PGA Tour: Frys gets the Cream: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).No promises on the centre though, no chocolate, peppermint or orange, but the quality is increasing year on year, no soft centre any more. Since the PGA Tour devised its "wrap around" season two years ago, the Frys.com has been the inaugural event:
In 2013/2014, Jimmy Walker earned 28 owgr points for his first Tour win.
In 2014/2015, Sangmoon Bae earned 36 points for his second win, which ultimately gave Nick Price the excuse to pick the newly minted Private Moon a Presidents Cup Captains Choice.
For 2015/2016, the winner is projected by owgr to earn 46 points.
That's partly due to the negotiated appearance by Messrs McIlroy and Rose but it also reflects the urgency felt by all but the Tour's elite to get their season off to a fast start.

2).Brooks Koepka said it well when offered consolation about not being chosen for South Korea by Jay Haas: "Appreciate all the support for the Presidents Cup but I'm focused on earning my way onto every Team, starting with Frys Open Golf"!
Brooksy was talking about Teams USA of course, but could just as easily be twittering about the imperative so many Members feel about the urgency of getting out of the traps at top speed.
More of that in a minute, but first some reflections on last week's Presidents Cup.

3)."Sputtering start, fantastic finish", just about sums things up. Wonderful performances from Branden Grace and Louis Oosthuizen (his second shot to 10 ft when eagling 18 on Sunday was the shot of the week for moi), dismal from Jason Day and lots of in betweenies.
We'll never know:
~If US became complacent after the first day foursomes drubbing of the Internationals.
~Schwartzel was ever truly fit - a poor week for him regardless.
~Quite how on top of team selections Jay Haas and Nick Price were with the fluctuations of form and imperatives for players to play two Team sessions. Sitting Thongchai out for all of Saturday, especially, looked a dodgy decision.
~Why Team USA's once formidable Singles record has gone belly up. Before Sunday, the Americans only had 3 Presidents Cup Singles wins between them, something like 14 losses and plenty of halves. Even after last Sunday, only Chris Kirk has a winning Singles record of last week's Team.
~Why the post-Azinger generation of US Presidents/Ryder Cuppers have underperformed. Another lousy week for Kuchar, and none of Bradley/Fowler/Haas/Dustin/Simpson/Snedeker/Watson would fill Darren Clarke's boys with trepidation at Hazeltine; only time will tell if Kirk, Koepka, Reed and Spieth turn out any better.

4).Did we learn anything from the Americans that will be relevant at Hazeltine?
Not really, unless it's that Patrick Reed is turning in to a terrific "Team" player and Zach Johnson is as dependable as ever. Spieth blew hot and cold, now three straight singles losses in Team play, and clearly rattled as Marc Leishman wouldn't let him get away on Sunday.

5).Davis Love saw it all first-hand as a Vice Captain and he must be wondering where Ryder Cup leadership will come from when the 40-somethings finally leave the stage. Not from the thirty-somethings by the looks of it!
But surely Davis's prayers were answered when T.Woods called the Team Room and volunteered his services as next year's Vice Captain?
As the old Len Deighton caper observed: "Does it hurt?" "Only when I Larf!"

6).In the wake of the extraordinary play of Grace and Oosthuizen, and the fact that Els and Goosen both served the Internationals well with winning Presidents Cup records in losing teams, it only made sense that South Africa would be awarded the 2019 Presidents Cup. Perhaps Ernie might be Captain even? Or Retief??
But, according to GolfWorld, PGA Tour HQ basically auctioned the Cup's 2019 date, and the South African Golf people balked at the asking price of $25M. Wonder if the International Federations had a vote in this?
No matter apparently. The date will go to Melbourne instead, despite the pathetic performance of Aussie golfers in 2011 under Greg Norman, and the fact that Royal Melbourne has already staged it twice. Wonder who'll be Captain of that? Perhaps Steve Elkington! Or Robert Allenby!!
Hey, Australia even threw an extra $4M in and that scored next year's World Cup. Again. Melbourne hasn't had the World Cup (which admittedly has become pretty meaningless) since, oh, the last one, in 2013.

7).The Frys.com Open is played this year, as last, at Silverado CC (North Course), in Napa, the epicentre of California wine country, not to mention a recent earthquake.
Johnny Miller owns the Silverado Resort, 36 holes of golf and plenty more. He oversaw a "freshening up" of both courses and the "North" will play as a Par-72 with two Par-5's in the final three holes.

8).Last year's finish had a distinctly "International" finish to it, Sangmoon Bae won, Aussie Bowditch was runner-up, and Goosen & Matsuyama tied for third, along with Martin Laird, just ahead of Allenby and Westwood. How times change!
Laird was last year's poster child for making a fast start and sitting on FedEx laurels for the rest of the year. He had 3 x Top 7 finishes thru early February and put it on cruise control the rest of the year, just one Top 30 (T15) in the past eight months, and only three made cuts since May.  

9).Presidents Cuppers Chris Kirk, Bowditch, Matsuyama and Schwartzel are due to play, plus Justin Rose and most of the best Americans who missed the Presidents Cup.
Other Europeans committed include Knox, Blixt, Pettersson, Jacobson, Laird, Owen and Henrik Norlander.

10).And Rory McIlroy, if he can tear himself away from Windsor Park celebrations and his visit to the Ireland Rugby work out.
He won't be Number One next Monday even if he wins this, but Jordan Spieth won't be either. Jason Day will take over, ironically so following his shambolic effort for Captain Price last week.

Great to see Rory's Foundation will continue to host the Irish Open for the next three years; the K Club will do the honours next May (a bit early, don't you think?) with a Euro 4M purse.
You may not win bring home the Frys, Rory, but you're the Cream of the field and it'll be a great recruitment opportunity to boost next year's K Club field. Good luck!

He is a pillock because he failed to realise that he is at a stage in his career where he needs to take into account that he won't get into all the events where a top 50 ranking is needed. Yet another player who has succumbed to the dangers of double dipping.

Further, regardless of whether you are a poulter fan or not does it not bother you that he may have bought himself a place in a European tour event?

Double-dipping has nothing to do with it as far as Poulter is concerned. He's been at the same level for nine years without a problem, but he got complacent and took the summer off and never got his form back.

Considering agents "buy" their players places in tournaments so routinely, it doesn't bother me at all that Poults is at it too. Hope he goes ahead and wins the thing now.

You do hold some positions that don't always seem consistent Kwini. You hate limited field events that hand out OWGR points but then don't mind that only a limited number of players can buy their way into a field?



I would obviously argue that were poulter not over stretched by double dipping that he could play another 5 Euro events to cover all possibilities like poor form and a ranking drop.

To add to my first point we have the situation this year that two players failing to play the required number of events have gotten around the rules using means not available to all the players on tour. I really doubt you are ok with that.

Mac,
Poulter was playing really well at the beginning of the year but he compressed all his PGA Tour (non-Major or WGC) events into a 3 1/2 month period. Then basically took the summer off, came back for the Play-Offs where he flamed out as usual. Nothing to do with double-dipping, just complacency (laziness?).

As far as buying into fields - apples and oranges. Poulter was fully qualified for Hongkers, except he stupidly didn't enter. Memo to Poults: Commit and then withdraw, much easier for everyone. He must have known he was on the edge.

What I take some exception to is free passes being handed out willy nilly to young American "prodigies", as if they have a divine right to a place in the field. This week is a case in point: Schneiderjans gets his usual sponsor invite, yet Marc Hubbard gets bumped from a field that he was originally in. I know others would say it's just the way of the world, but it doesn't make it right. Sam Saunders obviously the poster child for that sort of "abuse".
Was very pleased that Schneiderjans missed out on all sorts of qualifying exemptions by, probably, one stroke.
PS: Spieth did it right, took his chance and earned everything he got after that - usually the reverse is true.

McLaren wrote:To add to my first point we have the situation this year that two players failing to play the required number of events have gotten around the rules using means not available to all the players on tour.

what does this even mean?

It is perfectly reasonable use of the word.

http://grammarist.com/usage/got-gotten/

(PS what a d**k)

McLaren wrote:It is perfectly reasonable use of the word.

http://grammarist.com/usage/got-gotten/

(PS what a d**k)

Outside the U.S., got, as used in these examples, is the preferred past participle of get in all its senses:

How long has Edinburgh been in the US?

If it makes you happy I didn't attend school in Edinburgh.

Open Championship rota as announced so far:

2016: Troon
2017: Birkdale
2018: Carnoustie
2019: Portrush
2020: tba

Seems opinion is divided as to whether TOC gets 2020 or 2021.
If 2021, that leaves 2020 open for the Trump Open at Turnberry, but that would mean England would go five years without an Open and can't see that.

Otherwise, "England" (RSG or Lytham) would get 2021, and Turnberry would be up against Muirfield in 2022.

Still looks like Turnberry could be the odd man out. Just like its owner.

McLaren wrote:It is perfectly reasonable use of the word.

http://grammarist.com/usage/got-gotten/

(PS what a d**k)

I bet you try and affect an American accent when you speak as well, and try and throw in American phrases. You probably think it makes you look cool and well travelled when sitting on the bus in Edinburgh, but it just sounds awkward to everyone else and makes you look like a tool.

Golf Digest strongly implying St.Andrews has been awarded the 2020 Open Championship - anyone seen anything confirming this? I certainly haven't.
But that would almost certainly rule out Trump's Turnberry until at least 2022, when it would presumably be competing with Muirfield.

I sincerely hope not Kwini.

raycastleunited wrote:

McLaren wrote:It is perfectly reasonable use of the word.

http://grammarist.com/usage/got-gotten/

(PS what a d**k)

I bet you try and affect an American accent when you speak as well, and try and throw in American phrases. You probably think it makes you look cool and well travelled when sitting on the bus in Edinburgh, but it just sounds awkward to everyone else and makes you look like a tool.

No, clearly I don't. Why has the slight misuse of a word riled you so badly?