PGA Tour: I'm Thankful for this Lot: Notes from my Ballwasher

Nothing to do with Golf, but this week America celebrates Thanksgiving. After nearly 40 years I still don't quite get it but, trust me, everyone else loves it. Like Christmas without presents or Boxing Day.
But it did get me to thinking, What would I be most thankful for? Obviously family and friends but ten others I'm really thankful for, in no particular order, and no golf in sight:

1).Hampshire

2).Radio

3).Sport

4).Wining and Dining

5).The Harrow Inn

6).Music

7).La difference

8).The Mohawk Valley

9).Remy Martin (Pete Townshend was right)

10).Canada


Happy Thanksgiving to all US readers, Happy Thursday and Friday to the rest of us.

Darren Clarke reveals part of Team Europe's Golf Team


No, Not THAT team, the team that is playing in the Eurasia Cup


Willett
Doobie
Ross Fisher
C. Wood
Sullivan
Fitzpatrick
Lowry
Weisberger
Kjeldson
Broberg


http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2016/tournamentid=2016003/news/newsid=279445.html#hteI77ZAwVOVlpWz.97


No Rory? No Henrik? No Rosey? No Sergio? No Kaymer?


There would a lot backlash on the PGATour if Spieth, Fowler, Johnson (x2) etc decided not to play the Prez Cup.

Wonder how Rory et al escape criticism?

Clarke has yet to reveal two Captains picks. could Russell Knox be one of the invited guests?

How many of the above 10 will be in Minnesota in the fall? It could be as many as 6 or 7 of the above players. That doesn't leave much room for RC Stalwarts like Rory, Sergio, Henrik, Rosey, Kaymer, Westy, Poults, and GMAC.

Hardly the same thing; imagine DC is more interested in his lesser-known quantities. Don't suppose he'll lose any sleep over who's not there.

I think the reason that people aren't outraged or overly critical by the withdrawals/lack of interest is that unlike those involved with the Presidents Cup, everyone is happy to openly admit this is a non event in which people don't give a flying toss for.

kwinigolfer wrote:
7).La difference

8).The Mohawk Valley

One and the same, non?

Re. the Eurasia cup team - looks pretty strong to me for a non-event. So no Coco - who cares?

Don't know the Mohawk Valley or the Harrow Inn, but the others are pretty good choices. Have fun, but don't eat too much turkey Kwini....

Head down and enjoy Kwini. Hampshire is in good hands, tho Pompey were a bit lucky against the Silkmen! Better last night by a margin!
Happy Thanksgiving to all out US friends.

I assume you mean Hampshire as in Hants CCC Kwini rather than just the geographic county? I'd give thanks for them in the past but not so sure I'm that enamoured with them now that big money and business has taken over.

As for the Eurasia Cup, I like the look of the team - it gives DC a chance to see how some of the rookies shape up. He knows how the "old guard" play - or don't - so doesn't need to pick them and this isn't quite the same as the Prez Cup, is it?

Enjoy the turkey and all that goes with it

Hi puligny,
My lad on his way to Australia, hopeful of getting on the post-Aussie Open Australian (his uncle marshalling the 18th apparently).
Trust you have an annual "trip" of your own.


Hi LP, No, not just the CCC, tho' that's a big part of it, it's always been big money, but more hidden, a more genteel! kind.

Wasn't too much money involved when my Dad was Chairman in the 70s and 80s - or perhaps that's where all his dosh went - my mum often wondered ......

Kwini
Arizona in March. Wanted to go to Aus, Jan/Feb, but Mrs P busy so persuaded to wait till 2017. Thought we'd give USofA one more go before Trump becomes president!!! (Hope I'm joking!)

I hope so too, Puligny, but things are not looking good. AZ not a poster child for civil rights, etc, but desert golf in March sounds just the business. Enjoy!

Shane Lowry is apparently skipping the Hyundai ToC.

A mistake IMO, it is about 40 guaranteed FedEx points, about 8% of the total he needs to make the Top 125.

He doesn't have to worry about his Tour Card for the 2016-17 season though, so he may not be too worried about the playoffs.

Most of the Hampshire elements of this are lost on me, but I am going to be in Southampton and Winchester (for the first time ever) on Tuesday, but sadly for business not pleasure.

Agreed GPB, Daft of Shane.
He's shown before that he doesn't quite get the rules/opportunities of the PGA Tour; having said which, he took a long break last year and partly attributes that rest to his success later in the year. This has the potential to backfire though.


Bob,
Just my roots and favourite pub, that's all! Winchester Cathedral is gorgeous even if you don't fancy anything else . . . .

GPB wrote:Shane Lowry is apparently skipping the Hyundai ToC.

too hilly for him.

Harrington and McDowell have committed for Kapalua, Rory and Shane giving it a miss; Rose TBA.

kwini

Shane skipped the middle east swing at the start of the this years European tour season, do you think him not entering the ToC has anything to do with him reconsidering whether to play some of those events next season?

No idea, But he certainly put some of his success down to taking two months off off before sticking his toe in PGA Tour waters in California.

For our US based readers and contributors: Happy Thanksgiving

For the rest of you, it's a normal Thursday.

McLaren wrote:kwini

Shane skipped the middle east swing at the start of the this years European tour season, do you think him not entering the ToC has anything to do with him reconsidering whether to play some of those events next season?

He'd always complained about Middle East, presumably because of the heat and his grotesque physique.

pedro wrote:

GPB wrote:Shane Lowry is apparently skipping the Hyundai ToC.

too hilly for him.

From my recollection it's pretty much all downhill though isn't it?

Unless the 18th Green is a long way from the 1st tee, that a topological rarity

SmithersJones wrote:

pedro wrote:

GPB wrote:Shane Lowry is apparently skipping the Hyundai ToC.

too hilly for him.

From my recollection it's pretty much all downhill though isn't it?

Given that the 1st tee is next to the 18th green, that's not strictly true.

I've heard there's a course in Japan where you start your round by taking an escalator to the top of a hill, and the course then zig zags back down the hill with the 18th green in front of the clubhouse.

Just read that a Chinese pro called Zhu shot a 21 over par 92 on Day 1 of the Aussie Open. He sorted his game out for the second round however, and shot a much more respectable 85.

Kafelnikov DNF as there was no chance of catching him...

raycastleunited wrote:Just read that a Chinese pro called Zhu shot a 21 over par 92 on Day 1 of the Aussie Open. He sorted his game out for the second round however, and shot a much more respectable 85.

There's a lot of that on the Europro, a bunch of pipe dreamers with no perspective of reality bankrolled by Mater and Pater.

I guarantee a few of us could do better than that.

Kapalua is regarded as the toughest walk on Tour. And that is after there are shuttles on several parts of the golf course to take players/caddies from one part of the course to the next part.

Shuttle going from 5th green to 6th
Shuttle going from 8th tee to 8th green (Its a par three over a big ravine).

GPB wrote:Kapalua is regarded as the toughest walk on Tour.  And that is after there are shuttles on several parts of the golf course to take players/caddies from one part of the course to the next part.

Shuttle going from 5th green to 6th
Shuttle going from 8th tee to 8th green (Its a par three over a big ravine).

That really says it all. If anyone breaks down a course into whether a course is difficult to walk to the point where it means they don't play it, then that shows how scandalously unfit they must be. Disgraceful.

If anyone has cause to complain, it's the caddy. The player has no excuse whatsoever.

kwinigolfer wrote:Harrington and McDowell have committed for Kapalua, Rory and Shane giving it a miss; Rose TBA.

That's great to hear that Paddy is playing in Kapalua after his knee surgery, crazy from Shane to pass up free Fedex cup points!

I understand from a pace of play perspective why they would arrange shuttles at Kapalua. The distance from 5th green to 6th tee may be 100 yards as the crow flies but it's over a huge ravine and so the journey to go around it must be 600 yards. There are a number of other holes with very long walks to the next tee as well.

I enjoy the walk, for me its an integral part of the game, so I was initially disappointed to find buggies were compulsory. However once out on the course you see why.

I do agree though Super that deciding not to play a course because it's a bit hilly would be truly pathetic.

Am surprised Shane is not playing Kapalua. It is a hell of a long way from Dublin, and comes a bit soon for him to recover from his NYE hangover, but the points available are huge and it's one of the nicest places I can think of to spend a few days relaxing either side of the tournament.

super_realist wrote:
That really says it all. If anyone breaks down a course into whether a course is difficult to walk to the point where it means they don't play it, then that shows how scandalously unfit they must be. Disgraceful.

If anyone has cause to complain, it's the caddy. The player has no excuse whatsoever.

What says it all?

This is totally a total out of context strawman argument.

The "arduous walk" as the reason why Lowry is nothing but speculation, and as far as I can, it is speculation perpetuated only on this golf board, and only by the "Fat-a-Phobes" on this board.

And last time I checked, there has to be one course on the PGATour that is regarded as the hardest to walk. Just like there is one that is regarded as the easiest to walk (which is the following week at Sony). So by the Fat-a-phobe's theory, Lowry should be playing Sony because it is the easiest to walk.

There are probably legit reasons why Lowry is not play, mainly that is a very long way from Ireland and would require him to leave just a couple days after New Years Day. It is probably something that he just wanted to do, and I suspect he knows next to nothing about the Plantation Golf Course.

Regardless, one just hopes Lowry has his arms around the schedule - remember, one would also expect him to be qualified for the Olympics, although one can see a number of qualified players deciding that Rio might be a trip too far.

KT Kim and Gonzalo F'dez among those competing in web.com Q-School. Gonzo taking steps backwards at a frightening pace. Don't see any other notable participants, though there are plenty of second/third tier Aussies.

GPB wrote:

super_realist wrote:
That really says it all. If anyone breaks down a course into whether a course is difficult to walk to the point where it means they don't play it, then that shows how scandalously unfit they must be. Disgraceful.

If anyone has cause to complain, it's the caddy. The player has no excuse whatsoever.

What says it all?

This is totally a total out of context strawman argument.

The "arduous walk" as the reason why Lowry is nothing but speculation, and as far as I can, it is speculation perpetuated only on this golf board, and only by the "Fat-a-Phobes" on this board.

And last time I checked, there has to be one course on the PGATour that is regarded as the hardest to walk.  Just like there is one that is regarded as the easiest to walk (which is the following week at Sony).  So by the Fat-a-phobe's theory, Lowry should be playing Sony because it is the easiest to walk.  

There are probably legit reasons why Lowry is not play, mainly that is a very long way from Ireland and would require him to leave just a couple days after New Years Day.  It is probably something that he just wanted to do, and I suspect he knows next to nothing about the Plantation Golf Course.

The whole point is that golf is a game of such lazy, fat unfit knackers that someone has actually given thought as to what are the most difficult courses to WALK on the PGA Tour. Why would it even be an issue? It's WALKING for goodness sake. It's as irrelevant as making a list of which courses has the most ornate tee markers or which course has the greenest grass. It shouldn't bother the players in the slightest and they shouldn't be giving it any thought whatsoever. Here's a thought. Walking is never difficult on a golf course. It's just walking.

I'm not saying Lowry isn't playing because of that, but if there's a list somewhere of "hard courses to walk" then yes, it tells me everything I need to know about golfing demographics.

The New Year/Distance excuse is also rather pathetic. Hawaii is not in anyone's back garden, it's not as if Fat Shane is the only one travelling or travelling the furthest and what has New Year got to do with it anyway?

I'm going to give Fat Shane the benefit of the doubt in that he just can't be arsed, and that's fair enough. I'm just pointing out that no one should be compiling lists of what courses are the hardest to "walk". That's simply laughable and completely irrelevant to anyone on the tour.

However, of course it's speculation, but he frequently misses out on middle east tournaments because he can't stand the heat, so why not a tough walk?

It seems Dustin Johnson has been visiting TOC...
http://www.golfchannel.com/news/grill-room/winter-wonderland-st-andrews-covered-snow/

super_realist wrote:

GPB wrote:

super_realist wrote:
That really says it all. If anyone breaks down a course into whether a course is difficult to walk to the point where it means they don't play it, then that shows how scandalously unfit they must be. Disgraceful.

If anyone has cause to complain, it's the caddy. The player has no excuse whatsoever.

What says it all?

This is totally a total out of context strawman argument.

The "arduous walk" as the reason why Lowry is nothing but speculation, and as far as I can, it is speculation perpetuated only on this golf board, and only by the "Fat-a-Phobes" on this board.

And last time I checked, there has to be one course on the PGATour that is regarded as the hardest to walk.  Just like there is one that is regarded as the easiest to walk (which is the following week at Sony).  So by the Fat-a-phobe's theory, Lowry should be playing Sony because it is the easiest to walk.  

There are probably legit reasons why Lowry is not play, mainly that is a very long way from Ireland and would require him to leave just a couple days after New Years Day.  It is probably something that he just wanted to do, and I suspect he knows next to nothing about the Plantation Golf Course.

The whole point is that golf is a game of such lazy, fat unfit knackers that someone has actually given thought as to what are the most difficult courses to WALK on the PGA Tour. Why would it even be an issue? It's WALKING for goodness sake.  It's as irrelevant as making a list of which courses has the most ornate tee markers or which course has the greenest grass. It shouldn't bother the players in the slightest and they shouldn't be giving it any thought whatsoever. Here's a thought. Walking is never difficult on a golf course. It's just walking.

I'm not saying Lowry isn't playing because of that, but if there's a list somewhere of "hard courses to walk" then yes, it tells me everything I need to know about golfing demographics.

The New Year/Distance excuse is also rather pathetic. Hawaii is not in anyone's back garden, it's not as if Fat Shane is the only one travelling or travelling the furthest  and what has New Year got to do with it anyway?

I'm going to give Fat Shane the benefit of the doubt in that he just can't be arsed, and that's fair enough. I'm just pointing out that no one should be compiling lists of what courses are the hardest to "walk". That's simply laughable and completely irrelevant to anyone on the tour.

However, of course it's speculation, but he frequently misses out on middle east tournaments because he can't stand the heat, so why not a tough walk?

Have you been visiting London S-R? It seems there's an organisation for you to join!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-34969424

Still some like no one other than Shane knows why he is giving up free fedex points. I will add my prediction of what the outcome of this will be on the predictions thread.

The Turkish Open gets my vote for the most ornate tee markers. They were little models of Turkish Airlines planes taking off. I didn't get a close enough view on the telly to see what aircraft they used, it would have been a nice touch if they had used different models and put some thought into what model would be the best for each tee.

Maybe this topic is worth its own thread. And a year long competition to find the best tee markers.

I remember a club I used to play at as a junior had painted concrete tee markers moulded out of a plastic cup.

St .Andrews has to be the laziest, a plastic disc with a nail through it.

Best tee markers would probably come from the John Deere tour event. Different model mowers, tractors, diggers. They tend to lose a lot of them at the end of the tournament as players want souvenirs. The Barclays on the other hand has very boring tee box marker; white cubes with blue trim, and The Barclays written on them. Very imaginative.

PGA Tour have also thought of this. Click Here
I would have thought the Phoenix Waste Management Open could have used dustbins.

The Chinese and Gulf Swing tournaments should have dollar bills and bling as tee markers.

The Russian Open should/could have full size Putin dolls as tee markers.

Johnnie Walker of course should have whisky bottles - effectively securing John Daly wouldn't make it past 1st tee.

Whereas tee markers at this week's Hero Challenge features a lifesize figure of the "host" flexing his glutes . . . .

Champions Tour Q-School Final is underway, with Barry Lane actually getting off to a strong start - every year he seems the class of the event, but stumbles and bumbles his way to miss securing his card. Competition this week comes from Paul Broadhurst and Steve Jones, among others. Tour winners, overseas winners and "veteran" PGA Tour members abound.

On the prediction thread I put down Tiger calling it a day in 2016. It seems I was wrong.

We will look back on today as the day Tiger left the game.

McLaren wrote:On the prediction thread I put down Tiger calling it a day in 2016.  It seems I was wrong.

We will look back on today as the day Tiger left the game.  

Best golf news I've heard all year. Always thought 9C's ridiculous physique and swing were just as detrimental to a long term career as being a fat bloater.

Good riddance and I look forward to proportional coverage of the people in the field who actually deserve it.

super_realist wrote: I look forward to proportional coverage of the people in the field who actually deserve it.  

     
Dream on, super...

Interesting development. From 2016/17 players will be forced to add new events to their schedule if the play fewer than 25 events in the previous season.

http://www.golfchannel.com/news/golf-central-blog/tour-require-players-add-some-events-they-havent-played/?cid=twitter-gc-a-tour-require-players-add-some-events-they-havent-played-120115

"the circuit’s new “strength of field regulation” will mandate a Tour member add at least one tournament he had not participated in during the previous four seasons."

I can't remember who it was, or on which board it was, but someone proposed a similar thing years ago. Their proposal was that in a 3 or 4 year period, every PGA Tour member had to play every tournament on the Tour. This was so every tournament would get their fair share of the stars coming to play. The International Golf Tournament had to close in 2006 because it could not attract the main players.

I think it makes sense for everybody. Except maybe the players.