PGA Tour: WGC-FedEx / Barracuda / Wyndham Championship in Greensboro: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).Well done Shane Lowry!

2).I suppose it's fitting that, in this season of the compressed "Majors" calendar, that we have 4 x PGA Tour (recognised) events in two weeks.
The only surprise to me is that people still think this four-Majors-in-three-and-a-bit months plan is a good idea.
Anyway, the good news is that Lowry gets to be the last Major Champion for almost 9 months, rather like PFC holding the FA Cup for longer than any other team in history.

3).There'll no doubt be some sort of post mortem at season's end with, presumably, the PGA Tour and network broadcasters slapping each other on the back congratulating themselves on getting away with it, and most likely for the foreseeable future.
But how many players will echo the commentary of Justin Rose who clearly feels the rhythm of the season has been disrupted as the focus is now on the FedEx Cup and not the PGA (which, quite honestly, I can barely remember)?
"For me, major championships are the things which should be protected most. That's how all our careers are ultimately going to be measured." And he said that before The Open began.

4).Another surprise, because I clearly got it wrong, is that so few eligible players are giving the latest WGC in Memphis a miss. After five chose not to enter, only Shane Lowry opted to take the week off whereas I would have expected half a dozen more to sit it out. Oh well!

5).The "WGC-FedEx St Jude Invitational" gets underway shortly at TPC Southwind in the Memphis, TN, area. The weather should be perfect for scoring, highs of about 30C (cool by London standards), no significant wind and little to no threat of rain or storms.
The only wrinkle could be that water comes into play throughout the course, traditionally the course hosting a full-field with more water balls than any other. Not this year obviously as only 63 will be competing as they try to pad their bank accounts and FedEx point totals.
If you're not familiar with the course, it's a Par-71 (EDIT, Now apparently a Par-70), appropriately demanding for the Tour's rank-and-file who usually compete here, but not exactly a memorable challenge for the World's best.
One competitor who badly needs a strong performance is Alex Noren, and hopefully this will be just the place for him. Otherwise, Greensboro next week represents his final chance to secure his Tour card for next season - unless he plays the WTF series.

6).The Tour's second division are in the gorgeous Lake Tahoe area, playing the Barracuda Championship at scenic Montreux G&CC, the PGA Tour's version of Crans-sur-Sierre. They'll be playing the modified Stableford scoring system but most of those top pros qualified to be there have stayed away in droves.
We'll be following progress there regardless. Apart from the usual suspects, Messrs Harrington, Kaymer and Pavan will be there, whilst fellow Europeans (including Kaymer of course) will see the week as a second to last gasp for retaining their cards. It's a broken record in these notes but this lot includes:
Laird
Blixt
Power
Jaeger
Cejka
Straka

7).Hadn't realised that the 2026 Ryder Cup venue was just about to be announced and happy enough to see it go to Adare Manor, in Limerick. Which other venues were under consideration?

8).And, while we're at it, what about the quandary that the very excellent Portrush has placed the R&A in? It seems that Portrush is pencilled in for either 2024 or 2026 (does the Adare Manor announcement thus make 2024 more likely?). So far, we have:
2020: RStG
2021: St.Andrews
2022: Hoylake
2023: ? Presumably Muirfield?
2024: ? Portrush or Lytham?
2025: ? I wonder if they'll go back to TOC after just four years
2026: ? Lytham or Portrush?
The R&A can move in mysterious ways so no idea on any of that. Hopefully there's no collusion to get Turnberry included, despite its quality being unimpeachable.

9).I still don't understand why the Tour is so anxious to avoid the NFL - it certainly doesn't affect demand for US Open Tennis action and it won't impact demand for next year's Ryder Cup either. Hopefully the European Tour will capitalise appropriately and their top players will support the autumn European Tour schedule.

10).Trying to learn the words to Fields of Athenry - help Shane!

Be_the_ball wrote:

kwinigolfer wrote:B_t_b,
Not readily available here except by prescription (or theft, or some other illegal diversion). The trouble is the over-prescription of drugs by toe-rag doctors who are being heavily marketed to (bribed) by Big Pharma is the primary source of the problem.
Incredible the number of pills-per-person on average being doled out willy nilly - to the Willies & Nillies as it happens.


As for characters (and, much as I like Dustin Johnson, he is surely the monosyllabic anti-character, along with TW?), the real characters are the young players or journeymen (like Bohn & Herron). But I would add Shane, even before two weeks ago.  

I know Kwini, I'm not saying he was on anything illegal or that he didn't need that level of pain relief. He was on Vicodin, which is not nurofen. Highly addictive stuff. I hope he's off it now and managing his pain well. I agree re doc's prescribing that strong a drug, and from most reports it's the withdrawal of the prescription that is driving people towards illegal drugs.

Apparently the US spends about $10.00 on addiction prevention for every $100.00 on treatment and collateral damage remediation. Typical.
Could probably find similar stats on guns.
(Tho' two yuuuge industries would suffer as a result.)

In Greensboro, Alex Noren probably needs a low 60-something to save his card, possibly with some help from others too. Whilst Seamus Power could use a 56, which might still not be enough.
I see Stenson (and Noren and the groping Thorbjorn) is signed up for Scandinavian action on the same weekend as the Tour Championship - probably goes part of the way to explaining his absence from next week's Northern Trust.

Lousy morning for Noren and Power; it'll be interesting to see what Plan B might be for Noren.
Blixt biting his nails somewhere, but he should be OK.

A few big names falling outside the 125; Daniel Berger,  Jason Dufner, Bill Haas, Ted Potter Jnr, Martin Kaymer, Zach Johnson, Jimmy Walker, Luke Donald, Brendan Steele, Charl Schwartzel, and the aforementioned Alex Noren.

I'm guessing some will have playing rights next year due to recent(ish) tour wins or via career earnings but it doesn't bode well. The rest will have to up their game for the Korn Ferry finals.

We know that Kaymer has previously said that will be it for him and he will head back to Europe full time. Perhaps some others should follow his lead including Noren and perhaps Peter Uihlein. Some players are just better suited to the European Tour, there is no shame in that. Although admittedly, a lot less money on offer.

wire,

I think that most of these have exemptions for next season.
Certainly Dufner, Potter, Johnson, Walker and Steele do.

One or two have to make a choice.

Schwartzel has been out for months so he has a medical extension in his future.
Berger would not be exempt but he was out for a couple of months and presumably will have a minor medical for about five tournaments.
Luke Donald has still to fully exhaust his medical allowance but would be wise to take his first (top 25 in career earnings) free passes. (He'd still have another up his sleeve, but is just about to slip out of the top 25 all-time earnings so might as well use it now.)
Bill Haas also has a one-time career earning pass but may play in the KFC series with Mahan and so many others. And he has conditional membership for 19/20, plus sponsor invites so imagine his one-time free pass would be a last resort.


As for Kaymer & Noren, it's difficult to believe they care too much either way - most of the big events of the European Tour are still to come; but they need to play well in them to protect their owgr positions, Noren especially as he's likely to slip out of the Top 50 owgr if he doesn't play well in Sweden.
Whether or not they're "better suited to the European Tour" or not, they've proved the grind of double-dipping and grinding out results on the PGA Tour is not to their taste, bigger fish to fry - in their minds anyway.

Rafa C-B (baby on the way) withdraws from the Northern Trust. Kinda surprised Woodland hasn't also, but he must be doubtful going forward with twins rapidly approaching.

Woodland's twins were born last week.

GPB wrote:Woodland's twins were born last week.

Ah ha,
They didn't tell me.