PGA Tour: 2016: The Epilogue: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).To paraphrase David Frost, etc, "That was the year that was, It's over, let it go". Imagine a lot of people feel that way about 2016:
Danny Willett played the back nine of his life on Masters Sunday whilst Jordan Spieth had the nightmare of his life. Then Willett disappeared, with his brother making more news than Danny did.

Jimmy Walker snapped out of his funk for just long enough to win the PGA, likewise Team USA as the Ryder Cup returned to the Americans.

Adam Scott, Jason Day, Rory all had purple patches that weren't sustained whilst Dustin Johnson had an even purpler patch and won the US Open despite the USGA's worst efforts.

And Henrik Stenson won his Open, probably as well deserved a first Major as we've seen for a long time. (It's not too late Sergio. Is it?)

Meanwhile, Phil Mickelson contested the two finest duels of the year, without registering a "W".

2).The 20- and 30-somethings largely had their way with PGA Tour events, until Rod Bl00dy Pampling won in Las Vegas anyway even cracking a smile in the process. Far Eastern golfers continued to show that there is life after KJ Choi, Shigeki and Thongchai, with Matsuyama leading the way, a handful of South Korean stars following close behind. Whilst a resurgent Jhonny Vegas, who wears a smile whatever his playing fortunes, won in Canada.

3).Elsewhere there were apparent generational changes gathering pace:
Aussies Allenby, Appleby and Senden (not to mention RBP) are stumbling towards Senior Golf; Day and Scott are still at the top of their game, but the next flight of young Aussie golfers needs to step up. Is Cameron Smith the real deal, for instance?
Els and Goosen creak into their late 40's and Oosthuizen & Schwartzel flatter often but deceive almost as frequently. We know Branden Grace can be very, very good, but even he failed to kick on from his Harbour Town clinic.

4).The British guard is changing fast. Rose won his Olympic Gold, but that was the only real highlight of a disappointing year.
Poulter limped through the early part of the season, retired hurt for a while, then struggled upon his return.
Donald is fading as a competitive force whilst McDowell looks like he'd rather be pulling pints at Nona Blue.
Casey plugs along in borderline contention and his bank manager's good graces without looking the Champion one once felt he'd become.

Russell Knox enjoyed a superb season and perhaps Willett will play a full US schedule, not necessarily to validate his Masters win which was thoroughly deserved, but to remind us all what a fine player he can be.
Meanwhile, the US Media is in love with Beef; hopefully relative young'uns like Fitzpatrick, Hatton, Sullivan, Willett and Wood can show that there's much more to English golf than that.

5).Europeans who play two Tours always seem to be walking a fine line between quality of play and quantity of tournaments. Gonzo so far has failed, but Molinari showed that a golfer with similar CV can do it. What about Lowry after his dismal finish to a year that promised so much, at Oakmont at least? Johnston, Kjeldsen and Rafa look as if they'll try their luck this coming year and more about that in 2017. Then there's Thomas Pieters who is sure to be in demand in the same way as Colsaerts was four years ago . . . . . .

6).Two Pros are suggesting that health problems may be getting the better of them, with Erik Compton and Jarrod Lyle apparently taking sabbaticals. Good health to both.

7).The Champions Tour is ready to welcome a strong group of newcomers with Bob Estes, Steve Flesch, Jerry Kelly, Olazabal, Stricker and Toms all having turned 50 or just about to.

8).We lost some golfing royalty in 2016, with Arnold Palmer and 2 x O'Connors leaving the course. RIP to all, including Christy Junior's 2-iron. (And Joey Boots died - can that mean that Baba Booey can be silenced too?)

Happy New Year to all on The v2 Forum

kwinigolfer wrote:GPB,
Is that correct? Has the money breakdown changed as well? Or perhaps the money no longer factors in . . . . . . . ?

Kwini... to be clear... what GPB meant was Major Medical FE Points benchmarks for guys getting PRIOR medicals was based on the PRIOR seasons under the OLD FE Point scale. But now they're earning points on a reduced scale, so getting to that OLD benchmark just got a lot harder. For guys who's medical event occurred prior to the start of the 2016-17 season... they can still meet their Medical by either money or FE Points.... but now money is the "easier" track for them. But guys who have a medical event in the 2016-17 season and beyond will have to satisfy their Medical via FE Points only.

GPB wrote:Cash is the still a metric for some other things (albeit minor

http://www.pgatour.com/stats/stat.132.html

(PGA Championshiop Point list)

Tiebreakers in Exemptions 33 - 37.

But yes, Money is becoming an archaic metric on the PGATour.

Yeah... I'm sure there will be other minor things based on past performance prior to 2016-17 season that will need to stay with money for a while... but you're right, FE points is the big thing going forward. And with this new scale, I like FE points as a measure for most things anyway... I like the leveling of points in the 4 categories they use (Regular events, WGC's, Majors+Players and Alternate).... better than money IMO.

robo,
Understand that, but sometimes there can be a strategy for the medics playing big money tournaments that nevertheless have routine FedEx pts.

FEX points are not vulnerable to escalating inflation.

kwinigolfer wrote:robo,
Understand that, but sometimes there can be a strategy for the medics playing big money tournaments that nevertheless have routine FedEx pts.

I hear you Kwini... but it's still a lot harder to meet the terms of a medical than it seems... and there's more involved than just meeting the terms of the medical. Certainly there are some pluses but some minuses as well...  

Where a player can use strategy to his advantage is by being careful in the way he uses his rehab starts and when he actually starts into the process of attempting to meet his medical.  Poulter for instance started with the 2016-17 season's no-cut CIMB, and his other fall events were against field strengths that were probably lower than he would have faced if not for the injury. PLUS he gets in effect 2 more rehab starts after the PGAT fall season ended in the AUS PGA and Hong Kong that don't count against his medical.  

But on the down side... now Poulter is stuck. All he can do going forward is try to enter the events that he thinks he has the best chance of success, and skipping those where he thinks he might not do as well. But he can't be TOO judicious and stretch it out too far, because he also needs to play enough (and well enough) to qualify for next year's card, and he's not qualified for any of the Majors or WGC's so there's no more "freebies".  Plus... last year Poulter played in Abu Dhabi to start his year... but this year his decision is all but made that the PGA Tour is the ONLY place he can play (until he gets his 6 remaining medical starts in) because any starts he makes elsewhere count against his medical allocation.

Even if Poulter doesn't meet the terms of his medical, he won't lose 2016-7 points already earned and he has unlimited sponsors invites to get inside the 2016-7 Top 125.

Presumably he has enough 'pizazz' to get some Sponsors Invites, although I don't why many summer regular tournament would give him considering he hasn't played many of them.  I remember one year he proudly boasted after Colonial that he would not be playing any PGAT regular tournaments until the playoffs.

Agree with you there, GPB; Poults cuts a pretty unsympathetic figure sometimes. However, I imagine (no idea if true though) that he'd be pretty good for & with sponsors. Especially Ferrari.

GPB wrote:Presumably he has enough 'pizazz' to get some Sponsors Invites, although I don't why many summer regular tournament would give him considering he hasn't played many of them.  I remember one year he proudly boasted after Colonial that he would not be playing any PGAT regular tournaments until the playoffs.

My guess is if he needs them, he gets pretty much any sponsor invite he asks for for a couple of years... Actually they'd probably be recruiting him instead of him having to ask.