PGA Tour: Viva Las Vegas: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).Wonderful performance last week in China from Hideki Matsuyama - proof if any is needed that, when his putter is behaving, he's up there among the very best in the world.
Surprising (is it?) that Americans only placed Daniel Berger (T2), Bill Haas (T4), Fowler (T6) and Kokrak (T16) in the Top 20.

2).Hideki will be one of the leaders, presumably, on next year's Presidents Cup Team. Current leaders in automatic qualification are:
Day, Matsuyama, Scott, Grace, Grillo, Louis, Charl, Ben An, Leishman, Thongchai. (10)

3).US Team points leaders are currently:
DJ, Justin Thomas (true dat, but I'm still not convinced about him), Spieth, Reed, Berger, Chappell, Moore, Na, Snedeker, Steele, Phil, Kuchar. (12, just to show Phil!)

4).Cody Gribble is 61st but he putted his way to a four-stroke win in Mississippi last week. Greg Owen was among three golfers tied for second, a terrific result from the prototypical Tour journeyman, and playing out of the bowels of the Players Exemption Categories, 150th on last season's ranking which means that he'll be lucky to scrape a dozen starts in 16/17.

5).But being a Tour "journeyman" is not all that bad, provided you're good enough to bounce back from every relegation to the web.com dungeon.
This is Owen's 3rd Tour runner-up finish, in his 250th career start. He's banked at least $1M in four separate seasons, almost $8M in all, plus another $630+K in web.com cameos.
At various times he's exhibited incomprehensible putting and course management aberrations, but actually seems to be mentally improving in his mid-40's and hopefully can keep this level of play going in the few opportunities he earns. Starting this week in Las Vegas.
Always a great ball-striker, but now showing signs of better putter behaviour. Imagine he'll play every tournament he gets into, whether web.com or PGA Tour, but it will be extraordinarily difficult to retrieve his Tour status out of his conditional status.

6).A few weeks ago the Tour named Dustin Johnson its Player of the Year and Grillo its ROTY. Steve Stricker won the Comeback Player award so many times the Tour retired it, but they might have considered Jason Dufner last season, perhaps even Jhonny Vegas. Though Jim Herman and Brian Stuard appeared from journeyman oblivion to win Tour events.

7).The Tour could also nominate candidates for a freefall award, top-ish players who have fallen apparently unaccountably. What about this crew, without even going to those who might be injured (Tim Clark, Van Pelt, Overton, Poulter, Ryo, Sabbatini, Watney)?

Brendon Todd: 50th on the money list in 2014/2015 to 211th. Won 2014 Byron Nelson, but now short and crooked, despite brilliant short game. Past Champion status and sponsor invites might get him 15 starts.

Matt Jones: From 44th to 127th - Coming off his Aussie Open win, you'd think he'd really kick on. But looks like he kicked back instead and now playing out of conditional status.

Mahan: From 61st to 188th - Ryder Cupper in 2014, now has one more year of exemption from his Barclays win. Hate to see Hunner's career go down the drain like this, seems like a good bloke.

de Jonge: From 62nd to 165th - Presidents Cup in 2013. May squeak ten "veteran member" starts.

Matt Every: From 68th to 199th - Looks like he's checked out, though still has full exemption for his Bay Hill wins, may actually have two more years. But his form has gone to pieces.

Carl Pettersson: From 82nd to 214th. $19K winnings last week was his best for more than a year. Don't blame the loss of his long putter, he's short off the tee and only hits 47% of fairways. Taking a one-time career money exemption. And then what?

8).Another player from the physio's table has announced his comeback at the Hero money-grab in his Bahamas back garden. Justin Rose of course. He wasn't close to his best for most of last year, whether because of injuries, putting woes or what. But here's wishing a return to good health in 2017.

9).We'll know who the new POTUS is this time next week, but three Senate Democrats have made a preemptive strike to urge the USGA to remove their 2017 Women's Open from Drumpf's course in New Jersey. Hope that won't be all he loses next week.

10).On to Las Vegas and this week's lyrically named "Shriners Hospitals for Children Open"; Martin Laird scored his first win here, plus lost in a play-off to a hole-in-one (Jonathan Byrd) and must be a good shout. Kevin Na and Ryan Moore usually play well here and Scott Piercy is a local who is probably due another win.

Europeans playing include McDowell, Molinari and Jon Rahm.
Is Rahm eligible for Rookie of the year? If so, you'd think he must be an even money favourite, even with Gribble's fast start. Player of the Year? Who do you fancy??

Fantastic finish from Martin Laird - was in good shape to make the cut until he tripled his 15th hole. Birdie/par/eagle finish and he'll be around for the weekend. Moinari, Rahm and Power also.
Shaymuss is making the most of his opportunities, even though he threw some cash away last week. Cuts are good.

Nice round to comfortably make the cut by DeChapeau today as well.. Captain Kirk looking good.

Robo: Would love to see a BAR thread on this board.

Bloggers Against Religion. Thats one thread that I will stay away from. Maybe it will keep the topic of the weekly threads on golf

I might participate in a BARS, SALOONS, & HONKY-TONKS thread though.

GPB.... Yep to the BAR thread... and the BSH-T thread too.. :-)

Anyway.... not sure if you noticed, but as of now there are 19 Webbies on the outside looking in on Mayakoba with 1 of the Webbie SE's yet to be handed out, but all other SE's allocated.  Last year all but two webbies got in. Final count this week was 16 of the entered webbies not making the field... Beef the only non-entry among the webbie class.

76 - 61 to make the cut: Something you don't see every week: Chez Reavie in Las Vegas (not a 70's London bistro)

Laird, Gonzo, Frankie, Power, Cejka, Blixt, Rahm all make the cut; McDool (defending Champion next week) gets an early flight to Mexico.

Robo: Re: Webbie Plight

That's one of the reasons why I think Poulter (and others) get a huge benefit of a doubt. Little chance that the webbies on the bottom of the pecking order are going to get 23 starts to make the Top 125

GPB wrote:Robo:  Re:  Webbie Plight

That's one of the reasons why I think Poulter (and others) get a huge benefit of a doubt.  Little chance that the webbies on the bottom of the pecking order are going to get 23 starts to make the Top 125

I get all the reasons why you feel that way on Poulter's MM... but I also understand why they do it the way they do and don't have any issue with it as it's [supposedly] applied equally to all.  

IMO the webbie deal is an entirely different issue with a LOT of causes, but the MM's are pretty much the least of it.   And the webbies plight is only peripherally affected by Poulter specifically because as next week he'll have only 1 start that affects a webbie getting in a fall field and all webbies should get in the RSM)

I actually was VERY surprised by the webbie issue with Mayakoba. I thought the Tour was making better progress with some of their other efforts to get those guys more starts. I expected a small handful to "maybe" miss Mexico... but nowhere near #'s in the teens missing out.  

The big difference this year is at the TOP end of the field.  Last year there were 85 players entered down through the top-125 non-members category. This year there's currently 99 listed though that point. (That includes SE's but is before medicals)

What I might call "peripheral" players in the field are about the same last year to this.

Sum total of All SE's, MM's, Career money,  and Past Champions not otherwise exempt were 19 last year (23 if you add top-10's from prior week)...  and will be 20 this year when the last Webbie SE is added, and before any top-10's prior are added.

Last year there were 5 medicals in Mayakoba, this year it looks to be 6.

Also noticed there were 4 top-125 money in both last year's and this year's Mayakoba. Those guys won't be in next year.

Round 2 action continues in Las Vegas at 7.30 a.m., imagine Round 3 will start about 2 hours later, perhaps just as Chelsea vs Everton kicks off.

As reported by ESPN UK.... Keith Pelley signaling the European Tour may be amenable to changes in Ryder Cup qualifying & eligibility including the membership requirement....

"We are always talking to our top players," said Pelley, who was responding to calls this week from Lee Westwood and Rory McIlroy to change the eligibility criteria. "We are always listening to what they have to say. We also want to have the best possible team at the Ryder Cup.

"We are having discussions regarding the qualification system now. We will continue to have them. We will have them with our players. We will have them with our tournament committee and our board over the coming weeks and months.

"We will adjust the Ryder Cup qualification if we feel that we need to. We won't be afraid to make the changes.

"I would say that part of our job at the Tour is to get players to come and play because it is a terrific place to play. We play at world-class resorts, like here in Turkey. We play on great golf courses in great cities. To be a world-class player, the European Tour is a fantastic place to be.

"Our job as the gatekeepers of the Tour is to provide bigger purses, greater experiences and greater courses so that the players want to play here and play here more than they need to just to stay a member and so be a Ryder Cup player.

"The Ryder Cup is a critical component of our tour and it is a sensational event. But it shouldn't be the only reason why someone wants to be on our tour. That's our job at hand right now."

http://www.espn.co.uk/golf/story/_/id/17976477/european-tour-chief-executive-keith-pelley-open-ryder-cup-eligibility-changes

It would be nice to think he's talking to his sponsors about creating larger purses and reducing the temptation for players to head left, establish more compelling reasons for his members to compete in Europe. Not to mention attract the world's best and not just some of Europe's best.

Rahm & Molinari best placed Europeans in Las Vegas, they'll be interested in what Pelley's got to say.
Meanwhile, some guys will always march to their own drummer, Casey leading the way.

Whatever did Westwood say about qualification?

Westwood backed up Rory's comments on RC qualification...

I like Pelley's plan in general... He knows they'll never have a full schedule of rich events like the PGA Tour.... but he also knows that he doesn't have to.  After the 8 co-sanctions.. if he can build a schedule of another 10-12 events that are competitive with PGA Tour purses... then next crop of stars won't necessarily jump to dual tour at the drop of a hat. Easy to talk about... but harder to actually do... we'll see.

The problem I'm seeing is Pelley's "knee-jerk" reaction to everything, and willingness to chuck his own rulebook for a "special player" as he sees fit.  I appreciate his aggressiveness... but like I posted in the Euro thread.... him saying "It's OK for Patrick Reed to play only 3... I have the power to grant him membership and I will".  WOW... Rory getting special dispensation last year peed off a bunch of members.... now how are the Euro dual tour players who busted their butts to get their 5 gonna feel about giving Reed a special exemption?   Man.... talking about opening a can-o-worms....

Robo: Didn't you say that the Olympics and Ryder Cup count as Events in the 5 event minimum for Justin Rose?

If so, why wouldn't those tournaments count for Patrick Reed?

1. Scottish Open
2. Olympics
3. Ryder Cup

If those count, he could have played Nedbank and Dubai to get to his five. (not in the Nedbank field, maybe Pelley could have pulled some strings and get a "Rich Beem" 11th hour WD for Reed.

GPB wrote:Robo:  Didn't you say that the Olympics and Ryder Cup count as Events in the 5 event minimum for Justin Rose?

If so, why wouldn't those tournaments count for Patrick Reed?  

1. Scottish Open
2. Olympics
3. Ryder Cup

If those count, he could have played Nedbank and Dubai to get to his five.   (not in the Nedbank field, maybe Pelley could have pulled some strings and get a "Rich Beem" 11th hour WD for Reed.

that is correct... Those are the three events that count for Patrick Reed as of now.  What was surprising about Pelley's comments was he seemed to be indicating that even if Reed didn't play the NedBank or Dubai (which he clearly could) Pelley would still grant Reed membership with only those 3 events. Totally baffling/bizarre if you ask me.

Here's the quote from the article...

"Reed, together with Rory McIlroy and a few other players, pulled out of the Turkish Airlines Open here because of security fears after a bomb exploded in the Antalya region. But he has played only three ‘regular’ events and, with only two events left, the minimum is five…

“However, even if Reed opts to stay at home in Texas, Pelley is ready to grant a controversial ‘chief executive exemption’. ‘I would, absolutely,’ Pelley said. ‘It would be my decision to keep him as a full member of the European Tour.’”

http://www.golfdigest.com/story/is-european-tour-bending-over-backwards-to-keep-patrick-reed-as-a-member?mbid=social_twitter

PS... But when Reed WD'd from Turkey, I thought I read somewhere Reed had originally planned to play the Dubai final. He's currently 44 in the standings... And thus assuming he's not playing NedBank, may or may not qualify for top 60 to get in that field. (My guess is he would make it).  If that is in fact the case and Reed does qualify and play Dubai... That would be 4...

IMO, Reed hasn't done anything 'extra' to meet his Euro Tour obligations and Pelley should not bend over backwards to keep him on the tour.

Does Pelley wants to exploit a EuroTour membership by highly ranked American golfer? That's purely speculation on my part but that is the only reason I can think of to give Reed a benefit of a doubt.

Apart from the RtD bonus (compared to FEX pool, it is rather trivial), I can think of no other reason why Reed wants to a member of the EuroT. Other than the RtD Championship, any EuroT tournament would be happy to give him a Sponsors exemption.

GPB... I don't think it's all about the money with Reed.  From all I've read, he says he really does want to be more of a "world" golfer, thus his interest in the dual touring.  But saying it and doing it aren't necessarily the same thing. His schedule is sure sending mixed signals about his commitment to dual touring... especially if he doesn't show up in Dubai at least. Pulling out of Turkey was 100% understandable under the circumstances... but not replacing it with the NedBank is a bit of a head scratcher to me.

And Pelley... I dunno what to say.  Speculation on my part too... but seems to me he's just so desperate to try to get and keep some quality American to dual tour the other way, he's willing to rewrite the rule book for that player to get it done.

Another thing was the way Pelley approached this he's kind of dropped the Turkish golf interests in the grease a little bit.  On one hand you had Agaoglu trying to justify Turkey as a still valid golf destination and saying Rory and the other WD's were "overblown".... but now you have Pelley directly disputing that by saying Reed's WD was justified and using that as one of the reasons to give Reed a pass.  

Like I said before... I do like the "vision" of this Pelley guy, the ET desperately needed a shake up and much more aggressive leadership.  But the "knee-jerk-iness" of the way he goes about some things is really concerning. (even though this is not near as bad as pre-announcing an Asian/ET merger before the deal was done, and as turns out wouldn't happen). But it's like he just doesn't think things all the way through before opening his mouth.

These Champions Tour "Play-Off" tournaments are good events, interesting finish coming up in Virginia, but have offered virtually no volatility in players moving positions, either last week or this. What's the point?
But Paul Broadhurst in for another good payday and he must think this Champions Tour lark is tailor-made for him. He and Langer rubbing shoulders in the top 4, with Tom Byrum & McCarron.

Not surprised there's not more volatility on the Champo Kwini...  I mean let's face it, the Tour is only about 30 deep (if that) in players you might reasonably think could be competitive in any week... so I wouldn't expect a lot of movement into our out of the 36...

Think you're proving my point! And wish they'd play in twosomes, speed things up a tad.
And of those "30" players that might be competitive, a dozen are usually just going thru the motions. Can't tell me that guys like Perry and Lehman couldn't do better, even your mate Maggert is not having a great year.
Next year they'll be knocked down further by Estes, Toms and Kelly - even Stricker, Vijay & Love if they play. And more tournaments from Broadhurst as well.

Molinari having a good start in the desert, finally validating his decision to play both Tours and the quality that he has.

Can't speak for the others Kwini... but I can tell you Maggs isn't mailing it in. He still works his butt off but has been a bit affected by little "ticky-tack" injuries. IMO his great season there was a lot of purple patch and excellent timing... and unless he's 100% healthy AND putting his dead level best... he is what he was on the regular tour.

Wish I knew the Italian for "59 watch" . . . . . . .


robo,
Good to hear that Maggs is still grinding . . . . . . but you know what I mean. And happy to see Tom Byrum enjoying some success; almost as if the pro game had passed him by.
I like the GC commentating clique, but further proof that they should never leave points/money projections to broadcasters - as if they never did basic arithmetic at school. They should hire Nate Silver for their projections.

Love him to death and hate to say it... but typical Tom Byrum.... He had the opportunity to put the pressure on in the 2nd hole of the playoff and instead wimped out, laid up and lost.... got what he deserved. Dammit Tom.... sheesh.... !!!  

I don't know Tom and Curt near as well as the Bryant brothers... but I know him well enough I still gotta root for Tom. He lives down on the SW side... and a really, really nice guy.  Maybe too nice.

And yeah Kwini... I know what you mean...

Ah, You like Nate Silver too??!!??


Is Stewart Cink's good play indicative of good news?
I had Piercy for my one and done this week, thought I was in prime position. But no! Can't stand him but surprised he's struggling. Hoping Lucas Glover does the business, too good not to win soon.

Fantastico Francesco. 61 won't win it but another top finish.
Martin Laird finishing fast through beaten horses.

Robo: Understand that Reed wants to play World events, but he can do that without being a member of the Eurotour and do without jumping through the hoops and constraints that the EuroT requires.

Basically the only quality event that Reed wouldn't be able to play is the RtD Championship. He can secure sponsor's invites for practically any other event he wants to play.

I really don't see much upside for Reed to be a member of the EuroTour.

GPB wrote:I really don't see much upside for Reed to be a member of the EuroTour.

Neither do I. Only two reasons I can think of....  he's made some comments about how he thinks it would make him a more "well rounded" player to play abroad... and if Pelley's apparent desperation to keep him in the fold is any indication, then perhaps he's enough of a draw to be picking up some pretty nice appearance fees along the way as well.

But that said, I can understand the Euro players coming this way to dual tour, but for an American to go the other way it's a lot harder, and it's TWO sets of hoops to jump through, the ET's AND the PGAT's.  Sounds to me Pelley is trying to make it as easy on him as possible from the ET side...  But remember he's got to get CER's from the PGAT to make his Euro Tour starts. And the only ways he can get them is 1) Pelley throw out the rule book when it comes to Reed so he doesn't have to play five, 2) play some ET events on PGAT off weeks (which there aren't many and they're mostly low point events), 3) play 25 on the PGAT so he can get 5 CERs.... or 4) play less than 25 and hope he can beg some Commissioners largess to grant him some extra CER's (which more than likely would have additional strings attached).  

My guess is... much like Koepka did, Reed probably realizes pretty soon it's not worth the extra hassle.  And like you say, probably better to just accept some SE's here and there (and I agree he could probably get most any he wanted) and he might actually be able to get as good or even better appearance fees as a non-member than a member.

- - -

PS: As of 8:00pm central... PGAT is showing the Mayakoba category upgrade for Cameron Smith to Top-10 prior event (up from Webbie category for which he was in the field anyway), but as of yet they're not showing an entry for Aaron Wise via his Top-10.  I assume he'll accept it, and that would make his 4th non-member start of the season... Safeway, Sanderson Farms & Shriners on SE's... and Mayakoba on a Top-10.   Meanwhile there are 5 Webbies who will have only one start though next week (with one more webbie SE yet to give out for Mayakoba).    If wise doesn't earn STM for the PGAT... he has his Web-Com status for next season set via Top-5 money on the 2016 Mackenzie Tour....

TV coverage reported that as Rod Pampling won he gets a 2 year exemption plus current year. Bearing in mind he is 47 that would take him nicely to the Champions Tour. Post victory interview "Is this the most rewarding feeling you've ever had in the game?" Reply - "It's extremely rewarding. Obviously winning the Arnold Palmer in 06 is still on top"

Love it when the interviewee puts one back on the interviewer like that and doesn't give the answer that was expected.

Agree mac,

The interviewer also asked if Greg Chalmers had inspired him. Well, clearly he hadn't - but Rod was kind enough to give a diplomatic answer.

Mickelson apparently had hernia surgery mid-October.... not expected to impact his next expected start in Palm Springs in January....

http://www.golfchannel.com/news/golf-central-blog/report-mickelson-recovering-sports-hernia-surgery

Did Phil overdo his RC celebrations?

LOL Mac... maybe that Air Mickelson leap in the RC was too much for Phil.... :-)

Also... for all of you... if you haven't seen it before... Golfweek runs a nice little Monday "webazine".... just a few stories, concise but informative articles, and deals with some insider stuff you might not otherwise hear about.... worth a look IMO. This week some good discussion on John Daly and good insight and details I hadn't heard RE the WD's and other issues surrounding the Turkish Airlines Open...

http://www.golfworlddigital.com/gw/11_07_2016/MobilePagedArticle.action?articleId=974414#articleId974414

robopz wrote:Mickelson apparently had hernia surgery mid-October.... not expected to impact his next expected start in Palm Springs in January....

http://www.golfchannel.com/news/golf-central-blog/report-mickelson-recovering-sports-hernia-surgery

In related news it is reported that Tom Watson had hemorrhoid surgery..

robo,
I used to receive this for at least a year after GW folded; how do you receive it? I'd assumed it had just ceased publication.
It also used to be my weekly reminder of just how Tim Rosaforte defined the word unctuous.
Putting Daly in a category with Mantle & Stabler is an insult, and not to Daly.


pedro,
Not sure about Pampling, but Snakey's win in Reno was very popular among fellow Aussies, many of whom hung around after their rounds were finished just to douse him with champers.

Robo: Did Reed need a CER to play in the 2016 Scottish? It was played the same week as the (canceled) Greenbrier.

Re Aaron Wise

I thought Wise would run into a conflict with a conflict with Web Q-school, 2nd stage qualification. Since he was playing Vegas this past weekend, I figured he would have to play 2nd stage this weekend. (2nd Stage was this past week and this coming weekend).

But I can't find his name anywhere in Q-School Qualification. I didn't see him listed in any of the Q-School 2nd stage locations this coming week and I didn't see him get eliminated in first stage

I am not sure what stage he was exempt into.

GPB, not sure on how the Scottish thing would have worked out due to the cancellation of Greenbrier.  Since you have to apply for CER's at least 45 days in advance and Greenbrier wouldn't have been cancelled at that time, it could still be needed?  Again, just guessing on that one.  Not that it did or would have mattered though, because this year he was only going to need 3 anyway because of the Olympics and RC.

But going forward, Reed played 25 PGAT this past year which gets him 5 CER's to use before the next Tour Championship. So he has no PGAT permission issues for this next season if he wants to keep his ET membership, especially since he didn't use one on Turkey and won't for Dubai.  So Reed can actually play 5 times on the ET before the 2017 Tour Championship as anything he would play in next year's R2D finals event will be against his 2017-18 CER allocation.

Aaron Wise - He was #4 on the Mackenzie Tour Order of Merit which gives him Category 3 status for the 2017 Web.com Tour. That's better status than anything he could gain via Q-school. EDIT: 2-5 OoM finishers from the Mackenzie Tour is lower than category.... but his Mackenzie Tour finish gets him status to get into events... but it is BELOW 2-45 Web.com Q-school

I guess that is a very good reason why I didn't see Aaron Wise in any of the Q-school locations. .

and IIRC the Presidents Cup also counts as an event played on the EuroTour. So as long as PReed makes the PC, he only needs 4 PGAT CERs.

GPB wrote:I guess that is a very good reason why I didn't see Aaron Wise in any of the Q-school locations. .

and IIRC the Presidents Cup also counts as an event played on the EuroTour.  So as long as PReed makes the PC, he only needs 4 PGAT CERs.

Refresh for my edit on Wise... I was wrong. LEADERS of Canada, Latino and China Tours are category 3.... but #2-5 on those OoM's are way down the pecking order below the top-45 Q-School guys (at least through this year).  So unless I'm missing something, or the #2-5 on those small tours have been upgraded category for 2017... then it does seem it would behoove Wise to go to Q-school.  It appears as though 2-10 on those small tours are exempt into Final stage of Q-school.

And by the way.... Wise is listed IN Mayakoba now... and Sabbo gets the 2nd Webbie exemption (Rick Lamb had the other).

kwinigolfer wrote:robo,
I used to receive this for at least a year after GW folded; how do you receive it? I'd assumed it had just ceased publication.
It also used to be my weekly reminder of just how Tim Rosaforte defined the word unctuous.
Putting Daly in a category with Mantle & Stabler is an insult, and not to Daly.

Kwini... I missed this yesterday, but when GW folded it's print version it kept it's digital. I musta signed up for something because I get weekly notifications. Just go to Golfworlddigital.com and it takes you right to it.

And as for the Mantle/Stabler comparison.... maybe I read it differently than you... the article seems to fairly conclude that while Daly had some compatible aspects to those guys on the personal side... those guys seemed to figure out how to excel to their potential in their given sports, whereas Daly clearly didn't

robo,
Thanks for the GW info; I had thought I automatically subscribed to the digital version with my GD sub. But after a year it disappeared.
I'll reapply!

Ryder Cup reject week at Mayakoba, with Donald, McDowell and Poulter in action. Ooh, and Russell Knox, who lost in a play-off last year w/McDool. Plus, another chance for Gonzo and Seamus Power to improve their "reshuffle" position.

Kwini.... Webbie reshuffle category "access" this year has been kind of spotty. A lot less got into Mayakoba then expected... As of now here's the counts of events played by the Webbies (counting current entries in Mayakoba)

4 - 24 players (All these players entered and played everything they could get into, missing CIMB and HSBC for all)
3 - 10 players (5 of these players skipped the Sanderson Farms thus could have had 1 more start)
2 - 10 players (all players played everything they could get into)
1 - 5 players (Sabbo could have had 2 starts but he did not enter Safeway)
0 - 1 player (Beef who hasn't entered anything)

All Webbies should get into the RSM.

HOW THEY'RE DOING...

Obviously Pampling and Gribble are winners, thus set for this year +2 more.

The current cutoff for top-125 FedEx Points is just 16 points. As of now, in addition to the winners, 19 Webbies are at or inside that number.

(With the FECup point schedule changed this year the expected points needed for top-125 this year should go down from about 470 to somewhere between 375-400)

Players at certain levels with (events played to date)

100+ - Cameron Smith (3) is the only other player above 100 with 114.
80+ - includes Ryan Blaum (3), Mackenzie Hughes(3), Xander Schauffele (3) & Whee Kim (2)
40+ - includes Ryan Brehm (3), Trey Mullinax (3), Grayson Murray (3) & Brando Hagey (2)

Lee McCoy, the Univ of Georgia golfer who finished 4th in the Valspar Tournament was in a car-wreck and fractured is wrist in two places is out of Q-school 2nd stage for the Web-com tour.

Tough break (no pun intended) for him.

==========

In addition to Phil's Hernia surgery, Austin Johnson (Dustin's brother and caddie) also had hernia surgery and Phil's caddie Bones had both knees replaced.

==========

Secret Tour Pro is reporting that DJohnson is playing Abu Dhabi, and getting $3.5 Million appearance fee.

GPB wrote:
Phil's caddie Bones had both knees replaced.

Pun intended?

GPB wrote:
Secret Tour Pro is reporting that DJohnson is playing Abu Dhabi, and getting $3.5 Million appearance fee.

Normally I'm not offended by the exorbitant money involved in pro golf, but this is outright ridiculous.

Nothing surprises me about money in UAE.

pedro wrote:
Normally I'm not offended by the exorbitant money involved in pro golf, but this is outright ridiculous.

It's probably only $1 mil for DJ and the rest to make sure he brings Paulina along... :-)

Didn't Tiger get about $6 million for playing in Aus one year?

Rumors on Twitter-verse is that the 2017 Zurich Classic will be a two man team event.

GPB wrote:Rumors on Twitter-verse is that the 2017 Zurich Classic will be a two man team event.

Yeah... GC's Savaricas says it's confirmed

That is truly bizarre. Lots of fantasy leagues and one-and-dones are going to enjoy sorting that one out.

Any idea of the format(s)?

Top-12 All time wins list changes a bit when you take ties and team events out of it... And of course will be influenced if they bring teams back into it.

Current official PGA Tour wins

82 - Sam Snead
79 - Tiger Woods
73 - Jack Nicklaus
64 - Ben Hogan
62 - Arnold Palmer
52 - Byron Nelson
51 - Billy Casper
45 - Walter Hagen
42 - Phil Mickelson
40 - Cary Middlecoff
39 - Gene Sarazen
39 - Tom Watson

Individual wins Only (Team and ties removed):

79 - Tiger Woods (moves up 1 spot)
76 - Sam Snead (moves down 1 spot)
71 - Jack Nicklaus
60 - Arnold Palmer (moves up 1 spot)
56 - Ben Hogan (moves down 1 spot)
51 - Billy Casper (moves up 1 spot)
50 - Byron Nelson (moves down 1 spot)
42 - Phil Mickelson (moves up 1 spot)
40 - Tom Watson (moves up 3 spots)
40 - Walter Hagen (moves down 1 spot)
37 - Gene Sarazen
36 - Cary Middlecoff (moves down 2 spots)

kwinigolfer wrote:That is truly bizarre. Lots of fantasy leagues and one-and-dones are going to enjoy sorting that one out.

Any idea of the format(s)?

Dunno... but I like NoLayingUp's suggestion.... :-)

No Laying Up @NoLayingUp
Scramble format, and every par or worse you make, both players have to remove a club from the bag

IMO the addition of the TEAM event on the PGA Tour gives them a great chance to fix something that has been either broken or incomplete in their record books for a long time.

IMO a team event is ONE event and each member of the winning team should be given 1/2 of a win, not the entire win.   The way to handle that would be to either:

1) Go back through the record books and convert team wins to 1/2 of a win for each player or

2) Have THREE win categories instead of the existing 1  They could be
...a) Total Wins (like existing)
...b) team wins (new category)
...c) Individual wins (new category)
...d) Total wins with fractional allocation (new category)

An example of D would be say Sam Snead... he has 76 Individual wins, 5 team wins and 1 4-way tie.... So his record would become 76 + (5 x 0.5) + 0.25 = 78.75

Ben Hogan has 64 total wins, including 8 team wins... so he would go from 64 to 56 + (8 x 0.5) = 60

PS... and this works out MOST EXCELLENT because it would be JUST enough to P'O' Super to the MAX... :-)