PGA Tour: Careers on the Line at Greensboro: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).A melodramatic statement, perhaps, but that's what this week's "Wyndham Championship" in Greensboro, North Carolina, is (mostly) all about. One golfer, though, whose career looks secure is Jason Dufner so let's first look back at last week's PGA Championship at Rochester's Oak Hill.

2).Congrat's to Duff Daddy, a well deserved win, as emphatic in its own way as Mickelson's Open Championship. Good to see Keegan Bradley among the very first to congratulate the guy he beat in Atlanta's play-off for the 2011 Championship, a strangely rare sight of esprit de corps among US Tour players.

3).Oak Hill seemed to hold its own remarkably well as a true Championship test - albeit that softish greens after Friday morning's unrelenting rain perhaps made for a bit more target golf than the PGA might have liked. Congrat's also to Doncaster's very own Kerry Haigh for setting the course up as a wonderfully fair test.

4).What of the golfers Dufner beat?
~Furyk: 54-hole leader played well in his 500th Tour start but was out-golfed by Dufner - no shame in that, but Furyk will be disappointed that he's still adrift in the race for a Presidents Cup spot. He will, however, earn an invitation from Billy Payne for the 2014 Masters.
~Stenson continued his almost incredible run of summer form. Will this hot streak continue, or is that Henrik's best?
~Blixt: Nervous to start with, played some extraordinary shots to keep his tournament going, and one to keep an eye on as his career develops.
~McIlroy: Undone by the very dodgy fifth green on Sunday, fought back well. Better days are coming.
~Westwood: Recovered from a pair of Round 2 brain-farts on #8 and #9 (his 35th and 36th holes) to get back into the tournament with a good Round 3 only to get off to a disastrous start on Sunday. Get back on the phone to I B-F.
~Simpson: Fantastic Round 2 from Webbgod, playing in the absolute worst of Friday's cold rain shot a 64 to equal the course record, at least four shots better than the rest of his "wave", or at least those who played more than nine holes in the Jack Crapp. Conditions were so dismal that Tim Clark, for instance, had to lay up on three par fours after hitting the fairway with his driver.
~Garcia: Right in the tournament after 36 holes, sleep-walked his way thru the weekend. Not sure went wrong on a course that should have suited him.

5).And then there's Tiger Woods: Oak Hill was never going to suit him but the intransigence of his game-plan such as hitting driver just once on Thursday (for instance) was bound to leave him long approaches with no margin for error. Add to that just one reachable par-5 and you have a recipe for disappointment - for Tiger and his fans anyway.
But next year sets up very well for Woods: Augusta (say no more), Pinehurst (runner-up to Campbell), Hoylake (2006 win) and Valhalla (2000 win).

6).The Top 15 finishers (and ties) earn themselves a place in the field for Valhalla in 2014. Those not otherwise exempt include:
Furyk, Stenson, Blixt, Piercy, Day, 2xJohnsons, Weekley, Leishman, Stricker, Castro, Streelman and Marc Warren - "chapeau" to Mr.Warren.

7).Adam Scott is the first player to finish in the top five in three Majors in one year since St.Padraig in 2008. His cumulative score for all four Majors was +2, equalling Jason Day (Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!) as best of the Major year.
Eleven others also made all four Major cuts, and no surprises amongst 'em:
Choi, Dufner, Garcia, D.Johnson, Kaymer, Kuchar, Mickelson, Snedeker, Stenson, Westwood, Woods.

8).And so, from one Donald Ross masterpiece to another Ross classic, Sedgefield CC in Greensboro. Sergio beat Tim Clark here last year and there's a good field challenging him for this year's title.
Loads of Carolina Boys like Haas, Glover (no 5-putting from four feet this week please Lucas), and 2011 Champ Simpson, plus nouveau Tar-Heel residents Clark, de Jonge, Karlsson and Pettersson.
And a strong contingent of other Europeans with plenty to play for: Paul Casey (hope he's made up with his caddie), Fisher, Garcia, Hanson, Harrington, Kaymer, Norlander, Owen as well as Brian Davis and David Lynn, but sadly no Russell Knox - is there an anti-Scot bias going on?

9).Any previous assertion in these notes that just the top 125 FedEx points scorers join other exempt golfers with a 2013/2014 Tour card appears completely wrong, and the top 125 money-winners will also qualify for next year.
So Colsaerts is taking the week off as he is apparently content with re-upping on Tour next year but foregoing the chance to play in the FedEx Play-Offs. But Hanson and Harrington are both going for a Play-Off place while other notables who risk being out of the top 125 in both money and points - and have no exemption safety-net - include:
Appleby, Immelman, Cauley, Fisher, Owen, Ricky Barnes, Karlsson, Ishikawa and Sean O'Hair.

10).Finally, non-members who would have earned enough FedEx points to be in the top 200 will also be eligible for the web.com Tour Finals.
Does this mean that the appearance of players such as Gonzo, Franny Molinari, Fisher and Olesen among the early commitments for the Wales Open signify that they are all committed for next year's European Tour? But Marcel Siem is not signed up for Wales and, perversely, nor is Casey even though it is his photograph that adorns the European Tour Wales Open web page!
Frankly, I haven't been able to find an absolutely definitive statement as to who will finally be eligible for what - anecdotedly one feels one has it right but this is a little bit like Champions Tour eligibility in that definitive qualifications appear to be a well kept secret.

The weather will be unseasonally cool in Greensboro and possibly showery but this is another Ross course that looks great on TV. My two bob each way will be on forgotten Carolina Boy Jonathan Byrd.

kwinigolfer wrote:Shame that the Continental Euros came up short but 2 x Aussies and a Canadian are showing that the rest of the world have much to offer the golf universe - whatever Finchem might think.

 Whatever Finchem might think?  Heck... I think he's 100% fine with it. With the state of the Euro Tour...  he knows the cream of the international crop will eventually make it over to the PGAT sooner or later... all good with him.

And as for Scheffler?   How about this 17 year old kid from Dallas? Might he be another Jordan Spieth (also from Dallas). I'm starting to wonder what's in the water up there... :-)

First Scheffler wins the U.S. Junior Am... now after 3 comebacks in a row (from 2-down 20 holes, 2-down and 3-down) he advances to the quarter-finals of the "big boy" U.S. Amateur. Obviously I'd like to see him go further, but even if it ends tomorrow against the favored Brady Watt of Australia... that's still one heck of a run.

kwinigolfer wrote:Bob,
We were following Casey (with Horschel and Mahan) and he seemed to fall out with his caddie after rinsing his tee shot on the Par-3 15th - hardly the caddie's fault if Casey can't hit it straight.
For the last three holes I didn't see either speak to the other, Casey totally ignoring his "man". Antagonistic at best, adversarial at worst. Not a pretty sight.

Casey tied 78th - was he talking to his caddy?

robo,
My point was meant to be that success among young European golfers, a la Matteo, might persuade sponsors to cough up some loot to support European Tour events.
Young golfers from every country are on a suspect career path - for every Tiger there's a Ty. Scheffler seems mighty impressive, the others too.

Finchem has to be careful not to dilute his American product too much - there are very few Americans speaking out about the increasing lack of tee-times but doubtless for everyone that's fat, dumb and happy with the Tour there's an Azinger, a Danny Edwards, a Rinker wondering where it will all end.

Meanwhile, a very big day today (and hopefully upcoming weekend) for Ross Fisher, Immelman, Appleby, Owen, Norlander, Katrlsson, Casey (whoever's caddieing for him), O'Hair etc. Ooh, and Harrington.

kwinigolfer wrote:robo,
My point was meant to be that success among young European golfers, a la Matteo, might persuade sponsors to cough up some loot to support European Tour events.
Young golfers from every country are on a suspect career path - for every Tiger there's a Ty. Scheffler seems mighty impressive, the others too.

Finchem has to be careful not to dilute his American product too much - there are very few Americans speaking out about the increasing lack of tee-times but doubtless for everyone that's fat, dumb and happy with the Tour there's an Azinger, a Danny Edwards, a Rinker wondering where it will all end.

I have a bit of a different understanding of Timmy... IMO he welcomes the best of the worlds golfers here with the most open of open arms, and with VERY little, if any concern about the balance of Americans to Internationals.  Make no mistake about it... he wants a world tour... but he wants it to remain the PGA Tour and run out of Ponte Vedre as opposed to some committee room by the IFPGAT (or other).   And effectively the checks an balances are in place to ensure an adequate number of Americans playing.   As long as the international guys continue to at least somewhat dual-tour on their "home" tours... rather that be the Euro, Sunshine, Australasian or whatever... that limits their starts here... and lessens the chances of the "less accomplished" internationals to stick here.

A tie-up of some sort might turn out to be a good thing for the game and the players, who knows. Reciprocal (or at least broader) rights might encourage more top US players to see the world, and also ease access to US events for ET members. Maybe the marketing muscle and know-how of the PGA Tour might help increase profile / sponsorship opportunities etc in Europe, Asia and wherever else. Perhaps this might speed up the process of having other WGCs and/or majors outside the US.

Some people have mentioned the business side. Who actually owns the PGAT and ET, and what happens to the profits at the moment? I have no idea.

As for Casey's dual role as players' committee member and commentator on this situation? I can imagine a conversation between Finchem and Casey - "Paul, you're a great player and you should be playing on the PGA Tour. I can make that happen for you. All you have to do is GIVE ME THE EUROPEAN TOUR... (mwah ha ha)."

To the rescue, the cavalry is coming!

ET tournament scheduled for Prague next August 20-something.
Don't panic, DON'T PANIC, we're not doomed, we're saved!

Sky,
Not sure of the technicalities, but two sideways comments:
1).Most American Southern boys don't play northern tournaments as a general rule unless they have to (and even more seldom do they play "Canada") - can't see too many whipping out their passports unless there are absolutely compelling reasons to do so.

2).The PGAT pension fund (and FedEx goodies) will make the top players even richer in their dotage than they might have been in quiet seasons on Tour. There'll be a very strong lobby to protect that goldmine and not risk diluting it much more.

The players own the PGA Tour - whatever that means.

Why not more co-sactioned PGAT and ET events, for instance some of those in Asia and a few ones in Europe? That would create a de-facto world tour where the big (euro) names played those tourneys only/mainly (+the FedEx playoffs and ET playoffs), yet still keep their ET memebership. The big US names could keep doing what they do today, whereas the journeymen would have to live up to their name, i.e. travel the world a bit more. A few US tourneys would probably need to be axed, but I guess that wouldn't be an issue. They can team up with web.com.

The short term benefit for the ET is not big, but it could prevent the big euro names from deserting the ET. Basically the ET doesn't have a lot of cards on the hand, except some great players and an Asian foothold.

The benefit for the PGAT is of course the expansion to the rest of the world.

pedro wrote:The short term benefit for the ET is not big, but it could prevent the big euro names from deserting the ET. Basically the ET doesn't have a lot of cards on the hand, except some great players and an Asian foothold.

The benefit for the PGAT is of course the expansion to the rest of the world.

 Agreed... but the point is the PGAT is quite capable of expanding in the "Pacific Rim" area pretty much as they choose... with or without the Euro Tour.  If the PGAT were to say go to Korea, China, Japan, or Australia and say "Wanna do something together?"... what do you think the response would be?   The fish would be jumping in the boat so fast Timmy might not be able to get out of the way.     But I don't think it's the PGAT's method to just jump at ANYthing that comes up... it's got to be the right deal.

EDIT: And don't forget... the PGAT's designs on expansion are not necessarily limited to just Pacific Rim.  There's kind of an "understanding" the PGAT wouldn't poach in Europe or Africa...  but there's South America which is very fertile grounds for expansion some day... especially with their summers also being opposite America's winters... and the PGAT virtually owning Tour golf down there now.

This is enough to bring a tear to the eye

http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-tours-news/blogs/local-knowledge/2013/08/jason-dufners-wedding-day-music-video-is-a-must-see.html

McLaren wrote:This is enough to bring a tear to the eye

http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-tours-news/blogs/local-knowledge/2013/08/jason-dufners-wedding-day-music-video-is-a-must-see.html

He didn't grab her arse once and there was a total lack of chewing 'baccy.

McLaren wrote:This is enough to bring a tear to the eye

http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-tours-news/blogs/local-knowledge/2013/08/jason-dufners-wedding-day-music-video-is-a-must-see.html

Ah Mac. We know you're just jealous that the Duffer has such a hot wife...

2 x Aussies, 1 Englishman (Matt Fitzpatrick) and 1 x Canadian in the US Amateur Final Four.
Yes, the US Amateur.
No, I didn't see that coming.


As for Greensboro, we have perhaps the youngest podium (after two rounds) sitters in PGA Tour history: Patrick Reed, John Huh and Jordan Spieth - total age about the same as mine.

But several of those who need a good week to keep their card have done well. Most, however, need to do even better:
Fisher lies T4.
Karlsson is T22
Immelman T22
Appleby T22 but that will be good enough for him
Greg Owen T25 which is close to what he needs but something like 15th would be better.

whilst:
Peter Hanson and Padraig Harrington are out of the play-offs, along with Colsaerts.
and Tour regulars like Bud Cauley, Sean O'Hair and Troy Matteson (and Paul Casey) are destined for the web.com Tour Finals - if they care to participate.

The boys are (re)scheduled for a 7.15 a.m. start at Greensboro today due to a cold wet rain in the forecast. Temps about 20F degrees below average, not much better for Sunday.
Raining already by the looks of it so Round 3 might be a bit hit and miss today.
Anyway, they'll be playing in threesomes, off both the 1st and 10th tees, and time will tell how that works out.
"Delays possible" would be the executive outlook.

They're on their way at Greensboro.
Hopefully pgatour.com will wake up soon, only firing on about 1 1/2 cylinders right now.

Rain stopped play - sure those who've already struggled out there will be thrilled that play started at all. Advantage to the later starters.

Matt Fitzpatrick vs Aussie Goss in the Final of the US Amateur.

Scoring high and conditions look tricky in Greensboro for The Wyndham Championship. Ross Fisher and Greg Owen seven over par between them, neither doing themselves any favours at all. Karlsson not much better.

Great news re Fitzpatrick. Silver medal at Open and apparently off to uni in Chicago this year. Pity Neil R didn't make it but high hopes for his strokeplay ability as he turns pro, probably very soon now depending on Walker Cup picks - he has been overlooked before?
Don't watch the footie now, but exception today, mixed with Solheim, to see RVP score 2 beauties. I gather Pompey beat mighty Morecambe as well!

Best thing about the Pompey win was the 14,500 at FP. Hope that continues, and I'm sure it will if we get some good results. Promotion the minimum acceptable outcome this season.

Ross Fisher's putter has deserted him again after catching fire on Thursday - sliding down the leaderboard almost as fast as Pompey slid down the leagues. Fish is too good a ball-striker not to get his short game sorted out. Shame.

No scheduled golf on TV here - whassup with that?

Showers and/or heavier rain expected Sunday too, so they'll be opening the batting off both the 1st and 10th tees tomorrow in three somes.
Miracles needed from the Europeans hoping to reach the Top 125. Appleby might be OK with a little help but Immelman needs a low-60-something in Round 4.

Charles Howell III seems to have been DQ'ed for a bit of his driver falling of in his warm up and then using it in his round. The club was deemed to be non conforming without the <1g bit of plastic that fell of.

Quite a few bizarre dq's recently. They don't call Austin Woody because he uses too many woods but that's exactly why he was penalized four shots at the PGA, missed the cut by one.

Lousy forecast for Sunday's final round of the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro - almost two inches of rain fell yesterday and the fairways were getting pretty saturated (although the greens were mostly fine and keeping their speed).

A bit warmer (low 70's) today but still showers around. 7.15 a.m. start is scheduled and let's hope they can get the round in; plenty of motivation to do so with so many in the field destined for New Joysey and the Barclays on Thursday.

Greensboro tee-times delayed one hour, first groups now scheduled to be teeing off at 8.15 EST.
This could be a long day and lift, clean and place will make it even longer.

The Greensboro golfers are on their way.
A first-time winner or the strong likelihood of a Pres Cup place for Zach or Spieth.
And: Any European not shooting in the fifties (Greg Owen, and perhaps Norlander, might reach the top 125 with a 62-ish) will know their next port of call will be Indiana for the web.com Tour Finals' first event (of four).

US Amateur update:
Matt Fitzpatrick one up after 18 holes against Aussie Oliver Goss.

Sedgefield CC playing almost 400 yards shorter than the advertised 7,100 yards today - and it shows in the scoring. Several rounds of seven under par and Matt Jones is in with an eight-under 62. Webb.com and Martin Kaymer already in with 63's and more hot rounds in progress incl Major Toms and Flores.

I see Fitzpatrick won kwini, excellent win and certainly one to watch when he turns pro.

Hi gw,
I think they're both going to be fine pro's. Goss featured in some Aussie Tour events last winter. It'll be interesting to see how Fitz makes out in Luke Donald's footprints at Northwestern Uni.

Wonderful win for young Patrick Reed also, play-off win vs 20-y-o Spieth.

seriously good effort from Toms on Sunday but still a couple of shots short of making the top125

That's right hend0, but what a mixed bag for Toms this year - until he woke up with a 16th place finish in Reno, his only top 45 result (apart from a T33 first round knock-out at the MatchPlay) was a 13th place at The Masters.

Unfortunately his recent 3-week run of 16th, 7th at the PGA and 16th this week is too little, too late for the Major to make the Play-Offs.
Edit: This'll be the first time Toms has missed the Play-Offs, one of eleven to miss out for the first time (also Harrington, Singh, Campbell, Slocum, Byrd, Matteson, O'Hair, Allenby, Na, Holmes).
But his passion is College Football so he won't mind a few off weeks, then I'm sure he'll be back in action at The McGladreys.

And: He made enough money to reach the Top 125 in 2013 money-winners so he won't have to use either of his career money exemptions (7th all-time!).

heath slocum... havent heard of him all season! his playoffs win a couple of years back really does seem to be oultier in his career.

Always think of Are You Being Served? when I hear that name.

Slocum will likely make a reappearance during the web.com Tour Finals for which he's barely qualified.
Sure we're all following his progress with bated breath.

super_realist wrote:Always think of Are You Being Served? when I hear that name.

What ever happened to Patrick cantlay?

Not big news, but it does make you wonder.....

http://www.geoffshackelford.com/homepage/2013/8/20/ghin-outage-usga-did-not-renew-the-ghincom-domain.html

Patrick Cantlay:
Has played most of the year on the web.com Tour, winning once, and played some PGA Tour events. But he's been injured recently, withdrawing from Colonial, and has slipped to the precipitous #25 place on the moneylist.
I see he's in this week's field and he'll be hoping for a big finish to secure his spot on "the 25" (and next year's PGA Tour), or he'll have to battle for next year's status in the web.com Tour Finals, for which he may also be eligible thanks to his "non member" earnings.