PGA Tour: Time To Move On: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).What a weekend!
And: What a few weeks/months of soul-searching in store for the PGA Of America!!
Not content with losing two Ryder Cups by the narrowest of margins with Captains chosen according to a traditional formula, they stepped back 21 years, appointed a legend of the game who proved a poor communicator and dismal tactician, and got royally thumped.
If the PGA reverts to pre-2012 methods, they'll appoint David Toms for 2016.
If they respond to public pressure, they'll appoint Paul Azinger.
But who would want it after the public mauling endured by Captain Watson? OK, Azinger would.

2).Much has been made of Phil Mickelson's public admonishment of Team leadership; it's still not entirely clear whether his intended target was Watson or the PGA, or both.
Among those weighing in on the affair was Nick Faldo who accused Phil of throwing Watson "under the bus".
How ironic, just a day or two after sirnick threw Sergio under his Valhalla bus.

John Huggan's excellent piece on the matter suggests that the 2008 European Team had unanimously agreed not to discuss Faldo's captaincy and, indeed, the Team jumped to their Captain's defence in post-Valhalla news conferences and at all subsequent opportunities. The suggestion now is that Faldo has broken the pledge of omerta and, with him having thrown the first verbal stink-bomb, more vitriol will follow, perhaps sooner rather than later and of a more combustible nature.

3).I'd imagine the Faldo repercussions will be felt longer than Phil's and it wouldn't surprise me if the buttoned-down CBS Sports Network might tire of their polarising "Analyst".
Regardless: Two points:
~Unlike Team Europe in 2008, I didn't see any Team Member jumping to Old Tom's defence when Phil went "rogue". Was Phil the unofficial Team "spokesman" on this?
~Sergio took the high road when asked about Faldo's comments, but two players who were praised thru'out the week for their "leadership", McDowell and Westwood, were quick to admonish Faldo.

4).Europe certainly got their leadership from Justin Rose (and Westwood who I wouldn't have selected; well done lw1), but USA were poorly served by two of their Steady Eddies, Kuchar and Johnson, although they finally re-engaged in time for their singles.

5).Two players I expect to gain confidence from their RC exploits:
Stenson, who admitted to being knackered during the FedEx tournaments. Perhaps he'll now take a breather and return to his 2013 form in 2015. Time for a Major, Henrik.
Jimmy Walker, who completed a meteoric year-long rise to fame with 2 1/2 points and a solid win over Westwood. He's at it again next week, defending his Frys title, but he's another who could use a break before attacking 2015 with the confidence of a world-class player.

6).Two who must be disappointed with their weeks are Thomas Bjorn and Zach Johnson. Both laid the foundations for their RC places with fine performances many months ago, and both have looked exhausted these past few weeks.
Expect Thomas to be VC to Captain DC (perhaps prior to being appointed Captain for Paris?) at Hazeltine, and Zach to rue being on four losing teams without a win while he assembles his "team" and tries to figure out how to re-energise his game. Could take a while.

7).Some prospects for future RC Teams:
For Europe the games of Tommy Fleetwood and Shane Lowry look just about Ryder Cup ready, while Thorbjorn Olesen should benefit by being back in Europe, ready to succeed Thomasbjorn as the Danish King. (If you want a ready-made foursomes player, look no further than Russell fairways-and-greens Knox.)
Billy Horschel and Chris Kirk have already established their US credentials and it wouldn't be surprising to see Brooks Koepka join them. For a long shot, how about John Peterson, and for a very longshot perhaps Justin Thomas?

8).Multiple sources now report that Messrs Donaldson, Dubuisson, Koepka and FMolinari have accepted PGA Tour Membership for 2014/2015. Let's hope the Europeans will avoid the scheduling pitfalls of their predecessors; teeing it up at the CIMB and HSBC Champions events would be a very good start.

9).The PGA Tour takes another week off before resuming next week in Napa Valley's Silverado Resort for the Frys.com Open. Ryder Cuppers Kuchar, Mahan, Reed, Walker and Westwood are committed to appear.

10).Finally, two more snippets of news from California:
~Humana have announced the January, 2015, playing of the old "Bob Hope" will be the last under their sponsorship. So Tim Finchem is now without an event in Tucson and a sponsor for Palm Springs - the desert swing looking a bit arid.
~Cadillac have announced a one-off sponsorship of the WGC:MatchPlay Championship, at the one-off venue of San Francisco's Harding Park next Spring. Finchem (and the leaders of other Tours or does Timmy do all this single-handed?) is searching for a long-term sponsor at a long-term venue, with a long-term format on a long-term date.
Finchem has an admirable habit of coming up smelling like a rose every time there's the hint of manure and here's hoping he hasn't lost his midas touch.

Are light denim jeans back in fashion?

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Tiger honing one of his courses.

I'm sure the jeans wouldn't stop you noshing him off Mac.

Tiger may not need a coach (?) but he sure needs a stylist.

There's a feel-good story at this week's Frys.com event in Napa where there were complaints that nepotism had trumped sympathy for two-time leukaemia survivor Jarrod Lyle.
The tournament had awarded a place in the field for one-time Tour player Andy Miller, son of course owner and redesigner Johnny Miller instead of Aussie Jarrod Lyle.
Ends up that Lyle was tied with seven others as Medallist for the Monday Qualifier and managed to survive the resultant play-off. So Miller and Lyle will both now be in the field.

Patrick Reed gets an invite to the Volvo World Match Play - should be interesting!

Surprised he wasn't the 5th invite posted.

super_realist wrote:Surprised he wasn't the 5th invite posted.

maybe the 5th alternate?

Here's the latest news on US Ryder Cup Team woes.

To think they've invited Woods to be part of the Task Force is mind-boggling; whatever next, Pietersen becomes a Test Selector? Perhaps Roy Keane on the Board at Salford??

http://www.golfchannel.com/news/golf-central-blog/woods-mickelson-likely-part-ryder-cup-task-force/

Proof positive that the PGA Of America just doesn't get it.

This is a highly amusing soap. Why have Netflix? I wouldn’t be surprised if they bring in somebody from the military as well. Or Michael Jordan perhaps…

kwinigolfer wrote:Here's the latest news on US Ryder Cup Team woes.

To think they've invited Woods to be part of the Task Force is mind-boggling; whatever next, Pietersen becomes a Test Selector? Perhaps Roy Keane on the Board at Salford??

http://www.golfchannel.com/news/golf-central-blog/woods-mickelson-likely-part-ryder-cup-task-force/

Proof positive that the PGA Of America just doesn't get it.

Can I be the first to congratulate Captain Darren Clarke on another resounding win for the European Team.
Well played lads.

Something completely different.
A tale of the "Next Niclaus" with liberal doses of golfing commentators and Hall of Fame golfers thrown in:

http://www.golfchannel.com/news/jason-sobel/eddie-pearce-fast-life-and-hard-times-next-nicklaus/

Not sure if I linked this story when it was first published, but a good read regardless.

Wonder who Europe's Eddie Pearce is?
Sure Simon Hobday would claim the South African title, though he wore it a lot better than Pearce was able to.

McLaren wrote:Are light denim jeans back in fashion?

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Tiger honing one of his courses.

Enjoy.
http://www.golf.com/photos/hey-tiger-nice-mom-jeans/tiger-needs-tailor

Was hoping maybe all the Web.com grads would get into the Frys...  guess not... 8 still outside looking in at this point...  

And for Sponsor exemptions.... with only 4 unrestricted available... I understand going with NCAA Individual Champion and Stanford guy Cameron Wilson... as I do another Stanford guy Patrick Rogers..... But Andy Miller over Jarrod Lyle?  Seriously...???? My bud Duke Butler is still the man out there and I just don't get it. Or maybe i'm wrong... maybe Duke works for Johnny now... I dunno.   I would like to think the 4th spot would have gone to Lyle if he hadn't Monday qualifed... but I'm doubting that's the case.  Gregor Main, another Cali guy (who broke his maiden on the Challenge Tour this year), got the last SE when he failed in the Monday qualifier as well.  I'm guessing that 4th spot was his all along regardless of Lyle... Bottom line: can't really argue Gregor Main not being deserving either... so it boils down to ANDY MILLER ?????????????????????? I dunno.... just NUTS.  

But one good thing... starting sometime mid past season... the PGAT started posting all the "how they qualified" data...  so no more guessing or digging on that...
http://www.pgatour.com/inside-the-field/2014/10/07/frys-com-open.html

robo,
I don't understand why Lyle hasn't taken his MME. Anyway, he's in next week I think; hopefully all will be well when it ends well.

Is Patrick Rodgers the new Jordan Spieth?
Or the new Jamie Lovemark?? ( . . . . . who lost out in the 8-man 4-spot play-off.)

kwinigolfer wrote:robo,
I don't understand why Lyle hasn't taken his MME. Anyway, he's in next week I think; hopefully all will be well when it ends well.

Is Patrick Rodgers the new Jordan Spieth?
Or the new Jamie Lovemark?? ( . . . . . who lost out in the 8-man 4-spot play-off.)

Lyle does have an Medical... but it's a category 27 medical which is for the players who were playing out of the Web.com/Q-school category at the time they qualified for the Medical Exemption.  So... that puts him 5th in the pecking order in Cat 27 behind all of the Category 26 Webbies.  

My guess is he likely doesn't get ANY starts this fall via priority list (except for Sanderson Farms maybe?)... BUT...  He's already in next week... and I think the mini-bro-ha-ha this week over Lyle not getting one... and then him showing the moxi to 4-spot should serve him well in getting SE's the rest of the way... or at least 4 out of 5.   If I had to guess, the exception might be Mayakoba.  They already get 4 extra SE's for Latin American Players... but the way those are specified probably only one or two will go to Mexican players, so there's still pressure on the sponsor to use some of the other 4 unrestricted SE's on more Mexican players...

The big key for Jarrod is to make some money... ANY MONEY in the events he gets into this fall... because category 27 reshuffles in with the Category 26 Webbies after Mayakoba.   If he can manage just one or two decent weeks, then it's not unreasonable he could come into the Sony in the mid-20's or better in Category 26 with all the other webbies.  PLUS... there's probably 10 or more guys lower in Category 26 who will get between 0 to 1 starts... an another 5-10 that might go through the fall with only 1 or 2.   So just cashing ANY check in the 2 starts we know he's gonna get moves Lyle up some in priority for January...

EDIT: Patrick Rodgers...  may be the next Spieth... at least as far as getting lots of starts... especially on the West Coast...  WHO knows what he's gonna do with them though... moving up from college to play at this level ain't as easy as Spieth made it look.

And I thought the PGA Tour was my Mastermind Specialist subject . . . .

Re: Mr.Rodgers. Exactly!