PGA Tour: Something Completely Different: Notes from the Ballwasher

1).Not that different really, just a variation of the long-standing Shark Shoot-Out, but this week's "Team Event" in New Orleans will be the first official team event on Tour since the old Disney Team tournament of 30 or 40 years ago.
Nothing Mickey Mouse about this, the "Zurich Classic of New Orleans" has 160 Pros playing for $7.1M and media praising the idea of something different. Hopefully they'll be as enthusiastic come Sunday evening.

2).The format says:
Round 1 and Round 3: Foursomes - Trust that really means foursomes and not "greensomes".
Round 2 and Round 4: Fourballs. (Imagine they'll take an eternity, especially if the weather is half as bad as it's forecast to be this weekend.)

3).It's difficult to know what to make of most of the teams. One or two that stand out, not necessarily for strictly golfing reasons, include:
Jerry Kelly & Steve Stricker who have been playing together for about sixty years (seems like). Kelly is a former New Orleans winner so watch this greybeard partnership.

Rose & Stenson, Grace & Oosthuizen have established Ryder/Presidents Cup success. We know Rosy and Grace are in form, but are their partners?

English & Swafford are good ol' boys from Georgia, while Loupe & Peterson have been competing against and with each other for a decade.

The Koepkas presumably have a feel for each other's games, whilst Justin Thomas and Bud Cauley are both (Ala)Bama Boys, just not on the same team.

Danny Berger & Tommy Pieters could walk this if they're in form, but so could Darren Anderton & Rickie Fowler.

Bubba Watson & JB Holmes have dithered their way through the first half of the season, while Cejka & Kjeldsen badly need to work together for a good result. (Dark horses I would think.)

Aiken Boys Scott Brown and Kisner look a good team, not many will have better short games than Cameron Smith and Jonas Blixt, while none will be fitter than Hoffmann & Villegas.

And how's about Jordan Spieth & Ryan Palmer?

4).You probably saw the report that Spieth and Palmer were playing in Dallas with Harrison Frazer and Beau Hossler. And Palmer's caddie James Edmondson who had a side bet with Spieth: "If I beat you, you will partner Ryan at the Zurich". Edmondson is no ordinary caddie and duly beat the Spieth. Which is interesting in itself, but perhaps not as interesting as the question: What is the intangible that keeps someone like Edmondson from finding success in the Pro ranks?

5).Last week's winner, Kevin Chappell, teams up with Gary Woodland.
Chappell is someone who I've followed for ages, since he'd score tournament invitations as an amateur and fledgling pro. He finished 6th at Pebble Beach before he earned his web.com card, then looked a hot-shot brat when winning on that Tour. He was runner-up at the "Valero" as a "rookie", then finished 3rd in Rory's US Open. Then largely disappeared for 18 months.
He seems to have calmed down from his sometimes tempestuous on-course persona, had a terrific year last year, and will contend any time his putter behaves.

6).We ran through European golfers who needed to improve to secure their Tour status, and Carl Pettersson and Gonzo did the trick in Texas. Time for Johnston, Cejka and Kjeldsen, Power and Poulter to take advantage this week.

7).It's going to be a windy week in New Orleans, with the chance of strong storms on Sunday. I spent a long weekend in New Orleans in high summer's scorchio last year and, away from the squalour of Bourbon Street, what a good time we had! Fabulous food and music, and you can see why the New Orleans stop is so popular for some of the Pros - I wonder if they'd get more of the top players, though, if they could find a week on the schedule with a better chance of good weather?

8).No owgr points this week, and winning doesn't qualify you for The Masters.
The Top 50 in owgr points after this week will earn exemption into The Players - Lee Westwood pretty much the bubble boy; he's in if Chris Wood or Thongchai Jaidee don't win in China, and Wang doesn't finish in the top 17, according to princedrac.
Then, the Top 60 on the owgr list on May 22nd qualify for Erin Hills and the US Open. Perhaps Westwood's chances of qualifying are enhanced by not playing? Local qualifying begins this week.

That's it; looking forward to seeing how this experiment works out, and hoping its success is not compromised by crappy weather. The true indicator of success will be the Player Commitments for next year.

Good job Kwini. Update Anderton to Sturridge or Carroll? Or keeping to your Pompey roots?

Ooh, Didn't think of that. Sturridge is terrible, difficult to believe now how good he was with Suarez. Or at Bolton . . . .

I'm a Carroll fan so always give him a free pass!

I'm never wrong wrote:Good job Kwini. Update Anderton to Sturridge or Carroll?

And Rickie to Robbie?

Hot on the heels of reports of kiss-and-make-up   between Padraig and Sergio, there's growing twitterage of a real-life feud between Tom Gillis ("HATER of slow play") and renowned slow coach and all-round unfunny man Ben Crane ("Jesus Follower") over an apparent bet. Scroll down Gillis's twitter feed for more!

https://twitter.com/tcgillis?lang=en

Sounds like Crane's being called out. On two counts! Love it!!


This is easier to grasp:

http://www.golfchannel.com/news/grill-room/crane-called-out-twitter-over-alleged-6k-putting-contest-loss

Seems the bet was between Crane and A.N.Other - Must be something serious for Gillis to name and shame Crane, perhaps Crane is a serial defaulter on gambling debts, dunno? But in my world, guys get thrown out of clubs for such serious sh1t, a capital offence at SGC in Clinton, Shotrock!

...and this happened at Phoenix? Does seem a bit strange that A.N.other hasn't done anything about it, apart from getting his friend Gillis to go public.

Great stuff Kwini, I didn't see your notes before making my picks for Grumps game, but I seem to have picked a lot of the players you've mentioned! Purely coincidental! Can't wait to see how this week pans out interesting format and there are some teams there that could really perform well. Hopefully playing with Rose will give Stenson a boost and help him regain his form. Great to see Sergio & Harrington bury the hatchet.

P.S. Great pick re Kevin Chappell last week.

Cheers B_t_b,
I've no real idea about this week; all I know is that a team which has both members as good wind players should have an advantage. Patience will help also. Tomorrow will be perfect by the looks of things, but wind looks like being more a factor as they move thru the weekend.

Hope Padraig and Sergio can continue to see the big picture!

Great seeing Sergio kicking off El Clasico btw!

Looking forward to this week to see what unfolds. Always loved team events in match play, but in stroke play, I'm kinda "meh".

I thought the lack of OWGR might hurt this field, but now I'm thinking the opposite is true... At least among the top players. I guess if I were a top ranked guy, I wouldn't want any of my ranking in the hands of a partner. Gotta wonder how some 60-something ranked guy who does well this week will feel about that though if he finds himself home watching the Players.

I have ZERO clue how to handicap this thing in this format.

RE Gillis/Crane. My only thoughts are if someone wants to call out another player publicly... Then fine if that's what floats your boat. . But have the nads to do it yourself instead of hiding behind the skirts of some journeyman pro. Around here we call that "chicken-$hit".

Missed the discussion here RE yesterday's two new decisions, if there was any. Bottom line: I like the direction of these two and in general where the greater new rules are headed.

Some say it opens up more questions, but with the proposals that players can fix spikemarks on greens, move loose impediments in hazard areas, ground clubs in some of them, etc, etc... The new rules will basically render most of the "ticky-tac" kinds of things people are apt to call in on moot.

Just one for instance... IMO under current rules marking your ball and replacing in the same spot is very important as to not avoid blemishes/spikemarks on the greens. But once players are allowed to fix those things anyway, then the suspicion a slight mis- mark is intentional is mostly removed. And seems to me most the other "infamous" call in's will no longer be violations either ( but not all obviously). Win-win for golf IMO.

I'm still hoping for some work on the scorecard double Jeopardy thing though, but I realize that one is fraught with potential unintended consequences. So I'm fine they're taking their time to thoroughly vet that one.

robo,
Lots to deal with there!

~Handicap this week? Impossible, haven't a clue. But wouldn't you just pick a couple of outsiders that might have the grit to get thru a tough weather week and speculate?
Kelly & Strick for me at 50's, Cejka & Kjeldsen @ 100/1. One shilling each way, not worth much more!

~Don't know anything about Tom Gillis other than what's media ready, but he's always been a gutsy guy, played in Europe, up and down on the "Big" Tour - bring it on!

~And: Let's call a spade a spade, Lexi cheated, whether subliminally or intentionally - why doesn't she at least say she made a mistake? I'm kinda old school on this. The rules the pros play to are increasingly different from how we play at home. Wherever home might be. Rickie Fowler's drop at #17 (I think) at Honda just ridiculous, same as Woods at TPC Sawgrass when he won, each for totally different reasons.

(Hope you don't have an ESPN photog gig . . . . . . )

Kwini... I'm down to shooting grip and grins, oilfield equipment, some architecture but mostly editing  these days, so what goes on at ESPN or most any sports/golf media has little to no impact on me anymore. Most the guys in my line from golf are already gone anyway.

And no... I really can't figure out who to favor except the chalk. Team stroke play as opposed to team match play is such a different animal. Trying to post a number instead of winning a hole probably goes back to those who are the best at posting numbers anyway, so that puts me back on the chalk.

My comments on the rules were't intended as just a  Lexi thing,  more aimed at the overall issues of everything out there being micro analyzed via video. Lexi's deal just upped the ferocity of the conversation and perhaps the pace in which the ruling bodies are willing to deal with the issues.

As for Lexi, maybe it's just semantics, but if it's not I couldn't disagree with your Lexi comments more. I'm going to take a liberty and steal the words someone else posted elsewhere that expresses my opinion better than I can....  "Man you are harsh.... Let's keep in mind this mark occurred on the 27th hole on a long day of waiting around... also, no doubt the players were getting pushed to finish up and get the tournament caught up... She was sloppy and she paid the price.... 2 strokes too many but it is what it is.... I really admire her getting back in the game and finishing the way she did. Cheaters don't have that bounce back... She wasn't cheating she was sloppy....

At least I agree that she paid the ultimate penalty which didn't fit any crime (or honest mistake) there might have been. Just don't think you start doing something different from what you've done all your life just because you're tired. Two strokes and no further penalty would have been fair.
Any further penalty would have been having to live with the court of public opinion the rest of her life - if public opinion actually cared.

Ref: Note 8). above, Lee Westwood.

Assuming princedrac's prognostications are correct, which they invariably seem to be, Lee had a good morning watching his chances for a trip to The Players slowly improve in China.
Wang could knock him out of the qualifying Top 50 with a 17th place finish: Currently 74th.
While Woody (61st after Round 1) and Thongchai (also 61st) would need to win.

Does that inspire Lee to give his Worksop putting green a workout, or would he even care?

"Getting to know you,
Getting to know all about you"

Nothing says getting to know you better than a foursomes triple bogey:
Bohn & Pettersson started with one.
Goosen & Van Aswegen finished with one - a snowman.

Possibly others out there, or worse, but they stood out!

Poor from Luke Donald & Jamie Lovemark, in with a +3 score of 75; too bad this wasn't at Harbour Town.

Good from WGC Match Play Champs Ogilvy & Poults though.

Enjoyed the first day of the Zurich, but IMO this was a case where the online feature groups coverage was a lot better than the TV coverage. It was neat to be able to follow every shot of at least 4 groups and understand the strategy each group was employing all the way around.

But on TV (at least on Golf Channel)... Other than Spieth and Palmer who they followed a lot, IMO they really didn't capture the essence of foursomes as well with the other groups as the online.

kwinigolfer wrote:Ref: Note 8). above, Lee Westwood.

Assuming princedrac's prognostications are correct, which they invariably seem to be, Lee had a good morning watching his chances for a trip to The Players slowly improve in China.

Do you think he'd play even if eligible? I'd have to describe Westy's apparent attitude towards that event over the last few years as ambivalent at best.

robo,
Are you trying to say you missed the Manchester derby?

Didn't watch anything from NOLA, and am off to a Rock'N'Roll exhibit Friday. Gotta get in me culture.

Agree lw1 has shown ambivalence, and may again, but this course suits him so wouldn't be surprised if he plays.

I have Team Madison as my one-and-done, the Czech and Dane as my outsider. Both off to a good start, but the breeze is getting up tomorrow so can they keep it up? (Hope so!)

Tell ya what Kwini... You made some nice calls in your notes RE some of the teams you would be watching at NOLA. Nobody bats 1000, but solid picks... at least for one round.... :-)

I suspect some of the "steady Eddie" teams who did well in foursomes won't be as dominant in fourball, and vice versa. But looks like they're having a lot more fun and we're seeing more personality than we usually see outta these guys. Very nice for a change of pace.

robo,
Sometimes I think I have a clue - but this week? Not one bit of it!
Had some good ones recently though!

20 - 30 mph winds forecast Friday. and that may not be quite so bad for Steady and Eddie - reminds me of a Billy Joel song, but we better not go there . . . . . . .

Foursomes is never having to say your sorry! I think someone p hijacked that to lurv or something similar!

I suppose they have to use the same toothbrush too??!!


Fourballs on their way under cloudy skies and 15 mph winds - morning "wave" could quite easily have the better of conditions as wind will only get stronger: 20 - 30 mph. Strong winds expected for the weekend, accompanied by storms on Sunday.

Top 35 teams and ties play Round 3, haven't seen what happens if the number of teams thus qualifying reaches 39 (= 78 players); presumably MDF's after 54 holes?

Yes, an MDF will take place after round 3 to reduce it to 35 teams if necessary

Thanks Grumps, Do you know at what threshold?

Plenty of teams going like a train early this morning, Donaldson & Hatton going like my car - bogeyed the first

kwinigolfer wrote:Thanks Grumps, Do you know at what threshold?

Unless I'm completely missing the point, this was asked and answered, right? 2nd round cut is at Top 35 and ties. If more than 35 play the third round the MDF cut comes out to reduce to Top 35 and ties again.

For most tournaments the threshold is 78 golfers, anything above that they invoke the mdf rule, just wondered if they would tailor it slightly differently, but not important at all.

3 x 62's so far and two of them look as if putts inside 5 feet were missed on their last hole, otherwise they'd've been 61's.
Will anyone beat that lot?

Cut-line perhaps at -6, or possibly -7?

Not much interest in this weekend's action?

What do we know?
Looks like Day & Fowler, Berger & Pieters and Rose & Stenson were below their best, or still on post-Masters holiday, but there are some Europeans who can do themselves some good this weekend:

~Blixt is leading of course, but any good result will help after a slow first half of the season for him.

~Cejka (currently 133rd in FedEx points) and Kjeldsen (105th) are playing well as a team. Would think time is running out for Kjeldsen, especially, as he'll presumably play mostly in Europe this summer. Keep going this week and every position/point gained adds breathing space to yr schedule.

~Freddie Jac and Lingmerth will (presumably in Freddie's case) have status next year, but Poulter is plodding along with Ogilvy and every position will continue to help his cause.

~While Gonzo and Beef need every point/dollar they can get.

Most important for these Europeans: Make sure you don't get mdf'd after 54 holes.

Amazing that Goosen & Van Aswegen are in contention considering they have swallowed a triple bogey. And Patrick Reed looks to have returned to form - or at least got his clubs back on spec.

Lastly: No idea whether he cares or not, but Westwood's chances of qualifying for The Players are looking promising, given the Round 3 picture in China. Stay at home for another couple of weeks, Lee, and you'll make the US Open too . . . . . . .

Yep, Westwood is losing a tournament in his divisor this week, and will lose one next week and the week after (if he does not play in Jax). Skipping the next three weeks will offset the attrition and he most likely stay in the Top 60 by the US Open cut off date.

Don't know if anyone saw this nonsense reported by the Golf Channel.
Sums up pretty much everything I don't care for about the PGA Tour (altho' that's way outweighed by what I DO like . . . . . ), what a bunch of gutless bullies:

http://www.golfchannel.com/news/ryan-lavner/hey-pga-tour-not-so-fast

Just like the example made of Doug Barron over their drug garbage. Hope Vijay wins his suit against the Tour.


Another breezy day in New Orleans, but probably not as bad as originally expected. First groups off at the same time whistles blow in England's (and Ireland, Scotland & Wales) green and pleasant land.

Sort of like John Paramour dinging a 14 yr Amateur in the Masters?

BTW, Paramour dinged another in Round 3 at the China Open today

Not quite like that (Masters) at all.

Meanwhile, Beef and Gonzo have work to do or their first two rounds will have pretty much been in vain.

Seems Poulter has kept his tour card

Naytorious B.I.G wrote:Seems Poulter has kept his tour card

Indeed. The technicalities of it are way over my head.....

Poults still retains "conditional status" and, as he has Past Champion status, he'll never lose it unless he's disqualified from the Tour for some unprecedented reason.
And, in this case, as a member he was invited by Geoff Ogilvy who qualified as of right for the tournament.

Clear? Or clear as mud??

Sad to see Cejka and Keldsen throw away so much good work on #17 and #18 - hope they bounce back from that. But no surprise to see the top two teams.

Hang about, I hadn't seen this, you're miles ahead of me:

http://www.pgatour.com/news/2017/04/29/ian-poulter-and-brian-gay-exempt-.html

Gay was obvious wasn't it, but Poulter is a bonus - GPB was on to this last week, but I don't know how it's calibrated. It would certainly not be appropriate to look at Poults in isolation, but perhaps some genius has run every single tournament and golfer under the previous criteria. Or maybe not?

Round 4 action gets underway at 6.40 a.m. CDT Sunday, off both nines with stormy weather in the forecast.

Amazing that Blixt & Smith have played 54 holes without a bogey; would love to see them close things out tomorrow.


Wells Fargo Championship next week, in Wilmington, NC.

So-so field but it includes:
Rafa, Casey, Gonzo, Johnston, Kjeldsen, Lowry, McDool, Molinari, Noren, Power.
Haas, Holmes, Dustin, Zach, Kiz, Mickelson, Oosthuizen, Reed, Scott.

IJP thanked Brian Gay via twitter for calling attention to the change. I DMed Ryan Ballengee about how IJP would have got his card via the old method.

I don't know if he wrote anything about in his blog.

Good work GPB
Some shares in IJP apparel on their way to you in appreciation.


princedrac reports that lw1 will improve to #50 in the owgr, which would qualify him for The Players.

Already quite windy in New Orleans, storms likely by midday. Fingers crossed they finish things up today, was fun watching Blixt & Smith yesterday.
(Patrick Cantlay looks permanently miserable.)


PS: GPB, Are you affected by the flooding?

Flooding? Me Personally? No. I live in a relatively high spot. But there are flash flood warning all around me. And we have a lot of rain in the last 5 days. Well the rain does affect my satellite TV reception, which just went out again.

GC coverage of Round 4 starts at 9 am ET

Cantlay does have a sour look all the time, I think he just needs to get laid. I think Cam Smith needs a makeover as well.

Spieth/Palmer missed 5 very makeable putts yesterday, should be at least 3 shots better, if not 5 shots better. Palmer's putting stroke is AWFUL. Flippy wrists

Good job GPB, just saw it on the news. IJP lives to fight another day!

Glad to hear you're not being washed away, GPB.

At least Cam Smith looks like he's enjoying himself some of the time, Cantlay looks like he's in a morgue - the corpse; never seen such a pale face in an outdoor sport.

Now, Smith & Blixt need to get going . . . . . . give young Cam something to smile about.

There's a line of apocalyptic storms bearing down on Norlins, looks like they can't miss; perhaps that's what's effed up the pgatour.com live scoring?
We've got storms bearing down on us, different colours though - instead of reds and yellows, we've got pinks and pale blues. Not happy, I put my shovels away last week.

Very, very cool.
I've loved this. Way exceeded expectations; well, mine anyway.
More on Monday.

And, anyone watching the Golf Channel gets a taste of how bl00dy slow the women are playing, four guys playing more quickly than two ladies. Christie Kerr worse than Ben Crane.

Why is timing in golf the only rule which is not enforced? Did a little experiment yesterday during tv coverage from China. Careful to time only when there was no possibility of editing interrupting, and was generous in terms of when players were clear to start i.e. Fixed pitch marks etc. Apart from tap ins could not get anyone within 10 seconds of their allotted time. Maybe they need to increase the allowance and then sort it, but current state is crazy, and getting worse.

Worse than that, puligny, is that "bad times" etc are only applied selectively, and often appear to penalise an otherwise innocent party in a slow group. Which seems to have happened in New Orleans.


Don't suppose they'll be rushing their pace of play in Norlins this morning, with Kisner and Scott Brown facing off against Blixt and Cam Smith, coverage here due to begin at 9.00 a.m. EDT, 2.00 p.m. BST. Both groups I quite fancied, but the win would mean more to Blixt & Smith so hope fortune, or superb play, shines down on them. Conditions should be perfect.

Confirmation from the owgr's that lw1 is up to #50 and now has the option to play The Players, which starts in 10 days' time.

That's really my point Kwini. There was no relaxation of the rules for Lexi, so why is there everyday for such a large proportion of golfers on timing?