PGA Tour: European Exhibitionists . . . and A New Season Underway: Notes from the Ballwasher

1).Lots on the Ryder Cup elsewhere, but a few thoughts here starting with a headline two weeks ago from one of the US's few world class papers, The Wall Street Journal.
They headlined an article about Paris Le Golf National:
"US Golfers ponder foreign concept - hitting fairways".
And so it proved.
Only Rickie Fowler (52nd) of the leading 92 in the Tour's "Driving Accuracy" stat made the Team; Finau, Reed and Mickelson all in the bottom 20 in that stat.
Big irony for moi was that the "Billy Horschel Rule", last-minute pick for the in-form American, went to the guy 180th in driving accuracy (although obviously Finau played very well) instead of, say Billy Horschel who finished one place (5th) in front of Finau and was 16th on Tour in driving accuracy and 3rd in Greens In Regulation; not quite Stenson-esque - he led both stats - but better than anyone remotely in contention other than the very excellent Kyle Stanley.

2).Not quite sure the US Team structure is correct - Mickelson and Woods were part of the asylum's Task Force management team right up until a month ago, and probably right through the weekend.
Did they exert undue influence?
If Phil and Tiger were exhausted, why didn't one or both stand down, or sit out one of the Play-Off events??
Did their partnership preferences trump team efficacy until it was too late???
At least Jim Furyk didn't have a cabbage thrown at him . . . . . .

3).Nobel Prize Physics Laureate-elect DeChambeau will never get a better lesson that, in golf at least, team chemistry surpasses individual physics when all else is equal.
Good for Justin Thomas for playing in Paris last June. Looks like he learned a bit and could be the natural leader for Team USA that they haven't had for ages.
(PS: The "tourists" on this board last week gave Rory a hard time, but I would've thought he played quite well, from Friday lunchtime onwards anyway, though I'd still have preferred him lower in the batting order.)

4).Congrats to Le Golf National. I thought it was a terrible choice of venue, but it looked great and was a proper test.
And raised doubts on Brooks Koepka's mantra: "I'll back my wedge from the rough against someone else's 6-iron from the fairway any day".
The Europeans have their work cut out to emulate Paris.

5).What did we learn about upcoming Captaincies?
Sounds as if Stricker is first in line for the USA, partly because it'll be a home game (relatively speaking) for him in Wisconsin. Would think he needs to learn lessons from Furyk before accepting, especially vis-a-vis a certain T.Woods. Who would you choose?
And Rory's premature extrapolation that Harrington should lead the Europeans seems a bit, well, premature. I'd like to see Bjorn again, thought he did great. Interestingly, the four Continental European captains have all won. I'm not convinced either Padraig or Westwood will be good captains. And there'll be tears after that with Poulter, Stenson, Donald, Casey, Rose, Garcia, McDowell all with distinguished RC careers but all stuck in the 38 - 42 years age range.

6).The 2018/2019 PGA Tour season is up and running already, at Silverado in California's gorgeous Napa Valley.
Hopefully the heat will be on the course this year and not the fires that overwhelmed part of the Silverado Resort and Spa complex, and sky-boxes on the course, the evening following the 2017's tournament conclusion. Several officials and volunteers at the event lost their homes in the inferno, so fingers crossed birdies and eagles will be the only thing lighting up the action for the next four days.

7).Brendan Steele has won the last two events here and finished Top 25 the previous two years; Martin Laird has 3rd, 8th and 17th place finishes to launch three of his last four campaigns giving him crucial momentum to get FedEx Points on the board early. You'd think at least half the field would have similar motivation.
My one-and-done choice is Sang Moon Bae who won here three years ago and will be coming in either hot from his wtF win a few weeks ago, or cold thru not having played since.

8).Phil is in this week's field, the only Ryder Cup participant playing here - he's Top 10'd here the last two years, but I won't be backing him to be playing this weekend. His way forward could be an interesting path, less travelled no doubt, these next few months.
And the same could also be said of Danny Willett who endured a similarly dismal Ryder Cup experience at Hazeltine. Does his presence in this week's field portend a commitment to PGA Tour play this season?

9).Messrs Goosen, Pavin, Graham Marsh, Calvin Peete, Jim Ferrier and Sutton join Dottie Pepper, Jan Stephenson, Sandra Palmer, Beverly Hanson, Catherine Lacoste and Susie Maxwell as announced candidates for 2019 World Golf Hall Of Fame induction. A very weak line-up I would have thought.
Perhaps Retief, Cowboy Sutton, Pepper and Maxwell would be possibles, but this looks a pretty sub-standard group. (There is also a Lifetime Achievement category.)

10).Talking of Silverado fires and weather-related phenomena, I see Hurricane Sergio is loitering with intent in the Pacific. It won't affect Silverado, but what karma if it did!

So much for Note 8).: Phil's on fire, -5 after 12 holes, 4 birdies in a row at Silverado - the burdens of playing with the Mad Scientist swept away.


And: In a "Kafelnikov" alert - retired baseball pitcher (among the very, very best in his day) Mark Mulder, is -1 after 8 holes.

Kwini, in 4 do you mean the Americans have a tough act to emulate Paris?

super_realist wrote:Kwini, in 4 do you mean the Americans have a tough act to emulate Paris?

No! I think we know that Whispering Straits will be wide open fairways (at 330 yards at least) with accessible hole locations.
But how does Italy top Paris?, not necessarily for course set-up but for atmosphere and spectator experience, as well as having a course worthy of the occasion.

I saw a comment last night regarding Phil's round "after last week's proper test back to driving ranges with greens"

wiretapper wrote:I saw a comment last night regarding Phil's round "after last week's proper test back to driving ranges with greens"

Silverado is a pretty good course though, wire. Though perhaps a generous par at 72. But most of these courses don't have penal rough or bunkering - as stated before, accuracy is seldom a core competency for PGA Tour success. It'll be interesting to see how Phil goes today.

Straka leading, and that makes an Austrian at the head of affairs both in California and Scotland. As I write anyway.

The US team really missed Horschel. I would have picked him over Finau or Mickelson.... still wouldn't have made a difference to the overall result.

I've noticed Kwini multiple times you've commented that Tiger should have turned down his pick. Imagine if he had: you and Super etc would have had a field day criticising him for walking away and not caring about the RC, especially after he won the TC. I think the notion of standing down is absurd. I'm sure he was exceptionally keen to play the RC and would have been devastated to miss out.

I don't think I would ray, provided he made it perfectly clear that he didn't feel he could pull his weight on the team. He seems much happier as a Team member these days, provided he doesn't have to play.
It was Tiger that said he was exhausted from playing his 7th week out of nine after all.

I DO think that he casts the proverbial long shadow over teams that he's a member of - when Tiger's happy everyone else seems to get a lift. And when it's felt that the team is carrying him, well . . . . . !

Times 2 with Phil in a phunk of course.

raycastleunited wrote:The US team really missed Horschel. I would have picked him over Finau or Mickelson.... still wouldn't have made a difference to the overall result.

I've noticed Kwini multiple times you've commented that Tiger should have turned down his pick. Imagine if he had: you and Super etc would have had a field day criticising him for walking away and not caring about the RC, especially after he won the TC. I think the notion of standing down is absurd. I'm sure he was exceptionally keen to play the RC and would have been devastated to miss out.

ray,
I just heard a post-round interview w/Phil from yesterday and he was complaining about the course set-up last week, saying he doesn't play courses like that any more, "It's a waste of my time". So why would he play last week.
Presumably he went up to Furyk and said, "Look, Jim. I'm not playing well (which he also said yesterday), I don't fancy the set-up with 'unplayable' rough, makes perfect sense that I play foursomes."
That's just daft, Furyk could easily have picked a superior ball-striker instead of Phil - and instead of Tiger as well if he was out on his feet as eye-witnesses, incl pedro, have said.

Put it this way, I imagine Thomas Pieters will get a Captain's Pick next time unless he's absolutely out of sorts. Probably not the shortest hitter the Captain du jour can find.

kwinigolfer wrote: provided he made it perfectly clear that he didn't feel he could pull his weight on the team.

Would they have any players left if we followed that to conclusion?

kwinigolfer wrote:2).Not quite sure the US Team structure is correct - Mickelson and Woods were part of the asylum's Task Force management team right up until a month ago, and probably right through the weekend.
Did they exert undue influence?

Did you notice in the US post match press conference Spieth said something along the lines of "what do we call them Tiger, mini teams, pods, whatever..." and Tiger didn't respond as it was in the middle of the Spieth/Reed spat.  (someone from the US team responded "he's too tired" at Tigers non response.

But I assumed Spieth was looking for Tiger to talk about whatever the pods are called these days and Spieth himself obviously didn't know what they were called.

I just though this was a bizarre little exchange that non of the press picked up on and makes you wonder what the rest of the team actually think about the task force?

kwinigolfer wrote:3).Nobel Prize Physics Laureate-elect DeChambeau will never get a better lesson that, in golf at least, team chemistry surpasses individual physics when all else is equal.

But has a golfer ever fought so hard for a point after the match has been won?  Didn't Tiger once concede a putt from about 10 feet (I think at Medinah) to give his opponent the half point needed for a win rather than retain?  Thankfully DCB hasn't lapped up all Tiger's advice.

Mac,
Ref yr posts:
1).Yes, But surely it's different if a player is a Captain's selection? Especially if it was one (or two) of the Team leadership, as Phil & Tiger were. If Stricker is Captain-elect, he'll have learnt a lot, about what not to do anyway!

2).I DID see that, about all I did see of the press conf's. I just thought Spieth was having a memory lapse, and didn't pick up on yr Tiger inference.

Spieth would be a good interview if only he'd speak his mind, especially regarding last week. Usually very articulate and clearly has his own ideas about how things should roll.

And: Agreed about BDC, Thought the look on his face when he dunked his tee shot on the Par-3 16th was a picture. But he holed his putt for a half, which was either pretty gutsy or the stroke of last resort.

McLaren wrote:

kwinigolfer wrote:3).Nobel Prize Physics Laureate-elect DeChambeau will never get a better lesson that, in golf at least, team chemistry surpasses individual physics when all else is equal.

But has a golfer ever fought so hard for a point after the match has been won?  Didn't Tiger once concede a putt from about 10 feet (I think at Medinah) to give his opponent the half point needed for a win rather than retain?  Thankfully DCB hasn't lapped up all Tiger's advice.

Yep, seem to remember Curtis Strange gutsing out a win in '89 to draw the match, when it was done and dusted (I think) at The Belfry.

Navy

If he could still get an overall draw then the competition wasn't really over.

raycastleunited wrote:The US team really missed Horschel. I would have picked him over Finau or Mickelson.... still wouldn't have made a difference to the overall result.

I've noticed Kwini multiple times you've commented that Tiger should have turned down his pick. Imagine if he had: you and Super etc would have had a field day criticising him for walking away and not caring about the RC, especially after he won the TC. I think the notion of standing down is absurd. I'm sure he was exceptionally keen to play the RC and would have been devastated to miss out.

I wouldn't at all because there's a very good argument that he doesn't care for it already.

I would think that would be probably be the only time he has done anything which could be deemed as being a team player (in the Ryder Cup before any pedant drags out the tinpot Presidents Cup)

You also seem to be putting far too much on his TC win as if that nails you on for a pick, don't you think every year he's stunk out the Ryder Cup he's had years when he's been in great form going into the Ryder Cup, when he's been number 1 by a mile or has won 2 majors that year?

His body language says he doesn't care as much as he should, and when people like Mahan have been crying their eyes out, Phil's been picking fights, Koepka and DJ are allegedly fighting, Prince Andrew/Justin Leonard went mental sinking that putt in 99. You barely see anything out of Woods, granted he never sings unless he's winning at any time, and that hasn't happened to America much in Ryder Cup, especially with him in it,  but if everyone else can have a reaction to defeat, he doesn't he just looks as morose and wooden as he normally does.

Stepping back from the team would be the best thing he could do for America's chances

Hilariously they'll still make him Captain at some point. Can you imagine the speech?

"It looks really tough out there, really tough, but the guys will go out there, and they're feeling good, really feeling good, and will have some fun, really have some fun"

"Hilariously they'll still make him Captain at some point."
Dress rehearsal next December, in Australia, as he's Captain of the US Presidents Cup Team.


2016 Ryder Cupper Ryan Moore the early leader at the Safeway - on a course that must be just up his street.

More bad losing from the US team. Phil saying the course was "virtually unplayable".

What's wrong with these guys? Why can't they just accept a loss on the chin without excuses and move on?

Yup, Where Phil drove it might have been unplayable. Tied for the early lead in California, with Sneedeker snapping at his heels.


Moving on.
Rafa CB, Casey, Pieters (not sure of his status there, sponsor invite perhaps?) among the Europeans intent on getting easy pickin' FedEx points on the board in Malaysia next week.


And: Nick Faldo teeing it up in the Champions Tour event next week - no clue why.
Plus Daly, who has withdrawn from 6 of his last 9 CT events. Who's the idiot? Daly, or the Tour who allow him to go on like this??

If I were the PGATour, I would put Pieters in PGATour purgatory.  He couldn't be bothered to play the requisite 15 events last season, so he shouldn't get an invite for any PGATour events.  Especially events that are guaranteed money.

In similar situation, the Tour didn't "Kaymer" Martin Kaymer for failure to play 15 events.  gave him an waiver even though the most time he missed was 4 weeks.  Given that he couldn't be bothered to play 15 events a couple of years ago, I don't think he should get a second chance.  

Both Kaymer and Pieters only played 11 PGATour events last season.

And Yes I agree about Daly (who was in the Napa field this week until a couple of days ago).  For some unknown reason, he is a draw.  I don't see the appeal.  But I do understand people do like trainwrecks.

==============

There is a lot of the World Golfing Population that doesn't care a rats behind about the Ryder Cup, but they do have a rooting interest in the Prez Cup.  Korea, Japan, Australia, South Africa.  To dismiss the Prez is analogous to jingoistic.  Sure it doesn't have the history of the Ryder Cup, but no one in America cared about the Ryder Cup until 1985.

Give the Prez Cup a couple more decades and it could be bigger than the Ryder Cup if there is a Asian Invasion.  China, Korea, Thailand etc.

Somehow, I think Super would have a different opinion of the Prez Cup if the Int'l Team kept winning (in other words, USA losing). It would be verification of his hypotheses and theories.

It's a bold claim GPB, but I haven't seen any evidence that the Presidents Cup is taken particularly seriously by players or spectators, just as the Seve Trophy isn't. It's very much played as a friendly as far as I can see. There's virtually no coverage on sports bulletins, newspapers or online.

I couldn't give a toss about it, even if the internationals won every single event by 14 points and it was on outside my house I wouldn't open my curtains to watch it.

Perhaps America need to get an Australia or South Africa on board for the Ryder Cup.

Something like 19 of the top 20 were in the Ryder Cup, what's the ratio in the Presidents Cup? It's simply not good enough quality for anyone to take an interest, and there's no camaraderie within an International Select for anyone to be particularly interested in any sort of rivalry and there's no identity for an international team, there's no competing tours (ok, the Euro Tour has dropped off in recent years). It's just a dull and tinpot competition. There's no affinity between Australia and South Korea players for example, nothing between Canada and South America. It's just a gerrymandered event to give the Americans something to win.

You seem to care more about pga tour rules and regs then the actual tour. Thomad Pieters is a very talented and promising young player the sort you keep sweet and don't piss off for very little reason. Kaymer is a future hall of fame player with multiple major wins and a players championship. Like the issue before with Spieth.

Look after the good players.

Yeah Phil moaned about Le Golf National. “I never play these sorts of courses anymore. It’s a waste of my time.”
He even tried to shoehorn in something about Ben Hogan, trying to justify his whining, or whatever.
A bit pathetic there from Phil.

Imagine if Federer said that after a Wimbledon loss: I never play these surfaces anymore. Waste of time.

Doesn't federer skip paris for exactly that reason?

https://www.instagram.com/p/BogjwKwAu88/?utm_source=ig_twitter_share&igshid=1f9y7ydqkw3w


JT's goals for last year. RC Team qualification #1.
But I won't read too much into that; having said which, he's effusive on Twitter about the Ryder Cup week including, "safe to say this made me hungrier and more ready than ever for 2020."
Blimey - he also tweets that Stricker once went 2 1/2 years without registering a double bogey . . . . . . . .


GPB,
You can express your angst re Pieters & Kaymer as much as you want; certainly for Pieters he can surely accept all the sponsor invites he can gather.
Given that top Americans are avoiding the CIMB in droves, you can certainly understand the Malaysians wanting some star attractions. (Don't really understand the Kaymer situation tbh.)

beninho wrote:Doesn't federer skip paris for exactly that reason?

No, he misses it for the sake of his body, not that he can't play on clay. Bit different to Phil, who's only ailment is his accuracy.

super_realist wrote:

beninho wrote:Doesn't federer skip paris for exactly that reason?

No, he misses it for the sake of his body, not that he can't play on clay. Bit different to Phil, who's only ailment is his accuracy.

Bit of both I’d say, I doubt he’d be a force on clay anymore and he’s never been number one on that surface anyway, clearly he was still very good on it. Makes it the obvious surface to ditch.

Federer loves the success and records, if he seriously thought he gad a good chance on clay he would play paris in a heartbeat but it doesn't suit him and he would likely lose he therefore misses it. I have no issues with that but its no difference to what phil m said.

He's on record saying that he avoids the harsh clay to protect himself for the grass court season, in a sport where fitness actually matters more than it does in golf, I'll take that reason more seriously than the speculation that you don't think he's up to it.
I'm not generally a fan of the smug Federer, but given the long rallies on Clay and the toll that takes on an old timer like Federer, I'm not surprised he takes that part of the season off.

He's won 11 Clay titles of his 98 in total, so he's no mug. That's percentage is probably similar to the amount of clay court tournaments per year.

He’s no mug, he’s just playing at the same time as the greatest player ever in clay (and who beats him fairly regularly on any surface). His record is 13 - 2 against him on clay. So whatever Federer says, missing Paris makes sense in many ways.

I'm not surprised, I just think if he was more successful and not against nadal he probably wouldn't skip paris.

Scores much higher at Silverado today as the wind increases. And tomorrow it'll be windier and hotter.
Knox , Power and Willett have left the premises but Laird had an average round today, hoping for much better tomorrow, despite the weather.

Final round underway at Silverado and the wind is up for the first few groups out there - just five players under par (all -1's) after the first 90 minutes.
Laird is a high-ball hitter but hopefully he can post a decent result to get his season off to a strong start.

In the bigger picture:
What will Phil do?
Will Sneds notch his second in in two months?
Bill Haas, Lucas Glover, Hunner and Badds have all been in the doldrums recently; can they finish off decent first three rounds?

With the difficult conditions I wonder if today will be a waste of time for Phil?

Primary school lesson in "How to Throw Away a Golf Tournament" from Snedeker yesterday. Safeway won by Kevin Tway, son of Boring Bob Tway, certainly on the podium of the most gallery-averse pros I've ever wasted time and money following. Ryan Moore also in the 3-man play-off.

Now all three are off to join the Tour's Asian swing, and not much enthusiasm for that. Not here anyway.

Just don't see the point in a succession of limited field events that seem designed only to give a season-starting launching pad for mostly mid-level pros.
What's the point - except extending the brand to Asia but most of the top players will stay at home except for their expenses-paid jolly to the WGC?

Is he gaining weight or wearing a smaller shirt?

Rory at the UFC #229 fight:

GPB have you been watching Mean Girls again?

Actually I think he looks less bulky than he did a year or so ago.

We were talking about ideas people could hold that would make you want to write them off, well nothing comes close to attending a UFC event.

Also more on topic, what actually happened to Sneds? I was only following via the leaderboard.

McLaren wrote:We were talking about ideas people could hold that would make you want to write them off, well nothing comes close to attending a UFC event.

Consenting people having a tear up. You're confirming your daft position with each post on these lines I'm afraid .

navyblueshorts wrote:

McLaren wrote:We were talking about ideas people could hold that would make you want to write them off, well nothing comes close to attending a UFC event.

:picard: Consenting people having a tear up. You're confirming your daft position with each post on these lines I'm afraid :clap:.

Just seems ridiculous that McIlroy would attend what is essentially an Alt-right event.  Lets face it, UFC is an outlet for the anger of young'ish white men who hate women, social justice and anything intellectual.  These guys take a break from making r*** threats on twitter to jerk off over some mega testosterone fueled action.

McLaren wrote:

navyblueshorts wrote:

McLaren wrote:We were talking about ideas people could hold that would make you want to write them off, well nothing comes close to attending a UFC event.

Consenting people having a tear up. You're confirming your daft position with each post on these lines I'm afraid .

Just seems ridiculous that McIlroy would attend what is essentially an Alt-right event.  Lets face it, UFC is an outlet for the anger of young'ish white men who hate women, social justice and anything intellectual.  These guys take a break from making r*** threats on twitter to jerk off over some mega testosterone fueled action.

I presume you are not being serious there Mac? How do you get that they hate women or are against "social justice"? Are you sure you aren't Owen Jones?[/quote]

Not being entirely serious but who do you think the average UFC fan is?

UFC is a bloody terrible pastiche of an actual sport, I’d question the judgment of anyone who paid hard cash to watch it. Particularly live where you run the risk of becoming part of the action, like WWE gone wrong. Not sure I’d go so far as to say the audience are anti-intellectual young fascists though. Just idiots with dreadful taste in sport.

I work with a guy who does mma fighting. He trains bloody hard for it and has fights every few months. Not sure why it wouldn't be called a sport? Judo and boxing are Olympic sports this mixes them together. I have friends who watch the ufc fights not one I'd call an idiot.

Though, its not for me personally.

McLaren wrote:Not being entirely serious but who do you think the average UFC fan is?

On the not too serious note, my stereotypical view of an average MME fan would be someone who was probably involved in manual labour and with a low level of education, low income, lives in a rough part of town, drives a ghastly peasant car like a Vauxhall probably too fast  and aggressively, likes a bit of road rage and  without doubt has modifications like red seatbelt covers and large exhaust, probably has numerous tattoos, especially their children's birthdates and cheesy quotes like "Only God Can Jugde me"  (spelling clearly wrong and written in an cliched font)  rarely if ever  has read a book, probably listens to techno or mainstream drivel, most likely has  children by more than one mother and at a very young age, without doubt also supports football (and one of the more scummy clubs like West Ham, Milwall, Rangers etc) and will happily wear the shirt in public (or at work), goes on holiday "with the lads" to Spain and hangs a flag from the balcony, thinks Albufera is a great destination, would drink a pint at 4am at the airport, bets heavily on sports and especially concerned with "the coupon",  wears pristinely white trainers, sometimes with grey tracksuit trousers, wears Stone Island/Abercrombie/Superdry/Fred Perry/Diesel when "going out", ogles women and makes terrible remarks, watches wretched tv reality programmes like Love Island, sees Conor McGregor as a "hero" despite him making Hamilton look like a decent chap.

Actually, sounds exactly like the only person I know who likes MME.

I can't exactly see a Doctor, Judge, Dentist, Lawyer, Scientist, Farmer, Optician, Teacher etc making up large numbers of the baying mob that follow MME.

Its MMA you fricking idiot.

Haha very funny super. Despite the numerous specific attributes I think you just nailed down 30% of the UK male population.