European Tour 2016 - Dubai

robo,
As said before, Stewart as at a week ago had the most owgr points in 2016 of Scots not called Laird & Knox. Certainly Knox's choice is nowhere near as indefensible as it might seem at first glance.

kwinigolfer wrote:robo,
As said before, Stewart as at a week ago had the most owgr points in 2016 of Scots not called Laird & Knox. Certainly Knox's choice is nowhere near as indefensible as it might seem at first glance.

Kwini, Still don't think it's "alright" because at the time the choice was made Stewart had less than 18 OWGR points earned for the year and all on the Challenge Tour... whereas Laird and Ramsay had more for the year and had earned their's on "big tours".... plus those two were ranked 300 spots ahead of Stewart. (low 100's vs low 400's). Granted, Stewart had a Challenge Tour win back in January, but at the time the choice was made he was coming off 5 events with his best finish being a T32. Seems to me unless a guy is pulling a Challenge Tour Brooks Koepka with multiple wins or something.... I don't see taking a Challenge Tour guy over a "big tour" player. And by the way... I'm saying all this ASSUMING Laird and Ramsay were available, but I don't know that as a fact.

And as an aside... I wasn't aware of these picks at the time they were being made, but I wonder if those involved in Ryder Cup captain's picks were aware? They talked about how Knox hadn't really done anything to "make himself part of the Euro Tour". Well no kidding.... he wouldn't even pick a Euro Tour player as a partner for the World Cup. That's about as disconnected as it gets.

And by the way... I LIKE Knox... just not fond of his choice as playing partner for this since I've had a chance to look at the bigger picture... and I'm not just saying that because they happen to be a crappy T23 out of 28 teams in this World Cup so far.

I could make the same case for Hideki taking Ryo. Ryo had been out injured and had only been back for one event (MC) before Matsuyama made his choice. Only justification for that would be, unlike Stewart, at least Ryo has "world stage" experience and you can't necessarily dismiss a quality player who's ranking has fallen because of an injury layoff, especially if you're convinced he's healed and will be ready.

Just read that Lee Westwood has never played the World Cup before. Any "guilt" that Wood had for not picking Westwood should be assuaged.

Westwood had the plenty opportunities to play the World Cup for England as he has been the top English player for much of the last 20 years.

http://www.pgatour.com/news/2016/08/15/players-from-28-countries-commit-to-world-cup-of-golf.html.

Here is Westwood's best chance to get his hands on a major trophy.

https://twitter.com/jonathanrwall/status/802356053073600512

GPB wrote:Just read that Lee Westwood has never played the World Cup before.  Any "guilt" that Wood had for not picking Westwood should be assuaged.  

Westwood had the plenty opportunities to play the World Cup for England as he has been the top English player for much of the last 20 years.

http://www.pgatour.com/news/2016/08/15/players-from-28-countries-commit-to-world-cup-of-golf.html.

That was an interesting link. In the Tour's policy manual it was stated the players had until Aug 11th to commit and select their partner, but there were obviously a lot of players who had yet to select as of Aug 15.  

I also didn't realize Bubba Watson had committed to play and  had said: "Anytime I can represent my country, I get excited. It is a great honor to put on the red, white and blue. I’ve been wanting to make the World Cup of Golf team for a while".  I guess the excitement must have waned....

Bubba couldn't find anyone that wanted to play with him.



Always thought Bubba was as fake as a Kardashian b**b job. along with a couple of other US golfers.

GPB wrote:Bubba couldn't find anyone that wanted to play with him.



Always thought Bubba was as fake as a Kardashian b**b job.  along with a couple of other US golfers.

I don't necessarily think Bubba's a "fake" per se... but sure, he goes to great lengths to mask or diminish his flaws and put his best foot forward in the public eye... but then don't they all? I understand that what we see is not always what we get with celebrities... or heck.... even our next door neighbors.

Dunno what really changed his mind in a weeks time though... on Aug 15th he's saying he's excited to play... then on Aug 23rd he's WD'ed citing scheduling and personal reasons...

I'm not a fan of Reverend Watson, but at the very least he doesn't try to be something he isn't. He's thick as my fridge door and an arrogant, uncultured, xenophobic classless moron, but I'll give him the credit of actually being honest in that respect.

Anyone know why Argentina isn't represented? Grillo & Gomez for instance??

kwinigolfer wrote:Anyone know why Argentina isn't represented? Grillo & Gomez for instance??

That's an interesting question. I dunno, but maybe neither Grillo or Gomez entered? If that was the case then their #3 wouldn't have been ranked Argentina high enough to be a top-28 team.

super_realist wrote:I'm not a fan of Reverend Watson, but at the very least he doesn't try to be something he isn't. He's thick as my fridge door and an arrogant, uncultured, xenophobic classless moron, but I'll give him the credit of actually being honest in that respect.

Ah... the old "You sure don't sweat much for a fat girl" backhanded compliment....

Thunder Bear sure looks hot in his "nice tits" Nike gear...

Robo: lolol.

It does look like Oleson has bulked up in the last couple of years. Maybe Nike has given him new clothing. And he was bombing it off the tee in Australia. Was surprised that he was 71st in driving distance on the EuroTour.

Oleson won in Turkey earlier this month and then the following week he finishes 63rd out of 72 player in South Africa. He needs to get more consistency if he wants to represent Europe in the RC and become a World Class Player

Kjeldsen was solid all four days.

Great win for Team Denmark.

From a distance Thunderbear resembles Billy Ho; they swing/walk different but definitely some similarities.

Super win, and a shame that Thorbjorn's World Cup win doesn't earn a one-year Majors exemption.

kwinigolfer wrote:From a distance Thunderbear resembles Billy Ho; they swing/walk different but definitely some similarities.

Yes I agree, they are both handsome fellows.

Thunderbear cracking a drive 413 yds the other day, worthy of his name.

Great win for two of the most likeable players on Tour. Hope Thunderbear will start playing more consistently and Kjeldsen continue his good form.

Great stuff from Denmark.

Good to see you don't have to be 6'5 and hit it over 300 to be a top player. Well done Soren (and Thorbjorn)

Apart from the glory and fat winners checque, are there any perks associated eith the win? Does it count as an official win and do they get any exemptions?

pedro wrote:Thunderbear cracking a drive 413 yds the other day, worthy of his name.

Great win for two of the most likeable players on Tour. Hope Thunderbear will start playing more consistently and Kjeldsen continue his good form.

Haha yes. What a drive... freak bounce

I saw a bit of the golf over the weekend, just highlights, but I loved the look of Kingston Heath. What a course!

Its a new season.

Shouldn't there be a new thread?

Any chance the Euro Tour is gonna announce the rest of their schedule in time for their members to buy 90-day advance airline tickets?

Robo: I think the EuroT is trying to figure what tournament that want to give Special Status too so they can schedule against the Bridgestone.

Rich Beem is in the Hong Kong field next week.. He might have a permanent exemption into that tournament after his sacrifice last year.

robopz wrote:Any chance the Euro Tour is gonna announce the rest of their schedule in time for their members to buy 90-day advance airline tickets?

Yeah it's a bit late..

But it seems Denmark, Scandinavian, European Masters, European Open, British Masters, Portugal all have a date.

Can't find for BMW Open, KLM, Austria and Czech. Think Open de Espana is in for new date and a big purse, but can't imagine that date being August/Bridgestone with 40C at Valderrama. More likely BMW?

Dunno why they don't post the available dates tho.

I find it a little surprising Oosthuizen playing in the Bahamas instead of S.A. this week. Dunhill has been promoted to the Sunshine Tour's OWGR flagship event worth 32 points.

But even more surprising was taking flagship status away from the Ernie Els hosted South African Open. I dunno why the Dunhill rates flagship over their national championship.

Expect Shotrock would say it's "marketing".
Can't understand why the S.Hemisphere circuits, even if they are short seasons, can't establish some rhyme and reason to their tours. Seems to be musical chairs as far as calendar and tournaments are concerned. Get your marquee events set up right and build around them. What's so difficult about that, especially given the quality of the players?

I would think part of the problem of being a "minor tour" co-sanctioning wit a big tour is the big tour pretty much schedules your big events to suit their needs and not yours. And when the big tour in question is as schizophrenic in their own scheduling as the ET has been, it's even a worse situation.

All very well, so it's time for the South Americans, Aussies and Saffers to control their own destiny.

Money obviously talks for Oosthuizen; Van Zyl on the Gold Coast is another puzzler.

Kwini... Not sure the Aussies or Saffers don't do it entirely willingly though. Money talks.

Not sure that South America belongs in this conversation though... They've benefitted tremendously from being taken over by the PGAT. Overall far more and consistent money with no real issues of the PGAT needing to jack around with their schedule... except to greatly expand it.

Van Zyl actually makes a little more sense to me as he was there for last week's World Cup anyway. Oosty is pretty consistent in staying home to his farm when he can

Maybe the Sunshine Tour is trying to exploit the OWGR calendar bias.

Giving the Dunhill Championship Flagship status has to give the winner a better opportunity to be in the OWGR Top 50 at year end and a Masters invite.

GPB wrote:Maybe the Sunshine Tour is trying to exploit the OWGR calendar bias.

Giving the Dunhill Championship Flagship status has to give the winner a better opportunity to be in the OWGR Top 50 at year end and a Masters invite.

That could be a valid reason, but if that's the case IMO they would have been better bringing the S.A. Open back into the end of the year. They did that as recently as 2014.

Harold Varner III is joining the EuroTour after his win in Australia.

https://twitter.com/HV3_Golf/status/806188617144143872

Interesting; never realised he started life in Akron.
Good for him; I imagine HV will be very popular in Europe.

Hadn't realised Justin Rose was playing in Hongkers; hope he donated his prize money from last week's withdrawal for something Woods approves of . . . . . . . .

Huge Crowds in Hong Kong for Round 1

Who woke Peter Uihlein from his two-year hibernation?

A snowman Poults! What happened there?

Cameraman had just filmed Patrick hitting his shot from the right rough, and was running to catch Poulter hitting from the fairway.

Poulter was put off by the Cameraman, backed off and flaired his shot way right on the short side. Dumped his third shot (flop) into a bunker. From there I don't know what happened by I suspect the third shot plugged in the greenside bunker.

Poulter had a little temper tantrum on camera.

Thanks GPB. Pity they don't have a shot tracker thingie of the ET website like they do on the PGA Tour.

Edit - found a link HERE if anyone else is interested. Not all the shots..but enough to see what went wrong. At the end he tells cameraman not to get in his view.

This has all the makings of the culmination of a one-year coming out party for Rafa, validation of a fantastic season. I hope.

kwinigolfer wrote:This has all the makings of the culmination of a one-year coming out party for Rafa, validation of a fantastic season. I hope.

The man's got the skills no doubt. Good to see him starting to find those "intangibles" necessary to take 'em to the winners circle... he's a fun guy to watch.

Poults with all the hallmarks of another wasted week.
Not sure what he's learned over the past few months, except that he's got to play a darned sight better if he's going to re-establish himself on the Major Tours. And keep up to date with his Ferrari payments.

Who the Hell is Sam Brazel? Almost 40 and I'd never heard of him until last week.

Something a little off topic... but something that impacts ME.

Interesting photo below. NOT so much that it's a great composition or something that a 100 other photographers couldn't capture. But what is significant is the photographer (Stuart Franklin - Getty) was able to shoot DURING the actual swing because of silent burst mode on his camera. Shooting during the swing is still prohibited on the PGA Tour, but that's about to change. Starting with the 2017-18 season the PGAT is going to require all it's credentialed photographers to have mirror-less or completely silent still cameras (which they will inspect and verify prior to issuing credentials). And at that time they will also lift the prohibition of shooting during the swing.

And all this has a HUGE IMPACT on "still" camera guys like me.  With the advent of 4k resolution and video camera's like GoPro... what's left of the still camera guys domain is all but disappearing.  Here's a shot done of a Bernd Weisberger swing with a GoPro. This is NOT staged with the club held in that position...  this was an actual swing during a practice round... and the photographer (Will Pearson - European Tour) simply picked out a single frame during a 2 second swing sequence he captured.  

In past video technologies... this kind of image from video would have been impossible. The club would have been moving so fast (even in a backswing) it would be completely blurry.  But now it's "tack sharp" with an incredible depth of field in focus from maybe 2-feet to infinity.  It has to be shot at a minimum of 1/500th to 1/1000th's of a second, and at in still camera terms an effective f/32 to f/64.  Those of you who know anything about camera's and exposure would have the same reaction as me..... WOW.  

With that kind of technology, no way for the still guys to compete for much longer. Of course media outlets have wanted more video for some years now.... but the difference now is they can get their stills at high enough resolution directly out of a high-res video capture instead of going through a mountain of stills. So the photographers have to either embrace video to go along with their stills... or they die. We've know this would be happening for some time... but it's finally upon us...

Are you sure the white ring under Bernd's driver isn't in fact a camera as well?

Robopz, as an hobby photographer myself, do you know what the camera Stuart Franklin was using?
As you say, with the advent of 4K video cameras on the scene now, and higher res just over the horizon, I can also see which way the wind is blowing. Editors get two sorts of product from the same footage. For example, I've got a gimbal for my GoPro that cost significantly less than a full size steadicam rig.

I'm never wrong wrote:Robopz, as an hobby photographer myself, do you know what the camera Stuart Franklin was using?
As you say, with the advent of 4K video cameras on the scene now, and higher res just over the horizon, I can also see which way the wind is blowing. Editors get two sorts of product from the same footage. For example, I've got a gimbal for my GoPro that cost significantly less than a full size steadicam rig.

I can't be 100% sure, but I'm like 99.9% that Stuart is shooting with a Nikon D5 at 21mp. I pulled one of his images off the ET site to try to check the camera meta data, but it had been stripped.  However, the full frame largest resolution images he has up for Getty have pixel dimensions of 5588 x 3712 which I'm pretty sure is unique to that particular line of Nikon cameras. (And I know he was a Nikon and Zeiss guy for his small format in his prior Nat Geo work)

And yeah... the GoPro's are fun. I don't have a lot of experience with them except working with a guy that was shooting drone video inspections of historical buildings here in Texas. I actually spent more time flying his drone than playing with the camera, but I was amazed at how easy it was to use and the image quality for a fixed focal length system.

He could shoot 12mp still images with his model and has done it, but like me, he's spoiled by his 21-30mp Canon's and all the things we can do with the  various lenses and exposure controls. (Course you'd need a really big-ass drone to fly a Canon DSLR around to capture stills so I'm sure he has use for his GoPro stills)

I read somewhere else there's gonna be night golf on the Euro Tour next year? Anyone here see any confirmation of that?

Pelley mentioned this a month or so ago but was getting some resistance from his members... to which he basically responded... "I don't care what they think, we're gonna do it". If new PGAT chief Monahan were to make a statement like that, he'd be the shortest tenured Commissioner in PGAT history. I guess things work differently on the Euro Tour now? Autocratic rule?

robopz wrote:I can't be 100% sure, but I'm like 99.9% that Stuart is shooting with a Nikon D5 at 21mp. I pulled one of his images off the ET site to try to check the camera meta data, but it had been stripped.  However, the full frame largest resolution images he has up for Getty have pixel dimensions of 5588 x 3712 which I'm pretty sure is unique to that particular line of Nikon cameras.

Thanks Robo. Those pixel dimensions exactly match a Nikon D5. (Out of my budget range) Just done a little research and there are ways to use that camera with mirror lock up or Live View so it is silent. Cheers.