's exemption for winning the Senior PGA and Senior Open gains him a 12-month or a 24-month ticket. Regardless, it's the only significant status he has and it'll behove him, and Q-School grad Mark Mouland, to play every week as they strive for the top-30 money status that'll ensure they get to return in 2014.
Lyle seems to be a peripheral figure on the course these days, playing by virtue of his Hall of Fame status, and this reeks of being a ceremonial weekly appearance that takes a spot from a more deserving figure. Montgomerie will enjoy the same largesse, but let's hope he earns it more than Lyle appears capable of doing.

I wonder what the odds of a Haas double (tennis/golf) this week were. That would probably earn you a good fortune. I am sticking w FJ though

Never paid particular attention to this tournament before, but what a fantastic golf course. Proper course that cannot be "bombed" small greens and tricky surrounds. Absolute delight. Pity Lee can't keep it going for 4 rounds! Sure it'll come back at some point during the season.

One of the most attractive courses on Tour in my book, puligny. Even better now that coverage is more comprehensive and we can see all the front-nine holes as well as the obligsatory closers. Thing of beauty.

Lee with Team GB's worst round of the day, again struggling to be the leading Notts man out there. Very promising effort from Fisher and a repeat today will help him big time for the first "reshuffle".
Luuuuke not out of it yet.


mighty, I'm all for Tommy to win, amazingly resilient guy that he seems to be. And Bill ('Orses?) can then be staisfied with a top ten, Luke or Freddie can rain on his parade. Hopefully.

Last but not least, a "Made Cut" for Parnevik. Good Lord!

A bit cooler in LA today but otherwise perfect conditions for the players when the action gets underway this morning.

Lots to play for today, big prizemoney, 60 owgr points, the Haas double, a pay cheque for Jesper, and some Europeans with a lot to prove. No Peter Hanson though, unfortunately, as the double bogeys wouldn't stop flowing for him on Saturday. Wouldn't rule him out next week though.

Go go Freddie!

Woods playing golf with Pres.Obama today, wonder if they're discussing Phil's tax problems?

Luke not looking sharp today so, yup, go go Freddie!!

Paying tax is not a problem. It's when you don't have to pay tax that there might be a problem. Anyway I see Phil managed to stump up for some new croc skin shoes!
Appleton doing well, Kwini. The boy has something!! Lovely to see Wenger's with a face like a smacked a..e!

Luke and Freddie falling foul of the doughnut 6th hole.

If Orses Haas can get to 15 under he's got this won.

puligny,
Full of admiration for the way Appleton conducted business at FP; he must have got a helluvan offer from the Blackburn Chicken guys to take him from Blackpool, but good luck to him. Could be on his way to Wembley . . . .

Contenders lining up, pretenders falling away. If you don't go under par today, no chance to hoist the trophy. Haase or Mahan is where my money would be. Jacobson Europe's only hope at this time.

Donald 9 under on the back this week, 1 over on the front.
Don't count Cool Hand out just yet.

Go on, Charl!!!

This is turning into a really tight contest now...

Two California boys tied for the lead, but can they keep it?

Luke needs to start making some putts, but still not counting him out.

SEVEN Counting Luke out now.

Come on Freddie

Sea legs for Luke, that's all you'll get this week. He'll need to go 5 under last 7 holes and hope for a field implosion. Won't happen.

Love to see one of these "no name" Yanks!

John Merrick hardly no name. Had a film made about him years ago!
Got to be good to win one of these things.

Wow, Freddie, nearly holed out for eagle! He's in there...

Go go Freddie

Beljan made pig remarks about Pres.Obamas's re-election - think Finchem recommended he deleted his Twitter account. Hope he returns to obscurity.

Oh Freddie.....

Come on Charl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Top 50 for sh1thead Beljan if he wins, n'est ce pas?

Merrick is a fairly unusual name, reminds me of a goalie at St.Andrews and a defensive midfielder at The Hawthorns.

Beljan reminds me of Nicholas Colsaerts. Or Rand Paul.

Freddie -- Really poor effort on 18. Nerves? Lukey, just awful today.

C'mon you "no name" Yanks!!!!!

7 - 0 for the Americans during the opening seven weeks of the PGA Tour season.
Very poor putting day for King Charl and you'd have to think his next big win is just weeks away.

Look for that to end at Match Play ... Europe brings anything close to final day RC form, they will be the only players on course come Sunday.

7 - 0 for the Americans during the opening seven weeks of the PGA Tour season.
US favourites for next Ryder Cup?

kwinigolfer wrote:Merrick is a fairly unusual name, reminds me of a goalie at St.Andrews and a defensive midfielder at The Hawthorns.

I tend to think of The Elephant Man when hearing the name "John Merrick"...

Hi Sky,
I didn't twig that when puligny made the same observation - always used to think John Merrick looked like the Elephant Man, but somehow he looked a little more normal this week!

He certainly played well when all about were losing any composure they might have started with. Another local boy winning in California.

The six Englishmen in the field shot even par on Saturday, +8 on Sunday spending a load of cash - very poor weekends for Donald and Westwood, both +3 for Rounds 3 & 4, not good enough for world class golfers. Got to fancy the chances of both this week though.

kwinigolfer wrote:Merrick is a fairly unusual name, reminds me of a goalie at St.Andrews and a defensive midfielder at The Hawthorns.

Is it that unusual Kwini? Reminds me not of any footballers, but a West Indian fast bowler for Kent....


Always thought (this) John Merrick's parents must either have been dim, or had an evil sense of humour.

I think his official name was Joseph Merrick, not John Merrick.

Hope our favourite contestants at the World Match Play have come prepared for a (Wednes)day of poor conditions. The "Winter Storm Watch" for Tucson projects:
"Showers will spread into the area from the West late Tuesday night and increase through the morning Wednesday. Heaviest snowfall is expected between noon and 9.00 p.m. Wednesday."
"Strong gusty winds are expected ahead of the front . . . . winds 15-30 mph, with gusts 30 - 45 mph."
Cool but clearing on Thursday, warming up and sunny through the weekend, with winds picking up again later in the week.

Lovely.

Who is everyone's figurative money on? Tricky one to call.

10 on Donald, 5 on Bubba, 2 on Tiger and pennies on Schwartzel

Obvious Choices ...

Poulter (match play excellence)

Donald

Tiger (always dangerous and perhaps some intimidation factor exists)

Rory (best in the world in this sport, no reason to overlook him)

South Africa

SithEfricins are always worth a pop at this stage of the year.

kwinigolfer wrote:"Showers will spread into the area from the West late Tuesday night and increase through the morning Wednesday. Heaviest snowfall is expected between noon and 9.00 p.m. Wednesday."
"Strong gusty winds are expected ahead of the front . . . . winds 15-30 mph, with gusts 30 - 45 mph."

Jeez... That's bordering on suspension conditions. They shouldn't be calling that place a desert...

Agree about South Africans... otherwise I'd like to see a European 'surprise' winner, for a change...

Conditions that Baldy Nine Chins hates!

No idea who will win.

I'd guess that it would be a fairly high-ranked American, perhaps just outside the top 10. Keegan Bradley maybe.

As for whom I would like to win - probably Westwood. Not only has he the "major monkey" on his back, there's also the lesser seen/understood simian species of the WGC monkey also clinging on there. Not that any are easy, it looks a particularly tough draw for him though, I'd say.

I suggested before that the banning of anchored putters on the PGA and Champions Tour is not yet a done deal. Have read a couple of pieces on this over the weekend, and here's a column by putter extraordinaire Brad Faxon describing the imminent situation:

http://www.golf.com/tour-and-news/pga-tour-might-oppose-usga-and-ra-proposed-ban-anchored-putting-closed-meeting#ixzz2LBRdWalf

This story has legs. Not sure what the stance of the European Tour is; if they don't yet have one, perhaps it's just about time they did?

SmithersJones wrote:

kwinigolfer wrote:
Westwood going well . . . .

Of course he is, it's early on Thursday. He'll get to -2 or -3, chuck in a couple of bogeys or a double and finish top 10-15 after round 1. Then similar Friday, moving day will be in the wrong direction and then fair to middling Sunday, ending up 10 behind.

Edit: just looked and sure enough, a bogey 6 takes him from -2 to -1.

I'd say you were soothsayer Smithers were it not to happen on a pretty much every time Lee plays in the US. Still he'll be earning decent dosh every week now and in nice weather too.

More on the anchoring ban:

http://www.golfchannel.com/news/golftalkcentral/finchem-holds-conference-call-with-pac/

Difficult to remember a Rules issue that's attracted such opposition - this doesn't mean the majority aren't against anchoring, they probably are, but it seems there's a real push to make sure that whatever rule change is introduced is equitable for one and all.

None of this means Finchem will backtrack, but it does suggest that the Tour recognises that it's an issue beyond the friendly confines of the PGA Tour (and especially the Champo Tour) and that the PGA Of America is also against a ban.


Meanwhile, the Winter Storm Watch for the Tucson area has been upgraded to a "Winter Storm Warning" for, essentially, all day Wednesday. That doesn't necessarily mean snow, but it does suggest, at the very least, cold and windy conditions. (They should play in Vermont; we got that!) Thursday will also be cooler than the golfers would like.

Hi Kwini. Interesting article but I don't trust the Pros re. this anchor ban as far as I could throw one of them. As Faxon put it, just because it's taken a while to make the right decision doesn't make it OK to back out of that correct decision.
It's a nonsense argument to say it's taken ~20 years. There wasn't this fuss over the groove ruling or the decision to limit COR on drivers. The alternative is to say to all manufacturers "No changes to any equipment without USGA/R&A ratification". If this is over-ruled by a bunch of multi-millionaire pros for spurious reasons, I seriously hope the USGA/R&A take the gloves off re. future equipment development and take the lead instead of being led by the nose at the whim of the OEMs.

nbs,
Yeah, I'm not speculating on anything except that this is not a done deal.
Don't know what's changed but the tenor of debate seems to have shifted this past month.
As I said above, this story has legs.

High winds, cool weather and wet conditions still forecast for Wednesday in Tucson - whether raon or snow will just depend on temps and altitude, but a miserable day can be assured! And perhaps not the sort of weather for MatchPlay favourites who might have some rust in their game.