PGA Tour: The Mini-Major Season: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).This is a fun time of year for Golf fans, what with The Players being followed at a week's distance by the BMW PGA, and now the Memorial Tournament, at Jack's House, Muirfield Village in Columbus.
Or: The self-styled "Fifth Major", followed by Europe's best at majestic Wentworth and, this week, arguably the best tournament of the PGA Tour on an unarguably great course, always in impeccable condition.
 
2).Just look at the Memorial Champs over the past twenty years, a catalogue of the World's best:
Norman, Watson, Woods, Singh, Couples, Woods, Furyk, Perry, Woods, Els, Choi, Woods, Perry, Rose, Woods, Stricker and Kuchar! No more of this "plus ca change", however, as there's obviously a notable absentee this week, still on the "disabled list", with no news as to when he'll be fit.
(Good week for Kenny Perry as he received a sentimental invite to this year's PGA Championship.)
 
3).Terrific finishes last week, both at Wentworth and Colonial - and, ultimately, worthy winners from either side of the marital ledger.
But will the respective wins of McIlroy and Scott be a harbinger of things to come in this year's Majors (or even in this week's Mini-Major)? Perhaps at the Memorial where both have had their moments, but not so sure about Pinehurst; could quite easily make a case for Adam at Hoylake and Rors at Valhalla though.
 
4).After a dearth of Australian winners on the PGA Tour, Adam Scott's play-off win over Dufner was the FIFTH! by an Aussie on Tour this year following Day, Senden, Bowditch and Matt Jones. Time for Allenby and Appleby, Badds and Ogilvy to wake their ideas up.
 
5).Now it's time to remember that, after having a South African winner every year but one of the last 20+ through Els at Lytham, there hasn't been a Saffer win in almost two years and, Tim Clark's occasional flourishes apart, not much sign of one.
 
6).There are only a dozen tournaments remaining before the FedEx Play-Offs begin and, just as important from a career standpoint for Tour members, the Top 125 cut-off. Currently outside the Top 125 and apparently destined for web.com Finals duty unless they pull their socks up are some notables:
#127: Casey
130: Rob Castro
131: Gonzo
134: Byrd
141: Hanson
145: O'Hair
148: Ben Crane
149: Yang
150: Jhonny Vegas
155: Curtis
157: Kyle Stanley
159: Two Gloves Gainey
162: Rollins
166: Lucas Glover
172: Cabrera
Plus other Europeans really struggling including Lynn, Colsaerts, Olesen and the inevitable Greg Owen and Chopra.
Ogilvy, Harrington and Watney have been excluded from this tale of woe due to each having at least one get-out-of-jail-free card in the form of a career earnings exemption.
 
7).Muirfield Village is the only course to stage a Ryder Cup, Solheim Cup and Presidents Cup. It's a Jack Nicklaus design, naturally, and widely acclaimed as his masterpiece.
Two quibbles about the course from moi:
~16th, a Par-3 stretching to 215 yds - the Pros are still finding it very difficult to hold the green with their mid-iron tee-shot, played over water. Perhaps the green is just maturing, or perhaps Nicklaus has other changes in mind, but pros having to play so defensively on any 16th hole Par-3 doesn't seem right.
~13th, a Par-4 of 455 yds. Rivals the 13th at Pebble Beach for the dreariest hole in U.S. Championship Golf; just a boring hole with nothing especially demanding or scenic about it, an uninteresting walk linking the great Par-3 12th hole, and the very great short Par-4 14th.
 
8).The top Europeans seems to be divided in their preparations for Pinehurst, what with Bjorn joining Stenson and his compadres in Sweden this week and Luke Donald, McIlroy and Rose at the Memorial.
McDowell, Poulter and Westwood are committed to Memphis next week. Sergio's resting his knee and not sure of Kaymer's plans. Well deserved rest hopefully.
 
9).No clear idea who might fill Woods's shoes this week. Considering the Nicklaus design characteristic of each hole becoming tougher/more interesting as you move from tee to green, perhaps it's time for Dustin Johnson or Rory to stitch four good rounds together? Ryan Moore has played well here while, for each-way value, last year's runner-up Kevin Chappell fired a 63 last week and will undoubtedly break through soon.
Furyk proclaims this to be his favourite tournament, but he played poorly at his "favourite course on Tour" last week at Colonial. I'm most interested in Justin Rose who has collected plenty of Top Tens this year without really challenging for a title. Time he did?!?!
 
10).TRIVIA:
Montgomerie won at last on the Champions Tour last week in the "Senior PGA Championship". And Stephen Ames made his first Senior start.
BUT: Which one-time Ryder Cup golfer competed in a record (edit) consecutive 65th Senior Major last week?

Rory!

Is this the first round 63 and then fade McIloy of earlier this year or can he finally hit his nikes for 4 rounds (or 8) in a row?

That's some comeback from Baddeley.

Wow, Hadn't seen that.
Badds is fun to follow, always hope he does well.

Rory seems a bit healthier now. Be interesting to hear what he has to say about his wounded knee.

Amazing last ten holes from Rory, 7 x 3's, a 2 and a 6. His 4 on 17 was his first 4 since 7!
(I've gone ten holes without a 4 before - not quite like that though.)

Nice putting stat for Rory:
"Strokes gained putting": +6.278

Pretty good putting.

In reality Adam Scott doesn't need to get rid of his putter, just needs to make sure he holds it slightly away from his body. Not sure if that's doable though. I'm sure Sammy Torrance had a broomhandle without anchoring.

kwinigolfer wrote:Amazing last ten holes from Rory, 7 x 3's, a 2 and a 6. His 4 on 17 was his first 4 since 7!
(I've gone ten holes without a 4 before - not quite like that though.)

It was 7 threes in the last 11 holes unless you were writing this before he'd played 18

Good scrambling on 17 and 18 - last year he'd have lost heart, finished bogey-bogey and taken the gloss of the round.

Kwine:

I think the knee injury is the result of Ms. Wozniacki prodding her voodoo doll of Rory. He should be thankful she didn't aim higher.

Very good mightyone, Think pedro googled it earlier!
Bob the Gilder is the correct answer.

Bob,
Yes, I wrote that as he was holing out on #17.

Rory's iron to the par 5 after his double was really amazing, he hits long irons with same sort of ball flight as some of the others are hitting 8 irons. Some of his long irons yesterday reminded me of his play in the 2012 PGA championship.


Did anyone notice how much of a point jack made on the coverage about having to increase the length of the course to battle modern distances. In the past I seem to remember he took such opportunities to ask for a roll back in ball distance, but he refrained from mentioning that last night.

I'll tell you what Mac, why don't you stand outside the R&A with your ball technology banner.

Nicklaus likes to talk out of both sides of his mouth.

However, I wonder if there will become an optimum distance beyond which the risk of extreme length will be offset by the penalty for wildness off the tee? Even at a driver's paradise like Muirfield Village.

Don't think Jonas Blixt's two-tournament European vacation will have enhanced his standing in the eyes of Paul McGinley.

Vickie Dubie on the other hand . . . . . . .

Yesterday was probably the most benign that course can be - no wind, enough rain to have made the greens receptive but not enough to have cut down the roll on the fairways. The field was a top one and yet the average score was just over par (72.158) - I think the course held up pretty well.

Agreed Bob, Sunny and warm, light winds the rest of the way and that lot should bake the course. Given Rory's underpar excellence yesterday afternoon, he could have a big advantage by Friday evening if he just plays a decent round first thing this morning.

Normal service resumed for Coco today? A double at 13 (his 4th) and now in trouble again on 14?

I think lorus and his vision of Caroline and her voodoo doll is coming to pass. Just a little bit higher . . . . ouch. What a mess.
Can't see why he's having trouble with #14, other than that it's a great short Par-4.

Davie wrote:Normal service resumed for Coco today? A double at 13 (his 4th) and now in trouble again on 14?

What joy will we know have in watching some boring yanks win again. Golf is so much more fun to watch when someone like McIlroy is playing to his best. Even Adam Scott is a boring player to watch, he hardly ever produces the spectacular.

Not all yanks are boring Mac .. quite happy to watch the likes of Spieth, Bradley (despite the annoying pre-shot), Sneds etc

3 doubles in a row for rory.

6-6-7

Tooth ache coming up?

Rory out in 43?

Wozniaki or knee trouble, what do you think?

Wozniacki's new twitter profile pic

Spoiler:

Yes seriously - not a joke

My guess is Coco has a new girlfriend. That explains his knee trouble....  

Just another knee-capping, tho' this one more shocking than most.
Brian Davis doing his best to keep up with Rory's pace.

Woah!
This is the Paul Casey of 8 or 10 years ago, great to see!

And Olesen makes only his second cut of the PGA Tour year - and in fine style.

Gonzo will get paid and now for Luke and Justin to do their part.

Impressive return from injury so far for Jason Day . . . . . just in time for Pinehurst?

Kwini

Did you watch any of Rory's round, or hear what happened to him? Pretty terrible round if he is injury free.


I read something in golf monthly (possibly last months) and Casey said that he recovered from his shoulder injury but for a long time after he was failing to commit to using the strength of his arm properly for fear of further injury.  This was a subconscious thing that took a while to notice, and was only cured after Kostis had him chucking cut down golf clubs.


PS

This is apparently "the fourth PGA Tour event in a row that Rory has posted a 40 or higher on nine holes". Form Stephanie Wie.

Mac,
Didn't see Rory's play at all. Let's see what sirnick has to say.

That may well be true about Casey but his schedule has been absurd, not just this year but especially since he was first injured. All will be well with a top finish here though.
Looking good now . . . . .

No TV coverage of Coco's round (yet) .. but the twittersphere reckoned he had some bad breaks <I-thought-there-was-a-violin-smiley-on-here> .. apparently also a penalty for a double hit (Just ask Caro what she thinks about his double hits)

If Casey can par in his final 38 holes, you'd reckon he'll sew up his card for next year, if not win. Great opportunity for him and you'd have to say he deserves it after his good form in limited opportunities.
Donald and Rose stuck in neutral by comparison.

I'd love to see Casey back to where he used to be (didn't he get to world 3 or 4 at one point?) .. not holding my breath yet though

Agreed Davie,
World Number Three once yet, unless he wins this week, he'll have to play Sectional Qualifying Monday just to play in the US Open.

Is Tiger back?
Is McIlroy back?
Is Casey back?

A win by Casey could put him in the top 15 of the Euro RC (World) standings, ahead of Lee Westwood.

A threesome of Bubba-Furyk-Keegan ought to be a great advertisement for Ritalin or Adderall.

Rose still struggling, needs two birds to reach the weekend. Poor preparation for his US Open defence.

GPB,
The Cavalry will be overhauling Westwood unless he takes advantage of Memphis and Pinehurst. An in-form Casey would be an asset to any Team.

There's one bird for Rose, and it looks like he'll make the second.
What do ya know! What do I know?
 
Edit! OK then, What on earth happened to Rose's score of #12? Home for the weekend.

Sounds like Justin Rose called a "double hit" penalty on himself. Just to match Rory's similar snafu in the morning.
Rose's penalty at The Players was rescinded, but no sign of any such luck this time.

Phil Mickelson involved in some shady business dealings?
Quite possibly if any of this lot turns in to an indictment:

http://www.golfchannel.com/news/golf-central-blog/mickelson-part-wall-street-insider-trading-probe/

It just goes to show what a crazy game this is. An in form player (Rory) can shoot 63 one day and 78 the next.

Rory is a massive talent and can shoot 63 any day. He just seems to lack consistency. Wentworth was handed to him, but this one he'll need to fight for.

Seems to be when anyone goes super low one day they often go high the next. It's like you get so hot, every putt drops, you use up every bit of good fortune and it's all balanced out the next day.
Id expect him to shoot something decent again today.

Grinning idiot.

Phil when meeting the media to answer insider trading questions:

Gee whiz FIGJAM Phil ... first you don't like to pay all those darn taxes and now you might be involved in an illegal way to earn more money. Golly.  

Is anyone watching the memorial?

Pretty crazy back nine so far. Watson, scott and matsuyama doing their best to give this to kevin Na. Just as well Na didn't head home as at the very least he will be in a play off but more likely picking up the trophy unless bubba goes under par or matsuyama pars one of the toughest closing stretches on tour.

So even with a birdie, Matsuyama no longer has a driver to use in a play off!!

This gets even crazier. Matsuyama puts it to 4/5 feet from 165 yards to give himself a shot at making a play off.

Did I hear right that Matsuyama was allowed a replacement driver? Was it because technically the competition is over and the play-off is deemed to be a different competition?

Weird end to the tournament - looked for a while that nobody wanted it. Gutsy victory in the end.

I read he could have had a replacement driver for the Play Off, but he did not have a spare. Glad to see him win. Though the coverage kept saying it is his first win, maybe on the PGA tour but he has won in Japan a few times.