PGA Tour: Memorial Tournament and Canadian Open: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).The late spring diet of terrific courses for the PGA Tour Pros to play continues as we move from Bethpage, through Colonial to Muirfield Village, Jack Nicklaus's masterpiece. Next week the boys will head north of the border to Ontario's Hamilton Golf and Country Club (a Harry Colt design) and then on to Pebble Beach for the US Open.

2).But first: What about Colonial?
Kevin Na convincingly won his third Tour event, and his apparent good humour moved him from the bottom of my Tour pro likeability chart. I thought Na's comments on Sunday about Colonial being one of only about 7 or 8 courses he feels he can still expect to win were instructive. And made his withdrawal this week kinda surprising seeing as he was a little unlucky to runner up to Matsuyama just a few years ago. Perhaps he fancies a rest before going to Pebble Beach, where his criteria would seem to suit him.

3).Na's closest challengers stumbled their way through Sunday's round; lots of observation by the CBS crew about Tony Finau which I thought was interesting. Still doesn't make enough putts and needs to go on a Dustin Johnson-like course of practice with his scoring clubs, 8-iron thru' his wedges.
And Jordan Spieth had everyone at CBS in a dizzy tizzy after his putter came alive in Rounds 1, 2 & 3, but scarcely made a thing on Sunday which magnified his problems off the tee.
Still, four Europeans (household names Blixt, Sabbatini, Hatton & Knox) kept their wits about them in finishing T8 or better; too bad Martins Kaymer and Laird made a mess on Sunday, spoiling potentially good finishes - the story of their year so far.

4).With only ten tournaments available between now and the end of the "Regular Season", FedEx Points are at a premium and this week's Memorial Tournament at Jack's place doesn't help the strugglers, as it is yet another limited field "invitational".

5).Among those Europeans and other "notables" who still have to secure their "playing privileges" for 2019/2020 are:
Hatton, Knox and Blixt, whose fine week at Colonial got each of them within 50-ish points of the likely Top 125 threshold.
Uihlein, Watney - within 100 points of safety.
Berger, Power, Lowry, Laird and Noren all 150 - 200 points to go.
Harman, Haas, Dufner, Frittelli, Henley, Willett, Schniederjans, Schwartzel, Lahiri & Kaymer all in pretty desperate shape.
Not much time to go, chaps.

6).Muirfield Village will stretch out to about 7,400 yards and is largely modelled after Nicklaus's game: Wide fairways, second shot favouring a high fade, fast greens.
Only four PGA Tour events have seen a player hit all 56 fairways: And three of them have been here: twice by Calvin Peete and once by Brian Claar. The other was in Tucson by David Frost.
And Frosty also holds the Tour record of fewest putts in a tournament, 92 at Harbour Town.
The record for greens hit in regulation is 69 out of 72, by Jacobsen and Jerry Kelly.

7).You'll see one of the best quartets of Par-5's anywhere, and the great short Par-4 14th - hopefully the Tour (or a following wind) will persuade the pros to give it a lash one day during the tournament. I'm not sure Nicklaus has got his 16th hole quite right yet, a very unforgiving mid-length Par-3, but otherwise the course is a gem.
Unfortunately it could be a wet "gem," if storms forecast for late Wednesday and Thursday materialise. Cooler, drier weather should drain the place out for the weekend.

8).It's amazing to me that Rory McIlroy has still to contend here, a course pretty much tailor-made for him. Obviously Woods has a handful of wins here and conditions could suit him, but Justin Rose, another course specialist has struggled this past couple of months. Matt Kuchar has a strong record so Kooch each way (probably about 25's?) looks a good bet to moi.

9).Remaining US Open "Sectional Qualifying" will take place on Monday, June 3rd - recent qualifiers via the owgr Top 60 include Furyk, Scott, Harding and Pan, Lowry, Snedeker and Putnam.
And there'll be another last gasp crack at qualifying via the Top 60 at the Canadian Open next week.

10).Finally, the Open Championship has such a contrived series of qualification criteria that a player could finish 3rd in US Open play at Pebble Beach but miss out, but qualify via the preceding week's Canadian Open by finishing Top Ten. Daft I tell you, just plain daft. The R&A Slumbers sometimes.

Good to hear a pro talking about “protecting the field” if nothing else. A forgotten phrase a lot of the time nowadays. Dubious rulings for the top players is nothing new is it. Still don’t think I’ve ever seen anything as ridiculous as Tiger getting the crowd to move his boulder at Scottsdale. If anything the most illuminating aspect of the Kuchar debacle was how reluctant the officials were to entertain his (stupid) argument. The second guy in particular was so dismissive you wonder if Kuchar hasn’t previous with him.

This might be dismissed as Tiger fan boy talk but I think Kuchar's incident was a lot more ridiculous than Tiger's boulder move. At least Tiger was just utilising his fan base and not trying to cheat.

McLaren wrote:This might be dismissed as Tiger fan boy talk but I think Kuchar's incident was a lot more ridiculous than Tiger's boulder move. At least Tiger was just utilising his fan base and not trying to cheat.

Kinda surprising Tiger couldn't get the gallery to mow the rough on #15 today so that he could putt it, instead of taking 7 after getting down in 5 from the spinach.

Remarkable round from Justin Rose, and another wasted week for Rory.
Wonder what we should expect from Kaymer this weekend?

Kwini

What happened on 15, I heard he made an arse of it but what are the gory details?

McLaren wrote:Kwini

What happened on 15, I heard he made an arse of it but what are the gory details?

Pulled his second to the green on the Par-5, ball about 15 yards from the green on a bank in thick rough. Duffed his third, his fourth only reached the fringe and his fifth went steaming by the pin, leaving about 6 feet for bogey. Which he missed.
We've all done it; not me recently though, would have taken me four to get where he was in two.

Found a clip on YouTube that shows that second to last putt lipping out.

Looks like Tiger just holed a nice bunker shot to make up for that rotten luck.

Nice to see Luke Donald hitting it straight down the ground; he only has nine events remaining on of his "major medical extension" and he's well off the pace he needs to fulfil the required results/points to retrieve his card - without having to use a career earning free pass.

Saw Luke on the box last night, commentators saying he looks like he spent some of his time off in the gym.

He's always appeared to have a big arse - perhaps that's what they mean??!!

Regardless, a super round today, despite bogeying the first. Luuuuuke!

Woods & Stricker going nicely too.

Kwini

You noticed Luke's sexy booty as well.

McLaren wrote:This might be dismissed as Tiger fan boy talk but I think Kuchar's incident was a lot more ridiculous than Tiger's boulder move. At least Tiger was just utilising his fan base and not trying to cheat.

Give over Mac. They both asked for a very dubious at best ruling. Woods got his given, Kuch didn’t. I don’t believe Kuchar was any less convinced that his ball had indented the ground, than Woods was that the Boulder was a movable object. Both maybe convinced themselves they were right. Both probably knew they were talking rubbish.

Kaymer has been superb this week, out of absolutely nowhere. Always liked him, would love to see him finish the job. Might give Tiger a run for the “comeback player of the year award” if he does.

McLaren wrote:Kwini

You noticed Luke's sexy booty as well.  

I'll be happy to leave that to your unique expertise, Mac.

But I'll be beyond thrilled if he cards another 65 on Sunday, and agree with Ned, what a comeback it would be for Martin Kaymer and his confidence if he could bring it home tomorrow.
Important days tomorrow for Danny Willett and Alex Noren also.

All we can say is, that Kaymer must be reading kwinis piece.

pedro wrote:All we can say is, that Kaymer must be reading kwinis piece.

They all do peds, didn't you know that?

Kwini, does Willett have any exemption on the PGA Tour next year from Augusta? Or is he in the final year of that now? Noren is at risk of being in the Lowry position of inside the top 50 in the world but still losing his card.

Yup,
Willett still OK provided he plays sufficient events, which he'll certainly fulfil. I believe he has 2 more seasons.
Noren hasn't played that well since his monster putt to halve the final hole in Paris last year. But we know he's better than this!

Sometimes its easy to forget how good Kaymer can be. Such a great career, but probably the most under the rader player with 2 majors and a players!

See Note 10). above:
Unless I've missed something, Martin Kaymer could win today, one of the most prestigious tournaments on the PGA Tour, and still not be qualified for Portrush.
Had he finished 4th in this weekend's Mizuno Open, he would be.
And: If he finished 2nd, say, in the lyrically named Rocket Mortgage event, he would be; could possibly be if he finished as low as 8th.

Sorry Slumbers, but you need to go back to the Open Championship Qualifying drawing board.

Regardless, good luck to Kaymer today.

Imagine strength of field for the US Open Sectional Qualifier at Walton Heath might be higher than it was for this week's Belgian KnockOut:

http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2019/tournamentid=2019049/leaderboard/index.html#/leaderboard

Worth a visit.


(I've no doubt the Columbus qualie is also higher sof:
https://www.golfgenius.com/pages/2012120 )

Boo Weekley round in even par 72 at Memorial, in a fraction over 2 hours 15 minutes.
Boo's carrying about 5 stone overweight so if he can get round 7,400 yards, I'm sure super's 2 hours 20 minutes on 6,400 yards, a bit flatter course, is almost slow in comparison.

Speed up will ya super . . . . .

Carts? Huh, Who needs 'em.

FWIW

SoF 36 for the US Open Qualifier at Walton Heath
SoF 33 for the Belgain Knockout

Kwini, did you see the BLAST from the PAST in the Columbus Qualifier? Bobby Clampett, who finished 3rd in the 1982 US Open at Pebble Beach, And he played the 2000 US Open, after playing no majors from 1987 through 1999

GPB wrote:FWIW

SoF 36 for the US Open Qualifier at Walton Heath
SoF 33 for the Belgain Knockout

Kwini, did you see the BLAST from the PAST in the Columbus Qualifier? Bobby Clampett, who finished 3rd in the 1982 US Open at Pebble Beach,  And he played the 2000 US Open, after playing no majors from 1987 through 1999

I DID!!!
Possibly the most boring man in golf, a legend in his own mind, but his brilliant future was well behind him by the time he was 30 (or earlier). T37 in that Tiger Open, first round in the 60's - bet he thought he'd win!

Clampett is my all time least favorite golf broadcaster. Not only did he drone on and on he was so far up Tiger's arse he had to mark his trail in order to find his way up.

Fortunately his gaffe at the Masters when he called Liang Wenchong a pejorative term got him off the TV broadcast radar.

https://www.deseretnews.com/article/695271162/Political-correctness-bites-CBSs-Clampett.html

GPB wrote:Clampett is my all time least favorite golf broadcaster.  Not only did he drone on and on he was so far up Tiger's arse he had to mark his trail in order to find his way up.

Fortunately his gaffe at the Masters when he called Liang Wenchong a pejorative term got him off the TV broadcast radar.

https://www.deseretnews.com/article/695271162/Political-correctness-bites-CBSs-Clampett.html

Didn't know that, GPB, thanks for the link. Clampett as a commentator was awful, as bad as his infomercials.

Awful start for Luke - he's going south, Tiger & Kiradech heading north.

kwinigolfer wrote:Boo Weekley round in even par 72 at Memorial, in a fraction over 2 hours 15 minutes.
Boo's carrying about 5 stone overweight so if he can get round 7,400 yards, I'm sure super's 2 hours 20 minutes on 6,400 yards, a bit flatter course, is almost slow in comparison.

Speed up will ya super . . . . .

Carts? Huh, Who needs 'em.

... and on the other end of the scale, I was watching the U.S. womens open yesterday where 6 hour rounds were the norm.   The only player penalized was a tearful amateur.

72 - 73 - 65 - 80

Wonder what Luuke takes from this week.
Next up: US Open qualifying, 36 holes tomorrow.

The 80 will obviously be hard to take but at Donald's career point I think any reminder that you can still shoot the scores necessary to compete has to be a positive.

McLaren wrote:The 80 will obviously be hard to take but at Donald's career point I think any reminder that you can still shoot the scores necessary to compete has to be a positive.

Blimey Mac, I agree - for Kaymer too.


Cantlay was too good, fantastic round.

Scant consolation for Europeans but Denmark's Sebastien Cappelen won this week's web.commer in North Carolina.

Not sure how Super is doing right now but a woman with a numerical 6 in her name just won the US Open. And not like the 6th actually part of the name. (Jeongeun Lee6)

A stupid name Mac, but no more stupid than Webb, Tiger, Boo, Chesson, Smylie etc

Cantlay was excellent yesterday and certainly won the tournament as opposed to Kaymer loosing it but I still think Martin could have done more on the back nine where he seemed to accept he wasn't going to win.

Previously on this thread I mentioned the interview I saw with him where he said that he saw himself as full-time European tour player with the occasional visit to the PGA tour and that seemed to reflect in his play yesterday.

Nice and comfortable plus a big pay-check, but in the long-term it doesn't really matter too much.

It was mentioned above that you forget his achievements and I think that has a lot to do with the gulf between his best and his average. He is an ex-world #1 and two-time major champion. At the 2014 US Open he was so much better than everyone else he made an extremely difficult test look too easy.

I really like him as a player but he frustrates me more than Rory with his inability to convert his natural talent to more consistent success. He could be a European Ryder Cup stalwart and world top 20 golfer but he isn't and that disappoints.

McLaren wrote:Not sure how Super is doing right now but a woman with a  numerical 6 in her name just won the US Open. And not like the 6th actually part of the name. (Jeongeun Lee6)

I can see you don't follow womens golf or you have seen her name around before.  Apparently Jeongeun Lee is such a common name in Asia that there have been 6 of them on the Asian lpga tour.   So they have differentiated between them in the obvious way.  The original Jeongeun Lee also made the cut at the weekend.

Kaymer's magic putter deserted him a bit yesterday whereas Cantlay's putting was sh1t hot thru'out. Plus Cantlay got away with some horrible drives. Tough to beat his 64.
Agree with wire that Kaymer can frustrate, but thought he stood up pretty well yesterday, at least until #12 and #13, unforced errors with mid-irons on both holes. I'll take the positives out of it and hope he shows us the consistency that's been lacking.
I wonder if this will persuade him to try and keep his card after all? Up to 120th in FedEx Points.

Shocking to read people apparently still butthurt over Tigers Boulder ruling. Must be either total ignorance of the rules/decisions of golf of the day or just some bone to pick. Oh well..

Love the Seve - Ken Green story...

Great field for the Canadian open this week... At least by the last few decades of Canadian Open standards. Barring some big-name wd's, it will come in at 50 which would tie it (with three other years) for it's highest field strength in the OWGR era.

Kwini... Just so you know. Memorial is not a qualifying series event for the Open Championship because Jack turned it down. (Just found that out yesterday). He didn't want the focus of his event to be anything except itself and it's own champion.

But as far as Open qualifying criteria... I love the qualifying series replacing most the 36-hole qualifier spots. 72 holes in a real tournament is a better test.  But I do see how a later date for their top 60 cut off, or a secondary date to make sure they got all the top 50 in makes a lot of sense. But still... I'm not aware of any top 50 players who haven't been eligible for the Open thru some criteria or other since I've been tracking in the last 10-12 years. It certainly seems possible. But unlikely I guess.

robopz wrote:Kwini... Just so you know. Memorial is not a qualifying series event for the Open Championship because Jack turned it down. (Just found that out yesterday). He didn't want the focus of his event to be anything except itself and it's own champion.

But as far as Open qualifying criteria... I love the qualifying series replacing most the 36-hole qualifier spots. 72 holes in a real tournament is a better test.  But I do see how a later date for their top 60 cut off, or a secondary date to make sure they got all the top 50 in makes a lot of sense. But still... I'm not aware of any top 50 players who haven't been eligible for the Open thru some criteria or other since I've been tracking in the last 10-12 years. It certainly seems possible. But unlikely I guess.

I can see Jack's point, robo, but that's surely not the issue (if there is one, and I happen to think there is). The US Open learned their lesson with Justin Rose winning at Memorial and adapted by modifying their cut-off date - hope the R&A doesn't slumber too long. I think Cantlay did them a yuuuge favour.

I don't like the present Open qualifying system, though perhaps I might be persuaded otherwise if they left it at one tournament in Europe and one PGA tour event where everyone had The Open as an equal focus (or more) as the event they were playing. Not completely dissimilar to events in other countries, the most recent being this weekend in Japan.

Thing I wouldn't like about a single qualifier in USA and Europe is it'd probably yield some finishers way down the leaderboard gaining spots.  I prefer multiple tournaments were it takes reasonably high finishes to qualify.  And I think there's little doubt that Open field has definitely been improved by going with a qualifying series.

IMO in this day and age the most important thing in Majors is getting as many of the top 100 in there as you can (like the PGA). Since the advent of the OWGR, only abt 6% of major/Players winners come from outside the top 100 anyway despite occupying close to 50% of the playing spots since 1986. To  me it doesn't matter how, just go off the list if they have to. Cuz how they fill the other spots really doesn't matter much except to accommodate some smaller tours and diversity.

PS... And just to be clear, as I said before, I 100% agree with you on a later (or secondary) date for that top 50 - 60 cut off

Plunky

Yes sorry I was aware of the real reason for the 6 in her name but just wanted to wind super up.

McLaren wrote:Plunky

Yes sorry I was aware of the real reason for the 6 in her name but just wanted to wind super up.

It is tempting isn't it ?!

Lee Westwood, Ross Fisher, Bernd Wiesberger, and Andrew Johnston all came up short at yesterday's US Open sectional qualifier at Walton Heath.

Thomas Pieters amongst those that did make it -> https://www.golfdigest.com/story/us-open-2019-sectional-results

wiretapper wrote:Lee Westwood, Ross Fisher, Bernd Wiesberger, and Andrew Johnston all came up short at yesterday's US Open sectional qualifier at Walton Heath.

Thomas Pieters amongst those that did make it -> https://www.golfdigest.com/story/us-open-2019-sectional-results

Thanks wire,

This is a pretty good summary of US Open Sectional Qualifying:

https://www.golfchannel.com/news/2019-us-open-sectional-results-whos-whos-out


Russell Knox and Seamus Power also missed out, but impressive from the North-East's (born in Darlington anyway) Callum Tarren - his score of -14 included two double bogeys. You gotta love guys who can make bucketloads of birdies, not to mention the eagles that flew in. Imagine he might have quite a future, but he's almost 29, where's he been been?

USGA policy on alternates has not been transparent, this tweet gives a little insight

https://twitter.com/WillGrayGC/status/1135611348715524097

Some notable names not making it Kwini.

When was the last time Charly Hoffman wasn't playing in a major? (Someone will now point out it was recently )

Harold Varner (his terrible final round at Bethpage comes back to haunt him again), Ryan Moore, Andrew Landry, Brian Harman, Kevin Tway all not making it.

US Open 2014 was last major that Hoffman missed. Varner would have to finish Solo 2nd in the PGA to have a chance of being exempt for the US Open.

Thanks for that GPB, for some reason I thought top 5 in a major got you into the next three

New tournament coming to the PGATour

https://twitter.com/PGATOUR/status/1135999448721612800

GPB,
This looks like an "opposite field" event; is the Sanderson Farm in jeopardy? Or does it go against another of the Far East tournaments?

Can't imagine galleries will be very large.

Regardless, Plunky will be very pleased!!!!

Yes, opposite of HSBC

I think Sanderson got "promoted" to a full regular event to be played in early October