PGA Tour: Desert Swing, Humana this week, Phoenix next: Notes from the Ballwasher

1).What a week in Golf! A nine-stroke win for Jimmy Walker as he dominated Sunday's final round of the Sony Open in Hawaii, and he scarcely earned any headlines at all. But let's skip past final round collapses, player abductions, denials of Dustin drug use and arrival of DJ Jr, golfer-saves-millionaire-from-drowning, and the tooth fairy, and give Jimmy Walker his due.

2).A week earlier, at Kapalua, Walker, by his own admission, played too conservatively and allowed Patrick Reed to reel him in and beat him in a play-off. That could have sewn second or third thoughts in Walker's mind as he took a narrow lead into Round 4 at Waialae, and that is how it looked as he trod water through seven holes. But an 8th hole tap-in birdie (the first of the day on that hole), and a Kuchar bogey, energized Walker and he birdied 7 of his final 11 holes to win by a distance.

3).So: How good is Jimmy Walker?
Three wins before March last season was an impressive achievement but he kinda ho-hummed through the rest of the year, at least until his Ryder Cup performance and Sunday (8 birdies in 16 holes) dusting of Lee Westwood. Up to 13th in the world, top of the US Presidents Cup Team qualification chart and coming off an emphatic win against Mr Consistency, Kuchar.
Walker led the Waialae field in both greens hit in regulation AND putting.
While Kuchar played a Tour round without a birdie for the first time in 255 rounds. Remarkable - what's that, about 2 1/2 years?

4).Walker just turned 36, scoring his first (Frys) win at 34. A few years ago we saw Kenny Perry play his best golf from his late thirties onwards, and then Steve Stricker went on a terrific run in his late thirties, early forties. More recently Dufner and Donaldson have shown quality in their mid thirties that we never saw in their twenties. WHO is the next thirty-something to take the golf world by storm?

5).The US Presidents Cup qualifying list looks like this:
Walker, Watson, Reed, Kirk, Kuchar, Moore, Furyk, ZJohnson, Horschel, Streb, (Spieth, Simpson).
14th: Fowler
47th: Mickelson
133rd: Woods

6).Paul Casey got off to a cracking start last week but, after his opening 62, went level par the rest of his way. Sadly typical of his recent Tour history, and he should and must do better.
But what wasn't "typical" was Brian Davis earning his first Top Ten finish in almost a year and a half of largely abysmal performances. This is a big year for Davis, not getting any younger and still doesn't have any exemption "safety net" other than "Veteran Player". plus he's $6.5M short of any career earnings exemption. Basically, he's got to keep grinding to keep his card. A win would help a LOT!

7).This is the fourth year of an 8-year title-sponsorship agreement for Humana at the old "Bob Hope" Desert Classic in California's Palm Springs area. Humana are opting out of their final four years, but tournament organizers are confident a replacement will be announced soon. They certainly have a decent field on hand, far better than when it was a 5-round event and the tournament was at death's door.
Many top Americans are here, including Kuchar, Horschel, Reed, Mickelson, ZJohnson, Kirk, Na, Bradley . . . . and Jason Dufner.

8).Jason Dufner??
Just a few months after saying he'd only play for a few more years, and coming off physical ailments which saw him walking off the course at Valhalla and opting out of Fed-Ex Play-Offs and Ryder Cup contention, he's cleaned up his act, lost a stone and a half, and is a Humana "Well-Being Ambassador". "Buff" says Golf Channel as Dufner's Dufnering days are over and he makes his first US start for 5 months following an Asian and Australasian busman's holiday last autumn.

9).Patrick Reed won "Humana" last year. It's all been a bit sh1t or bust for Reed so far, four Tour wins already, but seldom in contention otherwise. Wouldn't be surprised to see him follow Jimmy Walker in successfully defending his title. Regardless, here's a pleasant enough, if not exactly revealing, Q&A with him from pgatour.com:
http://www.pgatour.com/news/2015/01/20/patrick-reed-qa.html

Last week's Sony saw one of the lowest winning scores in PGA Tour history, and expect more of the same this week. Would like to offer thoughts on any other likely Humana winners but tough to do so when a shoot-out is involved and we're left with a putting contest.
And: Would like to suggest European contenders but they usually fall well short in such events and somewhat doubt the wisdom of guys like Casey, Donald & Molinari playing this week. (Which should assure they'll enjoy a good finish.)

10).Remember this week's format:
Rounds 1, 2 & 3 at three different courses, then the Top 70 and ties play Round 4 at "PGA West - Palmer Course".
BUT: Daylight is a scarce commodity so, if more than 78 golfers make the 54-hole cut, only Top 60 and ties will contest Round 4 - although Top 70 and ties will be paid. Got that?
And then on to Stage 2 of the 2-week Desert Swing, to Arizona for the Waste Management Phoenix Open when the Tour's circus really begins, complete with dental reports and other hoopla.

10) A).
Wishing a Very Happy 75th birthday to Jack Nicklaus. No longer "The best there is", definitely "The best there was", and possibly "The best there ever will be"!

Thanks Kwini, Good Job as always.

Any American (not named Woods or Mickelson) wanting to play Prez Cup, better qualify in the top 10 of the PC standings because I am pretty sure that neither Woods or Mickelson is going to make the team on merit.

To qualify on merit, Woods is going to need the equivalent of his 2013 season and Mickelson is probably going to have to win twice with other good finishes.  

5000 pts is my best guess on what 10th place will be in the standings come September.

The International team is more interesting to me.  Sang Moon Bae is the top Korean, and he may not be able to go back in the country.  Surprised no reporter has applied on has not been applied to Seung Yul Noh because he should be facing the same fate.

Scott, Day, Hideki have virtually clinched a spot.  Els, Sterne, Grace, Cabrera and de Jonge who played at Muirfield Village are out of the top 10.

Hi GPB,

Following on from the Luke Donald conundrum, I reckon his nose was seriously put out of joint by being passed over by McGinley and wouldn't be at all surprised to see him play a couple of European events once he's done with FedEx Play-Off action and the European Ryder Cup qualification begins - that could include the European Open and Dunhill, plus possibly Portugal.

'Course, he's only in The Masters among Majors; would think he'd be hard pressed to miss the US Open and PGA, but he needs to get a move on to assure himself of a trip to St.Andrews. Plus Bridgestone.

If Luke falls out of the top 60 before the end of May, I think he has more to worry about than not qualifying for the US Open and St Andrews.  His game would be really in disarray.

Yes it would make sense for him to backload is ET schedule to get on the RC Qualification.

I doubt he wants to play Euro Open.  Same week as the Tour Championship in Atlanta.


EDIT:  Luke already has One 2015 EuroT event on his ledger.  He played the Nedbank last month.  And got scared by a baboon.

So: How good is Jimmy Walker?


Not good enough yet. His win rate and the fact that he finished in the top 10 in 3 of last years majors would suggest he should be aiming to win a major. Given how good he has been over the last 18 months failure to win a major would be just that. A failure. Players like Duffner have capitalized on this type of form at a similar age so I hope Jimmy can do the same.

Kwini, can you shed any light on Jimmy's supposed interest in astronomy?

Mac,
You can find a ton of articles about his interest for astrophotography.

Other than the fact that this is a passion of his, and the excellence of his work has been recognized a couple of times by NASA, I would pick and choose from the choices that come up in google's first two pages from "Jimmy Walker Astrophotography" - probably best to go back three years and creep forward chronologically.

There's a good starting point written in a San Antonio publication from 2012, from before he started winning golf tournaments, but I can't link it right now. Also a youtube piece from a couple of years ago that gives you the picture, but my clip doesn't have sound!

Thanks kwini



Must have been a good time of late for the Yanks as Jimmy is currently only the 6th highest ranked golfer from the USA.

Happy Birthday 75th B-Day, Mr. Nicklaus

Nicklaus' record in the Open Championship was incredible from 1963-1980

A total of 26 unique players beat Jack in these 18 years.  Several of them beat him multiple time for a total 40 times.  His average finish was 3.22.  Arnold Palmer and Ray Floyd never beat him during this time period.

Here is a list of players that beat him, and when they did it.

Ben Crenshaw : 1980
Bernard Hunt : 1965
Bob Charles : 1963 , 1969
Brian Huggett : 1965
Bruce Devlin : 1965
Christy O'Connor Snr : 1965 , 1969
Craig Defoy : 1971
Gary Player : 1967 , 1968 , 1974
Jack Newton : 1975
John Panton : 1965
Johnny Miller : 1973 , 1976
Kel Nagle : 1965
Lee Trevino : 1971 , 1972 , 1980
Lu Liang-Huan : 1971
Max Faulkner : 1965
Neil Coles : 1973
Peter Oosterhuis : 1974
Peter Thomson : 1965 , 1969
Phil Rodgers : 1963
Roberto De Vicenzo : 1965 , 1967 , 1969
Sebastián Miguel : 1965
Seve Ballesteros : 1979
Tom Watson : 1975 , 1977 , 1980
Tom Weiskopf : 1973
Tony Jacklin : 1969 , 1971
Tony Lema : 1964 , 1965

He 'only' won the Open Championship 3 times, less times than the other majors. but his record during his prime is incredible.

Superb job Kwini & GPB.

I wonder what Nicklaus' view of HSBC's Giles Morgan's comments that "Golf must change" are? http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/golf/30871412

Hi John,

Don't you think Morgan's comments are directed much more at the European Tour and R&A? Can't see why Finchem would much care to change his PGA Tour model, though things could change if no-one picks up Tiger's place in the public eye. Not clear that Rory will ever be embraced in the same way that casual fans' imagination has been captued by Mr.Woods.

Tim Clark w/d's due to the elbow problems which flared up again in Hawaii.
Timmy can't catch a break as he'd likely want to play as often as possible while his putting style is still legal. Get well soon.

I think Morgan wants less 72 hole strokeplay, He was getting at more 1 day events, but didn't offer much more than "Golf need to move with the times", and more "alternate shot" events ........whatever that means??...........Par 6's? More Island Greens? A shot clock? A minimum of shots left handed?

Chicken and egg with sponsors and Tours. Can't see too many international Tours stepping outside the box while the PGA Tour model works so successfully in the U.S., and US sponsors are so change-averse.
But: Fox Sports coming to the USGA's golf coverage could signal some change.

I was disappointed that there is no team aspect to the Olympics.

I would have prefered a Alternate/Better Ball format (Mixed Doubles).

Some ideas:

Reduce number of holes to 12 or 14.
Increase size of the hole.
Reduce number of clubs in the bag.
Use greensome format (pick best of two drives)
One Mulligan per round
Enforce max allowed time to be used per shot
Change scoring to modified stableford (Scoring has been revised in Volleyball and Table Tennis. Why not in golf.)
Add a fifth major (outside the US)

I'd have no caddies as well Pedro.

pedro wrote:Some ideas:

Reduce number of holes to 12 or 14.
Increase size of the hole.
Reduce number of clubs in the bag.
Use greensome format (pick best of two drives)
One Mulligan per round
Enforce max allowed time to be used per shot
Change scoring to modified stableford (Scoring has been revised in Volleyball and Table Tennis. Why not in golf.)
Add a fifth major (outside the US)

Are you talking Olympics with the above or just in general? If the latter:

Reduce number of holes to 12 or 14. No.
Increase size of the hole. No.
Reduce number of clubs in the bag. Maybe. On balance, no.
Use greensome format (pick best of two drives) Why?
One Mulligan per round Definitely not.
Enforce max allowed time to be used per shot Definitely!
Change scoring to modified stableford (Scoring has been revised in Volleyball and Table Tennis. Why not in golf.) Maybe. Why though?
Add a fifth major (outside the US) Maybe. Maybe not. Rather see more WGCs outside U.S.

Navy, I think pedro was being a little sardonic.

Maybe I should have paid more attention to the mulligan suggestion, in particular...

Signs of life from Tommy Fleetwood in his quest for a Masters invite (and Cadillac qualification) - but lost opportunity for Levy and Siem.

And: What's up with Schwartzel?

Interesting comments from Morgan... agree that the PGAT is fairly change adverse, but I think a 72-hole, alternate shot medal event would be interesting, that is if you could get the top players to buy into it and participate.    

But the players are pretty risk adverse as well. If it don't offer OWGR points, or count as an official win on whatever Tour... I doubt many of them would be willing to participate. Seems to me the opportunity for a meaningful team or partner event was with the upcoming Olympics, but that opportunity wasn't taken.

Bottom line: IMO there's a difference between the efforts that need to be made at the professional level and the local level.  

At the local level its painfully clear the participation rate among youth and young adults has dropped substantially in American and Europe as a whole... and it's NOT just the economy causing the drop in participation IMO... so to me... most any idea or effort is worth trying to start attracting them again, cuz whatever's being done now isn't working... or not enough at least.

But on the professional level... setting economic issues aside for a moment...  it doesn't seem to me that interest in watching the sport has to come from just golfers alone.  It takes "star power" to attract interest not only from those who play golf, but to reach beyond that to  fans who don't play themselves.  And when golf has had that star power like maybe from Vardon, then on to Jones, Hagen, Hogan, Arnie, Jack, Lee, Watson, Seve, Norman or Tiger (insert you own favorites into the list), it does well.  IMO we're simply in a situation of transition. Tiger sucked all the air out of the room for so long a lot of other good players never got to maximize on their potential star power... but now we have new fresh faces on the horizon, one or some of which hopefully can provide their own.  Rory's the obvious best candidate... but rather it's he or someone(s) else to be the attraction long term, he/they need to get on leaderboards consistently (thus on TV)... and keep winning.

PGATour live scoring is getting more and more user unfriendly.

First they designed it to be a memory hog.

Then the spacing of the lines in three times as wide as it needs to be.

Now there is a ad banner running across the bottom of the screen.

On my lap top, I can only see 7-8 names on the leaderboard

Agree about pgatour.com, GPB, terrible site, tho' I can at least see a dozen "leaders" at a time.

Philly Mick and Billy Ho off at 8.40 PST, Lukey and Zach also - 5+ hour rounds in prospect, almost unwatchable.

My laptop screen is not large and my eyes are not so good.

7-8 names for me at time.

This is first time I have seen the banner at the bottom of page.

GPB wrote:I was disappointed that there is no team aspect to the Olympics.

I would have prefered a Alternate/Better Ball format (Mixed Doubles).

I would echo much of what pedro has suggested.

Also, I'll bet an Olympic medal will be well down the pecking order in terms of prestige so why not have some fun with different formats? Tweaks could be introduced to add an athletic element to the game, such as running between shots, in addition to carrying one's own bag. Score could be based on shots taken/time.

Maybe a relay event involving 3 players- player A tees off while player B waits on the fairway and takes the second shot as quickly as he can to player C waiting on the green, who finishes the hole while A and B prepare to start again on the next hole.

C'mon guys, let's hear your ideas!!

A relay race would be good, I like the Mixed Doubles idea and a steeplechase could also be added.
Synchronized swimming/diving is boring as hell but better ball synchronized golf might have its attractions.
As might strip golf - a penalty shot or 3-putt rewarded with the removal of an article or more of clothing. McLaren would like that.
In the current sporting and political climate, golfers might wish to inflate or deflate their balls, while Cuba would seem a preferable venue to Brazil.

Lousy start for Luke Donald: 2 over par after 9 holes when 2 under par would be considered ordinary.

But not as bad as Sam Saunders who is +4 at La Quinta - imagine he'll do much better at the Palmer Course.

I saw a thing about Saunders on "inside the PGA" or some such nonsense. What were his kids called?

incontinentia wrote:

GPB wrote:I was disappointed that there is no team aspect to the Olympics.

I would have prefered a Alternate/Better Ball format (Mixed Doubles).

I would echo much of what pedro has suggested.

Also, I'll bet an Olympic medal will be well down the pecking order in terms of prestige so why not have some fun with different formats? Tweaks could be introduced to add an athletic element to the game, such as running between shots, in addition to carrying one's own bag. Score could be based on shots taken/time.

Maybe a relay event involving 3 players- player A tees off while player B waits on the fairway and takes the second shot as quickly as he can to player C waiting on the green, who finishes the hole while A and B prepare to start again on the next hole.

C'mon guys, let's hear your ideas!!

Inco - are you McLaren in disguise? As poor an attempt at trolling as I've ever seen outside of McLaren land

GPB doesn't over egg it though - some sort of team event would be good - as well as individual - they do that enough in other sports. Mixed would be interesting - not sure it needs to be Alternate shot though - 4BBB would be just fine

Davie, it's just a light-hearted bit of fun*. Same as pedro's post, why didn't you label him a troll?

*except for the bit about Olympic golf medals not being prestigious, I believe that to be true.

Inco

Every time I post anything in jest or something Davie disagrees with he accuses me of being a troll. I don't think he has ever forgiven me for dogtiedtobackofcar gate. I have even tried to reach out to him on twitter but been met with nothing but unfriendliness.


Back to Olympic golf, I can't improve on the suggestions already made. But serious point, is golf in the paralympics?

Instead of name calling, let me hear your suggestions on how golf can have a wider appeal.

kwinigolfer wrote:Lousy start for Luke Donald: 2 over par after 9 holes when 2 under par would be considered ordinary.

But not as bad as Sam Saunders who is +4 at La Quinta - imagine he'll do much better at the Palmer Course.

But good choice for Luke to play in the U.S. instead of Middle East... at least at the Humana he gets and extra round of work and the [early] flight home will be shorter.... OUCH... just a horrid round for a player of his supposed caliber... on a course that should suit him...

Robo:  Check your PM's

Terrible from Luke, but what about Dufner? All that vacationing and playing with elephants obviously had an impact on his game!

You're objectifying women again, Mac. That's no way to talk about Amanda.

Hope Franny Molinari has a good restaurant out in the desert to serve him another three helpings of Chicken Riggies.

Not much to talk about following Round 1 of the "Humana", mostly pretty average stuff from the European contingent, except:
Good: From Molinari who is T2, and not bad at all from a resurgent Brian Davis who's 67 places him T16.

Ugly: Luke Donald's dreadful 75 which places him T145. His stat's weren't bad at all, but paid severe penalties - misses were BIG misses. So Plus Five for Luke over his last 19 holes where he would have expected to be at least -7. Very very poor.

Chicken Riggies never let you down! (Good call Kwin.)

pedro wrote:Instead of name calling, let me hear your suggestions on how golf can have a wider appeal.

could it be that there isn't a need for suggestions? Not sure if there is a sport in existence which hasn't had a crisis of confidence about its fanbase or active players in the last five years. Seems more like existential crises than any reason to change things. If football, cricket, golf, rugby, tennis, swimming and the rest have all had a drop in numbers, that's more indicative of a wider variety of sports available (or an increasingly fat society) than it is of lack of appeal for any particular sport.

Early doors but let's entertain a 59 watch: Ryan Palmer -9 after 9 holes.
Martin Laird going nicely, but not at that speed.

Palmer has to make do with a 61 after being derailed by a couple of back nine bogeys.

Now Cejka is burning rubber. Who?? Alex Cejka. Bogeyed the 18th, but still in with a 29 on his second nine, and securely in the Top Ten.

Luke Donald? He's struggling to get out of the bottom twenty. Not good enough Luke. But he can get better in a hurry with a 61 Saturday, could be just enough to make the cut.

Some young feller who doesn't even have a full set of teeth is playing next week in Phoenix.

So is the recently "kidnapped" Allenby.

Also some European double-dippers: Donaldson, Gonzo, Harrington, Koepka and Molinari.


And: The end of an era for US TV viewers as Peter Oosterhuis - you love him or can't stand him - is walking away from the commentators' chair. I for one will miss him.

If the US crowd misses the dulcet voice of Peter Oosterhuis, maybe they can poach Dom Boulet from the Asian Tour.

First time I heard Boulet doing an Asian Tour event, I thought it was Oosterhuis.

How will the Zoo at #16 heckle Allenby and Woods?  

I wonder if SNL will lampoon either tomorrow night.  They are sure to lampoon underinflated footballs

Projected Preliminary SoFs for WMO and Phoenix:

Phoenix is straddling SoF 54/56 at ~379 EVR
Dubai is straddling SoF 50/52 at ~343 EVR

Peter Oosterhuis was a solid... selfishly hate to see him go, but good on him.

Allenby and TW are probably below SNL's radar this week... but will be top of the menu at the WMPO. My guess is there's been a world-wide run on both Skull Masks & Ace Bandage Head Wraps.... all shipping to Arizona...

Would imagine that Grace has effectively earned an exemption into all the Majors and WGC's with his win.

Warren and Wiesberger also must know that they're closing in on the MatchPlay, Warren looking good for the Cadillac also.
(He still reminds me of Matt Every, slight physical resemblance, but also in his temperament. Both high quality golfers when the stars are properly aligned.)

I didn't think Oosterhuis was a good broadcaster.  It seemed like he had a nervous tick, he would have a slight chuckle after nearly everything he said.

Honestly, I though he had been in the broadcast booth longer than 1995.  Kind of surprised that he never gave the Geezer tour a legitimate shot.

Warren and Wiesberger also must know that they're closing in on the MatchPlay, Warren looking good for the Cadillac also.

56th and 58th respectively before Humana results.

Matchplay deadline is still 12 weeks away.  Only one decent non co-sanctioned ET event left.  Its going to be tough on them to stay in the Top 64 (Top 65) playing ET events when the PGAT players are going to play 50 OWGR level tournaments or better in 8 of these 12 weeks.

Warren playing the next three weeks, Wiesberger the next two.
Warren only needs one decent cheque to earn a spot at Doral (which would be a great opportunity for him), and Wiesberger's not far off either. It'll all help, but they have to earn money AND points!

It'll be interesting to see how Kuchar makes out over the weekend - apparently he's something like two wins in 24 career 36-hole leads. Top Tenitis.

That's enough of Cupsets (and PFC slipping closer to the Conference ) . . . . . . .

Off to the California desert and Saturday is Cut day:
Europeans starting inside the cut-line:
~Cejka(!!!!!, and watch for him at Pebble Beach), Laird, Molinari, Davis, Pettersson (with a short putter), Casey and Knox.

and outside the cut-line:
~Lingmerth, Gonzo, Blixt, Freddie, Luke bl00dy Donald, Owen.

Expect the cut to be about -7, so a 65 is the highest possible score to earn a payday for St.Luke.

Can Scott Verplank make the cut?...T22 right now.

He hasn't made a cut since the 2014 Sony.  and that was the only cut he made in the 2013-14 season

He hasn't had better than a T40 finish since the 2011 season.

Justin Thomas is trying to make a statement early this year.

Tied for the lead, validating a Top 10 finish last week at Sony.

Pretty good amateur resume and one of the early favorites to be Rookie of the Year.  (along with Nick Taylor and Tony Finau)


WMO is a bad week for the WEB-commers.

Andres Gonzales is first alternate for WMO.  He is #2 on the Re-shuffle list.