PGA Tour: The Pineapple Express?: Notes from the Ballwasher

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1).I don't know whether it's just a childhood spent in the radio age and listening to the drone of the shipping forecast bringing evocative place names like German Bight and Dogger Bank into our front rooms, but I've always been fascinated by places and weather. Later I graduated to cricket commentators telling us about the Fremantle Doctor, then to Upstate New York when we seemingly spent the winter months (all eight of them) under siege from a series of Alberta Clippers, sure to bring snow and misery but moving through swiftly.

2).Fast forward a few years and the Weather Channel started talking about the Pineapple Express, a moisture-laden weather system originating in the Hawaii area of the Pacific apparently designed specifically to sweep into California and give it a thorough drenching just when it seemed drought and forest fires would destroy it forever. Justin Thomas assumed the role of Pineapple Express last week, becoming the first since Ernie Els 14 years ago to win both the TOC at Kapalua and the Sony Open, the Aloha Slam.

3).So, Is Justin Thomas the next real thing, does he have the right stuff to contend in Majors, to warrant a consistent owgr Top Ten ranking? My jury is still out, but this month's form has been irresistible - he's taking a breather now, not sure when he'll be back, but he'll certainly return with scrutiny and expectations he's never seen before.

4).Meanwhile, the original Pineapple Express has been "train"ing storms in to the West Coast for a few weeks now, Northern California getting a right soaking, some flooding and inevitable landslides which may only get worse, and fifteen feet of fresh powder in the Sierra Nevada. Now it sets its sights further south, aiming squarely at this week's Palm Desert location for the CareerBuilder Challenge. Expect two or three days of rain in the desert and cool temps (mid-50's to low 60's); there'll probably be damp fairways and soft greens, usually a recipe for more low scoring, but the added aggravation of at least two days of moderate winds. All in all a recipe for slow play given the Pro-Am format - three days on three separate courses with a 54-hole cut and Round 4 at PGA Tour West's "Stadium Course".

5).Some interesting articles in the US Media these last few weeks addressing the changing face of Golf on TV and the various other viewing options now available. It's not just golf, NFL ratings have been down and the entire TV landscape seems to be altering how future sport TV contracts, and possibly endorsement earners, may be structured. Is the chat about a joint PGA/LPGA Tour Tournament of Champions, for instance a sign of things to come, especially as we know the Zurich Team event is already inked in.

6).Observation on here earlier this week about Angel Cabrera being 47, going on 60. There'll be a "generation" of once elite "International" golfers turning 50 within a year of Cabrera. Els, Goosen, Jaidee, Karlsson and Pampling are all currently 47, Lawrie and Darren Clarke 48 and, if they have any game left at all, should do well on the Champions Tour assuming they choose to do partake. This year's Champions Tour "rookies", or at least David Toms, make their debut this week, in Hawaii.

7).And the web.commers indulge in another Sunday thru' Wednesday gig, still in The Bahamas. Last week's wind-blown affair was won by Kyle Thompson, his fifth such win and he's the sort of web.com lifer that the Europeans' Challenge Tour doesn't seem to attract, probably because the money is just not there. Thompson now has career web.com earnings of $1.7M which, combined with occasional PGA Tour cameos and endorsements, is not at all bad for a golfer perennially on life's undercard.
I wonder if the advent of the Rolex Series will have a knock-on impact benefitting the Challenge Tour?

8).It's not clear yet just how much the Tour's upcoming venues have been, or will be, affected by California storms. Soft conditions may affect the horses-for-courses trend which can be so prevalent early in the season.
Bill Haas is a nearly man as far as the top echelons of golf are concerned, but he's won twice in the Palm Desert and finished well last week at the "Sony".
Will Justin Thomas's breakthrough inspire forgotten Californian "Young Gun" Jamie Lovemark to turn his life of potential into a win?

9).Europeans in the field include Casey, Gonzo, Kjeldsen, Laird, Molinari (not many finished 2016 in better form), Jon Rahm and Seamus Power.
Patrick Reed is also here, anxious to challenge Justin Thomas: "I wish he was (here). I can't wait to get him back in the field and go play against him." That's the spirit.

10).Lots of discussion recently about injured golfers; Tiger Woods, obviously, and a soft Torrey Pines will be a big test of his game, and perhaps his back too. Rory's out for a while, Jason Day seems to be a walking sick note and who knows if Poulter will return to form after his fitness issues last year.
Great to see Justin Rose coming through the field to finish second last week - he never seemed 100% last year, despite his Olympic Gold, and welcome back to him.
And welcome back also to two-time winner Phil Mickelson. Fitness permitting he'll play at least four of the next five weeks, all at venues he's won at.
It finally feels as if the Tour season is starting to go through its gears . . . . . . . . hope no Pineapple Express interrupts it now!

And no eagles in there, amazing.

Could be a careerbuilder for him...

1GrumpyGolfer wrote:

I thought there was a weaker event in the Desert Swing but couldn't remember which one it was. If memory serves me I think Qatar is also the one that finishes on a Monday.

Qatar used to be Wed-Sat, but this year changed to Thu-Sun.
Mid-east weekends are Fri-Sat (except in Saudi) but I guess they changed the schedule to accomodate players and TV viewers.

Money for old rope:
$300K in Langer's pocket after the Champions Tour event in Hawaii had its final round cancelled.

Not clear whether that's to save Couples' back (he finishes 2nd) or because of high winds.

Bad weather in the CareerBuilder forecast, so tee-times have been moved forward, to 7.30 a.m.

With 59's seemingly two a penny these days, you'd have to figure all who play Round 4 are in with a shout.

pedro wrote:

1GrumpyGolfer wrote:

I thought there was a weaker event in the Desert Swing but couldn't remember which one it was. If memory serves me I think Qatar is also the one that finishes on a Monday.

Qatar used to be Wed-Sat, but this year changed to Thu-Sun.
Mid-east weekends are Fri-Sat (except in Saudi) but I guess they changed the schedule to accomodate players and TV viewers.

Thanks Pedro, I knew it was due to a different weekend

Looks like they are having record high surf in the Pebble Beach area this weekend

https://twitter.com/NWSBayArea/status/823135626316783617

Very surprised to see some Amateurs playing today. Is that new for the CBC?

At one time, I thought this was going to be a PBeach look-alike, top 60 play Round 4, top 70 get paid but sit out Sunday.

And: Greg Hopkins among those Ams; he must have regained his Amateur status.

Hadwin's 59 in comparison. The 9 official sub-60 rounds in PGA Tour History - Sorted by Margin below field average.

Sc - R - Par +- - To FA - Mar- FA - Player - Event
59 - 2 - 72 -13 - 13.60 - 6 - 72.60 - Al Geiberger - 1977 Memphis
59 - 2 - 71 -12 - 12.09 - 6 - 71.09 - Jim Furyk - 2013 BMW Championship
59 - 5 - 72 -13 - 10.68 - 5 - 69.68 - David Duval - 1999 Bob Hope
58 - 4 - 70 -12 - 10.66 - 3 - 68.66 - Jim Furyk - 2016 Travelers Championship
59 - 1 - 71 -12 - 10.51 - 1 - 69.51 - Paul Goydos - 2010 John Deere Classic
59 - 3 - 72 -13 - 10.48 - 4 - 69.48 - Chip Beck - 1991 Las Vegas
59 - 3 - 72 -13 - 10.02 - 4 - 69.02 - Adam Hadwin - 2017 Career Builder
59 - 1 - 70 -11 - 9.24 - 3 - 68.24 - Justin Thomas - 2017 Sony Open in Hawaii
59 - 4 - 70 -11 - 8.58 - 4 - 67.58 - Stuart Appleby - 2010 Greenbrier Classic

SC = Score
R = Round
Par = Course Par
+- = under par
To FA = Score relative to field average for the round
Mar = Margin over next best score
FA = Field Average

NOTE: Hadwin's score is compared to the 3rd round players on LaQuinta Course only. Chip Beck played on a multiple course tournament on the easiest of 3 courses, but that score by course breakdown isn't available. Based on reports of the scoring on the Sunrise course he played, Beck's would almost certainly fall below Hadwin in this comparison if we had the numbers. (a 59 was actually predicted in media reports as this 1st year course was put in the rotation)

Kwini, The Top 3 players in the gross division and net division get to play in 4th round. I think it was the same last year. Maybe the same since they went with this format.

Tks GPB

May not be a 59 today, but how far down the leaderboard do you go and still be in with a shout? I'd say those within six strokes, the -11's, have a chance, probably not much further.

Robo: I got the LaQuinta average at exactly 69.000, not 69.02

Z-Score for Hadwin's round is 3.28 (StDev 3.02)

77 players made the 54 hole cut:

31 of the players played the NT-SC-LQ Rotation
25 of the players played the SC-LQ-NT Rotation
21 of the players played the LQ-NT-SC Rotation.

IMO, there were more highly ranked players in LQ-NT-SC rotation and they had less players make the cut. Reed, Mickelson, Casey, Zach, Rahm, Haas all played the LQ-NT-SC rotation.

GPB... Thanks, I'll go back and double check the scores. I put the last 6-8 in manually as players finished, and I could have mistyped or there could have been an adjustment in the scoring as cards were verified.

Interesting how the rotation results varied. I remember one year back when they were still on 4 course, most of a quarter of the field literally got "blown out" out of the tournament because of winds way higher on just one of the courses that wasn't protected as much by the mountains... I think it was Silver Rock maybe.  Same kind of thing has happened at Pebble. I think it's Spyglass that seems to play harder in high winds than the others

EDIT: GPB... I went back and did it again off the PGAT 3rd round scoreboard.. I still came out with 69.02 (3589÷52=69.01923)

Yep, your you're correct,  I think Miguel Angel Carballo screwed up my sorting.

Players with three names and roman numerals screw up my downloading and data transfer.

I am looking at you Miguel Angel Jimenez, and
Tyrone Van Aswegen, and Charles Howell-III, and Davis Love-III and now Carballo.

Z-score changes slightly to 3.26.

Slam dunk from Chad Campbell there, nice way to make eagle. Love his golf swing very Hoganesque.

Fran Molinari having another good outing; good finish and he'll be well on his way to keeping his card.

Note well you double dipper sceptics.

Chad Campbell, from hero to zero.

Be_the_ball wrote:Chad Campbell, from hero to zero.

yikes... No kidding. Couldn't stand the prosperity I guess.

Yeah Robo, the wait on that 6th tee can't have helped. Standing there, all you can see is water.

Nice run of birdies on the back 9 from Shay Power, must have read our comments yesterday eh kwini? Definitely a better Sunday performance...

!! Double bogeyed #10 - then 4 x birdies. Very promising start as we're approaching the 25% mark of the season. He goes again next week.

Patrick Reed with the best round on the course, moving through the proverbial beaten horses.

Dominic Bozzelli another in a long line of top golfers from Rochester, NY.
But wonder if robo sees a likeness with one of his homeboys, a young Andy Pettitte?

Casey having a shocker.

Anyone want to win this thing?

kwinigolfer wrote:Dominic Bozzelli another in a long line of top golfers from Rochester, NY.
But wonder if robo sees a likeness with one of his homeboys, a young Andy Pettitte?

Casey having a shocker.

lol... I thought he looked familiar.... :-)

Be_the_ball wrote:Nice run of birdies on the back 9 from Shay Power, must have read our comments yesterday eh kwini? Definitely a better Sunday performance...

Seamus Power is currently #16 on the Webbie priority (including the 3 winners counted above him) As of now he would move up 3 spots in that all important priority reshuffle after Los Angeles... (4 weeks to go)

But even at #16... he's in pretty good shape to get a lot of starts for the balance of this reshuffle and the next.  Based on last year's webbies getting in events, here's my best guess as to what he can play...

IN - Farmers (all but maybe 5-8 webbies will get in)

?? - WMPO - It looks like he's probably right on the cutoff line, he might need one of the Webbie SE's or top-10 in Farmers to make the field,

IN - AT&T Pebble Beach - All webbies are safe...

?? - Genesis L.A. Open - It looks like he's probably right on the line, he might need one of the Webbie SE's  or top-10 at Pebble to make the field,

RESHUFFLE AFTER GENESIS - Assuming Power remains #16 or better:

LIKELY IN - Honda (last year would be safe by about 8-10 spots)

NO - WGC MEXICO... needs OWGR 50 and there is no alternate event.

LIKELY IN - Valspar (same as Honda... last year would be safe by about 8-10 spots)

?? - Arnold Palmer - Based of FE Cup standings and not webbie priority. At current #84 FE Points, looks right about at the cut off line

NO - WGC Match Play... needs OWGR 50 but...
IN - Alternate Puerto Rico

MAYBE IN - Shell (last year would be safe by only 3-4 spots)

Cheers robo,
No problem with events he might miss; everyone needs a break. More important that he's ready for those events he can get in.

Swafford and English will always be tarred with the same brush by me. Whatever that brush turns out to be, apart from Georgia, Sea Island, big ol southern boys who hit it a ton. The GC seems to love that profile.

Good finishes from Laird and Molinari, both well ahead of the pace necessary to keep their card, and not bad by Journeyman Owen!

Kwini... IMO Seamus probably needs to play in pretty much everything he can get into for the next 4 weeks (especially if a lot of players below him are getting in too) ... Or at least until he accrues another 40-50 FEX points.  At this point he's not absolutely safe for any of the 1st 4 events after the reshuffle.   After LA there's a couple of built in off weeks assuming he doesn't jump up into a WGC (in which case his worry's are over).  40-50 FEX points in these next 4 weeks would be great, 60-70 would be golden.

Doubtful Power will get in WMPO. I think LA has "sold out" very early in the past. Riviera is a popular stop (frankly I don't see the attraction). Not sure if the TWF will help or hurt the attendance of exempt players.

TWF certainly has not helped Quicken Loans (No Robo, I don't want to debate that. That ship has sailed and you have your opinion and I have mine)

GPB wrote:Doubtful Power will get in WMPO.  I think LA has "sold out" very early in the past.  Riviera is a popular stop (frankly I don't see the attraction).  Not sure if the TWF will help or hurt the attendance of exempt players.

TWF certainly has not helped Quicken Loans  (No Robo, I don't want to debate that.  That ship has sailed and you have your opinion and I have mine)

looking back... based on 2016 Power might have a chance at the WMPO... it went 11 deep into the webbies and he's 16... BUT... going back to 2015 and 2014... WMPO didn't even get into the webbie category... so you're probably right. That's a tough one for Power unless he Top-10's the week prior or gets the single webbie exemption available for that event.

Power looked a bit more comfortable this week on Sunday, thats his best result so far for the 2017 season. He does need to be pushing towards top 10's to get into the likes of Phoenix. Trending in the right direction though, lets hope he doesn't change his swing

Great performance down the stretch from Swafford, sticking it to the pin on 17 was a super shot under pressure to win for the first time on the PGA Tour, did he push it? when you close out a tournament like that, i suppose you deserve the benefit of the doubt! Great stuff.

Can't recall which thread it was where we were talking about right-handers who play lefty and vice-versa.
But Miller was watching southpaw Brian Harman last night and reckoned every golfing left-hander he could think of is a right-hander at everything else. No idea how true that is, but he cited Bob Charles, as well as Phil & Harman. Wonder about Mike Weir? Though perhaps about time Weirsy started golfing right-handed . . . . . .

Leicester's Greg Eason is shown in the Tour guide as being from "Leicester City".
Two weeks ago he reckoned he used (arithmetically improbable) 32 golf balls over 36 web.com holes.
Yesterday he took a 15 - FIFTEEN! - on a Par-5.
Worse than Rainieri's diamond formation vs Saints.

Former Major Champs Mike Weir and Angel Cabrera going through Monday qualifying today for the Farmers.

Angel was #181 on the FEX list and therefore eligible to play the WTF last September. But he did not play any of those events.

His chances had to be better going through the WTF than Monday Qualifying 4-spotting. (and he failed to pass WTF, he still would have had a back up plan of 4-spotting).

Is Charlie Epps still working with Cabrera?
Wonder if he has any influence over scheduling, the intricacies of "priority" on the PGA Tour?
As for Mike Weir, his best bet lies with the on-course microphone.

The web.commers are just finishing Round 2, Jimmy Gunn of Dornoch is leading with four holes still to play.

Whereas Leicester City's Greg Eason has now completed FOUR rounds this year without shooting either in the 70's or 80's. But at least he's chalked up a 60-something (68) after 3 x 90-somethings.

Woods grouped with DJ and JD(ay) for Rounds 1 & 2.
Kinda surprised they wouldn't have inserted him into a lower profile group, more befitting (but respectful) of his playing status. Not unlike Billy Payne did following the Escalade escapade when he was grouped with KJ Choi & Kuchar.

kwinigolfer wrote:The web.commers are just finishing Round 2, Jimmy Gunn of Dornoch is leading with four holes still to play.

Whereas Leicester City's Greg Eason has now completed FOUR rounds this year without shooting either in the 70's or 80's. But at least he's chalked up a 60-something (68) after 3 x 90-somethings.

This is hilarious...

kwinigolfer wrote:Woods grouped with DJ and JD(ay) for Rounds 1 & 2.
Kinda surprised they wouldn't have inserted him into a lower profile group, more befitting (but respectful) of his playing status. Not unlike Billy Payne did following the Escalade escapade when he was grouped with KJ Choi & Kuchar.

The "Escalade" pairing was an entirely different situation... Pretty safe bet this grouping happened only because ALL 3 wanted it... and you know the Tour damn sure did... :-)

Why was it different? If Woods wanted the DJ/JD grouping, so be it. But can't for the life of me imagine why he would. As for the Tour, well, I would have thought they'd want to spread out their "featured groups", not consolidate them. A big turn off whenever I go to a tournament - seek out the "hot" groups and go in the other direction.

Greg Eason's early season mirrors Jamie Vardy's in so many ways . . . . . . !

Bowditch made the cut in Palm Springs. Maybe there is hope for Eason.

kwinigolfer wrote:A big turn off whenever I go to a tournament - seek out the "hot" groups and go in the other direction.

Agreed, it will be like Beatlemania following that group. 8 to 10 deep.

GPB wrote:Bowditch made the cut in Palm Springs

He tweeted to his mates that he couldn't make their usual Sunday game.

Kwini

Maybe getting himself into a prime group is a sign of Tiger's confidence? Although you would have to think it is miss placed.

McLaren wrote:Kwini

Maybe getting himself into a prime group is a sign of Tiger's confidence? Although you would have to think it is miss placed.

I imagine it might be misplaced, if it were true. Would think it's much more likely that this is just whomever putting together a marquee grouping. Wonder what his psyche would make of being trounced on the card by the other two, which could easily happen?

Being grouped with a pothead and a drama queen you're hardly the odd one out. #kissmyglutes

Navy

Without going too tin foil hat, I don't think Tiger would be in that group if he didn't want to be.

Big question mark to me is not whether he can hit the shots (that's a small ?), but whether he can maintain mental stamina on a course where his physical stamina could well be questioned. (If he sees a little miss or ten placed along the fairway, no doubt he'll be quite happy, "I'll see you later".)

McLaren wrote:Navy

Without going too tin foil hat, I don't think Tiger would be in that group if he didn't want to be.

Yup, agree with that. Think the group was probably suggested by someone other than the actual threesome though.

McLaren wrote:Kwini

Maybe getting himself into a prime group is a sign of Tiger's confidence? Although you would have to think it is miss placed.

Is she Tiger's new girlfriend?

No, just an over zealous predictive text on my phone.