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

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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.

GPB's buddy Roberto Castro up among the leaders. Imagine the headlines:
"Castro invades Mexico".
How would the White House react to that?


Scores all over the place early in Round 2; Rafa off to the best start.

Is there any other opening par 4 hole on tour, that's been driveable?

I can't think of one, though the 10th at Riviera is used as an opening hole for those starting on the back nine.
And the first @ Riviera, 500yd downhill Par-5, will be reachable soon . . . . . . . .

I love the fact that altitude is apparently such a wildcard at this course. Can't help feeling they'll have it sussed out a bit better for next year.
Is this 7,500 ft higher than Crans?

Think so. Crane is about 5000 ft I think

So much for thinking Rory would be a bit rusty and leaving him out of my fantasy picks

Amazing thing an hour or so ago:
Rahm hit a full shot into the green and his ball kissed one ball on the green, and then nudged a second ball.
That's one thing on the snooker table, but something else again from 150 yds or whatever it was on the golf course.


Rory is losing half a stroke on the green; what might have been?

I actually think thats the first time I've seen a double kiss in golf.

Pretty decent golf from Rory all the same, considering he hasn't played in so long..

No double kisses on the golf course for you, B_t_b? Sorry to hear that!

Notable Europeans in action at next week's Valspar include:
Luke Donald, Freddie Jac, Kjeldsen, Russell Knox, Laird, Lingmerth, McDowell, Poulter, Power, Stenson.

Then the minor leaguers will be off to Puerto Rico, while the galacticos choose between Bay Hill and toesuponthesofa.

I could see Rory pulling away from the pack today. He may not be the #1 golfer in the world as calculated, but he's my favorite to win any major this year.

It's an interesting time for sure SR. If he's fit and on his game, I don't think there is anyone in his class. If however he's a bit off, then DJ, Matsuyama, Day and perhaps even Gordon Speith can all be number one.

sirbenson wrote:Is there any other opening par 4 hole on tour, that's been driveable?

Not a Tour course, but #1 at Cherry Hills in Colorado was famously driven by Arnold Palmer in the 1960 US Open.

Another course at high elevation.

nitpick: Cherry Hills did host the BMW Championship a few years ago (Billy Horschel won)

==========

Some OWGR implications:

Rory needs to win and Dustin finished worse than solo 4th for Rory to be #1.
Rory needs a two way T3 to pass Jason Day.

Jordan needs a solo 28th or better to pass Stenson.

Mickelson could get as high as #10 should he win.
Fisher should crack the Top 30 if he won.

Should Mickelson win tomorrow, it will be a 26 year span between his first and latest win on the PGATour.

I think there are only three longer spans.

Sam Snead and Ray Floyd have 29 year spans
Davis Love III has a 28 year span.

Some notables in the 20+ year club (there may be others)

Nicklaus, Hale Irwin, Walter Hagen, Craig Stadler, Jim Barnes, Art Wall

Mickelson is already in the club at 22 years.

Furyk is just short at 19.5 years and Ernie is at 18 years.
Tiger is just short of 17 years.

UFR...(thanks Robo) there are many players with a 20+ year span

29 - Sam Snead
29 - Raymond Floyd
28 - Davis Love III
24 - Jack Nicklaus
24 - Tom Watson
23 - Gene Littler
23 - Johnny Miller
23 - Hale Irwin
23 - Craig Stadler
23 - Scott Hoch
23 - Peter Jacobsen
22 - Walter Hagen
22 - Phil Mickelson
22 - Ben Crenshaw
22 - Corey Pavin
22 - Art Wall, Jr.
22 - Scott Verplank
21 - Ben Hogan
21 - Jim Barnes
21 - Mark Calcavecchia
20 - Gary Player
20 - Willie Macfarlane
20 - Lanny Wadkins
20 - Jim Furyk
20 - Fred Couples
20 - John Cook
20 - Don January

robo, GPB,

Could've knocked me down with a feather about Scott Hoch being on that list.

Off and running in Mexico City, Justin Rose with two early birdies.

Fair play to Phil, brilliant to see him still competitive. Wonder how much of that is inspired by Tiger's demise.

Wooooo what a start from Dustin, who said he didn't care about the no. 1 spot?

C'mon Rory!

Choke from Rory. Sad.

I'd say that drop request from Phil is somewhat stretching things. Do you expect to have a great stance standing in a bush?

Phil really gone down in my estimation there, thats shocking. He should have more cop on than that.

Great round from Spieth, another putting master class.

It lines up with one of Kwini's bugbears, hitting it in the stands and getting a nice free drop. Its technically within the rules but not within the spirit of the game, and taking the P out of the rest of the field. Not cool.

Nice to finally have a close tournament!

FIGJAM Fhil at it again! I really enjoy this course and the crowds look fantastic.
Some round from Jordan.

Yeah good competitive tourney so far, great stuff from Spieth, he's finally stopped thinking about his swing and just getting on with playing golf. Being a demon putter also helps.

Agree SR the course has been fantastic!

DJ's wedge game has been world class, probably the area he has improved the most over the last year and a bit

A bit of bad luck there for DJ, but it's why one needs to stay out of the trees.

During all Phil's time in the bushes, I never saw Rory of Fish there checking out what was going on. Aren't they supposed to be there "protecting the field"? Not good enough just to have an official there, surely?

PS: No word from the Edinburgh bus depot - has Mac choked?

"Golf is not a game of perfect" as wise man once said. But a few dodgy rulings certainly help.

What kind of a golf course has sprinkler heads in the boonies? What good are they in there?

Questions to be asked.

A touch of rain falling in Mexico City this evening; the course looks as if it's been heavily watered (those pesky sprinklers in the bushes) so a shower or two shouldn't make much difference. Should be mild, sunny and breezy for Round 4. Come on Rory!

McLaren wrote:Choke from Rory. Sad.

I hope you're being ironic Mac.

I don't care who you are, you cannot be incredible all the time. There's bound to be some rust after 6 weeks out.

It's like watching a tennis match and someone says, he should have hit it there, or there. You cannot play amazing golf all the time.
Any one of these players in contention could shoot -6 tomorrow.

My guess is tgat the mcilroy choke comment was just a wind up after the wedtwood comment previously. Anyone that has the smallest bit of golf understanding woukd be aware that mcilroy hasn't choked.

Anyway, still like the course and like the tournament. Players can score on this course but it doesnt look easy. You could say anyone down to -7 could win it, but I think realistically the winner will be at -9 or better. But can anyone see past rory ir dj?

That phil mick thing was a joke, they should implement a rule that if you have to stand on a path or sprinkler when off the actual green area then no free drop allowed.

I'm never wrong wrote:Think so. Crane is about 5000 ft I think

Thought he was a short guy? Or did you see a bird?

Be_the_ball wrote:It lines up with one of Kwini's bugbears, hitting it in the stands and getting a nice free drop. Its technically within the rules but not within the spirit of the game, and taking the P out of the rest of the field. Not cool.

What about you navy?

Just want to say that I'm much entertained by this tournament. Plenty short putts missed, plenty long putts holed. Birdies, bogeys, low scoring, high scoring. Great venue, great crowds, all the best players. Good decision to cone here.

Kwini - I think the deal is, in strokeplay, once an official is on site, that takes over from player responsible for marking the card. Marker will accept officials ruling, and that also protects the player. Different in match play where irrespective of officials, opponent has a right to be involved. That was the gist of Miguel facing down Bradley and his caddy a few years ago - when Miguel was 100% right, and they were one thousand per cent wrong!

puligny wrote:Kwini - I think the deal is, in strokeplay, once an official is on site, that takes over from player responsible for marking the card. Marker will accept officials ruling, and that also protects the player. Different in match play where irrespective of officials, opponent has a right to be involved. That was the gist of Miguel facing down Bradley and his caddy a few years ago - when Miguel was 100% right, and they were one thousand per cent wrong!

Yup, Seen plenty of interventions in MatchPlay - remember Poults & Sergio going on for about 20 minutes in a MatchPlay semi - when the players were right and the official overruled. Kinda surprised that doesn't extend to strokeplay, but fair do's.
That's the trouble with sprinkler heads in the bushes . . . . . . imagine how long it must've taken just to find it! Must admit, some of the drops & relief the pros take make my head spin

I hear Rory said he had been affected by Phil being "here there and everywhere - shouldn't have been but I was!"

Haven't seen huge amounts of the play, but seems a really good tournament. Interesting course. lots of fences but haven't seen any walls!

There are examples of players questioning officials ruling in stroke play.

Remember when Seve was flexing his muscles to get a favorable drop at the Masters (Hole #10) and Ken Green got involved to protect the field.

http://www.golfdigest.com/story/recalling-a-battle-of-gamesmanship-between-two-of-the-games-singular-personalities

I remember Ernie got a questionable drop several years ago at The Masters, carved it way right (on the 18th I think) landed in a bunch of dead trees that had been cut, got a free drop as it was deemed they were to be taken off site. Madness.

I still can't fathom a sprinkler head IN the bushes? A hose or pipe leading to a sprinkler head yes, but not a head? Whats the ruling there?

I've seen lots of players question the rulings of officials, but the point is the officials view trumps the players. Having a referee give a ruling takes away the player (markers) responsibility for the rest of the field. It is different between match play (direct and exclusive opponents) and strokeplay. In match play, by definition, the opponent is defending his/her position only, and has every right to be involved throughout the decision making process. Have just read about Phil's sprinkler in a bush ruling, and I am definitely going to check bushes more thoroughly in the future!

GPB,
Was that before Ken Green downed a beer from a spectator (sorry, patron)? #wideeyedandlegless #andyfairweather-low!


I've always been very impressed with the way Tour pros accept rulings from PGA Tour officials, even when they've been a bit quizzical about the end result. Good for them.
My only caveat with WGC's is that "International" officials are sometimes open to different interpretations to Mark Russell and his mates.

That's why there's always a Paramor type figure on the long end of the Wilkie talkie! Heard a few good stories of him offering "support or otherwise" to officials at the scene of the crime asking for confirmation. You're absolutely correct, vast majority of players accept without complaint. Most don't cheat either!

Some par for JB Holmes.
Looking forward to the leaders getting started - fed up with Golf Channel force-feeding Rickie Fowler . . . . . . .

Golf or cricket?
Cricket for an hour or so at least!

I do wish they played courses as penal as this more often. This is going to be one long final round with Phil. GPB - great story about Seve trying to, but not getting, his way.

puligny wrote:Golf or cricket?
Cricket for an hour or so at least!

Wish I had that option.
No-one really setting 'em alight so far, puligny, keep with the action from Antigua.

They should play more courses like this on tour, what a great leaderboard. More drama than the blue monster too... Its a pity so many of the top players skip Colonial.

Soren Kjeldsen doing himself a bit of good with the lowest round in progress on the course - -5 after 10. Another couple of birds could kick-start his year. Something certainly needs to.

B_t_b,
Unlike Colonial, Harbour Town etc, it's the bombers who are dominating the leaderboard so far, playing more aggressively and damn the consequences. Let's face, they have nothing to lose.

Interesting to see thomas take ages over his shot, then rory basically ready to hit.