PGA Tour: Deutsche Bank Championship - The End?: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).The FedEx Play-Offs take us 200 miles to the North-East this week as the circus wends its way from Lon Gisland towards the Bawston/Providence area and the TPC Boston. It looks as if they're getting some much-needed rain this morning but most of Massachusetts has been very dry this summer and the course is likely to play relatively short compared to "brawny" Bethpage. Birdies will fly.

2).Deutsche Bank is at the end of its sponsorship but the destiny of this event, Round 2 of the FedEx Play-Offs, is uncertain. It looks like it's Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, from Deutsche Bank, but uncertain whether it's Goodbye or just Au Revoir from the Boston area - Thank you Peter Cook and Jonathan Miller.

3).Without being a nail-biting thriller, Round 1, The Barclays, was nevertheless intriguing - Patrick Reed and Rickie Fowler had so much on the line and Reed played magnificently to finally break Fowler. And Rickie's stone face at the end spoke volumes, as if he just couldn't quite figure out what had hit him, where it had all gone wrong.
When the shell-shock subsided, he found that at least he'd passed Kuchar into 11th place in the Ryder Cup placings, but now he'll have to rely on good play, goodwill and popularity to punch his ticket to Hazeltine.

4)."See you in Minneapolis" said Rickie to Reed at the end, and no doubt he will.
So: Who will join him? The rest of the nearly men had pretty lousy weeks, with Bubba placing highest at T13, JB Holmes T41 and Kuchar T64.
LoveIII has given himself another ten days to make his first three Captain's selections, then hedges his final bet for a further fortnight.

5).With the Top 8 having qualified automatically, Love's choices may be determined by results the next three weeks, rewarding golfers (Fowler, Kuchar, Watson) who went to Rio, trying some new blood or all three. But, apart from the Rio trio, experience is thin on the ground with only Holmes, Furyk and Dufner among the rest of the Top 27 having previous. So, RC records of the contenders are:
Watson: 3 wins, 8 losses.
Holmes: 2 wins, 0 losses, one half - and on a winning team, too.
Fowler:  0 wins, 3 losses, 5 halves
Kuchar:  4 wins, 5 losses, 2 halves (Kuchar earns a lot of US media attention as their top "ping pong" player, but if table tennis was a criteria we'd find a way for Freddie Jac to qualify for every Ryder Cup for the rest of his career.)
Furyk:  10 wins, 20 losses, 4 halves
Dufner:  3 wins, 1 loss

Stands to reason, then, that popular opinion seems to suggest Holmes will be the odd man out, whilst Dufner is scarcely being considered.
If either miss out, and I'd choose Holmes, I'd expect Love to pick Justin Thomas whose "potential" he's been trumpeting all year - I'm still something of a doubting Thomas as far as Justin goes, for now anyway, but he's hailed as the best young golfer not called Spieth, with whom he seems best mates, so who knows?

6).The European selection of Pieters and Knox seems to have been dealt with ad nauseum; one thing that hasn't been mentioned is that Knox played at least the first half of The Barclays while "battling bad congestion", and not just because he was playing behind Matsuyama. Best combination of the next few weeks would be Knox FedEx success and good play at Hazeltine from Kaymer, Pieters and Westwood.

7).Is past form at Hazeltine going to influence LoveIII?
Maybe not, he's unlikely to choose Rich Beem after all, and doubt if DC considered Richie Ramsay. But I wonder if DC was influenced at all by:
2009: PGA Championship:
T3: Westwood (and McIlroy)
T6: Kaymer (with Kjeldsen and Stenson)

8).Ireland's Seamus Power played well for 63 holes in Rio and now he's secured a PGA Tour card for 2016/17, via the web.com Top 25. The four tournaments comprising the web.com Finals kick off next week and it'll be interesting to see which "Internationals" will be contesting them.

9).Elsewhere, Bernhard Langer won his fourth event of the Champions Tour season, his 29th career win, tying him with Trevino for second all-time behind Hale Irwin's 45th. "He'll never catch Hale", says the reliably jingoistic Lanny Wadkins; maybe not, but Irwin also played many more tournaments per year, so Bernhard's hit-rate is very impressive.

10).Fowler's 15-under par won last year's Deutsche Bank, by one stroke from Stenson and some guy called Mahan tied for fourth - what a difference a year makes for Hunner, a Ryder Cupper just two years ago.

The tournament record score is 22-under par, three times, most recently by Stenson, and scoring is sure to be red hot again this week with a parched course, a little rain today, and good conditions thru the weekend. Just one fly in the TPC ointment might be a tropical weather system zipping up the coast and due to arrive on Monday. If that approaches shore, Monday could be very wet, possibly windy, so watch this space.

Meanwhile, a dozen or more Ryder Cup wannabes will be looking to impress Captain Love. Whose phone is jammed due to the torrent of text messages from Webb Simpson pleading his case for a place on Davis's Team.

Luke plays the next coupla days and almost certainly earns himself a trip to Crooked Stick for next Thursday.

But Freddie Jac's season is over and Martin Laird most likely to miss out too.

Eccentric stuff from Stenson; it would be good if he could play well enough Sunday & Monday to enable him to take next week off. Got to hole some short putts to do that, though.

Roger Maltbie.... what a hoot. I'd heard Maltbie tell the story of winning the Pleasant Valley Open back in the 70's... getting his check... but then getting so drunk in a local bar that night he lost the check (I think it was to Feherty he told the story). It was funny, and with Maltbie's reputation certainly plausible, but i still wasn't entirely sure I bought it.

Well... guess I shouldn't have doubted... the story turned out to be 100% true. He got the lost check returned this week... ROTFLMAO.

http://www.golfchannel.com/news/golf-central-blog/maltbie-reunited-lost-winners-check-1975/

Kwini.... I musta read the leaderboard wrong on Luke... I though he was even for the tournament. Wrong... he was 1-under. Glad he made cut though...

Opening batsmen:
How lucky will the early birds at TPC Boston be on Sunday:
First pair out of the traps:
Koepka and Day.

And an hour later come Grace & Oosthuizen.


I imagine Roger Maltbie is one of those rare people whose every story turns out to be an understatement.

Conditions look fairly benign at TPC Boston this morning, but winds are expected to pick up thru the a.m..
Monday is a big fat ?

After winning last week Ryo Ishikawa finishes T2 in the Japan event this week. Min-Gyu Cho wins the event.

Ishikawa is back within striking difference of the OWGR Top 100.

Ryo's playing nicely... good to see. But how about this 19 year-old Chinese kid.... has won 4 outta his last 7 on the PGA Tour China.  

https://twitter.com/PGATOUR/status/772432038863507456

delete - my bad... duplication

Hard work in Taxachussetts, amazing what a little bit of wind can do when the course is playing firm and fast.

Wish the commentating morons would stop their nonsensical projections on FedEx points positions. Surely a time when there's too much information. That the TV people don't understand.

kwinigolfer wrote:Wish the commentating morons would stop their nonsensical projections on FedEx points positions. Surely a time when there's too much information. That the TV people don't understand.

Steve "Mr FedEx projection man" Sands on the broadcast... what do you expect... :-)

robo wrote:Last edited by robopz on Sun 04 Sep 2016, 10:31 am; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : Typos... %$#@ spell check... &^%$)

You forgot "Double Posting"

That is good playing. Going into this week, Ze-Chang Dou is ranked 213th in the OWGR and should be ranked around 177th after his win this week. PGATour China will actually start getting SoF points now. Now that I see a picture of him, I remember his "nerdy" glasses at one of the EuroT's China event last spring.

Guess we will see him on the Web-com tour next year.

Winds are picking up in Boston. Looking like the leaders are falling back towards the pack.

kwinigolfer wrote:Hard work in Taxachussetts, amazing what a little bit of wind can do when the course is playing firm and fast.

Wish the commentating morons would stop their nonsensical projections on FedEx points positions. Surely a time when there's too much information. That the TV people don't understand.

As a numbers Geek, I enjoy the FEDEX scenarios, but I agree that is over said. Any projections should be left out until the final day. But FEDEX wants its name said as many times as possible.

The trouble is that guys like Gannon & Sands don't understand anything beyond the numbers the computer churns out, don't have a clue about the variables going on all around them. Data is your enemy unless you understand how to analyze it.

Happy to see Stenson in with an eagle finish, hopefully Rory can finish with at least one birdie and he'd be right in the shake-up. If they play tomorrow, that is.

Poor tournament from Furyk and I'd say his chance for playing at Hazeltine goes down the drain if he fails to qualify for Crooked Stick. He'll start tomorrow in the 80's somewhere and that won't get it done.

Would like see Tony Finau make a statement to DL-III. He has definitely not been on any radar.

Rory! That'll do nicely!!

Finau's a bit like Justin Thomas, has a tough time putting four rounds together.

GPB wrote:

robo wrote:Last edited by robopz on Sun 04 Sep 2016, 10:31 am; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : Typos... %$#@ spell check... &^%$)

You forgot "Double Posting"  

I guess that's enough of FAT fingered Robo trying to post with his phone then... sheesh.

And another guy dominating a tour... Dan McCarthy gets his 4th win in 9 starts on the Mackenzie Tour (Canada)

http://www.syracuse.com/golf/index.ssf/2016/06/central_new_york_golf_for_dan_mccarthy_golf_is_a_way_of_life.html

Could be the first golfer from LeMoyne to reach the PGA Tour . . . . . . a bit of a late bloomer though.

Pretty good stuff from Casey; a big test ahead now for Round 4, possibly to be played in very challenging conditions.
It'll certainly be very windy on Monday, perhaps unplayably so. And a 70% chance of rain which could well come in violent squalls.

Tee times have been moved up to 7.00 a.m., off the 1st and 10th tees, in threesomes, Russell Knox, Rickie Fowler and Kisner in the first group off. Followed by Spieth and Day, with Robbie Castro. Holmes, Woodland and Kokrak leading the bombers on the 10th hole.

Good to see Rory & Rose in contention, but let's see more from Sergio & Stenson.

If Stenson holds (or obviously betters) his position on the leaderboard it should be enough to clinch a spot in the Tour Championship

He is currently projected at 1562 pts, and Summerhays was 31st last year with 1501 points.

If Stenson misses the Tour Championship, I guess he better be healthy enough to play Ryder Cup.

D-Bank will be his 14 events (Ryder and Prez Cups count as an event)

Unless he gets a "Get out of Jail Free" card, He could get "Kaymered" off the PGA Tour for not playing enough events.

Sunny and dry and not too windy as Round 4 of the Deutsche Bank gets underway. Rain is departing the forecast, at least until this evening, and it seems winds may not be as strong as earlier feared.

So, All systems go, just a little early.

GPB wrote:If Stenson misses the Tour Championship, I guess he better be healthy enough to play Ryder Cup.

D-Bank will be his 14 events (Ryder and Prez Cups count as an event)

Unless he gets a "Get out of Jail Free" card, He could get "Kaymered" off the PGA Tour for not playing enough events.

Stenson is good cuz he's at 14 prior to this week (13 events plus Olympics), this week = 15 and BMW = 16... Tour Championship would be 17.

EDIT: And by the way... Ryder Cup is a counting event for NEXT season on the PGAT.. not this. And does anybody know if Ryder/Pres Cup counts as one of the mandatory 5 events on the Euro Tour?

For as much as I've criticized the USA Ryder Cup "Usless Desperation Task Force"... one thing good certainly did come out of it.  Later picks including the last minute "Billy Horschel" pick.   Could be Alex Noren will turn out to be the Euro's Billy Horschel this time around.

According this article Stenson is not playing BMW

http://golfweek.com/2016/09/01/henrik-stenson-bmw-championship-pga-tour/

Forgot that the Olympics counts as an event.

Slightly different situation w/Noren; he's had so many injury issues that, even after a bust summer, he's still only played 31 owgr tournaments the past two years. Still wouldn't be sure he'd be up to the rigours of a Ryder Cup week.
Potentially among the top half dozen Europeans though, if he could only stay fit. (A bit like Chris Wood in that respect.)
A "Cowboys" star while Rickie was still dirt-biking.

If DC has a reserve standing by, you'd imagine it would be Noren or Kjeldsen.

Kwini.... I'm not aware of Noren's injury history... but seems like he might be past that now... he played a stretch of 9 events in 12 weeks before taking the last few weeks off. And the objective is to get the hot player... Let's see what happens... I'm sure DC wouldn't be too displeased if Noren cools off the next few weeks...

GPB wrote:According this article Stenson is not playing BMW

http://golfweek.com/2016/09/01/henrik-stenson-bmw-championship-pga-tour/

Forgot that the Olympics counts as an event.

I'm glad the Olympics count and he's solid either way. because without it... if the TC is in jeopardy that would probably force him to show up at the BMW and hit an obligatory shot off the tee and then WD. Bad optics on that one, not to mention a bad result on his OWGR.

As of last week, Dustin Johnson and Jason Day were tied for the PGA of America points race for Player of the year (both with 78 points)

LPGA also uses a points based system for the Rolex Player of the year... 30 for a win, 12 for a 2nd, 9 for a 3rd, 7 for a 4th then declining by 1 point for each place down to 10th. Majors are double. (I think but not sure they count all ties for a place as the max points, so 2 tied at 2nd would each get 12 points)

Using a similar LPGA system for the PGA Tour but using 2x for majors and 1.5x for the Players... Dustin Johnson would be slightly ahead of Jason Day 164-159. Using 1x for the Players Day would be another 15 points back.

kwinigolfer wrote:If DC has a reserve standing by, you'd imagine it would be Noren or Kjeldsen.

From this article, the player on Standby is a LUKE!!

http://www.golfdigest.com/story/how-thomas-pieters-bumped-luke-donald-from-european-ryder-cup-team-at-last-minute

Golf Digest article wrote:Late Sunday, he was still planning to use his third captain’s pick on Luke Donald, with the first two not surprisingly going to Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer.

He’d even texted McIlroy on Saturday to let him know. McIlroy responded by telling Clarke that Donald looked good while playing behind him at the Barclays.

I am not sure how Rory can judge a player's game from a group ahead and focus on his own game. But I suppose if anyone could, it is Rory.

Can somebody tell me how the Ryder Cup reserve thing works?

Robo: I believe you are correct about the LPGA point system. a 2-way T2nd would get each player 12 points.

What is the Tie breaker if there is a tie for PGAofA PotY? Or is it a co-player of the year?

GPB... no clue if there is a tie breaker for LPGA Rolex POY.

Was asking about a tie for the PGAofA PotY.

So I'm in work trying to get the golf up on Sky Go on the fly.

I see Knox has got off to a flyer, Reed going well too.

However does anyone think anyone other than Casey will win it?

Casey's had a lousy front-running record on the PGA Tour, and he's just bogeyed a Par-5 he might have expected to birdie.
So: I'd say there's at least an even chance he won't hold on; Reed played superbly last week so he'll be a threat - but perhaps King Louis will also.

Was the start always supposed to be this early? They worried about Cape Cod traffic?

Good to see Rory playing as Rory can/should.

I think Casey holds on to this thing.

Shotrock,
They were worried about Hermine's traffic. Shocked to hear yesterday that the Tour was so concerned about the winds that they'd set up TPC Boston at 6,900 yards - imagine they might have done the same today. Think that's more likely intended to avoid embarrassing the best players rather than identifying them.


Furyk and Stricker both out of the Top 70 as things stand, and I can't see Love choosing a golfer who doesn't at least play at Crooked Stick.

GPB... I'm not positive, but I think they can tie for PGA of A POY. I know I read that somewhere... just not positive if that was *authoritative". The link to the "criteria" page on PGA of A site is dead since the redesign. I do have a source though...I can make an inquiry tomorrow

Come on RORY!!!!

Not even at the turn and Rory has caught Casey

If Rory can find a putting stroke again... he's gonna be as tough as ever.... good to see so far...

Justin Rose TEN over par over his last SIX holes.
Shocking.

Very fitting tribute to Manuel Pinero:

http://www.europeantour.com/seniortour/season=2016/tournamentid=2016874/news/newsid=307466.html

Touch and go at the top of the Deutsche leaderboard.
And touch, but probably go, for Stenson as I doubt he'll make the Tour Championship after finishing about 40th at Boston.

Tough putting day due to high winds and McIlroy comes out on top. Bet no one saw that coming.

Cream will rise to the top, eventually.
Great result for Rory.
And a good result for Casey, fifth Tour runner-up finish since his only win. Should do better Paul. But that'll remove any lingering doubt that he'll be in all the Majors next year, and add to his FedEx career swag.

It probably didn't help Casey to be grouped with Smylie Kaufman and smiley Harmon, both hacking their way around. Doubt if LoveIII is too upset that neither of them look like the hot young thing he's supposed to be choosing in the absence of Billy Horschel. And disappointing finishes for Chappell and Ryan Moore who perhaps he might like to see finish the season on fire.

Still awaiting the official VC606 ruling, but my untutored eye suggests Rory might overtake Spieth & Stenson into 3rd place in the owgrs.

Now won more points than Spieth this year also.

kwinigolfer wrote:Very fitting tribute to Manuel Pinero:

http://www.europeantour.com/seniortour/season=2016/tournamentid=2016874/news/newsid=307466.html

Touch and go at the top of the Deutsche leaderboard.
And touch, but probably go, for Stenson as I doubt he'll make the Tour Championship after finishing about 40th at Boston.

1499 points for Stenson. Summerhays did not make the Tour Championship with 1501 pts last year.

I guess rumors of Rory's golfing death were greatly exaggerated. I can understand a guy not getting much joy out of the game when you hit it great then can't putt your way out of a paper bag... but he looks a helluva lot "happier" with his new putter, stroke and results... WATCH OUT now... !!!!

kwinigolfer wrote:Still awaiting the official VC606 ruling, but my untutored eye suggests Rory might overtake Spieth & Stenson into 3rd place in the owgrs.

Now won more points than Spieth this year also.

This is what it will be...

#1 - 14.375 - Jason Day
#2 - 10.622 - Dustin Johnson
#3 - 10.434 - Rory McIlroy
#4 - 9.989 - Jordan Spieth
#5 - 9.147 - Henrik Stenson

kwinigolfer wrote:Still awaiting the official VC606 ruling, but my untutored eye suggests Rory might overtake Spieth & Stenson into 3rd place in the owgrs.

Now won more points than Spieth this year also.

14.37 - Jason
10.62 - Dustin
10.43 - Rory
9.99 - Jordan
9.15 - Henrik

Rory should start next week ahead of Dustin, as Dustin is adding a tournament to his divisor.

FTR, Tiger falls out of the Top 700.