PGA Tour: "The Players Championship", Self-Proclaimed Fifth Major: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).This week will see the 41st edition of the PGA Tour's showpiece event, "The Players Championship", a travelling show for its first few years but, since 1982, a fixture at Pete Dye's Stadium Course at TPC at Sawgrass, just a few miles from Jacksonville, Florida.
The Tour brands it the "Fifth Major", but that definition is in the eye of the beholder - sure Adam Scott would rate the Aussie Open at a higher level, while many ET members would say their fifth Major comes in two weeks' time, at Wentworth.

2).There's a terrific field on hand, though the person receiving most publicity this week is, of course, nowhere to be found - but Tiger Woods's "blog" breathlessly updating his medical condition has taken the headlines, as no doubt it was intended to do.
Next as a topic of conversation this week is the condition of the greens at the TPC, with the putting surfaces at #'s 4, 11 & 12 closed during practice rounds on Monday and Tuesday. Needless to say weather is being blamed but apparently a "plant growth regulator" was mis-applied. A year or three ago it was East Lake's greens, last year Quail Hollow's and now the TPC.
Imagine Wentworth's will be pristine by comparison.

3).I enjoy most things about the "Players" and about the TPC course, all except the 17th hole which still seems unnecessarily sh1t or bust, part of the NASCAR-type attraction I know, but hardly golf. One change this year will be in the format of any Play-Off. Instead of going straight to the sudden-death lottery of #17, they'll play three holes, #'s 16, 17 & 18 and use an aggregate score, two fine holes sandwiching a circus.

4).pgatour.com tells us that JB Holmes hit an amazing (to me anyway) 24 drives of 320 yards or more in winning last week's Well Fargo Championship. Fantastic comeback for JB from all his surgeries - he started the season on a Medical Extension and now he's all the way back as a top player.
Quail Hollow looked a picture - I love the changes, especially to the 16th which has gone from a nothing hole to a spectacular 500 yard (but downhill to the green) challenge.
And: If the Par-4 14th hole is not the best short Par-4 in tournament golf it has to be in the top two, with Rivera's 10th. Sacrilege I know, but I'd rate it ahead of the hole that Rivera's 10th has become.

5).Last week at Quail Hollow is a timely reminder that the PGA Champioship will be held there in 2017. Future sites:
2014: Valhalla
2015: Whistling Straits
2016: Baltusrol
2017: Quail Hollow
2018: Bellerive
2019: Bethpage Black
2020, 2021: TBA
2022: Trump National

6).JB Holmes played on the 2005 US Walker Cup Team that squeaked by GB&I at Chicago Golf Club. He was beaten in a singles Match, 5&4, by young Englishman, Matthew Richardson. After an unsuccessful stint on the European Tour, Richardson has been on the fringes of the US Pro Tours for the past few years, including making the cut in the 2010 US Open. He's at it again, advancing from a Local Qualifier yesterday. On to Sectional Qualifying against exempt Tour Players in a few weeks and let's hope he makes it on to Pinehurst.

7).Speaking of which!
It's OK to follow the Tigers and Phils of the golf world, but I'm more interested in the guys who don't make the headlines. How's this for the four-week odyssey of an aspiring young local pro who narrowly missed out on web.com status for 2014:
April 14th - 17th: Won Gateway MatchPlay tournament in Arizona: $25,000 in the bank. Fast forward 750 miles east to Midland, TX:
April 24th - 27th: Sponsors invite got him in to the web.com's WNB Golf Classic. Finished T9, and banked $14K. Which gets him in to:
May 1st - 4th: South Georgia Classic, 1,100 east. He finishes T8 and pockets $19K, but had previously signed up for the US Open Local Qualifier in Tucson, AZ, 1,900 miles back west on May 5th.
May 5th: Tucson, AZ: Qualifies for US Open Sectional Qualifying. He had previously played the US Open at Bethpage and made the cut.
Because of his result in Georgia he gets to come back east again next week for the web.commer in Greer, SC. Phew!
How long before he acquires status on the web.com Tour I'm not sure. But for a young married man, high school ski-racer competing with Keegan Bradley as it happens, it's a hard grind until you reach the "Show". Hope he makes it; you know he'll appreciate it if he does. Meanwhile, his efforts last year on the Canadian Tour secured him exemption there if things don't work out.

8).At the other end of the scale, Messrs Crenshaw and Watson have reportedly announced next year's Masters will be their last. Are you paying attention Woosie? O'Meara??

9).Who will follow in the steps of Sandy Lyle, Stenson and Sergio and become Europe's fourth winner of The Players?
Some reasons for optimism; perhaps Sergio or Stenson can repeat? Luke Donald and Martin Kaymer are in decent form and Justin Rose has been knocking on the door recently (though he's been closing like Liverpool).  I can't see Martin Laird repeating his fine finishes in 2012 & 2013, or Lee Westwood winning the event he should arguably have won a couple of years ago; Franny Molinari has played well here in the past, but he always seems to come up a few crucial putts short whenever in US contention.
Russell Knox was the last player in to the field, lives locally and seems to enjoy Pete Dye courses - it wouldn't surprise me if he was the leading British competitor.

10).It seems that golf's navigators increasingly contend at The Players, and Tim Clark, KJ Choi and Kuchar have won recently.
This is usually the start of Zach Johnson-season on Tour and I'm hopeful he'll get in to top gear this week. And no-one is in better form than Kuchar.
The forecast for Tournament week is for warm, mostly dry weather with just enough wind to make things interesting. And not just from Johnny Miller.
Should be a great week.

Jas

I was actually questioning if the system provided the strongest team. (but I agree providing the best team is the only criteria)

That is why I listed two teams above so people could gauge what would be the strongest team , as it seems the current system may favour some world players who are far from their best but play on a tour with more points available.

I think the system is as fair as it can be. There seem to be lots of European players in pretty good form at the moment so when the final team is known, there are going to be some good ones left out.

The irony is that the prsues in so many European Tour events are so crap, that E.T.-only golfers also have a better chance on the World Points table - Wentworth, Scotland et France will be crucial and doubtless the fields all the better for that.

PS: Is that Craig Connelly's biggest win (except Ryder Cup) as a caddie?
No idea, just asking. Assume he might have won Wentworth at least once . . . . . .

Connelly biggest win surely when they won the 2010 (?)pga?

ben,
I wasn't sure who was on the bag then . . . . . . but now I see that he was, and then they split up before reconnecting.
Thanks!

It is interesting that you say the Ryder Cup was a big win for Connelly. What is in it for caddies in the Ryder Cup as there is no prize money?

Great victory for a someone who seems like a nice guy.  Well done Martin.

Iain Carter on the  BBC site reports Kaymer as having practiced until his fingers bled...back in the summer of '69...

lorus,
Was thinking of prestige, not filthy lucre.

Kaymer's in the field in Dallas this week, too. 5th there last year.

Is prestige important to caddies? I would imagine money would be far more important to them than to the players as they get a much smaller percentage.

It is to the greatest caddy ever, Sir Steve Williams...

Kaymer doesn't use netjets

Spoiler:

Stalker alert!!!

Nah, Mac only gets the bus.

NetBus.


I see Iain Carter writes that: "It is hard to underestimate just how impressive (Kaymer's) victory in the PGA Tour's flagship tournament was."

Wonder if that's really what he meant to say?

kwinigolfer wrote:N..I see Iain Carter writes that: "It is hard to underestimate just how impressive (Kaymer's) victory in the PGA Tour's flagship tournament was."

Wonder if that's really what he meant to say?

Indeed - I assumed he meant overestimate