PGA Tour: Play-Off Round 2 - DeutscheBank Championship: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).Play-Off Round 1 is history and Hunter Mahan, who alone has played every (29 and counting) Play-Off tournament, has the chance to extend his run to 32 as he wins The Barclays and will certainly qualify for the FedEx finale.
Well done Hunner, that Sean Foley is one helluva coach!

2).Tom Watson will doubtless have noticed, especially seeing as other Ryder Cup wild-card candidates let Capt. Tom down badly:
Sneeedeker missed the cut, Moore did too, and so did Horschel, Simpson, English and Every. Todd played well for 36 holes but blew up at the weekend, and Bradley fizzled after a good start.
But Mahan has played on five Ryder/President's Teams, and needed a "pick" for FOUR of them.
Silly as it might sound, one factor in Mahan's favour could be caddie John Wood, very highly respected and reported to be a great influence in the "team room". Who knows?

3).Of course, Europe's Barclays "effort" was pretty bankrupt, only Gonzo (having a nice run of form under the radar) finishing in the Top 20. Donald left early, perhaps in a NetJet with Poulter, and Westwood's week was not much better.
Westwood has told anyone who would listen that his playing schedule was "Off until the Ryder Cup."
What does he know that we don't?
Let's just say I can't see McGinley choosing three Englishmen.

4).The consensus about whither Tiger Woods and any new swing coach seems to be, "Spend less time in the gym, get healthy and go play golf. Explosive and stronger are for the 20-somethings; smoother and faster are the recipe for any future success. You don't really need a coach."
Time will tell, but all those pundits cheering Woods to 19 Majors and beyond must be getting nervous.

5).CBS TV passes the broadcasting baton to NBC TV for the rest of the Play-Offs. So, hopefully no more endless Rickie Fowler promotions or plugs for their four favourite sports:
NFL.
College Football.
Fantasy Football.
CBS coverage of all three.
Time for Jim Nantz and the production team to move on, sick and tired of their sycophantic and self-serving drivel.

6).The web.com Tour "regular season" concluded last Sunday and Alex Cjeka was the only European in "The 25" to earn his PGA Tour card for next season.
Denmark's Sebastian Cappelen and Mansfield's Greg Owen both won this season but contrived to finish 26th and 27th respectively, very difficult to do, especially for Owen who fluked a win early and then stopped playing the tournaments. He may be an awfully nice bloke but he comes across as a total numbnuts.

7).Anyway, the web.com Tour Finals (WTF's) start this week; a dozen or so European Tour pros were eligible to compete but only Saffers Grace and Sterne and Aussie Scott Hend have committed. A big break for O'Grady and it likely means that his European Tour roster is pretty much intact for 2015, plus Colsaerts, Hanson, Lynn, Olesen etc.
These WTF's were good tournaments last year - 25 more golfers will earn Tour cards when the "Finals" are concluded, a mix of rookies and old lags if last year is anything to go by.

8).It is paradoxical that the deeper we go in to the Play-Offs, the weaker the fields get and the lower the world ranking points on offer become! Kind of perverse.
This week, we're missing six golfers who are eligible to play but are otherwise engaged: Casey, McDowell (both on paternity leave), Dufner, Garcia, Rose and Dustin. I wonder if one or two others might have been tempted to take a week off, especially Furyk (who must be fried) and Rory?

9).There will be birdies and eagles galore at TPC Boston this week; Stenson's winning score last year was 262 - 22 under par, the third time that's been the winning score. Not much pattern to those who have excelled here, so it's difficult to choose course specialists, except to say that Aussies have a fine record.
There's plenty on the line, for the Americans especially with their last chance to catch Capt.Tom's eye as well as all the filthy lucre.
Only nine Europeans tee it up on Friday - yes, FRIDAY - and almost all need a good result to reach the Top 70 in points and advance to Denver for the BMW Championship. Rory, Kaymer, Jacobson and Knox are sure to move on, but Donald, Poulter, Stenson, Gonzo and Pettersson need strong finishes.

10).Yes, the DeutscheBank runs from Friday to Monday ("Labor Day" in the U.S.), then the Pros have to leg it to Denver, 2,000 miles to the West and a Mile High, for the Beemer which starts that Thursday. Those who play 72 holes will be knackered, not surprising that Sergio and Justin Rose sat this one out.
And, on the Tuesday, Watson will be announcing his "Captain's Picks"; who ever will he choose?

Kwin - What's ludicrous is that you are actually suggesting Kuchar's lucky shot kept Lukey out of the RC. Really grasping for straws there. I would have picked Langer over either Lukey or Westwood based on current form.

Likely won't matter anyway --  Rory, Kaymer, Garcia and those that actually earned their way on will be too much for the Americans.

Westwood played well in the bigger/pressure filled events this year, a good reason to pick him.

Shotrock wrote:Kwin - What's ludicrous is that you are actually suggesting Kuchar's lucky shot kept Lukey out of the RC. Really grasping for straws there. I would have picked Langer over either Lukey or Westwood based on current form.

Likely won't matter anyway --  Rory, Kaymer, Garcia and those that actually earned their way on will be too much for the Americans.

Langer? Are you kidding, he plays against a bunch of guys who are barely even alive.

Not kidding at all Super -- Langer's in better shape that most golfers on the junior tour and a man in control of his golf ball at the moment.

Ha!
Sr, You're cracking up!
Watson should pick Langer - he's practically American anyway, goes to church fifteen times a day.

You still haven't forgiven Luke for duffing up Webb Simpson three years ago! Bottom line - he controlled his own destiny then, and came through.
He left it to others this time and got snubbed, only himself to blame. Message loud and clear, to all of us: Never depend on anyone else!

Imagine Sergio, for one, will be sorry about the way this has shaken out though.

Shotrock wrote:Not kidding at all Super -- Langer's in better shape that most golfers on the junior tour and a man in control of his golf ball at the moment.

I think you've been drinking Sr, you can't seriously consider a man on the senior tour, who plays against geriatric competition over 3 rounds, on shorter courses as being a serious contender for the Ryder Cup.
He might be a bible thumping idiot, but even Langer would have the good sense to turn that down.

I wonder if Westy had been picked if he didn't have that good final round at Bridgestone.

IMO, had B-Stone been a full field event, he would have never had a chance to shoot that 63.  He would have missed the cut as he was 12 shots behind the 36 hole leader.

Clarification on counting events for a player to retain his membership....

I've been able to confirm that Ryder and President's Cups still count towards a PGA Tour players requirement to play a minimum of 15 events. Also confirmed that the 2014 Ryder Cup counts towards THIS season's count.

So as an example.... even though Stenson qualified for Cherry Hills this week, it wouldn't have mattered anyway. He would have been at 15 with his other 14 events plus the Ryder Cup.

Thanks robo,
Should be a fascinating week in Denver, some guys running on fumes no doubt - big announcement for Watson first though.
I've morphed from Bradley, Moore and Snedeker to Bradley, Kirk and Mahan.
We'll know soon enough.

Bradley, Kirk and Mahan me too. Horschel would still be a dark horse imo, the US team needs players like him. Could pip Mahan or Kirk.

Iirc last time Watson was captain he picked somebody far down the list. Might do that again and that speaks for Horschel. For sure the US needs a different recipe than previous years.

I would love to see Horschel on the US team.

kwinigolfer wrote:Thanks robo,
Should be a fascinating week in Denver, some guys running on fumes no doubt - big announcement for Watson first though.
I've morphed from Bradley, Moore and Snedeker to Bradley, Kirk and Mahan.
We'll know soon enough.

Yep... I've gone through the same morphing process as you (even though I had it Keegan, and Sneds... then one of  Moore/Todd/Simpson after the PGA)

But IMO those 3 (Bradley, Kirk & Mahan) are clearly the best choices... it wasn't that any of the three necessarily played consistently well in the last 3 weeks... but the players Kirk and Mahan are replacing played very poorly overall...  That's also supported by the "numbers"... consider the following...

I realize Ryder Cup points stopped with the PGA Championship and the 9 players earned their positions on the team. But what would have happened if the points race would have gone thorough this week in Boston. Below is a table adding in the last 3 events (but keep in mind, this is not necessarily what WOULD have happened, as a LOT of players who skipped the Wyndham probably would have played that event if RC automatic berths were still up for grabs)

The first two columns are the rank and the points as they would be tonight.
The second two columns in ( ) are the ranks and points on which the automatic qualifiers were determined.

1 - 7,032.49 - (3) - (6,707.69) - Jim Furyk
2 - 7,027.91 - (1) - (6,930.54) - Bubba Watson
3 - 7,018.05 - (2) - (6,733.25) - Rickie Fowler
4 - 6,296.59 - (4) - (6,111.41) - Jimmy Walker
5 - 5,548.48 - (5) - (5,510.34) - Phil Mickelson
6 - 5,457.53 - (6) - (5,114.67) - Matt Kuchar
7 - 4,956.90 - (7) - (4,835.83) - Jordan Spieth
8 - 4,746.40 - (14) - (3,287.88) - Chris Kirk
9 - 3,915.38 - (8) - (3,651.09) - Patrick Reed
10 - 3,803.32 - (25) - (2,346.36) - Hunter Mahan
11 - 3,751.39 - (9) - (3,568.96) - Zach Johnson
12 - 3,559.72 - (10) - (3,559.72) - Jason Dufner - out
13 - 3,534.20 - (15) - (3,155.57) - Webb Simpson
14 - 3,455.45 - (13) - (3,324.70) - Keegan Bradley
15 - 3,371.39 - (11) - (3,355.87) - Ryan Moore
16 - 3,364.98 - (12) - (3,343.58) - Brendon Todd
17 - 3,168.82 - (17) - (2,960.82) - Kevin Na
18 - 3,036.07 - (16) - (3,036.07) - Harris English
19 - 2,739.48 - (18) - (2,612.14) - Ryan Palmer
20 - 2,713.82 - (28) - (2,151.64) - Bill Haas
21 - 2,670.10 - (20) - (2,476.65) - Brandt Snedeker
22 - 2,590.61 - (22) - (2,456.98) - Kevin Stadler
23 - 2,575.25 - (24) - (2,364.39) - Gary Woodland
24 - 2,562.79 - (21) - (2,458.79) - Erik Compton
25 - 2,541.71 - (19) - (2,527.31) - Matt Every
26 - 2,485.18 - (23) - (2,450.70) - Brian Harman
27 - 2,458.20 - (33) - (1,843.75) - Russell Henley
28 - 2,367.51 - (35) - (1,755.92) - Billy Horschel
29 - 2,340.34 - (26) - (2,303.44) - J.B. Holmes
30 - 2,298.50 - (27) - (2,215.51) - Kevin Streelman

Bottom line... I think the above makes a pretty good case for Kirk and Mahan having played themselves onto the team... after that... it appears as though it's between Webb and Keegan... Webb actually would have moved up a few spots, while Keegan moved down one... but IMO it's still a close call between those two.  But I'd still lean strongly towards Keegan...  IMO you just can't break up that Phil/Keegan pairing until we know it doesn't work any more.   5-1-1 as teammates in the last RC and PC is pretty stout...

Super - Half joking to be sure -- however, Langer did quite well in the US Master's this year. But, again, the Euro team is so strong the picks won't matter in all probability.

Kwin - You must be seeing goblins in your peanut butter. No conspiracy theory against Lukey. A fine golfer who did not have the game to earn his way onto this year's team. But to blame Kuchar's chip in for that?? Talk about cracking up!

Sr,
My comment was intended to illustrate how close he came (with no cigar obviously). But sure you knew that.

It was your comment about not picking inferior players based upon past glories - Poulter and Westwood clearly more in that category if measured by the World Points list.

PS: Europe had a better 50+ candidate than Langer based upon Masters achievement, the Mechanic - 4th.

Probably rather have Monty in front of Langer too, if we're talking about success on the seniors tour, Monty has had a stellar year. He won at the weekend too and he lives in Gleneagles.

Jimenez is playing in Switzerland.  Just don't understand why he didn't play the last three weeks to try to get on the team.

Maybe MAJ felt his time was over. But I'd like to have heard it from his own mouth.

MAJ one of three additional vice-captains - plus Jose-Maria and Padraig.