PGA Tour: PGA Championship - Glory Days: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).Hey, Didn't we just have a Major?
Here we go again, the PGA Championship on Tillinghast's Baltusrol in Northern New Jersey. The PGA used to be known as Glory's Last Shot until the PGA Tour interfered and suggested the PGA Of America change their slogan as the FedEx Cup was really the pros' last chance at "Glory".
Yeah, yeah.
But we're in New Jersey, Springsteen's manor, so let's just celebrate four Glory Days, even though the "speedball" will be rocketing off the face of a golf club rather than from the hand of a baseball pitcher.

2).It's perhaps unrealistic to expect a repeat of the thrilling duel between Stenson and Mickelson but a great field should produce its own thrills and spills as most of the players compete in the USA for the first time in a month.
As for Henrik's and Phil's reactions to Troon:
Henrik: "It's a boyhood dream come true, and something I wanted to achieve all my life, and then it finally happened."
Phil: "It's the first time in my career that I have played that level of golf and not had it be enough to win a tournament."

3).Half a dozen golfers left Glen Abbey thinking they gifted Jhonny Vegas the Canadian Open win - happy to see Martin Laird secure his card and fleetingly stick his nose in front before treading water for his final few holes; and Kuchar & Snedeker will feel they squandered golden opportunities to wrap up their automatic Ryder Cup Team place. Kuchar, Fowler and Reed are all headed to Rio (for eleven days according to Rickie) so the guess here is that Davis Love has tipped all three the wink that their RC participation is assured.

4).After this week, the Tour visits Hartford, the Quad Cities and Greensboro and anyone out of the FedEx Top 125 points placings after that lot loses their chance at a Barclays tee-time, and possibly their Tour card for next season as well.
Including Jamie Donaldson and it's looking increasingly as if he's given up on his PGA Tour membership - whether it's his schedule, his game or both, things don't seem to have worked out for him, professionally at least, so for him this possibly really his "last shot".

5).Phil has history on his side as he looks to get right back on his horse to "defend" the PGA Championship he won at Baltusrol in 2005; he then went on to win the very next Major, at Augusta in April, 2006, so he should relish the chance to go from disappointment to a relative comfort zone.

6).Top 50 finishers among the 24 playing tomorrow who finished behind Phil that week include:
T10: Vijay, Toms
T17: Zach, Westwood
T23: Sergio
T28: Vaughn Taylor
T34: Bohn, Furyk, Freddie Jac
T40: Scott, KJ Choi
T47: Ryan Palmer, Stenson, Yang
Not much course form to go by there.

7).Baltusrol has the reputation as a bit of a tree-lined snoozer, all Par-3's and 4's except the Par-5's 17th and 18th: The 18th was the easiest hole in 2005, a reachable Par-5 but it has now been lengthened with a narrow driving area dominated by water alongside the fairway. Unless there's a following wind, only the longest/most reckless will go for the green in two, so effectively making it a lay-up off the tee, lay-up second shot, wedge, putt putt. Not guaranteed to stir too much excitement but perhaps the PGA can liven it up a tad?

8).I'm interested to see how the nouveau British contingent fares, Hatton and Johnston, Fitzpatrick (lousy form since Sweden) and Sullivan (has promised more than he's delivered this summer). And what about Willett (quiet summer for him) and Wood (beware the injured golfer?)?
Of the continental Europeans, my each-way choice is Molinari, quietly having a fine summer and perhaps the sort of golfer that will play within himself, fairways and greens, and suddenly find himself in contention.

9).It's been hot and muggy in the New York area but temps are forecast to moderate to the mid-80's most of the week, with thunderstorms possible especially on Friday and Sunday. Hopefully the modest rainfall recently has been enough to ensure we won't have a repeat of Glen Abbey's brown out.
Day, McIlroy and Spieth are Major-less this year; sounds like Day has had his practice restricted by family health concerns, but that change could be as good as a rest for him. Can't fancy Spieth but hopefully Rory will be somewhere close to his best.

10).Willett, Dustin Johnson, Stenson. Who's next in line as we seem to be enjoying a near epidemic of first-time Major winners? Answers please.
The PGA Championship may be the Fourth Major in almost every respect, but it's still more important in our review of a golfer's legacy than the FedEx and WGC action. Hope the golfers feel the same.

wiretapper

Does you niece want a full on beard as well now? :mo1: (there doesn't seem to be a beard emoji)

Kjeldsen is a good wind player and plays well on difficult courses. His short game is also great, which could make him a good foursome player. Not sure he has proven himself on the big stage though, despite a good Major season and several wins over the years. But he is said to be one of the most well liked guys on the tour, so I'm sure he'll blend right into the team. I would say it all comes down to how many rookies qualify automatically and how much DC needs to balance the team with his picks.

Sure T.Bjorn will put in a good word . . . . . . .

But I'd say Lowry has to earn his way in, hopefully he will - not sure about Sullivan AND Fitzpatrick on the same team.

Got to imagine Kaymer and Westwood will get wild cards imo

Going to the Thursday and Friday of The Travelers next week - cracking field being assembled.
Lowry, Grace and Koepka just signed up and you know Shane will get the fantastic reception from faux Irish New Englanders usually reserved for Harrington.
Lots of good young 'uns signed up also, including Rahm, DeShambles, Finau, Rodgers (not sure he's all that), Thomas etc.

Think Sully would be a good addition. He seems to be bit of a cowboy, like Reed.
Fitz will probably wet his pants several times during a round. Not sure that's what we need.

USA: NO Walker, NO Furyk, NO Stricker ... Please!

McLaren wrote:wiretapper

Does you niece want a full on beard as well now?     (there doesn't seem to be a beard emoji)

She's a right tomboy so no doubt she is contemplating it

Phil is all over the place from the tee, back to normal in that regard

lw1 goes birdie, eagle on the 2 x Par-5's. That's unusual, not to say encouraging!
(Now Rory needs to do the same.)

Rory about to write off another season? What is he up to these days?

No birdies from Day, Mcilroy or Mickelson on either par 5

Shocking performances by Rory & Phil; have they got a life-changing appearance fee at a sponsor's event this weekend?

kwinigolfer wrote:Mac,

Still not on board with Grillo as a pick this week...

How about now Kwini?

Is Joe Summerhays brother of Daniel Summerhays?

I feel like the old adage...all brawn no brain suits Rory. His driver has been fantastic...shamefully his approach play appears all over the place yet again as does his putting. Is it really that hard to control the iron and just ease off it a little? Everytime I watch him he just seems to go at everything 100%...even his putts today that have gone close have hit edge of the cup and rolled out.

I remember a few people during the masters and US open questioning whether he'd win another major based off his recent play...the consensus was he's far too good not to win another..having said that I don't see him getting close to 10-12 unless he really goes away and makes some changes:

sirbenson wrote:Is Joe Summerhays brother of Daniel Summerhays?

I wondered that too SirB. Having read the brief bio on each of the Club Professionals I would say no, as you would think that they would have mentioned it there if it were true.

Emiliano's looking good!

Always liked Grillo but still don't fancy him to last the distance.

Some US Ryder Cup wannabes doing themselves no favours, incl Hoffman and Holmes. Snedeker struggling as well.


I'd expect Joe Summerhays might be a cousin - a whole bunch of Mormon Summerhayses from Utah, Bruce is another one, used to be a stalwart of the Senior Tour. And Boyd Summerhays is on the Canadian Tour.

OK, that's not the hole I wanted Rory to dig for himself ... but, if you're going to get behind, do it early!

What a fantastic start from Rich Beem!

I keep picking Rory for the fantasy games. Must be flagellantism. And the few times I haven't picked him he's gone on to win..

PS. Have a fiver on him to MC @ 7.50 tho..

How does Ross Fisher keep getting into majors?

wire,
Fish is in this one due to his Top 100 owgr position (actually they took up to 120).
Played well though didn't he? I'd say he's someone that's not made the most of his ability in recent years - until today.
Well done Sully also.

Nightmare start for Morrison.

Kwini,

From tee to green Fisher seems to be very impressive but around the greens he has a huge weakness without a doubt!

He has played today. I just don't seem to see him apart from the occasional major

sirb,
Only time I followed Fisher his driving and irons were magnificent, but he barely broke par!
He ran afoul of Paramor a few years ago didn't he, got dinged for slow play and arguably lost at Celtic Manor as a result.

Plenty of guys I fancied really struggling, Piercy, Furyk, Kuchar etc.

kwinigolfer wrote:sirb,
Only time I followed Fisher his driving and irons were magnificent, but he barely broke par!
He ran afoul of Paramor a few years ago didn't he, got dinged for slow play and arguably lost at Celtic Manor as a result.

Plenty of guys I fancied really struggling, Piercy, Furyk, Kuchar etc.

I've seen quite a lot of him recently, he has played with Paddy for the first two rounds at the Irish Open and the British Masters...In the second round of the British Masters he hit all 18 greens and had 35 putts (missing the cut in the process)

Fish & Padraig were partners at Celtic Manor.

Willett looks like he's got his game back together.

Scoring nowhere near as low this afternoon, can't really see why.
Some real horror stories out there, Kuchar +5, Patrick Reed and DJ +4.

According to Sky, Kaymer needs a top 2 to get himself into the Ryder Cup positions

Joe Summerhays is Bruce's son

Daniel and Boyd are brothers and are Bruce's nephews, Joe's cousins.

=========

As far as the Euro Point list for the Euro RC team This is basically the end. There is really not a high dollar European event left. Lawrie Match Play, Czech Masters, and Made in Denmark.

And as far as the OWGR point list goes, it ends next week. Then skips the Olympics and John Deere. Counts the following week (Wyndham and Czech Masters) and counts only the Made in Denmark on Aug 28th.

I would be very surprised if anyone crashes the top Nine qualifiers after this week.

Sarah Stirk and her infeasably long questions

Is Sarah in her leather skirt this week??

Nah, looks like leather trousers though

That was an incredible bunker shot from Kaymer!

Fantastic bunker shot sirb

Great fight back from reed , also impressive start from emiliano and solid from Jordan and Branden

What sort of delay do we think for tomorrow with bad weather due over night ?

GJ,
Nice call on Grillo.
So far!

Weather forecast as thunderstorms coming in in the very early hours of the morning, "locally heavy rain" possible. The worst of the weather looks certainly to be in the morning, but impossible to tell right now how bad it might be.
Could be a great draw to be in the early Thursday, late Friday wave.

Two missed tiddlers from Stenson the difference between T5 and T1. Great to see Kaymer up there as well but it seems as if, every week, we say he flatters only to deceive. That's enough of that Martin!

Some guy shot a 58 on the web.com. Must have a better putting stroke than Rory.

McLaren wrote:Some guy shot a 58 on the web.com.  Must have a better putting stroke than Rory.

Rory will scrape into the weekend, play so-so tomorrow, hit a 63 on Sunday, finish in the top 10 and tell eveyone his game is there (aye when the the pressure is off)

wiretapper

Do you think panic is setting in with Rory? He can't keep going for two year stretches where he doesn't compete in the majors.

I wondered that too Mac.

Not every player can have a career right at the top and maintain it like Mickelson for example. I wonder whether McIlroy, like Rev Gordon Spieth has fallen into that trap of "too much too soon" and is now destined for a career of above average achievement, but not a career of being one of the main guys destined to win the number of majors we thought he (they) might have.

Good Dave Stockton interview here where he talks about Rory's putting and Reed also.

http://www.newstalk.com/podcasts/Off_The_Ball/Off_The_Ball_Highlights/150737/USPGA_Preview__Dave_Stockton_on_Rory__Reeds_putting

McLaren wrote:wiretapper

Do you think panic is setting in with Rory?  He can't keep going for two year stretches where he doesn't compete in the majors.

I'm not sure if the panic will have set in just yet Mac, he is still young and knows he can be the best but he is going to have to put in some amount of effort especially in his putting if he wants to get back there.

I wonder if the emergence of Spieth and Day has had a psychological affect on him. Not long ago he was golf's top dog; a massive Nike deal, Tiger on the wane, two majors and WGC in succession, No. 1 in the rankings and now he's nowhere near that.

Even Tiger went a couple of years without a major but then came back and won two the following year, two the year after. As good as Rory can be I don't think he'll ever be another Tiger but I do think he can be a multiple major winner again. To me, his major weaknesses are in his head, and you know his putting stroke...

"inside ten feet Rory ranks 187th on tour".

Wow, that is bad.

Not a great day for McIlroy 74 and Dustin Johnson77. Maybe they have their midns on the Olympics?

It looks as if they're planning to start Round 2 on time - the Thursday afternoon / Friday morning crew could have a big disadvantage here.

Lots of interesting chat about Rory; I wonder if the just-having-fun distractions are greater than the commercial distractions? His short game used to be terrific but we're not seeing that now, too much time pumping iron and not enough practicing touch shots & putting around the green.

Would agree with that Kwini, Mcilroy's short game has been below average this year, everyone always points to his putting which is fair enough but his short game is a weakness too.


Also regarding short game Spieth's short game has been nowhere near as good as last year's incredible standard!

https://twitter.com/PGAChampionship/status/758831235930005504

Pin Positions for Day 2