PGA Tour: Jack Nicklaus's Memorial Tournament: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).The Tour finally makes its overdue trek north from the South and the West to Columbus, Ohio, and Muirfield Village, Jack Nicklaus's gift to his hometown and site of the Memorial Tournament, quite possibly the best "regular season" (sort of) event on Tour.
We leave behind a sodden Texas which has suffered the monsoons that India has reportedly been missing. Kudos to the Tour for getting out of Fort Worth and Dallas on time. Extraordinary really.

2).Sunday's emphatic win at the Byron Nelson by Steven Bowditch, the Aussie golfing savant, was as out of the blue as any win so far this year - or at least since Harrington's Honda breakthrough. If Bowditch looks like an extra from One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, well perhaps there's good reason given what he's been through. I've linked this 2009 article before, but it's well worth reading again:
http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-tours-news/2009-04/gw20090427_moriarty

3).Sunday's win brings Bowditch to the fringes of the automatic qualifying places for Nick Price's Presidents Cup Team. Given the form, or lack of it, of some of his rivals, you'd think Bowditch might well be on the plane to South Korea.

4).Good results in Texas also elevated Chris Kirk and Charley Hoffman into US qualifying places; Spieth and Walker are certainties for the US Team, but the rest of the spots on Jay Haas's squad are up for grabs, Bubba and Kirk leading the pack.

5).Very happy to see a glimpse of a return to form by Jason Dufner who finished T8 in Dallas. Duf's PGA Championship win at Oak Hill, less than two years ago, was a brilliant performance but have you seen his putting stroke on short putts, even then? 180th in putting on Tour and a small improvement on the greens could see him back in contention before much longer.

6).This week sees the Collegiate Men's Golf Championships. This competition is for top individual in stroke-play, followed by Team match-play. The individual winner was Bryson DeChambeau who reportedly has all his irons built to the same length, from 3-iron down thru his wedges. Never heard of that before. Have you?
Ireland's Paul Dunne, Belgium's Thomas Detry and Austria's Matthias Schwab all finished in the top dozen.

7).Fantastic to see Royal County Down, the Irish Open and four days of sell-outs. Very popular win from Soren Kjeldsen if the twittersphere is any guide.
Ernie Els came away rating RCD in his personal top three links courses and, lucky him, he gets to travel next to one of his favourite Tour stops, at Muirfield Village.

8).Muirfield Village is consistently ranked in the top 20 of US Courses and is familiar to us viewers, not just because of the Memorial Tournament but also its unique status having staged all three major professional "Cups": Ryder, Solheim and Presidents. Nicklaus is always tinkering with his design, and this year we'll see a facelift to the 18th, not just the new back tee, but also a tweaking of the complex of fairway bunkering which frames the right side of the fairway. Looking forward to seeing it.
I would suggest that Muirfield Village is about as well balanced a course as you can find: Longish with wide fairways and very Nicklaus-like as each hole gets more difficult the closer to the green you get. Strong par-5's, though only the Augusta-like 12th really stands out among the Par-3's. Woods has won here plenty of times but Furyk, Choi and Pettersson have been champions too.

9).Jack might have expected more leading Europeans to show up this week; Henrik Stenson is understandably playing in Sweden and Rory takes a breather, but no Garcia, Westwood, Poulter, Casey, Donald, Kaymer, McDowell, etc, etc.
Justin Rose won his first PGA Tournament here in 2010 so he's playing, and most leading Americans have turned up also. Andy Sullivan and Tommy Fleetwood  are both on board - a big week for Sullivan as he's right on the precipice of US Open qualification.

10).And Nick Faldo will be here, not just in the CBS TV booth, but also as an honoree in the Ring of Honour - sounds corny but a nicely done celebration of great figures in the history of Golf. Among modern-era honorees are Henry Cotton, Tony Jacklin, Seve, Joe Carr, Annika and Michael Bonallack. A richly deserved tribute for Sir Nick; no doubt we'll be hearing a lot about it come the weekend . . . . . . . !

Kwini - excellent as ever. Course looks great, but can't understand why he has to fiddle with it every year? Perhaps as an advertisement for Nicklaus course design inc!
Struck by the last of your notes: Annika and Michael Bonalack. When did that happen!! Still very right on to put the lady's name first!!
Mac - Neil is a member at Blairgowrie, and also apparently receives some support (financial) from Peter Ulhein after they played together in Dunhill Links a couple of years ago. End of nerd speak!

puligny wrote:Kwini - excellent as ever. Course looks great, but can't understand why he has to fiddle with it every year? Perhaps as an advertisement for Nicklaus course design inc!
Struck by the last of your notes: Annika and Michael Bonalack. When did that happen!! Still very right on to put the lady's name first!!
Mac - Neil is a member at Blairgowrie, and also apparently receives some support (financial) from Peter Ulhein after they played together in Dunhill Links a couple of years ago. End of nerd speak!

I've heard a lot of very negative things about Bradley Neil. From what I've heard he's an insufferable big head and generally unpleasant person.

Fine player though, played in front of him at Blairgowrie 36 a few years ago and every time I turned round his ball was within 6 feet of the hole.

Hi puligny,
Sure Nicklaus would say he's just trying to stay current - on #18 I think some guys were starting to bomb their drives over the tree in the dog-leg - not sure that tree is still there, but the maginot line of bunkers certainly has been reinforced and I haven't seen as many balls in the creek through the fairway in a long time. Wish the Tour would move the tee-box up on #14 for a round or two, tempt the bombers to go for the green. Great little hole regardless.

I see the real Mrs B was winning trophies again last month . . . .

Kwini

Didn't Matsuyama win from somewhere well left up 18 last year? I remember someone catching a break well off line.

Who is the real Mrs B?

Super

Would you care to expand? I would be interested to hear what this scamp has been up to.


puligny

Bring on the nerd speak, we need more of it on here. Have you heard more positive things about Neil?

Mac, I've just heard that he's a bit of a bighead. Could be jealousy from a lot of Amateurs, but I've heard it from a lot of people.

Super

Why is it always so hard to get information out of you. Could you expand on who told you this, how they know about him and what evidence it was based on. I don't mean to sound pedanic but this is only an interesting story if you actually let us know the details. Then we can decide whether or not believe that he is a bit of a turd or not. This is not meant to be confrontational, I am just trying to coax more information out of you.

Mac, I know nothing else. Wish I had half his golf game.

puligny

Sorry that last comment was exclusively for super. His vague "some guy in the pub said" story about Neil was about as useful as his restaurant recommendation the other day which was "there is somewhere nice to eat in the town".

McLaren wrote:puligny

Sorry that last comment was exclusively for super.  His vague "some guy in the pub said" story about Neil was about as useful as his restaurant recommendation the other day which was "there is somewhere nice to eat in the town".

Mac, I'm talking about people who have known him on the Amateur circuit. I suppose it's not surprising that a sportsman should be an bumhole.

It looks like the boys in Columbus have perfect conditions for scoring; 70F already and virtually calm.

The cut-line has already crept from Even Par to One Under, and it will most likely stay there. Which means Martin Laird needs an under-par round today, along with plenty of big names, Day, Reed, Fowler and Phil for starters. Woods will need a 70 or it's back to the drawing board, or Chambers Bay, for him. Tommy Fleetwood needs a miracle, or at least a 67.

I really hope Fleetwood has just taken an invite to play and is not contemplating becoming a double dipper. As we know this is now a disastrous career move.

turnip wrote:Is it worth playing Ray/INW ?
I used to live in Southall as a kid and 3 of us used to cycle across the course to get to Hanwell Park (we always called it the Bunny Park as it had a small "zoo" - rabbits and parrots mainly I think) We were only 10 at the time and can't imagine letting kids do it nowadays.
Almost entered their open last year but date didn't work but have always fancied seeing what it is like. (and not sh1tting myself when getting across the fairways!)

I'm guessing you were probably cycling more across Brent Valley than West Mid to get to Bunny Park. They border each other. Brent Valley is a public course where you will find drug addicts shooting up in the bushes and be accosted by kids trying to sell you golf balls they have just stolen from you.

I haven't played West Mid in over 5 years, but used to play there quite a bit when I lived in Ealing. It's a bit quirky but I liked it. A great set of par 3s, a number of risk / reward tee shots and although the land is flat there is a lot of links style undulation in the fairways.

Someone tried to mug me there once. I was standing on the tee with driver in hand. He backed off pretty quickly when I raised my club, then I realised it was my new shiny driver so I quickly ran to my bag to pick another club. He sloped off back into the bushes as I dithered over club selection. I went with lob wedge in the end as I thought that was the easiest club to replace, but by then he was gone and I had calmed down a bit

McLaren wrote:Craigentinny in Edinburgh is surrounded by a bit of a dodgy estate, not sure what the estate is called, maybe part of Restalrig.  It is full of chavs just dossing about and shouting abuse at the golfers.  There are a fair few empty tinnies in the rough.


Silverknowes is also in a less than salubrious location.

I've played both those courses. Quite a long time ago. Portobello as well is pretty similar isn't it? None of them have quite the same view I'm talking about at West Middx - council houses bordering the course and overlooking the fairway like a big grandstand.

Mac,
Whatever Tommy Fleetwood's long-term ambitions might be, he can't be double-dipping this season.
First chance would be if he collects enough "phantom" FedEx points to qualify for the WTF final series. He's on pace at the moment but needs good finishes in his few remaining opportunities to maintain his pace. Most likely a lost opportunity this week, so probably only four chances left (tho' he's not in the Bridgestone yet).

The point is that I hope he doesn't try and juggle 2 tours. Whether that be in hope of STM/WTF qualification this season or a full schedule in the future.

McLaren wrote:puligny

Sorry that last comment was exclusively for super.  His vague "some guy in the pub said" story about Neil was about as useful as his restaurant recommendation the other day which was "there is somewhere nice to eat in the town".

Mac. Say whatever you like about S_R, but he doesn't strike me as that stupid. He isn't going to put in (any sort of) print, specific names of people re. any sort of allegation based on some people's impressions of this guy. In addition, I'd almost be obliged to delete anything of the sort.

Three good weeks for the European Tour with a full house at Wentworth, sell out at RCD and, reportedly, 20,000 tickets sold each day in Malmo.

Not sure about Fleetwood's plans but Sullivan and Pepperell are both going well right now, 4,000-ish miles apart.


Still Paraguay's best ever golfer? Carlos Franco makes his Champions Tour debut today.

Hole in one for Jason Dufner - his second consecutive eagle and fourth so far this week. The art of Dufnering is not yet dead.

Navy

I was not expecting actual names. But knowing what the nature of his sources were would have helped.


Kwini

It looked as if his best shag and best golf were behind him.

Only to you, Mac.
I'm sure better days are coming for him, in both respects.

Really

At the start of this year you thought Duff would top a major win and get a new hotter wife?

Mac,
See my note 5 above regarding his golf. No reason to think he couldn't snaffle another Major as well as he played Oak Hill.
As for Amanda, I'll have to take your word for her heat . . . . . . she certainly is gorgeous, but who knows? Oh, sorry, perhaps you do?
I'm sure Dufner will do just fine.

Cjeka posts rounds of 73 and 78 but is subsequently disqualified; anyone know why?

Initial indication is that it was for signing an incorrect scorecard - which could be a euphemism for tearing it up and throwing it away.

Fifty feet of putts made by Woods on his first two holes. 57 feet on first three.

Terrific looking 64 from Andy Sullivan.

And another 20+ footer. Almost 80 feet in putts over first four holes for Woods.

Cut creeping towards -2. Hope it doesn't get there.

Nice ... Tiger looking to secure a cut ... and not act like the current world #1. Still, plenty of time for him to give it all back.

Thanks Kwini, doesn't really matter now that Gun Yang came in with an 82 so Cjeka's 78 is no longer in the running for worst round.

Woods' putter is certainly hotter than his driver: Driving accuracy 25%.

No sense that Woods is enjoying his golf at all.
Wonder whether he ever did. Or whether it was just the winning he craved.

Molinari still going nicely - a good finish here would be just the job.

Vintage Woods, another 30-footer.
Imagine he'll come in and bemoan that he didn't make anything.

kwinigolfer wrote:Vintage Woods, another 30-footer.
Imagine he'll come in and bemoan that he didn't make anything.

You have to ask, if he's sleeving yard and yards of putts, what's he doing so far away from the hole in the first place?

s_r,
Woods stats:
Driving Accuracy: 32%
Greens in Reg: 47%
But his chipping and scrambling has been pretty good and he's holed a ton of putts; he's sussed out where the ball is going around the greens, but off the tee it's still a mystery.

Early tee-time for him today.

Bloody hell, that's worse GIR than me. Awful

kwini

I thought from note 5 that you might agree with me about his best golf being behind him, given that you note how poor his putting is. I am sure he can return to contending now and again on the PGA tour but he is not a young man and I would not predict a return to winning a major.

As for Amanda I thought quite a few on here were fans and the general consesus was that Duff was punching above his weight in that regard.




So what happened to Tiger and the chipping yips?

Mac,
Short putting has always been Dufner's nemesis, even when he won at Oak Hill - but he's a good putter from any (EDIT: i.e. medium length or long) distance.
He's been striking the ball really well the past three weeks, looking very good.

Kjeldsen playing well again after his big win.

Kwini

Could you see Dufner qualifying for the Ryder cup again? And this is more to do with it being a marker for a sign he is one of the top 12 american players. As a guide he is currently 50th in the Presidents cup standings.

Who knows? He played well in the only "Cups" he played in.
There seems to be some sort of trans-Atlantic notion that his PGA win was somehow a fluke. Nothing of the sort, he's as good as his health (and motivation perhaps) allows him to be. Furyk reckoned he could have gone even lower yesterday and no-one knows much better than him.

From ASAP Sports

Q.  This is the second straight event you're grinding over a putt on the 36th hole to make the cut.  What do you need to do to take it to the next level?

TIGER WOODS: <b>Play more tournaments</b>.  This is my fifth event and this is June.  So obviously I need to play more.  But at least I was able to make those putts, so that's a positive sign.  Now I just need to put myself in the position where those putts are to win tournaments, not to make cuts.

http://www.asapsports.com/show_interview.php?id=109795





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At least he didn't say " I NEED REPS" 

!! Saw that.
And he DID say that he wouldn't add to his schedule!!

Two wides off the tee, the first down the leg side, the second into the slips, two paths from the trees to the green, two pars.

Sounds as if conditions might be a touch breezier than the first two days; will any early starter go low?

Dustin cranking it into gear.
Four shots better than anyone else on the day.
Ten strokes better than the back marker whose putter has turned cold today. Still hitting wides off the tee, half his (two) drives in the fairway have come off the trees.

Noren returning to his rightful place in European contention. Nice to have you back, Alex.

Front nines by round for Woods so far:
1).33
2).33
3).42

Back nines:
1).40
2).37
3).?

Five birdies, two eagles, two pars and a double, through 11 holes for Dustin.

Kwini - you're called out on exaggeration! Hit one into the slips! Silly mid off maybe, but not slips surely!
Watched a bit last night. Justin was amazing. Some of the best iron play I've seen. Striping it off the tee - piping it down the flag. He's the man for Chambers Bay!

9C slumping to the worst round today. I never thought all you people who picked 9C were so astute as to see him giving you bonus points for such a rotten round. Well played.

That's an 85 for Woods and he'll take a lonely walk early Sunday morning. Don't be surprised to see a 2-hour round.

Ha!
I was going from the bowler's perspective!!
Lots of fine golf yesterday, looking forward to the afternoon's action. Hope Andy Sullivan and Justin continue to move forward but plenty of good men up there.

Phil Mickelson on pace to equal Tiger's misery.

Tiger needs to face reality and faces two options.

1. He really is injured to the point where he can't swing normally and therefore has his current stupid swing. (This options seems unlikely becasue as terrible as his swing is it is so wild it must be providing no protection to any injury.

If true however, it is time to hang up the clubs and admit it is game over if he is unable to use a conventional swing.


2. He drops whatever silly chip he has on his shoulder about not having a proper coach and gives Butch or any of the other mainstream guys a call. And hopes he can assemble a swing be the start of next season.

One thing getting in the way of that Mac, a brain.

super_realist wrote:9C slumping to the worst round today. I never thought all you people who picked 9C were so astute as to see him giving you bonus points for such a rotten round. Well played.

Think he might have wrapped up last place too....

Only if doesn't withdraw, presumably.
What a contrast to the highs and lows today, Bradley and Johnson in with 65's, Reed and Streelman going like trains, yet so many players so many shots over par.
Don't often see such a contrast.