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

First topic message reminder :

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.

pedro wrote:"Europe" in stead of ET will not happen anytime soon. But I beleive alliowing ONE captains pick (making it 4 in total like the US) to be a non ET member may happen sooner than later. .

Exactly... I think that was Jacklin's point as it is mine. No need to go entirely away from a membership requirement, but allowing a pick (or 2) outside of the members could be a good thing.

Oops... Adam Scott missed the cut in the Japan Open at +10. Missing the cut is bad, but +10 isn't quite as bad as it sounds as there are only 4 players under par with minus-2 in the lead... and +8 made the cut.

Still kind of surprising a player of Scott's caliber can't do better in Japan. This was Adam's 5th start on the Japan Tour in his career and his finishes are T32 (Crowns 2001) and 3rd (Taiheiyo Masters 2007). Then he's played the Japan Open the last three years finishing T38, T7 & now MC. But maybe no matter, I suppose the appearance fees still spend pretty well... :-)

Warm up for CIMB & HSBC . . . . . . .

nm

By my count... 42 of the listed CIMB field are playing in Napa, as are most then next 10 alternates. Sure hoping they get a Sunday finish....

Also... Rumor Mill is heating up again...

Secret Tour Pro @secrettourpro
Strong rumours coming in, is that the private equity company, which includes TW, has purchased TaylorMade, awaiting final confirmation #STP
11:37 AM - 14 Oct 2016

Robo

Saw that about TM, backs up what was being said a few weeks back. I wonder why Tiger would invest in the golf industry?

Mac, you can't be that green. TW will be able to offset a ton of tax money by having money tied up as business expenses/investment. Whether that's his intention, or just a benefit of it is not known for us, but if you have tons of money and want to stop the tax man taking some, tying it up in business is a good way to deal with it, especially if the rate of business tax is lower than Income tax, which it is.

Sometimes I do wonder how someone who claims to be intelligent only appears to be able to think in one dimension.

I dunno if there's actually any truth to the Tiger and TM deal, but it could make a lot of sense for TW. But I'm thinking more in terms of future potential branding and income, not so much tax advantages. if this turns out to be true... from an investment standpoint I'd be surprised to learn Tiger is any more than a secondary contributor. I'd think his value to an investment group would be more in his name than any money he would contribute.

Also looks like the Safeway has a fighting chance to get back on schedule today if they can avoid any more stoppages. My guess is they'll be finished with round 2, have them re-grouping and back out split tees by 11:30 local. That gives them 7 hours of daylight at least.

Got to thinking about Alternates for next week's CIMB Classic in Malaysia. I wonder how an alternate can justify the expense of a trip to Malaysia just to see if he gets into the field or not?

Since the field was announced on Friday, 2 alternates have already been added to the field (Cameron Tringale & Mark Hubbard). This leaves the alternate list with Kyle Stanley, Ben Crane, Michael Kim, Graham DeLaet, Troy Merritt, Luke List and Seung-Yul Noh. The Tour probably has a good idea if someone will or is likely to WD, but they probably don't know for sure how many will. So the top guys not already in maybe could justify it if they have a "heads up" from the Tour. But beyond that, if a player isn't exempt for the following weeks HSBC (which I don't think any of these alternates are) then it's a real risky proposition.

Good win, to state the bleedin' obvious, for Brendan Steele, 54-hole leader at Silverado last year, a course specialist at certain events, run-of-the-mill journeyman at most others. Notable this week is that he was one of the most outspoken anchorers in protesting Golf's new putting regulations and this is his first W since switching to "conventional".

Another top 4 finish for Casey, his fourth in a row, but still no win. And a welcome season-opening top ten finish for Martin Laird, badly let down by his putter over his final dozen holes.
Thought Silverado looked pretty good, and didn't they do well squeezing the 72 holes in??!!

Haven't done a forensic check on Q-School yet, but see that Kelvin Day & Ben Briscoe came up short. But robo's friend Fred made it - congrats to him.

Super

Oddly I have no idea about US tax laws and how they can be used to benefit the super rich.



Do Euro RC fans wish Noren had been on the team?

Mac,
in the us only the poor and stupid pay taxes. As usual it's an import that the UK insists on making.

Robo

Wonder if Tiger's new TGR brand will have anything to do with his involvement in TM deal?

http://www.golf.com/tour-and-news/tiger-woods-unveils-new-tgr-brand-marks-new-chapter-his-career

Mac,
I imagine that, when you're called up by the Euro Tour to pontificate on Ryder Cup qualification, you'll bring your patented device whereby you can identify golfers who will be red hot at the time of the event and after it.
Excellent, and you'll likely be able to reveal next week's Portugal winner (who you would insist should've been on the Team) as well.

When the DeLorean hits eighty eight miles an hour...

Kwini... not sure if you have the most recent issue of Golf Digest (with Beef on the cover) but Ron Sirak gives about the most elaborate description of the PGA Tour's retirement plan(s) that I've seen in print since maybe 2008. One thing that caught my attention. In the comments I made on the topic a few weeks ago, based on what I thought I understood from my key contact on this subject.. I said the vesting for the cuts portion of the plan had gone away. Sirak's article disputes that... suggesting that the 50% vesting at the 75 cuts made and 100% vesting at the 150 cuts made benchmarks remain. Pretty much everything else is as I had understood, but Sirak had some new takes and detail on it that I found interesting.

The article is online... and for anybody interested in such nerdy stuff... here's the link: http://www.golfdigest.com/story/golden-retirements-pga-tour-pros-get-a-gift-that-keeps-giving

McLaren wrote:Robo

Wonder if Tiger's new TGR brand will have anything to do with his involvement in TM deal?

http://www.golf.com/tour-and-news/tiger-woods-unveils-new-tgr-brand-marks-new-chapter-his-career

Could be, but it makes potential sense on a lot of levels with or without a TM deal being involved. And TW said this has been two years in concept and planning, so that would predate any possible TM purchase aspects anyway.

Thanks robo,
Yes, I have it. Criteria for GD's covers grows more bizarre as issue follows issue.

Kwini

Just wondered if Noren was in the thoughts of those who think the EU team make up could have been a little different using a alternate selection system. I wouldn't change the system personally, I would just hope the captain made more rational decisions.

Trouble w/Noren, and I've always been a big fan, is that he's never fit. Even now he's only played 35 counting events in the owgr's (where most have played about 48 - 54); and he only had just the one 2016 win when DC made his selections. Not sure I saw you calling for his selection before his second win . . . . . . .

Only comment I'd make about the Euro's RC makeup is it just makes sense to have a system in place that gives the team the best chance of having its best and most in form players making the team. IMO the current system doesn't do that, in fact i think "the politics of it all" prevents it.

USA system isn't perfect either, but IMO it's at least more reflective of recent performance and it gives it's captain more options with the 4th pick, not to mention the timing of those picks.

Saw a bit on Golf Channel about the massive tree damage to Harbour Town Golf Links from hurricane Matthew. While the HT folks feel 100% certain the course will be ready to host the week after the Masters, the key concern is the loss of so many trees, especially the "strategic" trees guarding doglegs and corners of and approaches to greens, etc.. Those trees are one of the major defenses to the golf course.

But in better news... I found this piece on Sea Island which hosts the RSM classic in just 4 weeks.

Hurricane Matthew won’t delay preparations for RSM Classic at Sea Island

Garry Smits, the Times-Union

Like the TPC Sawgrass, the Sea Island Resort was considered fortunate to have not sustained more damage from Hurricane Matthew.

Unlike the TPC Sawgrass, Sea Island had only seven weeks, not seven months, before the PGA Tour was due to play an event.

All things considered, Sea Island came through Matthew relatively intact and will be ready to host the RSM Classic for the seventh time Nov. 17-20.

“We were very lucky like a lot of people,” said tournament director Scott Reid. “We’re only going to lose about a week of the build-up and we should be able to make up that time with no problem.”

Reid said there was little damage on the Seaside Course, aside from tree branches and palm fronds scattered across the fairways, and washed-out bunkers. The Plantation Course, which has more large oak and palm trees, lost about 15-to-20 trees, but none that damaged part of the golf course.

The field plays one round on the Seaside and one round on the Plantation, then moves to Seaside for the final two rounds after the cut is made.

http://jacksonville.com/sports/2016-10-15/hurricane-matthew-won%E2%80%99t-delay-preparations-rsm-classic-sea-island

Great updates, robo. Thanks.
A bit surprised about the gloom and doom at Harbour Town as superficial damage didn't look bad at al. Whilst one would agree that loss of strategic trees alongside fairways would be a big loss, they could certainly "lose" some trees around the greens where, in some cases, there's not really enough light for strong growth on the greens.
I imagine the RBC Heritage will do just fine! (Actually thought they'd suffer more from seawater surge flooding . . . . . . )

kwinigolfer wrote:Haven't done a forensic check on Q-School yet, but see that Kelvin Day & Ben Briscoe came up short. But robo's friend Fred made it - congrats to him.

Not sure the drawn out scheduling of the various stages makes sense anymore.  Preliminary and first stage is fine, but since the start of the wraparound season began, why wait 3 weeks to begin 2nd stage and then another month for the finals.

IMO the final needs to play no later than 3rd week in November in deference to Challenge Tour players finishing the week before. And none of the ET guys playing in the finals series are likely to be entered anyway.

I think the issue with Harbour Town is without those trees it's much less of a legitimate test for guys at that level anymore. Even more than it is with Colonial, without the trees the small greens by themselves aren't enough of a defense. And there's just nowhere to go to add any more length.

Yup, Get that. But it's the fairway trees that are the biggest strategic asset, rather than most of those by the greens which create so much shade over the putting surfaces.
Hope the damage is less severe than suggested.

robo,
Thought that the Ron Sirak piece added a new dimension to the motivation some veteran Tour Pros might have in entering tournaments, especially at season's end, what with the compounding factor inherent in cuts-made above 15. And the no-cut events are essentially freebies for them in more ways than one, that journeymen can't exploit, and nor can superstars like Mahan & Ogilvy who fall upon bad times - or at least poor form.

Kwini... I thought we'd discussed the cuts over 15 thing before... But sure, for the rank and file guys it probably factors at least somewhat into playing decisions. Not so sure it affects decision making re no- cut events much though. Most of them pay so richly in guaranteed money, points and less guys you need to beat... An extra 8k maybe isn't that much a factor. Might be with the CIMB though... As it helps offset a hefty travel tab. (But CIMB supplies player accommodations for this one)

robo,
Don't recall - but point about the stars and no-cut events is that the bar to reach the 15 cuts is much lower - and I'm sure each of these guys, or their agents at least - have a calculator app that projects the value of the compounded $8K. And makes the derisory social security increase that's just been announced even more academic.

PS: Was surprised at the Sirak point about Langer - "not vested in the cuts-made plan because of the time he spent on the ET". Difficult to believe he doesn't have 150 (of his total 232) cuts as a Tour member, but maybe not quite.

Kwini... the deal with Langer was surprising to me too. But sure enough, he has only 10 years with the minimum 15 events played necessary to qualify for the plan contribution... and I count 136 made cuts.

Two other years he played 14 (1989, 2007), and had he added 1 more start to the 1989 seasons that would have put him on the mark. Kind of odd looking 1989 specifically though. He obviously was a member that year or he couldn't have played 14 due to the non-member limit, but I have no clue why he stopped 1 short of playing 15. If he plays one more in in 1989 and makes the cut, that would give him 14 counting made cuts for that year and his career would have been at 150. I realize he couldn't have known how 1989 would affect his career cuts, but he surely would have known the importance of playing just one more in 1989 to reach 15. He had an injury in 2007 that extended into 2008... so that one makes sense.

He's doing a great job of making up for it!
It looks as if he was very busy in Europe immediately following the '89 PGA, with a W, 2nd, 4th & 5th before running out of gas. Then silly season. Who knows what options he felt he had?

Lots of places on that schedule he could have replaced an ET event with a PGAT event, like maybe playing an extra one on either side of the US Open. But oh well... Water under the bridge now. Just a shame that a guy who contributed so much over here fell short on being fully vested though.

Interesting collection of inductees for the WG Hall Of Fame next year: Davis Love, Meg Mallon, Lorena Ochoa, Ian Woosnam and Henry Longhurst.
Would have thought Love, Ochoa and Longhurst were A-listers, Woosie & Mallon a bit more questionable.
World Golf HOF is a worthy initiative but wish they honour more architects.

robopz wrote:Kwini... the deal with Langer was surprising to me too.  But sure enough, he has only 10 years with the minimum 15 events played necessary to qualify for the plan contribution... and I count 136 made cuts.

Two other years he played 14 (1989, 2007), and had he added 1 more start to the 1989  seasons that would have put him on the mark.   Kind of odd looking 1989 specifically though. He obviously was a member that year or he couldn't have played 14 due to the non-member limit, but I have no clue why he stopped 1 short of playing 15.  If he plays one more in in 1989 and makes the cut, that would give him 14 counting made cuts for that year and his career would have been at 150.  I realize he couldn't have known how 1989 would affect his career cuts, but he surely would have known the importance of playing just one more in 1989 to reach 15.   He had an injury in 2007 that extended into 2008... so that one makes sense.

Considering how many PGAT tournaments Kaymer played in the 2014-15 season, maybe Germans have a hard time counting to 15.  

edit

I have a feeling Langer has a pretty big nest egg as I can't imagine him blowing many paychecks on "Hookers & Blow"

About 12-13 years I was headed south through Alabama on a buddies golf trip. We played a RTJ course in Birmingham and was spending the night in a Hampton Inn which had a complimentary continental breakfast in the morning.

At a table across the room, there was a guy that was Langer's doppelganger. So much so, one of my buddies wanted to go up and ask him if he was Bernhard Langer. I told there was no way Langer would be in Birmingham Alabama staying at a Hampton Inn in March.

kwini:  Here is anecdote about Henry Longhurst from Frank Chirkinian (you might have seen it before)

Spoiler:

Notable Top 50 Players not playing the HSBC WGC event in China (according to the entry list published on the EuroTour Website)

Jason Day
Jordan Spieth
Justin Rose
Phil Mickelson
Jim Furyk
Zach Johnson
William McGirt

The only one that really surprises me is William McGirt. I would think he would want a 50K guaranteed payday.

Nice one about Longhurst.

Did it surprise you that McGirt is not playing or that he's a top 50 player?

Anybody hearing any status on the finals series event in Turkey? Last I heard they were doing a security review after the rocket attack (60 miles away) and would update soon. The scheduled June 2016 LET Turkish Ladies Open was also cancelled over security concerns.

I knew that McGirt had been in the Top 50 since his win at Memorial. It seems like a journeyman like him would want a guaranteed 50k paycheck (and guaranteed FEX points).

Of course he could have conflict, or just does not want to travel halfway around the world. I think he has been exempt for CIMB the last couple of years, and he hasn't played that event.

BTW Si Woo Kim is almost ranked in the Top 50. He finished 2nd in a Korean Tournament during the off week between the RC and Safeway.

GPB... Not sure, but that still might be the most top 50 participants in the HSBC? Do you know? Too bad the 3-4 really high ranked ones will affect the OWGR so much. Do you have an estimate?

I'm not completely sure where Willie McGirt lives, but he might have bigger fish to fry right now (swimming thru his property) - I know he's a Carolina boy, just not certain quite where.

Also not seen an update on the Turkey security review.

robopz wrote:GPB... Not sure, but that still might be the most top 50 participants in the HSBC?  Do you know?  Too bad the 3-4 really high ranked ones will affect the OWGR so much. Do you have an estimate?

I don't know, but it has to be pretty close to a record number of Top 50 players.

Looks like the Total EVR from the Top 52 players is 598 (542 + 56) so it is looking like a solid OWGR-66.

I am not sure if the rest of the field can contribute another ~33 points to get to OWGR - 68.

Jason Day's #1 ranking will not be at risk next week. Both Rory and Dustin are adding divisors to their OWGR two year resume when they play the HSBC.

Accounting for the divisor addition, Dustin is about 88 points behind J-Day and Rory is 94 pts behind J-Day.

Everytime Dustin plays a tournament from now until Farmers, he is adding a divisor. Rory is losing two tournaments off his divisor later this year. (2014 RtDubai, and 2014 Aussie Open).

From purely a mathematical standpoint, Rory has a better chance of overtaking the #1 spot in the next few months than Dustin.

GPB..  Thanks for the OWGR overview...

And reports that a South Korea-based event is coming to the PGA Tour for a 3-tournament Asian "swing".

If that is another limited field job, I'd say that is utterly contemptuous of the rank-and-file - who probably agreed to it via the players committee/council. A good way for the Tour to promote its Asian players (for obvious reasons) and create opposition to the ET.

Finally found something in the media about the FEX pt distribution change

http://www.pga.com/news/pga-tour/pga-tour-rookie-nicholas-lindheim-started-late-and-taught-himself-play?cid=pgacomsocial_tw_sf39231750

I asked William McGirt why he doesn't play CIMB and/or HSBC.... this was his response...

William McGirt ‏@WilliamMcGirt
@Robopz ZERO desire to go halfway around the world and be away from my wife & kids for 2 weeks. Guaranteed $$$ isn't everything.

kwinigolfer wrote:And reports that a South Korea-based event is coming to the PGA Tour for a 3-tournament Asian "swing".

If that is another limited field job, I'd say that is utterly contemptuous of the rank-and-file - who probably agreed to it via the players committee/council. A good way for the Tour to promote its Asian players (for obvious reasons) and create opposition to the ET.

With the players agreeing with it, then apparently they don't consider it utterly contemptuous, which is good enough for me. Seems like the only way get this one on the schedule (assuming it's not an alternate event to something) would be to eliminate the off week after the Presidents Cup. That or maybe something else is going away or moving to the "regular" season. WGC Mexico is still needs an alternate event. Course if the Tour is serious about a rework of the schedule to get the Tour Championship done by Labor Day... then that open's up all kinds of options for the 2017-18 season and beyond.

Not sure how it can open up any options for the 2017-18 season and the 2016-17 season is going to end on Sept 24.

There is going to be a lot of movement to get the Tour Championship done on Labor Day. And if they are going to start the season in mid September, they will have to start the WTF in Mid August. which means moving some Web-com regular events to the fall. and then Q-school will have to get done sooner, which might interfere with the US Amateur.

Lots of dominoes are going to have to fall.

GPB.... couldn't agree more that a lot of "dominoes" would have to fall to change the schedule enough to get the Tour Championship in by Labor Day.  But I very much doubt that outside elements like US AM's or Walker Cup's or those sorts of thing have anything to do with it. What DOES have something to do with it would be the willingness of at least one of the Majors to adjust and probably the Players along with it.

And yes, my bad for my error on RE 2017-18. But my point was and remains that a significant change to the schedule resulting in a Tour Championship played by Labor Day could open up all kinds of options RE fitting in the new Korea event (and/or others) into a fall schedule more comfortably.   For the start of the 2017-18 season, probably the elimination of the off week after the President's Cup is most likely candidate to squeeze Korea in.  And since the PGA Tour controls the scheduling of the WGC-HSBC, they can move that one where needed as well.

And I don't see any Fall Events going away next year as all but the CIMB have sponsor contracts in place through at least 2017. Safeway, HSBC and RSM are good through 2020, Shriners through 2017, OHL through 2018 an Sanderson Farms through 2026.  And I'd think its a good chance CIMB would see the addition of another Asian event as good for them in the long run too. I wouldn't be surprised to hear of a CIMB extention this week. (unless it's already done and I've missed it)

EDIT: Oops.. I did miss it... CIMB has already extended through 2020... so that means all the current fall schedule is sponsored for both this year and next... Shriners will be next up, they're good for 2017 but will need a renewal for 2018....