PGA Tour: Tour Championship (by a fizzy drink): Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).What's better than this for the PGA Tour's "Haves"? A limited field (30), no-cut event that guarantees participants at least $303K - $128K for coming last, plus $175K for being 30th in the FedEx bonus pool - for all thirty players, probably about $11M for the FedEx Cup winner.

2).Congrat's to Zach Johnson and Jim Furyk for their exploits at last week's BMW Championship at Conway Farms, outside Chicago. I followed Zach for 18 holes at the PGA and, while no-one that day could doubt his superb golf, I hope he played a bit more quickly at the Beemer.
Conway Farms looked to be set up for the bombers, but it was largely the navigators who prospered with Donald and Stricker also playing so well.

3).Zach Johnson also holds the course record (60) at East Lake so don't write him off completing an end-of-season double and walking off with the lion's share of FedEx's swag.

4).Sunday's rain in Chicago offered the opportunity to follow the final 18 holes of the third event of the web.com Tour Finals in Columbus, Ohio. S-Y Noh won the tournament, just one year after contesting the BMW Championship himself. He'll return to the 2013/2014 PGA Tour and other notables who are mathematically assured of qualifying for their Tour card are:
Immelman, Will MacKenzie, John Peterson, Cantlay, Ishikawa, Matteson and Bud Cauley; while Slocum and O'Hair are all but certainties.

5).The status of the Europeans involved is not that promising with Greg Owen the best positioned - and he would be even better placed but for a characteristic meltdown over his final few holes. Mansfield Man will need a Top Twenty result at least in next week's Finals finale in Florida.
Russell Knox missed the cut by one stroke and now probably needs a Top Ten result to advance, while Siem, Karlsson, Cejka and Johnson likely need a Top Five finish.

6).Lots of rhetoric surrounding Woods's latest penalty and refusal to admit his eyes need testing.
We see Tour Pros meticulously removing debris around their golfball all the time - but why even risk the possibility of at best an "oscillation", at worst a perceptible movement, as in Tiger's case?
But I saw TWO examples, by Justin Rose and Hudson Swafford (in the web.commer) of a penalty incurred for something I had never seen before:
Each took practice swings behind their golfball and saw the resultant divot strike their ball and roll it down the fairway!  

7).Some Europeans, and not necessarily the ones you'd most expect, have found great wealth in the FedEx bonus pool; that's the money dished out to the lucky ones AFTER normal tournament prize-money has been awarded. Their status going in to Atlanta after six years of having money thrown at them is:
1).Luke Donald: $4.96M, plus at least $175K this year.
2).Rory McIlroy: $3.14M plus $125K in 2013.
3).Garcia: $3.128M plus at least $175K
4).Rose: $2.435M plus at least $175K
5).Harrington: $1.292K plus $32K in 2013.
6).Casey: $1.027M
7).Pettersson: $824K plus $70K in 2013.
8).Poulter: $692K plus $114K
9).Laird: $717K plus $80K.
10).Jacobson: $676K plus $80K.
11).Davis: $625K plus $128K
12).Westwood: $570k plus $134K.

Hopefully Stenson will join the $700K+ club this week.

8).Qualifiers for the "Tour Championship by Coca Cola" (dunno, never drink the stuff) also fizz an exemption in to the four 2014 Majors, among other things. Those who might not otherwise be exempt include: DeLaet, Watney, Spieth, Woodland, Streelman, Horschel, Castro, Weekley, de Jonge, Points, D.Johnson.

9).Hotlanta has apparently had a cooler, and wetter, than normal summer, but it's been dry for a while now and hopefully the Bendelow/Ross design, with facelift by Rees Jones, will play firm, at least for Thursday and Friday when the weather forecast is splendid. But the threat of rain moves in on Saturday with storms likely on Sunday.

Would like to see Luke Donald improve on his record of top three finishes the past three years; and, apart from the obvious Zach and Furyk choices, Hunter Mahan is also playing extremely well and was unlucky not to win in 2011.

10).Last and arguably least, Vijay Singh takes his deer antler spray on the Champions Tour this week as he makes his debut in Hawaii. He might think he's in for some pretty easy pickings, but that's what Montgomerie thought too, and the fuller-than-ever Monty has been evacuated to Europe with only two (7th & 9th) Top Twenty results in six tournaments so far.

Looks like Stenson might limp over the line. Given the circumstances Spieth's round is a bit Faldoesque circa 1996. He might not make it, and Stenson might not do a Norman, but it's impressive for someone so young.

Stenson's giving himself way too much strife these last few holes. He needs to concentrate on being good, perfect is still not essential.
May be if he screws up this up and down, tho'. Yikes! Bogey.
Great drive on #15. A birdie here would make a huuuuge diference, to state the obvious.

I can't be bothered to explain. If you swing a ~200g object at >110mph often enough, you might expect the odd injury. Or maybe you might find hacking out of heavy rough to be a bit of a problem for your wrist tendons etc? Why don't you watch someone hitting full out in slow motion sometime and look at the musculature etc that's involved in doing so.
Your attitude that golf (and golfers) are somehow unworthy and, de facto, unfit, is pretty boring and doesn't necessarily follow.

Stenson's shot into the 15th showing the advantage the spectators being around the green often give these guys. That would have been 40 yards over the back for any of us!

Yet, the vast majority of professional players don't get injuries let alone break legs playing golf.
I'd expect real sports like Tennis, Athletics and contact sports to get injuries, but swinging a club at full force 30 times a round shouldn't tax a professional sportsman with all day every day to get themselves in a state of "fitness" suitable to avoid said injuries.

Personally, I don't believe Nine Chins has half the injuries he claims, it seems to be excuses for abject play and to garner some time off.

super_realist wrote:Personally, I don't believe Nine Chins has half the injuries he claims, it seems to be excuses for abject play and to garner some time off.

Have to say, I'm starting to think like this. He seems to get a lot of these injuries when he's not playing well or when he throws in a couple of bad holes to play himself out

Exactly, consider the number of "injuries" he gets, to others, who play a lot more tournaments and who swing just as quickly, and it all seems rather suspicious.

That bird from Henrik should see him over the line.
In the space of three months he seems to have cemented a Ryder Cup place.

When he hit the deck at the Barclays it was pure Ashley Young. Oh and followed a tournament blowing shot into the drink....

Very nice sand shot - three shot lead with two to play.
Come on Sweden!

Well played Stenson. Two very nice bunker saves in the last 3 holes, under immense pressure. It's been a very good year for American wins, but a European wins the big bucks!

Well done Henrik!! And up to #4 in the world.

Just watched the victory ceremony. Timmy Finchem looks more and more like a slick weasel. But I guess it wasn't the champion he had hoped for either.

What a 3 months the mercurial and magnificent Henrik has had! Brilliant stuff.

pedro,
Loved yr oscillating comment yesterday - imagine Finchem spent the last few hours reviewing tape in hope of a Swedish oscillation.

Mercurial and magnificent is right Lairdy! Almost incredible!!

Great win for Stenson.

And wow, I would like to have bought some options on Spieth 9 months ago.  

Funny thing about the playoffs.  Spieth started the playoffs in 8th place in the standings.

Outscores the field by 3+ shots for the 16 rounds.  But only moves from 8th place to 7th place in the standings.

Top 4 scoring (for those players who played 16 rounds)


1093 … Jordan Spieth
1096 … Henrik Stenson
1097 … Jim Furyk
1099 … Nick Watney

Great stat, GPB!

Player of the Year will be the next talking point, and I risk the wrath of all by suggesting Eldrick Tont . . . . . .

kwinigolfer wrote:Great stat, GPB!

Player of the Year will be the next talking point, and I risk the wrath of all by suggesting Eldrick Tont . . . . . .

Can't see why not? Winning 5 times whilst also regaining the number one spot. Not to mention two of those wins being world golf events and another the players. Stenson has been impressive over the last 8 weeks but Woods edges it in terms of the entire season.

Has to be Eldrick really. Can't see anyone else who has matched his achievements this season

Even I can't deny Baldy Nine Chins POY.

He'll have to have an incredible year next year though to not drop like a stone in the rankings.

Yes, it should be the Chinster. But admittedly it must be a bit of a fizzy vote to cast, as he has won no majors and had a somewhat tame Playoff.

And what a day for Gothenburg golf. Also a Swedish win on the CT, Carlsson edging out Kafelnikov.

By the way. I hope that Stenson gets better investment advise than in the past!

pedro wrote:And what a day for Gothenburg golf. Also a Swedish win on the CT, Carlsson edging out Kafelnikov.

By the way. I hope that Stenson gets better investment advise than in the past!

Edging out???? He won by 7 shots with Kafelnikov nowhere in sight.

Stenson seems like a pretty decent guy. Its hard to begrudge him this. Will it be a stepping stone for a few years of top drawer golf? He is 37 ( i think), so you would not say time was on his side though.

super_realist wrote:

pedro wrote:And what a day for Gothenburg golf. Also a Swedish win on the CT, Carlsson edging out Kafelnikov.

By the way. I hope that Stenson gets better investment advise than in the past!

Edging out???? He won by 7 shots with Kafelnikov nowhere in sight.

super, it's called irony... Kafelnikov missed the cut big time at +25.

Hard to tell sometimes Pedro.
I'm pretty certain I could do better than Kafelnikov. It's absurd him trying to make a career when ultimately he's not even close to being good enough for that level.

Maybe Yevgenij should try hitting the ball backhanded next time. As far as I remember that was his major strength when playing tennis.

Pure dead brilliant Mr Stenson ... particularly having managed to rise from two (I think) career slumps.  What a week to peak!

Would think Stenson's done enough already to secure a place on Paul McGinley's team?

Current team!
Luiten
Bjorn
Bourdy
Quesne
Stenson
Garcia
Huizing
Donald
Jimenez
plus 3 wild cards.

2 Wild Cards, Diggers favourite Ian Ryder Cup Poulter is a shoe-in.

my best guess

stenson
garcia
donald
westwood
mcilroy
mcDowell
jiminez
rose
mannasero
luiten
lowry
poulter

kaymer/Hansen/Lawrie/Blizt to all miss out

Steve Stricker has done exceptionally well to be back up to No 7 in the rankings after playing such a reduced schedule this year, only 13 appearances. But have the rules changed or how has he gotten away with not playing 15 times since he didn't have any injury?

I thought a minimum of 15 tournaments for the year was a requirement of membership for the PGA Tour and certainly to be allowed to play in the FedEx events?

hend085 wrote:my best guess

stenson
garcia
donald
westwood
mcilroy
mcDowell
jiminez
rose
mannasero
luiten
lowry
poulter

kaymer/Hansen/Lawrie/Blizt to all miss out

     

That's FIVE rookies and a Senior!
And no Colsaerts. Molinari as well as Hanson, Kaymer and Lawrie missing from the miracle at Medinah.
Still hoping that Paul Casey and Karlsson make Stenson-esque comebacks . . . . .


Tinmar,
I'm not sure how Stricker got away with thinking he only needed to play 13 events except that I believe the minimum was reduced from 15 to 13 this year, due to the abbreviated season, AND he'll get credit for his Presidents Cup appearance. Presumably any sanction for not meeting a minimum number of events this year would be applied for 2013/2014, but not 100% sure about that.

Westy down to 18th in the OWGR and very close to falling out of the top 20.

Charl and Ernie can pass him this week in Scotland and Spieth might pass him because of attrition before Westy tees it up again late next month.

I predicted early this year that Westwood would be out of the top 20 by the end of the year and that is looking pretty good.

super_realist wrote:Yet, the vast majority of professional players don't get injuries let alone break legs playing golf.
I'd expect real sports like Tennis, Athletics and contact sports to get injuries, but swinging a club at full force 30 times a round shouldn't tax a professional sportsman with all day every day to get themselves in a state of "fitness" suitable to avoid said injuries.

Personally, I don't believe Nine Chins has half the injuries he claims, it seems to be excuses for abject play and to garner some time off.

It's not "30 times a round" though is it? You're being disingenuous. How about the hours and hours of practice? In addition, plenty of other sports people get injuries and it's not like anyone is claiming that the majority of golfers break legs. Let's have a bit of perspective here. Woods' leg injury was obviously a cumulative/stress injury but you're implying it is somehow comparable to some impact injury that you might see in football or rugby.

MustPuttBetter wrote:

super_realist wrote:Personally, I don't believe Nine Chins has half the injuries he claims, it seems to be excuses for abject play and to garner some time off.

Have to say, I'm starting to think like this. He seems to get a lot of these injuries when he's not playing well or when he throws in a couple of bad holes to play himself out

Hmmm. Shock! Horror! Could it possibly, just possibly, be that when his game is off it might be because he's injured???? The reasons for the injuries could be many-fold. Wouldn't be surprised if he over-trained in the gym pre-marriage break-up as he was beginning to look ridiculously muscle-bound at that time.

Great win for Stenson...may as well be on-topic as well! Did he win that wire-to-wire? He's been spectacularly good the last few months - wonder if he can keep it going for next year?

navyblueshorts wrote:

super_realist wrote:Yet, the vast majority of professional players don't get injuries let alone break legs playing golf.
I'd expect real sports like Tennis, Athletics and contact sports to get injuries, but swinging a club at full force 30 times a round shouldn't tax a professional sportsman with all day every day to get themselves in a state of "fitness" suitable to avoid said injuries.

Personally, I don't believe Nine Chins has half the injuries he claims, it seems to be excuses for abject play and to garner some time off.

It's not "30 times a round" though is it? You're being disingenuous. How about the hours and hours of practice? In addition, plenty of other sports people get injuries and it's not like anyone is claiming that the majority of golfers break legs. Let's have a bit of perspective here. Woods' leg injury was obviously a cumulative/stress injury but you're implying it is somehow comparable to some impact injury that you might see in football or rugby.

Golf is nothing like as intense as any other sport, you can't compare it to anything because you only ever walk and it's a static sport, the ball doesn't move or come towards you and it isn't a contact sport, even allowing for hours of practice there isn't an excuse for consistently getting injuries. There is something wrong with your body, technique or your training if this happens.
I'm not comparing it to football or rugby at all, I'm merely saying that in a sport as genteel as golf, it's pathetic that one gets leg, knee and back injuries.
Woods hysterically stupid physique is as inappropriate for golf as Shane Lowry's.
As for complaining about being "tired" that's another story.

nbs,
Yes, Stenson the only "wire-to-wire" winner this PGA Tour season apart from Mickelson at Phoenix.

Tiger often seems to over-swing, exerting (presumably) considerable stress on his body - is that just being macho, can he not bring himself to play more within himself, or what? Can understand it from a young man in his twenties but from someone approaching middle age and with so many injuries in his recent past, isn't he tempting providence?

Very unsympathetic towards his injuries and "tiredness".

super_realist wrote:

navyblueshorts wrote:

super_realist wrote:Yet, the vast majority of professional players don't get injuries let alone break legs playing golf.
I'd expect real sports like Tennis, Athletics and contact sports to get injuries, but swinging a club at full force 30 times a round shouldn't tax a professional sportsman with all day every day to get themselves in a state of "fitness" suitable to avoid said injuries.

Personally, I don't believe Nine Chins has half the injuries he claims, it seems to be excuses for abject play and to garner some time off.

It's not "30 times a round" though is it? You're being disingenuous. How about the hours and hours of practice? In addition, plenty of other sports people get injuries and it's not like anyone is claiming that the majority of golfers break legs. Let's have a bit of perspective here. Woods' leg injury was obviously a cumulative/stress injury but you're implying it is somehow comparable to some impact injury that you might see in football or rugby.

Golf is nothing like as intense as any other sport, you can't compare it to anything because you only ever walk and it's a static sport, the ball doesn't move or come towards you and it isn't a contact sport, even allowing for hours of practice there isn't an excuse for consistently getting injuries. There is something wrong with your body, technique or your training if this happens.
I'm not comparing it to football or rugby at all, I'm merely saying that in a sport as genteel as golf, it's pathetic that one gets leg, knee and back injuries.
Woods hysterically stupid physique is as inappropriate for golf as Shane Lowry's.
As for complaining about being "tired" that's another story.

Do you willfully misunderstand? What has any of the above, that I've highlighted, have to do with anything??? You could argue that a golf swing is explosive and therefore (perhaps) prone to injuries.

He's probably 'tired' of all the armchair experts second guessing about his every demeanour.

Tbh, hitting millions of balls on the driving range will cause injuries sooner or later, especially if you keep straining parts of your body.

Injuries in golf is fair dinkum, as The White Shark would probably say, and to use him as an example, I guess few would question the impact injuries had on his career (- maybe apart from "losing" The Masters to Faldo due to this...).

Pedro - Fully agree. Yet some players (genetic freaks like Vijay?) can seemingly hit balls endlessly with little side effects.

Class win from Stenson. Should be a Ryder Cup shoe in.

Tiger will win POY and Spieth looking like a great PC pick.

navyblueshorts wrote:

super_realist wrote:

navyblueshorts wrote:

super_realist wrote:Yet, the vast majority of professional players don't get injuries let alone break legs playing golf.
I'd expect real sports like Tennis, Athletics and contact sports to get injuries, but swinging a club at full force 30 times a round shouldn't tax a professional sportsman with all day every day to get themselves in a state of "fitness" suitable to avoid said injuries.

Personally, I don't believe Nine Chins has half the injuries he claims, it seems to be excuses for abject play and to garner some time off.

It's not "30 times a round" though is it? You're being disingenuous. How about the hours and hours of practice? In addition, plenty of other sports people get injuries and it's not like anyone is claiming that the majority of golfers break legs. Let's have a bit of perspective here. Woods' leg injury was obviously a cumulative/stress injury but you're implying it is somehow comparable to some impact injury that you might see in football or rugby.

Golf is nothing like as intense as any other sport, you can't compare it to anything because you only ever walk and it's a static sport, the ball doesn't move or come towards you and it isn't a contact sport, even allowing for hours of practice there isn't an excuse for consistently getting injuries. There is something wrong with your body, technique or your training if this happens.
I'm not comparing it to football or rugby at all, I'm merely saying that in a sport as genteel as golf, it's pathetic that one gets leg, knee and back injuries.
Woods hysterically stupid physique is as inappropriate for golf as Shane Lowry's.
As for complaining about being "tired" that's another story.

Do you willfully misunderstand? What has any of the above, that I've highlighted, have to do with anything??? You could argue that a golf swing is explosive and therefore (perhaps) prone to injuries.

Explosive       

Shotrock wrote:Pedro - Fully agree. Yet some players (genetic freaks like Vijay?) can seemingly hit balls endlessly with little side effects.

Maybe the deer antler spray causes mutations?

'Course, Vijay's had his physical problems too.

Lots of speculation that more players will be reducing their schedule for next year following the "example" of Stricker, Woods and Scott. Mickelson reckons he'll cut back 25% of his events, but can't see too many others changing much more than the likes of Donald and McDowell already have. One event that will surely be avoided will be one of the Play-Off tournaments given that the schedule currently has all four in four straight weeks just a week removed from Bridgestone & PGA - i.e. six in seven wks.

It's one thing for the successful players to do that, quite another for some others who miss their goals and still cut back - Poulter and Westwood to name but two.

Anyway, all the more for the up-and-comers to play for.

Can Nine Chins reduce his schedule further? I wouldn't have thought he'd have much to play with given how infrequently he currently plays.

super_realist wrote:

navyblueshorts wrote:

super_realist wrote:

navyblueshorts wrote:

super_realist wrote:Yet, the vast majority of professional players don't get injuries let alone break legs playing golf.
I'd expect real sports like Tennis, Athletics and contact sports to get injuries, but swinging a club at full force 30 times a round shouldn't tax a professional sportsman with all day every day to get themselves in a state of "fitness" suitable to avoid said injuries.

Personally, I don't believe Nine Chins has half the injuries he claims, it seems to be excuses for abject play and to garner some time off.

It's not "30 times a round" though is it? You're being disingenuous. How about the hours and hours of practice? In addition, plenty of other sports people get injuries and it's not like anyone is claiming that the majority of golfers break legs. Let's have a bit of perspective here. Woods' leg injury was obviously a cumulative/stress injury but you're implying it is somehow comparable to some impact injury that you might see in football or rugby.

Golf is nothing like as intense as any other sport, you can't compare it to anything because you only ever walk and it's a static sport, the ball doesn't move or come towards you and it isn't a contact sport, even allowing for hours of practice there isn't an excuse for consistently getting injuries. There is something wrong with your body, technique or your training if this happens.
I'm not comparing it to football or rugby at all, I'm merely saying that in a sport as genteel as golf, it's pathetic that one gets leg, knee and back injuries.
Woods hysterically stupid physique is as inappropriate for golf as Shane Lowry's.
As for complaining about being "tired" that's another story.

Do you willfully misunderstand? What has any of the above, that I've highlighted, have to do with anything??? You could argue that a golf swing is explosive and therefore (perhaps) prone to injuries.

Explosive       

Sorry. I thought you professed to know about sport. I guess I was mistaken. I'll leave you with your misapprehensions.

I do Navy, however virtually every coach and coaching manual will tell you that 90% of practice should be dedicated to shots within 150 yards, chipping, putting, bunkers etc. i.e, those that require, touch, tempo, finesse, accuracy, timing and poise and not repetitions of hundreds of "explosive" 110mph swings per day. So you shouldn't be hitting more than about 45 minutes a day of full swings. Surely even a glass body like Nine Chins could stand up to that?
Far too much of a gym bufty too, there is NO reason to have his physique for golf.

Furthermore, if Woods is spending so much more time on his long game than is recommended perhaps as you suggest contributing to his many "stress related" injuries due to his "explosive" swing , does it not follow that he might be better than he is at this aspect of the game?