PGA Tour: Golf's Mile High Club: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).69 survivors from last weekend's Deutsche Bank Championship descend on the Denver, Colorado, area this week for the BMW Championship, Round 3 of the FedEx Play Offs. They'll compete at Cherry Hills Country Club, a Par-70 William (Shinnecock) Flynn design, almost 100 years old, which hasn't seen the Tour's finest since Hubert Green won the 1985 PGA Championship. Last week's tournament ran Friday thru Monday, but we revert to a normal Thursday thru Sunday schedule in Denver.

2).There was an anti-climactic air about the Deutsche Bank finale, whether it was the golf or the coverage I'm not quite sure but NBC fumbled their way through the broadcasting responsibilities. Their failure to grasp the nuances of the FedEx points system suggested a crew-wide lack of anything approaching 'O' Level calibre arithmetic, which meant they were continually chasing the wrong story in the FedEx points plot.

3).And, on transfer deadline day, NBC's commentators resembled Arsenal fans. Like Gooners who were desperate for a striker, the NBC storyline was all about Rory McIlroy. But like the Arsenal faithful who craved an Aguero or Falcao but got Danny Bl00dy Welbeck instead, so NBC missed out on Rory and seemed unprepared when they got Chris Kirk. (As did Tom Watson but that's another story.)    

4).Kirk comes across as unassuming as any professional athlete is ever likely to be, but he's a terrific golf talent and has enjoyed a very consistent season just below the top level. With average improvement and motivation he has a chance to be a force on the PGA Tour. Apparently he's perfectly happy missing out on Gleneagles as he has tickets to an amateur football game instead, so maybe Watson was right.

5).We said au revoir to Poulter and goodbye for the season to Luke Donald, disappointing seasons for both of them. Paul Casey and Gonzo also left the stage, but encouraging seasons for them and hopefully a springboard for greater success with full status in 2014/2015.

6).So, moving on to Cherry Hills are Europeans:
McIlroy
Kaymer
Garcia (back from the US Open Tennis)
. . . . and these three should advance
Rose (also back from his hols) moves on with a Top 45-ish finish
Knox
McDowell (back from baby duties)
Stenson
Jacobson
Pettersson

7).Garcia and Rose are some way back in FedEx points but nothing that a win won't put right. I'm somewhat surprised that Rory's playing this week; he looked pretty whipped on Monday and learned two years ago that wins in Majors and early round Play Off events aren't worth much in FedEx currency if you don't bring your 'A' game to Atlanta and the Tour Championship.

8).Apart from the two winners, the story of the past two weeks has been Geoff Ogilvy. It is ironic that a couple of years ago saw him miss a tiddler of a putt when in contention late in an Aussie tournament. He suggested at the time that that three-footer could cost him a year-end owgr Top 50 position and all the resultant rewards. Sure enough, he missed the Top 50 by a decimal point, missed Augusta and started a downhill spiral.
He found a parachute a month ago in Reno, and has been movin' on up ever since. A great talent, clever guy and it's great to see him bounce back - a decent finish, about 50th will do nicely, and he'll be on to Atlanta and a ticket to next year's Majors and some WGC's.
'Course, Appleby's in pretty much the same boat. The great year for Aussies doesn't stop, eight of them playing in Denver.

9).Hardly anyone in the field this week has experience of Cherry Hills, though Mickelson (won) and Furyk played the US Amateur there 24 years ago. Spieth & Matsuyama played Cherry Hills, without success, in the 2012 US Amateur whilst Tringale and Hoffmann played the Palmer Cup there, but can't find any record of others (perhaps Stadler might have done?) playing in competition.  
Phil could be a good bet again this week - no real clue as to who might play well, tho leaning towards West Coast guys and against the South-East crew who did so well last week. And isn't it just about time Schwartzel had a good week?
Denver's at 5,000 feet above sea level (both big Tours playing at altitude this week) so altitude, fatigue, form, you name it will come in to play.

10).2,000 miles away, in North Carolina, Q-School is taking place in the form of Tournament #2 of the WTF Series. Bud Cauley won last week and deservedly retrieves his Tour card for the 14/15 season. And Mansfield's Greg Owen will also be back for another crack at the big show after last week's 3rd place finish, while David Lingmerth (T4) is almost sure to join him.
There are a dozen Aussies playing, five or six South Africans (Immelman, Grace, Sterne etc) and almost 20 other Tour winners.
The FedEx Cup finale at East Lake is sometimes exciting, often not so much. But the Q-School element of the WTF Series is compelling, golfers competing with their careers on the line, not just their millions.

A nice 125-yard pitch-in gives Sergio the lead.

Scoring looks better in the first couple of hours than it did yesterday, softer greens helping no doubt.
Early struggles for McDowell.

gw,
They (JD & Dubie) both seem in good form at the right time!
Would be nice if Bjorn played a little better this weekend . . . . .

5-way tie for the lead in Denver.

Jason Day in trouble here, retirement coming up?

G'Day Jason: He's a goner. Don't associate him with back troubles so hope he's not badly hurt.

And, for some inexplicable reason, the Tour is sending the players out in threesomes, off both nines, tomorrow, play commencing at 9.30 a.m.

Gawd only knows why they wouldn't pair them up and have them wheels up at about 8.00 a.m.

As a bloke who likes to attend golf tournaments and follow players for 18 holes, this would be a massive turn-off - I'll never attend an event set up like that. Instead of following two twosomes, it compels a gallery to follow one threesome. Utterly daft, and it loses the option of my business every time.

Regardless, Sergio has his nose in front. With Kaymer, Rory, Stenson and Rose also in the Top Twenty.

Come on Sergio!

So, We're down to 67 golfers, with Phil Mickelson withdrawing this morning.
Surprising, but not quite so surprising as he's made known his objections to being forced to play four in a row, says he's too far back to get high enough to qualify for East Lake and wants to rest before Gleneagles.

EDIT: Good article here by Bob Harig, written before Phil's withdrawal:

http://espn.go.com/golf/story/_/id/11472647/phil-mickelson-limps-home-bmw-championship-rough-season-golf

Only comment I would add is that Mickelson and Woods were reportedly the players most involved in the architecture of the FedEx Play-Off system, especially bringing the Tour's year to an early end, and the two of them have been the most prone to skipping events when the plans they were a part of didn't suit them.

Donaldson and Ramsay going to pieces, but lovely reaction to Storm's hole-in-one (and spanking new Beemer) from Storm and Lowry!

Dear Captain Watson,
Whassup?
Your Bradley/Mickelson pairing both taking the weekend off?
Will they do that at Gleneagles, I wonder?
Love,
Paul

Sponsors must love this as the 70-strong field qualified dwindles to 66. Who'll be next?

59-watch for Morgan Hoffmann?
59-glance anyway, 8 under par after 12 holes.
Slattery blew up earlier, what tale will Hoffmann tell?

Wow - some 4 putt from the undisputed world #1 and "Euro" RC leader Rory. Still like his chances.

Sergio doing his predictable retreat; but can he go forward and win this thing?

But speaking of Sergio, I was playing golf with someone very familiar with a "named" teacher on the big tour and he claims that, without question, Sergio is the best ball striker period. Of course, ball striking has never been his issue.

Sergio taking putting lessons from Rory today? What's up with that?

Short putts missed from Kaymer, Rory and Sergio. Fatigue?

OK, scratch that Sergio going forward comment. Over par for the day won't protect any lead.

Huge crowds -- as usual -- here on the big tour.

Shotrock wrote:...Huge crowds -- as usual -- here on the big tour.

Strictly necessary?

If Rory and Sergio putt like this in three weeks' time, the Ryder Cup will be headed West.

Rory just looks fed up with things right now, still surprising he didn't take a break either last week or this. Sergio just needs to focus, Sunday an important day for him.

Billy Ho displaying the kind of form he kicked off last year with, before he did his 12 month walkabout - if he'd shown this level of play a month ago you'd think he would have been first on Watson's pick-list.

Rose treading water this week, he needs to step up and take a leadership role for Europe - I doubt if the usual suspects will be able to do that, for one reason or another.

Navy - As someone who has been involved in preparing (and predicting merchandise purchase) for crowds for a tournament on this big tour, I'll say this: it helps the bottom line!

kwinigolfer wrote:Dear Captain Watson,
Whassup?
Your Bradley/Mickelson pairing both taking the weekend off?
Will they do that at Gleneagles, I wonder?
Love,
Paul

Maybe he had to watch college football with Chris Kirk.

Martin Kaymer just needs to schedule his tournaments around Johnny Miller and NBC.

Since Houston, NBC has the weekend rights to three Mens tournaments. 

The Players 
The US Open 
The Barclays 

Kaymer finishes 

WON---WON---T7 

===================== 

Other PGAT tournaments since Houston? 

T31--T23--T18--T29--70th--T56--MC--MC 

NBC is televising the Tour Championship next week BTW 

and unfortunately for USA fans, the Ryder Cup.

Shotrock wrote:Navy - As someone who has been involved in preparing (and predicting merchandise purchase) for crowds for a tournament on this big tour, I'll say this: it helps the bottom line!  

Did you write the Gleneagles pro shop, advising them to have at least 12 extra sets of rain gear on stock?

Nice one, pedro,
Not sure about Bradley, but no doubt Phil will be watching his beloved San Diego Chargers - and NBC's lead golf announcer took the day off to commentate on an amateur football game.
Shows how much these broadcasters care about golf, hardly surprising the USGA (not that they have anything to do with this tournament) ditched NBC.

Keeping an eye on the pgatour.com site tonight for more withdrawals on the "big tour".

A gorgeous Rocky Mountain day in prospect for Round 4 of the Beemer, hopefully the course will have dried out a bit and there'll be some breeze to keep the pros guessing.

Off both tees in threesomes again - why do they do that with such a small field?

Or it could mean that NBC has a lot invested into Notre Dame football and prime time coverage.  And that is why Dan Hicks is in South Bend Indiana this evening and will be catching a Redeye to Denver late tonight.

Pedro - Won't do the "Country" squad any good. They would have actually had to practice in rain gear as well. Ain't happening.

The "Continent" on the other hand ...

You could almost set your clock by the regular Sergio retreat. Comforting stuff.

kwinigolfer wrote:A gorgeous Rocky Mountain day in prospect for Round 4 of the Beemer, hopefully the course will have dried out a bit and there'll be some breeze to keep the pros guessing.

Off both tees in threesomes again - why do they do that with such a small field?

They want to be done by 6 pm eastern time, like most of the tournaments on the PGAT schedule that networks televise.

6 pm ET is 4 PM CT which means the last group has to tee off at Noon.

If the last group tees off at Noon that means the first group would tee of at 7 am (9 min increments) or at 6:30 am at 10 min increments.

Sunrise in Denver is 6:33 which means the early starters would be hitting balls in the dark to warm up.

And volunteers and concessionaires would have to be there as early as 6 am to run parking, shuttles, tickets, sell coffee, and danish.

I think if they were playing on the East coast, they would be in two-somes with a 2 pm final tee time.

Looks like a Mile-High thriller in prospect in the Alps - good to see they played the course the right way, even with 16 more protagonists.
(GPB: And this from the network who used to delight in carrying US Open coverage in prime time and would doubtless sacrifice Dan Hicks's parts to be carrying an NFL game thru the 6.00 p.m. hour . . . . . . . )

Bit I digress:
The five PGA Tour refugees are (mostly) in with mixed results:
Harrington: T73
Hanson: T66
Olesen: Approx 35th
Colsaerts: Approx 12th
Lynn: Still playing, approx Top 10.

Lovely views of the Alps; pity the blimp couldn't show NBC some Rocky Mountain highs, Cherry Hills looks a terrific course, but scenically dull by comparison.

Americans 1, 2, early on the back nine. Can they weather the Storm?

Last time I checked, the BMW is not the US Open 

NBC does have a NFL football pre game at 7 pm and a game to be broadcast at 8:20.  And NBC would to like to give their affiliates time to broadcast the local news. 

And who knows, Rory says he wants to go to that football game.  Maybe the tour acquiesced to Rory.  

If he was in the final group that would have got done at 8 pm, he would have had time to accept the trophy, to shower etc and get to kickoff.

Now he gets done about 3 hours before kickoff, partake in some Mile High Tailgating and watch the kickoff.

Spain, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Italy, Portugal and Turkey are bidding on the 2022 Ryder Cup.

Any idea what country has the inside track.  

I don't like watching golf played in bad weather so I glad it is being moved to the continent.  (Although Valderrama had plenty of rain).

Not sure what facilities they have on the Western (European) side of Turkey, but where they played last years Turkey event was on the Asian side of Turkey.  They would not play the Ryder Cup outside of Europe, would they?

Wouldn't Portugal be the best chance of good weather in late September/early October?


Edit:  BTW, I think Hazeltine and Whistling Straits are BAD places to host the Ryder Cup in late September because of potentially cold weather.  And Hazeltine is going to have a lot of falling leaves.

I think Southern Hills or Oak Tree in Oklahoma or the Dallas area are ideal spots for the Ryder Cup in late September.  The East Coast or Southeast is bad because of potential tropical storms.  Better yet, the West Coast, but that is bad for the European continent because of the time difference.

Don't bet against the Asian side of Turkey. Money talks Turkish these years.

Must have been almost as much rain at Oak Hill as Celtic Manor . . . . . . though of course that was American rain!

That is why I said to play the RC in Oklahoma or North Texas!!

Or preferably the West Coast.  That way the matches end at 3 am in England.

Seven hour time difference between Istanbul and USA East Coast.

They would be starting morning sessions at about 00:30 East Coast time. and 21:30 on the West Coast.

IMO, the main reason the Ryder Cup does not go to California is because of the time difference.  If ET goes to Turkey, that would be inconsiderate to the USA audience.

Lipsky-out for Storm in Crans.

Shame for Graeme Storm but would say it's a huge positive to have Americans, or any other nationality, playing so well on the better Tour.
Well done Lipsky, but Koepka has to start to learn to close tournaments; it's just 11 months since he was the 54-hole leader at the Frys.com only to struggle on his final nine. Great talent though, and his schedule for next year will be interesting to see.

Good to see Uihlein greeting the winner with some champers, too.

Two missed Cuts for Brandon Grace in the WTF tournaments.

Richard Sterne is at least on the Fringe of contention, but nowhere close to getting his PGATour card.

Both guys qualified on merit for Prez Cup last season.

I wonder how good Grace really is?
He scratched around before coming out of the blue and beating Retief and Ernie a couple of years ago, but has only had good results sporadically in the past 18 months.

Much better credentials for Sterne. T4 in this year's Cadillac and only held back over the past few years by health issues (and possible motivational oomph!).

No withdrawals on the big Tour.

Perverse opening four holes for Rory;
First three holes present one of the easier starts you'll find anywhere and he pars all three.
Next four are more tricky and he plays 'em four under.
On the brink of contention!

I don't get this whole TV coverage thing in USA. The leader in world technology (especially in TV/media or so we are led to believe) - and there is still this fiddling around of tee times to satisfy the TV audience?

Surely there are people in 'Merka who don't like NFL/Baseball/Basketball/insert-your-own-sport-here that it would warrent coverage on an another channel? Here in UK/Europe the leaders of sports broadcasting have enough channels that they can show at least two football (soccer) matches plus cricket, tennis (if you must) and golf too. Do the organizers of The Open worry if the final round happens to coincide with (say) Chelsea v Manure or Arsenal/Citeh? No they don't. OK so The Open is usually in the closed season for football but the principle applies. Ryder Cup final day will clash with some big football games - does that mean the RC singles will go off at 6:45 am to make sure the last game is over before the PL giants kick off? Of course not ... they will show both

Davie:  There is a reason why the US PGATour plays for 6 million dollar purses every week and the Eurotour plays for 1.5-2.5 Million Euro purses.

The Big Money centers around CBS/NBC broadcasts so they have a lot of leverage on when the Golf is televised.

Davie,
Couldn't agree more.
But it happens to every sport that's not the NFL or College Football, and is precisely why such a high percentage of the Olympics, for instance, is on tape delay.

Matching 4-putts in Rounds 3 & 4 for Rory. JP must be lovin' it.

PS:
Round of the day being turned in by Russell Knox, 2 shots better than anyone else but you wouldn't know it from NBC. Out of contention but still playing great.

In this age of digital TV, do CBS/NBC only have one sports channel?

They do, Davie, but earlier comments about sponsorship money will always outweigh sporting excellence in this country.

I know how many people on here feel about Rupert Murdoch and his empire, but Sky alone now have 7 sports channels at their disposal (not to mention red button coverage) - add in BT sports, Eurosport (mostly synchronized lentil knitting and bog snorkeling) and the paltry few events now covered by BBC/ITV, there is NO reason why any big sporting event should be shown at a favourable time compared to others

I haven't looked at fixtures in detail, but I can pretty much guarantee that the Ryder Cup will have to share coverage with at least 4 premier league football matches, plus any other sporting events likely to be on at that time of year (Rugby Union, F1, tennis etc)

Live sporting events rule the day; playing opposite other big events generally waters down both audiences. Even arch enemy networks don't want the lose/lose.

Tape delay and other on-demand media work for "House of Cards" and the like but not major sporting events.

As GPB states, the ability to deliver a large TV audience is one of (IMO, the primary) reason the US tour is so much further advanced that the Euro tour. Big purses, big gate and you get the best players in the world week in week out. The "excellence" is in the numbers for any professional tour.

It's not the "large TV audience"s surely, it's the demographics of the relatively piddling ratings golf gets.

Excellence most places will always be the sport which will trump ratings almost every time.

(Nice of you to reference a British original alternative though, Sr . . . . )

Yeah no way would any big sporting event in the UK pander to the wiles of the tv moguls.

Can you imagine the outcry if football matches no longer all kicked off at 3pm on a Saturday or heaven forbid the FA Cup final was shifted from it's traditional slot just to get a bigger tv audience?

Russell Knox ties the course record with his 62.
HEY, NBC, COURSE RECORD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Na, He's a Scot, don't say a thing. Bl00dy typical.

Sir-CHOKE-E-OH  

Good Gawd, those were awful chips.

or maybe Serg-H2O

Double post

Rory, Sergio and Ryan Palmer have collectively taken the oxygen out of this broadcast.

Hope Billy Ho brings it home in style.