PGA Tour: Jeux Sans Frontieres (et Tigre, Adam, Phil): Notes from the Ballwasher

1).Hanson plays with Dustin, Rory plays with Boo,
Jonas plays with Keegan, Beats him three and two,
Lukey plays Matteo, Sterne plays with Zach,
Poulter beats young Rickie, With eagles on the back.
 
2).Yes, It's a Knockout!
And if looks could kill they probably will.
For Tim Finchem at least, as his contracts with both venue and sponsor expire this year. The unpopular Dove Mountain course and Title Sponsor Accenture will both have to be replaced. No tears for Dove Mountain which has seemingly been rejected by players and fans alike, but perhaps Accenture can be persuaded to continue? If not, why would Volvo not want to step in and take this Championship around the World instead of its European event??
 
3).What a shame that the sponsor has been rejected by Woods, Scott and Mickelson, all playing next week at Honda; Civic duty? Or a Prelude to appearance fees??
Who knows, but this lack of Accord can't help their benefactors as high-end sponsors are right to expect most of golf's marquee names to patronise their events.
Alternatively, if a major reason for not making this a proper World event is that top Americans won't travel, well they're not travelling to Tucson so, frankly my dear, who gives a damn?
 
4).Let's hope a beneficiary in all this will be the old Tucson Open and their Conquistadors who managed a perfectly fine event on Tour, including three years as match play, from WWII to well into the Shock and Awe era. But that's all speculation and one imagines something rather more concrete will be forthcoming soon.
 
5).A fine win at the "Northern Trust Open" by Bubba Watson, with Dustin Johnson (and Princess Paulina) breathing heavily in his wake - As Greg Maddux so rightly said, "Chicks dig the long ball".
Only a few weeks ago Faldo and Bubba were joshing each other (good-naturedly?) in Phoenix about the respective merits of "How" and "How many", as sirnick was criticising Bubba's course management. Nothing to question about a bogeyless weekend of 64-64 however, with some excellent putting when it mattered most. Bubba says this is a year for "Rejoicing", but it could also be a year of redemption as his only sniff last year ended in an unseemly snit with caddie Ted Scott as "Hartford" was lost with one careless swing of the club.
 
6).Another grisly performance by the golfing Internationals with Americans monopolising the top eleven places.  
KJ Choi (playing well this year after a couple of seasons in the doldrums) finished 12th, Sang-Moon Bae 14th, Badds and Senden tied for 18th, and Westwood dawdled home in 20th.
Bae is the most recent Asian winner on Tour and Choi his immediate predecessor - the Tour is full of the eastern promise of young Asians but they haven't delivered so far.
 
7).It's been almost two years since Ernie Els became the last South African - I'm guessing it was Sabbatini at, yes, Honda before that. And Adam Scott is the only Aussie to win a Tour event since Leishman blitzed the Hartford field two years ago.
Having said which, this was a better week for the older Aussies with:
Badds (almost 33) scoring only his 6th Top 20 in 18 months.
Senden (42) with his 3rd Top 20 in a year.
Allenby (42) has been in a 2-year funk ever since throwing away the 2012 Mayakoba Classic (or since Jarrod Lyle's recurrence of leukaemia) with only 2 Top Tens since, both in Memphis. But even he has 3 x Top 30's this year now.
Appleby (42) has been in a funk, Greenbrier 59 and win excepted, since a wonderful 2008 season with only 6 Top 10 finishes in the past 5 1/2 years until a T9 at last month's "Humana".
Geoff Ogilvy (36) seems more in demand for his journalistic bon mots recently so it was good to see him with his second 29th place result of the year.
 
Australia only has Jason Day as a 20-something up-and-comer on Tour these days, a sure sign of the times, but perhaps he can do this week in MatchPlay what he's struggled to do in StrokePlay: WIN!
 
8).And the Europeans are doing no better, at least not since Stenson's tour de force of last season. Henrik looks to have been running on fumes so far this year but perhaps he can rediscover success in the Arizona desert?
One terrific high last year from Rose, minor wins from Blixt, Laird and McDowell, and it's been one long struggle for Europe's best. A few years ago the MatchPlay could be counted on for European dominance but last year's results were pretty dreadful and it's difficult to see where our next win is going to come from.
At least the ever-enigmatic Alex Cejka waved the European flag last week, albeit in Columbia's web.com event. Nevertheless, even Alex will find it difficult now not to earn his 2014/15 Tour Card, tho' he'll doubtless make hard work of it.
 
9).72 owgr points this week to the "WGC-Accenture MatchPlay" Champion, then.
Day has proved himself, in this tournament anyway; perhaps it's because of his good play, maybe because he can be a bit of a pr1ck and perhaps he and Swatton can get on their opponents' nerves? Or a combination of all three.
But he won't care although there's a potentially combustible Round 2 match-up with Billy Horschel.
 
10).Finally, what do people think of the new pgatour.com site with its huge fonts and tortuous navigation? Looks bloody awful to me; adverts bigger than ever and can only imagine their next improvement will be to publish it in braille.
 
On the bright side, the forecast for this week in Arizona is very much on the bright side, temps nudging 80F and apparently no snow in the offing. Hoping for a wonderful week.
In games without frontiers, war without tears.

Tiger getting some revenge on Accenture? A "You dropped me, I'll drop you." so to speak.

Looks like the Hogan and Player brackets offering plenty of Ryder Cup, Presidents Cup matchplay experience and match ups. Plotting your way through those brackets must take some know how.

Hi Kwini,

Just a quick one as I'm rushing, will have a more detailed read later. But would you not say the Honda decision of Woods/Phil/Scott is more good than harm? It's a regular theme on here that run-of-the-mill tournaments live or die by their fields, and Honda is probably as deserving an event as any on either of the two main tours. Maybe the message can be that largesse as a sponsor is less important than long-standing commitment to a well-run (and popular) tournament. And as much as it's the Matchplay's loss... WGCs are still a big currency for golf (and golfers). You'd be surprised if better all-round organisation couldn't make a matchplay WGC, even in straight knockout, work as a format for the top players. It just needs proper running, instead of Dove Mountain autopilot.

Right on the money re Accenture Grumps; almost makes one wonder whether Tiger's apparent efforts to undermine their tournament might be a contributary factor to their termination of sponsorship.


Agreed with all Ned, Honda the longest-running sponsor out there I think, and certainly their event has endured thick and thin, with courses, organization and their fields.
I just love the MatchPlay and regret that they've struggled to make it work. So far anyway.

Punderful preview

Talking about the "Honda", they are now trumpetting that the World's top 8 will be competing.
Also entered are:
Bjorn, Cabrera, Davis, Donald, Donaldson, Gonzo, Garcia, Gallacher, Hanson, Harrington, Kaymer, McDowell, Olesen, Westwood.

A striking absentee (to me anyway) is Ogilvy, given his rare podium effort here last year. Whassup with that? There's still time Geoff.

Methinks Grace, Blixt and Luiten will cause the biggest upsets in the first round

Blimey Kwini..you hit us with the pun sledgehammer - feels like you pummeled us big time. Tell me, in your eyes, do you think we do what we're told? If so don't give up. That's all for now, until I hear that voice again....

And that was only one album.

Oh..almost forgot - great write up.

!!
Action begins this morning with Poulter and Fowler kicking off at 7.25 a.m.. One of the more attractive first-rounders I'd think.

The PGA Tour and Network TV continue to use Fowler's image to publicise their events. Perhaps someone should have a word . . . . .

2 Cobra staffers.

Hopefully Poulter will give that preposerously dressed, Dennis Healey eyebrowed, god bothering Zach Efron wannabe a good drubbing on the course.

themightyone wrote:Methinks Grace, Blixt and Luiten will cause the biggest upsets in the first round

Luiten v Moore
walker v Grace
Bradley v Blixt

Hardly in "shock" territory for any of those there though.......

They would be for Moore, Walker and Bradley . . . .

I think Walker (on current form) will have too much for Grace. As for the rest, close calls.

mmm, not sure about that, Grace has shown consistently in the last three years that he is in superb form at this time of year, Walker has only done it this year.

Should be a good match though.

Great write up Kwini,

It might have been yourself that said this was one of the best days on the golfing calendar. As a golf fan I think it is certainly one of the most interesting, even without some of the top dogs.

Always good fun looking for what will be the perceived shock results, for the US audience that is. I'd be looking at Donaldson, Lynn, Coetzee, Wiesberger, Larrazabal and Ilonen. These guys are either in good form or facing some rusty opponents (or in Ilonen's case an unpredictable one).

For the amount of knocks the course seems to get I always think it looks fairly interesting on tv. Some good matchplay holes and the shaved run off areas, which we've talked about in the past, are much better for matchplay than greenside rough.

Cheers.

Cheers Lairdy,
Yup, I love this day, beats all the rest except final day of Majors and each Ryder Cup day - for moi anyway.

Agree the course sets up well for Match Play, for viewers anyway, but if the players don't like it, we don't count!

One European that has been quietly ticking along nicely in his US opportunities is Tricky Vicky Dubuisson.
Reckon he and Patrick Reed might be 'live" outsiders.

Fingers crossed that pgatour.com is up to its "live scoring" responsibilities! Poulter and Fowler halve the first!

The "live scoring" is usually dreadful - especially with it being showd on the "Brackets".

I have a novel idea - how about 32 lines with the following scoring format:

Poulter 1up v Fowler thru 15
Walker v Grace 2up thru 12
Etc..............

Surely there must be a better site around with live scores?

Davie wrote:Surely there must be a better site around with live scores?

Pga Tour.com scoring is better this year, but it's still not great.

Just wish they'd show the matches in the order in which they tee off..........unfortunately, they wont mess with the Brackets"!!

"Effing brackets"!
The US is so consumed by "College" that if this structure is OK for an amateur tournament that is so successful, it must work for golf.
All it does is confuse.

If I could direct your attention to HERE there is a leaderboard pop out which seems reasonably up to date, compressed in format and shows the matches in the order they're being played. Enjoy

Excellent stuff Bob. Well found!

There's an early US tidal wave, Fowler, Walker, Bubba all up by at least 2 holes.
Only Stricker and Reed down so far.

Poults 3 down; that's not in the script.

Bob_the_Job wrote:If I could direct your attention to HERE there is a leaderboard pop out which seems reasonably up to date, compressed in format and shows the matches in the order they're being played.  Enjoy

Bob......outstanding.  

kwinigolfer wrote:Poults 3 down; that's not in the script.

Bogey, bogey will do that in Match play

C'mon Poulter, get into that idiot.

John Cregan wrote:

Bob_the_Job wrote:If I could direct your attention to HERE there is a leaderboard pop out which seems reasonably up to date, compressed in format and shows the matches in the order they're being played.  Enjoy

Bob......outstanding.  

    

Lots of chat about Poulter hoping to be finished and with a beer in his hand by 12.45 p.m. local so that he can have his feet up to watch his beloved Arse.
Not sure this is the way he wanted it though, but welcome bird on #8.

Based upon the TV coverage, pgatour.com's "live" scoring is almost instant; no good if you can't wrap your mind around the brackets, but believe all other scoring goes thru pgatour.com.

Did someone tip grace for an upset... is there anyway both Fowler and Poulter can lose?

McDowell 3 down after 3 holes to Woodland.

3 strong American wins early. Can Jonas Blixt turn the tide? 3 up with 3 to play and send Keegan on an early flight to Florida.

McDo gets one back.

Big leads for Dubuisson (over Streelman) and Horschel (Donaldson).

Disappointing start to Bradley's season.

beninho wrote:Did someone tip grace for an upset... is there anyway both Fowler and Poulter can lose?

That would be me

McIlroy and David Lynn the only British players up in their matches, both 1 up.
Pummelling for Donaldson, poor loss for Poulter, McDo, Westwood and Donald all up against it.

But a fine win for Peter Hanson, a good kick-start for his PGA Tour season.

Rickie Fowler???

All this talk of match play stalwart Ian Poulter evidently falling on his deaf ears.

Still, I look for the US domination of the wins on the US tour to end this week.

Donald & Westwood a combined 9 holes down; it's going to be a long season for both at this rate.
At least Rory's doing his stuff against a wounded uh hem warrior Weekley. (More like a stuck pig really.)

Richard Sterne with a good lead early on over Zach Johnson.
Quite fancied Zach . . . . but Sterne played quite well in singles vs Le Tigre at the Pres Cup.

Well done Sergio . . . . .

If Lynn beats Brandt tests an upset surely?

beninho wrote:If Lynn beats Brandt tests an upset surely?

Considering Brandt's form surely that isn't an upset right?

Cold Hand Luke.
Westwood Go.

Upset or not, Snedeker would be a helluva scalp for Lynn. Let's hope he can complete the job.

Wonderful comeback from McDowell - good to see someone showing some bottle. Should be a cracking 2nd Rounder vs Matsuyama.

Still chances for Lynn, Rose, Gonzo & Gallacher but overall a poor, poor day for most of Europe.

No surprise to me to see the Irish lads through. I don't know which former World #1 looked worse out there ... Donald or Westwood?

Predict Rory to be playing late on Sunday.

I knew there were some British golfers you liked Shotrock.

McDowell looks the model matchplayer to me, a surprise whenever he's beaten; sounds like Rory was driving it as far as anyone.

Great comeback by Gmac.

Harris English eats Haggis English.

The new pgatour.com stinks. It's all bling but no substance. (just Like Rickie Fowler). I use an iPad1 and the page takes forever to load - and when it does it often crashes.

Don't forget Justin Rose, Kwin. But I'll put money on the lads from that Emerald Isle.

I can only imagine how much more I would like to see this played on Riviera.

Does anyone else think there is nothing really wrong with the course?

It gets a lot of stick  but I don't see that it is any worse than a lot of the target golf we see every other week.  Compared to Riviera it is obviously lacking, but the greens look to offer the players a challenge and the added width from the tee offers the chance to execute a recovery shot.

I am not saying it is a fine piece of architecture or that I would make any effort to play the place as a punter, but is it really that bad compared to what we normally see on tour?

The players are just offering the usual whinging when the greens are not dead flat.



Glad to see Poulter out, it may finally dispel the myth that he is any good at matchplay.

Was wondering why there is apathy towards this tournament and remembering that we had something in the last week's tread about how to improve it. How about first round losers go into a second tier competition, you could even do the same for losers of round two to create four tiers as they have in rugby 7s. Then you would have full fields for three days and potentially eight matches on Sunday rather than just two.

Obviously the prize money would need to be thought about as should the guy who lost in the first but then plays five days get more than a second round loser in the main cup?

This would allow the players three days play as I would guess one of the downsides for players is that you have one bad day and you're home. When the money becomes less of an issue I can see why some don't bother as its a lot of travelling for one day.

From a TV viewer pow I think it's one of the more interesting courses on the Tour. It's hilly, greens ondulated and the desert/cactus sorrounding makes it the more interesting. And then the scenery is beatiful.

But I can understand the players don't like it. And that's for the simple reason that half of them go home after the first day and 3 quarters after the second.