PGA Tour: "OHL Classic at Mayakoba": Notes from the Ballwasher

1).The first segment of the PGA Tour's 2013/2014 season concludes along Mexico's Riviera Maya, at Greg Norman's design at Mayakoba's El Camaleon Golf Club. After this week there'll be a hiatus of six weeks until the season resumes in Maui, at Kapalua for the Hyundai Tournament of Champions.

2).There's been a good mix of winners so far, from established stars like Dustin Johnson and Webb Simpson, previous winners Ryan Moore and Chris Kirk trying to move up a level, to the non-winning ATM known as Jimmy Walker. The Tour's International contingent has largely been quiet, apart from Ian Poulter's superb challenge at the WGC: HSBC Champions and it remains to be seen whether all will find that giving the Tour a six-event start will prove detrimental to their Tour status. In one or two cases I'm sure it will.

3).Chris Kirk is maturing in to a consistent PGA Tour player having missed just four cuts in his last 38 tournaments. Last week's McGladreys was something of a home game for him as he owns digs close to the course, but don't be surprised to see him kick on from here. I was struck by his apparent laconic manner when in contention at the weekend, somewhat a la Geoff Ogilvy, though that didn't stop him tomahawking a club or two after he hit into the marsh on two consecutive holes.
He regained his cool though, which is more than can be said about the tempestuous Matt Every who once again played his way into the shake up only to see his putting disintegrate amidst a torrent of expletives.

4).There seem to be more Tour players than usual who surely have the game to win, but perhaps have questionable temperament.
Every is one, Kevin Chappell seems to be another.
It was at The McGladrey three years ago that we first saw the brilliant shot-making of Billy Horschel undone when his temper got the better of him; despite his recent disappearance, Horschel is probably too good a player not to win several times, especially following last year's breakthrough.
And two of last season's web.com stars have also had their combustible moments, John Peterson and Michael Putnam.

5).No such foreworks from Briny Baird and his 2nd place tie with Tim Clark extended his lead as highest money-winner without a Tour victory:
~Baird: $13.1M (He also moves on from his Major Medical Exemption and is 75% of his way towards the Play-Offs and full status next season.)
~Brian Davis: $11.8M
~Jeff Overton: $11.0M
~Brett Quigley: $11.0M
~Charlie Wi: $9.6M
Must be only about even money about any of these five breaking through.
Steve Marino is next and his career seems to be in the balance following a myriad of injuries and gradually depleting status (and increasing weight). Get fit Steve!

Edit: I see pgatour.com has gone Top Ten on me. Here's the official list:
http://www.pgatour.com/statsreport/2013/11/12/all-time-money-leaders-with-no-win.html

6).Greg Norman has two designs staging PGA Tournaments these days - fair to say his "TPC San Antonio" is one of the Tour's least popular, but El Camaleon is highly thought of, at least by those who have actually made the trip to Mayakoba. GolfWorld's course ranking included such praise as:
"Best-kept secret on Tour".
"Fun, beautiful driving course."
"Gem par 3s", including one at 116 yds and two about 155 yards.

7).With a $6M prize fund it's only a shame it hasn't attracted a few more stars, but those who tee it up will find the same FedEx points rewards as those on offer at Riviera or Bay Hill, Memorial or Quail Hollow. Many of last week's contenders will be on hand, including Briny Baird, Tim Clark (that was his 12th Tour runner-up finish), Senden (first top ten for 16 months) and Brian Gay (first top ten since winning January's Humana). Gay will be a very popular choice to win here for the second time, not long off the tee but brilliant on Bermuda greens. And Matt Every will also be a good bet to redeem himself after last week's closing shambles.

8).The European challenge is muted but a highlight is Alvaro Quiros receiving an invitation from the Madrid-based sponsor, OHL. (In light of threads elsewhere, isn't there something ironic in this??!!??)
Darren Clarke, Davis and Knox will be playing, along with Robert Karlsson, Lingmerth and Freddie Jac.
One curiosity about Knox's modestly good start to the new season is that he's finished lower in each event so far than last year's effort, yet is in an infinitely stronger position because these tournaments come at the beginning, not end, of the season. He was 30th last time round Mayakoba - a similar finish this time would mean he'll be about a third of his way towards season goal Number One which will be to reach the FedEx Play-Offs (and thus keep his card for 2014/15).

9).Lots of Q-School action these next two weeks:
~web.com Q-School, Stage 2: The first 2 (of six) qualies don't include any significant Europeans, fields not yet published for next week's four qualies where Rhys Davies will presumably feature.
~And Champions Tour Q-School will feature a strong field with Europeans such as Farry, Forsbrand, Luna, M-A Martin, Golding, Lane and Mouland; Eddie Romero is there as are at least 17 PGA Tour veterans or Past Champions, including Ryder Cuppers Gallagher and Pate, and US Open winner Steve Jones. Blaine McAllister and Peter Fowler are just two strong players who failed to reach "Final Stage".

10).Let's conclude with best wishes to Jarrod Lyle, starting his comeback in Victoria for Royal Melbourne's Australian Masters.
One of the PGA Tour's (or any Tour's) true entertainers, he presumably will take small steps in his comeback but when he's strong enough he can resume his PGA Tour career on a Major Medical Exemption where he'll have 20 tournament starts to earn $284K and full playing status.
His long-time mentor Robert Allenby saw his season fall apart last year at Mayakoba with a final hole double bogey, and resultant six-hole play-off disappointment against John Huh. He hasn't been the same since and presumably the coincident news of Lyle's illness affected him.
Good luck to Lyle this week. And to Robert Allenby. They both deserve it.

Kwini - bit behind but caught up with Sea Island! Course looked fantastic. Certainly not biff bang bosh and looked in great nick. I would add it to my list, if I could only find the room for it. So many great courses around.
Take your point vis a vis Kirk and Ogilvy, but what a pity Ogilvy isn't Ogilvy any more!!
Great to see Jarrod back - good luck big fella!!

APB: Where is Geoff Ogilvy?

Mixed results in Stage 2 qualies today for Major winners Hamilton and Micheel, where probably the Top 20 in each field will qualify for "Final Stage".
Hamilton 12th
Micheel 52nd

Tee times start at 6:05 local time at Cancun.

I think they are in the wrong time zone.

GPB wrote:Tee times start at 6:05 local time at Cancun.

I think they are in the wrong time zone.

- I'm stuck in traffic!
- Dude, you ARE the traffic.

Let's see if Ogilvy can finally be Geoff Ogilvy again this week, playing with Jarrod Lyle and Fatty de Jonge at Royal Melbourne.

Not a bad field for the Aussie Masters, but very disappointing that many good Aussie & NZ players are teeing it up elsewhere around the world.

The Independent Contractor on physical fitness:
"If you look at some of the guys on Tour, they've got huge guts and can't breathe when they're going up to tee boxes, but they can still win golf tournaments."
Wonder who he has in mind? Surely not Phil??

it takes huge guts to win golf tournaments...

Kwinigolfer wrote:Surely not Phil??

Surely not Lee Westwood either.  He no longer wins.

And does he even know who Kira Barnrat is?

I don't so I just googled Kira Barnrat and neither does Mr Google.

Does that mean I won't win the Masters?

Damn.

Roller_Coaster wrote:I don't so I just googled Kira Barnrat and neither does Mr Google.

Does that mean I won't win the Masters?

Damn.

Try Kiradech Aphibarnrat then.

The Before



And after (25 years later)



Shots of the  Emirates Course, posted by Ken Brown on twitter.

Whenever I see skyline in the background shots of the tournaments in Dubai it reminds me of the Dorothy, Toto, The Scarecrow, The TinMan, and the Cowardly Lion running through a field of Poppies.

http://images.mocpages.com/user_images/48287/1368930763m_SPLASH.jpg

Jarrod Lyle's first tee shot on his return from cancer. (warning for super - the guy is a porker)

http://www.golfchannel.com/media/jarrod-lyle-returns/?cid=twitter_gc_v_jarrod_lyle_aus_masters_teeshot_111313

He may be a porker, and that's putting it mildly, but he's a laugh a minute and even par after 7 holes.
He won't win, but I wish he would!

That before and after is something else. You know there's been big construction but that's a great context.

I know nothing about course development but I find it surprising how much of a dull, square, box the course plot is from above. Is that common with constructed courses?

I'm with you on that R_C. But then I guess when you start with a desert there are no existing boundaries that have evolved over time so I would imagine that it just gets broken up into square blocks.

Thinking of new courses that I have played on such as the Victoria in Vilamoura, Portugal, that is not a square box.

The other thing that the after picture brings up with me is, what do all the people that work and live in those buildings do? I know that they pump oil and count their money but those buildings take tens of thousands of people each if they are offices. I've never been to the Middle East so pretty clueless about it.

I've only been to Dubai once but it certainly isn't dull!
 
It's a busy and fascinating place twoeightnine, the airport handles over 6,000 flights a week making it one of the busiest in the world. I really enjoyed our trip, it is the cleanest city I have ever been to and we felt completely safe there day or night.

Blue, I don't mean that I think its dull! I mean that they have gone from being a desert to having these huge buildings and I just cannot understand what is filling them. Presumably they aren't empty and I wonder what businesses are in there.

PGA Of America President Bishop telling the Golf Channel that he'd like to stage the first overseas PGA Championship at Royal Portrush.

Bishop clearly has contempt for Peter Dawson (I mean,one would, wouldn't one), to the extent that perhaps this is part of a personal vendetta.

I'd say the notion of playing the PGA abroad is daft, but what better place to carry through with it (promise or threat?) than Portrush?

Would certainly wake Dawson and O'Grady from ther respective stupors.

twoeightnine wrote:Blue, I don't mean that I think its dull!  I mean that they have gone from being a desert to having these huge buildings and I just cannot understand what is filling them.  Presumably they aren't empty and I wonder what businesses are in there.

Dubai has become one of, if not THE most attractive corporate Tax Haven's in the world. And as such, and based on it's location, it's become probably the most important defacto "go between" point for business between the America's and Northern Africa, Eastern Europe and all of Central Asia. So all those buildings... chock full of many of the "who's who" in international business.

Thanks Robo. Nice to learn things and makes sense. I had always wondered.

Lost an employee so the "Dubai Dream" ... left my company, and went to sell/lease commercial real estate. He was guaranteed (yes, you read that correctly) $1 Million over 12 months, but it was so lucrative he stayed on for 2 more years. Money follows money as they say.

Should have guessed that Mayakoba's elevation to a full-point FedEx event would also be accompanied by the PGA Tour's rite of passage:
Weather delays.
Nice to see Quiros playing well.

What does everyone think of the Portrush PGA prospect?

kwinigolfer wrote:Should have guessed that Mayakoba's elevation to a full-point FedEx event would also be accompanied by the PGA Tour's rite of passage:
Weather delays.
Nice to see Quiros playing well.

What does everyone think of the Portrush PGA prospect?

I would love to see a major at Portrush... but the PGA is the WRONG one... should be an OPEN.  But generally... I'm in favor of the PGA going out every once and again...  but IMO it would be much better to take it to Australia first... then maybe Asia...   or.....

.... there's the "lets really think out of the box and kill two birds with one stone" scenario.   People say golf in the Olympics will never be among the biggest events in golf... probably correct, at least not in MY life time.   But what if the world of golf got together and agree that in Olympic years the PGA would become the Olympic competition as well as keep it's major status.  Could you imagine Golf in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as a MAJOR????   The fairways would be lined 20 deep with fans... IMO it would elivate the status of golf in the Olympics 10 fold... and be a HUGE boost to what is thought by many to be "lessor" of the 4 majors (despite it's strongest of any field)  In such a scenario I could envision the that every 4th year "Olympic" PGA Championship becoming the singular most important golf event within a 4 year period... not overnight necessarily... but someday.

Never played Royal Portrush but never spoke with anyone who did and didn't rave about the experience. So, would love to see any golf event played there.

Interesting Olympic idea.

Olympic idea is a good one as it would really elevate what I fear could be a big of a damp squib. If Andy Murray hadn't won the tennis Olympics how many people would really know or care who won?

I don't see it happening as golf is a lot about money and why would anyone condense two big tournaments into one when you won't double the income.

I like the idea of the uspga moving but think that Canada, Australia or Asia are the better destinations if you take out what a great course Portrush is supposed to be. That suggestion is just to poke fun at Dawson.

twoeightnine wrote:I like the idea of the uspga moving but think that Canada, Australia or Asia are the better destinations if you take out what a great course Portrush is supposed to be. That suggestion is just to poke fun at Dawson.

Yep... I have the feeling the Portrush comments were as much a jab as they were serious. I mean don't get me wrong... Portrush is supposed to be fantastic (I haven't seen it either), but IMO it was just too much of a coincidence for that one to be singled out...

Errey Ball, Bangor's best and last surviving contestant in 1934's first ever Masters, turns 103 today.
Happy Birthday Errey, an Independent Contractor if ever I saw one.

Jarrod Lyle finishes Round 2 one over par, tied as it happens with Ogilvy, and that should easily make the Aussie Masters cut.
Well done Jarrod!

Back underway this morning at Mayakoba - but for how long?
Any further significant delays and you'd think a Monday finish will be on the cards given the narrow daylight window.
Hopefully Round 2 can begin about 1.00 p.m.

Is Henrik Stenson for real??!!
Lots of fine scores today, and then there's Westwood plodding along with 2 x 70's.

More evidence of Mr Stenson becoming a big game player?

Certainly seems to be developing use of the "when it matters" button/gear that Tiger seemed to have in his pomp.

Roller Coaster praise = cue for dramatic collapse.

Hopefully he'll be #1 next year.

Nine Chins needs an extraordinary year to maintain his position.

Robo
 
Great idea on the Olympics - could this ever happen?  I've never particularly thought golf should be in the Olympics because I just don't see how it could compete with the majors for importance in the golfing world, but I am interested to see how it plays out.  But as you suggest this would answer this argument, and presumably it also resolves the potential calendar issue as well.  I guess there would be a number of obstacles to this though, not least the restriction on the number of entrants per country that are being proposed?
 
I may have missed something on the PGA Championship discussions about moving abroad, and any attempt to spread the majors more globally is to be welcomed, but what's in it for the PGA of America?  Why would they not want their national championship in America?

Hard to see Stenson losing the week, will surely go close in the majors again next year and the way he is playing atm hard to see him not winning one!

sirbenson wrote:Hard to see Stenson losing the week, will surely go close in the majors again next year and the way he is playing atm hard to see him not winning one!

Sheesh... what a display by Stenson today... and looking at the way he's playing now... hard to disagree on his prospects for future major contention.

But then again... how many times have we said that about other players?   (or at least I have)

Rare is the player that gets on the kind of roll Stenson is on now and maintains it for more than 3 to 6 months, maybe a year at most.... then it cycles.  Who would have thought Westwood would all but disappear... or Rory... or Luke... or Kaymer.  Heck, who would have expected Stenson to "lose it" the last time? Not me. Bottom line... Stenson is about 4 months into his run of really great golf and if not for the wrist issues it might have been even better.   But the Masters is still 5 months away, and the pressure really ratchets up when you become one of the favorites, so we'll just have to see.   Hope you're right though...

super_realist wrote:Nine Chins needs an extraordinary year to maintain his position.

Pretty much true for any #1 isn't it?  Except for maybe Tiger that is.  An "average" year by his standards requires an extraordinary year by anyone else to catch him.  Even with TW's "time out", he's still averaging 5 wins a year for his career... and 4 per year in the last two. Takes some pretty salty golf to catch up with that.

Am I right in thinking nobody has won both the FedEx and the R2D in the same season (or even at all?)

Yes, that's right Bob, no one has ever done the double in the last 4 years

robopz wrote:

sirbenson wrote:Hard to see Stenson losing the week, will surely go close in the majors again next year and the way he is playing atm hard to see him not winning one!

Sheesh... what a display by Stenson today... and looking at the way he's playing now... hard to disagree on his prospects for future major contention.

But then again... how many times have we said that about other players?   (or at least I have)

Rare is the player that gets on the kind of roll Stenson is on now and maintains it for more than 3 to 6 months, maybe a year at most.... then it cycles.  Who would have thought Westwood would all but disappear... or Rory... or Luke... or Kaymer.  Heck, who would have expected Stenson to "lose it" the last time?   Not me.   Bottom line... Stenson is about 4 months into his run of really great golf and if not for the wrist issues it might have been even better.   But the Masters is still 5 months away, and the pressure really ratchets up when you become one of the favorites, so we'll just have to see.   Hope you're right though...

Makes what Tiger has done in maintaining that high level consistently for a number of years even more impressive as that is a pretty high class of golfer that have hit the very top but not been able to maintain it.

Bob_the_Job wrote:Am I right in thinking nobody has won both the FedEx and the R2D in the same season (or even at all?)

That's correct... Pretty amazing... and the money... sheesh

2013 Earnings for Henrik Stenson if he goes on to win this week...

$6,488,229.81 - PGA Tour (Includes WGC's & Majors)
$10,000,000.00 - PGA Tour FedEx Cup bonus

€1,559,690.71 - Euro Tour (incl. winners share for this week minus WGC's and majors - $2,099,343.70)
$1,000,000.00 - Race to Dubai Bonus

TOTAL = $19,587,573.51 or €14,552,431.04

Near as I can tell, that's the 3rd highest worldwide earnings by a player ever in one year (based only on ON-course earnings + FexCup and R2D bonus, but NOT including any endorsement or endorsement performance incentive income). The highest would have been Tiger Woods in 2007 with $22,370,706 and 2009 with $20,968,163

Notes: Tiger's 2007 total above includes $1,350,000 from his win in the Target World Challenge a non official event on any tour at the time and not yet being awarded OWGR points. 2007 would have been $21,020,706 without that event.

The 2009 total is based on official events on world tours only ($230,000 from Notah Begay Charity Tournament not included).

Hope that more than balances the books after the Stanford nonsense . . . . .
(And trust that Fanny will get a big treat.)

kwinigolfer wrote:Hope that more than balances the books after the Stanford nonsense . . . . .
(And trust that Fanny will get a big treat.)

Yeah... from all accounts Stenson really got nailed on that one...

And, talking about Henrik Stenson:
WOW! Look at Robert Karlsson ripping it up at Mayakoba, tied for the lead at 6 under par thru 14 holes.
Hope this is not blogger's mockers but Karlsson has sooooo much to gain from another top finish.
Already garnered enough notional FedEx points to be at least halfway towards qualification for the 3014 WTF series.

Great to see from Karlsson!!!! Also Vegas and Duval as well....these events are a great chance for players to resurrect their careers

Perhaps Karlsson feels a bit liberated, as Kris Kristofferson has said (and my personal credo):
"Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose."

kwinigolfer wrote:Perhaps Karlsson feels a bit liberated, as Kris Kristofferson has said (and my personal credo):
"Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose."

????  His swing yips, no status or what?

Well, he doesn't have any status so anything he gets is gravy, so he can kind of freewheel; although the minimum he must hope for this week is another Top Ten.

(Perhaps you didn't appreciate the Texas references, KK wrote it, JJ sang it!)
PS: After our exchange about the LibMut and Texas where it belongs, I see Onion Creek flooded this week! Like OHL, that's ironic.

kwinigolfer wrote:Well, he doesn't have any status so anything he gets is gravy, so he can kind of freewheel; although the minimum he must hope for this week is another Top Ten.

(Perhaps you didn't appreciate the Texas references, KK wrote it, JJ sang it!)
PS: After our exchange about the LibMut and Texas where it belongs, I see Onion Creek flooded this week! Like OHL, that's ironic.

Speaking of ironic... just barely missed KK perform it in Luckenbach maybe 10 years ago...  We had some relatives in from England, went out to central Texas just checking out parks and small towns and such.   Came upon Luckenbach and KK was just closing out an impromptu set on the patio and under the trees behind the old store.  Maybe only 150 people there... sheesh... wish we would have known... course then it wouldn't have been impromptu I guess...  

Wasn't aware of the flooding at Onion Creek... I know they had a buttload of rain over there and flooding... just never heard any of the specifics...