PGA Tour: DeutscheBank Championship - TPC Bawston: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).OK, Round 2 of the Play-Offs and we're well and truly into the Jason Day era/month. Fabulous performance from Day last weekend, McIlroy didn't show up and Jordan Spieth didn't like the course (Plainfield CC) and left early.

2).The kwini/Grumpy tandem were your on-course observers at Plainfield and it seems general consensus is that the course, while fabulous as a golf course, was tricked up for the Pros and tended to penalise shorter (actually, all but the longest) hitters. That's not good; there needs to be a balance and then "May the best man win". Changes required for the Barclays in 2020 please.

3).Europeans surviving included Stenson, Rose, McIlroy, Casey, Lingmerth, Knox, Garcia, Poulter, Cejka, Pettersson, Donald and Laird.
Lee Westwood goes home. In more ways than one if NBC Sports' report that he is relinquishing his Tour card is true. Apparently a divorce in his future too. Never like to see that happen, so good luck to all of his family.
The grass is not always greener on the other side of the lake; Lee never got his Major, may have messed up his life.

4).And good luck also to another awol European as Freddie Jacobson reveals that his young lad has undergone corrective heart surgery, thus explaining his absence since May. Freddie hopes to return for the Fry's.

5).In other action last week 24 web.commers earned their Tour cards. Familiar names include:
Patton Kizzire, by far the player of the year at the ripe old age of 29. Plus:
Pride, Lovemark, Pampling and the walking sickroom known as Steve Marino.

6).The web.com Finals commence next week - four good tournaments and usually compelling stories each week. It'll be interesting to see who competes, including non-Americans who might wish to give it a whirl.

7).CBS TV's PGA Tour season concluded with last week's Barclays action and they lost no time in parting ways with David Feherty. Imagine this will have a domino affect through the Tour's TV partners as Feherty is regarded as a leading talent, and not just because of his faux American, pro-US military lickspittle. (Humbling article with Peter Oosterhuis in September's Golf Digest, a reminder that a generation of US TV Golf commentators is moving on.) NBC's crew up for the rest of the Play-Offs.

8).Of all the courses where the PGA Tour pitches its tent, TPC Bawston has the least identity for moi. Partly the date, a holiday weekend here so sometimes tricky to watch, and partly the course - after all these years I can still only visualise the 18th hole. Chris Kirk won last year, beating Billy Horschel; birdies will fly in a New England heatwave, light winds likely to be the course's only defence.
Eleven Tour Pros have qualified for the DeutscheBank Play-Off event every year and here's a QUIZ:
WHO are the only five who have qualified also for every BMW Championship????

9).Sergio takes this week off for the second year running, Wilcox is injured, but 98 are expected to come under starter's orders on FRIDAY (the tournament plays Friday to Monday).
The PGA Tour maths class has got their calculators out and figured that Europeans in danger of not qualifying for the BMW in Chicago in two weeks' time will book themselves a place if they finish as follows:
Stenson, Rose, McIlroy, Casey, Lingmerth, Knox, Garcia are all in regardless.
Poulter needs to finish 30th to be sure of advancing.
Cejka 21st.
Pettersson 17th.
Donald 11th.
Laird 9th.

10).Slightly off base here, but very pleased to see Paul Broadhurst win his Senior debut last week in Scotland.
The Ryder Cup will always be my favourite sports event and Broadhurst was an unsung hero in Kiawah Island's heartbreaking defeat. Like Feherty and Lee-on-Solent's (OK Turnip?) Steven Richardson, Broadhurst made his one and only Ryder Cup appearance at Kiawah, but won his only Team match - a fourball carrying an out-of-sorts Woosnam - and his singles match with O'Meara.

The Ryder Cup's European qualification begins this week, in Russia for some unknown reason, and Bawston. Another unlikely lad will come through a year of qualifying, make the Team and be a hero - unsung like Broadhurst, or heralded like Dubuisson and others.

Cheers robo, I knew they'd modified the minimum, hadn't realised they'd removed it completely.

Luke still second of the afternoon wave - haven't seen him hit a shot yet.

Davie wrote:Is there anything to dislike about Spieth? Apart from the stupid nickname someone tries to give him on here

As far as can be told from this side of the TV he seems like a sound enough bloke, but you never know. But in terms of entertainment he's been worth every penny this year. For me by far POTY. He seems a bit tired right now, but he owes us nothing after the season he's just had. Absolute quality.

kwinigolfer wrote:Saw that on Coetzee, GPB, a tricky decision could be in store for Pelkey - noted on Inw's thread.

Inw's thread? who?.... what?... where?

Rory not a baker.

Not playing much like a Number One this afternoon either.

Cut squeaking to +3. Will it stay there with half the field finishing with a Par 5?

ImNotWrong=INW, Robo.

I've learned two things this evening, first is Spieth is actually a lefty and Keegan Bradley is coached by Jim McClean... Many moons ago I bought a DVD on Jim McClean's interpretation of Ben Hogan and his swing. I'm afraid now, I don't think much of McCleans understanding of Mr Hogan or his swing. Wayne DeFrancesco gives much better analysis I think, Current Kevin Streelman coach.

Rory's sawn off Iron shot swing, since late 2013 Rory has been hitting this sawn off Iron swing into greens, the club doesn't go over his left shoulder. So is he trying to cut his shots into greens or is he trying to avoid a hook? Anyone know?

This type of shot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q5Z6obNGqw

Be_the_ball wrote:ImNotWrong=INW, Robo.

I've learned two things this evening, first is Spieth is actually a lefty and Keegan Bradley is coached by Jim McClean... Many moons ago I bought a DVD on Jim McClean's interpretation of Ben Hogan and his swing. I'm afraid now, I don't think much of McCleans understanding of Mr Hogan or his swing. Wayne DeFrancesco gives much better analysis I think, Current Kevin Streelman coach.

Spieth is actually close to ambidextrous...  he played most his youth sports left handed but he's still slightly dominant right handed (like with writing)

see:

Rory was 98th, out of 98, in "strokes gained putting"; Spieth was 96th.

Rory off at 8.30 a.m. with Todd. Can't imagine he'll play quite as poorly as this again.

No real surprises among those who are departing the Play-Off scene; though Matt Every's effort to win at Bay Hill and then not record a Top 70 in the past four months (3 x w/d's) is pretty abject. Better off without him.

I think we'd be surprised by the number of golfers who play right or left (Phil) and write left or right, just like bowlers/batsmen, pitchers/hitters.

Not sure about Jimmy Walker but his decline has been startling, somewhat below the radar; no Top 20 results since May and another shocker yesterday.

Cool (40's) but calm at TPC Boston this morning as the early starters finish their bacon butties, but some gentle breezes will come along soon with a temp rise to the mid-80's. Should be perfect for scoring by the time the leaders get underway.

Donald and Poulter among those who probably need 60-somethings Sunday & Monday to advance.

kwinigolfer wrote:I think we'd be surprised by the number of golfers who play right or left (Phil) and write left or right, just like bowlers/batsmen.

True, I know Sergio is also a lefty that plays right handed. .. By the way Kwini, because you wrote "Bawston" in the headline I've read every post in the voice of Peter Griffin from Family Guy... I need help.

Don't know about Family Guy, but one can pretty easily get fed up with Boston being seen as the centre of the universe here in New England, Red Sawx Nation and all that. Even this golfcourse is almost in Rhode Island!

Plenty of filthy Play-Off lucre to compete for today - if guys can't be in position for the Top 70 and a ticket to Chicago today, they'll be cast adrift and have no chance on Sunday. Most of this morning's back-markers are very much in that boat - only Senden seemingly sensing some urgency after he saved some fantasisers bacon with a birdie-eagle finish to Round 2.

Solid start for Rory, wouldn't it be good to see him post a low number, really low number a la Quail Hollow all those years (five anyway) ago?

Casey withdraws from DeutscheBank. Untimely for Casey so hope nothing's seriously wrong - this will mean pressure on him to play well (which is after all the idea) at the BMW if he hopes to get to the Tour Championship.

Glad I didn't have him in the Grumpy game, but my one-and-done opponent will be disappointed. Especially as I have Charley Hoffman.

Reportedly a sore back for Paul Casey. He withdraws from PGA Tournaments at about a 5% rate, must be among the worst on Tour. There's always something with Paul . . . . .
At least he has ten days before the Beemer.

No fireworks yet on the course.

Another below average round from Rory and he, and the rest of the Europeans, are looking up to Lee Slattery in both lists of the European Ryder Cup Team standings.

68 or 69 looking to be about the par for the course in Round 3. Donald & Poulter not keeping pace, not yet anyway.

Cold Hand Luuuke.
The 5-man Team GB&I currently +2 on a day when birdies are flying and eagles plentiful.

Super back nine rescues Poulter - signs for a 69. Something similar tomorrow would be just the job; but Cold Hand has been going on about desperately wanting to get to the Beemer at Conway Farms. The way he's going he's more likely to be visiting Conway Castle.

Hunter Mahan currently sitting at 67 (FedEx). He'll need a good round to progress to BMW and then a good tournament to keep his record alive of appearing in all FedEx play off tournaments. So far, he's earned over $5.2 million from the play offs alone.

Be_the_ball wrote:

kwinigolfer wrote:I think we'd be surprised by the number of golfers who play right or left (Phil) and write left or right, just like bowlers/batsmen.

True, I know Sergio is also a lefty that plays right handed. ..

So am I

I'm a lefty who plays right handed too. See loads of people who do that.

LadyPutt wrote:

Be_the_ball wrote:

kwinigolfer wrote:I think we'd be surprised by the number of golfers who play right or left (Phil) and write left or right, just like bowlers/batsmen.

True, I know Sergio is also a lefty that plays right handed. ..

So am I

Ditto

Is the fedex pot of gold a bigger lure to Stenson than winning a major? His best games seems to emerge when the amount of money on offer is huge.

In 2013 the lure of the money was huge for Stenson given he reportedly had lost a lot of what he'd earned up to that point.

I think the more likely answer though is that the Fedex rewards good play over a longer period and this plays more to his strengths and/or he draws greater confidence from it (compared with the majors which are a set of comparatively shorter 4 round sprints where it feels like one bad rounds blows your chances). The theory is somewhat supported by the fact that the last 4 winners of the Fedex have exactly zero majors between them.

i actually think that its gets tougher to win if you need the money.
in the same way that when a journeyman is in the mix down the stretch he cant afford to take the risks required to challenge for the win. he needs to play safe and secure a top 5 for and retain his card for the year.

Bob_the_Job wrote:I think the more likely answer though is that the Fedex rewards good play over a longer period  

Interesting. It seems to me that, regardless broadly of what you've done for the season, as long as you manage to qualify for the final 4 events, if you turn up to that month in good form you've a very good chance of winning the lot. I hope it's Jason Day which will at least then almost reflect the season as a whole

Its highly unlikely that the top 10 of the US Prez Cup team will change after today results.

With Matt Jones in contention, he could affect the 9th and 10th spot, possible scenarios are listed in the OWGR thread.

Rory's -6 after 12 already today - must have had a kick up the **** from someone

A great round by Rory but he will still drop a couple of places in the fedex rankings, which I doubt will be of any great concern to him.

Donald off to Conway Castle, Pettersson also departing the Play-offs. Cejka hanging by a thread, Poults not much more secure.

It looks as if Chris Kirk has clung on to the final automatic Presidents Cup qualifying position, unless Charley Hoffman goes crazy (good) on the back nine.

Shotrock

Have you been giving O'Hair some swing tips? He is going well at the moment.

Not much doubt who NBC want to see win this.

All a bit Ryder Cup-ish.

Poulter on to Chicago by not much more than a coat of Ferrari-red paint.

Russell Knox WTF. Bad evening for Scottish sports fans. Can Murray provide a smidgen of joy?

Worth noting that Stenson may not be in contention for the #1 spot on the OWGRs but he might be number one in the sex appeal stakes.

Stenson is a sexy boy:

You are a strange boy Mac

Woof, Not sure why Stenson felt he had to go directly at that pin. He had the lead after all. Not any more.

Unfortunately he couldn't hit his 2nd on 16 from the water. What a silly way to throw away a tournament. The famed european fragility down the stretch rears its ugly head.

Just like the Ryder Cup . . . . . . . .

That is one of the quirks of the game, the Europeans are great as a team but when it comes to the individual stuff it is wise to back the yanks over the European challenger.

Just like Rose and McIlroy.

Like Rickie.

Rickie's three wins have seen him beat Rory, Sergio and Henrik, two play-offs and a one-stroke squeaker. Impressive.

Poor from Hedrick. Apart from his shot in the drink, his short game cost him. Too many missed 7-12 ft'ers and chips not sharp enough. He's just not a closer.

Harsh to be too critical of Stenson - seemed to me he had one bad swing combined with a wind switch and it cost him first place. Impressive by Fowler to hang in there and take advantage. Not everyone who wins is a super human, not everyone who losers is not a closer.

One BIG mistake on the 16th, no need to try a heroic shot at that time, not with a one-stroke lead, and I'd question his choice of 3-wood off the tee at #18 - he was, allegedly, 55 yds behind Fowler on a hole he knew he'd have to birdie.

Otherwise Stenson played well; don't think he forgot how to win after winning virtually everything in late 2013.

kwinigolfer wrote:I'd question his choice of 3-wood off the tee at #18 -

Stenson doesn't hit a driver that often. 3 wood usually. Fowler was very lucky with the ball roll - it went down the left missing the hazard in the middle of the fairway, bounced of the "cushion" of the rough and trundled to a stop before more rough. If you can bomb it over the hazard in the middle of the fairway, then OK, but I don't think Stenson is that confident with his driver.

Inw,
Understand that, but plenty of other guys had mid-irons to the green, Stenson must have known that anything other than a perfect 3-wood (which admittedly he'd been striking so well) would leave him a very difficult shot into the green. Surely it would have been worth the risk? Par was, after all, not going to get it done.
Anyway, history now and hopefully he can bounce back after his second very tough loss of the year.

MustPuttBetter wrote:

LadyPutt wrote:

Be_the_ball wrote:

kwinigolfer wrote:I think we'd be surprised by the number of golfers who play right or left (Phil) and write left or right, just like bowlers/batsmen.

True, I know Sergio is also a lefty that plays right handed. ..

So am I

Ditto

And me

Think it's because as a kid I batted right handed when starting to play cricket and just continued. But I've worked out my hand /eye coordination is much better when I stand as a leftie... a little bit late to switch over and learn the golf swing all over again.

I'm just saying Stenson has had his fair share of close calls, and for some reason I'm never confident seeing him enter the last 18 with a lead.

Yes 16 a huge mistake, but the approach to 18 might as well have stayed on the green / the same plateau.

But the main thing was his up and downs and his putting inside 15 ft. Had it just been a bit sharper he'd have won with 5.

raycastleunited wrote:

MustPuttBetter wrote:

LadyPutt wrote:

Be_the_ball wrote:

kwinigolfer wrote:I think we'd be surprised by the number of golfers who play right or left (Phil) and write left or right, just like bowlers/batsmen.

True, I know Sergio is also a lefty that plays right handed. ..

So am I

Ditto

And me

And so is Stenson evidently, to bring this full circle

Mark Roe blamed the wind for Stenson's tee shot on 16. Sounded like utter rubbish to me. Pin was back left and he's holding on to a 1 shot lead so to come up short in the water implies at least 2 club unexpected gust of wind. He had the wrong club and poorly executed the wrong shot.

It was the par 5 a few holes earlier when he started to look fragile to me. Was just short in 2 and it looked like an easy up and down but he seemed to duff his 3rd shot and walked away with a par. Rickie getting up and down for birdie from the greenside bunker was a real momentum changer.

I thought Rickie was a deserved winner, although a little harsh on Henrik.