PGA Tour: It's the Play-Offs!: Notes from the Ballwasher

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1).All that claptrap on here last week about the Wyndham Championship being the "Final Examination" and a grandfather parks his zimmer frame and only wins the tournament! Now he's planning to be a Captain's Pick for the 2016 Ryder Cup Team. Well done Davis; you probably should have won more in your prime than you did but this was a super win at the confluence of horses for courses and local knowledge. And a win for the fourth decade running, and probably clinched you induction into the World Golf HOF.

2).And what about this in a press conference:
"That's for you guys to decide. You're the ones that have been saying I need to save the sport so you have to write about that. For me, I came here to add to my legendary status, to win, and that's the focus."?

3).No, not Tiger Woods (Usain Bolt since you ask) though you felt it might have been with the media and tournament officials alike who were waxing orgasmic about all things Eldrick until a beyond-clumsy (pull, pull, blade/shank, stub, fluff, two-putt) triple bogey on #11 finally did him in. Even then he rebounded with four birds in his final six holes. He complained afterwards about a sore hip, but no sign it unduly bothered his play.
So, what went wrong on #11? Was that self-inflicted wound an inevitable breakdown of his still fragile psyche? I would certainly think so, but there was much to admire about most of his play over 71 holes.  
It was great to see him playing one of the Tour's premier "community" events, and overall his week was a great success for all. Including CBS TV who enjoyed their best "regular tournament" golf ratings since the summer of 2012, even better than during the Woods POTY cruise thru' 2013.

4).As a result of their finishes at the Wyndham, several well-known names will only be able to earn a 2015/16 Tour card via the web.com Tour Finals in September:
Scott Langley, Baddeley, Brian Davis, Gonzo, Billy Hurley, Michael Thompson, Lucas Glover, Luke Guthrie, Jhonny Vegas, Byrd, Barnes, Van Pelt, Romero, Kyle Stanley, etc.
And Martin Kaymer has officially forfeited his card, as, presumably, has Victor Dubuisson. Hopefully Europe's gain.

5).The FedEx Play-Offs start this week, in New Jersey, at Plainfield CC with The Barclays. This is "old hat" for 22 golfers who have qualified for the Play-Offs for each of their 8 years and are at it again:
Messrs Donald, Furyk, Garcia, Haas, Hoffman, HowellIII, ZJohnson, Kelly, Kuchar, Mahan (the only man to have played every Play-Off tournament), Mickelson, Moore, Overton, Perez, Poulter, Rose, Sabbatini, Scott, Senden, Snedeker, Watney, Watson. (Some surprises there?)

6).But eight "old hats" missed out for the first time:
Baddeley, Choi, Davis, Els, Jacobson, Ogilvy, Stricker, Van Pelt.

7).The Barclays was held at Plainfield once before, in 2011, when the tournament was restricted to 54 holes due to Hurricane Irene which went on to devastate parts of New York State and Northern New England. For what it's worth, the following players in this year's field all scored top 20 finishers:
1st: Dustin Johnson
2nd: Kuchar
3rd: Vijay Singh, Snedeker
6th: Rose, Villegas
10th: Hoffman, Simpson, Watney
13th: Harrington, Day, Piercy, Woodland
18th: Donald, Poulter, Howell, Sabbatini, Walker.

8).For the second week running, Sedgefield last week, Plainfield this, the host course is a Donald Ross design. The course will play as a Par-70, 34 on the front, 36 on the back. Note 7). shows the course specialists, such as they are - the long and the short and the tall - and racking my memory for local lads, Morgan Hoffmann is the only one that comes to mind. Not much help. Sorry!

9).Nick Price and Greg Norman have finally secured a little flexibility in the structure of the Presidents Cup. The changes are too arcane to summarise easily so take a butcher's at this lot if you're interested:
http://www.presidentscup.com/news/2015/08/24/format-changes.html

10).It's a small world after all:
The PGA Tour announced future venues today for The Barclays and there's a fresh face amongst the regulars of Bethpage Black (2016, 2021), Ridgewood (2018), Liberty National (2019, 2022) and Plainfield (2015, 2020).
In 2017 they're taking it to Glen Oaks Club, Old Westbury, NY. The present course is a 1971 Joe Finger design, with a highly regarded renovation in 2011 by Joel Weiman and Course Superintendent Craig Currier.
Now, stick with me here. Craig Currier was the Superintendent at Bethpage when it staged the US Open. And he comes from a crossroads in Central New York State lyrically called Currier Corners and in the rural hamlet that also includes Cedar Lake Club, the home course of Derek Bard who lost the US Amateur Final this past Sunday. Not many people know that!!
PS: Wish Currier would take his redesign skills back to Cedar Lake.

Word from NBC Sport that:
Will Wilcox has withdrawn from this week's DeutscheBank; he is still dealing with a knee injury and this ends his season.
Lee Westwood will not be accepting PGA Tour membership next season. Also he's reportedly going thru a divorce.

Nice report Grumpy. Sounds like you had fun. Is the mrs a golf fan? If I presented a golf tournament ticket to my wife she would probably screw it up into a ball and ram it down my throat.

raycastleunited wrote:If I presented a golf tournament ticket to my wife she would probably screw it up into a ball and ram it down my throat.

Is it just me or does that sound seriously hot?

Not really Ray. I have to find her somewhere she can sit and see a lot of stuff. Last year she was sat behind the drivable par 4 5th hole at Ridgewood and this year we lucked out position wise on the 11th.

I think she had a good time, I know I did. I think she prefers to see as many players as she can and she doesn't get why you'd want to follow someone round the course.  I say I do it because you get to see all the course and different shots. If you're just sat a par 3 you see the same old stuff all the time.

At the moment it's working, we probably won't go to Bethpage next year as we don't want to deal with the NYC traffic, the proof will be if we both go to Liberty National.

kwinigolfer wrote:Word from NBC Sport that:
Will Wilcox has withdrawn from this week's DeutscheBank; he is still dealing with a knee injury and this ends his season.
Lee Westwood will not be accepting PGA Tour membership next season. Also he's reportedly going thru a divorce.

Wow - where did you see that Kwini? I did wonder when and if he'd ever return to sunny Worksop given his poor performance in the US this year but the divorce thing was something a bit out of the blue. I feel sorry for his children if they have to be dragged back here - or is Mrs W staying put?

LP,
It was on NBC Sports' web-page - don't know any other details and somewhat surprised it hasn't been picked up by other outlets. But haven't seen the report retracted either so assuming it's all true.
"Florida" hasn't worked out for him, has it? Too much bling for LW, not enough hard yakka (as Simon Hughes would put it).

Having Googled him, I see it was in the press here in June that they had split up - and definitely for good - and he faces losing half his £30million fortune.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3114126/Golf-star-Lee-Westwood-42-splits-wife-faces-losing-half-30million-fortune.html

The latest report is that he has found love with a 38-yr-old model.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3114126/Golf-star-Lee-Westwood-42-splits-wife-faces-losing-half-30million-fortune.html  

Don't know how I came to miss all that!

I think you need THIS LINK for the second story. Your two links are the same.

Nice to see his bird wearing a 'Cuse hat . . . . . . wonder what the connection is there?

Thanks INW!

It's the Daily Fail - it must be true

Here's my back of envelope calculations:
lw1 - xwife = £15m
lw1 + 1model + 1year = £7.5m