PGA Tour: A Tale Of Two Trumps: Notes from the Ballwasher

1).If you don't much care for self-obsessed blowhards with silly hair-dos who make you want to hurl a club at your TV, this week is not for you. (Shut up Johnny Miller, I'm not talking about you.)
Yup, this is the week where everything good in golf is Trumped, not just the WGC-Cadillac Championship staged at Trump-owned Doral. But also the Puerto Rico Open, being played at Trump International G.C.

2).Trump has plans to "blow up" Doral's famous "Blue Monster", originally designed by Dick Wilson and subsequently tweaked by half a dozen cosmetic face-lifters. Now Trump wants "a brand new, incredible course".
'Course he does, so he's hired Gil Hanse to do the job and, by next year, the course famous for sand and water will have sand and water, water everywhere. But Trump has been trumped and Gil Hanse is preoccupied with trying to design a course for the Rio Olympics so one of his henchmen will be driving the tractor. Great start Trump.

3).Two golf pros who had no plans to play at Doral this week are Michael Thompson, whose college golf career teed off at Tulane University until Hurricane Katrina caused Tulane to cancel its golf programme, and Geoff Ogilvy, a dial-a-quote favourite of journalists whose golf game has been in a shambles these past few years.

I compete in a one-and-done fantasy game and have been in a terrible trot of form just recently. And this week's results help to explain why.
1st: Michael Thompson finished runner up in last year's US Open, then promptly disappeared. 2013 record: cut, T78, cut, cut, WON.

2nd: Geoff Ogilvy, of whom I'm a great admirer. Until recently. No US top tens since finishing 3rd in the 2011 BMW eighteen months ago, and his 2013 record just a shade better than Thompson's: T27, cut, cut, cut, cut, 2nd. Now he's just one decent finish away from a Masters invite on a course (one of many?) which you'd think he's under-performed on.

My pick: Camilo Villegas: From the penthouse with a Round 1 64, to the outhouse, Round 2 77 and a missed cut. He's playing in Puerto Rico and hopefully he'll figure out where it all went wrong.

4).Meanwhile, the US Press has been trumpetting the 11 consecutive wins by US players. I wonder if they've also noticed that an anchored putter hasn't reached the winner's enclosure since Furyk gave Keegan Bradley an early Christmas present seven months ago at Bridgestone, 19 events, plus the Ryder Cup of course?

5).Somewhat more surprising is the rat-a-tat-tat of notes about Matt Kuchar having the Tour high of 32 top tens since the start of the 2010 season, three ahead of Luke Donald's 29. Both with 3 wins, Kuchar having played 19 more Tour events than Donald in this time. (And Donald, of course, up two Ryder Cups to nil ) Interesting though.

6).On a weekend where several American Young Ones made a splash - not just Luke Guthrie at Honda, but winner Cantlay (20) and 4th place Jordan Spieth (19) in Columbia on the web.com Tour - it is worth noting some big names outside the FedEx Top 125 as the season is approx 30% complete.
Examples of those who I imagine have exhausted their exemptions, can't be 100% on that,:
129th: Ben Crane (glacially slow except on those godawful videos).
135th: Fatty Marino, playing out his medical exemption.
136th: Immelman
151st: Brian Davis
162nd: Martin Laird
175th: JB Holmes (not quite so slow since his brain surgery)
181st: Appleby
188th: Ishikawa
Others like Allenby, Chad Campbell, Weir and Sabbatini are also struggling big time, but with one Get-Out-Of-Jail card up their sleeves.

7).Easy to complain about the young golfers in the post-Vijay, Davis, Ernie, Phil, Tiger, even Duval era being under-performers, but they are!
Top tens (like Kooch and Luuuuke) by the bucket load, but wins very thin on the ground. Let's update the Tour win totals of the Under 35's:
8 wins: Scott (34), Garcia (33)
7: Dustin Johnson (28)
6: McIlroy (23)
5: Kuchar (34), Donald (34), Sneds (32), Watney (31), Hunner (30)
4: Bubba (34), Rose (32), Haas (30), O'Hair (30).

8).So, Doral this week, more grainy Bermuda greens and a bomber's paradise. No idea who might win, though perhaps South Africa can redeem itself from a dismal MatchPlay effort. Unwise to count Ogilvy out if he's in the mood; he's won here and the field is just his size!
Of the European invasion there's one contestant who's driven down the coast with excellent, unsung credentials. Led the Honda field last week in greens in regulation and "proximity to the pin", and finished fourth here in 2012. And that man is Peter Hanson, surely worth a couple of bob each way?

9).Tiger was carted off here last year and Rory obviously walked off last week, and they're playing together Thursday, with Luke Donald joining them. Justin Rose defends his title, and we wonder whether his career will kick on, or is he destined to be another one-win-a-year merchant, never quite reaching the heights.
Weather should be fine and the course playing relatively firm and fast. No rain in the forecast and there'll be low scores in Rounds 1 and 2, but beware the possibility of stronger winds by the weekend.

10).And so to Puerto Rico where Shane Lowry will make a very welcome return to action. There's a pretty decent field, all things considered, including Europeans Casey (dreadful finish last week), Christian, Davis, Karlsson, Knox, Norlander and Stenson. Old lags whose brilliant future is well behind them help pad out the field, Allenby, Ames, Campbell, Jerry Kelly, Leonard, Sabbatini and Weekley but the theoretical class of the field among the veterans should be KJ Choi and YE Yang.
Shane will have the really Young Ones to contend with, Cantlay, Guthrie, Kohles, Spieth, Ishikawa and this will be good competition for him as he assesses his game in PGA Tour events. He's told pgatour.com that he plans to try for as many sponsor invites as he can get as he intends to stay here into May in his quest for Special Temporary Membership. He made plenty of friends at the MatchPlay and good luck to him in his efforts to achieve PGA Tour status.

PS: Please, pgatour.com, get your act together for the "live scoring". Or fire those CDW people and hire europeantour.com for the job.

Kwin - Now that's what I call a write up. Extremely well done!!

As much as I can't stop chortling at the pressed suit and hairstyle that is uniquely Trump, I always temper any criticism of the man with my admiration for his smarts, knowing his product and market so well. Lots of fatalities where he's succeeded. Puts out an exceptional product in the private golf sector -- now if only he'd do the same for public golf.

And I'm certain he will get the best of Gil Hanse (who "resides" in the same town I live and who've I've met a few times). If old, dead architects like Donald Ross can design about 500 courses, I'm sure Gil can handle two high-paying gigs. Anyway those top guys never ride the equipment -- but you can be sure they have "shapers" that know the drill.

So, 11 straight weeks for the Americans? Hey, why not an end to that this week. I would like to see Rory do it. And I think he's too young to be lumped with the young underperfomers, but he's sure done that in 2013.

And boy that US website is just awful. Why is this so hard to fix?

Sr,
I'd forgotten about Rory when I had the idea for the list, and never thought to update its genesis!
Just teasing about Gil Hanse, but he's going to be under a lot of pressure to deliver in Rio . . . . and who knows when he'll be able to start?

Action already in Puerto Rico; this may be a fourth or fifth tier event but successful golfers can make their season right here.
Karlsson and Sabbatini among the leaders very early on, amid encouraging signs that pgatour.com's leaderboard is actually working. No guarantees that their Cadillac efforts will be so good however, signs so far not promising.

Shane Lowry puts his pudding down at 12.40 p.m. local and gets going with heartthrob (we hope) Erik Compton and European Challenge Tour youngster Peter Uihlein.

Reports from GolfWorld that Els has been practicing with a short putter and may revert to it this week.
A chink in the anchorers' armour?
Nah!

Andres Romero one off the lead in Puerto Rico, good to see.....A career like Kim's and Villegas that was so promising yet declined rapidly....

In the lead now; seems to reserve his interest to two or three tournaments a year - awol the rest of the time.
Disappointing, but not sure because of the same reasons as Kim (injuries/fitness) or Villegas (putting paralysis), Romero just doesn't seem engaged. When he is turned on, he's one of those guys who seems to have an extra gear, hits it a mile.

Poulter bogeys the first, a par 5 so nett double bogey!

Looks like he heard you, Poulter at -2 five holes later

Poulter and McDowell both -2, carrying the Team GB&I flag right now.
Lovely cosmopolitan leaderboard - let's hope it stays that way.

Nothing definitive about the early scoring, except that Marcel Siem has rather cast himself adrift of the field.

A pair of anchorers leading the way now.

Grumps

Is Coco still suffering from toothache or is it intense media spotlight? Seems to be having a very up and down round at the moment.

Meanwhile, Shane Lowry's +2 front nine suggests the 90F+ temps may not be suiting him.
Nothing a cold brewski and a pint of Ben and Jerry's at the turn won't put right.

I wonder if Doral is as boring a course to play as it is to watch on TV?

Hardly a test of golf - Innisbrook's Copperhead Course that we'll see next week would be a far stronger test and is a much more attractive lay-out.

Many Europeans are shooting themselves out of the tournament on the first day - anything over par will require some seriously low scores to return to contention.

I think I always get it muddled up with Cypress Creek Kwini.

My Dad used to have a golf game on the Apple Mac back when computers were awe inspiring things and those were the choice of course I believe.

Amusingly enough the game would crash were you to either hole out from off the green or dump one in the water three times in a row. Options a plenty to avoid defeat if you found yourself too far behind.

Poulter dressed again as the caramel hazelnut though Rickeeee's Andy Pandy outfit is even more puke inducing/attention seeking.

Bleeurrggggghhh Justin.

With commentators having the apparent intellect of Bill and Ben, all we need is Muffin the Mule and we'll be all set.
Good job Poulter's not wearing Rose's strides.

Lowry continuing to tread water in Puerto Rico, not what he needs at all.

Players over par at Doral as of 3:45 pm Miami Time. Most of them are European

T49 Jason Day + 1
T49 Jamie Donaldson + 1
T49 Rafael Cabrera Bello + 1
T49 Louis Oosthuizen + 1
T54 Robert Garrigus + 2
T54 Branden Grace + 2
T54 Ryan Moore + 2
T54 Ernie Els + 2
T54 Marcus Fraser + 2
T59 Thorbjorn Olesen + 3
T59 Francesco Molinari + 3
T59 Rory McIlroy + 3
T59 Marcel Siem + 3
T59 Martin Kaymer + 3
T59 Padraig Harrington + 3
65 Paul Lawrie + 4

Tiger Woods just got Tiger Woodsier.

kwinigolfer wrote:
Lowry continuing to tread water in Puerto Rico, not what he needs at all.

Tread Water? I think that 8 just depth charged him. Will be some comeback from there.

Interesting leaderboard at the WGC. Tiger looks like he has something to prove, but good showing from a lot of Europeans too.

And Shane Lowry just got Shane Lowryier:
Snowman in Puerto Rico and is currently on course for a bottom ten finish, certainly needs a miracle for the top ten result which would have secured a place at Innisbrook.
Currently being outscored by 11 strokes from Challenge Tour player Uihlein.

blistering - snap: He'll need to walk on water tomorrow.

Tiger!

A day to go low as the many major winner has shown.

Lee and Rory didn't get out of the gate as they hoped, but the best time to get behind is early.

Five Americans, four Europeans on top of affairs at Doral, Europeans dominating the basement!

Pretty good scoring conditions on Friday also, perhaps a bit firmer, faster and breezier as the weekend progresses.

Hopefully Rory feels he found one or two things in today's round that he can build on tomorrow - he hit one or two marvellous shots, perhaps some confidence might slowly return.

When McIlroy says he is trying to get his old swing back, did he intentionally change it over the winter or has he just lost it for some other reason?

Or, is it really just the donney clubs as we all suspect?

Mac,
Don't you think that it will only be after his next win that we find out for certain?

A media storm that one wishes would go away, but only will when Rors starts to compete again.

Remember, today he tied Lee Westwood and Ernie Els, beat Jason Day by one, Kaymer and Harrington by three, hardly the end of the world. Best thing (for once in these silly GC's) is that he gets to play four full rounds. Much needed "Reps" as another troubled golfer would say.

I dont in any way see this as a dire situation for Rory or something he cant recover from, but it is the height of stupidity if he has changed his swing after a great season and a club change. If he has had to change it due to a club change I would question why nike haven't provided him with a club tha is tailored to him and not the other way round,

He didnt change his swing, he just 'lost' it. He said recently its a timing issue.

How long would it take for Spud Face/Pube Head to drop out of the top ten should his current form continue?

McLaren wrote:Or, is it really just the donney clubs as we all suspect?

I see the English number 1 Poulter had a good round too.

super_realist wrote:How long would it take for Spud Face/Pube Head to drop out of the top ten should his current form continue?

don't know, but when Woods wins here, at bay hill, augusta and muirfield village to name but a few, then Rory's no.1 spot will be long gone.

incontinentia wrote:

super_realist wrote:How long would it take for Spud Face/Pube Head to drop out of the top ten should his current form continue?

don't know, but when Woods wins here, at bay hill, augusta and muirfield village to name but a few, then Rory's no.1 spot will be long gone.

Ha ha, He's not even going to win this week. The top of the leaderboard is congested with quality players and Woods is a bottler.

Incon,

In the very unlikely event Tiger wins this week and at bay hill his points average would be about 12.

We'll see, but n the meantime you should get a knife and fork and some word sauce in preparation for sunday evening.

If it's unlikely he wins this week after leading from round 1, who is more "likely" exactly? The No.1 spot will be back where it belongs by the Open

What about post sex scandal tiger has shown us that he can consistently put four rounds together like he used to be able to do?

Back where it belongs? It doesn't belong to anyone, certainly not a bald, nine chinned git who hasn't won a major in 5 years.

Its shaping up to be one hell of a tourny!

Woods, Bubba, mahan, poults, rose, pmick, sergio,

mysti I think you hit the "m" key instead of the "r" in the post above.

There is something inately unlikeable about a certain crop of American's, Nine Chins, Bubba, Zach, Mahan and all the god botherers.

McLaren wrote:What about post sex scandal tiger has shown us that he can consistently put four rounds together like he used to be able to do?

he has done this several times over the last year, woods will win this week i guarantee you

He hasn't done it several times this year at all, for a start he's only played four times, he's missed one cut and tied 33rd and 37th,
He has won ONE tournament and this is the only time this year he's put four decent rounds together, and even then he had a fourth round wobble.

Last year!

What's that got to do with it, it was last year. No relevance at all to now. Look at McIlroy at the end of last year, doesn't seem to be doing him any good.

Straw clutching.

Over the last year i.e. the last 365 days...

Misread your statement, but it was still love sacks. Who cares what you did last year, means nothing at all.

It is relevant, shows his progress

"progress" that has taken him five years, just in time for his game to start going downhill due to his age and lack of bottle.

You're making a rod for your own back super!

Not really Inco, it's not much different from your defence of Gutlord Lowry.

McLaren wrote:What about post sex scandal tiger has shown us that he can consistently put four rounds together like he used to be able to do?

Doesn't mean he can't still win, he's still won 5 times. Keep hating ladies