PGA Tour: Valero Texas Open: Notes from the Ballwasher

1).Next year's "Shell Houston Open" will revert to its traditional date the week before The Masters, but it won't be much more exciting than the tournament we enjoyed last weekend. Lots of appetising ingredients with Phil, Rory, Louis and Lee but in the end we could only admire an out-of-the-blue return to Victory Lane by Darren Andrew Points who scored his first Top 60 result of the season, his first Top 15 result since losing, along with Rory McIlroy, in the Quail Hollow play-off last May to Rickie Fowler.

2).Joint runner up was Billy Horschel, extending his string of consecutive cuts made to a Tour-leading 20, one ahead of Poulter.
Horschel's a cocky sod and temperamental as well, when things start going haywire, they don't stop. But this result wraps up his card for the year and I'd expect him to free-wheel to some more good results. In fact, I'd have him in any short-list of non-winners most likely to break through, along with 7th place Kevin Chappell and Cameron Tringale, who slipped away to 16th. There are plenty of hot-shots coming through but these three will win.

3).Also joint runner-up was the always enigmatic Henrik Stenson who booked his ticket to Augusta with four birdies in his final five holes. And: Catch a load of his seasonal stat's:
Driving Accuracy: 1st
Total Driving: 1st
Greens in Regulation: 1st
Ball Striking: 1st
Scrambling: 1st.
And we know he can hit it as far as he wants to, so his 57th place in Driving Distance (290.5 yds) presumably hides a few 3-woods or less off the tee.
An in-form Stenson can beat anyone, yes, anyone, and he's surely earned a spot on short-lists for The Masters.

4).Highest finisher from Team GB&I? Brian Davis of course! He'd disappeared since a T4 in Hartford last year, so that adds up to 20 tournaments played with one Top 25 (15th in Canada) and 14 missed cuts. But Davis is a creature of habit and here are two ways of showing it:
Seasonal:
Money winnings Jan/Feb: 9%
March - June: 62%
July - December: 29%

And geographically:
There are only four events in Texas every year, yet 27% of his career earnings have been split between Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth and San Antonio. 14% in Florida is his next best haul by State. 'Course, he also likes Pete Dye courses but that's for another Note.

5).The golf world was following princedracula this weekend, anxious for him to reveal all the permutations involved in determining owgr Top 50 positions and a ticket to Augusta. In the event Freddie Jacobson, Richard Sterne and Henrik Stenson secured their invitations via the Top 50 while Points joins them as a Tour winner. Lots of disappointment for near misses especially Marcel Siem who was bumped out by Henley, already in the field. All European Golf fans would be thrilled to see Marcel win in San Antonio this week to take his place after all.
Europeans playing The Masters for the first time are:
Alan Dunbar (Amateur Champion)
Colsaerts, Donaldson, Lynn and Olesen.

6).Is the criteria for Masters qualification fair? And, is it worthy of being a Major??
One thing you can say for certain is that all the golfers in the world knew the various qualifying routes from the word go and that Billy Payne would devalue all those criteria by inviting Ryo Ishikawa even after he has relentlessly manifested the fact he is unworthy of a free pass.
Personally, I'd say that inviting back most Past Champions and last year's Top 16, and offering entry to certain Amateur Champions is just fine.

7).For those who suggest the PGA Tour is unfairly favouritised I'd counter by saying that many golfers from other nations compiled owgr points in "subsidised" events.
But one criteria is just bloody daft: Leaders in all the Majors:
Masters: Top 16 (I think Kevin Na is the only one to qualify solely under this rule, and he might not be fit to play).
US Open: Top 8
Open Championship: Top 4
PGA Championship: Top 4
What makes The Open Championship (or the PGA Championship for that matter) inferior to the US Open which, by comparison, has such a weak field?

8).So: If we agree the Top 8 exemption should be applied at least as much to The Open and PGA we can offer commiserations to:
The Open: Thomas Aiken (T7)
PGA Championship: Blake Adams (who is injured, out at least until the autumn).

See, Billy, that wouldn't have hurt, would it now? Couldn't you bring yourself to be seen to be a bit more fair?

9).The American media is having great fun at the American winning streak on Tour, as if it's somehow symptomatic of US dominance. Probably more symptomatic of the decline of just a few International Golfers who have not yet been replaced and the fact that, typically, the Europeans seldom win on the "West Coast" or "Florida" swings.
In approx 185 such tournaments since Jan 2000, the breakdown has been:
USA winners: 127: (Incl 11 WGC's, 5 won by Woods).
International: 43 (4 WGC's): 7 for Els, 6 for Ogilvy, 5 for Singh, 3 each for Appleby and Weir.
Europe: 15 (5 WGC's): 3 for Donald, 2 for Parnevik, no-one else more than 1 each.
Just saying.

10)."The Valero Texas Open" has one of the most generous sponsors and generates among the largest charitable donations of the PGA Tour. But it's been on Finchem's back burner especially after leaving Tillinghast's revered Oak Hills Country Club (home of the fore-runner to the Tour Championship which was won by T.Watson).
Since leaving Oak Hills (now a Champions Tour stop), the quality of the fields has gone down with the quality of the Golf Courses, the last stop before TPC San Antonio being a dump that was overlooked by a roller-coaster.
Apparently Greg Norman's lay-out has had some rough edges smoothed out, some greens made less severe, and some chipping areas moderated so there's some hope that this represents window-shopping for Tour pros who wouldn't otherwise bother to play here.
Whatever happens it will have a later date next year, probably the last week in April.
Who will win? No idea, but the aforesaid trio of Chappell, Horschel and Tringale must have a shout. Freddie Jac has played well here, it's a home date for Jimmy Walker and Brendan Steele followed up his 2011 win with a T4 last year.
And fingers crossed for Marcel Siem.

Where's GPB?
I see the FedEx Play-Off points changes aren't kicking in this year - sure they will next year, though.
Mucho apologies . . . . . .

Probably The Tour didn't want to make yet another change to the system. It would be a bad precedent if it's changed every year.

Thanks for a good article yet again kwini. I can see why they copy you. Hope you'll make a rant in next weeks notes ref the Masters qualification criteria vs its status as a major!....

Thanks pedro,
The deal seems to be that the Majors organizations don't much care for journeymen enjoying one high result (in the Play-Offs) and receiving disproportionately rich bennies, exemptions and the rest. And Laird was the beneficiary a few years ago.

No rant, but I reckon the current Augusta National hierarchy are devaluing the status of The Masters rather than enhancing it. Not good.

"Since leaving Oak Hills (now a Champions Tour stop), the quality of the fields has gone down with the quality of the Golf Courses, the last stop before TPC San Antonio being a dump that was overlooked by a roller-coaster."

yeah - sorry about that. It looked so bad I couldn't be bothered rocking up.

Kwini - you mention Stenson using 3 woods off the tee. Am I right in thinking that he has had some major issues with his driver of late and hardly uses it? Not knocking his stats but I think that they may all be with his 3 wood.

Whether with 3 wood or driver they are pretty impressive and should serve him well around Augusta.

Ahh for the "problems" of only hitting 290 accurately and consistently.

(In one shot rather than drive and wedge from mangos - which I can do fairly consistently).

Haven't been able to ascertain what Henrik's been hitting off the tee, but would think he must be hitting driver at least some of the time.
I think last year he took the driver out of the bag completely.
He certainly hit 3-wood on the driveable Par-4 12th on Sunday - and hit further, and straighter, than playing partner Dustin Johnson!
One of the guys with an extra gear, which you like to see at Augusta.

It's been dry in the San Antonio area but looks like the course would have received a fair soaking Tuesday, with more showers forecast today. Very welcome, I'd imagine.
Then dry and warming up (70F Thursday to 80's Sunday) as the action heats up.

Hoping a player who hasn't qualified for the Masters wins this week...Hope Harrington gets four good rounds in preparation for next week.

Yeah Stenson seems to be on the comeback trail, as long as he can keep his temper under wraps

Great write up, kwini, thanx for the mention

Wow, I knew he was playing well but didn't realise that Stenson was 1st in so many categories. Certainly one to watch at Augusta, I remember well that fulminant start last year. He was 6-under after 10 holes in Rd1 (incl. two eagles) leapfrogging the whole field by a few shots at that early stage! Unfortunately all crashed down to Earth by the 18th where he got lost in the woods and scored a snowman...

Spoiler:

Regarding the Masters qualification criteria, I continue to believe that if we leave aside the whole history and the 'aura' that, rightly or wrongly, the event is surrounded with, from a purely rational point of view it is probably the least worthy of a major status from the four of them... A number of reasons for that, but at least from an 'official' OWGR point of view, all majors should have a full 156 field to be fully justified in receiving such a bucketload of bonus points...

As for Valero, I agree with sb, would like to see a winner who is not qualified for the Masters already... Unfortunately, with all the fingers crossed for Marcel, don't really think it will be him that guy, but hope I'll be proven wrong. In any case, fair play to the organisers/sponsors for inviting him! Any of those 4-5 you mentioned there at the end should have a good chance...

Kwin - Great write up.

What's most impressive about the American winning streak is just that -- it's a true streak and not x out of y. But straight "W's", the likes of which we haven't seen since 1989. Some record.

As far as the qualification for that tony invitational tournament in Augusta, it's been said before but I still cringe that the likes of Crenshaw, Woosnam, Stadler, Lyle, Mize and even this millennium's champions such as Weir or Immelman are "competing". Would losing any of the above to top 8 in the PGA or Open Championship help the event. Yes, IMO!

Odds on the Americans winning streak has one more week to run.
Only non-Americans to have won in San Antonio for at least the past fifty years are Crampton, Harold The Horse, Nick Price and Adam Scott.

(Still like Freddie e.w. though to have something to say about things.)

Another great writeup Kwini...

And thanks for bringing up that little Tillinghast gem of a course, Oak Hill. But alas it appears as though it's Tour tournament host days have come to a permanent end as this year the Champions Tour event moves to Pete Dye's TPC San Antonio Canyon's Course (sister track to this weeks TPC Oaks Course).

And quite frankly... while I think there will be regrets leaving Oak Hill and it's fairly unique closing par-3's on both nines... I think the Champions Tour guys are going to love the Canyons... probably as much as the Big Tour guys dislike the Oaks. IMO Dye did everything RIGHT with the Canyons that Norman and the Serg did WRONG with the Oaks.

As for the Oaks - granted they blew up 4 greens and 1 fairway in trying to fix some of the worst aberrations for this year's VTO... so that's a good thing... but they probably stopped about 6 green re-do's short and fell about 90% short of the native area removal they need to undertake. But that said... what changes they made will be seen as an improvement. I'm thinking that this year the players impression of the Oaks will go from "Absolutely, Positively the least enjoyable course we play all year" to "Arguably the least enjoyable course we play all year".

All I can say is... thank goodness for the wonderful hospitality and quality of the host venue and a city and River Walk that is a most enjoyable experience... OH... and the Superb manner in which the sponsor and organizers have engaged the community in the tournaments charity efforts.

I know this is more a discussion for next week, but the thing I love about The Masters is that it is on the same course every year. This, and the fact that it is the first major of the year make it what it is. I also don't mind that it has a smaller field than the other majors, but I do think there needs to be a stricter control on allowing back past champions. If they're not competitive, and by that I mean genuinely capable of winning the tournament, then they shouldn't be there. How about a rule that any past champion who misses 5 Masters cuts in a row has outstayed his welcome and only gets an invite to the par 3 tournament?

Thanks all,

robo,
I tried to reflect the heritage of what a great tournament this has been and could be - seems like Valero does a great job and the community rallies behind the event even when the Tour chooses not to. No justice!

Hadn't realised the Champo's departure from Oak Hills was finalised.
Never been to San Antonio but certainly among the top 3 conference destinations (along with New Orleans and San Francisco) for lucky folks around these parts. Will you be going?

Any observations from Houston? Looked a great event from my armchair, seems Redstone matures into a Tour-worthy course just a little bit more every year.


Hi Sheldo,
Think most on here will agree with you - can't honestly understand what some of these guys get out of slogging up hill and down dale on the toughest walk on Tour.

These guys would be gonged if your suggestion was applied with their streak of missed cuts:
Langer - 6 and a DNP
O'Meara - 6 and a DNP
Crenshaw - 5
Stadler - 5
while Woosie would be on the brink having missed 4 (only made one cut since 2000), and so would Olly (four missed cuts plus a DNP).
Two or three more Past Champs with three missed cuts . . . . .

Reducing the field with four ceremonial place-holders would allow the Top 60 owgr.

Thanks for identifying those who would face the Hangman's noose Kwini. I don't imagine any of us have any of those on our list of potential winners this year! Personally I'm hoping for a really good show from the Brits, but I'm struggling to see beyond Woods, given how successful he's been already this year on courses where he's got previous. I don't mind if he wins, but I'd like him to look happy about it!

kwinigolfer wrote:
Never been to San Antonio but certainly among the top 3 conference destinations (along with New Orleans and San Francisco) for lucky folks around these parts. Will you be going?

Any observations from Houston? Looked a great event from my armchair, seems Redstone matures into a Tour-worthy course just a little bit more every year.

Yep... I'm here, but training some new staff... I'll be out of here tonight or tomorrow at the latest.

As for Houston... Hmmm.... First let me say the course was in SPECTACULAR shape... best they've gotten it yet. Never seen the overseed so consistent. And while there is only ONE Augusta, they actually do about as good a job in mimicking certain Masters conditions as I think possible. Nice tight runoffs... and lots of them. And greens were running about as perfect as we ever get anywhere around here. The only negative to the condition itself, is a few hard spots on some greens. #17 for instance. The front of that green is just dead... balls won't release... but mid way up is like a trampoline... repelling anything from there over... but the very back edge holds... go figure. Saw LW hit a shot in there on Thursday from the fairway that was about as perfect as you could imagine maybe 25 feet short and should have released to maybe 5 feet... only to see it take that hard bounce and bound over... to leave him a good 25-30 yard chip back up. But those issues are minimal and the greens should only get better and better as they continue to settle in.

And as for the being a Tour-worthy course... it most certainly is. VERY impressive, and the players rave on it. And it's playable for "regular folk" too. And believe me... they could make this thing a beast if not for trying to emulate the Augusta rough cuts... OOPS... make that SECOND CUT as the green coats prefer to call it... :-). But that said... I would like Redstone a LOT better it were sitting down in Galveston on the coast or on the bay or something. I mean its an awesome track and all... but it seems kinda out of place and contrived for the location it's in. Kind of a "manufactured' linksy coastal type layout that is so NOT in keeping with the "Piney Woods" of Texas in which its located. It's kinda like taking a beautiful Southwestern style adobe and sticking it in Key West... it just "don't quite fit"... know what I mean. Now the other Redstone course, where they played a few years, fit the locale much better... but it's nowhere near the quality of the Tournament course.

robo
I'm sorry there's no longer a full-field event in Atlanta, but Houston seem to have gone above and beyond in making the pre-Masters date secure, Easter permitting of course! Not many Texas winners there though, but I suppose that proves a point.
Thanks.

kwinigolfer wrote:robo
I'm sorry there's no longer a full-field event in Atlanta, but Houston seem to have gone above and beyond in making the pre-Masters date secure, Easter permitting of course! Not many Texas winners there though, but I suppose that proves a point.
Thanks.

Yeah... I think the smartest thing about the Houston Golf Association... they made an honest self-appraisal of what they were (and maybe more importantly, what they weren't)... and developed a plan to make the best of it. I mean let's face it, for other than the local contingent, or the guys fighting to get into events, there's little compelling reason for the top players to put Houston on their schedule... that is EXCEPT that slotted the week before the Masters... it could be an excellent "play in" event, especially if they could emulate some Augusta conditions. They started it with the other Redstone course... but better perfected the concept with the new course... sold it to the Masters qualified players.... and it's working.

But that's NOT just Houston. I mean lets face it.. when it comes to field strengths, there are definitely "have" and "have not" tiers of events out there. I have a lot of respect for what many of those "have not" tournaments have done to make the best of their situations. Phoenix, McGladrey and even the John Deere are other good examples. Instead of bitching and moaning about what they don't have... they take what they've got and make the most of it.

robo,
A multi-faceted conversation! Completely agree. One of the first two or three 606 articles I wrote was "Over Lord Byron's Dead Body" about the dismal date and worse field it was stuck with following Byron Nelson's death. Used to be one of the must-play stops on Tour - such as when we reminisced about 1981!

And then there's Turning Stone whose Halbritter never reconciled himself to the fact that Tiger would come for Notah but not for him! The list goes on, and on.

Big shame for the markets abandoned or jilted though, doubt there's more than two or three better charitable organizations than the S'ship Club of Dallas.

European Tour stops need to learn the same lesson - Celtic Manor is not a field of dreams, for instance!

PS: I've been to the last five years of The Travelers and reckon they do a fantastic job for the post-US Open week. Can't imagine what more they could do. Always a decent field too.

Kwini....

Well sometimes change is good... and sometimes... maybe not.

It is a shame about the Nelson, but quite frankly despite the extraordinary efforts of the Salesmanship Club... the event has become rather "ordinary". But I like that they've scrapped the two courses and done some nice rework on the other... and of course the DFW area has the Colonial as well... so they get to see a nice mix of good players up there.

And of course it's been mentioned before and I hate to even contemplate, but one has to wonder what happens with Bay Hill if Arnie were to leave us. Similar fate to the Nelson I would guess.

But let's not dwell on the negative... For instance on one hand it's too bad we lost the Western Open... but they were smart in securing a playoff event and quite frankly are getting far better fields than they would have had the Western continued. And despite the criticisms some might have of the FedEx Playoffs... there's no doubting that as individual tournaments... all 4 of them have benefited greatly from the scheme.

But... with every winner there is a loser. Now that 12-13 events are all but dictated to the guys now... that doesn't leave much to spread around to everybody else. And of course the Euro Tour has it even worse with virtually their entire cadre of top stars dual touring the PGAT or trying to climb aboard.

kwinigolfer wrote:Where's GPB?
I see the FedEx Play-Off points changes aren't kicking in this year - sure they will next year, though.
Mucho apologies . . . . . .

I wouldn't any major changes to the FE playoff points. I think they have it just right. The tour has a rule about Top 10's getting a player in the next tournament. I think that should be applied to the FE Playoffs. If #125 finishes 10th in every tournament, he should get to the TC.

But if a player does not finish in the top half of the field, he should not be earning any FE Points

Barclays - 36 hole Cut to Top 60 and ties and only top 60 only earns points
DB - 36 hole Cut to Top 50 and ties and only top 50 only earns points
BMW - No cut, but only Top 30 earns points
TC - No cut, but only top 15 earns points

The Masters just needs to eliminate the TC exemption. A player finishing third at the Deutschebank should not get an exemption to the Masters 7 months later.

I wold not mind seeing the Masters going with a Min OWGR rating (aka 38-40) for its tournament winners exemption.

I do not think weak field events, whether it is Frys*com or Avantha Masters get an exemption. But I do see one problem with that: it might promote more of the "Buying a good field" Mentality that is prevalent in the Middle East and the rest of Asia. And I can see someone clever (Cough Chubby) bundling players to make sure that a tournament meets the minimum.

Either Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, Billy Payne will be addressing the World of Golf. I am sure that he will give ANGC's position on the Anchored Putter and I suspect changes to the qualification for the 2014 Masters.

I'm with Sheldo about the Masters being a Major for all the reasons listed. Although having read through the very impressive info here I do agree that the field should be a little deeper.

I think is that a major should have its own character and foibles. It needs proper history and to have the players focussing on it which brings more pressure and the thought that you only have four shots at one each year.

A good example to show why its a major is to consider why The Players should not be a major. The more 'majors' you have the more you dilute the pressure which is what a major is all about and that is before we even start on the idea of having 4 of 5 majors in the States.

robo, GPB,
I'm not sure that the BMW every other year, maybe, is compensation for a full event every year . . . . . But one thing I certainly agree is that the first three FedEx events have fab fields.
I don't have as much of a problem with owgr points for them, much more egregious are those awarded for also-rans in WGC's ("Ooh Rory, got beat by Shane Lowry? Well done, here's a two-point bonus") and the Tiger/Nedbank nonsenses.

Anyway, looking forward to seeing what the boys make of San Antonio. And looking forward to the Masters edition of SI GolfPlus.

In response to Pd's query earlier about the Masters getting so many ranking points (and I don't claim for one nano-second to have anything like his understanding or experience on the subject), I think, at least for the high end finishers, that just because it's a smaller field doesn't mean it is easier to win. I'm sure it's the same sort of pressure on the back nine on Sunday if you're trying to win it as it is at any other major.

Sheldo - That's a very keen insight and one, IMO, oft overlooked.

Perhaps more than any other major if the trappings of Augusta are your thing: lifetime exemption, separate locker room for winners, champs dinner invite. And of course, the cheap green jacket! All things you should probably NOT be thinking about on the back 9 if you are in contention.

Unless something strange happens, the Masters does dole out less OWGR points than the other three majors.

At the top it is the same, but at the bottom it is not.

Everyone that makes the cut earns points.

The Masters cut is Top 44 and ties. The other majors are at least Top 60 and Ties.

IMO, it is more than a trivial amount, as much as 8% if only 44 make the cut at the Masters and 75 people make the cut at one of the other majors.

==========

Kwini, It is a travesty the OWGR recognizes Nedbank/World Challenge for two reason. Extremely limited field that is not part of any tour official money list.

I am almost as passionate for the Volvo Match Play, the Hyundai ToC and the TC, but not as much, as at least they are part of the list.

The problem is the OWGR field evaluation encourages top heavy fields. Short fields don't get penalized much. Players ranked outside the top 200 count as much toward a fields ranking as GPB if he were to get a sponsors invite. (and GPB is crippled and doesn't play anymore)

IMO, every player should add an incremental value to a field's rating however trivially. #250 in the World should add something more than one-armed GPB.

That would reward tournaments with bigger fields.

Kwini - great write up as ever. It's not a real major! Not a full field, and still some idiosyncrasies in qualification. Great tournament, with a special place in all our golfing years and memories, but for me not a major.
Majors in my world are Open, US Open, Australian Open, French Open and SA Open. I may be in the minority, but not in my world!!

Cheers puligny,
A few years ago one of the Golf magazines over here ran a players' poll at the time of The Players Championship asking them to nominate their fifth "Major".

Lots of calls for the Aussie Open, but the remainder were pretty much split with parochial preferences dominating, although the highest number, not surprisingly given the constituency, was for The Players.

I've got no problem with the four we're stuck with, although each should do more to earn that status every year. I'd say the PGA Championship does the best job in that regard, The Masters by far the worst - it's their party and they'll make their own rules. Like inviting a war criminal to be their first woman member - and I'm not talking about the estimable Darla Moore.

As for the Aussie and Saffers Opens, they do a p1ss poor job of attreacting their own players, let alone an international field, so they're disqualified in my book!

Cloudy to start with in San Antonio but should be a lovely day later on. They've just had two days of welcome rain, but it will be hot and dry for the weekend.

Good piece Kwini dude!

Stensons stats are something else!!

Cheers mysti,
Nothing untoward so far in San Antonio and a shortish eagle putt from Rory in prospect.
Russell Knox has just left his first tee and I wonder if this is the sort of course that might suit his style of play? Good luck to him regardless.

Good start for Rory and Podge, c'mon lads!

Koreans not doing great, probably spending their nights hooked on the news channels...

pd,
It's been a poor start to the year for Koreans on the PGA Tour, hasn't it?
Even worse for the Japanese of course, but at least they know they have Billy Payne in their corner.

Korean fall just about as spectacular as their meteoric rise. I'm telling you, too many distractions for them lately: Gangnam, Kim Jong-un, etc...

But let's sit back and enjoy for a minute that great start from Rob Karlsson, it may not last...

Too true pd.

As for Rob Karlsson I was always impressed with how well lw1 spoke of Karlsson back in the 606 days; sounded as if there was great sympathy for his bout of physical ailments (remember his eye problem, etc) and respect for him as a golfer and team-mate.

Rory on the move . . . .

Oh no, jinxed Rory.
Yesterday's press conference:
Q: What does that leave to work on in San Antonio?

Rory's A: Course management. Putting the ball in play.

Not putting it in the water then from 120 yards then? Does that count?? Come on Rors, pull yourself together.

He has hit the water so much in the last two weeks....not a good sign for the 13&15 next week!

3-putt from 12 feet by Fisher.
Almost three "strokes lost putting" in his first four holes. Puttus horribilis.

No one seems to be running away with a score yet, which should favour the Europeans. I never fancy any of them on courses where the winning score is very low.

Completely agree Sheldo, not really sure why that is but it seems to apply to golfers who played College Golf and stayed in the States as well as European Tour emigres.
But:
WOW! Fisher with a 6 foot eagle putt!!

Presumably, R Mc has postponed his UNICEF trip to Haiti in order to play this tournament.

I was kind of looking forward to seeing what he would do at the Masters straight after, seeing as he won the US Open by a zillion shots under similar scheduling in 2011.

This is a quirky course and will take an age to play.
First groups out are still finishing their 16th hole after 4 hrs, 10 minutes. Doubt there'll be any rounds taking less than 4 1/2 hrs, which will acclimate the players to the ridiclous pace of play next week at Augusta National.

And, YES! Rory DID postpone his Haiti trip - not sure when he's going now, but sure he's off the next two weeks.

Harrington looking good at the moment!

And Rory looking better!

Surprised to see Martin Laird up there - can certainly see how this course suits a Knox, but not Laird so much. Perhaps it's just a question of him running into form after an abysmal six-month run of form?

Almost five hours for the first group to complete their entertainment.

And anchoring's more important to address than slow play?

Give me a break!

following on the pga app. see both Rory and speith went in the native area???? Rory did ok but Speith took an 8!! seems like a course not to be taken apart. what score won last year?

big fan of Michelle wies putting stroke...depending on camera angle

Kwini
I believe it is the way the game has been managed. Too much focus on US, and not enough on the roots of the game and the real (maybe historic) "major tournaments". A cursory glance at the past winners in SA and Aus in particular I think highlights the point. Today players aren't prepared to travel as they would in tennis for example, and game managers don't insist but just follow the money. This geographical isolation will be more responsible than any rule changes or speed of play issues for slowly strangling the game. Hey ho.
On another point, young girl from Remedy Oak playing the Kraft Nabisco this week. 16 years old, European no1 am and 5 in the world. Really nice individual with a terrific golf game - Georgia Hall. Good luck Georgia.

Definite feeling from this hemisphere that South African Golf is on the up and up, whilst Australian Golf is on the decline, at least for the men. Some serious investment needed Down Under, certainly in tournament prizemoney. If the Aussies don't play it's a longshot to expect others to compete there in their off-season. Too bad.

Your young lady sounds more like a southern (US) plantation, but she's off to a promising start.

And I see that daughters of two grand-slam winners are playing, Czech mate, Jessica Korda leading "American".