PGA Tour: When does the Tour Season Really Start?: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).Depending upon one's point of view, you could say this week is the 3rd start of the 2017/18 season, following the October opener in Napa at the Safeway, or the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Maui.
CBS TV would doubtless reckon it begins next week at Torrey Pines when Major TV Network coverage begins.
And some would dismiss the first third of the season entirely and say it really starts when the Florida Swing kicks off.
And many in the Northern United States would say that the season proper doesn't mean a thing until The Masters in April. Which, in reality, is the first event of the second half of the Tour season.

2).That is a long way of noting that the first quarter of this season concludes when the CareerBuilder Challenge has built the career of their champion.
Give or take an irregularity at the counting house, the CareerBuilder is the 10th event that pros can play, Houston the 20th, Memphis the 30th, and Greensboro the 40th and final tournament week before the Play-Offs.
And some guys haven't even played yet!

3).For instance:
Woods & McIlroy haven't played at all (except in presidential company) and nor have Sergio & Shane (too bad they weren't invited), Kaymer or Oosthuizen.
Justin Rose is played one, won one.
And Others just have one event: Stenson, Hatton, Fleetwood, Fisher, Molinari, Noren, Snedeker (been injured, plays this week), Harrington among them.
While these have two: Dustin, Fowler, Koepka, Day, Spieth, Horschel, Poulter, Kuchar, Hoffman, Scott, Donald, JB Holmes  while Jon Rahm, Ogilvy, Bubba & Phil play their third this week.

Obviously, many of these have exemptions which will mean they won't need to make the Play Offs. But I'd guarantee that some of the above will rue the decision to stick two fingers up at the first 10 (or more) tournaments and find themselves scrambling to:
~Qualify for the FedEx Play Offs.
~Get their 15 events in.
~Escape Mac's censure for double-dipping.

4).Meanwhile, Patton Kizzire's hot streak continued with the play-off win in Honolulu when all but James Hahn of the leaders stumbled over the final few Waialae holes leaving Kizzire & Hahn to contest the Play Off.
Russell Knox was never quite going to win but ruined the chances of a Top 3 by (effectively) bogeying 3 of the last 4 holes. Still, 2 x Top Tens is a decent start for him.

5).News from North of the Border concerns Graham DeLaet who has endured similar (don't ask me how similar) back issues and surgeries as Tiger Woods. He's now undergoing some stem cell treatment in an effort to find the remedy he needs to continue playing at a high level. The career of a wonderful ball-striker is looking in increasing jeopardy.

6).Hudson Swafford won last year's CareerBuilder, but this year's tournament looks wide open with Brian Harman and Kizzire hoping their good play works for another week. The European challenge is thin on the ground, Jon Rahm leading the way and Knox, Laird (decent record in the California desert) and Seamus Power the only GB&I pros competing.

7).Brian Harman was uncharacteristically (I would've thought) forthright last week about his disappointment at not making Stricker's Presidents Cup Team and his ambition to qualify for Furyk's Ryder Cup squad. One surprise was that he's played more tournaments than anyone else over the past 6+ years and he reckons he'll need to refine his schedule.
Wouldn't have figured him as the Tour's "Iron Man", but he's playing more consistently well than ever, up to #20 in the owgr charts and will be in all the Majors & WGC's. Something will have to give.  

8).Whenever the season starts, I'm looking forward to the next four weeks, with Torrey Pines, Phoenix, Pebble Beach and Riviera to come.

I did some rough calculations earlier, and if I was correct, Rahm needs to top 8 this week to have a chance at #1 in Phoenix.

Dustin is losing a tournament in his divisor next week and Rahm is gaining one when he plays Phoenix.

Both Rahm and DJ are playing Pebble.

Didn't realise that Rahm could overtake The Black Hole so soon.

super_realist wrote:Didn't realise that Rahm could overtake The Black Hole so soon.

I shouldn't rise to it, but go on...

The Black Hole?

I presume not a reference to a Steve Williams quote.

Assume no-one will be surprised to read that Jason Day has pulled out of the San Diego Pro-Am complaining of a sore back. Apparently he still expects to play Thursday, but talk about lining your excuses well in advance . . . . . . .

Roller_Coaster wrote:

super_realist wrote:Didn't realise that Rahm could overtake The Black Hole so soon.

I shouldn't rise to it, but go on...

The Black Hole?

I presume not a reference to a Steve Williams quote.

Dustin Johnson, a man so dense that not even light can't escape his clutches.

kwinigolfer wrote:Assume no-one will be surprised to read that Jason Day has pulled out of the San Diego Pro-Am complaining of a sore back. Apparently he still expects to play Thursday, but talk about lining your excuses well in advance . . . . . . .

Is Jason Day the next Anthony Kim? He's just pathetic isn't he?

Day is laughable. At the same time he was praising how good Tiger was looking.

I heard that Day was in a practice round with DeChambeau and Tiger. Presumably injured himself during that to drop out of his pro-am duties. Remember when Furyk got pre-emptively DQed for missing his pro-am? Seems a long time ago now.

super_realist wrote:

Roller_Coaster wrote:

super_realist wrote:Didn't realise that Rahm could overtake The Black Hole so soon.

I shouldn't rise to it, but go on...

The Black Hole?

I presume not a reference to a Steve Williams quote.

Dustin Johnson, a man so dense that not even light can't escape his clutches.

Ah, quite cerebral for t'internet, shame the pesky double negative slipped in to the explanation.

Just don't forget that there are holes of all sorts, not just black ones. Some white holes might protest offence an the perceived inequality of your put down, steel yourself for an internet backlash...