PGA Tour: The English Patients: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).The PGA Tour changes gears this week as the circus moves 140 miles SSW from California's Palm Desert to San Diego by the Sea.
Time for more of our favourites to wipe off the cobwebs, wrap up the equipment testing and advertising shoots, and start to earn their riches. Woods and Mickelson make their seasonal debuts, so do Hunner and Bubba. And so do Poulter and Westwood, two of the leaders of a golden generation of English golfers who promised so much and have delivered excitement around the globe. Two of them have reached Number One in the World, a poisoned chalice in that they immediately attracted media criticism for never having won a Major.
 
2).These guys formed the nucleus of Europe's Ryder Cup demolition of Hal Sutton's US Team at Oakland Hills in 2004. Cowboy Sutton proved to be the proverbial "All Hat and No Horse" as his supposed thoroughbreds scarcely spoke to one another and went from the OK Corral to the Knacker's Yard, temporarily at least.
Westwood led the way, and inspired Paul Casey, Luke Donald, David Howell and Ian Poulter.
With Poults on the sidelines, the other four continued business as usual in 2006, all found their way in to the owgr Top Ten, and it seemed that it was only a matter of time before they were Major Champions.
 
3).Fast forward to 2014 and the Major Championship tally is precisely zero, some close calls from Westwood in particular and a smattering of WGC success, but time is beginning to pass them by. Injuries have hindered most of them, but to no greater degree than an athlete might expect, though David Howell's certainly affected him for a few seasons.
In the Ryder Cup year of 2014, you'd think that only Poulter (who will surely qualify on points anyway) can be sure of a Captain's Choice for Gleneagles should they fail to qualify outright.
Casey and Howell enjoyed their moments in the 2013 sun but quickly regressed again, and Lee and Lukey have fallen away as regular contenders, Westwood held in such high PGA Tour regard that he's teeing it up with non-winners Matt Jones and Josh Teater in San Diego. Whether Tour-typically disrespectful to "foreigners" or their rightful place in the Tour pecking order, it is nevertheless indicative of how far his star has fallen.
 
4).There have been consolation prizes:
Poulter and Donald with their WGC MatchPlay triumphs, Casey with two runner-ups.
Howell (beat young Eldrick by three strokes) and Poulter have HSBC Champions victories.
Casey, Howell and Donald (twice) have BMW Championships.
And Westwood and Donald have won Races to Dubai.
Their combined Ryder Cup record is impressive:
Won: 46
Lost: 23
Halved: 12
(Mickelson and Woods between them have 35 losses, against only 27 wins.)
 
5).But, Donald's magical 2011 season apart, none of them have really thrived on the PGA Tour.
Howell never tried it, perhaps because injury intervened, Casey has one win, Westwood and Poulter two apiece, and Donald five.
 
6).What lies ahead?
Casey? Past Champion status only on the PGA Tour - I thought he was the next British Major winner ten years ago, but he's 36 now, has endured a difficult three years with divorce and injury, and he needs to rededicate himself before that brilliant future slips too far behind him. Hopefully Peter Kostis's return to health will inspire him - Good luck to Peter and Paul.
Howell? Great win at the Dunhill but hasn't kicked on from that. Hope the competitive fires are still burning, we'll see.
Donald? New coach, swing changes, p1ss poor recent form as short-and-crooked seems to have re-entered his game. The world-class short game has regressed from top 3 to top 20 and so has his owgr position.
Westwood? Pivotal year for Lee after a largely wasted 2013 (in PGA Tour terms anyway). He's playing San Diego, Phoenix, Riviera, MatchPlay, Honda and Doral in the next seven weeks after which I reckon he'll either be re-established as a star, or slipping sadly in to the sunset.
Poulter? The brightest spark right now; if he could focus on stroke-play events he could thrive in the States but his ADD seems to get the better of him. He's played his 165 Tour events to date with only 30 top tens, a shockingly poor 18% clip.
 
7).The next generation should be in their prime but only Justin Rose has flourished. Fisher's back in Europe and slowly rebuilding his career after an incomprehensible US schedule last year, and Ollie Wilson is back at the Mansfield pitch and putt. Dyson's career is on probation and the rest of that age group are golfing non-entities, on the World stage at any rate. Time for Willett and Wood to step up, but fingers crossed that Tommy Fleetwood's career can continue last year's momentum.
 
8).Patrick Reed continued his rather portly way through the ranks of America's Young Guns, joining Harris English with two wins while still in their early twenties. Perhaps he can offer Shane Lowry some inspiration?
 
9).This week's "Farmers Insurance Open" at Torrey Pines brings Westwood back to the scene of one of the Majors that he might feel got away, one missed putt from joining "pool-cleaner" Mediate and Tiger Woods in a US Open play-off. It's a horses-for-courses event with Woods (7 wins) and Mickelson (3) having rather dominated since 1993. Snedeker, Haas, Mahan and Watney all have fine records here and in-form Jimmy Walker finished 29th, 8th and 4th in his most recent visits.
Other GB&I participants include Knox and Laird, Greg Owen and David Lynn.
 
10).And Victor Dubuisson is here, joined by Colsaerts (missed cut last week and a long season in prospect unless he can scrape in to WGC's and more Majors - exempt for Pinehurst) and Gonzo, plus most of Team Sweden.
But this is Tiger's house and, with his early season schedule somewhat up in the air, it'll be interesting to see how competitive he is after a break. Usually the answer is "very".

Tiger moving in the wrong direction

Faldo IS on the team.

Alci,
They just showed the stroke averages:
North about 3.75 strokes easier than the South.
Vive that difference.

No hair multiple chins doing very poorly so far on his favourite course

incontinentia wrote:No hair multiple chins doing very poorly so far on his favourite course

Considering how he's played he's done well to only be +1

incontinentia wrote:No hair multiple chins doing very poorly so far on his favourite course

If I wasn't off the booze for January i'd have a           

Shockingly bad (77 on the supposedly easier North Course) from Snedeker who has such a wonderful record here.
Whassup with him.

Day will defo win once or twice this season!


Good to see from Cink!

Anyone seen how fat Cink's neck has become? Do these golfers just eat all day?

it's not fat - he's slowly melting

Not a bad day for the Europeans at Torrey Pines with most on target to make the 36-hole cut - after taking the discrepancy (more than 3 1/2 strokes) between the two courses into account.
Exceptions would be:
Jonas Blixt
Vickie Dubuisson
Gonzo
Chopra
. . . . all of whom failed to break par on the easier North Course, and:
Ian Poulter, who will need to shoot 68 today to be sure of a pay-day.

Some pretty medocre golf from Tiger. Age, rust, not his day, who knows. Not out of contention, but will need to make something happen soon if he want to raise the hardware.

Plenty of people I know think this course is overrated. Not sure why, but look forward to seeing it in person soon enough.

Plenty of people (including your favourite American golfer, Sr!) think Rees Jones made a right pig's ear of it (the South Course) when he re-did it prior to the 2008 US Open.

You'll have to get up early to get a tee-time; only time I was going to play there, I rocked up at 6.00 a.m. to find I'd be lucky to get on before 9.00 a.m.. Threw my clubs back in the car and hammered it up to Monterey to play a bonus 18 holes at Pebble before my planned 18 holes the following day. Worth every dollar . . . . and speeding ticket.

Among all the stupid names, how cool is "Tyrone Van Aswegen"!  

super_realist wrote:

raycastleunited wrote:

super_realist wrote:Apart from Major winners, Jason Day probably had the best major record in 2013

And he's a really exciting talent and entertaining to watch.

And he's sponsored by one of the "big 2" (Adidas / Nike)

TM/Adidas are a big player, NIke aren't, not in golf anyway.

Whoa Super. The big 2 brands are Nike and Adidas. By a mile. The 2 highest profile golfers on the planet are draped head to toe in swoosh logos.

Just because Nike don't sell many golf clubs, doesn't mean they're not big in golf. Nike's strategy is also about associating sporting success with the brand, so their key stars transcend their sport.

Although more golfers might use clubs from ping, titleist etc, these brands are insignificant compared to Nike and Adidas.

Looks like they're off on time in San Diego . . . . . . .
Freddie Jac's had enough already; 81 yesterday meant he would probably have needed a 62 today. Not likely.

raycastleunited wrote:

super_realist wrote:

raycastleunited wrote:

super_realist wrote:Apart from Major winners, Jason Day probably had the best major record in 2013

And he's a really exciting talent and entertaining to watch.

And he's sponsored by one of the "big 2" (Adidas / Nike)

TM/Adidas are a big player, NIke aren't, not in golf anyway.

Whoa Super. The big 2 brands are Nike and Adidas. By a mile. The 2 highest profile golfers on the planet are draped head to toe in swoosh logos.

Just because Nike don't sell many golf clubs, doesn't mean they're not big in golf. Nike's strategy is also about associating sporting success with the brand, so their key stars transcend their sport.

Although more golfers might use clubs from ping, titleist etc, these brands are insignificant compared to Nike and Adidas.

I had also said that I thought that Nike may be on a loss leader for their Golf endorsement. The amount they have paid out to their "stars" may not be reciprocated in sales.  I'd be interested to see their golf only balance sheet and it may be that they're trying to transcend the sport, because golfers simply don't buy the gear anymore.

Nike Golf gear, in Europe at least as I suggested earlier fell off a cliff circa 2008 and has never recovered as far as I can see. They never followed up the success they had with the Sasquatch range and their clothing looks like it's still stuck back there too. There are plenty more stylish (if golf and style isn't an oxymoron) clothing that people use instead (Galvin, Peak Performance, Oscar Jacobsen, Under Armour etc), their shoes have been usurped by Adidas and Footjoy and their clubs are simply rank average in terms of their appeal.


They may well sponsor big names like 9C and Pubehead, but they've hardly captured the golf market the way Adidas have and for all their marketing power, they aren't exactly owning the sport the way you might expect them too. They've lost a lot of ground in other sports too, the likes of Asics for example being the market leader in running for instance.

David Lynn continues to surprise - me anyway. He's up to 4th place early in Round 2 and his old mate Poulter is also playing well, slowly retrieving ground lost as he had a difficult day on the South Course yesterday. Bet those two could tell some stories . . . . .

Gonzo going quickly in the other direction; wouldn't imagine this would ever be a good couple of courses for him, but hopefully he'll be warmed up nicely for Phoenix next week.

Dubuisson is some player!

How did victor get in this event? I can see why they would want him. A promising young player in top 50 Iof the world.

Sponsors invite I would assume?

Is it too big a call to say Spieth will win a major this year? I wouldn't say it is imo!

sirbenson wrote:Is it too big a call to say Spieth will win a major this year? I wouldn't say it is imo!

He's certainly looking like the next big thing. I also think Uihlen is going to be a hell of a player too.

Russell Knox leading Scot, sure to be in top ten overnight, Laird a couple of shots behind. Mussels still cruising.

Strange round for Woods - looked as if he'd rather be in Sochi.

Woods hasn't birdied a par 5 so far   

super_realist wrote:

sirbenson wrote:Is it too big a call to say Spieth will win a major this year? I wouldn't say it is imo!

He's certainly looking like the next big thing. I also think Uihlen is going to be a hell of  a player too.

Good call and I would add Koepka to that list!

Tiger reporting that he "was just a fraction off" today - kind of a big fraction you'd think, like 7/8ths.

I didn't think he looked particularly interested, not sure what's going on there.

Team GB went 6 for 6 in making the cut and Mussels is nicely placed in 3rd - tied the tournament best on the South Course, I think. Plus, Very impressive from tricky Vic.


Strong field for next week's Phoenix action with NONE of last year's web.com grads making the field, so far.

Leading Europeans include:
Colsaerts, Kaymer, Gonzo
Davis, Harrington, Laird
Lynn, Poulter, Westwood
Blixt, Pettersson
Plus the Barn Rat.

sirbenson wrote:

super_realist wrote:

sirbenson wrote:Is it too big a call to say Spieth will win a major this year? I wouldn't say it is imo!

He's certainly looking like the next big thing. I also think Uihlen is going to be a hell of  a player too.

Good call and I would add Koepka to that list!

Special mention for Tommy Fleetwood too. Making great progress.

kwinigolfer wrote:Strange round for Woods - looked as if he'd rather be in Sochi.

Isn't Ms Vonn not going? I thought she was ruled out through injury?

She is; just couldn't think of a much more miserable sounding place for him to be; he certainly didn't seem to fancy San Diego.
He'll probably shoot a pair of 63's and win going away now.

There'll be a second "cut" following Round 3 as 80+ golfers made the 36-hole chop. Top 70 and ties after Saturday get to play Sunday.

ESPN report that Phil Mickelson has withdrawn due to his ailing back.
Wonder if he'll risk playing Phoenix or rest for a while?

I saw some comments regarding Westwood's first two rounds groupings. For your information... this is the policy on how the PGAT sets the groups. A change for this year is the last one in Category 1. There was some "blowback" from the PAC on the extent the tour was elevating players into Category 1. Thus the jump rule of moving up a "name" non-category 1 player was changed to a limit of one. So with Westwood out of the top-20 now, and not meeting any other Cat 1 criteria, he would have to rely on the "jump" to get into the "primo" groupings and tee times.

Category 1:
• PGA TOUR members eligible to participate in tournaments to the extent provided in Sections A-1a(1) through (6) and Sections A-1a(9)
of Article III (Tournament Winners).
• Nonmember tournament winners that, if they were a PGA TOUR member, would be eligible to participate in tournaments to the extent provided in Sections A-1a(1) through (6) and Section A-1a(9) of Article III.
• PGA TOUR Life Members, as defined in Section A-4 of Article IX.
• The top 25 on the Official PGA TOUR Career Money List through the end of the preceding season.
• Players within the top 20 positions on the current FedExCup Points List, starting with the event following the Masters.
• Players (including nonmembers) within the top 20 positions on the current Official World Golf Ranking.
• One player, on a weekly basis, not otherwise eligible for this category.

Category 1A:
• Tournament winners whose victories were considered official that no longer qualify for grouping category 1 and who played in 5 or more PGA TOUR cosponsored or approved events or 10 or more combined PGA TOUR, Champions Tour and Web.com Tour cosponsored events in the prior season (qualifying rounds do not constitute “play” in such tournaments for purposes of this section, and at least 18 holes of a 72-hole or greater tournament must be played to count towards this requirement).
• Former winners of THE PLAYERS Championship, Masters Tournament, U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship who no longer qualify for grouping category 1.

Category 2:
• PGA TOUR members eligible to participate in tournaments to the extent provided in Sections A-1b (Top 125 FedExCup), A-1c (Top 125 money) and A-1d (Top 125-Nonmembers) of Article III .
• Players with 50 or more career cuts made in official money PGA TOUR cosponsored or approved tournaments and who played in 5 or more PGA TOUR cosponsored or approved events or 10 or more combined PGA TOUR, Champions Tour and Web.com Tour cosponsored events in the prior season (qualifying rounds do not constitute “play” in such tournaments for purposes of this section, and at least 18 holes of a 72-hole or greater tournament must be played to count towards this requirement).
• Players (including nonmembers) within the top 21-50 positions on the current Official World Golf Ranking.

Category 3:
• All others.

robo,
I know the rules!
Just know they're also circumvented whenever the Tour chooses. Or is that not going to happen any more??
Win this week, Lee, and it'll be a moot point!

An earlier start in California today, with threesomes starting off the first and tenth tees at 7.35 a.m. (tempting providence with fog?), just before half-time at most of today's Cup games.

Mussels off with Spieth and Cink in the final group at 9.45 a.m.; a big test today for all three, for three different reasons!

Lots of big names already gone by the wayside this week (Phil, Sneds, Walker, Gonzo, Fowler - out of the world's top 50 now and needs some good results sooner rather than later) and others are struggling, such as Haas, Woods, Mahan, Bubba, Watneys etc.
But Billy Horschel's lurking, he played well here last year and wouldn't bet against him this week.

Early bird for Martin Laird and this is a big opportunity for him, especially given that he'll be in the paternity leave business in a month or so.
If he takes a lot of time off, then beaucoup points in the bag now will be particularly important to give him some leeway when he returns. You'd certainly think he'd be loth to miss Bay Hill, and San Antonio too.

kwinigolfer wrote:She is; just couldn't think of a much more miserable sounding place for him to be; he certainly didn't seem to fancy San Diego.
He'll probably shoot a pair of 63's and win going away now.

There'll be a second "cut" following Round 3 as 80+ golfers made the 36-hole chop. Top 70 and ties after Saturday get to play Sunday.

Knowing that San Diego is a hot bed of incredible looking women and some of the nicest legs I have ever seen, I can understand why 9C might be a little distracted.

Not sure about his girlfriend, but Tiger's game is going downhill at Olympic speed right now - back-to-back doubles have him nudging MDF territory, though he may have other names for it.

No-one setting 'em alight so far, Guthrie and Howell at -3 each looks about the best of the bunch.

Looks like some pretty big numbers out there today ... beware Gary Woodland.

Wonder if Tiger knows even what MDF means?
Not that it will come to that. Oh no no no.


Nothing better than two under par remaining on the board.

Tiger Whoops. He probably thinks MDF stands for MILF.


Kwini,
2 under? You mean two over?

So Woods had back to back double bogeys and then 5 bogies in a row. super will be   

Brutal test of golf, you can see why this is a US OPEN course!

Gary woodland. Wasn't he going to be the next big thing a few years back?

Interesting that CBS were saying that, due to a drought and resultant hard ground, the course is playing as if it were June, not Jan. Perhaps set up for typical January conditions?

All the more interesting that Andres Romero, weren't we just extolling his brilliance??!!, shot two strokes lower than the rest of the field. Just as likely to follow his 67 with a 77 of course, but let's hope not.

Poults by far the best of the Europeans with his 71; Colsaerts and Westwood  played well except the par-5's, three over and two over respectively. Haven't we been there before?

Still don't know that Billy Foster does Westwood any favours.

Can't pick a winner for Sunday.

Nine Chins:                  

Wide open and should make for a fun afternoon of professional golf. Jordan Speith living up to some of the hype and perhaps my early Woodland call will be on the mark.

Course looks plenty good to me. One of the knocks has been the uninspired design, but the green surrounds are certainly interesting (IMO).

Certainly a fabulous setting Sr, worth playing for the views alone - either course.

22 golfers within four shots of the lead, but not many of the usual California suspects, Pat Perez excepted.
Obviously Andres Romero had, by two shots, the round of the day, but you could also make a case for Ishikawa who shot 69 after three bogeys on his first four holes.

Love the fact that, on "University Day", Romero won the round of the day and charitable contribution that goes with it - and he turned pro at 17! I always enter Fratton Park Academy of Fine Arts as my college - doesn't impress many headhunters though.

Lots of underdog-type players in with a shout, Perez, Willie Mac, Roary . . . .

super_realist wrote:Nine Chins:                  

Guess the old adage is true... every shot makes SOMEBODY happy!!! 

kwinigolfer wrote:robo,
I know the rules!
Just know they're also circumvented whenever the Tour chooses. Or is that not going to happen any more??

Actually the P.A.C. and player members on the Policy Board were pretty vocal (negatively) on the Tour's initial "over use" of jumping players up categories.  From my understanding... the rules I've put up will be adhered to... only ONE guy can be jumped up to category 1 per week.  

But keep in mind... there's wiggle room most weeks just by the nature of groupings.   Hypothetical:  if there's 7 Category 1 guys in a tournament... and it's playing threesomes... then at least two Category 1a guys will play up with the 1's.  So it's would be difficult to tell if the Tour were abusing the policy or not.  Now if 2 local sponsor exemptions with no status whatsoever (category 3) show up Thur/Fri playing with Tiger and Phil... then we know the system is being abused. Guess all we can do is watch and see if that turns out to be the case.

Same as the situation GPB an I were trying to figure out with Calc this week... He's a category 1a guy... but was playing with two obvious Category 2's. My only guess at this point is it was an "unequal" situation within categories... so the 2's got moved up.

Thanks robo,
Well, Westwood's on the PAC now so he can voice his own opinion!
Think he'd be much better off winning a tournament or three.
Should be a compelling afternoon of golf; I really don't see a favourite but lots that I'd like to see pick up a win.
One I'm ambivalent about but would like to see the golfing gods give a break to, at San Diego at least, is CHIII - remember a few years ago he was challenging for the lead, hit the pin on #18 with his 3rd, splash, and looked as if he'd been shot? Dropped his ball in the correct place though!