PGA Tour: Georgia On My Mind: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).The PGA Tour season sputters to its conclusion this week, at the Tour Championship, in Atlanta, Georgia, at Donald Ross's East Lake design.  (Don't worry, "16/17" gets things going again in three weeks's time.)

Every golf fan has an opinion of the FedEx Play-Offs, but one thing I'd change permanently is to take the week off between "Boston" and the Beemer, then run straight from whichever city hosts the old Western Open (Philadelphia in two years' time if that makes sense to anyone but Shotrock) to Atlanta; the week off just feels as if all momentum for the thirty finalists, or at least us fans, is lost.

2).But one good thing this year is that the Tour has switched nines at East Lake; the purists were apparently not happy that the 18th hole is no longer the difficult par-3, demanding but hardly exciting, but now a Par-5 that's reachable after a super drive. Hopefully some risk/reward is included with the change.
East Lake has few enough memorable holes after all, but one is the old 6th which is played over water with a mid to long iron. Now it's the 15th and may play a more prominent part in the tournament's outcome.

3).Atlanta will be Warmlanta this week, if not exactly Hotlanta; there's no sustained "weather" in the forecast, chance of occasional shower but no strong winds, so scoring should be good.

4).And Davis LoveIII has had us all on the edge of our seats for a couple of weeks now as we all wonder who'll get his Horschel pick. Apparently Bubba and Berger, Furyk and Thomas have been with some of the USA Team at Hazeltine, a wasted trip for at least two of them but it lends credence to the idea that LoveIII is looking for an excuse to choose a Young Gun, but will fall back with Watson if both misfire.

5).Meanwhile Andrew Johnston may be targetting next year's Tour Championship as he maps out his schedule for next season, Tour card in hand. Well done to him, and interesting that the Boise Tournament Director gave a shout out to Beef as an attraction that led to record crowds.
I'm not sure that the land of Donald Drumpf and brewski thruskis is a perfect fit for Mr.Beef. Strange that he should have snapped up an endorsement for Arby's when surely Montreal's iconic Joe Beef, described as "emboldening gluttony", would have been a better match. Oh well, can't have everything.
We discussed Beef's options in last week's thread, but he's committed to the Dunhill in Scotland the week following the Ryder Cup and that clashes with the web.com Tour Championship, the fourth and final wTF event. And that means this week's wTF Round 3 is crucial to him reaching the higher echelons of the "reshuffle" priority list in getting in to 16/17 tournaments.

6).Michael Thompson, Stallings and Carballo joined Beef in earning their cards last week, while Gonzo is only about $4K from joining them. What a sweet return to the big time that would be for Mr and Mrs G.

7).The Top 25 money winners in these "finals", who are not already exempt via the web.com season-long money-list, qualify for a 16/17 Tour card and Europeans in promising position after two tournaments include:
8th: Gonzo
17th: Norlander
18th: Owen

8).It was a terrific week for another Englishman, the rather more muted, but no less ecstatic Paul Broadhurst who birdied the 18th to win the Champions Tour event at Pebble Beach, and that win puts him in a strong position for the lucrative quasi-Play-Off season finale Charles Schwab series which begins in late October.  

9).Plenty of Europeans have fattened their pension plans courtesy of the ten-year-old FedEx bonus pool.Excluding this year's hand-outs, the big winners (unofficially) have been:
$13.3M: Stenson
$5.5M:  McIlroy
$5.3M:  Donald
$3.8M:  Rose
$3.7M:  Garcia
$1.4M:  Harrington
$1.4M:  Casey
$1.1M:  Pettersson
Whilst others can look forward to at least $750K: Poulter, Laird, Jacobson, Davis, Westwood.

10).No strong feelings here as to who will ride off with the Tour Championship and/or the FedEx Cup and its $10M swag. But very interested to see if the switching of the "nines" adds some spice to the finale and obviously hoping that McIlroy flies to Hazeltine with another win under his belt, and Ray Charles's old sweet song can keep Georgia on his mind..

Bubba in as a vice captain!

sirbenson wrote:Bubba in as a vice captain!

What a joke.

It's the old Genesis song over again:
"Just do what I say, don't do what I do."

He's in charge of the Golf Boys, or at least Rickie Fowler.

They could harmonise a bit more Genesis,
"Turning me on, Turning me off,
Making me feel like I want it too much . . . "
That's all.

For Davis and his "Task Force" I think this lyric matter most ...

"You better start doing it right ..."

Plus one more Genesis / Phil Collins:

"Love don't come easy, it's a game of give and take"

...accompanied by

Wet Wet Wet:  "Love is all around."

"...My mind's made up by the way that I feel.."

And sticking with Phil C for the final pick:

"You can't hurry Love, no you just have to wait,
You got to trust, give it time, no matter how long it takes"

When I think of Phil Collins, all I can think of is Buster Edwards!

Love is really setting up for failure. His task force are a bunch of losers.

I'm sure I asked this before, probably around the time of the last RC but can't remember the answer...What do the U.S. hierarchy dislike about Freddie C?. I can't understand why they won't have him as Captain never mind VC.

You could scarcely pick worse VC's than those DL has. As you say JAS, you could have FC, but you could also have Azinger and even Butch Harmon too seeing as he has his players are on the team.
They are doing their "darnest" to make sure they lose again. I sincerely hope they do, just to see the look on their faces.

Aren't there rumours that Freddie isn't quite as genial as his public persona would suggest? I'm sure I've heard whispers that the smiles and handshakes quickly drop away when the cameras are off and he's not always as popular as it might seem

Surely he's more popular than Watson?

The whole Watson VC pick seems insane.

Davie wrote:Aren't there rumours that Freddie isn't quite as genial as his public persona would suggest? I'm sure I've heard whispers that the smiles and handshakes quickly drop away when the cameras are off and he's not always as popular as it might seem

Not heard that one Davie, I do remember him Captaining the U.S. Pres Cup Team to victory a few years ago and just assumed he'd be nailed on as an RC captain in due course. For that not to have happened suggests something must have gone bad. maybe you're right but then again winners don't have to be all nice nice.

...and exactly Super...Watson clearly isn't liked by a lot of his peers. More alarming for the Americans that's at least 2 VC's who are not considered "Team Players"

I heard that Freddie may have issues with some people on the Task Force, including the PGA guys and possibly also Jim Furyk. Still he was very disappointed not to get the gig.

Basically Davis doesnt have the balls to tell Bubba that he doesnt fancy him on the team. He has bottled it by having him along as a VC. "Hey Bubba, it was going to be you, but the pressure is on to pick Moore, you would be great in the ping pong room come and join the boys"

Still, even with the obvious gaffes in the US "Task Force" I'm not sure it favours Europe more than before.
Seems a coin toss to me

super_realist wrote:You could scarcely pick worse VC's than those DL has. As you say JAS, you could have FC, but you could also have Azinger and even Butch Harmon too seeing as he has his players are on the team.
They are doing their "darnest" to make sure they lose again. I sincerely hope they do, just to see the look on their faces.

If they lose, it'll certainly be fun to see what Phil "Brutus" Mickleson does this time.

I bet the task force spent more time deciding on their name than actually trying to come up wth ideas to win the Ryder Cup.

I heard that the task force was originally going to be called Team Alpha, Fairway Commandos, Special Winners Squad, or Golf Seals

or the risible, clichéd and hackneyed, quiz team name of "The A-Team"

Why don't we all wait to see if the U.S. manage to lose this coming weekend? If so, pile into their task force. If not, taking the p of it is going to look a little daft.

raycastleunited wrote:Golf Seals

Fits well with Phil: Chubby, often in the water, always on thin ice, and challenged by long clubs

navyblueshorts wrote:Why don't we all wait to see if the U.S. manage to lose this coming weekend? If so, pile into their task force. If not, taking the p of it is going to look a little daft.

It's daft whether they win or lose Navy.

Navy thinks Big Sam is lilywhite - now he's defending the Fask Torce .. whatever next!

Davie wrote:Navy thinks Big Sam is lilywhite - now he's defending the Fask Torce .. whatever next!

Not really. I do think you carry on drawing dubious conclusions based on nothing and to suit your preconceptions though.

super_realist wrote:

navyblueshorts wrote:Why don't we all wait to see if the U.S. manage to lose this coming weekend? If so, pile into their task force. If not, taking the p of it is going to look a little daft.

It's daft whether they win or lose Navy.

Really? Not a title I'd probably use, but not sure it merits the extreme critique though.

pedro wrote:

raycastleunited wrote:Golf Seals

Fits well with Phil: Chubby, often in the water, always on thin ice, and challenged by long clubs

Pretty good.

navyblueshorts wrote:

super_realist wrote:

navyblueshorts wrote:Why don't we all wait to see if the U.S. manage to lose this coming weekend? If so, pile into their task force. If not, taking the p of it is going to look a little daft.

It's daft whether they win or lose Navy.

Really? Not a title I'd probably use, but not sure it merits the extreme critique though.

Yes, daft, not because of the name of the "task force", not because of implementing it in the first place, but because of the people on it.
You would struggle to think of a group of players less well suited to bring anything to a team event, collectively they have atrocious RC records, 2 of them struggle to maintain any sort of team ethic, one has never won a RC point and the other two are hardly much better.

If America win, I would sincerely doubt it will have much to do with those bunch of tossers.

I'd say the Americans are pretty damn lucky the European team is so shallow this time.

You might say that ... I wouldn't!

I'm not sure it is that shallow. You could say that Europe have 6 rookies, but in recent times the European (and American) rookies have actually done very well with the exception of Stephen Gallacher and Peter Hanson

Agree with that super,
And you can hardly count RCB and Willett as rookies, both pretty mature golfers with great seasons behind them.
But it does highlight the balancing job that DC needs to execute to get his pairings just right. And he'll need the sort of leadership from his top players that Justin Rose provided last time.

Not a popular view on here but I reckon the Captain plays a crucial role in the RC.

Yes but nothing really indicates the rookies will do particularly well. Although most rookies had decent results lately neither Wood, Sully, Rafa or Fitz have been world beaters recently. Nor have most yanks, but at least they're playing at home.
I wonder how many rookies DC will play in the first session, and who.

I'm in a tough spot for this Ryder Cup.  Individually I'll be rooting rah-rah USA in most all the individual matches... But the thought of Team USA winning, and in effect validateing Phil after what he did to Tom Watson last time, not to mention his "I'm the one in charge here...Me, Me, Me" attitude is revolting to me.

I liked Phil when he first came out. Began to dislike him in his FIGJAM days, started to like him again when he seemed to have an epiphany, but over the last 2 years have come to dislike him more than ever.  His scolding the PGA Tour for not setting up East Lake as nothing more than his personal RC prep, and then criticizing the lateness of the final captain's pick (when it was HIMSELF who wanted it in the first place) are just the latest illustrations of whatta dic that guy is... IMHO of course.

Interesting Robo ... on the record hardly a peep from FIGJAM's fellow professionals. Off the record (from my VERY limited experience compared to yours) I've seen the eye rolling.

You pretty much always knew when Tiger was disinterested and he certainly (again IMO and observation) did not crave the attention Phil seems to.

Anyway, again hoping for a fine exhibition match this weekend!

I like Phil, but he needs to stfu. Hardly the PGATour's fault Phil played Thursday's round hitting just one fairway. Grow up!
Or, better still, keeping on driving the ball like that. Wonder who they'll pair him with? Koepka or Fowler possibly for four balls, Bubba perhaps for foursomes.


pedro, would imagine they'll use Ryan Moore for Foursomes only, Koepka for four balls only. Would think he's spoilt for choice in pairings, it's just whether or not they play as individuals or get the Team ethos. Which they usually don't - as Phil seems to exemplify.

Kwini... I think Moore was the correct choice, but given his length disadvantage, agree he's better suited for foursomes... Zach as well.

I imagine Hazeltine will play quite long given the drenching MSP has had this month. Six inches so far with more possible tonight. Minnesota River at flood stage.
That'll favour the long, straight hitters, especially those with a higher ball-flight. Punditry seems to think that would benefit the US, but I'm not so sure.

kwinigolfer wrote:I like Phil, but he needs to stfu. Hardly the PGATour's fault Phil played Thursday's round hitting just one fairway. Grow up!
Or, better still, keeping on driving the ball like that. Wonder who they'll pair him with? Koepka or Fowler possibly for four balls, Bubba perhaps for foursomes.

I don't think so

In Bubba's cart . . . . . . .

Super's gonna love this
http://www.skysports.com/golf/ryder-cup/news/26733/10595921/tiger-woods-laughs-off-team-photo-gaffe-at-ryder-cup

pedro wrote:Super's gonna love this
http://www.skysports.com/golf/ryder-cup/news/26733/10595921/tiger-woods-laughs-off-team-photo-gaffe-at-ryder-cup

And someone said that unlike Phil, 9C doesn't seek the limelight?

robopz wrote:I'm in a tough spot for this Ryder Cup.  Individually I'll be rooting rah-rah USA in most all the individual matches... But the thought of Team USA winning, and in effect validateing Phil after what he did to Tom Watson last time, not to mention his "I'm the one in charge here...Me, Me, Me" attitude is revolting to me.

I liked Phil when he first came out. Began to dislike him in his FIGJAM days, started to like him again when he seemed to have an epiphany, but over the last 2 years have come to dislike him more than ever.  His scolding the PGA Tour for not setting up East Lake as nothing more than his personal RC prep, and then criticizing the lateness of the final captain's pick (when it was HIMSELF who wanted it in the first place) are just the latest illustrations of whatta dic that guy is... IMHO of course.

Agree 100% with this - except wanting America to win! I thought Mickleson's behaviour last time was reprehensible.

How many times have we heard about Davis Love ‘plan’… :

I heard the US team hired a large Greyhound bus and parked it at the Hazeltine parking lot - just in case they’d need to throw somebody under it during or after the RC. And Bubba Watsons inclusion as VC is solely to be parking lot attendant - hereby eliminating the risk of players suddenly rushing off the course to assist if a fight broke out...

He’s a clever man, Davis.

When is Paul McGinley's next News Conference?? Surely he's got some insightful comments today on "the team room", "the spirit", "the dynamic" and other such gibberish........Get the "New Monty" off the TV please................

We were treated to Chamblee and Duval having quite a ding-dong last night on TV.  Luckily Nobilo was sitting between them.  Chamblee was particularly obnoxious -- sounded like he resents the fact Duval has experience playing in the Ryder Cup.

John Cregan wrote:When is Paul McGinley's next News Conference?? Surely he's got some insightful comments today on "the team room", "the spirit", "the dynamic" and other such gibberish........Get the "New Monty" off the TV please................

Annoying isn't he?

Plunky wrote:We were treated to Chamblee and Duval having quite a ding-dong last night on TV.  Luckily Nobilo was sitting between them.  Chamblee was particularly obnoxious -- sounded like he resents the fact Duval has experience playing in the Ryder Cup.

Chamblee IS obnoxious and he appears to think he knows everything, about everything. Did Duval slap him down at all?

http://www.golfchannel.com/news/golf-central-blog/heated-debate-chamblee-duval-leadership-vs-execution

This is good
Duval: "Well having actually been out there and done it, there's more to it than just what the stats say."

Chamblee: "You think that actually having to be out there to do it, determines whether or not you can pass judgement on it or not? I wasn't at the Boston Tea Party but I can tell you all about it."

I thought Duval won just by keeping calm and speaking a lot of sense. Chamblee kept spouting stats and Duval was pointing out that numbers aren't everything in the Ryder cup.   At one point Chamblee said "you can't tell me I can't have an opinion just because I haven't played in it"  which seemed to come out of nowhere.  I wondered if they'd already had a row off-air.   

One of the stats things was that Chamblee claimed the most important matches of the Ryder cup are the first match out on Friday and the last match out on Saturday.  He said that USA has historically put out their top players in those matches and that's why they lost.  It didn't seem to to occur to him that if your top players aren't playing well then it'll be tough to win regardless of where you put them.

Chamblee will hopefully be chosen to Captain Team USA en France . . . . . . . .