PGA Tour: WGC - Mexico Championship: Notes from the Ballwasher

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1).I'm not a fan of PGA National, and consider holes #15 & #17 to be gratuitously penal, but the "Honda" frequently produces a compelling finish and really enjoyed last week's action complete with the 5th Play-Off in this years' past seven tournaments.Well done Justin Thomas, and he's piling up "W"'s relentlessly. Another nearly week from Luke List and great finishes too from Fleetwood and Noren.

2).It was interesting to read v2 reports of Radar going ballistic at Webb Simpson's slow play - still don't know for sure if he and Tommy were put on the clock, but it couldn't have helped as Fleetwood promptly registered bogeys on #14 and #15. The Tour doesn't have this put-on-the-clock policy quite right with the very real likelihood of the innocent party being unwittingly (by the TOur) penalised. That's happened in the past, most egregiously with Garrigus vs Na at Valspar a few years ago, Harrington and Woods at Bridgestone even further back. I hope the Tour is using its ShotLink data to punish the slowcoaches, wherever they come from, but haven't seen any evidence.

3).Not sure what to make about Justin Thomas having a go at moronic spectators - media here says "just wait until the Ryder Cup", but not sure there's ever been too much evidence of such disruptions, in Europe at least - nothing like the guff that Montgomerie etc had to endure @ Brookline for instance. More important things to worry about at the RC, like putting one's ball on the tee on the first hole.
Having grandstands just about overlooking tees and greens surely doesn't help at places like Phoenix (even money Spieth won't return) and PGA National.

4).Golf Channel made the very interesting observation about the USGA's decision to switch from an 18-hole play-off to a 2-holer. How will they select the holes so as not to unduly favour a particular style of golfer? It was argued that The Players has it just right, a 3-hole play-off starting at #16 (reachable but potentially penal Par-5), #17 (Par-3 which we all know) and the demanding Par-4 18th.
Clearly the sudden death 18th hole at Glen Oaks (Northern Trust last August) was criticised as a hole with a sharp dog-leg Par-4 where Dustin Johnson could carry the water on the inside of the elbow almost with impunity, but competitor Spieth couldn't and had a considerably more difficult (water on the left, trees on the right) drive. The USGA needs to find a proper balance, which will be a toughy with just two holes.

5).WGC - Mexico saw fine performances by many Europeans last year:
Fleetwood (2nd)
Fish, Rahm (T3)
Pieters (T5)
McIlroy (T7)
Hatton (10th)
No Rory this year, and others missing include Day, Koepka, Matsuyama, Stenson.

6).Interesting debuts this week on the WGC stage, especially with Shanker Sharma, Dylan Frittelli and Chris Paisley bringing their sparkling early-season form to Chapultepec. Haven't a clue about a likely winner other than to state the bleedin' obvious that Top 4 are looking very strong. I'll probably be going with Rafa C-B is my one-and-done for the week - just a hunch, poor result here last year, but hoping he can turn some largely decent form into a good result.

7).No "Opposite Field" event this week following the devastation of Puerto Rico - it seems to be being replaced with a two-day Pro-Am with a few generous PGA & LPGA pros offering their services. Hope the Puerto Rico Open is back on next season's calendar; its absence this year is an important miss for the Tour's rank and file, but they'll be queueing up to play in the Dominican Republic in 3 weeks' time.

kwinigolfer wrote:The Valspar Championship may be something of an ugly duckling for the Florida Swing, but fields seem to improve every year.

No DJ, Thomas or Rahm, and Matsuyama and Koepka are crocked, but 7 of the Top 13 will be in town including past Champ Jordan Spieth, plus a healthy dose of Europeans, with Seamus Power in line as first alternate, incl:
Casey
Donald
Fish
Fitz
Sergio
Harrington (18-hole course record holder)
Lowry
McDowell
Rory
Poults
Rose
Stenson

I'm not sure Lowry is raising the profile much these days Kwini.

Just mentioned the Shane for the sake of completeness, tried to add all the ET players; could be his sort of course though.
It's the time of year some of these marginal guys (incl Donald, McDool, Poults etc) need to take a long, hard look at the calendar and focus on grinding out results.

The Fat Accountant has had a good start to the year but Poulter for all his promise late last year just doesn't seem to be arsed. Shame in a Ryder Cup year.

Re. Woods and the gym. To be fair (although his past record isn't helping him), he may be prioritising the sort of core exercises that help support his obviously fragile back.

S_R may well be correct in that the advent of some sort of proper fitness vogue in golf doesn't currently take into account what works for the repetitive motions of a golf swing. I'm certainly not convinced that making one's pecs look good in a tight T-shirt is integral to a better score on the card.

kwinigolfer wrote:Sam Horsfield going along nicely at the Tshwane Open in Pretoria - looks as if he has a sponsors invitation into Bay Hill in a fortnight's time.

Very nice 3rd round. I couldn't figure out why API was giving him a sponsors invite until I figured out that Sam Horsfield is not the same player as journeyman David Horsey.

Sam Horsfield, David Horsey, & Billy Horschel might be a future US Open pairing.

as well as Jamie Lovemark, Tom Lovelady, and Dru Love (or Lucas Glover).

You could have Brian Gay, Notah Begay and Adam Scott in a threesome too.

super_realist wrote:You could have Brian Gay, Notah Begay and Adam Scott in a threesome too.

Don't tell Adam's missus or children that.

Sam Horsfield is a Poults prodigy from Florida I think. Not sure whether he's related to any of the footballing Horsfields. Didn't he win ET Q-School a few months ago?

He won Q School by a mile.

If Shanker wins this its surely one off the biggest surprise wins in wgc history?

beninho wrote:If Shanker wins this its surely one off the biggest surprise wins in wgc history?

What about the time the tubby Australian guy won the NEC?

Didn’t the first few matchplays have some left field finals? Sutherland, Fulke, Maggert?

McLaren wrote:

beninho wrote:If Shanker wins this its surely one off the biggest surprise wins in wgc history?

What about the time the tubby Australian guy won the NEC?

Be nice about Popeye.


Looks like the cavalry is coming though, it'll be a helluva effort for Shanker to stay in front tonight, then who knows . . . . . . .

Radar just mentioned to be a member costs 300,000. Don’t know if that’s a debenture, joining fee or yearly sub.

Is that in Mexican money (pesos?)


Some fun groups for Sunday, don’t think I could have picked that top ten to come out it in a more entertaining order.

Impressive from Hatton and Mickleson. 62 from Thomas is absurd cf. rest of the field.

I wouldn't be surprised if dj wins this. Like to see shanker hold out though.

Sky said that it's rumoured that Sharma will be getting an invite to the Masters if he doesn't qualify automatically by his own right!

62.00 - Justin Thomas
70.28 - Avg Score (3rd round)
8.28 - Differential between 62 and Avg Score
3.12 - Z-Score


A Z-score of 3.00 or more is exceptional.

=========

Michelle Wie wins in Singapore on the LPGA tour. I know that Michelle is a polarizing figure in golf, but not many people can deny that Wie brings more eyes to the LPGA tour.

sirbenson wrote:Sky said that it's rumoured that Sharma will be getting an invite to the Masters if he doesn't qualify automatically by his own right!

There's a market ready to be tapped into in India.

beninho wrote:

sirbenson wrote:Sky said that it's rumoured that Sharma will be getting an invite to the Masters if he doesn't qualify automatically by his own right!

There's a market ready to be tapped into in India.

Even though he is ranked #75, he is still about 30 OWGR points from being in the Top 50. He needs at least a 3 - way top 2 finish to be safely inside the Top 50 at the Masters OWGR deadline. At least a solo 5th to get inside the Top 64 for the Match play

But I can definitely see ANGC giving Sharma the Ryo Ishikawa Lifetime Masters exemption.

Who's going to win this thing?

Harman & Thomas making everything they look at, Sharma & Hatton with way too many knee tremblers. And then there's Phil.

Perhaps Kiradech can "post a number" and send super into a stupor?

Tigeresque weekend charge from Thomas. Absolute steal if he wins this.

Agree.
Hatton catching a lot of grief from the NBC crew regarding his temperament -Jacobsen with his usual anti-European sanctimonious b0ll0cks.

I was just about to post - can we all agree that Hatton for all his excellent golf, and Ryder Cup potential, is a bit of a prick....

What a big missed 4 footer that is on 17. Who wants it now?

Brian Harman has a touch of Ricky Ponting

I’ve just noticed Shankar has 9 logos on his shirt. Sponsors going crazy, like F1.

Oh. Fair enough.

Jt is immense. How!! Best in the world at present.

What?? I think it's safe to say Thomas is on a bit of a roll just now...

This isn’t anywhere near over yet either. This is the best Sunday of golf I can remember in a long while.

Does Tyrell nick it, or Phil or no one gets past JT. Maybe Rafa. God knows. But im knackered from the baby and can't keep my eyes open!

And JT is seriously good isn't he, he's also seemingly a pretty decent guy whenever I've heard him.

What happened with Mrs Doubtfire to get disqualified on the Champions Tour event ?

Surely one of them will birdie the 18th?

Pretty cool.

SetupDeterminesTheMotion wrote:What happened with Mrs Doubtfire to get disqualified on the Champions Tour event ?

Failed to sign his scorecard.


Clumsy from Hatton on the 72nd hole. Wonder of his pr1ckitude gives him energy instead of sapping it as the NBC crew think?

Yeah that’s probably a fair comment, you suspect he’s a fire and thunder type of character who needs the emotion to get the adrenaline running. Still makes him a bit of a prick though!

Very pleased for Phil, amazing month or so for him. That was great fun.

Well done Phil! Surprised JT couldn't make a 3 but I guess having come from level par to -16 in 36 holes took everything he had.

Lots of Phil haters out there, but that's one helluva run of form he's in, pleased to see it.

A nice "world" leaderboard, edge to the Americans this weekend.

Great win from Phil! What an ending to the tournament! Legendary career!! Let’s hope Tiger gets into the winning circle at the Masters dare I say it

sirbenson wrote:Sky said that it's rumoured that Sharma will be getting an invite to the Masters if he doesn't qualify automatically by his own right!

Maybe!
No more new qualifiers today for The Masters so they'll want to fill up the field! Sharma would be a terrific addition, but think they should add Cameron Smith as well, possibly even Cameron Davis..

Plus,
Phil now well up in the Ryder Cup qualifying list (4th?), which is an already stated big deal for him this year, possibly Bubba might be up to 8th.

Don't see why they should add anyone, Sharma included.... the qualification criteria are there for all to see. Sharma will no doubt play there at some point, if he doesn’t qualify this year it won’t be for lack of chances. Three good rounds in a WGC doesn’t automatically get you major invites....

NedB-H wrote:Don't see why they should add anyone, Sharma included.... the qualification criteria are there for all to see. Sharma will no doubt play there at some point, if he doesn’t qualify this year it won’t be for lack of chances. Three good rounds in a WGC doesn’t automatically get you major invites....

The only thing is, the Masters Committee reserves the right to make Special Invitations and they've usually used those invitations wisely, seldom to Europeans for some reason. But Sharma ticks the box (not to mention he still has opportunities to qualify the old fashioned way).

Sharma moves up to #66. Plays the Indian Open this coming week. But it adds an divisor to his denominator.

Dell Match Play typically goes to #67 or #68, because of WDs.

Koepka won't be playing

Stenson probably won't play (doesn't like the new format) Stenson is scheduled to play Tampa, Orlando, Houston in the next 4 weeks. If he plays MP, that will be 4 straight weeks leading into the Masters.

Bit of an anti-climactic finish last night. Hatton fails to make a 4 after missing 18 with a wedge and Thomas does likewise on first playoff hole.

Not sure about Mickleson. Something about him that's always seriously jarred with me, especially after the Watson Ryder Cup behaviour. Still, no doubting his ability or the fact he plays a brand of golf that's good to watch.

NedB-H wrote:I was just about to post - can we all agree that Hatton for all his excellent golf, and Ryder Cup potential, is a bit of a prick....

Yes, agreed.

And he bottled it on 18. The wedge approach was bottled, the chip was a major bottle job, and he lacked all belief when it came to the par putt.

GPB wrote:Sharma moves up to #66.  Plays the Indian Open this coming week.  But it adds an divisor to his denominator.

Dell Match Play typically goes to #67 or #68, because of WDs.

Koepka won't be playing

Stenson probably won't play (doesn't like the new format)  Stenson is scheduled to play Tampa, Orlando, Houston in the next 4 weeks.  If he plays MP, that will be 4 straight weeks leading into the Masters.

Top 64 in owgr's next Monday will make the Match Play. I wonder if Phil will commit - he usually plays Houston. Matsuyama must be doubtful as well. Levy (now 61st) should make it, but Poults (63rd) and Luiten (67th) must be on the bubble.

Four hour time difference GB / US for a couple of weeks starting next Sunday.

It looks as if Seamus Power has found his way into this week's Valspar tournament - not yet quite sure how.
But he's been in a slump and fallen off the pace needed to retrieve his playing card and it's likely that, after this week, he'll only squeeze into one tournament in the following month+.

EDIT: Three withdrawals so far, including Peter Uihlein whose absence enabled Power to sneak in.

Rob Bolton has tweeted that Uihlein, Blixt, Landry, Stanley have WDed

Kyle Thompson just tweeted that he shot 70 and mused that the Dominican Republic event is the only event he will get to play in the near future.

He is on the absolute bottom of the reshuffle, playing 9 events and missing the cut in every one of them. 5 tourneys in the fall, Sony, Palm Springs, Torrey and Pebble Beach

In the WTF, he missed two cuts, T68th and WD in the four tournaments.

https://twitter.com/KyleThompsonPGA/status/970751875510349824

http://www.owgr.com/en/Ranking/PlayerProfile.aspx?playerID=7617

Definitely a case of "PLAY BETTER"