PGA Tour: Farewell to the Deutsche Bank / Dell Boston Date: Notes from the Ballwasher

A very brief few notes as the Ballwasher will be off line for a while:

1).Hugely impressive win for DeChambeau. He and Finau certainly look to have made Furyk's job a bit easier - both have continued their excellent "regular" season efforts but Captain Jim must be feeling his hands are tied with everyone seeming to have already inked in Mickelson and Woods as certain Ryder Cup choices.
Strange thing is: There's still the Billy Horschel scenario and the US player who did most to advance his cause at Ridgewood was, yup, Billy Horschel.

2).Still finding it difficult to warm to BDeC, but he did pretty much everything at Ridgewood better than anyone else, (although he still takes his own sweet time about it). Where's Richard McEvoy when you need him?
Can't say that any European would have filled Thomas Bjorn with any confidence, Hatton perhaps, and Tommy Fleetwood, but everyone else just made Bjorn's task harder.

3).Last week I mentioned eight players who teed it up for the Northern Trust and had made each of three previous Ridgewood cuts - of those course specialists, only Stewart Cink missed out this time round, largely because of a horrendous start on Thursday. But perhaps it was telling that most of these 30- and 40-somethings are no match for the younger brigade on bomber-friendly courses, Ryan Palmer the best of those seven old lags.

4).25 of the 125 Northern Trust qualifiers have left the FedEx stage, Charl Schwartzel probably the biggest name. Europeans Cejka, Laird and Power also have a month off unless they play in Europe.

5).Ridgewood CC looked terrific, but why does the Tour insist on wide fairways when the course is so soft? A bit like Bellerive really, and no doubt birdies and eagles will fly at TPC Boston for the final Dell Technologies Play-Off event. Only 3 Play-Off tournaments next year, and the Northern Trust will be at Liberty National, in New Joysey. Then alternating between Boston and the NYC area from 2020 onwards.

6).98 go at it this week with Fowler and Franny already declared as non-starters. Wouldn't be surprised if one or two others joined them, taking a week off before the top 70 head to Shotrock's Aronomink in Philadelphia next week.
Not quite sure of all the arithmetic permutations (help Bunsen!), but these "notables" look as if they'll need a strong week to advance:
Matsuyama, Rafa C-B, Louis Oosthuizen, Kuchar & Hoffman (these two always seem to make it), Branden Grace and Knox.
Remember, Round 1 gets underway on Friday, winner to be crowned Monday (US Labor Day).

Are you off on your holidays Kwini?

I don’t mind BCD, he’s different. All irons are the same length shaft apparently, no wrist break swing, holds the club in his palms with a wide grip, goes his own way (might try it myself, everything else has been a failure). Clearly works for him, multiple winner already, US amateur and collegiate champ in same year (with some good company for that double). Already 12 in the OWGR. If this is a guy we hope the US pick to help European chances then we must have some pretty stellar rookies of our own.

Just how does the Tour know that a course is going to be "soft"? At least time enough to grow proper rough?

And remember, the tour only "rents" the course for a week. The Membership has the course the other 51 weeks of the year.

Narrowing the fairways, growing the rough longer is a bit like painting your house purple/orange when your tenants request when they rent for one week.

GPB, They don't only have the course for a week. The R&A and PGA specify how the want the course set up and the condition they want it months in advance. Even for things like the Seniors Qualifying, the governing body has stipulations for that.

Many courses are closed for a long period prior to the actual event. Do you really think they just turn up and play a tournament? Open venues for example are closed for at least 6 weeks prior to the actual tournament.

There's plenty time to get the gist of how the weather is panning out and whether or not you need to grow the rough or narrow a fairway. It's up to the governing body to decide, not just wait to see what the weather gives them.

Can't a man just take a break? Hahaha

https://youtu.be/_cwObXM1g-o

Be_the_ball wrote:Can't a man just take a break? Hahaha

https://youtu.be/_cwObXM1g-o

Chasing the leprechaun?

super_realist wrote:GPB, They don't only have the course for a week. The R&A and PGA specify how the want the course set up and the condition they want it months in advance. Even for things like the Seniors Qualifying, the governing body has stipulations for that.

Many courses are closed for a long period prior to the actual event. Do you really think they just turn up and play a tournament? Open venues for example are closed for at least 6 weeks prior to the actual tournament.

There's plenty time to get the gist of how the weather is panning out and whether or not you need to grow the rough or narrow a fairway. It's up to the governing body to decide, not just wait to see what the weather gives them.

Its not up to the governing body decide. The PGATour is NOT the USGA or the R&A and a PGATour course don't close for six weeks prior to an event. Take this weeks course for instance. Boston's prime golf season is about 20 weeks long and you think the course is going to be closed from 30% of the prime season... EVERY YEAR? If I was a member I would say SCREW THAT. Courses for R/A and USGA Championships are not used every year so a six week (or longer) closure is not that much of an hardship.

The PGATour rents the course for a week. The membership jumps through some hoops to set up the course, but when you narrow fairways you altering the course that the members play the other weeks of the season.

pedro wrote:

Be_the_ball wrote:Can't a man just take a break? Hahaha

https://youtu.be/_cwObXM1g-o

Chasing the leprechaun?  

Ta be sure, ta be sure.

I don't usually have much to add to the discussion anymore ... but on this topic:

Our club is hosting the BMW tournament next week.

I am on the green committee, and saw (what I believe is the majority of) correspondence between our club and the PGA regarding course conditions and set up.

The PGA did a rigorous job of checking out what grasses we use, how our greens slope, how our bunkers drain and how we maintain our rough.

They made no request for course changes (but, again, they did a thorough job of vetting out our course and master plan).

No fairways were narrowed for this event.

Primary rough will be kept at 3.5 inches which is slightly longer than we keep normally.

The fairways are usually fast and firm, but rain always dictates softness this time of year.

The PGA will have a lot to say about green speed. We've held tournaments in the past the the speeds have been the same (or even slower) than we keep for our member/member and member/guest tournaments.

The PGA will select tee and pin positions.

The course was closed starting Monday 8/27.

Prior to that guest play was limited the week before, but members had full access through the 26th.

The course and facility is rented for 10 days (Friday - Sunday).

I do know that the USGA will request (and get) fairways narrowed for the US Open. Our membership would (my opinion) not vote to hold a tournament that required this.

Thanks ShotRock. Pretty much confirmation of what I thought the PGATour does.

If I was a member of an elite golf course, I would vote to keep the USGA off my golf course.

What they did to Merion was inexcusable IMO. They shifted the 2nd fairway 50 yds to the right. That is not what the architect designed, and thats not what the membership wanted (or else they would have done before the 2013 US Open.

At Olympic, they put in a fairway bunker on the 17th hole (which IIRC, came into play only a couple of times in the Championship). Again not what the architect designed or what the membership wanted.

GPB wrote:

super_realist wrote:GPB, They don't only have the course for a week. The R&A and PGA specify how the want the course set up and the condition they want it months in advance. Even for things like the Seniors Qualifying, the governing body has stipulations for that.

Many courses are closed for a long period prior to the actual event. Do you really think they just turn up and play a tournament? Open venues for example are closed for at least 6 weeks prior to the actual tournament.

There's plenty time to get the gist of how the weather is panning out and whether or not you need to grow the rough or narrow a fairway. It's up to the governing body to decide, not just wait to see what the weather gives them.

Its not up to the governing body decide.  The PGATour is NOT the USGA or the R&A and a PGATour course don't close for six weeks prior to an event.  Take this weeks course for instance.  Boston's prime golf season is about 20 weeks long and you think the course is going to be closed from 30% of the prime season... EVERY YEAR?  If I was a member I would say SCREW THAT.  Courses for R/A and USGA Championships are not used every year so a six week (or longer) closure is not that much of an hardship.

The PGATour rents the course for a week.  The membership jumps through some hoops to set up the course, but when you narrow fairways you altering the course that the members play the other weeks of the season.

Yet another American taking everything literally(why is it that Americans don't understand figurative language?). I did not say that ALL courses did this, and when I said Governing body I meant whoever is in charge of the effing tournament.

Excuse me for interpreting you post on what you said instead of what you meant to say.

Again, how is the reader supposed to interpret this?

They don't only have the course for a week. The R&A and PGA specify how the want the course set up and the condition they want it months in advance. Even for things like the Seniors Qualifying, the governing body has stipulations for that.

????

Or this:

Many courses are closed for a long period prior to the actual event. Do you really think they just turn up and play a tournament? Open venues for example are closed for at least 6 weeks prior to the actual tournament.

????

or this:

There's plenty time to get the gist of how the weather is panning out and whether or not you need to grow the rough or narrow a fairway. It's up to the governing body to decide, not just wait to see what the weather gives them.

??????????

Funny the difference a week makes. Six days ago the narrative was (rightly) American wildcard contenders staking their claims, and European qualifiers and non-qualifiers alike struggling. Now two Aussies, a Canadian and a Mexican are chasing three English leaders, with only Webb carrying the flag.

All those English contenders are on the team.

None of the potential picks are really making a statement.

MC Poulter
-3 Casey
-2 Stenson

IJP just texted Thomas Bjorn

Spoiler:

RCB jostling for position though. Probably makes things harder for Bjorn rather than easier; personally I’d have RCB over both Henrik and Sergio right now but I think that’s the minority view.

Webb gatecrashes the English party at the death. He might not be player of the season but I’d argue he’s had the most underrated year of anyone on tour. Not expecting much tomorrow from Hatton or Fleetwood, with those pairings, think Rose/Hatton and Fleetwood/Simpson would have suited them much better. Short odds on a Justin or Webb winner from here.

Agree with all that Ned. Big couple of days for Casey & Stenson - would say RCB has done enough.

Long way to go though; the European crew have started off several big tournaments well and then faded in Rounds 3 & 4, though happily the other way round at Carnoustie. Hopefully the boys will finish off what they started Sunday & Monday.

Simpson "comeback player of the year" for me. Pity they retired the award, Stricker winning it too many times. (Though it would be kinda funny to see Woods get it - if it still existed.)

Wallace and Fitzpatrick performing well in right in front of Bjorn.

Casey, Stenson doing nothing in Boston.  RCB seems to stuck in neutral

Poulter driving down the coast to Philadelphia.

It won't be a comfortable presser on Wednesday for Bjorn.  He is going to get hammered if he picks the "good ole boys" and he is going to get hammered if goes with the (almost) newbies

EDIT:

And just like that, Casey decides to birdie 4 of 5 holes after making this post

Fleetwood in reverse, 2 over on a good scoring day. I’ll say it quietly but does he struggle with putting consecutive rounds together? Seems to have been in contention early on a weekend several times the last twelve months before falling away, and his best major finish was a Sunday charge from nowhere.

The final four all seem to be swinging it badly today but scrapping with varying levels of success. Not a clue how Hatton has managed to be three under on the day having seen every last corner of the front nine.

Hatton finally pays the price.
Disappointing final couple of holes for Casey & Rory, but Rory at least still in position.
Fleetwood seems to be trying to hard to win over here - putting like a drain today by the looks of it.

Tough four out of six pick for Bjorn but can't see him picking Wallace as we've already got five first-timers. Interesting stat that, if Casey had signed up earlier he'd've qualified - shades of Knox two years ago.
I'd take Rafa & Poults then 2 out of 3. Casey unlucky again most likely.

Happy to see Matt Jones & Hunner Mahan have earned their Tour cards back following their podium results in Round 2 of the web.com Finals.

Poults is a lock. And due to nobody else knocking on the door you can add Garcia and Stenson to the list. Last pick likely RCB. Hard to look past someone with 3 wins this season (Wallace) and he seems to have the right attitude for matchplay - but may just end up as buggy driver.
Fitz hasn’t done enough and Casey is Casey.

I’m not sure I’d have Sergio or Henrik. Neither have done anything in the last nine months. Westy and Kaymer two years ago showed the folly of picking out of form “names” in the hope they might find something.

Poults would be a lock for me too in the absence of anything better. I’d have RCB as a second definite, some decent results in the last month plus a good debut last time. I’d probably take Casey after that, and then close my eyes for the fourth. Pieters would be tempting, Wallace is the form horse, or you take one of Sergio and Henrik to lessen the controversy.

Agree that Pieters is tempting but a couple of late top 10s is hardly enough to justify picking someone so far down the lists.

Crazy round from Tyrrell. First time I’ve ever seen a ball spin back out of the cup!

Nice redemption from Tommy F, back to even.

Hatton getting the Sergio treatment (of ten years ago) from NBC. Not complaining that all the Europeans' tee times are split up for Sunday, don't think there'll be any out together.

Strange day for all the last four but set up quite nicely for tomorrow. Anyone down to -8, even -7 should think they have half a chance.

I’ll see Kwini enjoying Jones and Mahan’s web.com success and raise him a Stephan Jaeger and Peter Malnati. Robbie Castro qualified from the regular season, a good cast of characters emerging.

kwinigolfer wrote:Hatton getting the Sergio treatment (of ten years ago) from NBC. Not complaining that all the Europeans' tee times are split up for Sunday, don't think there'll be any out together.

No comprende. Can you elaborate?

pedro wrote:

kwinigolfer wrote:Hatton getting the Sergio treatment (of ten years ago) from NBC. Not complaining that all the Europeans' tee times are split up for Sunday, don't think there'll be any out together.

No comprende. Can you elaborate?

Not sure which point to answer:

*Hatton comes across as a d1ck, we all know that. But so do many others who get away with their dickitude with media impunity. But Koch, Maltbie and Jacobsen seemed to get on Hatton's case early and often, in the same way their colleagues (Miller, Pepper, etc) would pile on Sergio back in the day.

*Do the Europeans play their best in the US when paired together? Not sure, sometimes it can all seem a bit matey. Anyway, glad to see them all separated for Round 4.

NB: I see Perez has decided to head to the casino . . . . . . . . . . only 76 go Monday.

pedro wrote:

kwinigolfer wrote:Hatton getting the Sergio treatment (of ten years ago) from NBC. Not complaining that all the Europeans' tee times are split up for Sunday, don't think there'll be any out together.

No comprende. Can you elaborate?

Hatton petulant crybaby! (yes there are others, but he wears it well)

Kwini: Ga Tech looks to be adding three golfers with PGAtour Cards. Castro (as you pointed out) joined by (lefty) Seth Reeves, and Anders Albertsson.

Looks like Tringale has lost his privileges, really had a poor season. Wonder if he is still slumming with Rickie F? If you didn't know, I think Kramer Hickok (won the WTF event today) boards at Chez Mahan, errrr I mean Chez Spieth. Annie is probably ready to kick him out of the house.

BTW, Perez WDed because his wife went into labor.

Tringale still in the wtf's . . . . . . . . two more chances.

pedro wrote:Poults is a lock. And due to nobody else knocking on the door you can add Garcia and Stenson to the list. Last pick likely RCB. Hard to look past someone with 3 wins this season (Wallace) and he seems to have the right attitude for matchplay - but may just end up as buggy driver.
Fitz hasn’t done enough and Casey is Casey.

Terrible expression, like purse for a prize fund.

kwinigolfer wrote:

pedro wrote:

kwinigolfer wrote:Hatton getting the Sergio treatment (of ten years ago) from NBC. Not complaining that all the Europeans' tee times are split up for Sunday, don't think there'll be any out together.

No comprende. Can you elaborate?

Not sure which point to answer:

*Hatton comes across as a d1ck, we all know that. But so do many others who get away with their dickitude with media impunity. But Koch, Maltbie and Jacobsen seemed to get on Hatton's case early and often, in the same way their colleagues (Miller, Pepper, etc) would pile on Sergio back in the day.

*Do the Europeans play their best in the US when paired together? Not sure, sometimes it can all seem a bit matey. Anyway, glad to see them all separated for Round 4.

NB: I see Perez has decided to head to the casino . . . . . . . . . . only 76 go Monday.

Thanks kwini, now it's crystal clear and I tend to agree. Thought for a minute the second sentence was referring to the first. Was confused by "Sunday", when it's in fact "Monday".. :-)

Monday, Monday. Sorry about that.

Anyway, hope one of the Euros contends today, otherwise can see Bunsen Bryson leaving Ancer (my friend) blowin' in the wind.

Low scores from the back-markers already this morning, birdies everywhere.

Not many "notables" at serious risk of being eliminated from the pleasures of "Philly", but Dufner and Lahiri are already goners and Branden Grace looks sure to follow them. Jimmy Walker, Kevin Chappell & Charley Hoffman need to go really low to move on, and so do Oosthuizen and Russell Knox.

No word yet of potential BMW qualifiers giving Aronomink a miss. Interesting that Pat Perez has withdrawn from 5% of the Tour events he started, almost Daly-esque (possibly worse).

Poor effort today from Stenson - is he playing himself out of a ticket to Paris?

Phil doing his best to make sure Furyk doesn't have an excuse not to pick him.

Phil, Tiger, BdC and Finau.

But who needs to prove himself another week? One should think Finau but what if he makes a mess out of next week?

Can’t really see anyone else than those 4 being in the run.

It's Aronimink. But, Kwin, I did see the Englesh player Poulter and the Yank Folwer at the driving range this afternoon.

Hope you'll excuse my Aronimink blunder. But who's this Folwer guy? And how does he look to be swinging given his "oblique" issue??

It looks like the high temps and humidity might move out just in time Sr? Looking forward to the action, sorry Nick Watney's not returning to the site of one of his finer moments.

Ancer is blowing in the wind.

RCB blowing it.

Hatton just blowing up.

Kwin, what is it with you Brits ... and your inability to spell???

I "guess" it's like your buddy Super ... it's what you "meant" to type??

Can't stand watching Bunsen, and he's so bl00dy slow, but that's the second week running he's dominated. Too good.

Shame about Rafa's finish but Bjorn has got to take him.

Can’t warm to Bryson either. But always refreshing with a different type of player.

Has Tyrrell jumped the shark in being a d!ck? He has started to look like a parody of himself.

That win guarantees B deC first seed at Atlanta whatever happens next week.

I'm never wrong wrote:That win guarantees B deC first seed at Atlanta whatever happens next week.

I’d take next week off or mail it in.

But again a big mistake on 18 from BdC. That lay-up could have gone in the hazard. And last week his drive on 18 could have been dear as well. Luckily he had enough cushion both times. How will he handle a tight RC match?

Yup, Nothing to gain next week, except a share of the yuuge prizemoney. Guaranteed.

King Louis made the Beemer by the skin of his teeth, Kuchar played himself to a few weeks off.

A handful of Europeans on the bubble next week.

pedro wrote:But again a big mistake on 18 from BdC. That lay-up could have gone in the hazard. And last week his drive on 18 could have been dear as well. Luckily he had enough cushion both times. How will he handle a tight RC match?

Yep, poor lads really struggling to get over the finish line, in this kind of form you have to worry for him at the RC...