PGA Tour: The Desert Has Turned to Sea: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).Sure enough, the Tour travels 350 miles West to San Diego, leaving all that Waste Management behind and running into a bunch of Farmers.
From breathless anticipation at Tiger's latest reincarnation to mortal dread at what he'll come up with in Southern California.
The weather should be spectacular, the only slight fly in the ointment being the seemingly ever-present risk of "marine layer", known elsewhere in the world as fog.

2).These next three weeks on the California coast offer terrific "host" courses, Torrey Pines South, Pebble Beach next week and finally Riviera; pretty much as strong a three week stretch as we see all year.
This week the field will play 18 holes apiece at Torrey Pines North and South, then 36 holes at the "South" - last year scoring was about 31/2 strokes easier at the "North", so don't despair if your favourite shoots a 74 at the "South", it's about par for the course.

3).Last week saw Tiger's comeback and Thursday will see the return of Dustin Johnson. It looks like his prediction that it would take him exactly six months to sort his life out was spot on, and expect him to be competitive straightaway. His last suspicious absence, in 2012, saw him earn a Top Twenty in his first tournament back, at Memorial, and win in Memphis the following week. Don't be surprised if it's the proverbial deja vu all over again, with a return to Pebble Beach next week where he's won twice and should've won McDowell's US Open.

4).And Brooks Koepka will be playing again, from his lofty world ranking of #19 and sure to go higher very quickly. There were stumbles and bumbles from his closest competitors in Phoenix but he kept hanging about until he drained that 50-foot snake and made solid pars the rest of the way. We'll just have to wait and see whether he'll continue to play in Europe, but I'd bet he'll first target a Presidents Cup berth.

5).Snedeker had a T10 finish in Phoenix, his third of the young season after such a disappointing year in 2014. Two or three of the more bizarre injuries have hampered him including knee damage falling off a Segway, plus various apparently congenital rib ailments. And his putter cooled down. That seems to be working better now and he goes to Torrey Pines having won here three years ago and with four top tens in his seven other visits. Then it's on to Pebble where he won in 2013. Sneds is still not in The Masters and it would devastate him to miss out. Worth a small punt each way, don't you think?

6).Another player with a truly eccentric history is Lucas Glover, a wonderful "ball striker", yet arguably the worst putter on any Tour anywhere - currently 211th in putting in a stat where there are usually only about 185 players. But he also has enjoyed some success in San Diego and could make a rare appearance on the leaderboard if he can just get to the weekend.

7).What of Tiger? He had planned to attend Sunday's Super Bowl but high-tailed it back to Florida following Friday's fiasco. He was last spotted following Lindsey at Beaver Creek. No, seriously, it's a ski resort. In Colorado. You couldn't make it up. Bad place to get the yips though. He has an early Pro-Am time Wednesday so hopefully TWA gets him there on time. It's assumed he won't play Pebble or Riviera so he needs a strong effort here and/or Honda to earn a place in the Cadillac field.

8).Phil was equally disappointing last week - he's playing San Diego but taking two weeks off, then is committed for Honda. All we've seen from Phil this year is hot air and you'd think he needs a result almost as badly as Tiger.

9).The field for the "Farmers Insurance Open" is strong, but not as deep as last week. Casey, Davis, Donald, Donaldson, Knox, Laird, Poulter, Rose, plus Harrington and Lowry are all on hand. Luke Donald has done well here in the past with two runner-up finishes, but he's off to an awful start to his season. I'm most interested in Shane who's playing Pebble Beach as well.
Aussies Jason Day and Marc Leishman have runnered up here, and both are overdue a win.

10).Finally, before any knee-jerk action is taken further to the recent remarks of HSBC exec Morgan about the road forward for golf, he and we might want to cast an eye on how Tim Finchem manages his PGA Tour fiefdom before knee-jerking too many changes into the sport. His Tour is stronger than ever, sponsors are extending contracts longer than ever, and the rest of the golfing world would do well to learn some lessons from Timmy. PGA Tour "title sponsorship" is in place for most tournaments for years to come, probably over-subscribed.
On the Champions Tour, his flagship sponsor has just re-upped for TWENTY years.
That may not be HSBC's demographic, but surely it's not beyond the wit of international golf's leadership to apply some of Finchem's approach to other parts of the world.
It's a great game, don't screw it up.

GPB and robo aren't going to like this but here is another one to add to the list of curious american names.

Brooke Pancake leads this weeks LPGA stop.

http://www.lpga.com/tournaments/pure-silk-bahamas-lpga-classic/leaderboard

"I have problems with the yips hips rips reps ribs tics torque teeth cheeks chicks chips caddie caddillac spin spine knee neck [insert next weeks issue here]."


He's starting to become more and more human...

McLaren wrote:GPB and robo aren't going to like this but here is another one to add to the list of curious american names.

Brooke Pancake leads this weeks LPGA stop.

http://www.lpga.com/tournaments/pure-silk-bahamas-lpga-classic/leaderboard

Does she have a flat chest?

Not the poor girls fault her family have a funny sounding surname. And Brooke as a first name is nothing terrible. no worse then Seve Benson

ben

I wasn't blaming the women for having a funny name. But it is further evidence of how stupid names have permeated american culture. In Britain we have no silly names, instead we have proper names like "Fionnula Tambling-Goggin" and "Pip Torrens".

Mac -

On the curious case that is Tiger Woods, I found this snippet from Azinger interesting ...

"Tiger used to be uncomfortable if you were comfortable with him,” Azinger said on the Golf Channel broadcast. “Now he’s uncomfortable if you aren’t comfortable with him.”

Tommy Fleetwood is a good strong English name, but there was nothing strong about today's round of 79, and he's effectively spurned yet another opportunity to secure a Top Fifty ranking.

Who knows their Malaysian geography? Was watching a Golf Channel update yesterday and Kelly Tilghman reported that the Maybank was played on a SE Asian island. Surely not, but then I've never been there?

Who knows their Malaysian geography?

Not me, I had to look up to check if it was an island, and it seems it shares a northern border with Thailand which makes that bit not an island, and then there is another bit of malaysia on the island of borneo.

However, the tournament is being played and KL golf and country club, so that is not on an island.

Seems your malaysian geography is pretty good.

You just never know, Mac, in this era of News anchors telling porkies on the air.
Fact or fiction?
They don't seem to know the difference!

Harrington and Poulter look to have engaged their buttocks effectively in the first round, -3 and -5 respectively.

More "dense fog" in San Diego, and forecast to remain marine layering at least to 9.00 a.m.

Health Warning:
Note that the good rounds from Poults, Padraig and Donald are all on the easier North Course. Only 12 scores over par on the "North".

Kwini

I am sure it is only a matter of time before feherty makes claims of being gunned down in a helicopter.



There has been much talk of tiger and the top 50 but we may as well consider his fall from the top 100 as well.

He currently has 93.93 total points, and a divisor of 40. Assuming he doesn't play for a while his divisor will remain at 40.

The player currently at #100 has a points average of 1.472, meaning that tiger will be pretty much out of the top 100 when his total points fall to 60.

Does anyone know how long it would take him to loose those 33 points?

pedro wrote:"I need more reps ribs."

Maybe Lindsay should re-activate the glutes with some serious spanking?

50 Shades of Wood?

The increasingly bottom-surfing Golf Digest has a piece about a 50 Shades of Grey actor in its March issue.
I remember the days when newspapers would report news, the Weather Channel focused on weather and Golf Digest was all about Golf. Showing my age again.

kwinigolfer wrote:

Who knows their Malaysian geography? Was watching a Golf Channel update yesterday and Kelly Tilghman reported that the Maybank was played on a SE Asian island. Surely not, but then I've never been there?

A large part of Malaysia is on the island of Borneo. But KL isn't. I guess another American stereo type reinforced

McLaren wrote:There has been much talk of tiger and the top 50 but we may as well consider his fall from the top 100 as well.

He currently has 93.93 total points, and a divisor of 40.  Assuming he doesn't play for a while his divisor will remain at 40.  

The player currently at #100 has a points average of 1.472, meaning that tiger will be pretty much out of the top 100 when his total points fall to 60.

Does anyone know how long it would take him to loose those 33 points?

Assuming he does not play (or earns ZERO points if he does play) here is Tiger's OWGR averages going forward, and his projected ranking (based on this weeks rankings)

 

Date	Pts	Avg	Rank
2-Feb-2015	93.93	2.348	56th
9-Feb-2014	89.09	2.227	60th
16-Feb-2014	84.26	2.106	66th
23-Feb-2014	79.42	1.986	70th
2-Mar-2014	74.58	1.864	75th
9-Mar-2014	69.75	1.744	83rd
16-Mar-2014	65.73	1.643	89th
23-Mar-2014	61.71	1.543	94th
30-Mar-2014	58.40	1.460	100th
6-Apr-2014	55.10	1.377	111th

It will probably take an average of 2.2 to make the match play tournament, which for him is 88 pts.  Attrition will take his net points down to 50 so he will need to earn about 38 points by April 20th to make the match play.

raycastleunited wrote:

kwinigolfer wrote:

Who knows their Malaysian geography? Was watching a Golf Channel update yesterday and Kelly Tilghman reported that the Maybank was played on a SE Asian island. Surely not, but then I've never been there?

A large part of Malaysia is on the island of Borneo. But KL isn't. I guess another American stereo type reinforced

Because learning Malaysian Geography is critical to a good education?  I wonder how many Malaysians can point to Chicago on a map?  Frankly I want my tax dollars prioritized to  teaching kids Reading, Writing, Arithmetic and life skills.  Not the geography of Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the rest of SE Asia

Might be useful for a game show like Jeopardy! or a "geography bee", but otherwise useless information.  

I learned more about Oceania geography last March than I ever knew before.  Flight MH370

GPB

Do the OWGR people publish the attrition formula? If not can you post it for us?

I didn't realise tiger could be out the top 100 so quickly. Other than failure to qualify for the WGC's will a low ranking cause tiger any problems this year and for the next few years?


For the majors he is fine and will continue to play in them all regardless of ranking. With the only issue being that only past champions for the last 10 years get into the us open.

Open - Qualified as a past champ until he is 60
Masters - As past champion will always get in
US open - Will get in until 2018.
PGA champ - As past champ will always get in

And for the pga tour is assume he has life membership which requires 15 years on tour and 20 wins. Both of which he has.

So as far as I can tell he can play a full schedule for the rest of his career no matter what his ranking apart from WGC participation, and possibly having to qualify for the US open.

Direct your angst to the Golf Channel, GPB; no-one on here would be likely to refer to Chicago as an island. Kelly Tilghman doesn't know what she doesn't know - I thought that just applied to Golf but obviously to Geography as well.

Slightly more promising weather in San Diego, hopefully they can get back out there at 9.00 a.m. - it'll resemble a shotgun start with golfers all over two courses.

Increasingly loud rumours that Rory will add Bay Hill to his schedule.

After 13 free weeks, gross points earned "spoil" at rate of 1/92 per week.

In Tiger's two year resume, he has 447.99 gross points.  All of those points are subject to attrition, except the 3.16 points he earned at the 2014 Hero World Challenge.

(447.99-3.16)/92 = 4.83 pts/week

And yes, Tiger is in no immediate danger of missing a major due to a poor ranking.  He can count on several special invites to the US Open should he need them after 2018.

WGC events are the most notable tournaments that he will miss due to a poor ranking.  His Players Exemption will end about the same time his US Open exemption does.

His lifetime PGATour membership will get him into most PGATour events.  Except Hyundai, Fedex events and the Malaysia event (although Malayasia has Sponsor's invites)

kwinigolfer wrote:Direct your angst to the Golf Channel, GPB; no-one on here would be likely to refer to Chicago as an island. Kelly Tilghman doesn't know what she doesn't know - I thought that just applied to Golf but obviously to Geography as well.

Slightly more promising weather in San Diego, hopefully they can get back out there at 9.00 a.m. - it'll resemble a shotgun start with golfers all over two courses.

Increasingly loud rumours that Rory will add Bay Hill to his schedule.

Morning Drive said Rory is playing Bay Hill.

I can fault Kelly Tilghman (and Golf channel) for a LOT of things, but if she  says that the tournament is on an island in Malaysia, that would be about 20,000th on the list.  It just is not that important and certainly too trivial for people to get their thongs in a twist about it.

It is nitpicking just to be nitpicking.

GPB - You are right ... silly nitpicking, not to be outdone with the harumph-harumph "proper" name conventions that all should seemingly adhere to.

But back to golf. Can Phil make the cut? Can my friend Sean O'Hair make the cut? Hot first round from Ian; can he back it up? This Koepka guy continues to impress!

It's just making things up unnecessarily, just like Brian Williams, the very worst at disinformation but now happily rumbled.

Weather (fog) permitting, all should be able to finish Round 2 this afternoon in San Diego. Cut looks like being +1, possibly even.

Snedeker had his first 3-putt yesterday for 334 holes. I always think streaks like that are most impressive, this coming from a "golfer" who seldom completes 18 holes without at least one 3-putt.

Top Five in Golf Digest's latest High Money Earners for 2014 (Golf Division): On Course income PLUS Off Course income:

$55.1M: Woods
$50.7M: Mickelson
$49.2M: McIlroy
$40.0M: Palmer (Arnold, not Ryan or Sandra)
$22.0M: Nicklaus (Surprised that figure is not higher - Golf Design must have taken a big hit.)

kwinigolfer wrote:$22.0M: Nicklaus (Surprised that figure is not higher - Golf Design must have taken a big hit.)

I have no knowledge of this Kwini, but are any of his sons involved in the course design, and so the money could be going to them?

Nicklaus's sons?
Very much so, JackJr anyway, so yes, could be that they're spreading the wealth.

Harrington (+4 for Round 2) trading places with Lowry (-3). Come on Padraig, you can do better than this. Surely?

Donaldson, Knox and Gonzo also adrift of the cut, as Harrington now is.

kwinigolfer wrote:
I remember the days when newspapers would report news, the Weather Channel focused on weather and Golf Digest was all about Golf. Showing my age again.

I even remember when MTV played music.

Unless there's a miracle in the next half hour, we'll be hearing that Phil has missed a cut for the second week running for the first time in 13 years.

Cut looking increasingly as if it will go to -1.

Modify! Not sure I'm that old . . . . . ! (Just kidding!)

GPB wrote:

raycastleunited wrote:

kwinigolfer wrote:

Who knows their Malaysian geography? Was watching a Golf Channel update yesterday and Kelly Tilghman reported that the Maybank was played on a SE Asian island. Surely not, but then I've never been there?

A large part of Malaysia is on the island of Borneo. But KL isn't. I guess another American stereo type reinforced

Because learning Malaysian Geography is critical to a good education?  I wonder how many Malaysians can point to Chicago on a map?  Frankly I want my tax dollars prioritized to  teaching kids Reading, Writing, Arithmetic and life skills.  Not the geography of Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the rest of SE Asia

Might be useful for a game show like Jeopardy! or a "geography bee", but otherwise useless information.  

I learned more about Oceania geography last March than I ever knew before.  Flight MH370

Well I would guess that many Malaysians could point out USA on a map, which is probably a more appropriate comparison than pointing out a random provincial town like Chicago. And hey learning about other countries in the world is probably something that American schools need to focus on to try and erode that insular arrogant attitude that makes many Americans deeply unpopular.  But that wasn't my point.

My point was I was pretty surprised that a journalist / broadcaster, who is supposed to present an informed view, just decided to make up a story that Malaysia is an island. Fair enough if you don't know, but don't invent your own fantasy geography to make yourself more interesting.

Yep, it is truly a unforgivable gaffe to call Malaysia an Island.

I must admit that I was not thinking about the children, and all the ramifications it might have on World Peace.



Americans are supposed to know all the trivial geography issues for all the nations in the world, yet Malaysians are only expected to point to the USA on a map.

Are we looking at the end of both Tiger and Phil?

I went to the 2000 Open at St Andrews and followed the legend Seve. Hard to believe he had once been the best player in the world, especially after he hooked his tee shot on 18 out of bounds. It was desperately sad to see this legend of the game, and multiple major winner, crippled through back pain and devoid of all confidence. Sounds familiar?

Quite so ray! Ignorance not quite the badge of honour some would have us believe . . . . .


Impressive final five holes for Jamie Donaldson - five under par and should be enough for a Saturday tee-time.

Poor from Luke and Justin, and an abysmal 79 from St.Padraig. But fine round from Shane.
Dustin, Billy Ho and Jordan Spieth also on their bikes.

Oh Casey, Get outahere.

He needs a good tournament. Soon.

Bernd Wiesberger on course for the WGC: Cadillac and The Masters - what a run of form he is on, hopefully he'll close this week out in style. Or get pipped at the post by a surging Lee Westwood!

But an unusual treble for Paul Waring who has eagles this week on a Par 3, a Par 4, and a Par 5. Something you don't see every week.

kwinigolfer wrote:But an unusual treble for Paul Waring who has eagles this week on a Par 3, a Par 4, and a Par 5. Something you don't see every week.

Not that I would wish any golfer to have a bad hole, but he only needs a 6 to make it all the strokes scored from 1 to 7

They're off on time beside the seaside in San Diego, Shane Lowry in the first group. Big couple of weeks for Big Shane.

I think we have a Welshman, a Scot, an Englishman or two, and an Irishman going today.

Cool the jets on Brooks Koepka Superstar. Finished with a 5-putt Friday and opened today with two bogeys.
I've a feeling he'll be back. Probably later today.

Just seen a tweet from Mahan describing the birth of his son as a true miracle. Are we to take it his missus is a virgin?

kwinigolfer wrote:Cool the jets on Brooks Koepka Superstar. Finished with a 5-putt Friday and opened today with two bogeys.
I've a feeling he'll be back. Probably later today.

A 5-putt??????? Really? That's got to hurt.

navyblueshorts wrote:

kwinigolfer wrote:Cool the jets on Brooks Koepka Superstar. Finished with a 5-putt Friday and opened today with two bogeys.
I've a feeling he'll be back. Probably later today.

A 5-putt??????? Really? That's got to hurt.

Especially when the first one was for eagle.....

DANGGGGGGGG.

Not a good year for golf legends.

Billy Casper passed away earlier today of a Heart Attack.  Age 83.

Casper is a San Diego native, I am sure there will a moment of silence for him tomorrow.

He never got his due as one of golf's greatest sportsmen.


Edit:  Interesting Golf Digest article on Billy Casper.  Talks about one of his sons who is serving a life sentence in prison, Ryder Cup, a Military Coup in Morocco, Night Putting, Ben Hogan, Eating Wild animals (including Hippo), and Tommy Bolt.  

I played nine holes with Tommy Bolt shortly before he died at a charity pro-am.  He was over 80 at the time and he absolutely flushed it ever Time.

http://www.golfdigest.com/magazine/myshot_gd0504?currentPage=2

Sad news GPB, they're falling fast.

Nice story passed on by Jason Sobel:

http://golfweek.com/news/2014/apr/08/masters-2014-augusta-billy-casper-clebe-mcclary/

Billy Casper and Gay Brewer were among very few American golfers not named Nicklaus, Palmer and Trevino who made European Tour appearances - lots of tales about his buffalo meat diet.

But sympathies for Billy as one or two of his sons spent (maybe one is still there?) too much time in the pokey.

Nagle, Sifford, Casper. That's enough for one year.

I remember the room getting a little dusty when I first read Billy Casper/Clebe McClary article.

The room got even dustier tonight, and the room was just thoroughly vacuumed yesterday.

Of the all time greats in golf, I don't think I ever heard anything negative about Billy Casper the person.  Everything I have read about has been positive.


Youtube profile of Billy Casper when he got his honorary doctorate from a Utah University.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btucl3odhaI

Meanwhile halfway across the world, Burnt Cheeseburger is pretty close to clinching a Masters Invite!  A win would definitely do it.  A T2nd should be enough.

He has not had an overpar round since Round 3 of the Turkey tournament. 16 rounds.

Anirban Lahari is making a charge, and can probably clinch a Masters invite with a win which would get him inside the top 40.

Lahiri does the job.
Solo 2nd for Wiesberger so he should be in too.
Masters field is going to nudge the 100 mark at this rate.

Could add yet another this afternoon - hopefully Lucas Glover!

Who was the Irish bloke commentating in Malaysia? (the island somewhere in Asia )

I'm liking his observations, especially calling out Alejandro Canizares for his horrendous slow play. Too many commentators in particular ex pros are very quick to excuse poor behaviour.

ray,
Didn't see any of it but once in a while Gary Murphy (former Irish touring Pro) has done our Golf Channel feed and he's quite good.

Not much threat of fog apparently in San Diego this morning - they should be good to go on time.

Ten Americans plus two American wannabes in the Top 12 - plenty of Europeans within a few strokes though, led by Poulter, and Donaldson, Owen, Laird, Lowry are among those who could do themselves a lot of good.

With his win, Lahiri has moved into the top 5 of the International Prez Cup Standings.  Only Adam, Jason, Hideki and Charl are ahead of him.

Memo to Nick Price.  Its not the format of the Prez Cup that against you.  Its the lack of World Class elite golfers.