PGA Tour: The Play-Offs - Expect the Rich to get Richer: Notes from the Ballwasher

1).We said last week that careers were on the line at Greensboro but, in fact, not much changed.

~Those in the FedEx Top 125 points list stayed there, made certain of their place in the Play-Offs and their "playing privileges" for the 2013/2014 season. That includes close shaves from Crane and Appleby.

~And only David Toms secured his full exemption for 2013/2014 on the back of his final round 62 - it appeared his circuit was dead but Major Toms woke up in the nick of time. Having said that, he has a spare capsule, two actually, in the shape of Career Money Exemptions, the good Major being 7th on the all-time money list.

2).No doubt George O'Grady was hot on the heels of Europeans who have cards secured for next year but failed to qualify for the Play-Offs, such as Colsaerts, Hanson and Harrington, to "persuade" them to play this week in Gleneagles and add lustre to a disappointing field, right? Wrong, but at least Padraig is signed up for Celtic Manor the following week as is Ross Fisher plus several PGA Tour "non-members" who might have the option of competing in next week's first "web.com Tour Finals".
What?!?!? Up to 150 golfers will compete in this four tournament series with the Top 25 money winners earning a PGA Tour card for 2013/2014.

3).So, before we look ahead to the Play-Offs and this week's Barclays event in New Jersey, let's look a week further forward to those web.com Tour Finals and who will be contesting them. In simple terms it will be:

a).Players ranked 126 - 200 in FedEx points for the 2013 season. This will include Europeans Owen, Karlsson, Norlander, Fisher (who is eligible but appears not to be playing), Russell Knox and Paul Casey (Paul has been outspoken on behalf of the European Tour this past week so why isn't he playing in Scotland or Wales?).
And may include familiar names who also possess an alternative "career money" exemption avenue: Chad Campbell and Allenby. And many more who don't, including Bud Cauley, Ricky Barnes, Immelman, Ishikawa, Jonathan Byrd (he has some Medical Exemption starts remaining), O'Hair and DiMarco.

b).Those ranked 1 - 75 on the web.com money list following this week's "Cox Classic" tournament in Omaha. Familiar names qualifying here include Cejka, Richard S.Johnson, Will MacKenzie and possibly - depending on this week's results - Matthew Goggin and Patrick Cantlay. The Top 25 after this weekend will already have earned their cards but the exact status of all but #1 will be determined by the Tour Finals money-list.

c).Tour non-members achieving specific money or notional FedEx points levels this season. Too much detail to go thru every one, but most Europeans who competed in the WGC's and Majors this year would come in to this category tho' it remains to be seen who'll take advantage. Marcel Siem perhaps, but most of them such as Gonzo, Molinari, Lowry etc are signed up for Celtic Manor and they can't be in two places at once.  

4).I'm thinking that, when the web.com Tour Finals get underway, they might be even more compelling than the FedEx Play-Offs, but these Play-Off tournaments have produced some great golf over the past six years and doubtless we'll enjoy more of the same.
Whether there'll be any sort of "crescendo" building up to the Tour Championship I somewhat doubt, partly because the Play-Off points scoring system which is simple enough seems to defeat the efforts of the berks at the Networks to explain them. You know the drill by now;
Top 125 play this week at The Barclays.
Remaining Top 100 qualify next week for the DeutscheBank.
Then the Top 70 earn a tee-time two weeks' later at the BMW.
And the Top 30 sitting when the music stops go to East Lake for a bottle of Coke and the Tour Championship.

5).pgatour.com, who have been wrong before, project that it will be necessary for this week's field to have amassed FedEx 550 points including their Barclays result so this places the following luminaries on the "bubble":
Van Pelt, Ogilvy, Twit Overton, Kaymer, Villegas, Romero, Pettersson, Badds, Apples and Ben Crane.

6).When we talk about the rich getting richer, let's review the Top Ten leading beneficiaries of the FedEx bonus pool (excluding actual tournament prize-money) so far:
$22.275M: Woods
$13.190M: Furyk
$11.258M: Snedeker
$11.020M: Vijay Singh (not qualified this year)
$10.566M: Bill Haas
$7.230M: Mickelson
$6.430M: Stricker (qualified but resting his dodgy hamstring this week)
$4.960M: Luke Donald
$4.315M: Kuchar
$3.745M: Villegas
Rory has hoovered up $3.14M, Sergio $3.13M and Justin Rose $2.4M with other Euros filling their boots in lesser quantities.

7).We remember Tiger's witticism of the last decade (still waiting for this decade's) wondering in 2009 when The Barclays was last played at Liberty National Golf Course whether player consultant Tom Kite had designed the greens before or after he had his eyes fixed.
Well, 15 of the 18 holes have reportedly been changed in some way, 12 greens redone, 12 tees altered and some fairways and bunkering tweaked. If not a brand new course, it should certainly feel it, pretty much the only constant being the stunning views of Lady Liberty, New York Harbour and the Manhattan skyline. The morons at CBS seemed to spend rather too long focussing on cruise ships steaming by the course, so hopefully viewers will enjoy a revamped TV production as well as a playable course.

8).Because the lay-out is essential new, and there are very few Tour Pros with local knowledge, picking a winner this week will be something of a lottery. The Europeans tend to say how much they want to be part of the FedEx bonanza but the tournaments were pretty much an all American affair (except for 2008 when Vijay and Camilo won all four between them) until Justin Rose won the BMW two years ago and then Rory dominated last year.
I'd expect the same this year and imagine T.Woods will be motivated to add tournament wins and another $10mil to any pre-nup plan he might be conjuring up (nah!) with Miss Vonn.

9).Far, far away, in the great Pacific North-West, the "Boeing Classic" will be offering Colin Montgomerie to break his duck on the Champions Tour. Much to his surprise, no doubt, he's only mustered up two Top Tens (a 7th and a 9th place) in five starts so far, not cracking the Top 20 otherwise.
Last week was the 1,000th event on the Champions Tour - the very first winner was the most appropriately named Don January, "Bones" before Phil had even heard of Jim Mackay. Nothing quite so fitting last Sunday as Bart Bryant, brother of the Tour's Doctor Dirt, held on for a win.

10).Trivia: I mentioned last week that a highly influential force in American football (OK, soccer) died recently, a cousin of a Major Championship winner.
Who? Choose either the footballer/administrator or the golfer.
For better or for worse I saw both play!

Good one Kwini. Is Zach Johnson not playing as well?

Thanks,
Yup, should have noted that Zach will be at his brother's wedding. But they're the only two absentees, so a very strong field.

With Steve Stricker absent, Hunter Mahan becomes the only Play-Off ever-present in all 25 events - provided nothing prevents him teeing off on Thursday.
Mahan, Mickelson and Stricker are the only golfers to reach the Tour Championship each year. Imagine they'll keep that record intact.

Should be great weather in Joysey, a bit iffy on Thursday perhaps but lovely after that.

Kwini - excellent, thanks. The Tiger quote is priceless. Who would have thought the boy had a sense of humour - albeit with a barbed tongue!
Have to say its all very complicated! Seems deliberately so, but take a bow if you really understand it, anybody. Leaves me feeling decidedly uncharged!

He's a card isn't he?

Laugh a decade.

Woods complaining of a stiff back and neck, blames his hotel bed and implies a new one is being installed.
But he was clutching his back at Oak Hill so what gives?
Does he have a bad back, or does he have a bad bed? Or both of course??
Either way, nothing like trotting out excuses beforehand.
He doesn't usually play if he's not fully fit (unless he has a broken leg), and he certainly doesn't need to play this particular event, so I'd look at this as a smokescreen.

Woods has been described as "flat-out hilarious" by John Daly.

John Daly: Famous for his dry wit and one-liners.
Not sure what that says about either of them.
Tiger would do himself a big favour if he showed any humour in his interviews - sure he loves living in a coccoon but, if there are any human feelings there, he keeps them very well hidden from public view.

incontinentia wrote:Woods has been described as "flat-out hilarious" by John Daly.

That was when JD saw the type of two-bit hookers Woods was leaving the bar with. Even JD (with those trousers) has better taste than Woods showed (Elin apart)

Tiger woods wasn't really that well treated by the media when they kept printing story after story of his shagging. Can see why he is still a bit off with them. Though he will attract fans by being so good he doesn't need the good guy appeal to the fans. When he starts becoming Poopie then I think he will open up a bit.

ben,
He's always been very distant with the press, for more than a decade before the Escalade escapade.

He has never needed to court the media though has he, not in the same way as his contemporaries.

Of course not, but you can't therefore expect the press to turn a blind eye when indiscretions are out there in the public domain after he's been conning everyone with his Goody Two Shoes act since "Hello World".

I wouldn't doubt that there are others out there, with convivial media relations, enjoying extra-marital gymnastics who are given a free pass by the press.

For Tiger, what went around, came around.

I think it's because he never had to play to the press his mini downfall was taken on with such glee by a lot of the media. And there still seems to be some that are not going to let him get away with forgetting the incident. It seems Sonera journos pretty pleased he hasn't won a major in 5 years and hold this against him ignoring what he has done. He brought it on himself though and deserved what he got. I guess there where so many stories just waiting for the catalyst to print.

Maybe the media should focus more on the types of stories we are hearing now about the NSA than who tiger may or may not of slept with. There was no need for anyone other than his wife to know about his indiscretions and anyone who thinks otherwise is nothing more than a daily mail type gossip fiend.

I don't understand that argument that Tiger should open up to the media, all we need to know as golf fans is what he does on the course.

Unless of course you see the PGA tour as some sort of jersey shore (quite literally this week) type entertainment?


Kwini

Are you coming round to the new web.com Tour Finals or would you rather the old q school system had remained in place?

I am looking forward to what they offer in terms of sporting entertainment, which will hopefully be something similar to the championship play off's.

It makes some sense that you enter them on merit in the same way teams only get into the championship play off's if they play well in the level below the big time. They would loose some merit if pub league teams could rock up out of no where and pip those who have evidence of being top class to the post.

Mac, are you on the nightshift or just an insomniac?

Mac,
Who a celebrity spends time with is their business, but if it results in extended absence from work, surely (because of admission in to a sex addiction programme for instance) now the public has a right to know? We certainly don't need the videos.
If that celebrity had spent a decade or more cultivating a squeaky clean image and earned tens of gazillions partly as a result, then the press who had helped foster that image in their sycophantic drooling are understandably going to have a dig.

A bit like WMD's in Iraq really - politicians gambling that the press would believe the charade.


Regardless, what do I think of the Tour Finals? It's going to be a compelling four weeks I'd think, though I still prefer the old Q-School structure. It will be very interesting to see who actually plays and who throws in their cards. O'Grady for one will have a deep vested interest in the outcome of it all.

McLaren wrote:Maybe the media should focus more on the types of stories we are hearing now about the NSA than who tiger may or may not of slept with...

This from the man who went apoplectic when Dufner grabbed his own wife's arse on camera. Can you spell consistency?

The rich getting richer does seem to make top class professional golf look a bit like a closed shop for the old boys, but on the other hand, it could be a case of the cream rising to the top. One thing is for sure, the criteria for qualifying for the various play-offs are too convoluted for 90% of the golf watching public to understand, but I suspect that same 90% don’t really care.

What are your views Mac on Tiger's 'use' of women which would at least imply, if not evidence, a derogatory attitude towards women? Do you agree with this kind of attitude?

does every thread have to become a bickering match about tiger woods/definition of offence/political correctness? its boring and disrespectful to Kwini

Bob,
The best thing about the first six years of the Play-Offs is that, for the most part anyway, they've produced some great golf - hoping for more of the same!

Weather forecast still a bit dodgy for Thursday, but should be glorious after that, sunny, not too toasty, a bit of a breeze.

Rory off early this morning and wouldn't it be nice to be talking this week about what's right with his game, rather than what's gone wrong? Fingers crossed for that.

Kwini, what is it about Q school that means you prefer that system over the new one?

kwinigolfer wrote:..Rory off early this morning and wouldn't it be nice to be talking this week about what's right with his game, rather than what's gone wrong? Fingers crossed for that.

Agreed, but my gut feeling is that it is a case of fingers crossed - he's not yet figured out how to control his own form, or at least have a default safe mode when he's not feeling super confident. He's more affected by his mood (which is turn is at the mercy of off-course stuff) than I'd like to see for a guy with as much talent as he has. Still, if he gets that under control, look out world.

hend085 wrote:does every thread have to become a bickering match about tiger woods/definition of offence/political correctness? its boring and disrespectful to Kwini

Get a grip man!?!
A bit of friendly banter/ribbing causes no harm to anyone until someone wades with their knickers in a twist.........that's you by the way

Mac,
I still prefer the opportunity for someone to gain access to the Tour without going thru' the web.com ritual, the Dustin Johnsons, Rickie Fowlers for instance. Tho' one could say that Patrick Reed proved that where there's a will there's sometimes a way.


Very interested to see the composition of next week's field for Finals Round 1.

hend085 wrote:does every thread have to become a bickering match about tiger woods/definition of offence/political correctness? its boring and disrespectful to Kwini

It may be boring, but isn't this "taking offense on someone else's behalf" kinda what all the discussion about?

I'm sure if Kwini thought it was disrespectful to him, he'd say so

I'm sure we'll all be engrossed in the golf when it starts just after noon, Bracknell time.

(Appreciate the thoughts hend0, MPB, Davie!)

These web.com playoffs, are up against the actual fedex playoffs, so will people really care, is it going to attract people to watch, and therefore make money in sponsorship? Seems like messing with something for the sake of it.

ben,
I don't think non-golf fans will be at all interested, but I'd imagine these finals will build a momentum of their own, with some relatively prominent names taking part.
Also, Finals Rounds 2 and 4 won't have any PGA Tour event up against them on the calendar so Golf Channel coverage will ensure some exposure.
But the whole exercise is to try and increase the stature of the web.com Tour and ensure it finishes with a climax rather than a fizzle.

They'll succeed in that, but whether the structure will attract better players or be a turn-off to them is up for debate.

Kwini

If a player is ever going to make it on the PGAT is it not the case that they will be able to make it through the web.com one way or another?

Why should people skip the steps to the top?

web.com playoffs are just going to produce journeymen coming back after failing or decent youngsters but nothing special. If the player is anything special they will find a way of making it regardless, look at Jordan Speith. Its like trying to generate interest in the lower leagues of football. Bit of interest to the die hards, but anyone else wouldnt care.

Mac,
But why should they have to go through the web.com route if they're good enough to play the Tour.
Easy to pick the Jordan Spieth example, but he has always been a favoured species, getting maximum sponsor invitations that are the province of the very few.
Spieth is one of only about eight players to reach the Tour without going thru' web.com or Q-School in the past 30+ years: possibly Hallberg, Woods, Verplank, Mickelson, Leonard, Moore, Cauley and now Spieth.
To suggest that the rest are universally "nothing special" is flying in the face of reality.

I guess given the cut off for playing privileges on respective tours is arbitrary it is possible that we don't currently slice up things as they should be.

I said the Thursday forecast was "a bit dodgy" but didn't expect dodginess this early.
Play suspended.

Play resumes, and it's poor from Westwood who quickly goes to the bottom of the pile, four over after five holes.
Rubbish! Which is only fitting as Liberty National is on the site of land reclaimed from a landfill.

Or, as an unnamed caddie observed after the 2009 Barclays debut of LibNat:
"They've ruined a perfectly good landfill."

I've noticed with Rory he seems to 've making one double bogey a round. He can't seem to keep that one bad hole off his card. A lot of the time he is ok but one hole keeps putting him back.

That's supposed to be Rickie Fowler disease, ben.

They all have another break as weather intervenes once again. A long day for these guys then, and every likelihood that today's afternoon wave will have to play the best part of 36 holes Friday. Should be fine weather though.

Tiger has hit all but one fairway so far and every green - three short birdie putts made already, another four-footer missed. Prowling.

Actually watchung a US golf tournament at a reasonable time. Been on holiday to Yellowstone and other places west. Last day before fying home and first time I have manged to find golf on TV in the various hotels I have stayed in. Bliss.

Inw,
Hope you've been enjoying yourself - see any bears in Y'stone? Or fires?? We have access to a property just north of the North Entrance, close to Livingston. Beautiful country.


Camilo also enjoying himself - tied with Furyk and Stricker for most Play-Off top ten finishes (incl his two wins).

I have a picture of a bear! But it will be a speck in the distance even when the image enlarged. There was a fire on the last day I was there and it got bigger after I left. I came in from Billings up the Beartooth Highway. Spectacular. Bison "lived" outside my cabin the time I was there. No more than 20 yards away every day. Went to Jackson Hole and did Arches National Park. Now in a place called Frisco near Breckenridge. Flying home from Denver tomorrow. Views have been tremendous all trip.

Inw,
Ted Turner (once Mr Jane Fonda among others, and Mr CNN) has a huge herd of bison on his ranch (about the size of Derbyshire) outside Bozeman. Sounds as if you've done well . . . . . .
Safe trip home, hope you'll catch the golf before your flight.

I'm never wrong wrote:I have a picture of a bear! But it will be a speck in the distance even when the image enlarged. There was a fire on the last day I was there and it got bigger after I left. I came in from Billings up the Beartooth Highway. Spectacular. Bison "lived" outside my cabin the time I was there. No more than 20 yards away every day. Went to Jackson Hole and did Arches National Park. Now in a place called Frisco near Breckenridge. Flying home from Denver tomorrow. Views have been tremendous all trip.

Had a nice lunch in Frisco once ! Nephew was kind enough to get married in Denver and we all went out and stayed in breckenridge (played golf there too). Spectacular area--would love to go back !

Bogey-free round from Rory.
Pity that beninho was correct x 3. Three double bogeys, but even par.

Good recovery from Westwood, but plenty of work to do tomorrow. Or Saturday.

Shane O'Donoghue ‏@ShaneODonoghue 12m
Rory had 3 doubles and still shot even par? Watch out for the next few weeks. Kid has his mojo. FACT.

Is he joking lol!?

Someone who I expect to contend and win soon is Kaymer....

Kwini, any hints to your trivia?

Georgia

Georgia is the clue.
Which should help narrow down the Major Championship winner (no Open Championships played in Georgia) if not the footie pioneer.

And I saw the footie guy playing for West Ham. A long time ago!

Ok, Phil Woosnam. Had to google it. Good one kwini.

 pedro!

Thought one of our American friends might have got that. Phil Woosnam was quite the cerebral footballer before it was fashionable to be so - think he was a teacher before he laced 'em up for cash. Fine player and made quite the impact over here in the early days, playing and organizing.

Looks like Westwood still had a twitter hangover on his first nine holes today. Guess he had a little "hair of the dog" during the second weather delay.

sirbenson wrote:Shane O'Donoghue ‏@ShaneODonoghue 12m
Rory had 3 doubles and still shot even par? Watch out for the next few weeks. Kid has his mojo. FACT.

Is he joking lol!?

Someone who I expect to contend and win soon is Kaymer....

the guy is absolutely clueless. used to present on RTE a while back. hes is particularly smug for an absolute bluffer.