PGA Tour: The Season So Far In Film Titles: Notes from the Ballwasher

1).This week's WGC-Mexico sees the continuation of American economic boosts to Mexico, the owners of the previous venue having been incapable of retaining the event. Good that the WGC is leaving the States, ridiculous that it's going to a pretty much non-golfing nation, shame it doesn't honour the Argentine greats and go to Buenos Aires.

As I know nothing about the golf course, except it's a 7,250-ish, Par 71, 1920's apparently tree-lined design, which will play even shorter due to 7,500 feet altitude; and as there are very few relevant clues about golf in the Mexico City area, I'll offer some tongue-in-cheek comments. And they're "inspired" by the titles of this year's Oscar Best Film nominations. (Nothing about Faye Dunaway, Warren Beatty or even Emma Stone.)

2).Arrival: Jon Rahm.
Easy one to start with; it's been a season so far for the 20-somethings on Tour, highlighted by the fact that only four events have been won by golfers in their 30's or 40's. Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas have both taken their Tournament Wins total to 4, but the biggest new Arrival has surely been Jon Rahm with his incredible finish in San Diego. And now we have confirmation he's taking European Tour membership as well.

3).Fences: Luke List.
The early stats to see who's been swinging for the Fences show something of a change from the usual long-driving suspects, whether DJ, Bubba, JB, Rory, Finau, Woodland, Kokrak etc.
Luke List looked like a web.com lifer until clinging on to his Tour card last year. This autumn saw him play the best golf of his career and now he leads the Driving Distance stat. Top Five early doors are: List, DJ, Hagy, Loupe, Kaufman. This order will change but look for Luke to be Listing close to the top all year.

4).Hacksaw Ridge: Matt Every.
A bit of a reach this, Hackers Saw Ridge would be better, and Matt Every is the Tour's Hacker of the early season, ten tournaments played, nine missed cuts and a w/d; if he was a racehorse his trainer would have been stood down for persistent non-trying.
As it is, Every still has the best (or worst, take your pick) part of two years remaining on his Tour membership; he hasn't made a cut since last April, had a mysterious 3-month absence last summer, not his first 3-month Tour absence, and takes up a tournament place that others more deserving could better use.
Honourable Mention, and cheap shot, to Steven Bowditch who thought Hacksaw Ridge was a bar, and slept the effects of over-indulgence through two traffic light cycles whilst at (sort of) the wheel. Hope he gets himself sorted out soon.

5).Hell or High Water: Justin Thomas.
Or Sh1t or Bust: Three wins for Justin this season already, but two missed cuts and a T39 in his last three efforts.
Good that he lyfted up to PGA National to greet his mate Rickie following the Honda. Which begs the thought: What's become of the scantily dressed nymphet that Rickie paraded at The Players a couple of years ago? No sign of her at Hazeltine either. Perhaps buying pedro pizza in Scarborough?

6).Hidden Figures: Martin Kaymer, Thomas Pieters.  
I'm still not sold on the analysis that GPB posted here a fortnight ago, about the relative strengths of the European and PGA Tours. Still think right conclusion, faulty analysis.
But one Hidden Figure that came out of it was that Kaymer had a career total of 16 x Tour Top Ten finishes, all but two of them in WGC's & Majors. Well, now he has 3, following his best "regular" Tour event finish at last week's Honda: 4th!
And another Hidden Figure was highlighted by GPB teasing that perhaps Pieters "mailed it in" at the Honda, to explain his missed cut following his runner up result at Riviera. Maybe, but perhaps he was also undone by putting on Bermuda greens; not sure what they have in Antwerp, but he thrived at Riviera as he had done in winning the NCAA Championship at Riviera five years before. Course specialist!

7).La La Land: Dustin Johnson.
An apparently effortless win for DJ at Riviera; apart from the LA context, does anyone look more as if they're in La La Land when they're golfing? Hoping we get another Major duel this year a la Stenson/Mickelson, and really hope Dustin is one of the protagonists, see what he's like in the crucible of Major fire, head-to-head. Pity he and Spieth weren't playing together at Chambers Bay.
DJ also has a Tigerish record as a closer, but not in Majors until last year: 13 wins, 8 2nd places, 6 3rd's. But he lost his only Play-Off.

8).Lion: Anirban Lahiri.
Good to see the Indian Lion having another good tournament, very close now to wrapping up his card for next year. Playing more US events should sharpen his game still further - some horrid short-game stats, but happy to hear Feherty trumpet Lahiri's game to an audience still unfamiliar with him. Unfortunately he's not yet in any WGC's or Majors.
And no truth to the rumour that he cancelled plans to live in Kansas. Never was.

9).Manchester By The Sea: Rory McIlroy.
Well, Manchester United All At Sea (at the beginning of the season anyway) will have to do. United fan Rory's season so far has equally been somewhat adrift, but coming out of the sick room to play in Mexico, then Bay Hill in a fortnight all being well. I've never followed Rory so delighted he's added "Hartford" to his 2017 schedule.

10).Moonlight: Jason Day.
Don't know where he's been Moonlighting, but he hasn't been working too hard on the PGA Tour recently, and now down with more sniffles. More like Daniel Sturridge than the uber-fit athlete projected in some ads. It'll be interesting to see if he defends his Bay Hill title in a fortnight's time, then the MatchPlay the following week; he can be as good as he wants to be, but not if he doesn't play.

Enjoy the WGC-Mexico - hope some of the players make it back across the wall for next week's Valspar at the very excellent Innisbrook Copperhead Course.

Hello Kwini, how are you?

I recall every giving an interview a year or so ago and when asked about his missed cuts replied - I don't mind missing the occasional cut, I like a weekend off.

Read into that what you will.

Hey wire, Good to hear from you.
No idea what's wrong with Every - trouble is, the less one knows the more one idly speculates, especially given his history. But it's quite puzzling, a very good golfer up until the time he first won (Bay Hill), then not much until he successfully defended his title somewhat out of the blue, then pretty much rubbish ever since.

Nice effort kwini. Which note was given to the wrong player?


on note 10), don't you think Jason Day is a little shy about playing for a guy who apparently wants to be number 1 for the next ten years. Is he really injured or does he just want to limit his schedule via claiming injury?

Just seems a little suspect that he is always got some sort of ailment.

He is a bit of a Darren Anderton isn't he. He certainly seems to have cheap ears.

Mac,
Not sure if it was Mark Roe or Jesper Parnevik . . . . . .

Only just realised that Shane Lowry is not in this week's field. That means he'll have to find another tournament to add to whatever he had planned. Wouldn't you think that's just carelessness/stupidity, not playing enough to earn points to qualify? Either he's getting bad advice, or he's stupid. Possibly both.

He certainly doesn't seem to try very hard. The more his career goes on the more I think he has become one of those journeyman players just content to make money and not really aim to achieve as much as he might have been able to.

Along with Jon Rahm, Kevin Na has also been given affiliate membership on the EuroTour.

Yup, sirbenson scooped the Na, Rahm news on the ET thread this morning.

This Lowry thing is really aggravating - you're right, super, what does he want out of his career? He messed up getting into the Play Offs last year, and now he's contrived to get himself out of the Top 50. He's not signed up for Valspar, and may not be eligible for Bay Hill unless he manages a sponsor invite. So the next time he leaves the buffet is, presumably, the MatchPlay.

He looked (much to my chagrin) like he was on the edge of being a world class player destined for a long spell in the top 20, but it's like he's a part timer these days, almost mirroring the "huntin' and fishin'" interests (although culinary in his case) with golf as a sideshow, of Weekely and Stricker.

What a waste of talent and it must anger a lot of players who do take their careers more seriously.

Yup,
Though if Lowry could have half the success Stricker has had by the time he went into part-time status he'd've done quite well, just a Major missing from his CV.

Very clever Kwini - Fences for me btw. Saw it this week and was very impressed. We've actually seen all of them and it's definitely Fences!
Think and hope DJ has more substance than La la - I'm happy with the laid back presentation as long as the fire burns inside. He is (I think) a very special talent/player.

Mexico? Great for Mexico - wish it was Oz or SA.
Lowry - hope I'm wrong but classic too much (cash) too soon. I think he's a talent, but application required.

Problem with lahiri will be getting back into the usa. Past the brown skin surely a muslim brigade.

Shane Lowry's wife is expecting so I think even if he had qualified he may have not played this week regardless

Very good Kwini, lets hope no one from PWC are awarding the trophies...

Shane Lowry had a terrible schedule long before his wife was expecting. He tries to play a McIlroy schedule, it's just that he forgets to put in the same results.

Also, anyone know if he just WD'ed from the genesis because he was miles off the pace or did he have a legitimate reason?

Be_the_ball wrote:Very good Kwini, lets hope no one from PWC are awarding the trophies...

Or the USGA chairman for that matter..
In both cases there would be even odds on Dustin Hoffman getting the trophy.

sirbenson wrote:Shane Lowry's wife is expecting so I think even if he had qualified he may have not played this week regardless

His wife is expecting? I'm sure we can make some jokes about that..

Mac,
Lowry was en route to a missed cut when Round 2 play was suspended - he was one of 3 or 4 who had a lie-in instead of resuming the chase for a lost cause.


sirb,
That could very well explain at least part of his strange schedule. But it also highlights the perils of being a double dipper . . . . . .

B_t_b,
I see the two PWC guys have been warned off from handling the Oscars again. Not clear whether PWC will get dumped from what is a pretty high profile gig.


pedro,
Hope you noticed I got a mention for your pizza playmates in. Hold the anchovies . . . . . . . .

I think he did say he was going to play the four or five events the start of this year cause of that, what schedule would suit him better?

Easy to forget he was one good round away from winning the US Open...probably still not recovered mentally 100%. Shane to me seems to put too much pressure on himself and gets down very easily. So I wouldn't say he doesn't care as others have suggested

Trouble w/Lowry's schedule is that he's put himself in a hole.
It started by letting three double bogeys in four holes at the HSBC Champions torpedo his result and FedEx points haul. Then he played three events on the West Coast plus his withdrawal.
Now he's slipped to 94th in points and only has five tournaments under his belt with more than 40% of the season gone by the time he plays again.

Given that he'll play a few European tournaments, and assuming he'll want to enjoy some fatherhood time, he's really up against it.

Hope he has a Plan B which can be successful, but he's put a ton of pressure upon himself.

Lowry still has status through the 2017-18 season.

WGCs carry a 3 year exemption on the PGATour.

He still has to get his Sh** together but he is not near the panic zone yet.

True enough, GPB, but he'll find it increasingly difficult to satisfy both Tours' requirements if he can't play Mexico & Bridgestone. One top result, a la Oakmont, would solve a lot of problems!

pedro wrote:

sirbenson wrote:Shane Lowry's wife is expecting so I think even if he had qualified he may have not played this week regardless

His wife is expecting? I'm sure we can make some jokes about that..

I presume it's a test tube baby, no way Lowry could find his knob under his flab.

Kwini... great notes... enjoyed the theme.  Now a few comments of my own....

Shane... not sure I understand the aggravation on Lowry. I don't begrudge a guy a break over the holidays... and when he did come back to play he played 4 straight. Looks to me he was at least trying to get his points.  Not sure his situation at home with a kid on the way... but Shane is exempt into the API via his WGC win, and he's qualified for the 1st 3 majors and the Players and a close to a lock to qualify for the WGC Match Play.  At #53, he's got a long way to drop to not make the PGA Championship as well.

Based on his 5 events to date, it doesn't look to me like he's gonna be having problems with the PGAT minimum this year depending on how a "maternity leave" works out, and/or misses the playoffs.  As for the playoffs, he's far from being qualified, but he's not in bad shape in FE Points at this stage either, sitting at 94th.  If he plays out his events similar to his prior starts... he should be comfortably in.

But the potential downside here... if for some reason he DOESN'T meet the PGAT minimum, then he loses his PGAT membership for next year, and in effect forfeits his last year of his winners exemption from the 2015 WGC Bridgestone. So there IS pressure on that front.  

Where there is virtually no pressure on Shane is in making ET starts. The 4 minimum is so easy now and with the BMW PGA,  Irish and Scottish... that's 3 right there.  Plus there's no pressure to make more ET starts due to Ryder Cup points until the fall... so that frees him up quite a bit.

My take on Shane... he is what he is. A decent player capable of some runs of nice play here and there, but nothing special. But clearly, his future as a double dipper rests with continuing to qualify for at least the majority of the 8 co-sanctions.  I agree with GPB there's no panic situation yet... but IMO was only about a 50/50 prospect of remaining a top-50 player kind of player when he first took up PGAT membership... and he's no better or worse than that now.  so IMO he doesn't seem like the kind of guy worth getting worked up over what he hasn't done.

PS... Tour Schedules post/graphic updated.... not much new, but up to date with what I have... https://servimg.com/view/18259553/23

robo,
Yup, wasn't sure about the API exemptions, but was just speculating because, as at yesterday, he apparently hasn't signed up for it.

I would put Lowry among the best shot-makers of the current game, so reckon he has ability to be a fixture in, say, Top 25. But his future is chicken and egg isn't it; if he doesn't play, he can't accumulate ranking points (of whatever currency), and the more his ranking slides the fewer events he can get into.

Thanks for the schedule update . . . . . . . .

kwinigolfer wrote:True enough, GPB, but he'll find it increasingly difficult to satisfy both Tours' requirements if he can't play Mexico & Bridgestone. One top result, a la Oakmont, would solve a lot of problems!

Why? He has to play 5 Euro events that are not co-sanctioned. I don't see how that is burdensome. Its doesn't matter if he plays or doesn't play WGC events (or Majors).

If he doesn't get into the playoffs, he can play Euro events in September, and start accruing Ryder Cup Points.

I presume the B-Stone win gives him EuroTour status through the 2018 season.

OK, Let's just say we're raising the alarm.
I thought the point of guys playing two Tours was to be successful, not to tread water. So far Lowry has, sadly in my opinion and due to scheduling that doesn't reflect any understanding of what he has to do to make it worthwhile, failed to improve and basically has one top result in the past 15 months.
Let's see where we are in a year's time, the rest is just speculation.

Kwini

"I thought the point of guys playing two Tours was to be successful, not to tread water."

Isn't this what I have been trying to convince you of for about 3/4 years?

Yes, But my point is meant to be that Lowry won't be able to tread water unless he keeps his card, and the fewer elite events he's eligible for, the less likely he'll keep his card when the Bridgestone bennie runs out.
And he's never indicated he wants to live permanently in the US.

No mention that I've seen about any agreed obligation by the Tour to hold an "opposite field" event this week, with the WGC taking the Tour's elite, but nowhere for the rank and file to play.

Somewhat beneath the level of "rank and file" are Justin Hicks and Heath Slocum - both now apparently playing overseas tours: Hicks doing nicely on the Sunshine Tour, Slocum scratching around a bit in Australasia. (Watched a few holes of Slocum last year - he was awful.)

Europeans off to an encouraging start; happens a lot in WGC's & Majors, but often not sustained. Not sure exactly why, but hoping we see a change this week. Even Westwood cruising nicely in his field-leading 56th WGC.

Stenson withdraws. Stomach upset.

Another tournament under his belt x 2. And most likely he'll pocket the $43K for last place.
He's committed in the fields for the next three tournaments so he'll probably think it's good way to extend his time off.

That Westwood guy trying to make it 56th time lucky - wouldn't that be good??!!

Furyk has had 3 three putts and a four putt! Not something you normally associate with Furyk!

kwinigolfer wrote:
pedro,
Hope you noticed I got a mention for your pizza playmates in. Hold the anchovies . . . . . . . .

Yup kwini!
Had a quick round with her before she choked.. and all before the pizza arrived.

I'm never wrong wrote:Stenson withdraws. Stomach upset.

Apparantly he drained everything but the putts..

Quite early in the week for Westwood to be choking.

McLaren wrote:Quite early in the week for Westwood to be choking.

Apparently not too early for daft remarks though either...

Navy

Do you read this board with your mr serious hat on?

He has a point. It was a daft remark.

Are you kidding me? Can't we have a little Westwood choking banter anymore?

You know you're only trying to wind people up mac

I don't know about you folks but in my circle of golf buddies a joke about Westwood choking isn't really considered particularly beyond the pale.

It seems the course received pretty favourable reviews yesterday; I didn't see any of the coverage, but: Impressions?

I really liked the look of the course, some of those tee shots looked really narrow. It was good to see them on a course which looked different to the norm.

Mc, The westwood joke was in no way beyond the pale, it was not an unacceptable joke just a bit pointless and like you dont actually understand what choking is. But I am glad you have a collection of like minded individuals that keep you happy when you make Lee Westwood jokes on the golf course.

Kwin - I also really like the look of the course. And, from my viewpoint, were this course in the US it would most certainly have far fewer trees. (I think a lot of courses in the US have gone overboard on tree removal.)

Liking Rory big time for this event. And Augusta.

Hope you're right about Rory, Sr.
Is Aronomink making any changes to the course for next year's Beemer? It must be on any O'Hair bucket list!

Kwin - Actually Aronimink went through some "restoration" changes this winter. Gil Hanse did the work. Basically restored fairway width, original bunkering scheme and a few other things. It's a ways off, but O'Hair will need to qualify for it. (Having a solid start to his year, however.)