European Tour 2016 - Dubai

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Selected RD 1 Tee Times
1 07:40 Felipe AGUILAR Raphaël JACQUELIN
1 07:50 Renato PARATORE Mikko ILONEN
1 08:00 Romain WATTEL Jaco VAN ZYL
1 08:10 Matthew SOUTHGATE Kiradech APHIBARNRAT
1 08:20 Ricardo GOUVEIA Padraig HARRINGTON
1 08:30 George COETZEE Pablo LARRAZÁBAL
1 08:40 Marcus FRASER Brandon STONE
1 08:50 Victor DUBUISSON David LIPSKY
1 09:00 Jorge CAMPILLO Julien QUESNE
1 09:10 Tommy FLEETWOOD Nacho ELVIRA
1 09:25 Joakim LAGERGREN Soomin LEE
1 09:35 Nicolas COLSAERTS Alejandro CAÑIZARES
1 09:45 Richard STERNE Byeong Hun AN
1 09:55 Charl SCHWARTZEL Grégory BOURDY
1 10:05 Rikard KARLBERG Alexander LEVY
1 10:15 Shane LOWRY David HORSEY
1 10:25 Bradley DREDGE Matthew FITZPATRICK
1 10:35 Richard BLAND Scott HEND
1 10:45 Francesco MOLINARI Andrew JOHNSTON
1 10:55 Thomas PIETERS Søren KJELDSEN
1 11:10 Sergio GARCIA Haotong LI
1 11:20 Thongchai JAIDEE Ross FISHER
1 11:30 Joost LUITEN Jeunghun WANG
1 11:40 Martin KAYMER Andy SULLIVAN
1 11:50 Lee WESTWOOD Bernd WIESBERGER
1 12:00 Thorbjørn OLESEN Chris WOOD
1 12:10 Louis OOSTHUIZEN Rafa CABRERA BELLO
1 12:20 Branden GRACE Tyrrell HATTON
1 12:30 Rory MCILROY Alex NOREN
1 12:40 Danny WILLETT Henrik STENSON

Els and Mickelson and Dufner have won majors in the last 5 years. None of are the paragons of being fit and trim Darren Clarke won a major 6 years ago.

Angel Cabrera has won two majors in the last 10 years. Again, far from being fit and trim

And besides Mickelson there is NO ONE that has been in the Top 30 of the OWGR for the last 20 year.

Woods hasn't, Sergio hasn't, Furyk has been close, but he fell outside the top 50 a few years ago.

Yes, 3 out of 20. Big deal. That's 15%.

Yes, Mickelson has tremendous talent, as did Woods, which made up for him being built up preposterously.

There's an optimum for golf, and if you aren't lucky to have amazing talent, then you aren't going to stay at the top of the game. Lowry is making a big mistake if he thinks he's going to have a long career at the top with a body like that with his limited talent.

I can't imagine Rose, Garcia, Poulter, Kaymer, Donald, Casey etc spending the amount of time they did in the top 20 if they looked like Lowry.

Yes, a fatty can be a flash in the pan and win a major here or there, but unless they have ridiculous talent like Mickelson or Els, they won't stay there. You keep overlooking that. There's hardly any career fatties at the top of the game these days.

LMAO...

Hope you enjoy those cherries you keep picking to support your hypothesis.

3 out 20 is 15%....more than anomaly. 4 out of last 24. 16.7% again more than aberration.

You got Reed and Mickelson in the Top 15. 13.3% of the Top 15.

It's not an anomaly at all. It shows that fat players are far less likely to win than those who aren't.

Again you prove it again with the top 15.  Fatties aren't well represented. 13.3% is not very high.

If you think being fat is not at all harmful for your golf game, please tape 40 pounds (20 bags of sugar) to your waist this weekend and see what affect it has.
You keep ignoring the effect that weight has on fitness levels which is important because tournaments are won on small margins. Lowry is reducing his chances of being at the top regularly by carrying around weight he doesn't need to. He's playing with a small child wrapped around his weight. You can't escape that that has an effect on your energy output, tiredness and mental fatigue.

Put it this way, imagine you and I weighed the same () We both walk six miles in 30C and 90% humidity, you are carrying 40 lbs extra in a bag, and I'm not, who is going to be in better shape at the end? Me, obviously. Golf is not a game based solely on talent anymore. Wake up.

Have to say I'm on Super's side of the fence with this one although it's not a straightforward fit people = winners fat people = losers, that's way too over-simplifying it.
The number one factor is of course talent supplemented by mental strength supplemented further by physical conditioning. Non tip top physically conditioned players will still win tournaments, of course they will. But a lack of physical conditioning will also cost them tournaments as well. Poor physical conditioning isn't about not being able to strike the ball you can still do that obviously but I believe it takes it's toll late in rounds, when you tire and fatigue, you don't initially know, it's mental first, you can make poor decisions, dodgy piece of course management or misread a putt for example. Those things are likely to happen before a tired swing.

As Super points out, tournaments are won on small margins. So players, if they want to get to the top and stay there for any length of time should be looking for any marginal gains they can. The obvious example I can think of by somebody maximising their talent due to an extensive physical conditioning regime would be Player who was able to compete at the top level for decades. On the other hand he was the kind of personality/character that clearly enjoyed that element. Other guys just enjoy the game and using their talent and wouldn't take to extensive sweating in the gym. Those guys will still enjoy success but the success probably won't be as prolonged.

From a personal point of view my best season was 2014 and I don't think it's a coincidence that 2014 started off with me running the London marathon, for most of that season I was in great physical shape and went from 6 to 4. I've let my fitness go a bit and I'm back up at 6. Maybe coincidence, maybe not.

Jesus! This is funny. People are talking about a round of golf as if it's decision making in the last minute of the RWC final overtime. They are not so tired that it's making a big difference to their thinking. They don't even carry their chuffing bag and they take 5+ hours to get a 2-ball around a course.
So Lowry's a little overweight? So what? Perhaps Lowry is enjoying himself immensely? There's more to it than trying to be Woods, with all his hangups.

Navy

Rugby is probably a bad example to bring up when discussing the ability to use decision making capacities.

Navy, Lowry is OBESE according to the stats. He might get away with it in temperate climates like the UK, but try being a big fat gutlord like him in 35c and 95% humidity of the Houston Open for example. Just walking around is tiring, it's why Texas has things like drive through ATM machines so people don't have to get out of their car and instantly sweat their man boobs off.

It's got nothing to do with talent, or injuries or anything like that, it's about being worn out physically and mentally at the business end of a tournament. Even if being obese only costs you 1% per round through tiredness, that's over 2 shots over a tournament basically and much of the tour is increasingly played in places where an unfit lardarse like Lowry WILL suffer in the conditions.

Sport, even a game like golf, is all about margins these days.

navyblueshorts wrote:Jesus! This is funny. People are talking about a round of golf as if it's decision making in the last minute of the RWC final overtime. They are not so tired that it's making a big difference to their thinking. They don't even carry their chuffing bag and they take 5+ hours to get a 2-ball around a course.
So Lowry's a little overweight? So what? Perhaps Lowry is enjoying himself immensely? There's more to it than trying to be Woods, with all his hangups.

Jesus this is funny indeed, that's taking what I said way out of context. As Super says it IS all about small margins and no matter which way you cut it, tiredness and fatigue does start to set in toward the end of a 4 day tournament, however small it will be a factor. For well conditioned players it will be less of a factor, for not so well conditioned players it will be more. Not carrying a bag will of course delay the onset, high temperature & humidity will accelerate it e.g. dehydration accelerates mental fatigue. For tour pros their talent and hours of practice will mitigate any mental performance drop off most of the time.

What I was trying to say was that when the very initial stages of fatigue start to set in it's not physically noticeable.

No doubt Lowry will be enjoying himself immensely, doing what he loves doing for a living and doing it reasonably well. He would have loved being in the mix going into Sunday at Oakmont but ask him how much he enjoyed the back 9 that Sunday.

Going to another exaggerated extreme to try and illustrate the point, have you ever played after a long night on the lash? Couple of paracetamols and off you go, it all starts great because you're relaxed and happy because you're getting out in the fresh air and it all feels good, you're enjoying yourself. As the round progresses the paracetamols begin to wear off. Alcohol, being the great dehydrator that it is accelerates the onset of fatigue, you start feeling like mince, shots go astray, mentally you can't be bothered to concentrate. What started off looking like a great round descends into one to forget. You go up 0.1 and wonder why it all went wrong, it's pretty obvious really, your physical condition could have been better. Now no doubt tour players don't go out on the lash the night before (I wonder who'll be first to throw John Daly's name in!!!!) they're not that stupid. They want to feel tip top and prepared when they tee it up, some take that preparation seriously by having a physical conditioning programme to ensure they are in the best possible state, others don't really bother so much, it is of course entirely their choice.

David Duval completely lost his golf game AFTER he dropped about 40-50 lbs.

Yep, I can cherry pick too.

You are making the assumption that Shane Lowry would be some kind of WORLD BEATER if he weighed 180 lbs instead of 220 lbs (or whatever he weighs).

There is NOTHING to suggest that Shane Lowry would be any better at golf if he had a optimal BMI.

Golf is more of a sport of skill than it is Fitness.

GPB, Can you please stop misrepresenting people please and deliberately missing the entire point.

We are talking about being more TIRED (physically and mentally) because you are a great big fat lump and carrying 20 bags of sugar equivalent around your waist. We are NOT talking about FORM, INJURY, TECHNIQUE, SKILL etc.

Do you really think Lowry would NOT be less tired if he were to be 12 stone instead of his hilarious 16? As I keep saying, try it.

No one is saying that Lowry would be #1 or a world beater, we are saying that if he weighed the same as a NORMAL player, he MIGHT have more physical and mental energy at the end of a round than he currently does, meaning a LOWER chance of fatigue caused errors.

Now he might not care to, because he might be happy being a journeyman and perhaps he's too lazy to try, but he'll never know if he COULD be better and COULD close out more by dropping 40lbs of turgid lard, and he'll never know if his grotesque fatness IS what is contributing to him NOT winning as many tournaments as he might like.

Talent is only PART of golf now, yet that is ALL that Lowry relies on when his peers are using talent AND conditioning to IMPROVE their CONDITIONING, leading to LESS TIREDNESS.

McLaren wrote:Navy

Rugby is probably a bad example to bring up when discussing the ability to use decision making capacities.  

A good example of the sort of statement that's evidence you're not in any position to comment!

Can we please refer here to the Turkish Open? This daft conversation about Lowry's lard is off topic (and really, really, boring).

Start a thread on Lowry and his weight if it keeps people happy.

I'm seeing some references that the Open de España might be re-branding and becoming a late season Finals event to be held at permanent venue Valderrama for 2017 and beyond... anybody here got any insight on that?

I'm not up on weather conditions this time of year... but it makes sense from the early snipped we've seen of the Euro Tour 2017 Schedule. In 2015 the Open de España played in mid-May, was moved to mid-April for 2016... and now the 2017 April ET schedule is set without the event. Seems it would be a good thing to get at least one of the Euro Tour's Final events in Europe proper...

super_realist wrote:I went to Houston Top Golf the other week Robo. Good fun. Lowry would love it as you can drink and eat as you play.

Man... I wish I would have know you were in town... Would have enjoyed meeting up.

I should have got in touch, I had quite a lot of free time and could have fitted a game in.
That range needs another 100 yards on it though, far too short. Great fun for what it is.

Houston was a bit of an eye opener for me though. Enjoyed it, but man, is it charmless in many places.

Valderrama is an excellent and iconic venue. It'd be great if rumors are true. Valderrama is an all year venue with temps in the low to mid 20s C / 70s F this time of year.

robopz wrote:

super_realist wrote:I went to Houston Top Golf the other week Robo. Good fun. Lowry would love it as you can drink and eat as you play.

Man... I wish I would have know you were in town... Would have enjoyed meeting up.

You'd have to see your shrink afterwards though.

super_realist wrote:I should have got in touch, I had quite a lot of free time and could have fitted a game in.
That range needs another 100 yards on it though, far too short. Great fun for what it is.

Houston was a bit of an eye opener for me though. Enjoyed it, but man, is it charmless in many places.

Can't argue with your last line. But still a great place to live if you know where to be... And of course as it is in any big city, where NOT to be.  Will say though... we have ridiculously great and year round golf opportunity down here. Great variety of design, quality and value. If you have the time.... then money, availability and accessibility is not an issue in these parts.

I saw quite a few nice courses, I was staying in Katy and there were a few around there which looked like fun, whilst saw a few in town that also looked good.

Couldn't complain about the weather certainly. 32 every day in October is pretty pleasant. Surprised how friendly the locals were considering the size of the place, although the obvious attachments to Trump and pervasive religion everywhere is a bit odd.

Shame it's so bloody hard to get a visa to work in the US of A.

super_realist wrote:I saw quite a few nice courses, I was staying in Katy and there were a few around there which looked like fun, whilst saw a few in town that also looked good.

Couldn't complain about the weather certainly. 32 every day in October is pretty pleasant. Surprised how friendly the locals were considering the size of the place, although the obvious attachments to Trump and pervasive religion everywhere is a bit odd.

Shame it's so bloody hard to get a visa to work in the US of A.

The thing about "Southern Hospitality" is not a myth. It's real and it's just the way we are (at least until one proves he doesn't deserve it). We don't consider ourselves "Southern" here in Texas... but we practice the hospitality part anyway. In general I'd say we have a stronger affinity for any GBI type person (or at least English/Irish/Scottish sounding one... :-)

Even Welsh, didn't Woosie win there last year or so?

Not much southern hospitality in Dallas when I lived there, but Fort Worth was fun!

Interesting about Dallas kwini... I'm a bit surprised to hear that.  

But anyway... Can't say as we ever had any complaints about the hospitality we've received on our numerous trips to Norwich or Aberdeen.  Much of my wife's upbringing was over there, with her sister settling in Norwich.  We do find it amusing though how because we're American and our accents it's assumed were some type of simpletons or such.  It infuriates her, but I enjoy playing it to the max... :-)

Hope to get back that way soon, but as wife's Mom is not up to making the trip over anymore, the last good while it's been them coming to us instead the other way around.

Interesting point about accents. Americans seem to love an accent a lot more than British/Europeans do.

Saying that, there's plenty of British accents which sound like the person is as thick as my fridge door too.

super_realist wrote:
He might have closed out the US Open if he hadn't been carrying around a surplus 40lb for 5 hours a day for the 4 days of the competition."

As far as I remember he had to finish his 3rd round early Sunday morning. When playing 27 holes or so in one day it's no surprise he choked.

But with all this cherry picking going on on various statistics I have another take on Lowrys high BMI: His real problem is not his weight, but his height....

I think it's a thing that around here anyone with a British accent is though to sound more intelligent.   Course like I said, I have relatives over there, so I know better...

pedro wrote:

super_realist wrote:
He might have closed out the US Open if he hadn't been carrying around a surplus 40lb for 5 hours a day for the 4 days of the competition."

As far as I remember he had to finish his 3rd round early Sunday morning. When playing 27 holes or so in one day it's no surprise he choked.

But with all this cherry picking going on on various statistics I have another take on Lowrys high BMI: His real problem is not his weight, but his height....

Oh no, the poor fat lump had to play 27 holes in a day, boo bloody hoo. Are you really using that as an excuse? That's unbelievably weak.

Maybe it is because as an Irishman his eyes are too close together too? Who knows.

Apparently Euro Tour Chief Keith Pelley is prepared to give Patrick Reed a special exemption to retain his Euro Tour membership even if he fails to meet the "must play 5 events" rule...

“Reed, together with Rory McIlroy and a few other players, pulled out of the Turkish Airlines Open here because of security fears after a bomb exploded in the Antalya region. But he has played only three ‘regular’ events and, with only two events left, the minimum is five…

“However, even if Reed opts to stay at home in Texas, Pelley is ready to grant a controversial ‘chief executive exemption’. ‘I would, absolutely,’ Pelley said. ‘It would be my decision to keep him as a full member of the European Tour.’”

http://www.golfdigest.com/story/is-european-tour-bending-over-backwards-to-keep-patrick-reed-as-a-member?mbid=social_twitter

- - - - -

I certainly understand Pelley's desire to keep Reed in the fold... but seems to me either there's a rulebook or there's not.  How is a rank & file Euro Tour member supposed to feel about this...

Sky Sports had a piece on this. Reed has been deleted from a list - apologies I don't know which one - and it means that Graeme Storm - who originally missed out on keeping his card by €100, now keeps it.

Edit: I think it's the R2D list

I'm never wrong wrote:Sky Sports had a piece on this. Reed has been deleted from a list - apologies I don't know which one - and it means that Graeme Storm - who originally missed out on keeping his card by €100, now keeps it.

Edit: I think it's the R2D list

http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/racetodubai/rankings/index.html

I still don't understand how this works for Franny Molinari, and even more so for Justin Rose.

Bit of a joke if you can play two events and be given an exemption as if you had busted your balls to play on the tour. Are the Euro Tour really that desperate?

As I said earlier, Pelley looks like a pimp and he also behaves like one.

Also a bit ironic if you let US Ryder Cup participation count towards ET membership..

kwinigolfer wrote:

I'm never wrong wrote:Sky Sports had a piece on this. Reed has been deleted from a list - apologies I don't know which one - and it means that Graeme Storm - who originally missed out on keeping his card by €100, now keeps it.

Edit: I think it's the R2D list

http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/racetodubai/rankings/index.html

I still don't understand how this works for Franny Molinari, and even more so for Justin Rose.

Good for Storm.... at least some good comes out of the Reed situation.    

And what's the deal with Franny?  He clearly has enough events, and during/after his interview after his great round yesterday, it was said that would be was his last round in the states this year as he's going to play Dubai and Australia....  

And what's the question with Rose?  Clearly he doesn't have the number of events needed to play in the R2D final even if he were eligible, so not sure why he should be on the list.   And I assume as far as membership is concerned that's not a problem either?. Wouldn't there be some kind of injury waiver on the ET or something like the Major Medicals on the PGAT?  It appeared as though Rose was set to get the other 3 events he needed before the injury, and he clearly has the money to exempt for next year. €492 would currently be about #62

pedro wrote:Also a bit ironic if you let US Ryder Cup participation count towards ET membership..

Works both ways.... RC participation counts for Euro players meeting their 15 minimum on the PGA Tour as well....

OK, You'll have to help me here:
Franny's played 7 tournaments, isn't Dubai the final one? Or does the World Cup count?? Anyway, is 9 (or 8) now sufficient?
And, as for Rose, why isn't he included in the R2D rankings? He's had two injuries causing him to miss tournaments so agree he should get sick notes accepted, but can't see why he shouldn't be included.

Fair enough robo, it's ironic both ways - but the RC is run by the ET and not the PGATour, which makes the ET eligibility criteria a bit more ironic...

GPB wrote:Man, anyone sense an obsession with Lowry besides me?
 

It's not an obsession, it's a man crush.

Which is incidentally what would happen if Lowry sat on you.

kwinigolfer wrote:OK, You'll have to help me here:
Franny's played 7 tournaments, isn't Dubai the final one? Or does the World Cup count?? Anyway, is 9 (or 8) now sufficient?
And, as for Rose, why isn't he included in the R2D rankings? He's had two injuries causing him to miss tournaments so agree he should get sick notes accepted, but can't see why he shouldn't be included.

Now you have me confused, I'm not up on all the ET regulations... but isn't the requirement 5 "regular" events for everybody? If so, Franny played BMW PGA, France (x2) & Italy. That's 3 events but counts for 4 because of France, and Dubai will be his 5th. And according to this article... the World Cup doesn't seem to count. Ryder and EurAsia Cup's and Olympics do count. http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2015/tournamentid=2015090/news/newsid=278479.html

And my guess is... the R2D list they are showing is just for purposes of who's eligible for the R2D final. Anyone who won't/can't meet their minimum wouldn't be included... and they base not only Dubai but players making top-110 to retain their card based on members who fulfilled their obligations? Again, notice the ? because I'm just guessing why Rose isn't listed and ASSUMING he does in fact get an injury waiver. Just like Reed is no longer listed and it appears he will get a special waiver too?

pedro wrote:Fair enough robo, it's ironic both ways - but the RC is run by the ET and not the PGATour, which makes the ET eligibility criteria a bit more ironic...

Interesting though Pedro... it's not necessarily who runs it, because even though the PGAT doesn't run the Ryder Cup, in a "back door" sort of way, there's actually a PGA Tour membership requirement for the U.S. side as well. To be eligible for Ryder Cup a player must be an A-3 PGA of America member. That membership classification is reserved for members of the Champions, PGA and Web.com Tour's....

Good couple of weeks for the 2012 NCAA Champion's University of Texas team. Cody Gribble wins the Sanderson Farms last week, and Dylan Frittelli (who won the final match to secure Texas' NCAA win) secured his Euro Tour card for next year by finishing 8th on Challenge Tour "Road to Oman". (Top-16 get cards)

Thomas Detry of Belgium, who played at the University of Illinois with Thomas Pieters secured the 16th and final spot.

http://www.europeantour.com/challengetour/stats/index.html

robopz wrote:

kwinigolfer wrote:OK, You'll have to help me here:
Franny's played 7 tournaments, isn't Dubai the final one? Or does the World Cup count?? Anyway, is 9 (or 8) now sufficient?
And, as for Rose, why isn't he included in the R2D rankings? He's had two injuries causing him to miss tournaments so agree he should get sick notes accepted, but can't see why he shouldn't be included.

Now you have me confused, I'm not up on all the ET regulations... but isn't the requirement 5 "regular" events for everybody?   If so, Franny played BMW PGA, France (x2) & Italy.  That's 3 events but counts for 4 because of France, and Dubai will be his 5th. And according to this article... the World Cup doesn't seem to count.  Ryder and EurAsia Cup's and Olympics do count. http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2015/tournamentid=2015090/news/newsid=278479.html



And my guess is... the R2D list they are showing is just for purposes of who's eligible for the R2D final.  Anyone who won't/can't meet their minimum wouldn't be included... and they base not only Dubai but players making top-110 to retain their card based on members who fulfilled their obligations?  Again, notice the ? because I'm just guessing why Rose isn't listed and ASSUMING he does in fact get an injury waiver.  Just like Reed is no longer listed and it appears he will get a special waiver too?  

Kwini pointed a few weeks ago that Rose was not in the RtD standings.  At the time he was still able to get his quota of tournaments played.

Speculation:  Rose might have told officials that he won't be playing any events for the rest of the year to heal his back.

But apparently he was expecting a miraculous recovery in late November as he is entered in the Hero World Challenge in his back yard in Albany, Bahamas.  Somehow a $100K minimum paycheck when you can sleep in your own bedroom is a therapy that can work miracles.

Really? The Euro Tour has to remind its players of this?

Maybe it is because of the lack of spectators!!!

EuroTour Annoucement:

About time someone reminded players of this.
One of my pet peeves is just the way people hold out their arm, as if they arrogantly think that everyone around the course is there to watch them.

Absolutely nothing to do with lack of spectators, as our colonial cousins are every bit as bad as being tight lipped after an errant drive so there's no need to take a snarky tone that it's somehow ironic that the Euro tour is doing this, a lack of spectators would at least make it less likely a call would be needed, but I've seen plenty instances in packed US venues where the players are just as bad as this.

Shame they can't give them a "hurry the f*ck up" notice too

GPB wrote:Really? The Euro Tour has to remind its players of this?

Maybe it is because of the lack of spectators!!!

EuroTour Annoucement:

About time, but I think the lack of shouting fore is much worse on the PGA tour. We all know they do it to get a favourable bounce off a spectator. I've heard players make the lame excuse that they don't want to put off fellow competitors on adjoining holes, that's bull.

Of course the players on the ET don't need to shout because there are no spectators anyway.

Ray - Do you have any data to support the "lack of shouting fore" is much worse on the PGA Tour? (I can't imagine this stuff is even collected ... but I seriously doubt it's worse on either tour.)

GPB wrote:Kwini pointed a few weeks ago that Rose was not in the RtD standings.  At the time he was still able to get his quota of tournaments played.

Speculation:  Rose might have told officials that he won't be playing any events for the rest of the year to heal his back.

But apparently he was expecting a miraculous recovery in late November as he is entered in the Hero World Challenge in his back yard in Albany, Bahamas.  Somehow a $100K minimum paycheck when you can sleep in your own bedroom is a therapy that can work miracles.

Wow.... pretty cynical with that last graph.. He's gotta try to come back sometime... IMO a 3 month layoff to rest one's back is reasonable. And coming back at an unofficial event that should be easy on him seems like a great place to come back and test it. Absent evidence in this case or in the past of Rose being a bald faced liar, or the type to abuse "the system" in some sort of way, I think I'll go with it's all likely pretty reasonable.

super_realist wrote:About time someone reminded players of this.
One of my pet peeves is just the way people hold out their arm, as if they arrogantly think that everyone around the course is there to watch them.

Absolutely nothing to do with lack of spectators, as our colonial cousins are every bit as bad as being tight lipped after an errant drive so there's no need to take a snarky tone that it's somehow ironic that the Euro tour is doing this, a lack of spectators would at least make it less likely a call would be needed, but I've seen plenty instances in packed US venues where the players are just as bad as this.

Shame they can't give them a "hurry the f*ck up" notice too

Actually... on site...  I've never seen either the player, or the player and/or combination of a LOT of people not yelling fore when a ball goes off line...  and I do mean not once, not ever that I can recall.  Generally the PGAT is so well marshalled at the tee-boxes and up and down the FW's, somebody is always yelling fore to warn spectators.  Now that said... I've witnessed a lot of cases where the warning is not heard 300 yds away down the FW, or the FW marshals are not paying attention like they should following both visual and verbal indications coming from the teeing area.

But I agree with you that the snark is certainly unnecessary... just that coming from you the board snark king... it's pretty funny to hear you complaining about somebody else snarking on something....

Maybe cynical, but he did play all 5 sessions at Hazeltine...and then 3 days later comes down with a back injury that will keep him from fulfilling his EuroTour obligations (& traveling the world) and then two weeks after the RtD, he is planning to come back for a guaranteed paycheck.

Wouldn't be surprised to see him most (if not all) the West Coast swing (and the Middle East tournaments) for most rehab.

BTW, as the Gold Meal winner, is he eligible for the Tournament of Champions? I remember Molinari got a ToC invite for his HSBC win, before it as an official event.

GPB... Player's manual which didn't come out until the week of the Tour Championship still indicates: "Winners of PGA TOUR cosponsored or approved tournaments in 2016 calendar year, whose victories are considered official."... and that wouldn't include the Olympics. IMO It should be though...

And by the way.... I never noticed this before.... but the ToC also invites the FedExCup winner... I guess that's tacitly recognizing the possibility of a guy winning the FECup without winning an event... long shot though it may be.