PGA Tour: "I'm Alright Jack": Notes from the Ballwasher

1).That's probably Tiger Woods's message to the Memorial Tournament host as Tiger prepares to win his sixth Memorial, second in a row. (As well, clearly, as inserting a Peter Sellers reference in these notes.) Curious that Jack said a few weeks ago that he's never had a proper conversation with Tiger, especially given his propensity for reaching out to young players. To which Tiger could well say, "I'm alright, Jack".

2).Looking back briefly at last week's action in Fort Worth, Colonial once again provided an opportunity to ball-strikers rather than bombers as Boo Weekley earned a richly deserved victory. Boo's worked hard at his "drivers and irons, can't putt" image but last week saw him hole 400+ feet worth of putts and, golly gosh, he wins the tartan jacket (except he didn't seem to know what "tartan" meant when Feherty asked him about it!).

3).Weekley's stat's these past seven years rank from sublime to ridiculous:
Total driving: Best: 1st, Worst: 34th,
Greens hit in reg: Best: 1st Worst: 54th,
Putting: Best: 161st, Worst: 189th.

He'll be taking this week off and returning for Memphis, where you'd think he will also play well on a course that seems to suit him.

4).PGA Tour observers have been raising eyebrows recently at Kevin Na's continued absence from Tour events - his only start since early March being The Masters.
When players take an extended time out, it's usually because of a suspension (which are almost never disclosed unless by the player concerned), unreported health problems or personal issues. Na has recently had to deal with family illness in South Korea but nothing official has been reported so one can only speculate - if he's in Finchem's dog-house, he'll have his work cut out when he finally returns as his playing exemption expires this year and he currently ranks 169th and falling in FedEx points.

5).Just to revert to last week's "Senior" theme, perhaps it is interesting to report leaders of non-American Champions Tour earnings, especially relevant if anyone questions why there's not a Seniors Ryder Cup.
Top five career earnings:
Europeans:
Langer: $11.1M (15th overall)
Canizares: $7.2M (44th)
Smyth: $4.5M (78th)
James: $4.4M (80th)
Barnes: $1.9M (148th)
Christy O'Connor Jr next, followed by Roger Chapman.

Other Internationals:
Aoki: $9.4M (20th)
Marsh: $9.2M (21st)
Charles: $9.0M (24th)
Fernandez: $8.9M (26th)
McNulty: $8.3M (31st)
John Bland next, still ahead of Canizares, with $7.2M, though David Frost is stacking the cash at an impressive rate.

More of the same last week as only Langer (78-67-67-67) finished in the top 40 amongst a "strong" European entry.

6).And so to Muirfield Village, rightly named Jack's masterpiece, and the site of Europe's first Ryder Cup win in the United States: Arise, Sir Tony . . . . . .

The course has changed little from the 80's to now, a tweak to the 17th a few years ago, and most recently a redesign to the par-3 16th. Not sure that the 16th is much improved - although a water hazard has been (unimaginatively?) introduced in front of the left-hand side of the green, the right-side pin positions are benign and the left-side positions too severe for the length of shot.
Nicklaus talks about the old 16th being an uninteresting hole that merely gets you from #15 to #17, but I would argue that the 13th hole is one of the most bland in tournament golf, especially as it comes between one of the better par-3's and a great short par-4.
Regardless, the pros welcome the wide open fairways, course conditioning and clubhouse milkshakes, not necessarily in that order. It rates 6th in the 2011 ranking of Tour courses, just behind Colonial!

7).And great fields are invariably attracted, this year being no exception.
The Presidents Cup will be staged here in early October and Nick Price has presumably been trying to get invites for those likely to play. Unfortunately Oosthuizen is still out, and Clark, Jaidee and Sterne of the current Top Ten qualifying places are not playing (wonder Jaidee and Sterne were invited?), while Cabrera is also absent. Too bad.

8).Europe has a strong presence and there's surely no course on Tour that you'd expect to suit McIlroy more than this. Westwood and Donald, Gonzo and Laird (should be right up his street also), former winners Pettersson (2006) and Rose (2010), plus Karlsson and Stenson are all in town. Another important week for Karlsson who has let decent early positions slip these past two weeks.

9).In normal circumstances you'd think that this is one event Tiger Woods can win without his proverbial "A" game, but weather could play a part with the tournament starting out hot and windy and morphing into potentially wet and windy on Friday and Saturday. Wouldn't recommend betting against Woods though, but a "bet without the favourite" might turn up some good value. Joint runners-up last year, Sabbatini and Romero, rather curiously neither qualified or warranted an invite. Shame.

10).The web.com Tour is trucking along, in Maryland this week with its usual quota of up-and-comers, Tour rejects and old lags prepping for the Champions Tour. At least 25 Tour Past Champions or "Veteran" members are in the field, plus young'uns like Cantlay, Peterson, Lovemark and Danny Lee.
Russell Knox, Chopra, Cejka and Richard Johnson are all well-placed to contest the four tournament Tour qualifying finale but all outside the automatic graduate placings.

PS: Nicklaus and his "Captains Club" Committee welcome an Honoree (or two or three) into their "Memorial Park", and this year's inductee is Ray Floyd. No doubt an extremely worthy choice, long time rival of Jack and Hall Of Famer.
But why wasn't he named a few years ago? No-one (except perhaps Nicklaus himself) credited his wife with influencing his golf achievements more than Floyd credited ( his missus) Maria, and sad that he saw her call it a day before receiving the "Captains'" call.

Tartan is a white sauce Boo puts on his deep fried catfish!!!

Nice to Laura Davies having a change of heart about her Hall of Fame status. She is definitely a Hall of Famer!

Kwini, long time reader of the ball washer, always something to brighten up a dull Wednesday!

Interesting observation about Kevin Na and missing in action. Really think that golf administrators does itself no favours in not communicating suspensions and the like. More transparency would be a good thing and help remove the view of an old boys network out of touch society. Last weeks racism row another case in point, not to mention the deer spray. Surely fans and sponsors need a little more respect - or maybe they just don't care.

Can't see past Tiger this week, like most weeks at the moment. Just maybe it is week that we have the Tiger vs Rory showdown on a Sunday afternoon! I can hope.

Re: Jaidee and Sterne.

If players were ranked in the top 50, they should have been invited. Not sure of the deadline date.

Welcome, Snap Hook,

The Tour is pledged to make public confirmed suspensions due to PED's but the Vijay situation showed what a can of worms even that can be.

Still think Woods has a 15th club which is desire, he seems to want it more than his competitors - it would be good for golf for someone to step up and challenge him the way Rory did last year. Wonder if the Major-winning version of Adam Scott can be that person?

Shane Lowry is playing the Memorial too. Ace 'em Shane!

Just another wonderful write up Kwin. And speaking of Jack Nicklaus, one thing he can't teach Tiger or any other professional is how to play at a "normal" pace.

This is how long it took Jack to play his par putt on the 17th hole at Merion in the playoff (from the Golf Channel show last evening):

From the time Trevino marked his ball -

32 seconds before Nicklaus replaced his ball
52 seconds before even stepping near his ball
20 seconds aside ball before addressing
27 seconds to pull the trigger
2:11 total

He would be crucified for that slow play today ...

Tiger managed to play merion in some pretty bad conditions;

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/gallery?section=news/sports&id=9119367&photo=8

Maybe he will be ok if it gets a little wet and windy this week?

Kwini, totally agree about Tiger and desire. Some wins were from that "club" alone - 2008 us open up there as one of the greatest sporting feats of all time in my book. I remember on more than one occasion he would slap it all over Firestone and still win comfortably. The ability to bin the last shot mentally is like nothing else.

Adam Scott - he is a funny one for me - in theory should give Tiger a run for his money, but despite winning the masters, I have nagging doubts that what happened at the open is more likely to happen again. Broom handle usage possibly, but TW will stuff him in the mental game. Again would be good to see a sunday match up with Stevie on the bag, anything could happen!

Lowry has also got an exemption for next week in Memphis.

Difficult to see Tiger not winning this week.....Only two weeks to the US Open now!!!!

They'll be off in a few Dublin (Ohio) minutes, with perfect conditions for low scoring at The Memorial.
Colsaerts and Jason Day opening the batting.

Chance of gusting winds and storms for Friday p.m. so perhaps the afternoon/morning "wave" will be enjoyimng better conditions overall. The top Americans (Snedeker excepted) mainly in that group, the top International players mostly off this morning. Just saying.

Could be stormy on Saturday so probably in for the customary weather delay.

sirbenson wrote:Lowry has also got an exemption for next week in Memphis.

he's attracting attention with his charismatic style of play. Future Open champion.

Not sure why a tour winner (Jason Day) was demoted to the dew buster tee time on Thursday.

GPB,
It happens all the time, his status on Tour is a humdrum top 125-er, his Tour win having been 2010, drought ever since.

Lousy start for McIlroy . . . . . .

Kwini, I knew there was a "statute of limitations" on wins but I thought it was five years.

Rory's start wasn't that bad, he birdied his first hole. But a train wreck on #12.

USGA asked Colt Knolt to donate a club from his 2007 US Amateur and Publinx wins and participation in the 2007 Winning Walker Cup team.

He is thinking about donating his belly putter.

ZINNNNNNNNNNNNGGGG.

Nice one! Webb Simpson can add his.

Low scores early on in Ohio, for most of the better players, Colsaerts and McIlroy being glaring exceptions.
It's not working out for Colsaerts' American adventure yet, is it? Continued poor play this week would get him close to losing his Top 125 FedEx pts place, and only a short time left to retrieve it.

Ugh, Colsaerts with a triple bogey on Hole 11.

I wonder if Caroline flew in late yesterday after her loss in the French! If so, Rory could be pre-occupied.

Amazing that so many are resigned to a TW victory ... I'm pretty sure his competitors aren't!

I bet most of them are! That's the trouble; where's the fight?
We'll see how it goes!

Kwin - If Tiger's in contention late Sunday perhaps, but I at least hope most think they can win this thing as they tee up on #1 or #10.

Has Rory withdrawn yet?

Pathetic performances by most of the Europeans this morning with Pettersson, Rose and Laird the only ones to break par.

Very poor from Westwood, McIlroy and Colsaerts who between them squandered approx 12 strokes compared to the field average on the greens.

Rory is not alright Jack.

Tiger not setting the world on fire, but Colsaerts will have to go real low to make another cut here in these United States.

I look for a Rory bounce back tomorrow.

Guan at -2, this kid just keeps on impressing.

Hi Kwini, thanks for the notes as always.
Na been tomahawking again?
Looking at the pond round 12th here and reminded of a comment you made last year(?). Is this the stinky hole??

PS so glad to have this commentary team back.
PPS Mark Roe in sky studio pointing out that Bradley may raise concerns from others regarding his pre shot routine when positioned in the rough. Ie placing club head behind the ball numerous times before striking the ball. 1 example provided where the ball does seem to become more visible on tv....

Lairdy,
That's right!
Forgotten I'd mentioned that but clearly connected to the Columbus wastewater system.

Young Martin off to a solid start - you'd think this course would be right up his street, but thought the same about McIlroy and look how that turned out . . . . .

Wentworth boys getting caught out with vast change in green speeds I feel. Yup, Faldo just confirming Westy suffered.
Hope so for Martin. Added incentive to add a win at Jack' to his win at Arnie's.

Freddie!!!

Reading some tweets from Steve Elling that Mark Roe is continuing to make a fuss about Keegan's chipshot on Hole 7.

I haven't heard one peep from the Golf Channel coverage.

Fred Ridley is in the Captains club, If they have been contacted Ridley better make dang sure the rules committee contacts Keegan before the scorecard is signed.

Really wish Shane Lowry would quit this ridiculous schedule of alternating PGA & European tours.................just ensures lots of zeros on his World ranking record and ensures he will miss US Open...................

Gonzo concludes his round with four consecutive birdies, which is a sporty way to get him back to even par.

Slow-play penalty imposed at the NCAA finals, which eventually results in a team's elimination.

And Goosen backs out of the US Open.

Agree about Lowry, John: Bad idea trying to be all things to all people at anything; in golf there's almost no way it can work.

Why do I think Billy Horschel's going to have something to say about who wins Memorial?

I heard jack had made some comments about changing the ball after Keeg's blasted over a bunker about 330 yards out on 10.

If jack starts to get vocal on the ball issue it can only be a good thing. It must pain him to see how easy it is for the guys out there these days.

Watched a bit of this last night and despite my recent lack of derision for Nine Chins, he really is an awful player to watch. Miserable, sullen, swearing, spitting, petulant not to mention some reeking golf with a frightful swing too.

Still wouldn't bet against him to win this though.

Good grief, could I be recovering after my Inco inspired illness?

hmmm, perhaps time for another appreciation thread. the effects seem to be wearing off

GPB, to be fair to Mark Roe he was giving Keegs every benefit of doubt he could, along with a very favourable character reference. He was obvviously pleased with himself that he'd noticed it but at the same time he geniunely seemed to want to warn Keegan before someone else says something.

Can't find anything in the US Press about Bradley . . . . . guess he's good to go.

I'm sure if he "ate fried chicken" somebody would say something....

Double bogey on a par 5 for Woods, including a 3-putt from within 5 ft.

Picked him for my one-and-done fantasy game - should have warned you!

Not a good dress-rehearsal for Merion, not so far anyway.

Gonzo started the week +4 after 8 holes and has fought himself back to be -2 under.

Trying to figure out a comparable PGAT Player but I can't think of anyone. I am trying to think of something that he does outstandingly well and I am coming empty.


Edit: YIKES, I think I hexed Gonzo. +3 since i originally made this post an hour ago. Sorry Gonzo.

kwinigolfer wrote:Double bogey on a par 5 for Woods, including a 3-putt from within 5 ft.

Picked him for my one-and-done fantasy game - should have warned you!

Not a good dress-rehearsal for Merion, not so far anyway.

I'm CURED!!!!!

Rory moved up 15 places before he hits a shot. I think he'll need about -4/-5 to get into the weekend.

Yup, anything in the 60's should do the trick for Rory.
Good start for Laird and Lee, but not the week that Lowry wanted.

On Kevin Na... made some contacts... got one "I dunno" and another "it's the back". no details

Good stuff, kwini

Dissapointed with your Tiger pick? Trust me, it can be much worse... I picked Rory!

Seriously now, I said it before and say it again, some of those Europeans should just pack it up and return to Europe very quickly before it's too late. Nordea would've been another one very suited for Colsaerts... wasting his time and hard earned rankings over there. As for Shane, what's been said is true, he probably shouldn't have been there in the first place... No hopes whatsoever left for him now for Merrion, plus if he continues to finish near the bottom of the leaderboards, means more harm than good anyway you look at it...

As for the rest, feels more like damage limitation exercise at this point more than anything else. The fact that Karlsson is the best European says probably enough...

What happened with Noh!?

Dunnoh about Noh; he played nine holes three over and apparently said noh mas.

Agree about the Europeans pd; they're all good players but the game's just different, and these greens are not the ideal place to find your putting stroke.

Wouldn't count Rory out just yet . . . . . .


Thanks for the Na update, robo; he's had back trouble in the past but wouldn't he be better off to rest it and seek a medical exemption?

Suspension of play.
Ooh, What a surprise! Haven't had one of them since . . . . . . last week?

kwinigolfer wrote:Thanks for the Na update, robo; he's had back trouble in the past but wouldn't he be better off to rest it and seek a medical exemption?

Got another word from someone who was in direct contact with him prior to his pulling out of the PLAYERS. Something with bulging if not ruptured disc... As far as medicals go... Na would need to be out through Memphis to qualify for a minor medical and out through the PGA Championship to qualify for a major medical.

PS... If Rory can stay at least +4... IMO at least "some" chance cut goes down that far... +3 looks pretty solid right now.

What terrible trousers that Wozza has picked out for Rory. Heard of optic golf balls, but never seen optic strides before.

Still, he's off to a decent start this afternoon.


Cheers robo; we should expect an announcement then!

Cut looks for certain to be at least +3 if not +4. I thought Jimmy Walker's cut streak was coming to end but at +3, he is going to make it.

I saw posts about Tiger getting the bad side of the draw. I am taking note that the two probable leaders played with Tiger in the Late / Early Wave.

What has happened to Watney and Sneds this week?

Westwood was looking good to make the cut, but then he goes Dbl Bogey-Par-Par-Bogey-Dbl Bogey.