PGA Tour: The International Swing, Part 2, "Canada": Notes from the Ballwasher

With Kwini apparently MIA... here's a starter for RBC Canadian Open

It's time for those on the outside looking in to start making a move to get into the FedEx playoffs.

Noteworthy players outside the top 125 in the RBC Canadian Open field

*Brad Fritsch 125 Alberta native will be making his sixth RBC Canadian Open start]
*Stuart Appleby 129 Last player to shoot 59 on the PGA TOUR (2010 Greenbrier Classic)
*Woody Austin 130 Winner of last week’s Sanderson Farms Championship
*Tommy Gainey 135 2012 McGladrey Classic winner has one top-10 finish in 24 starts
*Vijay Singh 143 2008 FedExCup champion
*Casey Wittenberg 161 2012 Web.com Tour Player of the Year
*Stephen Ames 164 4-time PGA TOUR winner
*Mike Weir 170 2003 Masters champion

A look at the field

Nine of the top 30 in current FedExCup standings: Matt Kuchar (3), Brandt Snedeker (4), Billy Horschel (5), Hunter Mahan (14), Dustin Johnson (23), Graham DeLaet (25), Graeme McDowell (26), Chris Kirk (27), Scott Stallings (29).

Eleven major championship winners, representing all four majors:

Ernie Els (1994, 1997 U.S. Open, 2002, 2012 Open Championship),
Jim Furyk (2003 U.S.Open),
Trevor Immelman (2008 Masters),
Justin Leonard (1997 Open Championship),
Graeme McDowell (2010 U.S. Open),
Geoff Ogilvy (2006 U.S. Open),
Charl Schwartzel (2011 Masters),
Vijay Singh (1998, 2004 PGA Championship, 2000 Masters),
Bubba Watson (2012 Masters),
Weir (2003 Masters)
Y.E. Yang (2009 PGA Championship).

Seven former RBC Canadian Open champions in the field:
Scott Piercy (2012), Nathan Green (2009), Chez Reavie (2008), Jim Furyk (2006, 2007), Vijay Singh (2004), John Rollins (2002) and Scott Verplank (2001).

Notable Canadians in the field: Stephen Ames, Graham DeLaet, Brad Fritsch, David Hearn, Jason Kokrak and Mike Weir.

OTHER NOTES

*2012 FedExCup champion Brandt Snedeker is poised to make his fifth RBC Canadian Open start. Of his previous four starts, he has collected top 10s in 2007 (T7) and 2009 (T5). At No. 4 in the FedExCup standings thanks to seven top-10 finishes including a victory at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Snedeker is on track to become the only defending FedExCup champion to make it to the TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola, the Playoff Finale, the following year. Snedeker captured the RBC Canadian Open’s sister tournament, the RBC Heritage, in 2010.

*Scheduled to make his seventh start at the RBC Canadian Open, Matt Kuchar comes to Canada this week in search of win No. 3 on the year. Kuchar has wins at the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship and the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide Insurance. Kuchar, No. 3 in the FedExCup standings, comes to Canada this week with six top 10s in 16 starts.

*Four-time major champion Ernie Els is scheduled to make his fifth start at the RBC Canadian Open. Els sits 90th in the FedExCup standings, his one top-10 finish being a T4 at the U.S. Open.

*Graeme McDowell, the 2010 U.S. Open winner, captured the RBC Heritage earlier this year and sits 26th in the FedExCup standings.

*Billy Horschel, winner of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans earlier this year, is tied for second on TOUR with seven top-10 finishes.

*Two-time RBC Canadian Open champion Jim Furyk will make his 11th start north of the border. Furyk returns to Canada with 15 starts this season, in which he has made 13 cuts. His best finishes of the season are T3 at the Valero Texas Open and T7 at the Tampa Bay Championship.

*Dustin Johnson comes to Canada this week having made 15 starts, where he has collected one win and an additional two top-10 finishes. In the season’s first event, Johnson claimed his seventh PGA TOUR title at the rain-shortened Hyundai Tournament of Champions. He also finished T4 at the Shell Houston Open and T10 in defense of his FedEx St. Jude Classic title.

*Woody Austin, who played for the U.S. Team in the 2007 Presidents Cup in Montreal, returned to the PGA TOUR winner’s circle last week with a playoff victory at the Sanderson Farms Championship.

+++++++

And on a personal note... I sure am glad there's no pay for play on the PGA Tour

But that got me to thinking...  I wonder if that big RBC logo on the sleeves of McDowell, Snedeker, Donald, Mahan, Els, Furyk and Kuchar had anything to do with them shuffling all the way over from the UK to make the RBC Canadian Open... Naaaaah... probably not... {wink, wink, cough, cough}

But granted... I would expect Canadian RBC guys like Weir, DeLaet, Hearn and Ames to play the Canadian Open even if not sponsored by RBC.

But just checking... what are the odds of all 11 of those players would have participated in the RBC Heritage Classic as well?  WOW what a coincidence...  they all did.... Imagine that... {wink, wink}

Pay for play? Noooooooooooooooo... not on the PGA Tour... that would be against the rules... {wink, wink, cough, cough}

And from Kwini:

1).Phive Majors for Phil, and always good to see great tournaments won in style. Disappointment for Lee Westwood, however brave a face he might put on things, but Mickelson now finds himself in increasingly rarified air as he only has Nicklaus, Woods, Hogan, Player, Watson, Palmer, Snead, Trevino and Faldo with more Majors in the (largely) post-WWII era. Now he's tied with Peter Thomson and Seve on five and, whilst he may not have had Seve's impact, I'd place him first among equals for overall playing career accomplishment. Congratulations to him.

2).And so to Glen Abbey and the "RBC Canadian Open", just outside a chilly Toronto. This is the final qualifying week for next week's WGC Bridgestone (just the Glen Abbey winner and anyone climbing in to the owgr Top Fifty will make it) and almost the last gasp for Oak Hill's PGA Championship field; just next week's Tour winners and any invites from outside the owgr Top Fifty (usually all within the Top 100) will be added to those currently exempt, plus the top 70 PGA Championship points-getters. Increasingly loud rumours that the E.T's Uihlein and Koepka might receive invitations.

3).Whichever way you look at it, this is a busy time of year for golfers, especially PGA Tour members. Ernie Els, for instance, will be planning to be teeing it up for the third week running at Glen Abbey; he'll play Bridgestone next week and the PGA the week after. A week off and he'll play The Barclays and hope to have qualified also for the DeutscheBank. Another seven days beside the pool and he'll hope to have got himself in to the BMW and, if all goes well, the Tour Championship. That would be 9 (mostly) big tournaments in 11 weeks.

4).The Els example is extreme and, perhaps academic as he might not qualify for the final two weeks, but others who will have a better chance of playing 8 events in 10 weeks include Mahan, Kuchar, Schwartzel, Snedeker, Watson, Horschel, DJohnson, and McDowell, while Luke Donald and Furyk will be hoping to play well enough to join them following their weekend's rest. Expect some of these to be going through the motions this Thursday and Friday and possibly skip The Barclays but golfers in the heat of Sundays' battles (including Mahan last week for instance) will become fried.

5).Meanwhile, the position of some top golfers who don't have an exemption for the 2013/2014 PGA Tour season grows ever more precarious.
Peter Hanson seems to be busy throwing his status away, Colsaerts is still not assured of finishing in the Top 125 (he'll be about 125th after taking this week off), Ben Slowcoach Crane looks done for, while Messrs Baddeley, Appleby, Immelman, Karlsson, Fisher (why on earth isn't he in Canada - has he given up?), Ishikawa and O'Hair (another who appears to have thrown in the towel) are all in danger of having to participate in the "web.com Finals" or losing their status completely. Does opportunity knock for George O'Grady?

6).For a select few, end of season fixture congestion is compounded by participating in this year's Presidents Cup, at Muirfield Village in early October.
Following two good weeks Zach Johnson has reached the top ten of the US qualifying list, which currently reads:
Woods, Mickelson, Kuchar, Snedeker, Haas, Mahan, Bradley, Simpson, Stricker, Zacher.
Bubba and Dustin the next two, currently in 11th and 12th places respectively. I'd say the top 6 (thru Hunner) are secure.

7).And Nick Price's International Team currently looks like this:
Scott, Oosthuizen, Schwartzel, Els, Day, Grace, Sterne, Matsuyama, Cabrera, Clark. Jaidee just adrift (as he often seems to be at this time of every other year. A distinctly South African accent to that lot.
For Captain's choices, Thongchai must have some chance, DeLaet also while I can't see them not picking KJ Choi given the 2015 edition will be in South Korea.

8).And so to Glen Abbey, an early Jack Nicklaus design with a 35 / 37 par of 72. There are three par-5's (13, 16, 18) in the final six holes so there should be much leaderboard turbulence on Sunday. Glen Abbey used to be used for this Championship much more often than in recent years and has been the site of some memorable finishes:
Peter Oosterhuis with a very dodgy up and down on the 18th to beat Lietzke, Nicklaus and North in 1981 for his only PGA Tour win.
Wayne Levi winning his fourth Tour event of 1990 while regularly consulting the early-tech mini-TV in his bag to check on the NY Giants game.
Tiger Woods with arguably the shot of his career out of sand, across water, a 200+ yard carry, to make birdie and beat Grant Waite (an increasingly successful swing guru by the way) in 2000.
Vijay Singh breaking Mike Weir's heart in 2004 (although to be accurate Weirsy broke his own heart by squandering strokes over his final holes and play-off). Have seldom seem an apparently more relectant winner. Weir only won once subsequently, the "Fry's" in 2007.
And Nathan Green blatantly choosing to overclub at the 18th greenside grandstand (twice, complete with ridiculously beneficial free drop - as close to "cheating" the spirit of the game as you're likely to see) to beat Goosen in 2009.

9).For reasons detailed above, investing this week should carry a health warning - don't go for the guys at short prices unless this is a crucial week for them - Donald and Furyk have some incentive, for instance, other big names not so much, though they might get interested if they're within reach on Sunday afternoon. A time for small-scale each-way speculation at long prices most likely!

10).One of my first 606 articles had a headline, the gist of which is worth repeating:
Woody Austin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just as his 2007 win in Memphis came completely out of the blue, last Sunday's miracle in Mississippi was his first Tour cut made since, well, 2012 in Mississippi.
Since then he's been arguably more famous as "Aquaman" following his trip to Royal Montreal's lake later in 2007 (I watched in disbelief from the side of that lake) after which his game disintegrated. Now he's headed to the Champions Tour in six months' time with an unexpected $half mil to pad his exemption status - and perhaps pgatour.com will retrieve his "player profile" from their cyber-archives as they have seemingly deleted it and chosen so far not to restore it following his win! No respect.

Nice one Robopz.... Tourettes is a terrible affliction {wink, wink, cough, cough}

SNAP!
Nice one robo!!

There are couple highly ranked players in the Canadian Open not mentioned as RBC Ambassadors.

Did anyone do an OWGR projection this week? A cursory look at the field, and it looks like it could be in the 50 range.

I am surprised that players outside the top 12 (and in the top 20)of the Prez Cup Standings are not playing. Watney, Dufner, Streelman, and Fowler.

#11 and #12 Bubba and DJohnson are playing (and not RBC Ambassadors)

GPB,
Watney and Streels played four days at the John Deere - my thread refers to the over-scheduling some of these guys have let themselves in for, charter or no charter.

Merged Robo's and Kwini's threads...hope no-one minds.

Kuchar defying the over-scheduling theory - leading at -7 after 13 holes.

Especially stupid statement I've just read from Peter Hanson last week:
"Basically, by teeing it up over the next four or five weeks I'm guaranteed to be in the top 125."
Well, how's that working for you, Peter? Currently 134th and not playing this week so you'll be about 140th going in to the Bridgestone. If you're fit, that is.

Looking at both potential presidents cup teams hard to see the USA losing it this year.....The Internationals really need to win it soon as it is in danger of losing the (small) interest it has.

Presidents Cup is the most tinpottiest of tinpot tournaments.

Hideki Matsuyama off to a good start in Canada.

He might be the Ryo Ishikawa that never was. He is already closing in on the Ryo's total of top 10 finishes!! He has earned more PGAT money in two tournaments ($418k) as a pro, than Ryo has earned in 19 tournaments this year ($325k).

I picked him for two of my fantasy teams this week so go Hideki. Maybe the Asian Amateur is a stepping stone to big things!

Agree about Presidents Cup: Good idea but poor management. Destined to fizzle.

Hideki will get quite close to Special Temp Membership qualifying if he finishes well this week. He'll make the $50K-odd WGC hand-out next week and then he has the PGA to further feather his nest.
While Ryo exits stage left, most likely.

Bet Hideki has already been given the Augusta golden handshake for the next 30 years.

Special Temp Membership is not really that big of a deal to Matsuyama.

The Wyndham is the only regular tournament left after this week and since he has not come close to using up his sponsors invites, the Special Temp Membership is basically irrelevant.

I wonder if he will enter the Web.com playoffs? AFAIK, he hasn't been asked this question in a presser.

Super, the way Matsuyama is going he won't need an invite to the Masters....He should qualify automatically for the years to come.

GPB,
But surely he'll earn enough for a 2013/2014 card, the way he's going?

kwinigolfer wrote:GPB,
But surely he'll earn enough for a 2013/2014 card, the way he's going?

IF he [Matsuyama] in fact wants PGAT membership... that's the goal at this point.  GPB is correct that technically STM is a moot point for this year, he's in the WGC and PGA and a lock for a SE to the Wyndham...    

The key is he has three ways to get his card for next year (and avoid web.com playoffs, which he's already assured).

1. Win an event
2. Earn "faux" FedEX points equivalent to or better than #125 on the PGA Tour 2013 FedEx Points list.
3. Earn money equivalent to or better than #125 on the PGA Tour 2013 money list.

Starting next year, #3 above is supposed to go away

kwinigolfer wrote:GPB,
But surely he'll earn enough for a 2013/2014 card, the way he's going?

By no means a guarantee, he is the equivalent of 137th on the Money list right now. I figure it will take about $625-650K to reach the top 125 in Money winnings so he is 200K behind.

He has a ~50K guarantee next week, but no guarantees at the PGA and this week although this week is very promising.

So, the way he's going, he will.

Horschel in with a 71, strange how his form has fizzled since Merion.
And Senden is also in a terrible trot of form excepting his moment in the Merion spotlight. 73 today and a far cry from his form of recent years.

For more "tin" suggest one looks at The Seve Trophy.  As I understand it, the French club which has hosted it the last two times announced a year ago they were pulling out because they took such a bath; on one of the days, exactly 53 people paid to get in.

53.

Bad news for Surrey's Gary Christian who has buggered his knee and quite possibly jeopardised his pro career - torn ACL, damaged MCL and a possible miniscus tear. So, he's off for a year and, at the age of 42, may choose to rehab in the broadcasting booth as even his web.com status will be tenuous except via Q-School.

Perhaps this could be a blessing in disguise as he has the wit and perceptive style to excel behind the microphone.

GPB wrote:There are couple highly ranked players in the Canadian Open not mentioned as RBC Ambassadors.

Did anyone do an OWGR projection this week?  A cursory look at the field, and it looks like it could be in the 50 range.

I am surprised that players outside the top 12 (and in the top 20)of the Prez Cup Standings are not playing.  Watney, Dufner, Streelman, and Fowler.

#11 and #12 Bubba and DJohnson are playing (and not RBC Ambassadors)

My post wasn't intended to indicate that ALL the good top rated players in the RBC field are RBC Ambassadors.  But all 4 of the top-10 that are in this field ARE RBC guys.

I haven't seen an OWGR, but yeah... looks like it could be upper 40's to low 50's... but I did check what the 7 non-Canadians RBC Ambassadors added to the field strength... It came out to 130 ERV's (111+19).   If those 7 wouldn't have played, it would lower the OWGR field strength by a minimum of 8 points and as much as 12-14, depending on where this event shakes out OWGR strength wise.

I certainly couldn't say if any or all these guys might or might not have played anyway... but no doubt the 11 RBC Ambassadors batted 1000 this year in the two RBC events. (this and the Heritage)   As ALL the Mastercard guys played at Bay Hill (Poulter, McDowell, Villegas, Weekley,Snedeker, English) and as ALL the Zurich guys played in New Orleans (Keegan, Crane, Els, Fowler, Horschel, Rose, Villegas)

Robo:  Aren't these "Ambassadors" doing more for RBC than just showing up for the Canadian Open (and Heritage).

Aren't they doing commercials, corporate outings, Clinics, Meet and Greets cocktail parties, etc?

In other words, A little more than showing up for the Wednesday Pro-Am and Tuesday Night draw party.

===========

My Bubba and DJ comments was more targeted towards the Prez Cup standings, than their non-RBC ambassador status

===========

And Matt Kuchar trying to put his foot in the door as a potential Player of the Year candidate.

Front Runners are Tiger and Phil, but Kuchar, Rose, and Scott are in the race, a few lengths back as we are rounding the final turn into the home stretch.

Kuchar surely would need a major win, right?

Afternoon British contingent playing poorly this afternoon:
Donald +1 after 12
Davis +2 after 9
McDowell +2 after 11

Good job Russell Knox off to a promising start in the web.commer.

Agreed benson, Kuchar behind Woods by two tournaments right now. Mickelson frontrunner in my book.

PS: Woody Austin turning back in to Woody Austin.

Yes, it would be difficult not to give it to Phil at the moment. If Woods/Mickelson/Rose or Scott won the PGA they would be a lock to win player of the year.

PMick's win in the Scottish Open will not (and should not) count in the PoY voting.

Tiger 4 wins including Players
Phil 2 wins including O.C.
Kuchar 2 wins
Scott - Masters
Rose - US Open

If Kuchar can get to 4 wins, including a playoff event or WGC, he will have just as much claim as Tiger.

GPB wrote:Robo:  Aren't these "Ambassadors" doing more for RBC than just showing up for the Canadian Open (and Heritage).

Aren't they doing commercials, corporate outings, Clinics, Meet and Greets cocktail parties, etc?

In other words, A little more than showing up for the Wednesday Pro-Am and Tuesday Night draw party..

 Absolutely... just like when Phil and Tiger take "personal services" money from Jim Justice... or Rory and Tiger take appearance Fees from Turkish Airlines or HSBC or... or... or....  They require more than just showing up for a tee time on Thursday.

Look... it's appearance fess... PERIOD.  They can dress them up anyway they want, and maybe be [slightly] inventive in the way they name and/or pay them... but they're the exact same thing in practice.   Now I'm sure that "technically" they are careful there's no contract specifying the player must appear in the event... but come one we get it, the players get it. and the sponsors get it.    It's kind of like when Luke Donald wasn't playing New Orleans for a few years... then spent two years as a "Zurich Ambassador" and just "happened" to play the event both years... then was no longer a Zurich Ambassador... and doesn't play New Orleans any more.

kwinigolfer wrote:
Agreed benson, Kuchar behind Woods by two tournaments right now. Mickelson frontrunner in my book.

 I agree an Phil being the POY leader (vote wise).   The way they do the ballot are interesting though... there is NO listed criteria or suggestion on how or what the players should base their vote.  Players can decide anyway they want, for whatever reason they want.  One might assume the PGAT guys "should" consider only PGAT events.... but that's just not gonna be the case... not only with the Euro guys on the PGAT... but many of the others as well.  

And IMHO, if it's even close  with any other player (like within 17 arms lengths)...  Phil Mickelson gets a ton of votes due to "lifetime achievement"... (ala John Wayne for True Grit)

And by the way...  the points based PGA of America POY race is currently:
80 - Tiger Woods
66 - Phil Mickelson
58 - Justin Rose
50 - Adam Scott
46 - Matt Kuchar

The two most surprising winners on this year's PGA Tour are both three strokes adrift of the "Canada" field: Derek Ernst and Woody Austin.

Very poor today from McDowell - he's fitting the profile of those who fancy the weekend off; hopefully Donald and Schwartzel (both +1) can dispel that stereotype by shooting in the sixties tomorrow.

Much better scores overall Thursday morning compared to the afternoon - perhaps Donald and McDowell can pull their fingers out and go low this morning.

Very mild temp's in the Toronto area, about mid-50's as the boys are scarfing their bacon butties this morning, mid-70's this afternoon - but likelihood of storms Saturday afternoon so there could be some adjustment to Round 3 tee-times. Sunday looks good, coolish again though.

I remember Woody Austin blowing up , seemed like a real nice bloke tho - admitting that he had just totally choked. Good to see him win.

busted,
Wonder if you remember the pictures of Woody Austin banging his putter repeatedly against his head at Hilton Head a number of years ago? His head was relatively unscathed, but the putter shaft was seriously bent!

McDowell certainly doing much better than he did yesterday anyway. -8 thru 15, better day for Luke too although not to the same degree -2 thru 14.

Russell Knox shoot 59 on the WEB*COM Tour.   

Hopefully someone apart from gael will now join me in believing that Russell Knox has a chance to be the real thing.
Most impressive!


Excellent from McDowell today, but Luke Donald's season is in grave danger of going straight down the pan. Robert Karlsson's too. Rubbish!

If anyone thinks a fluid, robotic swing is the key to going low, one needs only to look at Tommy "Two Gloves" Gainey. He reportedly honed much of his craft playing for big money cash matches over the years -- and clearly understands that getting it in the hole is what matters most. Fine job today.

Lukey definitely going through a rough patch.

Another silly week coming up for the PGA Tour, with a WGC, a PGA Tour "opposite field" event, AND a web.commer.
Guys with some Tour status who are close to the web.com Top 25 would be just plain daft to play Reno.
Russell Knox won't need to worry about that if he can spin his 59 in to a win. If not, he's one of those who'll have a decision to make.

Luke Donald going from bad to worse - more missed cuts this year than Top Tens. Sad to see, but short and crooked doesn't serve anyone well. Best short game in the world not much good if you're almost last on Tour in greens in regulation. Back to basics Lukey.

Wow,
A very presentable field for next week's 'opposite field" event at Reno, so strong(-ish) that last week's play-off victim Cameron Beckman is only an alternate.
Interesting participants include;
Thomas Aiken
Peter Uihlein
Marcus Fraser
Padraig Harrington
Ishikawa
as well as Europeans desperate for FedEx points:
Fisher
Karlsson
Knox
Norlander
Owen
Parnevik

Despite this, there are at least 17 Tour veteran players or past champions in the web.com outing in Pennsylvania.

OWGR Update for the RBC Canadian Open.

Event came out to 285 ERV (258 world + 27 home) = level 46 one point shy of 48.

Potential OWGR Moves... (highest possible move with a win and depending on other players)

Highest ranked players in the field

#6 Matt Kuchar can not move higher than his current #6
#7 Brandt Snedeker can move as high as #6
#8 Graeme McDowell can move as high as #7
#9 Luke Donald MC - Will stay #9 if Charl or Els don't win
#13 Charl Schwartzel can move as high as #9
#15 Ernie Els can move as high as #9
#18 Bubba Watson can move as high as #10
#22 Hunter Mahan can move as high as #11
#25 Dustin Johnson can move as high as #12
#32 Jim Furyk can move as high as #22
#34 Hideki Matsuyama can move as high as #21
#38 Billy Horschel can move as high as #26
#46 Scott Piercy can move as high as #27

Others on the round 2 leader board

#100 John Merrick can move as high as #46
#203 Patrick Reed can move as high as #69
#169 Aaron Baddeley can move as high as #79
#183 Tommy Gainey can move as high as #87
#94 Chris Kirk can move as high as #46
#179 James Hahn can move as high as #83
#289 Jason Bohn can move as high as #113
#103 Charley Hoffman can move as high as #46
#86  David Lingmerth can move as high as #41
#157 Scott Brown can move as high as #74

Merrick is already qualified for the WGC Bridgestone... Kirk, Hoffman and Lingmerth need a win to gain top-50 to get in.   The PGA usually has room to invite all of the top-100 (as per ranking after this week), as well as the winner from this week and next week if not already qualified.

++++++

As mentioned above this event came out to a 46 for this year. For comparison sake the last 5 years were  (most recent first): 36, 46, 34, 34 & 30.  

There was some earlier discussion about RBC Ambassadors (Kuchar, Snedeker, McDowell, Donald, Els, Mahan and Furyk) Those 7 players brought 130 ERV's to the field strength.  We can never know for sure if some, none or all of these players would have played if they weren't RBC Ambassadors... but if ALL 7 would have skipped, the event rating would have dropped 14 points to a 32.

Some absentees noted from next week's WGC Bridgestone:
Jordan Spieth
Peter Senior
Louis Oosthuizen
Still not clear whether all the European contingent will roll up - Paul Lawrie and The Mechanic possibly the most likely absentees.

A bit warmer in the Toronto area this morning so imagine scoring conditions for the early starters might be close to perfect. Still a chance of storms this afternoon and overnight.

Much chat from all of us about the RBC Ambassadors but fair's fair to them, at least most are giving their money's worth, only Donald missing the cut so far, with the caveat that there's another cut following Round 3 with some MDF's inevitable. Hope Ernie's paying attention.

I wonder what happens now:
The PGA Tour declared there would be an interim cut following Round 3 because 79 pros made the cut.

BUT: Now Brad Fritsch has withdrawn from Round 3 - no explanation published yet. And no decision published by the Tour has to whether the third round cut will still apply.
Wonder whether they have a protocol for such an occurrence - or perhaps Commish Finchy received an early morning call to make a decision on the fly. Like his drug and slow-play "policies" for instance.

"...or perhaps Commish Finchy received an early morning call to make a decision on the fly. Like his drug and slow-play "policies" for instance...."

Huh?  

What evidence is there to suggest that drug and slow play policies are Finchems, and not those of the Players Council. You know, the people that Finchem reports to.

Stormy weather in the Toronto area, pretty much as predicted; haven't seen a report from the course, but there doesn't seem to be too much action on the radar - back to work soon, hopefully.
Scoring low so far - except for Ryo.

GPB,
I've yet to see any significant issue deferred to the PAC, it very much seems to be Timmy's way or the highway. Sure the likes of Azinger and Rinker, Brooks and Norman, Danny Edwards and probably many others would agree . . . . . .

The Tour going to a Drug policy was player initiated. Finchem did not want it.

The Slow Play issues are a player problem (in general, they don't want it to be enforced)

Finchem does not do anything major that is not player driven.

Completely disagree, but DO agree it's probably a matter of opinionated opinion!

But golf would never have been accepted in to the Olympics without a drug policy, limp-wristed as it clearly is. Imagine there might be some noses bent out of shape when golfing Olympians are selected.

I said investing in the top players this week should carry a health warning.
Hunner Mahan withdraws as his wife goes in to labour.
Good health to mother, child and Hunner. Wunner what caddie John Wood thought of it all?

After getting into serious contention in the overall PGAT fantasy game, I was gasping for air this morning as I looked at the updated standings.

I was 11th going into this week, and 10 of the players in front of me had picked Hunter Mahan.

I did not.

I was projected to fall to 47th after Round2. Now that Hunter has WDed (and no longer in first) I should be back in the top 10. I pick DJohnson, and only two in the top 10 had picked him.

Everyone has Sneds and almost everyone has Kuchar. (and so do I).

My team was Sneds, Kuch, DJ, and Horschel.

I should be well inside the top 10 in tonights standings, depending on how far DJ falls back as everyone is making birdies.

Why would Finchem want a drug policy? That has got to be headache for him to administer and I am sure he foresaw some litigation.

(But I doubt if he though it would involve Deer Antler Spray.)

MDF - I checked with PGAT's Brian Decker earlier today and the MDF will remain in effect. It's set at the time the cut is made... and even though Fritsch and Mahan have WD'd, and George McNeill DQ'd leaving the field at 76... the MDF remains in effect. A good point by GPB elsewhere when this was brought up: It's hard to write a rule and have a lot of exceptions to it. And he's probably right. The regs are complicated enough as they are... and the players going into today knew an MDF was looming... so it shouldn't be an issue.

Don't think McNeill affected anything, but only four succumb to the grim reaper: Noh, Nona Blue, Stuard and Ryo.
Imagine McDowell will be happy to take the day off.