PGA Tour: Double-Header: Notes from the Ballwasher

1).Two PGA Tournaments this week.
Riding in first class are the WGC-HSBC Champions competitors, 78 of la creme de la creme, or gold tops at least.
Then there are the economy class runners and riders travelling to Jackson, Mississippi, for the Sanderson Farms Championship.
I'm much more interested in the latter, may even be able to watch it without setting my alarm clock.

2).Last week Justin Thomas may (not sure really) have set a PGA Tour record by winning a second event without yet getting a W in the USA. I'm sure the media obsessed with the early 20-something generation (yup, they're back at it in next month's Golf Digest) will be thrilled, but Thomas has yet to convince the Ballwasher that he's the real deal. Regardless, it's doubtful that any first-time double has been watched by fewer US viewers.

3).But wait, the Tour thinks this type of event is just the business, so much so that we'll be going for the treble next year with an event in South Korea. Back-to-back-to-back with CIMB & HSBC.
There were stories earlier in the year of initiatives by the Tour to reduce the "All Exempt" Tour from 125 to something lower, perhaps 100. It sounds as if the players nixed that, but perhaps this is the next best/worst thing.
I would think a strong rank-and-file on Tour is a big positive, but this sends messages in the exact opposite direction - if you're a Top 50 US-based pro you have to play really, really badly, or at least be unlucky with injuries, to lose your card; you could play at least nine no-cut tournaments, come last in every one, and bank about $386K plus the Korean money-for-nothing. Amazing.

4).Russell Knox enjoyed his breakthrough to the winners' enclosure at last year's HSBC and established himself as a proven winner by adding August's Travelers Championship to his record. Plenty of Europeans in this week's field, many of them in pretty good form. Hatton, Rafa, Casey, Kaymer, Wiesberger, Noren - a win for any of them would scarcely be a surprise.

5).We've morphed from a lengthy Indian Summer here in the North Country to winter without the pleasure of autumn to ease the transition. Killington is open and others will follow if this lot carries on; 20% chance of rain forecast by the Weather Channel here this morning - the idiots didn't mention the 100% chance of snow. (Why can't the US get a decent weather forecasting system? Answers to/in the New York Times.)
But none of that will be on the Tournament Director's mind in Mississippi where the autumn continues warm and dry, with not much wind. In other words perfect for golf, and there's a decent turn-out for the "opposite field" event.

6).Poulter brought home a T17 from CIMB and 48 FedEx points so well on pace to satisfy the requirements of his Medical "extension". He's teeing it up Thursday & Friday with Chris Kirk who is my idea of a contender this week - Russell Henley, Badds and Kizzire are among others who look good to me.

7).The PGA Tour seems to have redesigned parts of its website over the past few weeks and the good news is that graphics are even better than before.
Bad news is that navigation is tortuous, and seemingly incomplete - designed to do one's head in. Or at least use google. Is that a good idea, Tim?
Wouldn't it be great if their website designers actually followed golf?

8).Let's have some Senior moments as the Champions Tour season concludes with three "Play-Off" tournaments.
72 golfers have qualified for Round 1 (71 expected to actually play), which is contested over three rounds at California's Sherwood Country Club. For many years this was the site of Greg Norman's Shark Shoot Out, then subsequently for Tiger's "World" Challenge (and site of absolutely brilliant golf by some guy called Harrington when he won in 2002. Whatever happened to him?).

Don't know what the course is like to play, but it's surely one of the more photogenic courses around, with plenty of risk/reward and three Par-5's in the final seven holes.
The 54 money-list leaders after this week travel cross-country to Virginia for Round 2, after which the leading 36 backtrack across country to Arizona for the finale.
As for the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup, the numbers are adjusted for the Final to ensure that it's not a foregone conclusion that Bernhard Langer will win.

9).Ian Woosnam starts in 50th place but the good news for Woosie is that his election to the World Golf Hall Of Fame entitles him to a place in all "regular season" Champions Tour events. Sandy Lyle's already comfortably seated on the same gravy train and I think this is utterly ludicrous, guys who only sporadically played on the PGA Tour (altho' Sandy did have a card for about ten years) queue-jumping Tour regulars.

10).Back to the present and a couple of items in the Tour's fine print:
~It's looking likely that the season-opening Tournament of Champions will be without a title sponsor.
~The LA Open is now called the "Genesis Open" - not clear if this is about a bunch of lads from Charterhouse or a brand of ugly looking imported cars.
~The MatchPlay event will now be the "WGC Dell Technologies Match Play".
~And the former Deutsche Bank Championship, initially renamed the EMC Championship, is now the "Dell Technologies Championship" following Dell's takeover of EMC.
That's it. (And it's tough to find that "fine print" on the mess that is pgatour.com.)

Good report as usual Kwini.

Well if you want to "Cheat" on the trivia question in bullet point #2, you could list former Multiple Open Championship players like Harry Vardon and Peter Thomson won their first two PGATour wins outside the USA.

Its strange that the PGATour has grandfathered all the Open Championship wins into their record book, but the European Tour has not

More a musing than a trivia ? GPB, can't think of a Tour member who's done that though, can you?

I see TPC at Las Colinas only has one more year left on Tour . . . . . .

Kwini... technicality... SBS had signed a 10-year sponsor agreement with the Tournament of Champions to which they then "farmed out" to Hyundai. Part of that deal was the grant of PGA Tour season broadcast rights in Korea for the same term.

I've been led to believe SBS is still on the hook through 2019, even though I too find it odd they are not on the "Title" of the event... or at least not yet. It could be they're leaving it open to find another "Hyundai like" farm out or a new sponsor. But if they don't by this January, I wouldn't be surprised to se SBS's name to magically appear at the last minute, or at least they'll be quite evident at the event.

GPB... I move this here to be sure you saw it...

GPB wrote:Since the Olympics and Ryder Cup are essentially co-sanctioned events, I would not think either counts.....

If neither RC or Olympics count, Rose would have had to play in the 3 RtD events (Turkey, Nedbank, Dubai) plus two out of these events (Dunhill Links, British Masters & Portugal)

 Actually the Olympics and Ryder Cup DO count towards "the 5" as per this Euro Tour article below announcing the new 5 tournament regulation.

".... Although the Major Championships and World Golf Championships (of which only three will feature on The 2016 Race to Dubai following the removal of the sanction for the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational) will no longer contribute towards the minimum tournament requirement, The Ryder Cup and EurAsia Cup will count as tournaments played, as will the Olympic Games for the first time next year."

Rose did not compete in the EurAsia Cup... but he did the other two in the underlined section above... so he would have needed only 3 events after the Ryder Cup....

http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2015/tournamentid=2015090/news/newsid=278479.html

robo,
I also thought that SBS was in the Kapalua mix, assumed their name would be on the schedule, then surprised it isn't there. Would have thought it is a natural for Asian companies . . . . .

kwinigolfer wrote:3).But wait, the Tour thinks this type of event is just the business, so much so that we'll be going for the treble next year with an event in South Korea. Back-to-back-to-back with CIMB & HSBC.
There were stories earlier in the year of initiatives by the Tour to reduce the "All Exempt" Tour from 125 to something lower, perhaps 100. It sounds as if the players nixed that, but perhaps this is the next best/worst thing.
I would think a strong rank-and-file on Tour is a big positive, but this sends messages in the exact opposite direction - if you're a Top 50 US-based pro you have to play really, really badly, or at least be unlucky with injuries, to lose your card; you could play at least nine no-cut tournaments, come last in every one, and bank about $386K plus the Korean money-for-nothing. Amazing.

Kwini...  the thought of the members going along with the Tour taking playing opportunities away from the rank and file members by reducing the 125 exempt base significantly always seemed like a non-starter to me. Some media, some fans, some of the higher ranked players might think it's a good idea, but selling that to the roughly 200 exempt players is another thing entirely.  The objective right now is to get MORE playing spots for those Webbies, and the Tour has been making incremental moves over the last few years to achieve just that. There were the changes to the Medicals, and now the elimination of money as an exemption benchmark, and now the addition of this Korean event.  True that no webbies are likely to qualify to play in Korea (except for Korean Webbies as SE's) the point we discussed of this event cannibalizing other events is still a factor.  In several of those fall events, the higher echelon players siphoned away to go play Korea, opens up spots for those Webbies.

And regarding your second point....  $$ can buy players some nice toys to be sure, but the real currency of the PGA Tour is FedEx points. The new points scale drastically reduces points for middling to low finishes.  So taking the 7 no-cut events prior to the playoffs... in most year's if a guy would have finished 60th in those 6 events, and then 30th in the ToC he would have earned 100+ points of the roughly 470 or 23-25% of what he needed for the year. But this year he earns about 65 of the 380 (guessing) he'll need, or about 16-18%.

Bottom line:  EARNING your way into those no-cut events is still a HUGE perk for the better players, but with the new rules and despite the addition of Korea... it's just not as much of a benefit as it used to be if you play poorly in them.

PS: Also... this week the PGA Tour announced the opening of an office Tokyo and there's still the expectation of a Tour event in South America. So it doesn't look to me like the Tour expansion is done yet. I wouldn't be surprised to see yet another CIMB-Korea format event show up in Japan in the next year or two. But my guess is there's a high likelihood the South American event would be an Alternate to one of the WGC's played in the Spring. Puerto Rico is still on the schedule... but far as I'm aware their sponsorship with Coco Beach and the P.R. Tourist interests is year to year, so I still consider that an event with some risk.

I don't know if the EuroT can make it any easier for World Class Elite player to be a member of the Eurotour without taking away its integrity.

A SAFfer can be a member without ever leaving South Africa.

robo,
I wrote a Dear Dad letter on this very subject from DLIII to DLII way back in the BBC 606 days . . . . . . . ! Things have changed, Dad, currency ain't what it used to be. etc..

I still think the new schedule/points allocation is increasingly designed to protect the top, say, 75 players whilst letting the riff raff scramble for the final 50+ memberships. Probably becoming increasingly protectionalist as well.
Not complaining, just observing!

kwinigolfer wrote:I still think the new schedule/points allocation is increasingly designed to protect the top, say, 75 players whilst letting the riff raff scramble for the final 50+ memberships. Probably becoming increasingly protectionalist as well.
Not complaining, just observing!

I agree with you 100% on the first part, not so sure about the "protectionist" part though.  This new points scheme is absolutely designed to greater reward winning and very good finishes by devaluing mediocrity and poor finishes... By it's very nature any system that does that will in general benefit the better players... as in my opinion it should. But if you look at it... The past FedExCup points schedule rewarded mediocrity far more than the standard money list formulas did.  These FedExCup point changes are actually a lot closer to the traditional money list ratios. Not exact, but a LOT closer.  

BUT... this change also means the top-75 you mention will have to play BETTER than they did before.  Since money list don't count any more... guys can no longer count on just showing up and putting up middling to poor finishes in these no-cut events earning them a third to half their $$$ nut for the year.  Used to be you could earn about 25% of your annual money list nut to keep a card just by qualifying and showing up at 4 WGC's and finishing dead last in all 4.  If you do that now you earn only 10-12 FE Points, or about 3% of what you're gonna need.  

IMO most everyone who ever thought these no-cut, high $ guarantee events gave too much of an advantage to guys...  should be THRILLED with the combination of removing the money list as a qualifying criteria, and revamping the FECup points.

Agree with all; I remember the discussions a few years back when I advocated more points for making a cut - I see they've gone to 3 instead of 1 and thence fractions. Sentiment expressed, about which I disagreed, that those guys deserved no better! I'd like to see 70th get 10 so a cut is more truly rewarded.
I only put the $amounts for finishing last in limited field events to show the living to be made, not to suggest it was a path to membership - I was tempted to add that, doing that two years in a row would lose you your job. Poulter, Sabbatini, Matt Jones etc.

Bottom line is I'm a golf nerd who enjoys talking about how all these permutations affect guys getting into events and getting/keeping their privileges and such.

But to me the big picture is still that I want whatever the system is to provide access to the players who have the potential to be something other than a journeyman in the game. And in my opinion it does that. So all's good with me.

robopz wrote:

But to me the big picture is still that I want whatever the system is to provide access to the players who have the potential to be something other than a journeyman in the game.  And in my opinion it does that.  So all's good with me.

Agree, But don't deny yesterday's journeyman, say Dufner or even Richard Bland, the chance to become tomorrow's star.

And IMO the system takes care of the Dufner's of the game just fine. It gave him the opportunity to hang around 'til He could make something of himself, and then when he wins something,  the system gives him the security to not get thrown out like a baby with the bath water should he suffer a temporary hiccup..

And IMO through the size of the fields and the various paths to access it provides, the Richard Blands of the world have all the opportunity they ever need to be successful on Tour.  But at some point they have to seize upon that opportunity themselves and make something of it. Cuz if they don't, someone will surely push them aside and take that opportunity for themselves.

Difficult to believe that this course is within ten minutes of Downtown Dallas. Wonder what the Pros will make of it in 2018:

http://www.pgatour.com/news/2016/10/26/trinity-forest-golf-club-to-host-att-byron-nelson-in-2018.html


With very few exceptions, Rikard Karlberg's best tournament results have been in Asia. Wonder why that would be?

C&C courses always look great. The one I have played was a whole lot of fun as well. Good to see a pgat event going to a modern minimalist venue.

kwinigolfer wrote:Difficult to believe that this course is within ten minutes of Downtown Dallas. Wonder what the Pros will make of it in 2018:

http://www.pgatour.com/news/2016/10/26/trinity-forest-golf-club-to-host-att-byron-nelson-in-2018.html


With very few exceptions, Rikard Karlberg's best tournament results have been in Asia. Wonder why that would be?

I like to see new courses on Tour... but not so sure I'm going to care a lot for this particular one. IMO the best courses are those that reflect the character of the region or specific place where they're located. But this one, while a great use of recycling land unsuitable for most uses by being built on an old landfill, doesn't seem to have any of the characteristics of golf in the DFW/N Texas area or specifically the Trinity Forest in which it's built.

From all I read about and have seen of it via photos, it's more like a linksy layout, far from any Ocean or Sea, with ripples upon ripples of artificial mounding. Coore Crenshaw build great courses, no doubt, and I'd bet this one will be a LOT more interesting than TPC Las Colinas for tournament play (how could it not be?)... but IMO it's more about the look and feel of it relative to it's location not matching up.

PS... and these are the same issue I have with both the Houston and San Antonio Tour venues to some extent.

There are two Pat Ruddy courses in Montreal, one a ho-hum "Island Course", the other the "Ireland Course", meant to resemble Irish "links" golf.
The Ireland Course is great fun to play, and a peaceful oasis amid the hubbub of a great City - except for the distant drone of traffic. Fun golf, but incongruous as it's not reflective of the landscape.

kwinigolfer wrote:There are two Pat Ruddy courses in Montreal, one a ho-hum "Island Course", the other the "Ireland Course", meant to resemble Irish "links" golf.
The Ireland Course is great fun to play, and a peaceful oasis amid the hubbub of a great City - except for the distant drone of traffic. Fun golf, but incongruous as it's not reflective of the landscape.

And don't get me wrong... I'm not saying Trinity Pines will be a bad course. I have tremendous respect for the work Coore/Crenshaw does so I bet it's a helluva course.   It's just more that I don't understand this burn architects seem to have now days towards "linksy looking" golf regardless where they put it. I suppose maybe just trying to be different?  But one aspect I DO like about Trinity Pines, is it doesn't appear as though every tee shot and every approach represents a forced carry or lost ball or penalty stroke waiting to happen (even though there are some). So from a pace of play aspect, likely it'll be enjoyable for golfers with wide range of abilities.

I realize Darth Monty is a "joke account" (and a helluva funny one too)... but is there "real" conversation coming up again about next week's Turkish event?

Darth Monty @Darth_Monty
Can't believe they are considering to cancel Turkey. I'll never forget my Kuwait mid amateur win in 1990 during the height of the Iraq war. 32m

Fear of violence?
That's why the PGA Tour won't go to Chicago or Detroit, and why they've booked the first flight out of Miami . . . . . . . .

Any buzz on who's in the market to sponsor "Houston" robo, hopefully not Halliburton?

kwinigolfer wrote:Fear of violence?
That's why the PGA Tour won't go to Chicago or Detroit, and why they've booked the first flight out of Miami . . . . . . . .

Any buzz on who's in the market to sponsor "Houston" robo, hopefully not Halliburton?

Not sure the "who" RE Houston sponsorship... other than they seem very comfortable with the situation and confident it's not a problem. What I don't know for sure is WHY they seem to feel that way... and since I'm losing my best higher up source with Burt Darden retiring at the end of the year... guess that'll make me more of an outsider than ever. I will say this though... MD Anderson has been jumping up their participation each year, and seem to find PGA Tour Golf a great conduit to their fundraising efforts (ala Shriners in Las Vegas). Plus they've been taking positions on various committee's and boards and such associated with the tournament and HGA. If I were to guess right now, I would make them and/or them in conjunction with a group of Medical Center interests the leading candidate. I dunno though.. Shriners seems a good fit for Las Vegas, but Humana didn't seem to be so good with Palm Springs. Both somewhat different Health Care situations than MD Anderson though.

The problem I have... I know the folks with Colonial who were real comfortable too. They were assuring everybody that the new sponsor would be in place before the end of the 2015 Colonial... just like the HGA folks seem to be signaling will be the case this April... but the Colonial deal with D&D didn't come until about 9 months later, and had a bit of a feel of desperation and not necessarily who they thought they were gonna get. Bottom line is it ain't done until it's done.

Also... I'm not going to clutter up this thread with it... but I'm fixing to make a new post with all the sponsor situations with the PGA Tour as I know them to date.

Last week Padraig,
This week Shaymuss??

Power tied for the clubhouse lead at the Sanderson Farms Champo.

kwinigolfer wrote:Last week Padraig,
This week Shaymuss??  

Power tied for the clubhouse lead at the Sanderson Farms Champo.

OK... we're gonna need to do something to stop all those furreners from winning our tournaments !!!!

Just kidding of course... good for Power... hope he can hold it together the next 3 rounds... win or not... a good finish is a huge help to his cause. (and Streelman seems to still have his own ideas about winning). Anyway Seamus Looks like a very interesting player... and obviously has skiz...

Sounds like Langer might be a non-runner tomorrow, problems with a fetlock. Down from 72 to 68 most likely. Can't keep these old guys (all younger than moi) fit - but I'd play as 10,000,000th alternate.

Another shocker from Willett. You have to think he needs to do something about his form soon to stop it carrying over into 2017.

Rory doing pretty well with the TM kit in his bag.

Can see Willett being the one major wonder like Rev Simpson, Dufner, Bradley, Walker etc. Just hasn't put that Masters win behind him and moved on.

Pubehead allegedly carrying the ball 330 with his new driver and coasting past Rev Watson and Adam Scott.

Think watsons using 3 wood...

Wghat's happening in Mississippi?
Poulter on his way down his first hole and sitting uncomfortably on the cut-line at -2.
The cut will surely be at -3 soon enough but scoring has yet to go as low as yesterday's. Time to go low yourself Poults.
Gonzo in with a second 69, six under par for the tournament and just what he needs to get his season moving.
Power will be teeing off at 1.30-ish local time, 7.30 p.m. in Waterford.

Graham DeLaet currently has the clubhouse lead; good to see him back and playing well, but will that short game hold up over the weekend?

Justin Leonard & Jim Gallagher might have been fine golfers, but why have them on commentary duty when they're boring and haven't done their homework on the golfers. Hopeless.
Poults struggling, pretty much through the bag; needs to start hitting fairways as his putter's ice cold.

That's better, two nice tee shots, two good irons, two birdies. Poults back to the cut-line, with nine holes to play.

Langer's a late w/d at the Champions Tour play-off event.

Poulter's week has gone down the drain - it'll be interesting to see where he turns up next.

Better fortunes for Greg Owen who is vying for the lead.

kwinigolfer wrote:Poulter's week has gone down the drain - it'll be interesting to see where he turns up next.

At the Ferrari dealer probably...

kwinigolfer wrote:Justin Leonard & Jim Gallagher might have been fine golfers, but why have them on commentary duty when they're boring and haven't done their homework on the golfers. Hopeless.
Poults struggling, pretty much through the bag; needs to start hitting fairways as his putter's ice cold.

Leonard had been doing better I thought... But not today... Pretty awful actually.

Early commitment list at Shriners does not include Poulter.

Koepka, Walker, Na, Holmes, Horschel, Moore, GMac, Molinari are playing.

Also playing are a couple of recent MIAs: Mahan, DL-III

Agreed pedro,
He got a 'uuuuge bonus last week but threw it all away on his final four holes.

Decent confirmed field for LV.

GPB wrote:Early commitment list at Shriners does not include Poulter.

Koepka, Walker, Na, Holmes, Horschel, Moore, GMac, Molinari are playing.

Also playing are a couple of recent MIAs: Mahan, DL-III

Mahan played in the Safeway too... not that anyone would have noticed missing the cut by a bunch.

Also... looks like 18 entered Webbies are on the outside looking in at this point, their cause hurt by 6 medicals, 3 career money list guys and Vijay playing on his life membership in the field.   Probably 4-6 get in.  Last year 12 entered Webbies were left out...

robo,
I'm sure Justin Leonard is a good guy, but his persona on TV, especially in the anchor's booth, is terrible, can't crack a smile and can't convey any energy to what he's saying. Plus he needs to get out a bit.
Gallagher just terrible, as if he thinks he has a divine right to be commentating. At least Matt Gogel sounds as if he knows he has to earn each appearance, Perks too, though I can't stand his holier-than-though delivery.
PB great as always, and always comes up with unexpected one-liners, a gem today about Leonard's "errant thoughts" causing indecisive play. PB: "I'd never hit a shot." Perfect.

Robo: Why would Vijay be playing off his life membership when he finished 99th in the FEX standings in 2016?

Missed "Hunner" at Safeway. Mahan is 26th in the career Money list. So he has only one career money exemption as a safety net.

kwinigolfer wrote:robo,
I'm sure Justin Leonard is a good guy, but his persona on TV, especially in the anchor's booth, is terrible, can't crack a smile and can't convey any energy to what he's saying. Plus he needs to get out a bit.
Gallagher just terrible, as if he thinks he has a divine right to be commentating. At least Matt Gogel sounds as if he knows he has to earn each appearance, Perks too, though I can't stand his holier-than-though delivery.
PB great as always, and always comes up with unexpected one-liners, a gem today about Leonard's "errant thoughts" causing indecisive play. PB: "I'd never hit a shot." Perfect.

Never liked Justin Leonard, looks like Prince Andrew and just as unlikable.

Probably spent less time with hookers though . . . . . . .

GPB wrote:Robo:  Why would Vijay be playing off his life membership when he finished 99th in the FEX standings in 2016?

Missed "Hunner" at Safeway.   Mahan is 26th in the career Money list.  So he has only one career money exemption as a safety net.

Technically, Vijay is playing this week off his Life Membership status... because players are always slotted in tournament priority to the highest priority they have. Life Member is one rung higher up on the ladder than Top-125 status. So perhaps I could have stated that about Vijay differently... more along the lines as he's playing the PGAT instead of Champions. I suppose the same could be said for Love III, even though he's playing out of a higher "Tournament Winners" category.

kwinigolfer wrote:robo,
I'm sure Justin Leonard is a good guy, but his persona on TV, especially in the anchor's booth, is terrible, can't crack a smile and can't convey any energy to what he's saying. Plus he needs to get out a bit.
Gallagher just terrible, as if he thinks he has a divine right to be commentating. At least Matt Gogel sounds as if he knows he has to earn each appearance, Perks too, though I can't stand his holier-than-though delivery.

I thought Duval had much the same issues as Leonard when he first started, but he's so much better now there's no comparison.  I also thought Leonard was really stiff in his first outings last year, but was getting better. Yesterday specifically seemed to be a step backwards though.  

I don't get the same feeling about Gallagher.  I've seen too many times where he's done a great job. Surprisingly good for a relative newbie actually. IMO they've just got a really bad mix going this week with everybody confused on their roles and completely off their game. And it probably starts from the production truck and works backwards. A lot of times it appeared as though nobody knew who should be talking or making what points... a good producer can take charge and fix almost all of those issues...

IMO Gogel is an unsung star of most any telecast he's on. So good you hardly ever even notice him... which IMO is a hallmark of a guy doing a GREAT job... because most verbal tics, mis-speaks and errors are so blatantly obvious to keen observers, announcers get real "noticeable" real quic when they're making too many mistakes.

Playing out of Life Membership is subject to maintaining a scoring average within a 3? shots of the tournament average.

VJ is under no performance contraint playing out of Cat 19.

IMO: Saying that VJ is playing Shriners out of a lifetime membership is pejorative because he is still quite capable on the PGATour.

Exhibit 1: 99th in the 2015-16 Standing

robo,
I like Matt Gogel a lot actually, works hard and makes his point without being intrusive. Can't understand why he doesn't have a regular gig on GC.

But don't care for Gallagher, he's been doing this long enough now - he's all about the ra ra college crap, southern boys in big conferences, hasn't got a clue about most non-Americans, and doesn't have the vocabulary to go with the job. And neither he nor Leonard seem to have the wit to tell a story (a bit like Faldo in that respect, unless it's about himself, or Seve).
Also don't care much for John Cook who did the Safeway.
All of which makes one appreciate Kostis, Maltbie, Koch etc - and can't understand why no-one uses Andy North on the networks. (Mike Weir quite good on a cameo I saw last year.)

Agree about the production, just awful.

GPB wrote:Playing out of Life Membership is subject to maintaining a scoring average within a 3? shots of the tournament average.

VJ is under no performance contraint playing out of Cat 19.

IMO: Saying that VJ is playing Shriners out of a lifetime membership is pejorative because he is still quite capable on the PGATour.  

Exhibit 1: 99th in the 2015-16 Standing

Once again... sorry if I was misleading with my "pejoritve" statement... and once again let me restate how I might have worded that differently... "So perhaps I could have stated that about Vijay differently... more along the lines as he's playing the PGAT instead of Champions".  

And yes... there is a 3 shot scoring average performance requirement to remain eligible out of Life Membership category.  The full regulation in that regard reads as follows:  

To be eligible under this category, such Life Members must maintain a scoring average no greater than three strokes above the field average for the rounds of golf in which they have played during each season. Should any such member’s scoring average exceed three strokes above the field average, such member shall lose such exempt position for the following season, and shall be placed in the highest eligibility category for which such player otherwise qualifies. If more than one full season has elapsed since a Life Member last played in a PGA TOUR cosponsored or approved tournament, such member shall not be eligible hereunder, and shall be placed in the next highest eligibility category for which that member qualifies for the next season. Should such member subsequently maintain the scoring average as required herein, such Life Member shall regain eligibility under this category for the following season.

As rumored.. sounds like Rory has pulled out of the Turkish Airlines Open...

Following in the footsteps of Tiger.

Talking about a cold turkey for the organisers...

pedro wrote:Following in the footsteps of Tiger.

Talking about a cold turkey for the organisers...

yeah...not good for the organisers.  There's been other fallout too... I'm just not sure who it's been. But on Tuesday when I first saw the field they were going down to #88 on the R2D list to fill the 70 spots for that category... Now they're down to #95. So that's at least 7 WDs since Tuesday.