PGA Tour: Double-Header - Bridgestone, Reno: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).That's right, two tournaments this week with:
WGC: Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone CC in Akron, Ohio, and:
The Barracuda Championship, at Montreux G&CC in the Reno/Tahoe area of Nevada. New sponsor, nothing to do with Heart, same Jack Nicklaus course, probably the Tour's most beautiful setting east of the California coast.

2).But first some thoughts further to two gorgeous days (Rounds 1 & 2) in Montreal for last week's RBC Canadian Open. The course looked even better on TV, I thought, than in person, a few great holes and one or two very "samey" pairs of consecutive par-4's.
With soft and slowish greens it was unfortunate, I thought, that a few testing holes were played with the tees up - nevertheless, watching the likes of Clark, Furyk and McDowell was a reminder of short-hitting 3-time Major winner Larry Nelson's boast that he didn't mind long courses as his fairway wood shots were more accurate than most guys' long irons.

3).We followed 18 Friday holes of Clark, Goosen and Watney and what a pleasure it is to watch Tour Pros who seem to be having a good time together. Not surprisingly they all played well. A 225 yard Goosen rocket off a cart-path, under a tree, that never rose above four feet high was alone worth the price of admission.
David Hearn was my Canadian Pro to watch and followed his threesome (with Camilo & Kisner). We watched Hearn shoot a Thursday 67 which could have been so much better, but he's got less charisma than my dentist. Camilo lost interest but Kisner is one to watch. Doesn't hit it a mile but plays aggressively.
Also watched three hours of Martin Laird who looks to have found some form - he's also playing more quickly and in better humour, might be worth a couple of bob each way this week in Reno where he's played well in the past.

4).Tour pros and Broadcasters continually rabbit on about 6ft 4in guys, "athletes" a la Dustin Johnson, coming out of college and threatening to take the Tour by storm. They may find the proverbial lightning in a bottle and win occasionally, but not consistently until they learn to ratchet things down a touch and introduce some course management to their game.
Interestingly, the Canadian Open featured just one under-30 golfer in its Top 19 finishers, Jamie Lovemark who has been a work in progress for five years now and is still a long way from the finished article and, not incidentally, from renewing his Tour card.
The top 11 had an average age of 37, with the likes of 50-year-old Joe Durant, Els and Goosen all one shot behind.

5).Impossible not to feel for Jim Furyk as he runnered up again, Clark (4) and Sunny Jim (5) enduring 9x2nd place finishes since their last wins, in 2010.
Baker Finch was talking about Furyk's record compared to that of Mickelson on Sunday. The two of them, plus Els, are 44-years-old.
Furyk:
Played: 519
Cuts made: 430, 83%
Top 25's: 293: 56%
Top 10's: 168: 32%
Wins: 16: 3.1%

6).Els:
Played: 380
Cuts made: 322: 85%
Top 25's: 208: 55%
Top 10's: 123: 32%
Wins: 19: 5%
(Obviously a fabulous international record in addition.)

7).Mickelson:
Played: 502
Cuts made: 419: 83.5%
Top 25's: 273: 54%
Top 10's: 172: 34%
Wins: 42: 8.4%

8).US Ryder Cup Team places are on the line this week and next.
Dufner (8th) and Zach Johnson (9th) are the vulnerable players currently inside the qualifying places with bags of experience, mostly in a losing cause, right behind them and in the cases of Stricker and Woods far adrift.
I fancy Dufner and Keegan Bradley (outside looking in) to have strong fortnights leaving Tom Watson with tough choices to make:
Senior pros: Mickelson, Stricker, Woods, Zach?
Young guns: Reed, Kirk, Todd?
Good mate: Snedeker?
Not to mention a raft of golfers who are only a win, or two hot weeks, away from moving in, Simpson & Mahan being others who would have expected to go to Gleneagles.

9).With Gonzo finishing 4th place in Montreal, his Tour card is secure for next season and I'd expect him now to consolidate his Tour status and become a popular figure in the US.
It seems half the European Tour will be in Akron and they'll be greeted by unseasonably low temps as the eastern half of the U.S. is cool (mid-60's in Akron midday Tuesday). Sure we'll hear the usual nonsense about Europeans feeling right at home - hopefully they'll respond by earning lots of loot and "points"! Donald? Poulter?? Westwood???

10).The Reno field has suffered a dozen or more withdrawals since Friday commitments were announced. Hopefully guys I enjoyed watching last week like Laird and Watney will take advantage and boost their chances of a trip to The Barclays. And Padraig Harrington will be there, perhaps inspired by the "Modified Stableford" format - he can just pick up his ball once the errors of his Par-5 ways exceed double-bogey.

Trivia supplied by "GPB":
With the report that Molinari and Manassero have accepted Special Temporary Membership of the PGA Tour for the remainder of 2013/2014, he asks:
Who is the last Italian golfer to have earned PGA Tour Membership?

Great win for McIlroy, but would he really see overhauling the ever choking sergio as much of an achievement? I really don't understand the appeal of sergio as he is a horrible character off the course an offers little on it when under even the slightest pressure.

I wouldn't say Sergio choked. He missed a few 6-10 footers but otherwise played solidly. The same goes for the Open. We are seeing a different Sergio, he's just unlucky to run into Coco.

Mac you forgot to mention "racist"   

Garcia seems a fairly affable personality.

Garcia and Mcilroy for me are the most unlikeable people in sport, never mind just golf.

sirbenson wrote:Garcia and Mcilroy for me are the most unlikeable people in sport, never mind just golf.

More unlikeable than Nine Chins, Steven Gerrard, Ashley Cole or John Terry? Come on.

sirbenson wrote:Garcia and Mcilroy for me are the most unlikeable people in sport, never mind just golf.

I disagree. They both seem quite pleasant. They used to have a bit of a cry-baby attitude but haven't seen that for a while.

sirbenson wrote:Garcia and Mcilroy for me are the most unlikeable people in sport, never mind just golf.

You clearly don't watch enough of the English Premier League.  Or any top level football.

Football used to be equal in terms of love or more to Golf and Tennis....not anymore haha

I still watch Football but not half as much as I used to.

It's been a rough few weeks for you sirb!

Pat Perez gets in to the PGA and Shawn Stefani becomes first alternate.

Fitness concerns include Woods, obviously, Dufner, Crane, Toms, perhaps Day, while no-one would be surprised if Oosthuizen stood down.

Haha Kwini,

To be fair, I have actually enjoyed the two showdowns, hard to argue with the golf both have played. Garcia played poorly last night, wasn't aggressive enough

Was no doubt that Garcia didn't play brilliant yesterday but certainly wouldn't say he choked. If you include the rain delayed last two holes on Saturday McIlory birdied 5 out of 6 holes in a row! His driving was something else and when he did miss the fairway, he had at least 2 holes where the ball rebounded off the trees back into the middle of the fairway. He is playing brilliant just now though and cant see anyone else bar him winning the USPGA.

Great win by rory. It seems that he and sergio seem to get on well aswell. Sergio seemed genuinely pleased after hoylake when they saw each other after the round. And he has been very nice again after this. None of the top players went really low so its hard to say sergio choked if rory hadnt of played so well he would have won with his round. Also think sergio seems like a decent bloke aswell.

Do think 3 wins in a row though will be very difficult. 2 does not happen tgay often im guessing 3 is pretty rare.

For those concerned about the likes of Lowry & Montgomerie (in because he won the Senior PGA) melting away in Kentucky heat and humidity, the forecast for this week is for temps marginally below the daily average high of 90F, average nightly low of 70F.

Temps in the mid to high 80's every day with small chance of thunderstorms Thursday thru Sunday.

Louisville is not far from where I live.

It has been a very mild summer in the Midwest, and the only oppressive heat we have had this year was a about 10 days ago and it broke a couple days later.

I have seen weeks where the temps were in the high 90's+ but I think we have only had 4 days total where the temps approached 100 deg.

Hope you're going GPB?

Went to Louisville once on my way home to CNY from Myrtle Beach - went to Churchill Downs just to do it (was a bit down on its uppers back then, probably about 35 yrs ago), and made it to Riverfront Stadium to see the Big Red Machine, which was needing a little WD-40 by then!

Been a mild summer here too, but anything's welcome after a long winter and no spring.

If Coco does back to back majors the Tiger/Jack comparisons will be beginning to carry sone weight.
Its a big ask but helped by the competition not bring stellar. Think my money would be on Rose, still in very good form but had the odd patchy round, ready to win again and I think if he's in contention he'll be one who believes he could go head to head with Rory.

Be nice for a European to win, when would the last time Europe had 3 majors at once?

Yes, the amazing homogenous golfing mass that is Europe...go Europe!! Surely the most manufactured chant in world sport.

Like GB&(N)I?

Well at least there are the same languages, culture and a few sports.
Golf is on its own (maybe pool?) with the Europe concept.
Basically if you get spanked by the yanks at a sport you get to form a Team Europe.
From Estonia to Luxembourg, they'd all get cheered on in golf clubs throughout England as long as they can beat an American.

European Golf isn't really Europe as a continent though.
The pool of players has actually come from very few countries.
Off the top of my head GB&O, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Belgium, France, Italy and Spain. Might add a dutchman this year.

I don't see what's wrong with cheering on anyone against the Americans.

Exactly, anyone against them. Let's face it if the Americans had won the first 5 RC's against Europe we'd be watching an RC of ROW v USA.
Id support an American over a Frenchman in any sport personally, golfs no exception just because a marketing team decided it should be.

So let's have a Team Nike vs a Team Adidas. Let's see how much the fans would care then.

I'm quite sure most of us (Europeans) don't care too much about the Presidents Cup as well. It might be entertaining but we're not emotional about it (unless our inferiority complex makes us root against anything not American).

No-one's emotional about the Presidents Cup.

Diggers wrote:Exactly, anyone against them. Let's face it if the Americans had won the first 5 RC's against Europe we'd be watching an RC of ROW v USA.
Id support an American over a Frenchman in any sport personally, golfs no exception just because a marketing team decided it should be.

Simply because you personally have no affinity with Europe or Europeans doesn't mean that other people don't have more legitimate reasons for favouring Europe over America.

kwinigolfer wrote:No-one's emotional about the Presidents Cup.

Correct, but we (Europeans) are emotional about the RC - despite digs' statement that it's a marketing event. Just as [insert PL team] fans are emotional about [insert PL team] despite the lack of local players.

Apples and oranges comparison Pedro. Most people are screaming to leave Europe, very few people in the UK call themselves European.

super_realist wrote:

Diggers wrote:Exactly, anyone against them. Let's face it if the Americans had won the first 5 RC's against Europe we'd be watching an RC of ROW v USA.
Id support an American over a Frenchman in any sport personally, golfs no exception just because a marketing team decided it should be.

Simply because you personally have no affinity with Europe or Europeans doesn't mean that other people don't have more legitimate reasons for favouring Europe over America.

Yet they don't in any other sport. Only golf.
I'm probably way more more pro Europe than the vast majority of Tory golf club members who cheer on Team Europe when it suits a purpose.

Diggers wrote:
Yet they don't in any other sport. Only golf.

How many other sports play as Europe? Bit of a stupid comment really but only what we come to expect from you when it comes to either Europe, the Ryder Cup or Poulter

Diggers wrote:

super_realist wrote:

Diggers wrote:Exactly, anyone against them. Let's face it if the Americans had won the first 5 RC's against Europe we'd be watching an RC of ROW v USA.
Id support an American over a Frenchman in any sport personally, golfs no exception just because a marketing team decided it should be.

Simply because you personally have no affinity with Europe or Europeans doesn't mean that other people don't have more legitimate reasons for favouring Europe over America.

Yet they don't in any other sport. Only golf.
I'm probably way more more pro Europe than the vast majority of Tory golf club members who cheer on Team Europe when it suits a purpose.

We don't play other sports as Europe.
Our history with America goes back to colonial days, only natural we should want to get one over them in whatever format, same as we do with Aussies and Sith Ifrica.

Diggers wrote:Apples and oranges comparison Pedro. Most people are screaming to leave Europe, very few people in the UK call themselves European.

"Leave Europe"?? A bit childish there. What's politics to do with it? UK/GB is part of Europe and will remain so as far as I can extrapolate. You can't deny the affinity, whether you like it or not.

Part of Europe in what sense ? A land mass...nope. Shared language...nope. Culture.....nope.
Its childish to me to support a sporting Team Europe. Hey, In glad people get off on it, I'm all for people enjoying themselves.
But the concept is a complete crock.

Davie wrote:

Diggers wrote:
Yet they don't in any other sport. Only golf.

How many other sports play as Europe? Bit of a stupid comment really but only what we come to expect from you when it comes to either Europe, the Ryder Cup or Poulter

Exactly...no...other...sports. Is..the ..penny..dropping.

Diggers wrote:Part of Europe in what sense ? A land mass...nope. Shared language...nope. Culture.....nope.
Its childish to me to support a sporting Team Europe. Hey, In glad people get off on it, I'm all for people enjoying themselves.
But the concept is a complete crock.

Fair enough Diggers, others most probably have more affinity than you. I can see why you might prefer the septics, bringing Europe into it, has made it a competition though, before it wasn't.

Eeerm, British culture and language(s) is a product of European (French, German, Danish, Norwegian, Celtic etc.) influences. Nothing unique as such. And being an island just creates people with insular mindsets.

In that case so is American culture and language Pedro. In fact as far as I can see more yanks cherish their European heritage than we Brits do.

That would only explain Americans rooting for Europe, not vice versa.

Using the "we share a culture with America" seems a non starter to me. Do we? Is it culture?
To me we are simply two countries who speak a common language which one country has bastardised and other than that we aren't that alike.
Doesn't seem like a reason to closer align myself with America.

Surprise of PGA Championship week so far is that there are no surprises, not of the withdrawal variety anyway.
No word yet from Woods except that his scheduled news conference (an oxymoron if ever there was one) fo this morning has been cancelled as he's still getting the treatment in Florida.

And no word from the Emergency Room yet on Messrs Crane, Toms, Day etc, etc.

Meanwhile, Dustin Johnson has sent a big thank you card to Tiger in appreciation of the way the Woods injury has deflected away from DJ and his "suspension".

Still nothing about Paulina in all this rhetoric and speculation.

Surely humpty dumpty Woods will take time out for a few months to avoid aggravating it further?

Someone on radio summed it up very nicely today about 9C.
"He's nearly 39, but he's a very old 39 in that injury prone body"

He's the Darren Anderton of the tour these days.

Looks like Woods succumbed to the pressure of his own ego in coming back too soon?
Altho' we don't really know what part of his body he's (re?)injured, it seemed his demeanour and interviews suggested he still wanted to prove he was Supergolfer, whether to prove something to himself, to Watson, to all his peers that he was at a different physical level - just looked as if he was trying to convince himself that he was still the athlete of a dozen or so years ago.
Six years now without a Major and Faldo might be right in saying that his 15th Major, in the increasingly improbable event that may happen, will be his greatest achievement.

According to the commentary team over the weekend, Graham DeLaet had the exact same surgery and he said it was a year before he felt fully fit again. Seems to me Woods was in a rush to come back so he could play the Open and PGA, he knows father time is against him and wants to maximise the amount of Majors he plays, even if it means risking further injury.

Yeah, DeLaet has always said he tried to come back too early, still not as prematurely as ETW, and that was a mistake, back in rehab for four months. And that version of DeLaet was arguably a better, fitter athlete than a 38-y-o Tiger.

I can imagine it must be frustrating being so dominant in a sport and then one day not being it anymore, partly because of injuries. Part of TW’s success was exactly due to his ego and will to compete and to win. Now his body says no and I can understand if he could have difficulties accepting that.

Maybe he should take up carpet bowls or something.

skiddy wrote:there should be a stat 'strokes gained driving' after that

http://www.pgatour.com/statsreport/2014/08/06/rory-mcilroy-driving-bridgestone-mark-broadie.html

SmithersJones wrote:

skiddy wrote:there should be a stat 'strokes gained driving' after that

http://www.pgatour.com/statsreport/2014/08/06/rory-mcilroy-driving-bridgestone-mark-broadie.html

Nice one SJ - that's an interesting and great link (for me anyhow)

Bob_the_Job wrote:

SmithersJones wrote:

skiddy wrote:there should be a stat 'strokes gained driving' after that

http://www.pgatour.com/statsreport/2014/08/06/rory-mcilroy-driving-bridgestone-mark-broadie.html

Nice one SJ - that's an interesting and great link (for me anyhow)

I found it very interesting too. I may well be investing in his book.