PGA Tour: Unpopular Points System Tour Championship: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).This week's Tour Championship at Atlanta's East Lake, seems to be dominated by the UPS which will change how the FedEx Cup looks, at least for next year or until they figure out the plan, for the Tour Championship at any rate, is unworkable.
I suspect the narrative of confusion over the points system and projections is more to do with the players and broadcasters being preoccupied with minute-by-minute changes rather than any focus on the longer-term objective, whatever that may be for each player. Not clear to me how that desire for immediate gratification will be assuaged by the new points/handicap system and wouldn't be surprised if the system is massaged further before being considered for prime time next year.
At the very least: When is a win not a win?! And when will the owgr gurus have their say? Not sure that they haven't dispensed with a perceived problem and replaced it with a real problem.

2).So, we're left with the lame duck UPS for this year with DeChambeau, Rose, Finau, Dustin and Thomas being in the driving seat, "just" needing a win at East Lake to be assured of the FedEx Cup jackpot.
I expected Casey to play much better than he did at Aronimink; it's not clear how damaging his back injury is, but if he's good to go it's worth bearing in mind that he's played four Tour Championships @ East Lake and finished Top Five every time.
Justin Thomas is complaining of a wrist injury, so two Ryder Cup Captains will be anxious observers this week.

3).This week also see the web.com Tour Championship, in Florida. And that means the climax of the web.com Finals, the vehicle by which Tour players strive to retrieve the playing "privileges" they lost after the 17/18 season (and web.com Tour members have a second chance for an 18/19 "card").
So far, these "notables" have done enough to clinch a return to PGA Tour action in October:
Sang Moon Bae
Streb
Malnati
Matt Jones
Mahan
Stefani
Stephan Jaeger

And this lot are among those who have also qualified
Cameron Davies - Aussie Open Champ
Dylan Frittelli
and Curtis Luck - perennial Aussie hot-shot should just about be OK.

Badds, Lucas Glover, Julian Suri and Lingmerth (there's a failed double-dipper if ever there was one) still with plenty of work to do, and Chris Paisley has somehow missed every cut.

4).Ryder Cup next week and then the circus resumes, in Napa Valley, at the Safeway Open, before going on its Asian "swing", where the only people who care are the Pros who can pocket easy pickings and capitalise on limited field opportunities to harvest cheap FedEx points.

5).I'll let the Ryder Cup thread ride so no notes from moi next week. Hope no confusion between UPS and FedEx in the meantime.

pedro wrote:

But the baying mob loves it. And I must say for the first time in 20 years Tiger looked sincerely happy.

Apart from when he was unloading down the throat of some bimbo / adult star...

If his physical condition was as poor as was reported last years isn't this one of the more remarkable come back wins in golf? Obviously Hogan came back after getting hit by a bus or something but Tigers win has to be up there.


Or is this an indication that with Rory under performing the current top guys just aren't as good as we thought? Over the summer Tiger was as competitive in the Majors as anyone and nearly scooped the fedex cup.  Which makes we wonder how close to his old self he has had to get to be competitive?

McLaren wrote:If his physical condition was as poor as was reported last years isn't this one of the more remarkable come back wins in golf? Obviously Hogan came back after getting hit by a bus or something but Tigers win has to be up there.


Or is this an indication that with Rory under performing the current top guys just aren't as good as we thought? Over the summer Tiger was as competitive in the Majors as anyone and nearly scooped the fedex cup.  Which makes we wonder how close to his old self he has had to get to be competitive?

Not really Mac, no. The Tiger-loving media would have you believe so. He had a back injury (probably mis-diagnosed before), which was fixed by modern surgery. He was a brilliant player before, so why not again if his back was mended? Hogan bust all sorts in a head-on collision with a bus and didn't have access to the sort of surgery Woods did. How many others have had career-threatening injuries, but came back and won? A fair few I'm betting, but they don't get the Woods media treatment.

Fair play to him though, he still had to get it done and he's a had a very good year with some other near misses. I just wish the media didn't climax so often every time he does anything; that's what I can't abide and to be fair to Woods, he hardly courts media attention.

As for McIlroy, pffft. He's got the game (sometimes) to spreadeagle a field and win at a canter, but I won't be at all surprised to see him never win another big one.

We'll never know what Tiger's medical condition has been as there's been so much disinformation surrounding him for the past 15+ years.
We DO know about his addictions and occasional lapses at the wheel.

But he produced an immaculate weekend of dominating, intimidating golf; having said which beating a field of 29 other pros, half at least of whom had long since given up, must be his dream opportunity, second only to the even more limited field exhibition he plays in the Bahamas.

(Only you, Mac, could suggest that cut, 6th, 2nd drumpfs 1st, 39th, 1st.)

Kwini

Is it not also the case that if anyone else had used the phrase "as good as anybody" you wouldn't have taken such a literal interpretation?

Put it this way, a few of the worlds other top players would love to have contended on the final day of two majors this summer.  

As Tiger was contemplating a come back the wisdom of many a media type was that it wasn't worth it because even if he could get back to his old form the young guns of today might beat him anyway.  Clearly he isn't as good now as he was back in his prime and yet he seems to have a game that could win a major if his mind could hold out for 72 holes.

The guy has had a brilliant comeback, even without this win, which he will take a lot from: which is very bad news for everyone else. The last thing the rest of the best golfers need to be doing is helping Tiger remember what it's like to win again.
Re what his medical situation has been, well I really, really don't think he'd be walking around saying he'd had spinal fusion surgery (which is pretty heavy crap) unless he had. Far too many people involved. But hey, everyone loves a good conspiracy theory.

Easily the closest FedEx Cup in recent years, barely 200 pts covering the top four.

And, as a measure of the Woods dominance when he's actually fit to compete, that's Tiger 2nd second place finish in addition to his two wins. Plus he has a third.

These are the only others with multiple "podiums":
McIlroy: One win, one 2nd, one 3rd.
Spieth: One win, one second
Stenson: One win, one second
Stricker: One second, two x thirds
Mickelson: One second, one third
Donald: 2 x thirds.

Mickelson tees it up again this week at the Safeway Open, in California's Napa Valley, while Koepka & Finau (and Kuchar) join Fleetwood & Hatton in Scotland.
It'll be interesting to see how they bounce back - odds against Phil & Tommy making the cut I should think.

The only cut Phil makes is in the foil caps of the Napa red wine bottles...

pedro wrote:The only cut Phil makes is in the foil caps of the Napa red wine bottles...

raycastleunited wrote:

pedro wrote:The only cut Phil makes is in the foil caps of the Napa red wine bottles...

As he disembarks the private jet into glorious sunshine, hops in the limo, tootles to some mansion/exclusive venue and lounges round the pool.

Where did it all go so wrong...