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.

Scoring race is tightening up...  

After today's round Steve Stricker has pulled to within one stroke of Tiger Woods to take the scoring average lead.  

BUT... Stricker can't win the Vardon Trophy as he won't get the necessary 60 rounds. However, Stricker will have enough rounds to qualify for the PGA Tour's Byron Nelson Award, which is calculated the same as the Vardon, but only 50 rounds are needed.

Despite a bad round for Tiger coupled with good rounds from Rose & Scott, Woods still has a substantial lead in the Vardon race after round 1.  Scott needs to make up another 18 shots on Woods, Rose another 19 shots.

kwinigolfer wrote:Lots being made in this morning's golfing press about Tiger Woods not playing any practice round at East Lake - more hints at what Hank Haney described as his poor preparation for some tournaments? Regardless, from the TV coverage you'd have to say he turned a 69 (or something close) in to a 73.

Yeah... what up with that

I got news... if Tiger thinks he's good enough to just come in on Wednesday, play no practice round.. hit a few putts... then leave... and still expect to be sharp in the first round... he's got another thing coming. Hey... he probably USED to be that good, but he's just not that much better than everybody else now that he can spot them being prepared when he's not.

Result... 9 shots off the lead... that's about what he should expect... or at least what he deserves. THEN maybe he can try to crawl his way back in to this thing over the last 3 rounds.. but probably won't be successful. Hey TW.. hope your extra day off while everybody else was preparing was worth probably losing your shot at $10 million... sheesh...

And as for him maybe being hurt?  If he is, then he needs to stop saying he's fine.... and LaCava needs to stop saying he's fine.  If his back is hurting him so bad he can't even walk the course for a practice round and hit some chips and putts... he needs to say so. I understand players keeping their cards close to their vest on injuries and such... but if its so bad he can't even play a practice round... I just don't understand the harm in him saying so.   Enough with the tough guy act... especially when he's not that tough anymore... its all wearing kinda thin on me.

If I got an injury playing golf Robo, I'd be inclined to keep it quiet too. It's like a bowls or darts injury and you should be pretty embarrassed to get an injury in a low athletic and pedestrian past-time. Shouldn't happen to anyone, yet it happens to him all the time.Just how weak is his body. He even got a "broken" leg playing the game of pensioners

Tiger playing the fourth hole - not exactly what he had in mind this time yesterday, but at least he's got a bird under his belt (so to speak).

And: What colour shirt was he wearing under his sweater last Monday - if it was red it certainly had a dark (grey?) collar?

So far, the International Pres.Cuppers seem to be outplaying the US Pres.Cuppers. Hope Golf Channel has noticed.

robo,
I don't see much good humour between TW and Joe LaCava these days - perhaps off camera they're yukking it up, but not much sign when the hole is being played.

I'm not saying Tiger and Jason are Dufnering, but Keegan Bradley is waiting for them. Wakey wakey!

kwinigolfer wrote:robo,
I don't see much good humour between TW and Joe LaCava these days - perhaps off camera they're yukking it up, but not much sign when the hole is being played.

You're not the only one to make that observation. Even at the Bridgestone.....

mmmm

Confirmation from Atlanta that the Tour Championship tee-times for Saturday will start early due to a stormy forecast.
Reveille for Tiger and other early birds will be 5-ish as they prepare for tee-times starting at 7.30 a.m., in threesomes.

Tiger was going like a train there for 13 holes but derailed on the 14th.
Wouldn't doubt he'll be back on track shortly.

Another good start for Henrik, and Furyk looked deflated after last week's loss but he's back in the shake-up again.

Not sure there'll be a shakeup at all if Henrik keeps going like this.

That's tempting providence, Ned; no bloggers' mockers!

Henrik Stengun

Shockingly bad capitulation from the big cat - all that good work flushed firmly down the drain.
Early call Saturday morning.

kwini, think he'll WD.

WD? I wonder. Quite possible. He seemed to give up on #17.

Would also think he might have second thoughts about playing in the Pres.Cup in a fortnight if he's having any trouble at all with his back. Perhaps then Fred could send another text to Furyk?

Great finish from Baldy Nine Chins.    

s_r,
For some reason Golf Channel haven't carried any post-round interview . . . . . not sure why that is.

Funny how the website has the "highlights" of holes where people birdie, shame they don't show the doubles and triples.

The Stengun is firing blanks at the moment. Three short putts (5-8 ft) missed.

pedro wrote:kwini, think he'll WD.

Vardon trophy is still on the line.. NO WAY he Wd's before finishing tomorrow... THEN he has his 60 rounds...

Thought he had his 60 rounds today?

Kwini, they were going to start early anyways to be finished by 3:30 Atlanta time for the Notre Dame Football game.

But I guess they are starting even earlier for stormy forecast.

pedro wrote:Thought he had his 60 rounds today?

Sorry robo, thought it was 3rd round today....
Anyway, if he flunks tomorrow he might still WD before R4.

Fine work from Stenson today - amazing that just two years ago Meat trombone soloist like me were ridiculing him.
Imagine that, if he plays the final 36 holes in two under, he'll win going away.

His post-round interview suggested he felt he hit the wall after 13 holes today - gimme a break. He plays as few tournaments as anyone not called Stricker and is supposed to be super-fit.

Still think there's a good chance he'll throw a spanner in the Pres Cup works.

Having said all of which: Justin Rose quietly enjoying a very "solid" (hate that use of word) week - could be a threat come Sunday.

I think all his "super-fit" aura he likes to project is simply superficial conditioning. He might look like the cover of Men's Health, but doesn't mean it works for golf.

I've always said that being over-developed is as detrimental to Golf as being a fat slovenly git like Lowry/Dufner. Seems to also give Nine Chins a very fragile body indeed.

"I'm tired" What a pathetic excuse for a golfer, why doesn't he just say, "I'm having a bad week, didn't prepare very well, and I'm playing rubbish and others are playing a whole lot better"

Well he did play 4 tourneys in 5 weeks. He's not too used to that.

A geriatric could do that. Tiredness when you have access to Private Jets, best hotels etc just isn't an excuse when all you have to do is walk and take a few shots.

pedro,
I think that, apart from Stricker, all of the field have played at least four of the past five weeks, and it'll be four in four for the 2014 Tour Championship field.

Looks like there's something else going on with Woods, wouldn't be at all surprised to see some sort of "news" report to appear within the next month.

Forecast for Atlanta is not too clever with heavy rain, possibility of thunderstorms, expected late morning. An inch of rain expected to fall, so the course for Sunday should play long and soft.

Love the stories of Stenson playing Friday's round with only 13 clubs after damaging a fairway wood on the range. Ian Woosnam should have been so lucky . . . . .

"Go" time at 7.30 a.m..

Very poor start from Adam Scott, four over after 5 holes.
But Stenson is relentless, seven strokes ahead.
Can he keep this up?

Seems like Adam Scott has been ppretty rough and carried it on to the course. For a top drawer event this is pure demolition by Henrik

Oof, Hadn't realised that - untimely, to say the least.

Raining at East Lake - Storms please stay away for another ninety minutes.

What's up with Schwartzel? playing atrociously

Schwartzel was carrying an injury earlier in the summer - imagine he's a bit knackered, like Tiger. And one or two others.

Stenson let some of the posse see the glimpse of a chance for Sunday with that finish.

Stenson oscillating a bit. Hope he'll keep calm tomorrow.

Just wish Stenson had managed to finish with a two putt.  Going to be interesting to see how he copes playing with golf's John Wayne.

Yesterday's rain may have softened East Lake but today's forecast is terrific, sunny, not much wind and temps nidging 80F.

Didn't see yesterday's play with NBC showing it all on tape delay - incredible tho' it may sound, NBC sent their #1 Golf Commentator, Dan Hicks, to do a semi-pro "football" game instead of the Golf coverage - shows just how much support Golf gets on TV here.

But agree that Stenson's momentum seemed to get dampened by the rain. Hopefully today's sunshine will inspire him - Adam Scott too.

Was there a story behind Scott's poor performance yesterday?

Lairdy,
Scott was hooked up to an IV for an hour before his tee-time after being up half the night with flu. Got off to a terrible start, +4 after 5, but even par after things settled down.
Could be a multi-million dollar flu.

Tiger fans in the peanut gallery have been quiet today but, if he birdies his final 13 holes, and Stenson pars in, Woods and Henrik will be level.

Stress-free front nine for Stenson - if he gets stressed on the back, I'll get stressed!

Sergio with one of the rounds of the day so far.

Jordan Spieth looking like a proper player isn't he Kwini?
Looks like he might be the player that Emporer's New Clothes Fowler has yet to live up to.
Let's hope he isn't a juvenile member of the God Squad.

Agreed super,
Too early to say that Spieth is the real deal, he really needs to train on, which plenty of hopes of years gone by have failed to do. But this is a most impressive round.

Crucial par putt holed on #12 by Henrik I would think.

No posing over the shot from Stenson, no holding the follow through. Always seems to be walking off and into something else before the ball's even landed, almost like he's not really fussed where it's going. I wonder if that's a helpful mindset or not

I think it's helpful to not care. If you aren't worrying about it missing the aren't you less likely to miss it?

Yeah I think I agree. He's def less stressed out than he used to be and obvious that his game is on the up

"his game is on the up" - Can't get much upper, but Spieth is not going away.

Give it a go MPB. I gave up practice strokes and faffing about over the ball a while back and it's helped no end.

super_realist wrote:If I got an injury playing golf Robo, I'd be inclined to keep it quiet too. It's like a bowls or darts injury and you should be pretty embarrassed to get an injury in a low athletic and pedestrian past-time. Shouldn't happen to anyone, yet it happens to him all the time.Just how weak is his body. He even got a "broken" leg playing the game of pensioners

Another ridiculous remark I see. Give it a rest!

What's wrong with that statement Navy?
Golf injuries really are completely avoidable and are always embarrassing.

Understatement granted Kwini. I do feel like Stenson will explode or blow it though. I hope not

Super I've tried binning the practice swings, it freaks me out!!