PGA Tour: Golf "Stuff": Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).Much more "stuff" in the news this week than anything Greenbrier- or John Deere Classic-specific, especially with our attention diverted to Europe, so here goes:

2).How bizarre is the news of Scott Stallings' 3-month suspension for owning up to unwittingly - which clearly defines him as a dimwit - taking drugs categorized as PED's. Pointless debating the pros and cons of the case here, he passed a drug test in January whilst still taking the offending "supplements", but this is the timeline I don't understand:
Feb 10th: Turns himself in.
March 23rd: Tour notifies him he's violated the anti-drug programme.
July 7th: 3-Month suspension.
So: The Tour knowingly allowed him to compete, knowing full well he'd pleaded guilty to taking something he shouldn't have, presumably taking money and points out of the hands of his fellow pros. Some genius will do a study of who got screwed the most, but this is no way to run a drug programme. "OK Scott, looks like it's a convenient time, off you go to the beach, see you when the 2015/16 season starts. Cheers."

3).Also wearing the dunce's cap is the caddie of one of the LPGA's better players who was disqualified by the USGA for illegally viewing hole locations etc for this week's US Women's Open. (The tournament will be played at the gorgeous-looking Lancaster (Pennsylvania) CC, a William Flynn classic in a portfolio that includes Merion and Shinnecock.)

3).And then there's Trump.
The PGA Of America announced today it was moving their October Grand Slam event from Trump National GC in LA; no word as to its destination.
No action from the LPGA about staging the Ladies Open at Turnberry later this month.
No further decision on other Majors but presumably/hopefully it doesn't hasten the return of The Open to Turnberry anytime soon.
Just lip service so far from the PGA Tour (and presumably the World Golf Associations must have a say?) and Cadillac about their contract with Doral, and strange that Puerto Rico has had nothing to say about the Trump venue there.

4).Did you know that Tiger Woods had his best ever tournament last week in terms of the Tour's "proximity to the hole" stat? The Tour's definition as to exactly what that means is ambiguous to say the least, but the fact it's Woods' best ever, and by almost two feet (23 ft 11 inches vs 25 ft 9 ins), is surely significant. His previous five best have all resulted in wins.
Interesting slo-mo analysis last week by Faldo and Kostis showing the difference in speed and head movement in Woods' driver golf swing as he moved from the range to holes he was clearly uneasy on. Dramatic.

5).Tim Finchem might have made a curious decision about the Stallings suspension, and he still has the dummy in his mouth regarding Trump, but his genius at tying sponsors to long-term contracts was underlined when he announced an extension of the John Deere sponsorship to 2023.

6).super_realist will be in the front row at St.Andrews for next Monday's World Golf Hall of Fame induction ceremony when O'Meara, David Graham, Laura Davies and AW Tillinghast are recognized. Not sure that O'Meara and Graham qualify as golfing "greats", and can't really see their "body of work" that usually elevates marginal candidates. Would certainly vote for Laura Davies and Tillinghast though.

7).Still can't find an official list of "alternates" for The Open. I guessed last week that Russell Knox may be first alternate with Ramsay and Chris Wood among others on the short list. Help!

8).News from the sick room: Tim Clark makes his second appearance after an extended lay-off at the John Deere event, two weeks after missing the Travelers cut. Kevin Stadler plays this week too for the first time since The Masters, while Stuart Appleby played his first "rehab" tournament in last week's web.commer in Nova Scotia.

9).Sticking by my early season guestimate that 500 FedEx points will be the cut-off number for the top 125 players who get to compete in the Play-Offs and keep their cards for next year. Greg Owen's second strong finish in a month should have rescued his job for another year, outplaying and outscoring his Notts neighbour Westwood who still has work to do. "Notables" who now look unlikely to reach the Play-Offs include:
McDowell
KJ Choi
Blixt
Badds
Freddie Jac (still awaiting confirmation as to why he hasn't been playing)
Els
Cabrera
Woods

10).All eyes on Gullane this week, and Rory's medical bulletins.
There'll be a charter jet carrying Jordan Spieth, Zach Johnson and about twenty others (plus caddies, family etc) from the John Deere tournament to St.Andrews. And also on board should be one lucky qualifier, the leading player in the top five not otherwise exempt. No idea who that might be, but Scott Langley played 71 pretty good holes at The Greenbrier.
Hopefully the next two weeks will be all about Golf, not Stuff.

Hi sirb,
Don't know, as after the 4-putt we hardly saw him, though he did collect an 8 which is not exactly what he would have wanted.
We watched him play a few holes at Hartford where he missed the cut on the number, and he was putting himself in some unnecessarily tricky situations, a bit Colsaerts-ish it looked like, and not great around the greens.
Bang it 350 yards and then what? I'd rather see him with a more experienced-looking caddie. But after saying all that, he could win by six.

Weather delay in the Quad Cities with thunderstorms and lightening all around. Not a great forecast, but you know they'll squeeze everything they can out of this evening's day/twilight, and same on Sunday.

None of the current top ten qualified for St.Andrews so lots to play for.

Kevin Streelman is into the Open after Chris Kirk withdraws

sirbenson wrote:Kevin Streelman is into the Open after Chris Kirk withdraws

GPB is scooped again!!     

Just posted it in the Scottish Open thread


Edit:  Chris Kirk has reportedly broken his hand.

Good scoop sirb, Still haven't see that reported. Ramsay on deck?

Weather should clear in the Quad Cities for a full afternoon and evening of play. Hope so.

kwinigolfer wrote:Good scoop sirb, Still haven't see that reported. Ramsay on deck?

Weather should clear in the Quad Cities for a full afternoon and evening of play. Hope so.

Ramsay and then George McNeill as far as I can tell.

Chris Kirk reportedly has broken his hand.

Open Championship twitter account tweeted it 

https://twitter.com/TheOpen/status/619915221319159808


edited:  Broke his hand playing with one of his kids at the family farm.

Could be worse, could have buggered his ankle playing footie.

That's (RR and GMcN) is what I thought, GPB, followed by Chris Wood, but Golf Channel reckons comehellor Iwata is next up.

If Tim Clark can't make it, that'll open up one spot, then only Jacquelin and Brooks are top tenners not exempt at Gullane, as the cream rises to the top there.

Looks like they should complete Round 3 at the John Deere; Justin Thomas off at 3.20 p.m. CDT.

Iwata was ranked 103rd last week, I doubt it is him.

Jordan Spieth is incredible!

Certainly #1 currently.

Even incredibler . . . . . .

Is Jordan Spieth actually human? I think he should be taken to Area 51 and checked out. If he keeps going at this rate, forget Jack, Tiger, Rory etc.

Alex Noren has withdrawn from the Open and replaced by Hiroshi Iwata

Apparently Richie Ramsay is next reserve.

Kwini...  I haven't been here much... so I don't know if the Stallings "time frame" thing has been addressed...

Bottom line:  There is an appeals process built into the Tour's policy... and adding up the various time frames of notificatiions back and forth, selecting the panel etc, etc.. can easily take 90 days plus.     So the March 23 date would be the "start point" of that appeals process, and this not coming out to July would make sense.  Go back to the Singh deal... which we know there was an appeal... and the time frames were tracking very similar...

And just because Stallings turned himself in, doesn't mean he still didn't appeal the March 23 determination (whatever it was).   He could have appealed on the basis of the negative test... the length of suspension he got.... virtually anything.   And who knows?  maybe the appeal  was actually successful.... like maybe he got 6 months reduced to 3...  I don't know.    But in any event, and according to the dates and time frames laid out in the policy... there's nothing "odd" about the time frame in this I can see.

I haven't seen anything that Stallings appealed.

Apparently Shawn Stefani is the latest first alternate for St Andews.

With him being in contention at John Deere, it kind of muddies the water on who will get the Deere Top 10 exemption since Tim Clark has not officially WDed.

If Stefani nudges out Thomas today for the Open C exemption and Tim Clark WD's AFTER the tournament is over, then Ramsay would get Tim Clark's exemption.

If Stefani nudges out Thomas today for the Open Championship. exemption and Tim Clark WD's BEFORE the tournament is over, then Stefani would get the Tim Clarks exemption and Thomas would get the Deere Exemption.

Johnson Wagner is kind of in the same boat as Thomas. I wonder if Wagner has his passport with him?



FTR...Stefani wins any tiebreaker as he would be the highest ranked player not in the Open Championship.

GPB wrote:I haven't seen anything that Stallings appealed.

Just because we haven't heard it, doesn't mean he didn't...  And by the wording of the policy... he almost had to have. According to the Policy... once the Commissioner has determined there is a violation and notifies the player (which appears to be the March 23rd date)... there's ONLY a 7 day window for the player to either appeal or the sanctions "WILL" be imposed, and at that time the public notification is required.   Since there was no notification at that time... appeal is the only thing apparent in the policy that explains the delay to early July... as the time frames discussed in the Policy of that process fits to late June or early July.

Also... never say never.. but in the environment of the pending Vijay legal action (where he's basically claiming unequal treatment under the policy)... I couldn't imagine the Tour varying in any way from the policy with any of the cases since...

Hoggard wrote a somewhat in-depth timeline of the Stallings saga and nowhere did it mention an appeal.  

If Stallings appealed, it seems like a pretty big omission on the timeline by Hoggard considering how in-depth it was.  Stallings has been forthright with the media so I don't think he would be holding back that info.

Because Hoggard didn't mention it doesn't mean there wasn't an appeal either.  

Simple as this GPB... I can't KNOW with certainty there was an appeal involved.  But for me... it's that "Occam's Razor" thing again...   "In the absence of evidence to the contrary, the simplest explanation is usually the best"

In this case... I think the simplest explanation is found in the written policy... and within that written policy there is an explanation as to how a determination that was apparently made in late March might not  have been announced until early July. That would be the appeals process. And with the time-frames of the appeals process fitting precisely.... then for now at least... that's seems the logical explanation.  

Now I won't fall on my sword and say that IS it, because again... I don't know, I can't know at this point, because apparently the Tour or Stallings haven't addressed that specific point publicly.  But absent other evidence (and I don't see something some reporter didn't say in an article as evidence)... then I'll stick with the likelihood there was an appeal involved.

I do agree an appeal makes sense, but an appeal is NOT a trivial detail to leave off the timeline.

GPB wrote:I do agree an appeal makes sense, but an appeal is NOT a trivial detail to leave off the timeline.

You'd have to ask Rex about that. I just tried... I'll let you know if he gets back to me.

All rhetorical now, but it just smells a bit funny (peculiar).

Amidst all the "incredibles" about Spieth's Round 3, he also hit the pin on two other occasions, a chip which stopped just about stone dead, and a 150-yard-ish shot that made a mess of the hole and had to be repaired by a Tour official. Fortunately he holed the resultant 20-footer.

Elsewhere, McDowell doing nothing to earn himself a place at Firestone or Plainfield.

kwinigolfer wrote:All rhetorical now, but it just smells a bit funny (peculiar).

Amidst all the "incredibles" about Spieth's Round 3, he also hit the pin on two other occasions, a chip which stopped just about stone dead, and a 150-yard-ish shot that made a mess of the hole and had to be repaired by a Tour official. Fortunately he holed the resultant 20-footer.

Elsewhere, McDowell doing nothing to earn himself a place at Firestone or Plainfield.

I believe GMAC is qualified for B-Stone as a 2014 Ryder Cupper.

Thanks GPB.

What do you reckon will be the Top 125 cut-offs GPB?
I've been thinking 500 FedEx points, tho' that might be a touch high.
And somewhere between $750K and $800K.

I don't think it will close to 500 FE pts.  Luke Donald at #125 is 149 pts away and I can't see the number increasing that much

Two additional Opposite field event should not be enough to move last years cut off of 438 pts to 500 pts.  

My best guess is 465 pts

Money?  I seldom look at the money list anymore.  With the WGC minimums of ~50K, I think the money is skewed much towards the players who are playing WGC's.  and much more so on the European Tour. 

I believe Spieth would be leading the Race To Dubai if he were member of the Euro Tour.  and he hasn't even played a non cosanctioned Euro event this year.

A weak field for this week's "opposite field" event in Alabama getting weaker by the hour. At least ten senior players in the field with a handful more waiting in the "alternate" wings.
Pity they couldn't fill the field from last season's money list instead of 50-year-olds, many of whom aren't exempt on the Champions Tour.

Regardless, check with your local bookie about a price for Will Wilcox. Silly name, and it seems he's done some silly things, but he's a fine golfer just ready to break through. Some season stat placings:
Total Driving: 5th
Greens in Reg: 7th
Ball Striking: 3rd
Putting: 40th
Sand Saves: 1st
Scrambling; 17th
All Around: 3rd

Where's the tournament being played: Alabama
Where's he from: Alabama

Plus: He hasn't played any tournament over par this year.
And he just finished 8th in the JDC.

Not saying he's going to win, but now you know more about him than your corner bookie does.

kwinigolfer wrote:A weak field for this week's "opposite field" event in Alabama getting weaker by the hour. At least ten senior players in the field with a handful more waiting in the "alternate" wings.
Pity they couldn't fill the field from last season's money list instead of 50-year-olds, many of whom aren't exempt on the Champions Tour.

Regardless, check with your local bookie about a price for Will Wilcox. Silly name, and it seems he's done some silly things, but he's a fine golfer just ready to break through. Some season stat placings:
Total Driving: 5th
Greens in Reg: 7th
Ball Striking: 3rd
Putting: 40th
Sand Saves: 1st
Scrambling; 17th
All Around: 3rd

Where's the tournament being played: Alabama
Where's he from: Alabama

Plus: He hasn't played any tournament over par this year.
And he just finished 8th in the JDC.

Not saying he's going to win, but now you know more about him than your corner bookie does.

I was wondering why his price keeps rising on Draftkings.  Wish you had given me the heads up a few weeks ago.

Sagarin Ranking 93rd
OWGR ranking 203rd

Will try harder GPB . . . . . .

Sorry you're in the fanto mire - I'm having my best ever year in the pgatour.com game, can't be bothered with others though might try DK in the new season.

I am really enjoying draftkings even though I have gone through about $65 of my $100 investment.  I just don't seemed to be any good at it.  I zig, when I should have zagged.

I have picked Stricker twice, and he missed the cut both times.

And I play almost all the other games, GC, PGAT, Yahoo, and the new PGAT/Stricker/Avis game.

I did real well in Yahoo last year and real well in the PGAT game two years ago.

Got to admit, I don't do a whole of research (xcept for DK) and it takes me about 20 minutes on Tuesday to get my teams lined up.

You ought to try DK, I enjoy watching its leaderboard go up and down.  I do have a entry to the Millionaire Maker for the OC where they will have about 250K entries.  You can literally go up and down 10000 places in 15 minutes.

Most important:

1. Pick 6 guys that will make the cut
2. Pick guys that will be in the top 10
3. Pick guys that make a lot of birdies and eagles.  (It has a stableford-esque type scoring system)

Here is an overview.

https://www.draftkings.com/help/pga

The PGA Tour's opposite field event, the Barbasol Championship in Alabama, has exhausted its list of possible alternates. Any further withdrawals won't be replaced.
There's got to be a better way, and recommendation number one is Do Not Hold A web.com Tournament the same week as an opposite field event.
But a great chance for Senor Gonzo and Mr.Davis to make some hay.

Never seen this one before... The situation is this... you got it correct Kwini in that they got all the way through the priority list and ran out of alternates. There is actually another category below veteran members ("50 Finishers beyond 150 on Prior Season's Money List thru Wyndham" - which are technically not members so they are not usually shown on any priority list) by which two more were eligible due to WD's today... (Malinati & Labelle)

So the field is set... additional SE's or Alternates will not be added.. and if their are further WD's, the field will be reduced by that number.

robo,
It's a shame they have a web.commer this week.
I'm kinda surprised they haven't got any more international golfers, a la Mayakoba or PR. They need to spend a little time back at the drawing board.
Great opportunity though for the coupla dozen viable contenders though!

Your mate Maggert's enjoying quite year; good for him.