PGA Tour: The "PGA" - Best Major, or an Afterthought?: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).Strange, isn't it, that the lightly regarded "Fourth Major" invariably has the best field and often the most interesting finish?
The ambition to produce the Top 100 in the owgr has clearly been punctured with Dustin Johnson absent, Tiger Woods a doubt, and others (Crane, Day, DeLaet, Toms) who were sufficiently infirm last week to withdraw from their respective tournaments, but the Top 130 in this week's field won't be matched this year anywhere in the World.

2).You don't need Mark Knopfler to tell you that half the Tour is coming down with Industrial Disease.
No word as to who's got smoker's cough from smoking, brewer's droop from drinking beer, and if Jesus is on hunger strike, dying by degrees, a dozen or two of the field will undoubtedly give up the ghost on the first tees. Not sure about "Rule Brittania, gassy beer, page three"! Have to speak to Poulter about that.

Whatever, we certainly have more than our fair share of casualties, most of whom will play, but whether just going through the motions or not remains to be seen.

3).Another wonderful win from Rory last week - reckon he won it on Saturday with birdies on #17 and #18 rather than on Sunday. Those two threes crept him closer to the lead and deeper inside Sergio's head, and early Sunday birdies clinched the deal.
Just a thought as one reflected upon the summer form of Rory, followed albeit at a distance, of Kaymer, Scott, Rose and Garcia:
Are we entering a brand new post-Tiger era of golfing excellence, or has it always been there, just a level below the Woods of a decade ago? I'm inclined to feel we're seeing some separation with Rory at one level, the next five or six consistently just behind, and some distance to those below the top seven or eight players.

4).As at Tuesday afternoon Valhalla time, all we know is that Woods has not yet been to the course and it's anyone's guess as to whether he'll be teeing it up on Thursday. But he won't be a force just because he's playing, he'll only be a force again, if ever, when he sets his ego aside, gets himself properly fit, and ratchets down his swing and resultant effect on his aging physique. Odds against in my book, but he's surprised before.

5).The PGA will be played, for the third time in 20 years, at Valhalla GC a Jack Nicklaus design outside Louisville, Kentucky. The Par-71 was also the venue for Azinger's Ryder Cup Team victory in 2008.
Several of the Team members from 2008 played well, Mickelson among them to go with Top Ten finishes in the 1996 (T8) and 2000 (T9) PGA Championships. Robert Karlsson was entering the best run of form of his life, Messrs Mahan, Rose and McDowell made promising Ryder Cup debuts, and Poulter excelled in a losing cause.

6).Others in the field with PGA Championship / Ryder Cup form who might be expected to contend (so not you Mark Brooks, nor even Kenny Perry who will doubtless perform well following his Langer-beating effort last week) include:
1996 PGA:
T17: Furyk
T24: Jimenez
T61: Els

2000 PGA:
3rd: Thomas Bjorn
T16: Westwood
T19: Cabrera (Nantz looked at Faldo as if he had two heads when sirnick suggested El Pato as a contender this week)
T34: Els, Garcia (who's on recent record as saying he doesn't like the course, certainly played as if he didn't in the Ryder Cup)
T64: Jimenez
T72: Furyk

2008 Ryder Cup:
0.5 pt: Jimenez, Stricker
1.0 pt: Casey, Garcia, Westwood
1.5 pts: Stenson
2.0 pts: Karlsson, Mickelson (playing mostly with a young hotshot called Kim)
2.5 pts: Furyk, Holmes, McDowell
3.0 pts: Rose
3.5 pts: Mahan
4.0 pts: Poulter

7).European chances:
Got to include McIlroy of course and I like the chances of Bjorn, Karlsson, Rose and Stenson.
Can't see Sergio contending while there's chat about Kaymer having back/neck issues.
Hopefully McDowell will play well but is this course a little too long for him? He'll be off on paternity leave shortly.
Big week for Donald (nah) and Donaldson. And will Lowry bring his links form to the Blue Grass?

8).Americans, also playing to earn a spot on Watson's Ryder Cup Team:
Bradley and Fowler are in great form right now.
Dufner's got his bulging discs and wonder if Valhalla is just too long for Furyk and Zach Johnson (who needs a good result for Ryder Cup ambitions)?
No doubt Kuchar will be there or thereabouts, perhaps Mahan will rediscover his form of 2008, while Snedeker and Holmes are local-ish.
And I wouldn't rule out Mickelson, somewhat (and rightly so) overlooked all year, but he found something last Sunday - can he keep it going?

9)."Internationals":
Great to see Ogilvy pick up his win last week and like him and Scott best of the Aussies, especially given Day's fitness issues.
No South African has won in the US for three years and can't see that changing.
But I love Cabrera's recent form and expect him to make some noise, while Matsuyama has already won on one Nicklaus course this year.

10).It won't be the stiflingly hot August week that you'd expect in Louisville, but there'll be enough humidity to make it feel warm and precipitate random thundershowers.
Hopefully the cream will rise to the top as it has for most big events this year.
The PGA won't have the glamour of The Masters, the history of the US Open or the tradition of The Open Championship, but it will host the best field and will surely provide a deserving winner.
Hope ailing stars get healthy and we enjoy a great Championship.

GMac with a quadruple bogey on 13

Expensive mistake for McDool.
European Tour player Koepka moving through the gears, turning in to quite the player.

kwinigolfer wrote:navy,
I'm sure Stenson would have been fined.

You think?

kwinigolfer wrote:Definitely a sense yesterday morning that the golfers felt the officials were out of touch with conditions out on the course.
It's good that the players express their opinions, surely?
Equally, it would be much better if officials expressed their's a bit more, not least by disclosing disciplinary actions taken against he players.

Absolutely. Although, I would have thought the professional way to do it would have been to raise it in private with the appropriate officials. Sounding off on Tw@tter (or wherever) just seems a bit amateurish.

Hahaha. Amusing appraisal of Blubba:

http://www.golfdigest.com/blogs/the-loop/2014/08/why-does-bubba-watson-rub-peop.html

navy,
Stenson would certainly have been fined on the PGA Tour - not sure about any action Peter Dawson would've taken.
And: Blubba, as Woods has been dozens of times, would equally have been fined by the PGA Tour if it was a Tour event. Not sure about the PGA.

But there's some sort of media vendetta against Watson right now, not quite sure why as he's always been a red-neck crybaby with unbelievable ability.

kwinigolfer wrote:...But there's some sort of media vendetta against Watson right now, not quite sure why as he's always been a red-neck crybaby with unbelievable ability.

Maybe he p!ssed the media off this time so they have no interest in promoting anything decent about him and an interest in actively stoking the negatives - there seem to be a few of them!

Quite!
P!ss off everybody else and we'll give you a free pass but aggravate the media and watch out!!

McDool in with an even par round - things could have been so different for his chances tomorrow, not to win, obviously, but at least for a high finish . . . . . opportunity lost.

5 birds on the trot for Thorbjorn Olesen - what's the Danish for en fuego?

I don't Tiger would want Blubba to pray for him again.

Bubba's frustrations are understandable, these conditions affect his game more than the other guys because he rarely hits a shot with a square clubface. But he will have lost a lot of fans this week.

I am assuming Sky have some contract obligation with the ET regards McGinley and commentating - very hard to listen to and don't see the added value. Sky golf is definitely in need of a Carragher/Neville combination for added insight for the club hacker to understand.

Day hits it in the trees off the first tee. That's a bold strategy, let's see how it works out for him.

McGinley is only there because of the Ryder Cup. Understandable.

Comical scenes

TV in no way needs another Jamie Carragher.

What would the odds have been on Day making par after wading through the river into the bundai and taking his 2nd shot barefoot??

Shotrock (rightly?) slagging off the Team England effort Friday - -13 with a few holes to go on Saturday. Come on Lee, don't spoil things.

Stenson's officially lurking.

Customary Par-5 horlicks from Lee Westwood at 10. Shame.

must say, this has been a fascinating tournament so far, plenty of scoring opportunities out there, but also a course which punishes the mistakes, as it should be. McIlroy's long-range birdie on 6 looks destined for the middle of the cup, but the ball agonisingly stops one roll short. Solid so far from the world n°1 with the exception of a poor tee shot at 4, though he scrambled a good par after finding the hazard.

Re Carragher compliments Neville well -   . Anyway Rory seems to have the same knack of Tiger in his heyday, no one can go past him when they get along side.

Delighted to see Fowler draw level with MidgetMac. Game on. Lee, Billy needs to earn his crust right now, I don't know whether he needs a kick in the arse or an arm round the shoulder, but Billy should know. Caddies need to be Alec Ferguson some times.

Not quite so free and easy for Rors today, perhaps a bit fortunate that no-one's raced by him.

Agree about Lee & Billy, another bird on the way in will help big-time.

Phil phading pehaps?

Uh uh, didn't see that . . . . . .
Make that two "more birds coming in".

Did anyone see Day's caddy produce 2 balls from his pocket before he entered the search for his ball and then within a few seconds he was the one who "found" the ball??

Just saying.......

Evening Kwini, hope you are keeping well. Yeah "moving day" has become second guess day... Fowler making a bit of a move. But "protect" seems to be the order of the day for the leaders.

Hi and Bye B_t_B, off out to an obligatory supper, fingers crossed there's a TV in the restaurant.
Come on Rory!

How tight is this 15 golfers within 3! Exciting stuff! Best major of the year!

What a shot from Mickelson!

Have a great evening Kwini! Enjoy!

Yeah SirB, this is still wide open. Theres some magic out there but some very ordinary stuff from the leaders too. Rory's in protect mode as far as I can see. The middle runners doing all the "moving".

Mickelson is on fire

Quality golf all over the shop - glad to see P Mick turning up. Not sure the Rory force field is gonna hold out, surely someone is going to get past him, given 18 par 5.

As long as Rory can avoid that 3 wood, I think he'll be ok. Philo certainly showing his experience, and smelling blood. Wide open this. Great stuff.

Hey? Rory fighting back, great to see.

great response from Rory to dropping off the top spot for the first time. Sinks a nice birdie putt at 15 and then plays pretty much the perfect 16th, huge drive down the middle, and drops a 9-iron dead. Lovely stuff! Great tournament this!

This has been great viewing tonight

I have to admit it, I've never heard of Bernt Wieberger.

Either have I Diggers, but he's been "producing" today for sure. Ive been wanting to see how MidgetMac reacts to going into Sunday without an 8 shot lead, he seems to be able to react when needed do far.

Have a great evening Kwini! Enjoy!

Yep BTB, good test for Rory. Was always going to happen sooner or later. Anyone from 4 or 5 out could win I guess?

Brilliant stuff! Sometimes it's nice to have majors where birdies can be made....Don't get me wrong I prefer massively difficult courses though!

Rory having Burnd Chiesburger for dinner tonight.

Right, im off to pester the Mrs for a ride, see you tomorrow folks

for all that McIlroy struggled for quite a bit of that round, he's still managed to shoot 67, some excellent scrambling, and took advantage of his good shots.

I can't see anyone being lower than -9 taking this one tomorrow, just too many good players at -9 or better.

Right, im off to pester the Mrs for a ride, see you tomorrow folks

Rory: watch him put a beat down on the field tomorrow.

World class ... Team Nike will strike again.

Lots of garbage written about US Ryder Cup prospects.
If I was the PGA of America I'd choose Paul Azinger to be my Captain until he wanted it no more.
These are some of his offerings regarding Tom Watson's options:

http://www.golfchannel.com/news/rex-hoggard/azingers-insight-2014-us-ryder-cup-team/

I'd choose Snedeker rather than Stricker, but reckon his rationale is spot on.

More rain at Valhalla this morning but that should clear up before the golfers hit the practice range.
Dry after that for a few hours, 80% chance of afternoon showers.

American media thumbing thru press guides for info on Wiesberger.

Wonder whether it would suit Rory better to be paired with Fowler or Fil or if going out with Bernd is best?

Phil and Wicky could be a friendly pairing, would imagine it would suit both of them.
Quite happy to see Rory, Phil or Fowler win really. Or Stenson, or West or Day.