PGA Tour: WGC:Cadillac Championship / Puerto Rico Open: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).Congratulations to Padraig Harrington.
What a way to liven up an otherwise boring Monday. And what a bizarre final round - can't think of anything more extraordinary since Paul Lawrie's Open Championship.
We'll hear about Poulter failing to close out a tournament and Casey's driver and putter going cold, but Patrick Reed put a dent in his cocky/brash young-gun image by foozling his chances just as surely, but less spectacularly, as Poults. Interesting to see how Top Five does next time he's in contention. Maybe as soon as this week.
Padraig has this week off before he honours a string of sponsors' exemptions that he now doesn't need, but will show his gratitude by playing the tournaments anyway. What a guy!

2).We see Harrington most years at The Travelers, in Hartford, and whether he's playing well or playing poorly he's always among the most popular golfers in the field, guaranteed a following whether he's grouped with "A" rated players or the proverbial Joe Blow from Windy City. The affection for him is genuine, and it appears his appreciation is heartfelt also. And now, at last, he has a performance to match his popularity.

3).No Harrington in this week's field at Doral, but Ireland will be represented by Shane Lowry. It's Lowry's first look at Doral so an Irish double might be asking for too much, but the Shane of San Diego and Pebble Beach can certainly win on Tour.

4).A couple of Ryder Cup thoughts before going back down the Interstate to Miami.
Lots made about Couples not getting a captaincy chance, but Jaime Diaz's article in GolfWorld contains some interesting observations from Fred's Vice Captain act at Medinah:
~Attendance and input all week at "Captain's Meetings" was "erratic".
~For too long he was "inaccessible" when needed on the course, "not reachable by walkie-talkie or cell-phone", and was therefore not available to "soothe nerves" on the course when Love was handling Sunday singles first tee duties.
~And his texting Furyk to tell him he wasn't a Captain's Choice for his 2013 President's Cup Team instead of calling him or speaking to him directly was thought to count against him.
Fred being Fred.

5).Another snippet from the Ryder Cup Task Force small print was the news that Love, Mickelson and Woods are to be the players on a 6-man "PGA of America Ryder Cup Committee" charged with selecting Vice Captains, future Captains "and other duties". Lunatics hired to run the asylum. Only surprise is that Rickie Fowler is not on the Committee.

6).No surprise here, but Davis Love has also been named a Vice Captain (alongside Couples of course) of Jay Haas's Presidents Cup Team in Korea; Tony Johnstone & McNulty assisting Nick Price for the Internationals.Surely there'll be some sort of Korean presence?
EDIT: Apparently KJ Choi is also a VC; didn't see that in the original report.

7).Terrific news about the revival of the "British Masters" tournament  at Woburn this October. Thanks Poults, and looking forward to seeing where Donald, Rose and Westwood take the tournament through 2019.

8).Hopefully this will be part of new initiatives by the European Tour, perhaps learning something at last from the genius that is Tim Finchem's management of the PGA Tour. His latest coup is getting Dell Computers (they of the utterly useless technical and customer service agents) to sponsor the WGC:MatchPlay, in Austin, Texas, starting March 2016.
Finchem manages tournament scheduling as if he's finding pieces for a giant jigsaw that embraces a decade or two, witness his recent long-term sponsorship agreements with Waste Management and Charles Schwab (for the Seniors).

9).Last year's Cadillac tournament was marred by high winds on a course that wasn't built for them. Or was it?
Anyway, hundreds of waterballs ensued, no windmills necessary when water hazards are everywhere.
As Rob Bolton describes his fantasy team strategy for the new, unfortunately not improved, Doral: Choose "brutes (he chose Rory, Bubba, Dustin and Reed) in a big-boy field on a big-boy course".
I'd be very surprised if Bubba and DJ were not in Sunday's shake up. At least the winds will be fresh and not gale-force, and the weather looks fine for Rounds 1 and 2, possible rain on Saturday and Sunday.

10).Finally, a truly horrendous field takes their clubs to Puerto Rico for their Open. The top sixty-odd players are competitive enough, buttressed as the field is by some European Tour players. But holding an "opposite field" event on the same week as a web.com tournament is just plain daft, especially as the Champions Tour has the week off.
I wonder whether they'd be better off choosing the field from all three U.S. Tours and taking the top 44 from each?
Still, this week represents a great opportunity for a win and just the same 2-year exemption as Padraig Harrington earned for last week's miracle.

incontinentia wrote:GPB/robo,

Very interesting analysis, I wonder how McIlroy's Quail Hollow final round in 2010 compared to the field average? Probably the most impressive round of recent times.

It was a great round, but nothing like Furyk's 59 at the BMW, IMO. 

Rory shot 62

Course Avg that day was: 72.7
Std Deviation: 3.53

10.7 shots below course average
3.03 Std deviations better than mean.

2nd best round that day was Brendon de Jonge at 66, two 67s (Mark Wilson, Rickie Fowler) and Six 68's.


Rounds that are 10+ shots better than the average don't happen often.  It only happened one time in the 2013-14 season.  Here are the Top 10 rounds on the PGATour in 2013-14.

Tourney		Player	Score	Avg	Diff
Fargo	R2	Brendon de Jonge	62	72.35	10.35
Greenbrier	R2	Troy Matteson	61	70.86	9.86
BayHill	R1	Adam Scott	62	71.83	9.83
Zurich	R1	Ben Martin	62	71.58	9.58
Vegas	R1	J.J. Henry	60	69.46	9.46
Farmers	R2	Jordan Spieth	63	72.29	9.29
Memorial	R1	Rory McIlroy	63	72.16	9.16
CIMB	R1	Ryan Moore	63	72.14	9.14
B-Stone	R2	Sergio Garcia	61	70.12	9.12
Players	R1	Martin Kaymer	63	71.99	8.99

Spieth's round doesn't count because he played Torrey North that day and Sergio's was the best in terms of Std Deviations better than the mean.

pgatour.com reckons the "strokes gained" criteria for great rounds ranks Holmes second to Furyk's 59 over the last 11 seasons, Rory's Quail Hollow round ranks 5th under that definition.


robo,
Don't know if you're still peeping in, but my idea of 44 Champo players was largely to suggest that, if they're encouraging Champions Tour members to play, let's try and get the premier players, not the Steve Lowerys of this world. Agree that it might be impractical but it wouldn't be an issue if tournament dates across US Tours were better sync'd.

The undisputed world #1 just airmailed his iron into one of Trump's lakes. Nice toss .... had a real draw to it. tsk, tsk Rory, you won't keep your sponsors happy with that behavior.

Don't know about nice toss...more like what a to$$er

Undoubtedly great player but shows why I can't take to him as a #1 .. the meltdown is never too far away even when on top form

Davie wrote:Undoubtedly great player but shows why I can't take to him as a #1 .. the meltdown is never too far away even when on top form

Oh come on... the emotion is part of what makes this guy great. Yeah... not a great thing to be doing... but NO problem with me.

Why would you care if someone threw their own club into a pond? Surely that is their own problem?

Does anyone know if he got it back?

Wasn't even a bad round in the end.

Not without a snorkel and flippers Mac!

Typical biasedness towards Mcilroy from the media....If any other golfer did that, they would be ripped apart from the Media.....but seen as though it is Rory, he is seemingly getting praised for the apology

Personally I don't mind the emotion but I do mind double standards from the media!

I have no issues with him throwing his club. I remember Stenson breaking his clubs and didn't matsuyama do it just before he played a play off and won? Just read that rose chucked his 3 wood in the water at Doral recently as well. I don't think any of these got ripped by the media so I don't see any double standards. I think it's just Internet forumers or commenters that get riled up by this sort of thing.

I'd prefer this type of thing to someone spitting for instance.

The best reaction I ever saw to a bad shot was Poulter at Medinah when a big roar from elsewhere on his backswing caused him to lose concentration and he fluffed it, instead of swearing or looking fed up, he just laughed and proceeded to get up and down for a half.

If it had a chance of hitting someone, well that's different. I also read jb talk about the unfair green on the first, something to do with a hump in the green. Surely if you know it's there them try and take it out of the equation, play a different shot instead of launching a big iron and running the risk.

Rory has made himself look silly but it's no big deal. I'm sure Nike aren't happy he's throwing their equipment away, not a great advertisement for vapour irons or whatever they're called!

On the contrary Inco, it brings attention to the brand. Doubt they are thrilled he threw a club away, but they'll be loving the attention from the media of a Nike player behaving badly, I mean, not like they ever complain if one of their staff players behaves badly is it?

Why is kyle stanley playing web.com instead of puerto rico. Surely he qualifies for such a bad pga tour event

I would be utterly amazed if Nike gave two hoots about McIlroy throwing a club away! I doubt it will break their bank....

Can't really see that it's a massive deal to be honest. I quite enjoy seeing the odd strop

Did you ever throw your putter away MPB?

skiddy wrote:Why is kyle stanley playing web.com instead of puerto rico. Surely he qualifies for such a bad pga tour event

Maybe he thinks his best avenue back to the PGATour is through the Web-Com qualifying.

And Stop calling me Shirley!!  

incontinentia wrote:Did you ever throw your putter away MPB?

Ha I've been very tempted a good few times Inco. I must confess to having tossed it at my bag a bit more forcefully than was necessary after numerous 8 putts. Oddysey didn't give a sh*t!

Fujita was the first group off this morning, playing a single.

It took him 3 hours 29 minutes!!

Blimey, Marc Warren starting like a train. Five 3s in his first six holes.

Lot of good scores out there so far, 254 still on the cards?

2 holes in one in the space of about 25 minutes, remarkable! !

Last time I saw him playing on tv Rory was still using the vr pro blades rather than the new vapors. I wonder if that's still the case?

Nice move by big shane today. Are any of the doubters a little more convinced that he will become one of the top Uk and irish golfers in the coming year(s)?

Would have been nicer if he hadn't dropped so many shots on the back 9 mac, but in good shape ( ) still.

Shot tracker says Holmes tee shot on 18 went "263 yards to unknown", not good!!

I think Lowry is a very good player but without the drive to be the best he can be, seems content just to be a fat knacker making good paydays, his issue, as far as I can see is that he as at least 1 round out of 4 that takes him out of contention, hence just one pro win.

Probably looking likely for the Ryder Cup (by virtue of poor competition rather than his own "brilliance" though if he accrues points by consistency rather than wins.

I think it's confirmation bias on your behalf super- you-ve already made up your mind about Lowry and only pay attention to the information that backs up your beliefs. He was 5 under after 8 holes yesterday, 59 territory. Unfortunately he had a few bad holes and finished at 2 under for the round. He's T12 going into the final round and I'd fancy him to improve on that by the end of the day. As for the Ryder Cup, well its early days yet but the evidence suggests that Shane has reached a new level since last summer, and if he continues to play at this level then he should make the team and probably pick up a couple of wins along the way.

Well I followed him at the Volvo Matchplay for a few holes at the London Club last October. Whilst he is not the slimmest professional golfer you will ever see, in all fairness he is certainly not a fat knacker!

incontinentia wrote:I think it's confirmation bias on your behalf super- you-ve already made up your mind about Lowry and only pay attention to the information that backs up your beliefs. He was 5 under after 8 holes yesterday, 59 territory. Unfortunately he had a few bad holes and finished at 2 under for the round. He's T12 going into the final round and I'd fancy him to improve on that by the end of the day. As for the Ryder Cup, well its early days yet but the evidence suggests that Shane has reached a new level since last summer, and if he continues to play at this level then he should make the team and probably pick up a couple of wins along the way.

No Inco, My thoughts on Lowry are backed up by his lack of 1st places. Whilst his hysterically sloppy physique is evidence he doesn't want to reach the top of the game. He's set up for a career of high earnings, but low overall achievement.

5 way playoff in Puerto Rico

Grillo
Curran
Petrovic
Cejka
Saunders

BTW, if you don't know, Jon Curran and Keegan Bradley went to high school together.

Cheers for the money DJ 

Super- Lowry has twice as many wins as Dubuisson and 2/3 as many as Gallacher(who has a whole career under his belt). You're being way too dismissive of Shane.

Doral has being getting some flak, Snedeker's caddy saying it's the worst course he's ever lugged a bag around! Poulter complaining about how it's biased towards longer hitters, as evidenced by DJ, Watson and J.B.'s placings.

I was following it on shot-tracker, there certainly doesn't seem to be any shortage of sand or water- nightmarish!

Dubuisson has two pro wins (Turkish and Nordea), Lowry has one. If you add Fat Shane's win as an Amateur, then they have the same.
Not sure why you add Gallacher in there, as I don't rate him at all.

Fat Shane is good, and improving, but I don't see him being a regular winner or reaching the top of the game, as people in his shape seldom do in the modern game.
He's only got himself to blame for being so glutenous.

Dubuisson never won the Nordea, he has one win on the European Tour. Lowry has two Euro Tour wins. I include Gallacher in a Ryder cup context, he made the last team despite only winning thrice in his career of 20 odd years.

My point is wins aren't THAT important, especially in your mid-20's. Where Lowry and Dooby are in their careers, consistently high finishes are encouraging, and an indication that wins will come later. As 9C says, it's a process.

incontinentia wrote:Dubuisson never won the Nordea, he has one win on the European Tour. Lowry has two Euro Tour wins. I include Gallacher in a Ryder cup context, he made the last team despite only winning thrice in his career of 20 odd years.

My point is wins aren't THAT important, especially in your mid-20's. Where Lowry and Dooby are in their careers, consistently high finishes are encouraging, and an indication that wins will come later. As 9C says, it's a process.

My mistake, you are correct. He still has the same number of pro wins as Fatso though. Dubuisson already has a far better record in majors than Billy Bunter despite only playing in 5 to Lardarses 8, and out of the two, I'd say Dubuisson is the more talented.

The Gannet is doing well, but he's no different to a raft of other promising players of years gone by.

Nice win for DJ ...and a good read about the set up of Doral: http://digitalmag.globalgolfpost.com/20150309?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Survivor&utm_campaign=GAP%203/9/2015#&pageSet=0&page=0&contentItem=0


I don't understand the preoccupation with "par" and the defense therein.

Super

If not Lowry then what young UK and Irish player will be the next to move into the worlds top 20 or even top 10. We are not predicting Lowry will be the next McIlroy, or even A Donlald/westwood/poulter, but he could easily achieve what someone like G-mac has.

Could be any Mac, Fleetwood, Willet, Knox, Hatton, Pepperel etc.


On another note, hilarious that 9C is nearly out of the top 100.

Good win for Dustin. He won it, aswell as Johan Boris throwing it away. Not keen on that course though. Make it hard but make it hard for all. Not harder for people that dont bomb it miles.

The course does seem to be a little overly penal but then again, these are the best players in the world. I agree that so much water and wind doesn't mix well but I don't mind seeing the pros struggle once in a while. However, they proved their worth on saturday! I've never seen so many hole outs from bunkers and then you had the two hole in ones. I had genuinely fallen asleep on the sofa between the hole in ones and woke up to see a replay of JB's ball rolling up to the hole. I was most confused when they panned back to the tee and JB was celebrating...

Shotrock wrote:I don't understand the preoccupation with "par" and the defense therein.

I understand it. Well I think I do. How do you as a 14 handicapper rate your play? Unless you play a lot of match play, you rate yourself against the course. In a way, strokeplay events are not so much player v player, but more who played the course better. Net 2 under - brilliant day. Net 6 over - bad day.
So "par" is a standard that you measure yourself against. On any course.
So I would suggest some tournament organisers must feel that the winner must not shoot too far off par, to show that the standard of the course is high. Shooting 254 over 4 days would show that the course was too easy.
Plus having a tough course where the pro's struggle could attract amateurs in some way. See how they would fare etc. Don't know whether they would enjoy it though.

Don't think I've explained myself too well here, but I know what I mean.

Nice summation and I think you've explained it well. My issue (and mostly with the blue coated USGA types) is that they lose sight of the fact this is medal play on the same course. Total lowest number wins. If they want "over par" winning scores they simply need to call every par 4 under 400 yards a par 3 and problem solved. I did think that the setup for Doral was goofy and done so to protect a "number".

I belong to a course that held a PGA event and it was the 4th most difficult on tour that year (scoring in relation to par). Now, that was primarily due to the fact that it was a Par 70 and was chock full of long par 4s. Still, a lot of (unnecessary) bragging about how "difficult" it was (when in fact it was fair and challenging, but not tricked up).

I realize that golf (like life) ain't fair. And I don't have an issue with a poor shot being penalized, but I do roll my eyes when what most professionals think is a good shot (approach to #1 this week) going in the water. Just my 2¢.

Shotrock wrote:when it fact it was fair and challenging, but not tricked up

I think that's my idea of a good course. Including a bit of risk and reward here and there.

McLaren wrote:Super

If not Lowry then what young UK and Irish player will be the next to move into the worlds top 20 or even top 10.  We are not predicting Lowry will be the next McIlroy, or even A Donlald/westwood/poulter, but he could easily achieve what someone like G-mac has.

Eh? Did I miss Donald/Westwood & Poulter winning U.S. Opens??

I don't like a course where good/ marginal shots are penalized as much as bad shots.

JB Holmes 2nd shot on hole #1 (Round 2) is exhibit A.  He hit a solid shot on the par 5, hit the green with trajectory.  But the green was so firm it didn't hold and rolled into the water hazard,.

By no means was it a GREAT shot because it should have been a little more left.  But it was not a shot that deserved to go into a water hazard.  It could have rolled off into the rough or bunker.

super_realist wrote:
On another note, hilarious that 9C is nearly out of the top 100.

No surprising really, considering Harrison Ford hits more fairways than he does.

pedro wrote:

super_realist wrote:
On another note, hilarious that 9C is nearly out of the top 100.

No surprising really, considering Harrison Ford hits more fairways than he does.

Hahaha, brilliant Pedro!!!

Looks like Dustin Johnson might be playing the Irish Open too, or at least Mcilroy and businessman Dermot Desmond are trying to convince him. Should be a great event

Does look like a good field emerging for the spudmuncher open.