PGA Tour: A Year of British Futility on Tour: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).With the exception of Rory's brilliant late-season run, the Ryder Cup and Ian Poulter's HSBC win, it's been a year since a British golfer won on Tour. Luke Donald won the final playing of the "Transitions" last March and since then nothing, nuffink.
And, with the possible exception of the golfer formerly known as Martin Laird at The Players, no-one has really come close. Europeans Pettersson, Garcia and Blixt have wins, but Donald, Westwood, Rose, Poulter, McDowell, Laird, Davis (withdrawn more often than he's been in contention), you name it, they've flattered occasionally, deceived always. Harsh? Let's have a look:

2).Exhibit A).Luke Donald. Lots of good finishes in the past 12 months without ever looking like the winner.
And this year, he's reverted to the Lukey of 2009: Driving short and crooked, short game not sharp enough to turn bogeys in to pars, pars in to birdies.
Driving accuracy: 180th out of 183
Greens in regulation: 167th
Strokes gained putting: 107th
Scrambling: 133rd.
Par 5 performance: 173rd.

3).Exhibit B).Lee Westwood. Second behind Rory at the BMW, otherwise no Top 4 finishes since last year's Masters.
17th in Total Driving, but 100th in greens hit.
125th in putting and 146th in Par 5 performance.
So much for foresaking Worksop for Florida. Big mansion, throaty Bentley and not much else to show for it.

4).Exhibit C).Ian Poulter. What an enigma! Brilliant short game but 149th in scoring average. How does that happen?
Short game: Scrambling: 5th, Sand saves: 19th, Putting: 9th.
Long game: Total Driving: 144th, Greens hit: 131st. etc. (Don't tell Johnny Miller.)

5).Exhibit D).Justin Rose. No wins since 2012 at Doral. A propensity for "back-door" high finishes, a la Donald of years gone by. Last year his game was all about hitting greens in regulation and an excellent short game.
So far this year, that iron game has gone awol (128th in gir) and the short game hasn't compensated (126th in putting).

6).Exhibit E).Graeme McDowell. No wins since Pebble in 2010 and, to be fair, no close shaves either. Last year his short game was abysmal (160th or worse in putting, sand saves and scrambling), while this year he's tightened things up around the greens which is a good thing given he's missing more of them (147th in gir) than his competitors.
Nice to see him yukking it up with Tiger at Doral on Sunday, but I ask you: Do you think Tiger would be all smiles if he was five shots behind rather than five ahead? No, Thought not.

7).Etc, Etc. One of the reasons is the fact that playing two Tours allows these guys very little flexibility in scheduling. Donald and Rose seem to have figured out that they should build their year around courses that tend to suit them, stay away from those which don't, but I'd suggest that others have yet to figure that out and get carried away with teeing it up at places where they've next to no chance of excelling. Tough when Majors and WGC's count as events played on both Tours.

8).My favourite courses on the Tour schedule in Florida are Innisbrook's Copperhead Course and 17 holes at the TPC. Perhaps Luke Donald can steer his tee ball a little straighter this week and start to arrest his recent decline at the lyrically named "Tampa Bay Championship presented by EverBank", played at Innisbrook. Horses for courses apply here as often as not and, if guys like Furyk, Goosen and Choi are ever going to resurrect their careers it will be at places like this. Five par-3's, four par-5's for a Par 71 that may play progressively easier as the week goes on. Cool, breezy Thursday, warmer and calmer later.

9).None of the Europeans who played Puerto Rico last week did much to help themselves, a crucial missed opportunity for guys like Karlsson and Knox who will enjoy very few such opportunities (neither eligible for this week's field for instance). But I fancy one or two of Europe's best might fare well this week, Donald of course, Sergio, Pettersson, Kaymer, perhaps even Laird, Fisher and Owen.

10).The Champions Tour travels to California this week for the "Toshiba Classic" in Newport Beach.
Barry Lane has scored a place in the field along with Langer, Chapman, Mouland and Lyle.

One person who won't be there is Eddie Pearce but I strongly, STRONGLY! recommend this article about Fast Eddie for anyone remotely interested in the vagaries of Professional Golf:

http://www.golfchannel.com/news/jason-sobel/eddie-pearce-fast-times-of-next-nicklaus/?hj=xfs


THE LAST WORD: If you think this series of notes is just blowing smoke, think again:
There's a new Pope in town!!
Andy Pope Monday Qualified for this week's Tampa Bay Championship - never 'eard of 'im? No, me neither.

Must have missed that about Daly Kwini, he really is stealing a living at the moment.

I think it looks good for Sergio too, I just wish he would smile again.

Looking a bit better for Brian Davis too, now there is a journeyman Brit if there ever was. His start to the year has been shocking, but will still probably comfortably keep his card.

Blister - You would like to see the top American players play both tours and maintain such a high OWR.

That makes no sense to me. Sort of like purposely banging your head against the wall so it feels good when you stop. Trot the globe and play as much as you want, but surely there's some impact to getting "Ws" while the wallet stays fat.

For those aspiring golfers who want to take Tiger's approach and win primarily on courses you've won at ... well, start winning!

I'm going to IHOP in Vermont!

blistering,
One other factor that I'm trying to point out, especially for the Davises, Fishers, Lairds, Lynns and Owens of this world, is that it's very much a short season, no Fall Series to make up for lost opportunities, so that if they don't make the FedEx play-offs, they're off to the mini-series of four tournaments with the web.commers.
Crucial that each of them get their season off to a decent start, but their playing opportunities are one third gone and, Lynn excepted, they've a ton of work to do to secure safety.


Better news of another dog-eared Englishman, Barry Lane, who's off to a very good start in the Champo event in California. A win would be great, but even a top ten could afford him a place in next week's event. Would love to see him gain an exemption to the Champions Tour - think he'd do very well.

Mcdowell had a close shave at the US Open???

A tournament is over 72 holes (usually) so no such thing as a "high back door finish" IMO

Other than that a great though provoking article as usual Kwini, but it is all relative. Long gone are the days when Faldo,Woosnam & Lyle were the only UK players capable of winning on the US tour. Just wish a few more of the current crop, outside of the NI branch would step up to the major plate.

Nick,
You're right!
Which actually emphasises a point I made a few weeks ago that it didn't make sense for him not to play in California this year, given his success there, up and down the coast.

He took a long break & looked strong last week so maybe his decision will pay off later in the year.

Kwini... a few more Euro's for Bay Hill in addition to those you mentioned... David Lynn & Jonas Blixt.

As for Fish... never say never but the API doesn't have the fall out like a regular event might... any more than 2 legitimate injury or illness WD's would be a surprise... Fish at 5th on the alt list...

And by the way... as an invitational... a top-10 in Tampa doesn't get a player into the API... but a WIN does.

blisteringblue wrote:If we are up for a bit of USA bashing can anybody tell me why the tour persists in wasting an exemption spot on John Daly?

It's not the Tour giving Daly those sponsor exemptions... it's the sponsors. My guess is if the PGAT had a hand in it... Daly wouldn't get as many... if any at all.

EDIT: And by the way... in Tampa, Daly is like a god... being one of the most prolific supporters of the original Hooters and all...

Very disappointing 3-putt from inside 10ft for The Laird, already lost 1.5 strokes putting in his first five holes. A touch fortunate to make the cut, and you'd think he'd be focussed on making the most of it.
Back to the chipping and putting form of his early years on Tour - got to improve or it'll be a long few months for him.

robo,
Tomasulo seems a good guy, always received a ton of Nationwide coverage - isn't he one of the Long Beach crowd? All of whom seem decent blokes; have seen that first hand with Mallinger.

kwinigolfer wrote:robo,
Tomasulo seems a good guy, always received a ton of Nationwide coverage - isn't he one of the Long Beach crowd? All of whom seem decent blokes; have seen that first hand with Mallinger.

Kwini... can't tell you much about Tomasulo other than what's already out there. I've seen him on the range and he seems a pretty relaxed, smiling Bob kinda guy, chat's it up with other players nearby and such and seems to be having a good time out there. They say he's a pretty solid ball striker, but I'm no swing guru... so they ALL look solid to me... :-)

And apparently he's kinda close to Rolfing... saw them yucking it up a few times in Hawaii.

Garrigus putting a good round together....He would be one of the outside picks for the Masters I would make.

Wonder if Garrigus goes in to the portaloos at Augusta for a joint, like he used to boast of on the Nationwide Tour . . . . .

Come on Luuuuuke!

Shockingly bad putting round for Laird - almost five full shots lost "putting", just about as bad as you can do I should imagine. He won't keep his card like that.

More like it for Luuuuuke, another couple of birds will put him right in the thick of things unless someone goes crazy.

Sergiooooooo!!!

princedracula wrote:Sergiooooooo!!!

Oh, Sergio...

Job done by Luke; who's this Justin Leonard fellow climbing the leaderboard?

I really wish Scott throws away that silly long stick. Some terrible putting the last few holes... Continuing great effort from Coetzee..

Luke could easily be T3 or T4 by the end of the day...

Mixed bag for the Texas contingent so far today... Spieth, Leonard, good... Stefani not so good.

Rubbish from Ogilvy today - he won't get to Augusta with that sort of effort. Putting nearly as bad as Laird's.

But fine showing from Coetzee - just keeps getting better and better.

Justin Leonard! ... talk about futility on tour.

Well, with so many of the big guns elsewhere this week, why not? A big tip of the hat to Kevin Streelman for throwing up the -6 today.

Just turned it on for first time this week, greens look difficult and crowd very rowdy. Sergio getting heckled for fun! Loads of players with chance to win this..

Still don't understand why it's OK to heckle overseas players on the PGA Tour - Montgomerie obviously suffered the worst, but Sergio gets sh1t that wouldn't be tolerated for other players. Hopefully he can answer with a 65 tomorrow.

Surprising who's stepped forward today, and who's slipped back.

Shotrock wrote:Justin Leonard! ... talk about futility on tour.

No kidding... I mean only 12 PGA Tour wins (T78 All Time) including ONE major and ONE Players Championship to go along with those 3 Ryder Cup and 5 President Cup appearances... Oh and that measly little $31 MIL in career earnings...

Yeah... a real study in futility alright...

Justin Leonard's actually been showing very positive signs of return to form on tracks like these; may never again be the force of a few years ago but it seems he's reconciled himself to concentrating where he can be successful, screw the rest.
And he'll always be welcome at The Open.

Strange: can never imagine personally liking Justin Leonard, but am always happy to see him do well; one or two in that category I suppose.

Some good pairings tomorrow but would guarantee that the Laird / O'Hair offering will be among the slowest. Logjam!

Donald playing with Tag Ridings who hits it a mile, so good opportunity for Luke to focus on his own game - another 67 for the win?

Kwini... agree on Leonard. To be honest, I didn't see him as one that would have to be burning one of his Career earnings lifelines at this age (40). I can't explain what has gone wrong with his game.

And as for him personally... He's kind of a hard guy to get to know. I've had a chance to work (or play in) some charity deals over in Austin with he, Ben and Kite, and still, it's not that he's unfriendly... he certainly engages when spoken to. It's more like a combination of shy/guarded methinks. Now I've seen him cut up and seem really seem loose when he's with his close friends... just not so much around everybody else... me being in the everybody else category.

Interesting stat of the day... The 560-yard, par-5 1st hole was the easiest in round three with an average of 4.623, while the 605-yard, par-5 5th hole was the toughest, with a scoring average of 5.364. Not all that often you see a par-5 as the hardest hole.

robo,
Cheers.
And: Pebble Beach's 14th sometimes . . . .

Curiosity: Donald failed to birdie any of the par 5's and still shot 4 under - apparently had Pat Goss in for some swing maintenance and looks like something clicked.

kwinigolfer wrote:robo,
Cheers.
And: Pebble Beach's 14th sometimes . . . .

Curiosity: Donald failed to birdie any of the par 5's and still shot 4 under - apparently had Pat Goss in for some swing maintenance and looks like something clicked.

Luke's never gonna be long off the tee, but I was kinda surprised to see him fall back into his old "short and crooked" earlier this year. I like Luke's game, and IMO he's just too good a player (and GREAT short game) to keep down for long.

But that said, I kinda see his 2011 season as the exception not the rule. IMO, if he can choose the right tracks and win once a year on the PGAT, maybe twice once in a while... along with his usual butt-load of top-10's and top-25's... that would be most excellent in these days of relative parity. Anything more... a HUGE bonus. And while he's not all that high on my "I think he's gonna win a major list"... IMO if there's a year for him to do it... no better time than THIS year considering the venues. Seems like three of them, Merion, Muirfield and Oak Hill should be about as much in his wheelhouse as any three majors venues could be.

EDIT: About Pebble's 14th. Surprisingly... while it always is ranked among, if not the, toughest par-5's on tour for any given year (both the ATT and U.S. Open)... even as diabolical as it was in the 2010 U.S. Open.. it still ranked 3rd hardest for the week. The hardest in the '10 Open... the 92 yard par-3 seventh @ 3.487... go figure. Here's the data for the 14th ranked against all par-5s on tour for a given year.

Year Rank Avg. E B P B DB Others
2010*1st 5.437 1 50 231 146 36 14
2010 2nd 5.187 0 37 127 51 6 4
2009 4th 5.061 0 33 109 32 3 2
2008 1st 5.296 0 26 140 58 13 3
2007 10th 4.987 0 52 147 31 9 0
2006 1st 5.300 0 30 129 73 14 1
2005 5th 4.983 0 51 149 33 7 0
2004 2nd 5.138 1 38 146 52 8 2
2003 3rd 5.140 0 42 138 53 8 2
2002 1st 5.385 0 19 136 81 13 3
2001 3rd 5.088 1 56 132 49 10 3
2000*1st 5.378 0 33 235 142 25 2
2000 17th 4.921 2 55 146 32 4 0

*U.S. Opens at Pebble... all others AT&T

Lovely day in prospect in the Tampa area, plenty warm enough and enough of a breeze forecast to make things interesting.

The leaderboard is bunched and anyone reaching -8, which no-one did yesterday, must have a helluva chance.

That would require a four-under 67 from Luke Donald, for instance, a 66 for Sergio. Realistically you could make a winning case for the overnight Top 20, but here's hoping for a repeat of last year's result.

Come on Luke!!


On the Left Coast, Barry Lane slipped back yesterday and will need something special today to give himself the chance of a top ten and the possibility of a ticket to Mississippi for next week.

kwinigolfer wrote: Sergio gets sh1t that wouldn't be tolerated for other players.

Sergio asks for it imo with his brattish behaviour. Some of it is chucklesome though, remember he had a sore finger at the Masters a couple of years ago and a journalist asked him which one and Sergio replies "this one" and flips him the bird!!

Robo - Meant in the past 5 years or so. Sort of in that no man's land between a has been and a champions tour to be.

Oh, and also, I found him to be a standoffish buffoon when I met him. But hey, maybe he was having a bad day.

inco, haven't seen that particular scene myself, but not so sure that's entirely true, specially if you refer to that 'finger' episode last year at the Masters. I think even the American reporter in question got the funny side of it, probably it just got blown out of proportions as it usually happens when re-re-re-commented by others afterwards...

http://www.golfchannel.com/news/golftalkcentral/garcia-near-lead-despite-finger-injury/

I know Sergio may not always be a saint himself and his demeanour and sense of humor is, let's say different, but I certainly think a lot of this abuse he's getting in the States is unwarranted and just shear stupidity on behalf of a small part of the crowd over there...

Yes drac it was done in a humourous context.

Well, good luck to Justin Leonard today, but better luck to Sergio, whatever the crowd may say. And bonniest chance to Luke.

(pd, Remember that a lot of the poor opinions about Monty and Sergio come from the broadcasters, NBC in particular, applied to Faldo too until he became one of them! They feed the crowd.)

Oh, c'mon, I think I would've done a pretty similar gesture considering it was that finger...

t'would be hard to resist alright!!

Sergio off to the good start (birdied the easy first anyway) he needed.

A few rulings and pieces of luck for Luke, such as those favouring Sunderland today, and Donald should win going away.

Boo Weekly going great guns at the moment; -5 through 11 and 1 shot off the lead.

C'mon Taggart!!

Happy St.Patrick's Day to all our friends in Ireland from the one person in the U.S. who doesn't proclaim Irish heritage today . . . . . . . or any other day, nothing personal, I love you all!


Boo making a charge Grumps and you'd reckon a couple more birdies would set quite the target. Apparently his game has picked up considerably since large boils were removed from his seemingly ample posterior. He's previously had them on the brain if I recall his behaviour at Valhalla correctly.
Bloody Hell, that's six under!

Grumps: You going to catch this storm due in a day or so - could be our biggest of the year if the forecast is correct, which to be fair it seldom is.

Aren't you finding a way to pee on my non-paddies day parade! We got some snow yesterday that has covered the course again. I was hoping to sneak out and hit some balls in preparation for the season opener on Good Friday but now chance now.

Weekly at -7 under and a share of the lead now. Guess he's riding his putter as opposed to his driver now.

Happy St. Patrick's Day, kwini, and all!
Very low key cellebrations for me this year, as I've had a pretty bad cold for the last couple of days and stayed indoors all day... A few more hot whiskies and I should be all right...

...and talking about green stuff... those greens in Tampa seem to behave quite differently today from what I saw so far, much softer it would appear? If that's the case perhaps one would need a bit more than 8-under to have a chance..?

Good start from Sergio, Luke and George Coetzee, who must be thinking now of a South African St. Paddy's Day triple, apart from getting his own 1st big win...

Watch what I'm saying; there's another one. -7!! And another!!! -8!!!!

Comprehensive waste of promising Rounds 1 and 2 by Brian Davis - this year ain't gonna be easy for him. Laird neither.

pd

Living in ignorant bliss about the weather Kwini. I hope not on the storm, looks like it will be well away from the Poconos but who knows with things; weather men and women certainly don't most of the time.

Another birdie at the last?

Not with a putt like that. Nice round from Weekly it'll be a long wait to see if he's in a play off or better.

Helluva round - better than anyone else by four shots.
Now Lukey and Sergio know what they have to do.
Make birdies - but eagles would be good too.

Garcia putting better than Donald.
Come on Sergio!

Luuuuuuuke; need a few more of them though.