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

First topic message reminder :

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.

Aphibarnrat... what a finish today... and what a character. I hope he gets his wish to play on the PGAT someday... that's a guy I'd like to follow.

For all the 40+ American contingent who entered European Q-School, it looks as if four made it.
Plenty of one-time good players got left behind, incl Edfors, Ollie Wilson, Dougherty (of course), Ollie Fisher, Dredge, Finch, etc, etc.

kwinigolfer wrote:For all the 40+ American contingent who entered European Q-School, it looks as if four made it.
Plenty of one-time good players got left behind, incl Edfors, Ollie Wilson, Dougherty (of course), Ollie Fisher, Dredge, Finch, etc, etc.

Question... does a certain amount of finishers below #25 get Challenge Tour exempt? Could somebody give me a little overview on how all that works on the ET?

The 10.00 OWGR is average is well within reach of Adam Scott, which I believe is something he has never done before.  Not within reach this week, but he should be there after the World Cup and Aussie Open.

In fact in the last 10 years, I think only Tiger, Rory, Luke, Vijay and PMick have eclipsed that hurdle.  

I don't think Westy or Kaymer ever got there when they were number 1.

GPB wrote:The 10.00 OWGR is average is well within reach of Adam Scott, which I believe is something he has never done before.  Not within reach this week, but he should be there after the World Cup and Aussie Open.

In fact in the last 10 years, I think only Tiger, Rory, Luke, Vijay and PMick have eclipsed that hurdle.  

I don't think Westy or Kaymer ever got there when they were number 1.

Correct... Westy or Kaymer never got to 10.0 while ranked #1.  Using the 10 year cutoff... Only other player I can think of that you didn't mention was Ernie Els... just checked and he had 57 weeks with a 10.0 or better in 2004-2005... but was never #1 during any of that the time.

Interesting though...  Westy did get over 10.0 once... for ONE week in 2000 at 10.01... but he was #5 at the time.   And bad luck for Phil... he spent 85 weeks above 10.0 and got into the mid 13's once..  Higher than Westwood, Kaymer, or Donald ever got... but always at the wrong time.

As if you needed yet another reason to understand the decline of the ET .... four top contenders for the big annual prize (Poulter, Stenson, Rose, and GMac) all live within 500 yards of one another in Florida.

Kirk: Players should feel 'guilty' for anchoring

http://www.golfchannel.com/news/golftalkcentral/kirk-players-should-feel-guilty-anchoring/?cid=twitter_gc_a_kirkanchoring_111713

He has a point.

Don't drink and tweet.

Is that the point you mean?

Does anyone know how much prize money Stenson has made this year including all the bonuses?

Must be in the region of 15 million dollars.

Interestingly he's also accrued the most net points in the OWGR in 2013.
Hopefully he can keep the form up and win at the Masters or US Open.

Lorus, Robo was there a few days ago:

robopz wrote:

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).

pool old Robert Karlsson...

What's the living arrangements of E.T. players in Florida got to do with the "decline" of the European Tour?
All a bit gratuitous, that.


"Poor old Robert Karlsson" is right - was smoking his 3-wood all week long, two drivers flared in to the mangroves and all that good work towards Special Temporary Membership was undone.
Plus: didn't hole a thing on his final seven holes, only one of those putts longer than about 20ft.
Plenty of encouraging signs though and now qualified for the WTF series.

Lots of stuff in the American media about Karlsson's meltdown at the 2012 Open, but nothing about how superb his play has been when at the top of his form, say in 2008, 2010, before being assailed by injuries and illness. He gets another exemption now, into the Sony Open in Hawaii, and fingers crossed that sponsors with invitations to hand out will be keeping an eye on him. Looks like he's in the Aussie Open field also - good luck to him.

Russell Knox tried hard to ruin a good week with bogeys on his 71st and 72nd holes, but he's still in good shape for the "reshuffle" and should be in most West Coast events.

Wasted weekends for Clarke and Davis.

You've got to admire the way Finchem builds his Tour:
AT&T announced this week a ten-year extension to their contract for the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am - that's thru 2024.
Very impressive that he's able to secure such "building block" contracts.

But good to see the Race 2 Dubai is re-upped thru 2017. Not ten years but good news nevertheless.

Finally, no sign of Europeans flocking to web.com Q-School - with the fields for this week's four qualies now published only Rhys Davies is a significant name, and even then in terms of 2010 promise and certainly not subsequent achievement.

If the players who are vying for the top prize on your tour live -- for most of the year -- on an entirely different continent then you've got problems.

Don't connect the dots all you want, but it's absolutely another reason why the ET is second fiddle (by a long shot) to the US tour. At least for now.

I'm guessing if you want to be centrally located for ET events you would live in the middle east?? Cheap housing in Yemen I'm guessing.

What's Yemen got to do with it?
Just about as relevant to the E.T. as Guam is to the PGA Tour.

The European Tour will ALWAYS play second fiddle to the PGA Tour in so many ways - nothing wrong with that; but very happy that sometimes the underdog comes first.

Once again, connect the dots ... Florida has great weather and is conveniently located for those playing on the US Tour. The number of world class professionals flocking there stands as testimony to that.

Where would one live to be conveniently located for play on the ET? You must be thinking as those running the ET are ... "location doesn't matter, let's move as far around the globe as possible".

Staying the same course and hoping things change is no way to run a business.

I think you're saying I was unwise to commute to California from Utica every week.
Worked for me . . . . . for two years anyway! Quality of life is important to some.

kwinigolfer wrote:
"Poor old Robert Karlsson" is right - was smoking his 3-wood all week long, two drivers flared in to the mangroves and all that good work towards Special Temporary Membership was undone.
Plus: didn't hole a thing on his final seven holes, only one of those putts longer than about 20ft.
Plenty of encouraging signs though and now qualified for the WTF series.

I wonder if Robert Karlsson will go ahead and play his scheduled Second Stage Web*com Tour q-school qualifier in Plantation Florida... Starts tomorrow.  http://pgatq.bluegolf.com/bluegolf/pgatq13/event/pgatq1328/contest/1/leaderboard.htm

Yep... if he could have held on for a 2nd or 3rd this past week, Robert would have earned his Special Temporary... but now he remains well short.  But I would think he'd be in line to get most any SE that he would ask for.  Only problem is as a non-member he's limited to 7  sponsor exemptions or 12 total events to make his special temporary status.   The good news is his top-10's are earning him starts that don't count against the 7... but they do count against the 12.

robo,
I think that is a different "Robert Karlsson", a student at one time attending Liberty College in Lynchburg, VA.
Imagine that, a Jerry Falwell protege playing on Tour??!!

Doesn't Robert Karlsson the First get a web.com exemption for his finish on the 2013 PGA Tour?

kwinigolfer wrote:robo,
I think that is a different "Robert Karlsson", a student at one time attending Liberty College in Lynchburg, VA.
Imagine that, a Jerry Falwell protege playing on Tour??!!

Doesn't Robert Karlsson the First get a web.com exemption for his finish on the 2013 PGA Tour?

DUH! and Oops... my bad... and good catch on the exemption.   I'll have to check on his exempt status for the Web.com.   I know it USED to be any player with full exempt status on the PGA Tour in the last 2 years would be fully exempt on the Web.com... but with all the changes... I "think" that's still the case... just not 100% positive.

Stenson out of SA Open; he and Oosthuizen plan to return for the Nedbank and its guaranteed money. Glad they've got their priorities right - Independent Contractors and all that.

kwinigolfer wrote:robo,
I think that is a different "Robert Karlsson", a student at one time attending Liberty College in Lynchburg, VA.
Imagine that, a Jerry Falwell protege playing on Tour??!!

Doesn't Robert Karlsson the First get a web.com exemption for his finish on the 2013 PGA Tour?

Not another Bible Basher        

kwinigolfer wrote:Stenson out of SA Open; he and Oosthuizen plan to return for the Nedbank and its guaranteed money. Glad they've got their priorities right - Independent Contractors and all that.

I don't know the size of debt Stenson amassed during the financial crisis, but one should guess he wouldn't  need the money by now: Ain't gonna be in Sun City. NOT!

Shotrock wrote:
Don't connect the dots all you want

I understand all those words .. just not it that order

Davie - See if this helps in comprehension:

Don't "connect-all-the-dots" you want ...

Still trying to connect the dots.

But this Rule clearly changes the order of the dots and will henceforth be known as the Independent Contractor Rule:

http://www.golfchannel.com/news/golftalkcentral/new-usga-ra-decision-affects-viewer-call-ins/

Not sure how necessary this change was - they could just have mandated that Tiger gets new laser eye surgery and be done with it.

And I'm still trying to understand how the ET will change their fortune by essentially doing the same thing year after year after year ...

Glad people this logically challenged don't work for me.

Ah, but living in Florida (still not sure why anyone would want to if one had any sort of choice at all) is not the same as the administration of the European Tour, which we consistently slag off.

Must admit, if I had the choice of living in Europe (or VT or NY) and making a $1M annually and having to travel extensively) or living in Florida (or Dallas or Phoenix) and making $2M, I know which one I'd choose. Think if I was a pro golfer the last thing I'd want is to walk 500 yards down the street and see three others. Vive la difference.

But I'm sure working for Shotrock Inc is a blast! Philadelphia branch though please, don't send me to FLA!!

One of the first rules of business is to make your product appealing to the fat part of the bell curve. Not the outliers on either side - which I'll suggest is what one would be who chooses a 50% pay cut having to live in Florida, Dallas or Phoenix.

So, the migration of top Europeans continues ... eschewing the ET for the US tour.

But if you are a professional golfer looking for smaller purses and the opportunity to hop the globe, the ET is just the thing. Good luck finding demand for that!

Pipe down you two. It's getting a bit tiresome.

Shotrock, I agree that doing the same but expecting a different result is the definition of stupidity but its a little difficult to work out where they can go as a large chunk of Europe is on its backside so they have to look elsewhere for sponsors.

You are right that most golfers/people don't see the smaller purses and more travel as a good thing but there are a lot of pro golfers out there who cannot get on the PGAT so the ET is about as good as they can get. Fortunately Europeans are often more happy to travel outside of their countries than Americans.

I think that the ET is always going to struggle against the PGAT for the simple reason of how popular golf is in the two places. Sponsors look for exposure and when you look at how many people play in the US compared to Europe you can see the problem.

Am I right in thinking that the channels that carry the US coverage are pretty mainstream entertainment channels rather than specialist sports ones that we get over here too?

C'mon Super ... just having some fun banter during the quiet time ... or at least until Tiger crashes an SUV, or Chubby declares Indonesia as the next location where most professional golf tournaments will take place ...

It's nice to see some quality banter on here for a change. All the name calling and silly arguments are so childish  
I should say that in my defense I have been reading this forum and the old beeb board since 2005 but have been unable to post due to some tiresome firewall activity. So I feel I know you all intimately - I hope you feel violated...

Two - Agree with just about everything you state ... and can't help but think that a splintering is inevitable and will be a good thing. Perhaps a "UK Tour" where the vast majority of events are played in the UK/Ireland/select European countries, and built around the Open Championship. Great fans, great venues and great homegrown talent (that surely would like to escape some of the heat in Florida.)

As far as TV in the states, it's the mainstream channels that do most of the heavy lifting, but the "speciality" channels (ESPN and The Golf Channel) are becoming mainstream in reach (and pocketbook), so the lines blur.

Shotrock might be awaiting another mishap with a fire hydrant, but looks like Lindsey's got her injury in first - multiple reports that she's off for an MRI on an injured knee after crashing at Copper Mountain.

Hope she's OK.

I know this is a perennial sports question but I wonder if the ET decided to give the TV rights to the BBC, etc whether sponsors would be more keen to invest in European tournaments and make up the shortfall or even improve it. By the sounds of it there is obviously a market for golf on mainstream tv in the states so it could work here.

Does anyone know what the PGA at wentworth on the BBC picked up compared to say the recent DP on Sky?

289,
The reason golf thrives on Network TV in the States, despite relatively low ratings, is that it attracts a relatively well-off demographic, far more Mercedes advertised than Fords or Fiats for instance.

Not sure how that works for the Beeb and/or what restrictions they place on intrusively prominent on-course advertising.

As you've seen, the advertising breaks in the States are incredibly frequent so the quality of the broadcast is variable, to put it kindly.

Ooh,
A bit of a c0ck up on the pgatour web-site and hadn't seen the field for the Mississippi qualie - which features John Parry.
He's in with an even par round, in 31st place where 20 qualify.
Rhys Davies off to a slow start, as seems to be his wont. About 60 ahead of him but still in touch.
Better needed by both on Wednesday.

What do you people make of the new rule which states a ball is only deemed to have moved it you could discern that movement with the naked eye? i.e you would need to be watching at home on HD tv to see the ball move, and of course have the rules tents number in your contacts.

Meaning tiger would probably have been ok at the BMW.

Mac,
Lots of concern here that it's another shade of grey in the rules (Jason Sobel's phrase I think).
Example:
If two players encounter the exact same circumstance of minimal movement (but it could be double strike etc) and one player calls a penalty on themselves and the other doesn't, then the person who calls the penalty is at a distinct disadvantage; there is no incentive for a player to call a penalty on themselves if there is almost imperceptible movement, but they spot it.

Remember, they're all Independent Contractors.

PS: I don't think anyone has ever said that Woods should have called a penalty on himself if he didn't see the ball move - what they have said is that, presented with irrefutible evidence that it did move, he's a total ass for not admitting it.

I think the only course of action if you think a ball has moved is to ask for video clarification post round. No point incurring a penalty for sure, when you have the chance of no penalty should the video evidence go your way.

In some ways now there is no grey area surrounding "oscillating" balls, as they will all be reviewed on tape. Unless you are a real dumb ass and decide to accept the penalty without checking.

What about marking a ball on the green, how can anyone be sure they replace it in exactly the same position? There's always going to be a bit of a difference there

Mac,
Unfortunately it's only a small percentage of shots that will be captured on video - even when a player is being filmed the cameras don't catch everything, and we see in almost every tournament a player calling a penalty on his/herself that is not caught on film.

Are you now saying these players are "dumb ass"es?

I'd say the authorities have opened a can of worms - every Independent Contractor out there who wishes to avoid the long arm of the law can hope he's grouped with Casey Wittenberg.

The "marker"'s job is to defend the rest of the field - more onus on them now and less on individual players to have integrity. And we've seen that some don't have that integrity.

What on earth is penmanship?

Being able to write legibly. Used mainly in the states I think.

Think poncy, calligraphy style writing. In pen, no less!