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

First topic message reminder :

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!

Poor day at the Barclays for the European challenge, with only David Lynn (-2 and tied for 4th), Blixt (-1) and Rose (-1) under par for Round 3.

At the other end of the spectrum is Martin Laird who had a perfectly respectable first 15 holes only to rack up two bogeys and a quad over his final thre holes.

Outside the Majors, Tiger hasn't had a Top Thirty finish in a Tour event this year - except for five wins. Something has to give on Sunday, apart from his back that is.

A quiet morning on the range at LibNat, weather-wise at least.
A glorious day in prospect, but still with a breeze later to help fairways and greens dry out just that little bit more.

Is this a four (Woodland, Smiley, Chappell, Woods) man race, or will a Rory or a Sergio burst, Chappell-like, from the pack to set a clubhouse "number"?

Martin Laird, who butchered his final few holes Saturday, and David Hearn wil be leading things off just after 8.00 a.m.

Lots to play for, for lots of players, but as is the "genius" of the Play-Off points system, way too convoluted to explain elegantly.

But five Aussies will need good rounds if they are to advance to TPC Boston and the next Play-Off event:
Appleby
Badds
Chalmers
Ogilvy
Senden . . . .

. . . . while Sergio, Rory, Jonas Blixt and David Lynn can take giant steps toward the Tour Championship with low rounds today.

Good to go:

First win of many for Tommy Fleetwood?
Anyone else think he looks like a smaller - in every respect - version of Billy Horschel?

Nuffink much 'appening at The Barclays, tho' Jason Coke Rack has some early birdies.
Westwood two under par, but he needs to go much lower to significantly improve his placing and points harvest.

Phil Mickelson on fire in The Barclays, but will it be a case of too little, too late?
At the other end of the table, below-par seasons have ended for Ogilvy (bogeyed his 72nd hole and that might have cost him), Senden, Pettersson and Jeff Overton - wonder who Jeff will blame for his failure to earm a ticket to the DeutscheBank?

Luke Donald has ruined a good start by rinsing at least two golfballs - easy to blame his short and crooked game, but his course management hasn't seemed too clever at times this year either.

And: Russell Knox having a fine final round in the web.commer in Omaha; still with an outside chance of reaching the Top 25 and securing his PGA Tour card.
If he's successful it could be at the expense of Daniel Chopra who's lost all the ground he'd gained and is now #25 of 25. He'll be sh1tting bricks while he waits to see the leaders come home.

Would be nice if 9 chins could produce one of his patented 'come from behind' wins, haven't seen one in a few years.

Not sure he's won that many "come from behind" victories, certainly never in a Major and only a handful in Tour events.

Adam Scott now joined the pursuit and leaders wobbling.
We watched Chappell play a few holes at Oak Hill and he was completely out of it - looked a couple of times as if he'd walk off.
But he's one of those players that plays on confidence so it'll be fascinating to say how he deals with pressure, if anyone applies it.

25 wins when he wasn't going in to the final round leading/joint.

Thanks monty,
I started to think about that and thought I'd way under-estimated - tho' that figure really surprises me.

Phil's charge looks like it's come up short, but Oh Canada is on the move - podium finish would get him very close to a Pres Cup place. But De Laet is possibly the worst dressed player on Tour.

kwinigolfer wrote:First win of many for Tommy Fleetwood?
Anyone else think he looks like a smaller - in every respect - version of Billy Horschel?.

I can see the similarities kwini. Great win for Fleetwood, he has loads of potential, reminds me alot of David Horsey when he first came on the scene. Off to a flyer in the Ryder Cup race too!! Decent weekend for Gary, hopefully he will squeeze into Wales, and make some of that confidence count. Second reserve so should get in.

Pleasantly surprised to see that Tigey is now one off the lead, come from behind victory no. 26 in the offing.

Was at Gleneagles today, very impressed by Tommy Fleetwood's play. Held his nerve throughout the round and especially in the play off. Congratulations.

EmmDee,
Watched the final three hours, very exciting golf - if a bit funky at times.
How do you rate the course for Ryder Cup play?


gw,
Great result for GB, as you say, hope he gets to play Celtic Manor.
Justin Rose in the shake-up after various eccentricities, by others. Anyone's tournament right now.

Loved Jonas Blixt wearing all orange for his pairing with Rickie Fowler - hasn't done anything for his game unfortunately. +10.

Appleby makes a 5-footer and moves on to Boston.
Camilo misses a 6-footer and goes home.
Both have been playing quite well the second half of the year, but Camilo must be bitterly disappointed, especially after starting with a 65. Baddeley the last player out there who could slip out of the Boston field now.

Tiger's wishing he was playing with Casey Wittenberg . . . . .

Rose is right in there, looks like no-one wants it at the moment!!

Talking of lookalikes, have you noticed a double for GB kwini? Take a look at Bernd Wiesberger! Even his swing is similar.

Don't feel as if I've seen either GB or Bernd enough to judge - Bernd's play was a touch eccentric today.

Wonder whether Tiger will be taking the trip to New England or return to the planet Jupiter? His collapse in the fairway was reminiscent of Ricky Gonzalez earlier today.

I'd be surprised, looks like a bad injury.

 
Oh Badds . . . . makes Camilo feel better I suppose - he gets another tee-time after all.

Terrible 3-putt from Justin Rose, almost sure now to miss out on a play-off.

Kwini, I'm not a fan of the course for any play let alone Ryder Cup play. Really despise the finishing hole despite the redesign of the green. In saying that, they're could be many different tees used to make the holes more risk/reward so I guess we'll have to wait and see. Love the par 3 10th hole, it's tough at 210yds but all downhill and cross wind.

Another nice W for Steve Williams. I guess he must still be NZ's best paid sportsman? For sure he needs that long putter to rake in all that dinero.

And Rose back to his old choker style? Hope not.

Speaking of 'back'. An injured Tiger is a dangerous Tiger. Almost US Open-esque. And nearly caught up with old Stevie. I wonder if they'll share Big Apple memoires over a NY strip tonight?

Very impressive from Scott and Tiger!

I think there were more patrons on any one hole in this tournament than on the full course in Scotland.

Two really exciting tournaments and, regardless of how many people were in attendance - always looks more when you build grandstands for the sedentary spectators who won't walk - no mashed potatoes, in da holes or baba booeys in Perthshire.

15 Solheim participants in the top 24 finishers on the LPGA Tour Canada event, but still Lydia Ko came out on top. Bigger pay cheque than Stevie Williams most likely.

Yea Kwin, "quality" fans in Scotland, all 33 of them!

No wonder the ET is in a death spiral.

You (and Timmy) wish . . . . . . . .

EmmDee,
I thought Celtic Manor might be an iffy site for the Ryder Cup but it made for good theatre - very difficult to discern the quality, or otherwise, of Gleneagles from TV, but the last three holes should produce some excitement.

Looks like about 131 golfers committed to tee it up for the first web.com Tour Final tournament.
At first glance, Europeans are:
Cejka
Chopra (already secured his Card)
Richard Johnson
Karlsson
Knox
Norlander
Owen
Marcel Siem
and other notables include:
Chad Campbell
Bud Cauley
Immelman
Ishikawa
Steve Marino
Matteson
Na
Noh
O'Hair
Oberholser
Jhonny Vegas

So: No Casey, Ross Fisher, Gonzo, Olesen, etc, etc

Good news I'd say for O'Grady - is he smart enough to take advantage? I seriously doubt it.

Shotrock is right - the crowds at Gleneagles resembled those for the "W"GC MatchPlay at Tucson.

Shotrock wrote:Very impressive from Scott and Tiger!

I think there were more "patrons" on any one hole in this tournament than on the full course in Scotland.

Was the Barlcays at Augusta?

Get well soon tiger

Tiger suffers agonizing back spasm:

So brave to continue.


Also very touching to see such wonderfully moving support from Lindsey Vonn.

Lindsay Vonn wrote:Proud of my man for fighting back. He's the toughest person I know. #fighter #nothingcanholdhimdown

Back injury???

What a poof. He's only 37 for goodness sake. Man up.

McLaren wrote:Get well soon tiger

Tiger suffers agonizing back spasm:

So brave to continue.


Also very touching to see such wonderfully moving support from Lindsey Vonn.

Lindsay Vonn wrote:Proud of my man for fighting back. He's the toughest person I know. #fighter #nothingcanholdhimdown

If the alleged back spasm was real...absolute clown for carrying on, he could have done permanent damage.

I'm prone to back niggles and stiffness, if a particular niggle turns into a full blown spasm...STOP and get it treated right away.

Curious that pgatour.com has removed the field of commitments for next week's web.com Tour Finals from its website - arm-twisting going on from the commish's office? Calls to Gonzo's agent??
Who knows, just a little bizarre.

And: On the subject of premature extrapolation, how about the Ryder Cup?

Points gathering for the European Team starts this week - I see that Iain Carter has published a list of those who would have qualified based on the season so far. Utterly meaningless except as an indicator of who's been in form, who is falling short:
E.T. points (4)
Stenson, McDowell, Rose, Manassero
World points (5)
Westwood, Garcia, Blixt (who's not a full E.T. member), Donaldson, Poulter

So: No Rory, no Luke, no Martin Kaymer - and no wins for either of the points leaders.

The US Team has been gathering points (based upon Major results only) all year, and their top nine with a year to go, are:
Mickelson, Dufner, Furyk, Woods, Snedeker, Z.Johnson, Kuchar, Mahan, Stricker.

any idea on the cutoff for Blixt joining Kwini?
could be a big story if he goes on to win 3 times next yr but isnt eligible to compete in RC

Carter reckons that he, and presumably Laird and Pettersson (lousy season for him), have a January 1st deadline.

I loved the fact that Blixt wore orange kit yesterday playing with Rickie Fowler - thank goodness Fowler wasn't paired with Pettersson.

What's the take on Fowler in the US kwini, seems to have gone backwards a bit.

Really disappointed with Rose 3 putt to miss the playoff, didn't seem too bothered in the interview. I suppose he tried to hole the putt but surely more of a lagged roll would have been the sensible putt, and they can go in sometimes! Still fancy he will take one of these playoffs though.

Absorbing 90 minutes at Old Trafford without being especially thrilling - a bit like the end of The Barclays really.

Very careless I thought from Justin Rose - if he was caught up in the moment you'd've thought his caddie would say something. As you say, gw, disappointing and he was very blase about it.

I agree about Rickie Fowler, but having said that he's still very popular with the fans and, seemingly, the media. Consensus seems to be that he's got a really bad hole in him every tournament, sometimes it seems every round. I don't think his short game is world class yet, and his course management can be iffy. Would never be surprised to see him win, would be astonished if this model Rickie wins a lot.

I enjoy watching him though, plays quite quickly and there always seems to be something happening.

You were right about GB making the Celtic Manor field - glad to see Ross Fisher playing, hopefully a bit faster than he did last year. But very disappointing not to see more of the available top Europeans etc in the field - O'Grady has got to get these guys on board. Especially pathetic that Casey's not condescended to turn up.

pedro wrote:Another nice W for Steve Williams. I guess he must still be NZ's best paid sportsman?...

I doubt he earns more than Dan Carter or Richie McCaw if endorsements are part of the equation. Not sure I'd call him a sportsman either!

McLaren wrote:Get well soon tiger

Tiger suffers agonizing back spasm:

So brave to continue.


Also very touching to see such wonderfully moving support from Lindsey Vonn.

Lindsay Vonn wrote:Proud of my man for fighting back. He's the toughest person I know. #fighter #nothingcanholdhimdown

Oh FFS ! Brave?? My Arse!

Is there any reason to believe that McLaren and Lindsey Vonn are not one and the same person?

PS: Can't Lindsey/Mac hold Tiger down??

I hope Tiger's ok after his injury. Sometimes I wonder if his 'win at all costs' attitude doesn't cause him more harm than good. And for once I agree with mclaren that TW was brave to keep fighting til the end, no doubt he felt some obligation to the fans and sponsors, even though anyone would understand if he had withdrawn.

So now we add another body part to the ever growing list which much be considered suspect for the rest of Tiger's career. Anyone who thinks Eldrick has 10 more years to break Jack's major record is having a laugh.

Tiger should take up polo lessons. Will come in handy when he has to play his golf from a wheel chair...

Not sure which was more painful to watch;
Ricky Gonzalez's collapse, or Tiger's.
I don't feel "brave" is an appropriate word to use in either situation - they had come too far through the tournament to throw everything they'd achieved down the drain rather than just plug on for their last few holes. If they possibly could. Bird in the hand . . . . and all that.
What I can't understand from Tiger is why he continues to swing so hard when he knows he's damaged goods.

Will Tiger be brave to play in the DeutscheBank? Or just foolhardy??

Often disagree with incontinentia, but the "ten more years" comment is spot on - at least, ten more consecutive years. Apart from his wheels which we know he needs to look after, he's had the elbow issue and now the back. Can't believe he's blaming a dodgy mattress, you'd think he specifies his creature comforts religiously.

They've already announced tee-times for this week's event; assume they'd republish them if he's a non-runner.

Wheel chair golf will be the new paralympic sport . . . . .

Swing change and back injury certainly cut short seve's competitive playing time.

Kwini, I hope you and all the rest understand I was being strictly sarcastic when making my last post about tiger?

He clearly hit a tournament loosing shot and knew it.  I am sure he has a back niggle but it was only the horror shot that brought him to his knee's.

As for rose, given his weird jaunty walk I assumed he was a bit of a simpleton.  Not realising when to lag confirms this.

You're walking a very fine line Mac/Lindsey . . . . . . .

Interesting article in this month's GOLF Magazine, Mac, about Crenshaw and his design philosophies and influences. Then he talks about George Bush which rather destroys the credibility of his architectural waxings.

What does crenshaw offer in the C and C partnership? I am always a bit wary of what players who attach themselves to proper architects actually offer.  Anyone who can find logic in the workings of george bush will be getting no credit from me, that's for sure.

Thankfully tiger is the only democrat on tour.

kwinigolfer wrote:Will Tiger be brave to play in the DeutscheBank? Or just foolhardy??

Often disagree with incontinentia, but the "ten more years" comment is spot on - at least, ten more consecutive years. Apart from his wheels which we know he needs to look after, he's had the elbow issue and now the back. Can't believe he's blaming a dodgy mattress, you'd think he specifies his creature comforts religiously.

They've already announced tee-times for this week's event; assume they'd republish them if he's a non-runner.

Yeah... my guess is the over/under on what would be his preferred schedule would be somewhere around  80% of the starts for the next 10 years... He's probably at the point now that he might miss one or two here or there.. then a 3 or 4 month deal here and there too...  

As for Deutsche Bank... IMO if he thinks there's ANY reasonable chance of finishing... then he'll play.  Nothing left to save himself for now except to try to pick up a POY... which may require a Vardon.   And don't laugh... these post season awards means more to these guys than many think.  Especially a guy who's in the legacy building stage of his career.   He voiced his pride in his Voted POY's last week. No BS in that me thinks.

And as for tee times.... if someone WD's... VERY unlikely a redraw of the field would be contemplated... especially on TW's side of the draw which is all threesomes... they would send that group out as a twosome...    Only scenario I could see a major change is if two of a threesome were to WD... then they would likely create two twosomes... or if one out of the twosomes on the other side of the draw lost a player... Then they likely would combine the remaining single with the other twosome...

And on a personal note.. I am not in Boston this week... in fact I'm DONE... not just for the year... but for good it seems.  Going to be working Hawaii in January as kind of a going away present... then on to other things.  After that, I'll still possibly work some events here and there for other entities (and for sure my hometown and some other Texas events on both PGAT and Champions)... but it will be only a very un-regular situation... at most.    But for a while at least... I've still got a buttload of contacts I can text to find info here and there...

McLaren wrote:What does crenshaw offer in the C and C partnership? I am always a bit wary of what players who attach themselves to proper architects actually offer.  Anyone who can find logic in the workings of george bush will be getting no credit from me, that's for sure.

Thankfully tiger is the only democrat on tour.

How do you know, and why would you care?
I doubt he's even bright enough to know the difference.

Back injuries, any injuries for that matter, hurt a lot more after a bad shot! Trust me I know this for a fact!

McLaren wrote:What does crenshaw offer in the C and C partnership? I am always a bit wary of what players who attach themselves to proper architects actually offer.  Anyone who can find logic in the workings of george bush will be getting no credit from me, that's for sure.

Thankfully tiger is the only democrat on tour.

Why are you asking this forum? Do you think Mr Coore is lurking, just waiting to answer such a question (as he would be the best one to tell you).

Re George Bush...did I hear right the other night (I was making dinner at the time)?. Sky were doing a piece on the Walker Cup, NGLoA & MacDonald. Is he related (Grandson/Great Grandson?) to George Walker as in the guy who came up with the trophy and the bi-annual Comp?.

Why are you asking this forum?

Someone might know how their partnership works. It could be that coore does the architecture and crenshaw the business?

Quickly:
Mac,
Crenshaw addresses that in the interview, which is why I flagged it for you:
http://www.golf.com/tour-and-news/ben-crenshaw-interview-masters-ryder-cup-golf-course-design-and-his-favorite-courses

If Tiger was a Democrat he'd've stayed in California and paid his taxes.

robo,
Boo! Thought you were semi-done anyway, now more like medium rare I suppose?
And: Tiger's been trying to build his legacy since "Hello World".

As for his fitness, I can confirm he's withdrawn from Wednesday's NB3 (Notah Begay) Challenge at Turning Stone. Gary Woodland subbing.

JAS, Yup. George Herbert Walker (grandfather and great grandfather) was Pres of the USGA when the Walker Cup was initiated.

super_realist wrote:Back injury???

What a poof. He's only 37 for goodness sake. Man up.

Having had a bulging disc in my back for the last 7 years I can confirm that it is pain like nothing else (after broken legs, arms etc). I'm sure this was made in (sort of) jest but don't knock it till you've had it.