PGA Tour: The California Riviera: Notes from the Ballwasher

1).Perfect conditions last weekend for the "AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am" but a shame that Sunday's round, by the overnight leaders at least, was more a war of attrition than a swashbuckling exhibition of risk/reward play that Phil Mickelson rewarded us with the last time he contended here.
On that occasion, in 2012, Phil started Round 4 six strokes off the lead and stormed through the first seven holes in five under par and shooting a 64 to win by two. The fact that he was grouped with Tiger (shot 75 for a T15 finish) made Phil's round all the more electrifying and he won his fourth "Crosby".

2).Alas, this was a below par Mickelson; he got off to a poor start and never asserted himself while others, initially Blixt but later Vaughn Taylor, seized the initiative.
Does this diminish Mickelson as a force to be reckoned with going forward? Not at all in my view; don't expect much from him in Florida but he'll surely be highly competitive at Augusta National, at the very least. And the PGA is back at Baltusrol where he won his (EDIT: Second!) Major.

3).In the event, Vaughn Taylor was the man who went out and won at Pebble Beach, clearly a surprise to everyone even though he played well there last year (10th).
For reasons that one can't articulately explain, there are middle-of-the-road (OK, more hard shoulder in Taylor's case) pros who I always take an interest in, and Taylor is one of them, partly due to the easy rhythm of his swing which makes one wonder why he struggles.  

4).Eighteen months ago Taylor had a scare when his fishing skiff capsized and he had to swim ashore battling the fast current from the Savannah River.
He missed earning "conditional status" on this year's Tour by a fraction, literally, of a FedEx point and played at Pebble Beach only as an alternate from his "Past Champion" status. The weekend before he had to w/d, suffering from a stomach virus, from a web.com event in Colombia, spending time in hospital hooked up to an I/V instead. Beware the ailing golfer indeed; all of a sudden he's 13th (very early days obviously) in Ryder Cup qualifying - he played in Ireland ten years ago.
Regardless, don't expect him to be using a carry-bag, as he did last weekend, instead of a Tour bag again anytime soon. Even pros sometimes take whatever steps are deemed necessary to save a buck or two.

5).This is the last weekend to qualify for the WGC-Cadillac Championship, at Doral in a fortnight, via the Top Ten in the Race to Dubai. Top ten so far:
Stenson, Grace, Willett, Charl, C-Bello, Wood, An, Sullivan, Pieters, Holman. With a good pay-day in Malaysia, the Maybank winner and, almost certainly, runner-up will qualify so Pieters and Holman could be bumped.
This Monday's, and the following Monday's owgr Top 50 qualify as do the Top ten in FedEx points as at Feb 29th.

6).The Tour is still undecided as to whether or not to return to Doral.
Meanwhile, Dean & Deluca have been announced as title sponsor of the "Colonial" tournament in Fort Worth.
And Northern Trust are being replaced next year as sponsor of the LA Open by Hyundai.
The musical chairs continue with Northern Trust replacing Barclays as sponsor of the first FedEx Play-Off event, but no announcement has yet been made about who will replace DeutscheBank as sponsor of FedEx Play-Off Round 2.
Speculation increases that the Play-Offs will be reduced from four events to three in light of concerns that the top players are being "overworked" prior to Ryder and President Cup action.

7).Riviera is one of the premier courses in America in general, on the PGA Tour certainly, and this week's field for the final "Northern Trust Open" in Los Angeles reflects the quality of the course and the history of the tournament.
It is the first Tour event to attract a truly international field this year with Messrs McIlroy, Scott, Schwartzel, Garcia, Wiesberger and Sullivan all making their 2016 debuts. Scott (2005 winner), Charl and Sergio (one of a handful who let victory slip through their fingers last year) all have good records here, whilst Casey is another who could've, should've won in 2015 instead of James Hahn.

8).Much will be made of Spieth and McIlroy being in the field together and it's a shame that Jason Day and Fowler are not joining them. Others from Team GB&I include:
Casey, Donald, Harrington, Laird, Owen and Justin Rose. Good finish in his Pebble Beach debut for Rose last week.
But Luke Donald made a complete horlicks of his 71st and 72nd holes, bogey/double bogey, which is just the sort of thing one sees from pros who are struggling; it's not the money that Luke needs, it's the points, owgr (currently 87th) and FedEx (120th), and that's the reason he'll be sitting at home watching the WGC's and Majors on the telly unless he can turn good golf into good results.  

9).Good news: Bernhard Langer won his 26th Champions Tour tournament this past week, ranking him 3rd in career Champo Tour wins. To put his achievement in perspective, no-one else born 1950 or later has more than Jay Haas's 17 wins.

10).Bad news: Have you seen Langer's putting style?
He uses a long putter which he holds out from his chest, but any gap is almost imperceptible and certainly can't see how anyone, playing competitor or official, can judge whether he's "anchoring" or not. I've never agreed with eliminating "anchoring", but rules is rules and Langer seems to be ensuring no-one can tell whether his stroke is within the rules or not. It looks for all the world as if he's taking the p1ss, two Germanic fingers in the direction of Golf Officialdom while he laughs all the way to the bank.

Nice one Kwini.

Not seen Langer putting yet, but for me the term "anchoring" has always been an issue.  I interpret what the spirit of the game is meant to be (as opposed to what's written down), as being that all clubs should be swung freely.  What anchoring results in is a pendulum motion rather than a swing as with other clubs, and I'd have preferred it if somehow the rule had been framed that the butt end of all clubs must describe an arc, rather than using anchoring as a term.  That way it doesn't matter if the butt is in contact with the body or not, it must swing in an arc, not pivot/pendulum about a fixed point.  Anyway, all water under the bridge, and I'll watch with interest going forward.  It's noteworthy too that in my club of some 700 golfers, I can't recall a single one using an "anchored" stroke.

In another blog, there is quite  debate on the importance of driving accuracy vs driving distance:

Riviera is widely considered a track where accuracy is needed,  Robopz posted these numbers in that blog

========
2015 Northern Trust Open - 3 players in the playoff... Driving Accuracy % and (Driving Accuracy rank) for the week out of 75 players who made the cut.

Winner - James Hahn - 51.8% (T34)
Tie 2nd - Paul Casey - 48.2% (T45)
Tie 2nd - Dustin Johnson - 39.3% (T68)

Driving Accuracy Leaders 2015 Northern Trust Open
1 - Brian Stuard - 71.43% (finished T39)
2 - Brendon Todd - 69.64% (finished T14)
3 - G Fdez Castano - 67.86% (finished 72nd)
4 - D Summerhays - 66.07% (finished T30)
4 - J Leonard - 66.07% (finished T56)

============

Furthermore he compared the Top 20 players in driving distance vs the Top 20 Players in Driving accuracy:

Comparing the 2015 top-20 players on the Driving Distance stat vs the Driving Accuracy stat i found the following:


$63,601,195 = Money won by top-20 in the Driving DISTANCE stat
$30,695,082 = Money won by top-20 in the Driving ACCURACY stat
14 = PGA Tour wins by top-20 players in the Driving DISTANCE stat
02 = PGA Tour wins by top-20 players in the Driving ACCURACY stat
19 = number of players to earn over $1 million from in the DISTANCE stat
10 = number of players to earn over $1 million from in the ACCURACY stat
9 = number of players to earn over $3 million from in the DISTANCE stat
3 = number of players to earn over $3 million from in the ACCURACY stat
0 = number of players falling below #125 money rank in the DISTANCE stat
7 = number of players falling below #125 money rank in the ACCURACY stat


NOTE: Rory McIlroy was a few drives short of the number of drives needed to qualify for the Distance Stat. But had qualified he would have been about #13th at 304 yards. I inserted Rory in the data above, and dropped the official #20th Robert Garrigus. The net effect was to raise the Distance Stat money by about $4.6 million and increase the wins by 2.

Kwini, Mickelson won his first major at Augusta in 2004. His second came at Baltusrol in 2005 setting up the first leg of the failed Mickel-slam which culminated in the oops at Winged Foot.

Grumps,
Quite right! Sorry about that. I'll make the change. Thanks,
(68F warmer here yesterday than Sunday morning!)

Cheers Bob,
Like you, I'm interested in seeing how things unfold. From what posters here say, I'd assume the use of "anchoring", and long putters in general, is quite a bit more prevalent here than there.
None of the Tour's former anchorers have won yet with the normal putter . . . . .


GPB,
You weren't surprised by that were you?
Greg Maddux was right, and Finchem knows which side his bread is buttered.
One aspect that's difficult to quantify is this:
Long hitters can hit it straight, often enough anyway when they're playing well.
But short hitters, however straight, will never hit it long.

Say Hi! to robo,

kwinigolfer wrote:6).The Tour is still undecided as to whether or not to return to Doral.

Actually that might not be the case.  Camp Ponte Vedra is not so prone to knee-jerk reactions ala the PGA of A.  My source on this one is telling me at this point there is absolutely no plans to hold the WGC at any other location other than Doral. It's not even being seriously looked into.  Cadillac is good through this year, and they aren't prone to a hasty reaction either and I'm told expected to re-up as sponsor (although the timeline of such announcement may be delayed) .  And of course the agreement between the Doral and the Tour extends some years further out.

The event with a Trump connection that may be in jeopardy is Puerto Rico... but not for the "political" reasons surrounding the Donald. The event has always been somewhat of a financial "weak sister", and last year's bankruptcy of the Trump managed (but not owned) host resort just adds to that.  Even though I'm told they are backstopped financially to play at least this year and "want" to continue... whatever that means.

kwinigolfer wrote:...but no announcement has yet been made about who will replace DeutscheBank as sponsor of FedEx Play-Off Round 2.
Speculation increases that the Play-Offs will be reduced from four events to three in light of concerns that the top players are being "overworked" prior to Ryder and President Cup action.

I wouldn't read anything into no replacement being announced for Deutsche Bank yet... mainly because from my same source, D.B leaving is apparently not the certainty some seem to think it is... likely, but far from sure as talks are still ongoing.  But regardless,  I'm told  sponsorship of a playoff event to remain in Boston is VERY unlikely to be an issue.  Apparently interest is very high among potential replacement sponsors should D.B. take a flyer.  

One other item of note.  The Colonial Title Sponsorship wasn't near the "panic" mode situation many (including myself) thought it was before the Dean & Deluca deal was announced. Apparently a well heeled Colonial guy had gone to the Tour and guaranteed sponsorship via one of his companies on a short term basis until a longer term contract sponsor could be found.  He turned out not to be needed, but now supposedly that same guy may have an interest in taking sponsorship of a newly created Alternate Event to play opposite the WGC Dell MP in Austin.  The thought being Puerto Rico would move back to be the alternate for Doral.    

And all that's important because going all the way back to Finchem {{cough, cough}} INVENTING {{wink, wink}} Greg Norman like World events... the agreement the Tour made to gain acceptance from the Players Advisory Council at the time was  the Tour would  conduct alternate events those same weeks. Obviously so as not to cut into playing opportunities for the "rank and file".   There's apparently been growing concern among the PAC that this is the 4th year in a row with no alternate event for at least one of the WGC's... and the situation needs to be rectified. The move of Mayakoba to a full standing event was supposed to somewhat mitigate that, but with the Web.com category players still having issues getting enough starts... it's pretty high on the priority list.   This year there were still several Webbies that got only 2 starts in the Fall portion of the schedule.  And with this week being the last week before the 2nd reshuffle, you still have Webbies who will have been able to get into only 5 events.

Hi robo,
Ref Doral: My choice of word "undecided" was inappropriate as who knows what the Tour "decides"? But there has certainly been strong implication in the media that something has been in the air. This from the Golf Channel two months ago:
"The Tour released a statement on Friday saying;
' . . . . we are moving forward with holding the 2016 (Cadillac) event at the Blue Monster. Immediately after completion of the 2016 tournament, we will explore all options regarding the event's future.'"

That's the last I've seen and is, at the very least, equivocal. So let's just say they haven't announced anything.

As for PR, I've always assumed this would be on thin ice.


Ref DeutscheBank: Obviously there's been plenty of media speculation about their contract expiring this year; then it was the AP that I first saw report "there have been discussions about reducing the playoffs to three events from four".

Then Finchem was quoted (in true Finchem-speak) as responding:
"If there's a way we can do other things in the schedule that relate to that period of time, it might be a good thing to do. The attitude of the players has always been it's tough for four in a row. And then you also a lot of times are getting close to the Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup. Both in our view are big events. You want space between big stuff." etc, etc, more gobbledigook as it goes.

So, in both cases, the Tour is throwing up trial balloons, at the very least.

Had never seen Colonial as a risk, or even speculation that it was, more just a matter of time.


Regardless, you have your finger much closer to the pulse than my keyboard is, and terrific to receive your insight. We'll have to watch this space, or your's at least! Cheers,

Hey Kwini...  only thing that can be said for sure with the PGA Tour is when it comes to the "big things"... expect the unexpected.  When it comes to meeting it's larger overall objectives, they're more of a "thinking outside the box" organization than people give them credit for. So in that respect... never say never to any solution to a problem.

But that said, when one ponders what might happen with a WGC or a playoff event, or markets like Miami or Boston... one needs to think in terms of what motivates the Tour.  Of course they're all about  first and foremost providing numerous and lucrative playing opportunities for their members.  But it's how they accomplish those goals one needs to focus on.

Since the days of Beman Tour leadership has always understood that to provide the most benefit for it's members it needs to first and foremost build and expand the value for those who underpin the finances of the Tour and it's events.  And the two big appetites to satisfy in that regard are TV and its key Sponsors.  So when you start looking at a potential issue with a WGC at Doral... or a Deutsche Bank as a playoff event (or any other issue on Tour for that matter) you need to think backwards from what possible solutions works best for TV and what works best for sponsors.  

First when it comes to a WGC you can bet the Tour would pull out all stops to keep it secure. Contrary to popular belief, the WGC's are NOT events owned or operated by some nebulous IFGT made up of the worlds golf tours. Instead they are wholly owned by the PGA Tour and the IFGT was created by the PGAT as a mechanism to sanction them and give them "world acceptance". (but that's a topic for another day).

The point here is the WGC's are BIG revenue producers for the Tour and no way they're  going to put a WGC at risk for nobody, Donald Trump included. So sure, in that respect you have to know the Tour has it's eyes open to other options if Trump continues his apparent bent to screw his golf organization right out of Tour golf.  For now... the easiest solution is to NOT just react for the sake of reaction, but  try to wait it out, hope the Trump BS subsides and go on as before.  But if that's not possible the solution will be driven by what makes TV and a big event big $ sponsor happy... and to that end it could be ANYTHING.  Could be just finding an new area venue.. or maybe bestowing the WGC designation on another existing FL stop along with some new "regular" event in Miami to fill the hole.   OR... maybe "think out of the box" and go play musical chairs again... maybe move the WGC to be coupled with another Texas event..  or maybe in conjunction with the U.S. Open...  who knows.

Think of the FedEx Cup and Deutsche Bank the same way.  What solution makes sense for TV, Sponsors & ultimately the players themselves? But this time you have an umbrella sponsor involved and one helluva golf organization in a valuable Boston market to consider.  From the Tour's standpoint, does doing away with one of their two premium field, high sponsor value events before the start of NFL regular season make sense?  How does FedEx or whoever the umbrella sponsor is feel about one less event in the playoffs and how much does that reduce the value of their sponsorship and what they're willing to pay? And how do the REST of non-Presidents or Ryder Cup players REALLY feel about one less huge quasi guaranteed payday coupled with maybe the bonus portion of the FE pool being reduced by some %?   And do you really want to vacate Boston?  

Bottom line:  A LOT more involved and sometimes entirely different motivations involved in these things than it appears from the outside...

Cheers robo,
Nothing to disagree with there. Except they've walked away from Boston once before and it never sounds as if the players are in love with that particular course. And they've semi-walked away from Chicago . . . . .

Would have thought "Miami" was crucial, if for no other reason than weather at that time of year to attract such a high class field. Perhaps Bernie can offer Cadillac & Timmy some advice as to how to proceed?
Time will tell!


Early starters Thursday will likely have damp conditions, with rain overnight expected to ling into the morning. After that, sunny and should be uneventful thru the weekend.

Monday qualifiers included Thomas Aiken (nobody said this PGA Tour lark would be easy, Tommy) and Jarrod Lyle (4th a few years ago, just days away from his second leukaemia diagnosis).

Kwini... my experience tells me that if you want to try to figure out what the Tour might be thinking... wait and see what they volunteer on their own vs what's provoked by some question at a presser or as a response to some general media rumor. When asked, Timmy or Votaw are always gonna opt for "we keep all our options open and consider everything"... and they're gonna try to frame any potential real or perceived negative with some silver lining. Marketing 101...

And bottom line... some "regular event" with issues is one thing... but when you start messing with one of their really big cash cows like a WGC or playoff events, you can bet they ain't gonna voluntarily give up any ground if they don't have to.

He uses a long putter which he holds out from his chest, but any gap is almost imperceptible and certainly can't see how anyone, playing competitor or official, can judge whether he's "anchoring" or not. I've never agreed with eliminating "anchoring", but rules is rules and Langer seems to be ensuring no-one can tell whether his stroke is within the rules or not.

Sounds almost exactly like one of the guys I was playing with last week. Practically impossible to tell if it was anchored or not but looked very close to me. Wonder how long it will be before an almighty argument occurs...

pro golf could turn into cricket where the bowlers get cited for chucking!

Some Persimmon porn.

Some fine woodmanship:

hend085 wrote:pro golf could turn into cricket where the bowlers get cited for chucking!

Short of having an official with every group whose remit is to check legitimacy of all strokes/swings it could conceivably go to a referral and review system in the pro game.

I still use a persimmon 3-wood . . . . . . and a 36-year old 5-wood. Not very well, but I use them.


Good to see Rory making a strong statement about the European Tour:

"The E T gave me so many opportunities at the start of my career and I'll always be indebted to them and I'll always go back and play, I never see a time when I won't be a European Tour member."


Looks like Riviera took a soaking last night; some early morning showers then back to "Sunny" California for the next four days.

How long before Adam Scott or Tim Clarke adopt the langer not-quite-anchoring stroke? Then we might see a bit more discussion in what anchoring actually is.



Robo

Thank you for posting those interesting driving stats. I like kwini's analysis of these;

"Long hitters can hit it straight, often enough anyway when they're playing well.
But short hitters, however straight, will never hit it long."

Is there any way to work out what the minimum accuracy required is for capitalizing on long hitting?


Kwini

I assume the PGA tour thinks the Trump issue will be over come 2017. He will either be president, and therefore his views "democratically" endorsed, or his current high public profile will have blown over somewhat.

Mac,
The other side of that coin is the fact that, at their best, Donald and Stricker were consistently among the leaders in Par-5 scoring average due to their controlled lay-ups (a lost art according to Peter Kostis), precise wedge play and brilliant putting.

Indicative of the decline of Lukey's short game expertise that he's dropped all the way to 132nd in Par-5 scoring.

Good article as usual. Thanks Kwini.

Re. Langer and his anchoring, or not, he's only buying time. I quite like Langer but he's on the wrong side of the fence with this one. If he and any others adopt this p!ss-take route, it'll go Bob's suggested route, which it probably should have done initially. They just need to word it so that the pivot can't be at the hands.

kwinigolfer wrote:controlled lay-ups (a lost art according to Peter Kostis)

Certainly a lost art for poor Lukey.

McLaren wrote:Robo

Thank you for posting those interesting driving stats. I like kwini's analysis of these;

"Long hitters can hit it straight, often enough anyway when they're playing well.
But short hitters, however straight, will never hit it long."

Is there any way to work out what the minimum accuracy required is for capitalizing on long hitting?

Mac, if you are really interested in this, and somewhat of a Math/Stat nerd, then you should check out Mark Broadie's Book, Every Shot Counts.

http://www.amazon.com/Every-Shot-Counts-Revolutionary-Performance/dp/1592407501

GPB

Thanks for the link to Broadie's book. I do math/stats through necessity but wouldn't class it as a passion. But I do find the stats talked about in the usual golf coverage pretty meaningless so maybe attempting to read his book would be worth it.

Have you read the book and if so was it easy enough to understand and did you enjoy it?

Maybe a particular chapter or two are worth reading rather than the whole book?

Mark Broadie loses me, and I'm very happy about that . . . . . !
What we really need is a Timeform on Golf.


Off on time at Riviera, which means that half the field will start play the great short Par-4 10th hole, the other half Friday. Can't imagine anything worse than starting my round on a hole like that, a great 10th hole, but a rotten first hole!

I bought the book about a year ago.  And I have read most of it.

I think it is worth reading if you are numbers nerd.

No-one en fuego in California, must be too cold for these boys. Nothing better than a bunch of -2's (incl Rory) as the first groups out make the turn.


GPB, robo,
Did you see that the PAC is considering withdrawing the "top 125 money loophole" that has saved cards for up to six golfers each year?

Kwini

I saw a tweet about the 125 exemption getting removed. Do you know the details?

Mac,
The proposal as I understand it, is for the Top 125 in FedEx points to earn exemption for the following season, but not those in the Top 125 in money earned who didn't squeak into the Top 125 points. This year Messrs MacKenzie, Beljan, Toms, Donaldson, Barber and Whee Kim were the beneficiaries.

Of course, some would be able to take other exemptions, Toms for instance.

Does that mean the money list had no relevance on a season level but you sum it to produce career money lists. Maybe someone needs to start adding up the career fedex points?

I think it will still be relevant for filling tournaments. Currently 126 - 150 on the money list are granted conditional status, which is usually the first reservoir of players to fill tournament fields after web.com grad's.
Perhaps that too will be rationalised into new money.

kwinigolfer wrote:

GPB, robo,
Did you see that the PAC is considering withdrawing the "top 125 money loophole" that has saved cards for up to six golfers each year?

No, where did you see that?

I like it!

There is a lot of correlation between the money list and the FEDEX list, but players tend to do better in the money list who play poorly in WGC's and players who play well in Opposite field events.

GPB wrote:

kwinigolfer wrote:

GPB, robo,
Did you see that the PAC is considering withdrawing the "top 125 money loophole" that has saved cards for up to six golfers each year?

No, where did you see that?

I like it!

There is a lot of correlation between the money list and the FEDEX list, but players tend to do better in the money list who play poorly in WGC's and players who play well in Opposite field events.

 It wouldn't surprise me... Money as a measure for any future year exemption was supposed to go away after the 2013 season. FE Points were supposed to be used for EVERYTHING, then it was extended for one year (not sure why)... and for whatever reason just hasn't gone away since.  I wasn't aware it was being brought up again, but seems like a good move to me... especially in light of the issues Category 26 - Webbies are still having getting enough starts.

Kwini... on another note...  the 126-150 Category (30)... is based on FE Points... not money.

EDIT:  Both Top-125 FE Points AND money still remains as the criteria for non-members to gain Full Status for the Next Season.  That one was also supposed to convert to "faux" FE Points only... but as of yet has not.  I'm guessing if they cut off top-125 money as an exemption.. this one will be changed as well.  Granting Special Temporary Membership for non-members earning equiv. to top-150 from the prior year has already been converted to FE Points only.

Jason Pen1s Shelf must be knocking it stiff, hope he doesn't shoot his load too early.

Bieber meets Bubba's son... Well, at least now they both know somebody to go to therapy with..

https://mobile.twitter.com/bubbawatson/status/700147438271668224

super_realist wrote:Jason Pen1s Shelf must be knocking it stiff, hope he doesn't shoot his load too early.

robo, GPB,
This was Rex Hoggard's take:

http://www.golfchannel.com/news/golf-central-blog/proposal-table-free-webcom-graduate-opportunities/?cid=twitter-gc-a-proposal-table-free-webcom-graduate-opportunities-021316

Saw it mentioned somewhere else also, but can't find the other source.

Yup, another rookie mistake about the 126 - 150. And I only checked it yesterday too, for reference to Vaughn Taylor!

robopz wrote:

super_realist wrote:Jason Pen1s Shelf must be knocking it stiff, hope he doesn't shoot his load too early.

"Jason's Kok Rak" Sounds like an airport gay sex shop.

super_realist wrote:

robopz wrote:

super_realist wrote:Jason Pen1s Shelf must be knocking it stiff, hope he doesn't shoot his load too early.

"Jason's Kok Rak" Sounds like an airport gay sex shop.

It's just next to the ballwasher

super_realist wrote:Jason Pen1s Shelf must be knocking it stiff, hope he doesn't shoot his load too early.

It depends if he gets it in the hole

A bit ugly from Golden boy. He has definitely shot his load too early.

Thank goodness Rory didn't play like that . . . . . . they'd be crying "toothache . . . . . . . "!

In some ways is the Spieth hype worse than early 2000's Tiger hype? The US media went in to full blown panic mode after Spieth's 79. I would have been no surprise if he had been followed home by a news helicopter. Oh wait, that has actually happened with Tiger.


If you follow the likes of NBC golf and golf digest on twitter you would be forgiven for thinking Spieth may never break 75 again.

Charlie Danielson, the guy that won the college golfer comp earlier in the week beat Spieth by 11 shots!

Is allowing a college golfer in via a qualifying comp a gimmick which takes a place away from a proper touring pro or is it an extra space which offers an interesting side story to the week?

Not in my opinion Mac, seems like a good idea to me.

Mac,
He could just as easily have been a sponsor's invite, some of them are pretty random. I'd say he justified his inclusion - can he repeat that?
Pretty shocking from Spieth. Watched most of it last night and he hardly strung two good shots together, almost looked distracted.

Saw a bit last night - on the 9th he got a drop away from a sprinkler and then played a shot that looked like an epileptic on cocaine having a fit.

John Daly is apparently p!ssed he doesn't get more sponsor invites on the PGA Tour. He thinks he deserves it as he has always attended all the sponsor events and cocktail parties (!).

(no, this is not a joke)

Kwini/super

At the very least it provided a good story on the Monday of an event. How often are there stories about that weeks event on a monday?


As for Spieth we need to say the same things we did when Rory was a dominant number 1, he is not Tiger and will have terrible weeks and miss cuts badly but that doesn't mean he has lost it.

I think it's a good idea because imagine among the Amateur ranks if you are actually playing for a space in a top pro event. That's the sort of thing people need to do to get people interested in playing golf.

Mac,
Would think Spieth's 79 is more of an outlier than if Rory had pulled the same number - but lost in all this is how well Rory must have played, especially with the sense that the scoring was more difficult for the morning wave.
Woods's records of consistency are shockingly good but Rory's upside looks just as good to me.

The thing is you never really know which Rory shows up. With Tiger you always knew. Spieth seemed extra terrestrial a few months ago, but now we know he's human.