PGA Tour: "Traveling" to Washington DC: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).The Tour caught lightning in the proverbial bottle in Hartford last week, four sunny, dry days in the monsoon-ridden North-Eastern US, and the TPC River Highlands proved a mostly benign respite from the tortures of Merion.
But many of those who survived four US Open rounds hit the wall by last weekend, Rose and Mahan for two.
While Bubba Watson lasted 69 contending holes before suffering his meltdown as he came up short and wet on the tricky (but not THAT tricky) Par-3 16th hole. Caddie Ted Scott received a very public earful from Bubba and later owned up that it was his call for the boss to hit 9-iron instead of an 8.
Time for Bubba to take responsibility for his own actions methinks; he would have been a worthy winner but behaviour such as his doesn't elicit much sympathy.

2).But if Justin Rose and Hunner hit the wall, what on earth did Padraig Harrington and Lee Westwood hit?
Bars or clubs on Saturday night most likely, or how else to explain away their pathetic "efforts" on Sunday.
Westwood four-putted the 3rd green for the second time in four rounds on his way to last place and an incredible "Strokes Gained Putting" figure of -8.4. That's 8.4 strokes lost to the field in 18 holes. Not surprising he's slumped to 151st in the Tour's putting stats.
And Harrington relentlessly played himself towards last place after opening 66, 66, good for T2 as he began play on Saturday. He lost 5 strokes to the field on the greens during his Sunday 80.

3).On the plus side Messrs Harrington and Westwood received fabulous receptions from the fans in Hartford (as did Justin Rose); hopefully they'll return next year and reward them for their support.

4).What a piece of work Nicolas Colsaerts is - a fabulous swing as he effortless pumps out drives in defiance of the ShotLink monitors, taking different lines to parts of the course they appeared not to have surveyed, Dustin Johnson-like in that respect. We saw him hit a drive on the 403 yard ninth hole that almost reached the green, only to be followed by a poor chip from a player that looked pretty disengaged. Hartford's not the course for him and hopefully he got a mental break as Congressional this week could be right up his street.  

5).I don't know much about Ken Duke, never found him that appealing a figure on course and seemed pretty anonymous off it. But his was a popular victory, lots of tributes to his "ball-striking" from twittering pros.
His hitherto journeyman career started on the old Nike Tour in 1995 and he never earned a "Tour card" until the 2004 season. He enjoyed a couple of super years then lost his card after 2009. He scraped together earnings of just $36K on the 2010 Nationwide and was going nowhere fast when, apparently out of the blue, he won the 2011 Nationwide Championship. The rest is history but instructive of the fine margin between failure and success among the Tour's rank and file.

6).So, back down Interstate 95 to Washington D.C. where hot and humid (and probably stormy) Congressional awaits.
But as we pass Merion on the way down, two final notes from US Open TV watching:
Paul Azinger: "I never played with anyone on Tour who fired at more pins than David Toms." Quite an accolade given that Toms was doing it with longer clubs that most of the pros.
Johnny Miller: "Jason Day swings at his irons harder than anyone I've seen." Not sure about Jason, all the talent in the world but I've a feeling he'd be better equipped to close the deal at Majors if he contended more often in "regular" events. As it is, a squeaky win over a very weak 2010 Byron Nelson field is all he has to show for his talent.

7).No Tiger (or Justin for that matter) at this week's "AT&T National", a tournament that started amidst great Fourth of July fanfare and symbolism just six years ago with Tiger Woods "hosting". Now the tournament's future seems in doubt and, whatever happens, may not be held at Congressional much longer. KJ Choi, Anthony Kim, and Tiger twice are the only winners so far at Congressional, and with "AK" and his bud "TDub" in the treatment room there's likely to be a new winner this week. Adam Scott leads a field of uneven quality; Bo Van Pelt arguably should have won last year and you'd think Scotty and, yup, Jason Day should have the game to succeed here. I kinda like the chances of Billy Horschel, and perhaps Martin Laird might be a decent each-way shot.

8).Louis Oosthuizen won't be playing following a Merion withdrawal but the good news is that he played the Brad Faxon/Billy Andrade Charity tournament earlier this week and will hopefully be teeing it up again for real sometime soon.

9).Much hoo-hah this week about Colin Montgomerie's debut on the Champions Tour, in the "Constellation Senior Players Championship" in Pittsburgh, much of it of course from motor-mouth Monty himself. The American media poured scorn on Monty for twenty years but now seem to sniff a senior story, something to generate interest in the over-50's.
To put it mildly, Monty seems uber confident of doing well over here but many with such self assurance find that, unless they've brought a hot putter with them, the competition is fiercer than they expect - Steve Elkington just another who has recently "aged up" only to be found scratching around (nothing better than 8th so far) away from the lead rather than the pot-hunting he might have anticipated.
The fact that this week's event is a four-rounder may help Monty. Good luck to him.

10).For those of us growing up interested in sport in the 50's and 60's Bernard Hunt was a name synonymous with British golf (at least 20 wins and four Open top 5's) in general, the Ryder Cup in particular. He played in eight Ryder Cups (horrid foursomes and fourballs record, but a winning (4-3-3) singles record) and Captained GB&I another twice. Sombre thought that he's taken his clubs to the fairway in the sky where he will join one-time adversaries Ken Venturi and Miller Barber who took that route just a few weeks ago.

shclaff,
I think Robbie Castro might win you over if you read his stuff or listen to him speak - whatever the artistic merit of his golf swing, he's a very clever guy with a great sense of humour.
I'm hoping he enjoys a successful career as he kinda bucks the PGA Tour trend a little, better personality than golf swing, shall we say? He'll certainly be around another year after this week's performance.

Kwini, forgive me for judging him by his cover. Particularly from the safety of my phone where noone can comment on MY swing (thank god).

Ill keep an eye/ear out for him, sounds like an interesting guy

shclaff,
I'm hoping this can be a coming-out party of sorts for Castro - his aunt won a tournament or two on the LPGA Tour, and he secured a good degree (for all their trumpeting college rah-rah stuff in the media, not many actually get a degree) from one of the most competitive colleges in the country.
Hopefully his personality will trump any agricultural swing tendancies!

No one interested that the PGA tour and pga of america signed up to the anchoring ban?

It'll be more interesting when they figure out how/when it will be enforced, surely?
The pundits seem to think the end of the 2013/2014 Tour season, but that will overlap with the Champions Tour, Asian, European Tours, etc, etc.

And the possibility of amateur golf, at least at the club level, could be later, as in grooves regulations.

All in all, clear as mud.

kwini

Jan 1st 2016 as far as I know. So the start of the 15/16 season you will be able to anchor.

Club amateur extension to about 2021.

Mac,
2015/2016 where?
Thought here that it is highly unlikely the Tour will wait that long having made the decision.
Still haven't seen any reaction from the Champions Tour guys, but they will surely have to follow PGATour rules and timing. Bound to be angst there.

http://www.geoffshackelford.com/homepage/2013/7/1/pga-tour-going-along-with-anchoring-ban-in-2016-wants-extens.html

Mac,
I don't know what your point is - it's fanciful to suggest that the PGA Tour will cut in a new rule mid-season.
There'll be some degree of "bifurcation" inevitably - it just remains to be seen exactly what and where.

I guess start of 2015/16 season it is then.

So you'll have PGA Tour playing one set of rules, Champions Tour another set, at least for a month or two.
Terrific.

It's like the situation you have at the moment with John Paramor, and the LPGA, trying to enforce the slow play rule and everyone else ignoring it.

Literally, different strokes for different folks.

The wrong fight at the wrong time for golf.

kwini wrote:So you'll have PGA Tour playing one set of rules, Champions Tour another set, at least for a month or two.

That may well be the case but does it matter especially when you consider almost all golf fans don't even know the champions tour exists?

I also wish they had tackled the ball issue but does it matter if cheat sticks go along the way?

I really doubt it was rule change to tackle cheat sticks or rules to reign in the ball. There is no appetite from those in charge to do anything about the ball.

You are like a dog with a bone Jeremy about the ball. Get over it.

super_realist wrote:You are like a dog with a bone Jeremy about the ball. Get over it.

Check it out, Jeremy made it onto the bbc sport website.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/23141530

I take it it isn't your real name.

No, oddly that is not my real name.

I imagine it's something like Angus Mulgrew.

He's not "Firing Blanks",

Tour player Kris Blanks, out most of the year with a shoulder injury, is out on bail for carrying a concealed, loaded weapon in his carry-on luggage at Palm Beach Airport.

What an idiot - and some people think anchoring is a big issue. Once again, it is clear that there are more pressing things in life, in golf and on Tour.

Hope he gets banned for life.

kwinigolfer wrote:He's not "Firing Blanks",

Tour player Kris Blanks, out most of the year with a shoulder injury, is out on bail for carrying a concealed, loaded weapon in his carry-on luggage at Palm Beach Airport.

What an idiot - and some people think anchoring is a big issue. Once again, it is clear that there are more pressing things in life, in golf and on Tour.

Hope he gets banned for life.

If he looked a little foreign would he currently be on his way to gitmo with a very unconcealed weapon pressed to his body?

Mac ... 1) there will be no extension for amateurs, club or otherwise.  That's just the pga trying to make out they're all concerned about amateurs when the reality is quite the opposite.

2) "Cheatsticks" haven't been banned ... just the method of using them.

3)  The governing bodies continue to maintain the ball has maxed out distance-wise.  That is not to say the have ceased in their efforts to roll back distance.  No easy thing especially with litigation trigger-happy manufactures breathing down yer neck!

kwini ... interesting situation aint it.  Will the pga tour wait until 2016 or bring it in before then.  Even more interesting is whether or not the Champions Tour (they've been very quiet on the subject) will just ignore the ban and play 'shove ha'penny' golf instead.

Finally, is McLaren also super_realist or not?

gael wrote:2) "Cheatsticks" haven't been banned ... just the method of using them

.

I am very well aware of that.  But thanks for clarifying it.

gael wrote:Finally, is McLaren also super_realist or not?

I don't think so, but if it were a schizophrenic delusion would I be the best person to ask?

Mac ... it's just that, posting-wise, you seem to be in each others hip pocket.

Hi gael,
The Champions Tour is part of the PGA Tour but apparently have no reps on the Player Advisory Council which, in these circumstances, is a bit strange. But a high proportion of their players use a long putter, most anchoring.
We're just at the start of a long and winding road here.

Was impressed w/Russell Knox at Hartford, he struck the ball beautifully when we followed him, but those three bogeys on his 69th, 70th and 71st holes are already coming back to haunt him. Par just one of them and he'd be in this week's Greenbrier field.
As it is, he's gone already from first alternate to second alternate and four has-beens have leapfrogged him into the field. Still a slim chance he'll get in but needs some luck now.
Hopefully he'll squeeze in the next four weeks.

gaelgowfer wrote:Mac ... it's just that, posting-wise, you seem to be in each others hip pocket.

That'll be the polite version then.