PGA Tour: "Bridgestone" / Reno-Tahoe: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).Whatever the merits of corporations appointing golfing ambassadors, and the impact they had on the quality of last week's Glen Abbey field, it is unarguable that two of those ambassadors provided a thoroughly absorbing RBC Canadian Open last week. Snedeker proved he has finally, and fully, rebounded from rib problems to his early season form, while Mahan played beautifully before returning to Dallas for the birth of his Zoe.

2).Sneds will be forgiven if he cruises through this week's Bridgestone event, and punters will be forgiven for thinking he might take it easy this week, honing his game for Oak Hill's PGA Championship. His schedule is hectic as his long-time sponsor Wyndham are hosting the Greensboro event following the PGA, and right before the Play-Offs begin.
(Hadn't realised that Snedeker's caddie, Scott Vail, is Eric Vail's son - Eric Vail was an extremely talented ice-hockey player for the Atlanta/Calgary Flames franchise during the 70's, scoring bucketloads of goals but with a work ethic that ultimately fell foul of the increasingly disciplined regimes of the time. Imagine Scotty has already passed his Dad in career earnings!)

3).Hunner is taking this week off and hopefully will get some sleep before the PGA. It'll be inneresting to see what birthday pressie Snedeker gets for Baby Zoe, as Daddy Hunner had stretched last week's field and looked completely in control - he should win much more than he does and maybe this was a tournament that got away, for all the right reasons.

4).Messrs McGirt, Bohn (seems one of the genuinely good guys on Tour so happy to see him playing well again) and Badds wrapped up their Tour cards for 2013/2014, but others slip inexorably in to the mire of uncertainty, including Gary Woodland, Charlie Wi and Ben Crane.
Appleby helped himself but is still in trouble while others such as Colsaerts and Hanson desperately need some good finishes this week and next.
And then there's Mansfield Man, Greg Owen, who played himself in to job security only to make a pig's ear of the par-5 18th in bogeying it on Saturday. But fortitude saw him retrieve that situation and came to #18 on Sunday needing a birdie to secure himself "playing privileges" for next season. So, from a perfect position, he shanked his wedge in to the drink, wrapped up a closing double, and has to play well this week and at Greensboro to survive.
His Bay Hill horlicks was no fluke - his 15th club is a blunderbuss with which to blast away at his feet at the most inopportune moments.

5).We can't stop writing about Russell Knox so here we go again, in the wake of his web.com 59 last Friday. Unfortunately he was unable to spin that in to a victory and a PGA Tour card for next year, but he's surely got the right stuff as illustrated by his post-59 comment:
"I didn't come here to shoot 59, I came here to win the tournament." Better luck this week, Russell, in Reno.

6).Finally for last week, and moving to Russia for a moment, Michael Hoey won his 5th European Tournament. I'll repeat a curiosity I spotted in his career record on the European Tour web-site:
This is Hoey's 5th win, but he has only three other Tour top ten finishes. That seems extraordinary to me and the only thing I can imagine compares, on a totally different level of course, is Tiger Woods's record in Majors pre 2008 surgery:
Won 14.
Other top tens: 13.
Closer.

7).And so to Bridgestone and Reno-Tahoe.
There are sure to be divergent views on WGC's, especially the "cookie-cutter" versions at Doral and Bridgestone, but they can't be ignored and, no doubt the select few who will still be grinding out a result on Sunday afternoon will provide excellent entertainment. But the difference for most of the field between a 20th place finish and 40th, say, or 50th, is just so much petty cash and hardly surprising if the majority will care more about getting to Rochester than ekeing out a result.

8).Who will win? No idea, but Firestone Furyk is a course specialist, should have won last year, and played well in Oh Canada. No doubt the likes of Westwood and Jason Day will "ball-strike" their way to a fat cheque and it's impossible to look past Woods's multiple victories here. More important for some Europeans will be to play well enough to extend their season in to the Play-Offs, Martin Kaymer for instance, while Play-Off participation is synonymous with a job next year for Colsaerts and Hanson - has anyone managed their season worse than Peter Hanson?

9).Ah, yes! I can see Ross Fisher putting up his hand in Reno - sorry Fish, forgot about you.
There's a very competitive field on the Nevada/California border for the Tour's annual Stableford event. Harrington will be there looking to extend his season and guys like Fisher, Karlsson, Knox, Norlander and Owen will hope for a decent result to take in to the season's final "regular" event in Greensboro.

10).Very pleased to see Paul Casey teeing it up at Bridgestone. At least as talented as any of the thirty-something British crew, this could be the second step towards rehabilitation as a top PGA Tour golfer and threat at upcoming Major Championships. Paul has got a long way to go before returning to golf's upper echelon, but a top finish this week, and/or next week at Oak Hill, could see him earning his PGA Tour card after two miserable years in the wilderness. Good luck to him.

Dear Mikko,
Congratulations on your season so far. We're thrilled to invite you to take your place in the field for this week's WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

As special recognition of your success from the golfing backwater of Finland, you can play by yourself this week. That means Round 1 will be a definite dawdle, but you can race around the Bridgestone back-nine before cooling your jets for the front (your secoond nine).

You probably noticed how playing as a single last week affected John Merrick - that was unavoidable, but in this case you've been specially selected to be the poor dufus on your tod at Firestone.

We could have chosen the slowest player in the field, say Keegs, Webbgod, Furyk or Matsuyama but they're box office, damnit, and that would never do. No, you're stuck so no p1ssing and moaning. Until Finland stage a WGC event, tough t1ttie Mikko.

Good luck,

Yours,
George, Timmy and the rest of us wallies

Doubt they'd have even heard of Finland Kwini. Wonder why they just didn't grant someone else a place or make two 2-balls.

Although Finland isn't Scandinavia, I have met American's who though Scandinavia is a country.    

s_r,
Because of the way Alaska is depicted on American maps, an Ivy-League Uni-bound acquaintance of mine thought Alaska is an island . . . .

Cabrera enjoying the hot round early: El Pato!

A guy in California the other week asked if I voted for Obama or Romney. I had to tell him only those who live in America get to vote in American elections.

kwinigolfer wrote:benson,
Not many PGA Champs to group Tiger and Padraig with next week, especially with Phil out of the mix.
Just:
Vijay
Yang
Rory
Brooks
Micheel
Love
Beem
Kaymer
Bradley
Toms

Woods, Bradley and Love playing together next week

Showers just to the west of Firestone; let's hope there's no disruption just as TV coverage is due to begin.

Tee-times tweaked for Saturday in anticipation of weather action early tomorrow morning.

Full list of PGA tee-times due to be published shortly.

Cream rising in Firestone.

Kwin - You must look at some strange maps!

That's some start for tiger

Not me Sr, but the Canada-less maps of the U.S. show Alaska adrift in the Pacific! It's the schools, not me!!
('Course, I understand that Geography is not taught in most US school districts.)


Belated signs of life from Harrington up in the Sierra.

Tiger almost three "Strokes gained putting" in his first six holes as he drains another 20-footer, for par. Expect he'll complain he left some strokes out there.

Kwin - Never drew that conclusion. And are you sure Geography is not taught in most US school districts? Source? Perhaps you're right but love to find out how.

High time Westwood fired Ian Baker Flinch . . . . .

8 under now for Woods for the round, tournaments as good as over but will he get his first 59 on tour..

Tiger opening the proverbial can of "whup ass" on this all star field. Nice ...

Incredible. In thirty holes he's 30 shots ahead of poor Popovich in last place.

Oops, make that 31 in 31.


Sr,
A "Tiger" Major . . . . . better he gets it out of his system this week than next - watching Bradley's two-step for 36 holes will be enough to give him the yips.

Meanwhile, Padraig's trip to Reno has ended in a blaze of ignominy, with a double-bogey on his final hole; that's one way to ensure he arrives in Rochester a few days early.
Karlsson messes up the final hole of a decent round and Knox going nicely.

Good as this round from TW is looking to be, nice playing from Chris Wood. Might learn a lot tomorrow...

Think if Tiger had made that on 15 he would have got it, only 17 and 18 left, I doubt it, but who knows!

what did he hit a 61?

You could make a case, John, for him turning a 58 into a 61.

Having said that, some BIG par putts in between the missed birdie opportunities. Following in Jose Maria's footsteps, for the second time.

Here are the PGA Championship tee-times:

http://www.pga.com/pgachampionship/scoring/teetimes

Harrington, Toms and Yang is the answer to the puzzle, benson.

Here's a piece of trivia I would never have guessed - try it at your next "pub quiz"!

Today Tiger Woods shot his fourth round of 61 on Tour.
Who is the only other player to have shot 4 x 61's since 1983?

Edit: This was reported on pgatour.com, but is incorrect. Sorry!

Brilliant from Tiger!

kwinigolfer wrote:You could make a case, John, for him turning a 58 into a 61.

Having said that, some BIG par putts in between the missed birdie opportunities. Following in Jose Maria's footsteps, for the second time.

Here are the PGA Championship tee-times:

http://www.pga.com/pgachampionship/scoring/teetimes

Harrington, Toms and Yang is the answer to the puzzle, benson.

Not a bad grouping but not likely to get any TV coverage unless he plays well.

Good to see Duval make a weekend!

And the man with 4 x 61's makes the weekend too!
And Chris Riley. All our yesterdays!!
But poor from Owen and Fisher and now they need an exceptional result at Greensboro.

Oak Hill might suit Harrington, pars being a good score on every hole which seems to be his game these days. He needs a good week or it'll be Greensboro for him too, if he wants to reach the Play-Offs.

kwinigolfer wrote:You could make a case, John, for him turning a 58 into a 61.

Kwini you really have taken the position of Tiger hater supreme from super.

Mac,
What's "hate"ful about that?
He missed his first putt of the week inside 10 feet on 15, missed another on 17 and ballsed up the Par-5 16th. He'd've expected to have birdied all three. Whatever he might say.

Kwini

I was only kidding. I hoped the smiley would give that away.

I imagine tiger would really like a 59 on his CV and he probably won't get a better chance than he did today.

If nothing else his form only highlights his mental woes in the majors as clearly he is on very fine form, and probably was at the open. Just not in his head.

I find it astonishing that he hasn't won a Major this year given the flashes of brilliant form that he's had but I suspect the key word there is flashes. Remember he's also shot some of his worst ever rounds this year. Also think you're spot on Mac, I think his head is what's getting in the way in the big ones.

I always maintained that IF he won another Major he WOULD go on to win 19 but I think Major number 15 will be his hardest.

I think his head got in the way last night when all of a sudden he turned from Tiger in to Hunner - and back again, of course, when 59 or 60 was lost, hey presto, a perfect putting stroke to drain a 25-footer.

Quite the exhibition of course - reminds me of when Ollie delivered his 61 and was met on the 18th green by a swooning Lanny Wadkins. All of a sudden one reflected on what a wonderful round it had been, that it was so admired by fellow pros.
And Tiger's now done that twice.

Any takers on my trivia question:

That was Tiger's fourth 61 on Tour.
Who is the only other player to have fired 4 x 61's on Tour since 1983.

Clue: He played yesterday.

Edit: As Mac says, this was reported incorrectly on pgatour.com. Sorry!

Kwini

I saw a tweet with the answer so will not spoil it for everyone else.

Although in another it claims he has only shot 61 twice.

I'll be checking, season by season!

Right, Mac, When things look too good (and/or bad) to be true, they usually are.
pgatour.com reported yesterday that Robert Gamez had fired four career rounds of 61 - as super_sleuth Mac reports, that is hogwash - only two. Cancel trivia!

How many "one-putts" did Woods make in that round?

Here is some more trivia for people to solve.

Tigers 61 was 5 shots better than the next best round of the day, which was a 66 from John Merrick.

So what is the biggest difference between the best and next best round of the day on the PGA tour/majors?

lorus,
I'm sure you can figure it out if you go hole-by-hole thru shotlink.
Reportedly he hit 16 of 18 greens in regulation and only took 22 putts, but obviously a putt from the fringe, as the one on #18 appeared to be, might not count as a putt.

He'll be playing with Chris Wood and Keegan Bradley today - it doesn't look as if much rain fell, and the forecast thru Sunday night is mild and mostly dry.

kwinigolfer wrote:And the man with 4 x 61's makes the weekend too!
And Chris Riley. All our yesterdays!!
But poor from Owen and Fisher and now they need an exceptional result at Greensboro.

Oak Hill might suit Harrington, pars being a good score on every hole which seems to be his game these days. He needs a good week or it'll be Greensboro for him too, if he wants to reach the Play-Offs.

Harrington has already entered Greensboro if I remember correctly! Needs to find some form and quick!

Any chance that Tiger will make a game of it today?
No? Thought not, birdie at the first, birdie at the second, yada yada yada.


If there's any excitement to be had this weekend, it's more likely to be found in Reno, where Andres Romero takes a one-point lead in to Round 3 from Gary Woodland.
Appleby is tied for 3rd and that would be enough to secure him another season in the sun, Charlie Wi also.

The only Europeans still working are RK's, Karlsson and Knox, both of whom need a podium finish to get close to securing their cards for next year. Not out of the realms of possibilities so good luck to them.

Dufnering: Four holes, four birdies. Leading the charge right now, with Keegan Bradley, and Chris Wood close behind.

kwinigolfer wrote:Any chance that Tiger will make a game of it today?
No? Thought not, birdie at the first, birdie at the second, yada yada yada.

I'm sure it will be very exciting

For second  

What have I just seen!!

Woods has got his mojo back!!

8 shots ahead at the moment!!

Tiger drops a shot  

 
Mechanic going nicely, smoking in to the Top Ten.

And King Charl with the round of the day, so far, -5 after 15 holes.

Woods going great, shame he won't win the PGA next week.

Anyone know what this funny points system in the Reno-Tahoe thing is? New one on me

MustPuttBetter wrote:Anyone know what this funny points system in the Reno-Tahoe thing is? New one on me

Modified stableford, intended to promote attacking play. 4pts for eagle, 2 points for birdie, something like that I believe

Modified Stableford scoring system
Double eagle 8 points Par 0 points
Eagle 5 points Bogey -1 point
Birdie 2 points Double bogey or worse -3 points

Alci, really? Thanks
Presumably zero points for par!

You beat me to it
Thanks for the info, very interesting

It would be a terible format for me I never see eagles or better and a lot of bogeys and worse

Agreed!!

Winner in Reno this week earns a spot in the PGA Championship field.
Most of the rest will have the week off!