PGA Tour: "I Know It's Time, But I Never Wanted It To End": Notes from the Ballwasher

1).That may be Arnold Palmer's requiem to Masters participation, quoted by Jim Nantz yesterday as an epitaph for "Mr Palmer", but it's also pretty much how I felt about Sunday's Ryder Cup denouement.
It seemed an uphill task for Europe ever since Rory and Sully capitulated, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in their Friday morning foursomes match, losing 15, 16 & 17 with water balls and other ugliness to fall 1 Down.

2).The post-mortems have been written and it's not worth going over them again. Except to say how sad it was to see Westwood's extraordinary Ryder Cup career fizzle out, lw1 looking as utterly dejected as he was defeated on Sunday evening, hardly a fitting end that he should stroke/jab the losing putt. Hopefully he'll be back and winning tournaments again but that was not a pretty sight.

3).And a word about Hazeltine - despite Rose's protestions about course set-up, presumably by a Yorkshireman though clearly to LoveIII's instructions, I thought the course looked pretty good, well worthy of another Major Championship. Justin Rose will look back on a season where not much went right except for one Golden moment, and his putting last weekend was as poor as his "ball striking" was good. Course set-up is a two-way street and I would have thought that Le Golf National offered plenty of chances for Europe to exact revenge. If they're good enough and don't over-read putts like they did all last weekend long.

4).And Sergio & Phil: Magnifique.
Patrick Reed may have enjoyed two devastating 5-under-par in four holes streaks, but Sergio's match with Phil was as good as Round 4 of The Open at Troon. Congrats to both.

5).The thinking golfing press in the US is clearly concerned that the rush to sell tickets has caused crowds to be too big; perhaps things went over the edge this time round, but Bethpage in 2024 could take things to a new level if authorities can't/don't/won't figure this out. Not my original thoughts, but those expressed by the Golf Channel.

6).This week sees the web.com Tour Championship, the fourth tournament of the wTF series which constitutes a quasi-Q-School where 25 PGA Tour cards will be earned.
But Hurricane Matthew is likely to ruin the best laid plans and we haven't yet seen how the Tours will resolve the dilemma of much-delayed play if the forecast of heavy rain and strong winds prevails. After all, the newly minted Tour members are expected to be in the Napa Valley of California for Tour action on Thursday, Oct 13th. Watch this space.  

7).There will be some Europeans earning their cards, led by Andrew Johnston (a mildly amusing Beef ad for Arby's already interrupting golf broadcasts) and Gonzo. There's still the chance that Mansfield's Greg Owen, Sweden's Norlander and Mr.58, Stephan Jaeger, among others, might join them.

8).And certainly joining them will be Ben An, Danny Willett, Jon Rahm, Rafa C-B and Soren Kjeldsen.
Hopefully the European Tour and Ryder Cup gurus will ensure they get their arms around all those who could conceivably be eligible for Europe Ryder Cup play. Fingers crossed on that.

9).The third tournament in the wTF series was won "handsomely", though apparently somewhat toothlessly, by Grayson Murray, about whom I knew nothing. But here's a nice piece about him and his famous caddie, Mike Hicks:
http://www.pgatour.com/webcom/news/2016/09/25/grayson-murray-mike-hicks-nationwide-childrens-hospital-championship.html

Hopefully Murray's dental deficiences will be rectified by the time he tees it up on Tour as he'll likely be on TV a lot, even if just to show someone who pounds it out there as far as anyone.

10).Talking of which (driving distance not missing teeth), Congrats to Thomas Pieters. He's sure to be on the PGA Tour's radar in the hope that he'll bring his act to the US while his name and performance last week are still on viewers' minds. Even in defeat, good things come and it's time to embark on another 6-year stretch of Ryder Cup possession, hopefully with Rory & Pieters, an accidental partnership, leading the way.
Well done USA, Allez Europe.

Presidents Cup 2017 update:
Captains: Price with VC's Ernie, Ogilvy & Johnstone (no KJ or Shigeki?)
US Cat's: Stricker with VC's Love, Woods, Couples (no Furyk?)

See Note 6). above:
Tournament is cancelled, which will help the Beef's "status" but must be desperately disappointing for others, especially "International" golfers who have dedicated a month to their PGA Tour membership dreams.

Yet to be confirmed:

In with cards for 16/17 who might otherwise not have qualified: Sabbatini, Points, Kelly Kraft, Bobby Wyatt, Cameron Percy, Tim Wilkinson,

Out: Norlander, Owen, Appleby, Iwata, Thomas Aiken, Jaeger, Eason, Cappellen, Villegas, Byrd, Erik Compton (heartburn for him), Mark Wilson, McNeill, Brian Gay, Ortiz, Matt Jones, Gunn, Aphibarnrat, KT Kim, de Jonge, etc, etc.
Obviously some have various brands of conditional status, "Past Champion" etc, but for others it's the web.com or bust. Aiken back to Europe presumably, Kim back to Asia.

OK, These are the "lucky" 25:

http://www.golfchannel.com/news/golf-central-blog/final-25-tour-cards-finalized-event-cancellation/

. . . . . . about half of them Tour retreads in my eyes, and not completely sure the web.com Tour is fulfilling its objective any more.

On one hand it's great that some old journeyman favourites can resurrect their careers, but on the other they've proved time and time again they're not quite up to sustained Tour quality any more.

Kwini... Yeah... Tough break for many... Blessing for some. Should point out only next 25 that didn't get their PGAT cards have full exempt status on the Web-com tour... And of course those past PGAT players who haven't already used their past PGAT member exemption.... Some other ways too... Rob Bolton will probably update the Web-com status page by tomorrow I'd guess... http://www.pgatour.com/webcom/news/2016/web-eligibility-ranking.html

Kwini... What makes you think the Web-com tour or WTF playoffs aren't achieving it's objective.  It was never designed or intended  to necessarily make it harder for PGAT guys  getting back on Tour than the old Q-school was.  The intent of "the 25"  and WTF was 1) create some added sponsor value with the playoffs and 2) better prepare future rookies once they make it to the tour 3) continue the opportunity for veterans to re-earn their cards.

robo,
Let's just say I'm not sure the balance is quite right between the regular web.com season and the Finals. Which is frustrating to say as I enjoy them!
It doesn't seem as if the bar is set very high for these guys - we know they can bat the ball round for a round or two, but their career has plateaued and 90% are not going to improve - and perhaps that's an argument for reducing the all-exempt number from 125.
I'm happy to see the Willie MacK's of this world play on Tour as they strive to achieve their veteran status but are they really going to get any better or are they taking the place of up-and-comers? Perhaps the answer is to grant more full w.c exemptions out of their Q-School?
Just being devil's advocate, but the Greg Owens (who just missed) and Tag Ridingses (who just made it) are never going to improve significantly whereas a 20-something almost certainly will. If Michael Thompson wins a tournament, good for him, sign him up, but a Gonzo accumulation of also-rans doesn't really seem to cut the mustard. Perhaps change the prize-money structure?

Hadn't realised Snedeker was playing in this week's Fiji International . . . . . . . .

Kwini... I hear what you're saying, but IMO you overestimate the talent and/or potential for the younger players VS the established ones... OR you just want to see turnover for turnover's sake.

Bottom line is you have an exempt group of about 200 in any given year and about 12-14% of that are pure newcomers or players coming off other tours every year.   When you think about the length of PGA Tour careers, and it being where many players don't even reach their prime until late 20's... IMO the turnover rate is about right.  

IMO the only reason to think about lowering the 125 exempt number is to ensure full playing opportunities to down through the Webbie category (abt 115 would do it probably).   But in the long run I don't believe that's going to change the ratio of veterans earning their privileges back either.  If anything it might work exactly the opposite. It would mean the potential newcomer has 10 more experienced veterans he has to get through to get his card via The 25 or the WTF.

But to me the biggest thing is... with the Web.com Tour and other world tours these guys can go to... GOOD players have an opportunity to make enough money now so they can stay in the professional game long enough to develop to their potential... that is IF they're really good enough to ever do so. For instance top-75 earners on the Web money list gets Web exempt status the next year.   So I'm just not buying that anybody with any more talent or potential than supposed washed up Rory Sabbatini or Tag Ridings is gonna miss out on their "deserved" opportunity. If they did have more potential... they'd be taking those spots over the Sabbo's, et al right now.

Wasn't actually including Roary - think he'll figure out a way to get back. But you know as well as I that most of these guys will be losing their cards again this time next year.
Anyway, it is what it is.

I remember going to one of the very first Hogan events and there, on the first tee, were greybeards Eaks, Labron Harris and Dick Mast 9imagine he'll be at Champions Tour Q-School again if he's still alive), Frank Conner not far behind them. I suppose it will ever be thus. (Your buddy Maggert was T18!, Lehman T5!)

Kwini... Again, I think I get where you are coming from... But you're absolutely correct...it will ever be thus. I can't conceive of a system that changes the big picture on newcomers vs veterans unless they add in some kind of ban on past veterans getting their card back... And that's never ever gonna happen (nor should it)

For me... I find the minutiae on how guys earn their status for next year interesting because I'm a golf nerd. but as long as I remain convinced there's ample opportunity for any player who could ever really matter to gain status, then it's really a situation of "so what" to me.

Looks like Rose it out for the rest of the Year. Twitter said 8 weeks but I guess the only tournament he might play after 8 weeks is the HWC in his backyard (if he has a backyard after this week, thanks to Matthew).

6 figure guaranteed paychecks in your backyard can hide a lot of pain.

I wonder how the Albany course is holding up? Given the damage incurred by TPC Louisiana after Katrina, the precedent might not look too good. Would they relocate to Isleworth (or Royal Calcutta) - just so Woods could collect some owgr points??

Royal Calcutta, the oldest golf club in the world outside Britain - imagine how much cash they would have to fork out to get Tiger and co to play there!

Played there once, a long time ago when I was backpacking around asia. It looked and felt like a Surrey parkland course, with the large number of water hazards you would expect to see on a Florida course, plus a few essential Indian touches, like people wading into the water hazards to catch fish or crabs, wash their clothes or have a bath.

Yup, only half sarcastic ray! I had heard it's a lovely place!!
No reason why Tiger and Hero shouldn't take their act to the land of Hero's birth.

It sounds as if The Bahamas are getting slammed but no idea if "Albany" is well protected or vulnerable to the worst Matthew can produce.

PGA Tour: "I Know It's Time, But I Never Wanted It To End": Notes from the Ballwasher

Don't worry Kwini, 7 days and all kicks off again.

You're right there, wire.
Disappointed this week's action was cancelled; we've been speculating on potential problems with the Tiger tournament in the Bahamas, but it's only 6 or 7 weeks until the RSM/McGladrey event at Sea Island, Georgia, and the Sea Island / Brunswick area is also forecast to get whacked; given the way those two courses wend thru wetlands it's difficult to imagine they won't be affected unless the Thursday p.m. forecast changes.
And that'll affect a good portion of the US Ryder Cup Team who live there. Sorry chaps. Too bad.

Jason Day comes up with another convenient excuse to not go to Australia next month

https://twitter.com/JDayGolf/status/784181274835492865

The number of convenient "injuries" is certainly suspicious.

super_realist wrote:The number of convenient "injuries" is certainly suspicious.

I thought some of them in the past were a bit sketchy... but not so much this time around.

They ought to try antler spray.

Jason Day reminds me of the guy in school who always came up with new excuses on why he was late or didn't do his homework. Only one missing from Day is that his dog ate his golfbag.

Confirmation that T.Woods will play next week's Safeway Open (formerly the Fry's.com Open).
Full field should be published later today.

Wonder if 9C will gerrymander an invite for Kafelnikov.

Surely he'd only invite people he's likely to be better than?

The bloke he usually wangles an invite for is Arjun Atwal, both involved in ignominious vehicle accidents, though Atwal was at least going forward. Probably at 100 mph.

Can't wait for next week's TW presser and his update RE the state of his speed, explosiveness, glutes and traj... :-)

And likely that he'll be extolling the virtues of his VC contribution to Hazeltine action. Without explaining how come JB Holmes has been on more winning RC Teams than he has.

robo,
Going to q-school next week?

Poulter playing in Macau next week along with Clarke, Cejka, Grace and long knocking Jamie Sadlowski.

http://www.asiantour.com/tournaments/543/entries/

I think that will be one of four rehab starts Poulter gets before he starts getting docked from his 10 medical starts.

The British Masters is next week, Its seems odd that he playing a competing event against the British Masters as he is one of the four rotating hosts (along with Westy, Rose, and Donald)

GPB wrote:Poulter playing in Macau next week along with Clarke, Cejka, Grace and long knocking Jamie Sadlowski.

http://www.asiantour.com/tournaments/543/entries/

I think that will be one of four rehab starts Poulter gets before he starts getting docked from his 10 medical starts.

The British Masters is next week, Its seems odd that he playing a competing event against the British Masters as he is one of the four rotating hosts (along with Westy, Rose, and Donald)

Sadlowski? That might be interesting. Often wondered how some of these LD guys might do.

Kwini... yes on the Q-school... it's right in my backyard.  I don't have a paid assignment, but I'll probably shoot some of it anyway and submit it. Who knows, might make a few bucks if anything gets picked up. No matter though, I don't get to shoot much golf anymore, so it'll be good just to get out there a bit.  I'm ruined, I just can NOT walk and watch a golf tournament as just a spectator anymore...

SAFEWAY - Looks like the Safeway Open will be around a level 38 event... well below last year's 46. last year had Rory and Rose in the top-10... and 12 total top-50. This year highest current rankings are 12, 15, 17 for Casey, Phil and Kuchar, and only 8 total from top-50.

Still should be interesting as heck though.  I'm wishing Tiger the best, but no expectations. IMO the over/under for his performance is make/miss the cut.  But hey, if he can just get through 2 rounds without being carted off, I guess that's something.  Talk is they'll put Phil with Tiger which is a bit surprising to me.

I've been trying to get some word out of anybody about Albany Club in the Bahamas and how it might have fared with the hurricane (site of World Challenge in Dec).  But nothing. Albany's on the SW coast of Nassau and Eye Wall looked to be maybe only 10 miles west of the course and devastating damage reported all along the entire Nassau South coast.  

I guess Sea Island, Harbour Town getting the worst they're gonna get right now... RSM supposed to play at Sea Island Nov 17

Interesting update robo, Thanks.

We're keeping The Island Packet website open until there's more substantive news of HHI; would have thought that the Sea Island courses might be more vulnerable than Harbour Town though imagine the 18th fairway is under a few feet of water/you name it. We used to go there this weekend when my lad was at USC in Columbia - bridge plus I95 both closed so wouldn't even be able to get there now.

I wonder if Kuchar will be in Napa? Possibly some other of the Sea Island mafia (DLIII?) might also be heading, or maybe not even leaving, home.

Can't imagine pairing Woods & Mickelson would suit anyone, especially the poor sod who has to make up the threesome. Have fun at The Woodlands . . . . . .

Sadlowski has played in a couple web-com events. DQ and T59.

So Albany was just 10 miles to the East of the Eye-wall? They probably got the WORST of the storm

I would be optimistic about Sea Island as they were West of the eyewall. Maybe some down trees.

Robo: You have a link to the Safeway field? I can't find it?

http://www.pgatour.com/tournaments/safeway-open/field.html

They've hidden the tournament "essentials" in a menu drop down from "Home" below "Buy Tickets". Took me a while too.

Kwini... Also some interesting speculation on Tiger's equipment for next week. The nolayingup guy is suggesting he'll have TaylorMade driver, Mizuno irons & Bridgestone ball. That guy is usually pretty reliable until his recent insider info about an hour before the RC last pick was made that it would be Bubba. I'm still guessing unless there's some truth to TW being part of a TM buyout group, AND it's imminent.... he'll still be all Nike except for maybe his Scotty.

Thanks Kwini.  Wow, not sure why they want to hide the field.

Looks like the entry list has stopped at #38 on WTF list. #38 Rick Lamb in the tournament. #39 Kelly Kraft.

And there has been a Sang Moon Bae sighting at the Asian Pacific Amateur which is being played in Incheon Korea

https://twitter.com/Dottie_Pepper/status/784728483876380672

GPB... Yeah... I happened to pull up a radar just as the eye was passing Nassau. It was exactly between Nassau and the next island due West. Looked like the east side of the eye was within a mile  off the westernmost Nassau coast. If that mapping was accurate... That has to be within 10 miles of Albany... So yeah... It musta been pretty horrible there.

Edit... Got my East's and West's mixed up... Fixed

GPB.... I have Safeway at a preliminary 204 erv. Interesting that back in the day... A #1 Tiger could have brought 60 combined world and home values to this event... Raising it to a 46 from its current estimated 38. Way too top heavy. Of course at #700-somthing... TW brings no strength value, the massive extra coin coming along with him not withstanding.

Robo: 45 for the #1 ranking and 8 pts for Home tour #1 adds up to 53, not 60

GPB,
They kept the "Buy Tickets" in a prominent position . . . . . .

Casey & Molinari sensible in getting an event (or two as presumably they'll both play the HSBC) under the respective belts early in the season. Could suit Frankie especially.

Kwini:  PGATour players in the CIMB Classic in two weeks has been announced.

Field (not formatted well):

Edit:  didn't format well, here is a link

http://www.cimbclassic.com/CMS/2016-Fields/

GPB wrote:Robo:  45 for the #1 ranking and 8 pts for Home tour #1 adds up to 53, not 60

Oops... My bad.... it would raise it 53, not 60... still to "barely" a 46 level though if these current rankings were to hold...

Re CIMB, Thanks GPB:
Quite a few "international" players doing an Asian double-dip . . . . . . They might just as well, but surprised to see Poulter (Macau & Malaysia) in the field. He must love those limited field jobbies.

Poulter needs FEX pts for his major medical. Might as well play in events where he gets guaranteed FEX pts.

Golf Digest wrote an article about Thomas Pieters not liking Americans.

http://www.golfdigest.com/story/thomas-pieters-probably-wont-play-in-us-permanently-because-he-doesnt-like-americans-that-much

https://twitter.com/Thomas_Pieters/status/784803992580882435

Looks like Colsaerts was the man in the middle.

kwinigolfer wrote:GPB,
They kept the "Buy Tickets" in a prominent position . . . .

Smart move, they're already expecting double to triple the ticket sales, don't want folks thinking they're sold out if they have room for more.

GPB wrote:Golf Digest wrote an article about Thomas Pieters not liking Americans.  

http://www.golfdigest.com/story/thomas-pieters-probably-wont-play-in-us-permanently-because-he-doesnt-like-americans-that-much

https://twitter.com/Thomas_Pieters/status/784803992580882435

Looks like Colsaerts was the man in the middle.

Why in the HAIL would Colsaerts drop Pieters in the grease like that even if it were true... which looks questionable at best.

Golf Digest are gutter-surfing more than they ever have; it may very well be that Colsaerts was not enamoured of his attempt to play the Tour and is trying to justify his unsatisfactory experiences (injury/form) by channelling his disaffection thru' Pieters. Sure TP will keep quiet on that particular subject.

But the USA is not for everyone and nothing wrong with that.

Robo: Its like I said last week when we discussed the Mickelson vs Watson Throwing Under the Bus.

Its the Media Making Mountains out of Mole Hills.

It could have been something like

Pieters (talking to Colsaerts): Dude, I didn't like how the Americans cheered our missed putts.

Colsaerts to some Hack Writer: Pieters doesn't like how Americans acted last week

Hack Writer: Pieters HATES Americans!

===========

Not unlike blogging. Often people takes things WAY out of Context.

Sure Kwini... I could certainly see how people aren't necessarily comfortable having to live and/or work in other continents than their own. But this story didn't originate with Golf Digest, it originated from the Telegraph UK... GD was just pulling excerpts from it, but they linked to the original content. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/golf/2016/10/05/thomas-pieters-wants-pga-tour-card-but-does-not-like-americans-m/

But I don't blame GD, cuz picking up comments like this from another news organization is proper and legitimately newsworthy (as long as they're reprinted accurately). What I object to is WTF is Colsaerts doing talking this stuff in the first place... even if it is true, but especially if it isn't.