PGA Tour: What Happens in Vegas: Notes from the Ballwasher

1).Great win last week for Emiliano Grillo. No surprise here that he's won in his rookie year, just surprised that the win came so soon. He's riding a wave of confidence that has tended to be conspicuously absent when in contention in Europe; no idea why that is, but it's great for Grillo and great for Golf while it lasts.

2).Lots being made about Grillo being just another young buck off the Young Golfers conveyor belt, and it's true enough that the PGA Tour hasn't seen a golfer in his 30's or 40's in the winners enclosure since Zach Johnson and Scott Piercy. But it also signals the third Tour win by an Argentinian in the past 16 months, when Cabrera swaggered home at The Greenbrier. We saw Gomez walking in Memphis and now Grillo. In that time, the only English winner has been Justin Rose; plenty of Rory of course, and two from Ireland, but England is drawing mostly blanks.

3).Last wins:
Casey: 2009
Donald: 2012
Poulter: 2012
Westwood: 2010  
Let's not even go there with Davis, Fisher, Owen, you name him.
Edinburgh bus riders lament Poulter's form, but most English efforts on the PGA Tour have floundered recently, Casey's two 2015 Play-Off losses arguably being the exception which doesn't prove the rule.

4).Let's not leave Silverado and the "Frys" without noting that Frys have ended their sponsorship, handing the excellent Silverado event to Safeway supermarkets.
Another example of Finchem's genius in seemingly pulling sponsorship rabbits out of his hat, the only tournament currently without a title sponsor for 2015/2016, as far as I can see, is the traditional Fort Worth stop, the Colonial National Invitation, at Colonial Country Club. Expect Finchem to reveal what's under his chapeau shortly.

5).Interesting news from the Jordan Spieth camp that he'll play the Singapore Open in late January. So Spieth dodges the Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego.
Attaboy Jordan, way to reward the sponsor who gave you your first invitation as a Pro.

6).Following in the footsteps of Tiger Woods of course, and Tiger's back in the news, reporting that: "I'm not that far removed from winning". And "It's important for me to have more than 18 Majors when all is said and done". It would be important for most of us.

7).Anyway, that end of January date is beginning to look cluttered on the world's golfing calendars. Not only does "Singapore" clash with San Diego, it also bumps heads with "Qatar".

8).The British golfers with the best recent record in Las Vegas are Martin Laird (win, play-off loss) and Russell Knox (who arguably should've won last year). Obvious similarities between Bonnie and the Nevada desert. Rickie Fowler and Jimmy Walker make their first appearance since the Presidents Cup and it's another decent field. The winner will earn 44 owgr points, 25% better than Ben Martin and Webb Simpson added the past two years.

9).Next weekend sees the final "regular season" event on the Champions Tour. Bernhard Langer won last week's San Antonio stop and goes to California in a virtual tie with Colin Montgomerie and Jeff Maggert for the bonanza known as the Charles Schwab Cup. Langer's Champions Tour career has been remarkable. He now has 25 wins, tied with Dr.Gil Morgan for third all-time behind just Hale Irwin (45) and Lee Trevino (29). Perhaps more impressive is that Langer has won all these tournaments in an era of about 22 events per year, unlike the 30+ a decade and more ago.
He'll likely finish this season with $16M in his Champions Tour career behind just Irwin, Morgan, Haas and Kite.
And, of those golfers who can reasonably be considered contemporaries in this era of fewer events, those under 65, Langer has eight more wins than his closest rival, Jay Haas:
25: Langer
17: Haas
13: Loren Roberts
11: Couples
10: John Cook

10).Lots about the 30th anniversary of Back to the Future so, in 1985:
~Curtis Strange was leading money winner with $542K. Followed by Lanny Wadkins, Peete, Thorpe, Floyd, Pavin, Sutton, Maltbie, Mahaffey, O'Meara.
~Langer was leading non-American, in 13th with $271K, or about the same as his Champo winnings last Sunday!
~Langer, North, Lyle and Hubert Green won the year's Majors.
~And Europe won the Ryder Cup!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Teams: Lyle, Torrance, Woosie, Langer, Faldo, Ken Brown, Rivero, Ballesteros, Paul Way, Canizares, Pinero, Clark.
Green, Strange, Wadkins, Floyd, Kite, North, Zoeller, Stadler, Peete, O'Meara, Sutton, Jacobsen.
All our (mine anyway!) yesterdays.

Good Write-up

Two Black Americans were in the top 4 of the PGATour money list 30 years ago!

Cheers GPB,
And three black Pros in the Seniors' Top 20 (2nd, 13th, 18th), plus Jim Dent just a couple of years younger.
Himself was top European! 66th!!

Who is Secret Tour Pro... you guys should get this pretty quick...

https://twitter.com/secrettourpro

http://mag.thegcw.co.uk/issues/6-Fitzpatrick/the-secret-tour-pro.html

kwinigolfer wrote:Cheers GPB,
And three black Pros in the Seniors' Top 20 (2nd, 13th, 18th), plus Jim Dent just a couple of years younger.
Himself was top European! 66th!!

not sure if you are looking at 1985.

Miller Barber is definitely not Black.

http://www.pgatour.com/champions/stats/stat.110.1985.html

kwinigolfer wrote:
5).Interesting news from the Jordan Spieth camp that he'll play the Singapore Open in late January. So Spieth dodges the Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego.
Attaboy Jordan, way to reward the sponsor who gave you your first invitation as a Pro.

Huh? Spieth gets a sponsors exemption to the Farmers in 2013... and plays it again in 2014 & 2015. Just how freeking long do you think this supposed debt to the Farmers lasts... 5 years, 10 years, Life... or what?

If you ask me, he paid his debt to the Farmers in FULL when he played the event again in 2014. And from that point forward should ONLY play the Farmers again if he feels the venue suits him, and/or meets his other scheduling objectives... NO?

GPB wrote:

kwinigolfer wrote:Cheers GPB,
And three black Pros in the Seniors' Top 20 (2nd, 13th, 18th), plus Jim Dent just a couple of years younger.
Himself was top European! 66th!!

not sure if you are looking at 1985.

Miller Barber is definitely not Black.

http://www.pgatour.com/champions/stats/stat.110.1985.html

GPB... I think you pulled the CAREER list by mistake... 1985 SEASON Money list has #2 Lee Elder, #13 Charles Sifford, #18 Charles Owens

http://www.pgatour.com/champions/stats/stat.109.1985.html

Ah....OK....thanks Robo

It's OK robo, I'm just a sentimental, old-fashioned old fart.

PS: Pete Brown was also on that Seniors' moneylist, about 30th I think.

I follow the secret tour pro on twitter, no idea who it is though!

Cheers Kwini. Excellent retrospective - very interesting

robopz wrote:Who is Secret Tour Pro... you guys should get this pretty quick...

https://twitter.com/secrettourpro

http://mag.thegcw.co.uk/issues/6-Fitzpatrick/the-secret-tour-pro.html

Not much doubt that it's IJP!

I can believe that the articles and magazines etc are written by different people, but the Twitter account?
If it's IJP then why was he in Faro airport?

On reflection, that might be someone else giving the impression that he is Poluter. It seems like a bit of a caricature of what Poluter might come out with!

Looks like a Titleist staffer. FJ Shoes and a Scotty putter.

Kwini wrote:3).Last wins:
Casey: 2009
Donald: 2012
Poulter: 2012
Westwood: 2010
Let's not even go there with Davis, Fisher, Owen, you name him.
Edinburgh bus riders lament Poulter's form, but most English efforts on the PGA Tour have floundered recently, Casey's two 2015 Play-Off losses arguably being the exception which doesn't prove the rule.

I think you will find that I have long put forward the idea that English golf is about to enter a very barren period.

I can't locate the post at the moment, but earlier in the year I posted something about how once the Lee, Rose, Casey, Donald etc generation move on England will have not chance of winning a major for a very long time. It is not just Poulters form of late that I have noted.

Mac, Fitzpatrick has just won his first Tournament, and Lee Slattery won his third of the year at the weekend. Why couldn't either of them win a major?

Rose has held position by and large this year, Casey is back on the up, and Danny Willett has come to the fore.

English golf looks no worse than it did at the start of the year.

Surely Andy Sullivan could be added to that list; sorry to see apparent regression of Tommy Fleetwood these past few months, but hopefully he'll come good again.
Would actually think English Golf is better now than for the past couple of years.

Sorry Kwini, you are right, It was Sullivan who's been successful.

Slattery worth a mention though, Howell is also around.

Are the two of you seriously suggesting that out of the Willet, Fitzpatrick, Sullivan group we have potential world numbers 1's and major winners? Remember that is the level the new generation will have to reach in order to replace the outgoing westie, donald, casey (no major or#1 but reached 3 at one point), rose generation.

super_realist wrote:Looks like a Titleist staffer. FJ Shoes and a Scotty putter.

And he's wearing UnderArmour & Audemars Piguet logos on his sweater. He indicates in his article he "used to be" on the PGAT as well, now on the ET.

On his Twitter account he says "you all know who I am"... and he's an aviation geek.

robopz wrote:

super_realist wrote:Looks like a Titleist staffer. FJ Shoes and a Scotty putter.

And he's wearing UnderArmour & Audemars Piguet logos on his sweater.  He indicates in his article he "used to be" on the PGAT as well, now on the ET.

On his Twitter account he says "you all know who I am"... and he's an aviation geek.

Oosthuizen is an ambassador for Audemars Piguet, but Schwartzel is a pilot... I'm confused.

Robo who do you think/know it is?

Mac,
Not me!
But I regard the Number Ones an outlier, and England has only had Major winners if you include Faldo.

This is almost two years old now, but I would say English golf today is in a much better place than in early 2014:

https://www.606v2.com/t51237-pga-tour-the-english-patients-notes-from-the-ballwasher

Weather should be perfect for golfers to go low in Las Vegas this weekend.
Haven't rolled the dice on a likely winner but have chosen Scott Piercy as my one-and-done for the week; lives locally, should've got closer than he did last year, recent-ish winner, and always seems a bit of a pr1ck.
Good e.w. value at 33's.
(As is Knox at 66's.)

robopz wrote:

super_realist wrote:Looks like a Titleist staffer. FJ Shoes and a Scotty putter.

And he's wearing UnderArmour & Audemars Piguet logos on his sweater.  He indicates in his article he "used to be" on the PGAT as well, now on the ET.

On his Twitter account he says "you all know who I am"... and he's an aviation geek.

The language is also very English.

super_realist wrote:Looks like a Titleist staffer. FJ Shoes and a Scotty putter.

I misread and thought you said Titleist Saffer!! Hence the SA guesses

seems very british with his language and statements.

incontinentia wrote:Robo who do you think/know it is?

I don't know... I think whoever it is, he's throwing out enough false leads it makes it hard to pin down.

For instance...

In his Twitter feed we know he's a Titleist guy... in his theGW article we see a UnderArmour and AP logos on a blue sweater... he claims he's NOT British... he says he's been on Tour 4 years.... he was in the Portugal Airport... indicated he was playing in the shotgun start there (which means he made the cut at Portugal). Said he played some early season in the US.

I went through the Portugal field to see if I could find matches... something out of the above seemed to eliminate EVERYBODY..

It could well be a set up, but some of the other tour players interact with him on twitter in a way that makes it seem that he is at least really a tour player. There are some theories that he isn't actually a real pro golfer.


Come on Robo, if you had to guess who's name would you put forward?

robopz wrote:

incontinentia wrote:Robo who do you think/know it is?

I don't know... I think whoever it is, he's throwing out enough false leads it makes it hard to pin down.  

For instance...

In his Twitter feed we know he's a Titleist guy... in his theGW article we see a UnderArmour  and AP logos on a blue sweater... he claims he's NOT British...  he says he's been on Tour 4 years.... he was in the Portugal Airport... indicated he was playing in the shotgun start there (which means he made the cut at Portugal). Said he played some early season in the US.  

I went through the Portugal field to see if I could find matches... something out of the above seemed to eliminate EVERYBODY..

Surely it's highly unlikely that is a picture of the guy.

incontinentia wrote:

robopz wrote:

incontinentia wrote:Robo who do you think/know it is?

I don't know... I think whoever it is, he's throwing out enough false leads it makes it hard to pin down.  

For instance...

In his Twitter feed we know he's a Titleist guy... in his theGW article we see a UnderArmour  and AP logos on a blue sweater... he claims he's NOT British...  he says he's been on Tour 4 years.... he was in the Portugal Airport... indicated he was playing in the shotgun start there (which means he made the cut at Portugal). Said he played some early season in the US.  

I went through the Portugal field to see if I could find matches... something out of the above seemed to eliminate EVERYBODY..

Surely it's highly unlikely that is a picture of the guy.

I dunno if that's him pictured or not... but that's my point. IMO there's a lot of false breadcrumbs in some of what he says to throw us "civilians" off the trail. He claims the other players and his sponsors know who he is though. But even taking out the UA and AP connections... I still can't find anybody who made the cut at Portugal that fits the rest of it.

Its Bernd Wiesberger

It seems he is trying to imply bernd weissberger but what he rights doesn't sound very Austrian. I initially though bowditch or senden.

McLaren wrote:It could well be a set up, but some of the other tour players interact with him on twitter in a way that makes it seem that he is at least really a tour player.  There are some theories that he isn't actually a real pro golfer.


Come on Robo, if you had to guess who's name would you put forward?

Mac... everything he says doesn't fit... and he denies it... but I'm with incontinentia... If I had to put my money on anyone right now it would be Bernd Wiesberger...

He matches the sponsors and the tweets look similar in terms of sometimes in big capitals and sometimes normal case.

...and use of exclamation marks. Also there are a few aeroplane references on Bernd's twitter page.

Yep.... I think it IS Bernd... SEE this

Its a very interesting read, he can be honest without worrying about upsetting sponsors. He seems to confirm some of the talk here a few months back that some players are using Miuras dressed up as other brands.

"certainly the boys at nike aren't happy Rory is is still gaming last years Miur... I mean VR Pros"

"There is a few, not all are Miuras. Adam Scott's first 712s were made by Piranha! Less these days now guys use CBs"

Too early to tell how many will make to the starting line, but a promising field taking shape for next week's CIMB tournament.
Scott, Casey, Donald, Garcia, Stenson and a raft of good Americans looking to get an Asian jump on the Tour season.

Hope they won't be deterred by the fact they've been warned about an outbreak of typhoid, and poor air quality due to dry weather. Don't worry chaps, it's sure to monsoon during the tournament.

incontinentia wrote:Its a very interesting read, he can be honest without worrying about upsetting sponsors. He seems to confirm some of the talk here a few months back that some players are using Miuras dressed up as other brands.

"certainly the boys at nike aren't happy Rory is is still gaming last years Miur... I mean  VR Pros"

"There is a few, not all are Miuras. Adam Scott's first 712s were made by Piranha! Less these days now guys use CBs"

How does that work (is there somebody here in the know)? How do they take a club and make it look like a different brand. Does Miura make them an unbranded club and then let them stamp Nike on it? Why would they let them do that - the value of the club is vastly outweighed by the marketing value of McIlroy using it? Unless large amounts of money change hands? I'd imagine it has to be something like this (rather than buying the club off the shelf and grinding one logo off and putting another on) ?

I'm not in the know, but if it does happen I'd imagine Miura are re-imbursed handsomely.

incontinentia wrote:I'm not in the know, but if it does happen I'd imagine Miura are re-imbursed handsomely.

I wonder by whom? The other brand?? Why would they do that - they've contracted the player and pay them to use their equipment - seems unlikely they'd pay again so they can use someone else's. Must eventually come out of the player's pocket. I know this is somewhat down in the commercial bowels but it's interesting (to me).

inco

can you post a link to the tweet made by the @secrettourpro and Rory using Muira? I would like to read it and see what context the comment was made in.

Mclaren- I cannot from work, but if you scroll down the twitter feed it should show up in a minute or two.

Could it be possible that Nike designed/engineered the clubs and then outsourced the manufacture of the clubs to the Miura forging house? After a little reading on this subject it seems to be common practice for the major golf gear companies to do this.

Fitzpatrick is the real deal by the way!

Very unfortunate name of a golfer who has made it through First Stage Q-School: Ryan O'Rear - I wonder if he's related to LPGA and Solheim Cup player Ryann O'Toole?

Here is STP's tweet about Rory and Miura.  August 4th.

https://twitter.com/secrettourpro/status/628530980106711040

incontinentia wrote:...and use of exclamation marks. Also there are a few aeroplane references on Bernd's twitter page.

He's really mad, somebody burned his cheeseburger?

They must be hiding the pin-positions for Round 2 in Las Vegas; after a first round full of mid-60 somethings, there's nothing approaching that in store as the morning "wave" are close to finishing their rounds. The weather's good, warm and not particularly breezy.
The cut may go from -2 to -3 but likely no lower. Surprising after Thursday's birdie barrage.